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Picture this: The year is 2013. Tiger Woods, with 20 majors in the bag and chronic bad back and bad knees, is dialing down a bit with his schedule. Taking center stage and dueling for the big trophies are a couple of young 30-somethings Adam Scott and Ryan Moore.
Perhaps Sunday was merely a prelude of things to come. Scott and Moore fought to a third playoff hole, with Scott winning the Byron Nelson on a 40-foot birdie putt. It was Scotts sixth win on the PGA Tour and Moores fourth second-place finish without a victory.
But you know Moore will get his, perhaps sooner than later. At 25, hes without a doubt the most talented young American player on the PGA Tour. A world beater while at UNLV, Moore was the first player since Woods to go straight from college to the Tour and earned his card without going through Q-school.
Meanwhile, Scott just might be the best 20-something player on the planet. Hes taking over that tag from the heretofore wunderkind Sergio Garcia. The 27-year-old Aussie has a big-time game thats only been kept from busting out by his balky putter. And, having won the Players Championship, he needs to start collecting majors to fill out his resume.
It might seem a sad indictment that when Trevor Immelman won the Masters, he became the only player currently in his 20s to own a major championship. But if Scott and Moore have their say, that will change. Both players have unlimited potential, but they have holes in their game that need to be addressed before theyre able to contend with the Tigers, Phils and Els of the world.
The first thing on the agenda is winning. Scott is doing that, and now its Moores turn. His decision to skip some early-season tournaments to nurse a sore shoulder and a bum hand paid off with a steady performance at the Nelson. Its time for him to take home some actual hardware instead of hefty checks.
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem recently floated actually, backed the idea of getting golf back into the Olympic Games. Golf, which was dropped from the Games in 1904, will have an opportunity to state its case and be admitted for the 2016 Games, wherever that may be.
The chances are not good. There are seven sports applying for two slots: Baseball and softball, which were dropped for the 2012 London Games, along with rugby are probably best positioned for admittance. And there are also longshots Karate, roller sports and squash.
Golfs chances are slim to none because it will not receive the backing of a majority of the International Olympic Committee member nations. Except for South Africa, none of the African countries would sponsor golf. The same goes for most of Asia and Latin America. Besides, golf also has this inconvenient image of being an elite sport, in an age when egalitarianism rules the day.
But the biggest issue is this: Most of golfs elite players dont give a hoot about the Olympics, starting with Tiger Woods. By 2016, Tiger will be 40 and probably already have Jacks record in the bag. I just dont see him getting all that jacked about a gold medal. Besides, the Olympics most likely will take place during the middle of the majors run right around the time between the British Open and the PGA, another reason why few elite players would be all that interested.
In addition, golf has absolutely no tradition in the Olympics. Having been out of the Games for over 100 years, its been out of sight, out of mind.
Well know for sure in about a year and a half from now. But no worries. This is just another bad idea from Finchem. We just hope that some of his other ones would go away as easily.
Say, like the FedEx Cup?
Tim Finchem sounded both smug and defensive when the PGA Tour inexplicably signed a 15-year deal with the Golf Channel before the 2007 season.
Inexplicably is right.
Why anyone would dump ESPN, the most-watched cable network in the English-speaking world, for a glorified infomercial outlet is beyond any reason. And a little more than a year into the contract, Finchem is defensive as ever but no longer smug for the PGA Tour is paying a dear price.
Money ostensibly was why Finchem and his cronies opted for TGC. ESPN was playing hardball, forecasting (accurately, as it turned out) that sportswriter talk shows such as Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn can carry the afternoon slot as well as any mid-week golf tournament. TGC, hungry for actual programming and backed by Comcasts deep pocket, was much more accommodating.
But there were just two problems: 1. TGC has no real talent. 2. The drive-by audience vanished.
There was no better illustration of TGCs talent problem than the Kelly Tilghman fiasco that blew up during the 2008 Mercedes Championship the years first tournament. Overwhelmed by the responsibility and lacking both experience and gravitas, Tilghmans lynch gaffe exposed the networks inability to bring forth a quality broadcast. While TGC paid top dollar for Nick Faldo as an analyst, it utterly struck out with Tilghman, a green cheerleader.
As if that wasnt enough to tank its ratings, the second problem cemented it. ESPN is one of those channels that men, in the desirable demographic of 18-49, are predisposed to tune to even if nothing is on. Call it the default channel: I see TV, I tune to ESPN. Theyre that way at home, theyre that way on the road.
When Im flipping around for something to watch at home, my fingers go for 2-0-6 much more frequently than 6-0-5 on my DirecTV. In fact, it took me awhile to even remember 605. When I travel for business, I flip around for ESPN and will always find it. As for the Golf Channel, most of the name-brand hotels Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton dont even include it on their in-room TV package because its way too obscure.
The recently completed Masters couldnt have shed a harsher light on this. For the first time ever, ESPN got to broadcast the Thursday and Friday rounds. And of course, the Friday telecast scored the highest rating ever for golf on cable. Billy Payne, in his second year on the job as the chairman of Augusta National, knew what ESPN could bring to the table. And he hit a home run.
While Finchem continues to swing and miss
for another 13 1/2 years.
In 2004, in the U.S. Womens Amateur Public Links final, two players who could not be more different faced off for the title.
One stood 6-foot-2, already ballyhooed as the Tiger Woods of womens golf, and at 14, was making lots of noises about playing in the Masters and has already competed on the PGA Tour. The other was a tiny 5-foot-4 waif from Taiwan, whos a dominant junior player at the age of 15 but nobodys ever heard of her
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The dream of a grand slam is still alive. And the world No. 1 is looking more dominant than ever.
Were talking LPGA, of course
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Tiger Woods hates the Players Championship. He hates everything about it. The slow play. The course. The 17th hole. And the fact that its the purported Fifth Major and the way Tim Finchem kept talking it up as if it were a real major.
I had waited for years for Tiger to finally skip this tournament. In the past, he just couldnt come up with a good enough excuse. But this year, he struck gold. The knee scope conveniently lets him off the hook. Hell be laid up for 4-6 weeks and voila! See ya later, Sawgrass gator
[ Click here to read more ]
Tiger Woods hates the Players Championship. He hates everything about it. The slow play. The course. The 17th hole. And the fact that its the purported Fifth Major and the way Tim Finchem kept talking it up as if it were a real major.
I had waited for years for Tiger to finally skip this tournament. In the past, he just couldnt come up with a good enough excuse. But this year, he struck gold. The knee scope conveniently lets him off the hook. Hell be laid up for 4-6 weeks and voila! See ya later, Sawgrass gator
[ Click here to read more ]
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