PGA Championship Was Great, But...

The final major golf championship of the year was decided on Sunday afternoon in Chaska, MN as Y.E. Yang of South Korea captured the PGA's Wanamaker Trophy. Yang shot a 2-under, 70, to wrestle the trophy away from Tiger Woods, who had won all 14 of the previous tournaments when he led going into the final round as he did this one.

This is a huge story for the golf world--Yang being the first Asian to ever win a major tournament and Tiger blowing his first tournament in this fashion. But, as a sports fan who would like to enjoy as much of this major golf event as possible, I have to say that I struggle to make it all the way through CBS' broadcast.

It's not just CBS, but they are the main player in this issue. Why is it that we have to have so many commentators working the broadcast who bring their British, Irish, and Australian accents to the airwaves? I know golf is a global sport and England, Ireland and Australia do supply competitive golfers that factor into most tournaments, but this is a network based out of New York, in the United States. These quirky little phrases that squirt out of the non-American broadcasters are cute for a few minutes, then they become tedious. They add no more to the broadcast than former professional golfers-turned golf analysts from right here in the U.S.

Do you think there are any commentators from our country working the World Cup (soccer) broadcasts over the BBC? I rest my case.

There is nothing more sappy than how broadcast TV treats the major golf events, especially The Masters and The Open (aka British Open). I appreciate tradition and history as much as anyone, but let's not get carried away. What gets me is the very drippy, mushy piano music that sends us off to commercial and also welcomes us back. If you didn't know what you were watching, by listening you might think you just tuned into a biography of a recent fallen world leader, or the passing of someone like Walter Cronkite just a few weeks ago. If you have not noticed or paid much attention to it, please do so next time you see a professional golf tournament on TV.

This past weekend the site was 100 % Midwest, USA (not that there is anything wrong with that). It wasn't Augusta National Golf Club, it wasn't Royal Troon in Scotland, but we still got a touch of that soppy music even though it didn't match the view or mood of Chaska, MN. How about matching the music to the setting, not trying to make the setting fit your music. There is nothing sappy about the Midwest.

Finally, who was the idiot that started screaming, "Get in the hole" so many years ago at golf tournaments that it has now become expected background noise after a golfer tees off on any Par 3? It's absurd. How many times over the last decade have other idiot wannabees joined in the "get in the hole" outburst on every Par 3 tee-shot, or on a lengthy putt on the green. The real question should be how many times has the ball actually gone in the hole when these yo-yos scream "get in the hole". What prompts someone to do that? Is it just so they can say "I yelled, 'get in the hole', and he knocked it in!"

I get my kick out of hearing the crowd turn loose with that sophmoric yell and then seeing a tee shot plop in the sand bunker well off the green, or a watching a long putt come up dreadfully short. What do you have to say now for your "get in the hole" cheer? Listen you people, no one gets it in the hole just because you screamed for it to do so, so get over it.

By the way, what happened to "you the man!", and the rainbow wig-wearing guy with the John 3:16 sign? It's time for the "get in the hole" people to go the same way as these.