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POLL: Is The Masters Your Favorite Major?

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The Masters (by Torrey Wiley via Flickr)
The Masters (by Torrey Wiley via Flickr)

With The Masters fast approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to see what your favorite major tournament is during the season. There’s always a lot of buzz around The Masters, but I figured that was due to it coinciding with the start of the new golf season too.

But recently via Twitter, one of our followers has called The Masters the March Madness of golf. Is this true? Sure, it attracts a lot of attention but some of that has to do with the course itself (Augusta National) and not necessarily the tournament.

It also has a great field of players – but don’t all the majors? And it’s at the start of the year…not the end – so it’s not a true reflection of which players have had the best year.

Still, The Masters has a certain appeal to it – be it that it kicks off the new golf season; or that it attracts a field of top players; or the fact that it’s played at a legendary golf course. Heck, I’ve written rather scathing remarks about Augusta in the past, but I still find myself watching The Masters on TV more than the others.

So, is The Masters your favorite of all the majors? Take the poll below and let us know.

What is your favorite major golf tournament?

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Catching Up On Golf.

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strong antUsually, I’ll check in every so often and see what’s happening on the tour. For some reason, this year I’ve been following a little more than usual. Or so I thought. When did Tiger become ranked #1 again? So much for thinking I’ve been following golf this season.

After going back and checking his stats, this guy has really been doing well. I guess I’m used to the days when Tiger’s every move was broadcasted. I mean, this guy’s farts were even documented. Remember that? Maybe it was Steve Williams that broke wind but you get the point.

Moving on. Phil…WTF! All 37 of us left handed golfers in the world were counting on you maybe even some righties. That’s OK though, we still think you’re great! What can you do? Crap happens and I’ll take a 2nd place prize of half-a-mill any day. That’s the greatest thing about pro golf, you can come in 25th place and still walk away with some extra scratch in your pocket.

Even though 2nd place does pay out well, I’m sure this has reached “Eleanor” status for Mr. Mickelson. Come on man, don’t let that old saying about the bridesmaid crap be true. Dig deep brother and win a U.S. Open for the southpaws. You can do it! Win it for the Gipper too, if that helps.

That pressure must be ridiculous at times. I’ll give it to him though, he can definitely carry it. I’m sure a lot of people would have buckled under that weight like a one legged asthmatic ant with a bad back.

Ah ha! Now the picture makes sense, kind of.

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

3 Reasons Golf Falls Short Compared to Other Sports

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It's hard for golf to compete with other sports...
It’s hard for golf to compete with other sports…

About two weeks ago I was scanning through some radio stations and stopped at the sports radio show I tune into once in a while.  The hosts are talking about March Madness and how, in they’re opinion, the NCAA Tournament is the best sporting event going.  Meanwhile, they’re fielding calls from listeners agreeing or disagreeing with their choice.  Some say it’s the Super Bowl.  Some choose the World Series.  Others give their opinions on the NBA Championship or the Stanley Cup.  But one caller chose to take things in a different direction than the rest.

One caller asked why no one, other than he, were considering The Masters to be the greatest sporting event going.  While one of the hosts at least took it into consideration, the other practically laughed him off the line.  The host paying attention and going along with it even interjected that he actually prefers the U.S. Open over the Masters and considers that to be a worthy choice.  But his co-host?  Not a chance.  There was no way this guy was going to consider a golf tournament to be one of the greatest sports events of the year.  But why not?  The Masters is one of the four biggest events, arguably the biggest, in the golf year.  It’s loaded with stars of the PGA Tour, tradition and fanfare.  So why could he be talking it down?  I have a few ideas.

1. It’s too boring.  Let’s face it, watching a golf tournament on TV doesn’t really hold a candle to watching the other major sports, even if it is a major.  It’s quiet, slow-moving and honestly, we see the balls more than we see the actual players.  There’s plenty of skill and technique involved, but that doesn’t translate to the average sports fan because for all of the skill and technique there is, it doesn’t really require much athletic ability.  It’s just a tough sell, especially to sports fans who live in or close to a bigger market where professional teams from the big three sports play.

2.  The timing of The Masters.  There are two things wrong with the time of year the Masters occurs.  For starters, it happens right after The Final Four.  You can certainly argue that the NCAA Tournament is the greatest sporting event year-in and year-out.  So it’s incredibly hard to follow that up – and when you follow something as exciting as the Final Four with golf?  Well, you see the problem.

The second problem is that it occurs right at the beginning of the golf season.  We asked this a couple of weeks ago – why would the biggest tournament of the year happen right at the beginning of the season?  The timing of the sports biggest tournament just doesn’t make much sense.

3. There is no championship.  We’ve been down this road several times as well, but it matters!  There are four majors, but somehow none of them represents some type of tournament championship.  So when there are four “big” tournaments, they all end up discounting each other.  And if we can’t even decide which of the four is the most exciting in that particular sport, then how could we even try to compare it to any others?

It’s funny, but as much as I enjoy playing golf, I’m just not all that interested in watching it.  Is it possible that it’s because of the reasons above?  Maybe.  See, I need to know that the tournaments are going to mean something at the end of the year.  I don’t care who won the most money.  I don’t care what some complicated ranking system says.   I need a championship.  Now get me one of those installed at the end of the golf season and then you can start to convince me that it’s among the most exciting sporting events of the year.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Is A Teenage Competitor Good For Golf?

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So by now, most golf fans probably know who Beau Hossler is. If not, he’s the 16-year old playing in the U.S. Open who, after the first round, currently stands at 5-over. Not bad for a 16-year old. Actually, not bad for anyone! I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve approached that number on 9-holes. So for me, a 76? Unfathomable.

Needless to say I find myself, like many other fans of the sport, rooting for this kid to do well. But as I do root for him, I also find myself wondering if that’s a good idea. It’s strange, but as much as I would like to see him do well, part of me thinks this is not good for the sport as a whole. Let me explain myself.

We as Americans, in general, are smitten with sports that are either fast, physical or a combination of the two. Golf, as if it isn’t obvious enough, is neither. Hence golf’s declining audience and participation. So when the likes of a high school junior are able to hang with the pros for a round or two, in a major no less, I can understand how non- or casual golf fans can be turned off by this.

Look at some of those other fast and physical sports. Take football for instance. I would like someone to point out one single 16-year old who could hang on the gridiron for even a few plays with some NFL pros. Imagine handing a football to some pizza-faced kid and having him run up the middle against the Baltimore Ravens D? His career would be over after a play or two.

Basketball? OK, before you go ahead and mention the names, Kobe, Garnett, LeBron and Moses Malone (some of the players who successfully made the jump from high school to the pros), keep in mind for every Kobe, there are three Korleone Young’s, Leon Smith’s and DeAngelo Collins’ (among the unsuccessful jumpers). Further, these players were all at least 18 and playing a sport far less physical than football. Further, one can even make the argument that high school players and college underclassmen making the jump to the NBA have been a detriment to the game.

Even in baseball, only 28 players in the history of MLB have made the jump directly from high-school to the pros. And of those, only a handful can be considered to have had successful careers. Quite simply, even though the sport is not overly physical, the strength and speed of players in the majors simply cannot be matched by 18-year old kids. But in golf, 16-year olds can compete with the pros? And in the case of Matteo Manassero, a 17-year old can make the cut?!

While I, myself, have no real issue with it (and as mentioned, I’m pulling for the kid to do well) I do believe it is a turn-off to fans of the faster, more physical sports that many of us love. After all, this is America. There’s a reason we love football, not futbol. Watching a teenager hang with the big boys, ala Pele, makes the sport seem less challenging and require less experience and less physical ability and prowess. While us golfers may understand that is not necessarily the case, you would have to admit that you can understand where the critics are coming from.

For a sport that is losing spectators and players every year, the last thing they should want is to turn-off any potential fans. Obviously, it’s not the kids fault – he’s just a damn good player. But if the PGA found the way to promote this properly, such as to use his age as motivation for the next generation of golfers, they could have a potential game-changer on their hands.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

POLL: U.S. Open…Public or Private?

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Fellow Americans, is this not land of the free? So, why is this years U.S. Open being held at a private course? I understand it’s at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda but that doesn’t make it any better. In fact it makes it worse. Let me break this down…

Last time I checked “U.S.” meant the United States, our country. This should be our tournament. In the past they have held it at municipal courses and that’s the way it should be.

Diving deeper into this I realized that hosting tournaments at muni’s gives the game of golf such a unique position in the world of sports. What other sport allows regular old hacks, such as you and I, to play where the pro’s play. I really don’t see the Yankees letting the ol’ local Bronx beer league have their Thursday night softball games there. Never in a million years plus the beer can pyramid on top of the dugout might not bode well.

I think a lot of golfers would enjoy playing where their favorite golfer has played. I know I would. Not to mention it would probably attract more golfers and help out the declining golf market. According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), they found that 37% of public courses have had to lower their course maintenance standards, and 71% have had to defer capital improvements in recent years due to financial considerations.* In a nutshell this means the courses are not kept as well as they should be…damn recession.

So what do you think?

Where should the US Open be played?

*Click here for the NGF story

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