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OK I know he is very creative and his short game gets so much praise but then why is he 110th on the PGA tour in scrambling? Overated or not? What do you think? I think he is overrated. Just because he is creative and occasionally pulls of an amazing shot doesn't make him the most amazing wedge player in my eyes.

He's just coming off a long layoff and hasn't practiced a lot in the off-season. He says himself that he's been playing very poorly, especially the short game.

Yeah, I'd hate to be 110th in scrambling on the PGA Tour :)

I am sure you would if you were the 3rd ranked player in the world. Imagine how many shots you would have saved if your scrambling was in the top 10 or even top 20:)

Very overrarted. His creativity has cost him many wins and even a major or two.

It's possible that his long game has something to do with it. Maybe he is missing in spots where it is harder to get up and down.

How many times have we seen him pull off a miraculous green-side shot only to miss a 3 or 4 footer for par? Those missed putts account for alot of the scrambling stats. Simp

It wasn't so much his creativity that cost him so dearly but more the execution of the shots he wanted to create.

I've always thought that Phil's short game prowess was overstated. They don't talk about it quite as much as they did a few years ago, though.

thanks, Thats exactly what I was trying to say.

Oh man. Funny thing. Last night I was watching my 2004 Masters Highlights dvd and saw Phil on Sunday. He was in the sand and hit the ball just a few yards - still in the sand. They then cut to Vijay making a birdie. Next clip shows Vijay in the sand, swing, and his eyes look down and around himself, and you realize he's following his ball. Okay, I'm completely OT now, but clips like that make me feel better about my game.

Hey, I just checked and Phil's up to 110th


Phil is fun to watch. I once saw him hit this flop shot with his lob wedge. The ball came straight up, almost flipped his titleist visor off his head, and came down so soft - like it had a parachute about 8" from the cup...........and yes, he made the putt.

Look at his driving distance this year compared to last season. He's dropped some distance and doesn't seem to be hitting his driver as accurately.

It too early in the year to start calling him overrated. You don't get the "best..." title in one season, you do it by performing over many years at a consistently high level. Phil is off to a bad start and a number of things in his game aren't working right now.

He seems to be missing more fairways this year, his driving distance is down considerably, and his wedge game isn't as sharp as its been the last two or three seasons. I think he'll come around by the time the U.S. Open gets here. Having said that I'm not writing off his short game skills based on a rough start to a very young season.

Phil's entire game is off this year. He decided to go with a longer driver and then switched back. He missed with his irons at Torrey Pines and it cost him dearly on Sunday. And his short game has not been up to his normal standards. I would expect him to round into form in the next several weeks. He's too good a player not to eventually play better.

It also goes to show that even the best players in the world go through periods where their games aren't as sharpt as they'd like for them to be.