Mistakes, we all make them.
But are we judged by our mistakes or how we correct them?
The majority of us are lucky we make mistakes in private and don’t have the world media analysing, cross analysing, dissecting and reconstructing what we have said or done.
Hopefully the majority of us are judged on how we correct our mistakes.
We can say sorry, we can ask for forgiveness and we can do everything in our power to make sure we never make the same mistake again.
We can look at the people we have wronged and make sure we don’t repeat our actions, our words or create opportunities to repeat our errors, if that is what we want.
When you cock up in public those opportunities are denied to you.
Sergio and Tiger don’t like each other, so what.
You look around your workplace and I bet there are people you don’t like, that’s just life.
Human nature is what it is, there will always be personality clashes.
When Sergio said what he said about Tiger at Sawgrass I honestly thought it was nice to see someone being honest and real, not giving us the standard PR BS.
Agree or disagree with what he said at least it was honest.
What Sergio said at Wentworth this week was stupid to say the least, but we have all said stupid things.
Honestly how often have you repeated a bad taste joke and then get that sinking knotted feeling in your stomach as the last words leave your mouth?
Some of the stuff that has been written about Sergio in the American media has been nasty and vindictive.
For the record I have never been a Sergio fan, so this is pretty well unbiased, I hope.
The comments on the fried chicken were in bad taste, idiotic and extremely naïve, but were they intended to be racist ? I honestly don’t think so.
The other week I made a comment about Tigers goatee making him look like a Klingon, I was called a racist! Anyone that knows me knows I don’t have a racist or sexist bone in my body!
If someone calls me a Jock or a sweaty sock is that racist ?
Or is it only a racist comment based on skin colour?
Quite frankly I find the R&A holding the Open Championship on men only golf clubs more offensive than anything Sergio said, but maybe that’s just me.
If the America media really want to make racism in golf an issue then lets really make it an issue.
Lets ask why there are so little coloured players on the PGA, LPGA, European Tour and the LET ?
Look at the NFL, NBA, Soccer in fact any sport and there are loads of sports people of colour, so why not golf ?
Maybe that’s a discussion that deserves more attention than Sergio ?
Imagine the scene, it’s the World Cup Final in Brazil, 100’s of millions watching world wide on television, 1,000’s in attendance, Rio is rocking, the final whistle goes! The stadium goes wild, all over the pitch Brazilian players fall to their knees in tears as the celebrate becoming world champions.
But wait!
Out of the tunnel walks Sepp Blatter shaking a finger, the stadium falls silent.
“We have just received a phone call from Mr Smith of Milton Keynes” declares Herr Blatter “apparently Brazil were awarded a corner when it was a free kick” The crowd boo!!
“We have officials reviewing the tapes and will make a decision shortly”
REALLY ???
Could you imagine that ever happening??
The Olympics ? Wimbledon ? In fact in any sport could you imagine that happening ?? Well welcome to professional golf!
I am of an age that I still believe that most golfers a honourable, look at Christina Kim calling a penalty on herself at Kingsmills yesterday, or Brian Davies a couple of years ago at the Heritage?
There is a huge difference between a mistake, gaining an advantage or plain old fashioned cheating!
If a golfer deliberately hit’s a ball into a grandstand from a bad position, knowing that the drop zone is a better position than they could ever get from that lie, is that cheating or using the rules to your advantage?
At Muirfield I saw a major champion deliberately hit from a bunker behind the main stand knowing he would get line of sight relief, so it does happen!
I watched the Sergio incident unfold on TV last night, from the “incident” to its conclusion.
What I saw was a golfer more concerned with not getting on his opponents line than replacing the ball, what I didn’t expect was what we saw in super slow, hi definition replays.
Did it appear the ball was wrongly replaced ? Well to be honest yes it did.
Should there have been a penalty ? Well, again, to be honest if the ball was replaced in the wrong position there should have been.
But here’s the kicker, did Sergio deliberately replace the ball closer to the hole ? I don’t think so.
Did Sergio deliberately seek an advantage ? Again I don’t think so.
Did anyone else in the group think that Sergio had done anything wrong ? Well no, 2 other players, 3 caddies and no one said a word.
For the record I am not the biggest Sergio fan, too sulky for me.
Does he have faults ? Most definitely.
Is he a cheat ? NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS!
Lets compare it with Tiger at the Masters, there is one huge difference for me, Tiger was looking to take advantage from an illegal drop, Sergio was not.
And to me that’s a key phrase “looking to take advantage”.
If instead of Sergio lets say it had been Camillo Villegas would we be having this debate? Well no.
Why? Because the cameras were not on him! And this is my biggest issue with trial by TV.
If every player in every group had every shot televised then fair enough, BUT, not every player in every group has every shot televised.
Lets go back to Brian Davies for a second, the only person who saw Brian’s violation was Brian and he called it on himself! He called over slugger White and told him!
I firmly believe if Sergio thought he had done wrong he would have called a penalty on himself, in fact I am convinced of that.
Trial by television need to stop and stop now!
Play in professional golf is ridiculously slow as it is, players are now walking on rules eggshells, it is getting to the point were they are going to be calling a rules official for every thing just to protect themselves from TV super hawks.
Don’t get me wrong if I saw a player deliberately cheating I would be straight on the phone myself, but deliberately cheating is the key phrase.
If the player has not noticed the infringement, if his partners have not noticed the infringement then that should be the end of it, unless they have deliberately sought to gain an advantage. EG Tiger.
Why cant we just enjoy watching golf eh?
“The difference between a moral man and a man of honour is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught”
On Sunday night at Augusta we saw 2 men, 2 men desperate to win, 2 men giving a 100% of their heart and soul into every shot, but 2 men with class, honour and dignity.
Next time you see Adam Scott’s winning putt don’t look at Adam, look at Angel Cabrera.
Cabrera’s reaction says volumes about the man. Was he gutted he lost, with out a shadow of a doubt! But did he show it ? No.
His congratulations to Adam were genuine and heartfelt, that was obvious to anyone.
As for Scott, well I have not seen such genuine joy shown by a golfer for a long time.
Cast your mind back to last July and the way he handled losing the Open Championship to Ernie Els? No tantrums, no huffs, no blaming this or that, the man showed a huge amount of dignity.
From a golf point of view either men would have been a deserving winner.
Compare that to 36 hours earlier when, in my opinion, honour had deserted our great game.
Nobody has ever, or will ever again, polarise opinions like Tiger Woods.
To many, himself included, he is the golfing saviour, well that’s why I am an agnostic.
Do I understand the need for rule 33-7 ? To be honest yes I do.
In this day and age the human eye can not compete with HD, 3D, slow motion cameras. Technology will always pick up something the naked eye does not see. But was this the case on this occasion ?
Just as a side bar I think those who phone in on such things need to get a life! But I digress.
Should Tigers drop at 15 on Friday be covered by 33-7? No.
And I will tell you why.
In his own press conference after the round Tiger said he dropped it back 2 yards to give him a better shot in.
Rule 26-1 clearly states “drop the ball as near as possible to the original shot”, in what universe is 2 yards the closest possible point??
Ignorance of the rules by Tiger? What do you think?
We have all seen Tiger “using” the rules to his advantage in the past, we have seen him tell rules officials what the rules are.
Remember that boulder in Arizona or the TV cables at the Open Championship? Who told the officials he was entitled to relief? Tiger did!
If you honestly don’t think Tiger Woods knows the rules of golf inside out then you still believe in the tooth fairy!
Was rule 33-7 was manipulated to ensure Tiger stayed in the tournament?
If that had been any other player in the field would they have played at the weekend? Hand on heart I have to say no.
Should Tiger have withdrawn? Would you?
Someone asked me “would you have withdrawn” my reply was simple, “I would have dropped the ball properly in the first place”
Quite frankly I think Fred Ridley needs to resign because he is as much to blame as anyone.
This may come as news to many but Tiger is not bigger than golf.
Golf was here long before Tiger and it will be here long after him.
Imagine this if you will, if Tiger had withdrawn, remember he had already admitted he broke the rules, what would the reaction of the media and golfers been?
Would Tiger be a hero? A man of honour? Would everyone be patting him on the back?
We will never know, will we?
I, with all my heart, thank both Adam and Angel for showing the world that golf still has honour and integrity.
As for Mr Woods, quite frankly I don’t care anymore.
“Honour is like an Island, rugged and without shores; Once we have left it, we can never return”
