Chubby: "They don't get it, do they, the Americans?"

Talking to Tom English in Scotland on Sunday:

"They don't get it because they have everything in America, don't they? Everything over there is easy for them. There's a lot of cash to play for. They don't see any reason why they should play outside America. And then they'll whinge about the world rankings. It's a funny one. They're different to us. And yet a lot of our guys who go from here to there are not stimulated by playing in America every week, to go from Boston to New York to Chicago, it doesn't stimulate them. They'd rather be going from Jakarta to Seoul to Valencia, you know what I mean? That's just the way our guys are brought up. The Americans are brought up to think that America is it. They're conditioned to that mindset from a very young age.

"I saw the interview (with Bubba] and it was quite pathetic how he was. For a grown man to talk like that was quite pathetic. There's a lot of Bubba Watsons because a lot of them don't travel. You can't say that about Tiger. At least Tiger travels. And Phil (Mickelson] started about five years ago. Rory was in America last year and he felt the same way going from New York to Boston to Chicago. He found it hard work, but he didn't whinge about it. He's just not doing it any more. He didn't want to. There was no fun involved. Every week was the same. The Americans like that, though. It's just two different cultures. They think their tour is the be-all and end-all. They have no idea that in ten years' time Asia will be bigger than America."

There are also some interesting comments re: Rory and the Open. But first things first...doesn't he make a valid point that American golf is falling behind in part because our guys embrace a certain week-to-week consistency and comfort level that make them less well-rounded and softer than players traveling the world?

I know, how dare I as our nation celebrates its birth!