"The Damn Media"

Today is a link to Ryan Lavner's GC article about David Duval and Jim Furyk's first round 65 at the Zurich Classic. It's both humorous -- the title of my post is Duval's remark to Furyk as he went to meet the media after their round -- and informative, which I want to tell you about here.



One thing that leapt out at me from Lavner's article was how Duval's perspective about his game has changed over the years.

"When you don’t play a lot and you don’t have that opportunity, you feel like you have to play perfectly,” he said. “Being on the other side of the desk, you see how many crappy golf shots really, truly get hit, and it’s like, look, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to hit more good ones than bad ones and go from there."

That's the kind of thing we all should learn from. This is a former #1, a pro who took that title from Tiger Woods, and then had it all taken from him by health and technical problems. "You don't have to be perfect" is a phrase that we should engrave on every club and print on every golf ball we own. Just figure out how to hit more good shots than bad shots and work with that.

Duval also mentions that the main reason he's playing this week is because he just wanted to get together with Furyk and play some ball. It's okay to play for fun, folks. Let the world gripe about how you play all they want; if you enjoy it, who cares what they think?

I suspect that was on Duval's mind when he made the comment about "the damn media." He knew that, as a general rule, the media has no concept of golf as something fun. It's something to be analyzed, dissected and criticized -- after all, how many times have you heard a commentator say something like "that shot wasn't up to his standards" after the pro didn't hit the ball as close as he said he should?

I always wonder how they can be so sure; perhaps the player didn't feel good over the shot and was actually quite happy that the shot could even found. We all have days like that! And taking Duval's advice might help you reach that happy place as well.

In any case, it seems that Duval and Furyk are quite happy with their play. After one round they're T21 in a field of 80 teams. It seems that "not being perfect" works pretty well.

Whether "the damn media" gets it or not.

The Zurich Team Event Returns, Better Than Ever!

It's time for the fun event again. And I feel safe saying that, because this year's Zurich Classic has even more stars than it did last year!



You all know the drill: Players choose a fellow pro to team up with. They play two days of best ball and two days of alternate shot, and the two team members are treated as if they tied at their finishing position and split the FedExCup points accordingly. For example, the winning team splits the points for first and second place (500 + 300 divided by two = 400 points each), the second-place team splits third and fourth place points, and so on.

I think even Zurich has been shocked by how popular this format is becoming. After the huge success of their first year, the event has attracted even more of the world's top players -- after struggling to attract players before the format change, 18 of the Top30 are playing this year! Notable teams include:

• Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose -- lots of Olympic power there
• Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly
• David Duval and Jim Furyk -- that pairing could be a sleeper
• Justin Thomas and Bud Cauley
• Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer -- competing schools there
• Team Patrick -- Reed and Cantlay, that is
• Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell
• Jon Rahm and Wesley Bryan -- I can't wait to see these two

And that doesn't even hit all the big names!

New this year will be "walk-up" music for the teams, a first on the PGA Tour. Zurich seems willing to push the envelope and truly create a fun event, and the pros are embracing it. Perhaps other tournaments will grab hold of the spirit and create some new twists in their own events. I can't believe that they aren't noticing what's happening here.

GC starts the fun at 2:30pm ET today. This is becoming a can't-miss event... and not just for the pros.