Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

As Sideline Sid gets older, he gets grumpier.

One of the things that makes him grumpy is the plethora of reality TV shows that dominate television today. Staged rubbish where outcomes are determined by scripts and director's wishes, all taking centre stage on New Zealand free to air television.

When pay-to-view Sky arrived in Tauranga in the early 1990s, he couldn't sign up quick enough to follow live sport from across the globe.

Last Sunday afternoon and early evening, the old fella watched entranced as high drama was played out at the Australian PGA on the Gold Coast of Australia.

After watching the golf action from the first round on Thursday, there was little hint of the drama that would happen after the regulation 72 holes had concluded on Sunday.

World number three Adam Scott and former PGA winner Greg Chalmers, along with Wade Ormsby, were all tied at 11-under, which necessitated a play-off.

In repetitive scenes similar to the film Groundhog Day, the winner wasn't decided until the 18th hole had been played on seven different trips down the fairway.

First to go was Ormsby, who after narrowly missing a chance to win by making a birdy putt on the second playoff hole, dropped out a hole later.

From there Chalmers and Scott traded shots, until Scott missed a four-foot putt for par on the seventh playoff hole, to give Greg Chalmers a simple tap in to claim his second Australian PGA title.

There is one thing better than watching live sport on TV – being there at the action to watch events unfold.

On Friday, Sid took time out to indulge in one of his passions of horse racing, at the local Gate Pa track. Forty years ago Tauranga would almost come to a standstill when the races came to town four or five times a year.

Fast forward to today, and horse racing in NZ plays second and even third fiddle to a wide variety of high intensity sports and other activities. Today people have to have a reason to go to the races – with Racing Tauranga putting that on in spades last Friday with their Christmas at the Races meeting.

The idea of firms and organisations holding their Christmas functions, where having a flutter on galloping thoroughbreds is the centre of attention, really has taken hold at the Tauranga course during November and December.

The Friday meeting was the third Christmas at the Races at Gate Pa this year and a near-full car park testified to people turning out in their droves.

Traditional racing fans pencil in the high profile race days such as the Japan Trophy and the Tauranga Stakes, where many of the horses are stars who come to race hard.

However for racing to survive in New Zealand, the administrators need to attract casual race goers to days such as last Friday and the Summer Racing Carnival day on the 2nd of January 2015.

A first time at the races with the thrills and spills of winning and losing, often sees the novice punter return on other occasions.

Seeya at the races.