The Golf Thread

Mickelson has always been one of the most approachable players on the tour, and unlike Tiger has not been a serial philanderer (pun intended) or an abject potty-mouth on the course.  He's also quite popular with other touring pros.  I'm not feeling the hatred toward him.   DoMe, what is the source of the repeated animus for Mickelson?

Mickelson and Woods are the two best golfers of their generation.  Tiger is notorious as a horrible tipper to waiters and waitresses, valets, and other service staff who live off of tips.  Mickelson is a generous guy who treats people well.  Mickelson could never make another dime and his grandchildren will be well kept.  It’s the guys on the other end of the tour who struggle to make cuts and don’t have millions in sponsorships that live check to check.  Putting pressure on the PGA for greater percentages will help to aide the last of those that earn their tour cards.

You know, I wasn't even aware that Phil was working for better paydays for golfers at the lower end of the pay scale, so thanks for enlightening me on that.  I never read that in any of the accounts I was looking at, although I should know enough to be suspicious whenever the media seems to be ganging up on one side of any issue.

Yeah, I've heard the good side of The Shark as well.  I was probably being too tough on him, although I think he's gotten more disagreeable with age (like a lot of us.)  I was a Tom Watson/Payne Stewart/Fred Couples guy in that era, but the emergence of Tiger Woods in the 90s, plus Norman's problems in the majors, can make it easy to overlook how dominant he was just pre-Tiger.  Seven times world number one and twice number two in the 80s and 90s.

Did Nick Faldo strike you as rather disagreeable in his prime?  I think he's rehabilitated his image during his time as a broadcaster, but as a player he struck me as nasty.  As you wisely say, it can be tough to pinpoint what makes us like or dislike sports personalities with whom we have no personal interaction.
 

Freddy Couples had the prettiest swing this side of Sammy Snead.  Effortless power.  If only his back would have cooperated.  He was a joy to watch in person.  I saw him at Pebble Beach hit number 18 in two, after using a three-wood off the tee.  Jack did the same with a driver off the tee...at like age 58.  They were the only two players to hit that green in two that day.  Even in his 70s, Arnie had the biggest following at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.  Arnie's Army was in full swing thirty years after his last major.  

I never forgave Watson for chipping in at number 17 on Jack at the US Open at Pebble Beach.  The talent in those Watson Popeye forearms.  Throw in a couple Lee Trevino magical rounds, and Jack is over 20 major championships.  So much talent at the top level of the PGA tour in the 1970s.  The leaderboards were like a list of Hall of Fame baseball players.  So many talented golfers who were just playing in the wrong era with Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Lee Trevino:  Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Miller, Hale Irwin, Raymond Floyd, Gene Littler, Billy Casper, Bruce Crampton, Hubert Green, Don January, Art Wall, Jr., Bruce Leitzke, Jerry Pate, Lanny Wadkins, Ben Crenshaw, etc.  It was like the NBA of the 1980s.

Ambivalence would aptly describe my feeling for Greg Norman.  He had the talent to win double digit majors, but he kept finding ways to lose.  No one hit the ball as far and dead solid straight as Norman.  Incredible athlete.  Somehow, with each passing year he became less likable. What he should have been as a golfer, he became as a businessman.  He owns everything from golf balls to wineries.