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IT'S THE "BRAWL FOR IT ALL"........WELL, ALMOST By CHARLES JAY, Editor/Publisher, TotalAction.com August 2, 1999 There are some golf fans who are not too crazy about the one-on-one match tonight between Tiger Woods and David Duval (ABC, 8 PM Eastern), to be held at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Cal. They think it represented a bit too much commercialism of what is already a very commercial game, and will, in the end, prove nothing about deciding who the best player in the world is. I'm going to disagree on both counts. You know, for a game steeped in so much tradition, the fans of golf really don't seem to have such a great memory. It wasn't so long ago that one of the major championships - the PGA - was contested in a match play format. It was only changed because the medal play format worked better for television. And there's something about match play golf that really appeals to me. Having to react to each and every one of your opponents' shots brings an element to the game that is missing from medal play. While contenders in Tour events have to look at the leader boards at each hole to find out who they have to beat on Saturdays and Sundays, match players see it all right in front of them. It's IN YOUR FACE golf, and that to me carries a dimension to the competition that makes it potentially even MORE eventful for TV. In fact, I wish the PGA would switch back to the match play format to make a completely distinct and unique major. But that's a column we'll probably do later. And while playing in any pro golf tournament is hell on one's nerves, just ask anybody who has competed in the Ryder Cup where the most pressure comes from, or better yet, read the first chapter of John Feinstein's sensational book, "A Good Walk Spoiled". One-on-one golf brings more pressure on a shot-by-shot basis than almost anything in sport. I know golf is a little more sedate than a football game, or a boxing match. But I want to see that sense of urgency, of intensity, that is associated with a competition between some of the world's finest, no matter what the sport, and it just so happens that in golf, match play brings that to the surface. And here at Sherwood we have the two players who, despite having no major wins between them this year, are nonetheless on balance the #1 and #2 in the business for the year 1999. Okay, it's not "Ali vs. Frazier". But we can probably call it the "de la Hoya vs. Trinidad" of golf. I want more of this. And I'd love to see it in tennis as well. You know, the top players in golf, as well as tennis, play each other seemingly so often that the public is almost numb to it. That's why boxing, at its highest level, has some appeal - the summit meetings have the aspect of EVENT attached to them. We should be able to see more one-on-one "shootouts" between top players where the stakes are high, and which don't have that nasty word "exhibition" attached to them. Let's see a little less of the money-grabbing, made-for-TV "Skins Game" and bring back something on the order of "Shell's Wonderful World of Golf", this time putting together matchups of the top players in the world under conditions which will give them more than a cursory incentive to win. Like Woods vs. Duval. I would say the $700,000 difference between first and second place in this one should provide enough incentive. I said "should". One never knows. I hope these two don't treat this as some glorified exhibition. Will it prove who the best player in the world is? Maybe not over just 18 holes, but I ask you, is there any other way to settle the arguments than to send two guys down the same course, under the same conditions, side-by-side, matching shot-for-shot, testing nerves, and knowing that one guy's drive, approach, chip, or putt is going to affect the other guy's? That's something you don't find very much in the format of medal play golf, which is rather "impersonal". This one should be anything BUT. I said "should". One never knows. But I'm hoping. |
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