Monday, April 16, 2007

The eternal power of fans and foes

I don't know how I missed this one last Thursday, but it explains a lot. (Click the title to read the full article)



For those that don't know, to say my father was not a fan of Tiger is an understatement (there was an incident involving a boulder moved by spectators that my dad never got over. I won't go into it). Ever since my dad passed away, Tiger's career has been uncharacteristically inconsistent. We Traynors are convinced it's my dad's heavenly intervention.

It's fact - Tiger's wins usually coincide with other earthly events that would compete for Bud's attention. For example, Tiger won the British Open last year the same week we held the Fourth Annual Bud Traynor Classic at Bethpage. Bud was too busy focusing on the weather patterns above the Red Course to be diverted by Tiger. Naturally, Tiger took first place at St. Andrews.

So I admit I was a little hurt when Tiger didn't win the masters last week. Doesn't my dad care at all about my recovery?! He's focused on making sure Tiger doesn't get a green jacket when I am sitting around recovering from brain surgery? Really? I envisioned a future fraught with expensive therapy sessions.

But now I see what happened. Thanks, dad. Feeling better already.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh come on, tell us the boulder story!
Your audience awaits...

--Ali

JAV said...

Well, it's not that entertaining, but it really did happen.

In 1999, Tiger was playing the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, AZ and one of his drives left a boulder between his ball and the green. He stood by and watched as fans moved the boulder out of the way to give him a clean lie.

I guess it is somewhat up for interpretation as to whether this is against PGA rules. In this case the officials decided to allow it. My dad felt if it was anyone else, they would not have let them get away with it.

So Bud was upset with both the officials whom he felt had violated the intent of the PGA rule and shown preferential treatment to their favorite superstar, and also with Tiger himself whom, in his opinion, showed a lack of integrity by allowing the fans to move the rock in the first place.

If you want to see a picture of the event, look here:

http://www.tigerwoodsisgod.com/gallery.php