During the past 24 hours hours, the golf blogosphere has been rife with post-Accenture musings on the state of International vs American golf. It's almost reminiscent of the post-Ryder Cup commentary way back in the balmy days of mid-September 06, when bloggers and other journalists spent several days analysing the future of golf in an increasingly global environment...then quickly moved on to other topics. Like Tiger's victories and Michelle's defeats. But now this match-play event has caused the internationalization debate to begin again. Suddenly I'm reading about the "global players that are stemming the tide of American dominance"... And about the fact that this event, sans an American in the finals, truly does echo the US Ryder cup doldrums. Still another excellent article noted "the frightening lack of young American golf stars". There were even some perceptive pieces from as far away as India on this controversial subject. Such musings are definitely widespread right now. However, as Henrik Stenson well knows, many American golf fans determine a player's stature by his success on the PGA Tour, regardless of how he fares on other circuits around the world. So again the topic will probably fade from our consciousnesses...and our blogs...quite quickly.
If you only read one story on the globalization of golf though, I would highly reccomend this piece by Ron Sirak of Golf World Magazine. It's revealing and honest and charming at the same time...and that's not easy to do. I know, I've tried.
Patricia Is this about you!?? ☆★☆
ReplyDeleteAnother Great Blog!! I don't know how you do it every week it must be a natural talent :)
ReplyDeleteI agree the Sirak story is very well written.
ReplyDeleteI know what it is - it's your use of the Euro-spelling of GlobaliZation that's causing it...{he said, tongue firmly in cheek...)
ReplyDeleteActually, I think it's more a case that the Euros and the rest of the world focus more on the various "other" forms that golf can be played (four-ball, foursomes, match play, etc.) ESPECIALLY in their junior programs, while American golf is still predominantly stroke play format, where the Americans are far more dominant....
Witness the '06 Ryder Cup (where I'm firmly convinced that the ghost of Heather Clarke (AND leprechauns) played a STRONG motivating factor in the Euro-team's intangibles) AND the ROW dominance in the final four at the Accenture WGC Match Play...
Yes...euro-spelling, that's it.
ReplyDeleteAlistair Tait of Golfweek seconds my thesis at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.golfweek.com/ourtake/288295961518334.php
"Golf is only one nation" (Davis Love said, some years ago...
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