"I know that Sabbatini has had run ins with Tiger and has been considered a bit of a wild thing, but this incident showed him in a different light."
/I know there is great humor to be found in Tiger's little driver flip. Reader dsl wins the award, in fact: "Stevie would like to announce that he noticed Tiger's grips were worn before the round. In retrospect, he could have put some stick 'um on there."
Nothing like a Caddyshack reference to lighten the mood.
But what baffled me about the Tiger incident was his lack of concern for the gallery, something he typically is quite adept at when one of his drives sails into the gallery. And baseball players routinely offer consolation prizes when a bat slips and most tour pros sign a ball or give a glove to the impacted fans. Shoot, even Rory Sabbatini knows to do that, as reader Patrick noted in this email:
As a contrast to Tiger's lack of concern as to whether his flying driver hurt anyone, I was at the Hong Kong Open on Saturday at the 13th green. The pin was cut right side tucked in behind a bunker and spectators were fairly close to the edge of the green. We were waiting for the approach shots of Phadungsil and Sabbatini when there was a loud thud and a man standing a few feet away went down. One of the pair had missed right and hit this guy on the fly. He was shaken but not hurt.
When the golfers approached the green, it turned out to be Sabbatini who had mishit. When he realized what had happened, he immediately came over to make sure the man was OK, and then thanked him for helping him, Rory, out because th ball had bounced to the edge of the green. Rory went back to his bag and got a ball and presented it to the man, thanking him again expressing his relief that the guy was OK.
I was very impressed, I thought Rory handled it in a classy and genuinely concerned manner, a very distinct contrast to Tiger's unconcern. I know that Sabbatini has had run ins with Tiger and has been considered a bit of a wild thing, but this incident showed him in a different light.
