A Green Jacket for the Anti-Tiger
After two weeks of hype from the pundits that Tiger is back and the Masters was going to be a two-horse race between Tiger and Rory we were treated to a race down the back stretch between Bubba and Shrek. What a treat!
I found it hard to root against any of the 10 or so contenders over the back nine. Lee Westwood was desperately unlucky with a couple of putts and deserves to get the monkey off his back. Mickelson is a thoroughly engaging golfer. Hanson showed great grit. Kuchar seems to be a lovely guy. Harrington is similarly honest and well-balanced. Etc. I found Oosthuizen endearing when he won the British and, owner of the sweetest swing, he played really well Saturday and today.
Bubba was featured on Feherty this past week. I'm a big fan of Feherty's show and this was no exception. What Feherty's format allows is for the viewers to get a more rounded view of his guests. In Bubba's case what we could clearly see were the intelligence, humanity and clarity of values that lie behind the self-taught Bubba's "flaky" image, although clearly he's no stranger to fun, goodnatured fun. (The video with Rick Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Ben Crane is hilarious). I would also add he's a refreshing take on the "Christian" athlete. His commitment and love of family that shines through is patently of a piece with his religious beliefs which he does not force on his interviewers but expresses with grace and humility. My favorite part of the post-Green Jacket interviews was when he said that if he hadn't won, life would go on, he would have remembered a fun week and that he was honoured to wear the green jacket. Can't get much further from Tiger than that. It will be interesting what the media make of him and how he handles the new celebrity. I think he'll do fine and I think that this won't be his last major. (BTW Westwood will break through, Shrek will win another and Donald will have his day, too.)