Golf lacks dominance since Tiger’s run
Golf lacks edge after Tiger’s performance
Nick Faldo and Greg Norman led golf to the world stage for about a decade before Woods arrived. Norman spent more time at world number one. Faldo has won three major tournaments (6 wins, 2 losses). America’s hope was Fred Peirce. No one could match his poise and charisma, but Couples was no match for his awkward back, which limited his potential. Of course, Woods changed everything. Its appeal and dominance led to skyrocketing television ratings and big prizes. From hitting 142 shots in a row to winning the U.S. Open by 15 strokes to winning four majors at once, golf was unlike anything I had ever played before.
“I don’t know if something like this will ever happen again in golf,” said Scottie Scheffler, the nation’s top-ranked golfer. Scheffler is expected to become the third player after Rory McIlroy (2014-15) and Dustin Johnson (2017-18) to remain at No. 1 for more than a year. This says a lot about parity at the top. Scheffler is one of 10 players who have held the world No. 1 spot since Woods last competed on May 11, 2014.
A potential rivalry with Jon Rahm existed until the Spaniard left for LIV Golf, taking Saudi money with him. LIV Golf cannot create rivalries because everyone is rich and happy. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau also seem to like each other now. What golf lacks (and may need) is a dominant player.
“I think it’s going to be good for the game,” Scheffler said. “I think every time you have a dominant character, like the NBA does. If you look at Stephen Curry when the Warriors were winning big, people would say enough is enough. But in the end, people still came to watch his games. Because he was incredible to watch. And when he’s there he’ll want to see greatness.
The golf world hasn’t seen anything like this since Woods, so the question is when exactly will he stop dominating the golf world, at least from the ropes. Performance-wise, his days of dominance came to an end when he ran into a fire hydrant on Thanksgiving Day in 2009, and shocking stories about his sordid personal life started pouring in.
Well, he returned to the No. 1 spot in 2013 and held it there for over a year, winning five times and being named PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 11th time. However, thanks to four hip surgeries in 2019 alone, he managed to end his 11-year drought in the majors.
Dominant play is different from call play. Even now, Woods was so ill that he was only able to play 24 holes in the pre-Masters tournament, so it was big news when his plane arrived in Augusta in April.
Even the top five golfers combined don’t live up to his appeal. The PGA Tour’s contrived “Player Impact Program” donated $15 million to Woods when he wasn’t even playing yet.
There has never been an amateur like Bobby Jones. There has never been a more prolific champion than Jack Nicklaus. No one since Arnold Palmer has been called “King.” And as Scheffler said, there probably won’t be another Woods.
And apparently there won’t be any significant players in the near future. Justin Thomas, in his 10th year on the PGA Tour, was asked who he thought was the most dominant golfer on the tour.
He mentioned Johnson and McIlroy. He was confident of making the list after a 2017 season that saw him win five games, including his first major championship.
“You see this a lot in other sports,” Thomas said. “It’s recency bias. This is something that happened recently. That’s the only thing you’re worried about. ”
Jordan Spieth would have checked that box in 2015, when he won the Masters and the U.S. Open, missed the playoffs by one shot at the British Open and finished second at the PGA Championship. Jason Day had no obvious weaknesses in his game as he won seven times in 10 months, including the PGA Championship and The Players Championship. They come and go.
Scheffler appears to have some staying power, as evidenced by his starting games and huge lead in the world rankings. how long?
In 2017, Johnson seemed invincible until he fell down the stairs the night before the Masters. McIlroy won the last two major tournaments of 2014,
