Spoor: Atmosphere at Scottsdale good for the game, fans

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- I spent seven years covering NASCAR before coming over to the golf side of things toward the end of 2006. In that time, I saw many unusual things that I can safely say will probably end up in a book somewhere, but won't end up in this column because, well, I kind of like my job -- and definitely like being able to pay my bills.

Scene at No. 16 (WireImage)

When I came over to PGATOUR.com, I had resigned myself to the fact that I had experienced the wild side of sports for the last time, or at least the last time in quite a while.

Then I came to the FBR Open.

The similarities are numerous -- very friendly people -- like nearly

everyone I bumped into when I blogged from No. 16 on Wednesday. Loads of food, like the mojo pies, the ice cream sold from a cart when the temperature didn't climb above 60 on Sunday. Loads of ...uh..beverages.

Less said there, the better.

Loads of beautiful people, many of whom you would not want to bring to mom's house for Sunday dinner and many of whom did not appear to have much of a budget for clothing.

Know what else? Loads of fun.

Purists might say that the whole thing isn't golf, that it isn't the way the game is supposed to be enjoyed, that it simply isn't right.

Hogwash.

The PGA TOUR, just like NASCAR, just like Major League Baseball, the NFL or the NBA, is, in its purest form, entertainment. You watch a game or a match or a round or a race to be entertained, to be inspired and maybe to learn something. Entertainment is not designed to be a stuffy experience, at least not most of the time.

Sports don't solve the world's problems, they help us escape from them, and amongst the 500,000-plus on hand at TPC Scottsdale this week, I saw very few people that were wallowing in any sort of problem -- at least when I saw them.

Should every tournament be like this? Probably not. After all, you wouldn't want The Masters to turn into this tournament, or any major, for that matter. You certainly wouldn't want a major decided by someone yelling at a player at the top of his swing, an occurrence that happened numerous times this week.

But for one week (or more?), it shatters the stereotype that the game of golf has spent a lot of time and effort running away from.

From a business standpoint -- and yes, Virginia, at this level, sports is hardly ever about competition and almost always about business and marketing -- this type of tournament is a rousing success.

WireImage

Could a quarter of the fans here this week tell you Phil Mickelson's average driving distance last year? Likely not, but the key is that 500,000 people, in one form or another, were exposed to the PGA TOUR, and to a larger degree, the game of golf.

If even one percent of those people decide to pick up a olf club for the first time next week, hasn't the TOUR achieved its goal? I keep being reminded of a young boy of about 11 that I met -- at No. 16 of all places -- who was amazed at how many autographs he was able to get during Wednesday's pro-am. Every time he'd come back with a new signature on his hat or his program, he'd flip through to read more on the guy that had just brightened his day.

Think he'll be watching the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM next week? Do you think his father and grandfather, both at his side Wednesday and neither with a river of golf knowledge, would have taken him there had it not been for the reputation of No. 16?

At the end of the day, isn't that the idealistic purpose, to introduce more people to the game? So what if not everyone was focused on golf, so what if people were loud or booed or cheered or whatever.

Mission accomplished.