Mercedes meltdown?: the flap over Tiger's and Phil's no-shows
When the 2 biggest names in men's golf don't show up for the 1st PGA tournament of the year, which is supposed to showcase the past winners from last year, what should the PGA do? What about the sponsor of the tournament Mercedes, which is in its last year of its contract? Apparently, neither Tiger nor Phil liked the greens at Kapulua, but the golf course just redid them all to make them better.
For the PGA, it's a very tough call. I don't blame Tiger or Phil -- the length of the PGA season has gotten way out of hand. Do we really need 3 Hawaii tournament within the span of 2 1/2 months? Who knows, maybe if Phil and Tiger didn't play in the Grand Slam at Poipu Bay, they might have room in their schedules for the Mercedes? And do we really need to start the PGA season in the beginning of January? On the other hand, the sponsor of the tournament loses out for not having the marquee names, like Tiger, Phil, Retief, or Ernie this year. So do the fans, not to mention the TV network airing the tournament.
So what's the solution? Maybe start the season later, I don't know. That would negate both Tiger's (tired) and Phil's (family) excuses of not showing. I wouldn't like to see the PGA forcing players to play in certain tournaments -- that would be a drag. For more analysis, the Honolulu Star Bulletin has this excellent article.
2 Comments:
It should be noted that the greens have only been finished for a few months, and that they are running slow (a lot of rain lately). It is expected that they will dry out, and the course will play more difficult than ever (harder greens, faster greens).
But if you look at the situation when those players decided not to attend, perhaps they were thinking that the par 73 course would play as it has in the past. Very easy...one of the easiest related to par on tour in past years. tiger shot four rounds in the 60s and lost in a prior year, and the scoring always has been low. For the best players, when course conditions are benign, it becomes less acompetition of the better player, and more test of who drops in the most long putts or chips (as has been stated in the the past, Tiger favors his chances whenever conditions are at their worst).
As for Phil, he has always been one who has put his family above golf. Perhaps he thought that the trip to Hawaii and guaranteed money was not worth the time.
i think that this year is merely an aberration, and that the tournament will return to normal in future years.
I totally agree with the whole golf season being way too long...and what's up with starting it in the middle of January? I say give them at least all of January off to do whatever it is they do when they're not playing golf. It would give them some of their own time and they wouldn't have any reason not to attend any of the events.
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