Golf without Tiger

Peggy O'Toole takes offense at our dire predictions about Golf without Tiger Woods: Enough with all the hand-wringing already!

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I really do not expect this email to get published but your recent issue regarding the status of golf now that>

Tiger is out for the rest of the season really "infuriated" me.>

I'm an avid golf fan and follower no matter who is playing and/or winning. . I recently attended the US Open at Torrey Pines and saw Tiger, Phil, etc what a wonderful experience. To me, the quality of golf and of all the other players is amazing. >

My feelings are this: Yes, Tiger being out will be a loss for the PGA, but according to all the media and sports people supposedly "in the know" it all seems about the almighty dollar--how much money will be lost, how low the TV coverage will be, etc. etc. It's as though there is no PGA Tour without Tiger Woods. What about Mickelson, Els, etc. ? They don't seem to count for anything. even Paul Azinger--the new Ryder Cup captain putting his American team down--how sad is that!!! >

My suggestion: if this is the case: Shut down the PGA Tour for the remainder of the season until 2009. That includes all tournaments, Golf Channel Coverage, Sports Announcers, Advertisers, golf magazines, cancel the Ryder Cup,.etc. Why bother covering anything golf related if no one seems to be satisfied unless Tiger is playing?>

Isn't it time for a reality check ? Golf is a sport. Sure, Tiger is a phenom, but we have SO MANY very, very>

talented professional golfers who are not even given any consideration. >

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Peggy, Mark O'Meara made the same point in a Golf World piece by Mark Soltau. He said, "The Tour will survive. I think it will be good for the game and good for him to go away for six months."

You might enjoy a post by Geoff Shackelford a short while back. It was a letter he'd received from former USGA Executive Director Frank Hannigan, who made a point very similar to yours.

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Ben Hogan, hit straight on by a fast moving bus, in the winter of 1948, after winning the US Open, had to sit our all of 1949. Golf survived. The four major winners in 1949 were Sam Snead (twice), Bobby Locke and Cary Middlecoff. Moreover, I'm sick of hearing of the huge money game being defined as "golf." As in "Golf is in dreadful shape with Tiger out. The British Open might just as well be Quad Cities.

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By the way, golf has been stagnant during the era of Tiger Woods in terms of rounds played or golf balls sold. In Hogan's best days, golf boomed.

--Bob Carney