Long Live the Silly Season!

Tom Ferrell

Looking for golf headlines last week? You had to look pretty hard. 

Sure, there was the Dunhill Cup in Europe, contested on three of the top links courses in the world (The Old Course at Saint Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns). Those are courses I would tune into on TV just to watch the grass grow.

GOING TO THE DOGS: During the Dunhill Links at Kingsbarns, Paul Casey watches as “Digby” fetches his eagle putt attempt.(GETTY IMAGES)

Of course, watching grass grow is about how most people feel about professional golf once the FedEx Cup is decided. The leaves are turning and football is king on weekends in America. 

But for the game’s top players, the end of the PGA TOUR season (most will not compete in any of the 2013 fall events, which are part of the 2014 TOUR schedule – go figure) means the dawn of the most lucrative time of the year: The Silly Season.

Not all Silly Season events are silly. Some, like this week’s President’s Cup at Muirfield Village, hold at least the potential of drama. Others—the Australian Open, for instance—are legitimate championships that give us a glimpse at exotic locations and with truly international fields.

And who can blame the world’s elite for fueling up the jet with appearance-fee cash and buttressing their brands around the world?

This Silly Season even has a real storyline—Rory McIlroy. Will he return to form and enter 2014 on the upswing or will the slump continue and put an increasingly negative spotlight on the young superstar? 

Mostly, though, we diehards will settle for flipping back and forth from football games and enjoy our silly little game in a rare moment of repose.

Let the games begin! 

 

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.