Is Parity Good for the PGA?

There is a great line in the Kevin Costner movie “Tin Cup,” when the behind the scenes producer complains about Rory MacAvoy. He says something along the lines of “We don’t need another driving range pro. We need heroes.”

The truth behind that statement has never been more apparent than this year.

Save for a few stories given to us from golf reporters, there have been no heroes in the game of golf. Well, not true. Just a different hero every week. The result has been a year of suffering for the PGA. From a sponsorship and television rating perspective, 2010 has been a very weak year for the Tour. The fact of the matter is that the PGA does not need parity; and certainly not parity to this extreme.

TV Ratings- It may come as no surprise that television ratings for the PGA just haven’t been the same. When Tiger isn’t in the field, or has no chance of winning a tournament, viewers just are not coming in droves to watch golf anymore. Even the PGA Championship, which had one of the most exciting finishes of the year, saw a decrease in viewership. The decrease was 33% compared to last year’s Y.E.S. showdown with Tiger Woods and Y.E. Yang. So you tell me, did Martin Kaymer’s victory make it more exciting? Methinks no.

Weak Storylines– One of the jobs of golf reporters, and sports reporters the world over, is to give fans a story. Sometimes they’re pretty apparent (the return of Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson trying to take over the #1 spot), but other times, reporters have to work for a living (scary, I know). The problem with the latter, is that if those stories don’t come to fruition, we’re left, as viewers, to watch reporters struggle to put something together. Charly Hoffman’s victory last week gave me very little excitement. It was fun to watch his final round 62, and he had some great shots, but Charly Hoffman’s win gave me no reason to believe that I should keep an eye on him in the future. Therefore, no reason to watch his next round.

No Continuity– When Tiger Woods was on top of the golfing world (in terms of his play, and not because nobody is willing to usurp him), the reason you tuned in week-to-week was one of two reasons. 1) How much will he beat the rest of the field this week, or 2) Will somebody give him a run for his money. In either case, there was continuity every week. Tiger was the best, or someone was nipping at his heels. This year, each week has been different, leaving very little reason to tune in without knowing who to even cheer for.

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The nature of golf lends itself to this situation. We’ve all been in the opening tee box on different days, and not known which golfer we were going to be that day. But that sort of parity doesn’t lend itself well for exciting televised and professional golf. I can only imagine that the Tour and its sponsors are waiting for someone to take over the game again, and do it consistently. Without that, the Tour might be suffering for some time.