Thank goodness Rory McIlroy is back, America’s star players are too boring to care about right now
Rory McIlroy. Quail Hollow. Ahh, that’s better…
It’s been a weird few weeks in the world of golf.
We’ve had all the drama with LIV and the issues surrounding where Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm – two of the game’s genuine ticket-sellers – will play over the coming years.
The DP World Tour is the middle of it’s mid-season slump where even the most ardent of golf fans would be hard pressed to name the winner each weekend.
And now, the PGA Tour has hit the buffers.
After a brilliant Masters main course and the perfect sweet to follow at the RBC Heritage, the Cadillac Championship last weekend was hard to digest.
In arguably the most boring Signature Event ever to be held, Cam Young won at a canter to collect what will be the easiest $3.6million of his career.
The only real drama was to see if Scottie Scheffler could finish solo second again.
He did and collected a cheque for $2.16m – his third straight runner-up finish which have won him $6.75m (Tiger Woods won $5.8m from his five Masters wins combined).
Money, money, money, blah, blah, blah.
The week before the dull, Donald Trump-decorated Miami event we had the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
While the Fitzpatrick brothers claimed an emotional win and both their stories have been great fun this season, the Zurich just feels out of place these days.
TPC Louisiana isn’t great, neither is a winning score of 31-under, and a team event of any kind will likely be jettisoned next season.
The two ho-hum events on the PGA Tour have come during a hectic schedule.
Very few top players teed it up in New Orleans while the Cadillac saw a severely stripped back field despite the $20million purse.
This week’s Truist Championship will also be without three of the world’s top ten but thankfully, Rory McIlroy is back in action.
McIlroy has taken three weeks off since his Augusta glory and will use Quail Hollow – one of his favourite venues – as a warm-up to next week’s PGA Championship at Aronimink.
He’ll be the favourite and will hopefully provide a spark after a strange run of events in the States.
There’s an issue in the game right now which puts ever more emphasis on getting DeChambeau and Rahm back playing against McIlroy and Scheffler – America’s void of any exciting PGA Tour stars.
Cam Young is no doubt a lovely guy. He’s a deeply religious, family man who is becoming one of the very best in the game.
But he’s so hard to root for.
His even-keeled, no fuss persona is perfect for winning golf tournaments but not for getting fans on their feet or for turning over from other sporting events.
Other US winners on the PGA Tour this season have the same vibe.
J.J. Spaun, Jacob Bridgeman, Chris Gotterup, heck, even Scheffler himself, are just too dull to really care about.
The enduring love for McIlroy is in the fact that anything can happen while watching him and anything could be said by him before or after his round.
His Masters win showcased two days of utter golfing brilliance – maybe the best we’ve ever seen from him – and then two days of chaotic torment.
Just like last year, he won it and then lost it four or five times before finally getting his hands on the Green Jacket again.
Unfortunately for the Americans, their stars just don’t get the juices flowing in the same right now.
Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Tony Finau.
All tremendous talents capable of producing the most exciting golf possible but none look like winning any time soon.
The current crop of contenders don’t command viewership in the same way and the PGA Tour needs McIlroy now more than ever.
The decades-long pull of Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson is as good as done and McIlroy is the main man, make no doubt about it.
DeChambeau – whether you love him or loath him – is the only American who provides such drama while being a genuine contender and he could soon be confined to solely producing YouTube videos…
The PGA Tour needs to get him back and set up regular battles between him, McIlroy and Scheffler.
Patrick Reed’s return should help.
Again, whatever your feelings towards the 2018 Masters champion are, a Sunday shootout between him and McIlroy will be must-see TV next season.
But until then, we may well have to settle for guys like Brian Harman, Ben Griffin and Kurt Kitayama to provide some entertainment…
No offence meant but no pressure, fellas.
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