Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Why do golf fans cheer tap-ins? And when is a fine not a fine?
A few thoughts from two weeks following the PGA Tour:
Just wondering why people clap like mad every time a golfer taps in a two-inch putt? Are these the same people who break out in applause when a plane lands? Aren’t both these things suppose to happen?
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Best thing I heard on the golf course this week: “Instead of reading the greens you have to read the currents out there,” joked former U.S. Masters champion Mike Weir at the rain-hit Canadian Open.
Second best I heard on the golf course this week: “Let’s go watch someone who wants to play.” — A disgruntled spectator to a friend at the Buick Open after watching Rocco Mediate miss twice from three-feet at the par four 12th at Warwick.
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You have to love a tournament like the Buick Open where the trophy looks like a hood ornament.
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Best joke I heard: England midfielder David Beckham was fined $1,000 by Major League Soccer for confronting unhappy fans following his return to the LA Galaxy during AC Milan. That works out to 1/250,000th of Beckham’s reported five-year $250 million deal that brought him to the United States to spread the soccer gospel.
For Beckham, that basically amounts to — nothing.
Now, FIA’s $100 million fine slapped on McLaren for spying on Ferrari – that’s a fine.
PHOTO: Tiger Woods holds up the trophy after winning the Buick Open PGA golf tournament at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc, Michigan August 2, 2009. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook