golfweloveit

Leave the European team your message of support at

pledge.rydercupeurope.com

.

Arnold Palmer’s ashes have been scattered over his home course of Latrobe CC Pensylvania. This rainbow appeared yesterday over the course.

Last week I said to myself “steady on” because I found myself agreeing with one of Mickelson’s moans. He complained that the course at East Lake where the Tour Championship was being played was not set up as proper preparation for this week’s Ryder Cup.

Such agreement only lasted a week, because here we are again, another attention seeking tirade this week, this time about 2004 US Ryder Cup Captain Hal Sutton, see the conference below.

Talking about how his own pairing with Tiger Woods was a “monumental fail”did not go down well. Although his explanation of how the pairing affected him as a player was interesting. He didnt focus on the fact that they dint get on, he put it in terms thta they play different ball compressions, Tiger with a high spin, he with a low spin, and to play foursomes he had to take a couple of days out of his own preparations in order to learn how to play this ball and try and make this work. Any top level player would have been annoyed by that but Mickelson’s anoyance wasnt dealt with at the time by trying to oersuade the captain to change the pairing, i stead it was stored up to use as an example of how not to captain and spoken to the press 12 years on.

This afternoon Sutton responded to this while playing in the Captain’s Challenge. He said famously

“I just felt like the world of golf would be a better place if Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson got on and became friends”.

Former captain Curtis Strange said he had wanted to put them together, but only Hal had the guts to actually do it”. Sutton said “D’you think I had anything to do with how poorly he played? He let the whole side down”

Bizarrely, Mickelson back tracked today and issued an apology, this is most unusual. “I am so so sorry I feel awful” he said “It was just meant to be an example of how a captain can have a strong effect on a team. Unfortunately it came across the way it did, I was totally in the wrong, I never should have done that because it affected Hal”. I made him feel awkward.I never should have used him as a soecific example I put him totally on the spot. I never should have done that I put him in an awkward situation.

He then rattled off the names of several past captains – Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman, Lanny Wadkins and said the team were creating a family feel – notably he didnt mention Tom Watson, a past captain he was also very forthright in his criticism of. See this 2014 criticism:

He ended with I created negativity and Im so so sorry.

Sounds like there was team pressure on him to apologise which there wouldnt have been any other week. It’s got him the attention, positive or negative, and the bit of drama that he thrives on.

What a captain he’s going to make. Let’s hope it will be soon, what larks it will be.

The 2016 criticism

So Masters Champion Danny Willett has apologised to Davis Love, to Darren Clarke and to the American public on television, not that he has done anything wrong.

His brother Peter’s tirade against the American golf fans read thus:

“The Ryder Cup is my favourite event on the golfing calendar. It s three days of relentless distraction from the usual toll of planning lessons, marking work and weeping silently.

From the first tee to the final putt, it all matters. It matters so much that an uncomfortable anti-American sentiment has started to bubble deep inside.

So, after the captains have picked their pairs, and the players have exerted their influence over each other (for better or worse). It is the crowd that will have the biggest impact. Team USA have won only five of the last sixteen Ryder Cups. Four of those five victories have come on home soil. For the Amercans to stand a chance of winning, they need …

their baying mob of imbeciles to caress their egos every step of the way. They only have the courage to keg you if they’re backed up by a giggling group of reprobates. Team  Europe needs to shut those groupies up. 

They need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling irritants, stuffed on cookie dough, pausing between moutfuls of hotdog so they can scream ‘baba booey’ until their faxes turn red. They need to stun the angry, unwashed Make America Grear Again swarm, desparately gripping their concealed carry compensators and belting out a mini-erection inducing mashed potato, hoping to impress their cousin. They need to smash the obnoxious dads, with their shiny teeth, lego man hair, medicated ex-wives and resentful children. Squeezed into their cargo shorts and boating shoes, they’ll bellow “get in the hole” whilst high fivi g the other members of the Dentists Big Game Hunt Society.

Team Europe nees to silence these cretins quickly.

Crikey.

Now what I find extraordinary about this is that National Club Golfer actually printed this. Did they think it was entertaining, firing up the crowds fodder? No. It is insulting and offensive and should never have seen the light of day. Sky Sports called it a “satirical article” but that is gilding a turd.

What I think is behind this is the first line .. “distraction from the usual toll of …weeping silently”

His brother is clearly jealous of Danny’s success and is sabotaging his preparations for his first Ryder Cup. Some brotherly love.

We love the Americans and we know, as Sergio Garcia famously says

“You dont win the Ryder Cup with your mouth”

Jack Nicklaus issued the following message on Monday when we learned of the passing of the great Arnold Palmer. Please take a moment to visit arniesarmy.org where there is a message from the family and a place to leave your memories.

I just got the news at about 8:45 that Arnold had passed. I was shocked to hear that we lost a great friend—and that golf lost a great friend.

At this point I don’t know what happened, and I suppose it is not important what happened. What is important is that we just lost one of the incredible people in the game of golf and in all of sports. My friend—many people’s friend—just wore out. I know he was in Pittsburgh trying to find out how to make himself better. That’s what Arnold has always tried to do. He has always been a fighter and he never gave up on anything. He didn’t give up even now. Maybe his body did, but I know Arnold’s will and spirit did not.

I wish I had another chance to talk to him, but I am so glad we talked a couple weeks ago on his birthday (Sept. 10), when he sounded great. So Barbara and I are just in shock and incredibly saddened. Our hearts, thoughts, prayers and sympathies go out to Kit, his kids, grand-kids, great grandchildren, and his entire loving family.

He was one of my best friends, closest friends, and he was for a long, long time. I will miss him greatly.

Arnold transcended the game of golf. He was more than a golfer or even great golfer. He was an icon. He was a legend. Arnold was someone who was a pioneer in his sport. He took the game from one level to a higher level, virtually by himself. Along the way, he had millions of adoring fans—Barbara and I among them. We were great competitors, who loved competing against each other, but we were always great friends along the way. Arnold always had my back, and I had his. We were always there for each other. That never changed.

He was the king of our sport and always will be.