Two noteworthy golf writers question the absence of {buzz} (ick) regarding the Ryder Cup. I assume that they reference {buzz} on this side of the great ocean. We know what creates {buzz}, right? Madison Avenue does (is that where the advertising agencies continue to rent space?) Until the marketing machines ramp up their print, television and web campaigns, there will be no buzz. It would seem that a tiny, two-week gathering that happens about every four years will take away the focus of NBC from their Ryder Cup preparations. My guess is, you’ll begin to see Ryder Cup promotions during the Olympics, probably focusing on the grim, pasty face of (pick any American player.)

Without Woods, it’s hard to make any type of case for buzz generation. Does Cink get you hot? Does Mickelson amp you up? Does Leonard make your heart race? Do Perry, Furyk, et al create…you follow? If the athletes are unknown (and this band of brothers will certainly be, outside golfing circles) it would seem to be best to create a generic campaign based on flags (USA and EC), rather than faces. No one in the USA knows any of the Euros; the fact that Europe select their team from two lists (World and Euro Tour points) makes the process even more intricate.

The players are focused on their agendas (winning tournaments, making cuts toward their pensions, the FedEx standings, family, etc.), the tour has an event to run each week, and the PGA of America, the body that runs the Ryder Cup, has a major championship of its own to conduct in early August.

So that’s it in a nutshell…network that has Ryder Cup has Olympics first…organization that runs Ryder Cup has major championship to conduct beforehand…players have lives…and on and on and on…equals no early buzz.

One more thing…the Larry Nelson curse…you’ll have to wait for a future blog entry (and it will come when I feel the buzz) to learn about the curse.

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