George O'Grady Has A Case of the Finchems

by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 13, 2008 9:56 AM EDT

George O'Grady participated in an interview with the Gulf News paper and it was published online. Aside from the shoddy English - not unexpected given this was likely translated from English to Arabic and back to English again - we get this interesting tidbit.

How big and important a tournament is DWC?

It will have an importance all of its own. It can't be more important than the Major championships on day one, but it can become really exciting at the end of the RTD, so much so that all the good players want to win it. Padraig Harrington said he wants to become the first player to win the DWC. He is setting it as a target for next year. I think if you asked whether he'd want to win the Masters first, he might say the Masters, but this is going to rank right up there and now we've just got to go ahead and do it.

If I could find old transcripts of Tim Finchem talking about the Players, he would have said something almost exactly like this.

Brings up a good question, though: when does a tournament earn semi-major status?

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"semi-major"

ok – you’ve stepped into mainstream media silliness territory – step back away from the ledge before you become…forgive me for saying it…Doug Ferguson !! :-)

Majors are Majors. The Players will NEVER be a major. The Dubai World Championship will NEVER be a major. The Fed Ex Cup isn’t a tournament – it will NEVER be a major.

Money doesn’t make any of the Majors a major.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Oct 13, 2008 10:32 AM EDT reply actions

You can call it whatever you would like, but there are definitely events that are more special, higher profile than others. The Memorial is a big deal. Arnie’s event is too. Quail Hollow gets a lot of respect for its goodies and course. There’s just no common thread to what makes these events appear more important than the John Deere Classics of the world. :)

by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 13, 2008 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

semantics

Sure there is – more money brings in the best players. Better fields = more attention (even if that attention comes from Johnny Miller).

Arnie’s event is big because…it’s ARNIE’S event. These guys owe a debt of gratitude to Palmer because he ushered in the modern era of big money professional golf and they turn out to show their respect. When Palmer was playing, the tour stars would all show up for the Hogan and Nelson tournaments to show their respect. That lasted until the 90’s and those tournaments dropped off when Tiger deemed them not worth his time.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Oct 13, 2008 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions