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There is no other professional sport that demands as high a level of self-control as golf does.

And the professional golf tours act quickly and harshly if a player's behavior violates that code of self-control.

Of course, they're a little more lenient of you're a superstar player, like Tiger Woods for example. But when haven't there been two sets of standards in this world?

Football, a.k.a. soccer to the unwashed, comes close to professional golf in its demand that players adhere to a strict code of conduct.

But the footballer - or any other participant in a professional sport, for that matter - is not subject to the same pressures as a tour player.

Consider that the tour player works, actually works, for his or her money. Alone, with only a caddy for moral support, the player must hit different kinds and types of quality shots, one after the other, hole after hole, for four rounds (if he or she makes the cut) to earn money to cover expenses, pay the caddy and put food on the table back home.

That's pressure at one level. And it's constant, intruding into the player's mind as that golfer prepares for the next shot, trying to stay calm, focused and in control of mind and muscles. And that's pressure at another level: making the body do exactly what the mind wants it to do.

It's no wonder, then, that there aren't more outbursts of the kind English golfer Ian Poulter demonstrated at last week's Mercedes Benz championship on the Euro Tour.

Poulter slugged a tee marker after hitting a wayward shot and has been fined an undisclosed amount of money by the European Tour.

Poulter paid a fine last year, too, for "unbecoming behavior" - an amount he set himself - and it was the heftiest in the Tour's history: 5 thousand English pounds.

Who can blame golfers for this? Do we expect the same from NHL hockey players, NFL football players, even NBA stars? Nope, nope and nope. What about footballers? Not anymore.

But from the lone golfer, battling mind, body, wind, course, spectator distractions and whatever else is going on in the player's life, we expect serenity, dignity and good behavior.

And then we complain if they lack emotion in the winner's circle. We call them "colorless" and "bland".

Can't have it both ways, folks.