Alan Shipnuck

And...

I wouldn't recommend making a double bogey every Sunday at a major championship, but sometimes it almost relaxes him.

It did last year.

It almost felt like this one did.

He's like, okay, I've screwed up.

I've lost the lead.

I'm three back.

Now I can just relax and play golf.

It would be nice if he didn't have to go to the depths of despair, but it's just what works for him.

And then he just played with more freedom.

And

You know, they weren't showing the ball speed numbers like they will at a tour event.

Augusta frowns on that in the telecast, but there's no doubt that he was picking up speed as the round went on because you could see it in his swing.

He was just letting go of the club where it felt like early in the day, he was kind of steering it and holding on a little and almost afraid of the mistakes.

And then once he makes the mistakes, he's like, okay, this isn't so bad.

I've been here before.

And it's a funny psychological trick.

He's lucky that...

that, you know, no one, no one pushed forward and, you know, three strokes on Sunday, a third of the way through the round is not nothing, but, um, it was, you know, the, the wind came up, the course was playing tough.

It was dry.