Some of the shot-making at last weekend's Ryder Cup was often remarkable, but certain behavior was often regrettable.
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Though he was nowhere in sight, perhaps Tiger Woods is partly to blame.
Woods did not invent the right uppercut celebration gesture in golf, but he certainly abused the privilege for the better part of a decade.
Rocky Marciano and Earnie Shavers in their prime didn't throw as many uppercuts as Woods.
Impressionable golfers took note and have been punching out putts ever since.
The 37th Ryder Cup got downright punchy with uppercuts, jabs and roundhouses.
Whatever happened to a tip of the cap, a smile, a wave?
Make a putt these days and it looks like you're ready to rumble.
England's Ian Poulter gave a hard jab at the hole, and followed with a crazed, wide-eye stare whenever his ball found the bottom of the cup, which was quite often.
"Oh, man. Those eyes,” Oak Tree's Dr. Gil Morgan said of Poulter. "He was focused beyond belief. I thought to myself, 'That's got to be awfully tiring, keeping your eyes open all the time like that.'”
If anyone should know about eyes, it's Dr. Gil, a licensed optometrist until a few years ago.
Golf writers at ringside had Poulter and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell with punch counts of at least 30 each for the entire competition.
"Everybody who was watching it on television with me was saying, 'Golly, that just doesn't look very good,'” Morgan said of the punchy combatants, both foreign and domestic.
Spain's Sergio Garcia let out a primal scream after draining a birdie putt. Steve Stricker capped that with a birdie of his own and let out a scream himself.
Things are way out of kilter if Steve Stricker is screaming.
Morgan watched bits and pieces of Team USA's 16½-11½ victory over Europe at Valhalla, but luckily missed several segments of the Boo Weekley Show.
Weekley has many charming qualities, but hopping on his driver and riding it like a horse off the No. 1 tee box doesn't qualify.
An unfortunate consequence of last weekend's energized Ryder Cup is American fans now want their golfers to be more demonstrative during competitions.
Let's hope not.
The Ryder Cup induces temporary insanity. Match play draws more spontaneous reactions because it's man against man rather than man against course.
"Match play is just so much more exciting because of all the things that happen, back and forth,” Morgan said.
Morgan and Mark Hayes were on Team USA's victorious Ryder Cup team in 1979, the first year the competition involved Europe rather than just Great Britain and Ireland.
Morgan also was on the 1983 team, which squeaked out a 14½-13½ victory to push Team USA's overall Ryder Cup series lead to 21-3-1 at the time.
"Back then, we won about every time, so there wasn't the involvement with the Europeans winning and everyone getting all fired up over it,” said Morgan, who turned 62 on Thursday. "Plus, golf is a lot more popular today than it was in those eras.”
There certainly is room in golf for raucous fans, but there also is a time and a place. Losing your senses before a hole has been completed is neither the time nor the place.
Golfers share in this responsibility. They should react to the crowd. Instead, some have resorted to coaxing or taunting the fans.
Here's hoping some decorum returns.
Please, gentlemen, a little dignity.
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The intensity was what made this one of the most entertaining golf events I can remember. I also remember footage of Jack Nicklaus sinking a putt to win a major and throwing his putter high in the air in excitement. The funny part was he had to dodge it on the way down. The sad part was a PAC-10 official threw a flag and penalized him 15 yards.
Rohde, lighten up, you sound like a tight-ass blue nose, that lives in fear that someone, somewhere, might be having a good time. Let them have some fun, it's about the only time they get to have the enjoyment of a team competition. It's great, and you and Gil Morgan need to sit down and shut up.
Who would you rather watch? Hunter Mahan or a robot? Golf is such an elitist sport...it's nice to see the commoners put their touch on it. It's certainly more fun to watch.
This has been what golf fans have been waiting for. Passionate, emotional, everyday, heroes to come forward to root for. We all secretly root for Tiger because he is the best around right now and possibly the best ever. BUT, when Boo Weekly hopped his driver and rode it down the fairway, that was a great moment. Someone that the average American Golfer can relate to. Not the country club folks mind you, but the regular deer hunting, bass fishing, weekend golfer type folks. I personally felt like I was being represented finally instead of golf being dominated by the country clubbers. Ride on Boo, ride on!!!
Hunter Mahan clearly showed the pitfalls of getting pumped up too much. After sinking the long put on 17 to put a near-lock on winning his match, he celebrated like it was the end of World War II, and was still jazzed up on the 18th tee, right up to where he hit his worst drive of the day, and only halved the match.
Had other matches gone a little differently, that one might have been the one that got away, providing an object lesson in why golf is supposed to be a game of controlling--rather than demonstrating--emotions.
What's with this attitude that athletes (college or professional) should be emotionless automotons? Whenever I sink a putt, you better believe there's a lot of celebration and high fives and what not, and that's without millions of dollars riding on it. Yeah, excessive celebration can be unbecoming and unsportsmanlike at times, but these anti-celebration people make it sound like instead of spiking the ball and doing a dance when you score a touchdown, you should apologize to your opponent.
C'mon John. You guys (the media) are completely responsible for all of the emotions shown during this event. You pump it up like its a win or die situation and now you're condemning them for showing a little emotion? Sounds like a double standard to me. If you want to take emotions out of sports, then you'll just take away any reason for playing. I don't care what the sport is.
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.
Had other matches gone a little differently, that one might have been the one that got away, providing an object lesson in why golf is supposed to be a game of controlling--rather than demonstrating--emotions.