When 49 of the world’s top 50 players convened in Florida last week as part of the field for The Players Championship, much of the talk wasn’t about Tiger or Phil or Vijay, but a far more unheralded player, Greg Owen. The previous Sunday, the Englishman was part of a stunning finish at the Bay Hill Invitational – on the verge of his first PGA Tour victory, Owen three-putted on the 71st hole, including a careless lip-out from 2 feet for bogey. Then, with a chance to make a par on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, Owen had his putt go in and out of the hole once again, handing Rod Pampling, the champion at the 2004 International, his second tour win. Before play began in Ponte Vedra Beach, Owen talked about his recent trials and tribulations.
Anthony Cotton: That wasn’t quite the way to get your name out there, was it?
Greg Owen: Not really. I think anyone would have wanted a different result – well, they might – but these things happen in golf. You don’t expect them to happen, they just happen. That’s just golf. It’s disappointing, but I’ll take a lot of positives from it.
AC: People talk a lot about learning experiences. Does this fall under that category?
GO: I certainly learned to mark my ball next time. I learned a lot about myself, which is the main thing. I learned I can win out here, and that’s a big thing. I played really good. I hit a lot of good shots, but I made one silly mistake and it cost me the tournament. But if I hadn’t played so well I wouldn’t have been in that position. There were a lot of positives to come from it, but it still hurts.
AC: I think that kind of got lost in the end, how well you had played and even putted all day.
GO: Exactly. Everything came out as that one mistake – that’s what everybody saw, it’s what was highlighted. People forget about the shot that Rod hit at 13 (an tee shot that went out of bounds, leading to the loss of a four-shot lead), which was just as bad, just as big a mental error. But all that got sidetracked because mine came out at the end. But I’ll go out there now believing that I can win.
AC: What was your approach for The Players Championship?
GO: Just forget about it. I just want to go out and play well again. If I can maintain the form I was in, I’ll put myself in position to do well again. That’s all you can ask for, to keep putting yourself in position and to learn from your mistakes.
AC: Have you watched it at all?
GO: I watched it Sunday night, that’s it. It’s not like I just reached over and tried to tap it; I walked over and lined it up properly. I didn’t mark it, but it was a 2-foot putt – you don’t expect that to happen. And it hit a lot of the hole. It’s not like it just totally missed it. And I had a great putt on 18 and it did the same thing. You can hit a good putt and it can come out like that.
AC: It seems like the putt on 18 was just as bad because it was such a great putt.
GO: Exactly. You can say, “OK, I made a mistake,” but to come back and hit a putt like that and to get robbed again! I mean, two horseshoes in two holes – how often does that ever happen?
AC: Do you have a mental coach?
GO: I just started seeing Bob Rotella two weeks ago. The improvement I’ve made in that time tells me I have the game to do it, I just have to believe in myself.
AC: Have you talked to him about the ending?
GO: He called Sunday night. He told me I have to remember that I was the best player on the course on Sunday. I played great, I know I did. It was one putt. That’s all it was, and the whole thing changes.
AC: What has the reaction of other players been?
GO: Everybody has come up to me and said, “Well done.” The response has been fantastic. Darren Clarke talked to me in the scorer’s tent. There’s not a lot they can say at the time, but they’ve all recognized how well I played, rather than how stupid I was. We all do silly things now and again, throw away tournaments we should win. It’s nice to see even the higher-ranked players come over and be supportive and say fantastic things.
AC: Do you remember what you thought when you saw it happen to someone else?
GO: You’re just stunned. You go, “Oh. I can’t believe he’s done that.” That was the same way I looked at myself: “I can’t believe I’ve done it.” You don’t mean to do it. It was a tap-in. I tried to tap it in, and it just came out.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
