Dustin Johnson shot an 80 for the first round at the Shell Houston Open. He would have had to shoot 64, the low round of the tournament just to make the cut. I can understand why he might WD. I don't care what the reason is, even if it's just cause he sucked. If Johnson kept playing he would have missed the cut. I don't want to watch a guy limp in with a 77 who's already 8 over. Fans get mad at the networks all the time for continuing to show Tiger when he's blowing it, so don't say you want to keep watching bad golf played by a great golfer. Viewers want to see good golf played by good golfers.
"Show me the leaders!"
| Dustin Johnson shot an 80 in the first round of the Shell Houston Open. |
There is not a WD problem on tour. It's not advantageous for golfers to WD. We all know they have to earn their money, but they also have to work to just keep their cards. A WD just makes it that much harder to earn enough money to stay on tour. No other sport demands you to perform to keep playing that sport.
"Yo guy, you only caught 20 passes this year."
"Yeah so?"
"League rules say you have to catch 30 to keep playing. You're going to have to try out again."
This also distinguishes certain tournaments as more important than others. Big tournaments attract the big names. Let's list some:
All 4 Major Championships
All 4 WGC Championships
The Honda Classic
The Pebble Beach Pro-AM
Bay Hill
The Players
The Memorial
The Fedex Cup playoff tournaments
And I know I'm forgetting some. I've already listed more events than the NFL regular season. Bottom line, you will see your guy enough. He's not pulling a WD from all of these. Otherwise he wouldn't be your guy and he probably wouldn't be playing professional golf in the first place.
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| Bubba Watson withdrew from Bay Hill earlier this year after shooting 83 citing allergies. He's already earned 2.9 million this year in tournament prize money. |
"But what if everyone starts pulling a WD when they play bad and there's just a revolving door of people WDing?"
"Then do you want to get rid of the cut too? If they're in the hunt they won't quit. If they blow it they're out anyway. Who cares if it's a day earlier? They still don't get paid."
The other side of this argument happened several years ago before the Fedex Cup. How was the tour going to make the big names show up for more than just the big tournaments and the majors? It is a fundamental part of being on tour that once you've reached a certain level you get to pick your schedule, only show up to the tournaments you want to, and play the courses you like. It's allowed because they've earned it. And guess what, they've got the most lucrative sponsorship deals. WDing is a penalty in its own right. No one is going to WD enough to give themselves a bad name, and those that might choose to can figuratively and literally afford to because they are good enough to take the hit.
