The Power Fade Golf Blog

Congrats to LG for the great shot on POTW 6, but I’ve seen you hit em closer than that. Wolf Creek????

However, I had already tee’d up a POTW myself, so let me title it POTW 6.5.

This week’s POTW goes to a great golfer. To the man took down Tiger Woods in a playoff, congratulations. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the birdie putt on 18 go in to force the playoff. I couldn’t believe it when the playoff ended abruptly after a birdie on the first hole. Congratulations to you; you did great, and you took down the giant.

NO! I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT GRAEME MCDOWELL!

Congratulations to Billy Mayfair for taking Medalist honors in PGA Tour Q-School last week. Until Graeme McDowell’s performance at Sherwood, Mayfair was the only person who had ever beaten Tiger Woods in a playoff.

Mayfair has played some great golf lately, taking a 54-hole lead at Quail Hollow as a Monday qualifier. And, last week, he earned a new Tour card after shooting -18 for Q-School.

Even though Mayfair won a US Amateur Championship in 1987, to me, he will always be remembered for his stellar performance in holding off Tiger Woods to win the 1998 Nissan Open. Eerily similar to McDowell’s win over woods at the Chevron World Challenge, Mayfair sunk a birdie putt on 18 and on the first playoff hole to beat Woods.

But, more than McDowell, Mayfair beat Woods in the prime of his career–when he seemed to have a stranglehold on the rest of the golf world. While any PGA win is impressive, McDowell’s win just doesn’t carry as much weight–and, in some way, it makes what Mayfair did seem less on an accomplishment. Mayfair’s win was like the NY Jets winning the Super Bowl with Joe Namath–it was a foregone conclusion that it just wasn’t going to happen. Woods was the best of the best and doing what he did best–chasing down a championship. But, somehow, Mayfair overcame all the pressure and just played his game. And, in the end, he won.

So here’s to you Billy Mayfair. I’m looking forward to seeing your name at the top of the leaderboard in 2011–and, I can’t wait to see another duel with Tiger.