At some point, an American golfer needs to stand up, put his foot down and proclaim that enough is enough.<\/p>\n
Right now, American golf is like Rocky Balboa after Round 1 against Ivan Drago \u2013 we\u2019re cut, bloodied and staggering. There are people looking on, murmuring, hoping we\u2019ll throw in the towel before this thing goes on any longer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Look at the hard-to-hide-from facts:<\/p>\n
~ The top three spots in the Official World Golf Rankings belong to players who don\u2019t claim the Red White and Blue as their home nation.<\/p>\n
~ The Europeans own the Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
~ Americans currently hold none of the four major titles (Charles Schwarzel and Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa boys) Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) and Martin Kaymer (Germany) have them all.<\/p>\n
~ McDowell, the defending U.S Open Champion is the first European winner of the event in nearly four decades. His win almost marking the European resurgence.<\/p>\n
We could go on, but the lasting image you\u2019ll take is that American golf needs to make a statement. It needs to fire back with some vicious right and left hooks of its own. It needs to take back what\u2019s ours.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no better place to do it than at Congressional Country Club next week, either. The course is 7,500+ yards of nasty and it\u2019s located just outside our country\u2019s National Capital. If ever there were a tournament begging for an \u201cAmerican Moment\u201d this is it.<\/p>\n
There are so many capable faces in the American golfing crowd too.<\/p>\n
~ Imagine if Dustin Johnson hadn\u2019t imploded during the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open and realized he was standing in a bunker (sort of) on the final hole at the PGA Championship \u2013 Americans might own two of the four majors. Maybe this is the week he avenges those near misses.<\/p>\n
~ What about Rickie Fowler? He\u2019s young, but he\u2019s anything but lacking for gonads. When he erased Edoardo Molinari\u2019s three-up with three holes to go lead at last year\u2019s Ryder Cup he gained a new level of respect. Can his fearless game take it to the next level?<\/p>\n
~ Or Bubba Watson, a guy with flair, swagger and nerves all knitted together. That long, left-handed swing can driver the ball past most players in next week\u2019s field. He has he kind of game that can win a U.S. Open. But, will he step up?<\/p>\n
~ There are others too \u2013 Can Steve Stricker build on his win at The Memorial? Will Ricky Barnes ever put it together for four whole rounds at a major? Hunter Mahan \u2013 let\u2019s make it happen in a big one.<\/p>\n
~ Oh, there\u2019s Phil Mickelson, too. It\u2019s odd to think of Mickelson as the old guard these days, but in many ways that\u2019s what he\u2019s become. If you want the movie script ending next week, you root for Phil to win with a birdie on 18. Mickelson is forever a fan favorite no matter what country he walks the fairways, but the roars are never louder than when he\u2019s on U.S. soil. He\u2019s never won the U.S Open and his prime opportunities are dwindling.<\/p>\n
These are great players with promise, but collectively, they\u2019ve been pushed to the corner a bit. If ever there were a moment for them to take a swing back; to fire a blow that reminded everyone how great they (we) can be; to put a collective foot down and announce that enough is enough….this is it.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At some point, an American golfer needs to stand up, put his foot down and proclaim that enough is enough. Right now, American golf is like Rocky Balboa after Round 1 against Ivan Drago \u2013 we\u2019re cut, bloodied and staggering. There are people looking on, murmuring, hoping we\u2019ll throw in the towel before this thing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-mouth"],"yoast_head":"\n