Perception is Reality for Fall Series

We have talked in this blog many times about how lousy the attendance has been in the Fall Series events. The expectation from the beginning was that very few solid golfers would tee it up in these events largely geared to the rank and file and the occasionally sprite golfer seeking to inch into the top 30 for an invitation to the Masters (see: Justin Leonard). As a result, golf fans perceived these events as something not worth their attendance. I have quoted several news stories detailing poor attendance numbers.

Just to nail the point home, though, Golfweek's Eric Soderstrom talks about his experience at the Children's Miracle Network Classic (aka Disney) last week.

My colleague told me he saw six people sitting in the 18th hole grandstands around 1 o’clock Friday.

Sunday morning, I – as in, only I – watched third-round leader Scott Verplank take his final practice putts before walking to the first tee.

I saw Tim Petrovic (playing in the final group) dead pull his opening tee shot about 180 yards into a lateral hazard. I heard no grumblings from the gallery, which didn’t even extend as far as the teebox.

I saw former champion Lucas Glover sit down behind the 18th green and yawn.

Even the Kids’ Zone, filled with such classic arcade games as Space Invaders, Ms. Pac-Man and Golden Tee 2005, was empty at noon.

To top things off, I witnessed a caddie yell at a group of marshals on the 12th tee to quiet down. All were holding those “Quiet” signs.

Yikes. But, have the fields been as weak as advertised? Maybe not. Consider this from AP's Doug Ferguson:

Four tournaments during the Fall Series had a stronger field than the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, which counts as a FedEx Cup event and whose winner (Brandt Snedeker) got an automatic invitation to the Masters.

Maybe they weren't so bad after all. They weren't great, but they were not awful. If you want awful, consider these FedEx Cup events mentioned by Ferguson:

[T]ournaments that had none of the top 10 - the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, the John Deere Classic and the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

Five tournaments only had one player in the top 10 - the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, PODS Championship at Innisbrook, AT&T Classic outside Atlanta, Colonial and the Buick Open.

The Fall Series was not even marketed as as having top 10 players in them. After all, it was originally called the Quest for the Card. But, despite that, one Fall Series events had a top 10 player in the field - Fry's Electronics Open (Phil Mickelson).