캐머론 영이 금요일 TOUR Championship 2라운드에서 경기 최저 8언더 62타를 기록했다. 전날 마지막(30명 중 30위)에서 느슨했던 기운을 싹 걷어내고 단숨에 리더보드 1위로 올라선 극적인 반전이었다.
01퍼터 교체가 턴포인트
영의 부활은 한 가지 결정에서 비롯됐다. 그는 주간을 앞두고 퍼터를 교체했다. 그동안 사용해온 Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R Tour Prototype을 버리고, 더 단순한 디자인의 Phantom 10.5 Xperimental Prototype을 꺼냈던 것이다.
월요일에 꺼냈는데, 몇 개 쳐보고 그냥 다른 걸 다시 못 넣었어요.캐머론 영
이 결정이 우연은 아니었다. 영과 Titleist 팀은 이 퍼터로 한동안 작업해왔다. 지난 6월 Travelers Championship에서 한 주간만 시도한 적이 있었고, 이후 기존 퍼터로 돌아갔다. 이번에는 차이가 있었다.
02지난달의 실패와 회복
영이 퍼터 교체를 결행한 이유는 분명했다. 지난 4~5주간 그의 퍼팅 성적이 급락했기 때문이다. 시즌 초만 해도 Strokes Gained: Putting에서 상위 10위 안에 있던 영은 지금 100위 밖이다. 지난 8경기 중 5경기에서 그린에서 타수를 잃었다.
지난 4~5주간 답답함의 수준이 상당했어요. 플레이 자체는 괜찮았지만 퍼팅이 형편없었고, 마무리 순위가 받아들일 수 없는 수준이었거든요.캐머론 영
지난달 Open Championship 준우승도 퍼터가 약했다. 최근 9경기에서 상위 20위는 단 1경기뿐이었다. 금요일의 62타는 올해 두 번째 최저 라운드였다.
03솔로 플레이의 신의 한 수
영이 경기 최저를 기록한 또 다른 이유는 J.J. Spaun이 1라운드에서 탈락하면서 생긴 솔로 플레이였다. 처음엔 어색했지만, 이것이 심리적으로 큰 도움이 됐다.
누군가를 기다리지 않는다는 게 정말 좋아요. 자기 페이스대로만 할 수 있고, 기다리지도 않고 서두르지도 않습니다.캐머론 영
그린이 신선하고 골프장 전체가 영 앞에 펼쳐졌다. 아웃 나인에서 5개의 버디를 기록했고, 10번과 11번 홀에서 2개를 더 추가했다. 7개 버디 중 4개는 10피트 밖에서 만들었다. 퍼팅 만으로 거의 4타를 벌었다.
04극적인 마무리
18번 홀에서 영의 이글 시도는 기적 같은 순간을 연출했다. 페이스에 닿으면서 컵 안으로 굴러 들어간 것이다. 솔로 플레이임에도 불구하고, 영은 보이지 않는 경기 상대와 악수하는 제스처로 그 순간의 기쁨을 표현했다. 한 달간의 답답함을 한 라운드에서 씻어낸 것이었다.
05Original (English) — PGA TOUR
ATLANTA – As the putt crested the fall line and picked up speed toward the cup, Cameron Young began the dreaded early walk. This ball was headed for the fringe, he thought, and an opportunity for eagle looked destined to become a disappointing par. "Terrible pace," he would say later.
Good thing the line was right.
Young's eagle attempt ran right into the hole, rattling around and staying down, igniting a crowd around the 18th that had unexpectedly gathered to watch the first tee time of the day finish on Friday.
After a month of slogging through maddening play, culminating in an even-par round on Thursday that put Young in last place of the 30-man TOUR Championship field, the stroke of luck was a welcome one. It capped an 8-under 62 second round that rocketed Young from worst to first on the leaderboard and validated a change he made earlier in the week.
"My level of frustration has been pretty high for four or five weeks," Young said. "I have played okay and putted poorly and finished in positions that I feel like are unacceptable, to be brutally honest."
That frustration led to a notable tweak. Young swapped putters ahead of the week, setting his Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R Tour Prototype to the side in favor of a similar model with a "simpler look." The new putter is the Phantom 10.5 Xperimental Prototype.
"I just pulled it out of the bag on Monday, hit a few with it, and never put the other one back," Young said.
It wasn't as random as that sounds.
Young and his Titleist team have been "working" on the putter for a while. Young briefly put it in play during the Travelers Championship in June, though it was only a one-week swap before returning to his gamer.
After a torrid start on the greens earlier this year, Young's putting weakened considerably this summer. While he was once inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting, Young is now outside the top 100. Young has lost strokes on the greens in five of his last eight events. Even in his runner-up finish at The Open Championship last month, the putter was the weakest part of his game. That week at Royal Birkdale was an outlier in Young's recent form. He has only one other top-20 finish in his last nine starts.
Young's Friday 62 is his second-best round of the year, and while the putter led the way, everything clicked. Young hit 13 fairways and 14 greens. He was 7-under through 11 holes and in a groove. Young credited that, partially, to playing alone. J.J. Spaun's withdrawal during the first round meant one player would play solo each of the next three days. Young, in last place, earned that distinction.
Once Young got past the weirdness of only hearing one name announced on the first tee, that unusual situation worked to his benefit. With fresh greens and the whole golf course in front of him, Young made five birdies on his outward nine and added two more on the 10th and 11th holes. Four of seven birdies were converted from outside 10 feet. He gained nearly four strokes on the greens alone.
"You're not waiting on anybody. You kind of just like – you just keep going. You don't do anything that isn't at your own pace," Young said. "You're never waiting. You're never rushing. In that sense, it's pretty nice."
And as the first tee time out, there's nobody to hold you up. Though it also means nobody is there to congratulate you on a great round. As Young fist-pumped the unexpected eagle on the last hole, he pretended to shake the hand of his invisible playing partner – a moment of levity after a trying month.
