Dear Phil...

Dear Phil,

You don't know me, but I've been one of your fans for 22 years.  I started following you in January of 1991 when you won a PGA Tour event as an amateur.  I was 12 years old at the time.  You were a cool 20 year old with a great golf game.  You had the flop shot, and you skipped balls over water.  Frankly, you were really cool!  I wasn't anywhere near being a great golfer, but I learned the flop shot because of you.

So here we are in June of 2013, and I've just watched you finish runner-up at the U.S. Open for a record 6th time.  In my head, I knew the heart break was coming again when you bogeyed the 18th hole on Saturday, but my heart wouldn't let me accept it.  So I dutifully tuned in today and watched putt after putt just miss.  Just when I was ready to give up, you holed out for eagle on #10, and I thought..."today might be different."  Turns out, you were just teasing me.  You over thought the 13th hole for the 3rd straight day, then hit your worst iron shot of the week at 15 after pulling off a great tee shot.  Another 2nd place finish, another Father's Day spent watching golf that ultimately ended in disappointment.

Sure, we've had good times.  The 2004 Masters was one of the greatest sporting events of my life.  I watched that with my father-in-law, and it's such a positive memory.  The 2005 PGA, 2006 Masters, 2007 Players Championship and 2010 Masters were also great days. 

But for every great day, there's been twice as much heartbreak.  Let's start in 1999 at the U.S. Open.  You had that tournament won, until you starting missing putts and then Payne Stewart buried that par putt at 18 to beat you.  The same thing happened two years later at the PGA Championship, only this time in was David Toms.  In 2002 at Bethpage, I thought you were poised to make a run against Tiger, but you ultimately fell short.  This was before we knew Tiger was a scum bag, so I took a lot of heat for that one from the Tiger fans.

Then in 2004, you rewarded my loyalty with your first major.  And then you almost won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock...oh so close.  That darn putter again.  You flirted with the British Open and the PGA that year too, before ultimately fading in those events.  But the glow from that Masters win carried things through.

In 2005 you won the PGA championship and followed it with the 2006 Masters...times were good.  There was talk of the Mickelslam, and you were 1 par from making it 3 Majors in a row, and then the disaster at Winged Foot.  A double bogey on 18 to lose by one shot.  That was B R U T A L!!!  I should have quit caring then.  Oh what a fool I was.

The next few years were mostly lean years, but you got my hopes up again in 2009 when you took the lead at the U.S. Open at Bethpage after that eagle on the back 9.  But then your putter got you again.  You miss a lot of short putts for someone who's won 41 PGA events, you know that don't you? 

In 2010, you won the Masters...won it for the family.  I felt for you when Amy got cancer and then your mom right after that.  And then you were diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis and I really thought that was the end.  I figured you'd win a few more events before retiring, and I was ready to accept that.  And for a while I was right, but as always, my heart got in the way.

In 2011, you made a run at Darren Clarke at the British Open before your putter got the best of you again with a missed short putt on 11.  And then there was the 2012 Masters...that one was yours to win, and you make a triple on 4???  Who makes a triple on 4?  I was so disappointed after that one, but maybe because Bubba won it, my disappointment was softened.

But after today, I have to be done.  Justin Rose?!!!  Really?!!!  For the 2nd time in 9 months, he gets the best of you...you have more talent in your pinkie that Rose has in his whole body!!!

I can't keep doing this!  Look, it's not you, it's me.  This is who you are...you are brilliant with a golf club in your hands, frustratingly brilliant.  You see shots that nobody else even thinks of, and occasionally you pull them off.  I still want you to win...I still want to root for you...I still want to see you win that U.S. Open, but I can't invest the time in it anymore.

I'm sorry, but we both knew it would come to this...ok, only I knew that.  Eventually you were going to retire, and I would just be a casual golf fan.  I love professional golf, and I love to watch you play, but it's become too heart breaking.  So, I'm moving on to the next phase of my life.  I am moving on to being a causal golf fan.  I'll still watch, but I'm no longer going to invest my heart into the outcome of these events, or the results of a specific player.

I wish you the best of luck.  If you ever do win that U.S Open, I'll be smiling from afar.

Sincerely,
Jake