THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150621
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, VA. LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Corey Pavin calls beating Nick Price, 2 and 1, at the World Match Play Championships last year ``one of the thrills of my career.''
Big-knocking Fred Couples, who has been the object of long-standing admiration from gee-whizzers who can't hit the ball past their shadow, finds himself watching Price's game in fascination.
``You say, `This guy's unbelievable,' '' Couples gushed Wednesday. ``What he's done is unbelievable. It's fun to watch. Every week he plays, he wins.''
Not quite. But close.
Nick Price is astonishing, and he has the stats to prove it.
Since 1992, he has competed in 54 tournaments world-wide. He has won 16 times, 14 on the PGA Tour, which once kept him winless for eight consecutive years.
Top-10 finishes? Try 33 of them.
Lately, he has been even more devastating, more dominant, than ever before.
Since May 29, Price has played in nine tournaments and won five of them. He took the British Open, the PGA Championship and the Canadian Open last week at venerable Glen Abbey Golf Club.
There hasn't been a performance like that on the PGA Tour since Tom Watson won six times in 1980.
Price is the first player to win the British and Canadian Opens in the same year since Tom Weiskopf in 1973.
He is the undisputed No. 1 player in the world, the primary reason a team of 12 international stars is expected to defeat the United States team in the inaugural Presidents Cup beginning Friday at the Robert Trent Jones Club.
It's hard to believe Price once went eight years without winning on the PGA Tour. These days, he can't go eight days without bagging a loving cup and a six-figure check.
``It's weird, a very strange turnaround,'' he said. ``I went nearly eight years without winning. Now, I can't stop.''
Everywhere he goes, people ask the same questions.
Why? What makes him so good?
They expect a simple answer. A change in grip, or clubs. An increasingly strenuous regimen on the practice tee. A total overhaul of the swing, such as Nick Faldo made several years ago.
Indeed, that's part of the solution. No one works more diligently on his game than Price. His long-iron play is universally admired by his fellow competitors.
And his short game has benefited from the same work ethic and a change of equipment.
He switched putters at the PGA Championship and immediately performed as if the club were made for his hands.
At the Canadian Open, Price averaged 28 putts per round with his ``Fat Lady Swings,'' mallet-style putter. There hasn't been an exhibition of nervy putting like that since Watson's magic wand in the late 1970s.
``That putter has taken my putting to a new level,'' Price said. ``I've found a very effective way to putt. Maybe I'm just making up for lost time. Had I putted like I am now beginning, say, in 1987, I might have six or seven more wins.''
Even dumb luck has played a role.
During the first round of the Canadian Open, Price's poorly struck 8-iron from a fairway bunker hit some rocks in a greenside creek. Rather than stay wet, the ball bounced out of the water and onto the green as though tossed there by a friendly fish.
It was only the second hole of the event, but he took advantage of a rare undeserved opportunity to make par instead of something substantially larger.
And, naturally, he won - by one shot over Mark Calcavecchia.
But that's just part of the story.
What Price credits most for among the most amazing turnabouts in golf history is . . . fatherhood.
``It's no coincidence that (the turnaround coincided with) my son being born three years ago and my daughter a year ago,'' he said. ``I now have the stability of home life. I have maturity. I have responsibility.''
The winning understandably has added to his self-confidence. Unlike other players who have fought celebrity and its trappings, Price has embraced notoriety - and even turned it into a family business.
Upset at his growing inability to handle the deluge of fan requests, Price not only hired a personal secretary earlier this year, he added his wife, Sue, to the staff, too.
``I feel very comfortable with it,'' he said. ``I think a lot of players don't do as well as they could because they fear the outside things that come with playing well. I went so long without it, I have no such fear. I'm enjoying it.''
Price said the only person he ever saw who thrived in the role of hero was Arnold Palmer. He admitted he is working hard to become as gracious a champion as the game has known.
In a world where players and fans have been known to scuffle in parking lots, being gracious is important to Price.
``The hardest thing is the amount of requests you get once you reach this level,'' Price said. ``If you can delegate somebody to do the paper work . . . I mean, I get 400 or 500 letters a month. It's impossible to answer those, play golf and take care of your family.
``You put off responding to people who ask for things for six weeks and you feel terrible - plus it's not a very accurate reflection of your character. I like people.''
And they like him. Even his so-called enemies.
``He's fabulous, every player out here respects him,'' Couples said. ``Nick is someone who's well-liked and whose golf game is above everyone else's.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Nick Price is the main reason the international team is favored in
the inaugural Presidents Cup.
by CNB