Presidents Cup
Shell Lake, Wisconsin is home to Dave Riffey, who writes more letters to us than anyone and who is, apparently, leaning no on the Presidents Cup. Which in French Canadian is NO!
The President's Cup will never come close to the Ryder Cup. Why?? Today is a perfect example.....TIGER VS. WEIR !!!
As long as they let the network, NBC, control the pairings:
IT WILL ALWAYS BE A SECOND CLASS EVENT!!!
THE ONLY REASON FOR THIS PAIRING, IT'S FOR THE RATINGS !!!
THE RYDER CUP PAIRINGs ARE DONE TO WIN ...NOT TO PLAY THE RATINGS GAME !!
SAD !!
DAVE!! Perhaps you watched a different event than the rest of us. Points to consider:
1. NBC, as far as our reporters can tell, had nothing to do with the pairings. The captains did. But unlike the pairings in the Ryder Cup, the captains do not pretend to do it blindly. In Presidents Cup play, the number one player is usually paired against the host country's top player.
2. The Canadian crowds made this a bigger event than you (or the New York Times, for that matter, which devoted little coverage to it today) did. The crowds' energy clearly enlivened the broadcasts, all to the good.
3. Our reporting, from Jim Moriarty, Jaime Diaz and John Hawkins, will point to the relaxed atmosphere and our players' devotion to captain Jack Nicklaus to explain the U.S. success, "our first Presidents Cup victory on foreign soil." I'll suggest another reason: It was played in same hemisphere, within a time zone or two of the players' own, and in the same time zone in which their last bit tournament was played. Just my opinion, but I think players are cheerier in that situation than they are, say, in Australia, where we looked like we had just arrived from another, non-golfing, planet.
But if you're suggesting, Dave, that this is a lesser event than the Ryder Cup because the players had more fun and the captains admitted to creating marquis pairings, I disagree. So does our Tim Rosaforte, who called it "just the right level" of intensity on the Golf Channel. It'll never have the tradition. But it was still fun golf to watch.
--Bob Carney
(Photo: AP)
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