It's not a statistic golfers in this year's Masters Tournament like to talk much about. One-putt greens at Augusta National Golf Club - yes, they'll chat about that all day. Three-putt greens? Not so much.

Ben Crenshaw won the 1995 Masters without a single 3-putt, one of only three Masters champions to do so since Augusta National started keeping track of the statistic that year. Shooting 72 holes without a 3-putt has been a tough task on the difficult greens, occurring only 21 times since 1995. (File)

And they certainly don't want to think about how many they might have this week on the slick, undulating Augusta National greens.

None of the golfers surveyed for this story would even give a minimum figure of 3-putts that would be acceptable.

"That's kind of a negative mindset," said 2003 PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel.

"You have to anticipate that it might happen, but you can't think about, 'Well, I'm going to 3-putt a few times.' I wouldn't say that's the right idea," Trevor Immelman said.

Said Zach Johnson: "I don't even think about that. I try not to worry about it. But if it's not inevitable, it's close."

Three-putt greens - or the lack of them - is a vital gauge each year in determining the Masters champion. Since 1995, the 12 champions have averaged 1.5 3-putt greens in their victories. Three of them - Ben Crenshaw in 1995, Tiger Woods in 1997 and Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999 - did not have a 3-putt en route to victory.

"If you go a week without a 3-putt there, that would be pretty impressive," said U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, who had only one 3-putt green in his Masters debut in 2006, helping him finish in a tie for 16th place.

"I can't believe in the history of the Masters there has been more than a handful of guys who played four days and didn't have a 3-putt," said Micheel, who made his Masters debut in 2004.

Actually, since Augusta National started keeping detailed statistics on 3-putts in 1995, it has been done 21 times.

Chad Campbell had five 3-putts last year in his third-place finish at Augusta National, including two in his final round 71. He's amazed that Woods went without a 3-putt in 1997, when Woods set the tournament record of 18-under 270.

"That speaks a lot to your iron play to be able to hit it in the right spots and not leave yourself some difficult putts," Campbell said. "When you hit some bad iron shots, that puts you in positions where it's going to be tough to 2-putt."

The PGA Tour keeps weekly records on 3-putt greens, but to put a positive spin on a negative stat, the tour calls it "3-putt avoidance." There are seven categories, from total 3-putt avoidance to the length of the 3-putts.

Brad Faxon, a 25-year veteran on the tour and one of its top putters, won't be checking out his 3-putt avoidance anytime soon.

"They are the kind of things I don't want to know," he said. "People bring up statistics like that, and I go, 'Why would I want to know that?' I think of my putts that go in. I try not to think of anything bad."

Faxon has played in the Masters 12 times but didn't qualify this year. He said he "probably" had tournaments where he didn't have a 3-putt.

According to Augusta National records, he did have one - it came in 2002, when Faxon needed just 106 putts, which ranked second in the field that year for fewest putts. In contrast, Phil Mickelson had 116 putts, and two 3-putt greens, in his victory last year.

"That's hard to do, but I love putting there," Faxon said of going the entire tournament without a 3-putt.

Every Masters veteran has had a round in which they with off with their approach shots to the greens and were left with numerous downhill putts. Those are the ones that can lead to 3-putts because of the speed, undulation and breaks on the green.

"Yeah, I've had that; it's not fun," Faxon said. "I shouldn't say that - it is fun because you've got to hit putts with so much break and swing to them. I get so much more visual there."

"You don't want to have too many downhill putts on those greens or it's going to be a long day for you," said Todd Hamilton, who had two 3-putt greens last year while shooting 74-76, missing the cut by two shots. "You have to be so tentative that you don't consider making the putt. You're trying not to 3-putt."

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.

EVEN CHAMPIONS HAVE BAD HOLES
Year	Champion	Putt rank	3-putts	Holes (Round)
2006	Phil Mickelson	T-16th	2	No. 18 (2), No. 11 (3)
2005	Tiger Woods	T-10th	3	No. 14 (2), No. 14 (3), No. 5 (4)
2004	Phil Mickelson	T-23rd	2	No. 5 (1), No. 13 (1)
2003	Mike Weir	4th	1	No. 18 (1)
2002	Tiger Woods	T-21st	1	No. 5 (4)
2001	Tiger Woods	T-37	4	No. 10 (1), No. 9 (2), No. 16 (2), No. 15 (4)
2000	Vijay Singh	T-45	3	No. 8 (1), No. 17 (1), No. 16 (4)
1999	Jose Maria Olazabal	T-7	0
1998	Mark O'Meara	1st	1	No. 2 (2)
1997	Tiger Woods	T-8th	0
1996	Nick Faldo	5th	1	No. 16 (3)
1995	Ben Crenshaw	3rd	0
Source: Augusta National Golf Club