"My only excuse was one John Huggan on the bag."

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Mike Clayton is filing daily reports on his Senior British Open appearance. You can read the first two, including this summary of his first round 80:

This is a summer (at least that's what the calendar says it is) like no other and if you drive it in the rough the guarantee is you will find three or four of the member's balls before you find your own.

You don't want to hear about my miserable 80 and it certainly it's not worth talking about other than to say my only excuse was one John Huggan on the bag.

Wow, but look at his technique. One arm crossing over the other resting lazily on the bag to hand Mike the driver. Such enthusiasm! Your captions please...

Clayton_Huggan.jpg 

Roberts Deems Faldo An Instant Open Threat; Three Writers Hospitalized With Injuries Induced By Extreme Eye Rolling

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I guess Loren Roberts thought it would be rude to tell the assembled inkslingers at Muirfield that Nick Faldo hasn't got a bloody chance since he's spent most of the year in the booth.

Well, he sort of did.

"We all expect him to be instantly competitive, especially here. But he's doing 44 weeks of television now, so that will limit his practice time."

Watson Unable To Win One For Driver

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Considering the rough week Walter Driver's had, what with having to constantly sign autographs of that Golf World story where he comes off as tired, bitter and pretentious (and that's just the cover shot), you'd think Tom Watson would have the decency to have won one for his beleaguered fellow Stanford alum to cap off Driver's fairy-tale USGA Presidency.

They tell fairy tales in hell right?

Gentle Ben On Whistling Straits

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After his second round 67 put him in a tie for 2nd, Ben Crenshaw talked about plenty of fun stuff, including Whistling Straits:

 Q. As an architect yourself when you see a course like this, does that possibly inspire you maybe to?
BEN CRENSHAW: This is a great piece of work. You know, I know a little something about what was here, which was not anything like this. This is unbelievable.

Q. What's the most unbelievable thing about it?
BEN CRENSHAW: Well, this is, to make a course look like this from what it was, is just spectacular creation. This is incredible.

Q. Does it go along with your design philosophy?
BEN CRENSHAW: Well, Pete is probably the best with working with material and just working at it. God, it's just unbelievable.

 

Champions Tour To Crack Down On Performance Enhancing Drugs; Fill In Cialis Joke Here

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Apparently Rick George did one of those state of the Champions Tour things, and after assuring everyone that the old geezers would show up so that we can see more of charisma junkies Jay Haas and Loren Roberts, he reported that the Champions Tour would be adopting the PGA Tour's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Speaking of testing, George might want to be checked out this delusional take on the state of the Champions: 

The tour has resumed its growth after struggling during the early part of this century, George said. Low-performing events were weeded out, which had the added benefit of improving the remaining fields by building weeks off into the schedule.
Ah yes, anything to get Hale Irwin, Lanny Wadkins and Curtis Strange more starts. The people are heartbroken when they don't tee it up.

This is fun... 
Television ratings are up 20 percent and attendance is up 35 percent midway through the schedule.

"It's probably never been in as good a position as it is today," George said.

Right!

Irwin To Put Colorado Grads Through One Last Boring Lecture

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It seems the folks in Boulder ran out of speaking options, because they signed up one of the mast famous alums to put the grads through one more boring lecture. Kirk Bohls in the Austin American-Statesman reports:

"Does anybody listen at commencement speeches?" said Tom Purtzer, who left Arizona State eight hours shy of a degree. "They're kids. It's not like they're paying attention. You're so excited to just get out."

Irwin gets it. As he puts it, "they get a piece of paper and good friends. You don't know what you take away until you look back years later when you have to ask, 'Did I apply myself?' "

He did, and he still is.

Following the advice he received from former Supreme Court associate justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Irwin plans to follow his heart and say what he really feels. So he'll get something off his chest to the cap-and-gown crowd.

His message?

Respect your elders.

"I'm going to talk about respect," he said. "That's something young people don't do very often."

Oh how I have missed Scott Hoch:

Hoch applauded Irwin for the high honor of joining the elite company of those who give commencement addresses, a list as diverse as Steve Jobs and Billie Jean King. Hoch graduated as well — "I'm one of the few" — completing his communications degree at Wake Forest in 4 1/2 years when the dean convinced him to give up the notion of an economics major because of the demands of travel with college golf.

He takes mild exception to the fact that Arnold Palmer gave the headliner speech at Wake Forest in 2005. Arnie had an army but no diploma.

"My feeling is you shouldn't give it unless you graduate," the candid Hoch said. "But Arnold's Arnold. People probably would get more out of his speech."  

"I think this rough might even be a little too juicy for some of the older guys like myself''

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Normally I would find the idea of harvesting thick rough for a Champions Tour event to be ridiculous, but somehow hearing Johnny Miller complain about it makes it a bit more tolerable. After all, he celebrates the USGA's mindless approach, so it's nice that Johnny gets to experience it.

Tim Guidera quotes him:

"I think this rough might even be a little too juicy for some of the older guys like myself,'' added Johnny Miller, who is playing his first event on any tour in nearly 10 years this week. The NBC commentator is teaming with longtime friend Mike Reid in the Raphael Division. "It's major championship rough.''

Elling On Champions Changes

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Steve Elling makes a decent case for the elimination of Champions Q-school exemptions and the introduction of expanded Monday qualifiers:

Sure, it sounds like a return to the frenetic and controversial "rabbit" qualifiers staged on the PGA Tour before it went to the current all-exempt format. But for the publicity-starved Champions, it should generate regional interest well before the 54-hole tournaments begin on Friday.

"There's no doubt it should generate some early buzz, because you'll have some recognizable names in those Monday and Tuesday qualifiers," George said.

Plus some names that are synonymous with anonymous, so to speak, which is the most interesting part of the changes from a purity standpoint. Senior tour history is rich with unheralded success stories guys such as the journeymen who struck gold at 50, Dana Quigley and Bruce Fleisher. Not to mention Mark Johnson, the aforementioned beer-truck man who didn't turn pro until his mid-40s.

For years, the Champions played it safe, striking a delicate balance. To wit, would its older fan demographic rather watch aging warhorses such as Chi Chi Rodriguez and reminisce about the good old days, or watch lesser-known players who actually have a chance of contending? An increasing problem is that graybeards such as Palmer and Jack Nicklaus don't play much anymore, and younger 50-somethings such as Tom Watson and Greg Norman play abbreviated schedules.

With the Champions Tour's television ratings falling behind those of the LPGA, something needed to change. Since many of the marquee drawing cards aren't playing regularly, why not open the doors for some new blood? Will title sponsors balk?

"In theory, there are some real positives to it," George said. "But it's a big change."

Champions Buzz...Or Lack Thereof

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Bill Fields reports Rick George's response to a negative Ron Kroichik story about the lackluster nature of Champions Tour events.
"It's very frustrating," George said of the tendency to focus on what the Champions Tour is lacking rather than its strengths, "because I think we've got one helluva product. When you attend our tour on a regular basis, we've got some tournaments that are really stepping it up. But is there a buzz in every community? No. We need to get it there. We've told the tournaments that this tour is only as good as the weakest tournament."
There's "buzz" at the events in well populated areas and when played at public courses. There is no buzz when the Champions play at suburban country clubs.

"Stay tuned - this thing is a long way from over."

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John Huggan is in fine curmudgeonly form while looking at the havoc the FedEx Cup schedule is creating on the European Tour.

As America's PGA Tour embarks on a lucratively-reshaped season that will "climax" with something called the Fed-Ex Cup - oh, the history, the mystique - and very likely pull many of Europe's leading players across the Atlantic even more than has already been the case, the European Tour's money-list is destined to be won by someone who picks up the vast majority of his cash in so-called co-sanctioned events - where prize- money is eligible on more than one circuit - rather than by a man ranked outside the world's top-50, and thus "relegated" to playing most of his golf outside of the United States.

So it is that the just-released European Tour International Schedule is all about filling dates. Next season, as the blaring press release was quick to trumpet, the European Tour will consist of at least 50 events - a "momentous milestone" - as it winds its often mediocre way across the globe.

Also, Golfweek's Rex Hoggard fires a few shots at the FedEx Cup as he looks at issues with the Champions Tour schedule. And he notes this about another major change in the Valiant Competitors Tour:

Starting with next month's Q-School, players will no longer play for a Champions Tour card. Instead, the hopeful will vie for a chance to qualify for events. The top-30 finishers from Q-School will earn a seat at the Monday qualifying table each week and play for nine spots in that week's tournament.

With the move, golf's most closed club just went private.

"There are some positives and some negatives," George said of the new qualifying system. "How will it impact the international players on the tour? I want to make sure the tournaments aren't impacted by the qualifying. We're going into it very cautiously."

But back to Huggan and Hoggard's pithy FedEx Cup remarks.

Isn't it interesting that time has not helped the Tour's concept age like fine wine, but instead has some of golf's finest inkslingers realizing just how flawed the schedule and points concepts are?

Champions Record!

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From Golfonline:

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sports Network) - On the Champions Tour next year, players will be competing for an average prize purse of $1.86 million -- a record-high in the senior circuit's 27th year.

Announced on Monday, the 2007 schedule features 29 official Charles Schwab Cup events worth a combined $54 million. Twenty-four of those tournaments have commitments extending at least through the 2008 season.

"The Champions Tour has made great strides working with our tournaments and title sponsors to strengthen our sponsorship foundation, the courses we play and the look, feel and dates of our tournaments," said tour president Rick George.

"As a result, we hope to add spectators in 2007 to take the look and feel of our events to a new level."
Oops, sorry, don't know how that last quote slipped in. Here's his actual carefully sculpted line...
"As a result, we feel the 2007 schedule is one of the strongest in the history of this tour and that we are well positioned for the next few years."

Trevino: "The USGA has dropped the ball on the golf ball"

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Ron Kroichik features these quotes from Lee Trevino, who is playing in this week's First Tee event at Pebble Beach:
-- On the chance of future tour players relying on a homemade swing, as he did: "There won't be any more homemade golf swings, because power is everything. My swing was powerless; that's one of the reasons I hit the ball so straight."

-- On technology's impact on golf: "The golf ball has ruined the game. It doesn't bend as much as it used to. The USGA has dropped the ball on the golf ball -- they won't admit it, but they know."

Champions In Charity, Champions As People

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I just got around to reading Charles McGrath's NY Times "PLAY" magazine story on the Senior Champions Tour.

Loved this:

In 2003, the tour hired a new commissioner, Rick George, who is extremely fluent in the language of contemporary corporate sportsspeak. It was George, for example, who supervised the “rebranding” of the tour’s name, and when I suggested that must have been because “senior” bore an unfortunate whiff of geezerdom, he corrected me. “The new brand gives us more platforms to promote what we do,” he said. “Our players are champions as golfers, champions in charity, champions as people.” George has worked mightily to increase the number of corporate sponsorships, the lifeblood of a golf tour, and now says, “We feel like we’re the best business-to-business marketing opportunity in all of sport.”