Sportsmanship Was Real Winner of the Wanamaker

Mickelson and Fowler Showed Real Class at the PGA Championship

What an amazing 97th PGA Championship, held this past weekend at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

Rory McIlroy’s third consecutive win (including a British Open title), Phil Mickelson’s resurgence, and a thrilling four-person battle for the Wanamaker Trophy were among the many titillating storylines, but who wasn’t moved by Mickelson and Rickie Fowler’s selfless acts of class and sportsmanship during the tournament’s waning moments?

I sure was.

This was a major, an electrifying, back-and-forth, edge-of-the-seat tournament that saw the leaderboard stacked with the game’s elite. Aggressive shotmaking was rewarded with oh-my-god eagles, birdies and par saves. Heroic recoveries became a dumbfounding standard.

I was in complete awe of Rory, Phil, Rickie and Henrik Stenson, all of whom mounted inspiring attacks to take or share the lead. There they raced and jousted, painstakingly slowed by muddy conditions, anxiously prodded by each others’ brilliant yet tenuous play, all pushed and threatened by accelerating levels of darkness and an 8:43 p.m. sunset.

By the time Mickelson and Fowler teed off at the 18th, the light was so poor that both depended on forecaddies to show where their drives had landed. Darkness was coming on fast. How would final-pair McIroy and Bernd Wiesberger, both hustling to the tee, ever finish?

McIroy asked for permission to tee off, and being good sportsmen, Mickelson and Fowler graciously stood aside, electing fair play over debatable strategy. And with that, the final two groups played the final hole as a juxtaposed foursome, with Phil and Rickie again standing aside greenside, allowing McIlroy and Wiesberger to make their respective approaches.

While TV commentators ascribed displeasure and annoyance to Phil’s and Rickie’s body language on the green, neither player forced the issue during the post-round interviews. They took the high road.

“It changes things a little bit,” Fowler said. “Obviously, there is no waiting. Phil and I waited on the tee for a good amount of time and had to hit tee shots. In a way, those guys never got out of rhythm as far as hitting the golf shots. I don't think it really changes it much.”

“They [Mickelson and Fowler] could have had us standing and wait on the 18th tee while it was getting dark,” acknowledged McIlroy, whose tournament-winning par putt found the cup at precisely 8:43 p.m. “It was great sportsmanship and shows the great character of those two guys… If they hadn’t done that, we might not have gotten it in. It was getting really dark out there.”

And people wonder why golf is such a great game.

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Chris Duthie is a contributor to Colorado AvidGolfer, the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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