It’s funny, in any sport when a team or player is said to “dominate” their opponent, we all picture a blowout. Whether it be a 20-point win in basketball, a three touchdown victory in football or a double-figure pounding in baseball – when you hear the word “dominate” or something related to it, you think of a blowout. So why is golf different?

For instance, two weeks ago at the Phoenix Open we heard about Phil Mickelson dominating the tournament, from his first round 60 to his -28 final score. But when you stop to look at the final scores of the other players, “domination” is not exactly the word I would use. A four stroke victory over Brandt Snedeker somehow doesn’t quite qualify as a blowout win in my book. Beating your opponent by what works out to be an average of one stroke per day seems more like a pretty tight match to me.

But it wasn’t just that tournament. There are many that go by deemed a dominating win, or a player runs away with it. But more often than not, that’s just not the case. So is it the media that overuses the terms? Do they want to make it seem like a player is more dominant than actually is the case? If so, why? Wouldn’t the parity of the PGA Tour make for more exciting tournaments and possibly better viewership?

Parity, to me, makes for a better overall sport. In football, there’s something about knowing that any team can win at any time – the god awful Jacksonville Jaguars can be a playoff team in two years. Same in the NBA – a perennial loser like the LA Clippers has become one of the most exciting teams in the league. Even baseball is on the right track with some smaller market teams making yearly runs at the playoffs. A little more balance to the playing field and they’ll have it just right. But there’s parity in golf, right? Of course there is.

When you see the final scores of a golf tournament, you see that there isn’t much difference in the final scores between first place and tenth, especially when you take into account the scores are over a four day period. So when tenth place finishes twelve strokes back of first, that works out to only three strokes per round on average. So how much better was the winner?

Now I think that’s great! I love the idea that anyone can win any tournament because not a whole lot of strokes separate the best from the mid-level players. Sure, there’s a favorite…there’s always a favorite. But at the level these guys play, anyone can get hot at the right time. And that’s the beauty of parity, which the PGA already has. Any player can win any tournament at any time. The field is open week in and week out. How can that be a bad thing?

Swing ’til you’re happy!