Since starting this blog some time ago, I
have regrettably not posted anything since my introduction. This is due to a
number of factors, but principally that I have been too wrapped up in other endeavours.
I want to put that right today and from now on - although maybe I am speaking
to soon considering how enthusiastic I seemed in my introduction post. But
regardless, I felt compelled to break my silence and write something today.
I’m going to keep it very general and to
the point in this post as this seems to be the tone in which I have been
thinking about the game in recent months. The thing is, it would seem to me
that the sport of golf is at a bit of a crossroads at the moment. Of course I
am talking about the professional game, but also how its recent evolution is
starting to turn heads in both the amateur realm and also the broader sporting
community. I wouldn’t at all say that golf is losing its pedigree on the world
stage – in fact I would argue that it is being talked about more than ever at
the moment. But for the right reasons? I’m not so sure. Every story I appear to
come across now about my beloved game either seems to be downplaying somebody’s
achievements or subtly implying that doom is inevitably impending for the game
as a TV spectacle. ‘Why?’ you ask. Well, for a number of reasons…
The first obvious reason for sports
journalists to take such a view is TV ratings. Of course, nobody can deny that
cold hard stats are concrete in revealing the overall health of a sport. But it
seems to me to be a bit of a scapegoat. You can be sure that if there has been
even a 5% drop in viewings at a golf tournament, there will be at least 10
articles rabbiting on unrelentingly about how ‘golf is dying’ and how ‘it is on
the verge of becoming a niche sport once again’. Of course many of these
articles are pure hyperbole. But they highlight an interesting point. The fact
that golf has ALWAYS been a niche sport in the eyes of the majority of sports
journalists. By this I mean that it is a polarising sport - one that divides
opinion, one that has as many fans as critics and cynics. When I read these
articles I can’t help but think one of two things. The first of which is that
these journalists cannot wait to bury golf into obscurity and insignificance. The
other is, undoubtedly, to over-exaggerate the importance of one man – Tiger
Woods.
It is true that golf needed Tiger, and
continues to need him to bring in the same level of viewers as it enjoyed for
his lengthy dominance at the top. He was the singular driving force in bringing
awareness of the great game to millions, driving PGA tour prize money through
the roof and causing a revolution of health and fitness conscious players.
Tiger Woods WAS golf - from his fabled 1997 Masters victory up until the agonisingly
public meltdown of his private life in late 2009. But is he still golf? More
importantly, does golf need Tiger Woods to sustain any kind of significant fan
base? These are unanswerable questions. Not least due to the fact that Tiger is
still out there, albeit riddled with career threatening injuries and without a
major in 6 long years. But as of last week he is back out on the tour, making
more headlines than ever. So my impression would be that in the context of
sport in general, golf does need Tiger, or at the very least a comparable
superstar, to remain as big as it is now in the years to come. The thing I don’t
agree with these journalists on is that we need a healthy Tiger Woods. Or
rather a Tiger Woods that is winning 8-10 times a year. Having been a huge
Woods fan for the best part of 10 years, I of course would love to see him
regain his form in the majors and go on to challenge Jack’s record of 18.
However, the power of Tiger is so great that I believe that he does not
necessarily need to be playing well for golf to remain on the radar of a lot of
casual sports fans. His mere presence is enough to attract the masses to
attending tour events and their TV’s alike. I mean heck, the man hasn’t won a
major since 2008 and has been written off more times than you can shake a stick
at. Not to mention his plethora of injuries that have taken him out of the game
for months at a time. Yet still he is the name on everybody’s lips when golf is
in the news. So although I don’t agree with most of them, I do understand why
90% of golf articles are written about Tiger and not about the players who are
making the real headway on the PGA Tour. He is still the figurehead. He is
still the superstar. It is in the nature of every sport to need a dominant
figure – especially in the modern age. The difference is that with golf Tiger
is made out to be the solitary lynchpin in a sport on the edge of downfall.
What I don’t care for are the repeated and
frankly insulting comments on the achievements of other players. In the naivety
of some of these articles, there is a blatant disregard for how much of a
monumental achievement is to win a major in the modern era. For instance Martin
Kaymer’s emphatic US Open triumph at Pinehurst last month, where he ran away
from the world-class field to win by 9 shots. I must have read at least 5 throw-away
comments about ‘nobody caring’ and that ‘it is only really a win if Tiger is in
the field’… It may be true that Tiger is still golf in the eyes of the arm
chair sports fans and journalists, but he is most certainly not head and
shoulders above the rest anymore when it comes to the competition. The Tiger
era kickstarted an explosion in kids taking up golf at an early age, and
subsequently building games that could now probably even rival his own of a few years ago when he was at
his prime. Put simply, the talent at the top of the world rankings right now is
frighteningly abundant. So yes, golf needs Tiger Woods to remain appealing to
the masses. But it does not need him for there to still be fierce competition
week by week on the PGA Tour. Hence, the achievements of Kaymer, or any other
players in the top flight of the game must not be downtrodden or overlooked when
looked upon in retrospect.
To wrap up, I do think golf is at a transition
point - but only when you look at it from an outsider’s perspective. Who knows,
Tiger Woods might come back from his recent back surgery a renewed player. He
might go on to win 10 more majors before he hangs up the clubs. If he does then it
will undoubtedly take golf to even greater heights as an overall sport. He may
keep playing but not win as regularly. This, in my opinion, will also keep golf
on the public’s radar. Or, god for bid, he may be forced into an early
retirement after a final hammer-blow injury. This may set golf back a little
bit, but not too much. In 2014, the sport truly has some incredible athletes to
its name who are going to go on to do awe-inspiring things for years to come.
If golf’s governing bodies remain on the ball and allow the sport to evolve as
naturally as possible, I see no reason why the game I have grown up watching
and adoring cannot remain healthy and popular for many a-generation to come.
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