Nick Price had his first victory in 15 months last weekend, and he’s hoping it will be the first of many this year
GOLF:Jon Swift
THERE’S a new lady in Nick Price’s life. A fat one. And she has much to do with the Zimbabwean’s changing fortune in tournament play.
The new fat lady is a derivative of the “fat lady” putter he used to such effect in his great years of 1993-4 when he grabbed the first of his three victories in the majors and swept virtually all before him taking over the world’s number one spot from Greg Norman on the Sony rankings.
Not that Price really takes much account of the rankings as a guideline to play. “I think the time span is too long,” is his thinking on the issue. “The game is too immediate for that. It’s how you are playing now that really counts.
“Even when I was world number one, I didn’t think about it too much. I mean, what am I now? Around 20?” When he was hastily told he was at 12, he grinned broadly. “There you are. See what I mean?
“And then take Tiger Woods. He’s one of the best players in the world right now and what is he? Down around 40 or something.”
But if Price is unconcerned about where the world rankings place him, he is deadly serious about getting back to winning tournaments again. He showed this to telling effect by taking the field apart in the chaotic Dimension Data Pro-am at Sun City last week. And the new putter, though an important element, is just a part of it.
A very important part admittedly. “It started coming back in Phoenix three weeks ago,” he said. Price finished third there and followed that with a second place behind the elegant Fijian Vijay Singh in the South African Open at Glendower.
“I’m starting to get the line and pace back,” he said. “It’s when you can roll in those 20-footers that you know.”
Certainly he knew in the Dimension Data when the last putt for a final round 69 and tournament score of 20-under went in as the gathering black of the African night began to finally cloak the Pilansberg hills.
“At that stage it didn’t matter to me,” said Price, grinning. “I could see the hole perfectly.”
That is certainly an exaggeration. In a lightning-bedevilled event that stretched into the gloom, Price was not a totally happy man at the end even with a winner’s cheque of nearly half a million rand in his account amd a stretch of 15 months without a win behind him.
In this regard, somthing will have to be done to the format at the Sun City tournament, which mixes professionals and amateurs over four days of tournament play. Price, inherant gentleman that he is, hinted at this.
“The tempo of play could have been faster,” was his cryptic assessment. Inded. It took a shade over three hours for Price and Ireland’s Padraigh Harrington to complete the first nine of a final day where weather was always going to be a problem.
Harrington suffered from the amateurs walking on his line and slowing play up to a crawl, and dropped shots on both the finishing holes in the half-light of encroaching nightfall as he and Price raced to the final green, hurrying the amateurs along. But then came the moment when the final putt – and night – fell.
Price had broken his drought and was looking towards getting back on the winning trail in America.
This is obviously a matter of concern to the American-based star. “I know the critics will say that the win didn’t come in the States,” he said. “But a win is a win anywhere, especially in a field of this strength. I think the way I am playing right now would have given me a chance to win anywhere in the world.” Just so.
There is the old fire back in his eyes: Price has, for all the world, the cold-eyed glint of a gunslinger out on the course, a direct contrast to the easy amiability he invariably displays once he has packed his clubs away.
One other major factor in Price taking a trophy for the first time since the Zimbabwe Open back in 1995 is that he has shaken off the nagging sinus problems which sapped his energy and concentration.
“I really had a lousy year last year,” he said. Another reminder of that was the hand-written message Price carried on the brim of his peaked cap. “Hi Squeak” it read, a message to his caddy Squeaky who was diagnosed as having cancer last year.
Perhaps that setback to the man who has partnered him for a major part of his career has also made Price even more determined than ever. “My focus this year is definitely on the majors,” said Price after leaving David Frost a distant eight shots behind at Sun City. “If there is a major I would like to win it is the Masters. But I’ll take any one I can get.”
And with the help of a fat lady totally in tune and a growing confidence, who would bet against Price grabbing a handful this year.
ENDS