Rally Killer Of The Year: "What is your favorite color?"
/There were so many fine candidates for the rally killer of the year, an award of no distinction given to some anonymous scribbler who witnessed a player in the midst of an interesting, thought-provoking answer and decided that there was no better time than that moment to blurt out a totally worthless question.
I narrowed the finalists down to a few of my favorites. The selection process was made difficult by these finalists. First, here was Tiger, revealing that he was joining the team flight to Ireland for a little pre-Ryder Cup practice.
Q. Are you going to the K Club?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I'm going. We're all going together. I had to reschedule a couple things.
Q. When are you coming back?
TIGER WOODS: Wednesday morning. I get back Wednesday morning here.
Q. What's the puppy's name?
TIGER WOODS: Yogi, like Yogi Bear. He looks more like Yogi Bear.
Q. What kind?
TIGER WOODS: It's a Labradoodle.
Back to golf (laughter).
Nice attempt to kill the rally, but ultimately not quite as serious a topic as this example of Fred Funk ending a great rant on the state of the game or this one of Geoff Ogilvy elaborating on the genius of Winged Foot:
The greens here are so well designed, you've just got to play the hole backwards before you start. You've got to know if you're going to miss the tee shots you're going to miss the shots because they're narrow, extremely narrow. So if you're going to miss it, you've got to miss it on the correct side so you can run it up near the green to a spot where you're going to have a chance of getting it up and down.
On a good golf course you have to think backwards like that. Augusta National you have to think backwards. I like a golf course that makes you think that way. St. Andrews makes you do that.
I enjoy that aspect of golf, you know, just really plotting my way around there and thinking about it.
Q. You're going to be the first Australian since '95 to win a major.
Yep, super, so glad we are on that subject than hearing more about that stuff about looking at the course backwards and thinking and...ugh.
Here's a David Toms rally kill that nearly took the crown. He's talking about the changes to Augusta and really letting loose. So what better time than now to interrupt him!
Q. So were guys right in saying it feels more like a U.S. Open, the guys that said that?
DAVID TOMS: Oh, sure, if you brought in the fairways another five yards on both sides and grew that rough up to where it was four inches, that's exactly what you would have. You'd have a Masters/Open because the corridors are getting awfully tight with all of the trees they are putting in. Who knows 20 years from now what it's going to look like with all of the new trees. And the greens are obviously, they can firm them up because of the sub-air system and they can make it play as difficult as they want.
Q. Just to change the subject, I'm doing a piece on hole-in-ones, and just kind of asking guys what their first hole in one is and their most memorable hole-in-one. I'm pretty sure I can guess your most memorable?
But for me, there was no better rally kill in 2006 than the day Michelle Wie was asked about her father as a caddy, leading to a surprisingly blunt answer from Wie.
Q: Your father is not your caddie anymore. Do you miss having him on the bag?
MICHELLE WIE: Honestly, not really. (laughter)
Q: What don't you miss?
MICHELLE WIE: Umm, well he is in the room. No, but it was fun when he caddied for me, but he is getting old. He cannot carry that big bag around. He wouldn't make it around. (laughter)
Q: What is your favorite color?
Yes, why use this opening to ask about dad and his weirdness when you can know her favorite color!