Goydos: 'You just have to accept the guy beat you'
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- It was another good walk spoiled.
Or was it?
The man who became a cult hero a dozen years ago as the focal point of a book on the days and nights on the PGA TOUR walked away from the windblown 2008 PLAYERS with everything but the trophy.
Yes, there was a hole in Paul Goydos' heart. If he hadn't chunked the chip shot on the 18th hole. If he had made that par putt. If he hadn't bogeyed 14 and 15 and lost a three-shot lead. If that wedge at the 73rd hole had only carried blasted yard longer . . . .
But Goydos isn't an "if" kind of guy. He measures success in a simple way -- it's taking advantage of the opportunity in front of you. A failure would be not preparing the best you can to do the best you can on a given day.
And folks, Sunday wasn't a failure.
Yes, he could have been sitting in front of everyone Sunday night with a heavy piece of crystal, a five-year exemption and a ticket to all the majors. He could have been THE PLAYERS champion.
But he wasn't. Sergio Garcia was.
He was the runner-up.
Did it hurt? Like hell. But Goydos is pragmatic, not to mention very glib and a little cynical. They call him "Sunshine," out here, and not for smiles. This is a man who meets things like this head-on, with sarcasm and humor not with clichés or excuses.
Look at the stats, he said. Hang the world rankings or the Superstar vs. Journeyman talk. Garcia simply played better.
And as for having the lead and not closing it out?
''The key is to have the lead with no holes to go,'' Goydos said. "Until that happens, you're just playing.''
Sunday afternoon, it took 73 holes to decide THE PLAYERS champion, and Garcia was the man.
Yes Goydos did things like chip-in from no-man's land between bunkers on the 10th -- "The pitch shot on 10 was, you know, obnoxious,'' he said -- and made a great decision that led to a birdie at 12. He watched his lead shrink as Garcia finally found his putting touch.
Yet everything hung in the balance, until Garcia followed Goydos' watery tee shot on the only playoff hole with a dart to four feet.
"To be honest with you, when the ball went in the water, the tournament is not over,'' Goydos said. "Sergio ended it with his next swing, but you could make a nine on that hole; we've seen it. So you've got to just stay and hit the shot, and hit it as good as I could and it went in the water.
"I had already hit it in the water on Thursday, so I already had a good yardage feel for the drop area. You move on. But then Sergio hit a shot, and I was kind of getting in the way at that point.''
Goydos smiled.
"This is why we play, to have a chance today,'' he said. "I'm reasonably pleased with how I played again, 2 over par after three and played the last 15 holes on a very tough day even par, and I felt like I got beat. Instead of the shot Sergio hit in the playoff, people may talk about how Goydos hit it in the water, blah, blah, blah, but Sergio hit it two feet. I got beat; that's golf.
"I played good golf, and as people have found out, that doesn't mean win, unfortunately. You can't control it. No defense; I couldn't tackle the little guy. He's probably not little, that's probably not a fair thing; he could probably take me pretty easily.''
He laughed.
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"But you can't knee-cap him,'' he said. "You just have to accept the guy beat you and move on. I got a chance to play with him two or three times already this year, and he's right there on the precipice of great things.''
And Goydos? He's worked his way from a name on a pairing sheet four days to place into a lot of hearts.
Just think about it. You know he's a Dirtbag -- as in the self-appointed nickname of the Long Beach State baseball team of which he's a fan. He wore their hat all week.
He's first-and-foremost a divorced father of two girls who took a year off to play Mr. Mom when they needed him most. Yes, he had injuries and was going through a divorce, but it was the easiest decision he ever made because being a parent is a responsibility and the most important thing you'll ever do.
You know he marked every ball this week with "MOM" and, down the stretch on Sunday, looked into NBC's cameras and said Happy Mother's Day to her -- and every mom.
You know he's won two tournaments -- the 1996 Bay Hill Invitational and the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii. He hasn't really contended since that second win -- until this week.
You know he doesn't like the term everyman because he plays golf for a living and that's not every man. He's not a guy working an extra job to support his family or a guy making minimum wage. He just champions them every chance he gets.
He doesn't have a club contract because he likes what he plays. He wears his own shirts or those from schools he attended or taught at -- he was a substitute teacher before golf. You might see Poly High, Jordan High or his alma mater Wilson High. And most definitely Long Beach. And, in case you're wondering, the Dirtbags won Saturday night and lost Sunday afternoon.
He's probably the second-smartest player in the PGA TOUR locker room behind Joe Ogilvie and fiercely loyal to Long Beach where he got a degree in Finance in 1988. His father worked at Long Beach State for 25 years, and his mother still lives across the street from the campus.
"I remember when I was a kid going to basketball games and Jerry Tarkanian was there,'' he said. "It's a great school for what it is, and that's a school where average Joes can go get an education to improve themselves, and I think we talk about the Harvards and Stanfords of the world, and a lot of the people the people that are making changes in the world are the Long Beach States with limited means that go out and better themselves, and I don't think we give schools like that enough credit.''
Nor guys like Goydos.
In losing Sunday, he won. And we're not talking the $1.026 million.
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