the mouse that roared (tales from The Players - part 3)

I like Rory Sabbatini's spunk, but he needs to get a bit higher in the food chain before he opens his mouth. Last year at The Players, he and his wife made an issue of slow play. He was playing with notoriously slow Nick Faldo, and his wife followed the group wearing a t-shirt that said "KEEP UP". When asked for his reaction to the t-shirt, Faldo said something like (not a direct quote 'cuz I can't remember, but close) "It's a shame she had to bring their bedroom issues to the course." This year Rory was all over Tiger Woods.

I don't know how many caught it, but the guy was tied for the lead at The Players after Thursday, and Tiger was far down the leaderboard, barely making the cut on Friday. Rory proclaimed he liked the 'new' Tiger Woods, because he's very beatable. Then Tiger came back, after hearing the comments with something like..."I've won 3 tournaments this year, which is the same amount he's won his entire career, so I guess I like the 'new' Tiger too." Slam! Rory then proceeded to slide back down the leaderboard the rest of the tournament, finishing tied for 44th while Woods scraped his way up to a tie for 37th. Beatable maybe, but not by Rory...at least not yet.

We were sitting at the green on 13 on Saturday, up against the ropes. The youngster was very close to the hole when Rory came through and just missed a putt for birdie. The youngster heard him talking to his caddie as he walked away. "That's ridiculous! Hit a putt that good and it doesn't go in." Well, I can say this because I have first hand experience...if it doesn't go in the hole, you didn't hit it that good. If you'd hit it better, you'd get better results. End of story, Rory.