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Why I Don’t Follow the PGA Tour: A Negative Side of "The Tiger Woods Effect"

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Steve Stricker
Steve Stricker
Quick…who is #2 on the PGA money leaders list? Wrong. He’s third. The answer is Steve Stricker. Stricker has played in 23 tournaments, winning four and finishing in the top-10 twelve times while earning over six million dollars in 2009. Sounds like a pretty great season, right? But it would have taken me many guesses before I reached Stricker’s name as an answer to the above question. Why? Well, quite honestly, other than hearing his name, I have almost no idea who this guy is.

Steve Stricker could walk into my living room right now and my reaction would probably be to hit him with the closest blunt object and call 911 to report a break-in. How is it possible that this guy is the #2 golfer on the money list right now and I don’t know who he is? As far as I’m concerned it’s one of the very quiet, and one of the few negative points of the “Tiger Woods effect.”

Don’t get me wrong. Tiger Woods has been great for golf (PGA golfers especially). His presence has brought much more attention to the game, a whole new audience and a much louder buzz over the past twelve years. Not to mention the increase in prize money for which these guys are playing. Ninety-one players have earned over one million dollars this year, and 144 have earned over a half-million. In large part, they owe this to Tiger.

Take a look at the money leaders in 1996, the last year before Tiger hit the scene – only nine players broke the million dollar mark. Tom Lehman’s total of $1.78 million (#1 that year) would currently be ranked 47th. And the number of million-dollar earners has increased almost every year since then, to a high of 104 in 2008! So why don’t I know who most of these guys are?

While the above mentioned numbers may be great for a guy like Kevin Streelman (he missed the cut in 10 of the 29 tournaments he entered and finished in the top-10 only twice, but still managed to clear the million-dollar threshold) it may not be good for the tour as a whole. How could that be? Well, the biggest draw (and the reason these numbers are as inflated as they are) has decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from the game.

Now what? Outside of the hardcore golf fans, most people have no idea who Nick Watney is. But he’s 12th on the money list with $3.2 million, one win and four top-10’s. But the PGA has done such a crappy job of promoting anyone but Tiger and Phil for the past few years that no one can put a name with a face…that is if they even know the name.

The PGA decided to put all of their eggs in one basket. Now that basket is sitting out for an indefinite period. So what’s going to happen to those huge galleries? What toll will this take on tournament attendance? Where will all the prize money come from if sponsors pull out? What will be the effect on the general interest of the game? While the PGA should have been promoting the other great players on tour to rest of the sports world, they just weren’t. And now, no one knows who these other players are.This is a similar situation to what happened to heavyweight boxing after the decline of Mike Tyson. We really only knew two or three other heavyweights and once they fell off of the radar, many fans lost interest. Obviously, there were more factors involved with boxing (foreign fighters, pay-per-view, Don King), but you get the idea. So who is going to be the PGA’s Evander Holyfield? Is it Phil? Is it Stricker? Or is it going to be someone else we don’t yet know? The problem is, they need more than that. They need many Evander Holyfields’.

Whether or not Tiger comes back sooner rather than later, the PGA needs to do a better job in the promotions department. If I can see commercials on TV featuring any number of NFL players and MY WIFE can name them…the NFL has clearly got it figured out. Now I know the NFL is the most watched sport in the U.S., but I can say the same thing about the NBA and MLB. All three leagues do a great job promoting their players. The NFL doesn’t have all Tom Brady all the time. The NBA doesn’t promote only the games in which Kobe or LeBron are playing. And MLB doesn’t flash Derek Jeter’s picture every time they have the opportunity.The PGA needs to follow suit. It’s bad enough that golf has that snobbish, sport for the rich, stereotype to it. They need to change that image and they need to make their players more recognizable to the average fan. They need to promote the great players who play this great sport. What if Tiger decides he has enough money, he’s played enough golf and he doesn’t need to deal with the headaches any longer? What if he walks away entirely? What then?

And while I’m on the subject; it’s not just the PGA itself. It’s also the sports highlight shows. I know he’s the best, but is anyone else sick of seeing three to four minutes of only Tiger, and at the end of the highlight we see one putt by the guy who actually WON the tournament? No wonder nobody knows these guys? They’re so busy worried about why Tiger lost that they end up paying minimal attention to the guy who won!

Me personally? I don’t care much whether Tiger plays or not. I rarely watch golf on TV and I have only attended two PGA tournaments. I have no vested interest in closely following the tour. What I enjoy is the game itself – heading to the course with my buddies and spending a few hours playing a game we love.

That being said, I might someday follow the tour more closely if the PGA gave me a reason. I’d like to start with knowing who these players are. Maybe if I knew who I was cheering for or why. Give me some background. Create some rivalries other than Tiger vs. Phil or Tiger vs. the flash in the pan or Tiger vs. someone who has never really given Tiger a challenge. Put someone else in a TV commercial or promo. As a matter of fact…put the damn commercials somewhere other than the Golf Channel! Think about it, how often do you see a commercial for a golf product on prime-time TV? There are 50 million golfers in this country! I guarantee some of us are watching prime-time TV!

Until this happens, all I know is Steve Stricker better make sure he has the right house.

Tiger Is Human Afterall

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2559688403_8b748dc8ce_oSo he cheated. What can you do? Nothing. Is it a crappy thing to do considering you have a wife and kids at home? Sure. Does it happen everyday, all over the world, to regular people like you and I? Absolutely. Does that make it any better? Of course not. But this is the great Tiger Woods. He doesn’t make mistakes out on the course, so how could this happen?

People, people, people….everyone is always so quick to anoint athletes as the second coming. We always forget they can screw up…just like the rest of us. They can do wrong…just like the rest of us. They’re not perfect…just like the rest of us. As a matter of fact, some of them are just downright horrible people…just like some of the rest of us.

According to a CNN statistic, 80-90% of professional athletes cheat on their wives. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am not at all surprised by this statistic. As a matter of fact, I find it a bit hard to believe that it may be as low as 80%. Considering the lives these guys lead, I think many people fail to realize these superstar athletes are just human beings, albeit with superior athletic skills, but human nonetheless. You take a 2o-something year-old kid, sign him to huge contracts and endorsement deals paying him more money in one year than the average person will see in their lives, and that kid begins living a different lifestyle. They are now millionaires. But they are still kids. What do you think is going to happen? These kids are now rich & famous and therefore….more attractive to the opposite sex. They are young and irresponsible and unfortunately, often times are not properly guided. And they get used to it. But what I don’t understand is where these guys lose sight of the consequences of their actions. Especially knowing they are in the spotlight. Why wouldn’t they make smarter choices?

Look at just some of the names in recent memory. Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Strahan – these guys have all been exposed as cheaters and made to look like scumbags to the general public. Worse in Kobe Bryant’s case which ended up with allegations of rape! Although we all now know the allegations were false, Kobe’s name will always be tied to that incident. But these are only financial losses and a poor public image. I can name an athlete who I’m sure would be willing to switch places if he could with any of these guys….Steve McNair.

Steve McNair had a 20-year old girl on the side. He lost his life to her in a murder-suicide. Obviously, this is an extreme case, but if it happened to one guy, why not anyone else? But as usual, no one thinks about that ahead of time. I’m sure very few athletes walked away from that news thinking “Man, that could happen to me” then decided to change their ways and actions.

On the flip side, how many of these athletes wives know what’s going on? How many let it continue to go on in order to continue to live the glamorous lives which their husbands career allows? I’m going to guess almost all of them. How could it be anything else? Your husband is a rich, famous athlete who is basically a target for groupies who are looking for sex, money and gifts from him. He is on the road, away from you constantly. What do you think is going on? Are these wives foolish for thinking nothing is happening? Or are they foolish for staying and allowing it to continue? If they let it happen, then other than the ring, what’s the difference between them and the groupie?

So all of this media coverage leaves me with a few questions. Why is this news so much bigger with Tiger Woods than any other cheating athlete? Is it because he is the richest athlete in the world? Is it because he is a golfer and we expect better of him than an NBA player? Are we supposed to feel bad for Elin and their kids? Or was she aware of his goings on and therefore why should we? If that’s the case, should we feel the same anger toward her as we do toward Tiger for putting their kids in this situation?

In my own opinion, I say why should we care? These athletes should be role models for the sport they play….nothing further. None of us turns on Sportscenter to see Tiger Woods sit down for dinner with his family. I don’t care if Kobe Bryant is helping his kids with their homework. If these athletes are great family men, that’s fantastic. If not, then I feel sorry for their loved ones. But either way, that’s not why I’m a fan. I want to see Kobe hit a game-winning jumper as time expires. I want to see Tiger hit a 200-yard shot within inches of the cup. What they do outside of the playing field is not my interest or concern. And unless you are a family member or friend….it shouldn’t be yours either.

The more interest we pay to the sports these guys play, and the less attention toward the tabloid side, we will be able to avoid having to listen to all of this any further. Maybe then these people would be able to deal with this in their own home, where it belongs. For goodness sake, if I wanted to hear gossip and learn who’s cheating on who, I would watch some god-awful show on MTV.

Golf and A Wife: A Tale of Three Women In One (Part 3)

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Picture the scene: It’s a spectacular Saturday morning. The sun is shining brightly, barely a cloud in the sky. It’s warm, but there’s a gentle breeze blowing making the temperature feel about as comfortable as it can get – warm enough for short-sleeves and shorts, but not so warm that you’ll be sweating like a hog by the 8th hole.

It’s the nicest day of the year by far. It’s the perfect day for golf. Your clubs are clean and shiny, new spikes in the shoes, no sore muscles. You’re all dressed and ready to go. You’re just about to head out the door for another wonderful day on the course. And then it happens.

Have your ears deceived you? No. You heard it exactly right. Your wife just said “Maybe I’ll come with you?” As if she was a Jeopardy contestant, she stated it in the form of a question. But you already know…that was no question. Nope. She just told you she’s going with you.

People always say “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” Normally that’s true. But not in this case. In this case, it’s both. It’s what she said AND how she said it. But not believing your ears, you ask for confirmation anyway. I mean, it’s possible she said something else and you misunderstood right? Maybe she said something that just sounded like it. Maybe she said “Who’s going with you?” or “I think I’ll wear blue.” or “Hey honey, why don’t you stay out as long as you would like, play golf for a while, drink beer and smoke cigars with your friends and come home whenever you feel like it?” It’s possible. So you give it a shot – “What’s that babe? I couldn’t quite hear you over the sound of my clubs rattling in the bag.” But it’s worse the second time. Now it’s like the scenes from the movies where everything slows down and the voice drops to that deep bass tone, like a 78 RPM record being played at 33 1/3. “I…said…, maybe…I’ll…come…with…you.” You cringe. Now what?

The kicker for me is, my wife doesn’t play golf. Doesn’t care about it, doesn’t want to know about it. She couldn’t tell you the difference between a putter and a bogey. But what she does know is it’s a nice day and the golf course is a great place to relax, have a drink and get some sun without having to put on a bathing suit and get sand in her shoes.

Now I’ve taken my wife to the range before. It was a sight, for lack of a better term. Handing her a club was like handing a cell phone to my grandmother. Some things are better left in the hands of others. I’m no PGA pro and I sure as hell shouldn’t be teaching anyone the proper mechanics of the golf swing. But I do know the basics. I tried to pass those basics along to her, but it was no use. You ever see a baby just learning how to walk? It’s walking into things and falling down and you can’t help but to laugh. Picture that baby with a golf club in one hand, completely throwing off it’s balance even further, and a glass of Jack Daniels in the other. It was like that. But less graceful.

So why on earth does she want to come with me? She’s not going to play. She’s going to be bored out of her mind. And she couldn’t care less about the conversation going on between my friends and I. As a matter of fact, she’d probably be offended, or even repulsed by it! But for some reason, she wants to come.

But I think I know what it is. I think I might know why she wants to come. And better yet, I think I know how to fend her off. So I’m going to take a shot at it. Here I go…

“But honey, we’re not taking a cart. It’s such a beautiful day, we’re going to walk the course.” She responds “Walk?! Forget it. I’ll go shopping instead.” It worked! She just wanted to ride in the cart! I try to tell her that it’s not all that much fun, but those guys on Jackass sure do make it look like a better time than it is.

When we get to the course, I tell the guys about what happened at home and how my wife almost showed up with us. We all had a good laugh before we strapped our bags to the back of the carts and drove-off to the first tee.

So there you have it. The final chapter of the tale of my three wives in one. Fellas, if your wife is anything like mine, then I hope I’ve helped you to understand that you are not alone. Maybe I’ve even provided some insight somehow. However, if your wife is nothing like this, then I at least hope I have provided you with some type of entertainment at my own expense. If this is the case…you’re welcome.

Golf and A Wife: A Tale of Three Women In One (Part 2)

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3470826111_81eb9e2701_oA little over a week ago I gave everyone a bit of a look into my personal life as I was telling you about wife #1 – The wife who hates when I golf. This week, we are going to look into wife #2 – The wife who doesn’t mind when I golf and, often times, is happy to see me get the hell out of the house. Obviously, this is my favorite one-third of my three-part wife.

One would have to wonder how she can go from hating when I golf, to pretty much handing my clubs to me and forcing me out the front door. I want to ask, but I’m afraid to. When she is pretty much telling me to get out of here, I don’t want to give her any reason to change her mind. So I just grab my keys and go. But I do wonder “Why did she make a stink last Saturday but couldn’t wait to get me out this time?” So I’ve come up with a few ideas on my own:

#1 – She loves me and she wants me to be happy doing something she knows I love to do. No, this can’t be it.

#2 – She has learned that, many times, I am more useful out of the house than in. I figure this is a strong possibility. It’s no secret most of us husbands are kept around by our wives for two reasons – opening jars and squishing bugs. Most of the remaining can all be done by the wife herself – and often times done better. I’ll give it to my wife…she simply does a better job than me at many of the household chores….or does she? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Fellas, you know what I’m talking about. Bill Cosby? Screw it up bad enough and you won’t have to do it again? Sometimes it works. But in hindsight…this may not be the answer either. See, my wife caught onto my tricks pretty quickly. I figured when I dropped a colorful new undergarment into a load of bleach-filled whites, I was home free. Wrong. I tried again with a new comforter. I practically managed to get that one shrunken down to what a candy company would consider “Fun Size.” Still no good. So after another lesson and the threat of my wife shrinking something else down to “fun size”…I don’t screw up the laundry anymore. So the best I can come up with is…

#3 – She’s just so sick of looking at me growing roots into the couch. This is the best I can come up with. I’ll get out of bed, head down to the living room, turn on the TV, and fall asleep again in front of ESPN. I’ll wake up just in time to put the game on, then fall asleep again from innings two through eight. Hey, if God thought it was OK to rest one day, then it should be OK for me also right? My wife says when I can create an entire world in six days, better yet, when I can consistently do ANYTHING for six days, then I can sleep on the couch all day long if I would like. But until then…. She has a point. But rather than argue with me about it, or try to do everything around me, she sends me golfing. This has to be it.

But upon thinking about it, I don’t really care what the reason is, as long as it continues to happen. And I’ll NEVER ask. It’s like asking my mechanic about the technical aspect of my cars latest problem. I don’t give a crap. Does it work properly now? Is that annoying sound gone? That’s all I need to know.

As long as that one part of my wife will continue to recommend I golf and force me out when it’s time to do so, that’s all I need to know. Now if I can just work on the other two parts.

Check back next week for Part 3 – When She Wants To Golf With Me…

Golf and A Wife: A Tale of Three Women In One (Part 1)

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todo-list-297195_640Is your wife the type who hates when you head out for a day of golf with your buddies? Maybe she’s the type who doesn’t mind when you golf and, often times, is happy to see you get the hell out of the house? Or…is she the type who would like nothing more than to head to the course with you? If you can narrow it down, then lucky you. My situation is a little different. Depending upon the day, and I’m still working on how exactly to read it, my wife could be any one of those three!

It’s amazing to meet a person who can look at an activity such as golf and, all in the same thought, think “It’s a boring, pointless and stupid sport. You should go play today. Can I go with you?” What the hell?! So in this ball of confusion, today we’re going to explore wife #1 – The wife who hates when I golf.

Did you ever notice there is always something to do? Did you ever notice there is just not enough time in the day? Did you ever notice that, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t finish the things that need to be done and there’s always more to do tomorrow? Don’t be fooled. None of this is true. The reason you feel this way is because of your wife! She makes things up and tricks you into believing you are too busy to go golfing! Don’t fall for it! It’s a trap! There is always tomorrow to get things done. And if tomorrow never comes, then what did it matter if the garage was cleaned anyway?

Maybe your wife uses the “we don’t spend enough time together” excuse when you want to disappear for an entire Saturday. I don’t get it. I just spent the past, physician-recommended, eight hours right next to her! As a matter of fact, I’ve done that almost every night for the past few years! But she doesn’t think this meets the criteria to be considered “quality time.” But somehow, wandering the halls of the local mall with the other zombies and their wives does. You wanna explain that? You can’t, can you? Well enough trying to explain, it’s time to act.

The next time your wife wants to get her hair or nails done, remind her that she wanted to rearrange the bedroom or living room furniture and today would be the perfect day to get that done. When you finish that up, mention the kitchen that she was so anxious to get painted. I would be willing to bet those things could be put on hold now.

As far as the quality time thing goes…I’m all for spending quality time with the wife. It’s of vital importance to your marriage. So when she mentions it, you should appease her. Get on the computer, purchase some tickets to the game (any game really – baseball, football, basketball, hockey…) and take her along. Explain to her this is something you would normally do with your friends, but you’re having a much better time with her and look forward to doing it again next Saturday! The teams logo painted from your chest down to your gut which is jiggling while you wildly wave your shirt over your head is a nice touch. She should get the point.

I figure there are two ways this can go for you:

#1 – She gets the picture and you can golf often enough to keep you satisfied. Don’t push it though or you may end up with…
#2 – She is so infuriated with your lack of compassion for her needs and she wants a divorce. 99% of the time, divorce is bad. I do not endorse divorce.

However, and you didn’t hear this from me, it will free up your Saturdays.

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