Georgie Bingham: the return of the mullet
Cameron Smith of Australia takes his club for his fourth shot after hitting his second shot into the water on the final hole the par 4, 18th hole during the final round. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images).
An island green. A Phoenix Waste management atmosphere. Comedy weather. OH and long live the mullet!!
Thank you Players Championship. I wasn’t in favour of golf’s unofficial 5th Major’s move to the spring, but I am converted - what a brilliant way to whet our appetite for Augusta and great for the tournament that it doesn’t get lost in the calendar amidst the Majors. Big star studded line up, BIG purse AND at Sawgrass. I was not disappointed. This was the tournament that had it all but in a way you don’t expect in golf; a weather front that completely obliterated the running order AND the leaderboard, conditions not often attributed to tournaments in Florida, anyone’s tournament to win EVEN on the final day and an eventual champion who demonstrated immense golf cojones in the final few holes to quiet all his competition. Cameron Smith, a man who’s game is not very long or even that conventional, quietly plugged away until the time came to show his colours. A man who dons the mullet, moustache and truckers cap (to the despair of everyone over 45) with such aplomb he might attract a younger demographic if we let him stay as himself. $3.6m and a spot at 6th in the world his reward.
I was amused to see how the major clothing manufacturers have scrambled to capture the golf hoodie market - all the young and trendy were in them. Inevitably a garment that’s caused so much furore among the game’s fuddy duddies is now so common place it’s no longer an edgy garment. So, I wonder where does edgy golf fashion go next? Shorts?! Imagine if golf actually noticed that the whole of the rest of the world goes bare legs a lot of the time. It seems insane to me you can now even wear a hoody but modest men must thy legs hide. Professional golf’s insistence on lower limb modesty is bizarre.
I’d hope that one of the fashion agenda pushers will turn their attention to pushing the limits with their trousers… from the shortest and most flared ankle basher to spray-on tight tailored leggings that turn heads and cause low level tutting; hopefully these will start a process that eventually liberates tour players legs for good. Forget the lowly hoody, that WOULD be progress.
“A man who dons the mullet, moustache and truckers cap (to the despair of everyone over 45) with such aplomb he might attract a younger demographic if we let him stay as himself.”
Sawgrass once again served up its fair share of giving us amateurs solace by reducing golfing gods to mere mortals at times. If Sawgrass ever decided to put a webcam on the 17th so we could watch their island-green-theatre all year round, I would watch. Imagine how amateurs must fare there on a day-to-day basis. Seeing the talented Xander Schauffelle go from T9 on the 17th tee (water, dropzone, two putt) to T90 at the end of the 18th (slight slice, duff out of heavy rough, water with the third, pitch with too much spin, pitch again, putt, putt for quadruple bogey) gave me great cheer even though I did feel for him. The PGA Tour will move on, pointedly pretending that Greg Norman’s Saudi funded glitzy tour launch isn’t happening, but I feel pretty confident that for now their jewel-in-the-crown ducks are amiably in a row.
See you in a few weeks when the ANA has become the Chevron and the Masters just around the corner.
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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