Golf.com Survey Gives Us A Peek At What Players Are Thinking

Every year the folks a Golf.com catch up with PGA Tour players.  This year they found 52 players at the Safeway Open who answered survey questions on the grounds of total anonymity.  Here’s a look at some of the more revealing questions and the answers tour players provided:

Who did you vote for in the Player Of The Year balloting?:

Rory McIlroy:  33%

Brooks Koepka: 17%

Other:     10%

Didn’t bother to vote:  40%

Will Rickie Fowler win a major?:

Yes:  96%

No:     4%

Will Tiger Woods win another major?:

Yes:  73%

No:  27%

Will Phil Mickelson win another major?:

Yes:  18%

No:   82%

Would you play in a team event with an LPGA player?:

Yes:  75%

No:  25%

Who is the most intimidating player on tour?:

Tiger Woods:   40%

Brooks Koepka:  30%

No one:               22%

Rory McIlroy:    4%

Player who uses the most off-color language?:

Pat Perez:     27%

Harold Varner III:  14%

Tiger Woods:         14%

Rory Sabbatini:   5%

Who is your favorite player to be paired with?:

Kevin Kisner:      9%

Charles Howell III:  7%

Harold Varner III:   7%

Anyone who plays quickly:  7%

Who is your least favorite player to be paired with?:

Anyone who plays slowly:    26%

Bryson DeChambeau:           21%

Rory Sabbatini:                      21%

Martin Laird:                         8%

Which is your favorite course on the PGA Tour?:

Riviera:   20%

Muirfield Village: 16%

(only courses to register double-figures).

Which is your least favorite course on the PGA Tour:

TPC San Antonio:  16%

(only course to register double-figures).

Will you vote for Donald Trump in 2020?:

Yes:     49%

No:      12%

Undecided:  14%

Ineligible:    25%

Should the tour remove marijuana from the banned substance list?:

Yes:     57%

No.     43%

There were more but these are an excellent cross-section of questions put in front of 52 players.

It’s no surprise that most feel Tiger Woods is going to win another major.  After his win last week at the ZOZO Championship, Tiger has created a new narrative for the 2020 season.  As far as Rickie winning a major?  It’s an indication of Rickie’s popularity out there.  In another poll, he was voted one of the most-liked players and in another, one of the nicest players as far as his interaction with fans at tournament sites.

One interesting response was the percentage of players who still rank Tiger as the most intimidating player out there.

It also appears that the players surveyed believe what the rest of us believe — Phil Mickelson’s time for winning another major championship has come and gone.  In fact, Phil now finds himself ranked No. 50 in the world and is in danger of falling out of the top 50 for the first time in nearly three decades.

One eye-opener is the majority stating that the tour should remove marijuana from the banned substance list.  CDB oil has become a big target of discussion with Bubba Watson now a brand ambassador for a CDB distributor.

Also looks like tour players still prefer Donald Trump.  No surprise.  At the end of the day,  Trump brings golf into the limelight and his organization is heavily involved in golf ownership.

You can also bet that these high-earning tour players don’t like the Democratic push for higher taxes on these high-earning tour players.

And it comes as no surprise that players really don’t want to find out they’ve been paired with Bryson DeChambeau or any other of the notorious slow players.

Both the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour are exploring a team event possibility.  Don’t know where it would fit in on a packed PGA Tour schedule but at least the majority of players surveyed were open to it.