Golf never stops, there is always a group looking to play through, but there was an interlude in the form of a football game on Sunday.
That would be Super Bowl XLIV, won by the New Orleans Saints and it was undeniably good for golf.
You see, everything fits neatly into one of two categories: good for golf or bad for golf.
The Saints are an NFL franchise that has mostly been famous for fans who wore bags on their heads or a placekicker with half a right foot who set the record for longest field goal (Tom Dempsey) or an owner (Tom Benson) who used to dance on the sidelines after victories.
Yet from the second quarter on, the Saints dominated the Colts by outscoring them 31-7, rewrote their history and lifted the spirits of a city still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
By all counts, that is good for golf.
The Who, unfortunately, was bad for golf.
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the two surviving members of the band, deserve recognition as part of a quartet that helped define rock but their performance at halftime of the Super Bowl was not an anthem for My Generation. It was the sound of time long since passed.
Their music at full tilt still resonates but seeing them play-act their way through a medley of Who A-sides left those who remember, wishing they’d muted the TV and cranked side one of Who, Live at Leeds.
It was fun to see Pete doing a few windmills, though.
Good for golf; bad for golf. Here goes:
Miguel Angel Jimenez: good for golf — Really all it takes is one look and you’re hooked. Forty-something, bushy, graying and unapologetic pony tail exploding out the back of his cap, and a cigar at the ready. He’s got game, too.
He’s golf’s every man but in true European form, it’s wrapped in pure Old World culture. Jimenez can just as easily describe the notes on a Chateau Mouton Rothschild as read the grain on a bent-grass green.
Jimenez won the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday when Lee Westwood succumbed to the pressure and could not sink a putt. Westwood is the same guy that missed putts to get into playoffs with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at the 2008 US Open and again with Stewart Cink and Tom Watson at the ‘09 British.
This past weekend in Dubai, Westwood had putts to win the title outright and then another on the third playoff hole to extend the match, but missed the five-footer.
All Jimenez did was flirt with the water, chip in at the second playoff hole and not miss when the title was his for the taking. He’s a Dos Equis commercial in spikes and could be the most interesting man on tour.
The 46-year-old simply said: “Like a good wine, with age, I get better and better.”
Lobbying for greater European player participation on the US tour: bad for golf — This is no slam against the Europeans or any of the International players and its great to see the world’s best compete at the same tournaments, at least a few times each year.
But each year someone complains that not enough Intl players make it to the states.
The European Tour is just as important to the overall health and growth of the sport as the PGA Tour, maybe more so because of the world market, and those events need strong fields to remain viable.
Aside from the British Open, the U.S. hosts the three other major tournaments while three of the four World Golf Championship events are played on American soil. The two tours compete in the marketplace for business and players should be allowed greater access to events and not less.
Field strength should be determined by the world’s best freely going to wherever their eligible.
World Tour, anyone?
Classic courses: good for golf — The PGA Tour got a taste of one this past weekend, when The Riviera Country Club played host to the Northern Trust Open. It will again this weekend, when the AT&T is played on the Monterey Peninsula, where pros will get two turns at Pebble Beach Golf Links in addition to spins at Spyglass and the Shore course at Monterey Peninsula CC.
With technology allowing touring pros to hit the ball at greater lengths throughout their bags and with tournaments needing more and more space for corporate hospitality tents, which reduce available gallery space, some of the older courses are being crowded out.
For most golf fans, the closest they will ever get to some of these exclusive tracks is to walk the fairways during a tournament or at least tune in one weekend a year when they’re on TV as host of a tour stop.
Case in point is the 10th at Riviera, a thoroughly short par-four at 315 yards, but an imminently proven test of golf. Most pros can drive the green, but few will hold their tee shots and will be left with a scramble to simply make par.
The gamble could be worth it, though, as players who laid up at the 10th posted a stroke average of 4.02 while those who went for the green averaged 3.78.
Speed round: Michael Allen going strong at 51, good for golf — The guy is a card-carrying member of the Champions Tour, but he’s making a regular habit of the flat-belly circuit. He’s also cashing some checks with a T25, fifth and T27 finish in three PGA Tour events this season. … Tom Brady at the AT&T, good — The athlete’s pool has gotten kinda thin at the annual Clambake and Brady adds a gallery option to Kenny G. And it appears the injury that kept him out of the Pro Bowl is healed enough for Pebble Beach. Interesting. … Range finders, bad — There is something inherently wrong about a hand-held gadget that electronically reads a variety of data points to pinpoint yardage. Here’s a concept: look at the target, pick a club and take a swing. Bring more feel into the game and fewer mechanics. … Making the pros putt at the 6th, good — No. 6 at Riviera is a par-three with a bunker in the middle of the green. Members that hit on the wrong side have to putt around it but touring pros have been able to take wedges to the green. On Sunday, Justin Rose was forced to putt around the bunker and bogeyed.
Mike Scarr is the editor of Golflink.com and can be reached at golflinkeditor@demandmedia.com. His 25-year career spans the coverage of golf, baseball, beach volleyball, hockey, football and international sports as both a reporter and editor.
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