When something happens that we don’t like, there’s an inevitability that wild and whirling words will start blowing around like chaff in the winds. Of course, common sense would be to take a step back, pause and not jump into judgement. But what do I always say about common sense?
On rare occasions, mind you, the rushed-to judgement is indeed the right one. For example, the split season in GAA is a complete disaster, the new whip rules in British horse racing are an abomination and Erik ten Hag should be canonised for doing as well as he has with Manchester United despite the best efforts of the greedy Glazers to destroy the club.
Here’s another quick observation which turned out to right on the money was Rory McIlroy’s contention that the LIV Golf misadventure was an asinine and doomed one driven by nothing more than obscene greed. Whether some like it or not, Rory is still the biggest name in the sport. Thus, when he speaks, people tend to listen.
And, going by the old dictum of actions speaking louder the words, he is to be admired for staying true to himself and what believes in by not giving in to the ill-grown cash cow that other so called legends fell in behind like bulls in a milking parlour.
However, now that inevitable has happened and the idea of Greg Norman’s brain child going solo has been fed to the sharks quicker than it came from one, the Co Down star was well within his rights in opining that those who stayed loyal to the only proper Tour – the PGA Tour – are deserving of some degree of loyalty bonus. Especially given the quotas of green the tearaways would have milked in the land of white.
I’d go even further than that, either making the rebels pay restitution to the PGA Tour or cap what they can earn under the new arrangement. I’ll get to all the predictable outrage in due course, but to me, there was nearly an inevitability about some class of compromise being reached.
The new breed mightn’t agree, but, the Ryder Cup does matter. Representation at all levels – sporting and otherwise – does. Though the grand old competition wouldn’t have been worth its own headed notepaper were some huge personalities on both sides precluded from participation. As was going to be the case the way things stood before the PGA, DP (European) and LIV operations merged.
There’s no doubt that the biggest winner out of the new setup is the DP Tour. Which, to my mind, hasn’t been afforded the deserved profile or status in recent times. Can you name a handful of the top performers thereon? Exactly.
So to the outrage. In one sense, not only understandable but warranted. However, hystrionic bleatings miss some very seminal points. From an Irish perspective, Padraig Harrington was indeed correct to point out that as a people we are in no position to cast judgement on anybody given how we have treated certain sectors of society.
Looking at the bigger picture, pontifications to the effect of ‘I’ll never watch golf again’ sound remarkably akin to ‘I’ll never set foot in Croke Park again’ after soccer and rugby were played there, or those who said they’d ‘never watch a GAA match on Sky’.
This too shall pass.
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