Strange Days Indeed
BY Grant Dodd | 16 Sep 2008
John Lennon’s anthemic song, ‘Nobody Told Me’, is memorably signified by the chorus, ‘Strange days indeed’. Lennon’s take on the world at that time was that it was full of contradiction and the unexplainable.
Two decades on, it’s hard to imagine Lennon penning the song any differently. A 72-year-old man stands the chance of being elected leader of the most powerful nation in the world. His 44-year-old female running mate who lists moose shooting as a favoured pursuit could well become the vice president.
The polar ice sheet is apparently melting, the stock market is bouncing around like a schitzophrenic yo-yo and someone is prepared to pay 130 million pounds stirling to have a footballer play in their side.
Strange days indeed. With such precedents, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised by some of the goings on in the world of golf. However, even allowing for a selective blind eye turned, it is hard to escape the feeling that this strangeness is a contagious malaise.
In surely one of the most bizarre examples ever of public relations foot-in-mouth, golf ventured into uncomfortably xenophobic territory when the LPGA Tour decided to introduce an initiative making it mandatory for their South Korean members to learn English. Tagged onto the end of the edict was the unfortunate clincher that ensures the LPGA will win the ‘howler’ of the year title – failure to learn English within two years of earning your card would result in a suspension of membership.
Understandably, a few people objected. In fact, there was uproar. A move designed to shore up a supposedly disenchanted and wavering corporate sector (no name, no pack drill, of course) backfired spectacularly on the tour and Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. She almost immediately rescinded the idea and dropped the suspension threats. Nonetheless, the damage was done, with the negative publicity sending everyone running for cover and trying to dissociate themselves from any connection.
The LPGA faces huge challenges in an increasingly difficult marketplace. Rumours abound that between six and nine events on its schedule are on decidedly shaky ground. Economic woes are one factor, but the tour also suggests that some of their key sponsors were concerned about the evolving image of the Tour and the inability of some of its Asian members to communicate with their pro-am partners.
A sticky subject to broach, least of all with the forty five South Koreans who hold playing rights on the LPGA Tour, but a message that might be more effectively relayed with a soft voice rather than a big stick.
Over on the men’s tour, the highlight of the PGA Tour year is currently underway. However, if you didn’t know, don’t be too embarrassed. You are in good company, and comfortably outnumbered by those that know of the FedEx Cup and don’t care at the same time.
The FedEx Cup was vaunted by the USPGA Tour as the great energiser for tournament golf fans, a focal point that would bring the golfing year to a climactic finish. The FedEx Playoffs revolve around four huge prizemoney events in a row, with players knocked out of the race to the final event with each passing week. For the points race winner, a king’s ransom of ten million dollars awaits.
Unfortunately, the anticipated sizzle has become a fizzle. Without the injured Tiger Woods, TV ratings have been a disaster. Players, spectators and viewers alike have expressed their dissatisfaction with the confusing, convoluted points system. The FedEx Cup has become a yoke around the neck of the tour administration, an ultra-expensive, sponsor alienating exercise in demonstrating that throwing money at a problem rarely does anything more than make it worse.
This year’s attempt to reignite interest by tweaking the points allocations has backfired badly, resulting in stars like three time major winner Padraig Harrington failing to qualify for the elite 30 man final event. Crucially, it has also meant that by winning the first two events, Vijay Singh only has to lace up his shoes and walk four rounds in the Tour Championship to waltz away with the pot of gold.
You could almost hear the wheezing air from tour executives hyperventilating as the zero’s started dropping off their performance bonuses. Surely things couldn’t get any worse? They did.
At his winners press conference, Camilo Villegas, the winner of the BMW Championship, threw in this gem, “We don’t want to talk about the FedEx Cup, do we?”
Vijay Singh, upon learning of his likely windfall after the BMW, declined to talk with reporters about what it felt like to win $10 million.
Vijay’s disinterest is an ironic reflection of the wider apathy surrounding the FedEx Cup. Surprisingly, no-one thought to consider that rewarding someone already as rich as Croesus with another overflowing bag of filthy lucre might struggle to grab the imagination of the general golfing public.
Anyway, Camilo doesn’t want to talk about it. Vijay’s left the building. Where’s that Ryder Cup when you need it?
Most peculiar, mama.
