PGA shows golfers are true athletes

A year ago in August I requested tickets to attend the PGA Championship golf tournament in Oakland Hills, Mich., which was held last week.
I received tickets for the entire week. What an experience!
Anyone who feels that professional golfers aren’t really athletes is totally wrong. After witnessing them in action in person, I believe they have amazing strength along with the touch and feel, which are so important to the game.
The Oakland Hills Country Club is just outside of Detroit and is beautiful. It’s difficult to understand how difficult the course really is unless you see it in person.
As I was visiting with a couple of guys from South Carolina, we decided that an average golfer would probably shoot around 200 and there would need to be a Dick’s Sporting Goods at each hole in order to have enough golf balls to finish the round.
The greens were like glass the first three days before a rain storm moved in. You could feed small animals in the rough, and the wind blew hard every day.
It was obvious to me that professional golfers have to have the greatest concentration abilities of any athlete in the sporting world. There were thousands of people all over the course with hundreds witnessing each shot and, of course, the television cameras were always in their faces.
You could easily notice the great competitors, and the solid human beings and the jerks also surfaced. I can see why Colin Montgomerie and Rory Sabbatini can’t win the big one and also conversely why Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Retief Goosen have won the big ones.
The only thing I grew tired of during my trip was all the chatter from the northern states about Brett Favre. You would have thought we had lost a president.
Since Tiger Woods is head and shoulders above the other golfers, I’d have to say the man must be from another universe.
• Comerica Park in downtown Detroit is without question one of the most beautiful and fun parks in the majors. It has it all, and the fireworks display after the game was better than the Fourth of July.
• I missed my annual trip to the Cardinals-Cubs series at Wrigley Field in Chicago this year. “Sweet Lou” Piniella is doing a great job coaching the Cubs, but I expect the Cardinals to hang tough.
• Fall sports have officially begun for local high schools. Kansas City area schools should dominate in many of the sports at the state level again this fall. The Missouri State High School Activities Association volleyball state championship will be held in Kansas City for the first time. I hope Kansas City will support the event so more MSHSAA championships will be held in Kansas City in the future.
• My quote of the week is from pro golfer Gary Player: “A lot of pros practice on the quiet and then say they don’t practice. That’s like a man bragging that he doesn’t go to the office. I’m proud to say that I’ve been a hard practicer.”