[David Kelly]

In every big money sport, except perhaps baseball with its unbalanced revenue system, the parity and competition is unprecedented.

Number of different teams in each of the 4 major US sports who have made their league finals in the last 20 years.

NFL - 23
MLB - 22
NHL - 22
NBA - 18

[jeffwarne]

Kalen - re the top 125...i think that should be cut back to the top 100 ...why exactly it went from 60 to more than double (125) I dont know

I think McCord, marginal player that he was, was one of the biggest forces getting it thru, if i remember correctly

McCord was head of the PGA player's association who pushed for it, and it was because he was a marginal player that he lobbied for the all-exempt tour, which is now the top-125.  The all-exempt Tour essentially did away with Monday qualifying (which still exists for some tournaments, but it's on the margins now).

I wonder why Beman agreed with such a large increase from 60-125 Phil...a really bad move imho

yeah and baseball players should have no contracts and have to try out every week.
Can you imagine being 61st best at a sport and having to travel to a different city every week at your own expense and hope you qualify for that week's event?
no wonder there was no depth then....much more of the field was one day wonders from that week's qualifying...like the US Open only not really because the US Open involves three rounds of qualifying with any decent tour player exempt thru round 1.
No doubt many players chose the club pro ranks then due to the uncertainty of the tour.

Imagine that- a guy being allowed to sort've plan his schedule leads to better golf

[Phil McDade]

Jeff:

That's kind of my argument re. the whole Tiger/Jack thing. Fields are much deeper now, in terms of both sheer quantity and quality -- from the 60th player on down. The top 50 or so during Jack's prime -- without the non-exempt Tour -- were pretty darn good (the George Archer's of the world, who won multiple times on Tour) and would occasionally win a major.

One of McCord's arguments in favor of the all-exempt Tour (at one point something like two-thirds of the regular guys playing golf back then didn't have exempt status, and had to fight through Monday qualifying) is that it made golfers play much more conservatively, instead of learning how to win tournaments, because all those Monday qualifiers were simply hoping to get into that week's tournament (and if they finished high enough in those, that got exemptions into the next week's tourney). McCord's argument was that the quality of golf would increase with an all-exempt Tour because guys wouldn't have to chase from tourney site to tourney site, trying to play one decent round of golf to get in.

[Paul Jones]

i like 18, a good ol fashioned tough  finishing hole where anything can happen

I thought in the old days/courses most of the 18th holes were/are rather easy...  Not until TV and PGA Tour came along with, not much match play tournaments, did 18th hole become a standard ball buster. IMO.

[John Kirk]

I watched the tournament on Sunday quite carefully, noting each of the hole descriptions, plus multiple angle views.  Here are my few thoughts.

..............................

4.  Importing new sand in the same year was a big mistake.  Don't they know it takes a year or so for new sand to settle into place?  It probably didn't change the outcome, but it diminished the ability of great players to execute already difficult shots.

..............................

John,

Do you really think that this was a mistake.  I thought it looked more like a planned attempt to make the bunkers more penal.  

The normal tour setup with packed, settled sand apparently doesn't require that much talent.  The players all seem to extract themselves from bunkers very easily most of the time.

The way these bunkers were set up, they were to be avoided.  That had to make the players think.  There were no cries of get in the bunker on this course.  On the other hand, if the choice is between water and bunkers, I guess the bunkers were a better bail out, even with their difficulties.  The combination of bunkers and water may have been a bit much.

Hi Bryan,

I thought the bunkers were enormous and located adjacent to key landing areas, that they were too penalizing and too important.  I didn't like it.  It's so different than the typical setup.  Thanks for responding.

[Jim Nugent]

FWIW, runners up to Tiger and Jack in majors:

Tiger:
Tom Kite
Sergio Garcia
Ernie Els, Miguel Angel Jiminez
Thomas Bjorn, Ernie Els
Bob May
David Duval
Retief Goosen
Phil Mickelson
Chris DeMarco
Shaun Micheel
Woody Austin
Rocco Mediate

Nicklaus:
Arnold Palmer
Tony Lema
Dave Ragan
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player
Gay Brewer, Tommy Jacobs
Doug Sanders, Dave Thomas
Arnold Palmer
Doug Sanders
Billy Casper
Bruce Crampton, Bobby Mitchell, Tom Weiskopf
Bruce Crampton
Bruce Crampton
Tom Weiskoph, Johnny Miller
Bruce Crampton
Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Tom Kite, Simon Owen
Isao Aoki
Andy Bean
Tom Kite, Greg Norman

Any conclusions (other than it sucked to be Bruce Crampton)?

Mike

No conclusions, IMO.  Because I don't think the name of the runnerup matters.  I think how he actually played does. 

Take the 1986 Masters.  Lots of famous/top golfers in the hunt.  But they mostly choked their guts out.  Seve hits into the water at 15, and blows some more holes later.  Norman half shanks his approach on the 72nd. 

Jack played fantastic.  But his big-name competition fell apart.   

Now look at the year 2000 PGA.  Mostly unknown Bob May finished with three 66's.  He poured in birdies at the end.  It made for one of the most compelling duels in Tiger's career.  IMO Tiger faced much stiffer competition then, than Jack did in 1986. 

[Mark Bourgeois]

Glad to see someone else admires that tree garden as much as I do.

I would call it a win for crepe myrtle miniature tea gardens. For architecture, particularly in that location, I would call it something else.

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