Lorena Ochoa does it again. She is absolutely bombing those girls. Four straight wins. The ladies can't duck to get out of the way of her fastball. She simply is playing a game with which few of them are familiar.Or on the men's side, Boo does Hilton Head? That's Boo Weekley from Milton, Fla.Just for you folks who don't have a clue where Milton is. It's a little town -- don't blink -- nestled in Florida's panhandle, and not exactly the hotbed of what one would think of as a major area to develop young talent.There are two other competitive players on the tour from Milton: Bubba Watson and Heath Slocum. So much for the Leadbetter Academy for your child. Maybe the local head pro will do just fine for your young one.Boo hits it rock solid every time, it seems.Ochoa is very simple, Mexican born and raised (not exactly a hotbed, either).However, I will share a little secret with you.Her coach, Rafael Alarcon, played at Oklahoma State at the same time I was in school. His teammates included Willie Wood and Bob Tway. He was an extremely fine college player who played with great passion.It seems he went home and passed along lessons learned. Golf does that; it passes information and learned attributes from generation to generation. It passes those hard-learned lessons to those who truly care to listen. It is clear Ochoa has hung on Alarcon's every word.These two fun and talented players have clearly come from vastly different places. Both will win again. Both will entertain us, and for different reasons.Isn't golf's diversity today really neat to watch? The day of the silver spoon, country club kid is over. The next star could come from almost anywhere, and will.And don't forget what we witnessed in Augusta, Ga. -- a wonderful performance by a young man from Cape Town, South Africa.All Trevor Immelman did was hold off Tiger Woods on a windy Masters Sunday in April. Now granted, Tiger helped out a bit by putting like me, but nonetheless, Trevor hit his share of wonderful golf shots in some pressure-packed situations.This young man possesses, in my humble opinion, one of the truly great swing motions of this generation.This win under that pressure may have pushed him over the edge into the land of positive.His putting in the past has been criticized, but that little gem he holed for par on No. 11 on Sunday was the stuff that vaults one's confidence, and therefore carries one into orbit. We will see.When I came to Naples, Fla. in 2001, one of the very first professionals who without cause reached out and said welcome (not many did), was a fellow named Adam Bazalgette.That might not seem all that unusual. Except for the fact that Adam was at the time the lead instructor for the David Leadbetter Academy.You see, we both only teach for a living. In other words, we were then, and are now, direct competitors for students. He not only said a warm welcome but also sincerely offered any help he could provide.This year, he continued to offer help whenever needed, some seven years later. On top of all that, he is a wonderfully talented teacher of this game.Adam exemplifies what golf was and hopefully will continue to be, a gentleman's game. He is a giver and a sincere believer in all that is good in golf.He is a gem within the treasures of the golf world.Well, today's theme is simple, if you've missed it.The Boos, the Lorenas, the Trevors and the Adams of this golf world all are different in their gifts to this game. All serve different purposes and give different values back.But each is vital to the legacy of golf, not only today. Their value is, in fact, huge forever everywhere, because their lessons, values and devotion will be passed on to future generations. They are what makes golf a bit special, and a bit different.(Tom Patri is a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher. Visit Patri's Web site at www.tompatri.com or e-mail him at tpatri@mindspring.com.)(Golf World is a feature of the Naples Daily News in Florida at naplesdailynews.com.)
Post new comment