Here's an interesting golf superstition that has been evident over the past month. Golfers shouldn't be acting silly and goofy. Doing so equates to bad luck.
This is apparently the case with Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane, and Hunter Mahan.
Earlier in 2011, in June, these four made a video entitled the Golf Boys, and they were seen dressing up and acting silly. It turns out this was an ill omen because of so many different indications.
First of all, at the US Open, Fowler, Crane, and Mahan all missed the cut. Bubba was the only one who made the cut, and didn't even contend since late first round. Actually, he was 3 under par and was tied for the lead after 15 holes. Then he bogeyed his last 3 holes and played the next three rounds 9 over par, finishing a whooping 25 strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy.
And then, the negative karma carried over the ensuing week at the Travellers Championship for all four.
At the Travellers Championship, after a good first-round 66, Ben Crane was briefly in contention. But then he dropped like a bullet down the leaderboard when he played the next three rounds 1 under par. (WOW! Can you believe it? Shoot 1 under par and you drop like a bullet. WHAT?!?) So, anyway, Crane tied for 59th place and finished 15 back of winner Fredrik Jacobson.
Hunter Mahan also got his fair share of karma. After three rounds he was tied for 16th en route to another high finish. However, he shot 72 in the final round and dropped all the way to 43rd place, 12 back of Jacobson.
As for the defending champion Bubba Watson, after a respectable first round 66, he dropped out of contention in the second round, just like Crane. Bubba sure pounded drives off the tee, but he hit some really, REALLY crooked iron shots all week. His putting was not terrible, but not great either. Finished 38th place, 11 back of winner.
Rickie Fowler is a guy you'd expect to do well because the course fits his eye. However, he didn't even play because of a minor knee injury.
So that recaps the rather lacklustre week for the Golf Boys at the Travellers Championship.
After two weeks of negative karma, all this karma continued into the third week, the AT&T National week.
First off, the story of Bubba Watson. Bubba played overseas at the French Open instead of the AT&T. Bubba shot back-to-back 74s to miss the cut by 1 stroke. After the round, he apparently blamed the lack of crowd control for his lackluster performance. Apparently in France the tournament officials did not care whether or not the fans brought their cell phones and cameras. (Morgan Pressel also complained about crowd control at the 2010 LPGA Evian Masters, by the way). So anyway, I don't think the main thing that was bothering Bubba was the crowds. The main thing was the bad karma he got for making the silly golf video.
And as for Hunter Mahan, he had another middle-of-the-pack week and was never in contention. Shot 1 under par for the week, tied for 30th, 12 back of winner Nick Watney.
And Rickie Fowler also got his own dose of bad luck. After three rounds he was tied for the lead with Nick Watney, but the wheels fell off in the final round and he shot a 74, 8 back of Watney who shot 66. He had a 8 foot birdie chance on the first hole for a possible 2 shot lead over Watney who had 5 feet for par. But Fowler missed and Watney made, so Fowler did not capitalize.
And the wheels came off on the 2nd hole because of poor course management. After driving it in the rough, Fowler tried to attack the flagstick despite having no margin of error there. His shot landed short of the green and rolled into the bunker, leaving him a VERY difficult bunker shot that had to carry over a huge runoff mound. It didn't carry the mound and rolled down the slope. His fourth shot barely made it onto the green and was lucky to not have the ball roll back the slope. He two putted for double bogey.
And lastly, despite this being another course that should fit Ben Crane's eye, Crane had to withdraw from the tournament because of him still recovering from the ankle injury that he sustained since May.
So that's a recap of the negative karma that comes along with golfers making silly videos. Moral of the story: Do NOT act silly in golf. It's a GENTLEMAN's game!!!
Just kidding. I don't have anything against these guys. I like Ben Crane because he's a class act. And he made Rory Sabbatini cry at the 2005 AT&T National (formerly the Booz Allen Classic). And he gave Rory McIlroy a beatdown at the Accenture Match Play the day after McIlroy fired a brash comment about how players of the older generation are washed up. I like Rickie Fowler because of the beatdown he gave Phil Mickelson at the Match Play. I like Bubba Watson because of his clutch 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole at Torrey Pines to deny Phil Mickelson the win. And I sympathize for Hunter Mahan because with his chili dip on the 17th hole of the Ryder Cup single matches, everybody blamed him for losing, when in reality, it was Phil who dragged down the team bigtime.
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