Well, if you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s official.  Linsanity is running wild throughout the basketball world.  Actually, make that the whole world.  Being a basketball fan, I’ve been sucked in.  And why shouldn’t I be?  Here’s an Ivy League kid who wasn’t offered a scholarship by any school, went undrafted and signed as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors, was then cut by two teams before signing with the Knicks.  And supposedly was about to be cut by them if not for injury problems on their roster.

But then one game comes along and he outplays an all-star.  He starts the next game, lights it up and his coach decides he’s going to “ride Lin like freakin’ Secretariat.”  No looking back since then.  Eleven straight good, if not great, games and a star is born. 

But it’s not only Lin or the Knicks who are benefiting from this new-found stardom.  TV ratings for the Knicks are up.  Ticket prices have risen.  The international fanbase is growing again.  Hell, even stock prices for Madison Square Garden are up about six percent!  The NBA couldn’t have made-up a better story!

Now, I’m not really one for the “manufactured” story, but creating a Jeremy Lin may be something the PGA wants to look into.  I mean, why not?  Look at what it’s done for the NBA!  And coming off of a lockout, it couldn’t have happened at a better time. 

With golf’s TV ratings as low as they are, the sport’s biggest star clearly not what he once was and overall interest in the game falling every year, golf needs a knight in shining armor.  Think sixteen years ago to 1996 when Tiger first came on the scene prefessionally.  That’s what golf needs now in 2012. 

So who will it be?  Who knows?  How about they start with the next relatively unknown player to finish high in a tournament?  Remember, he doesn’t have to be a great player, or even a player who will compete for the win in every tournament.  It just has to be a player that everyone can get behind.  Lin is not a top-ten player.  He’s probably not even a top ten player at his own position, he’s just on a serious hot streak.  But that’s not what matters to fans.  First and foremost, it’s the story that matters. 

The beauty of competitive golf is that not alot of strokes separate the best 18-hole round from someone in the middle of the pack.  So taking a player and saying he finished only four strokes back might, in actuality, be a long way behind.  But it doesn’t sound like much, and that’s the key.  Losing by four makes you sound like you had a good shot down the stretch.  Play that out and hope.  And you never know, maybe you catch lightning in a bottle!

Well, I don’t know if this makes any sense really.  Just looking for ideas to help as usual.  Besides, who would you start with?  How about John Huh?  Who?  Exactly.  Some of you may know him now, after yesterday.  But you didn’t know him two days ago, did you?  Only the hardest of the hardcore golf fans did. 
 
This is a chance for the PGA to jump on it’s own Jeremy Lin-like hype.  You see what it’s done for the NBA.  Why can’t it do the same for the PGA?  It has to start somewhere.  Here’s as good an opportunity as any.

Swing ’til you’re happy!