The Common Golfer

Well Shark, I hate to say “I told you so,” but…I told you so.  When you named Adam Scott as one of your two captain’s picks, I said you were making a mockery of The President’s Cup.  There was no logic behind picking a golfer who’d missed 10 of 18 cuts this year, other than to pick a fellow Aussie and a friend to be on the team.  And trust me Shark, as I’m sure you found out – I wasn’t the only one saying this.  Basically the entire world knew it.

And come to find out, we were all right.  Scott finished 1-4 in President’s Cup play (0-2 in Four-Ball, 1-1 in Foursomes, and 0-1 in Singles).  Overall, he cost the International team negative three points!  What if, instead of Scott, you’d had a golfer currently playing well?  What if, instead of costing your team 3 points, he’s earned three points for your team?  That’s a six point turnaround that would’ve won you the Cup, instead of getting your team blown out.

But, all of that being said, I don’t mean to pile on.  Norman and Scott seem like great guys.  And if Fred Couples is reading this – don’t think that you’re immune from idiotic captain’s picks.  I think the whole world is still trying to figure out what Michael Jordan was doing inside the ropes all week.

All in all, congratulations to the U.S. Team on their 19.5 to 14.5 victory.  This was a great ending to the golf season.  From what little I saw of the Cup on television, it looked like a great atmosphere and venue.  Does anyone think the President’s Cup will ever reach the “importance” of the Ryder Cup?  I feel like if the Ryder Cup had been this weekend, that I would’ve made more time to sit down and watch.

After only 15 months of marriage, Greg Norman and Chris Evert are calling it quits.  The couple had been getting quite a bit of press over the past year, given that both are hall-of-famers in their sports.

However, when you look a little closer, this isn’t a huge shocker.  Is it more surprising that a woman married four times couldn’t make a marriage work, or that a guy who previously stole his best friend’s wife can’t make a marriage work?

Personally, I best like the theory at Niceballz – Evert was so pissed at Norman’s President’s Cup pick of Adam Scott, that she decided to end the marriage.  These faux quotes from Niceballz are hilarious:

“She said ‘how can I trust him with anything simple like going to the market and getting the right brand of bread when he f*ck’s something like a Captain’s pick up?’…she was beside herself.”

“For a few days afterwards she would walk around the house saying ‘What, Ian Baker-Finch wasn’t available? Christ, nothing like being the wife of the Blunder from Down Under’, it was brutal.”

I do really like Greg Norman as a golfer, and when I was younger he was probably my favorite golfer.  I guess I’m just being hard because a 15-month is even more of a mockery than picking Adam Scott for the President’s Cup!  If you can’t keep a marriage going for 15 months, then why did you even get married in the first place.  Oh well…this is a golf blog, so I’ll quit giving my relationship opinions.  Bottom line – divorce is a sad thing, and despite all the negativity above, hopefully they both get through this.

The Presidents Cup has always struggled to be as important as the Ryder Cup, and now thanks to Greg Norman, it struggles to be relevant at all.  Yesterday, Fred Couples and Greg Norman announced their captain’s picks.  Couples selected Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan (statistically 1st and 3rd in the points after the 10 automatic selections), and Norman selected Ryo Ishikawa and Adam Scott.

I know what you’re thinking.  Is that the same Adam Scott who’s ranked 53rd in the world? Yes it is.  Is that the same Adam Scott who’s missed 10 cuts out of 18 events? Yep.  Same guy.  Is that also that guy that didn’t have enough FedEx points to even make it to the second event in the playoffs? You get the point.

In my opinion, I don’t see how this can be looked at as anything short of a mockery of golf.  I don’t mean to pile the hate on Scott; as Norman put it, “When you look back a year ago, Adam was the No. 3 player in the world. So everybody goes through a slump.”  However, the key word is slump – something Scott is still in the middle of, and likely will still be having next month during the Presidents Cup!  There are quite a few well-deserving players that are playing better than Scott right now – actually, I think I’d even qualify as playing better than Scott but unfortunately I’m from the US.

People defending Norman’s picks (if there are any out there), will point out that Scott was 14th in the international standings.  It’s a valid point, but that is almost entirely due to his great play last year.  And really, when you look at it, Norman’s pick of Ishikawa was pretty questionable.  However, I think it’s a very smart move to capitalize on the growth potential in Asia for the game of golf (especially on the heals of Yang’s major victory).

“Maybe somewhat unexpected. Obviously it’s been a tough year,” Scott said. “But I really am humbled. I feel like I can contribute points and contribute in the team room, as well.”  I just hope Adam didn’t have to cancel any vacation plans with Kate Hudson!

Greg Norman’s spring 2010 line of clothing will be featuring magnetic “ion” golf shirts.  Liquid titanium magnetic crystals spun into the polyester of the shirt,

“…creates beneficial negative ions, which balance the positive ions and increase serotonin levels.” The “ion” is similar in principle to the various bracelets and necklaces that some athletes wear, which they say uses the mystic physics of “minus ions” to improve an athlete’s performance and promote an overall sense of physical well being. Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday, the top 10 players for both Presidents Cup teams were finalized.  Now all that remains are the two captains’ picks for each side.  The matches are just around the corner, from October 8-11 at Harding Park in San Francisco, California.  Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman will announce their captains’ picks on September 8.

The American team players so far are:  Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Sean O’Hair, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim and Justin Leonard.  The International team players so far are:  Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, Mike Weir, Robert Allenby, Y.E. Yang and Tim Clark.

The American team players are determined by PGA Tour earnings over the past two years, with 2009 earnings worth double.  The International players are determined based on world ranking.  Couples has already said that Hunter Mahan will be one of his two picks.  Norman has made no indication as to who he may select.

I’m sure I hold a slight bias, just by being American, but it looks to me like the American team should be the heavy favorite in October.  Besides the obvious inclusion of Tiger Woods on the American team, Stricker, Johnson, and Perry have all been having great years.  When I look at the International players, there are a lot of big names on the team, but only a few of them have been playing consistently great golf this season.