Padraig Harrington defeats Tiger Woods: symbolizes changing of the guard in golf
Even though the U.S.’s showing has been about as strong as twelve strings of al dente linguini in the last three Ryder Cups, delusional Americans, myself included, have clung to a defense that the competition “meant more” to the Europeans than the Yanks.
“That’s team competition,” we muttered. “Man-to-man however, the PGA Tour and its American players are still the best in the world.”
After Irishman Padraig Harrington did the impossible defeating Tiger Woods in a playoff Sunday, it’s time for us to end any lingering denial. European golfers are superior. Sunday was simply a prime example of how far the U.S. has slipped compared to the rest of the world in producing elite golfers.
America should be thick into the Tiger Woods-echo generation, hundreds of young golfers inspired by all of Nike’s fancy marketing to pick up a club and strive to beat Woods and all his records.
The new generation of women have come through: Creamer, Wie, Gulbis, Pressell, etc. Annika Sorenstam has a bonafide challenger in Lorena Ochoa. Where are the boys? Who is the future of the PGA Tour?
What is responsible for the lack of a Bizarro Woods? Is our new generation of red, white and blue golfers being raised on cushy country club courses with perfect conditions and little adversity? Has the appeal of golf to the younger generations slipped compared to other quazi-sports like table tennis, poker, bowling and baseball?
Or was it YouTube…?
The 2006 U.S. Amateur was won by a Scotsman, Richie Ramsey from Royal Aberdeen. This was the first Scot to win since 1898 and the first from the UK to win it since 1911. Three of the last four U.S. Amateur winners are foreign born.
Is this alarming to anyone else?
Woods is still the best golfer in the world, of course. Nutjob No. 2 Phil Mickelson should be out of the top ten in the World Rankings by Easter and No. 3 Jim Furyk doesn’t scare anybody with those lame golf shirts.
The Euros on the other hand continue to pile on young talent and have hacked into Woods’ motherboard first. More Europeans will follow, and I think Sergio Garcia might crack the code next.
Comments, Pingbacks:
Wake me up when a Euro wins something of not, like say a major. You are absolutely right about the state of youth golf in the states. One look at the world rankings is all it takes to see that there is a serious shortage of good young american players.
This slip-up by Tiger does nothing, however to change the world order at the top of the food chain.
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11/20/06 @ 16:49 Permalink
11/20/06 @ 19:41 Furyk's shirts are great...I have nine of them and look sweet on the links.
Tiger Woods is truly the exception to the rule, and the alignment of the planets and the start for him to succeed was uncanny. Americans will again produce a champion, but never again dominate as they have, in both a golf and geopolitical forum.
That tournament in Japan was not meaningless to Tiger; now he is one step closer to knowing how NOT to lose a playoff. Didn't Paddy bonk one off a tree on the way to birdie, while the Tigger played it correctly down the middle? Nine times out of ten, Tigger's par beats Eeyore to win the playoff.
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11/20/06 @ 19:52 Permalink
11/20/06 @ 21:33 Permalink
11/21/06 @ 00:20 Permalink
11/21/06 @ 07:44 change of order are flawed. Moving from 0 wins
out of every 14 events to 1 win out of
every 15 hardly qualifies as change of
order. Bjorn, Westwood and Clarke have
beaten Woods in the past and it meant
nothing in the bigger scheme of things.
As for Garcia start talking when he
delivers the bacon. Same noises were
made from 99 and it was hot air.
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11/21/06 @ 09:15 Permalink
11/21/06 @ 14:45 The pga tour is the best tour.
However the Nationwide Tour is of a lower quality than the Japanese Tour, not to mind the European Tour.
Anyone who makes such stupid claims about the Nationwide Tour is just letting it be known that they know absolutely nothing about golf.
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11/21/06 @ 15:56 Sergio is a very good golfer, but it is doubtful that he will correct his issues.
He has played so badly when in contention on so many occasions that it would be very difficult for him to change the cycle although there may be blips every so often.
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11/21/06 @ 15:57 The fact of the matter is that Padraig was 3 shots behind Woods with 6 holes to play.
How many players would not give up at that stage? Harrington is one of those elite players who would not.
Harrington shot -4 on the back 9 to catch Tiger. The fact is that Padraig is not afraid of Tiger, unlike many of the American players.
Also, when Padraig hit it in the rough, what most people commenting arn't realising is that he is one of the very best scramblers in golf.
Also, when he played between the tree trunks, he was not lucky. He did not advance it that far. However in his next shot after that, he hit it out of the rough and nailed it 2 feet from the hole.
Padraig is a big time player and he is coming more and more into his groove.
Padraig would have probably already won a major were it not for unfortunate circumstances. He had been up to number 6 in the rankings, but when he had a bereavement he slipped right down to past number 30 and lost his game for a while.
He has very much, found his game and is playing better than ever, and the bad news for the Americans is that he isn't scared of anyone.
Harrington will probably be the next European to win a major, but once that is done, there is likely to be a number to follow his lead, including Stenson, Donald, Howell and more players.
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11/21/06 @ 16:03 "Padraig would have probably already won a major were it not for unfortunate circumstances"
...And pigs would probably fly if only they had wings. The classic woulda, coulda, shoulda argument used by fans of athletes who just can't get over the hump, so to speak. Norman you would make a great fan of Michelle Wie with that reasoning.
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11/21/06 @ 16:35 contend. There are a gazillion near men,
Els (Open 2004, Masters 2004, US 2004),
Phil (same as Ernie plus Winged Foot) and Vijay should have won 6 majors, each, Furyk 5,
Tiger should have won 14 (PGA 02, PGA05,
US open 05)
by now. How does 1 European having the
odd win against Tiger equate to a threat
for America. Based on track record and talent, Next few years, Tiger will leikely
be the dominant force in majors, with a
revolving door of global challengers
including Australian (Scott, Ogilvy), Europeans and yes Americans (Ryan Moore, Sean O Hair). Using the same logic,
Yang's win is equivalent to Asian threat
to America. Golf has evolved and the good
old days of European domination are gone.
They are golf also rans. The Australians, if
if anything have much more potential.
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11/22/06 @ 05:50 Leave a comment:
Brandon Tucker
WorldGolf.com blogger Brandon Tucker offers his unique perspective on golf and travel destinations from Scotland and Ireland to Myrtle Beach. He also chimes in on news events on the PGA and LPGA Tours, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other happenings around the world of golf.
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