Bangkok Al is batting .500 this week, which will get him into the Major League Baseball hall of fame. He is on the mark with his assessment of Thongchai Jaidee, but DEAD WRONG on his vilification of The International, my favorite go-for-broke PGA Tour event on the schedule.

In what other tournament can one swing on the seventeenth or eighteenth holes determine the outcome, as it can in The International? Remember how Rich Beem looked as Steve Lowery was sizing up a two-point birdie putt to overtake Beem? That was awesome emotion, Al!

In the same way, match play forces players to attempt incredible shots to win holes, whereas in stroke play safety is the play. Watching the final of the US Amateur last year was more intense than most tour events. Edoardo Molinari’s fearlessness carried the day against Dillon Dougherty’s safe play. Every now and again, you get a Clarke versus Woods match play final, but regardless of the finalists, the whole event is spellbinding. Plus, you can have an office pool!

In a pinch, I’ll take a pro-am, too. It’s great to see bad swings get good results. Samuel L. Jackson, Roger Clemens, Matt McGonaghuagheya (or however you spell his name), Justin Timberlake–they all use OUR swings. Their competitive natures enable them to turn OK swings into good results, a lesson we can all take home. And who among us dislikes Bill Murray dancing some wealthy old marm into a bunker?

So Al, you watch all the GHOs and GGOs and BCOs and BOs and LAOs that you want. Keep drooling uncontrollably over threesome after threesome after threesome. I much prefer the unexpected, the exciting, and I believe that the majority of our readers are with me! What say you, TravelGolf Blog faithful?

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