Harrington and Malnati victories prove golf’s got soul
Peter Malnati never mentioned Jay Monahan, Yasir Al Rumayann, LIV Golf, Rory McIlroy or a host of other golfing big cheeses after winning the Valspar Championship on Sunday. But they may have been in his thoughts as he shed tears following his first win in eight years and gave thanks for a Tour model that’s in danger of being swept away by those who feel they must improve “the product” and get more bang for their buck.
He didn’t mention the money, nor did Pádraig Harrington, whose dramatic win in the Hoag Classic on the PGA Tour Champions was all about the game, not the gravy.
“This is the great thing about the Champions Tour; it allows us to relive our past glories,” Harrington said of Sunday’s hugely entertaining finale.
“We get to hit shots where we feel anxious, we feel nervous, we feel excited. And it doesn’t change, when you’ve got a putt to win or a shot to win, you don’t want to mess up in front of people.”
Golf’s civil war – the battle for eyeballs and golfing stars – has diluted the PGA Tour’s fields and made money, value, and returns more important than the David and Goliath storylines, the game itself, and what makes the possibility of an unheralded winner as entertaining as any exhibition by Scottie Scheffler or McIlroy.
The money talk is a turn-off for the ordinary fan, especially when they hear the tour is getting ready to parcel out $930 million of SSG capital with the lion’s share to be split by just 36 players.
McIlroy, who will partner Shane Lowry when he makes his debut in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans next month, could get a nine-figure payment and the Offaly man also a handsome sum.
Sure, Malnati (36) won $1.5 million on Sunday, but his eyes were lit up by illusion, not spinning dollar signs.
He cried openly under the perplexed gaze of his five-year-old son and explained how tough it is to win on tour in an era when golfers emerge from college at 20 with no fear whatsoever.
After their Sunday disappointments, there’s no doubt that Lowry, Séamus Power or Leona Maguire would have agreed with Malnati’s sentiments.
It was more refreshing, in a time of ‘signature events’ and McIlroy’s talk of a more cut-throat system where only “the best of the best” compete, to hear Malnati talk about the importance of ordinary PGA Tour events to communities, charities, and tour dreamers of all ages.
“I feel like this win, first and foremost, it’s for me, it’s for my family, it’s for my caddie, it’s for my team of people who support me,” Malnati said of a tournament that attracted just two of the world’s top 10 and whose sponsors might be wondering why they bother now that they’ve been relegated to B status in the ‘signature event’ era.
“But on a larger scale, it’s also for Tampa, it’s for the Copperheads, it’s for Valspar, and it’s for all the events on the PGA Tour who find themselves in this new ecosystem kind of wondering where they fit and if they matter.”