Letter to the Editor

On June 3, the Earth shook

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

To the Editor,

If by chance you felt the earth move a little late Sunday afternoon, there was no reason for alarm; it was only a Tiger roaring. If you are a golf season widow, you likely heard your husband or wife re-tell the feat of Tiger Woods coming from 4 shots back to win the Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio. And, to top it off, he made one of the most remarkable chip shots for a birdie that anyone, especially tournament host and the greatest golfer ever, Jack Nicklaus, said he ever saw. And just to make sure everyone knew it was real, he birdied the 18th hole to slam the door on his closest competitor.

Golf may not be of particular interest to you, especially if you do not play. But, the one thing you should be aware of is that the world, as the golf game sees it, just moved back onto its' axis and is turning smoothly again. And, for all of us that appreciate talent and root for a fallen hero, the world just became a bit more interesting. Let's face it, we have all had enough of the election. In fact, we had enough of it 6 months ago. The importance of what happened this afternoon lies in one word; hope.

About the time the economy really tanked in 2008, our hero's cape was starting to show some soiling. We could all brag about the U.S. having the best golfer in the world. No matter what the price

of oil, how the price of milk never falls, no matter if gas goes low or not, or how many foreclosures we had to read about, our hero won a tournament in 2008 with a broken leg! Ah, but alas our hero turned out to be human and his Kryptonite exposed him, destroyed his marriage, his image, and almost his career. If there was not enough problems, now we had no champion. Phil Mickelson, while a sentimental favorite, is no Tiger. Bubba Watson is a great guy, but no Tiger. Tiger is the only one that gives us those rushes like we got today. When Tiger holed out that chip on the 16th hole for a birdie, I had to text my friend George and ask him if he screamed like I did. He said, "Yep".

We need sports. In sports we can see a win or a loss and see some finality to it. We can see the competitors sweat, strain, grimace and smile and know it is real. Politics, elections, contradictory economic reports, and the desire to publicize negativity by the national media is enough to make anyone morose. It would be fun to watch President Obama and House Speaker Boehner wrestle out in front of the Capitol and see who wanted a bill to pass more. Could you see Obama going for a leg lock or Boehner trying for a front chancery, trying to keep his white shirt clean? I would even be happy to hear Reagan say again, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!" just to get some reality into the stiff, starched leaders we have today.

But, for today, we get to celebrate. Tiger Woods, with all his faults and problems, tied Jack Nicklaus for 2nd place with 73 tournament victories at the age of 36. Nicklaus was 46 when he won the Masters for #73. If you think it comes easy, consider that Woods has played around 260 tournaments, which approximates almost 19,000 holes of golf and around 75,000 swings of a golf club in tournament play. This does not even hint at the swings and practice rounds that he has endured. I hope he is back to form; we need him as golf fans; we need him as Americans.

I had the pleasure of playing with a great guy and tour veteran, Dave Hill, on several occasions in the late 90's and he would tell the stories about how Jack Nicklaus would make those memorable charges into the lead. He would marvel at how the whole golf course would just become electric and those in front of Nicklaus would nervously lose their game. Tiger Woods does the same thing. He gets us excited and makes us believe he will give us something fantastic and superhuman to see.

So, if you have not watched golf, take a look at the U.S. Open June 14 - 17. You might find something to get excited about. The world is waiting to see if Tiger Woods is the champion he was.

While Woods is not perfect, he is a wonderfully talented man that entertains us and gives us something we desperately need; HOPE. Not a bad thing to have in an election year.

K.G. Sims

Poplar Bluff, Mo.