Playing for Second

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Dear Editor,>

Are you kidding me?>

I was amused to hear that John Feinstein and Rocco Mediate are writing a book proudly describing how Rocco lost to Tiger in the US Open playoff. I'm trying to imagine Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf or Lee Trevino proudly describing how they lost to Jack Nicklaus while he was playing on one leg. Is there any wonder why the current crop of PGA pros in the U.S. play for top tens and never win anything?

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Marty Wasser

Assistant Golf Professional

Firethorne Country Club

Marvin, NC

Marty, if you needed evidence for your point of view, this past weekend at the Memorial was it. How can, one might ask, a field four shots up on Tiger, not at least force him into extra holes? How can player after player say, after failing to make critical shots down the stretch, that he was "pretty pleased" with his week? I've talked to Lee Trevino after he lost a tournament that way. He was not pretty pleased, I can tell you that.

We get a lot of letters here taking us and broadcasters to task for "over-covering" Tiger. Are you kidding? Who else would we cover? Twice this year, still re-habbing a knee, he spotted the field four and five shots and won without so much as a playoff hole! And nobody this past weekend, with the exception of Geoff Ogilvy, who was beyond steamed and skipped the press conference, seemed that upset about it. Pretty good week.

It's great for TV ratings. It's great for Tiger fans. But for those of us wanting to see the best challenged by the rest at their best (which Rocco, to his credit gave us last year), to see Tiger feel even the slightest bit of pressure, finishes like Sunday's leave one infuriated. Let's hope it's not what we see next week at Bethpage. I'm with you. Forget the book deal. Let's see someone take him on.

--Bob Carney