Australian golf followed the world’s economy in 2009 and seemed to go into a deep recession. A few good performances early in the year were spoilt by six months of playing from the rough but the trend has reversed.
The “Australian Swing” tournaments of the past month have given some of our golfers some much-needed confidence and apart from the trials of Peter Lonard, the ranks of Australian golf have never looked better.
Robert Allenby has finished the year with two wins after his dominant final round at the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum. Wearing pink in memory of his mother’s battle with cancer, he won his 13th tournament on home soil and barely missed a fairway and green all day.
John Senden had his best year ever and Scott Strange has strung together a great month. Adam Scott, despite a last hole rush of blood to the head has regained form and even Geoff Ogilvy looks threatening.
Stuart Appleby has learned how to hit a straight ball again, Cameron Percy will make waves in his first year on the PGA Tour and young stars Marc Leishman and Michael Sim could well be anything.
Michael Sim topped the Australasian PGA Tour Order of Merit and earned an invitation to Augusta National by finishing the year inside the top 50 in the world golf rankings.
There has never been such quality and depth to our professional golfing ranks and there will be a great deal of success in 2010 and beyond. The recession is over, consider your golfing handout well spent.
Did someone say, “green jacket”?
Dave1
Guest
Golf in Australi is in all sorts http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/winner-is-sydney/story-e6frf9if-1225807973599 "...Sydney television ratings over the weekend suggest there is ample potential to grow live attendances. The V8s humbled their cross-town rivals at NSW Golf Club on both days, 120,000 to 86,000 for race one and 129,000 to 75,000 for race two........."
Justin
Guest
Fair points SM - A tigerless tour will have a dramatic impact on the money available. You only have to pick up a paper any day of the week to see golfers say they hope TW is back in a hurry because he makes them all rich. Some of the Seppos may play a little more OS but in general they think the world starts and stops in the good old US of A. Some of them dont even have passports!
Sportsmouth
Roar Rookie
Actually, what may very well happen out of this is that there could be a shift of golfing power away from the U.S as the prize money may pull back and some tournaments may suffer being Tiger-less. As far as I'm concerned this would be a good thing and a boon to the Euro Tour and the Asian Tours, as some of the higher ranked American stars may start to chase a few dollars away from home and experience the real world of golf! Maybe The Shark should go and push for that World Tour he tried to get off the ground years ago, the game on the face of it has taken a hit, but underneath is an explosion coming out of Asia and like any good contrarian investor, you need to look below the surface and see that the company (golf) is in good shape and now is the time to buy up big! Come on Greg, bring it!
Michael Green
Roar Pro
It is going to be very interesting to see how golf goes after this crisis. I get the feeling it may be just fine and "publicity" may work out ok for the game. As for another $3million, I dunno...there will be many more arguments against that now! The Aussies are looking good and I know what you mean "Chop", there is a chance it could be a false dawn but I just have a good feeling about this.
The way it is!
Guest
The fall out to the golf industry will be evident now that Tiger is gone but he will be back as he is too young. He won't be able to command that sort of appearance money again which I believe this is a good thing. All sport have there peaks and troughs with gold about to go into a small decline. It will be a shame if he doesn't come back as he is truely a great golfer. Just divorce his wife and get on with it, as he surely won't be lonely with the cash that he has even if it's halved by a divorce?
Chop
Guest
The resurgence is mainly due to the Tiger factor, now he's having the trouble he is and I think it's doubtful that he'll be back next year. The Aussies playing though have been sensational and I think the Aussies ranks are about to start being back up there amongst the best of the best. Hopefully they can continue the interest in the Australian golf tour with a sprinkling of foreigners who want to play some of the best courses the world has to offer. It could be a false dawn but I really hope not....
Spiro Zavos
Expert
What will be the effect though of no Tiger Woods, for the time being, on the world golf scene. Basketball around the world has never really recovered from the retirement of Michael Jordan. Will a Tiger-less golf world suffer the same sort of fate. It was only a matter of some weeks ago that Woods was in Melbourne and being feted by the State Premier virtually begging him to come back. Is the offer, and more importantly the $3million appearance money, still on the table?