HUGGAN’S ALLEY: JOHN HUGGAN
It’s one of professional golf’s biggest jokes. Describing the leading practitioners as “independent contractors” is laugh-out-loud stuff, a phrase containing little or no relation to reality. Equally, irony is easy to find at the highest level. In a game packed with those supposedly devoted to right-wing political ideology, players are amazingly quick to transform into card-carrying trade unionists. When it suits them, of course.
Originally devised by former CBS commentator, Gary McCord (coincidentally a non-winner in more than 400 PGA Tour events), the all-exempt system followed by every major circuit is but one example of the blatant protectionism that maintains an illegitimate status quo for the average and mediocre. Once in, it’s hard – or at least harder than it should be – to get out. Which is why second-division Tours the world over feature a number of players superior to at least some of those playing for the big bucks one division up. Disappointingly, competitive golf isn’t always the ultimate meritocracy it claims to be. Or should be.
All of the above brings me to the ongoing and already long-running saga that is the still-to-actually-happen Premier Golf League. If you’re like me, you’re already sick of it. I mean, either put up or shut up. Or, to paraphrase Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire, “show us the money” instead of just talking about it.
More amusement.
The reactions to this “threat” from the PGA Tour and the European Tour have been both predictable and, when you think about it, borderline pathetic. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s first instinct was to promise banishment from the gravy train he drives should any of his members even consider popping over to the PGL.
Again, the inconsistency of that draconian message is obvious. If the “product” offered by the established Tours is so good, why do they feel so threatened by this new-fangled idea? If they really are followers of a free-market philosophy, one far removed from the “socialism” that is so misunderstood by the average American, then surely, they should be saying “bring it on” rather than “keep it out.”
Still, there are positive possibilities amidst all of this nonsense. While the European Tour deserves credit for recent attempts to mix things up a bit, it has long been obvious that the endless stream of 72hole stroke-play events on the PGA Tour is a schedule long on predictability and short on innovation. If I am the typical fan, my lack of interest in the vast majority of tournaments should be a source of concern to Monahan and his army of corporate vice-presidents.
An example. One week before the recent men’s US Open, the PGA Tour featured something called the “Palmetto Championship at Congaree.” As ever, it comprised four rounds of stroke-play. But here’s the thing. The field gathered in South Carolina was well below average. One might even call it “weak.”
To which I had two initial reactions: I’m not much interested in watching that. And, knowing it was likely that many leading players would choose to be somewhere else immediately before a major championship, why didn’t the PGA Tour come up with something a bit different? The European Tour did. Over in Sweden, the “Scandinavian Mixed” boasted a 156-man/woman lineup competing over the same course for the same prizemoney. Yes, neither field was particularly captivating. But, with a rare competitive appearance by Annika Sorenstam as part of the show, it was at least intriguing. So, I tuned in to watch. And very entertaining it was too.
Anyway, while I’m not saying the PGL is necessarily a good thing, the PGA Tour needs to escape from a longestablished rut as part of its response to the new bucks on the block. That is my hope, even if the prospect of a PGL still seems unlikely. It is difficult to beat the establishment in any walk of life and many things stand in its way.
Logistics for one. The PGL would apparently require an 18-tournament commitment from players. Throw in the four majors, a handful of World Golf Championships, the FedEx play-offs and, for Americans, an annual week at a Ryder or Presidents Cup and we have a schedule that is way more extensive than anything currently undertaken by any of the leading players.
My mind goes back to the 1970s when Kerry Packer shook up the world of cricket with his World Series concept. It made an impact for a while, but eventually the establishment – as it tends to do – won out. Cricket emerged better at the end of it all though. One can only hope that, after the PGL has come and gone, golf can say the same.