Predictions are always dicey. If we all had crystal balls we would be
involved in substantially more lucrative endeavors than, say, blogging about golf and music. (Picking winners at the track comes to mind.) Here are a few predictions that are very
conservative and should easily come true in 2014 and beyond.
-Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn are married in 2014. Their oldest son wins a gold medal in the
downhill in the 2034 Winter Olympics and then becomes a professional golfer and
breaks Jack Nicklaus’s majors record.
-Newly-engaged sports power couple Rory McIlroy and
Caroline Wozniacki are married in 2014.
Their oldest son wins the tennis Grand Slam, then becomes a professional
golfer and wins the golf Grand Slam on his way to breaking Jack Nicklaus’s majors
record.
-The appropriately-named 2014 Waste Management
Phoenix Open posts the highest ratings ever for a final-round Sunday as football
fans flee in droves from the broadcast of Super Bowl CHXMX being played in a blizzard
in New Jersey.
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| Will Be Needed At Supe XLVIII |
-The Stimpmeter reaches Zamboni status in the hallowed
category of low tech devices without which a sport could not survive.
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| Very high tech |
-Some smart person explains to the average golf fan
what a stimpmeter is.
-Some smart person explains to the average golf fan
what a stimp is.
-Jordan Spieth wins his first of several majors.
-Tiger Woods fails to win a major and the image of
Tiger in Jack Nicklaus’s rear view mirror becomes almost microscopic.
-Phil Mickelson wins his 6th major,
joining Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo on the majors victory list. Only 5 living golfers have more wins than
this trio.
-Rory McIlroy wins at least one tournament, finishes
in the top five on the money list, but comes closer to winning the Norman Slam
than actually winning a major in 2014.
-Pro golfers using belly putters see their putting
stats plummet as they begin to wean themselves from the illegal club in
anticipation of the implementation of Rule 14-1b of the Rules of
Golf that prohibits anchoring the club in making a stroke.
-Despite a great deal of pressure
from belly-aching pro golfers and equipment manufacturers, new Rule 14-1b will
take effect on January 1, 2016.
-Despite the PGA’s new relaxed
approach to using video to enforce rules violations, stroke penalties will still
be imposed for rules violations during tournaments in 2014.
-Applying the new “What’s good
for the Tiger is good for the gander” rule, no pro golfer will be disqualified
from a tournament for signing an incorrect scorecard in 2014.
-For the first time since 1973, and for only the second in its
history, Scotland, the home of golf, will host the 40th Ryder Cup in
2014. The tournament will be held at Gleneagles,
on the PGA Centenary Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus. This fact will confer no advantage to the
visitors, and the Americans, still reeling from the Miracle at Medinah, and now
having lost 10 of 14 Ryder Cup matches since 1985, 7
of the last 9 and 5 of the last 6.
As I have written in an
earlier post, Funky Cold Medinah, Europe should always be favored to win the
Ryder Cup, because Europe always has and always will WANT IT MORE.
The late, great Seve Ballesteros epitomized
the competitive desire of the Europeans, which was channeled through the Euros’
captain this year, Jose Maria Olazabol. Oh,
and our pampered spoiled players are choking dogs. The USA side plays
great in the team sessions, the four-balls and foursomes and foursquares and
fourjerks, but line them up, one on one, mano a mano, and they wilt like
four-day-old roses.And that’s too bad, because the Sunday singles
matches are the key to winning the Cup, at least for the good ol’ US of A. In fact, since the Europeans were allowed to
compete for the Cup in 1979 the USA has won 55% of the singles matches. However, since 2002, when the Euros began
their latest 4-2 Cup run, the Euros have won nearly 60% of the singles
matches. And since 1979, in 17 tries the
Americans have never won the Cup without winning the individual matches as well. (The Euros have won the Cup four times
without winning the singles matches on the final day.)
Even an unrepentant soul such as Tiger Woods apologized to several of
his Ryder Cup teammates for his inability to deliver more points during the
U.S. defeat this year. The news media
reported that Woods revealed during a recent news conference that he sought out
U.S. rookies Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Jason Duffner and Keegan Bradley
after the American team squandered a 10-6 advantage built up the first two days
and lost 14½ to 13½ on
Sunday.
He should have apologized. The
top qualifier on the U.S. team, Woods went 0-3-1, his Sunday half in his
singles match coming after the Europeans already had retained the Cup. Overall, Woods went 0-3 in team play with Steve Stricker, a
parody of a clutch golfer, himself a disgraceful 0-4 overall. Woods saw his career Ryder Cup record drop to
13-17-3.
The more
things change the more they remain the same.
The Europeans trounce the Americans 16-12 to retain the Cup at Gleneagles.
Sincere
wishes for health and happiness to all in 2014!
AMDGTM
© 2012-13 R.E. Kelly
