Shotgun Start: Which way to the tour -- Q-school or Nationwide?
You thought it was the offseason, right? CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling and Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle columnist and golf writer Scott Michaux take a scattershot look forward and backward at one of the busiest weeks, on and off the course, in golf history.
The final stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School begins Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla., with 25 players set to land cards for 2010. The number of players receiving cards has been trimmed back over the years in favor of giving more spots to Nationwide grads. Good idea?
ELLING: Yes, in theory. Over the years, more Nationwide players have been successful, on a percentage basis, at keeping their cards than Q-school alums. But in two of the past three seasons, Q-school grads have had a better batting average. So while the theory that Nationwide guys proved over an entire season -- vs. six weeks of Q-school -- that they have what it takes to play tour golf, it's not an indisputable truism that those players are better prepared. Personally, I like Q-school better and wish it were granted more card slots. After all, the last time the tour played the finals at Bear Lakes, this week's site, consider what happened: Players like Ty Tryon, Boo Weekley, Pat Perez and Luke Donald -- four guys who have generated some heavy ink over the years; Gary Nicklaus was in the finals field, too, and his parents came out to watch -- earned cards. Roland Thatcher hit his ball on the clubhouse roof on the last hole and lost his card. The Nationwide is increasingly filled with retread players going back and forth on the tour shuttle after losing status on the PGA Tour. I like the fresh faces, the Cinderella guys out of nowhere. Give me that one-armed tour player from an Antarctica igloo over a retread anytime.
MICHAUX: I think they've struck a good balance between the qualifying derby and the minor-league promotions. Q-school is a vital feature of professional golf and it gives anyone with an entry fee a chance to shoot for the stars. It is as democratic as it gets. But I am also a big fan of rewarding players on a developmental tour who produce over the long haul in conditions most like what they will eventually find on the PGA Tour. What really needs to be fixed is the makeup of the Nationwide Tour so that it becomes less of a soft landing spot for PGA Tour castoffs and has-beens and more of a launching pad for up-and-comers. They need to tighten qualification to inhibit the habitual hangers-on and make it much more of a meritocracy. More full-time spots on that tour for Q-school grads and mini-tour prodigies would be a good start and would give those hopefuls a better chance to realize their potential in an environment that fosters growth. It would also help if they shuffled some of the exemption priorities so Q-schoolers and Nationwide grads could get more early at-bats on the PGA Tour. Maybe mix them in with the guys who finished 101-125 on the money list from the previous year. There are simply too many safeguards for mediocrity in golf.
Like the rest of the sports world, you guys are monitoring the Tiger Woods soap opera, which seems like a very appropriate term. What damage is he risking to his image by stonewalling the cops?
ELLING: Not as much as he's risking by stiffing the public. Woods is a squeaky-clean, iconic figure, and as much as it has become a laughable term these days, a role model -- one who readily embraced the challenge of setting a positive example for kids of all colors and creeds. Now, with the gossip sheets, network news and celebrity websites on his heels, he's hiding behind the apron of his attorney and the walls of his private country-club estate. He is dodging the Florida Highway Patrol, which in good faith has repeatedly tried to accommodate him in light of his alleged serious injuries. The public smells something fishy (check the online polls). I'm not sure his image will ever be the same. Woods hasn't even addressed the existence of the National Enquirer story, which has blown up just as big as the traffic accident. At some point, just because the Enquirer is tawdry at times and most celebrities just ignore whatever it prints, shouldn't he deny, clarify or pacify? He is doing grave injury to his reputation. The TV is filled with independent spin doctors and analysts questioning why Woods is slitting his own throat by remaining mum. Sure, he's under no legal obligation to come clean, or speak with cops -- but the price tag is getting higher with every passing day of dodgeball.
MICHAUX: There is no option on the table that makes Tiger Woods win this PR nightmare. The court of public opinion is going to rule regardless of his testimony. If he is willing to weather the storm in silence, that is his Miranda right. Tiger has obviously decided he doesn't want the details of his private life to become a matter of the public record. He gave his vague version of a mea culpa on his website and said that is all we're ever going to get out of him on the subject. He's obviously embarrassed by the whole situation. When TMZ and the paparazzi park en masse outside the gates that all of your neighbors have to pass through every day, who wouldn't be? The rest of us are already busy adding 2 plus 2 and I'm pretty sure we're not too far from 4. Does Tiger confirming our math really make any difference? This is a blemish on his reputation that will never disappear, but he knows that in time it will dim. Privacy is his No. 1 priority, and he's going to protect that at all costs. He can certainly afford the sticker price. He'll pay the traffic ticket and property damage fees and move on with his obligation to the police and the public. The rest of it is his business.
So, for the first time in forever, there was no Skins Game over the Thanksgiving weekend. Did you miss it?
ELLING: Did anyone? It was a pioneer event and spawned a series of Silly Season events that have not held up well, thanks both to fan apathy and the economy. The last time I watched was when Annika Sorenstam beat Mark O'Meara. They ran out of oddball angles, and the $1 million purse wasn't nearly enough to attract eyeballs. One news outlet last week suggested converting it to an LPGA-only event, with players like marketable American stars Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Michelle Wie. That might be a sexier bunch than K.J. Choi and Stephen Ames, two PGA Tour guys who have populated the field the past few years. Better yet, why not make it a co-ed event and play it as the Shirts & Skins Game? Cinemax can show it in the 11 p.m. time slot. That might be the only way anybody watches this overcooked turkey again. A Silly Season event actually worth mourning is the loss of the Father/Son. Any time Jack and Arnie play, it's worth watching. That was the one time each year Vijay Singh was always in a good mood.
MICHAUX: They still had a Skins Game? I thought that died years ago when they stopped inviting anyone fans cared about. Stephen Ames? Fred Funk? I don't watch the Silly Season and I don't care who is getting richer until I see whales breaching off the coast of Kapalua. It's football season. The only thing I need to bring on a Thanksgiving nap is the tryptophan from the turkey. Meaningless golf is just excessive and might induce coma.
