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American Ryder Cup Players Don’t Care

Here in the United States we don’t understand the rest of the world’s love for soccer (okay, football everywhere else). It is also obvious to this writer that the Americans don’t have any love for the Ryder Cup either.

Captain Lehman talks all about teamwork, but the reality is that we really don’t care. Our Ryder Cup “team” is made up of a group of guys that compete weekly to beat each other. They don’t know how to cooperate. That’s not why they play the game. Maybe when they were in college they played for the love of the game, but with tournament purses over $1 million for the winner, it’s all about the money. The Ryder Cup might be interesting to the Europeans, but it doesn’t fill the top American stars’ wallets and takes away two weeks from making money.

The top players like Tiger, Incorporated & Phil, Incorporated are money-making machines. A recent article in Ad Age mentioned that Tiger made $87 million last year. So far, he’s also earned more than $500 million during his 10 years on tour. Why does he care if his team wins the Ryder Cup? I wouldn’t.

Let’s take the USA Basketball team during the Olympics. For years we were satisfied having the top college players go for the gold. If we won, great. If we didn’t, maybe next time. Then, we said, let’s dominate by allowing professionals to play. Now, we are always expected to win. Yet, there are times when the best players in the world lose to a bunch of no-name, second tier, pro-wannabees. Why is that? Because both the Olympics and the Ryder Cup are actually “team” competitions.

There’s no “I” in team, but there sure is an “I” in Tiger and Phil. The Americans, especially the icons of golf, aren’t a patriotic lot. They may love their country, but if it keeps them away from a tournament weekend payday, why waste two weeks playing for just travel expenses?

Michelle Wie Dumps Caddie. Is this the Beginning or the End?

I continued to be amazed at the ongoing saga of Michelle Wie. Anything that she does is front page news. So she fires here caddie. Big deal. Keeping a job as a caddie on the tour is harder than being a professional golfer. You can’t fire yourself, but you can fire you caddie if you are playing poorly and Ms. Wie really stunk up the joint at the Ladies British Open.

I attribute the Michelle Wie phenomenon to the lifecycle of a product. Odd analog I know, but bear with me.

First, you’ve never heard of the product. Second, you market the hell out of it. Third, everyone knows about the product and everyone is talking about it. Fourth, everyone buys into the hype and has to get one. Fifth, now that everyone has one, we search to see if there is anything else to quench our buying lust? Sixth, finding nothing, then we, the fickle public, move to the next “great thing” and start buying that.

Michelle Wie is the same thing. Right now Wie, Inc. is a novelty, a circus act, an entertainment. The public likes that. They like to talk about what’s new around the water cooler. Once the subject of Michelle Wie is old news, then we move onto something else more interesting.

Remember, before Ms. Wie turned pro, we talked all about the “young guns” on the LPGA. Now, since most of them have played poorly this year, we latched onto the latest sensation – Wieism (the worship of a winless wonder).

Now, unless Ms. Wie starts winning tournaments, she too will be old news. Faster than you can say Britney Spears.

Think of it as disposable celebrity.

The Exploitation of Michelle Wie

Back in January I made a blog entry entitled “Michelle Wie – Give it a Rest”. I’d like to address the Michelle Wie phenomenon again.

What really set me off this time is that the hype hasn’t stopped. In fact, it’s getting worse. I reference an article by AP Sport Columnist Tim Dahlberg from June 6th who said “Michelle Wie could one day become one of the greatest women golfers ever. If she does, it will be largely because she dared to play against men.” Oh give me a break! He, a professional journalist, should know better.

The “…greatest women golfers ever”. What about Annika Sorenstam with 67 victories and 9 majors. What about Kathy Whitworth with 88 career victories? What about Babe Diedrickson Zacharias with 31 golf wins, two Olympic gold medals, and four track and field world records? She also died at only 42.

Declaring that Ms. Wie could be the greatest female golfer ever before this woman has won anything of consequence is absolutely ludicrous. It’s likening it to say that Milli Vanilli, with one top-10 hit, is in the same league as The Beatles, Elton John or Madonna. Someone’s been drinking way too much Kool Aid.

What bothers me even more is that the LPGA is allowing exploitation of female golfers to go on to such a degree that the game is getting lost because of all the promotion. For instance: pinup calendars. What does showing partial nude pictures of one’s body have to do with golf? I’m sure Tiger looks great with his shirt off, but I don’t see him in a pinup calendar.

And shame on B.J. Wie for exploiting his daughter to this degree. It appears that all he’s interested in is making fast cash. Take the money and run seems to be his motto. Why should his daughter play 10-20 years on the tour when soon she’s gonna have all the money she’ll ever need? Who cares about winning an LPGA major when she can finish tied for 56th at the men’s US Open. The sponsors will love it.

Admittedly, since she turned pro, she’s attracted sponsors to the tune of $10 million. Today, her name is golden. Yes, she gets attention wherever she goes, but unless she actually wins something, the “Wie Warriors” as well as her sponsors will soon find someone else to cheer for. Nike is ultimately in this to make money and they will quickly find a way to dump her when the time comes too.

Think Anna Kournikova. Did she win anything….no. Yet, she was once the most popular topics on the Internet. What about Britney? She was the hottest female singer on the planet. Now, the only attention she gets is when she drops her baby.

Let’s say that Ms. Wie does play in a future men’s US Open. Good for her. So what? I’m sure her sponsors like Nike and Omega enjoys all the attention she gets, but in the end, being considered one of “the greatest women golfers ever” is based on success over a long career, not qualifying for or even winning a men’s tournament.

Movie stars, rock stars, even golf stars are just “flashes in the pan” unless they have longevity. Public opinion quickly moves on to what’s new, hot and cool.

Oh, Cry Me a River Mr. David Toms III

Now that the afterglow from The Masters is down to glowing embers, some of us try to look back on what happened and reminisce. This includes professional golfers like David Toms III. AP writer Doug Ferguson got this gem from Mr. Toms last week “to me, it’s still a place where the players walk around on egg shells, not knowing if they are in the right place.” Toms goes on to say “it’s the only place all year where the players don’t feel like they’re the most important thing there.”

Not that I’m a big fan of Hoottie Johnson, and I think this may be one of the first things I agree with him on, but taking the spotlight off the players and keeping it squarely focused on the tournament is the right idea. These pampered millionaires appear to have lost their perspective. Their hands are held from the moment they arrive at a tournament and given their courtesy Cadillac Escalade, to the walk up the steps of their private plane when they leave.

Perhaps Mr. Toms is bitter because he wasn’t competitive and missed the cut with rounds of 76-76. Or he got up on the wrong side of the bed that week. Maybe he’s kicking himself because he didn’t think of carrying two drivers before Phil Mickelson did?

These guys earn $1 million for a tournament victory. They sign 5 year $100 million endorsement contracts. They are household names in the golf world. What more do they want? They are starting to sound like spoiled, overpaid, over-hyped basketball players. How soon before we have a golfer pull a Soriano and refuse to tee-off at a tournament?

Oh cry me a river Mr. Toms.

A Big Surprise in Phil Mickelson’s Bag

One thing that most viewers probably missed during Phil Mickelson’s dominate golf performance last week at the BellSouth Classic was what was going on in Phil’s bag. The commentators noted that Phil was experimenting with two drivers. Yes, two drivers. They stated that his fairways hit average was only 57% this year and during the BellSouth Classic he was hitting over 70% of his fairways.

Mickelson chose to test two drivers in this tune-up to the Masters to see if it would help him with the tight fairways at Augusta. With the new weighting systems of drivers like the Taylor Made r7Quad and Callaway FT-3, a golfer can adjust the clubhead weight to promote a draw or a slice. In the case of Mickelson, he used it to his advantage by keeping it in the fairway more than 70% of the time, and even more amazing, increasing his greens in regulation to a stunning 88.9%.

Get ready to make an investment in another 460cc driver because with this kind of improvement by a tour professional who switches to two drivers, regular golfers are bound to flock to their local pro shop to buy a twin sister or brother for their cherished big stick.

The Second Coming of John Harris

Being from Minnesota, I’ve always been a big fan of Champions Tour golfer John Harris who just won $121,000 with his 2nd place finish in the Toshiba Senior Classic a few weeks ago. He’s always been an excellent golfer, one of the top amateurs in Minnesota. He also played on a victorious Walker Cup team in the 1990’s.

What I find more amazing is not his talent, but his perseverance. He originally turned pro in 1976, but flamed out after a few years. Regaining his amateur status in 1983, he kept plugging away on the amateur circuit, dominating by winning four Minnesota titles, five mid-amateur titles and the 1993 U.S. Amateur at age 41. At the same time he also ran a very successful insurance agency. Yet, turning fifty in 2002, the call of the golf course brought him back to the Champions Tour to try it as a professional one more time. His hope was maybe, this time, he’d be able to realize his dream in professional golf.

Well, it appears that he is well on his way to doing just that. In his first year as a professional in 2002 his best finish was 28th, in 2003 it was 11th, in 2004 he had four finishes in the top 10, and in 2005 he had two top 5 finishes and earned over $480,000. This year, in just five tournaments, he already has two top 11 finishes and earned $176,250 for his troubles. At 54, it seems that Edina-resident John Harris is on his way to becoming Minnesota’s most successful Champions Tour player. He’s a testament to what hard work and perseverance can get you. As Yogi Berra said “it ain’t over til it’s over.”

Keep up the good work John.

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