Golf is Officially Boring Again

I have a hard time picking my sports heroes.  My childhood sports hero was O.J. Simpson, of my beloved Buffalo Bills.  We all know how that turned out.  It was obvious that O.J. was guilty but I will confess that, during the whole murder trial, I kept hoping that "the real killer" would be found.

I'm sure you know that O.J was a big golfer.  I started to play golf, too, about 12 years ago.  I'm not good at it but I enjoy playing.  I like it because it's one of those games where you can compete against yourself.  When I'm playing, I'm focused on that quest to hit that one great drive or sink that one long putt.  One of those per round, and I feel like there's hope for me.

I started to play golf right around the time that Tiger Woods turned pro.  I quickly became a big Tiger Woods fan.  The thing that really drew me to Tiger was his killer instinct.  He almost never lost a lead.  In the final round, the other pros seemed to play not to lose.  Tiger wasn't that way.  He'd build a lead and then just stretch it further and further out of reach, never looking back.

Another thing I admired about Tiger was his attitude.  He didn't just think he could win -- he played like he had an obligation to win.  Compare that to Phil Mickelson's attitude.  How many times have you seen Phil's "Aw, shucks" smile when he makes a good shot?  Phil doesn't act like he expects to win, he acts like he's embarassed to win.  Because of that, he'll always just be Fat Phil to me.

Of course, now everything's changed.  Tiger's fallen from grace, he's lost his competitive mojo, and none of the other guys are scared of him anymore.  Without Tiger on top, golf has officially become boring again.  I tried to watch the final round of this weekend's tournament but, with Tiger in 44th place, I just couldn't do it.  Fat Phil was in contention and I couldn't have cared less.