Thursday
Aug202009
Commentary: Points or pointless?
Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 11:04PM
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.
It's the third week of the PGA Tour's playoffs, and for the second year in a row, there isn't a contest.
Last year, Tiger Woods ran away and hid from the field, and didn't even have to show up the first week.
This year, with the formula tweaked to encourage volatility in the standings, Vijay Singh's won back-to-back, and is running away from the field.
"I don't even know if it's possible for someone in 13th place to catch him," said Steve Stricker, who happens to be in 13th place on the eve of the first round of the 105th Western Open – under cover as the BMW Championship for the second of a six-year corporate run – at Bellerive Country Club. "Maybe if I win both and he finishes last in both."
Then only if various and sundry train wrecks befall Sergio Garcia and Co. in between. Garcia is second, Mike Weir third, and Justin Leonard fourth. Other notables are in the top 10, including Phil Mickelson, who will figure out some way to play himself into a quandary, and, if projected rain hits, a quagmire as well.
What matters is this: If Stricker isn't sure what he can do to take the lead, and isn't sure if he can take the lead, should anyone else care?
"Interest is up," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said Wednesday afternoon, before noting that the television ratings have been sunk by the double whammy of a lack of Tiger Woods and a surplus of the Beijing Olympics. If that's increased interest, it's disguised as apathy to the Nielsen crowd.
Finchem mentioned that there's been more talk about the playoffs on sports talk radio, though that will be news to most sports talk radio hosts, especially those in Chicago. Ah, Chicago, which has loyally supported the Western Open since 1962, and this year has no big-time golf championship for the first time since 1960.
"When you leave a market like Chicago, they roast those who are involved in the decision," Finchem admitted.
That, at least, he's spot on about.
The problem isn't the competition for the attention of the audience. The problem is the product. Tournament golf has never had a playoff concept, and not one where it's played four-fifths of the way through the season, ostensibly to crown a champion, after which seven more weeks of tournaments are played. (And this year, one of those seven is the week before the Tour Championship, but is part of the autumn swing. So go figure.)
By itself, the Western Open is a fine show, no matter what the name. It was better received in Chicago being played during golf season, which September is not – though you can't tell the fans in St. Louis that – and was better with a full field.
As a playoff affair, the paying customer is presented with a small field, albeit one of considerable quality, and has to have a degree in calculus to determine the race within a race, if he or she cares at all. And we know the answer to that question.
Like team sports playoffs, the deal may determine a champion, but may not decide who the best player is. Padraig Harrington, having missed the cut both in New Jersey and in Boston, may not make the field for the Tour Championship, never mind victories in the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods, whose fourth win of the season, the United States Open at Torrey Pines, was the most dramatic in decades, is sidelined until his damaged knee heals.
Yet, those are the two players with the greatest argument for player of the year honors. Which makes the playoffs more inconsequential than the Players Championship, which has a legitimate argument for being the fifth professional major.
That's why more tweaks will be forthcoming.
"I relate it to hockey," Mike Weir said. "The No. 8 seed can have a hot goalie, beat a No. 1 seed in the first round, and go on to win the Stanley Cup."
Not that anyone in St. Louis, or Chicago, for that matter, knows anything about the Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, Harrington, sitting 44th when a spot in the top 30 is needed by Sunday night, wants to see even more potential for the standings to shuffle.
"I'd give more emphasis to guys playing well, not guys scraping by," Harrington said. "Make this week more volatile than the previous two weeks. Right now, it's tougher to move up in week three. Double the points for week three, and double it again for the Tour Championship."
He likes the idea, but it's doubtful that will make Neil in Northlake call the sport chatterers to talk up the prospects of D.J. Trahan. Unless, that is, Trahan can fill in for Carlos Zambrano in the Cubs' rotation.
– Tim Cronin
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.
It's the third week of the PGA Tour's playoffs, and for the second year in a row, there isn't a contest.
Last year, Tiger Woods ran away and hid from the field, and didn't even have to show up the first week.
This year, with the formula tweaked to encourage volatility in the standings, Vijay Singh's won back-to-back, and is running away from the field.
"I don't even know if it's possible for someone in 13th place to catch him," said Steve Stricker, who happens to be in 13th place on the eve of the first round of the 105th Western Open – under cover as the BMW Championship for the second of a six-year corporate run – at Bellerive Country Club. "Maybe if I win both and he finishes last in both."
Then only if various and sundry train wrecks befall Sergio Garcia and Co. in between. Garcia is second, Mike Weir third, and Justin Leonard fourth. Other notables are in the top 10, including Phil Mickelson, who will figure out some way to play himself into a quandary, and, if projected rain hits, a quagmire as well.
What matters is this: If Stricker isn't sure what he can do to take the lead, and isn't sure if he can take the lead, should anyone else care?
"Interest is up," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said Wednesday afternoon, before noting that the television ratings have been sunk by the double whammy of a lack of Tiger Woods and a surplus of the Beijing Olympics. If that's increased interest, it's disguised as apathy to the Nielsen crowd.
Finchem mentioned that there's been more talk about the playoffs on sports talk radio, though that will be news to most sports talk radio hosts, especially those in Chicago. Ah, Chicago, which has loyally supported the Western Open since 1962, and this year has no big-time golf championship for the first time since 1960.
"When you leave a market like Chicago, they roast those who are involved in the decision," Finchem admitted.
That, at least, he's spot on about.
The problem isn't the competition for the attention of the audience. The problem is the product. Tournament golf has never had a playoff concept, and not one where it's played four-fifths of the way through the season, ostensibly to crown a champion, after which seven more weeks of tournaments are played. (And this year, one of those seven is the week before the Tour Championship, but is part of the autumn swing. So go figure.)
By itself, the Western Open is a fine show, no matter what the name. It was better received in Chicago being played during golf season, which September is not – though you can't tell the fans in St. Louis that – and was better with a full field.
As a playoff affair, the paying customer is presented with a small field, albeit one of considerable quality, and has to have a degree in calculus to determine the race within a race, if he or she cares at all. And we know the answer to that question.
Like team sports playoffs, the deal may determine a champion, but may not decide who the best player is. Padraig Harrington, having missed the cut both in New Jersey and in Boston, may not make the field for the Tour Championship, never mind victories in the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods, whose fourth win of the season, the United States Open at Torrey Pines, was the most dramatic in decades, is sidelined until his damaged knee heals.
Yet, those are the two players with the greatest argument for player of the year honors. Which makes the playoffs more inconsequential than the Players Championship, which has a legitimate argument for being the fifth professional major.
That's why more tweaks will be forthcoming.
"I relate it to hockey," Mike Weir said. "The No. 8 seed can have a hot goalie, beat a No. 1 seed in the first round, and go on to win the Stanley Cup."
Not that anyone in St. Louis, or Chicago, for that matter, knows anything about the Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, Harrington, sitting 44th when a spot in the top 30 is needed by Sunday night, wants to see even more potential for the standings to shuffle.
"I'd give more emphasis to guys playing well, not guys scraping by," Harrington said. "Make this week more volatile than the previous two weeks. Right now, it's tougher to move up in week three. Double the points for week three, and double it again for the Tour Championship."
He likes the idea, but it's doubtful that will make Neil in Northlake call the sport chatterers to talk up the prospects of D.J. Trahan. Unless, that is, Trahan can fill in for Carlos Zambrano in the Cubs' rotation.
– Tim Cronin
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