Game ultimately will survive, thrive without Woods
Sunday’s final round of the Masters flowed with intrigue. Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler formed a dynamic nextto-last pairing. Sergio Garcia chased his elusive first major title, which he ultimately nabbed. Justin Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champ, offered a worthy and familiar adversary.
This wasn’t enough to ignite television ratings, so should PGA Tour officials fret anew about the post-Tiger Woods era? The view here: Not at all. Golf still features a compelling cast of characters, even as Woods remains sidelined by back problems and Phil Mickelson gently fades into his mid-40s. A dip in viewership was inevitable, given the way Woods commandeered the game — and especially major championships — for more than 15 years.
Those days are gone, clearly. Woods hasn’t reached the weekend in the past eight majors (three missed cuts and five events missed entirely). He hasn’t finished in the top five at a major since the 2013 Masters, four long years ago.
He’s done, people.
So what the game needs, more than anything, is one of its core stars — Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day — to take control of the No. 1 spot in the world ranking. Johnson did exactly that in the past two months, until he tumbled down some stairs, hurt his back and missed the Masters.
When Johnson returns, he will provide a tantalizing target for his peers. Can Spieth regain the success of 2015, when he made a captivating run at the Grand Slam? Can McIlroy and Day challenge Johnson? Can Garcia build on his long-awaited, breakthrough victory?
These questions might not attract casual fans the way Woods’ historic dominance did. But the important thing is the big names repeatedly planting themselves in the hunt at the biggest tournaments.
That became a problem as Sunday’s final round unfolded. Spieth quickly fell off the map, soon followed by Fowler. Johnson wasn’t playing, and McIlroy and Day weren’t factors.
So, yes, the telecast drew a modest overnight rating (7.6), an 11 percent drop from last year and the lowest Masters number since 2004. Yes, television coverage of the second and third rounds also fell compared with 2016.
Maybe this had something to do with nice weather across the country, luring potential viewers outside. Maybe more people followed the final round online. Maybe, as mentioned above, there simply weren’t enough stars in contention on the back nine.
Regardless, golf is well positioned to move into a Tiger-less world. The landscape is littered with good players and a handful of great players. That’s a fine place to start. Rules madness: Before he earned his green jacket, Garcia evaded the dreaded golf viewer-turned-rules official. Augusta National received calls from some spectators Sunday, watching on television, who wondered if Garcia’s ball moved as he rearranged nearby pine needles after taking his drop on No. 13.
To which we have one word: Enough.
Masters officials reviewed the situation and cleared Garcia. But this revives a similar issue raised one week earlier, when Lexi Thompson absorbed a retroactive four-shot penalty and ultimately lost the first LPGA major of the year.
USGA officials took one smart step last month by simplifying the rules (though the changes won’t go into effect until 2019). But the game needs to adopt commonsense revisions more quickly. Among them:
Put a “replay official” in the clubhouse, watching the telecast and looking for potential rules violations. Not complicated.
Do not take calls or emails from television viewers. This makes golf look amateurish.
Add a statute of limitations. If a rules violation is not identified by the time a player signs his or her scorecard, or maybe within two hours thereafter, then it’s too late.
Golf is a unique sport, with its sprawling playing field and as many as 150-plus competitors. Rules controversies occasionally will arise, but it’s happening too often. The game looks stupid when it imposes a penalty 24 hours after the fact.
As Thompson succinctly put it moments after she was told about her infraction, “That’s just ridiculous.”
Briefly: Stanford’s Maverick McNealy and Cal’s Collin Morikawa were among the 10 semifinalists named Wednesday for the Ben Hogan Award, honoring the nation’s top men’s college player. … Cal’s William Aldred pulled off a rare feat last weekend, making a hole-in-one on consecutive days in the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo — Saturday on No. 15 and Sunday on No. 8.