Scottie Scheffler and the State of Golf

It has been such a fun two weeks of golf, between Bryson Dechambeau winning the US Open in incredible fashion, and Scottie Scheffler holding off Tom Kim to win his sixth event of the season. Scottie is now the only player other than Tiger Woods to win six events in the same season and I have a feeling that Scottie will win a few more before the year is over. What’s really impressive with Scottie thus far is that his game is translating to all different styles of golf courses, he's really just firing on all cylinders right now. Now these wins are even bigger because he's winning elevated events, although the fields are small they are compiled of the top players in the world so he is beating all the best players week in and week out. Although Scottie’s play is remarkable in my opinion golf is still in sensitive shape and here’s why. 

Four times a year we get the chance to watch the best golfers in the world play in majors, since the formation of LIV we have been robbed of that. Due to the OWGR not providing points to LIV players, fields have been weakened and majors have been forced to provide special exemptions to certain players to help strengthen the fields. Now I understand that part of the deal when players left for LIV was they would no longer receive points, but what these governing bodies didn't account for would be how the fans and the overall product of golf would suffer. Thus far the majors this year have been great, great fields, incredible venues, and halfway decent coverage. However, once those majors are over golf goes back to weaker fields, horrible coverage, and confused and frustrated fans. Now to preface I'm not saying they should be given points on LIV but special exemptions, or other avenues for qualifications should continue to be explored and instituted. My other issue with all this is the feud between LIV and the PGAT. I personally don’t believe this feud actually exists in most of the players’ minds, this feud is a media scam to create viewership and in the beginning, it kind of worked, but now it has become more annoying than anything else. However, the biggest problem with both tours is the broadcast. On the LIV side, they lack a solid broadcast contract, they have the CW and YouTube but they lack the major broadcast that the PGAT has. As for the PGAT, they have all the contracts in the world but the broadcast is flooded with commercials and virtually zero golf is shown and when it is shown we see featured groups and that's it. However, that's not the biggest problem with golf in today’s game. 

Look, I've been watching golf across all levels my whole life, my dad would sit me in front of the TV when I was a kid and I'd watch Tiger, Phil, Vijay along with so many other greats. That era of golf was built on the shoulders of incredible players, not money. The root of all these problems boils down to one thing, the money. Years ago nobody talked about how much money the winner won, they talked about how great they played and what this win meant. I think money has ruined a lot of things in our world today, and honestly, it's not going to get better because once you open the box you can’t put it back in. Golf has been flooded with so much money and that's all the players care about. It will hit a point when the fans will be sickened by the money and it will turn people off to golf. At this point, I'm not sure what golf needs, but there will come a time when this back and forth fight between the PGAT and LIV will ultimately destroy the game of golf. (Mike)

I agree with a lot of what Mike is saying and I think all levels of golf are being impacted right now. Mike touched on some of the negatives at the highest level of men’s professional golf, but I also think there are a few positives amongst all of this. Women’s golf has never been more popular and amateur golf is booming. The women play the course in a much more relatable way to the average weekend golfer. I think the more attention the women’s game gets, the better the courses they will play at. There are some awesome stops on the LPGA tour schedule, but there is vast room for improvement and I think everything is trending towards continued success for them. I think the mess that is men’s professional golf has certainly turned more viewers into women’s golf over the last couple of years. In addition to this, more people are picking up the game rather than watching professional golf altogether. I know many people who are arguing to shrink the game these days because of how busy courses are, some as a joke and some being very serious.  As long as people are playing at a good pace and being respectful, then I have no issues with more people getting into the wonderful game we all love.

I do want to complain about two things though. It is a shame that we do not get to see Bryson at the Olympics this year. He seems like the perfect player to represent his country and do that with a lot of passion. I have not always liked Bryson, but he is the only guy who left the tour and increased in popularity. While many other people who left for LIV have become a shell of their former selves such as DJ and Cam Smith, Bryson has gotten better and become far more likable. He knew the consequences when he left the PGAT, but it is a real shame that we will be watching Wyndham Clark instead of Bryson this summer in Paris. My second complaint is how the Travelers Championship got another elevated event this year. I did not find it exciting last year when it became a birdie fest, and I did not find it exciting this year when it became a birdie fest either. I understand that the tournament typically has exciting finishes, but back to back years there just seems like a missed opportunity. They could have picked somewhere new to have a signature event. 

We do have an event this week up in Detroit. The field is not the best, but there are some big names still playing. Rickie Fowler looks to defend his title from last year and Tom Kim looks to get a victory after coming so close last weekend in the playoff against Scottie Scheffler.

Picks of the Week:

My pick to win this week is Cameron Young. He seems to be kind of forgotten about after he burst on the scene a couple summers ago. He has been playing pretty consistently lately and against the weakened field that I would expect him to take his chances. A couple of other guys I expect to make some noise this week are Chris Kirk and Min Woo Lee. Both guys who are looking to take the next step in their careers as they try to sustain success. I enjoy watching Min Woo Lee play because his swing is art in motion. Hopefully, we get a finish as exciting as last week, these so so fields have turned in some great Sundays this year. (Tyler)