CARL PETTERSSON CHASED DOWN Dean Wilson on the back nine Sunday to win the RBC Canadian Open, his fourth PGA Tour title and a nice comeback for a good player who struggled in 2009. Pettersson made the cut on the number and then posted a 60 in the third round. Not much was happening on Sunday until the North Carolina resident got to the 8th and then bang, a birdie, followed by five more birdies on the next six holes.Pettersson said he was a consistent top-30 money winner on the PGA Tour until he decided to try to take things up a notch. He looked in the mirror and saw Mr. Pudgy. Maybe getting in better shape would help him improve his game, he reasoned.
“I thought, well, I’ll get fit,” Carl said. “So I actually lost 30 pounds, and my game completely left me.”
Don’t head off to the fridge just yet. There’s more.
“I guess the timing of the swing and everything was thrown out,” he added, “and I really struggled in ’09.”
That makes sense to me. It’s happened to other players. David Duval comes to mind.
Whether the swing, equipment, putting, mental game, or, in Pettersson’s case, fitness, there’s not a one-size-fits-all answer for this crazy game. Look for Carl in the buffet line rather than the fitness trailer.
“I’m not your typical Swede, as you know. I don’t have a 28-inch waist, and I don’t eat bananas at the turn, stuff like that.”
The workouts didn’t work out. But that’s OK, because now his game is coming back and he’s the Canadian Open champion.
“You know, I’d love to be fitter,” Carl said, “but I’m not going to go down that road again.”
−The Armchair Golfer
(Quotes via ASAP Sports at RBC Canadian Open)
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