Golf has SEVEN First Time Major Winners...What's Happening??
Hi everyone,
This is my first posting on steemit, and thanks for taking the time to read! I'm a huge sports fan, and am going to be trying to post as much content as I possibly can about the sports I care about :)
My first post will attempt to get at what the hell is going on in golf?
We have truly reached a new frontier in the sport, and that's really saying something. Golf over the last two decades has operated under one central premise: One Tiger to rule them all, and in his greatness bind (make everyone rich) them. Shoutout to those who not only love golf but can appreciate me butchering a LOTR reference.
It was a strangely magical time. The potent combination of a transcendent talent and a bunch of un-athletic white guys who had yet to embrace the direction their sport was headed made for growth that the sport hadn't seen in it's entire history. For a sport that championed mental fortitude and patience, to see a rising star bludgeoning courses to death so nonchalantly was quite jarring to those who had been long time fans of the game.
It was exactly what the game needed. Tiger's popularity soared, and with it the game of golf became introduced to the general population whose only previous experience with the game of golf had come from driving past beautifully manicured country clubs that wouldn't allow women and liked to tell people it was a "tradition" thing. Uh huh. Whatever all you country club folks wanna hide behind, we all know there's some weird ass shit going on behind the scenes.
They say stars that shine the brightest also burn out the fastest. And boy did El Tigre flare out spectacularly. I'm not gonna get into the flaming pile of junk that is Tiger Wood's after 2011, but I do want to talk about the change in mindset that all golf fans have struggled to get used to in the years since his dominance.
We (the golf fans of America) have to accept that NO ONE is ever going to dominate the sport like Tiger did.
It won't even be close. And it's a really weird place to be in. Is it better to have a singular player that everyone looks to, or is this newfound competition we find ourselves with more compelling as a spectacle?
Jason Day. Danny Willett. Dustin Johnson. Henrik Stenson. Jimmy Walker. Sergio Garcia. Brooks Koepka.
These are the last seven major winners. It's a strange mix of players, there's no doubt. There's the European players who've always had the talent and finally put it together in Garcia and Stenson, there's the young mashers who look capable of winning any tournament when they're on their game in Day, Johnson, and Koepka, and then there's the guys who probably had the best damn weeks of their career at the perfect time in Willett and Walker.
Three very different sets of circumstances, and it's left golf fans puzzled. But fear not, fellow golf lovers! This is strange, and new, and very weird, but it's a GOOD THING. Tiger's greatness has spurred a generation of talent the likes of which the sport of golf has never seen. It will have its growing pains, as those who come to watch this sport will undoubtedly be a tad confused by the abundance of talent that so rarely spend time holding up trophies.
Revel in this new era. We are going to witness the most competitive stretch of golf in history. A level where even those who aren't traditionally considered "elite" by their peers are still talented enough to go out there and win a major if they have a good week. As golf fans turn their eyes to the Open, hosted at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England at the end of July, let's try to embrace this new mindset.