Words of Wisdom and Things I Actually Said
For me, there is a strange vacuum that comes over the golf world after the last major of the year. Prior to the creation of the FedEx Cup and on non Ryder Cup years, by September, most of the big names would head for home, or to big money corporate outings, leaving the balance of the year to the guys on the bubble who were trying to keep their card. It was a grand gesture that the have nots dearly appreciated.
BFXC (before FedEx Cup), there was a beginning and an end to the official golf season, but things have changed. What things you say? Mostly things having to do with money. As you?ve read in this space many times, the FedEx Cup is not about crowning the year?s best golfer, we already know who has the most wins and/or who?s made the most money. However, if you combine the FedEx Cup with the Fall series then add the silly season, some guy who has sucked all year can make several million dollars before you can say pour me another one of those eggnogs.Is this a great country, or what?Don?t get me wrong, this is not one more of my FedEx Cup bashing rants. I am taking the high road from now on. Judge not least ye be judged. Sorry to go all Jerry Falwell on you, but in the grand scheme of things, ?I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.?Sorry, that wasn?t Jerry Falwell, it was Rick from Casablanca, ?but my point is that I really am no good at being noble, and it doesn't take much to see that my opinion don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.?However, as my sainted Grandmother used to say, ?I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time.?Sorry, my sainted Grandmother didn?t say that, it was Jerry Falwell. Granted, neither my Grandmother, or Jerry Falwell, or Rick have anything to do with the FedEx Cup, and that?s my point. ?Stupid is as stupid does.? Wait a minute, that wasn?t me, that was Forest Gump. I said, ?Champions keep playing until they get it right.? No that was Billie Jean King.Perhaps you?ll remember reading, ?Don?t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty.? Well, I didn?t say that either. That was Harry Vardon.Okay, so you don?t go around quoting me. Heck, I don?t even quote me. However, I do believe that ?There are three kinds of men. The one who learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves." And, I might very well have said that except Will Rogers said it first.However, from my days in advertising I do know that, ?The strongest drive is not love or hate; it is one person?s need to change another?s copy.? And, I believe that. I didn?t say or write it, but I believe it 100 percent.Here?s something I actually did say, ?Like Punxsutawney Phil, I woke up this morning without all of the answers. However, unlike Phil, I have decided to meet the morning without regard for my shadow. No offense to groundhogs, but it?s time to get to work.?Sometimes I repeat my Punxsutawney words of wisdom in an effort to fill up that scary blank page. My system is based on the belief that if I start the end will discover itself. However, like Old Lodge Skins, the grandfather of Jack Crabb in Little Big Man, who laid himself down to die, but wakes up still alive, ?Sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn?t.?That?s my excuse for this mess and I?m sticking to it.
It's been a weird year on the PGA Tour. A very, very weird year. One of those years that will leave golf historians scratching their heads when they look back 50 years from now at 2011 and wonder just what the heck went on.