thank goodness simonn is here to defend the poor, defenseless professional golfers

and I don't think anyone is saying that making a critical putt is easy

just that neither are clutch free throws or field goals or base hits

[Edited on April 14, 2014 at 7:31 PM. Reason : .]

4/14/2014 7:28:42 PM

never change. just do you.

4/14/2014 7:31:01 PM

While I won't claim pro golfers don't face pressure, I think its decidedly different from any team sport.

Goaltender in hockey, bad game in a must win situation, you're letting down 19 other guys on the bench. A closer with only a one run lead, youve got 20 guys... Quarterback, you're letting down a slew of guys (but one might argue about how many you are actually close with, compared to other sports with smaller team sizes).

For me, personally, the fear of failing my teammates is worse than failing myself (and I guess my caddy)

4/14/2014 8:29:18 PM

Quote :

"by your own argument, saying that teammates can make up for your mistakes in team sports...a golfer can benefit from another golfer fucking up either way, you're depending on other people"

But the golfer still has to make the play himself too. In a sport like basketball you can be shooting terrible, have the other team turn it over, and then pass the ball to someone else to make a play since you are sucking on that day. Watson won because he continued to play well under pressure and didn't bogey a lot of holes down the stretch while some of the other guys did yesterday.

4/14/2014 9:28:06 PM

Quote :

"current PGA money list: #5 Jordan Speith 0 wins. $2.6 million winnings. yep. he ain't making no money."

One year later bttt. Jordan Speith had ice in his veins this weekend. I can only imagine the weight that came off of his shoulders after he made that last putt to win it. He probably felt like he was floating in outer space.

4/12/2015 10:55:40 PM

Quote :

"2. Major league baseball player at bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, down by 1 run, game 7 of World Series, tying run on second"

Carlos Beltran (well, that was the NLCS, but similar)

4/12/2015 11:44:19 PM

I think I'd have to go with a racecar driver. Few other sports come with the risk of losing their life when the pressure is at its greatest.

4/13/2015 12:03:08 AM

I don't think most of them are thinking about that during the race. A baseball can kill you, too. Or a head-to-head collision in soccer.

4/13/2015 12:28:49 AM

Referee if you want to be honest.

4/13/2015 9:05:42 AM

^^^^ or the pitcher with the lead

4/13/2015 9:44:22 AM

Something World Cup/Olympics based. Comes around once every 4 years, might only get one shot at it. Not really counting some of the extreme sports where if you mess up you die.

4/13/2015 10:47:19 AM

Formula 1 is stressful even without the danger of dying,

4/13/2015 10:50:04 AM

Actually if you ask most of the European racers the racing on ovals scares them initially. Most F1 road courses have been completely neutered for the danger factor. Some knowledgeable F1 fans if you talk to them will tell you of the idea of "track limits" with modern circuits. With so much runoff after a corner or where there is no negative effect if you run a little wide (no wall, no sand, etc.), a guy can go in harder and if he can't make the corner, it doesn't matter, there's nothing ill-affecting beyond the track at that point, he's maybe lost a tenth of a second.

Then you take these guys and you put them on an oval in an open-wheel car (an open-wheel car is more intense than a stock car - you're going much faster and the stock cars are built like tanks in comparison), if you screw up once you're most likely in the wall, and the wall is right there next to you. There's no room for mistake.

It's kind of a thing where a lot of them when they come over and see "all you have to do is turn left" think "how hard can it be?" Then they do their first practice session get out of the car and say "how can it be so hard?" (Once you adapt to ovals though you know what you're doing. It's easier to transfer a road racer to ovals than an oval racer to road courses.)

4/13/2015 11:59:58 AM

While being a referee would be stressful at times, there always seems to be a committee/organization that's got your back no matter what. Karl Hess fucked up for years before he got fired.

4/13/2015 12:12:11 PM

^ I refereed two youth rugby games this past weekend and I'm brand new at it, it's why I thought about it. Referee is the epitome of thankless job. If you're great at it, no one cares. If you screw up, you get gallons of venom spewed at you. You have none of the upside of the athlete and all of the downside.

4/13/2015 12:17:29 PM

I cant believe anyone would say anythimg besides quarterback.

Especially considering you live in nc and have seen it first hand With the panthers and wolfpack. Hell, people were even on rw ass after that one vt game

4/13/2015 12:37:31 PM

I'm gonna go with race car driver. I was gonna say F1 driver #1, but Flyin Ryan makes a good point about the safety features these days. So I'm going to say WRC driver first, F1 driver second. If you fuck up in Rally racing you're going off a cliff, or into a tree, or a river, etc.

4/13/2015 12:43:52 PM

^ Yeah, rally's a good shout.

4/13/2015 1:46:20 PM

^^^Yeah, but if you throw an incomplete pass on first down in the first quarter, you then get a second chance to try to at least make a first down. You might even hand the ball off to the RB on second down resulting in some of the attention being drawn away from you. The kiccker actually has more pressure on him because he doesn't get a second chance to kick the extra point, or game winning field goal unless there is a penalty on the other team.

4/13/2015 7:45:28 PM

Kicking a penalty in sudden death for a World Cup Finale - especially if the opposing side is one-up. Miss, and your team and, other than the USA, country are likely to consider you a pariah at best, a legitimate target at worst.

4/13/2015 9:22:36 PM

The answer is simple . Lebron James before winning a ring.

I never seen that level of scrunity in my life. Even tho he did bring a lot on himself.

4/13/2015 10:41:47 PM

Who says he felt as much pressure as you're implying? The scrutiny was definitely there, but who is to say he didn't care about that as much as you think?

4/13/2015 10:51:28 PM

He doesn't care now. But you could tell it was affecting his game play. I thought him going to the heat was him taking the pressure off him. Even tho that didn't happen. Every year the heat was harped upon. Imagined if they didn't beat the thunder in the finals that one year and Kevin Durante got a ring....sweet Jesus.

4/13/2015 11:01:25 PM

does nc state fan qualify as a sports position?


Cause that's some pressure packed vice grip shit right there.

4/14/2015 5:00:17 PM

relief pitcher would be a lot of pressure. bottom of the 9th, game 7 of the world series and you've gotta come in and get a save with the opponents top of their lineup. they start getting hits and stacking the bases...

if you save, you've done your job but the rest of the team really gets the glory. if you allow a run, everyone hates you.

4/14/2015 5:10:21 PM

Quote :

"If you're great at it, no one cares. If you screw up, you get gallons of venom spewed at you."

Even when you do a good job, half of the fans are pissed at you for something. Reffing or umpiring a youth sport is the absolute worst because no parent thinks their kid can do any wrong.

4/14/2015 7:17:35 PM

^^Yeah closers always have a lot of pressure on them because they are usually trying to win a close game for their team. The starter has a little room to screw up early.

4/14/2015 11:18:07 PM

if we're talking solely based on amount of pressure and nothing else shouldn't nfl kicker be considered strongly?

4/15/2015 1:31:05 PM

With all of the big bouts going on in combat sports right now I guess you could add being an underdog and knowing you will probably get your face bashed in and lose. You could also make an argument for the favorite who will lost some of his marketable ability if he loses.

4/26/2015 9:52:40 PM

Looks like a pitcher in college!

6/1/2015 11:16:01 PM

More like catcher and infielders

6/1/2015 11:42:56 PM

^True

6/2/2015 12:07:05 AM

Well the end of the 2015 US Open golf tournament proves my point again.

6/24/2015 12:45:46 PM

Keeper and a golfer in the final 3 holes of a tourney

6/24/2015 6:02:26 PM

^^yeah not really

6/25/2015 10:51:23 AM

^They really should have had to play an extra round on Monday. That last birdie putt should have went in. Plus the higher up the standings you finish, the bigger the pay out. You can lose thousands and even millions when you miss the cut by one stroke.

6/25/2015 11:40:15 AM

Whoa, wait up a second.

You're saying golfers who place high and even win tournaments, make more money than those who miss the cut?

That is absolutely fucking incredible. How did you figure that out? Does anyone else know - should we contact the PGA or CNN or who? We have to get the word out about this travesty. #progolfpaydaysmatter

6/25/2015 1:55:59 PM

^I would rather be one of the top paid baseball players with a multi year contract swinging a bat than a pro golfer. At least the baseball player can suck for multiple games and still collect his money.

6/25/2015 3:23:00 PM

those guys with the brooms in curling.

6/25/2015 3:45:12 PM