PUTTING UPSIDE FOR WAITE

Sunday, Jan 24, 2010

A final round of five-under 67 with no three-putts in the final round of the New Zealand PGA Championship at Clearwater today has left 45-year-old New Zealand professional Grant Waite delighted with his decision to putt left-handed.

After putting right-handed throughout his long career and struggling for confidence on the greens for most of those years, Waite determined the Clearwater tournament would mark his arrival as a left-handed putter.

And what a success it proved. He had just one three-putt – at the 10th in the third round – and he said he couldn’t recall when he last achieved that.
 
``I only played rounds last year without a three-putt. It was a nice tournament putting for me - I had just one three-putt all week and that saved me four or five shots from the word go.
 
``I started the week with a little trepidation teeing off into the unknown and being a little unsure how this was going to work. I started feeling better as each hole went by, then settled down to where there wasn’t even a thought in my mind anymore.
 
``It was more about just trying to make the putts – I felt good over them and because of that I was hitting some nice putts and getting a good feel for the speed and read of the greens. This has been a tremendous upside for me because I’m still very early in the process,’’ Waite said.
 
``I’m playing against guys who have played for 10 to 15 years putting one way and I’m basically starting again. It’s nice to have a certain level of success and really important for my esteem as a putter. I’m trying to improve that area and feel there’s a chance it could be a strength of my game.’’
 
Waite had five birdies and no bogeys in his last round. Two birdies were from short putts, but he holed a 24-footer at the fourth and a 20-footer at the 13th. His last was from nine feet at the 16th but he felt pleased when he dropped.
 
``There was a lot of break and swing downhill and it needed touch and feel. That’s how you shoot five-under and I haven’t been able to do that for the last two or three years because my putting has been so poor and I haven’t made the bonus putts.’’