OT: Ryder Cup

[CAHUSKY]

. There isn’t a pro golfer alive that would trade a Masters win for a Ryder Cup. Turning golf into a team sport is fine but the interest doesn’t seem to be there compared to majors. I bet the ratings prove that.

Quick search shows that’s true in 2018. 12.8 v. 4.3

 

[storrsroars]

Winning majors is what defines a golfers career, it ain’t the Ryder Cup. The last time I looked the Masters was a major. There isn’t a pro golfer alive that would trade a Masters win for a Ryder Cup. Turning golf into a team sport is fine but the interest doesn’t seem to be there compared to majors. I bet the ratings prove that.

But that has zero to do with my point that the Masters is a manufactured for TV B.S. tourney that doesn't test true golf skill and that the golf industry could create a better tournament on a better course for a "major" tournament. That the Masters gets high ratings is only an indication to me how readily the golf-viewing public is suckered into looking at how pretty the flowers are and how envious they are that they aren't wealthy enough to go play on such an expensive carpet. It has everything to do with production values and little to do with actual golf. The folks who run Augusta are brilliant in how they control what CBS does (cue Gary McCord).

Also, you can't compare Ryder Cup ratings in years it's played in Europe simply due to the early morning time window. As it was, RC produced Golf Channel's biggest ratings ever. When played in the US, the RC is usually 5th or 6th in viewership among all televised golf tourneys (behind majors, TPC Sawgrass and sometimes Pebble Beach).

 

[Waquoit]

But that has zero to do with my point that the Masters is a manufactured for TV B.S. tourney that doesn't test true golf skill and that the golf industry could create a better tournament on a better course for a "major" tournament.

The Masters is great. And the "golf industry" has already created what they hoped to be a "better tournament on a better course" with the Players Championship. They been calling it the 5th major for years and nobody cares.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

Masters is my favorite major.

 

[storrsroars]

The Masters is great. And the "golf industry" has already created what they hoped to be a "better tournament on a better course" with the Players Championship. They been calling it the 5th major for years and nobody cares.

That's an easy fix: Make TPC the first major and drop the Masters from the majors rotation. As long as Augusta is in the rotation, it'll be among the highest rated tournaments. And as long as it's the first one - and the shortest program window since only the back nine are televised - it'll be the highest rated.

Drop it out of the rotation and it becomes just another tourney on a nice course. It's only a Major because in the early 60s they paid out the most prize money, so Arnie called it one of the top four tourneys and it became a Major. Not much more to it than that.

It'll never happen of course because The Masters gets the biggest ratings. Which simply points to how much marketing/packaging influences the casual TV sports viewer. It's simply not a great test of golf skill, however. Very pretty though.

 

[Waquoit]

That's an easy fix: Make TPC the first major and drop the Masters from the majors rotation. As long as Augusta is in the rotation, it'll be among the highest rated tournaments. And as long as it's the first one - and the shortest program window since only the back nine are televised - it'll be the highest rated.

Drop it out of the rotation and it becomes just another tourney on a nice course. It's only a Major because in the early 60s they paid out the most prize money, so Arnie called it one of the top four tourneys and it became a Major. Not much more to it than that.

It'll never happen of course because The Masters gets the biggest ratings. Which simply points to how much marketing/packaging influences the casual TV sports viewer. It's simply not a great test of golf skill, however. Very pretty though.

You're trying to fix a problem that exists only in your head.

 

[storrsroars]

You're trying to fix a problem that exists only in your head.

I'm like that.

I can't make this analogy w/o bringing in politics, so this might earn me a point, but if The Masters were a presidential candidate, it would be Trump.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Turning golf into a team sport is fine but the interest doesn’t seem to be there compared to majors. I bet the ratings prove that.

I'm the exact opposite of your post. The Ryder Cup is normally my favorite golf event, though this year's team lacked any kind of fire or desire, or so it seemed. Real lackluster affair. On a positive note, it made me feel better about my putting "skills". British Open and US Open are my favorite majors.

 

[jibsey]

I'm like that.

I can't make this analogy w/o bringing in politics, so this might earn me a point, but if The Masters were a presidential candidate, it would be Trump.

I like where you're going here with the knock but 200 years from now it will still be the Masters on the same course. Remember when they angled for a 5th Major? Well is it a major? No it is not.

 

[storrsroars]

I like where you're going here with the knock but 200 years from now it will still be the Masters on the same course. Remember when they angled for a 5th Major? Well is it a major? No it is not.

200 years from now it'll be underwater

 

[Chin Diesel]

Phil with the big whine.

Also calls in to question Furyk's choice of picking him. Phil all but admitted he can't play a course set up like everyone knew the Europeans were going to set up the course.

Mickelson: Ryder Cup setup 'almost unplayable'