Golden Bear’s win now golden
North Palm Beach’s Jack Nicklaus won the first Players Championship 50 years ago at Atlanta Country Club. So we have the golden anniversary of the Golden Bear’s win, and the tournament. While nothing will take away the significance of raising the Players Championship trophy, golf ’s current state is overshadowing what should be a week of celebration.
The focus this week has not been on Jack’s 67 in that final that finished on Labor Day because of weather 50 years ago, a victory that earned Nicklaus $50,000, or $4.45 million less than this year’s winner will make. Not on Tiger Woods’ iconic putt on No. 17 in 2001.
Instead, it’s on who is not here, equity grants, the trust tour members have in their leader and the ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that finances LIV Golf.
“Fans are fatigued of what’s going on in the game and I think we need to try to reengage the fan and reengage them in a way that the focus is on the play and not on talking about equity and all the rest of it,” McIlroy said. “That’s why I said, the sooner that this is resolved, I think it’s going to be better for the game and better for everyone, the fans and the players.”
The winner of this week’s event will outlast a 144-player field (the way the traditionalists like it) and take home $4.5 million. Unlike those signature events, which many have issues with, including eight with either no cut or a limited cut.
Four signature events have been played this season and the reviews are not as positive as they were a year ago.
“They really worked last year,” McIlroy said. “If you look at the leaderboards, you look at the ratings, I felt like they really, really worked in 2023. For whatever reason, they’re not quite capturing the imagination this year compared to last year.”
Something many fear can be said about golf in general. No one has been more in the spotlight in the past year than McIlroy, who a year ago spoke about attempting to devote more time to golf and less on the political and economic aspects of the game.
When asked Wednesday if he had moments when he wished for “the train to slow down” when it comes to his schedule outside the ropes, Rory went the other direction.
“I want the train to speed up so we can get this thing over and done with,” he said.