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Ten best tournament finishes
Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle will answer your questions every Thursday during the golf season. Click here to send him a question.
Admit it, you probably stopped what you were doing Sunday during the exciting finish of the PGA Championship to watch the duel between Bob May and Tiger Woods. Woods thought it ranked as one of the great finishes in golf history. He's probably right. Here's my list of the 10 best major tournament finishes since 1960: 1. Jack Nicklaus scorches back nine to steal 1986 Masters. Mesmerizing. 2. Watson and Nicklaus at Turnberry, classic duel in 1977 British Open. 3. Woods versus May at Valhalla, 2000 PGA. 4. Payne Stewart outduels Phil Mickelson in brilliant finale at Pinehurst, 1999 U.S. Open. 5. Larry Mize's chip-in to beat Greg Norman in Masters playoff, 1987. 6. Billy Casper knocks off collapsing Arnold Palmer in 1966 U.S. Open. 7. Nicklaus makes long putt at 16th to eke out win in 1975 Masters. 8. Watson chips in to beat Nicklaus at Pebble Beach in 1982 U.S. Open. 9. Palmer charges at Cherry Hills to capture 1960 U.S. Open. 10. Ninth alternate John Daly, the kid from nowhere, becomes an instant superstar with his long drives and surprising 1991 PGA victory. That's my quickie list. I'm sure I left some others out. What great tournament finishes do you like? Meanwhile, I've got mail:
Phil Mickelson is my favorite golfer but I'm really disappointed in the year he's had. He seems to be going backwards. Any thoughts on Phil and if he can win any majors next year? Ward, don't you think you're being kind of hard on The Beaver? You're pretty demanding, Karen. Phil has three wins, ranks second on the money list and didn't finish worse than 16th in the four majors (seventh, Masters; 16th, U.S. Open; 11th, British Open, ninth, PGA). He worked hard on solidifying his short game and stared down Tiger to win at Torrey Pines and end Tiger's (bogus) six-event winning streak. No, he hasn't won a major. But, neither has anyone else, except Vijay Singh, thanks to Tiger. Phil has done everything except beat Tiger, which hardly anyone else has done this year, either. In some ways, this may be Mickelson's best year. From a technical standpoint, however, Tiger is superior to everyone else on the tour.
Hasn't the game of golf come a long way? For the first time in the history of the majors, two non-Anglo players won all four (Tiger Woods of African-American and Asian heritage and Vijay Singh of East Indian Heritage). Not too long ago these same two players would not have been allowed to enter the very clubs at which they won at. I was wondering why this fact has been overlooked? Not to turn it into a racial issue, but the game of golf was racist for a long time. Your thoughts?
Well, one guy is winning most of the majors so let's not get the idea that racism in golf no longer exists. I haven't seen massive changes since Shoal Creek in 1990, other than a national perception that golf needs to quit being so lily white, especially at country clubs. That, in itself, is a major step forward. Progress is small and slow. When Shoal Creek and Augusta National boast a dozen minority members of various heritages, rather than just one or two, that's when you'll know racism in golf is no longer an issue. We're not there yet. Tiger is a huge help, but we're not even close.
Do you think Tiger will ever change his playing schedule, specifically playing more tournaments? The way he's going, I see Sam Snead's record in his sights. But he has a restricted schedule so he can peak at the right time for the majors. I would like to see him play more, give the other tournaments on tour a bigger boost and shoot for Snead's record. He's young, he shouldn't get tired. I don't think the natural reaction to incredible wealth and success, Frank, is to go, "Gee, I'd really like to work even harder." Tiger has been on tour for four years. He is already more than one-fourth of the way to Snead's victory total of 81, which Snead achieved over four decades. Tiger doesn't need to play B.C. Opens to catch Snead. People used to say the same thing about Nicklaus -- why doesn't he play more? Well, if he played more, he'd lose interest and probably not play as well and possibly not win. Tiger has four majors to play, the Players Championship, four World Golf Championship events, the Tour Championship, one or two Buick events (for his sponsor), Disney (in Orlando, where he lives), Bay Hill (because of Arnold Palmer), the GTE Byron Nelson Classic (for Byron) and the Nissan Open (because he grew up in L.A. That's 16 events right there, not counting anyplace else where he's the defending champion, such as Pebble Beach or the Mercedes Championship. The whole world wants a piece of Tiger. He'll go at his own pace. You'd better get cable and The Golf Channel. He may not come to your town very often.
I am sure this has been brought up before, but I will rehash it once more. To create as level a playing field as possible, why doesn't golf have one tournament ball? Baseball, football, tennis and basketball do. All the manufacturers could make a PGA ball. It would just have to have the same cover, same dimples, same windings or core, and same type of center. Let them have at a few courses, all playing the same ball and see what happens. Why doesn't NASCAR make everybody use the same brand of car? Or the same make of tires? Because advertising is a big part of where the money comes from in these sports. If you used only one brand of ball, you could kiss goodbye about 50 percent of the TV commercials a tournament normally sells. Let's say there was a tournament at which everybody had to use the Titleist Professional ball. Maxfli, Top-Flite, Nike and other rival ballmakers sure aren't going to advertise their balls during that event. In addition, the ballmakers would have to share technology and specs in order to produce the same ball. And inevitably, some players would become convinced that one brand of the PGA official ball flies better or spins better than the others, and so on. So the ballmakers aren't going to agree to do it. Yes, it's a quaint thought to have everyone use the same ball or the same equipment or steel shafts or persimmon woods but let me say this one last time, it's not realistic and it's not going to happen. So get over it. Click here to send your golf question to Gary Van Sickle.
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