I’m not a good enough golfer to be playing anyone for money.\u00a0 That being said…it’s never stopped me.\u00a0 When the opportunity comes along to make a little cash via competition, then I’m all in…as long as I know who I’m up against.\u00a0 I won’t allow myself to be hustled.\u00a0 So I stick to a few bucks here and there among friends or other golfers of whose skill level I\u00a0am aware.\u00a0 The other stinky golfers with whom I usually play\u00a0have been playing\u00a0the game longer than me, and I have no problem admitting they are\u00a0better than I am.\u00a0 However, I can hold my own when I put my mind to it.\u00a0 Winning a little something here and there is not entirely out of the question.<\/p>\n
However, when I am playing for money (or even food or beer), I apologize but, some aspects of sportsmanship go right out the window.\u00a0 So when Sergio Garcia conceded an\u00a0eighteen foot (or seventeen…or twenty, depending on what you’ve read) putt to Rickie Fowler at the WGC-Match Play Championship, I was dumbfounded.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0\u00a0Once money becomes a factor, I will not concede even a three-foot putt…I’ve seen way too many of those missed.\u00a0 And I’m only playing for a few bucks.\u00a0 But the WGC?\u00a0 We’re talking a $9 million\u00a0purse!\u00a0 And you are going to concede a putt that is far from a gimme?!<\/p>\n
I have two main problems with this situation, besides\u00a0the stupidity of it.\u00a0 First is\u00a0that everyone is looking at it as a show of good sportsmanship.\u00a0 OK, I guess besides the stupidity of giving someone a gimme from eighteen feet away, there is a hint of good sportsmanship in there.\u00a0 But you\u00a0know what I think there is an even higher level of?\u00a0 Cockiness.\u00a0 I can’t believe that nothing I’ve read about this so far even hints at it.\u00a0 Sergio said he felt bad because of a delay on a ruling at a previous hole.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 This is golf…half the game is a delay!\u00a0 I think he knew\u00a0he had a lead and felt he had it in the bag.\u00a0 And if he won, he was going to play it as “See what I did there?\u00a0 I pretty much gave that hole away and I won anyway.”\u00a0 Well, so much for that!<\/p>\n
Second is the fact that something like that can happen anyway.\u00a0 And\u00a0in the grand scheme of things, the fact that a “gimme” exists in the rules of golf at all is just plain ridiculous.\u00a0 For a sport filled with such strict, annoying rules to begin with…that they will let someone just pickup a ball without actually finishing the hole is asinine.\u00a0 And where exactly is that “gimme” line drawn?\u00a0 Can you imagine if in football, a guy ran a kickoff\u00a0back to the 1 yard line and was tackled, but rather than send the defense out onto the field, they just said “Ok, close enough…you can have that one.”\u00a0 Or if in basketball, a guy misses a dunk, but the other team just lets him take the\u00a0two points anyway because\u00a0he was so close.\u00a0 It’s ridiculous!\u00a0 This is a competition with $9 million dollars on the line!\u00a0\u00a0Make the putt!<\/p>\n
Swing ’til you’re happy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m not a good enough golfer to be playing anyone for money.\u00a0 That being said…it’s never stopped me.\u00a0 When the opportunity comes along to make a little cash via competition, then I’m all in…as long as I know who I’m up against.\u00a0 I won’t allow myself to be hustled.\u00a0 So I stick to a few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1963],"tags":[2099,22,19,26,171,88,2554],"class_list":{"0":"post-3681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-stinky-golfer-paradise","7":"tag-golf-betting","8":"tag-golf-stinks","9":"tag-golfstinks","10":"tag-pga-tour","11":"tag-rickie-fowler","12":"tag-sergio-garcia","13":"tag-wgc-match-play-championship","14":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n