TaylorMade Driving Relief Roundup: Good Reviews But Then, What's There To Quibble About
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Well, there were problems. A few doozies though all well-intentioned unless you’re tired of decisions based on chasing a broader audience, made by folks not comfortable enough to just trust the product: super golfers, great course and enough modern television tricks to put on a good show.
Anyway! Overall, in between too many bad production choices was an impressive telecast visually given only six cameras and a plane view—funds were raised for good causes, as Doug Ferguson notes in his AP story.
PGA Tour Charities allowed for online donations during the telecast, raising more than $1 million. The donations will continue until Tuesday. When the exhibition ended, more than $5.5 million had been pledged, starting with the $3 million guarantee from UnitedHeath Group.
Players carried their own bags.
The bag carrying was a great look and arguably the highlight for most golfers. Those caddies should not lose any sleep, as Alan Shipnuck and Dylan Dethier noted in the Golf.com roundtable, there appeared a few moments the players needed a caddy to lean on.
Shipnuck: I think it had more to do with rust, and some wind, but a lot of times they looked off by half-a-club. Makes me wonder if caddies could have had them more dialed in. And nobody made any putts besides Fowler. Again, Seminole’s greens are tough, but I think these guys missed the ritual of confirming their reads.
Dethier: I think a good caddie helps his player commit to shots. A couple of these guys looked like they could have used some help in that department.
Bob Harig at ESPN said there was plenty to wonder about, but mostly appreciated seeing live golf again.
But more than anything, golfers competing and getting a chance to watch them was the star attraction.
"It's a lot of fun to get out here, do something fun and do something for charity,'' Johnson said during the NBC broadcast. "Feels good to get to the golf course and have a little competition. I know we're all looking forward to playing some golf.''
Johnson rather sheepishly admitted earlier in the week that he had not played a round of golf since the Players Championship until May 10. And at times, his game looked a bit ragged, as did parts of the proceedings.
In a perfect world, perhaps there would be some nit-picking, but in the one we are a part of now, this event should be celebrated more than analyzed.
Sam Weinman makes the astute point that from a sports perspective, only one thing mattered: safety, and the relief fund effort passed that taste despite some dreadful physical distancing several times (Ford walking the players in from the parking lot, first Sands interview) and jokes that probably didn’t fit the times (McIlroy on FedExCup money won and Wolff making a testing crack before quickly realizing it wasn’t great).
Two handed out largely positive grades, with me wishing I had David Dusek at Golfweek as my professor, and Dylan Dethier at Golf.com handing out a few D’s and F’s underneath mostly good grades.
