knows there’s a fine line between having a good week on the PGA TOUR and lifting a trophy.
All it takes is a made putt here or a lucky bounce there otherwise any player can be beatable in a sport where the talent level is deeper than the late Barry White’s voice. This bears repeating this week with Sabbatini returning to the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., to battle , Phil Mickelson and many other of the world’s top ranked players in the re-named Quail Hollow Championship. Sabbatini said the media twisted his words, but the meaning remained intact. “I wasn’t raised with the belief that you should be second best,” Sabbatini said. “I was raised with the belief that if you set your mind to it, you can do anything you want. I’m a competitor. I want to win. “I said, ‘I’ve seen Tiger play his best, and what I saw when he won at Wachovia is that he struggled that day. And the Tiger I saw play that day could be beaten.’ That became that I’m saying Tiger is beatable. That’s why I do this and I’m not a commentator or part of the media.” The biggest knock against golfers is too many of them act and sound alike. Then along comes a guy like Sabbatini, with his big belt buckles and even larger personality, and people don’t quite know what to make of it.
The 33-year-old South African has used this no-nonsense approach to win four titles during his decade on the PGA TOUR, earn almost $19 million and rise as high as No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking last year.