Who Is Your All-time Favorite Golfer?

[sofingaw]

Haha. A lot of this could go into the 'LEAST favorite golfer thread' !

[RonTheSavage]

That's the Phancy Phil I see whenever I look at him.  I'm absolutely not surprised. What's the "Phil's Bridge" rumor?

This was posted on golf.com after Phils cell phone WD last year. He soooooo great with fans huh? There's a players' walkway bridge from the scoring cabin and media area that goes above an area where fans congregate to try to get autographs, and ends at the clubhouse. It is known as Phil's Bridge, and it is rumored to have been installed at Mickelson's suggestion (some would say insistence) so he could minimize security issues involved with being swarmed over by fans. A similar walkway bridge was installed, supposedly at Mickelson's request, at Bay Hill. Read more: http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/phil-mickelsons-withdrawal-memorial-matches-history-making-statements-tour#ixzz2PGD9tX5q

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by rehmwa

So does that make Phil more phony because he doesn't do his due diligence to the press?

Or does it make him less phony because his rounds affect him so much he skips a press conference because he's upset?

I bet some people will choose option 1.

I bet some will choose option 2.........

(Just to be clear, I'm finding my impression (albeit from interviews and on course behavior only) of most pro golfers is pretty positive, i see them as pretty much regular guys put into a big spotlight - that includes both these guys to some extent - they certainly aren't anything like many big time pro basketball and football stars for sure - even with the mindless and weird golf fans that follow them around)

I don't like forming opinions about people with minimal information.  A lot of people will call Tiger an a-hole (and rightfully so) for his marital transgressions.  The problem I have with that, at least as it pertains to something like this thread, is that, it often times comes out something like this: "Phil is my favorite.  I can't stand Tiger ever since the Thanksgiving incident."  The problem with that is that you establish a double standard.  You (generic "you" here, of my hypothetical poster) are partially basing your opinion of Phil on your opinion of Tiger.  That's not really fair to yourself, because what happens when we find out Phil is a closet rhino poacher or baby seal clubber in his spare time?

It's the same problem with baseball players of the late 90's/early 00's and PED's.  We can sit here and praise Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter as the antithesis (antithesii??) to McGwire and Bonds, but its only based on a partial info.

The bold above is about where I sit.  Generally, they all seem like decent guys to me.  Obviously, the law of averages tells you there's no way that is true, but, hey, it's not something I spend a lot of time worrying about.

I don't root for any particular golfer, but rather I root for the "story" every week when I am watching golf.  Something good, and something exciting, is all I hope for.

[ScouseJohnny]

My favourite golfer? Oh, that's easy....the greatest British golfer of his generation (and perhaps of all time)...

[Wisguy]

Golfingdad, I have a feeling that if golfers (or any other sorts of pro athletes) were subjected to modern-day media scrutiny/paparazzi stalking and the internet existed back then, quite a few of your favorite golfers from the 80's, 70's, 60's, etc.... would be shown to be much less "classy family men" than they are currently viewed and many would have probably made Tiger appear to be a man of some degree of moderation.  The media simply didn't cover celebrities so closely back in the good ol' days and they often had a much closer, non-confrontational relationship with their high-profile subjects in which they'd look the other way instead of trying to scrape up the dirt for a story.  Any of you older guys correct me if I'm wrong, but JFK and Bobby Kennedy were pretty well known for chasing tail, but the media kept completely quiet about it for at least a decade or two after their deaths.

I bet even among married golfers a few years back, Tiger wasn't the most adulterous one - he just had the stupidity to "date" a group of women who tend to like a lot of attention and have pay-per-view websites that would benefit from disclosure of their affiliation with the world's most famous athlete.  I am sure there are dozens of golfers out on tour who discretely find themselves a little extracurricular amour at least once a season when they are thousands of miles from home - I don't think PGA golfers are that much different than other pro athletes.  And have you seen pictures of all of the dozen or so of "Tiger's girls?"  Some of them are not what most people would call a "beauty" so maybe there was some element of genuine compulsive/addictive behavior involved.  And let's not forget that the infidelity rate is supposedly at least 50% among married Americans.  I don't know about you, but I've got at least a friend or two who haven't been faithful to their significant others and while it was quite disappointing, it didn't prompt me to end years of friendship.

I like Steve Stricker better than Tiger and from what I can tell, he is about as genuinely decent of a person as plays on the PGA Tour.  He seems to be on pretty good terms with Tiger, isn't he?  That should say something about Tiger the individual, once you scrape off the media muck.  Like him or not, no one has done more for the game of golf in the past 20 years than Tiger and no one is more exciting to watch in the last group on Sunday.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Wisguy

Golfingdad, I have a feeling that if golfers (or any other sorts of pro athletes) were subjected to modern-day media scrutiny/paparazzi stalking and the internet existed back then, quite a few of your favorite golfers from the 80's, 70's, 60's, etc.... would be shown to be much less "classy family men" than they are currently viewed and many would have probably made Tiger appear to be a man of some degree of moderation.  The media simply didn't cover celebrities so closely back in the good ol' days and they often had a much closer, non-confrontational relationship with their high-profile subjects in which they'd look the other way instead of trying to scrape up the dirt for a story.  Any of you older guys correct me if I'm wrong, but JFK and Bobby Kennedy were pretty well known for chasing tail, but the media kept completely quiet about it for at least a decade or two after their deaths.

Why is this addressed to me?  I totally agree with you, and, in fact, said attempted to say the exact same thing.  I don't like to say I hate Tiger because he's a *****, and I love Phil because he's not, because I don't have any proof that Phil is not.  (Side note: I don't know how old you think I am, but I certainly never watched any golf in the 60's and 70's ;))

Another reason why it's unfair (for me - not speaking for anybody else here) to judge Tiger on his transgressions is that I haven't the slightest idea what type of behavior I would have exhibited if in his shoes.  It, very well, could have been exactly the same.  Who's to know?  When I become one of the richest and most famous human beings in the entire world, I'll get back to guys on that.  [OK, not exactly the same ... I would have totally picked different porn stars, but that's just about taste]

EDIT:  Fun, I had no idea that the website had a filter.  I've always tried to filter words myself. ;)  (That was suppose to say wh*re)

[Wisguy]

GD, I believe it was this quote of yours that inspired me to single you out:  " A lot of people will call Tiger an a-hole (and rightfully so) for his marital transgressions."  I think you've made similar comments before, unless I have you confused with someone else here.

I wasn't figuring you to be that old, either - if you look at my first post in this thread, I said Bryon Nelson was one of my favorite golfers and my dad had just been born when he was active on tour, so I certainly could have no contemporary appreciation for him.  Most sports fans have favorite athletes from multiple eras - that was all I meant by that.

[dsc123]

Originally Posted by sofingaw

Haha. A lot of this could go into the 'LEAST favorite golfer thread' !

No kidding.  I was just looking through this thread for a post I made earlier today.  Then I realized that the post was in the "least favorite golfer" thread.  Same discussion.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Wisguy

Golfingdad, I have a feeling that if golfers (or any other sorts of pro athletes) were subjected to modern-day media scrutiny/paparazzi stalking and the internet existed back then, quite a few of your favorite golfers from the 80's, 70's, 60's, etc.... would be shown to be much less "classy family men" than they are currently viewed ...

Yup.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Wisguy

GD, I believe it was this quote of yours that inspired me to single you out:  " A lot of people will call Tiger an a-hole (and rightfully so) for his marital transgressions."  I think you've made similar comments before, unless I have you confused with someone else here.

I wasn't figuring you to be that old, either - if you look at my first post in this thread, I said Bryon Nelson was one of my favorite golfers and my dad had just been born when he was active on tour, so I certainly could have no contemporary appreciation for him.  Most sports fans have favorite athletes from multiple eras - that was all I meant by that.

I'd like to meet the person who doesn't think that sleeping with 20 (or whatever the number is) different women behind his wife's back is wrong.

Regardless, from that little snippet of my post, you somehow inferred that I believed exactly the opposite of what I actually believed.

I gotta start writing more clearly! :)

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Wisguy

Golfingdad, I have a feeling that if golfers (or any other sorts of pro athletes) were subjected to modern-day media scrutiny/paparazzi stalking and the internet existed back then, quite a few of your favorite golfers from the 80's, 70's, 60's, etc.... would be shown to be much less "classy family men" than they are currently viewed and many would have probably made Tiger appear to be a man of some degree of moderation.

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Yup.

See what you did?  You made me look like the guy on the other side of your argument, so now when others like Brandon here agree with you, it paints me as saying/thinking the opposite.  I'll say it again ...  I believe, and said, THE EXACT SAME THING in the post you claim to be quoting from.

[jimmyc]

golfingdad

FWIW, I agree with your original and subsequent posts.

The twisters are out there. Be careful.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

See what you did?  You made me look like the guy on the other side of your argument, so now when others like Brandon here agree with you, it paints me as saying/thinking the opposite.  I'll say it again ...  I believe, and said, THE EXACT SAME THING in the post you claim to be quoting from.

Well I wasn't supplementing his perceived argument against you.  I was mostly just quoting for posterity as it is a good point.  In fact, I considered removing "Golfingdad" from his quote.

But then I decided against it

[Mr Mulyak]

Louis Oosthuizen

I just loved it last  year at the Masters when he holed out for an albatross, then just casually tosses it to a fan while flashing his

buck toothed grin, despite the significance of the ball (recovered by the Master s)

His kid like" I'm having a blast" attitude resonates with me.

[JesseV]

Originally Posted by Wisguy

Byron Nelson.  His achievements in 1945 - 11 consecutive wins, 18 wins total,  still stands as by far the greatest 12 months in the history of the sport, notwithstanding that WWII had watered down the tour so he wasn't facing Hogan , Mangrum, etc... for the full year (Ben and Snead played at least partial seasons that year).  Potentially his 11 consecutive wins may very well become one of the two or three longest-standing records in any sport, other than Cy Young's records, which will never be broken because no pitcher will be throwing 3+ times a week like he did, so no one will ever again pitch in as many games as he did (a friend of mine who is a sports trivia expert advises that his record for losses, not wins, will be the longest-standing sports record of all time, as not only will no one pitch that many games but they'll never be kept on the team with that many losses).  The only athlete I can think of who was that dominant was Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin.

And, unlike contemporaries such as Bobby Jones (a bigot) and Hogan (an arrogant and aloof ass), Nelson was known as being a gentleman to everyone - I've never heard a single negative thing ever said about him.  If he hadn't decided to retire at age 34 and hadn't been denied years worth of cancelled majors during WWII, it is very likely that we'd be calling him the greatest golfer of all time, not having a debate about whether Tiger will ever overtake Nicklaus.

-1

[Wisguy]

Originally Posted by JesseV

-1

Care to explain your disagreement?  If anything I said wasn't accurate, please feel free to correct it, including a link to your sources.

[JesseV]

Did you actually meet and or know either Bobby Jones and or Mr. Hogan?

"And, unlike contemporaries such as Bobby Jones (a bigot) and Hogan (an arrogant and aloof ass)"

That is what I disagree with.  As far as I know Hogan was devoted to his wife and by all accounts off the course was a true gentleman, and was very charitable and was devoted to those he considered a friend.  Bobby Jones was a gentleman even though he grew up in a different era and time.

I will agree with what you state about Nelson because by all historical and known accounts he was a gentleman of the finest sort.

But I suppose the arrogant and aloof among us can always judge the character of men they never met nor knew who are long dead and not around to defend themselves.

[Armygolfer4life]

Originally Posted by iacas

There have been PLENTY of times when Phil has skipped out on post-round press conferences after bad rounds, etc. Tiger almost never has. Phil is a good sport when he wants to be.

Iacas,

Your comment borders on unfair.  Phil definitely spends more time with the fans than most other golfers.  I have seen enough of the press...I avoid at all costs.  Most were RUDE and INTRUSIVE when I played with Tiger or while I was in Afghanistan as a Soldier.