“Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders"

Wells Fargo guy on the event formerly known as the Wachovia Championship: “Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders," which, after run through the MBA Jargonometer, means, "We aren't going to become the next Northern Trust.

First reported by Sports Business Daily and fleshed out by several including Bloomberg's Ari Levy and David Mildenberg, we see the first PGA Tour event going retro. Presenting, the Quail Hollow Championship.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf and Chairman Richard Kovacevich are among executives who won’t receive bonuses for 2008 because Wells Fargo didn’t meet its performance goals, the bank said today in a regulatory filing. Separately, Wells Fargo changed the name of the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Quail Hollow Championship and said it won’t host client events tied to the tournament. Wells Fargo acquired Charlotte-based Wachovia in December.

“Anyone who is taking any type of TARP money is going to have a harder time sponsoring these kinds of events,” said David Lykken, a consultant at Mortgage Banking Solutions in Austin, Texas. “These are legacy ventures.”

And the spin...

“Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders,” said David Carroll, a Wells Fargo executive, in a statement.

Wachovia renewed its contract with the PGA in 2008 and extended it through 2014. Wells Fargo still plans to honor sponsorship obligations and hasn’t determined what the tournament will be named in future years, spokeswoman Mary Beth Navarro said in an interview.

Ron Green Jr. quotes the club president and tournament director:

“All of us involved with the tournament have enjoyed the last six years and are looking forward to doing something very special with the tournament over the next six years,” Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris said.

“We have been working diligently to do what is necessary to produce the premier stop on the PGA Tour and we feel strongly this will do nothing but strengthen the golf experience for our players and patrons.”

Is that a nice way of saying people really don't like to see corporate logos everywhere?

And this is beautiful...

“This clarifies a lot for us,” Hougham said. “Now there is a name that can stay on the tournament for the next six years. We’ll work with the bank after this year’s event and we hope they stay involved.

“With the new name, it gives us a solid brand to build on for the future, just like we built the old brand.”

Oh yes, this is prime branding 101 textbook stuff!

Greater Tucson Economy On Verge Of Collapse After Tim Clark Defeats Tiger Woods; All No. 1 Seeds Gone

Golf Channel reconsiders Friday telecast; Johnny Miller's jet turned around midway from NorCal after Tommy Roy sends him home; Airlines say re-booking fees may first quarter earnings

Seriously, it will be fun to see how many scribblers are fleeing Tucson now that the most anticipated comeback in PGA Tour history is history?

And the dream matchup with Rory? And Phil soon after that? It's match play's fault!

Steve Elling writes:

Given his early departure, the temptation for some will be to exaggerate the gravity of Woods' early defeat, but given the layoff and the caprices of the match-play format, that would be a bit premature and reckless. While he was hardly in vintage form, he made it through the two days without any issues with his knee, which is more important in the grand scheme of things heading into Augusta. 

Tiger Shows No Ill Effects In Comeback From Head-On Bus Collision

Wait, sorry, wrong "most anticipated comeback in golf history," as Kelly Tilghman put it after that enormously lame opening capped off by Frank Nobilo doing a Tiger fist pump.

I just want to know: who was standing next to the green-screen holding a gun to Frank's head?

Since they made a movie about Hogan's bus accident comeback at Riviera--the previous most anticipated comeback in golf history until today's event in Arizona--I've been trying to envision a similar epic in the vein of Follow the Sun, only this time shot at The Ritz Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain. Just doesn't have quite the same ring to it, eh?

Anyway, all of the day-one matches were nicely summarized here by PGATour.com.

From the parts I saw, Tiger's swing looked incredible and kudos to Golf Channel with the side-by-side comparison between Saturday of the U.S. Open versus today's swing. It made up for Rolfing's early telecast Rossie moments (Oh it's started right and really high, ballooning in the wind...it's four feet for birdie!).

In reading the coverage, the most interesting accounts focused not on Tiger, but his relatively unknown opponent.

Bob Harig offers this observation and comment from Jones:

During the long walk between the first green and the second tee, Jones found himself walking with the masses, where he heard somebody remark that just nine more holes were necessary for a 10 and 8 outcome -- which would mean Woods' winning every hole.

"That annoyed me to a point," said Jones, who couldn't have been happy to see Woods float a 5-iron from 235 yards to 4 feet at the second to set up an eagle.

"I've never hit a shot like that, that high and soft," Jones said. "He hits some shots that other people can't hit."

At his peril, Steve Elling acknowledges the presence of other players while noting why Tiger's match started late.

This time, there wasn't an inch of wood available in the bleachers. Fans stood four deep around the tee box, and they lined the ropes all the way to the green some 460 yards away. It was a bigger crowd than when Cink played Woods in the championship match last year.

"I just told everybody on the first tee that he's waited eight months to play," Cink said. "He can wait two more minutes."

Cink wound up winning his match, one of six that required overtime.

Cameron Morfit notes this about Jones.

Unlike the Accenture's first round in 2008, when J.B. Holmes nearly upset Woods, Jones looked like he was in over his head.

"We have to buy our own lunch," Jones said earlier in the week, when asked about the differences between the Japan Tour, where he works, and the PGA. He added: "You don't have the media to a point that we have got here or in America in general."

Preparation had gone well enough. Jones secured a seasoned caddie, Ron Levin, through his friendship with Levin's old boss Todd Hamilton, another Japan Tour veteran. Jones and Levin began learning the new course on Monday, and there was much work to do. Woods had not hit a shot in competition since last June. But that didn't necessarily give Jones a leg up; because of the vagaries of the Japan Tour's schedule (it doesn't start until mid-April), he had not competed since early December.

And Jeff Rude shares this:

This is a candid, affable Australian who isn’t shy about sharing thoughts about his raw emotions.

“I’ve been nervous ever since I found out I was playing him,” Jones said. “Today was my least nervous. When you think about him in bed, he’s very daunting. I’m a bad sleeper. That’s why last night surprised me when I got good rest. I was dreading the thought of having to play him on no sleep.”

That kind of talk helps explain why Woods is so difficult to beat. His opponents lie in bed thinking about him. Woods, meanwhile, doesn’t spend a second thinking about the Brendan Jones of golf. Or the Phil Mickelsons, for that matter.

Report: Tiger Woods Nearing Return To Competition

Based on this match play bracket, it seems he is due at 2:02 EST. Then and only then will we get some closure.

And it sure sounds like he'd love to ditch the match play from his schedule based on his remarks about the course. Shocking, I know, that the PGA Tour moves to an untested Jack Nicklaus design and it seems to, well, stink.

Jim McCabe on Golfweek.com:

Welcome to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, which will not elicit many warm emotions toward the designer, even if his name is Jack Nicklaus. Diplomatically, Woods called the greens “severe,” which is like saying the desert can be dry. Opened Jan. 17, the Ritz-Carlton GC features one wild putting surface after another, and while Woods had never seen the place until he stepped onto the first tee just after sunrise, some four hours later he was able to provide expert testimony that the quirky greens will dominate this week’s play.

Gary Van Sickle files this ringing endorsement and longer quote from Tiger.

As for this week, Woods commented on the obvious: the greens on this new Jack Nicklaus design are clearly over the top.

"The greens are a little severe," Woods said. "The speed of the greens is down because if they ever got them up, you couldn't play. It'll be interesting to see how the tour sets up the pins. The greens have so much pitch and slope and movement, there aren't a lot of pin positions they can go to."

I guess I might as well debut my new Tiger translator, which takes his delicately worded quotes and spits out what he's really thinking:

"Jack still can't do a decent green," Woods said. "They're unplayable if they are more than 10 on the Stimp. They have no more than a couple of hole locations per green. Real shrewd planning there Jack! This is why I get $25 million and you only $2.5 mill. I'd drop this dog from my schedule if Accenture weren't my sponsor."

Meanwhile the Armchair Golf blog lands an exclusive with Tiger's left knee.

Steve Elling describes the scene this morning when Tiger appeared and more importantly, the majority of the golf media arrived at the press center three hours earlier than normal.

Considering the buildup, the day was surprisingly devoid of soppy sentimentalism. In fact, since Woods teed off shortly after 7 a.m. and the gates didn't open until 7:30, the first cry of "Welcome back, Tiger," didn't occur until a pair of elderly women shouted it in his direction on the fourth hole. Woods, never one to acknowledge much, actually turned to the pair and said, "Thanks." They giggled like a pair of schoolgirls.

The scene before dawn on the practice range looked more like a red-carpet opening on Broadway, with golf paparazzi lined up on both sides of the ropes. Approximately 50 cameramen were encamped on the range awaiting Woods, who was in the clubhouse eating breakfast.

When Woods appeared, whirring camera drives erupted in a cacophony of beeps and buzzes. Somewhat humorously, longtime rival Phil Mickelson actually beat the notoriously early rising Woods to the range, and he cast an occasional bemused look in the direction of the comeback kid.

A moment later, as he tried to push his way through the crowd of media packed around Woods on the range, Mickelson's coach, Butch Harmon cracked, "What are you guys watching?"

Jason Sobel will be live blogging every excessive comment made by the Golf Channel crew. Actually, I believe the telecast will be reuniting Azinger and Faldo, so it may just be watchable.

Greetings From L.A., Phil-Grinds-Out-A-Win-Edition

The general malaise displayed by Sunday's Northern Trust field resulted from a return of the dreaded Beef Stroganoff cream-of-too-much-butter pasta in the media center dining room following a week of stellar menu options.  Players could sense post round interviews would come before a refluxing band of scribblers and therefore played tentatively throughout Sunday's gloomy but warm finale.

That's my theory anyway.

Phil Mickelson sprayed it around Riviera this weekend and has a 62-72 finish and second straight Northern Trust Open trophy to show for it.Phil Mickelson tees off on the 4th Sunday (click on image to enlarge)

You can look at his win two ways.

Behind door number one, you could say his ball striking is a mess and he was lucky to win. After all, how many times of you heard of a Hall-of-Famer hitting balls after a 62?

And behind door two, you could say that much like Tiger, Phil's a man among boys. He can be shaky with the ball striking, still post two over-par rounds, and go on to win a big time event on a course that exposes the slightest miscues.

I'm definitely voting for option two.

Fred Couples approaches the 1st hole Sunday as fans and photographers look on (click to enlarge)A similar conclusion could be drawn about Fred Couples, only his problems were on the greens (well, until the shank on 18). He outdrove Phil and Andres Romero several times and his overall iron play was stellar. Not bad for a 49-year-old part-time golfer.

As for the media center reports, Doug Ferguson does a nice job encapsulating a bizarre final day.

John Bush at PGATour.com shares some pretty impressive "With This Win" deals, including this one which should give Phil slightly more satisfaction than the 500 FedEx Cup points he picked up:

The win moves the left-hander out of a tie with Vijay Singh and into solo possession of 13th place on the all-time wins list.

Freddie's record isn't too shabby either:Andres Romero plays a remarkable recovery on No. 5. Note how far right he's lined up to compensate for the sidehill lie (click on image to enlarge)

Fred Couples, the 2009 United States Presidents Cup captain, made his 27th start at the Northern Trust Open a good one, finishing tied for third. His amazing record here includes wins in 1990 and 1992, as well as 25 made cuts, 19 top-25 finishes and 13 top-10 finishes.

Mickelson on 14 (click on image to enlarge)Helen Ross wonders if in spite of the win, if this is really the confidence booster Phil had hoped for.

Ferguson also notes that Couples was playing with a heavy heart, making his play that much more impressive.

Jim Achenbach does a beautiful job explaining why Riviera is such a great spectator course.

This reminds me how much I detest modern courses that are virtually unwalkable because they sprawl from one housing segment to another. Sometimes the ride from green to tee is longer than the ride from tee to green. In my mind, there is a disconnect in this design scheme. One hole never seems to flow naturally into the next.

One last Phil shot, the 9th tee shot (click to enlarge)Unless you are Walter Driver and Fred Ridley looking for validation of the change-courses-not-the-ball philosophy, don't read the rest of the column where Jim says that it's time for the governing bodies to start looking out for the Riviera's of the world, and then advocates...oh I can't even type it. And to think we could have bickered about this Jim!

Speaking of the ball going too long, I had heard from a marshal that Shigeki Maruyama was nailed in the back by an incoming range ball Saturday while he was in the 11th fairway...past the barranca. For those of you who don't know the course, this requires about a 330 yard carry.  A reliable source says Shigeki is still awaiting a show of concern/acknowledgment of pulse from the culprit, the one and only J.B. Holmes.No. 18 continues to be one of the great stages in the game (click to enlarge)

That's all for now, but I have a few more NTO posts to mop up with this week. For now, hope you enjoy the black and white images and other iphoto distorted stuff. As someone who loves the old imagery of L.A. Opens past, I thought it'd be nice to see 2009 the way tournaments used to look. And besides, it was a B&W kinda day Sunday, don't you think?

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.