Why I Love the PGA

Not very many years ago you couldn’t have paid me to watch golf. I always found it to be an excruciating game at best. The pace was slower than a turtle crossing a highway and the golfers themselves didn’t remotely resemble athletes. Nor am I a golfer myself. I tried it a couple of times and just didn’t have the patience or the focus to play a game so different from most other sports.

Maybe it was a matter of getting older and possibly more patient, but I actually started to find myself tuning in every so often, usually to watch the majors, and not changing the channel. No doubt the dominance of Tiger Woods had a lot to do with being interested for the first time. But that wasn’t the only reason. It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with watching the sport now, given Tiger’s absence from the tour recently. He’s also been more Eldrick than Tiger the past two years or so because of various injuries and that ‘other stuff’ that’s been going on in his life.

Tiger has obviously influenced other golfers to take their physical conditioning more seriously. The mandatory bulging gut now seems to be the exception rather than the rule and the game is slowly being taken over by the younger and better-conditioned players.

The biggest reason my attitude towards golf has changed over the years is the golfers themselves. The more I paid attention, the more I noticed they seemed to be regular people who held values and carried themselves the way most of us do. With few exceptions they’re likable and approachable. Golfers are not in the news for all the wrong reasons like NBA or NFL players in particular. There are no arrests for assaults or driving under the influence. No illegally carrying firearms. No dog fighting rings. No domestic abuse. No Hip-Hop gangstas. No trash talking via Twitter or Facebook. Very refreshing. There are also no player strikes or labour disputes, no renegotiating contracts, no million dollar bonuses and long-term contracts amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. If they don’t play well they don’t get paid. What a concept. It’s hard to dislike guys who have to keep working hard because they have no guarantees.

The 2011 British Open was won by Darrin Clarke, as likable a professional with as compelling a story as you’ll find in any sport. The runner-up, Phil Mickelson, was a guy who’s also had his challenges in recent years and could relate to Clarke on a human level. What’s not to like. As much as I like various sports, like NFL football, I continue to follow them despite the people who play them. When it comes to the PGA tour, it’s just the opposite: it’s because of them.