PGA Tour: Masters Champion, via the process of elimination: Notes from the Ballwasher

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leeeeeee!!

Leff, and compared to those who have medical insurance in America, then the dental hygiene of many Brits would fit in with the stereotype, but I take exception to saying Murray is no better than Watson, he's got an unfortunately droll accent, but he's very articulate, well mannered with a dry sense of humour. I doubt you see that in America much.

"Americans have their own digs about the dental hygiene of Brits."

I have never understood this, given that all brits up to about age 16/18 have access to free orthodontistry the average UK person must have better teeth. Yes the rich Americans that make it onto TV will have relieved daddies purse of $100000 worth of dental treatment but what about the poor bubba's who's parents have no dental plan and are raised on a diet of KFC and coke? It is hard to see how the average blue collar American has better teeth than their UK counterpart?

super_realist wrote:Leff, and compared to those who have medical insurance in America, then the dental hygiene of many Brits would fit in with the stereotype, but I take exception to saying Murray is no better than Watson, he's got an unfortunately droll accent, but he's very articulate, well mannered with a dry sense of humour. I doubt you see that in America much.

Let's be honest, you dont see it Scotland that much either.

Leff wrote:At a superficial level, Andy Murray is no more sophisticated than Bubba Watson. Americans have their own digs about the dental hygiene of Brits.

and in fainress on the whole our teeth arnt whiter than white, however its not as bad as they suggest and offcourse no different to any other country bar America- who perhaps have abit to much of a facination when it comes to having bright white teeth!

Steriotypes allways have abit of truth to it- bar british food i feel, that turned the corner along time ago and on the whole probally no worse(if not better) than the standard fare you get in america

Diggers wrote:

super_realist wrote:Leff, and compared to those who have medical insurance in America, then the dental hygiene of many Brits would fit in with the stereotype, but I take exception to saying Murray is no better than Watson, he's got an unfortunately droll accent, but he's very articulate, well mannered with a dry sense of humour. I doubt you see that in America much.

Let's be honest, you dont see it Scotland that much either.

What I meant Diggers was that given the insularity of the American media, he probably doesn't see much of Murray being interviewed, but yes, I know what you mean.

The stereotype that is my absolute favourite is the tight scotsman who dropped 10p and it hit him in the back of the head.

He won with the shot of the tournament, took his chances well and what I like is his honesty, openly admitting in front of Billy Payne he had never dreamed of winning the Masters. He's also been quoted as saying he isn't in it for the silverware and titles or making history, he's simply in it to make money and lots of it.

Haven't heard or seen any of his cooments in france so maybe someone can enligthen me on those but in general I like Bubba and the way he does it differently to everyone else

Fader, Basically he was bemoaning the fact that France wasn't the same as America, and he'd not be back.

super_realist wrote:Fader, Basically he was bemoaning the fact that France wasn't the same as America, and he'd not be back.

Strange considering france is full of french people! Is in Europe and speak french! Yet not like America! What is his degree in "the bleedin obvious"

Still I like the guy though

It was his first trip to France, a country with a very different culture. He acted like most American tourists to France. Hopefully, he will be act more maturely when he visits Europe next time. I can't hold it against his forever.

Back to Andy Murray for a moment . . . after all, this is a golf blog.
I find him about as entertaining an interview as there is on sport TV, especially when he's taking the p1ss out of Brad Gilbert (his dress sense in particular) and the rest of the commentators; last year they had him in the booth for a while with Drysdale and Cahill and he was a riot.

Bubba will never have the same sense of humour, but give him a chance; I think he'll become a very popular champion.

If Bubba was English and went to the States and slagged it off we would love him. He was having a go at France for heavens sake, who hasnt done that before ?

McLaren wrote:Simon Dyson must be on the cusp of being officially classified as mentally retarded. Not even the reddest of the redneck golfers come off as mentally challenged as he does.

In the interviews I've seen Dyson is one of the brightest and most articulate sportsmen/women I can think of. Thinks about what he says before speaking, hardly any "ers" or "yer knows" and very rarely uses footballer type clichés, which to me means he can think and speak at the same time.

Admittedly his Yorkshire accent does make him sound dense unless you listen to what he's actually saying.

Rose and "er" Poulter "out there" haven't said anything I find remotely original or interesting "at the end of the day" "yer know".

Donald is totally insipid in my opinion and don't get me started on anyone from Worksop who's middle aged, wears white trousers and has highlights in his hair.

I like Bubba too. The pink driver and the "different" outfits he wears sometimes are generally in support of charity. I think Ping donates $$ to for every drive over 300 yds that he hits with the pink driver. I'd rather watch him play than yet another vision in khaki or beige. We really enjoyed the Masters App on the I-pad this year -- you could follow all the action at Amen Corner with no annoying commentary !

Hibbz,
Be a bit ironic if Simon Dyson "rarely uses footballer type-cliches".
Hasn't he learned anything from his Uncle Tel?

Yeah, I have to admit before I'd heard him speak I did just assume he was a less well known, less successful Poulter.

Goes to show you shouldn't judge on appearances I guess.

I may have told you this before but there is a guy from our club (a Yorkshireman) who knew/knows Terry and through him Simon who speaks very highly of Simon. And as a Yorkshireman compliments don't come from him very often.

Hibbz,
Nice to see at the Spurs / Swansea game a week or so ago that they introduced Cliff Jones and Terry Medwin - would have been good to see their wing-mate as well.

to be honest, i think i'd rather live just along the M8 from a city full of 'bubba's' than a city full of 'Barry' (fergusons's)!!
speaking of which, did anyone else think that peter Hanson has a wee bit of a rangers fan 'look' about him. do they have camp neds in Sweden??!!

Suppose so ban. There are a lot of undesirables in the UK.

Bubba's just a good ole boy, never meaning no harm.....

Ban

Thankfully I know so little of Scottish football that your comment about Hanson went over my head.

Fair play to Bubba, shame Rory cudnt make up for last year. As a Tiger fan the Poopie of his tournament is hard to comprehend. Don't think Jack's record isn danger any time soon.

Dont know about anyone else but I am just gutted the Keegan slam is over already?

But you've got the Bubba Slam to look forward to now.

Bubba drives like that in the Open or the US Open and he won't make the cut!

The God squad get a lot of stick here but having read an article on Bubba it seems he found God and changed his ways on the golf course, and had that not happened he probably wouldn't be a major champion today.

Didn't realise he was a bible thumper, good for him keeping it quiet unlike Johnson and Simpson.
Does having that mental illness increase your chances of winning a major?

incontinent,
I don't think anyone ever criticises golfers "with god on my side" for their religious beliefs, it's the stuffing them down every microphone placed in front of them that irks.

Most golfers keep any religious preferences to themselves, not quite sure why others feel they have to morph from being tournament winning golfers into televangelists at the sight of a micropohone.

True kwini, I find it humorous myself, don't think any golfer has anything on Tim Tebow though.

15,000 idiots with nothing better to do turned up to listen to Tim Tebow praising the lord last week, in Texas.
Which tells you all you need to know about Texas.

It is odd that such a large proportion of the US golfers are verging on fundamentalist Christian. I hope that is not a true representation of the white middle classes across the USA? We all know Americans love the god stuff but I certainly wouldn’t have thought it was as prevalent as watching golf would make you think.

Mac - Good observation. I think you'll find most of the more fundamental Christians from the South -- where's there's a culture of being more evangelical about your beliefs. Exceptions to every rule of course.

Interestingly, I attempt to summon more than one God on the golf course. Hey, I'll try anything these days.

I think Mac that there is a pretty high proportion of the American population afflicted with that particular mental illness.

God belief is a big part of American life. This preoccupation is even more prevalent in the South, especially the area called the Bible Belt. Bubba is from that part of Florida which is culturally the same as Alabama. So, it is not surprising that religion plays a big role in his life. I don't mind people having their own beliefs, but it is irritating when they keep talking about this stuff at every opportunity. The Bubba gang cheering for him comprised of Ben Crane, Ricky Fowler, and Aaron Baddeley, all so-called 'christian golfers'.

Notable (or should I say notorious) christian golfers that often bring up religion in their media interviews are:

Paul Azinger
Bernie Langer
Tom Lehmann
Larry Mize
Stewart Cink
Aaron Baddeley
Corey Pavin (originally jewish, converted by Azinger & Lehmann)
Zach Johnson
Justin Leonard
Harrison Frazar
Ben Crane
Matt Kuchar
Ricky Fowler

Late Payne Stewart also talked a lot about his christian faith.

So, Bubba is not alone. As golfers, by nature, tend to be conservative, I guess most of the American PGA players are religious. This is probably the case with Aussie golfers too although there are exceptions like Ogilvy.

Belief in a higher power does seem to help sporting performance though

Australians are probably the least religious nation around. It's only yanks and Africans that take it so seriously and who evangelise about it so much.

"It's only yanks and Africans that take it so seriously and who evangelise about it so much."

Only?

Can you provide any statistics that define the level of "seriousness" and define what's evangeical and what numbers support this?

Sr, I wish you would stop taking things so literally. In post match interviews in all sports I only ever hear yanks and Africans thank god. Even though Latin countries are highly religious despite the relentless crossing of themselves they don't talk about it so much.

It makes me sick listening to the likes of Johnson expunge about religion without even being prompted. If the interviewers wanted to ask about their religious views he would ask.

Who cares? I just wish they'd keep it to themselves.

And I can't wait for the day a winning golfer responds to the gormless questioning:
"You know, I played really well today. Screw that god stuff that other guys witter on about, no god on my side today, I just played really well without my head being littered with things like that."

No offence to anyone but if you have to advertise your religion it pretty much puts it in the same category as Tide or toilet paper. I'll live my values thank you very much. Nothing to do with anyone else and certainly not god-driven.

Either that kwini or the interviewer walks away when the player starts talking about god. That would be funny.

super_realist wrote:Didn't realise he was a bible thumper, good for him keeping it quiet unlike Johnson and Simpson.
Does having that mental illness increase your chances of winning a major?

Actually he's not quiet about it and bangs on a lot about Jesus on his Twitter feed, apparently got a bit of stick about how evangelical he gets. He is a born again from 2004 and they tend to be the worst when it comes to spreading the word.
Saw a pic of his wife this morning, 6 4" apparently, have to say looked like a man in drag.

Yeah a born again is as bad as an ex smoker when it comes to spreading the word.
Far worse than someone brainwashed from youth. A true mental illness you could say, totally devoid of rational thought or reason.

If his wife is a man in drag it perhaps explains them having to adopt.

Some churches over here do require that their members take every opportunity to "spread the word". It can be an issue in the workplace balancing freedom of speech/religion of one worker versus the right of another worker not to be harrassed. Bubba's wife used to be a professional basketball player I think.

Apparently when he proposed she told him she could only have a child through adopting and he said "If God tells me that I will adopt to have children then thats how it will be."
Sorry mate, your tranny looking bird just told you that you would have to adopt, not God.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=bubba+watson+wife&hl=en&biw=1190&bih=780&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=OpETj0xs0OO0kM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/golf/bubba-watson-justin-bieber-and-the-general-784924&docid=Cacvk0SACoVpMM&imgurl=http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article782491.ece/BINARY/Bubba%252BWatson%252Bof%252Bthe%252BU.S.%252BTeam%252Band%252Bhis%252Bwife%252BAngie%252Barrive%252Bon%252Bthe%252Bred%252Bcarpet%252Bat%252Bthe%252BGala%252BCelebration%252Bfor%252Bthe%252B2011%252BPresidents%252BCup&w=620&h=932&ei=XjaET8SJKoiy8QPysNGwBw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=250&sig=117146609825780896472&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=91&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:79&tx=36&ty=79

Super

You might want to check out the levels of Christianity in south korea for starters, before assuming it is only the Americans and Africans who suffer the “mental illness” that you talk of.

You may also want to consider which nation it was that brought these beliefs to countries like America and the continent of Africa. It was our very own James VI that produced the first truly widely available English translation of he bible. The very version used to justify American Civil wars and female genital mutilation in Africa. Not to mention our use of religion in general for subduing the poor sods our empire building impacted upon.

Not to mention another fine fellow countryman John Knox who decided to pioneer a new more extreme form of calvanist based sexism.

But no, it is all the Americans fault, right?

Mclarean, thankfully many of the english/british bible bashers became americans!

I do find it funny how certain people forget the truth when it comes to colanisation and automatically assume it was the british- no it is actually on the whole the poeple that stayed in the said countries but have adopted a new nationality

mystiroakey wrote:Mclarean, thankfully many of the english/british bible bashers became americans!

I do find it funny how certain people forget the truth when it comes to colanisation and automatically assume it was the british- no it is actually on the whole the poeple that stayed in the said countries but have adopted a new nationality

I think it took a few generations for that to happen. The first colonialists would have classified themselves and indeed their children as being British (or French, or German, or whatever). They didnt move over and decide they were instantly Americans or Australians, it was a bit of a longer process.

Mac, I didn't say that other countries weren't religious, I said it was only America and Africa that were so vehement about puke inducing evangelism.

other countries who are more sophisticated and cultured realised that religion was a crock of mere years ago.

If you weren't aware, Angie [Watson] is an ex-professional basketball player and played in the WNBA - so she's put her height to good use. It sounds like her influence is part of the reason behind Bubba's recent success - so I understand, she (and possibly Bubba's caddy) over time encouraged him to play tournaments like he plays with his friends, when it's always fun no matter what (and not to let himself become angry / frustrated / sulky when his shots don't come off).

Don't know what their friendship is like these days, but he and Tiger used to hang out a fair bit too (don't think they were paired in Ryder or Presidents Cup, but equally don't know if anything should be read into that). So I understand, Tiger was just about the only person from whom Bubba would take golf advice, and was at the time telling him that he should be winning tournaments given how good he was.

Fast forward a few years later, he tries to enjoy himself out there and seems to have brought some control to his ADD (or whatever it is - the article I read from a while ago suggested that he refused to have any diagnosis or treatment), gives a lot to charity and has won a few times. And he's a Masters champion.

So all in all, I reckon he's a good bloke. Even so, he can annoy me a bit sometimes...

super_realist wrote:Mac, I didn't say that other countries weren't religious, I said it was only America and Africa that were so vehement about puke inducing evangelism.

other countries who are more sophisticated and cultured realised that religion was a crock of mere years ago.

What you mean like say China ? What are these sophicticated countries that have given up religion ?

Diggers wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Mclarean, thankfully many of the english/british bible bashers became americans!

I do find it funny how certain people forget the truth when it comes to colanisation and automatically assume it was the british- no it is actually on the whole the poeple that stayed in the said countries but have adopted a new nationality

I think it took a few generations for that to happen. The first colonialists would have classified themselves and indeed their children as being British (or French, or German, or whatever). They didnt move over and decide they were instantly Americans or Australians, it was a bit of a longer process.

Yep i get that. My point being though certain powerfull brits that did some knarley stuff could be ancestors from people who are americans, canadians , aussies, saffas etc- but the history books will tell you it was the british- that blame sticks. A point worth mentioning i feel!