The PGA TOUR tried to make the WGC Dell Match Play more television friendly and all they did was make the early matches less watchable.
Few thing are more simple in general or more compelling in sports than “win or go home” and “one and done”. Just imagine if Michigan State’s 2016 NCAA March Madness loss wasn’t really a loss but simply a “mark against them in their pool”. What if they didn’t have to go home but had more chances to beat other teams who had won or lost? It would suck, it would be meaningless and it would not be worth watching. In other words it would be the WGC Dell Match Play.
So what if Jordan Spieth or Rory McIlroy or Jason Day or “heaven forbid” Phil Mickelson lost and had to go home before Saturday? That is what used to make the first few days of this tournament worth watching!
So what if the television powers that be don’t get their dream match ups on the weekend? Call the Whaaambulance! For one week of an incredibly tedious and seemingly never ending professional golf season I don’t think it’s too much to ask for some actual DRAMA on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
Now all we have is a slew of meaningless golf instead of a match or two that might actually matter. The problem is, quite frankly, the PGA TOUR. They don’t own any part and can’t control any of element of golf’s four most important events (the U. S. Open, The Masters, The British Open or The PGA Championship) so they go about the business of ruining every event they DO own, run or manage by trying to inject faux drama.
It hasn’t ever worked in the past and it didn’t work this week in Austin, TX. Pass the remote.
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About Keith Hirshland
My name is Keith Hirshland and I am a four decades television veteran who has spent time both in front of and behind the camera. During nearly forty years in broadcasting my path has crossed in front of, behind and alongside some of the best in the business... And some of the worst. Many of those people I count as friends while others wouldn't make the effort to spit on me if I was on fire.
This television life started early watching my Mom and Dad found, fund and run a local affiliate TV station in Reno, Nevada. As a teenager approaching adulthood I worked for them, first as an on-air sports reporter/anchor and later as a director and producer. Jobs in the industry took me across the country and then to many places around the world.
Sports is my passion and putting it on TV has been my business. Production credits include auto racing, baseball, basketball, bowling, college football, field hockey, soccer, volleyball and water polo but the majority of my time "in the chair" since 1990 has been invested in the game of golf with both ESPN and The Golf. Channel ( I was one of the first forty people hired by TGC in 1994 ). I am a fan and I watch TV sports as a fan but I also have hundreds of thousands of hours watching from inside a production truck. I think that makes me qualified to comment, my hope is you agree.
I have written four books, Cover Me Boys, I'm Going In (Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat), a memoir that is a tribute to my parents, the hard working, creative people who started ESPN2 and The Golf Channel and a look back at my life in television. Cover Me Boys was awarded the “Memoir of the Year” in 2017 by Book Talk Radio Club. In February of 2019 it was released anew by Beacon Publishing Group. My second book is a novel, Big Flies, and is a mystery that tells the story of a father and a son with four of the world's most notorious unsolved robberies as a backdrop. Big Flies was named “Solo Medalist” in the True Crime category by New Apple Awards. My third book, another mystery titled The Flower Girl Murder, was published in 2018. Book number four might be the most fun I ever had on a writing project. Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis is a mystery, a love story, and an homage to good grammar. It is both the Book Talk Radio Club BOOK OF THE YEAR for 202 and a TopShelf Awards first prize winner in the mystery category. All four are available at Amazon. Book five is in the capable hands of the good people at Beacon Publishing Group and should be available soon.
I look forward to sharing new thoughts about golf, golf television, sports in general and the broadcast industry with you. The views expressed here are mine and mine alone. They are not connected to nor endorsed by any other person, association, company or organization.
Cover Me Boys, I'm Going In 