Good Things

Sometimes things work out for the best, despite the madness surrounding them.

For the past month and half or so, this years Masters was severely hyped up because of the return of Eldrick Woods. Everyone from media, talk radio, publications, bloggers (including myself) all had an opinion, thought, or emotion regarding Woods' return. How will he play? Will he be heckled? How will he handle adversity if he doesn't play well? Will he be able to reclaim his throne as the Goliath Of Golf? Blah, Blah, Blah...

What we failed to realize is that there are plenty of other remarkable golfers on this tour. One of them claimed his third Green Jacket this weekend, and his name is Phil Mickelson. Shame on us for allowing Eldrick to play us for saps again. He tried to make this years Master Tournament all about him, and he damn near succeeded. Mickelson however, snatched the spotlight right from him. How did he do this? Not only by winning the tournament, not only by playing with a dramatic crowd-engaging flair, not only by making arguably the greatest Masters shot ever....but he also reminded us he took a leave of absence from golf because he actually gave a sh*t about his wife, rather than engage in a bunch of self-indulgent "rehab" or "therapy" like Woods did.

Before I get accused of going soft though, I must clarify that I'm NOT suggesting Phil is an angel, or a model citizen. I point this out for a couple of reasons. One, we really are unable to actually know anything about a sports figure, that they don't allows us to know. Two, there have been some for odd rumors about Phil for quite some time. So please don't say I'm suggesting Phil is one of the "good guys" or anything similar to that.

All I'm saying is that Phil played a remarkable tournament. Despite what people who started watching golf around 1997 say, or people who play Golden Tee in bars and believe that makes them some sort of an "expert", or what the television ratings say, Phil was able to remind us that the PGA is much more than just Eldrick. It's been around way before his arrival, and it will be around when he no longer plays...no matter how selfishly he tries to make it all about him.