AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > August > 11 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWeekley’s 65 nearly as fun as big ol’ fish
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Tulsa, Okla. — You’ll get your quota of Tiger Woods elsewhere today. This one is reserved for Boo Weekley, known by his birth name of Thomas Brent only by the IRS. But first, a little joust with our television friends here. Late in the second round Friday, the TNT crew had turned to heavy emoting as Woods neared the end of his round, impassioned with a possible round of 62 in view.
“Historical!” it was exclaimed. “Something never before done in major golf.”
True, absolutely true, except that TNT never alerted the audience to the fact that not all majors are played on par-70 courses. The true measure is the number of strokes shaved off par. Southern Hills’ par is 70. Two rounds of 63 have been shot on PGA Championship courses of par 72, nine under par, by Gary Player and Jose Maria Olazabal. Two by Nick Price and Greg Norman in the Masters, par 72, one round of 63 by Paul Broadhurst in the British Open when St. Andrews was played at 72. The best Woods could have done with a birdie on 18 would have been eight under, nice day’s work but nothing historical.
Boo Weekley wouldn’t have been much help, for as he said after a day truly historic in his career, “I never was good at math.”
Boo had just finished a round of 65 on Saturday, his best in a major championship, and he kept an audience of interviewers full of chuckles. He spoke often of his two favorite sports, fishing and hunting, but occasionally of golf. “I had a good day and it was fun, but it would have been funner if I’m setting at the house catching about a 10-pounder,” he said.
Boo played in the British Open this year, his first excursion overseas, and asked if he was surprised at the way he was accepted at Carnoustie, he said, “I was very surprised, I mean, being a foreigner and being who I am. I reckon as long as you’re being yourself, you can’t go wrong.”
The Europeans among the press were knocked out, a sort of a Bennie Hill moment in reverse. Boo was a model of Southern manners. He answered questions with “yes, sir”and “no, sir,” just like his mama taught him. And the weather was just like he liked it. “I like to sweat. The hotter the better.”
Now, to serious business, “Are you looking forward to the FedExCup, and what do you know about it?”
“I don’t know nothing about the FedExCup. I’m just playing golf, and that’s all that matters to me.”
Now, how about the Ryder Cup? “Do you have ambitions to play in it next year, and have you followed it in the past?”
Boo said, “If they invite me to come, I’ll come play. But I don’t know a whole lot about the Ryder Cup stuff.”
Boo Weekley’s career just sort of cropped up out of thin air. All the sports he played as a kid, “I got hurt in every one of them.”
Then a high school coach introduced him to golf. He went off to college, ABAC in Tifton, but the school dropped golf, and Weekley returned home to Milton, Fla., and got a job in a nearby chemical plant for three years. Jack Slocum, Heath Slocum’s father and a local pro, insisted that he use his talent and get back to golf.
“They were laying off at the plant, so I took the layoff and started playing golf.”
He won the first tournament he played in, called The Moors in Milton, and he had found his new career. If it’s not the majors that drive him, then what is it?
“I want to play 10 or 12 years, whatever it takes to get enough money in the bank. I’m done. I love the game; I get tired of the grind. But my heart is really with hunting and fishing,” he said.
“How much money would enough be?”
“I don’t know. I ain’t got that far yet,” Boo said, about which time word arrived that his partner for the day, Sergio Garcia, had been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard, one that Boo filled out. Had Boo’s bad arithmetic caught up with him?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Furman Bisher
Comments
By Tony E.
August 12, 2007 12:36 PM | Link to this
To:Mr. Terence Moore From: A Eyes Wide open Vick loyalist Subject: My opinion
Let me see if I can help you get IT. I think we can agree that the”blind”supporters of Vick know that if Vick did these things, there is no doubt he should be punished. We agree that when someone puts themselves in criminal situations, they are wrong… But what you and many others in your field have done is first to rant and rave as if Vick is the world leader in dog-fighting. Even before he was indicted, you were calling for him to be kicked out of atlanta. The bottom line is how you as an educated black man in this community would stand up with the powers that be and charge,convict,& vilify a man in the press, with such hatred, long before he has his day in a court of law. We as black men have to deal everyday with the ills of this country,this world, but to hear this crap from a man like you is…..disappointing. We don’t just support him because Vick is black, but because he is to date INNOCENT. MR.MOORE, YOU ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT TO MY COMMUNITY. TAKE OFF THE SUNGLASSES LOOK IN THE MIRROR, WHAT DO YOU SEE ? AT THIS POINT IN YOUR LIFE YOU MAY NEVER GET. I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU !
By Linda P
August 12, 2007 6:32 PM | Link to this
I support Vick because he is innocent until proven otherwise and not because he is black. How can an educated man like yourself be so self-righteous and judgmental toward an INNOCENT MAN? INNOCENT because by the court of law that is what Mike Vick is until his day in court(not the press) All this crap about setting example for our youth is just CRAP!!! We as PARENTS should teach our children not to IDOLIZE public figures, because at the end of the day they to are human and we all make mistakes.
By Boots
August 12, 2007 8:29 PM | Link to this
Nobody, not even Terence, has said that Vick was guilty.
Repeat. Nobody has said Vick was GUILTY.
What most thinking people have said is that he brought embarrassment to the team, tean-mates, coaches,owner, league and fans —- and that the distraction that he created should be dealt removed. That’s why he’s not in camp. Not because he’s guilty.
Also, what a lot of people are saying is that he’s dumb, stupid or retarded and has absolutely no judgement. Who would jeopardize a $130 million contract to hang out with a bunch of thugs watching dogs fight?
Would have to be dumb to do that!
By Boots
August 12, 2007 8:31 PM | Link to this
Great article Mr. Bisher. Boo is a refreshing young athlete. Absolutely nothing prepackaged about him! And, he’s got game. It’ll be interesting to see how he developes.
Thanks for your perspective.
By Mike
August 14, 2007 8:46 PM | Link to this
Let me acknowledge that I am not worthy to fill the inkwell of Mr. Bisher, nor that of Dave Anderson of the New York Times, who also saw fit to praise Boo Weekley. I must respectfully suggest, however, that perhaps the two of you have been breathing air that is too rarefied, for too long. For those of us who spend our lives in the rural south (where I was born and have remained some 41 years now), there is nothing refreshing about over-familiarity and butchery of the English language. Refreshing is the rare public figure who, like Tiger Woods, comports himself with dignity, reserve, and a proper avoidance of over-intimacy.