Why Am I Watching Golf?

I have a question for you. Why am I watching golf? This is the question I have been asking myself all weekend. Golf is quite possibly one of the most captivating sports I have ever seen, but why haven’t I discovered it before. Up until Friday, I was what they call an ignorant golf fan. My favorite course was La Costa, only because my grandparents live 2 miles from there. My favorite player was Phil Mickelson, only because he was left-handed like me, and he made a guest appearance on a Disney channel show called “The Jersey”. Another player I favored was Vijay Singh, only because he slightly resembles my grandfather.

My Saturday morning consisted of myself jokingly rooting for one-of-two amateurs in the field, Ryan Moore only because he has the same last name as me, and the same first name as my best friend.

I used to play golf. I had a set of pinseeker junior left-handed clubs. I’ve been known to shoot +19 at a 6-hole city college course in my hometown.  I would pretend to be Tiger Woods, only because I had a cool tiger head cover for my driver.

The U.S. open has become more of a distraction as I gain more and more interest.  I made some grammatical mistakes on the Wimbledon preview I wrote yesterday, because I was watching golf, and writing about tennis at the same time. I managed to anger my mother by: not taking out the trash, not eating breakfast, and lying in bed all day. I’ve also have managed to go through an entire bag of Crème Savers soft candy. Oh yeah, and I have 6 hours to get my Dad a Fathers Day gift.

And I find myself, again watching television and writing. The fact of the matter is that golf is unusually captivating. I am just sitting here anticipating 12:00 noon. What is at 12:00, you ask. Why the final tee time featuring Ratief Goosen and Jason Gore. Am I a yuppie fan? probably.

I have learned some things about the history of golf, Mostly 1999 at Pinehurst, but still history.

I learned the story behind Phil Mickelson and the beeper in the 1999 open. I had always wondered the story behind that. Prior to about an hour ago I had only hear the phrase “Phil and the beeper” on sportscenter. I either ignored it or changed the channel thinking, “geesh… golf is lame”.

It is the same case with Payne Stewart story. I knew he died in a plane crash, but I knew no other details. I saw the story on sportscenter on Friday. I almost felt like I was a failure to the sports society for not knowing the details.

They say you learn new things every day.

I love the feeling of following an entire event, the feeling I get when I throw away two weeks of my life watching a tennis slam. Or the feeling everyone gets when the follow the NCAA basketball tournament.

I love the feeling of tracking each hole. Hole number two has been a challenge for just about everyone, Tiger, Lefty, Singh, and Goosen have all struggled on number two. The green is centered on about an eight-foot plateau, if you overshoot it left, right, or deep, you are basically screwed.

51 year-old Peter Jacobsen didn’t seem to have any trouble with rolling his shots off the green; Saturday Jacobsen hit the only hole-in-one of the tournament. The miraculous feat was gone unnoticed by Jacobsen for a few seconds, when he then noticed the crowd was screaming he realized he had nailed a hole-in-one.

I still have drawn no conclusion as to why I am so captivated by the game of golf. I have found myself wandering around my house practicing my golf swing, and rummaging through the garage searching for my Dad’s old astro-turf putting green.  

The most reasonable explanation for my new found interest in golf is most likely because of the fact that on Saturday morning there was nothing else to watch on television, and maybe because I have nothing better to do. In the end, the fact of the matter is that I am now a golf fan.