The 19^th Hole

April 1, 2007

Barely Noticed It

This weekend was probably one of the best in a long time for the game.  If you are just catching up on what happened, here’s a quick summary: 

Morgan Pressel somehow persevered into becoming the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history at their first major of the season.  She completed the story that began when she qualified for the US Women’s Open at the mature age of twelve. 

Across the Atlantic Ocean on the European Tour, an amateur named Pablo Martin became the first amateur to ever win an event on the European Tour by taking the Open de Portugal. 

A promising “youngster” on the Champions Tour picked up his first victory on the circuit as Keith Fergus outlasted some legends on the game to win the Ginn Championship.

And, if you are into watching massacres of golf tournaments, Omar Uresti prevailed at even par in one of the most brutal scoring events in Nationwide Tour history.

After all of that, I then realized that there was the Shell Houston Open on the PGA Tour.  Adam Scott picked up his fifth career PGA Tour win on a course that was retooled to basically play like Augusta National.  Basically, the PGA Tour – supposedly the best in the world – was dead last on my golf radar this week.

It is weeks like these that prove the health of the professional game in the face of some appalling evidence that the amateur game is suffering.  Like her or hate her, Morgan Pressel is a great story.  She may seemingly cry watching blades of grass get cut, but her emotion and drive to succeed for her mom and grandparents is so genuine that it makes you root for her success.  It was vindication for Pressel, who was robbed of the US Women’s Open title by a sandie that will arguably go down as one of the most miraculous shots in golf history.  Were it not for Birdie Kim, Pressel would be halfway to the career grand slam on the LPGA Tour at the age of eighteen.  That level of achievement is way more impressive than what Michelle Wie has been doing with her career and sets the foundation for a potential lifetime rivalry between the two.

Don’t forget about Pablo Martin.  You may have never heard of him before this weekend, but you definitely will now.  He is the first amateur in the history of the European Tour to win an event.  That is impressive in and of itself.  Even more impressive still is that this was the second time that Martin had been in a position to win on the European Tour as an amateur.  The 20 year old Oklahoma State University golfer had the 54 hole lead in the Open de Espana just three years ago.  He did not win then, but the experience of being in that position definitely helped him in his efforts on Sunday in the neighboring country.  The best part of this story may be that Martin has no intentions of turning professional on the heels of such a victory.  He wants to finish playing in college before he turns pro.

Lest we forget Keith Fergus and Omar Uresti, they deserve some discussion as well.  Uresti had not won a golf tournament since 1994 – a drought much like last week’s Nationwide Tour winner Skip Kendall.  He braved the toughest golf course on the Tour and finished at even par.  Fergus battled Hale Irwin, Gil Morgan, and Fred Funk and won at the inaugural Ginn Championship on the Champions Tour, where it seems like the same players finish in the top ten every week.

You see what I’m saying here?  Adam Scott’s three shot win in the Shell Houston Open is just another ho-hum storyline compared to what the rest of the major professional golf tours presented this week. 

The crazy part about the wide variety of stories this week is that the entire golf world will be at a standstill for a singular golf tournament next week.  The Masters is the only tournament of record on the docket.  No major tour will even bother to put up a competing tournament.  Why?  Because the golfers of the world – male or female, pro or amateur – will want to be by their television all week and watch the majesty of the Masters.  The Masters is so important that the competition would rather watch others play Augusta National than play golf themselves.  It is that important.

Despite that, it is my hope that this weekend will not serve as a one time beacon for the beauty of the professional tours.  Coming out of the Masters, the golf world will again come alive.  Hopefully, the great storylines that came out of this week will continue to blossom and reveal to the world that the sport has a lot of human drama, athleticism, and enormous talents to share.

Ryan Ballengee is host of The 19th Hole Golf Show, found at The Golf Newsnet.com.  Having graduated from the University of Maryland in 2004 and 2006, Ballengee brings the perspective of the younger golf fan to the microphone and his columns.  Over the nearly five years he has been broadcasting and writing, Ballengee has developed a reputation for a unique interviewing style that asks both the difficult and fun questions. You can also get The 19th Hole on the go through podcasting by clicking here The Golf Newsnet Contact Ryan via e-mail at the19thholeshow@hotmail.com.