I am hoping most of you got to enjoy the finish of the Northern Trust Open last week. I know the finish got me excited about the golf season. If you missed it there was a three way playoff between Bill Haas, Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson. To get into the playoff Keegan and Phil both made awesome putts on the last hole and the crowd was going nuts. There were three things that stood out to me while watching the end of this tournament.
The first important thing I took from the finishing holes and the playoff was how important putting is to this great game of golf. There were not only awesome putts made on #18 but on the second playoff hole Bill Haas made a bomb to win and Keegan missed a shorter putt to lose.
The second important thing was how important course management is to being successful at this game. 
I thought Keegan and Phil both left it in bad places on the second hole of the playoff and I thought Bill would hit something short of the green into the fairway so he would have a straight forward shot to the pin. I was wrong and Bill hit it into deeper trouble off the tee. The only shot Bill had was to come out side ways to the middle of the green. Despite what I thought was a bad choice off the tee, he made up for it with a great decision by hitting out to the middle of the green. Bill was then rewarded with an awesome putt to win and Keegan missed his shorter putt. Proof that course management does pay off.
The third important thing is to never give up from wherever you hit the ball. If you make good choices and make some putts anything can happen. Just ask Bill Haas.
