Golf: A Great Move by Dubai, Sending Out Westwood, Kaymer and Woods Together

The organizers of Dubai Desert Classic has done what a lot more tournaments should do: They have put out the cream of the crop together on the first day of play.

For as long as television has dominated golf, the golden rule has been to make some attractive TV-pairings, but at the same time to spread the top players between morning and afternoon draws.

The theory has been that viewers would log on and look no matter what the time of day. Hence, we never saw Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods in the same pairing on a Thursday, unless they had both won a major in the same year prior to a USPGA Championship.

Fact is we only saw them head to head very few times as they only peaked few weeks at the same time. However, when it happened, ratings went through the roof.

The argument from the PGA Tour and the European Tour is that people are working in the daytime on Thursday and Friday, so ratings would be best late on the afternoon.

So, one day you could see, say, Tiger on Thursday afternoon and the next day you could get Mickelson.

Examples from other sports show that if you give people the goods, they find a way to check it out, day or night.

And another fact is that the ratings in golf on Thursdays and Fridays can only get better, so it’s worth a try. And that seems to be what they think in Dubai.

With Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer together with world No. 3, Tiger Woods, in the same group, the European Tour is giving the viewers something to look at from the start.

The result is seen on course at the tournament that is usually made for TV because the spectators are to be seen, and I bet the TV ratings will be better too.

Then it’s just up to the players to stay in the spotlight for the weekend, too, but at least it’s a good start.