When Annika Sorenstam came back from her neck injury to win the first LPGA tournament of 2008, the SBS Open in Hawaii, most of us hoped it was a sign of a historic rivalry in the making and saw the potential for a season in which the world's no. 1, Lorena Ochoa, would have to fight hard to keep her Swedish predecessor from reclaiming her throne. Then Ochoa promptly won five of her six first tournaments, four of which had Sorenstam in the field, and those of us who had voiced our rivalry prophesies (see my item in GFW's May/June issue comparing Ochoa and Sorenstam to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus) felt kinda' silly. But this Monday after the Michelob Ultra Open, as Sorenstam has just won her second tournament in a row (and third this season) -- this time with Ochoa not only in the field but in the same group for three out of four days -- it's clear the game is on.

So what's my point, to pat myself on the back for apparently having called this one correctly after all? No. It's to herald the power of good putting. Because tee to green last week, Ochoa actually outplayed Sorenstam. She drove the ball almost 10 yards farther on average, and hit three more greens than her elder over the course of the week. What propelled Sorenstam to the winner's circle by a healthy margin of seven strokes to the cluster of second-place finishers was her excellent putting, ironically the one aspect of her game the Hall of Famer has always grappled with. In fact, she took 16 fewer putts than Ochoa during the Michelob and ended up beating the Mexican by 12 strokes.

Now, while Sorenstam was busy showing who's boss on the LPGA Tour, Spaniard Sergio Garcia rose from the dead to win the PGA Tour's "fifth major," the Player's Championship, for his first victory in three years. As any golf fan knows, Garcia's struggles over the last 36 months have all had to do with his putting. The man had a textbook case of the yips, and he's had to watch countless tournaments -- most memorably the 2007 British Open -- slip through his fingers because he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with his putter in clutch moments. But last week, while you can argue hit was his long game that won him the tournament (he finished 1st in the field in driving accuracy and in greens in regulation), it was his T-39 in putts per GIR (a huge improvement over his average in years past) that made the difference between first and second place. To watch his confidence with the flat stick was nothing short of joyful.

Is it a coincidence that both Sorenstam and Garcia had switched back to blade putters last week after playing with mallets for years? Maybe. Is it a fluke that both have spent time working with putting marvel Stan Utley? Perhaps. But both will surely agree that the power of knowing that your putts will fall is greater than any other in the game.

Two footnotes to last week's tournaments: 1) Congratulations to former GFW associate editor Sarah Turcotte, who played in the Michelob Ultra on a sponsor's exemption as part of a blog series for her current employer ESPN The Magazine. She shot 84-89 to finish last, but did better than anyone could've imagined considering she's been living in Manhattan for the last five years. Atta girl, Sarah! 2) Paul Goydos, where have you been all my life? This man is exactly what the PGA Tour needs -- a perfect mix of humor, humility, great play and sportsmanship. Here's hoping we see lots more of him in the future.