The wild, two-putter strategy proved a two-edged sword. Mark Calcavecchia carried two flat clubs – one short, one long – in his bag during The Barclays, and while they combined to help him tie for fourth, the strategy hurt him at the very end.
“I carried two putters all week – using my short putter on longer ones, my belly putter on shorter ones. It was a pretty good idea as it turned out,” Calcavecchia said after yesterday’s 6-under 65 gave him a 12-under finish at Westchester Country Club.
“I did putt well, overall. I missed a few short ones, but everyone did. The greens are tricky here,” said Calcavecchia, who needed only 110 putts, tied for second-best in the tournament, including 27 yesterday.
“I’ve tried some stints in the past with the belly putter, and it’s tough on putts outside 15-20 feet. Those 40-50 footers, it comes out of your belly sometimes and gets hung up in your shirt. It’s a disaster,” Calcavecchia said. “My 10-footers and in were fabulous. I thought the way this course is I didn’t need my 5-wood or 2-iron, so I took out the 5-wood and threw another putter in, a short one.”
But he came to the 72nd hole and faced a two-putter dilemma.
“I actually overthought myself. With two putters in my bag, I have a gap between my 3-wood and 3-iron, about a 50-yard gap,” Calcavecchia said. “I was afraid if I hit a good drive I’d be right in the middle, where I couldn’t get it there with a 3-iron, and a 3-wood would be way too much.”
From 285 out in the rough on the par-5 18th, he laid up to 77 yards, pitched to 15 feet, and, ahem, two-putted.