How Cool is This?
Like so many golf fans, I was glued to the television for the past four days watching the competitive return of Tiger Woods. It has been almost a year since golf fans last saw Tiger playing on the PGA Tour, and even longer since he was playing on the weekend. The expectations for Tiger’s returned ranged from finishing dead last to winning the entire thing - mostly depending on your respective fandom of Woods himself.
While Woods performance was more respectable (more on that a little later), I found myself examining the state of the game for golf fans in 2018. Perhaps more so than any other time in recent history, golf fans have a lot to be excited about. First, consider that there were two premiere golf events going on in the same weekend. Both events boasted high-end fields despite being played opposite of one another.
On the other side of the world, Haotong Li held off the resurgent Rory McIlroy to capture the European Tour’s Dubai Dessert Classic. The event featured European stalwarts such as Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stinson. Meanwhile, back here in the United States, Jason Day captured his second Farmer’s Insurance Open title with a Monday playoff finish over Alex Noran. Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler helped to comprise an impressive field at Torrey Pines.
In other words, the star power in the game of golf is perhaps the strongest it has been in a long time. You have popular trendsetters like Rickie Fowler alongside youthful major champions like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. “Veteran” champions like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy - yeah those guys are veterans now continue to compete at high levels. And finally, the return of the mover of needles Tiger Woods.
Woods -3 at the Farmer’s Insurance Open carded him a Top-25 finish for his first event back in nearly a year. Yes, there were some who *probably* foolishly thought he would come out at win. There were others who thought he would fail to make the cut. In the end, Tiger grinded to play the weekend with a heroic performance on Friday, scored well on Saturday despite hitting only three fairways, and once again dawned the Sunday red polo - well blade collar polo - to close out his return to the Tour.
The last few years have proven that golf is going to survive in a post-Tiger Woods world. Again, the “pundits” who cover the game either want to convince you that the golf industry is in the tank or that things are going to be even better without Woods. The truth is that golf is not as popular on television when Woods isn’t playing, but that doesn’t mean that the sport has lost it’s fan base either. The new generation of stars have given golf fans plenty of reasons to tune in. Watching Jordan and Dustin and Justin and Rickie and Rory battling against one another and the rest of the world tours has provided dramatic and excicting golf (yes, the ethos that golf is exciting is foreign to those who are not fans of the sport). Now, that generation that grew up inspired by Woods has an opportunity to actually compete against a version of Woods that isn’t writhing in pain after every tee shot.
And the opportunities are just too good to imagine....
While Woods performance was more respectable (more on that a little later), I found myself examining the state of the game for golf fans in 2018. Perhaps more so than any other time in recent history, golf fans have a lot to be excited about. First, consider that there were two premiere golf events going on in the same weekend. Both events boasted high-end fields despite being played opposite of one another.
On the other side of the world, Haotong Li held off the resurgent Rory McIlroy to capture the European Tour’s Dubai Dessert Classic. The event featured European stalwarts such as Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stinson. Meanwhile, back here in the United States, Jason Day captured his second Farmer’s Insurance Open title with a Monday playoff finish over Alex Noran. Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler helped to comprise an impressive field at Torrey Pines.
In other words, the star power in the game of golf is perhaps the strongest it has been in a long time. You have popular trendsetters like Rickie Fowler alongside youthful major champions like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. “Veteran” champions like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy - yeah those guys are veterans now continue to compete at high levels. And finally, the return of the mover of needles Tiger Woods.
Woods -3 at the Farmer’s Insurance Open carded him a Top-25 finish for his first event back in nearly a year. Yes, there were some who *probably* foolishly thought he would come out at win. There were others who thought he would fail to make the cut. In the end, Tiger grinded to play the weekend with a heroic performance on Friday, scored well on Saturday despite hitting only three fairways, and once again dawned the Sunday red polo - well blade collar polo - to close out his return to the Tour.
The last few years have proven that golf is going to survive in a post-Tiger Woods world. Again, the “pundits” who cover the game either want to convince you that the golf industry is in the tank or that things are going to be even better without Woods. The truth is that golf is not as popular on television when Woods isn’t playing, but that doesn’t mean that the sport has lost it’s fan base either. The new generation of stars have given golf fans plenty of reasons to tune in. Watching Jordan and Dustin and Justin and Rickie and Rory battling against one another and the rest of the world tours has provided dramatic and excicting golf (yes, the ethos that golf is exciting is foreign to those who are not fans of the sport). Now, that generation that grew up inspired by Woods has an opportunity to actually compete against a version of Woods that isn’t writhing in pain after every tee shot.
And the opportunities are just too good to imagine....
Comments
Post a Comment