PGA Golf Talk

It’s now official. At the SBS Championship in Hawaii, Geoff Ogilvy was able to win again. He has had trouble making a big splash, but he’s been good at being one of the best players at the beginning of the year. The tournament has been able to survive despite some major turnover in sponsorship. Despite all the difficulty, the sport was able to start off the year with a respectable showing. It’s not as good as it was at its height several years ago, but it wasn’t as bad as people might have expected before. Ogilvy is a talented player though, who can come through in the clutch in many situations. It would be great to see him if he’d be able to push into the top tier of players this year. Maybe with some of the problems he’ll be able to make his big jump this year.

Martin Laird has a small lead in the SBS Championship, the first main event of the golfing season. We certainly wish him the best luck. This is going to be a good season, although it’s a little bit too bad that Tiger is out. But at least one golfer has been quick to point out that while some of the ratings will be down because of Tiger’s absence, fans will get a chance to see other top players come into their own. It hasn’t happened often enough that they weren’t overshadowed by the Tiger. The new year brings many promises. John Daly, Laird, Mickelson (?) will all be back in the mix for big titles this year. Some of the younger players will be able to show their stuff for the first time on a national or international stage. Get ready!

Once upon a time, golf was a serene sport where the players would be very respectful and quiet during each game and even moreso between each tournament. This year, the floodgates have opened and the criticism of Tiger Woods has begun. In a lot of ways, this is just because he’s the #1 player of the last decade. Everyone is trying to take him down and some of them will do it by attacking the guy’s personality. The European Ryder Cup team captain has done just that. He should be getting ready for the Ryder Cup instead of dealing with all the personal issues. Yes, Tiger has problems, but for other golfers to comment on it, especially when they don’t have any particular information about it, just seems to be bad sportsmanship. Maybe I misunderstood the interview the way that it was discussed.

The fallout from the Tiger Woods scandal has become even more intense in the last few weeks. Woods’ various contracts with large companies for commercials and such are at risk, it would appear. Woods hasn’t broken any laws, but all of these problems aren’t based on legal problems. Instead, it’s about image and the fact that Woods has damaged his image so strongly with this event. Just think about it, if you’re marketing someone as a family man who people want to emulate and whose example should be good. But now that people are angry about his personal conduct, his golf game isn’t enough to keep him going. As a result, he’s no longer the spokesman for AT&T or Accenture, both of which have been major contracts for him for awhile. Maybe it will all get better when he starts playing again and when the situation settles down. But for now, it’s too fluid and too scary for them.

Tiger Woods was named the PGA Player of the Year. I think, however, that the columnist I read is right, that they should have named him “golfer of the year” considering the double meaning that “player” has taken on. It’s good that his big triumphs this year are being recognized, despite his more recent issues. I mean, let’s remember what he did in 2009. He missed over 6 months at the end of 2008 because of how he played and hurt himself. He took the time off and then came back with a great ability to play. He worked on certain aspects of his game and was able to win some major tournaments. Part of the reason for this is that some of the other best players were out of the game for awhile, due to illness and personal issues. Nevertheless, Woods showed that he could be thrown off his competition rhythm and still come back and win. That’s not easy to do!

There is a winner in the AP Athlete of the Decade. He’s not celebrating the way most of us would in the same situation, because he has several other things on his plate right now. There are possible divorce proceedings, custody issues, and night time games of golf and cartoons. Of course, we’re talking about Tiger Woods. What would this blog be if it weren’t all Tiger? But he did win this prize legitimately, because he’s such a great golfer and he consistently proved himself to be able to compete against anyone, on any course, at any time. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, cold, hot or anything. He could be playing from behind on the leaderboard or defending his leading position. He is an amazing golfer and his game did improve greatly even while he was away. The challenge of being a golfer nowadays is that so many people could be watching at any moment, so there’s more pressure. Hopefully he’ll be able to get back into his top ability when he finally comes back from his hiatus. Tiger Woods is AP’s Athlete of the Decade.

First came HD, which was the biggest new thing just a few years ago. Golf started to broadcast in HD way back when everyone else did and it’s been pretty good. What good is watching the tournament if you can’t see each little chunk of the golf ball? Now, we’ve gone back to the 70s and the PGA has announced that some of its tournaments will be broadcast in 3D. This has been a huge movement of late, starting with last year’s Super Bowl commercial in 3D. This year it’s become a kind of popular thing, with lots of concerts being broadcast on the internet in 3D or put into 3D movies. It’s kind of funny, but it’s a cool idea to bring back. If you feel like you can see the fairway is over there and that the hole is actually really far away, maybe that will be a good thing.

Robert Allenby has won the Australian PGA Championship, having defeated all other potential contenders resoundingly. This comes just a short time after he won the Sun City competition in South Africa. This creates a possible problem next year, because he probably wants to defend both of them. But it is possible that both events will be held the same week next year, so he probably won’t be able to defend them both. It’s not as bad as trying to decide which computer you love more or anything like that, but it is a rather tough situation to be in. When you can’t win as much as last year because the schedule doesn’t allow it, you know that you’re in for a tough time. Either way, Allenby has been a player who’s making some rather large waves over the last few months. He plays consistently well, even if he doesn’t win every time. It would be great to see him become a long-term contender for the next few years.

There have been some new questions posed to golfers about what kind of guy Tiger Woods is. Surprisingly, the other golfers have not been as nice to him about his alleged activities with women other than his wife. But they seem to be leveling their biggest charges for his wife, who hasn’t been seen for awhile. They say that she’s in it just for the money and knew about the infidelity for a long time. Who knows! Many of the golfers, to be fair, are staying out of the fray, saying that they just don’t want to comment about someone else’s personal affairs. Meanwhile, there are questions rising as to the future of Tiger’s different endorsement deals, that they might end their deals. We’ll see in the next few weeks whether any of this is true, but it’s definitely the talk of the sports world this week and for the last few weeks. Hopefully things will settle down a bit once the big golf tournaments begin again in January.

When Michelle Wie was headed to Dubai this week, a lot of people thought she was crazy. After all, it’s Finals Week for her at Stanford. The famous lady golfer has been among the most respected players recently. Earlier, she was a high-powered player in the junior level, but she struggled when she finally entered the pros. But she’s found a good rhythm for herself, her family has laid off her a little bit, and her team mates on the American team are enjoying her presence as well. She may not be the top player, but she’s working on it. Part of it is for her to enter the Dubai Lady’s Masters tournament this year. It’s not complete yet, but she still has the chance to go ahead and win. Good luck to her because she’s worked so hard thusfar.