Everyone Deserves A Second Chance

As I sipped my morning coffee and half listened to the morning news, I was intrigued by the announcement that The Today Show was featuring a story on The Man Behind The Mulligan. Even I, the queen of mulligans, did not realize this term originated by someone in our lifetime and from the United States. I guess I should have known we would have invented cheating...I mean forgiveness...in golf.


I stopped taking mulligans when I realized my first shot was never as bad as it seemed and the second shot was always worse than the first. Why stand on the tee and take two bad shots when you can dash down the fairway and just finish the hole? I have been known to take multiple tee shots on some of those beautiful holes with a view where it feels like you could hit to the equator. But, only if I'm all alone at the end of the day.


Even though I don't take them, I'm a firm believer in second chances...on and off the course. Life's too short to take any one shot too seriously.

Give Inkster a Mulligan

Some of you may have noticed the logo in an earlier post about Jay Williamson. This is the official logo for The Daily Mulligan and will appear in posts when a mulligan is given. You may find they are given to any number of people for varying reasons, but sometimes people just deserve a do over.

I’m giving two mulligans today. The first goes to Juli Inkster and the second I’m giving myself.

Juli missed the cut today by a stroke. While there are a lot of other great golfers under that cut line, Inkster is a class act and I hate that she won’t be around for the final days of the Open. If you caught any of the footage taken during rain delays, you could find her sharing a laugh or two with some of the other players on tour. There was at least one instance of total cracking up with Sorenstam. I enjoy seeing the camaraderie on the tour. More laughing, less sneering...am I a girl or what?

The second mulligan goes to me for the misplaced foot on the edge of the garden hose that sent me tumbling down the last concrete stair to the road. Full ankle roll, a good loud snap and multiple words I don’t like to include in my writing. I’m sure it will be fine in two weeks along with the rest of the package, but I don’t think I deserved yet another pain in my body.

If you have ideas for others that deserve mulligans, send me a note, I’ll do the research, the writing and credit your great idea.

Williamson Could Help Wie

If anyone deserves a mulligan, it’s Jay Williamson. His performance this past weekend at the Travelers Championship was exceptional and a schooling on professionalism. Can you imagine what goes through his head while he’s setting

up for his tee shots? My voices just say things like, “Don’t hit it right, don’t even think about that fabulous old white oak over there…you’re going to hit it that way, aren’t you…don’t do it, aim left….”

He had to endure thoughts like, “Don’t hit it right, you’ll never get your card back, everyone’s watching, do you hear them?” But somehow, with all that pressure, he played some great golf and we all hoped he’d get his card back, didn’t we?

Michelle Wie could take some lessons from Jay Williamson. In fact, maybe she needs to hire him while he’s temporarily available. He could mentor her on the finer points of being competitive and gutting it out to win the respect of her fellow players, fans and commentators. She’s shown us that she can play golf, but she hasn’t earned that place in my heart that makes me want to pull for her like Jay Williamson. I think she would have been better served to finish the Ginn, lose her ability to play in the LPGA events, and gut it back like Williamson.