Crazy at it sounds -- and this is the mental side of the game we're talking about here, so that assessment half-fits for most of us -- Smith convinced Mahan to try something new in the afternoon 18 at the Open qualifier. It was an experiment, really, and since Mahan had nothing to lose, he went along with it.
Simply put, every time Mahan hit a good shot, he had to pump his fist and say something positive about the effort. Bad shots were ignored, a complete reversal of the previous protocol. Immediately, it was like the weight of the world had been lifted.
It's simply part of the professional culture for players to act as though good shots are an expectation and poor ones are a personal affront. Mahan was no different, though he had a tougher time letting go of the bad ones.
"There was no positive reinforcement of the good and far too much of an emphasis on the bad," Smith said.
Mahan, still putting the Smith plan into practice, hasn't had much of the latter since.
"You hate to say he's on auto-pilot, but he's had so many of them lately," John Wood, his regular caddie, said of Mahan's record round. "He's an entirely different guy."
Actually, these results are more of what experts expected when Mahan made the tour at age 21, right out of Oklahoma State. Mahan turned pro after three decorated years in college and a spectacular junior career, whereupon he quickly realized that he was a small fish in a big pond. In his second year on tour, 2005, he lost his card and had to go back to Q-School.
He posted a total of seven top-10 finishes in his first three seasons -- now he's gunning for his fifth in two months. He will play in the final threesome Sunday alongside leader Steve Stricker and K.J. Choi, two other players who have been consistent leaderboard toppers this summer.
"I think this is a case of Hunter remembering what a great player he is," Wood said. "I hate to say it, but I don't think he's just on a hot streak anymore. I think this is how good he really is."
As they played at the fateful Open qualifier June 4, Mahan and Smith stood in the fairway with a couple of holes left to play. Mahan was torching the course and couldn't stop smiling.
"He turned to me and said, 'This is what I used to feel like when I was dominating junior and college golf,'" Smith recalled. "Obviously, he has taken all of the information and made it work. It's gotten to the point where it seems like he could win every week."
