GWD_MAY_16

IAN WOOSNAM
Woosnam has to deal with jibes
from the crowd in the closing round.
I WAS THE FIRST PLAYER TO DO THAT WITHOUT HAVING WON A MAJOR’
to do that without having won a major.
But it was a great boost. I remember
looking around and thinking to myself,
“You’re the best player here.” I had won
the Mediterranean Open earlier that year
and then the New Orleans Open just
before the Masters.
Was winning in America another stepup
for you at that point?
It was the next level up from Europe and
the last one before winning a major.
I looked on that as “climbing the
mountain”. And the top was where
I wanted to reach. So winning in America
was just another step. After that, all I had
to do was win a major. Which isn’t easy,
of course. Until then I had tended to put
myself under too much pressure in the
majors. But at the end of the day they are
all just another tournament. That was
how I tried to treat it.
I’m not sure anyone was writing about it
at the time, but the other four members
of the so-called ‘Big Five’ – Seve, Faldo,
Langer and Sandy – had already won
majors by 1991. Were you feeling any
pressure from that?
I was. Although I was world number one,
I wanted and needed to put that right.
I hadn’t done it. But I always felt like, if
I were to win one, it would be the Masters
or the Open.
Why do you say that?
I didn’t feel like I had much of a chance in
the other two majors, although I had been
second in the US Open a couple of years
before, behind Curtis Strange. But I didn’t
feel my short game was good enough to
win in America. I needed to get lucky and
my chipping and putting be really on for
me to win a major there. Everything had
to click. I knew I was headed in the right
direction, though. My putting was coming
on and that was helping my chipping.
There was less pressure to chip close
because I was putting so well. And that
helps the long game too. I always knew
when I was about to win. I could just tell
by the way I was playing.
So how were you feeling when you got
to Augusta?
I was using a Ping putter when I got there.
And, although I had just won with it in
New Orleans, the victory had more to do
with my long game than my putting. In
the first round of the Masters that
uneasiness continued. So I changed my
putter before the second day. After the
opening round I was on the practice green
for four hours. At first I was working with
the Ping. But when I tried a Tad Moore
I found I couldn’t miss from close range.
So I went with it the rest of the week. It
worked too. I felt like I could go for the
longer putts a bit more as I was holing the
ones back. I was more aggressive. And
I went 66-67 the next two days.
Short putting is so important at the
Masters, isn’t it? The ball is always
trickling off to that awkward 3ft
distance.
There is so much borrow on so many
putts. But being confident with the short
ones meant I could allow a little less-break
May 2016 Golf World 41