On Our Mind Golf Blog

Last week Golf Magazine released its well-regarded list of the Top 100 golf courses in the U.S. and the World, and once again New Jersey's Pine Valley Golf Club reigned supreme in the biennial rankings.

Shrouded in secrecy, yet known for its visually-intimidating layout and tremendous difficulty, Pine Valley is always one of the first layouts mentioned when long-time golfers are asked where they'd tee it up if they had only one round left to play.

If you didn’t happen to catch a single second of golf this past Sunday, whether it was Tiger Woods’ romp at the BMW Championship or the ladies teeing it up in Arkansas, it’s probably because you were glued to your television set watching the National Football League – America’s new national pastime.

The NFL owes its success in part to the violent nature of its sport, fantasy football and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. But why do we really love NFL football like our first born? On any given Sunday, any team has a chance; even Detroit or Oakland. League-wide parity is the main reason for the sport’s success and the key to maintaining a competitive balance between small- and large-market teams is the practice of revenue sharing. Essentially, mega franchises like Dallas with owners like Jerry Jones get the same check for television contracts as the Cleveland’s and Green Bay’s of the league. The more lucrative organizations help subsidize those less fortunate.

With the exception of the Open Championship at Turnberry, where he missed the cut, Tiger Woods worst finish in a stroke play event during the 2009 season is his T11 at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Even if Woods struggles at the upcoming Tour Championship at East Lake and winds up finishing 12^th, and Y.E. Yang who overcame a final round deficit to beat Tiger at the PGA Championship wins, Yang would still come up short by 25 points. Yang enters the Tour Championship 21^st in the FedEx Cup Standings. And while Woods is the man they'll all be chasing in two weeks time, a golfer positioned within the top 5 can easily swoop in and steal the cup from Tiger with a top 5 finish if the World's No. 1 player finishes in the middle of the pack.

The adversity Padraig Harrington has faced over the course of the 2009 PGA Tour season has been largely self-inflicted, with the possible exception of an unpopular ruling by John Paramor at the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.

He didn’t enter the year fresh off of reconstructive knee surgery, and his season wasn’t interrupted by his wife’s battle with breast cancer. And while it’s impossible to compare family tragedy with failure on the golf course, Harrington’s stick-to-itiveness has been most impressive of all.

An international field has gathered this week at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club just outside of Chicago for the third leg of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs - the BMW Championship. If golf gets the nod as an Olympic sport to be included in the 2016 Summer Games next month as is expected, this week's tournament could very well be a preview of an Olympic golf event.

A week prior to ratifying the recommendation of golf as an Olympic sport, the International Olympic Committee will vote for the host city. Chicago is one of four finalists, along with Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. If both the Windy City and golf are successful in their efforts, Cog Hill is a likely choice for the event venue.

For those of you expecting to plop down on your couch after work today and enjoy a couple of hours of coverage from TPC Boston, you might be surprised to find that the second leg of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs doesn't get started until Friday morning.

This week's Deutsche Bank Championship features a rare Monday finish in honor of the Labor Day holiday. Tiger Woods and the 99 other men chasing him for the Cup will wrap things up on Sept. 7 and then head to the BMW Championship at Chicago's Cog Hill Golf Club. It amounts to what we'd refer to as a short week for football teams who land a coveted Monday Night Football appearance. 

For golfers who eventually reach the ranks of the PGA Tour, collegiate golf is merely a stepping stone to the next level. Yet many of the world’s best golfers who did choose the path of college golf are dedicated supporters of their schools.

During his unlikely run at the 2008 Players Championship, Paul Goydos famously sported the cap of his alma mater, Long Beach State, throughout the tournament. Goydos later auctioned off the hat and donated the money to his school. 

In the presumably posh player’s locker room located within the Sydney Opera House-style clubhouse at Liberty National Golf Club, host of last week’s PGA Tour Playoffs opener The Barclays, complaints about the course occurred with the same regularity as outbreaks of Swine Flu on college campuses as fall semesters began across the country according to various reports filed from Jersey City throughout the course of the tournament.

Tiger Woods seemed to hint at Liberty’s ridiculousness by implying that the course was still an arduous test despite the fact that he and his peers played from the ladies tees during Saturday’s round, and when asked what he thought about the layout prior to the event, Woods smugly replied, “It’s interesting.”

Should a player who has a major championship to his credit in 2009 win the FedEx Cup does he deserve consideration for PGA Tour Player of the Year, even if the world's most recognizable athlete has won five tournaments during the current season?

Undoubtedly yes. Although that scenario is unlikely, and the favorite to win the FedEx Cup can squash any and all debate by taking care of business as he's done at Bay Hill, Congressional, Muirfield Village, Warwick Hills and Firestone CC. 

The only athlete to receive more pub than Tiger Woods last summer was swimmer Michael Phelps, who captivated the country for two weeks with his record-setting performance at the Beijing Olympic Games.

In 2016, Woods will have an opportunity to shine on the world stage.