Georgie Bingham: your golf needs you
Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry of Great Britain & Ireland celebrate on the 14th green during the Friday Fourball matches of the Hero Cup at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 13, 2023 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images).
How fantastic to kick off a Ryder Cup year with a matchplay exhibition of our best talent in Abu Dhabi in the Hero Cup. I was proper excited to get up and plonk myself in front of the TV on Friday morning.
Shane Lowry summed it up in the run up to the tournament pronouncing that after Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm (absent this week) this season is a scramble for the rest of the European team to fall in behind and secure their spot in the field in Italy 2023. While there’s a lot of golf to be played between now and then, these three days will be quite important - all the hopefuls are involved - possible Ryder Cup pairings may be forged here (although obviously all these players will play together come September).
The only problem with this format? No crowds. Nothing is better in golf than partisan crowds and that’s why the Ryder Cup is so special - and THAT is a problem for this fledgeling format as part of the tour’s Middle Eastern swing at the start of every year. Please don’t get me wrong - I don’t object to tournaments going to emerging markets. I don’t object one bit to the tour taking the warmer weather in the European Winter and I’ve been to both season openers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and think they’re a great start to the year. Crowds are great for strokeplay - but for matchplay? They’re essential, no amount of brilliant golf or TV coverage can make that difference.
“Crowds are great for strokeplay - but for matchplay? They’re essential, no amount of brilliant golf or TV coverage can make that difference.”
So I’m hoping this format (new this year it should be stressed) can become a winter destination vacation for golf fans. None of the Middle Eastern tournaments have big crowds - but this one already aches for them. I can already see it can be a success but not without numbers. This leads me to think forward to the autumn; after spending time in Italy on golf events a few times in the last few years, I know that enthusiasm for golf there is low.
It’s an incredibly expensive, elite sport and the purpose of taking the Ryder Cup there is to hope a new epidemic of golf happens in the tournament’s aftermath. The Ryder Cup is guaranteed to bring crowds. Fans book it in their diaries when each tournament is announced and I expect Italy to be no different. Golf brings the business but fans bring the atmosphere, the enthusiasm and are the missing piece of the puzzle for people who don’t worship at our altar (yet).
Here’s hoping for another year of golf growth!
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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