Let’s hope fun of Sunday at the Masters is restored
Mother Nature, to make amends for an unusually snowy and chilly winter (and as a kickoff to Masters week), provided golfers in the Chicago area two weekend days with terrific weather – sunny, clear and in the mid-60s. Perfect conditions for golf.
So now that we’ve officially kicked off spring, we can turn our attention south to an annual ritual – Bobby Jones’ Invitational, contested on a former fruit orchard that has become hallowed ground to anyone who considers himself a serious player.
To me, what has always been one of the most charming and narcotic aspects of the Masters is that it has always exhibited a distinct playing character, unlike any other major. It has attracted in the past plenty of attention because of positioning, coming first on the schedule, as if to rescue us from doldrums left by long, snowbound winters. The Masters offers more than rich history and a superb golf storyline – the views of the golf course are magnificent and breathtaking, thanks to a talented superintendent, a bottomless maintenance budget and the tournament committee choosing dates when the azaleas and magnolias are all exploding their colors. And now HDTV.
I also believe it is everyone’s favorite major because it is the only one contested over the same venue every year; anyone who fashions themselves a serious golfer knows every nuance of every hole, especially on the inward nine, where television’s unforgiving eye has spent the most time.
There’s history everywhere you look – the spot on the 10th and 11th greens where Scott Hoch missed short putts that would have won him the green jacket, instead of gifting it to Nick Faldo; the spot right of 11 green from where Larry Mize hit the miraculous, Hail Mary Pitch to win a playoff that denied Greg Norman a jacket; the creek in front of 13 green where Curtis Strange walked in owning the lead, rolled up his pant legs, then left the jacket for someone else to win; the patch of grass in the 15th fairway, where Chip Beck decided to lay up, instead of trying for eagle; the 16th green, where Jack Nicklaus won at age 46 with a stunning birdie, and where Tiger Woods holed a hope-to-hell birdie flop to win a year ago. Moments scribed indelibly on every golfer’s brain.
But the members at the Augusta National are in jeopardy of having their tournament lose its character. Over the last 11 years, they’ve added over 500 yards of length, rough and hundreds of trees to the venerable course – in an effort to throttle today’s equipment and players.
You’ll remember it all began when Tiger Woods shot 18-under to win by 12 strokes, the first of his four green jackets in 1997.
The impetus for all this change can be credited to former Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson, who claimed the club’s desire was to have today’s players hitting the same approach clubs as were being employed 30 years ago.
But an excess of tinkering with the layout and over-the-top, penal course conditions (firmness of greens) has drained the players of the cautious Sunday aggressiveness that is the thumbprint of the Masters.
Oh, the flags were in their usual and customary Sunday positions. But the back-nine greens that produced so many entertaining Sunday afternoons – final rounds peppered by frequent lead changes accompanied by explosive cheers from galleries down in the hollows farthest from the clubhouse, chilling voices echoing up through the trees – those greens have been anything but receptive.
So the last two Sundays at Augusta have been, well, boring. Nothing personal against Zach Johnson, a self- proclaimed “average guy” from Iowa, but I can’t get excited watching a Tour professional play every par-5 for four days as a three-shot hole. Sorry. Hand me the remote.
Part of the charm and character of the Masters has always been a final-round course setup that allows – no, make that “encourages” – chasing players to “go for it.” The last two years there was no thrill of a chase. Instead, the greens were linoleum-severe with the usual brutal hole locations, thereby neutering any runs by the gamblers. Would-be chasers had to roll the ball gingerly, not so much to make putts, but rather to avoid three-jacking. If the greens are the same this time, maybe they oughta allow players to leave the head covers on their putters.
Which brings me to my point: we already have a major championship course set up like this root canal every year, on Father’s Day Sunday. We don’t need another.
BULLETPROOF? The other morning on “The Chicagoland Golf Show” scribe Len Ziehm and I were discussing the immediate future of professional golf events in light of the downturn in the economy. I’ve been told many times during economic downturns the PGA Tour has been “bulletproof” in the past.
“I don’t know if we’re impervious,” PGA Tour commish Tim Finchem said recently. “We have a lot of long-term stuff with fundamental building blocks at the tournament level. Ads and TV ratings are on a shorter leash, but so far we haven’t seen any falloff.”
But the relative cost of title sponsorship today with its $5 million-plus payouts vs. the late 1970s days of $175,000 purses cannot be compared. Remember, the Western Open was able to function without a need for a title sponsor until 1987.
TV numbers for events with Tiger Woods jump 65 percent, and go even higher if he’s in contention. Whether his colleagues have the guts to admit it or not, Woods single-handedly has created more undeserving millionaires (meaning no additional effort required on their part) than illegal stock tips. What happens if he suffers an injury or suddenly decides to retire? What is the appraisal value of the PGA Tour without Woods? 35-40 percent of what it is today?
On the PGA Tour, the Tampa event has seen title sponsor PODS pull out of the remaining years of its contract, leaving open the possibility that event will disappear. Jack Vickers last year pulled the plug on his baby, The International, at his Castle Pines GC – claiming the lack of Tiger Woods in his field prevented him from locking up a new, well-heeled title sponsor. There are rumblings at least two other events may see their title sponsors abdicate.
Many crowds have been unusually sparse this year – I wonder if Chicago-based Northern Trust, after taking on the title sponsor role this year, was pleased with the light turnout at Riviera CC in Los Angeles. It was pitiful. Are financially-stressed fans slashing tournament ticket buys from their disposable income allowance in favor of less-expensive entertainment?
Consider also that single-day tickets for the 2008 PGA championship proper at Oakland Hills in nearby Detroit aren’t being made available, as has been the practice in the past at other sites. Cost for the cheapest week’s badge? 350 bucks!
For comparison, at Medinah in 2006, the average fan could walk up Sunday morning and still buy a ticket, which was the expressed intent of the membership. Yet some ignorant media consciously chose to misinterpret that as a negative, that Medinah couldn’t sell out the event.
There’s more. Over on the LPGA Tour, Safeway has ended its relationship with the LPGA’s International golf tournament at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Arizona.
This is not a minor event. It always draws fields and crowds consistent with the four majors.
“Despite attracting the largest crowds on the LPGA, as well as all of the top female players in the world, the East Valley event will be looking for a new sponsor in 2009,” said Tom Maletis of the Portland-based Tournament Golf Foundation. “Safeway had been the sponsor for the past five years at Superstition Mountain, but the latest two-year extension ran out this year.”
While the Pleasanton, Calif.,-based grocery chain will end its role in Arizona, it will continue to sponsor the Safeway Classic in Portland. TGF owns and manages both tournaments.