ztexz

Hey, OP: I saw in your original message that the negative reaction that your kid got from Mr. Arsehole kind of soured his feelings toward the game. Just a thought, but the response on here has been overwhelmingly positive toward his accomplishment -- maybe you could show him the responses on here to let him know how excited THIS group of strangers is for what he did. (Just thinking like a Dad here...)

The discussion about Patrick Reed got me thinking: who are some generally popular players who you, personally, just can't stand? (Guys like Sabbatini and Sergio don't count since they are pretty much universally despised.) My nomination would be Bubba Watson. Although his popularity has certainly taken a hit recently, I think he's still one of those guys who fans -- especially casual fans -- like. But he just strikes me as a petulant little cry baby, and, yeah, I have a problem with a guy who is proud to drive a car with a Confederate flag painted on the top (I don't care if it was in a TV show at some point).

Congrats on breaking the 80 Barrier -- that's a fine accomplishment!

Note that in order to get into the Monday pre-Qualifier for a PGA Tour event, he would have to earn status on the Web.com Tour. So that means going through Web.com Q school OR getting enough sponsor exemptions that he gets to where he needs to be on the money list. Probably the "quickest" way on to the PGA Tour would be through qualifiers at either the US or British Opens, post a good finish, and parlay that into a couple of sponsor exemptions.

That is an interesting question. He could certainly make D2 or D3. D1? I'd give him a coin flip. If I had been a bit more serious an athlete, I probably could have made it at my alma matter (D1, decent golf team, but nothing special -- certainly not a Wake Forest/Auburn/etc.), and that was as a 3 handicap. That's not out of the question if you basically turn your life over to becoming a 3 handicap and have the necessary basic athleticism. But here's the other thing that's missing from this: the mental toughness to play competitive golf. Plenty of people have the physical skill to play at a high level -- I'm one of them -- but most of those people don't have the mental toughness to perform under pressure -- again, I'm one of them. The guy just shot a 98 in his club championship. I think that right there shows he does have "it"

Is he arrogant? Yes. Do I care? No. We don't remember Muhammad Ali because he said in his press conferences, "That was a tough fight against a good opponent, and I'm just lucky to escape with the win."

No kidding. Here's the Top 10 from the last Champions Tour event in February. Kirk Tripplett Olin Browne Bernhard Langer Duffy Waldorf Jay Haas Michael Allen Colin Montgomerie Mark Calcavecchia Mike Goodes Billy Andrade In between all of those guys, there are 39 PGA Tour wins, 74 European Tour wins, and 2 majors. This notion that you can just practice really hard and be competitive against talent like that is, simply, insane.

I'm willing to accept his handicap at face value. By way of reference, Phil Mickelson is a +5. So if Dan wants to have even a prayer of making it to the big time, he needs to shave a further 7 or 8 shots off his handicap. And he has to do it in 2.5 years. To say that's a Herculian feat is understatement. Not to mention that last July homeboy shot a 98 in his club championship. A club championship. I mean, that's just several universes away from the type of conditions and pressure he would face on a micro-tour, not to mention the Web.com or, God help him, the PGA Tour.

That's like people who get mad at little kids who make some noise at church. Show me a church (or driving range) with no kids, and I'll show you a church (or sport) that is, quite literally, dying.

If the group behind me is playing with their kid, and the kid gets a birdie, I am absolutely OK with them letting out a whoop of joy and high-fiving. And, yes, I would just take a mulligan. This isn't the US Open.

There are so many different types and causes of back pain that it is foolish to speculate what's wrong with Tiger's and what would help it. I've got a weird condition in my back (diagnosed about 2 years ago) where the L-5 didn't form correctly in the womb. Basically, the interior never calcified, so my L-5 has a crispy crust with a gooey center. Sometimes I go months without any pain; other times I play 3 holes and am curled up in the fetal position on the 4th tee box and can't get out of bed for 2-3 days. Aside from stretching, I've never found any correlation between the amount of golf I play and the frequency of the pain. Tiger might have a similar problem where it's fine and then WHAM! If that's the case, rest and therapy might not matter at all. If I'm Tiger (meaning if he has something like the condition I do), I go to Bay Hill. If at any point the back starts acting up, or I feel like I haven't had a good warm-up, I WD. Same thing at the Masters, or any other tournament this year.