Golf, Without Tiger or Phil, Is in a Good Place - Agree or Disagree?

[Golfingdad]

I think Fowler won once.  Am I mistaken?  My wife is a big Folwer fan and I think she told me he won once.

Good informative post BTW.    The way I see it, most people who love golf will support the Tour, and follow their favorite players.  As for me, the golf channel is "on" a simple majority of the time at my home.  It's the last reason I still have Dishnetwork.   If I find another game/sport that I will enjoy more than golf, then, that'd be a different story.   For now, golf is here to stay for me and for the rest of us, IMO.   Good bye, Tiger.   Hello, new golf world.

Yeah, in 2012.  Patricks stats, though, are from the start of 2014.

[PatrickMurtha]

I think Fowler won once.  Am I mistaken?  My wife is a big Folwer fan and I think she told me he won once.

Good informative post BTW.    The way I see it, most people who love golf will support the Tour, and follow their favorite players.  As for me, the golf channel is "on" a simple majority of the time at my home.  It's the last reason I still have Dishnetwork.   If I find another game/sport that I will enjoy more than golf, then, that'd be a different story.   For now, golf is here to stay for me and for the rest of us, IMO.   Good bye, Tiger.   Hello, new golf world.

No, alas, not since the start of 2014. Rickie still only has the one PGA Tour win (Well Fargo in 2012). He also won the Korea Open in 2011.

Jason Day had the same "highly talented but doesn't win" rep as Fowler, but he has started to crack that with his Match Play win in 2014, and the Farmers Insurance Open win this year.

Here are Day's numbers since the start of 2014:

Day - 21 tournaments, 2 wins, 9 Top 5s (43%), 10 Top 10s (48%), 14 Top 20s (67%), 3 MC/WDs (14%)

If we extend Day back 8 tournaments into 2013, his numbers start to look very close to McIlroy's:

Day - 29 tournaments, 3 wins, 12 Top 5s (41%), 15 Top 10s (51%), 21 Top 20s (72%), 3 MC/WDs (10%)

Considering he's been hurt at times, which is the reason he has WDs and fewer tournaments played than others, these numbers are mighty good.

The Day / Dubuisson showdown at the Match Play in 2014 was a sheer joy.

[BigBaffy]

Agree. It sucks (for him) that Tiger won't surpass Nicklaus in majors won, but hey, the guy won a U.S. Open on a broken leg, over FIVE days.

I doubt Jack would have done so well.

Tiger was a machine, he just isn't any more.

[Rick Martin]

My only problem w/ PGA golf is the season is too damn long - nearly 12 months long. Makes each week's even less significant, imo.  They need to take a break during the season because it is over saturated. Me? I start tuning in about midway through the Cali swing, then fully watch the FLA swing through the Masters and Heritage.....then O.D. on The Players (go there for the whole week). Then it's only the majors the rest of the way and Pres/Ryder Cup.

But the tour has more than enough significant International and American players that TW isn't needed as much anymore except to the severely casual fan who tunes in sporadically only because he plays.  The sport really can survive without those viewers.    Besides there's always a great golfer down the road - Rory was just a curly headed, acne faced teenager in 2008 when he started to play the Euro tour on a reg basis..........

[PatrickMurtha]

I don't mind pro golf being a year-round sport any more than I mind its being a worldwide sport with many tours. Just makes it more interesting to me. And lately, there have been some great stories coming out of the last quarter of the calendar year: Jimmy Walker's sudden emergence at the end of 2013 (before which he had missed 6 of 8 cuts); Adam Scott's King of Australia routine, also in 2013; Jordan Spieth's two wins in a row in 2014.

[iacas]

My only problem w/ PGA golf is the season is too damn long - nearly 12 months long. Makes each week's even less significant, imo.  They need to take a break during the season because it is over saturated.

The PGA Tour players likely disagree. They like playing opportunities. It's how they earn wins, money, standing… And at the end of the day, while the PGA Tour is glad to have fans, and the fans ultimately pay for everything (or sponsors, but sponsors virtually only exist because of fans), they also need to provide for their members - the players.

[newtogolf]

My only problem w/ PGA golf is the season is too damn long - nearly 12 months long. Makes each week's even less significant, imo.  They need to take a break during the season because it is over saturated. Me? I start tuning in about midway through the Cali swing, then fully watch the FLA swing through the Masters and Heritage.....then O.D. on The Players (go there for the whole week). Then it's only the majors the rest of the way and Pres/Ryder Cup.

I think it makes each week even more significant.  Some of the better pros play a very limited schedule so it puts more pressure on them to do well in the tournaments they play in.  Conversely, the tournaments they miss become great opportunities for the up and coming players to capitalize on.  All the points factor into the FedEx scoring so every week is important.  One could argue every sports season is too long with the exception of football but all the games count the same when it comes to post season qualification.

[PatrickMurtha]

All the points factor into the FedEx scoring so every week is important.

Everything counts for the OWGR, too. The OWGR is often criticized, and it can be nitpicked in certain ways - for example, the two-year sample may be too long. But in the main, with the different weighting of events both on different tours and even within those tours, I think the OWGR is a fine, sensitive instrument.

[rkim291968]

PGA season beginning of the fall after Fedex cup isn't working ... or the tour needs to do something to increase the interest of those "fall" tournaments.    It seems all the best players (Phils & Tigers of the tour) pack it in after that and don't appear until months later.

[Gunther]

PGA season beginning of the fall after Fedex cup isn't working ... or the tour needs to do something to increase the interest of those "fall" tournaments.    It seems all the best players (Phils & Tigers of the tour) pack it in after that and don't appear until months later.

Don't think Jimmy Walker would agree, but yeah, I see your point. Not really sure how to fix it though, those guys aren't going to play the Fall Series anyway. For my own enjoyment, I kinda tune out the PGA Tour after the PGA, and the Ryder or Pres Cup, and focus on the Euro Tour. That extends well into the Fall with some very big events; hence, the names follow. It's not much of a wait between the Race to Dubai championship and the Tour of Champions.

[ChrisP]

PGA season beginning of the fall after Fedex cup isn't working ... or the tour needs to do something to increase the interest of those "fall" tournaments.    It seems all the best players (Phils & Tigers of the tour) pack it in after that and don't appear until months later.

It's during football season. They're not going to increase the interest no matter what they do. A lot of people don't even follow the FedEx Playoffs because it goes up against the early part of football season and the end of MLB season. I guarantee you that most people don't know who Billy Horschel is. Of those that do, probably over half of them don't even know he won the TOUR title because they didn't watch it. I'm guilty of that as well.... I was watching football games rather than watching the TOUR Championship. The Ryder Cup ended my season.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

PGA season beginning of the fall after Fedex cup isn't working ... or the tour needs to do something to increase the interest of those "fall" tournaments.    It seems all the best players (Phils & Tigers of the tour) pack it in after that and don't appear until months later.

It's during football season. They're not going to increase the interest no matter what they do. A lot of people don't even follow the FedEx Playoffs because it goes up against the early part of football season and the end of MLB season. I guarantee you that most people don't know who Billy Horschel is. Of those that do, probably over half of them don't even know he won the TOUR title because they didn't watch it. I'm guilty of that as well.... I was watching football games rather than watching the TOUR Championship. The Ryder Cup ended my season.

While I don't watch a lot golf during the summer, I watch even less in the fall.  Sunday is football day, period.

[Moppy]

Maybe for the hard core fans who would watch no matter what, but I don't really enjoy watching a tournament where it just seems like luck plays the major role in who wins. You have 50 decent golfers playing, just by the law of averages (OK, basic statistics) one of them is going to make a lot of putts, or really be dialed in some other aspect. What is fascinating is when you have those guys who can overcome the pack week after week, when one or another in in the pack is guaranteed to get "hot" that week, Not saying that they aren't good. I am not fit to polish their shoes, but here's hoping that Rory is playing in the final grouping on Sunday in the Masters.

Somebody has to separate themselves over time, I think. It doesn't have to be Tiger, but it has to be a real display of out of this world excellence, week after week. Not much to ask for, I know.

[Moppy]

I agree the season is too long too, and there is too long of a time when the top players aren't playing. Economics though says otherwise, I guess.

[MerlinT]

Agree, but I'd like to see Tiger having a last great year...

[1jay1]

I'm with Jimmy Walker now and maybe a little Jordan S mixed it :-)

[newtogolf]

I'm with Jimmy Walker now and maybe a little Jordan S mixed it :-)

I'm impressed with the number of wins Walker has accumulated these last two years but he seems to be the big fish in the little pond, I'd like to see him win a Major.

[skydog]

The PGA tour product is too diluted- too many players and too many events. It's become a victim of its own success. Reduce the number of events and cut the size of the fields in half. This isn't what the average tour player wants to hear but it's what the game needs. Unfortunately there's too much talent and too many no-names winning on a weekly basis. We live in a star driven world and from strictly a business perspective the tour needs to do a better job of eliminating the nobodys and cultivating the careers of the stars on tour.