After Round Interviews

A friend asked me yesterday what I thought about golfers not giving an after round media interview. Last week Tiger left and didn't say a word. I have given this some thought and I can certainly relate to Tiger's disappointment in himself and his final round of play. I know that when I play badly the last thing I want to do is talk about it in the bar with my friends and fellow golfers however I think there might be more to Tiger's lack of an interview. More on this later.

Other players in the past have looked the other way when it came time to giving an interview. Phil was notorious for not wanting to speak to the media however he is getting better and if memory serves even Vijay was on the range instead of inside the press tent.

So should we as viewers care if the players don't want to speak to the media after a round of golf? My answer is NO!

First of all if you spend any time watching a post play interview you will notice they are driven by the players performance. If he plays well then that player through the interview can tell us how he holed a put on the 13th hole knowing that we just saw him sink that vary putt an hour and a half earlier. The broadcast just showed us that same put in the highlights segment of the broadcast as well. The same holds true with a bad round interview. Same questions different answers.

As players embrace media technology and have the time, more and more players will communicate with us using personal blogs and websites and as we as viewers continue to grow it will be us that drive them in this direction. We all should be recording golf on our DVR's by now and most of us will skip through the interviews and the commercials. The exception to the commercials are the Cobra commercials (My god those are funny).

I personally feel that the players should interact with the crowd more and stop to sign autographs. I simply don't feel it necessary for the after round interview. The interview process will not go away however as I mentioned earlier the way the players ultimately communicate with us will.

I have not been on Tiger's website yet but if he has not addressed his play as of yet he should and will most likely do so soon.

Another thing to take into consideration is the character of the player. If you watched the movie Tin Cup you most certainly remember Don Johnson's character not wanting to sign autographs for the child, his grandparents and their dog. I am sure Tiger loves dogs however if he was playing bad and didn't want to sign an autograph we should let it slide. Tiger does more for the golfing community than we will ever know.

Sure the players are playing for our viewing pleasure. They also play for charities, their families and others. Today's golfer is being paid a lot of money. They don't have weekly salaries, they have to perform to make the cut and most play with pride and honor. One bad day and one missed interview does not make the man and it should not define the golfer.

I am sure Tiger feels the pressure. He has lost his streak, he played bad on Sunday and was most likely very upset. The truth is he was smart enough to avoid the interview knowing that he might say something that was not of his character and in Tiger's case character counts.