woody austin approaching record

Golfers are notoriously superstitious – about outfits, clubs, head covers, balls, ball markers, tees, how many coins they keep in their pockets.

It’s a time-honored tradition across all sports. When an athlete is going good, it’s folly to tempt fate and change the routine.

Unless, of course, he’s Woody Austin.

Austin, 55, a straight shooter with his mouth and his clubs, just isn’t given to superstition, even though he’s riding a streak of 36 consecutive rounds of par or better. If he completes next week’s Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona, without a blemish, he’ll break the PGA TOUR Champions record of 38 shared by Jay Haas and Colin Montgomerie.

Austin – gasp! – changed putters after the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the annual season opener. Yes, 30 rounds into his streak and the man made what any player would consider a major change in the lineup.

An avid user of Scotty Cameron putters, Austin returned to a notchback Cameron without the bended shaft and a modified plumber’s neck.

“I didn’t putt well at all in Hawaii with the putter I finished the year out with,” Austin said on Tuesday. “I switched down in Florida. Hawaii was really ugly. So I used the putter I putted with when I won in Mississippi in 2013 (Austin’s last PGA TOUR win at the Sanderson Farms Championship). It was the first time I putted with it with the new changes in my putting style.

“I putted brilliantly the past two weeks. I’ve not played well. I played one good round out of those six rounds – the first round in Boca (the Oasis Championship), a simple 65. This past week (Chubb Classic) the course was really easy and I played terribly. I just putted well.”

Austin tied for fifth at the Oasis and tied for fourth at the Chubb, climbing to seventh in the Schwab Cup standings. The changes in putting style he referred to were implemented in September, combining tips from Dave Stockton Jr. and Hall of Famer Lee Trevino. Stockton told him he wasn’t looking at the hole enough; Trevino said to trust his instincts and do what made him feel most comfortable over the ball.

Austin believes he made more 15- to 20-foot putts over the past two weeks than he did in all of 2018. And when a good player gets the putter going, well, his confidence builds and anything becomes possible. Things such as setting all-time records.

“I didn’t know anything about the streak until my youngest son mentioned it,” Austin said. “I was like, what? There’s nothing I’ve ever done in golf that’s history-making. Nah, they’ve gotta be reading something wrong.

“But it’s a byproduct of how well I can still play at times. Last year, the last few months I played really, really solid the whole time. This year, the one weak link in my game, my putting, has helped me out. But I’ve also kept the ball in play and haven’t done anything crazy.”

A player has to do a lot of things well to shoot par or better for 36 consecutive rounds. Austin always has been one of the better ball-strikers in all of golf. He’ll tell you the only thing that ever has held him back is his putting, and it’s true. During his lengthy career on the PGA TOUR he finished in the top 80 in putting average only three times. He often ranked well below the top 100.

His PGA TOUR Champions streak of rounds of par or better began after a 1-over 73 in the first round of last year’s Boeing Classic. Austin had gone out in 3-over 39 – “I think I missed every putt on the front side,” he said – but an eagle on the 18th hole signaled better days ahead. He shot 5-under 67 on Saturday and closed with a 69 on Sunday to climb into a tie for 19th, and Austin was off and running.

No one knew at the time what a shame that 73 really was. Austin had shot par or better in his previous eight rounds, meaning his streak would be at 45 now if he’d just picked up one stroke in that first round.

Regardless, Austin has been a force since the Boeing Classic in August. In the 11 events that have followed, he has a victory and seven other top 10s. Nineteen of the 36 rounds have been in the 60s, with a low round of 64 twice.

His scoring average during the streak is a sizzling 68.7. He’s 99-under par, with 165 birdies and seven eagles.

“I’ve never downplayed the fact that I feel as though … from a player perspective I always felt like I’m one of the best ball-strikers that ever played,” Austin said. “The problem is you never would have seen that because without the putting it doesn’t matter how good a ball-striker you are. You guys are final finding that out with Tiger (Woods). You thought he was unbelievable for 10-12 years because not only was he the best player in the world but he was the best putter.

“Last year I said at the beginning of the year he still was the best player in the world and people looked at me strange. But he still does everything I consider golf to be about. He still can control the ball. He still can play from right to left, left to right. He can play the ball down, he can play the ball up. Most guys don’t do that anymore. Most guys now are one-dimensional, and you can be that way with the golf ball. But now Tiger isn’t the best putter anymore. He played great last week (at the Genesis Open at Riviera) and finished 30th or 25th (actually 15th). I did that for my whole career, and nobody thought anything of it. Now even the best golfer in the world struggles because he doesn’t get the ball in the hole. If you can’t get it in the hole, you’re just average at best.”

Austin is looking forward to the challenge of continuing the streak and taking the record. He’s a past winner at the Cologuard; it actually was his first PGA TOUR Champions title, in 2016. Omni Tucson National is one of the tougher tests on tour, and Austin figures it again will come down to staying hot with the putter.

“I’ll be honest. I’ll be thinking about the streak,” Austin said. “When I’m on the golf course, if I’m struggling, it will be in my head. The people who say that they wouldn’t be thinking about it are liars or better BS'ers than me.”