At 5-10 and 160 pounds, David Toms doesn't appear all that imposing oN TV. But in person he looks, well, the same. Nothing much. Slight. Average. "But I'm not a small person," he says. "I don't let people walk all over me." The 38-year-old from Louisiana proved as much when he shredded the field at this year's WGC-Accenture Match Play, and his fairways-and-greens style should work well this month at Pinehurst. In a conversation at his home in Shreveport, Toms spoke candidly about the Goliaths he's slain, the painful arthritis that runs in his family, and the reason he'll be one jittery player at the U.S. Open.
You once said, "I wear a medium shirt and I'm a medium person." What did you mean?
I'm noncontroversial — not a big ego, or in your face.
This year at the Match Play at La Costa, you blew everyone away yet insisted you'd never be a top-five player. But you're ranked eighth in the world. Why couldn't you be No. 1?
It has to do with physical limitation. Who was the last guy under six feet that was No. 1? I can't remember. And that's certainly not the direction that the game is headed.
Has the power game ruled that out?
Take what happened this year at Doral. Tiger and Phil were up there at the end, with Vijay right behind them. Then you've got Zach Johnson and myself. If the wind was blowing, and there was deep rough, maybe we would have had a chance. I was 7-under through 12 holes on Sunday, and I wasn't gaining any ground. We had no chance. If you play 7,400-yard courses, and you don't have any rough and no penalty off the tee, those guys just wail on it. The power player will win every time. It happens a lot. It happened all last year and the year before. And I don't see it changing.
So are there Tour events that a guy like you — a control player who hits it 280 off the tee — can't win? [Pauses.] Yes. Unless they change things.
Like course setup? Some say that if you set up courses as hard as you can, then the best player in the world isn't a member of the Fab Four but someone like Retief Goosen or you.
Vijay hits driver on every hole. But if courses were set up differently, he'd have to approach things differently. How many times does Tiger hit driver at a major? Not many, because he knows he has to keep it in play. At Doral, that never enters into his mind. At majors, the big hitters will still be there. They'll adjust and hit shorter clubs off the tee. But if you make courses tougher, it brings other guys into it — control players and not necessarily long players.
You've done pretty well for a shorter hitter. You're sixth in all-time earnings.
Last year, Billy Andrade asked me to talk at his club in Atlanta. He introduces me, looks at some stats, and says, "Holy smokes! David's the No. 9 all-time money winner on Tour — $18 million!" All I can say is, I'm in golf at a good time. When other guys don't even realize [how much I've won], I guess I'm doing it quietly.
You had surgery on your left wrist at the end of 2003. Did you fear your career was over?
Yes. When I first took that cast off, it hurt so bad that I said to myself, "I'm not ever going to play golf again."
Your recovery wasn't easy. What was the low point?
At the BellSouth last year I was playing so bad that I actually broke a putter, for the first time ever. I thought, that's just not me. Mentally, I was losing it.
You once said, "I wear a medium shirt and I'm a medium person." What did you mean?
I'm noncontroversial — not a big ego, or in your face.
This year at the Match Play at La Costa, you blew everyone away yet insisted you'd never be a top-five player. But you're ranked eighth in the world. Why couldn't you be No. 1?
It has to do with physical limitation. Who was the last guy under six feet that was No. 1? I can't remember. And that's certainly not the direction that the game is headed.
Has the power game ruled that out?
Take what happened this year at Doral. Tiger and Phil were up there at the end, with Vijay right behind them. Then you've got Zach Johnson and myself. If the wind was blowing, and there was deep rough, maybe we would have had a chance. I was 7-under through 12 holes on Sunday, and I wasn't gaining any ground. We had no chance. If you play 7,400-yard courses, and you don't have any rough and no penalty off the tee, those guys just wail on it. The power player will win every time. It happens a lot. It happened all last year and the year before. And I don't see it changing.
Patrick Brown
Like course setup? Some say that if you set up courses as hard as you can, then the best player in the world isn't a member of the Fab Four but someone like Retief Goosen or you.
Vijay hits driver on every hole. But if courses were set up differently, he'd have to approach things differently. How many times does Tiger hit driver at a major? Not many, because he knows he has to keep it in play. At Doral, that never enters into his mind. At majors, the big hitters will still be there. They'll adjust and hit shorter clubs off the tee. But if you make courses tougher, it brings other guys into it — control players and not necessarily long players.
You've done pretty well for a shorter hitter. You're sixth in all-time earnings.
Last year, Billy Andrade asked me to talk at his club in Atlanta. He introduces me, looks at some stats, and says, "Holy smokes! David's the No. 9 all-time money winner on Tour — $18 million!" All I can say is, I'm in golf at a good time. When other guys don't even realize [how much I've won], I guess I'm doing it quietly.
You had surgery on your left wrist at the end of 2003. Did you fear your career was over?
Yes. When I first took that cast off, it hurt so bad that I said to myself, "I'm not ever going to play golf again."
Your recovery wasn't easy. What was the low point?
At the BellSouth last year I was playing so bad that I actually broke a putter, for the first time ever. I thought, that's just not me. Mentally, I was losing it.
