Sometimes the perfect shot can be disastrous

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Paul Goydos plays his tee shot on the 17th hole during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship.

What will you remember about the 2008 season? That was the question we asked PGATOUR.COM staffers and freelance contributors, who responded with a series of short essays that we will post during November (click here for the archive link).

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2008 Year in Review archive

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Paul Goydos stood in the center of the fairway on the 481-yard 14th at TPC Sawgrass, staring down a white flag 200 yards away, knowing that if he hit the green with his 5-iron, he would be in the drivers' seat for $1.7 million, a five-year PGA TOUR exemption, and everything else that comes with being THE PLAYERS champion.

A typical 5-iron for TOUR players is lofted at 27 degrees, and Goydos, holding a two-shot lead, hit the best one of his life, the kind of center-face contact that travels up your arms and into your brain with one automatic message: "Flush." Whether it's poker or golf, this five-letter f-word is synonymous with near-perfection, and that is what Goydos' 5-iron was.

The shot flew straight at the flag. Alas, given the adrenaline that was pumping throughout his 43-year-old body, his ball landed about a foot too far. It bounced off the back of the green and down a slope that is slicker than an oil-drenched runway. Bogey is usually an automatic result when your Titleist flies over a green on the Stadium Course, and that is exactly what Goydos made.

With his two-shot lead now down to one, Goydos needed to par the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff.

Goydos has played his entire TOUR career into a 20-mph headwind. The 5-foot-9 product of blue-collar Long Beach, Calif., paved an unlikely road to the TOUR, riding years of municipal golf into a career defined by a reputation as a man who gets 100 percent out of his talent.

Goydos' game is marked by a penchant for fading his tee shots into whatever fairway is spread out before him, and on the 18th tee at TPC Sawgrass, that fairway is only about 90 feet wide. Imagine hitting a shot into a space barely big enough to hold a dozen SUVs, with water on the left and freshly planted trees on the right.

On this blustery Sunday in Florida, it was also beseeched by 15-mph winds blowing in from the ninth hole, and Goydos knew that he would have to aim over the lake to get his ball into the fairway. Miss the fairway, and prep for a playoff.

He missed the fairway. Bogey. Playoff.

In the playoff, we all know the story: Sergio Garcia flushed a sand wedge to three feet, leaving Goydos with a losing hand after his wedge plopped into the water. Garcia raked in a pot of almost $2 million, but Goydos' self-depreciating humor and gritty play will be on everyone's mind for the 2009 PLAYERS when he will get another shot at recreating that 5-iron that flew just a tad too far.

Ryan Smithson, a Site Producer for PGATOUR.COM, has seen his share of 5-irons fly over the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass.