So I was watching the golf on TV today (a matchplay tournament) and I see that players normally concede the hole if their opponent has a putt of a couple of feet or less to win.
I was thinking, I’d still make them play it, just in case they sneeze, or a wasp stings them, or anything like that, which raised the question – what’s the shortest putt that a player has missed in a big tournament?
I’m not sure about match play but in stroke play I know of a couple of short ones:
Doug Sanders missed a 30" putt to win the 1970 British Open. He lost to Nicklaus in an 18 hole playoff the next day.
Scott Hoch failed to sink a putt to win the 1989 US Masters playoff against Faldo. The length of this putt has been variously estimated between 18" and 30".
Of course, in strokeplay there are no gimmes due to the nature of the game.
I can’t remember which tournament or which player, but I saw a guy do one of those tap-ins where you don’t bother to get into your stance and he missed it. Must’ve been 6" or so. Retif Goosen missed a 2’ putt in 2001 to win the US open, forcing a playoff. He won the playoff, but he sure looked ridiculous in regulation play. Link.
I seem to recall a golfer missing a very short putt in a major competition (it may have been matchplay) due to an airshot.
Can anyone shed any light on this?
But golf is a “gentleman’s game”, and in match play you’re not supposed to be a chump. Also, it’s not just the length of the putt, but how much break there is in it. If it’s a straight shot at 2’ or less, these guys almost never miss. But if it’s a downhill breaker at 2’, that’s not a gimme.
I was sure that was Hale Irwin but apparently not. He walked up to tap it in and had an air swing.
I remember reading in some golfer’s biography (I’m pretty sure it was Jack Nicklaus) that in an amateur match play tournament he conceded his opponent’s putt but then the opponent made Jack take his shorter putt, which he missed to lose the tournament.
Maybe you’re right and my memory is wrong. Did he do one of those air swings and accidentally hit it instead?
It was Hale Irwin in the British Open. IIRC, he would have been in a playoff if he made it. He stubbed his putter into the ground and it bounced uo and over the ball. He called the missed stroke on himself. It was less than six inches from the cup. More like one or two, if memory serves.
It’s one of those things that, once an athlete or team screws up a virtual lock (of whatever
kind), everybody stops doing it (or takes extra precautions to ensure it never happens again-
or at least never happens to THEM and they end up looking like fools). After the last of these
kinds of gaffes on tap-ins, EVERY pro golfer takes extra care to tap the putt in using a
deliberate stroke with both hands on the putter.
Same thing happened after the 1978 football NY Giants fumbled away a sure victory when all
they had to do was have the QB fall on the ball. Since then all teams do just that, and have
a fast guy 10 feet behind the QB just in case he does fumble it. Sure you have a 99.9%
chance of winning if you give the ball to the fullback, but you don’t want to be made an
idiot of on national TV.
Can’t think of any more examples in other sports but I’m sure there’s some…
Short putts are nearly always conceded in match play. Unless, of course, it is a short one on the last hole of a match and is needed to win or tie.
I remerber seen John Cook (I’m pretty sure) miss a putt of about 1 ft. in a tournament he went on to win several years ago. He didn’t just tap it but made his normal putt. The ball made a U turn and came right back to him.
Correct - the 1983 Open. His 2 inch missed putt was in the second round, but he did finish just one shot behind the winner, Tom Watson.
OK, that’s not what I was thinking of. The missed putt I was talking about happened either this year or last.