I was rooting for Paul Goydos to win The Players Championship.
Who wasn’t?
I
know as the only Euro on the Golfweek staff that my loyalties should
have rested with Sergio Garcia, but Goydos got my support for the same
reason he got nearly everyone else’s: We all love to see an underdog
win, especially one with no bloated sense of importance.
Even in
the aftermath of the so-called fifth major, I found myself warming more
to Goydos than Garcia. Goydos was the one who came off sounding more
like the guy you would want to have a beer with than Garcia.
I
would have thought after the biggest win of his career that Garcia
could have shown a bit more humility. Instead, he couldn’t resist a
petulant dig at the press.
When asked what was the best part of winning the playoff, Sergio replied: “Not having to listen to you guys.”
The
Spaniard was referring to constant criticism of the putting stroke that
has kept him from taking one of the four tournaments that really
matter. Garcia’s name already would adorn a major championship trophy
had his ability with the flat stick matched the rest of his game.
Maybe
we shouldn’t be surprised, though. Hubris and Garcia go together like
titanium and graphite. Remember the woe is me attitude he had last year
after losing the playoff for the British Open at Carnoustie, when he
suggested the gods of golf conspired against him rather than it being
his own dodgy putting stroke?
Contrast Sergio’s failure to
congratulate Padraig Harrington at Carnoustie with Goydos’ superlative
attitude in the wake of defeat at TPC Sawgrass.
“Look at the
shot Sergio hit in the playoff,” Goydos said. “I got beat. I played
good golf. That doesn’t mean you win. There’s no defense. I can’t
tackle the little guy. There’s no knee-capping. You have to accept the
guy beat me.”
Imagine what such a statement would have done for Garcia’s image in the wake of last year’s British Open loss.
Garcia
did putt well in the final round to get into a playoff for The Players
Championship, but the jury still is out on whether he can do it under
the utmost pressure. There’s a big difference between contesting The
Players against a journeyman like Goydos and a major championship
against one Eldrick T. Woods.
Only when Garcia guns down Woods
or another big name to win one of the marquee events can we really say
his putting woes are behind him.
Maybe the reason Goydos can be
so sporting in defeat stems from his complete lack of any sense of
entitlement. He has been in the real world, after all, where he had to
work a proper job. He knows how lucky he is to be playing the royal
& ancient game for a living.
Garcia and a few others could
learn from spending a bit of time working a proper job to get a sense
of perspective on life. Maybe a week spent on a construction site or in
a factory would erase the unreal sense of entitlement that is instilled
in players like Sergio.
Give me Goydos’ humility over Sergio’s conceit any day.
Garcia might have left Sawgrass as The Players champion, but Goydos departed as the people’s champion.
Posted: 5/13/2008
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