This is the premier event in golf for me. I am so excited, I am putting my game on hold for a few days to watch all 3428 hours of coverage. What I wouldn’t give to have figured things out earlier in my career and been able to play in this event. I would have been the perfect partner for Tiger, for I would have not been afraid to speak my mind to him to try and get his dander up.
Segue to a point of bitterness. I don’t feel jealousy often. By my definition, envy is where you wish you had what someone else had, but don’t begrudge them for having it. Jealousy is where you want it and you want them not to have it.
Tiger has earned all of his successes through hard work and I ENVY his success. His demeanor and discussions at and about the Ryder Cup lead me to a point of jealousy as it always seems he doesn’t even want to be there. The greatest player of all time? The greatest match player of all time? The most mentally tough of all time? If those things are true it can only lead me to believe he doesn’t care about the team part of it and that is a foreign concept to me.
He could take this opportunity to be more humble, accessible to fans and media and generally make an effort to be a decent guy.
He has done the opposite and become more arrogant, glib and disagreeable.
Did any of you see his press conference on Tuesday?
No one had a worse temper on the course than me. Breaking and throwing clubs plagued me my whole career. Mike Matesow blowups, for you poker fans, were a regular experience. However, in the middle of profanity laced tirades, I would calm myself to go to the gallery and make jokes at my own expense and go to the press room and give candid and sincere responses even after carding an atrocious number.
With a golf club in my hands, I am no Tiger Woods, but with a golf club out of his hand, Tiger Woods is…well, he continues to be Tiger Woods and as a fan, I guess I will be disappointed if I continue to hope for something different.
As for the matches, I like the US’s chances to be competitive and here is why. Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson have all shown the ability to go really low and have a brain cramp or two cost them dearly. In this format, it’s one lost hole. One would say that Phil falls into this category and hasn’t had all that much success, but IMO, how well these three players do will affect how well the US does.
I like Tiger and Stricker together, but was surprised Furyk wasn’t out there early.
Europe’s hopes might rest on how well Harrington can recover from his current state of inconsistent play and whether Poulter can match his scoring total from the past.
I am a little leery of the accuracy of US driving, but the large wet fairways will help this.
Hoping I am wrong…Europe 15 US 13
Monte Scheinblum's Blog 