I’m all for a little jive talk on tour. I don’t think what Rory Sabbatini said about Tiger Woods Thursday at The Players Championship was out of line. The PGA needs more squabbling and Sabbatini filled the void.

It was of course, indisputably premature. Forgive the South African for being a little excited at his emergence into discussion among the top-flight golfers in the world. But he had a chance to beat the beatable one last week before hooking a drive into the water, and he followed his comments up at Sawgrass with a 79.

He’s not in the lead anymore. He and Woods will spend Sunday clawing their way among the also-rans to salvage a decent paycheck.

All of the sudden, his words sound not like confidence but of insecurity. Anyone who golfs knows mental balance is one of the toughest things to achieve. How often have you looked at your scorecard five holes in, said “man, I might be able to break 80″ only to triple three of the next five holes?

Yes, the pros struggle with this too, not just us in Dufferville.

Neither he nor Woods will be a factor Sunday. The big story will be Phil Mickelson, fresh off his switch to Tiger’s old coach, Butch Harmon, trying to close out his first Player’s Championship. I hope he pulls it off, because it will make the PGA far more interesting this summer, and hopefully no one will be relying on teen girls playing in men’s events to spice things up.