Monday, February 23, 2009

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I Thought it was back in January...

Last week after I heard the announcement that Tiger was coming back this week, I mentioned to some friends that the PGA Tour season was finally upon us. According to this article, I suppose I wasn't the only one with that thought. But you see, I was joking. You see, I was making jest of the fact that a lot of people (mainly media) truly thought that the last several weeks of the season didn't mean anything and that the season didn't start until Tiger returned. In fact, those same people probably would tell you that the 2008 season ended after the US Open last year, even though there were two majors and lots and lots of tournaments still on the books.

I can tell you this: there are quite a few PGA Tour members out there who would tell you that the season did in fact start the first week of January, even though Tiger and Phil didn't really show up until this past week. There are a lot of players out there who would tell you that, you know what? The Tour does exist without the 2 or 3 or 5 people that you see week in and week out on TV, and that typically, believe it or not, there are more than 100 pros who show up each week with the hopes of making the cut, winning the tournament, feeding their family.

The PGA Tour is more than 1, 2 or 5 pros. And the sooner they and the media and the fly-by-night fans figure that out, the better.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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Wie are Finally Legit

I will be very interested this week to watch Michelle Wie in her first "official" event on the LPGA tour. I say "official" of course, because this will be her first tournament as a Q-School Grad, official card-carrying member of the LPGA Tour.

I was never really into all the hype surrounding Michelle, not because I have anything against her, but because I tend to not believe in the praise, and therefore privilege, that tends to be given to athletes in any sport before they have actually proven themselves at the highest level. I am not a fan of college basketball players getting million dollar contracts before they ever lace up a professional shoe, nor do I like golfers receiving multi-million dollar deals before they ever win a professional tournament.

At any rate, I do wish Michelle the best of luck this season and hope that her struggles are behind her and hope that she will eventually turn into the force that the LPGA hopes she will become.