Excellent interview of Jay Monahan by John Hopkins (“Monahan: Integrity, family over all,” March 18 GGP).
Sadly, two things stood out to me:
First, Monahan is much too focused on others’ perception of him. His answers regarding making his bed, loading/unloading the dishwasher and whether he cooks smacked of something a phony politician might say.
Second, not a single word about the fans of the PGA Tour, the lifeblood of the tour. This, after repeating ad nauseam during the Players Championship broadcast all week about how indebted he and his players are to the fans, and the painfully obvious videos of fan outreach that played throughout the week’s broadcast.
The tour brass and players clearly know they have lost the fans over the past three years as they did battle with LIV, but they don’t seem to have a clue about how to get us back. Let me help them: Stop copying LIV by showering your players with a financial bonanza at the expense of your advertisers, event sponsoring organizations, and television viewers (with the flood of commercials). It offends us, as he is still under the mistaken belief that his players are the most important piece of the puzzle. They are not. There will always be new players, but once you’ve lost the fans, you have lost everything of value. Just ask LIV.
Go about the business of building the PGA Tour and ignore the greedy, self-absorbed LIV defectors. They neither deserve his attention nor a path back to a unification of the two tours. Let the money players go to LIV and focus on those who remained with the world’s best tour. There will always be another Ludvig Åberg to replace them.
Ron Garland
Prescott Valley, Arizona
(Garland is the founder of the Golf Nut Society.)
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and I have a different definition of integrity (“Monahan: Integrity, family over all,” March 18 GGP).
If he had the integrity he professes, then why did he not keep the players involved and apprised of what was happening from the start?
If he had the integrity he claims, why did he have Jimmy Dunne call Rory McIlroy at 6 a.m. to tell him the news?
Does John Hopkins really believe that Monahan took a medical sabbatical? Or did he have too much integrity to face the problem?
If a merger happens, and he is still the commissioner, how much of a raise or bonus will he get?
Please, if you believe him, do I have a bridge to sell you, tolls included.
Charlie Miller
Westport, Connecticut
A player can’t have a sports psychologist accompany him through a round to help with the mental aspects of certain situations. But a player can have a physical therapist work on his body during the round to treat physical situations? (“Scheffler stars in Players thriller,” March 18 GGP.)
You can’t fix a club that’s been bent. Why should you be able to fix a bent body?
Charlie Jurgonis
Fairfax, Virginia
Things are quite the mess in professional golf nowadays. The pros are making unimaginable amounts of money but spend most of their time whining and complaining about just about everything. Please, get a fresh can of worms and head for the garden.
Oddly, golf is doing great. Rounds are up, more women are joining the game, young people are finding golf to be cool, and people are out there having fun. Which is more important to you: Playing golf or watching others play?
It’s an easy answer for me: I’ll take playing every time. I would be fine if the only big-time tournaments were the Open Championship and the U.S. Open. They attract the best players from around the world, and anyone can play. All you have to do is qualify. The PGA Championship? Do you really care? Pro tours? Just interchangeable events. But, gasp, what about the Masters? I do enjoy watching an event such as the Players. It’s always the same course, so that makes watching a familiar experience. But I do blame the Masters for increasing the cost of public golf. Augusta National has made itself into a television studio version of a “perfect” golf course. That costs a lot of money, and far too many courses have unnecessarily increased their maintenance budgets to satisfy unrealistic expectations. That increase is reflected in green fees.
I believe cost is golf’s biggest drawback and keeps many from playing a game that can last a lifetime, unlike many other athletic activities. If you watch old film from the Masters, it actually looks like a golf course: brown spots here and there, maybe even a little scruffiness. But now it seems as if everyone wants perfect, or some semblance of it. The Youth on Course $5 deal is great but doesn’t help adults. I know that the horse not only left the barn but has died of old age on green fees, but one can dream. So, this screed is a shout-out to golf – municipal golf, in particular, which tends to offer the most affordable fees for a round.
Golf is calling. Turn off the TV.
Blaine Walker
St. Paul, Minnesota
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