Unlike so many other parts of life and the sporting world there are a lot of "Good" to reflect on from the golfing year past.
Along with a lot of time to reflect on them particularly at this festive season; have you been inside a mall lately? Lots of lines, above average displays of animosity (which always surprises me during what is supposed to be a festive time of year) and a whole lot of trying not to get run over by a stampede of lemming like creatures attempting to exchange money for items certain to bring as much pleasure into the recipients life as hemorrhoids on a 15 hour car trip. I digress.
Just some of the "Good":
Steve Stricker returns to the winners circle for the first time since 2001. Good stuff for a good guy. Don’t let the dubious Comeback Player of the Year award for the second year in a row get in the way of what he accomplished this year.
Lorena Ochoa: should be golfer of the year for the entire world. Absolutely amazing what she has done with her game, for the game, and as a representative of her country. Keep some distance from her, a star this bright is likely to cause damaged eyes. Every time I see her play, the warnings about not looking directly at an eclipse of the sun play in my head using that "announcer guy voice" from the old newsreels.
The LPGA: nothing but upside here. If the Commissioner can figure out how to market the product. There is so much talent here you could fill a room with players capable of being know by one name only, and I don’t mean "Hey Lady".
Woody Austin: Who knew this guy could play this well more than once in a row? The most remarkable feat was not the "aquaman" routine, but closing with three birdies after attempting to catch dinner with his face. From June on I kept hearing Adam Sandler’s voice saying "Woody learned how to putt. UH-OH".
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson: Head to head at the top of the leaderboard, AFTER the majors no less. It gets no better ever. Hopefully we get to see more in the coming year.
I could go on and on but you get the idea, lots of "Good" to remember.
The Bad:
The poster boy for bad, Mr. Daly. Of the 25 events he entered the results show 10 missed cuts and 6 WD. Poor poor pitiful John. He keeps getting opportunities to play based on his ability to draw paying customers. But he plays badly and then behaves worse than he played by withdrawing. Bad play can be forgiven, it’s a hard game after all. Bad behavior is inexcusible always. The combination of the two will result in those opportunities to play becoming less and less frequent until Mr. Daly finds his bus up on blocks as broken as his life.
MIchelle Wie: No good has come from 2007, except her admission to Stanford. Professionally this year has been a complete train wreck. How bad you ask? Let’s just say the joker who decided it would be a good idea to bundle subprime mortgages and sell them as investments had a better year, and he hasn’t been seen in months. What effect this kind of year will have on the teenagers psyche remains to be seen. Hopefully her parental units will have taken some lessons from the year as well. Time alone will tell.
The USGA: Walter Driver told the professional staff at golf house that things were going great and how much he appreciated them for all the hard work they did for the organization. Then he chopped their benefits and reshuffled more power into the executive committee. As an attorney Mr. Driver ran an international firm of more than 800 lawyers so you would believe he might have been more direct with the folks at Golf House.
Carolyn Bivens: As commissioner of the LPGA she’s made a series of awful decisions resulting in resignations, disputes with the media ( and herself an ex-media services provider executive), and non existant marketing. Oh my bad, she did have the LPGA logo redesigned. I hear it’s increased ticket sales by 4 patrons per event. Given a product with so many things going for it she accomplished nothing of note this year except to stay out of the headlines. Here’s hoping she provides some direction this year or seeks employment elsewhere.
The Ugly
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Rory Sabbatini: Shades of 2005 and the boorish behavior exhibited by both Mr. and Ms. Sabbatini returned when Mr. Sabbatini vanished from the final round of the Target World Challenge amid a swirl of conflicting statements. Host Tiger Woods woke to find Mr. Sabbitini had pulled a Robert Irsay and vanished in the dead of night. (For those too young to remember, Mr. Irsay, owner of the then Baltimore Colts NFL franchise, packed up lock, stock and barrel in the dead of night and plopped his team down in Indianapolis where they reside to this day) Ugly behavior by any standards. Hey Mr. S, what kind of weenie just up and leaves without a word to the host? Perhaps the logo on your wife’s shirt refers not to speed of play but the status of your spine. Maybe I’ll send her a new one with the logo "GROW ONE".
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19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole1 week ago
