Well, I have a lot of respect for Monty. He carded a 80 in round one........ then proceeded to get to -7 and an tie for 8th the rest of the tournament. That's the definition of a professional. Rory, was one of 4 players (including TW) who shot 69 the first round... and were only one behind Furyk.... Then Rory shot 81 - 76.... and couldn't face the world for the last round... went sneaking out of town without a word to tournament director McLaughlin or Woods. Ok, maybe he DID have an injury... let's give him that benefit of the doubt for this arguments sake... but he lacked the decency to personally call his host or the director and chat a few seconds to explain his actions. Major bad manners. This is just not a definition of a professional. It is the definition of a poor sport!!!
That's the right view of the fact he walked out on the tournament - it's no big deal to withdraw (it happens most weeks I imagine), but there are ways to do it if you're injured, or even ways to do it so that the tour officials can SAY you were injured to avoid this kind of discussion! At the very least, he's guilty of being a bit careless. Part of me wants to say that if he wasn't really injured and just couldn't be arsed then it shows what kind of player he is and what kind of man he is and don't put money on him, but then again, Monty stuck it out to the end despite a bad start and look how many majors that has... helped him finish second in. It's not whether you beat the course, it's whether you beat the course more than everybody else did. I guess my point was more that what you're trying to beat week in, week out is a number. It's not like in tennis where you play six or seven games and tailor each one to your opponent. In golf, no one else's performance can alter your own unless you allow it to. The legacy of Tiger so far has been how much everyone seems to allow his presence on a leaderboard to affect them, or, perhaps more fairly, how good he has been at making everyone else feel his presence. Golf, perhaps more than any other sport, is about you alone. No one can tackle you. No one can pitch you an unplayable ball. No one can serve the ball unreachably wide at you, deflect your ball as it flies to the target or accidentally put the ball in their own goal on your behalf. You triumph or fail to based entirely on what you do. As soon as you start doubting that, or feeling like there's only one man to beat, you're done. I can't wait for someone to arrive and start winning regularly - someone with the hunger to do it for the glory and the game, and not for the security and the sponsorship deal. Someone who isn't there to dethrone anyone, but is simply there to win as often as possible. The very reason I like Tiger is that he does exactly that. He didn't turn up on the scene talking about anyone else, he just came and beat them all.
Looks like Sabbatini's peers weren't real proud of his withdrawing from the tournament. I think, regardless of whatever you feel about Sabatini and his Tiger comments, that this little item carries some weight. Most of the other pros believed he was sucking out and, apparently, going to Maui for the holidays. Faldo was particularly incensed. That seems pretty disrespectful to an 16 man invite tourney. I could see one doing that for virtually every other tourney, but this one is a bit different. And not just because last place is worth $170,000. If he wants to regain a little legitimacy - he should give the money to a charity... A charity that Tiger doesn't like. Or use it to hire a Swedish nanny/looper and do the complete opposite of bridge building.
As soon as Sabbatini can routinely beat Tiger and give him the old what-for on the course, he should probably let his game...er..speak for itself. And I wonder where the little button is on the trophy that says "Try Me" and when you push it it plays "Hold that Tiger".
Mainly because if someone else wins . . . it'd be like sleeping with the cheerleader only to have her call out someone else's name, over and over and over. posted by yerfatma at 10:59 AM CST on December 17 Who cares....you still got to nail the cheerleader and there are ear plugs.
"Looks like Sabbatini's peers weren't real proud of his withdrawing from the tournament. Maybe until he can consistently compete with Woods he should keep his mouth shut. posted by whitedog65 at 8:16 AM CST on December 17" I agree. Woods did not mention Sabbatini apparently. Sabbatini seemed to have gotten panned by a number of the other golfers that were obviously out of the running for a win, but stuck it out for themselves and their fans. Until Woods win the grand slam (I do not think that will happen), many golfers will take a major from him each year, some years four golfers will take a major from him.
"Mainly because if someone else wins . . . it'd be like sleeping with the cheerleader only to have her call out someone else's name, over and over and over. posted by yerfatma at 10:59 AM CST on December 17" I'll take that, hell, I can't have everything.
This discussion made me go and look at the world rankings for the first time in a long time. As a rule, all rankings systems tend to be flawed, but even so... looks like Tiger could take next year off and still finish it as the best golfer in the world: 1 Tiger Woods, USA 19.62 2 Phil Mickelson, USA 8.72 3 Jim Furyk, USA 6.55 4 Ernie Els, Zaf 6.51 5 Steve Stricker, USA 6.45 6 Justin Rose, Eng 6.00 7 Adam Scott, Aus 5.81 8 Padraig Harrington, Irl 5.57 9 K.J. Choi, Kor 5.15 10 Vijay Singh, Fji 5.08 And of the other nine, who's threatening? Mickelson believed in himself for about 18 months, but ever since he didn't win the '06 US Open, he appears to have drifted back to hitting it as hard as he can and permanently smiling about how much money he has. Furyk is too old to suddenly become the next great force in golf (likewise Els, Stricker, Singh and Harrington). Rose and Scott are both young (although they've been around forever), but neither strikes me as having the fire required. Which leaves... KJ! In the rest of the top 50, the only guy I see who is young enough and screams potential like no one for a while is Andres Romero - and I'm basing that on seeing him nearly win the Open this year and then winning the following week, which is hardly a comprehensive study of his career.
Who cares....you still got to nail the cheerleader and there are ear plugs. Just beautiful, cc, still lol. Something like the sentiment that the worst one I ever had was pretty damn good.
Tiger is scary. He will have the best season ever next year. He has finally been able to replace the loss of his father and hugging him after matches with a new baby to hug after matches. It is great for him and will be great for golf for years to come.
