The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Berger doesn’t dwell on past
CROMWELL — It was, as Daniel Berger described it, “kind of like one golf shot over the course of an entire year.” In the moment, though, it was so much more.
Out of all the shots struck on the PGA Tour within the last year, few, if any, received as much attention as the one Jordan Spieth used to beat Berger at the 2017 Travelers Championship.
“Sometimes there’s a bit of luck involved. Jordan hit it in the correct place,” Berger’s caddie, Grant Berry, recalled Wednesday. “A player of that caliber might make one in 50. That was it.”
There was also a lot of skill involved. Spieth holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie on the 18th hole at TPC River Highlands to win a playoff.
“It was disappointing obviously to not win a golf tournament, especially the way I played. It was a great moment for the golf tournament and it was a great moment for the PGA Tour,” said Berger, adding that he “tries not to focus on it too much.”
“I always tell Jordan that I’m going to get him back, so it’s not the end of the world. There are plenty of golf tournaments that have been won and lost on the last hole.”
Spieth reacted by throwing his club to the ground and chest-bumping his caddie, Michael Greller. And Berger? All that was racing through his mind was how to sink a putt to force a second playoff hole.
“I think from the beginning I wasn’t too flustered,” he said. “I knew that I was going to have an opportunity. I’ve been in plenty of pressurepacked situations. At that given time, it was just hitting the best putt that I could.”
Berger’s subsequent putt from 60 feet rolled only inches wide of the hole. He proceeded to shake hands with Spieth and tell the Golf Channel that “Jordan does Jordan things.”
“I’ve never been a sore loser,” Berger said. “If someone outplays me, then they outplay me. All you can do is play your hardest and whatever happens, happens. I feel like I did that last year. It wasn’t my year. I’m not going to dwell on it too much.”
Berger, 25, doesn’t want his career to be defined by one shot. His only goal is to play winning golf — something he hasn’t done in over a year. He believes he’s on the right path after a solid showing last weekend at the U.S. Open, where he shot 3-over par to finish in a tie for sixth.
“I’m just going to try to continue to do the things that I’ve done,” he said. “You know, build momentum off of last week where I played really well.”