Memorial Skins Game Equivalent of Real Field of Dreams

During the hullabaloo about golf sponsorships by financial companies receiving federal bailout money and loans, Morgan Stanley decided to drastically scale back its presence at this week's Memorial tournament.  They would still serve as title sponsor in a financial sense but they felt it was better to be neither seen nor heard after the tongue lashing that Northern Trust received after its usual activities at the Riviera event.  That included canceling the Wednesday pro-am.

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What replaced it was probably one of the best possible things to happen to the sport since the era of the made-for-primetime TV Tiger Woods matches.  The Memorial Skins Game featured eight of the best players in the world in a pair of nine hole matches to have fun for the fans and benefit the First Tee.  The real feature, though, was the pairing of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.  They were playing together in competition for the first time since the 2000 PGA Championship.

Steve Elling points out just how cool this opportunity was for Nicklaus, 69, and Woods, 33.

Sure, they kept score, but it wasn't like anybody really cared who won or lost the pool of money, which was forwarded to charity. If anybody ever tells you golf is an uncool sport, remind them that in no other game can the giants from two eras, separated by nearly four decades in age, play each other and be somewhat competitive.

Woods knows he has been blessed in that regard. A-Rod will never play alongside Mantle, Maris or Berra, after all. Kareem will never trade elbows with LeBron.

"Our sport is different in that way," Woods said. "The guys from past generations, not just one generation removed, but a few, can still compete, can still play out here. Not at the highest levels, but for nine holes, a few holes, they certainly can play with us, and even beat us.

"That's one of the neat things about the game of golf. It's the only sport that I know of where people can do that."

What a great day for golf, even with the rain and cool temperatures.  The whole thing was exactly what golf needed and continues to need to do.  Golf is a beautiful sport that really only can thrive when we pair old with newer (Woods isn't too new anymore) and men with women. 

Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon's CVS Charity Classic is pairing PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players together for the first time in the eleven years of doing the event.  I spoke with Billy yesterday and our conversation will be on The 19th Hole today.

I have been calling for a golf all-star game for about a year now.  To date, this is the closest I have gotten to seeing it.