All posts tagged Golf

Rory McIlroy Didn’t Play Tiger Woods and That is Totally Fine With Me

By | June 20, 2011 | Golf, PGA | 2 Comments

Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open yesterday, following up a disappointing Master’s performance by kicking the butt of this country’s premier (and super-hyped) golf tournament. Rory finished at an Open-record -17, accompanied as he was by hours of breathless lovefest comments from commentators, and even an NBC-produced promo that basically nominated him for Eagle Scout and unnaturalized U.S. president.

(Also, whomever is responsible for the “Rory, Rory, Hallelujah” headline? Fired.)

I’m not even kidding. Did you watch it? I mean, the guy is a cutie and seems to have his wits about him, but the last time I saw a list of super-positive adjectives strewn across a screen with voiceovers, it was February and Bob Costas was sitting in a fake Vancouver living room. There’s Rory in a funny wig, looking, what was it, “grounded”? There’s Rory admitting he said that bitchass thing about Tiger. There’s Rory doing the good work (which is indeed good, no snark here about that) in Haiti. There’s Rory admitting his Master’s run sucked.

Oh, media. OH MEDIA.

Anyway. The thing I’m on about now is Tiger. And what I mean by this is that I am sick and tired of every time someone wins something around here, somebody else is the story. What is with that, American media and people? Tiger Woods torched his marriage and his career (at least in the short-term) and also Tiger is what, now? 35? Tiger is not a phenom anymore. Tiger is a really good golfer who is aging and who has played mind games with basically everyone in his orbit. When that happens? It lands on you. It’s inescapable, unless you’re like, Jay Leno, who still has a lucrative job and a nightly tv time slot and I don’t understand that at all.

Anyway. What I’m reading now is that, wow, that McIlroy kid did a great job, but I sure wish he’d played Tiger. I sure wish Tiger was out there. It would have made things so much more exciting.

Snooze. I may be going into inappropriate mama bear and judgmental harpy mode simultaneously here, but I don’t even enjoy watching Tiger play golf anymore. It’s all the press conferences and the whining and “Oh, my knee!”

Minus the press conferences it’s a lot like an average day at the mall with my grandma, may she rest in peace.

Yes, I know. Men want competition. They want chest-banging and the young man (who can’t possibly be this good right? Can’t. Possibly. Be. This. Good.) to go head-to-head with the aging sex fiend who’s extremely handy with a golf club and apparently dextrous in myriad other ways, and about that I am just not enthused.

I like the looks of Rory McIlroy, basically. I’m not about to go all NBC-promo crazy about him, because if there’s one thing I can learn it’s a lesson. And whereas I am not entirely cynical about humanity, does everyone remember the Tiger worship of years past gone awry, when he just seemed to be an amazing golfer with a nice life and a supreme mentor of a dad and a swing, oh my lands, a swing? And then he turned out to be a little, or actually way more freaky than your average Wide World of Sports (yes, I know that was ABC) clip would have had us believe? I mean, my golf-addict father threw a golf shoe at the tv a couple of years ago when Tiger popped up post-scandal, so disappointed was he. A SHOE. And my father is not a family values preacher, put it that way.

I’m not about to put Rory McIlroy on any kind of pedestal, because oh how the mighty golfers (and football players, and cyclists, and…) fall. But what I’m also not going to do is say that his win today at the Open was any less valuable or exciting just because Tiger Woods was off icing his knee and maybe dirty texting a girl or six and not there to play him. That was a pretty great field of golfers out there, and if they couldn’t close to catch Rory? That’s still pretty cool.

Tiger? Whatever. To every golfer there is a season. I may be a big jerk, but I’m still kind of hoping his reaping is over.

Tiger Not a Player

By | May 12, 2011 | Celebrity Athletes, Golf | Comments Off

Tiger Woods shot a 42 on the front nine of The Player’s Championship today, and withdrew from the tournament.

Whoops.

Tiger said his knee injury from the Master’s was acting up again.

“The knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up. Everything started getting tight, so it’s just a whole chain reaction.”

Golfer Graeme McDowell — that’s @GraemeMcDowell to you — just tweeted this from the Florida contest:

“Just saw Tiger come limping by me in the locker room. Considering he’s supposed to be on the course I’m guessing that’s not a good sign…..”

Tiger’s only finished in the top ten at Player’s once in the past ten years, and won it in 2001.

Source

[Image: Streeter Lecka, Getty]

October, Wales, Golf . . . Who’s In?

By | October 2, 2010 | Football, Golf | Comments Off

Remember the British Open?  It’s usually played in the midst of summer, July – competitors normally look like they’re about to head out for the Iditarod?  Well, this year they’re playing another tournament in the UK, but later in the year.  It’s the Ryder Cup and I hope everyone brought their mittens.

October Golf - Feel the Heat!

October Golf - Feel the Heat!

I am only half joking.  I live in Cleveland and the weather here is no day at the beach, even when you’re spending the day at the beach.  But whenever I see golf in England I have to take a minute to appreciate how completely miserable it looks.  40 degrees, driving rain and gale-force winds?  Where are my sticks?

Golf was not meant for October.  They invented the game, you would think they know this by now.

One sport meant for October is co-ed (double) touch football.  Wave of Mutilation gears up for a 10 am game tomorrow morning.  Yes 10 am.  Now, 10 years ago, this was a dicey proposition for my team.  We were all in our young to mid-twenties, we were out getting drunk the night before and maybe someone would puke on the sideline (and maybe that happened last year, who’s to say?).  But now, we are old and we have kids.  I was up til 12:30 last night and was probably the only one to miss curfew.  This might seem like a downer, but it often turns into an advantage when our less teetotaling opponents show up groggy to the field.

As life changes you have different problems to solve out on the field like how do we run a three-deep zone while keeping all the kids off the field?  And, we might have to leave the game if Lincoln’s nap doesn’t last through the half.  And the lessons are different as well.  I promise to be understanding when my boy drops a wide open two-point conversion.  But the ball hit my hat and then I couldn’t see with the hat and the clouds and sun in my eyes!

Despite the adversity (and the weather), we’ll happily be out there tomorrow.  Then maybe we’ll get a quick round of golf in – parkas and all.

Twitter at the Ryder Cup: Will They or Won’t They?

By | September 29, 2010 | Athletes on Twitter, Golf, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

On Sunday it was reported that both the European and US Ryder Cup teams had banned the use of the social networking site, Twitter, for the duration of the tournament.

U.S. Captain Corey Pavin said the team as a whole has decided not to tweet this week, because it can be distracting and takes focus away from the Cup, matches and team camaraderie.

“But first thing a week from today, I’m sure tweeting will be all over the place,” Pavin said.

(Dude obviously doesn’t get Twitter. “Tweeting will be all over the place”? Amateur.)

NEWPORT, WALES - SEPTEMBER 28: Rickie Fowler of the USA walks across a green during a practice round prior to the 2010 Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort on September 28, 2010 in Newport, Wales.

Gratuitous shot of cutie pie Rickie Fowler since he’s probably the cutest of the bunch, said in a non-pervy, mom-cute kinda way. Check out those eyes!

Combined, Corey Pavin, Rickie Fowler, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Hunter Mahan, and Bubba Watson have over 1.3 million followers. And that is only a portion of the US team. On the European side between Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari there are more than one million followers. Those are some powerful numbers in the Twitterverse.

Other professional sports that have banned Twitter use include the NHL, NFL, NBA, and the MLB, most putting a time limit before and after game time, restricting all organization employees. The ban for the Ryder Cup teams just seemed to follow suit.

It doesn’t end there, though.

On Tuesday the ban was lifted by Montgomerie, or modified to allow personal tweets.

“Tweeting has not been banned,” he said. He also who claims never to have used Twitter, (the account linked above is for his foundation.) “Whatever they do [in the posts], whatever they are, respect is shown for what is said within the team room. That’s what I have banned. They can do whatever they have to do elsewhere regarding their thoughts.”

HUH? Let me interpret for you:

“Don’t tweet about the Ryder Cup specifically but feel free to tell whomever is listening that you just took a crap.”

So. Will they or won’t they? So far today I’ve seen a few tweets about mundane stuff, practice rounds, losing cash to their practice partners, etc. No evidence of anyone taking a crap. Damn. That’s what I turn to Twitter for. I guess they’re all taking the ban seriously, so if you’re a golf fan and like to follow your favorite player on Twitter for the inside scoop, you’ll just have to wait until the tournament is over, but by then all the news will be old.

Kendra would love to watch the Ryder Cup but it starts at 2 am. Who gets up for that shit?

source source source photo

Weekly Roundup: The Primarily Pittsburgh Edition

By | September 25, 2010 | Baseball, College Football, Football, Golf, Hockey, Unsportmanlike Conduct | Comments Off

In this inaugural edition of the Draft Day Suit weekly roundup of news you may have missed, I’m sticking close to home. There’s a lot going on in Pittsburgh right now. Sue me. And then tell me what’s going on in your fair city so I’ll have more to write about next week.

1. The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the pre-season on Wednesday by crushing the Red Wings 5-1 in the first game held at the new Consol Energy Center. Then everyone held their breath when Sidney Crosby sat out the third period with a sore hip flexor, thought to be a minor issue. The Penguins and Capitals also announced they would be participating in an HBO reality series called 24/7 Penguins/Capitals:  Road to the Winter Classic. [Note to self: Call Comcast and see about re-instating HBO. I want to see exactly how Malkin goes from cool to dork in a matter of days and the good folks at HBO are just the ones to show me.]

2. The Pirates swept the Diamondbacks and took two from the Cardinals for their first 5 game win streak in over 13 months. If they sweep the Astros they will finish the season above .500 at home. Heh. Like that’s gonna happen. You know it’s bad when I get retweeted by ThePirateParrot.

3. The New York Times reported a long lost reel of tape containing the greatest home run in Pirates history, Bill Mazeroski’s 9th inning home run in game 7 of the 1960 World Series to beat the New York Yankees, was found in Bing Crosby’s wine cellar, where conditions preserved the only known recording of the series in pristine condition. Crosby was a former owner of the Pirates. The game will be televised by MLB Network in December. My family will be watching.

4. Have you noticed baseball games get longer in September. Why? 40-man rosters mean more available pitchers and that means more pitching changes. It’s merciless. Let it be done already. Now that the Red Sox are out of the playoff picture, NFL and NCAA football and pre-season hockey are a lot more interesting. Not that I’m biased or anything. Spring training gets underway in just five short months!

5. One last baseball note. The Chicago Cubs’ rookie Tyler Colvin had his chest punctured when a teammate’s bat splintered. He spent three days in the hospital with a chest tube to prevent a lung collapse. Owie. This rekindled the controversy over ash vs maple bats. The bat that impaled Colvin was maple, which is prone to splintering. Let’s be careful out there.

6. Moving on to football, I agree with Killer Nuts Tailgating. This was the hit of the week.

7. In the NFL, Jets’ running back Braylon Edwards was arrested for DUI. Yawn. Ordinarily not something I would notice, but this year Edwards rides the pine on my fantasy team in the Draft Day Suit league. The league where I beat the league-leader in week 2 and still dropped from second to third place. Dammit. But back to Edwards. The Jets are handing down a stiff punishment. Edwards doesn’t get to start on Sunday. Boo hoo. Edwards, Cromartie, Holmes…who’s next for the Jets? Quick! Call the Bengals.

8. In some good-guy NFL news, Steelers’ safety Troy Polamalu launched his website this week, Troy43.com. It’s a site nearly as beautiful as he is. Excuse me while I go look at the pictures and wipe the drool from my chin.

9. Wife-carrying, which is totally a sport, was in the news this week. A couple in Maine is training for the North American championship, where couples will vie for a title, as well as five times the winning wife’s weight in cash and her weight in beer. That’s not even the strangest part. If this team wins they are going to auction off the beer.

10. And finally, on the eve of the Ryder Cup, Jim Furyk is still trying to live down last month’s cell phone alarm malfunction that cost him a chance to contend for the Barclays championship. Let’s hope he brings an adapter that lets him plug in at Celtic Manor in Wales. The one that failed him in New Jersey isn’t going to work there either.

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