The Decider: Worst. West Coast Swing. Ever?
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 2, 2010 6:00 PM EST
in Polls
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PrintNow that the West Coast Swing is over and the Tour moves to Florida for the month of March, it's time to assess the kind of golf that we saw in late January and February. Sal Johnson makes the case at Golf Observer that this could be one of the worst WCS (as the cool kids say) ever.
His major backup is that the top ten players in the world split equal participation between the PGA Tour and European Tour. Primarily lured by appearance fees and the growing allure of their Desert Swing, the world's best flock to the oil money.
To add to Sal's numbers, though, that stat is also informed by the people in the top ten. There are more Euros in the top ten than in a long time and most are loyal to the European Tour. Of the four Americans in the top ten, they made three starts overseas. 19 starts by Euros to support their tour isn't quite as telling, but maybe indicates a changing world order in the sport.
As for the golf on these shores, the results were pretty compelling.
- Ben Crane won at Torrey by a shot over Michael Sim (the coward who didn't go for it).
- Steve Stricker won by two at Riviera over Luke Donald, which wasn't that close really.
- Dustin Johnson repeated over David Duval (!) with a birdie at the last at Pebble.
- Ian Poulter picked up his first win on US soil by pasting the field at the match play.
- Hunter Mahan played a perfect weekend in 130 shots to win in Arizona over Rickie (only one name necessary).
I'm happy with four of those five tournaments.
Yes, the names were missing. Phil nor Tiger won on the West Coast Swing for the first time in more than a dozen years. Still, the golf was good and the stories were interesting.
To settle the question, I turn to you. Was this year's West Coast Swing a dud or a stud?
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Do us a favor...
…and leave Sal’s cliche and useless tripe on his site. WR should be better than that.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I side with Jumpin and CG here...
we did see some good golf, regardless of who did or didn’t play….after all, isn’t that the essence of the game?…everyone has 14 sticks, just like us, most are handsome unlike us, so just tee it up and have at it…where the players hail from is relevant….STUB
where the players hail from is relevant
Why would place of origin make any difference? Good golf is good golf. The game doesn’t care as long as the player treats it with respect.
Placebos, of course, are things you have to swallow even though they contain nothing that actually helps you. It's like American health insurance in a pill. -BiPM
I would have thought that too, Wendy
Except that Stub made a point yesterday of writing that Lee Trevino didn’t have the right kind of blood to be considered an American even though he was born in Dallas, Texas, USA.
Placebos, of course, are things you have to swallow even though they contain nothing that actually helps you. It's like American health insurance in a pill. -BiPM
Diane - I saw that
and I think he is factually incorrect. To me Lee Trevino is an American golfer, ex-US Marine, ex-Ryder Cup player, etc, etc, and of Mexican heritage. However, he didn’t use the phrase “right kind of blood” and I didn’t read his comment as pejorative in that I don’t believe that Mexican blood (or any other) is inferior to US blood. Obviously I may be naive and/or not au fait with American/Mexican sensibilities in this instance..
I do agree with him, however, that where one is born does not necessarily assign nationality. My greatgrandfather (British Army) had children born in Canada, Cyprus, India, England, etc,etc, and every single birth certificate states “Irish” as nationality.
Perhaps I mistakenly thought that was the point he was making.
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