The John Deere

The "C" Word

Date Written: July 16, 2007

I was rooting for the South African, Tim Clark, down the stretch at The John Deere because he's short, out-of-shape and a non-winner on Tour. He's also got a bad neck, putts with a broomstick, reminds me of me....yada yada. So...he's got a three stroke lead with four holes to play in this past weeks tractor classic. There's a added bonus too for the winner of The Deere....he gets an invite to The British...no small perk. Clark looks solid and in control on Sunday. He's been through the pressure cooker a few times on tour and even though he's won a ton of money on tour, he must be familiar with pressure. Geez...he's been on two President's Cup Teams. All he's got to do is play smart down the stretch. So...here's what he does. He's five-under through 14 on the last day. Now guess what he do? He hits it into 3 bunkers in the last four holes...bogeying two of them to lose to Jonathan Byrd by one shot. To Byrd's credit, he fires a nifty 4-under on the last nine and wins by one. But it was clearly Tim Clark's tournament to lose, and he did. Rarely, does any golfer at any level admit to the dreaded "C" word...CHOKING! And Clark was true to form. He denied it....offering up other excuses, like getting plugged in the trap. HELLO! Why are you in the trap in the first place?

A BIGGEE this week, The British Open. I count 9 "Big Ernie's" at Carnoustie. Must be conventional wisdom of some sort. Our esteemed pool leader, "The Donald" has hit a bad patch, not winning a dime for the last six weeks. This is good, but he's got Els this week too so most of youse will not gain any ground if Ernie wins.

The companion Milwaukee Tournament counts in the standings too. Twelve "No Shows" among us make it difficult to make headway on the leaders.

An historic event on the Nationwide Tour this week....an amateur, BYU senior, Daniel Summerhays wins the weekly event. Now he gets to decide in the next 60 days if he wants to turn pro and earn an exemption on the Nationwide through 2008.



Walter Littenberg