Major props to The Big Easy

The British Open, golf's oldest major championship was held on Sunday.  Now to be honest, I actually don't know if it is golf's oldest major championship but I know that it sounds really cool to say so I'm just going to go with it.  Chances are, you didn't see it because A) The time difference between here and there made it difficult to catch all of the action or B) You just didn't give a shit.  Either way, you missed a pretty exciting golf tournament. (Okay, exciting may be a bit strong.  But it certainly held my attention.)

One of the big story lines in this tournament was that Australia's Adam Scott (not that his nationality matters) held a huge lead going into the final four holes.  Then things went a tad bit awry and he ended up losing the tournament.  (Bummer, right?)

Now normally, in true masochistic golfer fashion, I would have expressed how much I empathized with this guy.  I would have said that I know how it feels to have a good thing going on the golf course and then just have it all fall apart on you.  I would have offered words of encouragement and all that type of crap.

But this time is different.  This time, I choose to celebrate the victory of Ernie Els a.k.a "The Big Easy."  This time I would like praise the 42 year-old South African for his amazing accomplishment. Not only did he overcome the obstacles of being 42 years old and South African, but he also had to overcome a 6 shot deficit.  The result: his second British Open Championship.

Just to give you a little background, Ernie Els has been notorious for his superhuman calmness and cool demeanor when he's on the course.  I mean, he's a freak of nature.  He doesn't show emotion.  Ever.  And if he does it's extremely rare.  At the same time, he is also known for having a smooth, easy-flowing swing. Plus, he's about 6'3" tall.  Add it all together and you get the nickname The Big Easy. (Or Le Facile Grande for you Francophiles.)

He has always been a fierce competitor but he has always kept his cool.  If you just saw a brief clip of him playing in a tournament, you wouldn't know if he was winning by 5 strokes or down by 10.  He's just that cool.  I guess what I'm really saying is, "Sasquatch takes picture of him."

In the end, I guess the life lesson here is never count yourself out, keep fighting the good fight, don't stop believing, and most importantly, never let 'em see you sweat.