Golf's secret major

Golf Digest, August, 2004 by Jerry Tarde

GOLF WORLD, THE NEWSWEEKLY BROTHER of Golf Digest, created a stir recently when it suggested that the Men's and Women's U.S. Opens should be played concurrently. "Imagine the spectacle of both titles up for grabs at the same time on the same course, similar to professional tennis," it proposed. U.S. Golf Association Executive Director David B. Fay put away the notion with an overhead smash. "Logistically impossible," he said. "Too many players; can't be done at stroke play." What he didn't say is that women couldn't play stroke play on the same major-championship course setup as men without embarrassing themselves with high scores--there simply aren't enough Annikas in the field.

Then Fay added, "But match play is a totally different question. Now that is an idea--the National Match Play Championships of men's and women's golf, run by the USGA. Do you think the networks would be interested?"

Of course they would. Television bidders would line up. What the PGA of America did not have the guts to do (stick with match play) and the PGA Tour doesn't have the clout to do (create a major), the USGA is now in a position to do. Not change the U.S. Open but create a new championship. With Michelle Wie in the offing, and women's golf about to take off, such an event would become an overnight sensation. An instant major championship.

How would it work? Like the boys' and girls' junior amateurs, which sometimes have been played concurrently, the National Match Play would go to 36-hole complexes--156 men playing course A and 156 women playing course B in the first round of stroke-play qualifying. They'd switch courses for the second round, narrowing each field to 64 players. Match-play brackets would then be created, culminating with the finals being played in alternate groups on the same course. When to have it? In May, the perfect open month before the season gets tired.

There will be no scoring embarrassment. At match play, it doesn't matter what you shoot; it's all relative to your opponent. Men play the back tees and women play the middle tees. Who wouldn't watch? And what players wouldn't want to play? The tour's Accenture Match Play proves there's a market.

So now you know the Great Big Secret that's quietly wending its way through the bureaucracy of American golf. Watch for future updates, but in the meantime, another hundred secrets are covered in this issue.

My Top 5 match-play feats

1. Tiger Woods winning consecutively three U.S. Juniors and three Amateurs, 1991-'96

2. Mark Calcavecchia cold-topping his tee shot into the water at 17 en route to losing a 4-up lead with four to play against Colin Montgomerie in the 1991 Ryder Cup

3. Paul Runyan poleaxing Sam Snead, 8 and 7, in the 1938 PGA final

4. Walter Hagen taking his fourth consecutive PGA (and fifth overall) by beating Joe Turnesa, 1-up, in 1927

5. Annika Sorenstam chipping in "out of turn" in the 2000 Solheim Cup, and U.S. captain Pat Bradley making her replay the shot

Jerry Tarde, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief