Enough with Van de Velde Already!

[SubPar]

Jesus H! There must have been 1000 commentaries, interviews and associated replays of Van de Velde's meltdown at the '99 Open in the last eight years. And 50 of them this week! In terms of notoriety, losing was the best thing that ever happened to him, but this fascination with big blunders in golf borders on sick. Anyone who follows golf in the least knows all about it now and can mentally replay every frame of video of every shot he hit or mishit. Like a golfing equivalent of the Zapruder film, it is seared in our memories.

How many years will every shot of Sean O'Hair be introduced with the line "the player who had that spectacular collapse at the 2007 PGA... let's go the video of those last few holes".

Sometimes it seems there is more attention paid to failure than success in the golf press, with the exception of Tiger Woods. Give Jean, Sean and the rest of us a break already!

SubPar

P.S. If you are aching to relive that tournament, here's a good article on the 1999 course set-up and the performance of many players that weekend.

[iacas]

  SubPar said:

Jesus H! There must have been 1000 commentaries, interviews and associated replays of Van de Velde's meltdown at the '99 Open in the last eight years. And 50 of them this week! In terms of notoriety, losing was the best thing that ever happened to him, but this fascination with big blunders in golf borders on sick.

I said similar things in

my live blog . Check it out on the main site and follow along. I do applaud his attitude, both then and now, but I'm tired of hearing about it too.

[Q.Q.Quillume]

  SubPar said:

How many years will every shot of Sean O'Hair be introduced with the line "the player who had that spectacular collapse at the 2007 PGA... let's go the video of those last few holes".

There is some BIG differences between Van de Velde & O'Hair. All Van de Velde had to do to win the Open Championship (a major) was play the last hole in double bogey. O'Hair was trailing Mickelson at the Players (not a major) & badly needed a birdie to get back in it.

[CG031]

I agree. Leave the poor guy alone - it was bad enough he lost in '99. Do they need to haunt him the rest of his life? And chase him down for interviews 8 years later? Get over it already.

[SubPar]

I guess it is a common thread in the media in general... "Train wrecks" make a better news item than "the trains ran on time without incident today". But these guys have to live with their failures and it does not seem fair to replay the "TC Chen" moments at every opportunity.

I'm surprised they have not clubbed Bjorn over the head more for taking thee shots to get out of a greenside bunker, thereby handing the Open to Ben Curtis.


SubPar

[ILLZ]

I personally love watching anything about Van De Velde. What a disaster that was. I think the comedic height of the whole thing isn't when he's standing in the creek with no shoes on, as is the easy choice, but rather the fact that he NEVER TAKES OFF HIS GLOVE when hes putting his shoes and socks back on. It is getting a little old, but I laugh whenever he's mentioned.

[thementhol]

I found it quite annoying too ..... just leave him alone

[Sherpat]

Lol...I think VdV is getting ready to write a "Thank You" note to Padraig Harrington as we speak. From now on it will be endless shots of Harrington's ball almost making it over the footbridge if he doesn't win.

And we'll know in just a few minutes.....

[Matt P]

smell a playoff

[thorban]

On a related note, I dont think I could have handled one more of those commmercials of Nicklaus with his foot on the bridge at St Andrews as though he conquered the place. Put me in the younger generation if you want, but I can't stand Nicklaus' ego.

[Sherpat]

  None said:

Put me in the younger generation if you want, but I can't stand Nicklaus' ego.

Not sure what your age has to do with it. I know a lot of young-uns who would concede that anyone with a career record like...

Official Tour Victories: 73 Second Place or Ties: 58 Third Place or Ties: 36 Total Victories Around the World: 113 No. 1 in Lowest Scoring Average: 8 times (1976-75-74-73-72-71-65-64); runner-up 6 times Top Money-Winner: 8 times (1976-75-73-72-71-67-65-64); runner-up 4 times Career Official Tour Earnings: $5,723,192 Most "Major Championship" Titles: 18 PGA Tour, 8 Senior PGA Tour, 2 Amateur "Greatest Golfer/Athlete" Awards (9): Sports Illustrated; GOLF Magazine; Associated Press; Golfweek; GolfWorld; PGATOUR.com and GolfWeb; ESPN; British Broadcasting Company; and Today's Golfer "Golfer of the Century" Award (2): 1988 (GOLF Magazine); 1996 (Golf Monthly, U.K.) PGA Player of the Year Award: 5 times (1976-75-73-72-67) Athlete of the Decade Award: 1970s (Sports Illustrated) Golf Course Architect of the Year: 1993 (Golf World) Tour Playoff Record: Won 12; Lost 10 Holes in One: 20 International and other Victories: British Open (3): 1978-70-66 (runner-up 7 times) Australian Open (6): 1978-76-75-71-68-64 World Series of Golf (5): 1976-70-67-63-62 (runner-up 6 times) World Cup Invitational (3): 1963-64-71 Piccadilly World Cup Match Play (1): 1970 Dunlop International (1): 1971 Ryder Cup: Member of U.S. teams that defeated Britain in 1981-77-75-73-71 and tied Britain 1969 (non-playing captain of winning 1983 U.S. team and losing 1987 U.S. team) Joined Champions Tour: 1990 Champions Tour Victories (10): 1996: Tradition, GTE Suncoast Classic 1995: Tradition 1994: Mercedes Championship 1993: U.S. Senior Open 1991: Tradition, PGA Seniors Championship, U.S. Senior Open 1990: Tradition, Senior TPC Ryder Cup: Member of U.S. teams that defeated Great Britain in 1981-77-77-73-71 and tied Britain in 1969 (non-playing captain of winning 1983 U.S. team and losing 1987 U.S. team) Champions Tour Career Earnings: $3,264,598 (includes Nationwide Tour) Combined Tour Earnings, Career: $8,989,903 Total Victories: 113 (73 PGA Tour & 10 Champions Tour), 30 unofficial or International events ....would be justified in being somewhat less than self effacing. He earned a certain amount of ego. You wanna wipe the smug smile from his face, YOU beat those numbers.