WATCHING GOLF AS A FAN...

Attention Golf Fans! The hottest player in the world can still win the Grand Slam! No, I am not talking about Tiger, I am speaking about Lorena Ochoa, who has won 5 of 6 starts, and the last 4 in a row. Her winning margins are more than 8 shots per tournamnet, or more than 2 shots per round!! So, while Tiger is having knee surgery (and don't count him out of the U.S. Open either!), Lorena is only waiting about four more years (she has met every qualification of the LPGA to get in the Hall of Fame except the one of "being an LPGA member for at least 10 years") ... even if she never makes another cut! That's pretty neat!

So, just because Tiger has to wait at least one more year to win the Grand Slam, if he ever does it, it does not mean the season is over for him or us golf fans; there is still plenty of excitement to be seen. As a golf fan, I love to watch golf at every level, and enjoy that level's best. I enjoy watching the LPGA as much as the PGA Tour. I enjoy watching the U.S. Amateur as much as the U.S. Open or the U.S. Women's Open, and there is lots of good golf in each one of those. So, let the PGA Tour take a "Tiger Break" and allow the players to relax (they'll need a full battery charge when Tiger comes back... hungry for a win!) and lets enjoy watching Lorena while she is hot... which looks like she won't be out on the cold any time soon.

Now, do not start saying that Lorena has no competition. As a matter of fact, I think she has, at her level, more competiton than Tiger at his (and we can go into the statistical argument of this any time you want to); so watching her rout her competition as she has the last few tournaments, is pretty fun, just like it was fun to watch Tiger with the Masters by 12, as he did on his first major victory.

One thing I am never going to say, is that it is as fun to watch a tournament when a bunch of people whose names I have never heard of are in contention without any of the well known guys. But I will say that the golf is just as good, though it is without the drama of the "stars" around the leaderboard.

On the the other hand, you can add some drama yourself: when an "unkown" player is in contention and comes up ahead of Tiger or Phil, think that you are that player. Who would you be rooting for? Tiger? Of course not, but you can probably feel most of what that player is feeling down the stretch, and you will feel a knowt in your throat... Johnny Miller calls it "stage 3 chocking". So, never feel that it was a waste of your time if someone else won other than Tiger (or Phil). Sure, we all expect that those two, when in contention, are capable of stringing some birdies to win, but capable does not always mean, a surety.

Give credit to other players as well. If Tiger does not win, do not say, "Well, Tiger is in a slump", be like Tiger and give credit to the other player, who played well enough to put some ground between him and Tiger for the final round, and then played well enough to stay there.

Take this last Masters, there were more people, including announcers who were showing missed putts by Tiger (by the way, "putting" IS PART of the game!), that thought that "Tiger lost the tournament" and not that Trevor won it... I guess that is the way it works when you have Tiger... but it is unfair to the other players. Come on, we say that Tiger needs challengers, then, when he gets them and losses, "he is putting bad", well that means that the other guy IS putting good and that is why he is beating Tiger!!

Favorites do not have to win all the time to make golf fun to watch!