The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - 2/18/09

by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 18, 2009 12:21 PM EST

Twice per week, we'll take a look at what happened over the past few days in professional golf based on the three categories from the classic western film.

The Good

Ryo Ishikawa - the 17 year old Japanese superstar is breathing extra life into one of my favorite Tour stops at Riviera. He has over 100 Japanese reporters following him. Hopefully, he makes the cut.
Charlie Sifford - Sifford is an important figure in American professional golf because of his win at the "caucasian only" Los Angeles Open. He has received a lot of attention lately due to the Golf Channel documentary of Uneven Lies and the Sifford Exemption at the Northern Trust Open. It's well deserved.

The Bad

Rory McIlroy not being in LA - McIlroy, winner of the Dubai Desert Classic, didn't receive an exemption into the NTO. He probably should have, although the timing of his first win and the event didn't line up very well. We'll have to wait to see McIlroy at his first Accenture Match Play.
Waiting for Tiger Woods - Everyone keeps saying that golf desperately needs him to return. He hasn't yet. That's bad.
Dubai's reputation - Who knew that an Israeli tennis phenom would be discriminated against by the Dubai government when applying for a visa? Not surprising, but the PR of it all diminishes their golf swagger.

The Ugly

Tim Rosaforte at a Champ Tour event - Golf Channel stuck Rosey in Florida with the Champions Tour as their new David Marr III. Interestingly enough, Marr III was the play-by-play guy. Maybe next season, Rosey will do play-by-play and the camera grip will become the interview guy.

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Comments

The Good: What ? No fist bumps to the camera crews for another year of excellent pictures of Pebble Beach ??? Hard to beat that panorama.

Are we really sure that having another 100+ reporters on American soil is a good thing ? :-/

The Bad: Ok – you are forbidden from watching “The Approach”. Quoting Charlie Rymer (a good Georgia boy) and Alex “do you like my ugly bowtie” Miceli should get a smack across the back of the head. Since when does winning a Euro Tour event have anything to do with giving someone an exemption ? Remember – they are in Los Angeles – and as much as I hate the word – “diversity” is big there. McIlroy is another white face – Ishikawa is Japanese in a huge Asian populated area.

And quit picking on the gimpy guy ! :-) Geez – Tiger will be back before too long. He stopped playing Riviera several years ago. The Tour has been doing pretty well since the US Open. A lot of guys have been getting their Tiger-damaged confidence rebuilt over the last 8 months. Maybe we’ll see more guys putting up a fight when Tiger gets back – and that’s a GOOD thing.

Oh – the Israeli tennis pro thing is an up and down situation. This girl was refused entry because of the current situation in Gaza. I’d bet that if you asked some of the tournament organizers, they did it for her protection – which, in that area of the world, isn’t an unreasonable idea. There have been several Israeli tennis players in the two Dubai events (one men – one women) over the years. Dubai may be an Arab country, but they are more western in their thinking – where people of all nations are welcome…because they bring tourist money.

The Ugly: I’m still cracking up at that one – nice !

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Feb 18, 2009 12:43 PM EST reply actions

oh...

…Miceli and Rymer BOTH missed that Riviera has a history of inviting “golfers of color” to play. Most notably, some 16 year old nerdy kid named Woods. :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Feb 18, 2009 12:45 PM EST up reply actions

Haha

I didn’t even realize that the Approach fellas had said anything about the LA Open or Rory. I’d just like to see more of him here in the States.

by Ryan Ballengee on Feb 18, 2009 12:52 PM EST up reply actions

you will...

…starting at Augusta. He’s a young Euro Tour player – give him a little time to grow up and prepare for the US Tour.

Yep – what you said was almost word for word what those two clowns had to say. How bad does an answer have to be when you get smacked around by Craig Kann ? He read Miceli and Rymer the riot act. :-) (I was so proud of Craigy !)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Feb 18, 2009 12:59 PM EST up reply actions