It was a surreal third round of the Masters golf tournament yesterday. Tiger made the cut to play on the weekend, so the television coverage included each shot he made. He wasn’t in contention—he was far removed as he shot 82 while the leaders were shooting in the high 60’s, but the fans at home want to see him, and so it goes. He is sore and stiff, and it is painful to watch.
It was, notwithstanding the Tiger coverage, the most interesting third round of the Masters I’ve experienced. The best of the young and enthusiastic and vibrant professional golfers of the day were on full display. Some of them have taken the riches of the LIV, but the Saudis weren’t relevant once play started. It was the best of professional golf: a very, very tough course where one mistake can take a player down the leaderboard like a dead weight.
Scottie Sheffler was the best of the lot, threatening all day long to leave the pretenders in his wake. Mr. Sheffler, though, missed long and left on the 10th hole, and we knew, from the group that had just departed, that this was a place of deep trouble. He ended with a double bogey on the 10th and followed with a bogey on 11. He lost the lead. Mr. Sheffler, though, has demonstrated a remarkable ability to gather himself when in trouble, and come back, and that is just what he did here. A par on 12, then an eagle on 13, and at the end of the day he was back in the lead by a stroke.
As the third round progressed, I was multi-tasking with the various news sources I follow, so I learned in real time that Iran had launched a drone attack on Israel. Given the distance and speed of the weapon, there were several hours between the announcement of the attack and its arrival in Israel. During this time Iran and Israel blustered, the British took over American air space controls elsewhere, and the United States focused its military might as part of our “ironclad” support of Israel.
With the exception of a single (obligatory) interruption by the network, the third round at Augusta proceeded. This was only fair: if there was to be an escalation in the Middle East, golf fans should at least know what they’re missing, but they should have the right, as with all Americans, to disregard the work our weapons do around the globe. Based on events in our household, at least 50% of those watching the golf match ignored the looming threats to our survival.
Here we are the morning after, and with the warning of several hours, and the implementation of the defense systems, it appears little harm was done by the Iranian attack. It was measured—Iran took care to give advance warning of the coming attack, and to announce that the attack was a response to the recent Israeli bombing in Syria. Iran made it clear: the issue has been resolved. That, of course, leaves the matter of further action up to the Israelis.
You’d think that the United States might have something to say about this. If you’ve been reading the news during the past six months, though, you’ll know that the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are under the control of the Israeli government, not the United States. I am sure there is much talk behind the scenes between U.S. military folks and the IDF, but the real action has increasingly played out in public, and at the highest levels:
Biden talking; Netanyahu acting. More Biden talking; more IDF action on the ground. Biden talking; ongoing deaths of civilians in Gaza. Famine. Cholera. Absolute victory. These are the words of war.
One cannot be surprised, of course, when another nation is attacked and retaliates. When that nation is using your weapons, though, and when that nation owes its very existence to your support over the last hundred or so years, you’d think you might have some serious influence.
Instead, Mr. Netanyahu seems to be in full control, with Mr. Biden, and the rest of us here in the United States, along for the ride. I’m not aware of any such situation in our history. Robert McNamara acted pretty much on his own in Vietnam, but he held an official position in our government, and relied on the deliberate dissembling of our military, and the support of the President, to carry out his mission. Mr. Kissinger acted pretty much alone in bombing Laos, but his partner was the President of the United States. FDR was wise enough to know that he should not commit the future of the world to Stalin, even if he had to play nice with him at Yalta.
We Americans live in a nice, safe place. Civil unrest is largely unknown to us, much less the massive destruction of infrastructure (roadways, water supply, sewer, hospitals) that has been visited on other societies. We know, as Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention told us in 1966, that it can’t happen here.
And so, it will not. It will happen elsewhere. In another part of the world, anywhere but North America, or South America, and with limited American casualties, but with American weapons. Ask yourself: when was the last time the American President looked like he had real influence over Israeli actions?
Meanwhile, the fourth round of the Masters is underway. Tiger will probably struggle (he’s even through four holes, and he still makes some wonderful shots). There will be some who challenge, but fall by the wayside with an errant shot or two.
It is a knife’s edge, with success and disaster equally at hand. Much like global affairs. But in golf at least we know who is in charge.