Interesting replies all, thanks for weighing in. I guess what I find fascinating (or perhaps disturbing), is the PGA Tour's desire to follow the lead of NASCAR, MLB and the NBA, by marketing celebrity over the sport. This may yield short term boosts in popularity and fan base, but in the long run, the sport itself still has to sell itself on interesting, sometimes dramatic, competition. NBC can pull it off with the Winter Olympics because it's two weeks long, but as much golf as there is on TV, it's a different animal. NASCAR has elements of strategy that help it maintain a devoted, healthy fan base. However, the NBA and MLB have had to make major rules changes after easing certain rules and playing with other aspects of their game for what they thought would be elements alluring to the easy-going fan, and all they did was turn off the die-hard fan and make their sports either dull (NBA) or take too long (MLB).
Golf, in particular, has the ingredients to be more interesting, stars or no stars, in my view. I think the Tour showed a hint of that with the International event, but of course, we have all seen how that has been rendered to basically a 72-hole stroke play event, the only difference being that guys can pick up when they are going to make double bogey or higher. More and more, you talk to devoted golfers who used to tape the final round every week state that they are down to watching the majors. Can this really be good for golf? Doesn't this indicate that the every-30 second mentions of the "young guns" on Tour just isn't enough.
I guess I find it bothersome when you look over old magazines from the past and see that there was a connection made between interesting architecture and a variety of formats making for interesting viewing. So wouldn't the occasional return to an old format might breath some life into the game? I suppose time will tell, or in today's game, the ratings will determine the future of such events and the possibility for something a bit more intriguing now and then.
PS - Andrew, on the stymie never returning...never say never! I spoke to a Tour official last week who had a similar thought that I did...in fact, he brought it up. He figured the players would be scared to death of it at first, but thought with a little education and those $200,000 12th place checks to soften the blow, they might be able to handle it one week a year. Hopefully he'll speak his mind when the Commish asks what they can do to make the match play more interesting. That's assuming he asks his field people such questions. Funny, but I'm afraid he probably refers such questions to the marketing department!