Going into the final hole with a commanding two-stroke lead, you would think nothing could go wrong for leader Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, or for that matter if it was any of the professionals that we are so used to watching these days, especially if the last was a less-than-imaginative, lengthy 612-yard Par-5 with the grass on the green thick enough to leave traces of the ball, and certainly not giving much hope for anything more than a birdie, if not always a regular par at best.
Already at the penultimate Par-4 17, Jaidee switched to safe-play mode by teeing off with an iron obviously hoping to just par the last two holes and the title would be his. The commentators of the TV channel certainly thought so even as the then very self-assured Jaidee was shown walking on the fairway to the ball for his third shot landing on the last green, smiling at the camera and waving to whoever was watching at home.
If you recall, Rocco Mediate of the US was more or less doing the same at the US Open 2008 going into the last hole where he unusually missed the putt and thereby having to enter a play-off with Tiger Woods to whom he found the trophy eventually slipped off his grip.
As it happened on this New Kuta Golf & Ocean View Golf Course of Bali for the Jakarta Informasi Wisata Indonesia Open, what would have been a simple pitching shot to the hole for Jaidee, it went too long and nearly found the wall of the club house. The putt back to the hole for the 4th.; about 12-15 feet again went too long for comfort, 5 feet off the hole. Was Jaidee, who would have become the Asian player with the most wins ever on European Tour if he bagged this, nervous when found himself under the spotlight?
The story of this article is to highlight the need to maintain the level of concentration however assured it might seem of what’s on the scoreboard, at least till the last putt. It may seem self-concluding when the fast-approaching-40 Jaidee could well had been nervous after not winning big for the last few years. We leave you to come to your own conclusion based on your own golfing experience and judgement on what ought and ought not happen.
Jaidee, for all the confusion that must have surrounded him after finding his approach shot having gone unusually too long and then immediately repeated it on the putt to the hole for a safe par for the last hole must count himself lucky at this crucial moment of play having had to face a young if not extremely talented opponent in Alexander Noren of Denmark. Noren had just made an eagle followed by a birdie in the last two holes making him the only player that could have any chance of taking the title from Jaidee. It could have become another classic finish of the last US Open if Noren had not missed the birdie putt and Jaidee did not make the 5-foot putt for a par. But was it nervousness alone that caused the uncalled for ‘excitement for the spectators’, anxiety for Jaidee?