Even top PGA Tour players must adjust their definition of "winning"

 

CROMWELL, Conn. – Absurd as it might sound at first, success in professional golf cannot be defined by winning. The proof is the record of the most successful golfer of his time.

 

Tiger Woods has won 79 PGA Tour events since turning pro in 1996, including 14 major championships. Only Sam Snead has won more tournaments (82), and only Jack Nicklaus more majors (18). What that means is Woods has a PGA Tour winning percentage of .259.

 

In 305 starts, arguably the second-greatest golfer in history has won barely 25 percent of the time. In most sports, that kind of winning percentage gets you fired. In golf, it makes you immortal.

 

That speaks to the difficulty of the endeavor this week at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. It also speaks to one of the most difficult adjustments a touring pro must make to have long-term success.

 

"I won as a rookie, and I didn't win again for four years," said Brandt Snedeker, who has been on a hot (but winless) streak since failing to make the cut at The Players.

 

"I used to live and die over whether I won. I was pressing too hard, pushing the envelope, taking chances going for birdies when par was the goal. It took time to understand what winning was out here."

 

After Snedeker won the 2007 Wyndham Championship his rookie year, he figured he knew what winning was. It was winning.

 

But if the greatest player in the past 30 years loses 74 percent of the time, maybe there was more to this idea of winning than Snedeker understood.

 

"You have to have a clear understanding of what's successful," said Snedeker, who since The Players has tied for second at the Colonial, tied for sixth at the Byron Nelson and eighth at the U.S. Open. That's a winning run, absent actually winning.

 

"You have to see it as having a chance on Sunday. Putting yourself in position is all you can do. I've done that the last three starts.

 

"A lot of times you can play well, but someone runs off a string of birdies like Kevin (Streelman, who won the Travelers last year by closing with seven consecutive birdies to swamp the field). Nothing you can do. You won't bat 1.000 out here."

 

Indeed not, so your definitions of winning and losing have to be adjusted because most touring pros were dominant high school and college players. Snedeker was no exception at Vanderbilt or during his three years on the Web.com Tour before getting his PGA Tour card in 2007.

 

After exploding on the scene as a rookie, that four-year drought taught him a professional golfer judges himself based on cuts made, top-10 finishes and Sunday opportunities, not on the size of his trophy case.

 

That doesn't mean winning becomes unimportant. You just realize how seldom that opportunity actually appears, as it did a month ago at the Colonial. You come up short on those Sundays, as Dustin Johnson did at the U.S. Open, you don't forget it.

 

"When the opportunity is there, you want to close it out because you don't know how often you can get into the mix," Snedeker said. "I'm still upset at not finishing off the Colonial. The hard ones to forget are when you lose it. I know how bad Dustin has to be feeling. It's not easy to shake that.

 

"Many times you play well, but someone plays better. You can accept that. But when you have a chance to win and don't close it out, it bothers you.

 

"I've been on a good stretch, but I was disappointed at my back nine last week (at the U.S. Open). I was 2-under at the turn and had a legit chance to get to 5-under. There were three getable holes on the back nine and if you managed the other six you could get to 5. Any time you have a chance, you want to put your best foot forward."

 

Finishing top 10 at the U.S. Open is the definition of that, but after double-bogeying 14, he realized a "win" would not be defined by hoisting a trophy this time.

 

"I went from having an outside chance to having no chance," Snedeker said.

 

Yet Snedeker shot 2-under 68 with six birdies and was 1-under for the tournament, which often is enough to win the U.S. Open. So did he lose or win at Chambers Bay? To be successful this week, Snedeker has to realize it was the latter. He's "won" his past three outings. He just didn't leave with a trophy.

 

"I've been on a good stretch since the Players," Snedeker said. "(Swing coach) Butch (Harmon) and I have been working on a couple of little things. I'm swinging well right now. I still have my misses, but now they're more contained."

 

To a great extent, that's what success is on tour. It's keeping your misses, and expectations, contained.

 

This article was written by Ron Borges from Boston Herald and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.