"In the age of blogging, Tweeting and podcasts, wearing microphones shouldn't be a big deal. I think it's worth a try."
/According to Sal Johnson in this uniquely conveyed disquisition, SI Golf Plus commissioned a counterpoint My Shot to Justin Rose's view that players should not wear wireless microphones. However, Ted Purdy's piece did not make the magazine and was buried at golf.com, but here it is and he clearly gets it:
It's too bad Tiger and I weren't miked when we played in the Western Junior Amateur semifinals years ago. I grew up playing with Tiger, and he can trash talk, believe me. He had a 2 1/2-footer for par on the 2nd hole that day, and I made him putt it. He holed it and said, "Purdy, why the hell didn't you give me that putt?" I said, "Did that piss you off?" He said, "Yeah, it kind of did." "Well," I said, "that's why I didn't give it to you." That would've been great TV. By the way, I was 5 up with five holes to play and barely won on the 18th.
When I was in college I followed Nick Faldo one Sunday when he was in contention at the Tucson Open. He was walking up the par-5 15th at Tucson National when I heard Nick and his caddie, Fanny Sunesson, talking about hummingbirds. Apparently Mr. Intense wasn't made of stone after all.
None of us Tour players are. You can't focus for six straight hours. Conversations are inevitable. In the age of blogging, Tweeting and podcasts, wearing microphones shouldn't be a big deal. I think it's worth a try.