LITTLE ROCK — Captains discourage socializing
It’s difficult to imagine alltime golfing greats Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer protesting abstinence from tweeting during Ryder Cup Week.
In their day, tweeting was strictly for the birds.
Nowadays, celebrity types, even golfers, use Twitter accounts to tell followers about what they had for lunch and what they’re planning to wear on the first tee.
Not this week, golf fans.
U.S. captain Corey Pavin and European counterpart Colin Montgomerie say there will be a blanket ban from using Twitter and other social networking this week to keep players focused on the three-day competition, which begins Friday at Celtic Manor in Wales.
“It can be a little bit distracting sometimes,” Pavin said. “I think it’s important to focus on the Ryder Cup and playing the matches and just enjoying camaraderie with the team itself.”
Montgomerie, a noted fuddyduddy, told his players to avoid Twitter and other sites and “focus on the job at hand this week.”
U.S. player Rickie Fowler confirmed his team’s Twitter ban, tweeting Monday: “Guys I’m sorry to inform you but the news is true ... we will not be allowed to tweet while we are in Wales ... Cpt’s orders !!”USA! USA!
Golf’s detractors argue that watching it on television is a good way to take a nap. Even golf afficianados will doze off during the final round of your run-of-the mill John Deere Classic event.
But the Ryder Cup, a biannual competition between the United States and Europe, is so different.
Even casual golf fans get wideeyed at the thought of frenzied fans waving flags, normally stoic players pumping fists in celebration and anguishing in disgust.
The Ryder Cup is match play instead of stroke play, team play instead of individual competition, there is no prize money and fans outwardly root against the opposition.
“There are guys who can win the Tour Championship, guys who can win the Quad Cities, guys who can win the John Deere Classic or whatever and then you’ve got Ryder Cuppers.” NBA golf analyst Johnny Miller told Newsday.
Will Tiger Woods transform into a Ryder Cupper this week? In prevous Ryder Cup appearances.
Woods (10-13-2) has never brought the passion and tenacity that has lifted him to 14 major championships and 71 PGA Tour victories.
Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington said he believes Woods will be inspired.
“In many ways, the Ryder Cup can be the pinnacle of the year for him, like it could be for me,’ ” said Harrington, a captain’s pick on the European team just as Woods is on the U.S. squad. “He will be in a fighting mood for the week.”Pitch and putt
If San Diego Padres second baseman David Eckstein, 35, were a golfer, he’d be like pint-sized Fred Funk or Corey Pavin, a little guy who ranks near the bottom in driving distance but near the top in scoring average.
Eckstein has won two World Series titles - one with the Los Angeles Angels in 2002 and another with St. Louis in 2006 - and is trying to lift the Padres to the National League playoffs,.
But Eckstein told Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times that players like him are an endangered species because computer generated calculations can’t quantify the value of hustling and the little things he does so well.
“They want to see the numbers.
They want to see stuff that translates on paper,” said Eckstein, a career .271 hitter with 35 home runs in 10 seasons and a .348 career onbase percentage. “I don’t translate to paper.”
Just in the victory column.
Quote of the day “Now we get to find out what we’re made of as a football team and as an individual.” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino
Sports, Pages 18 on 09/28/2010