Watching Players throw a tantrum might be a good thing

I am thrilled we get to watch golf. I’m even happier we get to hear it. I’m not talking about the sound of Rory McIlroy flushing a 3-iron. I’m more intrigued by players having a tantrum on camera.

Is it good for the game to see some of its biggest stars throwing a tantrum and acting like a 6-year old who’s told it’s time to get out of the pool? I think it might.

I know it’s interesting and entertaining. I also know Bryson DeChambeau and the PGA don’t agree with me. I’m pretty sure Jon Rahm, after bombing a drive into the creek on the par-5 11th hole and slamming his club into the tee box, isn’t wild about more access either.

Admit it, when Rahm was under scrutiny for his ball moving on the 16th hole at The Memorial last weekend, you thought what I did, “If they march out and tell him that was a 2-stroke penalty, we might see the all-time biggest tantrum caught on camera.”

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In the end, Rahm won by enough that the PGA bravely assessed the penalty post-round. It gave the PGA a safe out, made Rahm look like a cheater, and didn’t affect the outcome of the tournament. This is mission-accomplished in the halls of PGA leadership.

It also was a big “screw you” to journeyman Ryan Palmer who, though he was still unlikely to catch Rahm, might have had a chance if Rahm was seething for the final two holes, unable to control his emotions from a correct ruling.

We’ll never know and the PGA is fine with that.

Regardless, COVID golf has forced TV crews to be more invasive in covering the action. Combine that with the lack of crowd congestion and patron noise and we are all hearing the PGA Tour in a new timbre.

For golf junkies like me, hearing the aside conversations and strategic decision-making between caddies and players is fascinating. For the first time, many fans are seeing the real value pro caddies bring to the game.

Caddies serve as topographers, studying every inch of the course. They are meteorologists, monitoring temperatures, humidity levels, and wind speeds. They are agronomists, reading grass grain and green speeds. And, of course, they are club-carrying steeplechase jockeys, piloting their thoroughbreds through the fields, hollows, peaks, and valleys of a golf tournament.

Most entertainingly, they are psychologists. Often, they treat their patient/player like a fragile hysteric who might strip naked and run off into the woods amidst a tantrum should their delicate psyche endure any perceived slight.

Witness Bryson DeChambeau’s caddy moving to block the camera when Bryson misses a fairway. We mustn’t see the Hulk sulk. I noticed his caddy wasn’t blocking the view of Bryson accepting his first-place check after his Rocket Mortgage victory.

Listen, I understand not wanting to look like an ass on national TV. But rather than having your employee block the camera or scolding the media after the round, how about this?

Don’t be a jerk.

Frankly, seeing Jon Rahm on the verge of having a tantrum and blowing up on the 11th hole was not something I was cheering for. I have nothing against Rahm. He’s supremely talented and I actually like his competitive edge.

Aside:

Spanish golfers are somewhat known for their mercurial tempers on the course. Seve definitely had that “edge”. He was one of the all-time great needlers. Sergio has it, but it most often manifests as whining, not fiery competitiveness.

I guess the exception is Miguel Angel Jimenez. I consider him to be my golfing spirit animal. He doesn’t practice, barely warms up, smokes and drinks his way through life, and makes no excuses for his “Porque No?” reputation. 

He has Michael Jackson’s hair and Ernest Borgnine’s face, yet he is a legend with men and women, alike. He is golf’s Most Interesting Man and if he has a temper like the other Spaniards, it is quickly forgiven when he does his flamenco moonwalk after draining a long putt.

But I digress.

It’s clear the PGA isn’t wild about showing players lose their cool. That has obviously been communicated to the network broadcast teams who cut away at the slightest hint of a player erupting.

I think it actually enhances the viewing experience to see players go off the rails a bit. Look at golf’s country club companion sport – tennis.

Who didn’t love watching John McEnroe prowl Centre Court at Wimbledon, hoping a bad call would spark one of Mac’s trademark rants? And give tennis credit, they would show the whole thing.

Flared tempers make for better drama. Conflict is the essential element of every drama from Shakespeare to Soap Operas. I wish golf would consider the potential positives in this reality.

Some might argue that seeing adults hammer clubs into the ground, yell at caddies, treat rules officials like rented mules, or verbally accost rowdy fans will cheapen the majesty of the game.

We know it’s happening already with the Twitterverse capturing every word and movement. Can we just face reality?

Let’s get deep inside the ropes. I want to hear the trash talk at the Ryder Cup. I want to hear what a player says when he hits an approach in the water on the 15th hole at Augusta on Sunday.

I want to know who the good guys are, who the jerks are, who has a sense of humor, who doesn’t, who treats his caddie well, who yells at fans, and who is human enough to react just like the rest of us do when we hit a bad shot or a great one.

In short, I want to watch the human drama play out with real humans on the screen, not some sanitized version of a person with no feelings or faults.

It might be the next evolution of growing the game. Let us see the intensity, feel the pressure, and know the players on the stage in the same way we know our weekend gold buddies; as humans who ride an emotional rollercoaster on every hole, capable of a tantrum at any point.

That would be fun, and it might grow the game to let people see not just the amazing skill of a player, but the authentic human condition revealed from the heat of sporting battle.