Finchem Merely Delighted At News Of Tiger's Return

My intelligence sources say the gang on Ponte Vedra labored over the Commissioner's press release, contemplating various versions of the proper adjective. After all, you don't want to offend the rest of the troops who have done such a stellar job holding the tour together in Tiger's absence.

Thanks to Microsoft Word, which allows us to view the in-house editorial tinkering, here's the version that was passed around the Vice Presidential tier, meaning 93 people had a shot at this all vital release, 99 if you count EVP's, SVP's and other assorted VP's with initials before their VP mantles:

Statement of PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem

We received confirmation today that Tiger Woods has committed to play in next week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona. We are captivated, charmed, ecstatic, elated, enchanted, entranced, excited, fulfilled, gladdened, gratified, joyous, jubilant, overjoyed, pleasantly surprised beyond words, thrilled, appreciative, charmed, contented to the extent we are exuberant, delighted that Tiger is returning to competition and look forward to watching him compete next week so that maybe people won't pay attention to this Stanford Financial boondoggle/debacle/nightmare   so that we might actually draw discernable television ratings again  in order to add another fine competitor to the FedEx Cup race.

Minorities Pave Way For Anthony Kim To Skip L.A. Open

Daniel Wexler looks at the progressive nature of the event formerly known as the L.A. Open, while Doug Ferguson notes the power of IMG the interesting early season scheduling by the next great PGA Tour hope, Anthony Kim.

Anthony Kim grew up in Los Angeles and spent his last few years of high school in the Palm Springs area. But the West Coast swing will end without Kim at either of the PGA Tour stops in his hometowns.

He missed the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic with a shoulder injury, leaving Mark Calcavecchia to quip, "Has he heard of Advil?"

More peculiar is how Kim could miss the Northern Trust Open at Riviera. Instead, he is playing on the European tour for the second straight week, this time at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth, Australia.

Kim has played only twice on the PGA Tour this year, tying for second in Kapalua and missing the cut in Phoenix.

Update on 2009-02-18 18:00 by Geoff

But at least AK got to stay in Australia this week, unlike his caddy.

"What were the Northern Trust people thinking?"

In this week's potboiler, the SI/Golf Mag/golf.com/Entertainment Weekly/Time Inc. boys kick around the state of the LPGA Tour, Michelle Wie's game and the AT&T. They also talk about this week's event at Riviera, with Jim Herre planting this seed when the talk turned to Ryo Ishikawa:

I can't believe Ryo won't be joined by Rory McIlroy, who will be spending his week at the Titleist Performance Center in Carlsbad instead of at the Riv. What were the Northern Trust people thinking?

Van Sickle: Yeah, Rory has already proven he's the real deal. Bonehead move of the year was Northern Trust turning down Rory's request for a sponsor's exemption this week. He's ranked top 20 in the world. Not sure what the story is there. Free Rory.

Morfit: Agreed that was a major brain cramp, and it'll come back to bite 'em. The pros don't forget a thing like that. (Then again, post-exemption loyalty only goes so far, considering Tiger's recent record in Milwaukee.)

Shipnuck: Sponsors' exemptions are almost always used to repay burnt-out old pros who have, ahem, supported the tourney through the years. It would be nice if more were invested on promising youngsters, but sponsors would rather have a recognizable name who will come to a cocktail party and perform.

Van Sickle: Mike Van Sickle and I agree with Shipwreck. Billy Andrade doesn't sell any tickets for you.

For the record, Northern Trust's sponsor's invites are Ricky Barnes, Oliver Wilson, Shigeki Maruyama, Jeev Singh, Bryce Molder, Graeme McDowell and Vincent Johnson (Sifford exemption).

I called Tournament Director Tom Pulchinski for comment on the McIlroy situation as well as to discuss the likelihood that this is the final year the event will be managed by the L.A. Junior Chamber of Commerce before being turned over to PGA Tour Championship Management (ith the Junior Chamber still receiving the event's charitable contributions). The call was not returned.

Kelly T And Connecticut Weather **

Reader Tony was watching the AT&T second round coverage and noted this about the announcing:

Kelly Tilghman just said Chris Berman's not wearing a sweater because it's 2 degrees back in Connecticut so he's warm. It was 50 yesterday and it's 30 now and the sun has been down for an hour. Can we please make her go away?

In Kelly's defense, what else is there to say about a man who acts like this?

Update on 2009-02-14 18:01 by Geoff

Rich Tosches at Yahoo details Nick Faldo's coverage of the Commissioner's round Thursday, apparently to the chagrin of Tilghman.

"He's one of the finest golfers for his height," Faldo said of the non-tall commissioner.

At the other Golf Channel microphone was Kelly Tilghman, who stirred great controversy last year when she suggested that players such as Sam Snead and Walter Hagen should take Ben Hogan into an alley and lynch him. This is where the expression "Hogan's Alley" comes from. I think.

Anyway, Tilghman flinched at each of Faldo's jabs at Finchem, in part, perhaps, because she admires the commissioner but mostly because, unlike Faldo, she did not win $8.8 million playing golf and probably needs the job.

So when Faldo, right off the bat, made a joke about Finchem's swing, Tilghman came back with this: "He's a solid six (handicap)."

When Faldo analyzed Finchem's swing in slow motion and said, "His arms break a little quick, and his hips are a little stuck and, oohh, there at the finish he's up on his tippy-toes," Tilghman was silent for several seconds - probably imagining herself announcing the Nome Open.

(After that long and awkward pause, Tilghman noted that Finchem was playing with Davis Love III and said, "They have a lot of policy issues they can talk about," which, if you ask me, is right up there with Al Michaels' "Do you believe in miracles?")

Thursday Tee Time At Pebble Ensures A Good Time Is Had By All

Or so Jim McCabe reports on Tim Finchem's opening round at the AT&T playing Pebble Beach, which he was supposed to be playing Saturday until someone pulled some strings to get off of the celebrity rotation.

"WGC stands for Who Gosh-darn Cares?"

Steve Elling on the total lack of interest in the WGC Match Play event, at least based on the dreadful turnout this week by match play bubble boys.

Amazingly, only three of the 15 players between spot Nos. 61 and 75 in the current world rankings, the players with great chances to make a move with solid play on their respective home tours, are playing this week. 

Tim Finchem Doing His Part For Tour Charity: Takes Comp'd Entry To AT&T Pro-Am

From Doug Ferguson's story on Wednesday's pro-am goings on.

After year of prodding, one of the CEOs at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am includes the PGA Tour commissioner himself.

The tour gets five spots in the pro-am each year that it usually gives to corporate partners, and Finchem is using one of those spots.

For a guy who just a month ago asked players to do more in these lean economic times, and for someone who makes nearly $5 million a year, you'd think he could swing the $15,000 entry fee that helps fund a significant charity. I'm sure his accountant could write it off, no?

Ferguson also reports this red flag special. PGA Tour rule officials never jack around with tee times once they are set:

He'll play with Love, who was on the policy board in Finchem's first year as commissioner in 1994. The other team will be Mahan and Randall Stephenson, chairman of AT&T.

The only mystery was the draw sheet.

Finchem and Stephenson were to play the same course rotation as the celebrities (opposite side of the course) - Spyglass Hill, Poppy Hills, Pebble Beach. But a revised draw sheet on Wednesday had them away from the celebrities (translation: attention) by teeing off Thursday at Pebble Beach.

"It might be the only chance we have for this tournament to be moved to October"

Nice line from David Toms in Doug Ferguson's notes column this week on the subject of Tim Finchem making his AT&T debut:

"It might be the only chance we have for this tournament to be moved to October,'' Toms said with a laugh, referring to weather issues that have occasionally plagued Pebble.

Phil Laying Ground For Next Dave Pelz Tome: Reissue Of "How To Line Up Your Fourth Putt"

Bob Harig on Phil Mickelson's early season struggles despite supposedly correcting a putting flaw:

Difficulty on the greens is what Mickelson pointed to last year, and he said he discovered a flaw along with coach Dave Pelz around the time of the Ryder Cup. Mickelson, seemingly cured, then missed a playoff by a shot at the Tour Championship and proclaimed that the offseason would be used to fine-tune a few areas with an eye on 2009.

But putting remains an issue. During Friday's round on the North Course, Mickelson missed eight putts inside of 6 feet and had 32 total in a round of 72. And just as Golf Channel analyst Nick Faldo was commenting on the shaky state of Mickelson's game during Sunday's final round, Lefty butchered the sixth green by 4-putting.

"How come McIlroy's kid has already won a tour event at 19 and my kid is still in college taking dance movement classes?"

In this week's SI/golf.com/Golf Mag/Time Inc. omnibus roundtable recapping last week's golf, you have to enjoy this exchange where the lads brought Gary Van Sickle's son Mike, elite player Marquette University golfer and patient saint offspring of the beloved cranky writer, into the discussion.

David Dusek, deputy editor, Golf.com: I'd be curious to learn what Mike thinks about Rory McIlroy's win today in Dubai. Back at Carnoustie in 2007 he was an amateur phenom, but now he is one of the better European players out there ... and he's still only 19!

Mike Van Sickle: It's hard to really imagine winning a Tour event at the age of 19. You hear about so many solid players that can't even make it onto the tours until their late 20s or even 30s, but Rory is winning events at 19? Not only is that impressive, but at 22 I'm starting to feel old.

Evans: I think a very good player can get it up every now and then to win a tour event; a great player is a consistent winner. McIlroy may just be the flavor of the week.

Van Sickle: How come McIlroy's kid has already won a tour event at 19 and my kid is still in college taking dance movement classes?

Mike Van Sickle: It's actually Disciplines of Movement. We practiced our leaping in the last class. It's a lot of fun. How much do professional dancers make?

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Modern Dance, Mike, would be an excellent and different thing to list under "Hobbies" in the Tour media guide.

Van Sickle: I don't know. "Dancing With the Stars" might be pretty lucrative if you could get on there.

"From an advertising and promotion standpoint, our view is we still need to advertise, now more than ever"

Doug Ferguson on Buick's approach to this week's event at Torrey Pines:

Torrey Pines looks beautiful as ever, with sunshine filling an endless sky and weather that feels more like summer than it did during the U.S. Open. But clouds are gathering.

"From an advertising and promotion standpoint, our view is we still need to advertise, now more than ever,'' Peck said. "But based on the whole economic situation, we're trimming back everywhere we can.''

The corporate box on the 18th is smaller, and Buick won't be serving alcohol to contain costs. It didn't bring out some of its large signage, which was expensive to ship from Michigan. The lawn area in front of the lodge, which used to be a showroom of sorts with the latest vehicles, is now an outdoor restaurant.

"It won't make a huge difference on TV,'' Peck said. 

Tour Fairways Getting Tighter?!

Over the four days of the FBR Open at TPC Scottsdale, I heard several mentions of newly narrowed fairways. And the rough was cited as being particularly difficult this year due to a wet spring (and what sounded like an aggressive overseed).

I know of two other PGA Tour venues that are seeing narrowed fairways. This would not seem to jibe with what some players believe is going to be an end to the old school U.S. Open approach of the last few years at select venues. Nor does it really fit with the Commissioner's remarks about introducting more risk-reward (unless he thinks rough creates interesting risk-reward golf, which I doubt).

"I just didn't like the setup there last year. They had 1½-foot rough behind the 11th green."

Bob Verdi files an entertaining Golf World column on the state of Phil Mickelson's game and outlook. I just loved this:

Portions of Mickelson's '09 agenda are established, but there are variables. The Memorial is not among the latter. "I have decided I definitely won't play there," he said. "I just didn't like the setup there last year. They had 1½-foot rough behind the 11th green." Mickelson recalls a sequence when he reached that picturesque par 5 in two with a 3-wood, only to watch as the ball released beyond and into the aforementioned vegetation. Upon hacking out, he was unable to hold his third shot on the green. "On the other hand," Mickelson went on, "Memphis is the week before the U.S. Open. So that's a possibility. I'll wind up with 20 or 21 tournaments, like I usually do."

Jack: he's picking Memphis over Memorial. Is putting the players in place with the tall stuff working for you?

"Compared to Chrysler, the Buick folks are the shrewdest of opportunists."

Steve Elling takes issue with Bill Dwyre's LA Times piece and the idea of Chrysler not using the Hope to market its products and points out Buick's approach as the more shrewd move to getting the cars out in front of people and the companies back on their feet.

"It was just apathy out there."

Gary D’Amato analyzes the demise of U.S. Bank's role in the Milwaukee event and gets a pretty frank analysis from the bank's Bill Bertha.

"We're not blaming anybody," Bertha said. "Other companies didn't see the value of entertaining clients. No revenues were being generated above operating costs, other than what we were subsidizing.

"Nobody cared. A very good analogy is that we threw a multimillion-dollar party for Milwaukee and Wisconsin, in a park with tents, refreshments and entertainment - all the bells and whistles - and nobody showed up.

"It was just apathy out there."

Tournament officials do not release attendance figures, but the galleries were noticeably smaller in 2007 and '08 than they had been in previous years at Brown Deer Park, the host venue since 1994.

One reason is that the PGA Tour shifted the tournament dates in 2007 so that the Milwaukee event was played the same week as the British Open, a major championship televised by ABC.