The PGA is NOT Dead, People!

By Richard Diaz
Love of Sports Correspondent

First and foremost, no sport is as devastated by the loss of a single athlete as the PGA.

For comparisons sake, it’d be the equivalent to every major team losing their superstars. Imagine the NBA Finals without Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Simply put, it’s a terribly scary image.

Sadly for the PGA, that’s precisely what’s happened. To make matters worse, it’s coming on the heels of a U.S. Open that put golf back in the limelight. It’s arguably been years since a PGA event attracted so much fanfare, yet for all the positive attention it received during those five days, it was apparently all for not.

With that said, I think this is a turning point for golf. They can bow their heads and use the U.S. Open as an early season finale, or they can hire a talented PR machine to market an entire roster of potential stars that typically get no attention.

At 27, Adam Scott is one of several golfers that are young and talented. According to the official 2008 PGA World Rankings, the young Australian is ranked third overall. Given the likelihood that no one’s going to catch up with Tiger, it’ll be interesting to watch the battle for second between Scott and current No. 2, Phil Mickelson.

Then there’s the 28-year old Spaniard, Sergio Garcia. Often thought to be a player that would compete with Tiger, Garcia’s yet to have that huge breakthrough performance. He’s currently ranked sixth, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can string together a few wins with Woods out of the picture.

At No. 5 is Ernie Els, who’s a guy unlikely to play in an event without some type of reference to his homeland, South Africa. Having said that, Justin Rose from England and Trevor Immelman from South Africa are a couple of up-and-coming golfers as well. You’ll recognize Immelman as the unlikely winner of the 2008 Masters, but it’s Rose who’s currently ranked seventh in the world.

What I think is hypocritical about the media coverage is the fact they’re saying the PGA is dead without Tiger. However, when he’s dominant, the likely story you’ll hear is that the sport is boring and predictable. Sure, TV ratings are high when Tiger’s on the prowl, but aside from that it’s impossible to watch him destroy the competition without hearing people complain that golf’s not as fun to watch because of the lack of competition.

So, which one is it? Does Tiger Woods make the PGA better, or does he dominate to the point where it’s no longer fun to watch?

I, for one, think the PGA deserves a bit of love for an impressive and unpredictable season. How can you not love the fact that Andres Romero or Anthony Kim have just as much a chance of winning as Vijay Singh or Stuart Appleby?

How can you not love the fact that Boo Weekly got his nickname from Yogi Bear’s sidekick?

How can you not love it when an old timer like Kenny Perry wins a tournament?

And I’d be remiss to leave out Rocco Mediate. He went toe-to-toe with the greatest golfer ever and managed to gain a huge fan-following in the process.

There’s no doubt the PGA will suffer without Tiger Woods for the rest of the season. Still, I can’t help but look at all the other guy’s on the Tour and see that there are still plenty of reasons to watch a few rounds of golf, especially as we struggle through the doldrums of the summertime.

Get on the Bandwagon now, folks, cause golf’s starting to get good.