Asia Has It’s Own Francis Oiumet Now
First, my hat off to Doug for a great piece on Monday called The Beauty of Tiger Losing. Read it below if you haven’t already. It says more about sports and what attracts us as players and spectators than you’ll read in 100 magazine articles.
Now to the 2009 PGA Championship. Congratulations to Y.E. Yang on a brilliant performance last Sunday at Hazeltine. His victory in a Major shows once again the magic of golf that keeps all of us fanatics coming back for more. Nobody wins all the time, including Tiger. Let’s not forget that Jack has more second place finishes than anyone. Perhaps Tiger will have that record some day as well.
Y.E. Yang’s story sounds so much like Francis Ouimet’s that it’s eerie, and it’s likely to start a love affair with golf for the middle and lower class in Asia as much as Ouimet’s did in the U.S. back in 1913. It’s not just that an Asian has won a men’s Major for the first time. It’s that a kid of humble means, takes up the game late in life (19 seems ancient compared to the stars of today who start when they’re 2), against the wishes of his parents and somehow goes on to win one of the year’s major golf championships against the world’s greatest player (Harry Vardon anyone?).
Yang is not a child of privilege. He started as a golf facility employee, fell in love with the game and somehow overcame the odds in a country that doesn’t have the golf facilities and infrastructure of the U.S. or U.K. His parents didn’t send him to the Leadbetter Academy at age 12 and Butch Harmon didn’t start coaching him in his early teens. He also didn’t cut his teeth in competition at a big U.S. University. Once again golf shows us that somehow it’s the great leveler of playing fields.
Is Tiger less the great golfer for his loss? Of course not. He’s as susceptible to the immutable rules of golf as anyone. No one, not even the greatest, win all the time. A player can only do so much and then the golf gods take over. How else do you explain lost balls in the fairway and the miraculous reemergence of those destined for 50 yards deep into the woods.
The game of golf is alive and well and so is Tiger. He was never going to win every tournament that he leads by 54 holes. Tiger’s had a lot of miraculous wins, but good bounces are always offset by bad ones. For every chip-in at Augusta there is a price to be paid. As golfers we should rejoice in our good luck and never condemn the bad bounces because they make the game what it is. This loss won’t make Tiger less competitive, it will only drive him more, as is the case with all the greats.
A terrific book about Francis Ouimet: The Greatest Game Ever Played
Check out this wicked cool print of Mr. Ouimet: Francis Ouimet 1913
I love this: A Game of Golf: A Book of Reminiscences
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Comments
Vince, here’s some food for thought; You know how a lot of golf commentators think that Jack had better competition at the top than Tiger. That may be true, but instead of hurting Jack, I think it may have helped. Tiger might even have more majors if he had some serious and consistent competition. Let’s say Phil, Padraig and VJ were consistently the ones that were challenging Tiger at every major over the years. I believe this would push him even more. Good competition does tend to make you better.
[...] Asia Has It’s Own Francis OiumetY.E. Yang’s story sounds so much like Francis Ouimet’s that it’s eerie, and it’s likely to start a love affair with golf for the middle and lower class in Asia as much as Ouimet’s did in the U.S. back in 1913. It’s not just that an Asian has won a men’s Major for … Asia Has It’s Own Francis Oiumet Now… [...]
Y.E. Yang won the PGA Championship with some solid shots and a some good putts. Tiger lost for lack of the same.
He will never, ever admit, but I firmly believe Tiger had cleared a spot on his mantelpiece for the PGA trophy on Saturday night. This might be the impetus needed to jump start his ‘major’ recovery and chip away at Jack’s record.