Georgie Bingham: Dark days in the world of golf
Team Captain Lee Westwood of Majesticks GC looks on during day one of the LIV Golf Invitational - Jeddah at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on October 14, 2022 in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Charles Laberge/LIV Golf via Getty Images).
Standby everyone I am about to have a huge whinge. I am depressed by golf this month. I love how the Players Championship in March gives us a taster ahead of Augusta and I am a golf frenzy by the time The Masters is over, but then, a downer - and golf bleakness.
I realise this sounds dramatic but I think that when the PGA Championship was held at Wentworth in May I didn’t notice that April end and early May was a golf dead zone. Thank god actually for the Chevron Championship, as I saw some incredible golf that weekend. The viewing figures were great news from women’s golf (it was held on the same weekend of that weird Zurich Classic of New Orleans which is a big no for me!) Stay with me though and let me explain my uneasiness.
Golf is such a mess. LIV golf is celebrating huge gates of golf yobs and tiny viewing figures. No one is paying it much attention unless it rocks up in your borough. Players from rival tours are openly sparring on social media.There’s consternation over qualifications for the majors for non PGA players. Ball changes are afoot which I don’t really agree with, and don’t get me started on the mess that is OWGR. Saudi Arabia’s love of litigating everything continues. Patrick Reed is STILL whining. I feel like the game is in one of its bleakest phases.
I am always irritated by the build up to the Ryder Cup. I am not a big fan of selection seasons - we spend the WHOLE time procrastinating on who should play and who not, never agree with the captain’s picks and I personally dread players on good early season form who then fade by autumn and are not Ryder Cup ready even though they secured their spot ages ago.
I am sad that Lee Westwood, a man I’ve counted as my friend for many years will be missing when the time comes around and that he will now never likely be a captain.
“I am sad that Lee Westwood, a man I’ve counted as my friend for many years will be missing when the time comes around and that he will now never likely be a captain. ”
We had a brief conversation a while back about his move to LIV and while I am no where near close enough to him to have an opinion he would fuss about, I was worried that he was underestimating how important a golfer’s legacy is and how much the move might affect that. He was at least one of the only players who bothered to be honest about his move to LIV, for money, although I am still sad for him because I love him at the Ryder Cup and while we have seen the true colours of Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter in the last few years he remains a firm favourite of mine. I feel sad he’ll eventually retire, rich, but without the accolade of leading Europe in golf’s most fabled competition.
LIV has increased PGA purses, arguably showing the strength of the PGA Tour which in turn has shone a spotlight on the DP World Tour. Keith Pelley claims it’s stronger than ever, I see little change, it’s still a feeder tour for the PGA Tour, not that I ever really had a problem with that to be honest. But golf isn’t about money. It’s about integrity.
Golf is a sport where the participants call penalties on themselves. Where cheats find their competitors openly hostile. It’s a true gentleman’s game. And I suspect this is where my discomfort lies. Money talks, and while it makes the world go round, money sometimes eclipses everything else that’s good. Maybe that’s where we are.
