At the 2nd green, before the players dare take a putt, they stoop to peer at the line of their shot, walk over to tamp down the grass between the ball and the hole, circle around to the other side of the hole to look from there, squat, stand up, squat again. In the inverse of what happens in just about every other sport, the silence builds as the player reaches his crucial moment. The talk in the gallery between shots settles into whispers and then nothing at all, until all you can hear is the trilling of a bird somewhere. Golf, like baseball, seems a game mostly of failure. Which may account for why golf fans, while they have their favorite players, root generally for success.
Any good shot wins appreciation.
Like Augusta National itself. Sen. Daschle takes on Bush's declaration in favor of antimissile development. By Stephen Moore. By Michael Ledeen . By Neil Seeman.