Golf loves to jump at shadows with anointing the new Tiger or the new dominant force. It was going to be Jordan Speith, then Rory, then Dustin Johnson, then Brooks Koepka, then Justin Thomas, then Collin Morikawa, then Rahm, and you get my drift. Scheffler is a jet, and his major record is insanely good, but it wasn't long ago they were saying he can't putt. I think golf is absolutely better with a dominant figure to chase, but the talent pool is reasonably deep - and no one is Tiger.
I happen to be in Dublin at the moment on holiday and I can only view with envy the success of rugby here. Leinster selling out Aviva stadium for their victory with the semi for the (whatever the Heineken Cup is called now) set to be held at Croke park which holds 80,000 and will likely sell out. I think the club/province debate is valid but otherwise it’s perplexing as to why we can’t do this in NZ
If golf is better off as a sport with a dominant figure a la Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Maurice Flitcroft, and does Scottie Scheffler have the charisma to pull it off?
Your questions can easily be answered by history - apart from your piss-take re Maurice Flitcroft - when a certain player dominated the modern game (post Nicklaus) to such an extent that he dragged golf from an elitist, second-tier game to a major world sport. So much so that its leading exponent - Tiger Woods - became the world's most recognisable sportsperson for perhaps a decade. TW's dominance was so complete, so exquisite in terms of skill, that when he teed it up, the field knew they were playing for second place. Was that good for golf? Absolutely. No player has increased golf's profile more than TW. No player has increased the size of the purse more than TW. No player has taken golf from where it was to where it is today more than TW. His outright dominance brought millions of new spectators to the game because they had a sense of expectation against which he mainly delivered. Charisma? He didn't show any. But he moved the needle in terms of viewing numbers more than any before him. Now here's the thing: he still does. He still moves TV viewing numbers than any other. He is 48.
So, in Scottie Scheffler the game has a potential star that threatens to be similarly dominant. Still a big stretch, but no one has come this close to dominating golf since TW.
Is it a good thing? you betcha. Has he got charisma? compared to TW, he has bucketloads. Can he pull it off? Not to the extant of TW, no. but shit, he is good!
Only Jonah Lomu came close to being as big to rugby as TW was to golf. But even Jonah's huge impact on world rugby doesn't come close to TW's impact, not only on golf, but world sport. Can Scheffler emulate? probably not. But he is the closest golf has seen in the past decade.
Dylan, how are the Phoenix not even getting a mention? They’ve guaranteed a top 2 finish and did so by scoring a 96th minute winner against the team in third.
Golf loves to jump at shadows with anointing the new Tiger or the new dominant force. It was going to be Jordan Speith, then Rory, then Dustin Johnson, then Brooks Koepka, then Justin Thomas, then Collin Morikawa, then Rahm, and you get my drift. Scheffler is a jet, and his major record is insanely good, but it wasn't long ago they were saying he can't putt. I think golf is absolutely better with a dominant figure to chase, but the talent pool is reasonably deep - and no one is Tiger.
Another busy weekend nicely summed up here.
While all that was going on, Nathan Smith scored a half-century and took four wickets in seven balls in the County Championship. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/county-championship-division-one-2024-1410191/nottinghamshire-vs-worcestershire-8th-match-1410200/match-report
Can't help but feel he should have several international caps to his name already.
I happen to be in Dublin at the moment on holiday and I can only view with envy the success of rugby here. Leinster selling out Aviva stadium for their victory with the semi for the (whatever the Heineken Cup is called now) set to be held at Croke park which holds 80,000 and will likely sell out. I think the club/province debate is valid but otherwise it’s perplexing as to why we can’t do this in NZ
I have questions:
Is that good for golf?
If golf is better off as a sport with a dominant figure a la Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Maurice Flitcroft, and does Scottie Scheffler have the charisma to pull it off?
Your questions can easily be answered by history - apart from your piss-take re Maurice Flitcroft - when a certain player dominated the modern game (post Nicklaus) to such an extent that he dragged golf from an elitist, second-tier game to a major world sport. So much so that its leading exponent - Tiger Woods - became the world's most recognisable sportsperson for perhaps a decade. TW's dominance was so complete, so exquisite in terms of skill, that when he teed it up, the field knew they were playing for second place. Was that good for golf? Absolutely. No player has increased golf's profile more than TW. No player has increased the size of the purse more than TW. No player has taken golf from where it was to where it is today more than TW. His outright dominance brought millions of new spectators to the game because they had a sense of expectation against which he mainly delivered. Charisma? He didn't show any. But he moved the needle in terms of viewing numbers more than any before him. Now here's the thing: he still does. He still moves TV viewing numbers than any other. He is 48.
So, in Scottie Scheffler the game has a potential star that threatens to be similarly dominant. Still a big stretch, but no one has come this close to dominating golf since TW.
Is it a good thing? you betcha. Has he got charisma? compared to TW, he has bucketloads. Can he pull it off? Not to the extant of TW, no. but shit, he is good!
Only Jonah Lomu came close to being as big to rugby as TW was to golf. But even Jonah's huge impact on world rugby doesn't come close to TW's impact, not only on golf, but world sport. Can Scheffler emulate? probably not. But he is the closest golf has seen in the past decade.
Flitcroft…. Genius
Dylan, how are the Phoenix not even getting a mention? They’ve guaranteed a top 2 finish and did so by scoring a 96th minute winner against the team in third.