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He inspires his team, crowd and, oh, plays pretty good golf, too
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Monday, Sep 22, 2008
LOUISVILLE, KY.: Kentucky's governor has offered to adopt him. Fans didn't dare take their eyes off him.
Teammates relished every moment they spent with him.
Irreverent and fun-loving Boo Weekley, 35, from the Florida Panhandle, who once boxed an orangutan and got knocked out cold, was the perfect catalyst for a U.S. Ryder Cup team that had been beaten down by five losses to the Europeans in the past six competitions.
Playing his way onto the squad and one of six Cup rookies, Weekley probably earned captain's pick status for life after the Americans claimed a 161/2-111/2 victory Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club.
Weekley went 2-0-1 over three days and earned 21/2 points, matched by five other teammates and bested only by Hunter Mahan's 31/2 points.
After he defeated Owen Wilson 4 and 2 in singles, Weekley didn't disappoint. He told NBC's Roger Maltbie, ''I feel like a dog somebody done stuck a needle to. I feel like a greyhound who's been around the racetrack chasing one of those bunnies.''
Asked hours later after he had been around the track and caught the rabbit, what did it taste like, Weekley dead-panned: ''Chicken.''
His levity energized the gallery — now known as ''Boo Birds'' — and his teammates. After his tee shot Sunday on No. 1, Weekley galloped like a horse down the first fairway, a bit from the movie Happy Gilmore. He did it again in the victory celebration, romping on a practice green.
''Going out, I'm always nervous on the first hole,'' Weekley said. ''But I felt like I had to do it to loosen it up a little bit. It's just my nature to be a little goofy anyway.''
American captain Paul Azinger was still laughing hours later.
''That's one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life,'' he said. ''The whole place just cracked up and embraced that guy, embraced him all day.
''It was an amazing moment, never to be duplicated or equaled, I don't think.''
Weekley has won twice on the PGA Tour, in the 2007 and '08 Verizon Heritage, and earned one of the eight automatic berths on the American Ryder Cup team. But he didn't seem to care whether he played. He thought his place was to inspire the crowd and his team.
''I thought that's why I made the team,'' he said. ''Granted, I played well enough to get on the team, but at the same time, I told Paul if he needs to sit me, sit me. I'm their biggest cheerleader.''
Europe's Lee Westwood criticized Weekley on Friday for exhorting fans while he still had to putt out. Weekley toned it down Saturday. One person dressed in a ghost costume got Westwood back Sunday.
''The ghost jumped out at me between 5 and 6 and went, 'Boooooo,' right like that to my face,'' Westwood said. ''He was the one who got ejected, but he was the one who made me laugh. All of the abuse I got was fairly nasty and that was pretty shameful. I must be taking on the Monty [Colin Montgomerie] role.''
Likely unaware that some were too fervent, Weekley credited the gallery for inspiring him.
''I reckon being in the South, it's just part of me and it's part of who I am,'' Weekley said. ''Them hollering and hooting your name, it's unreal. It's been just unbelievable, the support that the fans gave us, and I think it took my game to the next level.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
LOUISVILLE, KY.: Kentucky's governor has offered to adopt him. Fans didn't dare take their eyes off him.
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