European Tour is now Sooo Bad

brousuka

No characters, no swashbuckling players like Seve, no Faldo, only blonde swedes and robotic Germans, French and Scaninavians. Poulter, casey not too bad but they just cant match the US tour! What the F**k is happening???

WHIP IT!

brousuka wrote: »

No characters, no swashbuckling players like Seve, no Faldo, only blonde swedes and robotic Germans, French and Scaninavians. Poulter, casey not too bad but they just cant match the US tour! What the F**k is happening???

I take it you didn't see Adam Scott (Australian, not German, or French and definitely not a Scandinavian) firing a sublime 61 on the final day to win the Qatar Open last Sunday then? Perhaps you missed Padraig Harrington (Ireland) and Sergio Garcia (Spain) battling it out for the British Open last year?

If anything, I think the Euro Tour is making something of a resurgence of late. They play more varied interesting courses than in the States imho. I've really gone off watching the PGA Tour in the last year or two - it's a bit like the Truman Show every week. Driver - Wedge, Driver - wedge etc etc...

pd101

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I take it you didn't see Adam Scott (Australian, not German, or French and definitely not a Scandinavian) firing a sublime 61 on the final day to win the Qatar Open last Sunday then? Perhaps you missed Padraig Harrington (Ireland) and Sergio Garcia (Spain) battling it out for the British Open last year?

If anything, I think the Euro Tour is making something of a resurgence of late. They play more varied interesting courses than in the States imho. I've really gone off watching the PGA Tour in the last year or two - it's a bit like the Truman Show every week. Driver - Wedge, Driver - wedge etc etc...

Yeah I agree. And it can only get better now that the likes of Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott have committed themselves to the tour.

N1977

Also, according to a news item on the RTE website, Garcia and Scott are to play more on the European tour this year.

f22

Have to say I enjoy the European Tour events more than most dull PGA events.

There is some great young talent coming through the European Tour ranks, McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Anton Haig, Richard Sterne to name a few.

European tour has always been a breeding ground for talent over the years and always will.

Mister Sifter

The European Tour is far better to watch. If Tiger's not there it's a non-event in the US.

Every week in Europe there seems to be excitement.

There's an interesting debate on this very question in one of the golf mags this month too....

brousuka

I take your point(s), yes Scotts round on Sunday was excellent and Harrington had some year but they appear to be a bit devoid of character as were not the players of before. Maybe it has something to do with the way it's presented on TV, Faldo and Feherty are brilliant on CBS/Setanta and the Sky coverage on the Eup. tour is very stale ie; Euan Murray, Ken Brown etc. Yuch!!

WHIP IT!

Graeme1982 wrote: »

The European Tour is far better to watch. If Tiger's not there it's a non-event in the US.
Every week in Europe there seems to be excitement.

There's an interesting debate on this very question in one of the golf mags this month too....

Exactly - the PGA Tour is going to have to rely on him more and more and more as the rest of the pack seem to be getting further and further away from him. They're back now to where they were five years ago - they don't think they can beat him...

Where's the characters in the US?? There's none! 80 per cent of the players are the same person and they play the same shots as each other... it's gotten stale I think...

It was interesting about three years ago when Vijay really made it his business to take on Woods and dislodged him as No1 for a time. But nobody is attempting to do that now - there's plenty of money to be made finishing in the top five or ten every other week so they're happy enough I guess.

Mister Sifter

Yep, i agree. I read Nick Price talking recently about the number of players happy to finish 2nd these days. They get the big pay check, the invites to big torunaments and the grand lifestyle, but too few are prepared to push it that bit further and expose themselves that bit more.

In my opinion, players on the European Tour have far more hunger than they do in the US.

jph100

brousuka wrote: »

I take your point(s)Maybe it has something to do with the way it's presented on TV, Faldo and Feherty are brilliant on CBS/Setanta and the Sky coverage on the Eup. tour is very stale ie; Euan Murray, Ken Brown etc. Yuch!!

great point and i agree. i thoroughly enjoy listening to faldo+feherty whenver they're stations have the coverage.they really brighten it up.

i think sky is dull.bbc make a good effort for the few events they have.
if it wasnt for the likes of mcilroy coming through in europe i wud definetley watch the us tour more.

pd101

jph100 wrote: »

great point and i agree. i thoroughly enjoy listening to faldo+feherty whenver they're stations have the coverage.they really brighten it up.

i think sky is dull.bbc make a good effort for the few events they have.
if it wasnt for the likes of mcilroy coming through in europe i wud definetley watch the us tour more.

:eek: Cant stand Lineker. He shouldn't be let near the golf.

michaelcoregan8

euro tour is way better than us tour, last weekend's event was over after tiger played 3/4 of his 1st round..........yawn.... for the other 3 rounds ,tiger dominates !!

no one in europe does or has for a while,the order of merit has been won by a different player for the last few years,

unlike tiger and the us money list, and last years fed ex cup even taking weeks off during playoff's at the end

jph100

pd101 wrote: »

:eek: Cant stand Lineker. He shouldn't be let near the golf.

ha. i was referring more to the commentators on bbc such as Sam Torrance.

although i dont think linekar is that bad!

f22

jph100 wrote: »

ha. i was referring more to the commentators on bbc such as Sam Torrance.

although i dont think linekar is that bad!

Personally I think Linekar is a plank, Peter Allis although infinitely knowledgable, farts on too much about "Marge from Cornwall who bakes the best pasties in the world" and such ilk, far too much for my liking. They need some life brought in.

Feherty and Gary McCord are brilliant, and I have to say I quite like Faldo as he's not afraid to call a spade a spade (excuse the pun).

Mister Sifter

f22 wrote: »

Personally I think Linekar is a plank, Peter Allis although infinitely knowledgable, farts on too much about "Marge from Cornwall who bakes the best pasties in the world" and such ilk, far too much for my liking. They need some life brought in.

Feherty and Gary McCord are brilliant, and I have to say I quite like Faldo as he's not afraid to call a spade a spade (excuse the pun).

Allis' ramblings about random nonsense is priceless. Particularly as we only get to hear it on the bbc about 3-4 times a year. When he and Alex hay used to commentate together it was brilliant.

Faldo may not be backward in coming forward, but when you actually listen to what he has to say, alot of the time it's bollox.

I like Ewen Murray, but at times he's too sugary sweet.

GreeBo

I think the coverage has a lot to answer for. US PGA is so boring to watch, the odd drive, (that you only see the swing on, no ball flight) and then jump to watch someone hole an 8 foot putt. I can do that myself, I was to watch guys hit cracking 3 irons from 220 yrds to a small green, I want to watch difficult golf, golf where par is a good score, this American Golf bores me. Cant tell the courses apart, greens like sponges, wind doesnt move and always sunny. Yawn.

brousuka

Ah yes, there was something really special about sitting down on a sunday afternoon and listening to Allis & Hay commentating, especially at the world matchplay at Wentworth. Personally I think Allis is a legend, a gentleman too. Met him a couple of years ago. Linekar is like a fish out of water, a bit like our Ronan Collins commentating on the Irish Open, I mean what's that about like?? He's brutal.

PhilipMarlowe

I have no interest in watching the run-of-the-mill US fayre... Billy Ray Bobby Joe hitting wedges and holing putts, and he's such a nice 'family man' etc....

The European Tour has the local interest with a smattering of Irish boys which is what means the most for me, ok there are obviously weak events on there too but that's the trouble with year-round golf.

uberwolf

Graeme1982 wrote: »

Allis' ramblings about random nonsense is priceless.

his name escapes me, but the eurosport cycling commentator is the same. And great for it.

PhilipMarlowe

Phil Liggett?
Like This?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVp-cAZqDQg

MisterAnarchy

Theres too much golf on tv these days .Its super saturated.
The European tour is definitely lacking big name golfers.
Golf Night is pretty poor to be fair.
Sky really were caught with their pants down when Setanta stole the US PGA golf rights off them.
I used to enjoy watching the US golf on Sky .
I have Setanta now but their coverage is quite poor.
The picture quality is better,widescreen but the commentary feed which is American is bland and they take ads every 5 minutes .
I cant stand those apes Feherty and Mc Cord ,havent a clue about golf.
Setanta also dont synchronise their ads either so its all stop start.
Sky getting rid of the World of Golf was a huge mistake too.
It was a concise informative show with good technical advice.
Golf Night is just too drawn out,not live and frankly lacking star names.

Mister Sifter

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

The European tour is definitely lacking big name golfers.

What? Have you seen the line-up for this week in Dubai? last week's was also top class.

Compare to the US tour this week. The European event is much more attractive.

MisterAnarchy

Graeme1982 wrote: »

What? Have you seen the line-up for this week in Dubai? last week's was also top class.

Compare to the US tour this week. The European event is much more attractive.

The Dubai event is an exception.It is not the norm .
It is funded by a multi billionaire who pays huge appearance money.
You didnt think Tiger was playing there because he liked the course did you ?:D
I'm sure Tiger wont have it as easy as he did last week after the toothless performance of the rest of the field.

Mister Sifter

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

The Dubai event is an exception.It is not the norm .
It is funded by a multi billionaire who pays huge appearance money.
You didnt think Tiger was playing there because he liked the course did you ?:D
I'm sure Tiger wont have it as easy as he did last week after the toothless performance of the rest of the field.

so, last week's line-up was excellent too. Minus tiger, but a very, very good line-up... scott, garcia, monty, casey et al.