Looking to atone for a crummy 2014 season, Jason Dufner took a positive step: He lost 20 pounds.
Now, if he can avoid another bout of neck problems …
Dufner's diet, according to Golf Digest, is the biggest factor in his winning loss. How'd he do it? Goodbye, sugar, processed foods, alcohol and soda. Adios, chocolate and peanut better.
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Sugars and starches, in other words. Wise decisions, and Dufner didn't do anything extra in his exercise regime.
"If I didn't do it, I wasn't going to be able to play golf," Dufner said recently. "I missed the playoffs, missed the defense of my PGA Championship. More than likely missed playing in the Ryder Cup because of it. So, not really ready to give the game of golf up yet."
Good idea. Dufner was on top of the game when he won the 2013 PGA Championship, famously remembered for the love pat he gave wife Amanda's derriere as they walked off the course.
It wasn't easy — "The first five days sucked," Dufner said — but those 20 pounds make quite a difference.
Fans will also notice Dufner's puffy hair is gone, with high and tight the order of the day.
Dufner's neck pain was so bad he withdrew from the 2014 PGA Championship 10 holes into the first round.
"There's no point to be out there hacking it around," he said. "It's just pointless."
He didn't play again until a European Tour event in Australia in September. He made his PGA Tour return in late October. To hear him explain his problems, Dufner was a mess.
"I had some issues in my shoulder, issues in my neck, some issues with muscle tightness which entrapped the nerves coming out of my neck, which gave me kind of a dead, numb arm," Dufner said. "I was pretty much out of commission for about six to eight weeks. I didn't do much of anything six weeks, just a lot of treatment. Little bit of strengthening for my shoulder, and then I slowly started to work on some other areas to get stronger, and then back into golf."
It's a slow climb back for Dufner, who is 47th in world golf rankings, with one top-10 finish in the four events he has played this year.
Dufner is in the field for this week's PGA Tour stop, The Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.