OneOnlineCommunity Writer Dave Mishur

It's no wonder that the PGA Tour is paying the price for the misdeeds of its hero. A front-page Wall Street Journal story tells the sad tale of the Tiger and his impact on the financial situation confronting the tour. Basically, you can expect to see a few of the old sponsors, like Buick, disappear, as GM has pulled back significantly on its marketing investments due to certain inconvenient truths, such as bankruptcy. The article notes that three of this year's scheduled tournaments are still without sponsors, and 13 of next year's remain unclaimed.

But the sad situation transcends even Tiger. For the past few years, golf viewership has been declining on TV; golfers are playing fewer rounds per year; and fewer new courses are being constructed. In fact, some have forecast a net loss of courses this year, as some older courses are attacked by bulldozers.

But, if "Tiger Woods is golf," as Jay Rosenstein, former VP of programming at CBS Sports, is quoted in the Journal, then why has the popularity of the sport been going downhill over the past ten years? About a half-million viewers have been lost in the last decade, with Sunday tour events now pulling an average audience of about 3.5 million.

Sorry to contradict Mr. Rosenstein, but, for many of us, Tiger Woods is not golf. In fact, he is in some ways the antithesis of golf. Not that he plays a game "with which we are not familiar," but that he suffers from media overexposure. The Tiger hype before tournaments in which he participates is grating to the true lover of the sport, who realizes that even some of the so-called "no-names" on the tour are a heckuva lot better than anyone we know, and are therefore a lot more worth seeing than the back of Tiger's head or his scowling caddie, Steve.

The endless cheerleading for Tiger as soon as he comes within ten strokes of the lead is a clear favoritism that is outside the bounds of professionalism and sportsmanship. Sadly, no one seems immune to this disease, as commentators on and off the course constantly remind us just how good he really is and what spectacular things he can do with a golf ball. Perhaps they wouldn't have been quite so glib had they known some of the other spectacular things he was involved with.

As one who hardly ever watches golf on TV anymore, I can express what I believe is the frustration of many with the way the game is covered. TV focuses on the leaders and forgets the rest of the guys out there. There is not a player on the tour that we cannot learn something from, and we want to see as many shots as possible by as many players as possible.

What is most grating is the comment that "while we have a minute, we'll tell you about some of our other programming coming up tonight." As if we care! Endless self-promotions, sappy theme music, and scenic shots of the surrounding mountains or the pounding surf are not what we tuned in for. Nor are the interviews with people unattached to the competition, such as celebrities, executives, and spouses. (Although we might make an exception for some of Tiger's girlfriends.)

An especially foolish scenario unfolds when we see two network commentators, perhaps one of them a pro golfer, sitting facing the camera with idiotic headsets on, talking about the action. Awkwardly, they don't know where to look. If they face each other then where does the audience fit in? But if they look to the screen, why are there two of them? So they swivel their heads to and fro to the point where arthritis is about to set in and the headsets fly off, looking totally foolish in the process of saying absolutely nothing worth hearing. If there is a need for commentary, for Pete's sake let the camera continue showing the game while we hear, but not see, the experts as they gas on.

Finally, it comes down to this: These guys are not playing golf as we know it. They're pampered, overpaid, and sometimes pouty if things don't go right. (Tiger was the worst at this.) There is about as much connection between what they're doing and what the rest of the golfing world is up to as between a fish and a bicycle. Most ridiculous are the special events, shoot outs and skin games, where guys play for hundreds of thousands a hole. Network executives fool themselves if they think golf fans really want to see this fluff.

It's a truism in golf telecasting that viewers and fans want to see birdies. I assure you this is not the case. The true golfer knows that the essence of the game is in its constant challenges, and we want to see the pros succumb to these challenges at least some of the time. A birdie is not a big deal; a bogie is. And a double or even more is simply great. That's something we can relate to.

And that Tiger has bogeyed himself out of contention for the immediate future is not a matter of concern to the serious golfer. He's been in trouble before and always scrambled his way out. Perhaps he can do it again. 

E-Mail Dave Mishur: Dave.Mishur@OneOnlineCommunity.com