Amateur Open Wrap Up

I'm going to be honest with you because I like you, you seem right in the head. Looking around at the happenings of the universe of sports, I don't have the content or the energy to write a full update. I don't have the content because not much is a-happening and I don't follow MLS yet. I don't have the energy because I'm but 5 days removed from making the tooth fairy's quota in one shot getting my wisdom teeth out (side note: has anyone ever wondered, "Why does a fairy need that many teeth?" With news that you can harvest stem cells from wisdom teeth, do we really need to ask that question? That's right folks. Bad news though, I heard they recruited some leader who likes the way his cooking smells, or something). No worries, we'll try to make what we got work.

Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open by seven shots yesterday in the greatest Open margin since Tiger Woods beat the field by 8 ten years ago. But the reason why the margin was so large, why Golf purists were complaining, and why I thought it was so entertaining was completely the opposite of Tiger's performance ten years ago. Instead of the leader pulling away with a dominating performance, the field dropped off with comical mishaps.

Look at it this way, "Shrek," as they call him (with friends like these...), shot only a mediocre 71 in the final round, cruising to a victory. His competitors, meanwhile, looked more like my competitors amateurs with how they were dealing with both the course and conditions. In this, Golf showed it can offer something no other sport can. While they did call a break when the wind speed clocked over 30 MPH, the 25 MPH winds, super smooth and expansive greens, and scary deep sand caves traps allowed us to see the human side of professional athletes.

An MLB pitcher tossing 60 MPH fastballs curveballs? Eh. An NFL QB who can't throw accurately OR over 15 yards? Snooze. NASCAR drivers racing tricycles? Well...maybe...

Look all I'm saying is in a world where we put our athletes on pedestals (some too high), it's nice to see immortals... well... stumble (I knew there was a reason I liked that movie other than the catchy songs). Because even as they got into their crazy expensive cars en route to their crazy expensive houses, for a few rounds, we fans could relate.

Entertainment aside, that doesn't excuse those performances. Pro golfers, get back out there and start practicing. After this weekend I'm gonna need to see a sub 60 round at the PGA Championship in a month to keep my interest. I mean, if we purely wanted to be entertained, we'd pay those pros instead.