Texas A&M golf coach J.T. Higgins got his wish, then his dream came true.
The wish was that college golf would move to a less-traditional, head-to-head format to decide a national champion.
His dream was to win a national championship.
I'm not sure even Higgins expected both to come to fruition in the same year. They did, though, and in doing so he and his Aggies, with an assist from the Arkansas Razorbacks, made a statement that could affect the college game for some time to come.
With the dramatic finish -- a birdie on the last hole by A&M's Bronson Burgoon, one of the two players left on the course -- collegiate golf received a little more notoriety than it would have if, say, Oklahoma State would have won another title by eight strokes after 72 holes, which was the format used before last weekend.
There is something about match play that draws people in.
The Ryder Cup is a perfect example. Put the U.S. against the Europeans and average sports fans, not just golf fanatics, are interested. They pick a side that will either win or lose, not finish somewhere around 23rd, which is what can happen with stroke play. Match play is black and white, no gray involved, which conjures up emotions.
Coach Higgins would like the whole NCAA tournament to be head-to-head. Work for a ranking all season and then No. 1 plays No. 64, 2 plays 63, and so on. Sound familiar? It's worked pretty well for basketball.
Now, by no means am I comparing NCAA golf to NCAA basketball, nor do I expect golf ever to reach the heights of college basketball. But any step in that direction is good a thing, and last weekend was certainly a move forward.
That format would also make the regular season more meaningful. Presently, being No. 1 going into the national tournament means nothing, except your likely to get a few more interviews in the media tent than the 54th-ranked fivesome.
Right now, the only teams that the regular season means anything to are those that are ranked somewhere between Nos. 55 and No. 75. Each time those teams tee it up they could play their way in or out of the top 64.
When Duke plays North Carolina in basketball, it's not to make the tournament, it's to improve their seeding so the tournament road will be a little less bumpy. Sure, their is a little thing called pride when teams like that battle, but ultimately it's to make those first two games of March Madness easier.
Also, names like the Sweet 16, the Elite 8 and the Final Four all sound bigger and better than finishing 13th or ninth.
"If we finish seventh at nationals that's not a major story," Higgins said in and interview last spring about changing the format to create more interest. "But if I'm in the Elite 8 at nationals we might get a little bit of coverage, might get TV time, might get a couple stories in the paper."
Why can't golf have regionals when sports like softball, soccer, volleyball, tennis and baseball do?
Have 16 regionals with four teams in each. Two days of match play and you have a Sweet 16 -- or 16 winners -- at one pre-determined site.
That makes for interest, especially if the top 16 teams are getting to host tournaments.
There would be local flavor in the first two rounds. Hosting four teams -- 20 players -- on two-weeks notice shouldn't be a problem for those universities that are serious about their golf. And with all the university courses, i.e. Traditions, that have been built recently, it's obvious there is enough interest from many of the schools.
It would be so much better for the fans. Following two sets of teams playing each other, one player vs. another, is much easier to register than deciphering how four of five players' scores will count for 30-or-so schools so that 10 teams or so can move on.
Just writing that is confusing.
Fans want to see the drama unfold, not see a good shot and wonder what it could mean toward the end result.
One deterrent with a match-play format would be that no individual champion could be crowned after the event. The NCAA could easily address that, however, just like they do in tennis. An individual competition follows the team tournament in that sport.
Of course, after a team event, the individual tournament would be more for the players. The fans would have already had their Ryder Cup.
Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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