Must admit, I have been watching a lot of golf on television during the past couple of months. However, it’s not because I’m terribly interested in whether or not Trevor Immelman can hold off Kevin Na, Andres Romero and John Rollins to win the justdroppedafart.com Open at East Airport View Golf and Billiards Club in Redneck, Ga.
I’ve been watching a lot of golf because I bought a big, widescreen HD TV and nothing on the planet looks better than Riviera or Pebble Beach in HD. It’s too bad the golfers get in the way of the scenery. When you live in Winnipeg and it’s February and you just shoveled the driveway — again — even watching the PGA Tour without Tiger is better than looking at the white stuff out the front window.
Now, however, the world is as it should be. Tiger is back and whether or not he plays well is irrelevant. Golf has personality again. It’s not just a bunch of wealthy, white, American males in billboard shirts. There is, once again, a player who matters and nothing beats great scenery and a great player going head-to-head on HD TV when it’s minus-20 and snowing outside.
On Wednesday, after 253 days on the shelf,Tiger Woods finally made his return to the PGA Tour and despite all that serious knee surgery last year, he looked pretty darn good. Woods took out Aussie Brendan Jones 3-and-2 in the first round of the Accenture World Match Play championship in Tucson and moved on to face South African Tim Clark in Round 2 today.
Brendan Jones? Tim Clark? Who cares? They’re both great players. I’d give anything to swing a club as well as Tim Clark on his worst day, but goodness, gracious, their own families couldn’t pick them out of a lineup.
Tiger is, well, Tiger. The greatest player of his generation. Maybe any generation. My good friend, Ford Gardner, the program director at 92-CITI-FM radio said it best, “I don’t watch golf all that much, but I’ll watch Tiger. If Tiger is winning, I’ll watch. If Tiger is losing, I’ll watch. He is one of the only compelling athletes in the world today. Watching golf without Tiger is pretty boring. Watching golf with Tiger is great, no matter how he’s playing.”
I’d like to write more about Tiger and how interesting he is on the golf course — good or bad — but he’s about to tee it up against Clark and I don’t want to miss a shot. I’m sure Davis Love will be good today, but really? Davis Love?
Tiger’s back. My TV looks great. Golf is a spectator sport again.