"Golf has never been exclusively about length, but that seems like the emphasis now"

Robert Thompson blogs about a story he's written quoting Nick Price about the state of the game and his likely final appearance in the Canadian Open.

Unfortunately, in a professional golf world increasingly dominated by players who hit their tee shots remarkable distances, shot makers like O'Meara and Price have quickly become relics of a bygone era.

"It has been very tough for me to be competitive out here in the last few years," Price said. "I've been very vocal about this. The way the game is going -- especially the USGA and Augusta -- and the way it is focusing on length, they are keeping a lot of players from being able to win major championships."

And Thompson writes that Price is actually looking forward to the Champions Tour:

"I'm tired of playing 7,600 yard golf courses," he said. "I'm sick of that. Golf has never been exclusively about length, but that seems like the emphasis now."

But both golfers have different takes on why the game has changed so much in recent years. O'Meara credits it partially to equipment, but also points out that most players are far more physically fit than they were two decades ago. But Price isn't buying that explanation.

"If you looked at Greg Norman when he was 32-years-old, he was as strong as an Olympic athlete," Price says. "So was Faldo. I think it is a slight on them to say the current guys simply work out and that's why they hit the ball further."

Given his nearly three decades of professional experience, Price says he knows the solution to the distance problem.

"Simply change the equipment," he says. "I don't care what the average Joe plays. In fact, let him play equipment that helps his game. Can you imagine what would happen in baseball if they gave Barry Bonds a titanium baseball bat? The pitchers would go berserk. But that's what we did in golf."

Win Canadian, Must Come Back

This doesn't say much about the Canadian Open's 2007 spot on the schedule when this year's winner says he's only coming back because, well, it would be rude not to.

Canadian Open champion Jim Furyk guaranteed the national championship will have at least one top non-Canadian player next year despite being crammed between the last two majors and another top event.

"I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't play if I hadn't won. I feel it's a point of honor," Furyk said Sunday after his comeback victory on the Hamilton Golf and Country Club course. "I feel I should be here and I'll come back to play."

"I've never won a tournament and not shown up to defend," Furyk said. "I'll be here. I'm going to play the Canadian Open next year. I'll figure it out."

Canadian Open's Uncertain Future

Why is it that you have to call them Canada geese, but you can call the Canadian Open, Canadian? Eh, sorry.

Lorne Rubenstein writes about the RGCA hiring IMG to solve their sponsorship and lousy 2007 date issues.

Canadian Open director Bill Paul said at Hamilton that potential sponsors have a number of questions, including future sites, and the big one: the quality of the field.

“Sponsors ask what we can do about the field,” Paul said. “I tell them about what we can control, the course, for example.”

The trouble with matters concerning the field is that sponsors seem interested only in whether Tiger Woods will play.

“Tiger in the field is huge,” said Garry West, who will assume the RCGA presidency on Jan. 20.

It's All Right There In Front...

Ah, you know how it ends.

That's right, Chris Johnston writes about Canadian Open host Hamilton, which the players just love because there are no railroad ties and it's all right in front of them, no thought required.

Isn't this the Colt course with the cool greens? And which, just as Harry would demand, is soaked in rough and trees to make up for the fact it's too short?

"I think it's just a nice break," said Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., who is once again the country's best hope in this event. "I'm speaking for the other guys, but I think they like to play courses that if you hit one off line, you're in trouble in the rough. You're not making eight because it one-hopped off a railroad tie into the water.

"I think guys like that change - it's all there in front of you."

Sigh. 

Janzen thinks more PGA Tour events would be held at traditional courses like Hamilton if they could handle the infrastructure.

"The problem is that the old courses don't have the space to house a tournament anymore," he said. "There's no room to expand to have enough length and there's not enough room for all the corporate stuff.

"Unfortunately the modern courses are all about looking great now. They don't want to plant trees and have it mature. They create all kinds of crazy things now."

Skins Game Set...

...Ames, Funk, Couples and Daly at Trilogy. Wow, and all on ESPN on ABC. I finally have the excuse I needed to buy that DVD-recorder I've always wanted.

Tiger's Latest Streak

Doug Ferguson considers Tiger's streak of five straight wins.

Byron Nelson won 11 straight tournaments in 1945, a streak regarded as one of the most untouchable in sports. Woods won six straight at the end of 1999 and the start of 2000, and Ben Hogan won six in a row in 1948.

Woods now takes a week off before heading to England for the HSBC World Match Play Championship, followed by the Ryder Cup. His next PGA Tour start will be the American Express Championship outside London at the end of September.

He still isn’t even halfway home to Nelson’s hallowed mark, but he surpassed Lord Byron in one category with his 53rd victory, moving into fifth place alone on the career list. Woods, who finished at 16-under 268, won for the seventh time this year. No other player has won more than twice.

Of the aforementioned streaks, Tiger's latest is the only to include two major championship wins. Of course, Ben Hogan had a four-win streak in 1953 that included three majors.

After the round, Tiger was asked about the streak and also the TPC Boston, which led to an interesting revelation.

Q. Do you ever think about 11 in a row?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah.

(Laughter.) It wasn't just 11, it was 11 in a row, 12 out of 13, 18 for the year. That will work.

Q. You don't even play 18, do you?

(Laughter.)

TIGER WOODS: Good point.

(Laughter.)

Q. Kind of along those lines, where do you see Byron's record, the 11 in a row, as it relates to UCLA or some of the other or some of the other great streaks in sports?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's part of the streak that it's probably the streak that I've, he had to have so many things go right first of all. In this day and age and the competition, to win 11 in a row would almost be unheard of. What Byron accomplished, that right there goes down to probably one of the greatest years in the history of our sport. Consistency I mean you got to have one bad week somewhere. He never did. His bad week was a win, I guess. So it's I mean it's truly amazing. I know that there were a lot of different circumstances. It was one of those, the field's weren't as strong, it was one of the war years, but still, I just think that what Byron accomplished there goes down as one of the greatest streaks in all of sport. I don't know what DiMaggio's record, I see that being broken more so than winning 11 golf tournaments.

And... 

Q. I know it's early in your career to be thinking about golf course design at this point, but did you see anything out on the course today that you particularly liked, disliked, that if that day ever comes when you start designing courses regularly that you would like to incorporate into what you do?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I have my ideas, yes. And we're going to, obviously, I don't know if anyone knows, we're going to make some changes again this year for the next event, for next year's event. So yeah, I'm going to tray and help out with that, give my opinion and they can utilize it or not. But I am getting into golf course design business here probably pretty soon. So it's something that I'm very excited about to be creative and design a piece of property that people will want to go play. It's going to be challenging, but also be fun.

So that part is really enjoyable to me, because I play golf courses now, I played all around the world, I've seen so many different type of golf courses and the types of styles that I have my own opinion on how the game should be played. And hopefully you get pieces of property which you can make that happen.

Those would be his most definitive comments to date about getting into course design. He has previously said in the next 3-4 years, but this sounds like he may have a project in the works. 

Vijay's 61

After his third round 61, Vijay talked to the press and this was about the only highlight:

Q. In '98 at Sahalee you won in the rain at the PGA Championship, I don't remember how hard it was raining. Was it like this?

VIJAY SINGH: I don't even remember that long ago.

Murphy On Boston Golf

Sean Murphy posted a few observations in the first two rounds of the Deutsche Bank event. They can be found on the comment thread about play at the OGA event.

Leverage, Leverage, Leverage

In this Robert Bell story about Greensboro's hunt for a 2007 sponsor, he talks to Greensboro Jaycees Charitable Foundation chairman Bobby Long, who is in Boston this weekend meeting with potential sponsors.
Long spent Wednesday and Thursday in Boston meeting with officials from companies interested in sponsoring Greensboro's tournament.

"We're pretty far along" with negotiations, Long said. "We've gotten some strong indications from companies that they are interested."

Long declined to name the companies. He said a deal could be reached this year, but not before next month's Chrysler Classic of Greensboro.

Tournament officials have been looking for a new title sponsor since January, when DaimlerChrysler informed them it was ending its 11-year affiliation with Greensboro's PGA tour stop after next month's event.

A year ago, civic and private groups pledged a $25 million line of credit to the PGA Tour to sponsor Greensboro's tournament from 2007-10 if a new title sponsor could not be found. Long said it is imperative that a title sponsor be found sooner rather than later.

"When you're on the hook for ($25 million), you start to lose your leverage as time goes by," he said. "Any time you go into a business deal, you want to make sure you have all the leverage you can get your hands on. Time is certainly a leverage in our favor right now, but it could start to work against us."

Do really have much leverage when you're actually talking about how it works, and on the record to a reporter?

Have Date, Need Sponsor

Mick Elliott reports in the Tampa Tribune that the Tour's decision to make Doral a WGC event is looking worse by the day that the Tampa Chrysler event played this fall (and then appearing again next March), has no sponsor for '07. And apparently, isn't very close to getting one.

"We're working hard trying to find a title sponsor and feel we're making progress," tournament director Gerald Goodman said. "But I haven't been holding back any announcements, I'll tell you that."

 "It's a combination of factors, and frankly I think one of them is it's hard to convey to prospects how good the golf tournament can be in March," said Tim Crosby, PGA Tour director of business affairs. "It's a great sports and golf market in the right time of year. It's a golf course that players rank in their top five.

"We know how good it can be, but to somebody who has not been there before, it's hard to completely get that message across."

Though Crosby insists he believes differently, the feeling in some circles is that playing at Innisbrook, with no elevators, aging decor and design, and an absence of a central public party location, would be like giving the Bucs one of football's best playing fields but leaving it inside old Tampa Stadium.

Potential title sponsors are being courted for a financial commitment between $6 million and $7 million for each of a three- to six-year contract. Putting a company's name on a golf tournament typically turns the week into a time for entertaining major clients. It also can become the face of a company's advertising.

For such a financial commitment, companies may be looking for bells and whistles that more modern five-star facilities may provide for invited clients.

I'd say they are within their rights to want a hotel with elevators!

"I can't say I disagree," Crosby said, "But you can fix those things with a little makeup, because the foundation is strong. What's so compelling is the golf course.

"I see the point, but I think once we get people there, it's a non-factor. But getting people there to experience it instead of just looking at pictures is very important."

In the meantime, this year's final Chrysler Championship draws closer to its Oct. 26-29 date, and 19 weeks later it will be time for tournament organizers to do it all over again.

 Although Crosby and Goodman agree it is not mandatory to have next year's title sponsor in place before Chrysler bows out, both are hoping for a signed contract as quickly as possible.

"If you ever wanted a PGA Tour event that has averaged very good ratings in its time slot, attracts a great field and will be played in Florida sunshine while it's still snowing in the Northeast, we have got a deal for you," Goodman said.

Gee, they don't sound desperate. And Elliott quietly slips this in toward the end:

In theory, the lack of a title sponsor could cost Tampa Bay the date it worked so hard to obtain. With a number of established tour events relegated to the less-glamorous fall schedule, at least one current sponsor would be willing to write the check for a better place on the schedule. However, Crosby said,, at least for now, Tampa is not in a danger zone.

"We have not sat down and said if we do not get a sponsor by such-and-such date, we're going to have to cut them loose," he said. "I don't know if we are going to get to that point. At this point, no, it's not in jeopardy."

"A Mockery Of The Rules"

Ron Sirak does a nice job summarizing how some of us feel about the Woods-9th-at-Firestone situation in this week's Golf World.

Shipnuck on Tiger's Drop

With his latest column on who's hot and who's not, Alan Shipnuck joins John Hawkins (here) in calling the Tiger Woods relief-from-the-clubhouse drop ridiculous:

How in the world does a player jack a ball onto the roof of the clubhouse and not incur a penalty? Tiger's sweetheart ruling at Firestone was the most ridiculous thing I've seen on a golf course since -- who else? -- Woods got a dozen of his buddies to roll a boulder, er, loose impediment out of his way in Phoenix in '99.

More importantly, I think we've found the bridge to bring these two talented golf writers together for the future We just can't have them feuding. No, no.

So Much For The Big Five

From guest contributor Steve Elling comes this note:

Eyeing the updated world rankings today. It says that Tiger has padded his lead over #2 Mickelson to a record margin since the ranking methodology was tweaked a couple of years ago.

Small wonder.

Tiger has seven wins worldwide in 2006 -- matching the total of the rest of the top 10 in the rankings COMBINED.

Scott, Goosen, Els and Garcia (all ranked in the top eight) have contributed zero.

Ogilvy and Phil have two wins apiece.

Tiger On Winning His B Game

After struggling over the weekend and winning, Tiger Woods was asked:

Q. Do you feel like you just won a pretty prestigious tournament with your B game?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I was not hitting it all that well the last two days. I was kind of struggling. I was just trying to piece it together somehow, somehow just piece it together. I was putting well today, but I just couldn't give myself any looks at it. Then when I did, I was missing putts.

But I was just trying to get it around somehow and keep myself in the ballgame. If I got to double digits, I thought I could win it at either 11 or 12, and 10 or 11 would have been a playoff. If I could just get to those numbers somehow, forget what everyone else was doing, just get to those numbers, I'd be all right. I got to 11 and just didn't stay there. 10 ended up being the playoff number.

And we didn't get a "right in front of you," just an "in front of you."

Q. What is it with Akron and this course that's really been so special?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I love this golf course. As I said earlier, we don't get a chance to play this type of course very often. The new, modern golf courses never look like this. You never have a piece of property where there are no homes on it. It's just a golf course.

So from that standpoint, it's a treat to be able to play a tree lined golf course that's straight forward in front of you, and we saw what happened yesterday when it got hard and fast, that any round that was in the high to mid 60s, you would vault up the board. Most Tour events that's not the case. You shoot low scores just to try and keep pace.

This golf course, if it got hard, dry and fast, nobody would ever be in double digits.

Check out Tiger's stats from Firestone:

_{Driving Distance Avg       343.4       357.5       334.3       296.9       -    333.0
    Fairways Hit                 71.4%     57.1%     50.0%     50.0%      -     57.1%
    Fairway Opportunities     14         14             14          14           -     56
    Longest Drive                 385       394           393        316         -     394
    GIR                               77.8%     83.3%      38.9%     72.2%     -     68.1%}

Hawkins Hits The Roof

John Hawkins calls Tiger's free loading dock relief drop an embarrassment and asks...

Since when did the clubhouse and parking lot become part of the golf course? I’m no rules aficionado, but I’ve always thought that any shot that leaves the field of play is considered out of bounds.

BTW, did anyone actually see the ball turned over to Steve Williams or Tiger, as Bill Kratzert said on TV?