Hero World Challenge

Albany GC



    News

    The wizard in Oz

    November 14, 2009

    Our friend John Huggan weighs in again from Melbourne, Australia, this time for Scotland on Sunday, as he again attempts to shame the game into joining the 21st century. It's worth reading in toto (and you can do so here), but of particular interest is the juxtaposition of the Australian Masters with the Hong Open.

    The former has two of top 50 players in the world, one of whom is Tiger Woods; the latter has 12 of the top 50, none of whom is Tiger Woods, and boasts nearly double the prize money. The Australian Masters is a sold-out frenzy of Tigermania. The Hong Kong Open, Huggan notes, has been played in virtual anonymity.

    "Where Kingston Heath [site of the Australian Masters] has boasted 25,000 spectators, Hong Kong Golf Club has, based on television evidence, made do with about 25," he writes. "Tiger, sadly, is the game's biggest curse as well as its most prized asset: I he isn't there, no one really cares."

    -- John Strege