Bubba In Paris: "All Watson’s done is tarnish his fun-loving image and drawn comparisons to the ‘ugly American tourist’ that we all thought we saw the back of decades ago."

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I was so excited when I turned on the Golf Channel Thursday and saw America's  best golfer teeing it up in Paris. I thought, wow, Bubba Watson's picking up a nice appearance fee, experiencing a different culture and scouting out the 2018 Ryder Cup venue. Not to mention, quieting Euro skeptics who say Americans don't travel.

You go Bubba!

Then I read Bernie McGuire's account of day one for Bubba in Paris and after a 74, well, it seems there won't be a return visit. And most likely, no return invite either.

But when politely asked for a post round comment all the World No. 12 could say was:  “I think this might be the only time I play in Europe.  I miss my home.

“I love France. France is a nice place. Paris is a beautiful city.  I went to the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre, somthing like that, and the arch way, and saw the castle that we are staying next to (Versailles Palace).”

Louvre, something like that.

And there was this....

Also Watson’s been ‘difficult’ all week by declining simple requests for interviews and even an approach from one of SKY’s more attractive female employees to film a head shot of him during the informality of Wednesday’s Pro-Am.

“See my manager,” was his only comment.

Also it’s believed Watson refused to share a courtesy car from his hotel to the course with a European Tour player and instead demanded his own courtesy car.

Oy. Bobby Joe Grooves is alive and well!

McGuire goes on to detail a list of other Bubba acts. Because, you know, it's tough to have to go to Paris in summer for $200k. Makes ya proud to be an American!

"Oh yeah, there were plenty of guys on the Nationwide Tour who smoked in the middle of the round...We always talked about it. You could go in the Porta John and take your drags."

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It's always fun to read a well done player profile, especially when the player is interesting and his story is bound to have men in Oxford's running around PGA Tour offices trying to figure out the spin.

So while all the stuff Dave Shedloski tells us about in the Robert Garrigus story--Memphis last year, the 2011 U.S. Open and his struggle with addiction--these are the comments bound to be brought up the next time Tim Finchem claims that PGA Tour pros are all angels and drug testing was unnecessary.

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"So in other words, this is probably not a video Hogan would have made."

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Sam Weinman explains the genesis of the train wreck spoof music video featuring America's brightest hopes--Mahan, Watson, Fowler, Crane--and of course, charity is at the heart of the campaign. If only America's up and comers put as much creative energy into their short game as they do their image enhancement efforts.
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Major International Scandal Will Make It Hard To Look At Ryo The Same Ever Again...

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Driving with an international driver's license that wasn't valid in Japan. I just want to know if this apology is enough for all the Ryo haters out there?

"I want to apologize to all the fans and sponsors who have supported me," Ishikawa said at Narita Airport. "There is no excuse for this."

The 19-year-old Ishikawa drove in Japan without knowing the international permit he received in the United States wasn't valid in Japan because his U.S. stay was not long enough. Ishikawa was questioned by local police over the driving license incident on Thursday.

 

“Ernie, sadly, never understood the whole picture."

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Barry Srvluga files a lengthy and excellent profile of Ernie Els, 1997 U.S. Open Champion at Congressional. Strong words from his former swing coach at the time:

Those accomplishments — or lack of them, in his view — define Els as a golfer. Among active players, only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won more majors. Even at 41, Els’s circumstances on the course seem no different: same relaxed demeanor, same languid swing, same abundant gifts. So it’s not just Els who wonders: Could more have been expected from someone who owns 39 worldwide victories?

“Ernie, sadly, never understood the whole picture,” said Robert Baker, Els’s swing coach when he won at Congressional. “I mean this with the greatest respect, because I love the guy, and I love Ernie Els’s game. But Ernie should have won a lot more majors. As a golfer, he’s had a great career. But did he capture his potential? Not even close.”

"The large crowd outside the church burst into applause as Ballesteros' ashes reached the tiny church, which was filled to its 400-person capacity."

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AP's Paul Logothetis reports on Seve Ballesteros' memorial service.

Ballesteros' oldest son, Javier, carried the urn holding the Spanish golf great's ashes at the front of the procession, with the wail of a single bagpipe punctuating the occasion on an overcast day in the tiny village off the Bay of Santander.

The procession also included several young boys and girls wearing a replica of the navy blue outfit that Ballesteros wore for his first British Open win in 1979. They each held a 3-iron, the first club he used as a child.

Members of a local men's rowing team marched with their oars.

The large crowd outside the church burst into applause as Ballesteros' ashes reached the tiny church, which was filled to its 400-person capacity. Locals, friends and others watched from one of the three giant screens set up outside.

An unbylined European Tour story included this:

The 2012 European Captain José Maria Olazábal, who with Seve formed the greatest partnership in Ryder Cup history, was joined by past Captains Sir Nick Faldo, Bernard Gallacher, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam. Miguel Angel Jiménez and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño were among the Spanish contingent with a host of European Tour players past and present who joined family and friends in Seve's hometown.

George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson and his predecessor Sir Michael Bonallack were among those paying their respects.

Getty Images has a library of shots from the service. Thanks to reader Tim for the link.

Tributes continue to come in (or I'm just now reading them), including this from Mitchell Platts:

I recall a breakfast with Seve at the Ritz in London when, with tears in his eyes, he spoke warmly of his parents – his father had now died - and three brothers. He said: “The biggest influence on my life was my parents and probably the surroundings because our house was right there on the golf course (Real Club de Golf de Pedreña). My uncle, Ramon Sota,  was also a professional golfer and he was very good.

“My father was always optimistic; he always believed in me. The house had belonged to my mother’s uncle. When we were growing up Baldomero, my eldest brother, had one bedroom, Manuel had another and I shared with Vicente. We were a happy family. We kept cows which my father looked after. He also fished, some for us to eat and some to sell, and he caddied. It seemed that he and my mother were always working.”

Later the tears turned to smiles when he recalled being drunk at the age of 12. He said: “I came home and my father and mother had gone fishing. My lunch had been left and there was a bottle of wine. I had four glasses. It did not go unnoticed when I returned to school; I was sent back home!”

Scott Michaux suggested this as a way to pay tribute to Seve…not that it'll happen, but it might be fun to do once a year.

If the game's leaders wanted to truly honor Seve's memory, they would figure out a way to restore the relevance of his style in an era before players carried five different wedges, several hybrids, long putters and balls designed to combat the elements of spin. It's probably too late to cap the bottle of technology, but maybe something as simple as reducing the number of clubs in the bag from 14 to 11 would require today's elite players to learn how to do more with less the way Ballesteros could.

Sally Jenkins wrote:

Ballesteros’s life ended where it began: in the Cantabrian hamlet of Pedrena, along the rock-edged, turquoise shores of the Bay of Santander, where he was raised.

“The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbor from the village,” his brother Baldomero said. “Seve is a country boy. We thought it was best.”

It’s a simpler and somewhat rougher part of Spain’s coast, not as traveled as the southern Mediterranean, but ancient and splendidly beautiful even so, wild with energy, and suggestive of just what an epic act of self-fashioning his career was. His essence, surely, is there.