PGA Tour 2010

The pro golf season kicks off tomorrow with the SBS (formerly Mercedes) Championship at Kapalua. Though the field is comprised of tournament winners from 2009, it is not overly impressive and serves as a stark reminder of the dull 2009 season. When even the golf fans fail to remember winners from the previous year and, in several cases, cannot put a face to the names, the Tour might have a bit of a problem.

But for more than a decade the Tour has largely been about one player. That strategy, while strengthening the purses, has weakened the Tour. 2010 needs to be the year that the Tour turns a corner from a marketing and entertainment standpoint. With the economy still spluttering and many of the Tour's premier sponsors being scapegoated by Washington, the Tour needs to recognize it is in a precarious position.

Even among true golfaholics, the PGA Tour is only rarely exciting. Thanks to the golf ball, boring golf courses, standardized setups and drab players, there is often little reason to tune in to a telecast. Add the fact that the Tour's poster boy is on "indefinite leave" and the future looks rather grim. For the sake of golf fans everywhere, and professional golf itself, let’s hope Commissioner Finchem and company can begin to chart a new course for the PGA Tour.