Photo from Golf Digest
My favorite sport to watch on TV is golf. A close second is football (American football). Third is bowling. From talking to friends, or rather me talking while they look at me incredulously, I gather that’s an unusual grouping of sports.
But today I’m writing about golf. I have been to golf tournaments and there is definitely a thrill in the experience and a chance to see pros up close. But I prefer to watch on the television. I can see various pairs almost simultaneously and I like the commentary.
I love to watch all the games from American tournaments to the European championships to the Senior tour (which isn’t called that anymore) to the LPGA tour.
My favorite golfer since 1999 has been Sergio Garcia. I first noticed him winning an amateur competition and seeing that Seve Ballasteros took him under his wing.
Being honest, I have to admit that he had a big leg up in my mind and heart because he’s from Spain. I’ve studied Spanish since 7th grade, visited Spain once, and then lived there for a time period in college.
I was a Seve Ballasteros fan since the mid-70’s and was devastated when he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008 and died in 2011. His influence and his death both had a huge effect on Sergio Garcia.
What was frustrating watching Sergio play, like stomach-in-my-throat heart-wrenching frustration was watching Sergio clutch in the Major Championships in the US. Not so on the European Tour, but definitely in the big championships here. He would be in the lead for days and then on the last 9 holes of the last day he would fall apart.
It didn’t seem to be stress and certainly wasn’t pressure from the fans; he had been competing professionally for a long time.
It was like he psyched himself out.
Sergio came in 2nd in the PGA Championship twice and the Open Championship twice, with one of those each a tie for 2nd. He went from leader to drop down the leader board many times. Justin Ray of the Golf Channel tweeted out on April 9th “Sergio Garcia: most career top-10s in majors all-time at time of 1st major victory (22)” See, I’m just a little obsessed.
Last Sunday, April 9, 2017, Sergio Garcia was in the lead, then almost gave the game away, then won in a playoff against Justin Rose to win the 2017 Masters Championship. He now wears the coveted green jacket won twice by his hero Seve Ballesteros. To make this particularly poignant, April 9th, had Seve still been alive, would have been his 60th birthday.
Sergio Garcia won the Masters this year in a nail-biting last 18 holes on Sunday. He is over this self-imposed jinx and I feel he will win more majors from now on.
Sergio Garcia would still have been my hero had he not won this year. But I feel this win will get him out of his self-imposed fear of not winning majors on the PGA Tour. And I will be cheering him on in each tournament and rejoicing his every win.
Congratulations, Sergio, from one of your biggest fans.
saneteachers 
Golf? golf? seriously, golf? Okay I can kind of understand golf, but bowling? People might understand it more if you say, “I only watch golf when there is no football.” You could list names of football players who play golf in the off season. Golf I could explain, but bowling is beyond me…
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hahaha Not only do I bowl, and watch bowling on tv, but I go to professional bowling tournaments when they are near here (like a 2 hour radius).
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With that grouping of sports, can I suggest viewing some darts, curling or mountain climbing??
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I LOVE DARTS AND CURLING! Watching mountain climbing is too scary.
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I enjoy bowling, but I’ve never watched it on TV. I’ve never watched a golf tournament either, even though I grew up about 20 minutes away from the course where they play the Memorial Tournament.
Lots of the locations where they play tournaments are very nice to look at, though…
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You’d have to be pretty desperate for entertainment to watch golf just to look at the azaleas, lol.
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Well, for most of my life I haven’t had cable TV, so… yeah, pretty desperate.
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Golf is the best. I yell more watching golf than watching football.
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I used to watch bowling on TV, now I don’t see it as much. I feel the bowlers tried to look ultra professional because they were on TV. They kept wiping the ball with a towel. My rule for watching golf is I’ll only watch if it’s a big tournament, and it’s the last few holes on Sunday, and if it’s close. Otherwise, I can’t do it.
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I agree about the bowlers taking an inordinately long time to wipe off the bowling balls. I always thought some of that was to psyche out the opponents.
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I just figured they wanted the balls to looking shiny on TV. I’ve been bowling numerous of times and have never found a need to wipe the ball. Maybe that’s why I’m not a pro.
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They oil the lanes, especially for professionals. And little bits of dirt or whatever can slightly change the trajectory of the ball. But maybe you weren’t expecting a serous answer, lol.
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I figured that was it but I didn’t feel like giving a rational reason lol. (I posted another sports post today).
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We posted about sports on the same day!
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What I know about golf could fill a thimble. Well, probably not even that, though I have played miniature golf a few times. The only sport I’ll watch on TV is pro basketball, and only when the Cavs play since they’re our team. No football for me either, which husband says is my greatest fault. Hehe, I can live with that. (And I’m grateful he’s so willing to overlook my other ones…)
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Golf is a family thing, I played till my mid-teens, but am now one of the only people in the extended family – both sides – who doesn’t. Some relatives are so obsessed they have all the live smart-phone apps for major tournaments haha and you don’t want to be around them when one’s on… I sometimes watch on TV before going to bed as it gets me appropriately drowsy 🙂
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You’re right. I’m, too, the only extended family member who no longer plays golf. But that has an easy answer. I’m horrible at it. And it’s so time consuming. Although sitting around watching is also time consuming. But I’m good at watching, lol.
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Odd how in so many ways we think alike, but have very different ideas about what we like to watch. Like you, my husband loves to watch golf on TV. Personally, I tune in to a golf game when I’m not feeling well and need to take a nap! (Not making fun of the game…it’s a good one…but I’m telling you, nothing puts me to sleep faster than golf on TV!)
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haha Yes, why are we friends? I will jump out of bed if I’m drifting off to sleep and I hear a golf game.
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