The Zone Interactive Golf Magazine (UK) The Zone Issue 26 | Page 15
N
OBODY likes a smarty pants.
Followers of Formula One
are sick to the back teeth of
watching Sebastian Vettel win almost
every race. Boxing fans would like to see
somebody wipe the smile off the face of
Floyd Mayweather. Wouldn't you just
love to see some complete unknown
beat Rafa Nadal 6-0 6-0 6-0 at the
French Open?
And that is why we love golf. Even when
he was at his remarkable, imperious
best, Tiger Woods never averaged better
than one victory in four tournaments.
We may well all look back now and try
to convince ourselves that he won for
fun, but golf isn't like that. No golfer has
ever finished his career with a winning
record of anything like 25%. Not Jack
Nicklaus, not Tom Watson, not Arnold
Palmer, not Sam Snead, not Byron
Nelson, not even Sam Snead.
How thankful we all should be for that.
THEZONE / ISSUE 25
Watching the same person pick up the
first prize time after time is just plain
boring. It doesn't matter how good
they are, you just find yourself rooting
for somebody else, especially if it's an
underdog. That is why we all pulled for
Bob May and YE Yang when they went
toe to toe with Woods at the US PGA
championship.
We would have been doing the same
thing for Rocco Mediate at the 2008 US
Open had Woods not been playing with
a broken leg.
So we should all stop for a moment and
give thanks to Henrik Stenson, Phil
Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Jason Dufner
and the astonishing Jordan Spieth for
giving us a season we will never forget and, one suspects, neither will they.
Let's start with Dufner. I have to admit
that I just don't 'get' him. But I take my
hat off to him. His performance at the
US PGA Championship was wondrous
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