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DEL.ICIO.USLong shots fare well
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Larry Nelson said it the other day, on his way into the World Golf Hall of Fame: “I’ll never understand any player who withdraws from a tournament when $100,000 is guaranteed for finishing last.”
Look at it this way. It just goes to show you how high the price for mediocrity has jumped. It might be an underlying reason for the uncommon number of times the Tour Championship has been won by players not on their way to the Hall of Fame. They’ve had a long, hard season, there’s money in the bank, play the course, collect your $100,000 or more and head for the barn. Or your condo at Ocean Reef.
True, the first three Tour Championships were won by Tom Watson, Curtis Strange and Tom Kite, none a stranger to the winner’s circle in majors. Then the long shots began to make themselves known. Jodie Mudd won at Houston, took his stash and started breeding horses. Craig Stadler came next, a very good player, but not great. Then Paul Azinger. Same, borderline, but not great, though he shaped his game to fit one of the historic American courses, Pinehurst No. 2, where he won.
Now we reach back into the pack, for Jim Gallagher, who won by a stroke at the Olympic course in San Francisco. Mark McCumber followed him over the same course the next year, and it is not to be forgotten that he had won the Players Championship, practically played off his front porch back in Florida. But not one of the greats.
Then came Billy Mayfair, like a name out of a London musical, but not Hall of Fame stuff. Tom Lehman then turned the corner into 1996 and made it his year, won the British Open, which paid less than his Tour Championship, won that year at Tulsa. I pause here to point to Dean Wilson from Hawaii, who played his way into the field this year in The International. He beat Lehman in a playoff, thereby sparing Tom having to face the tempting choice of picking himself for the Ryder Cup team he would later captain to defeat.
David Duval won next at Houston, on his way to World No. 1. Then came a career depression, and he is still vaguely visible in the world rankings. Hal Sutton won the Championship’s first run at East Lake, in a playoff with Vijay Singh. Then, the cream rose to the top — Tiger Woods won at Houston, but that would be an aberration. He hasn’t won since, and won’t this week since he gave it the back of his hand. Same for Phil Mickelson, who beat Tiger down the stretch at East Lake the following year, and RSVPed for this one, though not with regret.
Mike Weir won at Houston in 2001, and he would later win the Masters — he and Mickelson, two lefthanders in a row — but his game has since gone south. He didn’t make the party at East Lake this week. Singh finally made up for the one that got away in 1998. Retief Goosen turned the corner into the 21st century winning the U.S. Open, then repeated in 2004, a year he would win the Tour Championship at East Lake, dusting off Woods in the Sunday round. Chad Campbell won in 2003, he of illustrious promise who has yet to deliver.
Ah, then came the shocker of all shockers last year over this same acreage. Good ol’ boy Bart Bryant, 42 years old, as Texan as a country-fried steak, emerged from a shadowy career and not only won, he beat Tiger Woods by six strokes down the stretch. Bryant was unquestionably the longest of all the long shots, and he accepted his check for $1,170,000 with grace and went home to Ocoee, Florida, which is no inland Riviera. He finished 70th on the tour money list this year and lives happily wherever he is. So you see, Tiger and Phil, you aren’t missed. Having a wonderful time without you, and as you can see from this roundup of champions, odds are that you wouldn’t have been a winner anyway.
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