PGA season: too long, too boring, too tiring
Tiger Woods is skipping the opening Mercedes Championship in January because he needs an "off season," he says. The guy just finished 2nd to last in his own tournament last week, and must realize that he's just burnt out.
All of this confirms Imgonnapickup's earlier analysis (here): the pro golf season is way too long. When the No. 1 player in the world won't be playing in the 1st tournament of the season because he needs an "off season," there's something drastically wrong with the schedule.
13 Comments:
The Tour Championship is the 1st weekend in November.
Tiger could take two months off and be ready after the holidays.
Instead he plays in meaningless tournaments in China, Japan, Hawaii, Skins game - he doesn't need to do that and they have nothing to do with the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour doesn't own golf, and certainly doesn't own Tiger Woods. And, more than anything, tournaments outside the US aren't necessarily "meaningless".
Rather, it is to his credit that Woods plays - and, for that matter, wins - all over the world (twice in Scotland, twice in Germany, one victory in Spain, one victory in Ireland; three in Thailand, two in Japan; and one in Malaysia). Great golfers appreciate the importance of winning around the world; Nicklaus won the Australian Open six times!
Contrast all this with someone like Mickeleson who only has one victory outside the US: in a 15-man invitiational in Paris (which didn't even boast a Faldo, Langer, Olazable, Woosie or Monty in sight).
An ability to win outside away from the courses, tournaments and set-ups with which one is most familiar seems to me like a relevant criterion for determining "greatness". And this explains why, for me, the likes of Player, Norman, Ballestros, Faldo, Els will always figure highly in any ranking of the greatest golfers. And even for those who perhaps don't merit the "greatness" tag, I've always been impressed that the likes of Calcavechia exhibit a keenness to play overseas (and in Cal's case, to win events in Australia, Argentina and Korea).
Now, I appreciate that appearance money is a big incentive for many players to play overseas (especially in the so-called "silly season"), but I suspect that many are also pleased to challenge themselves in new environments and add some international wins to their PGA profiles.
Right on, Dude! If Tiger is skipping the 1st tourney of the season for rest, the PGA has totally screwed things up.
But if the Kapalua tourney was sponsored by Buick, Tiger would show up. Same thing if Ford sponsored, Lefty would play.
First off, why wouldn't a player play in the overseas tournaments when they get $1,000,000 just for teeing off, plus they can say that they are promoting golf overseas? Hardly meaningless.
By skipping the Mercedes, he will be taking the longest break in his career outside the break after the knee operation. Anyone remember how he returned after that last break? I do. Don't blame him for skipping a few tournaments, but the Mercedes with all its perks and guaranteed money is surprising.
With big-name golfers, sponsors look at the worldwide name recognition. By playing in tournaments throughout the world, a player can up his net-worth with sponsors as well as promote the game of golf, Despite what is said, most professional golfers do care about the game of golf and helping to expand its growth and popularity. Phil may not play many tournaments overseas because of his desire to focus his time on his family (not a bad thing), but with the questionable future of TV contracts with the PGA Tour (it's popularity in the United States may be at a plateau), I think that pushing the worldwide popularity of golf may be a move in the right direction for the PGA Tour (whether you think the players are doing it for the money or not).
Other than being burnt out, I think Tiger decided not to play because of the greens at Kapalua. Last year, he said they messed his putting up pretty good, and I don't think he wants to start the year on a note like that again. The Buick is also in January this year I believe, and he would want to have a fresh start putting on what he sees as "healthy" greens to start the season...and defend his title. just my 2 cents
The season is not too long. My guess is that if you ask the number 100+ player on the money list, they would concur. Don't forget, pro golf is basically a gaggle of independent contractors who must perform well to be paid. The more opportunities they have, the better.
Likewise for those communities that have events scheduled in the less attractive parts of the season. Those events still provide significant benefit to the communites and local charities -- even if Phil has packed it in and Tiger needs a break.
Golf is different from, and superior to other professional sports in so many ways. Attempting to make it less so is a mistake.
#2 - Anon -
Yes, Tiger can play whenever and wherever he wants....I like that. But
greatness is not determined by playing overseas for lots of money. Greatness is determined by consistently playing against the best players in the game and beating them. And that means playing on the PGA Tour and the majors and near majors.
Most stuffy, golf traditionalists would agree with you. They would love for the PGA to control everything, keep the status quo, and relegate all else to the minor tours.
In my opinion, that would keep golf stuck in the dark ages (where, I believe, it still resides). I like the free market approach of pro golf, and I would love to see it go much further by having competing top-level tours not only around the world, but several here in the states. It would add juice to an otherwise stale sport.
If one tour wanted to emphasize alternative scoring, great. Let the market decide how well they like that. If another wanted to hold skins matches every week, great. Innovation is a wonderful thing.
On a (barely) more realistic note, not only do I think the PGA should have a tournament every week, but (in the absence of competing tours) I would love to see them have multiple events in some weeks. Tiger, Phil, and Vijay are great, but are golf fans incapable of becoming fans of more than a couple golfers? A typical baseball fan tracks an entire roster full of players very closely, but likely a couple dozen other players on top of that. More tournaments, mean more off weeks by the elite players, allowing more coverage to a greater number of players.
I know I'm in the minority, but that's what I'd like to see.
I could not disagree more. As others have (at least) implied, "PGA" and "professional golf" are NOT interchangeable. It is merely one tour. Frankly, if I were the PGA, I not only would have a tournament every single week, I would probably have some weeks with multiple events. Aside from personalities (Tiger), what new developements
Sorry, forot to delete that last paragraph. :)
On how international competition should impact how one assesses a player's career, I did not - as Lee V suggested - propose that international victories should "determine" greatness, rather that it should be a relevant criterion (relevant, that is, amongst several others). And obviously, just as one would place more weight on some PGA victories than others, there's some international tournaments which would, in my opinion, attract a greater degree of weight (according to their field, and the prestige of the title). At the same time, if a golfer can win on some of the best golf courses in Europe, Asia and Australasia, as well as the US, then that is something I would want to have in the mix when determining how I rate their careers...
If Tiger doesn't want to play in the Mercedes Championship, that is his call. I don't think anyone doubts that he could or would win. If you are a Tiger fan, which most of us are, you might appreciate his decision to take some time off. You'll see him soon enough in '06. About the PGA Tour schedule...Everyone is trying to make money. The commisioner just lengthened the schedule with more meaningful tournaments in the "Nextel Cup" format. We will see more top 10 players in tournaments later in the year. I don't think they can really change the schedule too much at this point simply because of the many traditions we have throughout the tournaments. Tiger won't be there and maybe that is a shame, but I can guarantee everyone who is there will be fighting for a win.
Sounds like Tiger needs to make his schedule a little better. I love seeing pros tee it up every week. Even if they don't all play every week they still all get together for the big tourneys. And I'll take Vijay and Phil and no Tiger to no golf any day of the week.
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