This hole thing needs looked at
Spieth’s amazing Open win proves golf is still great ... but game must change to thrive in modern world
YOU can’t beat golf. I’m not talking in terms of drama although the last two weeks at Dundonald and Birkdale were pretty gripping.
No, I mean literally you cannot beat golf. You might get on top of it for a while but the game always wins eventually.
Ask Bryson DeChambeau, whose final shot the week before The Open won him the John Deere Classic in Illinois and with it a spot in Southport.
The young American’s very next competitive shot, on the first tee at The Open four days later, was a duck hook out of bounds that practically killed his chances of winning before he reloaded to hit another ball.
It always gets you in the end. Or in this case the beginning.
Golf won again on Sunday even though it was Jordan Spieth who held the Claret Jug aloft in the fading light.
Not only because Birkdale showcased the sport in all its glory, the trials and tribulations as he almost succumbed to the pressure of going into the final round three shots clear before making perhaps the best bogey five golf has ever seen at the 13th to lose the lead. Then came the comeback as Spieth played the last five holes in five under to win. It was nothing short of sensational.
And it was just what golf needed because there was – and still is to a degree – the danger it is losing its appeal as a spectator sport.
When the circus leaves town – as it has in Southport – and we are back to the staple diet of the Barracuda Championship in Reno and the European Open in Hamburg, how big a draw will they be?
Indeed, it will be interesting to see how many people take up Sky Sports’ subscription for its new golf-only channel.
For me and many others I suspect, golf has lost its sparkle – particularly the PGA Tour where every week it’s the same old, same old target golf.
What made this Open great was the variation in the weather coupled with a course that challenged every aspect of the players’ game.
To be fair, the European Tour is trying to come up with innovative ways of making it more attractive to a younger audience. But there is plenty of scope for improvement – even if the traditionalists will baulk at some of them. Look at how cricket has moved with the times. The T20 version has revolutionised it from the stuffiness of the four-day county matches and five-day Tests loved by those steeped in the game but which could bore the life out of the casual observer and kids.
Five-hour rounds are turning people off golf. Nobody has time to watch Jason (all) Day taking an eternity between shots.
There are some great players out there but the loss of a global icon like Tiger Woods has massively impacted on the sport. Spieth could be its savour because he is interesting.
He makes mistakes and isn’t the robot so many of his compatriots are. As a result he’s watchable when many aren’t.
So how does the R&A, European Tour and PGA Tour address the issue?
Are they brave enough to try something really revolutionary rather than just flirt around the edges with the occasional six-hole shootout? It’s time for more grab-and-go golf and that means many more matchplay tournaments. The great attraction of tennis, for instance, is it’s two players and at the end of the contest one is standing while the other has fallen. It’s one-armed combat and you get a winner on the day. It’s no surprise the Ryder Cup is so popular. Other matchplay events are the same although some are sanitised by playing a group stage before the knockout sections. I get there would be opposition from players to travelling around the world for matchplay tournaments that may only last one round before they’re knocked out. But that’s what tennis players do so why not? There has to be a better balance. I’m not saying make the Majors matchplay but more has to be done to pull the next generation of fans away from their iPads and on to the course. The European Tour tried at the Scottish Open. Fair play to the organisers who bust a gut to make the event accessible to those who might never have sampled golf before.
Kids went free with an adult spending £30 to watch the likes of Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson. That’s decent value and they were treated to a superb final day.
Before they stopped for their holidays 60 schools were involved in a trophy tour, meaning thousands of kids got the chance to have their photos taken with the silverware. It’s all about the engagement.
On the Tuesday night there was a one-hole eight-player shootout that attracted more than 3800 folk. It was snappy, it was quickfire, it was different.
But this has to be replicated beyond the boundaries of Scotland if golf is to continue being a major spectator sport.
It’s not good enough to sit back and think, “It always has been and always will be.” Times have changed and this great game we gave to the world has to change with it. You can’t beat it but we have to shake it up.