No More Cheers at the Majors

The PGA Championship was played on the most difficult golf course I have ever seen.

I have played many and in the last two years on tour walked even more. I have only missed one major in two years, and watched them all on television for the last 20 years.

The roars are gone from amen corner at the Masters, and this year I was working with three players at the PGA Championship and hardly heard an ovation. People just don’t clap or scream for pars and bogeys.

When the best players in the world can not stop a seven iron shot on a green things are a little out of hand.

At the PGA if it did not rain for a whole day, the winner would have won at 10 over. Granted he would have still won, but spectators are not interested in seeing professionals struggle like this.

The courses used in majors were built to accept 8 and 7 irons, not 4 and 3 irons. At the time majors were first played on these venues greens were more fittingly suited at 7 on the stimpmeter rather than 13.

With the slopes and undulations the speeds become silly and the greens become unfair to the point of silliness.

I hope in 2009 the four organizations that run each of the majors will set up the courses in a way that might allow the players to excite the fans again.

If not, it could harm professional golf, television ratings and the chances of Ben Curtis being in the hunt with three holes to play and having a crowd of 80 people following him.