If you don't like Rory Sabbatini, golf may be too high-octane for you

Think Rory Sabbatini learned not to call out Tiger Woods? Think again. When talking about all the hell he caught after calling out Tiger earlier this year, Sabbatini had this to say today:

“Apparently he’s a celestial being that you can’t touch. That’s the way I see it.”

Rock on, Rory.

Let’s be perfectly clear: If you’re someone who thinks Rory Sabbatini is a blight on the world of golf, then you have a problem with competition and emotion. Because let’s face it, one of the biggest problems with golf is the boredom factor.

Look at The Barclays. While Chris Baldwin was salivating after two rounds, calling the FedEx Cup the greatest success in the history of modern promotions due to the fact that a lot of media showed up, when all was said and done Little League Baseball outdrew it as far as TV ratings.

And you know why that is? Because there’s emotion in Little League Baseball. Emotion plus sports equals ratings. And it’s why golf doesn’t get jack for ratings when Tiger doesn’t show up.

Which brings us back to Sabbatini, who has become viewed as this evil loudmouth that everyone wants to see shut up. Today at the press conference for the Deutsche Bank Championship, Sabbatini brought it up himself:

“People always say they want something different; you get me, you get something different, and then they burn you for it,” said Sabbatini. “So what do you want, do you want different or do you want the usual fraternal player out here?”

And the South African is absolutely right. Top athletes are supposed to have big egos. Here’s a guy with who’s not afraid to challenge himself (he said he’d love to play against Tiger in Presidents Cup singles) and who is not afraid to show emotion or tell you his opinion. But when he does, golf fans all uniformly get the vapors and collapse, fan in hand, as if he’d mooned the lot of them.

Basically, if you don’t like Sabbatini, you don’t like competition, and pro golf may just be too exhilarating for you to begin with. Because the guy is a breath of fresh air out there, and I’d take one of him over 17 Phil Mickelsons, any day.

–WKW