Monday, June 12, 2006

Golf's Big Five bores or Come on, Golfers -- Act Like You WANT it!

It may gratify some to watch the perennial favorites win, but I'd rather watch the smaller, more significant dramas unfold. Take last weekend's Barclay Classic. An early leader was Billy Andrade, a pro golfer who has fallen on relatively hard times (I say "relatively" because with his sponsorships and earnings, he's still doing financially better than 97 percent of Americans--$11 million career earnings since '87 (by comparison, I've made $600,000 in the same period.)) Azinger commented that Andrade is no longer exempt, and needs to get inside the top 125 in earnings to secure his card for next year. A win would have gone quite a ways toward that end, but he didn't win. He played good, but not great, and came in fifth. One more top ten and he'll probably be okay for next year. But isn't it more fun to watch a guy like Andrade play for his life and/or career than watch Veej stoically win another check for his retirement fund? I could have even rooted for Adam Scott, who is also quite stoic, if he had shown in some demonstrable way that he really wanted to win--a twitch, hyperventilation, ANYTHING. Which brings me back to the Big five Bores. (Note: These guys may not currently be in the top five, but they are more often than not in the top five, which is why I'll spend an inordinate amount of time commenting on them.) Woods can be fun to watch--when he isn't acting like a robot, but Mickelson, Veej, Els and Goosen are sleep-inducingly boring.

No comments: