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The 2013 PGA Tour was supposed to start last Friday at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Maui. Instead, good ol' Mother Nature put a big kabosh on the whole affair to the tune of 50 MPH wind gusts and heavy rain. Golf fans were left with nothing more than boring NFL Playoff and college football bowl games to watch. Yuck.
Hyundai TOC continues... er... begins on Monday - Due to multiple rain-outs over the last three days at Kapalua, tournament officials have decided to jam 54 holes into the next two days: 36 holes Monday, 18 on Tuesday. Frankly, I have no idea why anyone would want to play golf in Hawaii in the first place, what with its horrendous weather, pointy palm trees and debilitating sunburns. Have you seen the hills on Kapalua's Plantation Course? You would half expect a hobbit to throw the One True Ring off the cliffs by no. 11's tee box.
While the sun was shining on Sunday morning, players were still subjected to gale-force winds that abused golf balls both in the air and on the putting surface. Poor Ben Curtis watched his 40-foot birdie putt get blown off the green, leading to a 4-putt triple bogey. Scott Stallings watched his three-foot par putt trickle away to become a 10-footer in a matter of seconds. And Ian Poulter? Well...
Ian Poulter and Johnny Miller are best friends - Typical to their respective reputations, commentator Johnny Miller and professional blow-hard Ian Poulter kept things interesting following Sunday's round cancellation. The show started when Poulter took an abnormally long time to straddle his birdie putt on the second hole in the midst of especially annoying wind gusts, prompting Miller to poke fun at Poulter's expense.
"You just can‘t stay over the putt that long, you got to get in there, line it up and hit it," Miller said as Poulter danced his way around the putt. "He surely doesn't have the Tom Watson attitude so far, he's afraid he's going to hurt himself and that would probably set the game back 20 years."
After Poulter backed away for the third time (on television, at least), Miller went on, "He's just taking way too much time," Miller stressed. "He's being fairly dramatic here."
WELP. Luckily for us, Poulter has a Twitter account and he's not afraid to use it!
Johnny miller why don't you come interview me live and say that stuff straight to my face...... Was you watching a different channel.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 6, 2013
So let me get this straight; Poulter is pissed and is asking Miller to say something "to his face" by posting the challenge on Twitter as opposed to... talking to Miller face-to-face? I sure hope Ian found a way to chill out.
Taking a full chill pill now like my daughter would say. Going for a massage in paradise. It's been lively on here the last couple of hours.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) January 7, 2013
Oh thank goodness! Not only did Poulter take some time to cool off, but he also managed to throw in a classic humble-brag in the process. Poulter has had a rough week. Take some time for yourself, Ian. You deserve it!