Golf: Masters winners show leftist leanings

Masters winner Bubba Watson is one of a handful of well-known left-handed sportsmen. Photo / AP

Bubba Watson's victory in the Masters continued fine form by left-handers at Augusta, the only golf major where right-handed players don't rule.

Lefties traditionally struggled to even appear in top-level golf, yet elsewhere they apparently thrive in professional sport. Or do they? And what explains any advantages.

One theory dominates when analysing left-handers' success in opposition sports such as tennis. Left-handers, who make up roughly 10 per cent of the population, are used to facing right-handers who - conversely - deal with the surprise element against left-handers.

Watson, Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir have won six of the past 12 Masters. Yet other major titles have been won by just two southpaws - Kiwi Bob Charles at the 1963 British Open and Mickelson in the PGA.

Mickelson explains that Augusta has more holes than usual shaped from right to left, which favours left-handers because the slice is easier to control than the hook. Nice - a logical explanation.

Golf is a sport where equipment has helped to keep overt left-handedness down. Left-handed clubs were scarce and the legendary Arnold Palmer is among the natural left-handers who played right-handed.

Elsewhere in professional sports, left-handers have done remarkably well, out of proportion to their numbers in the population. It's no surprise that the keenest analysis occurs in baseball, a playground for theories and the statistically minded.

Here, there is no disputing that left-handed batters appear to have a major advantage, shown by superior averages and astounding batting title numbers. One study suggests this is heavily influenced by what is termed "positional bias". Essential infield positions, where batting ability is not so vital, are the domain of right-handed throwers.

Baseball is a sport where being the minority has a major advantage. Because of the nature of the curve ball, left-handed batters do better against right-handed pitchers, and right-handed batters perform likewise against leftie pitchers.

About three quarters of major league pitchers are right-handed, so this helps explain why an incredibly high number of batters - nearly 40 per cent - are left-handed.

An interesting debate centres on catchers in baseball - almost no left-handed throwers play as catchers. Likewise, Black Sox softball pitcher-catcher twins Heinie and Patrick Shannon knew their roles from a young age because Heinie is left-handed.

This may be a case where tradition trumps logic. Left-handed kids aren't considered for the job, and the mitts are hard to find.

While rejecting most theories around why left-handed throwers can't play as catchers, Pittsburgh Pirate Benny Distefano - who did briefly break the mould - conceded it was more difficult to make close-call outs at home plate.

Time to introduce a French neuroscientist Guy Azemar, who put a lot of study into this sports topic. Azemar linked left-handed success in sports such as fencing to the brain hemispheres.

In a nutshell, so to speak, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, and vice-versa. Since the right brain hemisphere deals with spatial information, advantage left-handers. This is only a theory.

Others argue that small sample sizes distort the picture and nowhere is this more probable than in tennis. Left-handers - in particular Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Rafael Nadal, Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles - have given their side a significant presence in the creme de la creme. Laver and Navratilova are arguably the best of all time. But a few genius players can skew the overall results. Nadal's Grand Slam haul owes much to his dominance on clay, which may have little to do with being left-handed. In the right vs left argument, his tally may indicate left-handed advantages that don't actually exist.

Unlike golf, left- and right-handed tennis players use the same equipment which encourages naturally left-handed kids to play that way. Nadal, it was claimed, was a right-handed junior encouraged to switch sides by an uncle. Nadal debunked this, however, saying he played double-handed forehands and backhands as a kid but the left side felt stronger.

However, there are apparently videos of him throwing a ball right-handed as a kid. In the right- and left-handed debate, not everything is black and white.

In some sports, left is ruled out. Polo enforces the right-handed wielding of sticks and field hockey uses only sticks designed for right-handers.

Basketball is a mishmash. LeBron James, the current king of the court, and the legendary Larry Bird are described as naturally left-handed people but predominantly right-handed basketballers. Bill Russell and David Robinson are among the few stars rated as left-handed players.

Firebirds netball shooter Amy Wild is a naturally left-handed person who drifted towards using her right hand to launch the ball. As to why, this is not clear, apart from the idea that majority rules. A right-hander is unlikely to use the left, you would think.

Anyway, Aussie netball great Anne Sergeant, Wild's mentor, was baffled by her protege's unrelenting form crash a couple of years ago. That was until Wild mentioned being left-handed. Everything fell into place. Wild now shoots with her strong hand.

In cricket, West Indian Brian Lara, Englishman David Gower and New Zealander Stephen Fleming are among those with distinctive, elegant styles associated solely with the left-hander stance ... but apart from that we'll steer clear of cricket, which is a vast melting pot of left- and right-handed theories and crossovers.

Boxing - now there's an interesting one. The word southpaw - long associated with boxing - came from baseball, where American parks traditionally face east so batters don't have the sun in their eyes. This places a left-handed pitcher's throwing arm on the south side.

There are disproportionately few southpaw boxing legends, the great middleweight Marvin Hagler among the notable exceptions.

Boxing is not a world where everything is on the level, so one theory is this: southpaws are dangerously awkward to fight, which makes it difficult for them to get fights.

Trainers also prefer dealing with the traditional stance, so boxers such as Joe Frazier - he of the famous left hook - fought in the common stance.

These concepts made their way to the screen in Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, the title character being a southpaw.

The trainer of the champion Apollo Creed doesn't want his man "messing" with southpaws because "they do everything backwards". That, at the end of the day, is often a left-hander's not-so-secret weapon. They thrive because they are unusual.