TUCSON, Ariz. -- Boo Weekley, who loves to hunt and fish, is just happy he never shot a crow growing up in rural Florida.
When Weekley was, in his words, a youngun (which is different from a young gun), he once boasted to his great granddaddy that he had shot a blackbird.
Great grandfather explained to Boo that if you shoot, and kill, one of gods creatures, you have to eat it. So he had to.
Blackbird Weekley said Thursday, is awful, dude. You ought to try eating that thing.
Which brings us back to crow. If Boo had ever plugged one, he would have.yes.had to eat crow.
And none of this would be the least bit relevant if Weekley hadnt bagged Sergio Garcia, 3 and 1, in the second round of the WGC Accenture World Match Play.
For his part, Garcia will be excused if hes feeling a little bit stalked, right about now, by Weekley. You see Garcia and Weekley were paired in the third round of the PGA Championship last August. Weekley sizzled to a 65. Garcia shot 74.
Problem was, Weekley added Garcias score incorrectly. Garcia didnt catch the mistake and he signed for 73. That got him disqualified. Weekley said he never was very good at math. Garcia didnt say much of anything.
The two found themselves in the same group again several weeks later on Thursday and Friday at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Weekley, who will never be confused with Archimedes, made mistakes on Garcias card both days. Fortunately for everybody concerned, PGA TOUR officials caught the errors before Garcia signed his card.
Man, thats water under the bridge, dude, Weekley said, when asked if the subject came up with Garcia Thursday.
Garcia had other worries. He needed two putters in his bag Wednesday to win his opener against John Senden. And when his lead was 2-up after 10 holes against Weekley, his decision to go with one putter in Round 2 looked like the right one.
Weekley responded with four birdies in the last six holes to close out Garcia. And quicker than you can say Robert Duvall, the countrified Weekley was lighting it up again for the appreciative boys in the pressroom.
Duvall is the underappreciated actor who famously delivered the line, I love the smell of napalm in the morning, in the movie, Apocalypse Now.
Asked to name his favorite sport, moments after advancing into Fridays round of 16, Weekley said, Id have to say hunting. I love the smell of that gunpowder burning. You just shoot and hear the noise.
The more you listen to Boo Weekley, the more you have to fight the urge to celebrate him as a caricature, forgetting his enormous ability to properly strike the ball.
Hes a very, very good golfer, Boo, said Colin Montgomerie, who also won his second match Thursday. Fantastic.
Then the voluble Montgomerie, also something of cartoon character on occasion, caught himself. I cant call him Boo. What is his name? It cant be Boo can it?
According to sources, its Thomas Brent Weekley. Now Montgomerie can sleep at night. Meanwhile, Monty predicted Weekley will make captain Paul Azingers American Ryder Cup team in September. Which means Boo will have to brush up on the nuances of match play.
On the first hole of his Wednesday victory over Germanys Martin Kaymer, Weekley didnt know he could concede a 1-footer. Kaymer gave him a funny look. Somebody finally clued Boo in on the protocol. And he apologized to Kaymer. I mean, after I told him, Hey, man. I didnt know the rule. He was OK with that.
Just about everybody, save the good folks whom advocate animals rights, are OK with Boo Weekley, the 44th ranked golfer in the world.
It aint about the killing, Boo tried to explain Thursday when the subject circled back to hunting. We aint going to kill nothing unless were going to eat it.
Boo Weekley learned that lesson the hard way.
Email your thoughts to Brian Hewitt
Related Links:
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up
