Weekend
Wa r r ior
Hunter Mahan
birdies 16.
Callaway’s ‘Hot’ Diablos ( 5)
Ai Miyazato’s Asian Double ( 13)
Hunter Mahan, the son of a former
undercover Southern California cop,
spends his spare time restoring older
model cars. Late Sunday afternoon at
a party called the Waste Management
Phoenix Open, Mahan restored his place
among the best players in the world
under the age of 30 with his first U.S.
win since 2007. For that matter, the
27-year-old Mahan tore around TPC
Scottsdale on the weekend in a bogey-free 65-65. That’s 12-under par and it
was good enough to hold off an even
younger gun, Rickie Fowler, by one shot.
Fowler is a 21-year-old with a
dreamy game and a creamsicle wardrobe. His time will come. And if his cold
confidence and the dispatch with which
he plays are any indication, that time
will come sooner rather than later.
Neither Fowler nor the shades-wearing Mahan give you the impression
they aren’t having fun playing golf for
a living no matter how serious they
may look on the course at times. And
that attitude fits perfectly at this event
where booze and boos and testosterone
and collagen and leather and anything
made by a designer define the look and
the sound and the smell of the week.
The golf world may still be suffering from a Tiger Woods hangover. But
Sunday in Arizona was a celebration of
talent, youth and a game that too often
gets banged on for being too stodgy.
