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Watson and friends dragging golf into a brave new world

16th June, 2011
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Roar Guru
16th June, 2011
2
1756 Reads

Bubba Watson watches his drive from the 11th tee. AP Photo/Nick Wass

Think golf isn’t cool? Think again. There’s a new school of golfers in town and they are rejuvenating the face of golf like never before. For years, golf has been aligned with the over 60s, in knee-high plaid socks. A game for the geriatrics, not the youth.

And pro golf was the same.

Tiger Woods changed all that with his confidence, bravado, physique and a win-or-die attitude. Recently, his infamous off-course indiscretions and injuries have kept the former World No. 1 away from the game, and since then, he has failed to pick up where he left off, currently sitting at No. 15 in the world.

But there’s an even newer breed of golfers that have surpassed what Tiger Woods achieved in changing the face of golf, and they’re doing it in a way never seen before.

Earlier this week a music video entitled “Oh, Oh, Oh” by Golf Boys was released on YouTube and iTunes, and has since gone viral across golfing networks.

On Wednesday it had 300 views, yesterday it had nearly 500,000.

With proceeds going to charity, the video features young professional golfers Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan and Ben Crane, dancing, singing, rapping, and generally making a fool of themselves, in what has to be, the PGA Tour’s first boy band.

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These guys are not nobodies, either.

Bubba Watson is ranked 12th in the world, Hunter Mahan is No. 20, Ben Crane is at No. 44 and Rickie Fowler sits at No. 48.

Bubba Watson, who has been confirmed to start at the Australian Open in November, will line up alongside Australia’s Adam Scott at the US Open today. In the absence of Woods, Watson goes in as one of the favourites to win. Should the accurate, big hitting American come through with a victory at the Congressional Country Club, he would become the first left-handed golfer to win the US Open.

It’s not the first time these players have created a buzz on the internet. Fans have been able to get greater insight into their world, with each player being prolific users of Twitter and YouTube.

Ben Crane (who’s a dead ringer for Gary Ablett Jr) in particular has a flare for comedy, as shown in his previous golfing videos “On Dance”, “On Slow Play” and “On Working Out”.

Now show me Tiger Woods do that.

It’s stuff like this which is giving professional golf a whole new look. I don’t even think the purists would disagree that it’s all good for the game.

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It opens up a world that people don’t often see.

These players have character, they like to have fun just like the rest of us, but under golf’s outdated and restrictive rules of dress and etiquette and so forth, these things are hidden on the course, and I hate to say it but it often makes watching golf, ever-so boring!

Players like Crane, Fowler, Mahan and Watson are changing that though, with their off-course personalities becoming an excellent marketing tool for the sport.

Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan have both been making waves in the professional golf circuit. Not only because they were picked in last year’s US Ryder Cup Team.

But between Mahan’s unkempt facial hair and Fowler’s notorious orange wardrobe and penchant for wearing his hat backwards (GASP!), these guys are turning heads and starting trends.

The new kids on the block are doing wonders for golf, as a game, and as a brand. And doing it all with a certain irreverence. Keep it coming, I say.

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