Woody's Fragility
On the heels of yesterday's admission by Padraig Harrington that he plays better in fear than in confidence, comes a letter from Californian Paul Cervantes on Golf World's John Hawkins' depiction of Wet Woody Austin at the Presidents Cup ("All For One and One For All").
"His mental fragility is frightening." No, the media's ceaseless characterizations of Woody Austin as man on the brink is what's scary. No one who plays professional sports for a living, let alone one who has made well over $2,000,000 just this year, is anything like fragile. Why not let Woody Austin revel in his great play at the Presidents Cup? Real lovers of the game just aren't that interested in whether he fell in the water or not. Sometimes I think that Golf World's staff would be better suited to covering Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
Paul, while I tend to agree that Woody is mentally sturdier than he leads us to believe, your "no one who plays professional sports...is anything like fragile" got me thinking: Jimmy Piersall, Bill Lee, Dennis Rodman, Mark Fydrich, Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch, Rick Ankiel....and I'm not even into placekickers yet. Readers, I'm sure you can add to the list....
--Bob Carney
10.12.07
First of all, Jimmy Piersall suffered from bipolar disorder which makes his inclusion on your list a really dubious choice.
The other guys you mention may (or may not) have been less mentally robust than you'd like them to be, but did it really affect their ability to perform? If it didn't, why would it be relevant to you as a reporter?
That is the very same point that I was making about Austin. What aspect of his personal psychology is relevant to his play at the Presidents Cup? Setting that aside, how much do you really know about his mental state?
I stand by my view that the golf press would serve its readers better by sticking to what they know.