M MIND / THE NEXT ONE'S GOOD
Pro Golf Is Broken How are we going to put it back together?
By Jerry Tarde
T he first book I remember my father reading was Situ- ation Golf by Arnold Palmer. The first golf tournament I remember watching was the 1972 US Open at Pebble Beach won by Jack Nicklaus. In the way only sporting he- roes speak to you, I’ve been rooting for pro golf my whole life, so take this as a lover’s lament, not the grieving of a cynic: Pro golf is broken, and I’m wor- ried about how it can be put back together. We shouldn’t be surprised by the inquiry because it follows a familiar pattern. Bret Stephens in The New York Times wrote that “brokenness has be- come the defining feature of much of American life: broken families, broken public schools, broken small towns and inner cities, broken universities, broken health care, broken media, bro-
ken churches, broken borders, broken government.” Why shouldn’t pro golf be broken? We thought the PGA Tour was in- vincible until it wasn’t. We watched every other industry undergo disrup- tion while pro golf only upticked con- tinuously. Tournament prize money increased year after year despite recessions, wars, scandals, pandemics and all forms of economic turbulence. Ever since World War Two, pro golf built its foundation on five principles: (1) The top players like Arnie and Jack always put the game above themselves. (2) Golfers are accountable to their performance – nothing’s guaranteed. (3) The pro tours are kept in check and balance by the four independent gov- erning bodies controlling the major championships and acting in the best interests of the game. (4) Pro golf is
underpinned by charity; that’s why hundreds of volunteers show up every week to help run the tournaments. (5) The game’s leaders – not always, but generally – have used the time- honoured Masters strategy of leaving money on the table in exchange for control and sustainability. It began to break down when suspect morals and unlimited resources tested the first two principles. Some top play- ers saw themselves as victims of in- come disparity and thought they were not only entitled to the growing prize money, but it wasn’t enough. Defections and betrayal followed. The PGA Tour and LIV Golf fell into what historians have called Thucydides Trap. “It was the rise of Athens and the fear it instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable,” wrote the Ancient Greek general Thucydides. When a newcomer
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BEN WALTON
12 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH/APRIL 2024
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