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NOW ON GOLFWEEKTV:
Hate to be Rude: Linn “The Growler” Strickler
Jeff Rude’s “I Hate To Be Rude” column appears on Golfweek.com on Friday, the same day as his video show of the same name.
• Greg Norman stars at the British Open at age 53. Juli Inkster leads the Women’s British Open first round at 48.
Is it the haggis? The fish and chips? The lack of ice cubes?
Just might start eating the UK cuisine. With warm cola, of course.
• Just when I started thinking the Fountain of Youth is in England, I realized 47-year-old phemom Kenny Perry drank his magic elixir in the Midwest.
When Perry thinks UK, it’s Kentucky Wildcats, not Great Britain.
• Interesting how the mind processes when playing name-number association. I see Jack Nicklaus and think 18 majors. I see Tiger Woods and think 14 majors. I see Woody Austin and think one shaft on head and one pair of goggles over eyes.
But sometimes numbers strike you in an odd way. And so it was upon discovering that Inkster has as many as seven major titles. That happens to be more than Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh combined.
You get surprised by something like that and think Inkster belongs in the same rare category as the likes of Billy Casper and Louise Suggs: Underrated Hall of Famers.
• Add name-number association: I see Tom Lehman and think he has more than five PGA Tour victories. Which, believe it or not, is three fewer than one Frederick Funk.
• Allow me to be the latest to send Annika Sorenstam this memo: Please reconsider. You’re too good to leave now. Nicklaus and Inkster and countless others have proved that one can be a great parent and golfer simultaneously. And who knows, maybe your family would even like the idea of you respecting your God-given skills all the way to erosion.
• Hank Haney told me one time that his prized pupil, Tiger Woods, never has any regret or remorse after a round because he focuses hard and tries his best on every shot.
Regret-free living is a wonderful thing. I’m wondering if Sorenstam will have that if she walks away now.
• I know it’s confusing, but Chez Reavie (Chez Ree-vee) is the golfer and Chez Reavie (Shay Rev-ee) is the French bistro.
• Only thing I can think is that Michelle Wie likes playing golf against the men as much as Hugh Hefner enjoys playing another ancient game with women.
• Hunter Mahan is the latest multimillionaire golfer to criticize the fact that players have to attend a lot of social functions at the Ryder Cup.
What sets Mahan apart, of course, is that he has never been invited to one of those parties.
Hey, never rip the champagne and caviar until you sample it.
• He’s a regular contender these days, but I can’t remember the last time I saw Anthony Kim smile.
• Biggest surprise of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational first round was the uncharacteristic score of Perry. Golf’s hottest and most controversial player of the past two months entered with 15 rounds in the 60s over a 16-round stretch during which he won twice and tied for sixth twice.
But the affable Kentuckian who skipped the summer’s first two majors opened with a 74 at Firestone the day after his 26th wedding anniversary and a week before his 48th birthday. That put him in an unusual spot, 73rd in a field of 80 – and if you’re keeping score at home, a stroke worse than what Michelle Wie shot across the country.
• Keep an eye on Phil Mickelson this week at Firestone, and not because this is a PGA Championship prelude. Rather, watch to see whether he’s Jekyll or Hyde.
In what fits under the Capistrano-Bermuda mystery umbrella, Lefty somehow has finished T23-T43-T51-T54-T46 the last five years at Firestone after going T4-1-2-2-2-T4-T8-T9 there in 1995-02.
• I’m fine with the Shark taking a pass on the PGA Championship. Hey, at 53 he didn’t sign up for playing four weeks in a row.
Unless we’re talking tennis.
• Big week in golf. Big tournaments everywhere. So which event moves the needle the most?
Well, let’s just say that 47 of the top 50 players in the world are in Akron, Ohio. Not long ago any such gathering was called a major.
Interesting how we get caught up in labels over substance sometimes.
• Gary Hallberg, a wunderkind seemingly yesterday, is already a senior?! How’d we get so old so fast?
Posted: 8/1/2008
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