“The moment before whatever degree of chaos this week has in store for you ensues. When all the preparation – be it a reassuring blend of quality ball striking and golf course familiarity, or an anxious blend of golf-swing searching and golf course intimidation – is done. Ready or not, there’s no more you can do.”
“We were spoilt, and we wanted to be rewarded for being golf fans; understanding the dramatics of a sport that other sports fans don’t necessarily comprehend. Understanding that golf doesn’t let anyone other than peak Tiger feel as though they have accomplished it. Understanding that seemingly flawless golfers can be punched in the stomach by the sin of being human.
We wanted Hideki to win, but we wanted him to have to birdie the last to do it.”
“I am indebted to the women who came before, as we all are.
The women who drove us hundreds of miles around the country before we could do it ourselves. Who booked hotels and knew entry deadlines and remembered handicap certificates; who stopped at McDonalds after cold Saturday morning coaching sessions.”
To start with, when we talk about ‘golf’, do we refer to the sport as a whole? Its beginnings and grassroots, where people first pick up a club? Or what we watch on television? While the latter might only represent 0.1% of golfers across the globe, what percentage of golfers across the globe does it engage?? And which of those things is more important to golf’s future?
“We know that golf’s greatest leveller is surely its ability to disorientate. To throw something at you that no amount of preparation or skill or intelligence can tell you is coming. To any player, of any ability, at any time.”
There are pictures and stories and messiness within the number, and that’s where the relationship with our sport truly lies, but there’s a grateful finality that seems impossible to find in every other part of life right now.
“We’re supposed to draw a line and then start a new drawing altogether. But 2020 was a series of new drawings in itself – every month, every tournament, every email confirmation PCR test and every yellow-ticker press conference resetting the rules and the consequences.”
“The stats can’t tell you how you feel. But the voices don’t always either. Both can distort reality and create it too.”
