PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Here’s a tip from Riviera Country Club, home of Tiger Woods’ Genesis Invitational this week.
No, we cannot tell you who will win the tournament or how Woods will play in his first PGA Tour event since withdrawing from the Masters last April. But what we can say with certainty is that the atmosphere around the storied Riviera will be far more civilized than the one held at TPC Scottsdale last week. The Waste Management Open was held there before what felt like an overcrowded drunken hula house.
For the record, I have always been 100 percent behind the tournament and what the Thunderbirds, the volunteers who run it, did with this event. Our aim is to make it a week-long party that goes hand in hand with golf, but is distinct from golf. other tournaments. This is attracting more young people to the game of golf, which for too long has attracted an older audience.
The problem is that the tournament loses its way on the party part and allows things to get ugly at times, as evidenced by the chaos that occurred last week – authorities suspending fan admissions due to overcrowding Acts so unruly that they had to stop selling alcohol.
Some players have complained that heckling from the gallery is affecting their play, with 2023 Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson telling some fans that he’s “sick of it.” Sometimes I told him to “shut up.”
Billy Horschel reprimanded a fan who spoke during someone else’s backswing, saying, “Buddy, when they tell you to shut up, shut up. He’s trying to hit a golf shot here. That’s our job.”
Golf doesn’t have to be as stuffy as it has been perceived for decades, but it also doesn’t have to descend into a rude phase. There has to be a happy medium, and WM Open seems to have lost sight of that sweet spot.
The tournament they called “The Greatest Show on Grass” turned into “The Greatest S#&t Show on Grass.”
On Tuesday, two days before the Genesis opener, the Post spoke to a number of players about the WM Open, their impressions of the situation and what they can do to stir up some nonsense.
“I thought it was great, but it kind of flipped on Saturday,” said Sahith Segala, who led the tournament over the weekend and finished fifth. “I wholeheartedly welcome this tournament because it’s so much fun. They just need to get [the unruly fans] The confusion was clarified and contained. ”
To that end, Thunderbirds executive director Chance Cosby told Golf Channel on Monday that there will be changes to the tournament in light of last week’s incident.
“As a standalone event, I think it’s pretty cool,” Rory McIlroy said. “I think we all know what happens when you go into that event, so just be mentally prepared and you’ll be fine. It’s not like you have to deal with it every week. It affects your play on the course. As long as it doesn’t get too bad.”
The problem is, that’s exactly what’s happening.
“Every year it tends to get a little louder,” Matt Kuchar said. “It’s kind of the nature of the beast. There’s still a cool buzz and atmosphere. It’s kind of a shame there’s a few knuckleheads trying to ruin the play. Now, it’s kind of free.” If you ask me how to suppress it, I don’t know if I can do that. I think the only solution if you have a problem is not to play.”
Kuchar noted that the top two players on last week’s leaderboard, winner Nick Taylor and runner-up Charlie Hoffman, “played well and, coincidentally, handled the distractions well.”
“Everyone has to deal with it, and if we don’t want to deal with it, we have a choice whether to play or not,” Kuchar said.
Fans of Scottie Scheffler cheer him on Friday during the 16th hole of the second round of the Phoenix Open golf tournament. AP
Taylor, who defeated Hoffman in the playoffs, called last week’s events “unfortunate,” adding, “It’s been like that for a little while.” I think the cat probably came out of the bag. I don’t know how much they can change. This is the week where we get the classic line, “He can do this for a week, but can he do it for multiple weeks?” Probably not. ” ”
Windham Clark, who lives in Scottsdale, said, I think this is one of the greatest events in golf around the world.
“I love the atmosphere. … I love having a lot of people like that. It’s a great feeling. It just crossed the line a little bit. It’s a great event, so don’t limit yourself too much. Yes, It’s a party, but maybe the party got a little too crazy. I don’t want to change it too much, but we just need to tone it back a little bit.”
