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Golf’s torch has been passed

By Mike Dudurich for The 4 min read
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That noted PGA Tour philosopher, Ben Crane, had a particularly poignant observation following Sunday’s spectacular finish at the PGA Championship.

“Of all the ‘grow golf’ initiatives out there,” Crane tweeted, “I think having Phil, Rory and Rickie tied for the lead at a major is the best idea yet.”

The fact that there was a 36 percent jump in viewership ratings for CBS in the final round lends a lot of credence to Crane’s tweet. Keep in mind that Sunday coverage did not include Tiger Woods, who was gone from Valhalla Golf Club Friday when he missed the cut.

It’s going to take more than one tournament to convince people, especially Woods’ fans, but golf will survive when the time comes that the second-best player in the game can’t seriously contend in major championships. And it will survive now as Woods continues his attempts to play while his back and other ailments continue to plague him.

Let’s face it, his days of dominance are over. His body has finally reached the point of rebellion to everything it’s been put through over the years.

Just think about it: Woods had back surgery, a microdiscectomy in March to fix a pinched nerve problem. Four months later, three starts into his latest comeback, he injures his sacrum, a bone located at the bottom of the spine on a foolish shot attempt from a mound between a couple bunkers.

He tells us that injury was unrelated to the surgically repaired one, but it certainly leads to questions.

Is this a domino-effect sort of thing where one thing after another will start breaking down? Or is this another example of coming back too soon, even though he said he had learned his lesson and wouldn’t do that again?

If the ceremonial passing of the torch took place Sunday afternoon at Valhalla – as it did in 2000 when Jack Nicklaus passed it to Woods – we’re about to embark on yet another golden era of golf.

When Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player ruled golf, that was deemed the game’s golden era. Think for a minute what this new era looks like.

Rory McIlroy is golf’s newest superstar and Rickie Fowler is just a step behind him. Jason Day, Justin Rose, Adam Scott are top-flight players very capable of doing great things. Jordan Spieth has not followed up his amazing rookie season on tour with the major victory everyone expected him to get, but he’s too good not to.

And don’t forget about one of old war horses of the game, Phil Mickelson. Yes, he’s 44 years old, battles psoriatic arthritis every day and still doesn’t know where his golf ball is going on many occasions, but when he gets it going, as he did last week, the excitement meter goes off the charts.

Golf is in a good place, one that figures to get even better moving forward.

Tiger Woods had his career of dominance and there was nobody better during that time. It’s doubtful Woods will be a big factor in majors going forward, although he still might win one.

He was a great player in his time, spellbinding to watch, hard to take most times.

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It’s probably been a long time since golf courses in western Pennsylvania has been as green as they are this summer. Because golfers love to have their courses emerald green, that’s good news.

The bad news is what it’s taken to get courses to that point: an amazing amount of rain.

This has been a very wet spring and summer and, with the normal irrigation, courses are soaked.

Makes a fella yearn to see his golf ball bounce in a fairway once in a while.

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Do you have an interesting story about your club or course or an individual who has done something special, let me know. Send your story ideas to mike.dudurich@gmail.com.

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