IS IT JUST ME, or does it seem like pro golf’s offseason has lasted forever? It must be scandal fatigue. I know practically no one will be watching, but I’m grateful nonetheless for the start of the 2010 PGA Tour season this week. The SBS Championship tees off on Thursday at Kapalua. It’s a field of 2009 winners. Geoff Ogilvy defends.
For the first time in weeks, I anticipate a new possibility. Golf—the game itself—might actually return as a topic of conversation. A bit of wishful thinking, I suppose. At least we can start to warm up to the idea.
In anticipation of the season kickoff, I made my first visit to PGATour.com in more than a month. I spend a fair amount of time on the site during the season. And it has a new look. The folks in Ponte Vedra hyped enhancements in an early December press release, including these site updates:
• Video Enhancement: Video will be at the forefront with a bigger, bolder presence. Fans can watch video on the homepage via a larger, embedded player, and video will also be accessible from the Leaderboard for the first time.
• Leaderboard Redesign: PGATour.com is the exclusive home of live PGA Tour competition scoring and will feature a redesigned leaderboard to improve performance and navigation.
• FanZone: The updated FanZone section will make social media feeds from providers such as Twitter and Facebook easily accessible from the homepage.
• Refreshed Tour pages: The Nationwide and Champions Tour pages will have their own look and feel with dramatic updates and enhanced features including drop-down menus, advanced search capabilities and innovative applications.
The site navigation appears to be mostly unchanged, but I’m still learning my way around the redesigned site.
Unlike the men, the women of the LPGA Tour don’t get underway until mid February. Theirs is a gappy schedule, with only two events in March and May, and just four events in August and September. I expect another difficult year for the women’s tour and pro golf in general.
−The Armchair Golfer
Here in Atlanta, we had 16 degree temps this morning going lower later this week. South Florida might get into the 30's. The Colts and Bills played in a blizzard yesterday. It's friggin' COLD ALL OVER !
Anybody who doesn't want to watch prime time golf from Hawaii is out of their mind. 🙂
I'm with you – can't wait to see the pros tee it up again.
Hi…
Was here, visiting from Indonesia.
I like ur nice post, visit back plz!
It is going to be a tense season. Both for the anticipated return and the PGA budget…done you think?