Firestone Defended! It's Adored, It's Great, Only One Disagrees!

As longtime readers know, the WGC Bridgestone at Firestone is not my favorite tournament of the year. I'd watch some but I remain under strict doctor orders not to turn on the television only to see the scintilating, ball plugging on greens, back-and-forth fairways.

It seems Alan Shipnuck kindly pointed out in SI/Golf Plus that the event is boring because of the limited field format, the lack of "World" in a world championship always staying in Akron, and the course itself. He was correct on all points. The event is uninspired and would be #1 on my list of tournaments that could disappear tomorrow from the PGA Tour schedule and outside of Akron, few would be distraught about such a development.

Well, Bob Dyer has come to Firestone's defense, grilling every player who came into the press center and just about anyone else he could talk to about why Firestone is sheer brilliance. The Beacon-Journal columnist even claims to have made Shipnuck back down! The power of the pen!

McIlroy says the players love the Bridgestone “because of the atmosphere, because you’re guaranteed four days of golf ... [and] it’s on a great golf course.”

This from Sergio Garcia, who ranks 10th on the career money list with more than $36 million in winnings: “I love the golf course. It is definitely one of the best we play all year.”

Winning money does make one a design expert.

“This venue just goes to show you that you don’t need elephant burial grounds out there to make a golf course fair, difficult and enjoyable.”

So I guess it’s safe to conclude that, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this fellow from SI needs to borrow Mr. Magoo’s glasses.

OK, Mr. Shipnuck, what’s your beef with Firestone? Not enough windmills and waterfalls?

“A golf course is highly personal, what people like and what they don’t,” he said by phone from Dallas, where he was working on a feature story. “It’s like looking at a painting or some other piece of art.

“To me, Firestone is a nice championship golf course. As Tiger likes to say, ‘It’s right there in front of you.’ But to my eye, a lot of the holes look the same, and the terrain is not super interesting.”

But as someone who has fallen asleep many times watching golf at Firestone, I can attest to its strength as a nap-inducer. Coma-inducing, really.

Soon, he began to backpedal.

“That critique is more about the purpose of the World Golf Championships. ... It says it right there in the name: It’s supposed to be a ‘world’ event, and yet they almost never leave the United States, and they never really even move around the United States, at least as far as the Bridgestone and [the Tucson tournament] go. ...”

“It’s not a knock on Firestone so much as I think it’s a failure of the vision of the World Golf Championship.”

Well, that claim doesn’t exactly square with your previous assessment of Firestone as the most “boring” golf course you’ve ever seen. But I guess it’s pretty tough to hold your ground when you’re a minority of one.

Only one person finds Firestone boring!

Well, there was Jack Nicklaus, too...