Woody Bails on The Open

Filed in archive Golf News on July 12, 2007

Courtesy: Gregory Shamus/AFP

Woody Austin doesn't often make headlines. But he is at the moment.

The 43 year old PGA player is ranked 70th in the world - pretty respectable. He has won once this season, has a runner-up finish and 2 top 10 finishes.

He's sitting on a bank roll of more than a million and a half dollars US so far this year.

He qualified for the The Open (or the British Open, if you prefer). And he elected not to go.

Austin told the media that ""I don't know how to play that type of golf. I would probably go and shoot two high numbers and make a fool of myself."

And now he's taking heat from overseas. A lot of golf fans in the UK and elsewhere are incensed that a guy who's a journeyman, by and large, has turned down an invitation to play at The Open merely because he's not familiar with links-golf.

The wrath of the public is descending on Austin and frankly, he couldn't care less. First of all, you can never control what other people say and think about you; that applies to all of us.

Second, Austin knows he's not a golfer who's going to win a major - he's a golfer who earns enough money each year to keep his playing card and live comfortably with money in the bank for retirement.

Third, he knows his game. And he realizes that Open conditions on a links course in Scotland would tear his game apart. Austin played in The Open once, at Royal Lytham, another links course and missed the cut. Perhaps it upset him deeply, I don't know.

Why, then, spend the money to fly over, stay in rented accommodations for a week or more trying to learn a game suited for links golf and then miss the cut?

Total cost upwards of 8 thousand U.S. And for what? To prove to himself that he can't play links golf?

Woody Austin graduated with a degree in business administration so, the dollars don't add up for him.

And that's fine. Everyone needs to give Austin a break for not going. His withdrawal allows Australian Richard Green to play and Green was dying to tee it up at Carnoustie.

There's a reason for everything.

However, Jack Nicklaus once had something to say about competing. Freddie Couples had said that he didn't mind finishing second or third or worse. Winning was nice, of course, but the money's pretty good for a top five finish, too.

Nicklaus said he NEVER played to finish anything but first. "That's why I play. To win."

Those who win want to win everywhere. In the US, in Europe, in Asia. Because they want to be the best everywhere. And Jack was the best; so were Arnie and Tom and many others in their day.

And so is Tiger. And Phil.

And that's why they play The Open. Because it's tough in a different way from a major in the US. And it's way tougher than a regular PGA Tour stop.

It's a test. They take the test willingly. They don't believe in limitations.