If you’ve tuned in to winning moments in the Major Championships or PGA and LPGA Tour events of late, you’ll have no doubt noticed a worrying trend: players calmly acknowledging the crowd and showing less emotion than an 18-handicapper recording 36 points in a club Stableford competition.
I can’t stress enough how much this irritates me. Of course, players are welcome to celebrate how they want and winning manifests itself differently depending on who you are, what you’ve been through and how extravert a character you are.
But if this many people can’t summon a proportionate level of excitement and jubilation when they hole a winning putt – something that could turn out to be the pinnacle of their career – then professional golf has a serious problem on its hands.
In truth, it’s had a serious problem for a number of years now. LIV Golf has fragmented the men’s game and caused many fans to lose interest – a product of the incessant in-fighting, the absurd sums of money on offer, the division of top-tier talent across numerous circuits and a rising threat from YouTube golfers.
The women’s game, meanwhile, continues to be hindered by a lack of personalities and born entertainers – a criticism that absolutely applies to the PGA Tour as well.
Before we get into why that is, let’s consider some recent tour victories and how the victors reacted after holing the winning putt.
Scottie Scheffler speaks to the media after The Open Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Scottie Scheffler is the obvious place to start. Before The Open Championship, he was criticised in some quarters for his seeming ambivalence towards winning the biggest titles in golf, although, in fairness, he might have struggled to accurately articulate what he meant.
But he then followed it up with a less-than-emotive reaction to claiming his first Claret Jug, which left many feeling bemused. If he doesn’t get excited about winning arguably the biggest title in golf, why should we be excited watching it?
This taking-it-all-in-your-stride mantra has flooded into professional golf at an alarming rate. Last weekend, Cameron Young won his first PGA Tour event after years of trying and seven runner-up finishes. He couldn’t even muster a fist-pump.
Lottie Woad is a…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Latest from Golf Monthly…