Apart from our pals at the Golf Channel and a group of friends and family, the Fed Ex Cup playoffs get under way this morning at the Ridgewood GC in New Jersey for the Barclay's and now that the majors are done for the year and of course with the Ryder Cup right around the corner, this is the best month in golf, four tournaments with the best players from the world’s strongest tour competing for a shot at $10m
Yet for the general public it arrives with what I describe as a dull thud ! Why ?
There are several reasons in my opinion. Many of you have been turned off by the amount of money pro athletes are making, or complaining about not making while we worry every day about where the rent money is coming from, and over 20 years of broadcasting my Fairway's Golf Show this is a real problem for many. Giving these millionaires a $10m bonus to win is sickening and means nothing to anyone but the pro's..
Another reason is that most of you don't have a horse in the race. If I take you to Woodbine racetrack and we sit in the stands and watch a bunch of well bred fit horses running around the track, chances are you'll be bored by the 3rd race. However if you have $20 on the 5 horse to win you'll be leading the cheers down by the rail !! Yes we have our favourites, but we have nothing at stake. Watch the unbearable tension about to unfold at Gleneagles in 5 weeks time for those of American or European descent at the Ryder Cup to illustrate my point.
No Tiger is sadly a huge factor for many of you who have no interest unless he is in the field...
Lack of characters. Ok who is a real character out there. Bubba can be, Rory is writing history but it's his game that does all the talking. Jimmy Walker ? Adam Scott ? Matt Kuchar ? Jim Furyk ? We had Lee Trevino talking his way around the course often to the annoyance of his playing partner, Arnie charisma oozed, Tom Weiskopf was always angry, Brian Barnes smoked a pipe, Tommy Bolt threw his clubs or snapped them over his knee, then would get into the bottle after the round, his fights with his wife were legendary.. on and on we go..
John Daly is the closest guy to the characters of yore. Now today's pro's are lean, fit, don't smoke or drink, rarely make headlines for anything but their scores, in general are boring..
The courses.. Barclay's at Ridgewood. Deutchbank at TPC Boston, BMW at Cherry Hills or Tour Championship at Eastlake... All fine courses for sure, especially Cherry Hills outside Denver which has had 9 USGA championships and 2 PGA's. Arnie came from 8 shots back in 1960 to overtake Mike Souchak and add the US Open to the Masters he had won that April.
But do the others have any lore for you ? No apparently..
Summer holiday's are a factor, especially if you have had a cool, wet one like we have in southern Ontario and Labour Day is just 3 weeks away, the urge to get away before the fall is overwhelming.
Other sports. Baseball's wild card/ pennant race is heating up, the NFL rules in the US, EPL, MSL, Serie A, NHL soon...
Still, for me the world's best will be front and center until the end of September, Let's see if Rory keeps it up, will Rickie or Sergio continue their awesome summer's, Delaet and Hearn for Canucks, there are stories galore, pity nobody seems to care..
Hey don't forget the CP Women's Championship at London Hunt and of course the most exciting 3 days in golf the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles..
Barclay's live scoring click http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
Bryan Angus
@mummmbles
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