Which Tournament Will You Watch?

Daniel Wexler previews this week's events with course aerials and it got me thinking, in order of interest this week my list looks like this:

1) Women's British Open at Sunningdale

2) U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor

3) Reno-Tahoe at Montreux

4) WGC Bridgestone at Firestone

The Broadmoor is not a great television course, but having played in the last Broadmoor Invitational before they went to a partners format (PGA Tour player Shane Bertsch waxed me 6&5 in match play), I can attest to its character. Throw in Mike Davis' setup and it should at least be entertaining, though still a distant second to seeing championship golf at classy old Sunningdale.

Reno (I'm sad to say) is of interest not because of Montreux but due to the Wie freak show. And that leaves Firestone. Long, boring and CBS's finest trying to tell us it's a classic. No thanks!

What tournament do you most want to watch?

Comments

[Greg]

Is this a trick question? I just wish TNT/ABC were doing more than 2 hours of coverage per day. All of the heather at Sunningdale is in bloom. It should look awesome in HDTV.

[Joe in PB]

I'll be watching Montreux while annoyed by the fact that a developer, lacking creativity, chose to steal their project name from a historic city, and then failed to emulate it in either beauty or grandeur. And knowing that Michelle's every move will be well documented, I'll be looking for her to keep composed, focused and show us the same good golf that we saw before the DQ. I'll be looking for her playing partners and fellow competitors to be sportsmen and not the whiny snivelers they sometimes become. And I'll be dreaming of a Sunday pairing between Michelle and David Duval, much maligned both, but having jobs we all wish we could have and sporting some amazingly fashionable eyewear while doing it.

[question?]

You will tune in to a golf tournament to watch a course? The best golf will be played by the best players, and they will be in Akron at Firestone. It's about the competition. Sunningdale is wonderful, and probably prettier on camera than Firestone, but I would rather see quality golf shots than quality heather.

[Smolmania]

Here's hoping my boy Billy Rosinia from Flagg Creek makes the cut at the Senior Open. That's #1 on my dvr list for Thursday and Friday at least, but thanks to the wonders of technology, I'll take a spin through all 4 events. . .

[johnny knoxville]

Will probably catch only the highlights. Might watch Women's Open for 30 minutes but that is about it.

The coverage at Firestone will be so boring, with the announcers all trying to out-do each other with pithy or revealing comments, and then you have the back and forth, tree lined, long par 4s. Ugh. Might watch it if it is raining and I can't mow the yard.

[Old Tom]

While I agree in principle with the point you are trying to make, I doubt very much that sitting through endless no-names to catch a shot of Wie every little while will bring many to watch the Reno-Tahoe. Although you placed the Women's open at the top of your list you didn't talk about it at all. Golf course aside, the LPGA is really quite entertaining these days. They have many players who can challenge, but Ochoa is also a very impressive player who is carving out her own legacy. When Tiger and Phil are not at a tournament, the interest meter drops to zero and nobody cares........the PGA tour has a serious lack of characters and a very serious problem moving forward for the next few years......

[Geoff]

Question?
I'll turn the channel NOT to watch a certain course in this case.

Come on now, there's more to Sunningdale than nice heather. And there are some pretty good golfers there too.

[dsl]

Women's British, if anything.

Up here in Canada, I've just discovered that the Golf Channel has been removed from the non-digital cable package. They've been threatening to do it for a while, but it looks like it's finally happened. I still get it on 2 of 3 tvs in the house, but the all-important bedroom tv can no longer pick up the channel. Looks like no more late-night PGA/LPGA/Geriatric/Nationwide tour viewing...

[Pete the Luddite]

Some Women's Open Championship viewing with my daughters, then it's TVs off to go and play my own course. Don't care about the Wie Circus. May catch some of the Senior Open on Sunday if weather here turns or if there's an interesting leaderboard.

[Kevin]

My golf watching methodology:

1. Scan the TV listings to see what's on that Sat or Sun
2. Cross off any tournament that isn't in HD (that usually means the demise of LPGA, Champions and Nationwide)
3. Unless Champions Tour is in HD and is a major, delete it from my list
4. Tivo any tournament that survives the above
5. At night, scan through the tournament coverage, just watching the good stuff

[sodface]

This is surely a weekend to play the golf, not watch it....

That said, if I'm hit by a taxi tomorrow and laid up in the hospital, my vote is for Sunningdale.

[Wisconsin Reader]

Senior Open at the Broadmoor - I played the NCAA there about 40 years ago -and the Womens Open Championship. . . Both events will have the best players in the world - of the eligible type.

No Tiger - WGC is of no interest to me.

[Joey]

I'll be watching the Women's British Open and, maybe, Firestone. I've no interest at all for the Old Guys tour, and I don't have the Golf Channel, which rules out watching Michelle.

Not quite sure why she didn't try to qualify for Women's British Open.

[BillV]

I have to cheat and say two.

My head pro qualified and is in the Senior (and I have played the course 40 times), so I'll surely watch even though teh Senior Pros give me the heebie-jeebies.

My default TV Golf is always any Euro golf, so it's two; can't pass up Sunningdale.