Okay, laddie, let’s see you handle these!

The Professional Golfers Associations must be a worried lot these days.A new problem has arisen taking the sting out of the tournaments an...

The Professional Golfers Associations must be a worried lot these days.A new problem has arisen taking the sting out of the tournaments andmaking them a one-man show. Up to now, all the tournaments were “open” meaning that all the competitors were considered to be at par with each other and the player with the lowest score won. In short, all the players were in a single category.

But that has changed of late. Now there are two distinct categories: one,the professionals, and two, Tiger Woods. Rather, the other way around. Thelast few weeks have shown that Tiger belongs to a higher category and itis unfair for the others to be clubbed with him just as it is not fair fora single-figure handicapper to be playing at par with one who shoots inthe 90s. Whereas in the past, tournaments went on to sudden death play-offsinvolving two or three players, Tiger ran away with the US Open last monthwinning by 15 strokes and has just won the British Open by 8 strokes. He has provided us with a glimpse of things to come when he had won the Masters in 1997 by 12 strokes. And now, he is the youngest player ever to have won all four tournaments comprising the Grand Slam of Golf and is currently theholder of 3 of the 4.

I am sure the big brasses of golf must be wondering what to do to makematters even. I have a few suggestions and it is up to them to choosethe right option.

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One option is to have a separate prize for Tiger. Let the others competeon the lowest score basis but put a bottomline for Tiger. Declare that hewill be given a prize only if he scores say 20 below par.

If, however, he has to compete with the rest, lay out separate tees andholes for him. He could tee off 50 yards behind the rest and his greenscould be beyond the regular ones protected by additional bunkers of the`road hole’ bunker variety. Remember David Duval’s four shots in thatbunker in the final round of the British Open?

Of course, there is always the handicapping system whereby he could be asked to give strokes to other pros. But that would bring up bickerings just as it does in club play. Nobody is ever satisfied with his handicap and every game begins, continues and ends with heated arguments about how everyone else excluding you gets more strokes than he deserves. Once pros start getting strokes, they, like Oliver, will be asking for more.

One final option is to deny Tiger the fruits of modern technology. Take away the titanium and the graphite and what have you. Dig into St Andrew’s museum for the wooden-shafted clubs and gutta-percha balls and hand them over to Tiger and say, “Okay laddie, let’s see what you can do with these!”

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Of course, we would not be able to call these tournaments “open”. "Close"would be more appropriate prize for the one who gets closest to Tiger!

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