From the outside, Patton Kizzire appeared to have won the Procore Championship at Silverado Resort by 5 shots with a 2-under 70. And he carried it out. It actually happened.
It will go down as his third PGA TOUR victory and first in more than six years in the record books.
If you dig a little deeper, though, you’ll find that this was the first PGA TOUR event to resemble “What About Bob?”, the Billy Murray/Dreyfuss comedy about alternative medicine from 1991.
Kizzire has been working with Amiee Smith-Schuster, a new mental coach, for about a month now. Smith-Schuster lives close to Kizzire’s homeland of Sea Island, Georgia, and uses some really unusual approaches. On Thursday, he went barefoot to the driving range, on Friday, he hugged a tree, on Saturday, he sung a Disney song, and on Sunday, he gave a rap performance.
And he would gladly repeat the entire process.
“I was a little skeptical, but it’s just bringing light to life, not taking yourself so seriously, doing silly stuff and just breaking the ice, you know ?” Kizzire, whose advantage was down to two shots twice, stated.
Of course, the physical aspect was also significant. In terms of Strokes Gained: Putting, Kizzire lead the field. As usual, he used his irons perfectly. His instructor, Justin Parsons, was on the scene earlier in the week, and together they devised a driving range game where Dean Emerson, Kizzire’s caddie, would have to perform ten pushups each time the boss hit his precise number on the launch monitor.
In the end, Emerson completed 150 pushups.
“His superpower is distance control, so Silverado is a perfect course for him. I remarked that he appeared to be among the world’s top players.”Parsons said.
Though Kizzire looked nothing like the man who missed six straight cuts early in the season and whose season ended short of the FedExCup Playoffs with two more missed cuts, even Parsons knew the main reason why Kizzire lapped the field at the Procore.
“He now has a clearer understanding of how to approach his career thanks to Amiee. He hadn’t gotten the most out of our well-done work on his swing, but he’d just given birth to his second child a year and a half ago, and juggling two children and a husband can be challenging.”Parsons said.
Ask his colleagues, many of whom watched Kizzire finish at Silverado from behind the 18th green, and they’ll tell you that one of his enduring qualities has been to burn a touch too hot for his own comfort in addition to his excellent iron play.
At Smith-Schuster’s behest, Kizzire produced a rap song before Sunday’s final round, which was highlighted by his eagle chip-in at the fifth hole after David Lipsky (71, solo second) had cut the lead to two. As evidence, Kizzire and caddy Emerson sent her a video of their performance, in which they performed songs that the mental coach had created and sent to them. This occurred on the clubhouse balcony at approximately 12:30 on Sunday.
“She simply kept us informed about his mental state and had me reaffirm it when we were outside. She said things like, “You’re unflappable.” builders of confidence. She was excellent.”Emerson said.
“She’s a bit crazy. She’s got us doing some strange things.”he added.
Before Round 3, they had to give her the video and sing “Heigh, ho, heigh, ho, it’s off to work we go” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. For Round 1, Kizzire had to go barefoot on the grass; for Round 2, he had to embrace a tree.
“What on earth was she going to make us do today, I wondered? “Is there any water on the course?” she asked. I thought to myself, Will she make us go swimming in our underwear?
We would record the movies and email them to her, and that would be our daily preparation. I would meet him at around 12:30.”Emerson said.
It’s difficult to disagree with the outcome—a hard-fought, eagerly anticipated win that saw Kizzire jump from 132nd to 70th place in the FedExCup. And it would be difficult to find someone who was enjoying the situation more than he was. He was so far ahead that he obliged when three children asked him for a ball as they were coming off the 17th green. Balls were spilling out and bouncing on the cart road before he picked them up and gave them to the excited children.
The atmosphere was very different from The RSM Classic the previous year, as Kizzire was only granted conditional qualification for the current season after finishing just outside of the top 125.
“I’ve always wanted to do this.”he said with emotions.
He made it to the Napa prize ceremony in less than a year later.
In addition, he rapped, played Disney karaoke, assisted in choosing the range sans shoes, hugged a tree, and laughed at himself till the bank.
“Going into today with a four-shot lead, I knew it would be tough not to get ahead of myself. I noted, “I am here, I am now,” in my yardage book. I kept returning to that, and it gave me the discipline and awareness I needed.”he said.
As the mental trainers frequently advise, “Be where your bare feet are.”
