worthy of cheer

With all due respect, I am a fair-weather, tv golf fan. I’m sorry. I have no desire to disappoint anyone — especially not the male members of my extended family. I just am not really a fan. I mean, I fake it well. I, also, was once a fairly decent player, but there’s a difference between playing and watching. Playing golf is fun; watching four to five hours on tv typically puts me to sleep.

I think the problem for me in recent years is that I have struggled with someone to root for. I wanted someone who was seemingly worthy of my cheer both on and off the green. The game’s “greats” gave way to Tiger Woods against everyone else, and then something about Tiger never quite settled well with me. I speak not of the personal revelations that put a dent in his professional prowess (as each of us have made our share of mistakes). But when Tiger’s rampant infidelity was revealed, the cover up was also exposed. Previously, the media rarely reported on any negative impressions pertaining to Tiger — be that about his well known fairway temper or off-field unfaithfulness. As written by Charles P. Pierce in “Esquire Magazine”:

“Back in 1997, one of the worst-kept secrets on the PGA Tour was that Tiger was something of a hound. Everybody knew. Everybody had a story. Occasionally somebody saw it, but nobody wanted to talk about it, except in bar-room whispers late at night. Tiger’s People at the International Management Group visibly got the vapors if you even implied anything about it. However, from that moment on, the marketing cocoon around him became almost impenetrable. The Tiger Woods that was constructed for corporate consumption was spotless and smooth, an edgeless brand easily peddled to sheikhs and shakers. The perfect marriage with the perfect kids slipped so easily into the narrative it seemed he’d been born married. Anything dissonant was dealt with quickly and mercilessly…

When Woods was driven to the sidelines by the relentless coverage of his tawdry affairs, the multiple mistresses seemed utterly at odds with his squeaky-clean image. But that image was a carefully crafted construct, since journalists — and everyone else — had little access to the player he truly was. He is a man with the extraordinary ability to hit a white ball into a little hole, but beyond that, we were all had.”

I suppose that’s it. In sports and politics, I don’t like being “had.” I want to cheer and vote for a person who is genuine. And in sports and politics, too many people intentionally feed the facade; they have something to gain.

Golf, however, has a new star. 21 year old Jordan Spieth has won the first two major tournaments of the year. When he won the Masters, in his “thank you’s,” he included the “food and beverage staff.” When he won last weekend’s U.S. Open, his first public comments were that he felt bad for the runner-up, who three-putted hole 18. He has a charity set up for special needs individuals, and on his own website, he reaches out to his 14 year old sister with special needs, saying, “Being Ellie’s brother humbles me every day of my life.”

Veteran Ernie Els calls Spieth one of the kindest players on the tour. The young man seems respected by the entirety of the golfing community even though he is one of the new kids on the block. In fact, when Spieth’s father was asked after the Masters about his son’s success, he said, “He has a God-given gift to be able to play the game like that, but we’re more proud of him for the kind of person he is — the way he handles himself and treats everybody.”

Sounds to me that Jordan Spieth is genuine. Sounds to me that he is worthy of my cheer both on and off the green. Authenticity is worth cheering — and voting — for.

Sunday evening was the final round of this year’s U.S. Open. Since the course played was in Washington state, it was an unusually late night. With Spieth in contention, however, I watched a full four hours. I didn’t even take a nap.

Respectfully…

AR