Don't look for me to be critical of Dustin Johnson.
If you don't know who Dustin Johnson is, you're obviously not a golf fan. And you also likely are not aware that Father's Day also aligns itself with the final round of the U.S. Open golf championship.
This year there was something of an added treat, at least for those of us who did not have to play the controversial Chambers Bay course in Washington state. Since the championship was being contested on the West Coast, it meant some prime time golf for fans here in the East.
I was kind of amazed yesterday that because of the three-hour time difference, the final pairing was going off just as we were sitting down to dinner yesterday.
As it turns out, I also played golf yesterday.
It was the perfect Father's Day gift from my son, who paid us a visit for the weekend.
I consider myself a fairly competent golfer, and yet I am constantly in search of 'the secret,' the one swing key that will convert us from duffers to the super-human strikers of the ball we watch on TV every weekend.
I've played all kinds of sports, but I've never been quite as "hooked," nor as frustrated as I am with golf. It's simply a maddening search for an unattainable goal.
Maybe Mark Twain was was right who dubbed it "a good walk spoiled."
It certainly was for me yesterday. I guess that gives me something in common with Johnson, although the stakes for him were just a bit higher. He has the U.S. Open trophy basically in his pocket. He had a putt for eagle to with the title, a birdie would put him into a Monday playoff with Masters champ Jordan Spieth. Of course he three-putted.
Most people will remember that Spieth has now captured the first two Majors of the year, the first person to do it since Tiger Woods back when he really was Tiger Woods. Not me. I'll be thinking about Johnson.
I did my share of that yesterday as well. After our early-morning tee time got rained out, my son and I hit the links after it cleared later in the morning. (Nice forecast by the way. I guess our local TV folks are limited to blowing winter storm forecasts. I could have sworn I heard all day on Saturday how Sunday was going to be a complete washout with as much as 3 inches of rain. It turned out to be a beautiful day).
Just once in my life I would like to play a round of golf and not mishit a shot. Doesn't seem like too much to ask for. I don't even care if I score all that well. I'm never going to be a good putter.
Of course, one mishit shot immediately gets me to thinking I must be doing something wrong. The tinkering with my swing follows, and soon I am completely out of sync.
All of that means I likely will be at the driving range against next weekend, seeking the 'secret' to the golf swing.
I don't think Dustin Johnson has that problem.
But he's probably also cursing the game this morning.
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