The PGA Tour will always spout that the safety of the spectators is paramount.
If that’s the case, then why in heaven’s name did they have those 3:30 p.m. starting times on Saturday at the Tour Championship, knowing full well that the late afternoon skies over Atlanta had an 85 percent chance of getting very, very angry?
Fact is, the tour put the television broadcast first, hoping to ease the end of the round into the beginning of prime time.
Six spectators paid the price for the tour’s poor judgement.
The tour even has its own professional meteorologists huddled at their stations at all the events, monitoring weather radar and all the nifty forecast technology that’s available to them. One thing they didn’t use was common sense.
So once again we put the Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka tour commish Jay Monahan) and his Sinister Band Of Henchmen (yes you Mark Russell) into the Dog House.
They totally deserve it, in fact, they’re not allowed IN the actual Dog House, they’ll have to stand out in the rain.
2 Comments
baxter cepeda
Hope there’s no lightning outside the dog house.
Yes, rickie Fowler of all people pointed out they could have started earlier.
But It’s also understandable.
The strike happened almost 30 minutes after horns blew but few people showed urgency to get outta dodge.
Even a while after the strike tv showed people still walking around In the rain.
All golfers and golf fans need to learn a serious lesson from this.
As for the tour Maybe instead of overthinking the competition formats, officials need to be a lot more prepared to escort people out quickly like they do at the Masters. Our young family of 5 was atop the bleachers left of 15 Monday at Augusta, and were probably the last people off the course, getting into a vehicle within 30 minutes of the buzzer.
As always Augusta sets incredible standards. This is one all tours should strive to match.
Tom Edrington
Great points, as always, Baxter, appreciate your insights!