PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA | In addition to his otherworldly golf skills and his newfound appreciation for the fragility of wine glasses, Scottie Scheffler has a soul-deep appreciation for the tug of competition.
He’s a famously competitive pickleball player, keeps close track of how much money he wins and loses when he plays golf with his buddies in Texas and, like so many others, Scheffler knows his football.
Before heading to Pebble Beach for the belated start to his golf season, Scheffler watched the NFL’s conference championship games, not so much because of a favorite team but because of the games themselves.
“Great competition, great teams going against each other. So when I think about something that would be good for the game of golf, I think the more we can get back in the competition of things, I think that’s what’s best. And when you have great players going at it, I think that that’s what’s interesting about sports,” Scheffler said last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
There it is. The simplest solution to golf’s perceived doldrums outside the ropes.
The political adage “It’s the economy, stupid” still rings true and the same reasoning can be applied to the PGA Tour.
It’s about the golf.
That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of improvements that can be made to the weekly product and tour officials last week teased impending alterations that are likely to be announced in March.
Maybe the use of distance measuring devices. Maybe a new format to the Tour Championship. Maybe making public who the fastest and slowest players on tour are, using Shotlink data as proof.
Jordan Spieth, who for years has stiff-armed the notion of doing a walk-and-talk interview during an event, acknowledged last week that his opinion has changed with the times. One of these Saturdays Spieth will be talking to more than himself and caddie Michael Greller.
At the heart of it, however, is the golf itself.
Building a package that moves a little quicker and adds dimension to the players we see between the ropes and on our screens is imperative in our instant content age but only as accessories to the main event.
It’s seeing Scheffler’s feet shuffling down the stretch on Sunday, Shane Lowry chest-bumping his playing partners after making an ace on Pebble Beach’s iconic seventh hole and Rory McIlroy’s unmatched magnificence on full display in his victory at Pebble on Sunday.
“In this day and age, it’s become a hobby to bash golf and where golf is and is it entertaining, is it not entertaining,” McIlroy said last week, the exasperation evident in his voice.
“I came out on the wrong side of it last year, but I would say the last round of the U.S. Open (at Pinehurst) was pretty entertaining last year and that was pure competitive golf. I think the more we can get to scenarios like that, the better.”
No one argues that professional golf can’t be improved but there is no reason to bring a sledgehammer to a sand wedge world. Prudence beats panic 3 and 2 here.
No question TGL is on to something with its 40-second shot clock, but it’s easier to do in a controlled environment where the outcome of a single swing or a lousy chip off artificial turf isn’t potentially career altering the way tournament golf is.
Try playing Torrey Pines South in the wind from the tips with ankle-deep rough and see if you can make it around inside five hours in a cart. Bet the over.
Before having someone walking with every group carrying a shot clock, tour officials say they are working to change the behavior of the slowest players and getting more buy-in than before. The threat of adding strokes to a slow player’s score would work if there is legitimate follow through.
There is nothing worse than watching golfers stand around waiting on each other. Television avoids that as best as possible but sometimes it’s unavoidable. And the excitement of watching players challenge drivable par-4s and reach par-5s in two often comes with a time cost.
Scheffler made the point last week that seeing the best players at Pebble Beach should be enough and he’s right, but the tour doesn’t play Pebble every week.
As for the pace-of-play debate, Scheffler muttered “shot clock” under his breath and drooped his head.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver raised eyebrows last week when he suggested the league might shift from 12-minute quarters to 10-minute quarters to fit into a two-hour time window. Silver would be wise to address the “load management’’ issue first but he’s aware of the changed landscape.
Tournament golf isn’t fast and it shouldn’t be.
It’s a big reason why YouTube golf has exploded and why the tour created its own group of content creators in order to go where the young people live. TGL’s ratings are, not surprisingly, dominated by young people but the new league will disappear in March as the tour enters the sweet spot in its schedule.
McIlroy is a founder in TGL and has embraced new-age avenues, but he remains a traditionalist at his core. He also suggested reducing the number of PGA Tour events – the idea of a 20-event season plus the Players and the majors would be awesome – but that’s more dream than possibility.
“I would much rather sit down and watch real golfers play real tournaments and that’s just my opinion. That to me is more entertaining. But I understand that other people want something different and that’s totally fine as well,” McIlroy said.
“I don’t think we should try to dumb down golf to appeal to more people. Golf is golf at the end of the day. It’s been this way for hundreds of years. I really like the way golf is and I think a lot of other people do, too, but I still understand the critiques of how the entertainment product could get better.”
There are hundreds of examples of endeavors that lost their way when they lost sight of what made them special in the first place. The PGA Tour is doing the right thing, asking more from its players and listening to its new investors who have demonstrated how to change with the times.
Maybe the tour’s long-retired slogan “These guys are good” isn’t enough anymore.
But it’s still true and it matters as much now as it ever has.
E-MAIL RON
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