PGA season not the same
When I was really into golf a long time ago -- playing two, three times a week -- this was my favorite time of year to watch the game on TV, even more than the big events like the Masters. Being in the Northeast as it turned ugly cold, I relished the escapism of watching as the PGA Tour got started with the players in their short sleeves on lush green fairways under sunny skies.
This weekend marks the start of the PGA season and it doesn't seem the same as it did years ago. Despite the structure of the FedEx Cup, the tour just doesn't seem to have the same cohesiveness, the same rhythm that it did as it made its way from the West to Florida, then up the Eastern seaboard with the majors as milestones along the way. And this year's grand opening isn't nearly so grand even though the first tournament is being played in a beautiful setting like Maui (the second event is on Oahu next week). Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are sitting out the opener leaving Jim Furyk as the top player in the field.
Meanwhile, we have this golf story out of Australia. A python mistook four golf balls for birds' eggs and swallowed them. The good news is that surgery was required to save the snake from what can be considered a world record four-in-one.
Comments
My view is that the PGA Tour shot itself in the foot with its silly playoff thing because now all the big players play almost the exact same events – and skip the same events. Now, fully half the schedule (including all those poor tournaments after the FedExCup) is filled out by events that look like glorified Nationwide Tour tournaments. That's a shame, especially for those longtime events that have supported the Tour for decades and now find themselves marginalized.
Besides, golf already had a series of tournaments to decide the best player in any given year: the majors. If, say, Tiger Woods wins two majors in 2008 but, say, Joe Durant win the FedExCup, who's the Player of the Year? Anybody who says it isn't the two-time major winner is crazy.
If we have to go this route, I'd nuke the FedExCup and create a golf version of the Champions League in European soccer that would include the top 75 players in the world ranking. I'd pair the 3 current U.S.-based World Golf Championship events with 3 more spread across the calendar and actually played around the world. How about the BMW Championship in England each May, the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai each November and that new $10 million event in Dubai that's starting in 2009? It wouldn't be as convenient TV-wise for us in America, but I'd love to see more of our best players stretch themselves and play more in the different cultures and conditions to identify a true "world" champion.
Posted by: Joe Dalhart | January 3, 2008 2:16 PM