Thank you, Chris DiMarco
I was at a bar on Saturday night, talking to one of my buddies. He asked me who I thought would win the British Open. I said, "If you take Tiger out of the equation, then I think Chris Dimarco will win. He's playing well and he has the most guts of anyone chasing Tiger." Sergio has never shown up on a major Sunday (other than his coming out party at the '99 PGA at Medinah), and Ernie Els played so poorly with his wedges on Saturday, that it did not look good for him. Furyk and Cabrera would have to go low, but I doubted they would.
My friend wasn't satisfied with my response -- I had to pick one. I did. I said Tiger's my pick (I'm not stupid), but if there's one guy who can challenge him, it's DiMarco.
Well, sure enough, that's exactly how things panned out. When DiMarco hit his bomb of a birdie on 14, he closed the gap to 1 behind Tiger. For all of the firepower on the leaderboard (Els, Garcia, Furyk, Cabrera, Scott), only Chris DiMarco -- the guy who's been injured, hasn't played well this year, and who lost his mother two weeks ago -- put any pressure on Tiger. But I can't take too much credit for my prediction because we've seen this before from Chris DiMarco at the 2005 Masters. And we've seen his gutsiness and mental fortitude at the Ryder Cup. Chris DiMarco does not back down, not even to Tiger. Yesterday was a testament to DiMarco's mental toughness. (If only DiMarco could erase that triple bogey on 7 from the first round.)
Thank heavens that the second place finish pulled DiMarco up into the Top 10 for the Ryder Cup. The U.S. team will need him, sorely.
4 Comments:
There's no way Tom Lehman can afford not to have DiMarco on his Ryder Cup team. I've never been a big fan of DiMarco, but I'll give him credit. The guy has heart and he has guts, and those things can go a long way in golf...particularly in the Ryder Cup (look at the European teams that have succeeded on heart in recent matches). If DiMarco isn't in the top 10, Tom Lehman should be immediately removed from his captaincy if he fails to make DiMarco a captain's pick.
The only others to consider are Fred Couples and Davis Love III. I hate to say this because DL3 was always my favorite player, but he would be a mistake as a captain's pick. Unfortunately, his career definitely seems to be on its downswing, and his play in the majors this year has been very poor.
I think that Lehman is going to have a tough time making his picks because there aren't too many American players playing well right now that aren't already in the top 10. So maybe it will be Couples and Love, but if it is, I think the USA is in for another disappointing Ryder Cup loss at the K Club in September.
I would like to see Chris DeMarco make the Ryder Cup team. He definitely earned a Captain's choice consideration.
Whatever, he's a total Floridiot tool. I rather like our chances with a whole new crop - I mean just how well have we done in the Ryder Cup lately? Hmmm?
Well Written on DiMarco. I'm a huge DiMarco fan after his play in the majors after the last few years.
I thought he was a punk for the first few times I saw him in contention. However, when I saw him in the PGA a few years back and then the Masters last year, I have become "The Chris DiMarco fan". As a Georgia grad and an Alabama roll tide fan at heart, I guess the Florida Gator thing put me off at first.
But there is not a more gutsy player in golf.
The Ryder Cup question I have is
Woods -DiMarco team? The obviously play well together and fuel each other.
DiMarco -Phil seems to work and give Phil some intensity.
But do you put Woods and Dimarco together hoping it will trickle down energy.
Toms and Mickelson seem to play well together, but will Toms be ready or can he even go.
I say take Freddy, but leave Davis at home. I'm not sure who the other captain's pick would be though.
Heck maybe somebody like Corey Pavin gets going after his win today and that little guy can bring some fire.
Just don't give us a Chris Riley too tired to play guy.
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