So you think it is Aussie golfers responsibility to promote the game here in Australia by coming back to play then?
Greg Norman seemed to think so. He always came home…and probably won most of the time that he did.
I talked about the upcoming World Cup Of Golf next summer. It is likely that 2 of Day, Scott, Leishman and Senden will be the Australians in the tournament. However, I would hope those coming here stay and try to win the Open and PGA as well.
So you think it is Aussie golfers responsibility to promote the game here in Australia by coming back to play then?Absolutely - Guys like Scott/Day etc were inspired by Norman - Even more when he played in Australia.
Hmmm. Might be worth remembering that Norman’s home appearances weren’t purely philanthropic. In fact his IMG negotiated appearance fees were often larger than the total prize money on offer. Peter Thomson, our greatest ever golfer, was a critic of the practice and Jack Newton said “Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but I’ve said to him lots of times, 'Greg, I couldn’t care if you want to go to Italy and get five million dollars and five Ferraris to play, but when you come back to Australia there’s something ethically wrong with holding out your hand out for huge sums of money…a real cancer in the game.” From "Shark: The Biography.
Not sure where I stand on this, it’s a difficult issue. I think appearance fees are banned on the US tour but are necessary costs on the smaller tours.
It’s a point to ponder on. What if that “Appearance fee”, was added to the purse?
Would that then be enough prize money for other top Golfists to make the trek?
Apart from Speith who would’ve been under contract to come out again, and some unorthodox American amateur, the only other international I think that came out was Brandt Snedeker. So obviously Adam Scotts efforts (being a recent number 1 in the world) to promote the game and attract international talent is futile.
So obviously people think our Aussie golfers should come back to play with the local pros to promote the game to them and encourage them and young (& old) Australians to take up golf.
I’m not sure what I think of this idea. Apart from the world cup and presidents cup, we will never have the pull to see the best in the world come here regularly. Thankfully, state governments have worked to attract these events for Australians to see them recently. I think its good our players come back to promote the local tour and game. If Jason didn’t come out for a decade I’d be disappointed but I don’t begrudge any of our international stars who don’t play out here every year. Its their lives and their choice, although I do enjoy seeing them come out.
In Jason Days case, he’s had huge battles with his health, (from vertigo, to his back and thumb…) and well as starting a young family, establishing themselves overseas and generally he has had to work out what works for him to deliver his best (apparently keeping it close to home with him preferring to have his family close and stay in a motorhome as opposed to leaving them and living out a suitcase/hotels/airports etc). I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out over the next couple of years after his family is a bit older and he has delivered us much joy with his performances.
It's a point to ponder on. What if that "Appearance fee", was added to the purse?Would that then be enough prize money for other top Golfists to make the trek?
I don’t think so. Tiger Woods appearance fee was $3mill but he was really an exception. Apparently Rory commanded $1mill before he won a major and double that after. The total prize pool of the Masters is $0.75 mill, the Open $1.25 Mill, the PGA Champs $1.75 mill. The entire Australasian tour offers $8.5 in total. The US masters pays $10mill.
So even adding back the one marquee players wages would not help attract a handful of the worlds best, let alone many from the top 125.
Apart from Speith who would've been under contract to come out again, and some unorthodox American amateur, the only other international I think that came out was Brandt Snedeker. So obviously Adam Scotts efforts (being a recent number 1 in the world) to promote the game and attract international talent is futile.So obviously people think our Aussie golfers should come back to play with the local pros to promote the game to them and encourage them and young (& old) Australians to take up golf.
I’m not sure what I think of this idea. Apart from the world cup and presidents cup, we will never have the pull to see the best in the world come here regularly. Thankfully, state governments have worked to attract these events for Australians to see them recently. I think its good our players come back to promote the local tour and game. If Jason didn’t come out for a decade I’d be disappointed but I don’t begrudge any of our international stars who don’t play out here every year. Its their lives and their choice, although I do enjoy seeing them come out.
In Jason Days case, he’s had huge battles with his health, (from vertigo, to his back and thumb…) and well as starting a young family, establishing themselves overseas and generally he has had to work out what works for him to deliver his best (apparently keeping it close to home with him preferring to have his family close and stay in a motorhome as opposed to leaving them and living out a suitcase/hotels/airports etc). I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out over the next couple of years after his family is a bit older and he has delivered us much joy with his performances.
Suspect the only way way the pull could ever happen is under what has been discussed before as a World Tour, where the 4 current majors are joined by events like the Australian, Japan and South African opens.
Mind you up until the last 20 years, the stars of the US tour and the European Tour would either come out and play here or be invited to do so.
Hmmm. Might be worth remembering that Norman's home appearances weren't purely philanthropic. In fact his IMG negotiated appearance fees were often larger than the total prize money on offer. Peter Thomson, our greatest ever golfer, was a critic of the practice and Jack Newton said "Not that he doesn't deserve it, but I've said to him lots of times, 'Greg, I couldn't care if you want to go to Italy and get five million dollars and five Ferraris to play, but when you come back to Australia there's something ethically wrong with holding out your hand out for huge sums of money....a real cancer in the game." From "Shark: The Biography. Not sure where I stand on this, it's a difficult issue. I think appearance fees are banned on the US tour but are necessary costs on the smaller tours.
Of course I know that Norman was paid appearance fees, as Adam Scott does when he plays in OZ - I raised Jason Day because as winner of a Major he will get appearance money, but he still doesn’t regularly visit Oz in the summer - Day was here for the President Cup and will be in OZ in 2016 for the World Cup - It would be nice if he visits Oz more regularly.
The Australian Tour can’t compete with the US Tour and the European Tour - Moves are planned to make two or three of Oz’s leading tournaments as part of the European Tour - Playing for 4 or 5 million will get more overseas players as well as opening up tour rights for Aussie players.
The Australian Tour can't compete with the US Tour and the European Tour - Moves are planned to make two or three of Oz's leading tournaments as part of the European Tour - Playing for 4 or 5 million will get more overseas players as well as opening up tour rights for Aussie players.
Maybe then if they added appearance fees to the purse you might attract some more big guns. The fact so many big names play the sun city tournament in South Africa that always clashes with the Australian summer shows players are willing to get out for a dollar.
Only a few days left for anchored putting but I note that Matt Kuchar’s “arm lock” method has been allowed. This allows the player to “rest” the extended putter against the lead arm almost to the elbow, thus approximating anchored putting’s true purpose of removing wrist movement, a major cause of yips. The putter has a 7 degree loft to counter the angle of the left or lead arm. Personally I can’t see how it achieves much more than cack handed putting with the elbows tucked in but I suspect a lot more pros will switch to the Kuchar method. Probably worth noting that Kuchar was always considered a decent putter before the switch.
I’m surprised the PGA didn’t ban any part of the club above the grip from touching the body but they didn’t so Kucher’s “arm lock” method is in.
I was interested to note while watching one of the Kuchar vids how the method has been compared to Nicklaus’s crouching tucked elbows method of putting, THE ugliest but also probably most successful pressure putting action in history. Of course, Nicklaus used a normal length putter. I can’t recall too many golfers emulating Nicklaus and for the life of me I can’t think why.
Anyway there’s a group of sweet striking but yip prone pros sleeping uneasily right now.
Anybody else bet on golf?
I bet on it all the time.
Have had some good wins over the years.
Got a multi up last week which I put on for Scott to win at 7 bucks into some EPL and NBA.
I put the bet on after the 2nd round.
Thought Scott was in a good place to strike.
Have backed Bubba this week in a multi to finish top 5 at The Blue Monster.
After the 1st round he is tied 8th.
I reckon he can strike.
I normally chuck a few bets on during The Masters but that’s about it.
Back Zac Johnson the year he got up, took home about 2k.*
Big win by Scott - He was six shots off the lead 6 holes into the final round.
We seem as a nation to be providing decent players again. Which is nice.
Had to happen some Day…
It’s good things are back to Norman
Nearly all the main players for The Masters are in form. Should be a good tournament.
Match play this week which I really enjoy. Hopefully some Aussies can go deep.
A great 2 weeks of golf coming up.
The only thing that annoys me about Aussie golf is they go over to the us and develop ridiculous pseudo yank accents or saying those dumb expressions that make no sense. Like I hit good today. Sounds like a caveman from the plasticine era. Or something.
Australia could be an absolute goldmine for golf if we got our ■■■■ together. There’s a course called Barnbougle which is near where I work in ne Tas. It’s a links course which is terrifying, four foot high grass out o.o.b. And fairways narrower than a cricket pitch. Tigers been down, that Irish bloke, and other top class golfers.
The fifth open. A real one. And get a party hole going too. Make it Aussie as.