Thursday, July 18, 2013

Whining Pro Golfers

This morning the British Open [Golf] Tournament opened at Muirfield, a R & A (Royal and Ancient) course just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. Like and R & A course on the British Open circuit, Muirfield is extremely challenging in many aspects of its layout and overall course conditions.

After completing his opening round of golf, Phil Mickelson, the media hog that he is, began complaining to the press corps about what he felt were unfair course conditions for any professional golfer to have to deal with. He stated that the directors of the tournament need to "let go of their egos and just set up the course so that the best players can win.;" inferring that the R & A had unfairly made the course harder--I don't see how they can do that--in an effort to penalize the players.
Here was my response:

"These professional golfers need to just keep their opinions to themselves and play golf to the best of their ability. After all, they're supposedly the best golfers in the world, right? So start playing like a pro and stop expecting the perfect course every time they tee off. There are hundreds of regular R & A members who play this course every week who likely have no problem whatsoever with the hole setups. What makes the pros so special that they need to have an easier course to play on?

I used to work at a course that was a stop on the Senior PGA Tour. The course was very difficult under normal conditions. Without exception, every year a majority of the players would whine that the setup wasn't easy enough, as if they expected the easiest pin placements, optimum watering conditions, etc. I played that course hundreds of times, and rather than whine about it, I worked on bettering my game to try and beat the layout.

Why pros like Mickelson think they have the right to complain about a course rather than improve their game is mystifying. These guys just need to suck it up and perform their job better. To do otherwise only decreases my respect for these supposed professionals."