An unforgettable golf season
HAPPY New Year, golf fans.
You heard me.
Yeah, for many, the season ended in August with the PGA Championship. For others, the curtain fell after the Tour Championship, and was most de f i - nitely put to b e d after the f o l l ow i n g week’s Ryder Cup. On the wom - en ’ s side, th e LPGA season still continues deep into November, while it’s minorleague Symetra Tour wraps up Sunday here in Daytona Beach.
Well, all of that is still true, but this weekend reminds us that nowadays, the PGA Tour season really and truly never ends. In an effort to pump some life into smaller-market and/or late-season tournaments, a few years ago the Tour went to the wrap- around season, which means, yes, the 2018-19 season is under way.
Not a moment too soon. No, seriously. First, a quick update.
The ‘ 18- 19 season began with this week’s Safeway Open in California and will continue weekly into mid- November before about six weeks of what now constitutes a “break” instead of a brief offseason. Generally, this has become a part of the year when the stars go home, the Tour rookies get their FootJoys wet, and the non- marquee players try padding their accounts.
No big changes there, though Phil Mickelson has kept the Safeway on his schedule. And somewhere between Atlanta, Paris and Napa Valley, a baggage handler apparently found Lefty’s game.
For many, especially those who fall into the “casual fan” population, there is no golf season when there is no Tiger Woods. But unless Tiger makes a surprise showing later this month at China’s marquee tournament, his only TV appearances will be a couple of exhibitions between now and late January, maybe even February.
Finally, though, Tiger’s return isn’t the only reason for golf fans to pull for 2019 to get here quickly. In case you tuned out immediately after the Europeans popped the champagne and hoisted the Ryder Cup, you may have missed the news. Golf really and truly has some reallife drama not associated with endorsement deals, player-coach breakups, or even marital strife. He was an outcast at Augusta State University, and brash out of the gate on Tour, once winning and declaring himself one of the top
numbers shouted otherwise.
A couple of months ago when the Tour was playing in Boston, he took to Twitter and Instagram to complain about the free tickets he received for a Red Sox game. Yes, he really did.
Only Ian Poulter’s 2014 Twitter gripe about British Airways bumping his kids’ nanny from business class compares to Reed’s tone-deaf mini-rant (Mrs. Poulter, you see, was going to have to tend to the four kids, sans nanny).
But Reed won the Masters in April, which added a touch of royalty to his status. And there were his past heroics in team play for the American side, both in Ryder and Presidents Cups. Maybe he’d be our Danny Ainge, the guy you like only when he’s on your team.
No, even that didn’t work out. Not this time. Reed complained that Jordan Spieth obviously didn’t want to be paired with him in two-man Ryder play, regardless of past success together. Reed claimed he was blindsided by captain Jim Furyk’s decision to pair him with Tiger instead, and Spieth with Justin Thomas.
Spieth apparently said nothing to refute Reed’s suggestion, though one anonymous American golfer let loose after Reed’s gripes. And by golf’s historic standards of clubhouse demeanor, this is “artillery and sandbags” material.
“Blindsided, my ass. He begged to play with Tiger,” an American player told the New York Post’s Mark Cannizzaro. “Eleven players understood the concept of team golf and only one didn’t. Unfortunately, that one proved to be too costly for the team to overcome.”
Added to this is the reported dust-up between Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, two friends who had to be separated last Sunday evening following the Ryder Cup loss. They are two of the rare professional golfers who could do
adds to the intrigue.
Those married to golf’s age-old reputation as a gentleman’s game will lament all of the above. Well, the U.S. Senate was once a bastion of gentility, too.
Unfortunately, none of this happened in, say, April, on the eve of the major championship season. By the time all of the newsmakers are back on the tee, about three months will have passed and all may be forgotten, maybe even forgiven.
It’d help if someone could go to Napa and stir up some bad blood between Brandt Snedeker and Kevin Tway.