How to lose gracefully

Golf Betting Lines

05/18/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - More than ever, a professional athlete's public personality is directly under his own control.

We do not get to choose, nor do we have the chance to ignore, those athletes we see on a regular basis on the television sets in our own homes or from the sidelines at the game.

Yet so many athletes choose to ignore these opportunities to display qualities that might make them more palatable -- tact, humility, grace -- in favor of disagreeable behavior that makes us roll our eyes, or worse, curse their names.

In the game of golf, there isn't much a player like Sergio Garcia could learn from James Driscoll.

Driscoll would be no help, for example, trying to teach Garcia how to drive the ball. No one in the world does that better than the Spaniard.

And it would be folly for Driscoll to attempt to teach Garcia how to win a tournament. He's never done that anywhere bigger than the Nationwide Tour.

What Driscoll could teach Garcia, however, is how to lose gracefully.

On Sunday, Driscoll, a no-name 31-year-old grinder from Brookline, Mass., came within one hole of winning the Texas Open, one of the oldest tournaments on the PGA Tour.

Firing a 62 in the final round, Driscoll came face-to-face with defending champion Zach Johnson in a playoff, losing on the first extra hole at La Cantera when Johnson rolled in a 10-footer for birdie.

Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, was among the biggest names in the field.

Driscoll, who hadn't made a cut in three months, was not.

Because he came from so far behind in the final round, Driscoll waited nearly two hours for Johnson to finish. It was an unfortunate variable not in his control.

The layoff didn't appear to make Driscoll rusty in the playoff -- he hit the fairway and green in regulation -- and he didn't use it to make excuses, though that opportunity certainly presented itself.

After all, Johnson's position as the third-round leader afforded him a spot in the final group, which allowed him to tap in for a closing par and head directly back to the 18th tee.

Driscoll had been loitering for the same amount of time it takes to play six or seven holes.

"That didn't really affect me," Driscoll said in a post-round interview. "I spent like a half-hour on the range just staying loose. So it's definitely nice to finish off your round, sign your card and go back out, kind of like playing just a 19th hole, you know. But I felt fine.

"On that tee shot I felt fine, and I did not feel like it affected me at all."

On the loss, Driscoll said: "When you're that close, it's hard not to feel a little disappointed. But [Johnson] birdied the first playoff hole. He deserves it."

You'll rarely hear Garcia offering the same sentiments.

In 2007, after Garcia lost a thrilling playoff to Padraig Harrington at the 2007 British Open, with both Europeans chasing their first major championship, the temperamental Spaniard found every matter of excuse for his misfortune.

The Carnoustie grounds crew that delayed his approach to No. 18 "seemed to take a long time to rake two bunkers," Garcia lamented.

Talk about variables not in his control.

And the ball that looked like it was going in, only to hit the flag stick and carom away?

"You know what's the saddest thing about it?" Garcia asked. "It's not the first time. It's not the first time, unfortunately. I don't know. I'm playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field."

Garcia couldn't keep his mouth shut at this year's Masters, either. Stopped by the Golf Channel after he closed with a 74 in the final round to finish 13 shots back, he let loose on Augusta National.

"I don't like it, to tell you the truth. I don't think it's fair, and it's just too tricky," said Garcia. "Even when it's dry, you still get mud balls in the middle of the fairway. It's just too much of a guessing game."

He was asked what he would like to see changed.

"I don't care. They can do whatever they want," Garcia responded. "It's not my problem. I just come here and play, and then go home."

Garcia later apologized for the comments, but the damage was done.

Is it unfair to compare Driscoll's situation -- chasing a win at the Texas Open -- with Garcia's? No, because both players were chasing firsts: Driscoll his first PGA Tour win and Garcia his first major championship.

Garcia isn't the only professional athlete who lacks the discipline to think before he speaks. And it might not be fair to single him out. But public outbursts have open consequences.

Somebody get him a Brookline phone book.

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