Inside the Field: the Memorial Tournament

Fatherhood changes a man. It should. It’s supposed to. Yet, for all of the unprecedented emotion and intimacy the father feels because of and for his newborn child, it takes time for the evidence to emerge. If it is noticeable right away, it’s in contrast to what has been known about the man ahead of it. Too rapid, and a cynic — even the man himself — could question it. But what if it could be measured quantitatively? It’s possible for professional golfers and there’s been a theory linked to it for nearly 25 years. It’s called the Nappy Factor. Nappy is the English word for diaper. Keith Elliott is the originator, or as the kids say, the OG. He’s a native of Liverpool, England, never has lived anywhere else and claims only three addresses throughout his life. He was born in 1941. Bettors, fantasy gamers and many golfers themselves know all about the angle, but they probably don’t know much about its inventor. It was in Elliott’s “The Golf Form Book 1996” where the phrase debuted. In the section dedicated to “Top 20 Tips for Successful Golf Betting,” the Nappy Factor slotted No. 1 with this passage: “Becoming a father, especially for the first time and especially of a son, can really have a profound effect on any sportsman.” Contributing to the value of its placement in the book even then, immediately following were the leading variables used for all prognostication today – current form and course history, respectively. Before he graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in economics, served as a broadcaster and analyst for golf, horse racing and other sports, and carved a niche as a successful motivational speaker in the banking industry, Elliott was in the same year and sauntering the same halls at Quarry Bank High School as John Lennon. The two never shared a classroom, but Elliott was familiar with Lennon’s circle of friends and pre-Beatles band, The Quarrymen. Imagine … The notion and application of the Nappy Factor came together for Elliott when his first son, Steven, was born in 1978. Times were tough in Liverpool and for him personally, but it wasn’t until he retired at age 55 in 1995 that he had the time to consider sharing his research. His dedication to it since has yielded over a dozen books on golf analysis. “The results of being extremely busy – the day job as a lecturer in economics and doing other things,” Elliott recalled during a phone interview during the hiatus due to the pandemic. “So, I was developing all of these thoughts and ideas tangential to that.” In “The Golf Form Book 1996,” Elliott cites numerous circumstances of athletes in multiple sports who benefited from the Nappy Factor. Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Steve Elkington and Larry Mize were among those listed, and they represent notables only on the PGA TOUR dating back generations. With a litany of examples supporting the theory over time and despite the simple genius of the perspective, Elliott still isn’t surprised that there wasn’t any focus on the psychological advantage of fatherhood until he tackled it. Physical fitness, equipment and other generally accepted components of the craft of a touring professional already were established and largely accepted. “It came at a time when life was very different,” Elliott said. “We’re talking 25 years ago. To talk about men having mental skills and having problems with anxiety or depression, well, they ‘should pull themselves together.’ There were some real tough, hard, old styles and attitudes.” Jack Nicklaus also was included in Elliott’s original grouping of U.S.-based golfers for whom fatherhood seemed to have been a springboard. His first son, Jack II, was born in September of 1961. Of course, the elder Nicklaus already was a can’t-miss star, but he also already was a father at the age of just 22 when he prevailed at the U.S. Open in 1962. It was his first career PGA TOUR victory and one of three that season. Despite his promise, the 18-time major champion-in-the-making hadn’t yet developed the kind of grit that seasoned competitors require to understand how to win and keep winning. It’d come in time and as he and his wife, Barbara, kept having kids – five to be exact – the patriarch was on his way to 73 career titles. Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a professor of sports psychology at Austin Peay State University and contributor to PGATOUR.COM over the years. He reinforces Elliott’s observations by using The Golden Bear as an ideal model. “I think there’s a couple of ways to go about it,” Steinberg said. “Lee Trevino used say that Jack Nicklaus was the greatest player in his spare time. Even though he was kidding, Lee made a good point. The idea is that if you put all of your ego eggs in one basket, all you are is a golfer. Then, when you step on a golf course, you feel a lot more pressure. But if you have a lot of different ways to feel good about yourself – other than being a great golfer, Nicklaus was a course designer, he was a club designer, he was an equipment designer, and he also had his family; he always said that he tried to [attend] every basketball game. What that does for Jack is, when he steps on the golf course, he doesn’t feel like he has to win because he feels good about himself from a variety of angles. He gets his self-esteem from a variety of venues; therefore, he feels less pressure.” Just as there was only one Jack Nicklaus, there was only one Payne Stewart. Moments after sinking the winning putt of the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Stewart walked over to Phil Mickelson, then a 29-year-old still in pursuit of his first victory in a major. Mickelson’s wife, Amy, was due to give birth to their first child at any time, so he competed in the tournament with a beeper in his golf bag so as to be alerted if she went into labor. After shaking hands, Stewart clutched Mickelson’s head, held it steady, and said, “Good luck with the baby. There’s nothing like being a father.” This was what was on Stewart’s mind just a few seconds after he converted the winning putt. The next day, Mickelson’s daughter, Amanda, was born. The major waited a little longer. Mickelson’s first trophy presentation in a major didn’t arrive until the 2004 Masters, the year after he finished third for the fourth time at Augusta National Golf Club. Elliott had called his shot. See, Mickelson’s third child – but his first (and only) boy, Evan – was born in March of 2003. “That win, which I predicted in the autumn in advance when he was 33-to-1, really got me going personally as someone who realized that these things really were true at the highest level,” Elliott said. “[The first-born son] can make all the difference without any doubt at all.” Because legalized betting in the United Kingdom has been a part of the culture for decades, the phenomenon of the Nappy Factor has had time to be absorbed by fan and competitor alike. In 2017, Tommy Fleetwood was enjoying a career year on the European Tour, in part with the knowledge that he was going to be a first-time father. On Sept. 28, Franklin was born. A week later and in advance of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the Englishman with the flowing locks legitimized Elliott’s long-time theory while acknowledging how Danny Willett won the 2016 Masters just 12 days after his first son, Zachariah, was born. “I can’t believe after going through that, you can win the Masters the next week,” Fleetwood said. “It’s an unbelievable couple of weeks. Those things do happen. When you’re on a high, I think when your mind’s not fully on golf, it might work in your favor.” “It’s happened to other players, hasn’t it? They call it the Nappy Factor, don’t they? So, why can’t it happen to me?” Fleetwood finished T25 that week, but he went on to win the Race to Dubai in November and joined the PGA TOUR that fall. The proof not only is overwhelming, it continues to grow. It’s not scientific per se, but the advantage isn’t lost on numbers guru and five-time PGA TOUR winner Bryson DeChambeau. “It was funny because Bryson and I were sitting on a tee at Memorial talking about it,” said Andrew Landry, he himself a beneficiary of the Nappy Factor. “He threw out a percentage of the guys who, as soon as they have a kid, win. And I was like, ‘You would know that stat!'” After losing his card following the 2015-16 PGA TOUR season, Landry regained it with a phenomenal 2017 season on the Korn Ferry Tour. He carried the momentum into a T7 at the Safeway Open to launch the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season. A T4 at The RSM Classic and a playoff loss at The American Express solidified his job for the following season, but he punctuated the form with his breakthrough victory at the Valero Texas Open on April 22, 2018, not far from his home in Austin. It wasn’t a coincidence that his first child, Brooks, was born just one month prior. “100%,” said Landry. “I think that it was time for me to really grow up and be a dad and be someone that he can look up to. Be like, ‘My dad won a PGA TOUR event’ or ‘My dad played the PGA TOUR for X-number of years.’ That was my goal as soon as we found out that we were having a baby, and especially a boy.” “All my ducks were in a row. It led into positive thinking, some emotions of having a child, some emotions of playing some really good golf, just being with my family. That was the first time that my parents, my brother, his wife, their kids, all of my friends, my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, my aunts and cousins were all there for that one particular week.” Nick Taylor won the Sanderson Farms Championship in what was just his fourth start as a PGA TOUR member in November of 2014. He needed the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to secure his card, but the victory couldn’t be ruled out as a carryover from a strong finish to the KFT season. The Canadian has retained his playing privileges since, but he didn’t capture his second TOUR title until the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year. For style points, he held off the likes of Jason Day and five-time tournament champion Phil Mickelson to win by four. His first child, Charlie, was born last October. Perspective was key just three weeks before the win, as Taylor sat T18 through two rounds of The American Express before missing the 54-hole cut. After a week off, he finished T49 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a steady but unspectacular performance. “Most times, I’d have been pretty choked for a couple of days,” he said of the missed cut, “but we hung around that day and drove home the next day. It was kind of like, you just reset because you have to change a diaper, you have to put your son down for a nap. [The failure] kind of goes away much faster, which I think is great for golf because there’s a lot of failure, obviously with missing cuts and not winning very often, it’s now easier to forget about that stuff quickly.” Not that those around him didn’t see it coming. “We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl,” Taylor added, “but once Charlie was born, my parents and (wife) Andie really thought that it would help me in the sense of gaining perspective, not fully living or dying by each tournament. Not that I was terribly that way but adding that aspect, I heard multiple times that it’d be a great thing for me and my career. And I agreed. “For me to win so quick on the turnaround, everyone looks like a genius.” When the results make it look so simple to understand, positive performances connected to it shouldn’t be ignored. Jhonattan Vegas began the 2015-16 season on Past Champion status. Occasionally parlaying sponsor exemptions into success and capitalizing on other opportunities on merit, he started strong, but by no means was he a lock to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. After taking a month off for the birth of his first child, Sharlene, in March of 2016, he reconnected and returned to the winner’s circle at the RBC Canadian Open in July. Two months later, he competed in his first TOUR Championship. “In economics, there are laws, but they’re all statements of tendency.” Elliott said, “Whereas in physics, there are laws that have universal truths. With the Nappy Factor, there is a strong tendency, like a law in economics, for this to be the case. That doesn’t mean that it’s always the case.” “Ultimately, it’s a matter of judgment. Numbers never give you an answer. They give you an assistance towards an answer, and then other things become relevant.” And despite the cliché, winning isn’t everything. It’s a bonus. During his second year to regroup on the Korn Ferry Tour, Carlos Ortiz opened the 2018 season with a runner-up finish among five top 20s in the first eight events. Perhaps distracted by the imminent birth of his first child in late May, he missed his last four cuts before Sofia arrived. After several weeks off, he concluded the season by going 12-for-12 with six top 25s to retain his PGA TOUR card. Meanwhile, in his last 10 starts before his son, Beckham, was born in December of 2018, Bronson Burgoon recorded a pair of career-best T2s and qualified for first Playoffs. And so on. The connections are as old as, well, Father Time itself. “I tell people that when you have kids, the world goes from black and white to color,” Steinberg said. “[Parenthood] just gives life a greater meaning. You’re doing everything now for the future and for the kids.” Professionals golfers are no different. They’re human, too. “Most of the things that I believed then have come about – the importance of mental skills, the importance of getting your mind right,” Elliott said of when he introduced his theory. “Everyone in all sports at that time was 100% on the technical angles of golf, [soccer], American football, whatever it was. That has all changed, slowly but surely, and that has enabled people to be more willing to consider the Nappy Factor and sometimes realize in advance it would work. “I never thought about it at all until after my son was born.”

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BRADENTON, Fla. - Collin Morikawa has almost always excelled from tee to green. It was the putting that was an issue. Thanks to a lesson from a World Golf Hall of Famer, that was far from the case at the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession, where Morikawa shot a final-round 69 to beat Brooks Koepka (70), Billy Horschel (70) and Viktor Hovland (67) by three. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Morikawa’s bag? "Short game and putting - I mean, that's it," J.J. Jakovac, Morikawa's caddie, said of the big difference in his man this week. "He always hits the ball exceptional. I mean this week was really good, I'm sure he finished number one in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, but that happens often. But it's just putting making those putts. I mean he putted beautifully all week." Morikawa did lead the field in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green. Also in SG: Tee to Green. His work on those greens, where he was 213th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the season, made the difference. He was 10th in SG: Putting at the WGC-Workday, not only holding his own but gaining strokes on the field. And he did it using a "saw" putting grip, rotating his right hand around to push the club through the hitting zone, that he picked up from Mark O'Meara. He also got a chipping lesson on site from NBC Golf analyst Paul Azinger. "I heard about Mark O’Meara using this saw grip," said Morikawa, who like the PGA TOUR Champions pro is a member of The Summit Club in Las Vegas. "And out of the blue for 18 holes at TPC Summerlin, I was like, let’s give it a shot. And I made nothing. Like I made zero putts. "But for some reason, I couldn’t sleep," he continued. "And that’s never happened to me. I’ve never thought about putting or golf this much in my life, because it felt so good. It just felt so different on how I was putting that I knew I was heading down the right path." Added caddie Jakovac, "He said it felt so good it freaked him out." Morikawa saw O'Meara at the club the next day, and they spent around an hour together. "He felt comfortable with it," O'Meara said from the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona, where he finished T8. "He said it's the best he's felt on the greens. I'm not surprised to see the kid win. He's got an unbelievable future ahead of him. Look, I had mentors, a lot of the great players before me helped me along the line, and I'm always there to help young players." Most young players would love to have Morikawa's problems. But while he had won the Workday Charity Open in July and the PGA Championship in August, Morikawa, 24, had cooled considerably. He'd missed the cut at the U.S. Open and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, his hometown tournament. A T44 at The Masters Tournament was underwhelming. He wondered aloud whether he was working hard enough. "I got complacent," he said Sunday. "I was getting lazy." Eager to shake things up, he used his new saw putting grip from start to finish at The Genesis Invitational in L.A. Although Morikawa finished T43, he still felt encouraged. "He was dead last in the field in putting," Jakovac said, "but he was like, ‘It felt really good.' He just kept saying that. He's like, ‘Are you worried about it?' I'm like, ‘Not at all. Your stroke has great flow to it. It looks better to me like that, you're releasing the putter through the ball.'" The new stroke was golden at The Concession, where Morikawa averaged 27 putts per round and gained nearly four strokes on the field. His impeccable ball-striking kept him out of trouble on a course where disaster lurked around every dogleg and doomed the chances of several players. Hovland might have won outright, or at least forced a playoff, were it not for his quadruple-bogey 8 on the ninth hole, his last of the day, in the second round Friday. Cameron Smith was in contention until suffering a third-round 77. Bryson DeChambeau, who won the 2015 NCAA Men's Championship at The Concession, opened the tournament with a 77. Morikawa kept the big numbers off his scorecard, making worse than bogey just once, a double-bogey 6 at the 16th hole Thursday. He led the field with 27 birdies. "His advantage is superior ball-hitting on a course that has massive penalties for missing it," Jakovac said. "It's being in control of your golf ball, which he was, and then you add on top of that he started to make putts and chip it good, it's a good combination." The WGC-Workday wasn't just Morikawa's fourth win, it was also a reminder of the brotherhood of the TOUR. Players wore red and black to honor Tiger Woods, who suffered compound leg fractures in a single-car accident in L.A. Woods said on Twitter that he was touched; players at The Concession said it was the least they could do for a man who transformed the game. O'Meara himself was a beneficiary. Having sharpened his game while living in Orlando and practicing with Woods, O'Meara captured the 1998 Masters and Open Championship - the last two victories of his 16-win PGA TOUR career. Morikawa has been a beneficiary, too. As with many players his age, Woods inspired him to pursue golf. They now share an agent, Mark Steinberg, who told Morikawa to go close out the tournament the way Woods would. "I think I did," Morikawa said.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – During a special presentation today at TPC Sawgrass, the PGA TOUR unveiled plans for its expansive new global home, which will consolidate area employees under one roof in Ponte Vedra Beach. Commissioner Jay Monahan made the announcement with Florida Governor Rick Scott, highlighting the PGA TOUR’s long-standing commitment to Northeast Florida and the positive economic impact it has and will continue to make in St. Johns County. The new 187,000 square-foot headquarters, which is expected to be completed in 2020, will be located on a portion of the TOUR’s existing property on County Road 210 and surrounded by a large freshwater lake, echoing the iconic ‘Island Green’ 17th hole from THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Designed by acclaimed London-based architectural firm Foster + Partners, the state-of-the-art building will house the more than 750 employees who currently occupy 17 buildings throughout the area, with the capacity to accommodate several hundred more. According to Foster + Partners, the design embraces new ways of working and collaboration for the PGA TOUR, as it responds to changing media landscapes and audiences in the future. “We are excited for the opportunity to continue to grow in St. Johns County and believe the PGA TOUR’s new home will be a sense of pride for the entire area and state of Florida, while allowing us to become more efficient in the way we communicate, collaborate and operate as an organization,” Monahan said. “Although we have a growing international presence with offices and tournaments around the world, the PGA TOUR and our employees are very proud to be active members of The First Coast and Ponte Vedra Beach community, and call this area home.” Melissa Glasgow, Director of Economic Development for St. Johns County said, “Golf is woven into the very fabric of our community, and having the world-renowned PGA TOUR headquartered here only serves to strengthen that bond. As the largest corporate headquarters in St. Johns County, the TOUR project represents an innovative public-private partnership that will generate extraordinary long-term benefits. We thank the TOUR for their continued investment in our community.” The PGA TOUR moved to Ponte Vedra Beach from Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s with three employees who occupied a house in the Players Club development in Sawgrass. As the TOUR grew, it built the West Building, then the East Building – located at the entrance to TPC Sawgrass – that have served as the TOUR’s primary offices for more than 30 years. Continued growth has forced expansion to multiple buildings throughout Ponte Vedra Beach and St. Augustine. Florida Governor Rick Scott said, “I am proud to announce the PGA TOUR has chosen Ponte Vedra Beach for their new global headquarters and the creation of 300 new jobs. While this global company could have invested in any other state, they ultimately decided that Florida was the best location to grow their business and create new opportunities for our families. Our work to cut taxes and reduce burdensome regulations is helping Florida compete for these important jobs wins. I look forward to seeing the PGA TOUR’s continued success in Florida – the golf capital of the world.” Monahan revealed the first set of renderings of the TOUR’s new global home via a video documentary. Foster + Partners describes the global home as being a pair of parallel three-story bays flanking a collaborative atrium. The glazed façades and atrium fill the building with natural light, also allowing for views out to the surrounding landscape throughout the structure. Underscoring the sustainable focus of the project, the building is targeting a LEED Gold rating. The roof has five large skylights that bring natural light into the building, and it is also envisioned that the roof will accommodate a series of photovoltaic panels that will support the building’s energy needs. Nigel Dancey, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, said, “Inspired by the lush greenery of TPC Sawgrass and the beautiful Floridian light, the new PGA TOUR headquarters is designed as an extension of its surrounding landscape. As the Global Home of the PGA TOUR brings the organization under one roof for the first time in decades, it signifies the progressive spirit of the TOUR.” The two building bays will be connected by 20-foot-wide bridges that encourage chance meetings and allow for informal gatherings along the edges, without impeding the flow of people. Similar flexible workspaces are located on the wide terraces along the atrium and the far ends of the building on the upper floor, catering to the need for flexible workspaces to support an increasingly mobile workforce. “As we strive to reach an increasingly diverse, more global fanbase and position the PGA TOUR for future success, we must be equipped to meet the ever-changing landscape in international business, media and technology,” Monahan said. “Moving forward with this beautiful new global home in Ponte Vedra Beach will allow for more creative, efficient collaboration among our staff and partners, and will set us on the right path toward achieving our goals as an organization.”

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