It was announced that Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Hideki Matsuyama would participate in a Skins Game on October 21st. The event will take place a few days before the Zozo Championship. The Zozo Championship is a new event on Tour.
The revival of the Skins Game concept is important to golf even more now than when it was really popular during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
In the Social Media Era, fans feel closer to athletes than they ever had. Instead of having the media craft the athlete’s story, athletes can directly touch fans. The Skins Games concept falls right in line with this. I would assume the players will be mic’ed up allowing fans to have insight on the golfers as they are playing. This is a plus for younger fans. Simply having the players out there playing golf is probably enough for my generation but golf’s reach to the next generation continues to expand. It’s important for the game and the PGA Tour, to continue to find ways to get fans to feel invested in the golfers themselves.
If this grows, can you imagine some of the potential foursomes. Here are some I would like to see:
Xander Schauffele
Bryson DeChambeau
Matthew Wolff
Viktor Hovland
This group is the under-25 crew that contains four golfers who made names for themselves while still in college. This group, along with others, is the next generation of the Tour. Giving them the stage without big name veterans to compete with would be good for the game.
Tony Finau
Brooks Koepka
Dustin Johnson
Gary Woodland
This is my “we know you but we don’t know you” group. All four are well known but it would be good to see all four on the course in a more relaxed environment. Hearing all four mic-ed up would expose their personality more and that would be great for fans. Plus, all four can flat out mash the ball off the tee. That would be fun to watch.
Keegan Bradley
Henrik Stenson
John Rahm
Paul Casey
I had to find something off the beaten path so this is the riskiest suggestion.
What do these four have in common? They are in the top 25 GIR from 200+ yards. I didn’t want to repeat golfers so some of the players who fall in this category but was in another foursome weren’t considered. Each player would play from 225 yards and in. This could make for some large skins at stake.
The PGA Tour is as skilled as it ever has been. Letting fans see the golfers play a different, more relaxed style would be good for the game.
