Georgie Bingham: I hate the golf war but now that’s it’s quiet, I’m worried
Cameron Smith of Australia tees off from the 10th hole during day three of LIV Golf - London at The Centurion Club on July 09, 2023 in St Albans, England. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)
Hmmmm, golf is passing me by again the last couple of weeks - and I say that not because I have a column to write but because I worry when this happens.
I’ve always followed/covered a multitude of sports. Mostly football, in the last 10 years more and more golf, but I’ve dabbled; rugby, tennis, paralympics, cricket, darts - you name it I have probably covered it. (In fact cycling is the ONLY sport I love I haven’t ever covered.) I have always felt like my ability to cross platform with sports is important for the type of broadcasting I enjoy most (chat) but I also know that I tend to pay attention to sport on merit…. so this week for example, there’s men and women’s Ashes, Tour de France, Wimbledon - this is a bloody busy time, F1 at Silverstone and that’s not getting the headlines it once would. And where is golf? Golf is in a funny weird three week stretch where it almost falls off my radar. Stateside it’s The Travellers to the Rocket, the John Deere and the Barbasol (the what?!) And unless you are loving a bit of Himmerland it’s also blooming quiet over here. Even the British Masters didn’t make the splash on my radar it normally does. I have been enthused by Ricky Fowler’s win (finally!) and that is about it in the last few weeks.
“This is a bloody busy time, F1 at Silverstone and that’s not getting the headlines it once would. And where is golf? ”
This leads me to two conclusions - EITHER golf’s star power is so very concentrated that when the big names take a few weeks off there’s not enough glitter for the disco ball to shine in which case I genuinely worry for the game. (Maybe I am worrying unduly as the Open Championship is only a fortnight away and the buzz around that will be extremely loud - or maybe golf’s just become the PGA loyal saints v the LIV bad boys at Major championships and that’s how it now is). OR theory two; golf’s headlines have been so utterly dominated by a golf politics war for so long that now it’s all quiet (because the PGA are DESPERATELY trying to make a practicality out of their new union which is very very low on detail) and I am bereft of golf news. I hate the golf war but now that’s it’s quiet, I’m worried. Go figure.
Georgie Bingham, broadcaster and journalist, writes a bi-weekly column for The Cut Stuff. She’s golf obsessed. She’s ready to go behind the tour.
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