As if more evidence was needed, here's an AP report on Obama's excellent Christmas Hawaiian vacation, informing readers that the president has scheduled nothing for two weeks except fun, reminding everyone that previous attempts were, ahem, rudely interrupted by the Tea Party or trivialities like the failed Abdulmuttalab Detroit underwear bombing. OK, correction, they forgot to mention the underwear bombing. The story ends with sugar plum fairy hopes that this one will be stress-free...
Conditions seem ripe this year for a few weeks of interrupted family time. Obama did spend part of Saturday morning conferring with top national security aides about the situation in South Sudan, where U.S. military aircraft evacuating Americans from the violence-plagued African nation came under gunfire and had to divert to Uganda. The White House said four U.S. troops were injured in that incident.
Delaying golf for important briefings? Wonder if he also got an update from the Health Department? Anyway, here's to aces, shaved ice, and a stress-freevacation for everyone (we should all be so lucky). God forbid there be any 3 AM phone calls. But if there are, well, blame Bush! So merry Xmas, yo.
Since the title of this blog is golf-related it's only appropriate to mention the greatest golf tournament at the greatest golf course in the world--the Masters, going on right now. The song above was once tastefully wrapped into the background of a Youtube video chronicling Jack Nicklaus and his 1986 victory in that tournament (until it was taken down on a copyright). Nicklaus was 46 years old at the time--pretty old to be winning a major. But he was the greatest ever. It brought a tear to my eye watching it because for some of us golf was more than a game, it was a bond with our dads. Makes one appreciate the time spent and lament the time that wasn't spent and now gone forever.
This year another old guy is contending--at least as of this writing. Freddie won back in 92, he has contended many times since, but a miracle were to happen he would be the oldest major winner in history. Of course Tiger and a bunch of young guns are likely to be there in the end while there's an even younger gun--a 14 year old Chinese kid who appears a lot older than his years who made the cut. Should be fun.
TIGER FOLLIES, FREDDIE FLOUNDERS 4/14/13
First Freddie--we all knew it was coming. It was a good run, but it's hard for a 53 year old to keep the edge on every hole. His swing is still butter. Or at least margarine.
Now Tiger. Is it Augusta National's contention that Tiger doesn't know the hazard rules? He's only been playing golf since he was 2. Maybe he doesn't hit it in the water often enough to remember and had a brain lock, thinking he could go backwards for his drop as if on line with the hole. But it's where the ball crossed the hazard line, not where the shot began. He knew going well left across the fairway was a much more difficult shot, so he admittedly wanted to backup where he was. But good Lord, where was his caddie? He (Freddie's former loop) should have been advising him of what he was doing.
But but but AC, he admitted to his drop in the interview. Why would he do that if he was guilty? Yes he did, after he had been told by the Augusta people that it was a good drop and signed his scorecard. This is really the crux of the matter. If he had not admitted this in the interview this wouldn't have been typed, but his caddie should have known the drop rules and advised him not to do it. Part of the penalty of that rule is to drop the ball as close as possible to where your last shot was hit, which brings in the possibility of it landing in your divot on the drop. He knew he had the option of the drop zone but didn't want to go over there either because like the hazard margin rule it would have been an order of difficulty harder.
So he got the two shot penalty, which he deserved (and admitted he did) but the question is now whether players will suddenly become rules ignoramuses when caught doing this in the future, hoping for the reprieve. Not only that, but will the anal-lysts apply the rule fairly, not taking into consideration sponsors, advertisers, race, political correctness, yada yada. Meanwhile, we'll see how things play it out today. Should be a great finish.
MORE WOODS 4/14/13
Let's get this straight. People keep saying he signed for the 'right' scorecard initially. Reports have said that tournament officials reviewed the tapes after the viewer call-in while Woods was playing 18 and determined he had dropped in the vicinity. I am assuming he wasn't spoken to before signing his card by those officials. If that's the case he did indeed sign the wrong card, regardless of what any viewer said because he should have known--and his caddy should have known--they played improperly. That's the gentlemanly aspect of the game.
In looking at the replay of the initial shot it was a low punch. It would have had a lot of bite on it, but it hit the pin in the air then careened hard to the left side. It's hard to know where it might have ended up had it missed the pin, but there's some possibility it would have run off the back had the bite not come hard enough. At any rate, Woods answered the issue when he said he moved back two yards. His next shot was another punch that landed, bit and stopped next to the pin.
Thing is, using the margin of the hazard rule he knew he had no option over there. Keeping the point of crossing between him and the pin would put him either in the stands or right on the bank, an impossible shot. He had two options--drop zone or drop it as close to his initial shot as possible, which brings in the possibility of dropping into your previous divot. Most pro golfers should know this rule. But it's possible he and his caddy got lost in the moment. That's seemingly what the Augusta graybeards determined.
The seminal point was probably the fact he admitted to the infraction on TV. There's hardly a scenario imaginable where he would admit this purposely. Let's say he and caddy knew they had broken the rules. Let's say they knew every shot was on TV and figured things would be dissected. Maybe when he got to the scoring table and no officials approached him he figured he had gotten away with it. At that point he could go ahead and sign the card, thinking that if someone later came back and challenged him he could use the new rule to feign ignorance. The fact he is Tiger Woods might also pop into his head.
But it seems like a lot of thinking after just coming off the course, his favorite course. My final guess is he just blew it, they caught it, penalized him, and now he will probably win today and we can all have more controversial fun with it.
On this day of good news the country sure needs some. It's amazing that in 2012, with a black president, the United States stands teetering on a racial divide. In the news, it appears they've captured some white suspects in the indiscriminate Tulsa shootings, a good thing.
But notice the description of the neighborhood found in this CNN story:
"For a white male to come that deep into that area and to start indiscriminately shooting, that lends itself for many to believe that it probably was a hate crime," Blakney told CNN.
This made me think of the brouhaha at National Review Online, where editor Rich Lowry has fired writer John Derbyshire for opining--on a non-affiliated blog--about similar things:
(10a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.
(10b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.
First, Derbyshire sounds like a guy who has never lived in the south. Second, his rules are overly harsh and judgmental, but like all such things they are based on vague truthisms. Notice the Tulsa pastor's apparent amazement that whites would be venturing so 'deep' into a certain part of their own city, which seems to confirm the Derbyshire generalization.
Of course the irony is that the poor victims didn't discriminate and were apparently responding to the shooter(s) as any normal human being would respond to a stranger asking for directions. Afterwards, the citizens living in the area were terrorized by the shootings every bit as much as the DC area was when John Allen Mohammed and his sidekick were shooting random people of both races while the FBI was frantically looking for a composite white guy.
But random racial crimes are seemingly becoming more frequent. A rash of stories have dotted the back pages of newspapers for over a year regarding flashmob attacks in cities all around the country, lately in places like Minneapolis, Baltimore and St. Louis. These attacks are not occurring deep in black neighborhood or in areas where blacks are massing for concerts, rather in the downtown entertainment sections common to most cities. Most of the victims seem to be white people. So following Derbyshire's rules 'non-black' people should desist attending downtown entertainment areas under the premise a flashmob might show up. Or just about anywhere. So much for generalizations.
With the Tulsa shooting, the Martin shooting, flashmobs and planned Occupy events we can all guess the likely future--saturation coverage of violence. If it bleeds and is politically correct, it leads.
In times like these we need calm and sober leadership more than ever. What we've seen so far is a leader self-identifying with certain victims and another chastising Americans as cowards for not wanting to discuss the issue. But there's always hope for tomorrow.
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What's going on in Syria? Are innocent people still getting mowed down by a tyrant?
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What's going on in Africa? While the Muslim Brotherhood meets at the White House stories are suggesting that radicals have virtually taken over the heart of the continent and some are worried they may align themselves with al Qaeda. Of course 'some' does not yet include most in the American media.
Also, don't we have troops over there looking for a crackpot Christian-based tyrant? No news on that operation either.
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NBC says they have fired the 'veteran producer' who apparently mis-spliced a 911 call recording to make George Zimmerman appear even more racist than their previous stories and cable commentator had already indicated. That's good, but can't they name names? Maybe they're trying to protect him and family and will release it later but at the same time, maybe they didn't fire anyone at all.
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The Masters final round is today. Golf nirvana. A lot was expected out of Tiger Woods, who hasn't won a major tournament since he was attacked with a nine iron in his front driveway several years ago. He won on tour 2 weeks ago, but this kind of stuff can't help....
The Tour may fine him, although they'd have to fine everyone who ever wacked a club into the ground or tossed it as golfers are prone to do. So they probably won't. But the role model thing is pretty much gone. President Obama weighed in on the Augusta National club not admitting women; will he weigh in now on unsportsmanlike conduct?
Oh well, it's a beautiful day in Augusta and Memphis. Life goes on despite the headlines. Family is coming over for an Easter dinner so this post will mark an end to concerns over current events and the direction of our country and transition to some needed fellowship this afternoon. Peace out and best wishes for a great Easter.
It's time for Obama and Boehner to hit the links in their own private golf showdown on US Open weekend. Call it the US Closed--it's almost almost as secretive as the Bilderberger event or a Cheney getaway. The only course eliminated so far is Congressional Country Club.
The NY Times isn't very curious but provides a breakdown of the players for us, including this word of caution:
Mr. Boehner is friends with the golf legend Jack Nicklaus. He has also played with Tiger Woods in a pro-am tournament two years ago at the Congressional Country Club outside Washington.
Scared yet, Mr. President? Don’t be. You’ve got Biden.
Yes, we are told the mighty don't mess with Joe has a handicap index of 6.3. Nobody ever talks about his golf but he must get out there often carrying that kind of number, especially after starting the game around 50. Of course he IS the Vice President and probably has plenty of time on his hands with Recovery Summer currently on hold. Meanwhile Kasich is said to be a "wild card", meaning the Times didn't bother digging very deep because they don't really care.
The big question is whether Obama will practice scorecard transparency. The Moonie Times tells us not to expect an after-action report and they may be right--if team GOP wins--but there's not a soul alive on planet Earth who doesn't think the scorecards will be front and center of every news outlet if team OB manages to keep it in-bounds and slays the evil deficit monsters. There will be glowing hole to hole coverage and some may even use the word gutsy. Maybe a bigger question is whether team GOP will publish the cards if they exact a thumpin', since it would likely be spun by the same journalists as bad form or even racist. Guess we'll see.
As to real golf, Roy McAvoy, er Rory McIlroy is apparently playing his own Open this year. He's only 22 years old and 11 under par with a 6 shot lead over the nearest contender and 9 shots on everyone else in the most difficult tournament in the world. Impressive, but he doesn't quite have the same flair as the Golden Boy back at Pebble Beach in the late 90s. He does however bear a slight resemblance to a famous person...
Although as far as we know he's not from Kansas, or Seattle, or Honolulu, or Kenya, just Northern Ireland. Wait, Obama claims roots in Ireland!
MORE 6/17/11
Looks like there should be some good hole to hole chatter out there tomorrow. Or how about this--the event gets canceled after 12 holes with team GOP up by a million due to the announcement that Gadaffi has been killed or captured. It would be just like Obama to do that to invited guests.
If you haven't heard how the PGA shanked golfer Dustin Johnson here's the "story". Can you see the trap? It looked like a patch of sand in the rough. Most hazards that aren't apparent hazards are marked with red lines to call attention to the hazard, even in municipal tournaments. I realize the course is known for bunkers and the stuffed shirt came out later flouting the rules sheet, but why not declare any unmaintained bunkers as part of the rough? His tee shot flew into a solid mass of people and hit someone.
I've defended some of the inane rules of golf to others before, explaining how if the ball moves even a half rotation it could improve the lie and change the score. But this level of inanity is indefensible. The spectators were STANDING IN the so-called sand trap. At what other major can people just stand in a damn trap? Augusta would have them shot, or at least tazed and put in straight-jackets.
Besides, had his ball settled a few inches away on a patch of grass but still in the sandy area, would it still have technically been in 'the bunker'? And no dude, if it never crossed his mind he was in a trap why would he have asked for a ruling? Feherty, Faldo, Nance and the rest of the golf announcer crew never mentioned it before he swung, and they've got about 1000 years of experience between all of them.
Johnson handled it much better than some bloggers--he got paid nicely and will be back and with the crowd on his side. But here's another question--would they have penalized Woods or Mickelson in the same manner, at the same moment?
An Irishman has won the US Open golf tourney. It's almost like the Cubs winning the world series, except that Chicago didn't invent baseball. Well then again, neither did Ireland. It was Scotland. Maybe. Whatever, a great accomplishment by a steady Mr. McDowell, whose father embraced him on the 18th green after the victory putt. For those with fond memories of playing golf with their father, it's always a touching scene, especially today.
So thank heaven we have a president who understands the historical importance of the sport and it's uncanny non-partisan ability to bridge cultural gaps, reduce stress, and stop oil leaks, if one is a Democrat. I mean, at least he didn't go sailing for crying out loud. Just imagine the terrible image if the first golfer was a Texas oilman. Whew. It's hard enough having to endure Johnny Miller.
Anyway, hope all the fathers had a happy father's day. Hit 'em straight--and not in the lake!
So Tiger Woods dropped out of the Players Championship after 7 holes and no hope to win due to a stiff neck? Insert your own joke--we promise not to use tasers.
It's Sunday at the Masters so let's get some music and golf in the same video..
Today's final could be classic as well. The weather looks perfect and the old guard is represented by 50 year old Fred Couples and 60 year old Tom Watson. Now, if Tiger can just keep his on-camera outbursts to a minimum..
Another major, another story about Tiger, and 60 year old Tom Watson is once again leading the tournament. Go figure.
Looks like Tiger's detractors have found a way to use their bullhorn without encountering the 90 man security force or Augusta's ground troops--ain't free speech grand? Meanwhile the buzz is about the Nike commercial featuring the voice of Earl Woods, speaking about something completely different yet used to address a massive sex scandal that nearly toppled an industry. Somehow I'm thinking Mr. Woods might have taken a little more aggressive tone with his son in the real world, but that's just me.
In my view Woods had two viable options in the self-redemption department. One, he could have jettisoned ALL his sponsors and returned for the US Open--our national tournament. Everyone knows he loves the Masters so giving it up would have shown true sacrifice (I wouldn't want to give up even watching for a year). But that would have kept a lot of folks out of work, though. For instance, we have a Nike plant here in Memphis. But the notion of earning his way back onto the tour might have played pretty well over time.
Alternatively he could have just thrown up his hands and taken ownership of the whole thing. Taking ownership would have estranged him permanently from Elin and family, but does she really have any cause for forgiving him with bimbos and next door neighbors still coming out of the woodwork? Sure it's a "high risk" play, like going for the green in two on a par five over water, but most of his fans are males and we would have forgiven. And we buy shoes and shirts and balls. Yeah, he would become the biggest cad in town but Wilt Chamberlain wrote a book bragging about his conquests. Tiger could have said, "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam". In a Tiger sorta way. He wouldn't have any major sponsors left doing that either but eventually they'd return, just different brands. Like maybe Extenze. That would be neat on the cap and quite pertinent to golf, too!
Meanwhile, life goes on. We're still going broke, health care is still passed, troops are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran is threatening a nuke attack. So I'm planning to enjoy the azaleas and the birdies, no matter who makes them, and hope for somebody new--or old--to take the green jacket. Anybody but Tiger.
UPDATE 4/8/10
"and 60 year old Tom Watson is once again leading the tournament." Well, check that--50 year old Fred Couples. And 52 year old Sandy Lyle is only a few shots back. Those guys were classy, but only Watson has more wins and he's twice Tiger's age. So who knows, maybe winning with class is just old fashioned and outdated or even racist. Woods bagged every available bird off the course and still has his trophies; his blond super attractive wife; his most important sponsor; and got polite applause from the gallery, and is still addicted to sex. What's to suffer?
Gotta hand it to Gillette regards their handling of their ballooning sponsorship problem with Tiger Woods:
"As Tiger takes a break from the public eye, we will support his desire for privacy by limiting his role in our marketing programs," said Gillette, a division of Procter & Gamble.
So yeah, they're actually supporting Tiger by canning him! Imagine the board meeting where this eureka defensive marketing strategy was concocted. Not only deceptively brilliant, but now they're out ahead of the other sponsors by laying claim to the defense so nobody else can use it. Let's hear it for good ole fashioned American ingenuity.
Gossip is not the bane of this blog nor is golf (despite the title) but this Tiger Woods thing is too interesting to pass up for a variety of reasons.
No surprise it took 12 hours to get the story out--Woods is not only the world's best golfer but an international corporation based on image. Instapundit pointed to a recent deal with Dubai, for instance. Then there's his standard endorsement package. Part of the image is that he's a trailblazing pioneer in his field of endeavor, much like the current president.
TMZ says they were fighting. Not sure how credible that is but speculation is usually caused by a lack of credible information. Is it common for Woods to zip out at 2:30 AM for anything short of an emergency? He's a dedicated golfer, but c'mon it takes a nut to hit the driving range at that hour. That itself might ruin his image.
So what, then? Most married couples would believe they might have been fighting based on the presented circumstances. Maybe they got into it, he headed for the Escalade, and she followed him out the door with the very thing he loves dearly. Maybe she took a few practice swings on the back window for effect and it startled him enough to slice off the road into the woods for an unplayable lie. After all, they are only human.
But Tiger is also part image. It'll be interesting to see how the media treats this going forward, if they do at all. It's worth noting they never veered away from Daly's peccadilloes, but big John was just a country boy from Arkansas and you know, those razorback rednecks do have a certain image. Daly only has to live down to his image, though. Tiger, and in the same regard the new president, may be dealing with images that are impossible to live up to--for anyone.
It's bad enough that Ugo Chavez is trying to shut down golf courses in Venezuela for being a useless bourgeois endeavor, now 'researchers' and various other nuts in Europe have suddenly discovered the hidden evil of the golf ball itself:
The scale of the dilemma was underlined recently in Scotland, where scientists -- who scoured the watery depths in a submarine hoping to discover evidence of the prehistoric Loch Ness monster -- were surprised to find hundreds of thousands of golf balls lining the bed of the loch.
Hey, maybe the locals were just trying to kill the darn thing. By the way, wherever there is water there will soon be a golf ball. That's a corollary invented by the Scots during the dark ages, right after they invented the 'sport' itself. There are already penalties--and pretty stiff ones at that--for dunking your ball in a pond (Rules of Golf pg 894, sec 3, sub 1 part 5s update 2).
One UK lawmaker even quipped that golf balls are our planet's "signature litter". Well yes, but only for those who can't
"Keep your balls on the fairway or invest in a stock of biodegradable balls."
That vaguely reminds me of an old Johnny Carson joke. Never mind.
Of course this poses yet another problem for the first golfer, who must now bring along an EPA submersible crew to fish out any errant duck hooks or topped slices into the drink lest he be compared to a flat earth believer in a faked moon landing...
Or wait, maybe golf ball decontamination is already in the Stimulus.
Don't get me wrong--I don't begrudge the president a little time on the links. Golf is like therapy for many folks, providing a few hours of complete distraction from the problems of the world (focusing them all on the little white ball from hell).
But c'mon. Had W Bush delayed a troop request from a general along the central front in the war on mancausers while unemployment teetered around 10 percent the press would have gone ballistic had they caught him in the White House yard practicing his chipping.
Maybe that's why the press is now Obama-approved. He must be laughing on every tee box.
Everyone kept waiting for him to do the el-foldo. And he finally did, on the last hole in regulation over a ten foot potential winning putt. It was there he lost the British Open and golf lost the chance for history. The four hole playoff was really an afterthought--who would take odds on a 59 year old geezer beating a 36 year old in the prime of his career? Now THAT would have been miraculous.
But it's doubtful Watson would claim his day as verification of Twain's lament. He'll take some ribbing from his Senior Tour buddies but then again, they don't have five Claret Jugs. So congrats to Stewart Cink for a clutch first major victory, and to Mr. Watson, "better than most".
Since this is a politics blog with a golf theme the David Feherty comment about Pelosi and Reid would seem a perfect fit. For those who're in the dark here, Feherty is a irreverent golf commentator for CBS who also writes columns for various publications laced with irreverence. Here's the quip that sent the dust flying:
"From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this though," Feherty wrote toward the end of his column. "Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death."
Pretty brutal. Surely all the troops don't think that way--a lot would probably substitute Reid for Pelosi after his "this war is lost" comment.
Of course the Rathergate network is distancing itself from their employee's observation--not much choice there. And of course the chickenhearts of the PGA Tour are running like scared girls who've just seen a spider, tripping over their skirts at Feherty's exercise of free speech, which the soldiers are fighting for. Free speech like this:
And while I’m on the subject of vice, for my money, Sarah Palin came along too late. She’s waaay better-looking than Dick Cheney, and when she shoots at something, you can bet that at least the damn thing will be dead.
Or this:
I believe in the death penalty, especially for pro-lifers, child molesters, those opposed to gay marriage, and for stupid dancing in the end zone.
Where is the outrage? Actually the real outrage would be the phony troop-supporters over at Soros-funded Media Matters "demanding an apology" from an atheist who stands with them on many issues. All is not forgotten, brownshirts.
Anyway, Sunday is the final round of the Players and its infamous 17th Island green. Here are some memories...
They say you can tell a lot about a person by playing golf with them. Such is true. I've played hundreds of rounds (who's counting), quite often just showing up at the course as a single and teaming up with somebody in need of a playing partner. But whether stranger or friend, golf always has a way of bringing out folks' traits and tendencies.
Maybe it's because golf is the most frustrating and humbling endeavor mankind would ever willfully pay to play. Hit down to make it go up, swing easy to make it go far, if the grip feels comfortable it's wrong, etc. The inner demons will eventually come out, which tend to materialize in a variety of ill-mannered ways.
Swearing is the most obvious, but cheating is a wee bit more sinister and ranges from mild (improvement of a lie in winter) to extreme (not following any rules or using creative addition on the scorecard).
There are quitters and whiners but most folks just cuss more than normal (guilty). A more volcanic temperament might produce a club thrower. These are the poster children for lack of self-control and can either be entertaining or scary depending on their make-up. Regardless, club-tossing is the ultimate meltdown in golf.
These things are well understood by most regular golfers, that's why it was encouraging to read Dan Van Natta's Golf Digest column on Barack Obama's game (something that was kept almost completely hidden before the election for some reason). The following quote stands out:
"The great thing about him," Nicholson says, "if he duffs one dead into the woods, there's no cursing. The most excited we get on the golf course is a fist bump."
Such a demeanor might come in handy during a crisis. Here's another:
"When he'd shoot an 11 on a hole, I'd say, 'Boss, what did you shoot?' " says Marvin Nicholson, 37, the Obama campaign's national trip director and now a special assistant to the president-elect. "And he'd say, 'I had an 11.' And that's what he'd write on his scorecard. I always respected that."
For those who don't know, many people refuse to write double-digit scores on their scorecard, thinking that somehow it's not allowed except on the PGA Tour, where it hardly ever occurs. Anyway, all those are positive traits. It leaves the impression that Obama shows a tenacity to improve within the established rules and isn't a hotshot gunslinger. For a comparison to the real world, harken back to McCain's risky "suspend my campaign" strategy when the financial meltdown first hit--to use a golf analogy it was something of a "Tin Cup" moment:
Meanwhile Obama laid back-- or in golf terms he hit a 'lay up'. Of course there are times when a president might have to 'go for it in two' but hopefully not very often. All in all I think his golf course persona sounds very promising.
But there were a few shanks. The article also included this little morsel:
"I met him on the first hole,'' Steven S. Rogers, a former business owner who teaches at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told The New York Times about a round in 2001. "By the sixth hole, he said, 'Steve, I want to run for the Senate.' And by the ninth hole, he said he needed help to clear up some debts." Rogers wrote Obama a check.
Hey--it's Chicago. Guess it would be impolite to ask what he expected in return.
There's one more slightly troubling aspect about Obama's temperament on the golf course. Every so often the guy who laughs and whistles while writing down the 11 will have one of those super cruel rounds where everything goes unbelievably wrong, as if the entire universe has lined up against him. This is usually after practicing a new swing move with much success on the driving range. If such a round is also coupled with an external negative, such as a recent fight with the wife or boss, it can lead to an out-of-character eruption whereupon a combination of all the bad golf traits might simultaneously occur.
Not saying Obama is such a person but obviously it's something that doesn't mix well with a nearby nuclear football. So we'll have to watch for that.
Obama hit the links today on his Hawaiian vacation, playing all 18 holes with three unnamed partners. When quizzed by the press on his play 'at the turn' (from the first nine to the second) he remarked:
"I'm not that good."
Hmm. His swing position looks pretty good. Perhaps he's a bit modest. Whatever the case, it's nice to know we have yet another Commander-in-Chief who knows how to spoil a good walk. And quite fittingly, he's a lefty.
For some reason this wasn't an issue before the election. Although some wondered about his hobbies--and his golfing exploits were actually reported both before and after his nomination--most of the focus was on his passion for hoops.
Maybe it was something to do with golf's elitist reputation. JFK kept his passion hidden (for golf) while Bush got in trouble for saying he'd given up the game in light of the war. Ford was mocked for years on his horrible swing, while both Nixon and Clinton were rumored to be somewhat liberal with their scoring.
With so many problems facing the country and golf's reputation it's likely Obama won't be playing much more so hopefully he can enjoy these last few rounds.
Good Lord, is that 53 year old Greg Norman leading the British Open after three rounds? Yep. Thank you Tiger for blowing out your knee while nipping 82 year old Rocco Mediate in the US Open so we could get one final Sunday with Greg in contention in a major.
I'll stay away from all that stuff about his divorce and remarriage to tennis great Chrissy Evert, I'm just enjoying the 70s flashback. Maybe the Little River Band will show up and play "Help is on the Way" with an appearance by Bjorn and Martina.
Anyway, if Norman melts down during the final round it won't matter (unlike the 1996 Masters) because he's clearly performing way above expectations at this point. Who knows, it's an advantage he never had before. And while he may be known more for not getting it done at clutch time I'll certainly remember the showman who won the 1997 Memphis Fed Ex tournament by sinking a long curling putt on the final hole. Good luck, Shark.
MORE 7/20/08
To be clear, the above wasn't meant to be gleeful about Tiger's injury. His performance against Mediate in the US Open was almost other worldly considering the nature of his at the time, hidden injuries. Almost certainly, if he were healthy then Norman's performance wouldn't be the main headline going into today.
JOLLY GOOD 7/20/08
If it were any other 53 year old golfer Norman's weekend story would be miraculous (well, perhaps until Tiger reaches his 50s). But it was Greg Norman, who had one more chance to exorcise the demons and change a legacy marred not only by his own failures but by several miracles pulled off by his competitors at the last minute. Alas, the story remains the same. Consolation prize--another return to Augusta.
As to the winner, a good-natured, unassuming Irishman named Paddy, he now has as many Claret Jugs as the Shark. Indeed it's a good day for the Irish, especially after a certain Englishman in the field bragged so much. Aye.
