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Golf - Personalities Needed.

by IOWWolf (U13028424) 20 November 2008
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Recession looming and Golf is desperatly in need of ensuring audiences watch the sport - this will help maintain the profile of the sport and encourage continued sponsorship.

Yet there seems to me to be a lack of "interesting" personalities in the game giving the audience someone to cheer on and adopt as a favourite.

TV audiences in America show a drastic drop when Woods is not playing or misses a cut.

Is it time our golfers stopped being so squeaky clean and actually built some personality to go with their golf.

In past times we've had Trevino,Nicklaus,Monty,Daly and even Faldo providing some level of interest in themselves as well as in their game.

Who do we have now personality wise - will there ever be another "Bear","Great White" or is the sport now so professional that modern players are so intent on World Ranking/Merit of Order/Ryder points that they forget to provide characters to the game.?

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posted Nov 20, 2008

Thing is that these days all the young players are made into robots - they all have teams of coaches, trainers, psychologists etc. They don't like to do or say anything controversial as they'll lose sponsorship deals.

The days of players who like a booze-up and a gamble and speak their minds are numbered, I fear...

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posted Nov 20, 2008

Even the red-neck American representatives aren't as good as they used to be, not that Boo Weekley isn't without his own unique charm he'll never be another John Daly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rtT2z5fDlg

It does seem as though golfers these days go through finishing school and never say anything that could be perceived as controversial.

Not that I was ever a fan of Gary Player at least he was beligerent enough to believe that his opinion was always right and that his way was the only way.
In much the same way you could always count on the likes of Fuzzy Zoeller to put his foot in his mouth and to get people up in arms.

Nowadays we just have to rely on Faldo to rile people up, Monty to, unintentionally, play the pantomime bad guy or Rory Sabbittini to get on the wrong side of people.

Beyond personalities there aren't even that many weird and wonderful golf swings anymore, with the HUGE exception of Jim Furyk. It does seem that the unique and exciting golfers are disappearing

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posted Nov 20, 2008

sergio garcia is my fave seem to have a soft spot for the spaniards. He has wonderful golfing ability allied to an enternaining personality once he has his first major under his belt he will become a force to be reckoned with

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posted Nov 20, 2008

The likes of IMG have some responsibility. They manage their 'products' with utmost care so they don't do anything to upset the next multi-million dollar deal. It's not just golf, it's many other sports. This combined with the rise of sports science is killing the art, flair & passion that made people interested in the first place. Look how formulaic rugby union has become.

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posted Nov 20, 2008

What are you talking about? The European Tour is full of them. Henrik Stenson has the best sense of humour of any player in the world - watch his interviews on europeantour.com and you will get what I mean. Jarmo Sandelin, Miguel Angel, Pablo Larrazabal, Alvaro Quiros. The list is endless

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posted Nov 20, 2008

They may well be entertaining but with the exception of Stenson & MAJ they don't have big media profiles that helps drive any sport. Although they may interest committed enthusiasts the majority of the headline grabbers, who attract a wider audience, are just a little dull publically.

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posted Nov 21, 2008

Because tiger is so good, its awesome to see his fighting reaction. The fist pumps, the clutch putts what not....but wathcing david howell lee westwood, my god there soo boring...no emotion or anything...actally i cant stand westwood

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posted Nov 21, 2008

Yeah, not as many characters around today as there used to be.

A few years back a friend of mine was away for a weekend with the lads, he didn't realise it but the Irish Open was on locally at the time, so the lads went into the night club in the Hotel on the Friday night and who's there suppin away only Darren Clarke and Ian Woosnam!

In 2000 both Tiger and Clarkie were being coached by Butch Harmon (this is where they built up their friendship, they even had breakfast together before they went out to play). When they both got to the matchplay final of the WGC Match Play, Butch had a bit of a dilemma. Who did he stand beside on the range? anyway he decided to stay with his star pupil of the time Tiger... So there they are on the range, just two Golfers and the gallery sitting behind them in the stands, tense moments before battle begins.. Clarkie looks up and shouts "Hey Butch don't worry about me, you stay up there and mess him up, I'm hittin it fine!" to which everyone cracks up!

Here's a clip of Clarkie doing MC for Tiger's clinic in Dubai Very funny - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gobYtb4NlE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCuRb6aKUBA&NR=1

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posted Nov 21, 2008

Anyone old enough to remember the two Ryder Cup rebels Mark James and Ken Brown.. wearing jeans....hells teeth!
What are these two miscreants doing now?

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posted Nov 21, 2008

I've heard the story a fair few times about Brian Barnes using a beer can to mark his ball during a playoff. Might be taking it a bit too far but he certainly wasn't boring ale

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