lyleoross
* Ace Member *
Figured it out, the PDGA sent me the email, it's not that Ricky Chokes, he Wilts under pressure. "Despite being the world's second-ranked disc golfer, the knock on Ricky Wysocki in recent memory has been that, come crunch time, he wilts under the pressure."
I don't mean to sit on the fan boy fervor here by putting up what the PDGA wrote, but there is a good bit of evidence. ON the other hand, send all hate mail to [email protected].
The difference between a bad shot, or even a couple of bad shots and something more, is context. Ricky has had a number of tournaments where on one hole, late in the round, he melted, oh wait, wilted. Up to that "hole," he was clearly in it, was trading shots and chasing. At that hole, he would add two to four strokes, and you could tell, he was done. I've already given two cases, but he also did at Worlds, but it was much less spectacular. He started round five two strokes down. Traded strokes with Paul up and down the course until hole 17. On 17, he chained out from 15 feet, weak side. On 18, he hit a tree about twenty feet out off the tee, went deep into the shule, hit another tree in the shule, and came out with a double bogy. Within four throws he had added three strokes and it was pretty much over. After that he was fine except he dropped ground the entire last round. Now that one is harder to see, Paul was so spectacular that anything anyone did was going to look weak in comparison. The truth is that at least at USDGC and EO, you can argue that Paul didn't win as much as Ricky lost.
Now, I'm gonna admit, at some level, it is a feel thing. Up to the "hole" you felt it was a match. It felt like at any time, the lead could change. After the "hole" you could tell it was over. Is that because it gave Paul just enough that he could lay off? I don't know. It wasn't that Ricky would stop at that point, it just felt different. Now, I've not looked at every major from last year, but I'm thinking there had to be at least one more instance of this. Could be wrong.
Clearly, if Ricky was having something go wrong, he fixed it at Santa Cruz. BTW - Paul does it too. It's different for Paul. When he is down, typically to Ricky, getting late, he takes risky shots. He doesn't have this one hole wipe out, he just stops making the birds because he is, IMO, reaching to hard. Saw it at least twice last year, and at GBO this year.
I don't mean to sit on the fan boy fervor here by putting up what the PDGA wrote, but there is a good bit of evidence. ON the other hand, send all hate mail to [email protected].
The difference between a bad shot, or even a couple of bad shots and something more, is context. Ricky has had a number of tournaments where on one hole, late in the round, he melted, oh wait, wilted. Up to that "hole," he was clearly in it, was trading shots and chasing. At that hole, he would add two to four strokes, and you could tell, he was done. I've already given two cases, but he also did at Worlds, but it was much less spectacular. He started round five two strokes down. Traded strokes with Paul up and down the course until hole 17. On 17, he chained out from 15 feet, weak side. On 18, he hit a tree about twenty feet out off the tee, went deep into the shule, hit another tree in the shule, and came out with a double bogy. Within four throws he had added three strokes and it was pretty much over. After that he was fine except he dropped ground the entire last round. Now that one is harder to see, Paul was so spectacular that anything anyone did was going to look weak in comparison. The truth is that at least at USDGC and EO, you can argue that Paul didn't win as much as Ricky lost.
Now, I'm gonna admit, at some level, it is a feel thing. Up to the "hole" you felt it was a match. It felt like at any time, the lead could change. After the "hole" you could tell it was over. Is that because it gave Paul just enough that he could lay off? I don't know. It wasn't that Ricky would stop at that point, it just felt different. Now, I've not looked at every major from last year, but I'm thinking there had to be at least one more instance of this. Could be wrong.
Clearly, if Ricky was having something go wrong, he fixed it at Santa Cruz. BTW - Paul does it too. It's different for Paul. When he is down, typically to Ricky, getting late, he takes risky shots. He doesn't have this one hole wipe out, he just stops making the birds because he is, IMO, reaching to hard. Saw it at least twice last year, and at GBO this year.
