Lincicome's Approach on 18th at Nabisco

[Carlyle Rood]

Did anyone catch the end of the Nabisco Championship?  I was toggling between it and the Houston Open and was lucky enough to catch the last hole.

Brittany Lincicome eagled the 18th to win.  Her shot highlighted one of my favorite features in golf architecture--when you can attack a pin without aiming at it.  She hit a fairway "wood" onto the 18th green about thirty feet left of the pin and allowed the contours to feed the ball to the hole.  She ultimately had a 2-foot putt for the victory.

It's also one of the things I appreciate about Augusta National.  I'm really looking forward to the tournament this year.  I wonder when the tournament is this year?  Guess I'll check in next week and find out...

[Brad Klein]

Oddly enough, in setting herself up for an approach into the 72nd green, Cristie Kerr left herself with an angle from the far left of the fairway that created too much downslope/downdraft for her third shot; it nearly went in the hole but ended up about 20 feet away because of the excessive left-to-right slope there. Lincicome's shot, by contrast, fed around the back and horse-shoed in perfectly.

[George Pazin]

Did anyone catch the end of the Nabisco Championship?  I was toggling between it and the Houston Open and was lucky enough to catch the last hole.

Brittany Lincicome eagled the 18th to win.  Her shot highlighted one of my favorite features in golf architecture--when you can attack a pin without aiming at it.  She hit a fairway "wood" onto the 18th green about thirty feet left of the pin and allowed the contours to feed the ball to the hole.  She ultimately had a 2-foot putt for the victory.

It's also one of the things I appreciate about Augusta National.  I'm really looking forward to the tournament this year.  I wonder when the tournament is this year?  Guess I'll check in next week and find out...

I was doing a bit of the same switching and turned it on just as she was about to hit. Was there any discussion with her caddie planning the shot? I wonder if most PGA pros would opt for the moonball approach.

Pretty terrific putt by Christie Kerr, btw.

[Gary Slatter]

It was a great shot on the 72 nd hole, to win!  From her expression I assumed the result was better than expected.  It was difficult to follow on TV after it landed. 
Good finish for deserving player.

[Philippe Binette]

On Kerr approach,

for the analyst, it was the best angle, that is a 2 D analysis
in reality, it was the worst angle because of the slope, that is a 3D analysis...

always try to set your self against a slope, into a slope and if possible perpendicular with the slope, so you don't have to fight the side bounce

Great shot by Lincicome, I don't know if she used the slope on purpose onr not but she hit the good yardage at the right spot

[JESII]

always try to set your self against a slope, into a slope and if possible perpendicular with the slope, so you don't have to fight the side bounce

Phillipe,

Interesting thought there...how do you feel about tacking around flanking hazards? There are often times that I think, for a high level player, it is easier (mentally) to position a tee shot such that you have to go straight over a bunker that might angle in alongside a green so the uncertainty of the perfect distance AND direction is mitigated...thoughts?

[Anthony Gray]

  Has there ever been one better on the 18th in history to win?

  Anthony

[JESII]

I believe Karrie Webb holed it out from the fairway a couple years ago to win, I just don't know if it was to win by 1 or 3...big difference when comparing it to yesterday's shot.

[John Nixon]

Great shot by Lincicome, I don't know if she used the slope on purpose onr not but she hit the good yardage at the right spot

I would say she did it on purpose. Verne Lundquist, the announcer, seemed to be anticipating a good result once it hit the green. If he was expecting it, I'd sure like to think a player would be aware of it.

[Paul Carey]

For those of you that did not see the spectacular shot:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=lincicome%20shot%20eagle&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

[Brad Klein]

Karrie Webb's eagle in 2006 did not "win" the event. It enabled her to tie and then to go on and win in the playoff.

[JESII]

Brad,

Correct...now which is "better"? Holing a wedge to stay alive? Or, hitting a 210 yard shot to 3 feet in the scenario found yesterday?

[Anthony Gray]

Brad,

Correct...now which is "better"? Holing a wedge to stay alive? Or, hitting a 210 yard shot to 3 feet in the scenario found yesterday?

  I would say winning trumps staying.

  Anthony

[John Nixon]

Brad,

Correct...now which is "better"? Holing a wedge to stay alive? Or, hitting a 210 yard shot to 3 feet in the scenario found yesterday?

  I would say winning trumps staying.

  Anthony

Lincicome's shot was not to win, but provided the chance to tie, possibly to win. She still had to make the putt. Kerr's making her putt was impressive as well.

[Philippe Binette]

About angles of attack,

on more receptive greens, I almost prefer to play directly over hazards from inside 150, then having a hazard along the left or right side... when playing straight over it, I make sure to fly the hazard and don't have to worry about it after... a hazard on the side is always there...