Big Play with Steve Bosdosh

WHO: BooWeekley

WHAT: Missed39-inch putt

WHERE: 556-yardpar-5 18th hole at PGA National

WHEN: Final roundof the Honda Classic

WHY

Weekley's chokecould be a career killer. Plenty of Tour pros have lost by blowing short puttsand never recovered. They want to delete the bad vibes, but it's oftenimpossible. Weekley might never stop thinking about what he tossed away. Toavoid becoming another Doug Sanders, who was never the same after yipping awaythe 1970 British Open, Weekley must view his performance positively: He played71 awesome holes and missed one putt.

STEVE'S TIP

Shorten theBackswing On the Little Ones

On short pressureputts, players often take a backstroke that's too long, then decelerate throughimpact. Instead, take a shortened backstroke and accelerate going through. Topractice, put a tee behind the ball even with your back foot. Take the putterback short of the tee, then make a smooth forward stroke. The abbreviatedbackswing may feel too short, so resist making a jerky jab at the ball.

Steve Bosdoshteaches at The Members Club at Four Streams in Beallsville, Md.

... AND ANOTHERTHING

"Tough trackslike PGA National, which produce high scores and wild action, should be usedevery week, but players would complain because they don't like to lookbad."

MinorSensations

Mark Wilson'splayoff win at the Honda Classic marked the 200th PGA Tour victory by aNationwide alumnus, but it isn't the only new entry in the records of golf'sminor league. On Feb. 23, Ben Bates, 45, made the cut at the HSBC New ZealandPGA Championship, the 193rd time he had finished in the money, a feat thatpushed him past Steve Haskins for the record of most cuts made on theNationwide tour. If Bates, who's playing in his 15th season on the Nationwide(he played on the PGA Tour from 1998 to 2001), tees it up in 40 more events, hewill also break Haskins's record for the most career starts (370) on that tour.In honor of both Wilson and Bates, here's a peek at other notable achievementslisted in the Nationwide tour record book.

Category	Holder	When/Where	Record
Earnings/Career	Chris Couch	--	$984,975
Earnings/Year	Troy Matteson	2005	$495,009
Wins/Career	Matt Gogel, Jason Gore, Sean Murphy	--	6
Wins/Year	Sean Murphy	1993	4
Consecutive Wins	Jason Gore	2005	3
Seconds/Career	Chris Smith	--	9
Seconds/Year	Chris Smith	2000	5
Top 10s/Year	Jerry Kelly	1995	15
Consecutive Cuts Made	Chris Perry	1993--96	31
Consecutive Bogey-free Holes	Heath Slocum	2001	106
Longest Drive	Bubba Watson	2004/Gila River Classic	422 yards
Oldest Winner	Dick Mast	1999/New Mexico Classic	48 years, 6 months, 17 days
Youngest Winner	James Oh	2003/Mark Christopher Classic	21 years, 5 months, 27 days
Oldest Player	Gary Player	2006/BMW Charity Pro-Am	70 years, 5 months, 28 days
Youngest Player	Michelle Wie	2003/Albertsons Boise Open	13 years, 11 months, 7 days
Oldest to Make Cut	Jack Nicklaus	2003/BMW Charity Pro-Am	63 years, 3 months, 13 days
Youngest to Make Cut	Gipper Finau	2006/Utah Energy Solutions	16 years, 20 days

GOLF MAGAZINE TOP 100

TEACHERS POLL

Was Ernie Els wise to switch clubs so close to theMasters?

Yes ... 19%

No ... 31%

Doesn't matter ... 50%

" It's the Indian, not the arrow, and Ernie is achief."

--KEITH LYFORD AUBURN COUNTRY CLUB

TWOPHOTOS

COURTESY OF NBC (WEEKLEY);

DAVID CANNON/GETTY IMAGES (ELS)

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

ERICK W. RASCO (BACKGROUND, TEE, BOSDOSH, 2)

PHOTO

ERICK W. RASCO