Sports fans are always looking to cheer for a “people’s champion”, a “man’s man” or “the common man’s hero”. This athlete usually is someone that plays with more power than finesse, has a physique that would fit the person watching the game than the one playing it and has a friendly charm to him that allows him/her to connect with the everyday-working class.
In Canada, we’ve almost become accustomed to the idea of cheering for nothing but these kinds of people because there’s way more NHL players that would fit the description above than not. But you wouldn’t think that you would be able to find someone like that in golf, right? Golf is a finesse game with a lot of guys that give off an air of arrogance rather than friendliness.
However, after reading the story of Carl Pettersson winning the Canadian Open this weekend in Toronto, I’ve found at least one guy that I’ll be willing to cheer for on a weekly basis. The story that I’m referring to can be found using this link and a great job by Ken Fidlin to gather up this kind of information: http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/golf/2010/07/25/14823266.html
Pettersson found himself in a position where he didn’t even know if he was going to make the cut on Friday afternoon, so he let off a little bit of steam by sharing a drink with fellow pro Jay Williamson. Well, he actually polished off 7 beers before getting his caddie to drive him home. He certainly must have thought that he was gonna miss the cut or this is just routine for him.
He makes the cut, but has to play one of the early rounds on Saturday. I’m assuming that he had to take something for the headache or he just powered through like a champ and played with a little bit of a hangover. He started the third round with a bogey on 2 to have him even-par for the tournament. But once the hangover passed, he went on a tear starting on 5 as he rattled off 7 birdies and 2 eagles to shoot a 60! A round of 60 after having 7 beers the night before! Incredible!
He goes on to win the tournament yesterday and afterwards, he talks about his struggles a year ago with his weight. Thanks to Tiger Woods, a lot of guys have made it a point of regularly going to the gym now. Pettersson was gonna be one of those guys too and he lost 30 pounds, but in the process, he lost his swing and game.
It may not be the best long-term choice, but as far as thinking about getting fitter again, “You know I’d love to be fitter, but I’m not going to go down that road again.” Awesome!
He was nobody to me before this weekend, but after hearing the story, I’ll look for his name every week and hell, I think I’ll have a beer in his honour today. Maybe 7, after all, I am on vacation. :-)