22 April, 2008
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By PGA professional Stuart Hurstfield
You can't win a tournament in the first two days but you can certainly blow your chances.
At the Volvo China Open in Beijing there was one shot in particular that caught the expert eye of PGA professional Stuart Hurstfield that could easily have undone Oliver Wilson. And it won't be one that the Alyn Waters Golf Centre pro, who will be at the R&A Junior Golf Centre at this year's Open, will be attempting to pass on to any of his future pupils.
There was one shot that caught my attention and that's because it was a complete surprise when I saw Oliver Wilson reach for his three wood after landing his drive in the bunker at the par 5 10th. He was 230 yards from the green, there was trouble to the left, he had water to carry and had to contend with a steep face.
Weighing up the options it was an incredibly high-risk shot, even for a golfer of that level. He took it on and got the perfect connection and landed his ball at the back of the green but still walked off with a five, so he gained nothing from it.
As a shot, it certainly isn't one I would advocate given the risks involved if it fails to come off. Hitting a wood out of a bunker is certainly not a common occurrence and, in Wilson's case, one that was far from easy to execute.
There was a lot of risk in taking the shot on given what he was facing. It needed a perfect connection, which on this occasion he got, it could have clipped the face of the bunker on exiting or he could have taken more sand as he came to hit the ball.
That could have caused all sorts of problems, not least hitting the water forcing him to take a drop and walking off the hole having racked up a score given the high difficulty rating of the shot. A simpler and less risky option was to have laid the ball up on the right and then played into the green.
Taking the wood was an unnecessary risk and the number of occasions you see players do take woods into bunkers is extremely rare. You do see hybrids or rescue clubs being taken into bunkers as these can be easier to hit the ball out of the sand but for your average golfer a high iron does the job.
The thinking behind taking that shot on is also interesting because he was among the leading pack - but it was only day two. It's said you can't win a tournament on day two but you can certainly lose it and this was a shot that had the potential to do that.
But by taking the shot on, it shows two things: the ability and ingenuity of the players at that level as well as how aggressive the game is at the top level. The willingness to take the shot on shows the need to be making birdies rather than taking a low risk strategy that will use up more shots.
Stuart Hurstfield is based at Alyn Waters Golf Course & Driving Range - telephone 01978 855 131.