long game

He had won the long game and success had turned to ashes in his mouth.

Chamber's Encyclopedia: “About 1785 the experiment of dividing the game into half was tried, and short whist was the result. The short game soon came into favour; and in 1864 the supremacy of short whist was acknowledged.”

[T]he Seahawks held Newton to 119 passing yards, as the Panthers kept mainly to the ground and Seattle's secondary shut down the long game.

“[E]verybody thinks when the wind blows it affects the long game the most, but it doesn’t,” Westwood said. “It tends to affect the putting most.”