Oh Dianne you made me cry which I believe you did knowing I don't want to see what I am hitting lately when I tend to whack the wrong thing with my balls ( sorry to the people over on hole 9 at Kiawah didn't mean for my ball to come over from Bethspage lol )
On the serious side.... Howard Cosell's words "the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of competition " stand so true in the playing of the Virtual Open Championships at Royal St George's.
Competitors faced with tough conditions of Winds and Green Speeds in Round 1 sent the message early on that the victorious winner of this tournament would indeed have to display a high degree of skill ( not to mention a bit of old fashioned luck.)
As players completed out Round 1 it was apparent the programmers had done their jobs quite well in assembling numerous diverse conditions that had not been faced in prior tournaments. Players were challenged not only with their skills but the very equipment they were using. ( Well done programmers! ) You successfully created a tournament where nothing came easy at all and was aggravating. That is a sign of successful programming when everyone coming out wants to wrap their little fingers around the programmer's necks and squeeze lol.
Now here we are in Round 2. The conditions lighter but still tough and because players competed in such tough conditions in Round 1 the Open will now literally need to see the final player post score before it can be determined who will actually Win. That's just pure excitement!!
In the face of victory and defeat we saw players helping players with tips, we saw those that felt defeated quickly met with someone who knew just how they felt, we saw fans emerge and declare at the top of their little voices no matter what you score I think you are amazing, we saw ........... Goodwill and the highest form of Sportsmanship we could ask to view displayed. What glorious winners you all are for competing in that fashion!
The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner
satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best. There was not one player who completed out the tournament that I did not see when they came out saying " Wow, I did my best , I wish I could of done better" That is victory at it's sweetest knowing you gave it all.
And me ............. I was just lucky enough to watch all of you and I made some pretty beautiful friends along the way such as you Dianne and I am truly blessed for it. So yes even the spectators won.......and I love that you posted this post helping others. It's just another form of goodwill and now people can clearly see why I call you the Grace Kelly of Golf.
Hugssssss,
~Bootsie~