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Taylormade Driving Relief the entry we needed back into golf

By Christopher O'Day

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 08: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Dustin Johnson of the United States walk on the second hole during a practice round prior to The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 08, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 08: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Dustin Johnson of the United States walk on the second hole during a practice round prior to The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 08, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) /
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In a long-awaited return to golf, we got to watch four professionals tee up in a fundraiser, playing the Taylormade Driving Relief event at Seminole.

It didn’t really matter what they put on TV, people were going to turn in to watch it. It had been so long since we had seen live golf on TV, much less any other professional sport. They Taylormade Driving Relief event wasn’t perfect, but it was a welcome return to the world of live sports.

We saw a lot of money raised. From donations from those watching, to a set amount allocated to each squad at the beginning, to birdies all day earning their own money, and the majority coming from skins, which was the main force at the Taylormade sponsored event.

Anyone who has watched golf, or even takes a second to think about it from a playtime vs. walking breakdown, knows that there is going to be a lot of downtimes when there are only four people on the course.

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This definitely happened throughout the event. From interviews with Bill Murray to Donald Trump, there were a lot of airspaces that needed to be filled while the players walked to their ball.

It’s not like the announcers can cut away to other players on the course, bring up how many shots player X needs to catch-up to player Y, or show highlights from previous years events, or even prior rounds.

Knowing all of that, it makes sense that there was going to be a bit of disappointment. Taking that into account though, it was still exactly the type of event that was needed.

We got to see a different format, which a lot of golf fans out there have been clamoring to see for quite a long time. Having no fans was tough, but we still saw the players stay light, as occasionally they would act like they were acknowledging fans after making a shot, which was pretty funny.

If anything, the Taylormade event helped to reinforce how important it is to have fans at an event. It’s still going to be a while before we get there, as we will be seeing a few real events without fans before we get back to normalcy.

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Regardless of how you feel the event was handled, you must admit one thing. It’s nice having golf back in our lives.

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