I’m almost certainly alone on this, but I don’t really find the 16th hole at this week’s mafia-sponsored Tour stop – that’s what the “Waste Management” part means, right? – all that exciting. And I certainly don’t consider it the template upon which we can base the future of televised golf.

Embracing mass drunkenness and hysterical get-in-the-holeism as a means of side-stepping the monotony of most telecasts (the real elephant in the room) feels less like the “way forward” than a sort of Faustian pact.

Golf cedes its tradition and receives what in return, exactly? High concept gimmickry, the promise of a short-term ratings bump?

I digress…

Points of Interest:

• The return of Trevor Immelman! Hurrah!

• Kyle Stanley’s bid to atone for last week’s implosion.

• Is Rickie Fowler really considered “cool” in the US, or is that all some sort of ironic hoax?

Conor Nagle