Does Golf Need an All-Star Event Like Other Major Sports?…
Written on February 16, 2015The NFL, NBA and NHL All-Star Games are in the books. All were moderately entertaining displays of the offensive skills but none had any intensity because no one wants to risk injury or cares who wins. Which makes me ponder the question, “Does golf need an all-star event like other major sports?”…
I think since golf is an individual sport it would definitely provide major drama. We have the Ryder Cup, an all-star team made up of the best players from Europe and the U.S. We have the President’s Cup which is the U.S. versus the rest of the world except Europe. We have the Shark Shootout which is a skills challenge with specialty areas of golf displayed… Why can’t we have an all-star event to combine all three every odd number year?
With golf becoming part of the Olympics next year the need for individual all-star matches pitting country against country will be satisfied. But golf is already a singular competition and as we know from experience, individual matches can be heavy on drama or a channel changer after the first nine holes. Usually the later.
However, wouldn’t it be cool to watch superstars like Jim Furyk or Phil Mickleson go head to head with Graeme McDowell and Ernie Els in a short game skills challenge. Or Bubba Watson take on Rory McIlroy and Jason Day in a long drive contest. In the team format with several ways for a player to earn points no matter how good or bad he is playing this would provide more opportunity for greater theatrics. Also I think the teams should partially consist on fan elected players like the other all-star games. The reason we like to watch these type of events is to see our favorite stars compete against each other. With the added contests and combining all three events this provides a great pool from which to draw and the collective world wide viewership into on bi-annual event loaded with tons of interesting and engaging action to fill the television time slot allotted.
Since the Ryder Cup has all the tradition, I doubt anything like this would ever gain any support from the powers that be. None the less I thought I would ask the question to you the golfing public… Maybe we can do this with the younger upstarts under 28. This way we can get to know some of the rising stars in the game sooner and build earlier rivalries with the youthful, fun energy professional golf needs… more like the other professional sports already have.