Before anyone gets the wrong idea about the title of this post, I’ll explain. It has nothing to do with Tiger as a person. Tiger as a person will forever be viewed as, lets say, not the nicest guy you’ve ever heard of. But that has no bearing on this particular post.
It also has nothing to do with Tiger’s ego. You know, that ego that never just comes out and says, “He played better than me.” Rather, the ego just makes excuses for why he lost. That also has no bearing on this post. Nope, it’s none of those things.
What makes me happy about it is the fact that, for a few days anyway, the younger and/or lesser known players on the tour got a good amount of attention at a major! Whether the PGA knows it or not, this is just what they needed! Tiger made his charge, but Charl Schwartzel played out of his mind down the stretch! Despite his Sunday meltdown, Rory Mcilroy was the biggest news for the first three days of the tournament. Some nice performances by Adam Scott, Jason Day, Luke Donald and a good Sunday from Justin Rose may have helped the PGA out by helping to improve its deficiency in the player recognition department.
As we here at Golfstinks have said previously, too many golf fans have no idea who some of these great players on the tour are. So to see some of them withstand the Tiger Woods charge, and play right along side him, if not better, the PGA couldn’t ask for anything more! Some of these players are the tour’s future. These players are the guys people need to know about when a tour stop comes along that Tiger doesn’t think he can win (i.e. he’s not participating).
We all know viewership drops when Tiger isn’t there. And turnout at the tour stop itself is considerably lower. But it would probably be different if these other players were promoted properly, or even half as much as Tiger. So maybe the PGA will take this opportunity and use these performance that are fresh in the minds of golf fans.
At some point, the PGA is going to have to realize that Tiger is not going to be around forever. Better yet they should realize, for one or two reasons, the landscape of golf is changing. Either Tiger is not the player he once was, or the other players have simply caught up and no longer fear him. Either way, it’s time for the PGA to take advantage.
I’m tired of having to see where Tiger finished in every update. I see that Charl Schwartzel won, but immediately after that – Tiger Woods finishes fourth (-10). What about 2nd and 3rd? What about the two guys who tied for fourth with Tiger? This is exactly what I’m talking about above. It’s time for the PGA, and the media, to jump on the bandwagon of some players other than Tiger.
Swing ’til you’re happy!
Couldn’t agree more. Nice to see so many young players man up to Tiger’s charge yesterday.
I however am also happy the Tiger you speak of early on did not win. The man has failed to change his actions on the course like he mentioned last year before he started to play. He continues to act like a child who can’t be gracious or take much accountability for his poor shots. He is not a role model and I steer the Juniors I talk to away from looking at him at a role model. They should be following guys like Ogilvy, Donald, McDowell, Kaymer etc. All great players that are fare greater humans than Tiger.
What a day though!
Bang on! 🙂
Cheers
Gayle
your assessment of the tour, tigermania and the tides of change – all spot on! keep up the fearless blogging!