Rory Sabbatini Still Isn't Afraid of Tiger Woods, Has Scary Belt Buckle to Protect Him

Although he'd probably never admit it, I'm guessing Rory Sabbatini wished he never made those comments about Tiger Woods last year. It pretty much derailed his season, ruined his offseason, and we haven't heard from him since.

(That's not entirely true; he finished second at the Sony Open, and third the following week at the Buick, but in the nine tournaments since, he's missed the cut three times and finished no higher than 33rd.)

In any event, Sabbatini has emerged from his undisclosed location to compete in the U.S. Open. And he's still not backing down from those comments:

"I wasn't raised with the belief that you should be second best," said Sabbatini ... "I was raised with the belief that if you set your mind to it, you can do anything you want.

"I'm a competitor. I want to win. I said, 'I've seen Tiger play his best, and what I saw when he won at Wachovia is that he struggled that day. And the Tiger I saw play that day could be beaten.' That became that I'm saying Tiger is beatable. I didn't quite understand. That's why I do this and I'm not a commentator or part of the media."

Good thing Sabbatini isn't British.

Look, I applaud the guy for having confidence in his game, but why continue talking about any of this? It only highlights the fact that some dude most casual golf fans have never heard of thinks he can beat Tiger Woods.

There's inherently nothing wrong with the sentiment, but why not keep it to yourself? It'll save you a lot of humiliation, which, as Stephen Ames found out, is a good thing.