The Tour Championship brings PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem's annual state of the Tour press conference where we learn which of the lastest CEO/MBA buzzwords he's using. Last year it was platform, this year it's momentum.

"This discussion is going to be largely about momentum," Finchem told the assembled throng of Darwins and Longhursts. "We think we have momentum in the competition area and momentum in sponsorship, momentum in the area of the TOUR and charity dollars and really every facet, and I'd like to go through all that."

The Commish tells the East Lake feel good story again, because there you just can't milk that one enough. (A link will be posted when its available.)

And of course, the Champions Tour is in great shape...

"We've had in excess of ten percent increase in galleries, the closest race in the four-year history of the Schwab Cup. We had 20 different players win. Craig Stadler had an outstanding year, Mark McNulty, who is going to be a great addition to that Tour had a great start as a rookie, and I think that tour has really hit a stride, continues to grow, has solid sponsorship for the future, and we're delighted with the pace and the momentum of that tour, as well."

What is the Schwab Cup anyway?

Well, it was another great year for charity, where tournament operators made donations and the Tour takes credit for all the giving.

"Another record year this year will be over $85 million in charitable giving, and I think the important thing to recognize about giving back is that -- not just the number, although toward the end of '05 or early '06 we will be approaching the $1 billion mark and we will probably begin to focus on that as an objective as we get into the first quarter next year."

In the image department, "both from the standpoint of the sport itself and the players who play it, and the data that we put together this year, we're in the 93-94 percentile among Americans over the age of 12 who have a very positive attitude toward the image of the PGA TOUR and its players, and 18 to 20 percentile above the next highest sport among Americans who believe that PGA TOUR players are appropriate role models for their kids."

Oh and of course he went on to say it's a multiculturally diverse fan base. (No truth to the rumor that at this point, paramedics had to treat a writer who injured his eye in a deep eye-roll).

And then there was this gem of MBAspeak: "Our tournaments have set records for overall financial performance, net financial performance, work in terms of staging the tournaments, improving the communication with the communication where we play, integrating the communities from a marketing standpoint. We're very pleased with the momentum that our tournaments have in the markets where we play."

But enough nonsense, because Finchem addressed the ball issue and made some interesting comments.

We continue to believe for two years that it's important that the USGA move forward and complete the research necessary to determine what options are available to us if we were to determine at some point in the future that it was important to make a change with the golf ball; that is to say, deaden the golf ball, bring the distance back, regulate it back, what are those options that are available to us? How do the various options impact players at this level competitively? And based on that, what options we'd want to choose.

The reason for that is that if we get to a point where we are concerned about some of the older golf courses and we think an adjustment should be made, it may be a situation where we don't want to wait three or four years to do research and haggle about what options or option we would go to. We are pleased that in this area, again, the United States Golf Association has expended and is expending significant resources in this particular area, and we anticipate that at the end of next year or so, they will conclude their work, and we are very much abreast of the work that they're doing in terms of giving us and providing us options.

This would seem to confirm that the USGA is playing with "regulated ball" possibilities internally, something vehemently denied when Frank Hannigan wrote about it earlier this year on golfobserver.com.

Finchem is asked three questions about the distance issue and offers some interesting comments in between relentless plugs for Shotlink.

Finally, he touches on the Champions Tour cart issue before Bob Combs disrupts the uh, momentum, of the press conference.