Bigger might actually be better
The Super Bowl brought us a terrifying display of superhuman athletes crashing into each other at high speeds. You can't have old bones and survive the traffic accidents in that arena, nor can you dunk on Shaquille O'Neal at 45 or turn a double-play ball with a spare tire for a gut. Yet at Pebble Beach this week we'll see pro athletes humbled by a sport where experience and natural ability override age limits and in the case of last week's winners, subcutaneous fat.
You can be 51 like Craig Stadler, be built by Michelin, and if you can still putt, you can win. The X Factor is the ball, but I don't see this ruining the game. In fact, I see it adding another dimension to the game. Guys who would be playing old-timers games in baseball are out there competing day-to-day with the human rubber band, Charles Howell.
In baseball, 42-year-old Roger Clemens is considered a freak, while most players that age are classified as "ancient." In golf, it's their prime. The best player, Vijay Singh, turns 42 on Feb. 22, and you don't see him slowing down.
Meanwhile, you've got a buffed stud like Ricky Barnes, driving his sweet-looking SUV past the equipment trailers in Phoenix last week, still smarting from a final nine that cost him the Nationwide event in Panama, heading not to the first tee in the FBR Open, but overseas for this week's Holden New Zealand Open. Barnes, the kid who outplayed Tiger Woods in the 2003 Masters, who won the Amateur the previous year, is on the outside looking in. He's not alone.
Kevin Na, the 21-year-old who finished second at the FBR, is the only true young gun firing in the big leagues. Barnes, Bill Haas, Camillo Villegas, Chez Reavie, Bryce Molder, Casey Wittenberg and Ty Tryon can all airmail Stadler, but it's not how far, it's how many in golf. The Qualifying Tournament spit them out shy of their intended destination, either to the Nationwide Tour or, in the case of Tryon, the Hooters Tour. This is their apprenticeship, their time to learn how to get the ball in the hole on a major-league level. Stadler knows how to do that, and thanks to the wonders of technology, he can stay up with the young pups without heading to the gym.
The Walrus has two top-15s this year on the PGA Tour. That's one more than Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion who is built like a slalom skier. Yet Stadler, still in his prime by Champions Tour standards, was beaten in last weekend's Senior Skins Game by 65-year-old Jack Nicklaus. Playing his first event since back surgery, Nicklaus once again reminded everyone the ball was ruining the game. Yet without the ball, we wouldn't catch ourselves smiling when Jack was back out there in Hawaii hitting shots, making putts, and yes, talking about the Masters again.
In his heyday he was known as Fat Jack, but that was the '60s. In this modern age, Woods reminds us with every swing that golfers are athletes. In Tiger's video biography, you hear Michael Jordan describe Woods as being built like a defensive back. I'd like to see Allen Iverson hold Vijay's weighted driver in a parallel position for 60 seconds or Derek Jeter hit the drive Phil Mickelson hit on the 72nd hole of last year's Masters. But golfers are also golfers, which means you don't have to come looking like Alex Rodriguez to handle the heat on Sunday.
Tim Herron talked fat content with Bob Verdi for a column in this week's Golf World. It's a hysterical piece, written on the same weekend that two of the game's more loveable doughboys found the winner's circle. You may not have noticed with Mickelson grabbing his 24th career victory on Sunday, but in one of the biggest tournaments Down Under this bowling ball with Popeye forearms won the Heineken Classic on storied Royal Melbourne, outlasting lean Nick O'Hern on the fourth hole of a playoff in the mid-summer Australian sun.
Craig Parry tried working out, just like Stadler did. And he had the same results. Losing weight resulted in a loss of feel. Without as much ballast, the golf swing was totally different. Since getting off the Jarod diet, Parry has won his three biggest tournaments, including the 2002 American Express Championship at Sahalee and 2004 Ford Championship. The latter ended with a hole-out on one of the most famous stages in golf, the 18th hole of Doral's Blue Monster. It won Parry not only the tournament, but also a Ford GT in which to squeeze into.
Mickelson is another guy who doesn't look like he'll ever be the square-jawed kid who dusted Justin Leonard in the 1996 Phoenix Open playoff. Mickelson is one of those golfers who plays himself into shape, kind of like the old pros did back before strength coaches outnumbered sports psychologists at tour sites. He works out probably more than you think but his body will never look like Tiger's, and his work ethic will never match Vijay's.
What he has is a unique gift, an intrinsic talent that only a chosen few have been blessed with. It's good to see the big man still has a competitive appetite, because that was being questioned when he shut it down after the PGA last year. This is an athlete who loves to win as much as he does the "3x3" wrapped in lettuce at the In-N-Out Burger, no fries though. The man Jim Rome refers to as "Hefty" tells me he's cutting back on greasy foods.
Tim Rosaforte is a senior writer for Golf World magazine
