While I was out playing golf on Sunday afternoon, I did catch a lot of video of the final round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.  Jerry Kelly wound up picking up his first win in seven years on the PGA Tour and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.  But, I cannot help but be taken aback - again - by Charles Howell III's inability to close out a golf tournament.  The Twitter-obsessed golf.com roundtable discussed the topic:

Shipnuck: Jerry Kelly is one of the good guys and this will be a popular win in the locker room, press room and caddie yard. But to me the real story is Charles Howell letting a tournament get away for the third time this year. I think he's too nice a guy for tournament golf. I hope he's somewhere trashing a hotel room. If you do it once it means you care. If you do it monthly, it means you're Daly.

Morfit: The thing that struck me about Kelly's win was how much of the Tour is a mind game. It's painful to watch Charles Howell try to close out a tournament. He's obviously very talented, and a nice guy, but man, something is way off between the ears. That par putt on 17 was pitiful, and the birdie effort on 18 was only slightly better. The only time that guy looked like a serious player was when he beat Phil at Riviera a few years back.

Interestingly enough, the roundtable then kind of gets on an aside about why CH3 struggles as he does to win.  The speculation turns into a discussion of how pros from well off backgrounds don't seem to do as well on the PGA Tour.

Lipsey: Talent doesn't make a champion. Needing it does. Growing up with money isn't an automatic disqualifier, but it's a hurdle to overcome. Howell, the son of a successful doctor, has all the talent but apparently not much need.

Hack: Are you saying you don't think Charles is hungry enough? I respectfully disagree. If anything, he's been overdoing it, trying to figure out his game. The guy works out, beats a million balls, and works hard. I don't think the fact that his dad is a surgeon has anything to do with flying a 90-yard wedge shot over the green.

Most of the crew comes to the conclusion that Rick Lipsey is wrong in the case of CH3 because of how hard he practices.  In fact, they come to the conclusion that maybe he wants it too bad and is overdoing it to get wins.  (And I came to the conclusion that Rick Lipsey either really likes being blunt and wrong, or just likes being wrong.)

We have talked on here quite a bit about how we feel that the younger players really seem to be content by finishing top 5 and making six figures for losing.  Perhaps, though, there are pockets of young players that actually are hyperdriven to win but cannot bust through the glass ceiling.  The intrigue in CH3 is that he was a fantastic college player.  He learned what it took to win in the NCAA ranks yet he struggles mightily to even win the New Orleans event.  Meanwhile, in the right moment, he stared down an admittedly weak Mickelson performance at Riviera a few years ago.

I'm still not sure what to make of CH3 who has probably had more opportunities to win golf tournaments than a lot of his contemporaries.  What does it say about a guy who has a lot of chances to win if his peers often never even get that close?

ADD ON: The Golf Watch has Frank Nobilo's thoughts on what CH3 should do now.  Turn off everything and just play golf.