Long story short
A golf also-ran gets his moment in the sun – and doesn’t wilt.
English golfer Justin Rose cruised to victory in the Farmers Insurance Open at the Torrey Pines course in San Diego. No surprises there: he’s the world No 1 and last year won the Fedex Cup, the lavish bonus bestowed on the PGA tour’s most consistent player.
A week earlier, though, something rather remarkable took place at the Desert Classic in Palm Springs. Three players were in contention coming down the final stretch: veteran Phil Mickelson, winner of 44 PGA titles and regarded as second only to Tiger Woods in the modern era; Canadian Adam Hadwin, a previous winner on the tour; and Adam Long, aka Adam Who? As golf writer John Feinstein would later point out, Long, for all money, appeared to fit the stereotype of the rank outsider who briefly contends, inevitably falls short, gratefully accepts a decent – given his modest expectations – cheque and returns whence he came: obscurity.
If Naomi Osaka could be the poster girl for new sensations, Long was the poster boy for those who just make up the numbers. Since graduating from university in 2011, he’d bounced around various second- and thirdtier tours without much to show for it. Last year, he earned a PGA card. In the four tournaments preceding the Desert Classic, he missed the cut in three and was 63rd in the fourth.
Then came this. The trio teed off on the 72nd hole all square. Long hit the worst drive but the best approach shot, then rolled in a 4m putt to win. He earned more than US$1 million, lifted his world ranking from 417 to
133 and gained automatic entry to most tournaments on the tour. He ceased to be a nonentity and became, at the very least, a footnote in golfing history. He proved that, even in the unsentimental meritocracy that is professional sport, the unlikeliest dreams can come true.