Fav. Non-Major Tournament

[Doug Ralston]

No tournament is as intense as the Q-School final, not even the Majors.

Doug

[Jeffrey Prest]

Purely a nostalgia item now but I always liked the Johnnie Walker World Championship at Tryall GC in Jamaica. It took place just a couple of weeks before Christmas, looked great on the telly (see http://www.elitegolfcourses.com/tryallclubgolfcourse/) and 'silly season' or not, I just thought it was a great end to the golfing year.

[Kirk Gill]

Another nostalgia item - I loved taking my kids to the International (free entry for kids). Loved walking the course, loved the aggressive play...

On tv, I like to see the pros when they really feel like something is at stake. Outside of the majors, it's Walker Cup, Ryder Cup, Q school finals.........

[David Stamm]

US Am
British Am (when it's televised)
Walker Cup
Aussie Open (especially at one of the Sandbelt courses)
Irish Open
AT&T Pebble
LA Open
Colonial
HSBC Matchplay (Wentworth)

[Jeremy Rivando]

#1  Ryder Cup

Tour stop:
Any given year between The Players, LA Open & Harbour Town

[Carl Rogers]

I would think that this site would celebrate Harbour Town, because of it pivotal nature in the history of course design.

It is too bad Mr. Woods does not play there.

[Bart Bradley]

I would think that this site would celebrate Harbour Town, because of it pivotal nature in the history of course design.

It is too bad Mr. Woods does not play there.

Yeah, but I, for one, don't think television captures the challenges of Harbour Town very well.  It just doesn't look as exciting and beautiful as Pebble or Kapalua.  The shotmaking challenges are more subtle and positional and I don't think that flavor comes across well.   Great tourney in person...went last yr.

Bart

[Andrew Mitchell]

Ryder Cup for me.  The only downside is the quality (or lack of) of the courses used on this side of the pond.

Also the Dunhill Links Championship - one tournament played over three great links courses.

[Bruce Katona]

The Barclay's at Westchester....a great event at an old but wonderful golfing venue.

[George Pazin]

I follow the President's Putter at Rye every year via the news.  I will have to make an effort to get down there for the weekend some time.  To be honest, I would rather see this event on tv more than practically any other golfing event.    

I'll second this. It would be nice to see the British Am on tv in the US as well, they play at a lot of neat venues.

I must be the only gca'er who's generally bored stiff with the Ryder Cup. It's only fun when it's competitive and lately it hasn't been.

[John Moore II]

I agree with the Ryder Cup statement. I haven't watched the Ryder Cup since 99, when the US last won. Since then, its been generally boring. I have, however, watched every Presidents Cup since then. Those are entertaining.

[JSlonis]

George,

I doubt you'll see the British Am on TV here anytime soon.  There are only a handful of Americans who will play in it, and outside of this site, very few who would ever tune in to watch.

From a Mid-Am's perspective, what is even worse, is that as of this year, the R & A has cancelled the British Mid-Am from it's calendar of events.  Apparently, from the UK side, there was not enough participation. It doesn't have nearly the same status that the USGA Mid-Am has.  Very sad and quite surprising.

Back on topic...

Any event when Tiger is in contention...after that...

I enjoy the Player's Championship.  It seems like the tour players really cherish this title, so consequently, I like watching when there seems to be more on line.

Hopefully, the Ryder Cup will become more competitive, because for me, it is great drama when it's close.  The level of play can be extraordinarily good and bad, which is what makes it most interesting.

[George Pazin]

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath, Jamie, but I can dream!

Of the televised tourneys, The Players is definitely one of my favorites. Kapalua, too. Most of the rest aren't able to hold my interest anymore, though that may be more due to my life circumstances than anything they have to offer.

[JSlonis]

I've heard many avid golfers who watch a fair amount of golf on TV, say that they find it hard to stay tuned in when Tiger isn't playing.  It's no surprise, but I'm sure that the TV ratings probably reflect this fact.  It really doesn't matter what course or what tournament it is, if Tiger is in the hunt, I know I'm watching.

[Bill Brightly]

I agree Bruce, I was going to say The Westchester Open...It is just great to watch the pros play a great ODG course, and being so close to the NYC area, it was one tournament I went to almost every year.

Quick aside, I drove myself there to watch as a 17 year old, where I first saw Nicklaus in person, but only after I recognized Angelo Argea and his white hair, with Nicklaus right behind him.

[tlavin]

The Players Championship, by far, is my favorite non-major.  I love the course, the field and the drama.  The Barclay's at Westchester and the Memorial at Muirfield Village come in tied for second.

[Bill_McBride]

I am very surprised by little response the Walker Cup is getting. I have been to many high profile sporting event including managing to get 6 tickets for the first  'Foreign game' woth £4000/$8000 on E-bay in Croke Park (Being me I got them for £40/$80 ). And nothing I've been to compares to the Walker Cup at Royal County Down. I didn't get to th 2006 Ryder Cup but everone I know who was at both says the Walker Cup was miles better.

Matthew, the Walker Cup is always terrific because of the level of play by those spirited young amateurs, and having it played on wonderful courses like Royal County Down (2007), Chicago Golf Club (2005), and Merion (2009) makes it even better.  

In my opinion it's the most fun golf event to attend, and we will definitely be there in Philadelphia in about 18 months.

[Tim Pitner]

The Ryder Cup, by a mile.  In fact, it's probably my favorite tournament, period, although I like the Open Championship an awful lot.  I love the team matchplay formats--foursomes and fourballs.  Even recent Ryder Cups are usually close on Friday and the individual matches themselves are often competitive.  It also brings out some compelling emotions--think of Darren Clarke in Ireland last time.  

After that, it's more dependent on the field than anything else.  Without a good field, the tournaments at Riveria and Westchester, for example, don't do much for me.  I'm surprised many people are mentioning Muirfield Village.  Doral used to mark the real beginning of the season (because many players skipped the California events) but not so anymore.  There really aren't many prestigious, non-major tournaments.  

I do enjoy watching the Dunhill, the Scottish Open, and the World Matchplay at Wentworth.  I also enjoy the occassional event in Australia or South Africa, especially if they draw some notable international players.  I've yet to see a tournament course in the Middle East or Asia that looked any better than average.  

[Evan_Smith]

It's interesting, but not that surprising to see the tournaments that people chose.  I completey forgot about the Irish Open (but only when it's on a Links) and of course the Match Play tourneys (Ryder, Presidents and Walker Cups, and US and British Ams) and the NCAA's can be exciting now that they're being televised more.

It didn't surprise me that the tournaments people enjoyed watching were on interesting and usually older courses.  The Players Championship came up quite a bit as well as a few more modern courses, but for the most part eveyone enjoys watching the world's best golfers battle it out on classic courses.  
My take is that these courses make them think more and it's not just the bomb and gouge game we usually see week to week.  

[John Pflum]

I really enjoy the match play events -- Ryder and Presidents Cup and the Match Play tournament.  

I have to admit I love the silly season events where they have the players mic'd.  It's fun to hear them banter back and forth in a more relaxed atmosphere and try and rattle each other, etc.  

[Don Hyslop]

 Really surprising to see the lack of love for the Canadian Open. Granted in recent years due to poor dates given by the PGA the tourney has not always had what would be called the top possible field but history alone is enough to make this what should be one of golf's great tournaments.

"The Canadian Open is a golf tournament which was founded in 1904.  As a national open, and especially as the most accessible non-U.S. national open for American golfers, the event had a special status in the era before the professional tour system became dominant in golf. In the interwar years it was sometimes considered the third most prestigious tournament in the sport after The Open Championship and the U.S. Open. This former status was noted in the media in 2000, when Tiger Woods became the first man to win all three Opens in the same season since Lee Trevino in 1971. "

  With a new and respected sponsor in the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) the event should once again rise in stature. All that is needed now is for the PGA to recognize this as well. The winners of this historic tournament comprise an impressive list of golf greats over the past century. Too bad that Nicklaus never quite made it to the winner's circle though finishing runner up 7 times.
 Check out the history of the tournament as told on the Royal Canadian Golf's website:
http://www.thecanadianopen.ca/innerpage.aspx?x=UfJNqqOkzZPp41uEgVFbYkULUAYXUPh9%2fBTuQQ2rkLmZCnNjuXAAjtf%2bPXrmsr%2bO

[Jeremy Rivando]

Don

History alone does not seem to cut it these days.  I think the RCGA did all they could to run the open into the ground by having Glen Abbey as the headquarters for all those years.  What a shame.  The only chance left is to bring it to the best clubs in the country, this has started to happen but I think every year it's at a course like Angus Glen is five years of suffering.
Like any Canadian golfer I truly hope the open can get its stature back, hopefully RBC and the RCGA can step up and improve the tournament every year going forward.

[Don Hyslop]

The place of the Canadian Open in the history of professional golf makes it very special to me. As a Canadian, I know I am biased but it is certainly my favourite tournament.
 And history of golf is still important to me and this Open is the 2nd oldest tourney on the PGA Tour and the 3rd oldest Open. It is part of the mostly forgotten "Triple Crown of Golf".
  Its winners alone make up a pretty good list of the who's who of golf with Sam Snead and Lee Trevino being three time winners. Greg Norman, Tom Weiskoph, Curtis Strange, Nick Price and Jim Furyk have hoisted the trophy twice. It was Arnold Palmer's first professional win. Byron Nelson, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh also have won the Canadian Open.
Jeremy, you are right in that this tourney should be moved around to the country's great golf courses and I hope as you do that the RCGA will be doing that in the future.

[Jim Thompson]

Dixie Cup, of course!

[Garland Bayley]

The Masters

Hey, if you are going to call yourself a major, you had better have the strongest, most complete field possible. Not, a bunch of geezers and a few young bucks that get to come back year after year.