紐時賞析／年長也能拿冠軍 成功的資深高球選手變多

Why Are There More Successful Older Golfers Today?

成功的資深高球選手變多

From the 18th fairway in the final group of the British Open in 2009, Tom Watson, the five-time Open champion, hit a shot that flew right at the pin. For a moment, it looked like Watson, then age 59, would win the tournament for a record sixth time and become the oldest player to win a major championship.

2009年英國公開賽最後一組第18洞的球道上，五屆冠軍華森一揮直飛旗桿。一時間，當時59歲的華森似乎將贏得創紀錄的第六座英國公開賽冠軍，並成為最年長的四大賽冠軍。

A firm bounce sent the ball off the back of the green, and Watson needed three more shots to get the ball into the hole. That dropped him into a tie for first. In the four-hole playoff, he ran out of gas and lost by six shots.

小白球強力彈跳後滾出果嶺後方，華森又花了三桿才把球送進洞裡。這使他落到並列領先。四洞延長賽，他精力耗盡，最後輸六桿。

A decade ago, the idea of an older golfer contending in, let alone winning, a major championship was something few considered. That was still the time when most golfers petered out in their mid-40s and kicked around the golf world before having a brief resurgence on the Champions Tour when they turned 50.

10年前，很少人料想得到年長的高球選手會參加四大賽，遑論拿冠軍。當時，大多數高球選手在45歲左右開始淡出，到滿50歲參加「冠軍」（譯註：長春）巡迴賽散發短暫餘暉前，其間在高球界四處晃晃。

Leading these middle-age mavericks is Phil Mickelson, 51, won the PGA Championship in May. He beat Brooks Koepka, a four-time major winner, and Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, who are both in their 30s.

這些不服老的中年高球選手領導人物是剛滿51歲的米克森，他在今年5月贏得PGA錦標賽冠軍。擊敗了都是30多歲的四屆四大賽冠軍得主科普卡與2010年英國公開賽冠軍歐蘇森。

“All these guys have taken a new approach,” said Dave Phillips, co-founder of the Titleist Performance Institute, which focuses on golf and fitness. “There’s a lot of money out there. They realize they can still compete with the younger guys, but they need to spend more time on their body and what they fuel their body with.”

高球與健身專門機構「冠軍競技表現研究所」共同創辦人戴維．菲利普斯說：「這些人都採取一種新方法。比賽獎金很高。他們意識到自己仍可跟年輕人競爭，只是需要花更多時間在身體及強化身體的物質上面。」

Phillips said what Mickelson and the others were doing provided lessons for older golfers. “It’s not strength, but the recovery and the downtime that matter,” he said. “It’s letting your body recover. Everyone wants to get fitter, stronger, faster. They’re upset when they don’t see the results. But what they’re doing is fatiguing to the body more so than a round of golf.”

菲利普斯說，米克森和其他人的作為，幫年長高球選手上了一課。「重要的不是力量，而是恢復與休息，讓你的身體恢復。每個人都想變得更健康、更強壯、更快。他們沒看到成果時會沮喪，但他們所做的事會讓身體遠比打一輪高球還累。」

Crucial for older players? Maintain leg strength, Phillips said, and that means walk, don’t ride, when you play golf.

對年長球員重要的是什麼？菲利普斯說，保持腿部力量，這意味你打高球時，要走路，不要搭球車。

It is experience, for sure, but that is a double-edged sword: With age, players are more knowledgeable about the nuances of the game and have, in theory, a better psychological understanding of what to do. But they have also failed to do that in similar moments in the past.

當然，這需要經驗，且各有利弊：隨著年紀增長，球員更了解比賽的精妙之處，理論上，他們在心理上對該做什麼有更好的了解，過去遇到類似時刻，他們就做不到。

“The reason we’re going longer is we have the financial security to go longer,” he said “We also have the sports science to reinvent ourselves.”

他說：「我們走得更久是因為我們擁有能夠走得更久的經濟保障，我們還有運動科學來改造自己。」

文／Paul Sullivan 譯／陳韋廷