Date Written: June 25, 2007
Hand to hand. Punch for punch. The Kid (Hunter Mahan) and the Vet (Jay Williamson) battled down the stretch at The Travelers. The Kid builds a two stroke lead going into the last four holes and looks like a winner. Then he bogies 16 and 17 to actually relinquish the lead. The Vet hits a terrific shot to 11 feet on 18 and looks like he's gonna lift the trophy and hug the kids at the end. With everything on the line on the 72nd hole, The Kid sends a giant, rain-making 9-iron to within 7 feet and holes it to force a playoff. 15 minutes later, on the same hole in the playoff, he hits a giant wedge shot from 137 to 2 feet. The Vet is knocked-out by two, big, unlikely, game-ending, hay-making punches.
The Vet, as it turns out, played some serious hockey and baseball at nearby Trinity College. Both of those sports are supposed to "translate" well to golf. Hand/eye, blah, blah. The story goes that The Vet didn't play much golf until one year at college when the school needed a player to fill-in at a fall tournament. He did so well that he surprised himself and his coach. Voila!...a career was born. But the even better back-story is that it's been a tough road. A wife and three kids. Major doubts about thinking that he was good enough. Bouncing around on different tours. Foot problems. Well, he can probably forget all that now. He didn't win this week but he sure made a public name for himself with his pant-tugging grit. And a bunch of 2nd place cash that will, no doubt, make the family thing easier. In any event, he gets into The Buick this coming week and will probably be exempt on tour next year. Nice going Jay! The country was rooting for you....especially those of us who struggle to "get-off-the-deck."
To continue this here boxing metaphor a bit further....In our funky pool, The Wonger beats a 10-count with a nice pick of Aussie, Nick O'Hern who finished alone in third. And, but for a mediocre second round, 3 of us (me, Art and Perry) woulda scored some points with local, defending champ, J.J. Henry.
From Thomas Bonk of the L.A. Times, June 21, 2007:
..."Tim Finchem had remained steadfast in his opposition to testing for drugs on the PGA Tour, citing a lack of evidence of drug usage by PGA Tour players and also scarcity of data that would show that drugs could actually enhance performance in professional golf.However, Dr. Gary Wadler, a New York University medical school professor and advisor to WADA, said Wednesday that there are at least two instances in which drugs could help pro golfers improve their play.Wadler mentioned anabolic steroids and beta-blockers."Steroids enhance strength, which enables you to swing a club with greater acceleration," he said. "You're going to have more force and more distance. Beta-blockers calm the nerves and if you get your heart rate sufficiently slow, you could theoretically putt between heartbeats."Wadler also said that beta-blockers could treat hand tremors when putting. He said Finchem should be praised for his most recent stance."
Well...I gotta go right now. The nearby Rite-Aid opens at 8:00 A.M. and I don't want to be late. I've drained my bank account. I'm gonna buy a carload of those-there "beta-blockers." I've been suffering the "yips" for too long. Now that I know that if I take a handful of these pills (along with a bunch of Advil) and learn to "putt between my heartbeats" I might have stumbled onto the magic putting cure. On a grander scale, imagine if Ben Hogan and Johnny Miller had this information...back-in-the-day? They were the most notable "yippers" of their time and the story goes that they both had to quit playing competitive golf because of this affliction.
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