Earlier in the week (I think, it might have been on Sunday) they'd done a bit about Weaver talking about how he grew up playing an absolute go for it all the time and make a ton of birdies sort of game. That worked for him as a junior, but it got him in a lot of trouble once he arrived at Cal. They mentioned in one tournament at the ASU Karsten course he racked up 10 penalty shots. His coach sat him down after that and bluntly told him those penalties cost him being an All American.
Now, as they told this story they were trying to make the point that Weaver had taken that lesson to heart and had become a much better player because he had learned to control those instincts. Maybe he has. It's a little too simplistic probably to point at two instances of him hitting driver when he might otherwise have laid back as evidence that he hasn't changed. He did seem to have a good idea of when it was best to play to the center of the green vs. going right at a pin, for example.
Anyway, I had no problem with him going with driver on #37. I almost wonder if maybe he shouldn't have hit 3 wood (but still in the context of trying to drive the green), though I obviously have no idea if he could hit that club that far. I watched most of the week and every time I saw him on that hole he hit driver. You have to go with them what brung ya, after all.
On #17/#35 he'd also hit driver, which the announcing team hated, but I didn't totally think was a bad decision either. First, the announcing team was embarrassingly wrong about a lot of what they were saying. They openly questioned if he could even carry the first set of corss bunkers, but even I as a viewer could remember that when he reached 17 on Thursday (and he was the one who was 2 down at that time), he hit driver over the cross bunkers, hit iron into the green , and made a birdie that started his own three-hole run like Fox had yesterday. Again, if that was his strategy for the hole, I see no reason to go against it. If he hit it in the fairway he could have knocked it on in two and then the screws would have really been on Fox. If he missed the fairway he could lay up, just as he did.
All that said, both kids played their hearts out. Fox's ability to keep making big putts when he had to have them was remarkable. Both of them played golf they can be very proud of down the stretch. I certainly hope that after a bit of time, Weaver will be able to see that.