Skip to search.

Breaking News Visit Yahoo! News for the latest.

×Close this window

Devil Ball Golf - Golf

Devil Ball Golf

Tue Mar 15 04:31pm EDT

Catriona Matthew believes money has warped the men's game

By Jay Busbee

The disparity between men's and women's golf in terms of popularity and revenue is obvious and, to fans of women's golf, painful. And now, at least one affected party is striking back.

In The Scotsman, Catriona Matthew holds forth on how the increase in money has contributed to a decline in the game on the men's side:

"I don't want to appear bitter -- I can't say I've got anything to complain about lifestyle-wise -- but the men make ridiculous amounts of money, too much money really, to the point where they almost put people off watching them. I saw Bubba Watson lose in the match play a couple of weeks ago and he was laughing. He just didn't seem to care. I guess when you make as much as they do, you lose some of the incentive to win."

It's a fair point, one we've made many times here. In the years that everyone was getting waxed by Tiger Woods, even the lowest cut-makers were getting wealthy beyond measure. Does that have an effect on the level of your competitiveness? You can make almost as much finishing tenth as finishing first, for far less effort and heartache ... you tell me.

Matthew, age 40, has amassed more than $6 million in career earnings, and she's not exactly complaining. Still, it's an interesting point, one that will dominate golf in the coming years: how can you change the game when the people who need to change are doing just fine, thank you very much?

Interview: Catriona Matthew [The Scotsman]

digg delicious

Related Articles

Launch Article Browser

Devil Ball Golf

Add to My Yahoo! RSS

Related Photo Gallery

More GOLF Photos »

Y! Sports Blog