Golf needs more "Black Hats"

After much anticipation I thought Day 1 of the Cadillac Match Play at Harding Park fell flat and I think I know why..

Golf needs more Black Hats...

In all the old westerns, the bad guys all wore black hats, the good guys wore anything but and of course we spent the whole movie wishing for the good guys to go get them ! Clint Eastwood made a career of righting the their dastardly deeds and often he didn't even need to wear a hat..

Tennis was never more compelling than when Jimmy Connors, Ile Nastase, John McEnroe, and Ivan Lendel were wearing the black hats. We wanted a big linesman to drop his silent demeanour and drop McEnroe with a shot to the mouth he was using to question the poor guys parentage..

They were brilliant but they were also compelling, train wrecks about to happen. Nastase would start a match joking and clowning, the crowd in the palm of his magical hands, then "Nasty" would start to take him over, he would get ugly, then surly, our emotions for him were torn..

Mohammed Ali in his prime wore the biggest black hat, half the world wanted to see his big mouth shut, didn't they. Local derby's in soccer, Rangers vs Celtic, Liverpool vs Everton have black hats depending on your perspective, and there are many more examples.

Wednesday at Harding Park was perfect. Sunny, warm, gorgeous course, greens, 64 of the best in this game, big upsets.... but no drama, no "it" It fell flat because there are no black hats..

Apart from the Ryder Cup which is arguably the three best days in all of sport and is full of them , golf has one black hat.. Tiger Woods... John Daly used to have one but his game is such a non factor that he no longer wears a hat... Sergio put one on for a while

Tiger is compelling not just because he is arguably the best of all time, but because at least half of us want to see him lose, want to see him brought down and will tune in week in and week out to see that happen. Even before he added fuel to that fire with his personal fall from grace, he was wearing the hat. Whether it was his aloof manner with the media, or jealousy or heaven forbid because he is black, he had the hat. What is even worse, his game is now so middle of the pack, he is in danger of losing the hat.

Believe it or not Jack Nicklaus used to wear the black hat..In his early days, when he came out of Ohio State and started beating our beloved Arnie, Arnie's Army had Jack as public enemy #1.

When you go through this week's field, you will have your favourites of course... Rory, Rickie, Rosey, Adam Scott,  have legions of fans, but none wear the black hat. There is nobody in the field we want to see get his comeuppance.

They are all great golfers, but they are all millionaires, with their own jets, homes beyond our dreams, spoiled, pampered, little in common with our daily drudgery, so who cares if they win or lose.

Unlike wrestling where of course every match has a black hat, those are contrived and nurtured by a never ending publicity machine, you can't just appoint black hats in golf. It has to come naturally, and I'm not sure it ever will again..

I hope for the game of golf it does, or the game like yesterday at Harding Park will continue to fall a bit flat..

Bryan Angus