Big Break Indian Wells: For the love of money

Well, we’ve been waiting a long time for another Big Break to hit the Golf Channel (almost as long as we’ve been waiting for spring to arrive in Vancouver).

Luckily GC is a little more reliable than Mother Nature who has decided that Spring is not for those north of the 49th parallel.  For some reason this year, she’s decided that a longer, more miserable winter is perfect punishment for Canadian golfers like me who want to play hooky and play the game they love. Grrr…

But I digress…

It was great to sit back and PVR my way through tonight’s premier. I really love the new format where each competitor begins with $5,000, and they must win all the other player’s earnings during competition to be the last man standing. That last man will have over $50,000 in his pocket. Sweet!

Of course there is always an exemption to a PGA Tour event in the prize package. This time around it’s the 2012 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where Bubba Watson just landed his 2nd victory of the 2011 season.

So I guess it’s really not all about the money, but the show certainly makes it out to be the driving force on every competition.  I am very curious what it does to the men.  Will they do stupid things for the cash; will they fall prey to the “Drive for show; Putt for dough” cliche?  Who knows…but it sure will be fun to watch.

I don’t know any of the contestants personally, but for some reason, I was very sad to see Piri (Petey) leave tonight – it seemed much too soon for someone with his scrambling talent to leave the show.  But that’s how the Big Break breaks I guess.

When I first heard about this BB, I knew I wanted to talk to a few of the players, but the one who was top on my list was David Byrne from Essex, Ontario Canada.

David is probably the only BB competitor I’ve ever watched compete who is looking for a Big Break more for someone else, rather than himself. In this “me me me” world, it’s rare to find someone so young with such a giving attitude.

When I read about David, I wanted to know more about the man who said, “Everything I do here in golf is for my mom and because of my mom.” 

Looks good in print doesn’t it? But watch his video bio on the Golf Channel and tell me if he isn’t the real deal.

Here’s this week’s kick-start interview with the youngest competitor on Big Break Indian Wells, David Byrne.

Is it just me or does David seem too nice to be on Big Break Indian Wells?  Perhaps I am jaded by past BB dramas, but it’s so refreshing to meet someone who has his head and heart in the right place.

I am looking forward to watching David every week and hearing about his adventures on the BB.  I’ll add a few more contestants to these interviews as time goes on, but for me, this interview was a great way to kick off the series.

If you have a favorite contestant you’d like to see on this blog, please let me know and I’ll see if I can connect with him.

Meanwhile, check out David’s Facebook page and some great pictures of him with some seriously famous golf celebs.

Until next week…

Golfgal