For a long while now we have been listening to the cries that golf won’t survive when Tiger Woods is done. Well, Tiger hasn’t won a major in seven years, has created some great excuses (non-firing glutes) and now has an acute allergy to fairways.
And the game is just fine. With all due respect to Mark Twain, reports of the death of golf have been greatly exaggerated.
Just look at the past few weeks on the PGA Tour. Working backwards from Sunday we watched Rory dominate at Quail Hollow. Some will say watching a runaway is boring. But does one tire of greatness? Isn’t an exhibition of excellence a work of art? 
At The PLAYERS we were treated to a true photo finish of a great horserace. It wasn’t an American Pharaoh runaway. It was a thundering charge to the tape and as exciting a finish you’ll find anywhere in any sport. If you didn’t get jazzed by Rickie Fowler’s overtime win over Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia than you’re not a sports fan.
The week before that we watched Rory’s brilliance again as he won the WGC Match Play. Former U.S. Open winner Justin Rose won at New Orleans before that and before him Jim Furyk , another former Open winner, ended his nearly five year drought and capped a true story of redemption at the RBC Heritage.
Jordan Spieth is still the biggest story of the year as he did his own Tiger imitation at Augusta where he won The Masters in historic fashion.
These five winners are so very watchable and with the exception of the “elder” Furyk all young enough to carry this game for decades.
And these past few weeks are just the tip of the iceberg, as they say.
Some other winners in 2015 capable of drawing fans to the tour are the notorious Patrick Reed, the uber-talented Jason Day, All-American Boy Brandt Snedeker, comeback kid Dustin Johnson and J.B. Holmes who is still wining golf tournaments after brain surgery.
Oh, and how about one of the biggest draws in the game, Bubba Watson? He hasn’t won in ’15 but captured the HSBC in November and is capable of moving the needle, so to speak.
So when I hear this talk of a dying game I laugh and consider the source. It’s probably someone hung up on the “Tiger Era.”
Well, the Tiger Era is over, has been for awhile. I don’t know what we’ll call this era maybe the Rory/Jordan/Bubba or whoever …but this day, this era is no longer the Tiger Era.
Woods dominated like no other but all reigns come to an end. Long live the new king. Whoever he may be. And right now whoever is Rory.
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