Posted on 05/14/2005 6:12:23 AM PDT by beyond the sea
IRVING, Texas - The moment was packed with the kind of tension usually seen only at a major. In the locker room at the Byron Nelson Championship, players huddled around the television as Tiger Woods stood over a 15-foot putt. Upstairs in the family dining area, about 60 people set down their silverware and stopped their chatter to watch. On the course, the 1,500 fans surrounding the 18th green went stone silent.
They witnessed something that had not happened on the PGA Tour in seven years and 142 tournaments.
Woods missed the cut.
"Every guy in the locker room was watching," Jesper Parnevik said. "We're not allowed to bet, but guys were offering $1,000 he would make it."
No wonder there were no takers.
Woods made a slippery 6-foot birdie putt at Torrey Pines three years ago to make the cut on the number. He made a downhill par putt from 4 feet in the Masters two years ago to do the same thing. And who can forget that 6-foot putt in the 2000 PGA Championship to force a playoff, or that 15-footer in the dark at the Presidents Cup.
Maybe that's what was so surprising about this one.
He studied the line from both sides, consulted his caddie, then stood over the ball and went through his routine. One look at the cup. Shift his feet and give it another look. A third look and pull the trigger.
The ball broke gently to the right toward the cup, then flattened out in the final 6 inches and trickled by, a dramatic end to one of the greatest streaks in sports.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
You know what Hemmingway said; There are only two sports - bullfighting and car racing. You put your life on the line. All the rest are just games.
I'm not kidding at all. I didn't say anything about tennis not being a sport. If you've never had to walk 18 holes with a golf bag on your back, don't say it's not a sport.
I weighed my daughter's golf bag before the state tournament last year and it was over 50 lbs. Try dragging that around for 5 - 6 hours in Texas heat and you'll think twice about golf not being a sport.
The "old geezers" riding in fancy carts with everything except the kitchen sink installed - now that may not be considered a sport.
I never said it was easy. In fact, I think it's pretty difficult every time I try. However, I don't think it's a true sport. It's more of skills challenge than a true sport. IMO.
It's an amazing achievement but it's not the greatest streak ever, not even in golf. Nelson's 18 consecutive wins would have to be the best. I would put Tiger's four consecutive major wins higher as well. Joe DiMaggio's hitting consecutive hit streak would also be higher.
I have played golf without carts. Walking to a ball and hitting it every two minutes with several minutes rest in between while waiting for the foursome in front of you just doesn't require any real stamina. Look at the golfers physical stature compared to tennis players or fencers or wrestlers. No comparison.
If you're not going to get into why you don't like Nicklaus, then why bring it up?
Okay can we all agree: Golf is a sport. And so is chess.
And here I've been thinking it's fun... ;^P
I agree, but when such endeavors are performed by exceptional athletes, id est, those mutants among us with nearly superhuman hand-eye coordination and consistency, then the events become spectacular. Face it. No one wants to watch even "good" basketball players contend each other, e.g. the CBA. And few will compare the excitement of Arena Ball with that of the NFL.
The masses, however, will tune in to watch Lance Armstrong ride a bike through the pastured back-roads of France...
I agree with that, but how many of those (and football / baseball players) have abused performance enhancing drugs???
Heh! I'll have to remember that one.
Let's not judge by kids --
Heck, a lot of kids today
think soccer's a sport . . .
I would love to seen that, I despise him too.
I picked up my first 4 Wood in 1958 (too young to handle a Driver off the tee). Naturally, Arnie was my golf hero.
This news will give the tour plenty of ink, so they don't mind that he won't be around to boost ratings this weekend. When they do see how low ratings are without Tiger, they'll ensure the steroid glamor king goes on another 142 cut streak.
Trajan88
Steroids is in the PGA and LPGA. Tiger is a ripped roid head....more along the lines of a Terrel Owens or an olympic track athelete. A few other names are probably on them. The former nike tour and college golf is trying to come to grips with the problem as well. Players are searching for anything to help them break out from being on the border to making a great living.
I will tell you why golf is not only a great sport, but one of the greatest of all sports. I realized it one grand day as I stood at the 17th tee at Pinehurst #2. Its a par 3, about 180 yds or thereabout to the pin. It was spring, the azaleas and dogwoods were in full bloom. I stood there for a moment and suddenly I was overcome with an amazing sense. There I was, Pinehurst#2, standing where Slammin Sammy, Ben Hogan, Arnie, Jack, Tom Watson, Tiger had stood trying to accomplish the same objective that they had tried to accomplish: to get the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible.
There is no other sport that can do that, is there? I'll never play ball at Fenway, I'll never touch homeplate at Yankee stadium, I'll never nail a three at Boston Garden because it ain't even there anymore. But there I was at #2, a golfer, a duffer is all, truth be told, but even this duffer was given the gracious honor to stand on that hallowed ground and for a fleeting moment, have a hope that for one stroke, one moment in time, I could do what Arnie did, and do it where he, himself had done it. I can't fully explain how I felt in that moment gazing down the fairway watching the flag as it fluttered softly in the breeze, but I know its one of the things that makes me love this sport and why it is so popular to so many.
So I teed it up and let 'er rip and proceeded to yank it way left into the pines. . ..well, I thought, Arnie's been there and done that too!
What a great SPORT and what great admiration you will have for the professionals who play it, if you ever have the opportunity to play where they play under the course conditions in which they play (not to mention having to play under the scrutiny of millions!)
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