Danny Willett to possibly miss the Masters for birth of 1st child. Would you do the same?

[RussUK]

I read a letter in Todays golfer at the end if last month that Danny Willet was going to miss the Masters should in coincide with the birth of his first child. Now as a father myself i applaud him for putting his family first. The author of the letter didnt see it that way, going on to state that the mans role in the birth is limited and that what if this was his year then he would regret it for the rest of his career.

Is comment to end the letter was that Nick Faldo didnt do this sort of thing, going as far as having no "relations" with his wife before a tournament, now correct me if im wrong but wasnt he having the aforementioned "relations" with his caddie Fanny Sorenson (not sure of her maiden name).

Anyway, if you guys were in Danny's position what would you do?

[jbishop15]

Using Nick Faldo, a dude who has repeatedly cheated on his spouses, as a good role model for this sort of this is pretty funny.

If my kid was being born, I'd skip basically anything. You can't leave your partner to go through that alone.

[ZappyAd]

Majors come around every year, kids (unless you are seriously going for it) are far less frequent so I would be kid being born over playing in a major.  

[Patch]

The Masters is just a game. Child birth is life. There is no comparison. 

[jamo]

I'd skip the tournament. Not a single doubt in my mind.

It's not like Danny Willet's gonna win the Masters anyway.

[MrDC]

i agree, I doubt I could leave the wife alone for something like this.

That being said let's not forget that having a great run at a major can change a golfers life, and the family they keep, that's no small feat in golf, a sport that leaves players like Willet in the dust every season, so this has to be a tough decision for them, I certainly don't think it's a no-brainer people here make it out to be.

Edited February 4, 2016 by MrDC

[DeadMan]

I wouldn't ever judge a professional golfer for making either choice. Good for Willet no matter what he decides to do.

That said, if it were me, I'd go to the Masters. But my thinking would be that there's a decent chance I won't get back to the Masters ever, so I should take advantage of it. But I doubt there are many professional golfers that think that way. One of the many reasons that I'm not a professional golfer (chief among them being my swing) ...

 

EDIT - I do recall a couple of years ago there was a struggling golfer (i.e., I'm not sure he was even on the Web.com Tour) that Monday qualified for an event and finished in the top 5. That meant he was automatically in the next tournament. But he was going to skip that if his wife had their 4th kid during the tournament. That was a no brainer to me - if you need the money and it's your 4th kid, I'd skip the birth and play the tournament.

Edited February 4, 2016 by DeadMan

[ronin74]

I would have to be with my wife.  My priority would be to give the support my family needs at the time.  The author referenced here poses the question, what if this is his year? Well, I pose the question, what if there are complications? 

Not being there at this time really would send a message to his wife that could be perceived as "You do your thing, I'll do mine."  Which is not good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2016 by ronin74

[Golfingdad]

After having had 3, we joke about the things done differently each time.  The less and less "care" that is provided for the third.  As an example (This is obviously meant to be silly, but I swear this is very, very accurate):

However, this would not carry over to the birth.  I think we could have 100 kids (obviously we couldn't, but to make a point) and the births themselves wouldn't be any less important each time.

Good on Danny.

[boogielicious]

I would not miss the birth. It was one of the highlights on my life.

[newtogolf]

I'd never miss the birth of my child for something work related.  I think it's always a delicate balance but the birth of your child is something that I could never imagine missing.

[Broke100Once]

I'd skip it.

Since this situation seems to come up once or twice every year, I wonder if the Tour and the overseeing bodies for each major could agree on some kind of "fatherhood exemption."  Sort of like how if a player is injured, he can get a status exemption and retain his Tour card for the next year that he's healthy.  In the case of a guy like Willett, he's not guaranteed any future slots in the Masters, so it's not really fair that he should have to give up a spot that he's earned and have to make this tough choice.

Augusta National could win itself some solid PR points by saying that if Willett skips this year's tournament to be with his wife, there will be a spot waiting for him in the 2017 field.

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, DeadMan said:

I That said, if it were me, I'd go to the Masters. But my thinking would be that there's a decent chance I won't get back to the Masters ever, so I should take advantage of it. But I doubt there are many professional golfers that think that way.

Not making fun of you or your choice, but your reasoning is off here.  Sure there is a "decent chance" that you'd never get back to the Masters again, but there is a 100.0000% chance that that child won't be born again.  If you're choosing the one that is least likely to occur a second time, shouldn't you go with the one that has a ZERO percent chance of occurring?

[Yukari]

29 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Not making fun of you or your choice, but your reasoning is off here.  Sure there is a "decent chance" that you'd never get back to the Masters again, but there is a 100.0000% chance that that child won't be born again.  If you're choosing the one that is least likely to occur a second time, shouldn't you go with the one that has a ZERO percent chance of occurring?

I understand what you are trying to do but you are setting up a straw man for your argument. If we follow your same logic, we can say 2016 Masters will never be played again. So it too has a zero chance of occurring again. 

Personally, I am not sure what I'd do. It's always easy to say I will do this I will do that when you are not personally faced with that situation. But if you are faced with the situation yourself, your decision may differ than hypothetical situation. 

That's why I try not to judge someone's decision until I've walked in their shoes. 

[newtogolf]

4 minutes ago, Yukari said:

I understand what you are trying to do but you are setting up a straw man for your argument. If we follow your same logic, we can say 2016 Masters will never be played again. So it too has a zero chance of occurring again.

Personally, I am not sure what I'd do. It's always easy to say I will do this I will do that when you are not personally faced with that situation. But if you are faced with the situation yourself, your decision may differ than hypothetical situation.

That's why I try not to judge someone's decision until I've walked in their shoes.

The 2016 Masters won't be played again, but there will likely be a 2017 Masters and 2018 Masters, your son or daughter will never be born again.

The poll question is asking what you would do, that isn't passing judgment on Willet, though some may choose to expand their response to pass judgment on Willet.

I base life decisions like this on which I believe I'd regret the least later in life. 

[DeadMan]

37 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Not making fun of you or your choice, but your reasoning is off here.  Sure there is a "decent chance" that you'd never get back to the Masters again, but there is a 100.0000% chance that that child won't be born again.  If you're choosing the one that is least likely to occur a second time, shouldn't you go with the one that has a ZERO percent chance of occurring?

What @Yukari said pretty much covers this. The calculus changes if you're only having one kid, just like it changes if it will be your only Masters. So, for me, I will probably be having multiple kids, meaning I'll still get another chance at a being there for a birth.

For Willet, he's probably going to be back at the Masters (and I bet he believes that he'll definitely be back), so it's not that tough of a decision. But, if this was the Latin American amateur qualifier or some other one off, I'd say go to the Masters instead of the baby birth. Thus, what I said.

[Golfingdad]

16 minutes ago, Yukari said:

I understand what you are trying to do but you are setting up a straw man for your argument. If we follow your same logic, we can say 2016 Masters will never be played again. So it too has a zero chance of occurring again. 

Personally, I am not sure what I'd do. It's always easy to say I will do this I will do that when you are not personally faced with that situation. But if you are faced with the situation yourself, your decision may differ than hypothetical situation. 

That's why I try not to judge someone's decision until I've walked in their shoes. 

It's not a strawman - there is nothing significant about the 2016 Masters versus the 2017 or 2018 Masters.

And rest assured, I'm not passing judgment on anybody's choices, I'm just pointing out that their reasoning falls short.

[mvmac]

4 hours ago, RussUK said:

Anyway, if you guys were in Danny's position what would you do?

I'd play if I was Danny (my wife agrees with me btw). Any other major and I would probably skip it.