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As the world’s best golfers tee off at Pinehurst No. 2 this morning, I’m still chuckling about a wayward shot world No. 2 Vijay Singh fired off in the media tent yesterday. Vijay obviously doesn’t practice humility or common sense as much as he does his golf game.<\/p>\n
So Vijay rolls into the media tent. No one ever expects him to have much of interest to say, and he obliges with all the boilerplate comments about the great shape Pinehurst No. 2 is in, etc.
\n
\nBut then Fiji’s gift to golf decided to take a few shots at the USGA. Granted, this is a hobby I myself enjoy immensely. The blue blazers need to be brushed off the plate every now and then.<\/p>\n
But in sniping at the USGA, Vijay indirectly showed his snide side toward the rest of us, the common golfers. Also known as the people who spend all the money that makes it possible for him to play the game for a living. Here’s what he said:<\/p>\n
\nI just want to know if they [the USGA officials that set up the golf course] ever go out and play the golf course on Sunday to find out how difficult it is, None of the guys are ever going to break 100, if they try, if they set it up like they did at the U.S. Open last year. I don’t think anybody enjoyed playing out there, except obviously Retief (Goosen, last year’s champ) and Phil (Mickelson, runner-up a year ago).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
First off, the USGA has many shortcomings, but a lack of actual good golfers on staff isn’t one of them. Do you think the USGA would hire or promote to a high office someone who didn’t know how to hit a low cut with a 2-iron?<\/p>\n
Second, players complain about playing conditions. This is a fact in all sports. But pro golfers in general complain non-stop. If you put our guy Veej in charge of course setup at an event, you’d get fairways as wide and flat as driving ranges. That’d be as boring as Vijay himself.<\/p>\n
And third, Singh’s comment telegraphs the fact that he considers anyone not playing at the tour level to not have the aptitude to understand or appreciate the game. Oh, you have to play a hard course, Vijay? Let me grab a tissue to dab my eyes. These tears of sadness just won’t dry on their own.<\/p>\n
I have a feeling if anyone associated with the USGA had a chance to play Pinehurst No. 2 on Sunday, with the brutal Open setup and the chance of embarrassment in front of a large gallery, they would all to a person say, “What’s my tee time.” Because they, like you and me, love the game of golf and love to play it under a variety of conditions. I bet they’d have fun out there, and at the end say, “Wow, that kicked my butt.”<\/p>\n
I had the chance to play Oakland Hills the day after the Ryder Cup Matches last September. Myself and some other media types played from the same tees and had the same hole locations that were used for the previous day’s singles matches. My previous three rounds had been 84-76-81. I shot a 102, and that was with some good putting. But you know what? I had fun. I experienced a tough course at full strength, from more than 7,100 yards. I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but what a blast!<\/p>\n
Yes Vijay, you play a different game than we do. But I wouldn’t complain about your plight. You know what? I’d love to have a tee time this Sunday at Pinehurst, with a good caddy and immaculate course conditions. When I hit a good shot, people would even applaud me. Not only would I be playing for free, I would even get money after my round. Pretty nice arrangement.<\/p>\n
My problem with Vijay Singh is that he is just as removed from the reality of what the average person experiences in playing the game of golf as the USGA bluebloods he’s sniping at. Don’t complain about how hard you have it, Vijay. Get back to doing the two things you do best: hitting golf balls and keeping your mouth shut. Of course, what do I know? I’m just a guy who actually pays to play golf on Sundays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vijay Singh is one of the best in the world, but does he really believe that nobody else could break 100 on a U.S. Open course?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot_topics","category-swing_thoughts"],"yoast_head":"\n
Pinehurst Pity Party Planned for Vijay (Hot Topics, Swing Thoughts) - The Sand Trap .com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/swing_thoughts\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Pinehurst Pity Party Planned for Vijay (Hot Topics, Swing Thoughts) - The Sand Trap .com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Vijay Singh is one of the best in the world, but does he really believe that nobody else could break 100 on a U.S. Open course?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/imgs\/pga\/pinehurst_logo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@the_sand_trap\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@the_sand_trap\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donald MacKenzie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/swing_thoughts\\\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/swing_thoughts\\\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Donald MacKenzie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/301400cb9e2e7a59aac583e667e29b60\"},\"headline\":\"Pinehurst Pity Party Planned for Vijay\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-06-16T13:49:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/swing_thoughts\\\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay\"},\"wordCount\":754,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Hot Topics\",\"Swing Thoughts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/swing_thoughts\\\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/swing_thoughts\\\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thesandtrap.com\\\/b\\\/swing_thoughts\\\/pinehurst_pity_party_planned_for_vijay\",\"name\":\"Pinehurst Pity Party Planned for Vijay (Hot Topics, Swing Thoughts) - 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