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Now that the Halloween candy sits waiting for trick-or-treaters who may or may not come and Thanksgiving looms on the horizon as the next family puzzle to solve, the dusk of 2020 is approaching.
If there’s ever been a year deserving to go dark, it’s this one.
In most years, the professional golf season would be essentially over by now, almost all of the significant events having been played with the trophies shipped to the winners, who are calculating their contract bonuses.
But there’s still a Masters to be played as well as the U.S. Women’s Open, the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and the LPGA’s Race to CME Globe. They are stars twinkling at sunset.
When all of those are done, will 2020 be remembered as the year that was or the year that wasn’t?
Did the NBA season feel real? Has the World Series? What about football season when not every team is playing and most of the games are in virtually empty stadiums?
There is an unsettled equilibrium to sports, golf included.
But imagine the year without it.
Who would have thought that a global pandemic would be, at least from a participation standpoint, one of the best things to happen to recreational golf since graphite shafts?
That’s not to ignore or minimize the reality of what continues to infect our world, only to acknowledge a bright spot amid the gloom and fatigue.
In the recently completed economic third quarter, golf equipment sales eclipsed $1 billion. That’s a lot of bags and wedges and shoes. In many spots, getting a tee time has been like landing Taylor Swift tickets (back when concerts were a thing).
There is much to celebrate and admire about the game’s ability to work through this almost paralyzing pandemic.
But while many of us have played more golf than we have in years, it’s impossible not to feel what’s missing this year.
It’s more than the fans, who have been forced to watch from their recliners and couches where the beer may be cheaper but the experience isn’t the same.
It’s more than the tournaments that weren’t played. There was no Open Championship. No Ryder Cup. No John Deere Classic.
It’s more than the players who didn’t travel internationally or, if they did, it felt like an uncertain sacrifice.
It’s a golf year with a hole in it.
But it hasn’t been empty.
It’s easy, almost reflexive, to dwell on reports that Adam Scott has tested positive for COVID-19 and Dustin Johnson remained positive for a second week. With Tony Finau, that’s three top-20 players who have tested positive in recent weeks but, overall, the PGA Tour and others deserve praise for what they’ve done and how they’ve done it this year.
There is much to celebrate and admire about the game’s ability to work through this almost paralyzing pandemic. Its leaders created their own text chain and rebuilt a professional golf schedule that reached around the world.
There may have been square pegs in round holes – the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in September and the Masters in November – but, similar to how good players can salvage par when they’re in trouble, the game found a way to endure and, in places, thrive.
That makes it a year that was.
It had a three-month hole carved into it, sapping tournament golf from its natural rhythm and casting competition against the backdrop of the grim numbers associated with the pandemic.
But it has been the year when PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan cemented his place as the most influential voice in the game.
It’s the year when Bryson DeChambeau reshaped his body and, in the process, may have reshaped how the game is played. If the distance debate simmered before, DeChambeau is bringing it to full boil.
It’s the year when presentation became secondary, when the game became all about the players. Pro-ams and hospitality chalets disappeared and while the bottom line suffered mightily, the focus sharpened on watching the best do what they do.
It’s a year for compromise and tolerance and understanding. It’s a year when staying healthy became everyone’s priority and there’s a feeling that when things eventually get back to what we considered normal, it’s still going to be different.
It’s a year when Collin Morikawa became a major champion and Dustin Johnson became a FedEx Cup champion. It’s a year when 47-year old Stewart Cink won again as did 40-year old Sergio García.
It’s a year that’s made us appreciate what we had and a year that brought many back to the game. It’s been silent but it hasn’t been an empty silence.
Sunsets are beautiful.
Even, and perhaps especially, this one.
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