Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
June 11, 2009, Washington Post

Maybe an Underdog Will Have His Day

The U.S. Open begins today at Bethpage State Park outside New York City. Tiger Woods is the favorite to win what is probably the toughest golf tournament in the world. Woods is the best golfer and maybe the most famous athlete in all of sports.

But I'm not rooting for Tiger this year. Woods is almost too perfect. He has a super golf swing and just the right kind of mental toughness for the ups and downs of golf. Maybe that's why Woods has won 67 Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournaments in his career, including 14 victories in the major tournaments: the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

Woods is so fit and strong he looks more like an NFL halfback than a PGA golfer. He always dresses just right in his pressed slacks, crisp golf shirt and hat with the famous Nike logo. He even has perfect teeth.

So there's no way I'm rooting for Tiger. It would be like rooting for the kid who gets all A's in school to ace another math test. I think Tiger is great. But my favorite players, whether it's in golf or any other sport, are the underdogs and the athletes who are a little less perfect.

Guys like Jim Furyk. He has one of the goofiest-looking swings around. Furyk almost twists the club around his head before he sends the ball rocketing down the fairway. And Furyk wears some of the ugliest golf shirts I've ever seen.

Camilo Villegas is another of my favorites. He's from Colombia, where they call him the Spiderman because he twists himself low to the ground like a pretzel before putting to see how his ball will roll. Sometimes Villegas wears a hat that looks like he is going to paint a house instead of play golf.

Then there are all those golfers who look more like regular dads than pro athletes. I'm a regular dad, so I root for them. Guys like Kenny Perry, who just missed winning this year's Masters, and Rocco Mediate, who lost last year's U.S. Open to Tiger in a playoff.

This year, I'm really rooting for Phil Mickelson. He has been the runner-up at the U.S. Open four times. But most of all I'm rooting for Mickelson because a few weeks ago he announced that his wife, Amy, is sick with cancer.

When someone is sick, it's a reminder that golf, or any other sport, is not a life-or-death situation. Sports are supposed to be fun. Fun to play and fun to watch.

So maybe it's not that important who wins the U.S. Open, whether it's Tiger or one of my favorites.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids.

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