Hi everybody, I'm both relieved and delighted to get my computer back, like everything else in this pandemic, it wasn't straight forward, as many big box stores like Best Buy, and Staples stopped doing repairs to concentrate on online sales instead. The line up outside Canadian Computers everyday was a tribute to their decision to combine on line sales with curbside pick up and repairs.
Driving Relief Skins
The weekend Driving Relief skins match with Rory, DJ vs Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff at Seminole GC in rainy Florida has had very mixed reviews. The upside was the $6m they raised to fight COVID_19. Skins are all about personalities and the match that unfolds provides the foil for their interaction. The original Skins with Arnie, Jack, Gary and Lee was a guaranteed smash hit before it started even if the play was spotty.
In the annals of matches since, this weekends missed the gallery to play up to, the interaction between players and their caddies, suffered from the social distancing, and as entertainers DJ, Rickie never have much to say, Wolff is a quiet rookie, leaving Rory as the spark plug.
PGA Tour's return to play
This brings me to the re-start of the PGA Tour's season June 11-14 at the Colonial GC in Fort Worth Texas. You'll remember the first four tournaments will all look a lot like this weekend's televised Skins match. No fans, social distancing, flags left in untouched all part of the plan.
So the USA is currently the world's hotspot for COVID_19 by a longshot with 1.5m positive tests and 90,000 deaths and rising daily.
The schedule proposed by Commissioner Jay Monahan and his staff has gone from being " proposed completely dependent on the advice of our medical staffs with the safety of our players, and all concerned utmost in our minds" to a done deal, with Rory leading the way announcing he will play the first three.
We are 24 days away as I write from the first tee shot.
Why would the PGA Tour go out on a limb to go ahead with this with the pandemic raging in the USA. Yes sponsors would like a return on their investments, yes TV is desperate to fill all that airtime whether it's good or bad, yes pro golfers are itching to play and yes some golf fans are keen to watch the return.
The virus is more acute in some states than others, which has led to demonstrations in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida who just want to be left alone to get on with their lives as if COVID_19 didn't exist.
In reality when you have much of the world being asked daily, as we are here in Canada to stay home, locked down in isolation, only to go out for supplies, medication and isolated exercise as the only solution to slow down and eventually stop this disastrous virus that has killed approaching 500,000, that has ruined millions financially by crippling the world's economy, why would you take this stance, this chance ?
The European Tour has a contingency plan in place, but unlike the PGA Tour, Keith Pelley and his staff have kept it to themselves, closing everything down including The Open, until the WORLDWIDE situation dictates any resumption. They are saying "our season is of little importance compared to the devastation of COVID_19"
All other major leagues are taking the same approach although NASCAR Racing and the Bundisliga experimented with a live return with no spectators this past weekend. The AHL just cancelled their season and the NHL should follow suit soon.
Lets be honest, without Tiger, regular weekly golf is not very exciting to watch even with huge galleries and no restrictions. TV ratings are no where near the NFL, NBA or MLB in North America, and of course soccer ratings rule the rest of the world.
I realize some public golf courses are slowly opening up for the time being if we follow all the severe restrictions, we can get out and play, like going for a long walk. On the other hand, Sweden who decided to stay open, have had a terrible spike in COVID and are now closing down.
In my opinion the PGA Tour putting pro golf back on TV, while medical staff are trying to persuade the rest of us to stay home, to buy into a world wide "we're all in this together" is fraught with danger, self absorbed and to be honest irresponsible and unnecessary.
Bryan Angus
No comments:
Post a Comment