PGA lacks a Tiger in its tank
Who says there is more to golf than Tiger Woods? Unless Rocco Mediate was athletically reborn at age 45 after his magnificent nice try in the U. S. Open two weeks ago, tournament golf will hang a huge “vacancy” sign until next January’s California competitions as a result of Woods’ knee surgery. Sergio Garcia is not going to be the next Seve Ballesteros. Justin Rose is not going to be the next Nick Faldo. Ernie Els came out of South Africa with enormous promise but after just a few seasons flattened out. John Daly had the personality and charisma but is mesmerized by the Bubba lifestyle.
Phil Mickelson won two of the last five Masters tournaments and he’s Mr. Nice Guy, but Lefty is still Lefty. He has great days but too many mediocre ones.
So when Tiger is relatively healthy the PGA is basically a one-horse race with the rest of the field chasing Woods. But it’s more than that. In order to capture the public’s imagination a big-time golfer must have more than a bagful of shots. Personality and public image are required.
In the ’50s, when Arnold Palmer grabbed the public by the lapels and made golf more popular than it had ever been, he still needed serious, charismatic chasers to keep the TV viewers’ interest. It happened when young Jack Nicklaus came out of Ohio State and his popularity accelerated when he shed his baby fat. To make the chase more intense, young Gary Player came over from South Africa and captured the U. S. public’s imagination when the TV cameras caught Player and his wife rolling on the grass at Augusta in an intense embrace when they realized the 1961 Masters was within his grasp.
The quality and persona of the competition is the key to the popularity of all individual sports. Take tennis. The men’s game and “Breakfast at Wimbledon” has never been more popular than when the two mega-talented U. S. brats, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, shared the pinnacle of the game along with Sweden’s calmly efficient Bjorn Borg.
The women’s game became the thing to watch when Martina Navratilova came along to challenge Chris Evert and the popularity was renewed when the Williams sisters arrived to challenge all comers. Personality and public persona played a huge role in both instances.
The only comparison we’ve had to Tiger lapping the field in his sport is Muhammad Ali, who virtually invented charisma. Aside from Joe Frazier, no one in Ali’s long career in the boxing game came close to him.
Ali’s loss to Leon Spinks in a heavyweight title fight in February 1978 was a two-moons-in-the-sky phenomenon. Spinks had no business in the same ring with Ali. When they were re-matched seven months later in the “Second Battle of New Orleans,” actor Sylvester Stallone, an intense fight fan, was more enthralled by the antics of Spinks’ bodyguard, a muscular guy with a Mohawk haircut and a constant scowl who named himself “Mr. T.” He became far more famous than Leon, particularly after Ali took apart Spinks to win back the title.
Now and then a team sport, especially in pro football where quarterback is the name of the game, will produce an interesting duel between two or three charismatic field leaders. We have that now with Tom Brady in New England and Peyton Manning in Indianapolis. A third was just eliminated by the retirement of Green Bay’s Brett Favre. If Peyton’s brother Eli is able to build off the New York Giants’ surprise Super Bowl victory, we may end up with a new trio.
Meanwhile, a horde of PGA wannabes, faceless to all but intense golf mavens, will scramble among themselves for the rest of the year, especially at the two remaining majors, the British Open and PGA Championship.
Get well soon, Tiger.
Larry Felser, former News columnist, appears in Sunday’s editions.
