You know how everyone complained about starting a playoff for a prestigious event with a near $2 million payout on an island green par 3 that is subjected to crosswinds? And also that it would be so cool if they had a 3 hole playoff comprising 16, 17, and 18? Well, we might get it! This, according to Golf.com’s Tour Confidential:

I heard from a good source that the Tour and NBC are discussing a three-hole playoff — the 16th, 17th and 18th at TPC Sawgrass — in case of a tie at the Players Championship. Starting a sudden-death playoff at a par-3 like the island-green 17th was always kind of goofy and quickly killed any drama this year when Paul Goydos dunked his tee shot to lose to Garcia. The three-hole playoff is a great idea and one that I’ve mentioned here before, just like I suggested that the Masters should go to a three-hole playoff at Amen Corner.

Of course, both tournaments would have to move up the tee times a little on Sunday to leave enough daylight for the extra holes, and I’m not sure either the Tour or TV wants to do that, but I’m glad they’re at least taking a serious look at it.

They should bump up the tee times for every major final round to 2pm or 1:30pm. Let’s get it overwith!

Well, the playoff would be 18 holes the next day. At golf.com, the PGA Tour Confidential columnist disagrees with the sentiment and backs up my proposal for finishing off the Players:

The 18-hole playoff is obsolete, not to mention anticlimactic. Times have changed, but the USGA hasn’t. They need to quit being so obsessed with tradition. The four-hole playoff used at the British Open is genius. I don’t like sudden death, but I like the four-hole format. That’s what they should use at the Players too — play 15, 16, 17 and 18 instead of going to sudden death and letting a gust of wind decide the winner, as it did with Garcia and Paul Goydos last month.

For the record, I think the US Open is the major championship that is LEAST likely to produce a playoff. Why? Because I think it is more likely that someone will choke away the chance (Mickelson at Winged Foot) to get into a playoff at the US Open than birdie your way into a playoff.

I happen to be in the camp that Garcia won the thing. No, really, he did. He had an abnormally good week of putting, fairways, and GIRs. Still Furman Bisher disagrees:

I was out of town at another golf event, watching Paul Goydos almost win The Players Championship. He has a better handicap than Hiaasen, and he doesn’t go around writing books about it. I mention Goydos over Sergio Garcia because Sergio won about the way Ernie Els won a tournament awhile ago. Neither won it, somebody else lost it, in the case of the TPC, Goydos. Good-natured, humorous and just recovering his game, as is Hiaasen.

Did Goydos lose it because he is all of the qualities Furman described? Is he referring to Els’ victory at PGA National in the Honda event? I just don’t see it.

Do you think Paul Goydos lost the Players – basically choked?

In my monthly column over at Sports Central, I talk about the seriousness of slow play. I know, it’s my crusade topic for this season. But, I talk about it in light of the 5 hour rounds of the final pairings at the Masters and the Players Championship. Also, I talk about how Tim Finchem appears to be stepping up to the plate with some options. Last, I mention how everyone wins if those options are implemented regardless of trying to clean up slow play.

As you may or may not know, I am a fan of the 3 and 4 hole playoffs in major championships. I think that they confer a sense of fairness on deciding a major as quickly as possible. (Often times, the USGA’s lengthy playoff is over before it starts, so the thrill is kind of absent.) That’s why I was surprised that the Players Championship decided to have a sudden death playoff…beginning on 17.

Obviously, starting on 17 leaves the very real possibility that the playoff could end right there. It is a very difficult hole for a variety of reasons that you know. As it turns out, the playoff did end on that first hole when the wind took Paul Goydos’ aggressive pitching wedge and ballooned it to drop it about 5 yards shy of being great. Sergio hit a most impressive shot to win the event, though. Who knows if he would have made that five footer for birdie had Goydos hit land with his tee shot.

Still, I find it curious that they go with the sudden death playoff. The PGA Tour wants the Players to be a major so badly. Sudden death playoff is no longer in their collective vocabulary. Why not have them “run the Gauntlet” one more time on 16 through 18? Especially after Beman claimed (through Jimmy Roberts) that he finally named that stretch of holes correctly?

I can see benefits to both approaches, so weigh in: were you ok with a great finish ending so abruptly, or would you have wanted to give Goydos a chance to catch up to Garcia by playing the brutal 18th again?

Steve Elling tells us that it is ugly out there, and not just with the Sunday wind.

Everybody understands that world No. 1 Tiger Woods has a huge impact on TV ratings, which was borne out last weekend at the Wachovia Championship when viewer numbers were roughly half what they were when he won the same event last spring. His massive impact on purses over the arc of his career has been obvious, too.

Nobody is at fault for Woods’ absence, of course, but golf nonetheless is getting an unanticipated lesson in Tiger microeconomics. From hotels and restaurants to tertiary folks like ticket scalpers, it’s going to be a long and lean week, compared with what was expected before Woods was forced to withdraw.

As is often the case, the best gauge of fan demand can be measured via the rough-hewn guys hawking tickets on street corners outside any sports venue. The scalpers Friday morning looked equal parts desperate and bored as they took up their positions at sunrise alongside State Highway A1A, which fronts the property.

As an attendee of the event (2003), that is definitely anecdotally true. Still, one has to consider more than Tiger. Ticket prices are $75 per day. Drinks, souvenirs, hotels, maybe a flight, and probably gas all add up to make it much more expensive. A hefty price to pay in a time when people seem very cynical about the state of the country and our economy. Tiger probably has an impact, but lousy economic prospects may also.

This, though, is crazy.

Then there’s the hotel situation. The reason the conversation with the desk clerk took place is because I was checking out early Friday morning, after learning some guests were being gouged on the room rate. Because demand has fallen so quickly, the walkup room rate is far lower than the price many of us had reserved six months earlier. By checking back in later today, the rate will be $50 cheaper per night. Hotels are slashing rates, a sure sign that supply exceeds demand.

Ponte Vedra was packed when I was there five years ago. I had no problem making friends there because so many people packed bars to have a drink and have fun. (Then again, this was in March when the NCAA tournament was on at night.)

Finally, though, the media representation at any event really does speak to its relevance regardless of who is playing. This is telling.

The body count in other quarters has signaled a resounding no. The numbers for national media in attendance speak for themselves. None of the papers from Los Angeles or Chicago are covering the so-called fifth major. Even the Miami Herald, located just six hours down Interstate 95, took a pass, as did St. Petersburg, the state’s biggest newspaper. Sports strongholds like Charlotte, Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia also took a pass. Amazingly, San Diego, set to host a U.S. Open in a month, isn’t here either.

Jeff Shain, out. Ron Green, no? Bill Nichols and/or Jimmy Burch? No thanks. Joe Logan had something better to do. Tod Leonard? You can’t be serious. That’s bad.

Bob Verdi, in the Local Knowledge blog at Golf Digest, filed a report about his experience with Kangaroo TV. (It may be a subtle shot at Greg Norman.)

For $25 per day, or $75 for the entire tournament, fans at the Players Championship can rent something called a Kangaroo TV. It hangs around your neck with a strap, weighs maybe a pound, and allows you to watch the telecast while you’re out baking in the sun. I would liken it to the “black box” that Peter Kostis takes with him while roaming the fairways for CBS, except that Peter has never let me near his black box. He must have heard about my stormy relationship with computers.

Besides the actual telecast, you can punch in just the action at the fabled 17th hole, or go to the scoreboard, or the stat center or create a search for your favorite player. I don’t have a favorite player, which is just as well because I couldn’t get past the screen welcoming me to the Kangaroo TV world and offering “simple instructions”.

It does sound pretty neat for people that want to pick a hole when they go to an event and stay there all day, but still want to know about what is going on in the tournament.