Question: Hoof it or Stay Home?

Is visiting a professional golf tournament worth the hassle?

Reasons to hoof it to the tournament:

  1. Tee shots – The trajectory of some of the pro’s tee shots is amazing to watch. The best place to appreciate this is from behind the tee box. You’ll be able to see the ball’s flight and curve.
  2. Eavesdropping – Overhearing the player-player and player-caddie banter offers a bit of an insight into to how fun it must be to play professional golf for a living.
  3. The Clubs – Being at the tournament is the best place to see the prototype tour only clubs up close.
  4. The Course – Seeing the undulations in the greens and the elevation changes on the entire course can lend an entirely new perspective to a golf tournament. And even if you don’t make it back the next year, you’ll have a better appreciation for the difficulty of some of the shots the pros are facing.

Reasons to be a couch potato:

  1. Better View – It’s much easier to follow the tournament when you’re at home. Being at the course can be disorienting and frustrating.
  2. The Commentary – While you may overhear the players and caddies talking if you visit the tournament, you’ll miss the cheesy comments of your favorite TV golf announcer.
  3. Seeing Good Shots – Being at a golf tournament is like reading a fraction of 72 different books in one day. You never get the beginning, middle and end. Seeing the tee shot, ball flight, and landing is unique to watching on TV.

Would you rather go to a tournament or watch from home?

Congrats, Lefty!

Phil Mickelson won the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston by out-dueling Tiger Woods, Brett Wetterich, and Aaron Oberholser. The Monday finish was a unique holiday flare that highlighted the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour’s new season ending playoff.

After two weeks, Phil Mickelson is now leading FedEx Cup points with 108,613. Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods are second and third. Next week’s BMW Championship at Cog Hill in Chicago, IL will host the top seventy players according to the FedEx Cup standings. And the week after that The Tour Championship in Atlanta, GA will produce the winner of the playoffs from a 30-man field.

The FedEx Cup is proving to be more exciting that expected. The big name players have stepped up, with the exception of Tiger Woods skipping the first event. Today’s duel between Tiger and Phil went a long way towards validating the new format – and we’re only halfway through. As golf fans become more accustomed to the FedEx Cup points system, it will gain more followers. While the Cup doesn’t have the thrill of single elimination match play, the fact that there is a $10 million annuity for the FedEx Cup points winner is bigger than any one of the $7 million purses for the individual tournaments.

The 2007 British Open

I didn’t get to see a second of coverage of this years British Open (thanks to CCTV’s unwillingness to cover something worth watching), but from what I’ve read the finish was as exhilarating and sloppy as the final round eight years ago when it was last played at Carnoustie. I remember watching Jean Van de Velde crumple on the 18th hole and the following playoff between Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie. For a high school kid obsessed with golf, this was an exciting finish and one I could empathize with. (I have both won a playoff and lost by one shot after double-bogeying the final hole. One is a good feeling, the other is what people refer to as a “learning experience.”)

I’m hoping the golf channel will rebroadcast this years Open sometime soon when I’m back in the U.S. so I can see how truly disappointed Sergio was and how elated Harrington was when he hoisted the Claret Jug after the four hole playoff.

I Miss Fall Golf

Tenth grade in high school seems like a long time ago. I was spending my summers playing golf and working at a golf store. And in September of 1997 (a decade ago!!!) I played in a tournament at the Sault St. Marie Country Club in northern Michigan. The weather was cool and windy. From the time I hit the first range ball at 6:30am until I holed my last putt hours after noon various shades of light and dark gray intermingled above. Rain, although imminent, failed to fall.

I was young and immature – more so then than now – and had a poor putting day. I remember fighting the wind, moping a bit, and wishing I could play better. I don’t remember what I shot, but I can picture the ragged scorecard I turned in, its corners tattered and lead smudged. I remember hitting one very well-struck drive on an open dog-leg right hole. I remember that I was playing as an extra man with the varsity team to get experience. I remember enjoying everything about that day, but wanting to get out of the cold.

I really miss fall golf.

Watching the British Open doesn’t help.

Free Throws and Short Putts

Basketball free throws and short putts are two of my favorite moments to watch when there is a lot on the line. I’m a golfer and not a basketball player, but the singular pursuit of trying to make a free throw free from physical contact to win a game by a single shot seems very similar to trying to make a short putt in golf. Both shooting free throws and stroking a short putt require simultaneous awareness of your actions and the consequences that may result, and both are easiest when your able to “go through the motion” as you would if there were nothing on the line. It’s interesting to watch and see who holds up and who “chokes.”

U.S. Open Dreams

I won the U.S. Open in my dream last night, and with the satisfaction of beating the top golfers in the world came a $1,111,202.02 check. But, they gave me a standard check and a small trophy, and told me that the real trophy wasn’t ready. I didn’t really care, but looking back this should have tipped me off that I was dreaming. There’s no way they wouldn’t have the trophy ready.

Still, the dream was my best ever.