Posted on 06/20/2002 11:40:58 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - It's the familiar refrain of Grumpy Old Men: Kids these days.
No discipline.
Got things way too easy.
This wasn't a group of retirees lounging around a coffee shop, though. These were five of golf's all-time greats — Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Gary Player and Tom Watson, who have 212 PGA Tour victories and 51 majors among them.
The targets of their barbed comments: today's PGA players — except Tiger Woods.
"I think Tiger's the most disciplined player out there," Nicklaus said Tuesday at a news conference before the Children's Mercy Hospital Golf Classic at Blue Hills Country Club. "I don't see any other disciplined players out there."
Woods has the other players "buffaloed," Nicklaus added.
"Not once did I ever evaluate my chances against these four guys and say, 'I don't have a chance,'" he said.
Player said many golfers today are happy to finish second or third.
"I get so (ticked) off at that," he said. "The only person who remembers if you finish second is your wife and your dog — and that's if you have a good wife and a good dog."
And until other players start winning majors on a consistent basis, Palmer said, golf will continue to lack great rivalries.
" Rocco Mediate made the statement that he was not going to play the British Open because the course didn't suit his game," Palmer said, drawing a laugh from spectators as he pretended to rub away tears of sympathy. "He's one of the strongest and best strikers in the game. I helped nurse him along. I couldn't believe what I was hearing."
Mediate's attitude wouldn't have cut it in the past, Nicklaus said. In his generation, "Nobody cares what the golf course is — you take your game and you go play golf."
Blame the comfortable living that golf can provide even middling pros, the five said.
"Tiger Woods won $1 million for winning the U.S. Open," Palmer said. "The total prize money my first year on the tour (1954) was $750,000. ... If you weren't in the top one or two, in a couple of years you were back home mining coal."
Now, Player said, on the Super Senior circuit for golfers age 60 and up, "If you don't fall out of the golf cart you can make 10 grand."
When golfers of his generation turned pro, Nicklaus said, "We played the game for the game. We all said the same thing: 'If you play well, the money will take care of itself.'"
One name that came up as a possible rival to Woods was that of Phil Mickelson, who is still trying to win his first major.
"If I could just teach him to putt," Trevino said.
Watson, a Kansas City native and five-time British Open winner, has played host the charity event for 23 years.
Woods declined his invitation to play, Watson said, citing a desire to concentrate on his PGA Tour play and his own foundation work in Florida.
"He's doing what he needs to do," Watson said. "I have no problem with that."
Tuesday afternoon's 18-hole exhibition raised an additional $18,000 for the hospital, besides money raised from sponsorships and ticket sales.
Watson won six holes, Nicklaus four, Player one and the others were halved.
The problem is that people don't want to watch players other than Tiger. Compare the ratings for any tournament in which Tiger is in contention to those tournaments where he is either not playing or not in contention. The tv execs are just giving the people what they want to see.
And no - what they want to see is not some fat has-been hitting the ball 320 yards into rough for a triple bogey.
:-)
Greg got an invite from Clinton to play a round of golf. Greg, being a republican and a friend of Bush41 didn't want to do it. He called Bush41 and asked him what he should do. Bush41 told him that when you get invited by the President to play a round of golf you go and play with him. So Greg accepted and him and Klinton become friends afterward.
Reason: He has man boobs
Are you saying the ol' guys dont know what they are talking about then when they say that no one is competing with Tiger?
Are you saying they know about as much as fits on a Tee.
Yeah, all he's done is own all four Majors at one time, won 8, won one US Open by over a dozen strokes, and his first Masters over 8 strokes, and has won over 20 PGA Tour Events... before age 27. I think I'll forgive Tiger for not pretending he's a friggin' Three Musketeer...
Didn't you make the statement that Senior Tour TV ratings were better than PGA TV ratings in the 90s? I don't think that's EVER been true. Senior golf is BORING, and I really doubt it ever got better ratings than the regular Tour.
I'm amazed at people who look at Tiger, the #1 recognizable athlete in the WORLD, and find nothing but things to bitch about. Tiger is the greatest golfer EVER, PERIOD, END OF STORY. He'll pass Nicklaus' 18 majors by the time Tiger is 32-33. He's a complete and utter phenomenon. No one ever refrained from entering the same tourney as Arnie, because there was always the possibility that Arnie would blow up and finish way down in the field. Tiger doesn't do that.
Those guys are simply jealous. They KNOW that Tiger would whoop their ass if they were 40 years younger. None of them had to deal with the demoralizing aspect of having to play in the same field as Tiger. Gimme any of the old-timers against Tiger, and I'll pick Tiger every time. Their gripes about the other players might be a bit justified, but at the same time, when you have the MAJORITY of the Top 50 golfers in the world heaping such praise on Tiger, it's gotta be legitimate. They get no money for praising Tiger, and if you were ranked in the Top 20 in the world (and the ego to go with it), you'd have to swallow hard before admitting that Tiger is just simply a much better golfer. Which they admit. My only problem with Tiger is that he makes tournaments boring, winning by such large margins.
I guess since Tiger has done everything else in golf, he should now work on some sort of stage act, a la Chi Chi, so that instead of watching golf, we can watch funny antics instead.
My wife walked into the room when Phil was bouncing up out of a bunker, took one look at him and said, "That shirt has GOT to GO. He needs something under it."
Michael
Then I declined the invitation a second time.
If you remember, Bill Clinton sustained that serious leg injury when he allegedly tumbled down the stairs at Norman's house in Florida. If Norman wants me to have any respect for him again, he'll tell us what REALLY happened.
"You and a couple of other folks on here should stick to the great political posts, what you know about golf would fit on a tee."
I've been following the sport - and how media handles it longer then you've, likely, been on the face of the earth.
"Not one of you mentioned that Phil is number two and came back on the last day to challenge for the win at the open."
Obliquely. Phil does hold the #2 ranking, because he does well on the money list and he generally acquits himself in a respectable manner. However, the fact that he mounted a FAILED come-from-behind challenge is precisely the point. That's Mickelson's M.O. He's great all over the course, except on Sundays. He always comes up short. At least when he won Low Amateur at Augusta, he didn't do a "Nick FOLD-o."
"Nor have you mentioned Sergio Garcia who is doing a very nice job of bringing people out to the course."
Sergio plays mainly in Europe, so fans here don't get a chance to see him as much - especially since he's young. And I like him. He's got great potential. But he's going to have to clean up the waggling. That doesn't look very professional. He HAD been doing better at it before his relapse at the Open.
"Finally there are tournaments like Phoenix (100,000 per day) Dallas (60,000 per day) that have done fine with and without Tiger. The TV follows the people who are scoring well. If Daly was doing well you would see him!"
I never said anything to the contrary. Tiger plays a schedule that he has devised for his best exposure and best professional development. He can afford to not show up every week. That doesn't mean that no one's interested in the Byron Nelson, because they ARE. And you're certainly right in that TV will give the best coverage to whomever's winning.
"Gold is an equal opportunity game."
Yup. He who has the gold gets the most equal opportunities. GOLF is a lot like that, too. Perhaps you'd like to share with us a few excerpts from your latest dissertation on the differences in greens design between, say a Nicklaus course and an old Jones layout.
Michael
Nicest Guy: Payne Stewart
Biggest Asshole: Ken Green
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