SAN DIEGO – This is one of the topics made for radio-talk sports that always overwhelms this time of year – winners are not quarterback statistics.
With so many ways to measure success, delay is the simplest outcome – winning – avoiding so much. It’s a debate that only got worse after last week’s NFC title bout between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. It is also a concept that is similar to apropos for golf right now.
Tony Finau will not apologize for not winning the PGA Tour from the 2016 Puerto Rico Open Championship. the 31-year-old did not leave the wiggle room.
“At the end of the day, fun is all about winning,” said Finau, who is one beat from the lead through two rounds at Torrey Pines. “I’m at that point in my career where it’s about to win and every week I pick it up I challenge myself to apply to do that and it’s I’ve done it happily here with 36 holes to go. ”
Last week across the state at Palm Springs, Finau took a chunk of the 54-hole lead into the final round, closed with 68 and finished fourth. This was the fourth time in his Tour career that he took at least a portion of the lead into the final round and did not turn around.
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He has been a Ryder Cup hero, has 35 top-10 finishes since his start in ’16 and has moved into the top 20 in the world rankings, but nonetheless is the only question one wants to ask is how it is going to break through the roof grass.
Although he won his second Tour title in a long time, Rory McIlroy has been answering similar questions after a terrible start last year that brought everything but victory. He played the first 2 ½ months of last year without finishing outside the top 5 – without wins. He also finished third last week in Abu Dhabi on the European Tour after leading a one-stroke lead to the final round.
What’s wrong with Rory?
This is probably the easiest thing to take as it is more than a year removed from his last Tour title, but if the Northern Irishman felt the heat he didn’t show up after a driving performance another lead at Torrey Pines.
“It gives me a lot of confidence. Especially with how I put away parts of last week, it wasn’t very good, it was a bit of a guide at times. First competition back out, maybe a little unsure of what I’m doing, ”said McIlroy, who is four back at Torrey Pines. “I decided that I was just going to fully commit every swing I make off the tee, and it worked, I hit a good tee shot, I took advantage of some of them . ”
While success only makes the target of McIlroy and Finau grow, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between success or failure from the outcome. With history as the only guide, Winners are not Tour player statistics.
Tiger Woods has a .222 average role, which is the best thing to play the game if the only lead wins. Sam Snead came in with an average of .140 while top Jack Nicklaus won at a .125 clip. Today, Phil Mickelson could be a more reasonable benchmark after winning 44 of his 635 careers (.069).
The point is, if winners are the only measure of success Mickelson passed the best of two decades of failure. Apparently Lefty would not agree with him.
When a player has done certain things in their career, like McIlroy and Finau, anything short of a cup display is a cause for questioning. But the truth is, as the quarterback who is statistically potentially superior in every aspect of the game they don’t win them all.
Last week at Palm Springs Finau ran into a buzzsaw in Si Woo Kim, which closed with 64 unbeaten, and for McIlroy it was 66 Tyrrell Hatton spoilers.
There is always room for improvement and neither Finau nor McIlroy are above the second dimension
“I always have to watch my play. There are definitely some mistakes I made on Sundays, but there are mistakes I made during the week so I can’t go out on Sunday as the reason, ”said Finau. “I couldn’t have played and finished a few better shots to win the golf tournament, but I was encouraged after I left last week on some of the things I’m working on. ”
McIlroy and Finau don’t need anyone to remind them that it’s time to shut out one of those weekends, but they also don’t need much to be explained by the simplest results when there are so many other ways to measure success.