Sports makes for the greatest reality television in the world. No writer could ever come up with stories that ooze with so much drama and intrigue. Have you ever wondered why the best sports movies and stories are all based on real events? “Hoosiers,” “Moneyball” and “The Natural” are all great and based off true stories.
However, there aren’t many great golf movies based off real events. Actually, I can’t think of one besides “Caddyshack.” Wait, that isn’t real? Well, then I guess there aren’t any great, true golf movies, or any great stories for that matter.
Why is this the case? It’s because golf has a history of relatively weak drama. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player absolutely annihilated their competition. Extended periods of dominance make for predictability and a mundane atmosphere that doesn’t command the attention of the public (sorry, UConn women).
When you add in the notion that golf is traditionally thought of as a “gentlemen’s game,” and visible emotion is avoided like the plague, it makes for a pretty lame sport to watch.
But that’s all different now.
Tiger Woods burst onto the scene and influenced a new breed of golf. Tiger’s game was elegant yet ferocious in his dominance, precise yet powerful in his style. He, like Palmer, Nicklaus and Player, ravished the game’s greatest courses. He kicked ass and took names, and he let you know it too.
And now, instead of just seeing one guy do it, we’re seeing greatness all over the game.
That makes for competition. That makes for drama, and we got a healthy dose of it last Thursday through Sunday at The Masters.
We saw multiple hole-in-ones, massive changes on leaderboards, heroic efforts and heartbreaking chokes. We even saw the tournament go down to the last few holes.
Each year, more and more majors are ending in the same exhilarating fashion. We’re seeing a plethora of top-20 players fight for and win a tournament each and every weekend.
This last weekend it happened to be Danny Willett, the 12th ranked golfer in the world. Next weekend it could be Jason Day, the world number one, or Dustin Johnson, the longest hitting player in the game, or any of the youngsters who wowed us this year.
This trend of great young golfers isn’t going to end soon. The game will continue to see guys like Bryson DeChambeau or Smylie Kaufman pop up each year and will see them contend for majors for decades to come.
We’ve already seen Jordan Speith and Ricky Fowler rise to stardom in the last few years. Last year Speith had the greatest 12-month run we’ve ever seen in the history of golf. He finished in fourth or better in every major, winning two. The year previous, Ricky Fowler was nearly as impressive, finishing fourth or better in every major.
While the competitive parity is quickly rising, Speith is our modern day Tiger. He, like Tiger, should be favored to win every event. He has the best putting stroke in the game and is the mentally toughest man I’ve seen play the game.
But even he is vulnerable, as his quadruple bogey on 12 showed us last Sunday.
So was Tiger. His infidelity proved that. Mentally, he has never, and will never, bounce back.
On the links, everyone is vulnerable.
You don’t know who’s going to win. Even with six holes to go and a three-stroke lead, you can never be too sure.
That provides the drama everyone wants. Shakespeare couldn’t write this stuff if his life depended on it.
That’s why golf is great.
