Signing autographs at Augusta
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The US Masters at Augusta National is coming up in the first week of April but I'm not really thinking about it too much.
I'm scheduled to play Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and Doral (World Golf Championship CA event) on the PGA Tour and want to play them well, so I get in some good events and feel good about my game going into Augusta.
I’ll probably have a week off (Shell Houston Open) before the Masters and start working really hard to prepare and might even go down early for a day or two, just to familiarise myself with the course again.
After all, I've only played two US Masters. I made my debut there in 2005 when I finished third behind Tiger and Chris Di Marco (though seven shots adrift) after rounds of 68,77,69, 69. Tiger won the play-off.
But last year was pretty average. I didn't break 70 and finished 42nd (74,72,76,74).
When the putts dropped at Augusta 05
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The modifications at Augusta make it a little bit tougher for players like me and Jim Furyk, for example. We don't really hit it far enough off the tee. But then Augusta’s more about hitting shots into greens. putting the ball in the right places on the greens and not short-siding yourself to leave those horrible putts.
You have to be very accomplished and accurate with your iron play and I’m as well equipped as anyone and there's no reason why I can’t be successful.
Putting is always hugely important at Augusta and mine could be better at the moment. I've looked at the stats and it's clear where I need to get better. If you want to be a very successful golfer, you have to be a great putter and get up and down a lot[from around the green], something I haven’t been doing in the last few weeks.
Augusta’s so very different to any other course we play on Tour - the greens are very, very fast. They’re very slopey, too, and you need a lot of imagination; a lot of touch.
So I’m working hard at it. My coach Jim Fannin thought back the other day to how well I putted in the Ryder Cup at the K Club and I want to reproduce that. It's not that long ago and I know it's there somewhere.
Sometimes you can go through spells of not putting quite as well as you’d like and you think about big changes. Well, I’m pretty close, so I’ve just got to keep practising and get back my confidence.
I may tinker with my putter because it’s nice sometimes to look down and see something in a putter that’s a little fresh but it won’t be a significant change.
Currently I’m using a conventional Bettinardi putter with a black finish that Bob Bettinardi added for me. I used it at the Ryder Cup and putted great with it but Bob and I might try and find something that’s similar but has a slightly different look - just enough to get me excited and motivated again. But I don’t want to make a radical change.
The last few weeks have been disappointing and if I knew exactly what was going on I think I’d be a very, very successful! I’ve been very lucky in my career, so far and not had too many periods where I’ve struggled. But in the last few weeks, there’s no question that I have. Golf is a very mental game and when you do struggle it can roll into the next week and then the next and then you start to doubting yourself a little bit.
To be honest, I’m not really worried. The game felt very good at the Honda Classic (where I was the defending champion) and after a bad first round I played very well. I didn’t hole many putts, but I really felt like I was hitting the ball well again.
Me and my current kit
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On the Friday I played very well to make the cut. I actually hit two balls into the water so my 67 could have been much better. I was very happy with the way I came back because I was a bit down in the dumps after Thursday’s round.
I managed to re-group and think more about the positives rather than negatives. It’s a confidence game and I know I’ll be back winning some events coming up. I expect so much out of myself and when I’m a little bit off, it affects me mentally though my physical game is never that far off.
Jim [Fannin] and I talk nearly every day but we're not making this into a big thing like a crisis or a slump. If someone’s mentally strong they can snap out of it very quickly and we agreed that all that happened was that I was being a bit too negative, getting upset too much and thinking about past results.
It was then all about being positive, picking targets, going for those targets and not dwelling on any bad thoughts. It worked and I was 10 shots better.
Dropping down to 10th on the world rankings was obviously disappointing but it’s all a process. As long as I approach every tournament wanting to win it, my results will start turning around. Then my world ranking will go back in the right direction again.
There’s no doubt I'm consciously aiming at the majors. If you want to leave a legacy as being one of the greatest golfers you have to be successful in majors, so I’m like a lot of players, trying to peak at certain times of the year.
But you all know how tough this game can be. You think, when you’re on the range, you have it, but when you go to the course it’s not quite the same. These last few weeks, for instance, I’ve been pretty solid on the range but didn't always take it to the course. For the majors, you’ve got to have every aspect of the game working - mentally and physically.
After deliberating for some time, I’ve decided to stick with my Mizuno MP-32 irons. The new MP-67s are beautiful clubs but I’m passed the point in the season where I feel can change them. I’ve had a lot of success with the MP-32s and I’m striking them as well as ever. I'll persevere and with Augusta looming, I’ll have a play with some new putters instead.
Hopefully that will make the crucial difference.
Finally, many thanks for the questions you submitted through Golfmagic.com. We're working through them, to pick some winners of the Mizuno prizes, and hopefully I can come back to you soon with some positive answers.
