[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

What's going on with the tour? They're playing some of the most difficult golf courses where the cream is supposed to rise to the top and it seems that leaderboards are filled with a bunch of no names.
Last week Adam Hadwin wins at Tampa with Patrick Cantlay, Jim Herman, Dominic Bozzellu and Tony Fimau close behind.

This week, Day MclRoy, Rose, Matsuyama, Stenson, and Fowler have all pretty much shot themselves out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and we get to watch Charlie Hoffman battle it out with the likes of Emiliano Grillo #25 in the world, Matthew Fitzpatrick #30 in world, Lucas Glover #169, Kevin Kisner #51, Mark Leishman #56 and a bunch of others that no one really cares about.

Sorry, but when these guys come to the toughest courses I expect the cream to rise to the top. I went down to Bay Hill for a few hours today. Hardly anyone was following the leaders but Day, Rose, Stenson and several other of the top ten players had huge crowds. Unless one of the top guys has a huge round tomorrow, I would expect the television ratings to be way down on Sunday.

Don't get me wrong every one that s on this tour is a great player, but most golf fans want to see the best of the best each week. If the leaderboard at Bay Hill stays the way it is, it will b e a snore fest on Sunday. If one or a few of the top ten players are in the mix, people will be interested.

[kcrazorbackfan]

**it happens. Maybe those close to the top of Bay Hill are hungrier than the "cream of the crop". On any given day.......

[JGVillages]

Personally it is not a snore fest for me no matter who it is as long as it is close and competitive. I enjoy watching "good golf" no matter who is on top. Thank Tiger Woods for turning many of these guys into "athletes" and giving these so called no names the ability to compete with the names on the Tour. When you are competing for $1,000,000+ first place almost every week the motivation for these young guns to make an impact in the "big show" is immense.

[Fredman]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

What's going on with the tour? They're playing some of the most difficult golf courses where the cream is supposed to rise to the top and it seems that leaderboards are filled with a bunch of no names.
Last week Adam Hadwin wins at Tampa with Patrick Cantlay, Jim Herman, Dominic Bozzellu and Tony Fimau close behind.

This week, Day MclRoy, Rose, Matsuyama, Stenson, and Fowler have all pretty much shot themselves out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and we get to watch Charlie Hoffman battle it out with the likes of Emiliano Grillo #25 in the world, Matthew Fitzpatrick #30 in world, Lucas Glover #169, Kevin Kisner #51, Mark Leishman #56 and a bunch of others that no one really cares about.



Sorry, but when these guys come to the toughest courses I expect the cream to rise to the top. I went down to Bay Hill for a few hours today. Hardly anyone was following the leaders but Day, Rose, Stenson and several other of the top ten players had huge crowds. Unless one of the top guys has a huge round tomorrow, I would expect the television ratings to be way down on Sunday.

Don't get me wrong every one that s on this tour is a great player, but most golf fans want to see the best of the best each week. If the leaderboard at Bay Hill stays the way it is, it will b e a snore fest on Sunday. If one or a few of the top ten players are in the mix, people will be interested.

Do you golf your best every time you go out?

[rjn5656]

It just shows there is a small margin between the best and others.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by rjn5656

It just shows there is a small margin between the best and others.

You beat me to the punch. And the margin gets constantly smaller.

These guys are good!

[PennBF]

It was just a matter of time before the equipment improvements brought the fields together. Remember when they use to hit a 7 iron 150 Yds and now they use pitching wedges. It use to be a 550 yard hole was 3 clubs and now it is a driver and a 9 iron. The course designs are no longer applicable as the players now treat them as easy. The thing now that determines a degree of difficulty is the conditions and not the layout or distances. A good example is the Masters who mow the grass low in the rough which makes it harder, cut the greens to "real fast", etc. Even in The Villages they made some holes larger so they are easier to sink putts. Until the basics are attacked the game will be very different than in the past. None of this is a secret to the tour players.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by rjn5656

It just shows there is a small margin between the best and others.

While it's true that the depth of talent is greater than it's ever been. I expect that when they come to the most difficult courses, the cream will rise to the top. Innisbrook Copperhead and Bay Hill are supposed to be two of the more difficult courses on the tour. Add to that, the wind that we had on Thursday and I expected to see Jason Day, Henrik Stenson, Bubba, Rickie and more of the top ten players in the mix.

I'm also surprised at some of the players that decided to skip Arnold's tournament, especially this year.

I think the tour is making a big scheduling mistake by putting a WGC event before two Florida tournaments and breaking up the old Florida Swing.

It really doesn't make a lot of sense to me to have these guys flying back and forth across the country multiple times and now down to Mexico. Once they're here, they should play Doral, Honda, Innisbrook, Bay Hill and then finish it off with The Players. I think that Doral was a WGC event last year. Why not schedule that instead of Mexico and schedule Mexico at some other time?

There used to be some kind of award for the winner of the Florida Swing. It was a small thing, but it kept interest up.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I just turned on the Golf Channel and heard an ad for the broadcast of The Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The ad said that "a pair of 65s have Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler in contention.

Kevin Kisner and Charlie Hoffman are tied for the lead at -11. McIlroy is tied for eighth five shots behind and Fowler is tied for 11th six shots back. The programming came on after the ad and their doing a story about Jason Day.

Viewership is going to be down because a lot of people don't care if Charlie Hoffman, Kevin Kisner, Hatton, Glover, Leishman, Fitzpatrick, Hadwin et al win a tournament. People are not going to tune in to see these guys play golf.

If you watch this afternoon, you'll see a lot of coverage of Fowler and McIlroy. I would bet that they'll get as much or more screen time than the leaders. Unless they are the leaders.

[Jima64]

To bad it wasn''t important enough for the names of golf to attend this tournament in honor of the man most responsible for them to earn the large incomes on and off the course. Thank you Mr. Palmer for your life and career.

[bagboy]

Originally Posted by Jima64

To bad it wasn''t important enough for the names of golf to attend this tournament in honor of the man most responsible for them to earn the large incomes on and off the course. Thank you Mr. Palmer for your life and career.

Amen, though there were quite a few who did honor Mr. Palmer by playing. Johnson, Spieth, and Mickelson were notable no shows.