Golf Blogger Survivor II Round 1: Feeling a little schadenfreude?

Whew! That was harder than I thought it would be. Between e-mails getting sucked into the vortex and other mishaps, I finally have the first round recap blog here for Golf Blogger Survivor II!

Some excellent posts from the Survivors (as always) and some fun uses of the secret word. Oh yeah, the secret word: Schadenfreude

I’d give the definition, but one of the contestants took care of it. Oh, and by the way, everyone is safe for the first week. Even Ron Mon.

So, without further ado:

Golf Blogger Survivor II: Round 1

At TravellingGolfer.com, Mike not only gave us the definition of schadenfreude, he was also guilty of it:

I’m not one to take “satisfaction or pleasure in someone else’s misfortune", which is how dictionary.com defines the word schadenfreude, but I’m enjoying Tiger’s final round at Bay Hill simply because it’s the very way I usually finish off a 76.

Andrew at Oobgolf.com got all reflective:

We’ve all been there. Some of us (read:"me") more than others. You go out to enjoy a great round of golf and everything turns sour. Your bad shots are never found and even your good swings end up with bad bounces off sprinkler heads into hazards. It’s so bad, even the marshal can’t hide his schadenfreude when he sees my lob wedge snap in half as I launch it at my golf cart (that really happened).

Nigel at GolfLogic.ca actually had a fun story about golfing with a German fellow that kept using the secret word:

Later that evening I decided to find out exactly what he kept saying during the round so I called up a German friend of mine who spent the next 5 minutes laughing at me. Turns out Shady Froid is actually Schadenfreude…which roughly translates from German to English as satisfaction derived from someone else’s misfortune!

The Golf Girl is feeling pretty smug about the weather, and about a huge sinkhole at a golf course in Florida in appears:

No one was hurt by the sinkhole, and no homes or public services were impacted, so I don’t feel too guilty about my little moment of unadulterated schadenfreude. Actually, I don’t feel guilty at all. In fact, I think the massive sandy ditch should create some pretty interesting lies and plenty of ground-game options, and what’s so bad about that?

Ron Mon didn’t have to worry about Chapchai Nirat falling apart last week on the European Tour:

We’ll see what he is made of…he hasn’t exactly owned the first six holes of the course, playing them in a combined -6. It is the middle six where he has torched the place, playing 7-12 in -9, and 13-18 again in -6. Actually, that’s pretty balanced. No stretch has seemed too difficult, but as the collar tightens on Sunday, we’ll see what he has in the belly. Only one who revels in such Schadenfreude as accompanies a final-round collapse (a la Greg Norman, Augusta, 1996) would wish any ill fortune on this husky, likable golfer.

London Golfer gets the word in his (quite) unofficial biography of Bernhard Langer:

His delighted ex band mates left to form their own band ‘Schadenfreude’, but they were never to repeat their early successes. They remain together to this day, managing a home for battered garden gnomes in Penge.

The Deep Rough gets his gloat in a post about The Big Break:

As annoying as Gary’s little antics were, Cindy’s constant pessimism and complete lack of a competitive spirit made me sick. If you are reading this Cindy, I am sorry, but come on…how do you expect to win anything on a show like The Big Break with a can’t win attitude? The strange thing was she would come up with these snide little comments about the other players. Much like Gary, at times it seemed as if she thought she was in another league. Alas, justice would be served. Sweet schadenfreude, I nearly peed my pants laughing as I watched Cindy dig herself deeper and deeper into the sand trap…what was it, 14 shots?

The Aspiring Golfer talks about golf’s demons and learning to enjoy the game:

A good example for me would be to stop worrying about my opponents swing on the first Tee and concentrate on the way I play. I tend to look at other people to validate my own game. If my opponent makes a poor drive at the first tee, I’m engulfed with a wave of Schadenfreude - not in a spiteful way but one that sets me at ease with my own game. I’m not a bad loser but I do worry about the manner of the defeat.

Golf Now worked the Secret Word into a headline about Vijay Singh’s triumph

Vijay Singh’s Sick, Twisted Schadenfreude Smile

My Daily Slice wonders if greens keepers are inherently evil:

That’s why we have that one bad hole. Trust me, there are millions of greens keepers with a huge chip of schadenfreude on their shoulders, that when channeled properly, can claim the lives of the best attempts at a perfect round.

Golf Noise figures the whole Tour was feeling it with Tiger Woods’ finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational:

As for the top dog of golf, I can’t help but think there may be a bit of schadenfreude among the tour players with Tiger’s distant 22nd place finish.

Round 2 coming up!

So now’s the time for readers to come tell us who they liked the best. London Golfer already has a vote for his humorous take, so put your thoughts down in comments. The second Secret Word has been sent out, so let’s see how Round 2 shapes up!

Keep Blogging!!