A dignified Daly and no reason to miss Tiger

At least for today, John Daly was a role model.

Maybe not during one of his divorces, his rehab stints or his being accused by Golf Digest’s No. 1 teacher, Butch Harmon of not taking the game seriously, but today, yes.

As Daly was walking up the 18^th hole massaging his right wrist, his score of +28 may have had viewers thinking they were watching The International, the Stableford scoring PGA Tour event, instead of the British Open.

He didn’t explode like in the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, he didn’t rush his par putt on the 18^th green that he would miss and he didn’t react negatively to the sarcastically cheering fans as he holed out.

The only consolation I can think of to offer Daly for his effort is that he didn’t finish alone in last – Jamie Howarth shot 85-84 to match Daly’s 80-89 – tying for 153^rd.

But the two-time major champion behaved like one at a time when it was least expected.

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With Greg Norman, Rocco Mediate and David Duval all in the top five at the halfway point there’s no reason to put an asterisk on the excitement surrounding the Claret Jug. The only people who have a problem with Tiger Woods not being at the tournament are Tiger himself and all the non-hardcore golf fans that didn’t follow the sport until his 1997 Masters triumph.

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Norman used to be my favorite golfer until he started chicken-winging his elbows after a round at the Kemper Open and knocked me out of the way. To be frank, he’s a jerk.

But that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be a great story if he, Duval, Mediate or even the far and really-far behind Sergio Garcia (73 today, +5, six shots back) and Phil Mickelson (68, +7, eight shots back) won.

And they’re all chasing K.J. Choi who has seemed poised to win a major for awhile. Don’t stay out late tonight or tomorrow, you’ll want to get up early so that you don’t miss the weekend, even though Daly won’t be taking any more shots. Well, at least not on the course.

The Tiger inside of you

Are you feeling more capable lately? Staying up late to finish that project you had been putting off for weeks? Actually using that gym membership you paid for in January?

The credit is not all yours, my friend. You can credit Tiger Woods for the newfound worldwide sense of empowerment. Some people complain that he's yet to fulfill his father's prophecy of being a powerful social figure ready to change the world.

Based on the events between last week's US Open and this weeks surge of duty, I disagree.
You can't say with a straight face that you weren't inspired by a man with a torn ACL and a broken leg winning the most important golf tournament in the country under the toughest annual playing conditions in the world.

Suddenly that hangnail doesn't seem like a valid excuse take a break from typing that report. Get that finger out of your nose and get back to work.

I bet Big Brown's even feeling a little embarrassed for not giving it a better run in Elmont, N.Y. Then again, Tiger knew he wouldn't get shot for revealing a broken leg. The horse would've been in a tough position.

This should also muffle the naysayers who quip that golf isn't a real sport. If a sport's best player tears his ACL because* of that sport then its a real sport. (*I know he actually tore it running but the damage was done on the course.)

Remember the time you didn't feel like mowing the lawn because of a long day at work? Tiger probably didn't feel like playing a 91st hole against a middle-aged comedian after all he'd been through. For heaven's sakes, get a riding mower, sit on the damn thing, and turn the steering wheel, it's that easy.

But if what Tiger did were that easy, it wouldn't have meant so much to everyone who witnessed it.

It was his best win ever, and for me, it was the best tournament I've ever watched. The Monday playoff was the second-best same-pairing duel I've ever seen (next to Tiger vs. Bob May.) I'm only 21, but if I were 121 I don't think either ranking would drop much.

The 14th major title of Tiger's career was courageous, heroic, insane and above all -- inspirational.

You don't have to be a golfer to feel the fire from within to pursue what matters most to you.

Whether it's golfing, digging holes, crunching numbers or even mowing the lawn, watching Tiger this weekend probably made you want to do it to the maximum. That passion inside of you may become extinguished soon, but don't worry, Tiger doesn't have that problem.

So if you missed this weekend's performance, expect more like it in the future. Hopefully without the whole season-ending injury thing.

Number Two Tiger

Betting on Tiger Woods to win The Masters this week was, if nothing else, safe.
Safer than a five-shot lead with three holes to go for the next great South African major winner, who was, surprise, surprise, not Rory Sabbatini.
When Tiger shot even the first day, the trendy response was, 'He's just waiting for Saturday to really make his move. It's like Jack Nicklaus said, you can't win the tournament on the first day but you can lose it.'
So the modest 71 on Friday didn't raise any red flags, if anything it made viewers more inclined to believe that Tiger would be hunting for the yellow flags all weekend. And he did.
And he failed.
Failed in the sense that he didn't win the first leg of his secondary-to-elipsing-Jack goal of winning the calendar year Grand Slam.
But he finished second, a very Jack-esque consolation in a major.
He shot even par 72 on a Sunday in which only four players broke par.
Only Stewart Cink, Woods' Sunday playing partner, matched his impressive feat as the only other player to not shoot an over-par round during the tournament.
A second-place finish may mean Tiger will lose some sleep until the next major, but fans shouldn't lose sight of the fact that a second-place finish in The Masters is nothing less than impressive on a week that many say the safest statement of all was to call it a failure.