National Post (National Edition)
PGA talks positive changes
Putting golf playoffs up against the NFL season makes as much sense as putting hockey playoffs up against warm June weekends. The difference is that the PGA Tour has done something about it.
Commissioner Jay Monahan met with media on Wednesday at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, to talk about the new schedule, the new rules, and the old debate over whether the Players Championship deserves to be a major. Plenty has been written about the new PGA Tour schedule, but the first big shift gets underway here at Sawgrass on Thursday, as the Players Championship moves back to March.
“The first domino was trying to get our Fedex Cup playoffs and our season to end prior to the start of college football and the NFL,” he said.
If Monahan and the PGA Tour were going to get the season wrapped up earlier, working with the PGA of America to move the PGA Championship from August to May was an important step. The domino effect was that the Players Championship would be held in March, which is when it was played prior to 2007.
What March means for this tournament are substantially different conditions. Gone are the dry, hard and fast fairways of May, replaced by softer turf, less roll and the lush colours. The course has been overseeded with three types of rye grass, which grow nicely in cool conditions compared to the Bermuda grass underneath.
Adam Scott who won the tournament in 2004, has played it in both spots on the calendar, and said the softer conditions of March are better suited for the target golf course that TPC Sawgrass is. The Aussie doesn’t think the tour ever really got a handle on setting it up on the hard turf in May, getting stuck between the two styles.
“I felt like they should have taken more rough away and really let the ball run and run into the trees and the pine straw, run further off greens, and play it really firm and fast,” Scott said.
Three-time Players Champion Jack Nicklaus says the heavier winds and more unpredictable days make March in Florida a more exciting time for championship golf.
“I think it’s much better for the tournament,” Nicklaus said on Wednesday. “Now you are bringing weather in as an element and weather is a great element to have in a tournament.”
No day on the PGA Tour this year seems to go by without a debate over the new rules of golf and how they’ve been implemented. After numerous rule controversies, some tour players have come out in support of bifurcation, or one set of rules for the pros and one for everyone else. This topic also comes up in golf ’s distance debate with some suggesting rolling the balls back for the professional game, but not for weekend duffers.
On this topic, Monahan was very clear about where the PGA Tour stands.
“We are not going to be playing by our own rules,” he said. “We think that the game is best served with everybody playing by the same rules and the same standards. We think it’s a source of inspiration for the game.”
The Players Championship frequently has been called the unofficial fifth major and Monahan did his best to make the case for dropping the “unofficial” tag without actually saying it.
“We want to focus on what the event is and what it brings forward and what it represents. And to us, you look at the depth of field … this is as strong as any field as you’ll ever see.
“That’s going to be reflected in the quality of the golf course, and this is a comprehensive test,” Monahan said. “The stadium experience, is as good as any as you’ll find from a spectating standpoint in all of golf, and we have a rich history of champions, great champions, certainly through the years and certainly through the last decade plus. So that’s what the championship is.”