Last Saturday’s round of 63 has etched Dufner’s name into PGA history. He is now tied with some of golf’s greatest players. He missed a 3-foot putt on the 18th hole. If he had made it, he would have become the first ever, on the PGA Tour, to score a round of 62. But, as many of us know, that’s golf.
The story about Dufner is that this laid-back personality type of guy, known as the zombie, has seemed to be one of those people who has always had to prove his worth the hard way.
Jason is a Cleveland, Ohio native. After his high school graduation, he decided to go to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Dufner was a walk-on for the golf team at AU, and the rest of the story is an easy guess on how that worked out.
Interestingly enough, this PGA season has been one to watch because week after week there really hasn’t been one dominant player who has consistently been near the top of the leader boards and because of that, Dufner wasn’t really that big of a surprise.
One has to admit that his calm style is pretty interesting because he shows very little emotion. I have found that golfers like him are too good to be true. I have played golf with a few friends who have that laissez-faire approach, a personality trait that has always amazed me. Jason Dufner is that kind of athlete who takes things as they come.
The sport of golf is an interesting game. Like tennis, golf could be dominated by a few individuals, and in the past that was true: Ben Hogan, Walter Hagen, Arnie Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tommy Watson and the old Tiger Woods.
This season, the dynastic type of golfer has become an anomaly. Like the teams of tradition, in professional sports: the New York Yankees, the Boston Celtics, the Montreal Canadiens and the Dallas Cowboys are just a few examples. Making a comparison of individual sports to teams sports is most likely not fair.
There have been golf legends like Hogan and Nicklaus who were sports figures compared to great teams. Tennis has a couple right now: Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic. They have dominated the women’s and men’s tournaments.
Right now I don’t feel that golf will see that for a while. I do feel that Woods, 37, and Mickelson, 43, will return to consistency in the near future. They’re both dealing with the age factor, so it might be a brief run for both as frequent major PGA champions. By that I mean, they could win three majors in a season and I feel Tiger has the edge with that scenario.
Back to Dufner. His game, compared to Tiger and Phil, seems to be more cerebral. That is to say he might be thinking more about putting the ball in a position that will suit his game and not let his ego get in the way. He is not a Mickey Mantle type of player, sort of how I see Tiger Woods, who is the power hitter who swings for the fence, making a big splash for the finish of the game.
Can Dufner be a Jack Nicklaus type of player? I don’t think so, but I do think he can be one of those guys who is around the leader board and is in the money one tournament after another compared to what has happened to Rory McIlroy (who has plenty of time for redemption at 24) and Sergio Garcia, 33, who may be labeled as one-timers with the possibility of one more career major.
It will be interesting to see how Dufner’s career evolves. He’s like the isolated golfer out hitting balls on an almost empty golf course and there is no one else around to distract him while working at the game. It’s practically a form of meditation. There is only one focus: what is mentally going through the mind and how it relates what you’re doing physically. What a great approach to the game of golf. I hope we see more of him in the future. Even though he’s 36 years old, he has a few years before he goes on the senior tour.
