TURNOVERS

by Alan B. Gibson

Interesting Masters with a nice finish

So with roundball over – remember, I just can’t make myself do the NBA – and with the weather this time of year being iffy or better yet, best described as “day to day” in southern Kentucky, I again spend a considerable amount of time watching the only PGA event that I tune the TV to on an annual basis for more than just to catch the highlights.

This weekend’s Master’s tourney was at least entertaining, especially after the Tiger Woods’ fray surfaced Friday night and Saturday morning, and at least produced some argument fodder that normally isn’t found associated with the event.

Being an old amateur golfer with some pretty questionable golfing buddies in the past, dropping a ball more than two yards from the original point of impact – as Tiger did and later admitted to – wouldn’t have even caused a second glance from my group.

However, there is more at stake here and these guys pay a lot more attention to the rules than most of us do. Still, Tiger was told before the scorecard was signed that what he had done was correct and acceptable, and it wasn’t until the next morning after a television viewer had called in to report a possible infraction that the incident was re-visited and a two-stroke penalty was assessed.

Like a lot of sports nowadays – it’s my opinion that we’ve incorporated way too much dependency on the “instant replay” and the ability to go back and take a second, third, twelfth or how many re-looks it takes to see if the referee, umpire, official or rules committee made a mistake.

That on the spot call should remain part of the game. Sure, officials have and do and will continue to make mistakes. They’re human and so are the players they are charged with officiating. Take the TV replay out of play- especially in a game like golf.

As for the finish, it would have been nice for an American player like Tiger to have been in the lead at the end, or even in the hunt and involved in the sudden death playoff, but that wasn’t the case this year, and the two players who did tee it up for the two holes that were needed to eventually see 32 year-old Aussie Adam Scott do what fellow countryman and perennial second place finisher Greg Norman was never able to pull off – win the green jacket.

Argentinian Angel Cabrera watched his hopes of winning a second green jacket fade away on the second hole of the play-off when Scott dropped a 30 foot long putt to win the tournament.

Sunday’s rain-plagued finish also confirmed my long-time belief that even golfers are tougher than NASCAR drivers. The golfers playing in Sunday’s final round dredged through a constant downpour to finish the tournament. Had that been on the NASCAR track – everyone would have headed to the house.

That’s my one TV sporting event for the spring and summer – time to get outside.