Fate Has Been Unkind to Golf This Year
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2009 10:08 AM EDT
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PrintStewart Cink beating 59 year old Tom Watson to win the 138th Open Championship was really just the third consecutive time that fate has treated golf unkindly this year. David Barrett at Golf Observer makes the good point.
And so major championship golf continued in its complete and utter disdain for story lines in 2009. At the Masters, 48-year-old Kenny Perry was cruising toward a victory that would have made him the oldest player to win a major. More importantly, it would have represented the first major title for one of the game's nicest guys and one of the game's hottest players over the previous 12 months. Instead, he bogeyed the last two holes and lost to Angel Cabrera in a playoff.
At the U.S. Open, you had Phil Mickelson playing in his last event before taking a break from the Tour to be with his wife Amy during her surgery and treatment for breast cancer. He was playing in front of New York crowds who adore him and trying to make up for past near misses at the U.S. Open. Or, you had David Duval, who had tumbled all the way from No. 1 in the world out of the top 800, but was staging a resurrection right before our eyes.
Fate has been awfully nasty to the sport - and its nice guys - this year. No offense to Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, or Stewart Cink, but none of them were supposed to win a major this year. The public had already proclaimed the champion before the trophy was handed out to the real winner.
What's worse is that the circumstance appears to be more heartbreaking each time. Thankfully, I don't think I can imagine anything more agonizing than what happened to either Phil Mickelson or Tom Watson.
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What has happened to competition ?
“And so major championship golf continued in its complete and utter disdain for story lines in 2009” – what pure, unadulterated crap. This is a “journalist” who can’t do his job unless the easy story is the result. The tournament isn’t the center of attention – it’s the “emotional story” that takes over.
This is why I can’t read SI, haven’t picked up an ESPN magazine since the first one, and cancelled my newspaper subscription.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I think he has a bit of a point here. Wouldn’t this year’s majors have been better if Perry, Phil, and Watson all won?
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2009 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions
This is all rather silly
A top 10 player Cink shouldn’t win a major? That’s ridiculous, and Cabrera is a former major champion. What only the big boys are supposed to win, or whoever happens to be the flavor of the month?
i only hope the golf journalist gods forgive Eun-Hee Ji
When Brittany Lincicome takes a major away from Cristie, all is well in the world. But not when Ji does it!
by The Constructivist on Jul 20, 2009 10:50 AM EDT reply actions
Sure...
…if you think that ONLY big name Americans should win Majors.
Perry had it and blew it – Cabrera didn’t get the attention because CBS wasn’t paying attention.
Wouldn’t Phil have actually had to have been in contention ? Please – feel bad for his wife and mother – but he didn’t play well enough to be there down the stretch.
Sure – I was pulling for Watson and it really hurt watching him crush a tee shot that went just into the first cut, which took spin off of the 8 iron that he absolutely flushed and barely ran through the green – followed by a dicey putt that he got more on than he expected and left himself 7-8 feet – and the only bad shot of the 18th hole – a half topped putt that just didn’t get there.
But Cink didn’t cheat to win – he earned his spot – he made BIRDIE at 18. He may not have been “the story” – but he won the tournament.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Completely valid point about the notion of who should or shouldn’t win a golf tournament. I didn’t approach David’s story that way. I was thinking, “Yeah, it would have been better if Perry, Mickelson, and Watson had won.” That wasn’t intended as a slight on who did win – they played the best golf to win the thing.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2009 11:06 AM EDT reply actions
“better” is a value judgement. to a “professional journalist” – they want the easy story – the easy quote – for someone else to do the work for them.
it’s the mainstream media mentailty that thinks that if the Yankees (or sometimes the Red Sox) don’t win the World Series – it was a waste of time.
So much attention was on Watson – and deservedly so – that these “professionals” missed Cink until he tied for the lead.
Hogan got all over the media for that kind of thing way back in his day and things haven’t changed.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Journalists definitely root for certain players – not because they like them, but because they’re more appealing of a story to the masses. Cink isn’t as appealing, no matter how well he did play down the stretch.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Then they aren’t doing their jobs. If all these “journalists” are doing is writing some fluff – and the truth of the story doesn’t get the full attention – then they are useless.
I don’t know about you – but I really get tired of this balloon of the media – if something blows up – then there is nothing left.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I don’t like that storyline. I don’t like the notion that the tournament sucked just because Tiger or media favorite didn’t win. We haven’t gotten the ending that we wanted so far this season in majors, but there are still three guys that did what they had to do to win down the stretch – and all were comeback wins.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2009 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm with you, Ryan...
Perry, Mickelson (or Duval), and Watson would have all made for much more compelling champions at this year’s majors.
Whoopty-frickin-do for Cabrera, Glover & Cink. We’ve had exciting final rounds at each major that have ended in letdown for the majority of the viewing public.
Obviously these guys went out and won, and good for them, but instead of getting magical moments like Nicklaus in ’86, Mickelson in ’04, Tiger in (insert your favorite), we are left with another round of Shaun Micheel, Todd Hamilton, Paul Lawrie, etc. as major champions.
The only exception I would make is Cabrera. He’s got two majors now, so he at least deserves some credit. But until he wins the US Open or PGA, he’ll probably get even less respect than Larry Nelson does.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2009 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Throughout his PGA Tour career, Cabrera has missed the cut in roughly 30% of the tournaments he has played. He finishes in the top 10 about 12% of the time.
He has two wins, both just happen to be majors. Outside of those two big wins, he has never finished inside of the top 3 in a tournament on the PGA Tour.
I agree with
MattSpence
...from the land of pleasant living, Baltimore.
by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Jul 20, 2009 2:02 PM EDT reply actions
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