My latest Sympatico column is live, detailing how I think we could use a longer break from professional golf:
Death, taxes and the PGA Tour.
All three are unavoidable, never-ending forces that continue in perpetuity.
Given that, it should surprise no one that the PGA Tour kicks off another season this week with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. And you can be forgiven for thinking the golf season just ended and breathlessly started again.
That doesn’t mean even the hard-core golf freak couldn’t use a break, time away to add some anticipation to another long season of golf.
In fact, the diminished numbers of PGA Tour pros at this week’s tournament indicates that fans aren’t the ones suffering from a touch of golf fatigue. The list of pros not attending arguably eclipses those that have decided to show up. Phil Mickelson, as is typical, took a pass. World No. 1 Luke Donald had an addition to his family and decided not to make the long trip to Hawaii. Three of last year’s major winners – Darren Clarke, Charl Schwartzel, and Rory McIlroy – all found better things to do with their private jet time than to fly halfway around the world. Dustin Johnson is injured, and Adam Scott took a pass. Like Donald, Brit Justin Rose decided to procreate and is staying home to change diapers. In all, 11 players who qualified for the tournament – which is only open to winners from the previous season – decided playing golf in paradise was still work they weren’t interested in undertaking.
But the PGA tour is now effectively over after the FedEx Cup – that is a lot shorter thanit used to be when it went well into November. Remember when Weirsy was Mr November winning the TC and WGC-Amex? Those tunamints, to speak in the Hootie vernacular, we’re semi-majors at the time.