Scores on the PGA Tour are trending lower – is a 57 on the horizon?
Each week, we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational begins this week and will be without fan favourites Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. Although both are playing well lately, neither player was ranked high enough to make the field on points. Tournament organizers could have added them via sponsor’s exemptions but opted instead to award spots to other players (including Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes) that don’t generate near as much interest. What’s your take on the situation? Did the API make a mistake?
Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): No, I don’t think they did. As the Tour has been changing the rules and making more limited field events, thereby reducing opportunities for lesser status and up-and-coming players, I think it behooves tournament organizers to give some of these players a chance. (I’m not sure I’d say Mac Hughes is a lesser status player, though.) My point is, how are unknowns going to become known if they don’t get an opportunity to play on the big stage?
Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: The PGA TOUR is one of the most capitalistic businesses……it comes down to what you have done lately. Imagine a real estate office, insurance agency, law firm or any other company based on revenue generation automatically firing their least productive employee yearly. Fans say they want to see the best, and the argument to combine LIV with the PGA TOUR is just that. Nick Faldo asked Ben Hogan what he had to do to win the US Open. Hogan’s reply “Shoot the lowest score.” Playing golf for a living is a lot like getting old….it ain’t for sissies! Regarding the Sponsor Exemptions, you are pitting identifiable players against lesser-known players. I read that the committee received over 100 requests, each one written beautifully by all kinds of talented hopefuls. Maybe they put them into a big raffle drum and turned the handle.
TJ Rule, Golf Away Tours (@GolfAwayTJ): I think if Rickie and Jordan want to play, I would want them in my event. They draw fans, eyes on tv, and they are playing well. It’s surprising that neither had enough points to qualify, especially Jordan, who is ranked 64th in the world right now, ahead of Mackenzie Hughes. Hey look, I’m glad another Canadian is in the field, but if I was the sponsor of the event, I would prefer to have Jordan Spieth on the first tee on Thursday.
Hal Quinn, Freelance Writer, Vancouver: Always thought Fowler a product of marketing rather than performance, and Spieth can never replicate (nor can anyone else ever duplicate) his other-worldly early run of canning bombs. The Palmer has deftly dodged the current controversy over exemptions rewarding olde guard loyalists over deserving youngsters. Hughes is an odd choice, but there have been four guys born since the turn of the century who have won on Tour. The AP made the right call. Golf its own self and its shrinking TV audience have moved past the Friday ceremonial waves — for some reason keep seeing Sandy Lyle and Ray Floyd — to wanting to see young guns making cuts.
Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine (@FairwaysMag): If your job is to run a great tournament, you get the best players you can. Period! Not only do Fowler and Spieth add eyeballs to the onsite crowd and the TV audience, but they would also schmooze with sponsors and players in the pro am and draw attention to the event in general. Everybody says they want to see best against best, then the API overlooks two of the best needle-movers on Tour. Big mistake! Huge!
Lydia Ko won for the 23rd time in her pro career last weekend in Singapore. The Hall of Famer continues to add to her legacy which includes majors and three Olympic medals, yet she often doesn’t get the media attention her record warrants. Her current win total is the most on the LPGA by an active player by a wide margin and she has been a winner on Tour for 13 years. Is Ko getting the respect she deserves?
Deeks: Lydia is a great player, no question, but she’s always been so quiet and colourless that unless she’s high up on the leaderboard of any given tournament, she gets very little attention. She probably likes that just fine. I believe she’s already indicated that she’ll retire early from the professional game, which also indicates she couldn’t care less about being famous and deified — as did Lorena Ochoa before her. Those who follow women’s golf know what a great champion she is, though.
Schurman: Not only hasn’t she received due accolades, but the LPGA TOUR doesn’t either. It’s the same old argument: which comes first, recognition/money or appeal? You can’t make fans like something, and unfortunately, we are living in the times of Lydia’s wonderful career. Her shotmaking skills are amazing, and her short game is off the charts, but you are asking 200lb men, 6 ft tall, to respect a 5 ft 1 in, 100 lb woman for her ability to play. Unless they see a ball travel into the Stratosphere, they can’t relate to talent.
Rule: And she’s only 27 years old! How is that possible? It seems like she’s been winning golf tournaments for 3 decades! It’s a pretty impressive resume, and although she fell off the map for a couple of years, her resurgence is very admirable. She doesn’t have the biggest personality (who does on the LPGA Tour though), but she’s universally liked and is one of the best players of all time. I hope she sticks around for a long time and threatens some women’s professional golf records.
Quinn: Every time The Golf Channel comes on there is someone singing Ko’s praises. She’s second all-time on the LPGA Tour money list. She has those meaningless Oly medals. PXG designed a putter named for her that retailed at over $1,000. Can’t imagine any higher praise from the talking heads or the fellow competitors or the writers who cover that Tour. What more can there be for a star in a second-tier sport?
Mumford: I think she gets plenty of respect from people who know the game, but in the celebrity obsessed media circus she loses out because she’s not American, she’s not loud and she doesn’t seek the spotlight. And she’s probably not losing any sleep over it either.
Last Thursday in the opening round of the Cognizant Classic, Jake Knapp recorded a score of 59 on what is traditionally a very tough course. It seems that each week, some player gets hot, often setting up a 59 watch during his round, and scores of 60, 61 and 62 are becoming quite common. Jim Furyk holds the record for low score on the PGA Tour at 58, which Knapp had a shot at with his eagle putt on the 18th. It seems that tournament organizers these days aren’t into toughening up their course, which encourages faster play and lower scores. Are we likely to see a 57 this year?
Deeks: Maybe not this year, but surely before the decade is out. (I wonder which will come first… somebody shooting 57, or me shooting my age? I’m gonna go with the 57.). And by the way, the 57 could be shot by a woman just as easily as a guy.
Schurman: PGA of Canada member Bobby Rose shot 57 at Beverly G.C. at least 40 years ago. Of course, a TOUR 57 would be a lot different. It’s hard to imagine the chance of it, but I guess it will come. Snooker’s 147, bowling’s 300, and baseball’s Perfect Game all seemed special, but each is common today.
Rule: It’s bound to happen at some point in time, so I wouldn’t bet against it happening this year. These guys are so talented and can overpower golf courses, it just takes one guy on a heater to set a course or Tour scoring record. You’d have to think it would take a par 70 course for it to happen, so there wouldn’t be tons of opportunities from that standpoint.
Quinn: Can’t overstate what a relief it was not to hear Gary Koch and pals going on and on and on about The Bear Trap. The first stop on the Florida Swing had become must miss TV. No snow-bound golfer in the frozen north wanted to tune in to sun-drenched torture. These guys can rip anything even faintly defenceless, and the Tour ain’t gonna change that until it changes the ball. Back when the Bear was Golden — the 1980s — he started talking about the ball going too far, until his company came out with a distance ball. The Tour is now in an entertainment crisis, with integrity off the table thanks to LIV, all that’s left is showtime. Superintendents don’t have a chance. Until the ball roll back, all the few remaining purists can hope for is weather.
Mumford: I’d say sooner rather than later. The courses are ripe for the picking; the players are better than ever; only wind and mental heebie-jeebies stand in the way.
