Lost and Found

In addition to being the greatest ball strikers and the greatest putters in the world, the guys on the PGA Tour are also the greatest finders of golf balls in the world.  I bring this up after what I saw on Tuesday's final round at Kapalua when Dustin Johnson found a wayward drive late in the round when having to go back to the tee to hit three would have tightened the leaderboard considerably.

Johnson yanked his drive left--had it bounce through a bunker and then head toward a ravine densely packed with trees and brush.  Johnson didn't even follow the ball--turning away in disgust--and there were no marshals along that side of the fairway to see where the ball went in.  Even from the multiple camera angles, you couldn't tell where the ball ended up.

It looked like it was going to be a lost ball--even though DJ found about three other balls (perhaps one of my ProV's?)--and Steve Stricker hobbled down into the ravine to help look as well.  But then just as the five minute window was going to expire, he found the ball in thick grass right at the edge of the ravine.

I know that if it was me hitting it to the same spot with the same lack of eyeballs on the shot I would have never found that ball.  I've been in competitions where I have hit drives on blind holes that were right on line with the center of the fairway--only to find no ball anywhere in the short grass.  I would have broken 90 on the River Course at Black Wolf Run last year if my 3-wood over the trees that split the fairway hadn't disappeared after everyone in the group saw it clear the trees and hit the middle of the fairway.

Yet Rory McIlroy hits one off a tree left of 10 at the Masters and is able to find his ball between two cottages that most people who had been to Augusta National didn't even know existed.  Remember when Ernie Els hooked one way left on 11 at Augusta and found it in a pile of brush--getting free relief that just happened to give him an angle to get a shot back down the fairway?  And I'm positive that Bones MacKay keeps a pocketful of pre-marked Callaways in his pocket and just drops one down when no one is looking.  "Hey Phil, here it is!!"

And big ups to Steve Stricker for hauling his inured body into that ravine to look for someone else's ball.  I've played with more than a few guys in competitions who do the "cursory look"--moving a few strands of grass on the outer edge of the hazard with a club--or just pointing at spots where they think they "saw it go in."

My brother-in-law refuses to look for errant balls.  "They make a million golf balls a day in China, Jonathan" is his usual excuse.  I'm going to use my entire five minutes.  When your playing a four dollar ball--you are going to do everything you can to find that sucker--even if you can't play it where it lies.

I always think of the story (which may or may not be true) of the guy with a reputation for cheating playing in a tight match the club championship.  He hits a tee shot to a blind par three green and no one is able to see it when they get over the hill.  He and his opponent search all around the green--and just as his time is up he declares "I found it!  It was over here!"  He procedes to chip on--appearing to have averted a match-losing disaster.  But than as his opponent reaches to pull the pin from the cup--he finds the real ball in the cup.