I am Gus Malzahn.
I played golf a lot. I play well sometimes and crappy others. I was never a long driver and my irons were iffy but I had a knack for putting. Get on the green anywhere -- hell, even the fringe -- and a two putt was damn near automatic. I averaged like 1.4 putts per hole when I was keeping up with it. I never spent a lot of time standing around reading the green or any of that. I just had a touch for it. Walk up, look at the hole for a while, visualize the path all the way back to the ball and hit it.
So the guys I usually play with, one of them is putting together his "killer foursome" for this tournament. He's got a couple of big knockers with their 280 yard drives, a guy who was killer with a wedge. And he recruited me to slam the door with putting.
We did practice rounds and I was nonchalantly smacking them in from everywhere. Three to six feet? I'd almost Happy Gilmore it. Wouldn't even get set, just walk up and tap at it.
First day of the tournament I'm my regular self. Putting without a care. End of the day, we're leading. Next day? I've got the jeebs. I'm still making the occasional putt, but I'm blowing some past the hole and leaving others way short. There was a tipping point on that. I had a four foot putt they'd all missed. Was a little difficult, but not anything I hadn't handled before. I left it two inches short. I started pressing and the shots didn't come. We've dropped down the leaderboard but still have a shot at winning. Day 3? I can't putt for shit. I start studying shots. Changing balls. Adjusting my stance.
It took me a couple of years to work my way out of it. I've bought two putters. I've switched putters in the middle of a round. I've used different putters on different holes in the same round.
It was all in my head. Several months ago, I finally just stopped thinking. The last time I played I putted like a champ.
That's where Gus is. Sean is a putter.