Winners And Losers: The Clash With The Clambake
A predictably awkward week from the Monterey Peninsula to the Red Sea claims its share of victims.
The Clash With The Clambake played out as expected.
Legends of the game tarnished their image for more cash and there is no end in sight to the showdown over pro golf’s future.
As predicted back in November, all this money talk will prove disastrous for a sport already seen as elitist and selfish. Legacies could be destroyed and the greed will turn off casual fans who fled other sports where money matters ran amok.
But I, Norman Vincent Quadrilateral, arrive in your inbox to explain how things could be much worse.
Pro golf could have had a player go on a newly expunged Joe Rogan Experience episode to say absurd things only to just now be noticed as disturbing.
Pro golf could have had a noted player turn up for the Legitimate Political Discourse march on the Capitol.
Pro golf could have touted its “Higher Impressions Per Ad Load” while overpaying the IOC to look past totally inevitable human rights violations for athletes.
See! Better eh?
The pictures from Pebble were spectacular, the finish was entertaining enough and Tom Hoge’s recovery from an early double bogey made for an inspirational journeyman win. Plus, it should be days now before the Saudi mess is a topic unless the players who turned up at the PIFSIPSIA voted to start a new league effective immediately.
The only actual winners this week were Hoge, Harold Varner, Nicolai Hojgaard, Leona Maguire, along with the agents who had zero leverage in negotiating those silly Saudi appearance fees but will get paid anyway.
Everyone else had a week ranging from strange to forgetful to awful…
🏌🏼♂️Jordan Spieth. 2022 started with a nightmarish stomach bug and he’s lost a lot of weight. So having your every move covered as the week’s headliner might not have been ideal. But an epic weekend and much-talked about 8th hole shot saved the weekend for AT&T but will make for a busy Monday in Pebble Beach Company legal. While a second AT&T win would have been nice for Spieth, the swing changes seemed validated and hey, he wasn’t in Saudi Arabia or projectile vomiting in a hotel bathroom.
🤩 Celebrities. They returned after a year off and CBS chose not to turn Saturday’s broadcast over to them. Thank you Golf Gods. Yes, Bill Murray had his moments, saw some shots and endured a painful interview with the FedEx guy. But unlike in the past, CBS’s Sellers Shy showed leader Seamus Power over at MPCC’s Shore Course, complete with tracer and multiple cameras. That’s no small production feat. Throw in a manageable commercial load, upgraded drone shots and the Goodyear Blimp taking our breath away, and who needs to see more than one shot from that legendary crooner ScHoolboy Q?