Golfers are a superstitious bunch. The famous Jack Nicklaus had to play with three coins in his pocket. Tiger Woods always wears red on Sunday. Tom Weiskopf used flat tires on the par-3s. Payne Stewart always went for the new ball after making a bogey – anything to turn the mojo on or stay on the right side of the golf gods.
For William Mouw, that action involved a pot of boiling water and a putter that didn’t work together.
Last year, William Mouw rode a red-hot putter in the final round of 9-under 61 to win the ISCO Championship by one shot over Paul Peterson. A year later, Mouw returned to Kentucky to defend his title, and the flatstick was under par. In the first round at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, Mouw lost 2.193 shots on the green. That ranks 132nd in the industry.
Mouw finished the first round five shots behind Lucas Glover and opted to do the odd thing of heating up a cold putter.
On his way out of the course on Thursday, Mouw joked with his card that he plans to soak his ingredient in boiling water overnight to heat it up so he can run on the leaderboard. Mouw followed his “joke”. When he pulled his putter out of the boiling water on Friday, the golf gods responded.
Mouw went out on Friday and carded a bogey-free 7-under 63 that saw him gain two shots on the greens while making birdie putts of 26, 23 and 20 feet to move within four of Glover, who has 36 holes at 13 under.
“Just kidding, I put my putter in hot water last night, and it stayed hot,” Mouw said after his round on Friday. “I woke up hot without water and I was hot everywhere.
“It’s something that will change the mojo,” Mouw said later. “The putter was cold.
Mouw only made 50 feet on Thursday. After heating up his putter, that number jumped to 105 on Friday. Glover had a front seat to Mouw going from Iceman to Human Torch on the green, but he didn’t know how Mouw cooked in the rack.
“Hey, I thought it was a different putter. One looked black, this one was silver,” Glover said. “I thought it was a completely different putter.
“I threw a few and kicked a few and broke a few but I didn’t boil,” said Glover. “I get it. You did it, it worked. So it might melt tomorrow.”
Of course, with his mojo headed in the right direction, Mouw doesn’t plan on letting his putter cool down as the weekend approaches. His chances of catching Glover and defending his dormant title are always hot.
