Did O'Hair and Imada make the right choice?

Did O'Hair and Imada make the right choice?

When a tournament win is on the line do you go for broke or play safe?

By Tim Rosaforte
GolfDigest.com
May 25, 2007

That was the question facing Sean O'Hair and Ryuji Imada. Did they make the correct decisions?

The last two weeks, tournaments have been decided by go-for-broke decisions, with Sean O'Hair and Ryuji Imada each finding water instead of land, and drowning in a sea of second-guessing.

These are two of the younger generation on tour, so it's good to know they're not always playing for the money, as is the stereotype. But were these wise decisions? Well, since everybody's entitled to an opinion, the consensus is that O'Hair made the right play and Imada did not, but both fall under the category of "competitive decision." That's the term Steve Lucas made as Sean's caddy, meaning, you make a call under the heat of the moment and you live by it.

It should be noted that Lucas is O'Hair's father in law, which led to talk among the tour caddies that if family ties weren't involved, a different result would have occurred. It may be unfair to Lucas but that's what happens when $750,000 is lost in the difference between a 9-iron and a pitching wedge on the 71st hole of The Players.

Lucas is a good player himself, but he's probably not remembering that Tiger Woods hit pitching wedge over that flag when he beat Trip Kuehne for the U.S. Amateur title in 1994. If he did, he'd know that Tiger's shot flew into the collar and still stayed on the green—when the course really was playing hard and fast in mid-August.

Yes, O'Hair had to go for birdie. And yes, anything short of pin high is going to be construed as an act of cowardice, but that much adrenaline to that back right pin with a 9-iron and it's gone. Not that it wasn't a ballsy play, not that the wind didn't die when the ball came off the clubface, but O'Hair's shot was 20 yards long.

What was said to me this week by one of the world's top instructors and a veteran caddy is that in that situation, O'Hair actually should have played for the two-putt par, to put pressure on Phil Mickelson, who had a two-stroke lead at the time, and make him hit the tee ball at 18 with the tournament riding on it. All that water left, right where Mickelson was looking from his side of the ball, would have brought back the ghosts of Winged Foot. Instead, Phil could coast up 18 and never hit the shot that truly would have tested him.

Imada's deal at the AT&T Classic was different. He had 263 yards over water, dead downhill, to a brick-hard green, to a front pin, with bunkers long and a flyer lie from the rough. In the fairway, Masters champion Zach Johnson had a clean look at the green and a hybrid club in his hands. Imada played the hole that week with an eagle and three birdies, and felt like he had the hero shot and tried to hit it. The ball dove into the lake, and instead of putting the heat on Johnson, Imada took himself out of the game by not laying up to the right, giving himself comfortable yardage and a better angle at the pin. He is, after all, noted for his short game—as evidenced by his up-and-down from behind those back bunkers the day before.

Afterward, Imada defended himself, but his quotes sound like he's a little defensive. He shouldn't be, but he, too, wasn't channeling into history. Just west of where he was playing, David Toms layed up on the 72nd hole of the 2001 PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, made par, and beat Phil Mickelson. And just two months earlier, Johnson won the Masters by not going for one par-5 in two shots, playing them in 11 under.

Both guys were stand-up in their interviews, but you wonder what they might have learned, how many chances they'll get to be in those situations again, and whether those really were the wise plays. The good news is, they were playing for the crystal, not the cash.


Tim Rosaforte is a senior writer for Golf World magazine

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If they didn't go for it they wouldn't have won anyway. I say yes, they made the right choice. In Imada's position, Zach was in perfect shape to reach in two and make at worst birdie. Imada would have had to lay up and then hope to get it close on a tough green.

 

Ohair had to get some shots back so he had to go for the pin.

 

Like Roy MacOvoy says, "nobody remembers second place....."

I liked O'Hair's play better than Imada's play.

 

O'Hair -- two shots back, could not rely on a two shot swing on 18 (i.e. Phil birdie, him Bogie). Also, even if Phil plays safe on 17, there's always an outside chance at a Phil birdie on the island hole that would sink any comeback hopes. If O'Hair reads the wind better, things could be very different. His club selection was the result of a bad wind read.

 

Imada -- tied (first playoff hole). Bad lie. Needs to rely on an absolutely perfect 3-wood shot over water to make the green. Yes, Johnson will be on in 2 and might make eagle, but sitting 260 yards out from the rough, you can't be thinking about that. A player like Imada probably doesn't execute that shot properly even half the time. Imada has a good short game, so layup and try to one putt for birdie is just a much better choice.

I like O'Hair's decision to go after the flag. He had to being down. Its the club selection that comes under scrutiny. A really good caddy might have realized that the juices were flowing with the pressure and a short club might have been the call. I say "might have" because we don't know what type of shot O'Hair was trying to play. He may have just executed poorly.

O'hairs decision was partly his caddies fault due to lack of experience. Not knowing how to manage that extra adrenalin pump coming down the stretch, (i've had to do it in a couple of club championships, can't even imagine what it would be like for a kid in his 20's on the 71st hole of the Players) where any other experienced caddy would have strongly suggested the PW.

I have to admire the poise and composure with which O'hair handled himself. I have to believe he'll learn from this.

just my 2 cents

O'Hair needed that hole to catch Phil. He had to go at it but I wonder why he didn't hit a high fade off the bunker.

 

Imada was idiotic. What was the yardage? BBF lie out of the rough with a 3W? Give him 10balls, 9 go in the water. He should have laid up to a very precise SW yardage IMO. Even if he hit it way right into the RR he would have had mad green to work with and take spin off a near full wedge out of the rough. Pecentages were way, way better on a layup. I'd be willing to bet ZJ would have thought twice or thrice about going over the water had he done so as well.

In O'Hair's case where it is a tee shot, I would shoot at the pin.

 

Imada didn't have much of a chance to get his ball to the green or even close to the pin. He should have laid up with the lie he had.