Occasionally I'll head over to the PGA Tour website to check out some golf stats. I have a feel for the players by catching the odd round of golf on a Sunday afternoon over at CBS Sports. There are actually some decent announcers over there...and yes Gary McCord - I count you among them in spite of the Tour's cringing at your overzealous use of language especially when characterizing the greens. Haven't heard from you in a while though.
Tonight I discover two examples of players who have persisted at the game over time in spite of very mediocre play as measured by the standard of a golf professional. Ten Broeck sits atop the leaderboard at the U.S Senior Open tonight and here is the thing. The guy is a caddie and not a golfer. He knew he couldn't afford to make it golfing over the years so he caddied instead. Now because of his passion for the game and practice when his golf bosses weren't looking, he is now poised to earn for a weekend's work more than double that that he's ever earned on a golf course during his best year as a caddie.
Then there is Dickey Pride. At 42 years old he is having his best year on tour. Twenty-five per cent of his career earnings (over one million dollars) have been earned this year alone. At times during his career he missed more cuts than he made. Imagine if he packed away his clubs for a new career at 40 succumbing to the pier and family pressure arising from lackluster annual earnings. Imagine if he had walked off a fairway one day never to return because of one more wayward drive. Imagine if he scorned himself off some next week's entry list because of placing dead last on a favored course. Imagine if he heeded the wise council of those who thought he had no game. I think you get the picture.
