In 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan met with Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland, for what later became known as “the 48 hours that ended the Cold War.” Reagan is reported to have said to Gorbachev, “Mr. General Secretary, you can never win an all-out arms race with the United States because we will always have the ability to outspend you.”
I do not mean to equate the PGA Tour with the Soviet Union of 1986, but the parallels in competitive position are similar to the tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (“Inside golf’s stunning deal,” June 12 GGP). Reagan recognized Gorbachev as a man who cared deeply about his people and the welfare of his nation. How much better to spend their time, energy and money on their nations than to ratchet up the threat level?
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will be asked, “How can you trust PIF and Yasir Al-Rumayyan?” Which leads back to another Reaganism: “I trust when I can verify.”
Better to be in a boardroom with Yasir than in a courtroom with Yasir.
Richard Whiting
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wyndham Clark wins for golf (“Flipping the script,” June 19 GGP).
Clark showed us every facet of the game on Sunday afternoon, June 18, at the U.S. Open while enduring about as much pressure as one can have in championship golf, and gave us a pretty good Hollywood ending. Although there were several players who were not particularly fond of the golf course (not unusual for an Open), I thought Los Angeles Country Club held up pretty well and crowned a worthy champion. Only 14 players managed to break par for the weekend, and all but three of those didn't have a realistic chance to win. Playing for pride and money was a little easier than chasing history.
All in all, it was a great event, and I can’t wait for the next one. Also, the USGA caddie award was a nice touch, and I, as a viewer, appreciated the reduction in advertising interruption. Well done.
A few random ruminations about the tournament: The USGA should get realistic about tee times on the weekend. Saturday afternoon times were a bit unfair to the leaders. Weather is always an issue in golf tournaments, but putting the last five or six groups in position to finish in the dark is absurd when you have all day to play. The same for Sunday. A playoff could have been in the dark if the participants played more than a couple of holes. If TV was such a big deal, they could find a way to clear the airspace around the course for a few hours in the afternoons so the viewing audience could hear what their announcers are saying during the telecast, and we (and the players) wouldn’t have to hear all of the advertising airplanes (or the blimp) that fly around the course all day.
Mike Nixon
Franklin, Tennessee
(Nixon, who played the PGA Tour in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is the retired director of golf operations for the Tennessee Golf Trail.)
The “Playing Through” sessions on NBC’s TV coverage need to go (“Flipping the script,” June 19 GGP).
Instead of the usual commercials, the viewers are now bombarded with twice the advertising.
Just because NBC keeps the golf showing in the small screen, there’s no commentary or leaderboard. There’s a reason why picture-in-picture TVs aren't available anymore. Nobody wants one.
Barry Marsh
Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
Golf is the only major sport that runs its events on the backs of volunteers. Now that millions and billions of dollars are in play with the PGA Tour/DP World Tour/LIV Golf merger announcement, it is time to pay the volunteers (“New world order: PGA Tour, DP World, LIV unite,” June 7 GGP). The fact that volunteers have to pay for their uniforms is shameful.
I was a volunteer at the U.S. Open at Baltusrol in 1993. The USGA would not even comp a soft drink in the 90-degree days of that week. Volunteers were treated like serfs.
Recently, I chaired a committee for a Korn Ferry Tour event in Florida. During that four-year service, I gained insight into event management. In this case, Global Golf Management could fulfill its obligations only by using the charity of the volunteers.
With all the millions and billions of dollars available, it is time for the PGA Tour, the PGA of America and the USGA to recognize the need to share some of their wealth with the volunteers who make each event possible.
Just think what would happen if the volunteers were to go on strike. Paid police for crowd control would just be the tip of the iceberg.
It’s time for a change.
Steve Euler
Wilmington, North Carolina
Word has it that the folks at the USGA and R&A and other proponents of a shorter ball for golf’s elites are wringing their hands at the results of the recent Memorial Tournament (“ ‘Clutch’ finish lifts Hovland at Memorial,” June 5 GGP). Is the current golf ball and the distance it travels really the demon they are making it out to be?
Let’s see, as the Memorial was a “designated” tournament, it had most of the top players in the world in the field. All of the big bombers in the game. Leader after 54 holes was 6-under. Winner after 72 holes was 7-under! What happened? I thought the long ball would tear up Muirfield Village and give us a winning score of 15- or 18-under or better.
It seems as if tournament host Jack Nicklaus, one of those who has long lobbied for a shorter ball for the pros, applied the simple solution to the long ball that many already have known: fast fairways, fast greens, narrowed fairways and thick, high rough.
So, the hand-wringing and concern for the very existence of the great game of golf due to the prodigious length players now hit the modern ball will no doubt continue by golf’s governing bodies, but why?
Bill Boutwell
Jacksonville, Florida
Global Golf Post welcomes reader comment. Write to executive editor Steve Harmon at saharmon83@gmail.com and provide your full name, city, state and country of residence. If your comment is selected for publication, GGP will contact you to verify the authenticity of the email and confirm your identity. We would not publish your email address. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and brevity.