"I'm having a tough time getting started on that one."

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Brad Faxon, talking to Doug Ferguson about his post Bay Hill activities:
Brad Faxon was busy Monday morning, but he wasn't working on his swing.

"I'm writing notes to my pro-am partners," Faxon said. "And then I'm going to write Arnold and thank him for the invitation and tell him how much I liked the course. Although I'm having a tough time getting started on that one."

Limiited Fields, Limited Opportunities

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The limited field issue appears to not be going away as Doug Ferguson tackles the issue of veterans not getting in Doral for that one last crack at Augusta. He also declares the WGC events a giant mistake.

The World Golf Championships have lost some zip the last few years, even when Tiger Woods wins them, which is often. They were designed to bring together the best players in the world. Now, the WGCs are best identified by players hardly anyone knows.

And a popular PGA Tour destination is worse off because of it.

The WGCs were a good idea when they were formed in 1999, but that was when the world's best players rarely got together outside the major championships. In this global environment of golf, the WGCs have quietly gone away — except they took Doral with them.

The Accenture Match Play Championship really is the only one left, and probably will stick around because of the format. The Bridgestone Invitational remains at Firestone, but look what it replaced in '99 — the World Series of Golf, which already was a WGC without the fancy title.

The other was the American Express Championship — now CA Championship with a new title sponsor — that alternated venues between the United States and Europe. Now it has been folded into Doral.

Instead of 144 players trying to keep it out of the white sand and blue water, there will be a 74-man field playing for free money. And there will be 70 other guys — more, really, considering the many non-PGA Tour members at Doral — who are home this week.

Worse yet, this is the last week to qualify for the Masters.

Golf.com's Cameron Morfit offers a different angle by making a case for the injustice of Ryan Moore struggling to find a place to play.

The problem is, thanks to limited fields, Palmer's Bay Hill party is a tough invite, just as Jack's is and the majors are, just as the WGC events are, just as the four FedEx Cup playoff events will be.

Rather than apply for a medical waiver last year, Moore played through the pain and found that by pointing the club directly out from his belt buckle at address, as if it were a fishing pole, he could minimize discomfort. He finished T2 at the Buick Championship and T9 at the PGA, his first major as a pro, and ended the year 81st on the money list.

It was reminiscent of 2005, when Moore, after making the cut in the U.S. Open, turned pro and made enough money in eight starts to earn his PGA Tour card without having to go to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. He was the first person since Woods in 1996 to advance directly to The Show without enduring golf's dreaded bar exam.

Moore has his foibles. He doesn't use a yardage book and only recently decided to use a professional caddie instead of his brother. But Tom Lehman was speaking for many when he said recently that Moore could start winning in bunches any day. Ping prominently features Moore, a UNLV product, in its TV advertisements, waiting for him to blow up.

He blames himself, not his injury or Tour policy, for failing to qualify for this week's WGC-CA Championship, or the Masters. But when one of America's top prospects says he's finally healthy again and nabs a top-10 to prove it, and when that player is then snubbed from the following week's invitational in favor of players like Rummings and Stanley and sponsor's invite Mike Hulbert (MC), something is out of whack.

"With the amount of tournaments we have that are invitationals, it doesn't make sense to do more."

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Doug Ferguson reports on the inevitable player complaints about adding another invitational, you know, to speed up play in that hot D.C. July weather (because it's the only place it gets hot!).
"It's the most totally wrong thing I've heard of in a long time that's sticking it to the players," [Rich] Beem said March 8.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has said that the AT&T National, to be played July 5-8 in Washington with Woods as the host, likely would be considered along the lines of tournaments run by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer that have limited fields.

The Memorial Tournament has a minimum of 105 players, while the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill has a minimum of 120 players, although 133 eligible players already have committed to play next week in Orlando.
And...
"I was shocked when I heard that," Brad Faxon said. "We've got players looking for spots, and we're replacing a tournament that had a full field. With the amount of tournaments we have that are invitationals, it doesn't make sense to do more."
And...
"We're trying to get back more spots throughout the year, and all of a sudden we're going to have a limited-field tournament? That goes against everything the players voted on with the playoff system," Beem said. "If that stays the way it is, I promise you there will be some action taken."

He said players can override the board if it gets support of 66 percent of the voting membership.

IM'ing With The Commissioner...Tiger Edition, Vol. 2

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Hard to believe my NSA sources had time to pick up this Tiger Woods-Tim Finchem instant message exchange, what with all the time they put in on the Libby jury deliberations. Anyway...

twfPGATOUR©: Tiger, are you there?

TWPrivacy:  Hey Timbo. Sup?

twfPGATOUR©: I just wanted to thank you for today, I felt like it went very well. So great to have a monopolistically coterminous brand like AT&T on board isn't it?

TWPrivacy: Yep, very exciting stuff.

twfPGATOUR©: And of course it's just great to be back in the Washington market, where we always wanted to be. Well, without Ralph Shrader involved.

TWPrivacy:  The Booz Allen dude?

twfPGATOUR©: Yes.

twfPGATOUR©: More importantly, the military serviceman and women component of this D.C. re-branding really is playing nicely in the early pushback.

TWPrivacy:  Yep, and maybe we can even do a little for Walter Reed too?

twfPGATOUR©: Is he the VP of Platform Protocol at Schwab?

TWPrivacy: No, that's the hospital with the mice and mold.

twfPGATOUR©: Of course.

TWPrivacy: So what can I do for you Tim? We're third in line here at Dulles and I might lose you.

twfPGATOUR©: Oh great, we're 7th up here, taxing in the Falcon.

twfPGATOUR©:  Well I just wanted to thank you for wearing the FedEx themed tie and shirt today.

twfPGATOUR©: I'd do one of those smiley icons after that, but we have them shut down in the company instant messaging. Security issues.

TWPrivacy: Uh, okay. Not sure what you mean, it was just a suit and shirt and tie.

twfPGATOUR©: Say Tom Wade is here, our EVP and CMO. He says thanks for wearing the FedEx Purple with the FedEx Light Platinum suit.

TWPrivacy: Well actually, it wasn't intentional.

twfPGATOUR©: Tom says that in the future if you are interested, you can read all about their brand color regulations here: http://www.fedexidentity.com/guidelines/FedEx_Guidelines.pdf

twfPGATOUR©: One thing, Tom was hoping you'd note that the purple you wore today was a little different than the PANTONE 2685 that defines the FedEx brand.

twfPGATOUR©: And not to be too picky, but the grey suit was a little off from the PANTONE Cool Gray 6 that Tom says brings the entire FedEx brand come together.

TWPrivacy: Thanks Tim, I'l make sure to get this off to my Nike people. Anything else?

twfPGATOUR©: No that about does it, just wanted to thank you again for you help and support here.

twfPGATOUR©: Oh and one other thing. Uh, the limited field concept, how did my explanation of the hot weather and slow play go over you think?

TWPrivacy: I saw one of the writers shake his head in a positive way.

twfPGATOUR©: Excellent. It's just, you see, I'm going to have a little trouble with the Board on this, since we're not really adding a playing opportunity for a portion of the membership.

TWPrivacy: Well, that's why you have the 5 directors that you appoint, and 4 player directors.

twfPGATOUR©: Good point. Well thanks again Tiger for this very special day. Oh one other thing, could you ask Mark Steinberg to give me a call tomorrow?

TWPrivacy: Actually Tim, this is Mark. Tiger had to step away.

twfPGATOUR©: Oh...

TWPrivacy: It was me all along. Say, I'll be in after 8, and you have the cell.

twfPGATOUR©:  Right. Safe travels.

TWPrivacy: You too Tim.


Question About Size of Field

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About the only highlight from the Finchem-Woods press conference to launch the new Washington D.C. tour stop:

 Q. (Operator interruption. Question about size of field.)

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: I've had some preliminary conversations with our board and I have to believe that we will work with Tiger and the Foundation to fine-tune it, but my guess is that at the end of the day, the field size will be commensurate with what you generally see in Invitationals which is a somewhat limited field.
Now there's a couple of reasons for that. One is prestige of the event. The other is, even though it's snowing today, it's quite warm here -- I used to live here for ten years, July 4th, and pace of play -- we want the pace of play and the experience for the players to be positive as well. So you put those two things together, and it argues for a somewhat shorter field and I think that's where we'll be.

So the experience for the players needs to be positive, therefore limit the field size so that pace of play has a chance of breaking 5 hours?

In other words, slow play is in the best interests of the world's top players?

The slower they get, the smaller the fields become?

Anyway, thanks to reader Steve for this link to Len Shapiro's online chat spelling out the key event details.  

Jobe's Return

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Doug Ferguson has the surprising story of Brandt Jobe, who is making his season debut after slicing off the tips of his fingers in a freak accident. And after this remark, he also should expect to see a case of PGA Tour wine on his doorstep:
"It wouldn't be that big of a deal if this were a normal year,'' Jobe said. "But with the FedEx Cup and everything, you probably have to be 80th to have any chance of winning it. I'm already two months behind.''

What Happened At The Honda?

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I was out of town and mercifully didn't see any of the Honda, but judging by the winning scores, the tightly bunched leaderboard and a one-hole playoff not finishing before dark, it sounds like things got a little goofy? No?

For some unknown reason I ventured to PGATour.com to find out how the best players in the world couldn't finish on time, but no luck in their game story. A check of other game stories said nothing.

Was the pace of play that bad? How about the setup?

Rack Up A Perfect Club Rerun...

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...because another hour of the Honda isn't worth it?

This is an odd one, reported by Craig Dolch in the Palm Beach Post:

TV air times returned to three hours: A week after saying it would cuts its Thursday and Friday telecasts of Honda by an hour, Golf Channel officials announced Wednesday it has returned its air times to 3-6 p.m.

Last week, the network announced the air times had been changed to 4-6 p.m. in the first two rounds, without giving a reason. The Palm Beach Post reported the reason for the change was Golf Channel was trying to persuade American Honda to buy more advertising, but the car company balked.

A source Wednesday said the Golf Channel made its change after receiving a phone call from PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, who didn't want to lose two hours of golf coverage.

 

Golf's Best Interview

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Jaime Diaz in this week's Golf World says Geoff Ogilvy is the best interview in golf:
Ogilvy's figuratively old head, perhaps made wiser by growing up next to Royal Melbourne, startled me the first time I asked him a question. "Golf was better before," he said in October 2005. "There was more art. It doesn't create a really rounded golfer." At a time when the shortcomings of the emerging twentysomethings were still well below the radar, Ogilvy captured the issue in three quick sentences.

"The complicated thing is making it simple, if that makes any sense," he said, offering as good a definition of a first-class mind as any. Indeed, in quotes over the last year including an upcoming interview with John Huggan in Golf Digest, Ogilvy produces one pearl after another.

Of Woods: "I mean, Tiger is the angriest player on tour. He's also the best at controlling it."

Of Sergio Garcia: "When he starts making putts again -- which he is going to do -- he's going to win 10 times in a year. He is the best ball-striker in the world, probably. … But he is so analytical about his putting and not about anything else. … He's like Seve, only in reverse."

On golf architecture: "I like there to be a relationship between the quality of your drive and ease of your second shot."

"When Tiger's foundation is involved, he has a pretty good track record of playing in the event"

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Len Shapiro on the new Washington D.C. stop benefitting Tiger's foundation:
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced yesterday that the tour had reached a long-term agreement with the Tiger Woods Foundation, the educational charity established by Woods and his father in 1996, to be the host organization and beneficiary of a tournament in the Washington area July 5-8. The site of the event is undetermined, but the tour is in negotiations with Congressional Country Club, site of the 2011 U.S. Open, to host the event in 2007 and 2008.

Woods is expected to be a regular presence at the tournament, though his participation this year might be affected by the birth of his first child. Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, have not announced a due date, but he has said he might not play in the British Open July 19-22 because the baby is due around that time.

"When Tiger's foundation is involved, he has a pretty good track record of playing in the event," his longtime agent, Mark Steinberg, said yesterday. "This year, it may be something of a wild card because his wife is expecting at around that time, so everything is pretty much up in the air. But I can tell you he's very excited about the Washington event."