"Give us a chance to sort this out"

Nice to see the PGA Tour Commish Tim Finchem acknowledging that not visiting Chicago annually starting in 2007 was not such a hot idea. Ed Sherman reports:

"The reaction has been strong, and we take that into consideration," said Finchem, in town for the PGA Championship. "It's not often I get e-mails from fans who don't like what we're doing. . . . Give us a chance to sort this out. There may be a change in plans."

"I know people are disappointed about '08 and '10, but I'd like them to think about what they are getting in '07, '09 and '11," he said. "We ask the fans to hang with us. Out of six years, the best players in the world are going to be here at least four years, and maybe [twice in 2012]. That's not bad."

Without Special Access...

Here is the San Diego Union Tribune's Nick Canepa on Phil's latest photo op charitable foundation event.

Meanwhile, thanks to reader Chuck for the head's up on the latest infomercial debuting Saturday on CBS, and hopefully not coming to a DVD anytime soon. From PGATour.com:

Humble in nature and quick to deflect praise and attention, Mickelson himself would point to the personal and professional support network that has helped him achieve his lofty status. “The People’s Champion” will talk with each of the people who have played such a pivotal role in his success story.

Amy Mickelson. Phil’s dedication to his game is perhaps equaled only by the dedication to their charitable foundation. We’ll find out where their energies have been most pointedly directed and which charities the foundation will target throughout 2006.

Rick Smith and Dave Pelz. Both of these men have helped shape the game that has developed into the most complete on the PGA TOUR. We’ll watch one of their many practice sessions and study the unique approach to refining Phil’s world class skills.

We'll also see the two legendary teachers fight for the co-pilot's seat when Phil takes the wheel of his jet as cameras roll.

Just making sure you were still reading.

Jim McKay. Balancing the dynamics of a relationship that is both personal and professional is never easy. No one can argue with these results. “Bones” has been by Phil’s side for 15 years, sharing the joy and the pain. We’ll watch and listen as they work together in their office; the range.

Steve Loy. Phil’s former golf coach at Arizona State was on the bag in Tucson in 1991; the first of 29 PGA TOUR victories. He’ll offer a first hand account of the two-decade progression from college freshman to two-time Masters champion, and for the first time ever, will take off his sunglasses as cameras roll.

Again, just wanted to see if you were reading. Because now you have to read carefully. 

Without any special access, “The People’s Champion” will also document, in a behind-the-scenes style, the week of the U.S. Open as Mickelson chases his third consecutive major championship at Winged Foot Golf Club amid the electrified atmosphere that can only be generated by his passionate New York fans.

That's right, they are touting the fact that they did NOT get special access! Gee, makes you just want to run to the TiVo!

Interspersed within the show will also be footage and interviews already gathered, describing Phil’s introduction to the game in Southern California. We’ll hear stories from Phil, his dad and those in the San Diego area who saw his enormous potential at a very young age.

Produced by PGA TOUR Productions, “Phil Mickelson, The People’s Champion” airs Sat., Aug. 12 at 1:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports.

See, the PGA Tour doesn't consult Mark Steinberg on everything they do.

"To have someone like Steinberg in the room when decisions were being made...Can you put a price on that?"

Thanks to readers Scott and Noonan for this Robert Bell story exposing the interesting relationship between IMG's Mark Steinberg and PGA Tour brass in delivering an improved 2007 date to Greensboro despite having no sponsor on board.

In May of last year, Brazil suggested to Long and other foundation board members that he contact Steinberg about lobbying on behalf of Greensboro.

Brazil knew the tournament, which had struggled in recent years under the Greensboro Jaycees' direction, was turning the corner. The Jaycees were about to relinquish control of the event to a board of directors made up of some of the Triad's most influential business leaders -- a move that would give the tournament much-needed credibility with the tour.

The problem, Brazil said, was getting the tour to recognize this. Like other tournament directors across the country, Brazil couldn't get an audience with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, who was counseled in the restructuring by two trusted advisers.

One was Ed Moorhouse, the tour's executive vice president.

The other was Steinberg.

This is fun... 

Finchem and Moorhouse did not return phone calls, but Henry Hughes, chief of operations for the tour, said Greensboro did not receive consideration over other tournaments because of Steinberg.

"But certainly when Mark comes to us with an idea, the tour is going to listen," Hughes said. "That's what we did in this case. He's very knowledgeable on this business. It would have been foolish not to consider his expertise."

Long said Greensboro had little choice but to hire Steinberg. Since he sold his insurance company three years ago for $403 million, Long has been inundated with business and charitable requests. One of his financial advisers is charged with screening who gets an audience with Long and, more importantly, who doesn't.

"There's a big difference between sending a letter to an executive and knowing someone who can get you an audience," Long said. "A letter might sit on the executive's desk for weeks -- if it even gets to him. To have someone like Steinberg in the room when decisions were being made ... Can you put a price on that?"

Of course, now that we know this final event before the FedEx Cup finale amounts to a shootout between spots 140-150 for those final places in the playoffs, and that it's before a stretch of four straight weeks of golf, is it really that great of a date?

Why would Tiger, Phil or Vijay or any other stars play Greensboro after playing the PGA/WGC Firestone and before the four-week stretch?

More Brand Equity Leveraging...

 I wonder what the point of this is other than to plug those superstores? It's not to give the USGA data to study, is it?

Short-game Guru Dave Pelz To Appear At 23rd Annual PGA Tour Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship

Pelz and PGA TOUR's ShotLink Team to Gather World Am Golfer Shot Data for Future Comparisons with PGA TOUR Golfers

August 1, 2006, Myrtle Beach, S.C. - Dave Pelz, golf's foremost authority on the short game and putting, will partner with the PGA TOUR's ShotLink team at the 23rd annual PGA TOUR Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship, August 28 - September 1 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to gather golf-shot data on amateur participants for comparison to data regularly collected on the PGA TOUR.

The ShotLink system is the TOUR's data engine, developed in conjunction with IBM, that tracks every shot by every player in real-time. ShotLink integrates data sources to record and transmit information including shot number, drive length, ball location and score. This data is supplemented by the use of laser devices positioned throughout the course to record the exact position of every ball.

The PGA TOUR Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship, the world's largest single-site golf tournament, will serve as a beta test site as the ShotLink scoring system has never tracked amateur golfer data. During the World Am, the scores for scratch, 10, 20, and 30-handicap golfers will be recorded at four holes during all four rounds. All four flights will play the same courses and the Pelz/Shotlink team will track their statistics.

Ponte Vedra Nights?

In case you've missed Will Ferrell's efforts to plug his latest movie, Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, I've embedded a preview of the film below. I share this not because I'm rushing out to see the uh, film, but because this Jim Peltz L.A. Times story from last week noted how NASCAR has supported the film about the white trash driver and other bold tie-ins that have promoted their uh, gulp, "product."

Can you imagine the PGA Tour cooperating with Ferrell on a film that pokes fun at the players. Say, Ponte Vedra Nights: The Ballad of Tim Bland?

The Tour understandably works hard to protect the image of their players, perhaps too much so. If such an opportunity presented itself, even if it meant poking fun at themselves, would the Tour cooperate on such a film? Should they?

I say yes, simply because the humor of golf has long been an important element of the game that often seems absent today, especially when it comes to the PGA Tour. Thoughts?

The Skill Open?

Get the Washington Post ombudsman on the line!

We have some good old fashioned anti golf ball bias displayed by Leonard Shapiro, who not only dares to suggest a retro equipment tournament, but proposes that Nike run it!

Back in June, when the PGA Tour pulled the plug, for now, on Washington playing host to a tournament for the next few years, I received several e-mails from a friend and Northern Virginia neighbor, Howard Jensen, clearly a thinking man's golfer himself, who offered an intriguing alternative to the usual stroke play format for a tournament he'd love to see some day replace the Kemper/FBR/Booz Allen Open.

The play of Woods and Pavin over the last two weeks reminded me of his proposal, which follows mostly in his words. It includes a deep-pocketed sponsor -- he suggested Nike--that would put up the prize money -- say $5 million -- and dictate the rules of play that would go something like this:

Equipment: Nike selects a standard shaft, maybe graphite, and a standard ball (soft) that all players must use. The goal is to select a shaft and ball combination that, in the hands of the longest hitters, would only carry 300 yards maximum when hit perfectly.

See the bias. Criminal I tell you! Here's more from Len's equally biased friend:

"Skill with mid-irons and skill around the greens becomes a significant factor in professional golf again. The equipment in the bags of all players is identical, no tricked-up wedges, no fairway iron/woods, no fade driver/draw driver combinations. It's pure golf, pure equipment.

"This is not a radical notion. Every other professional sport uses standard equipment for all players, even NASCAR. The Battle Cry will boil down to a single question: Is it the player, or is it his/her equipment?

And naturally, this next point is just ludicrous. The plummetting ratings and Tom Fazio say the people want long drives, so they must want the power game, not silly stuff like this:

"Fan interest would be off the charts, drawing in even the casual golf fan. Sports radio and ESPN will have a field day hyping the event, and Washington would be the place to be in the world of golf.

Fuzzy On Today's Tour Players

Fuzzy Zoeller's "My Shot, from the August Golf Digest:

Many of the younger players on the regular tour today are just plain shy. They started at an earlier age than I did and from day one really had the game hammered into them. They grew up more insulated from the outside world. So they're a little less comfortable around people. It shows in their interviews, their interaction with the fans and even with each other. They just aren't people-oriented; caddies and teachers tend to get fired more often because of personality conflicts. I don't think they have as much fun as we did back in the 1970s and '80s. I have to say, I enjoyed the best years of the PGA Tour.

"The PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup"

From a story on Deutsche Bank extending it's deal with the Tour:

"The FedExCup and new playoff system on the PGA TOUR truly usher in an exciting new era in golf, and establish a new measurement of success on the PGA TOUR," TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. "Moreover, the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup will bring the same pressure and compelling drama to the PGA TOUR that other sports have had for many years."

The PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup. Just leveraging the equity of the brands. I'm sure they'll use version on SportsCenter. 

Hawkins On The Commissioners

John Hawkins in the latest Golf World:

In 2006 we've learned Carolyn Bivens and Tim Finchem share at least one common trait: a zeal for prioritizing revenue generation over the game's competitive welfare, then trying to disguise their corporate mentality by peddling it as progress.

And...

The FedEx Cup format has been panned both inside and outside the ropes, becoming the first playoff series to include more participants than are eligible for the regular season.

Coming off the controversial decision to forsake ABC/ESPN and sign for 15 years with an endemic network such as The Golf Channel, Finchem appears to have bartered his legacy to strengthen the tour's fiscal standing. He calls title-sponsor suits to the podium at news conferences, a practice that further reveals his transparent motives. He uses his own time at the microphone to embark on tangents about the tour's economic prowess, then fends off pertinent questions with his patented semantic splendor.

The Lost Statements of Henry Hughes

Last week we featured a mistaken Michelle Wie press release from the PGA Tour that went out by accident to members of the media. Well my sources in Ponte Vedra have unearthed two more Henry Hughes statements that never were emailed to writers.

“The PGA TOUR congratulates Phil Mickelson on his historic accomplishment of winning his third straight major at Winged Foot, becoming the first to do so since Tiger Woods in 2000. His quality of play over the final round is a testament to the level of performance and individual achievement found on TOUR. The PGA TOUR wishes him well in his attempt to win a fourth straight major at the British Open.”

And this one is a bit dated, but an understandable mistake:

"The PGA TOUR congratulates Thomas Dewey on his election as President of the United States. His quality campaign overcame Harry Truman's negative advertising and is a testament to the level of performance and individual achievement that is found every week in America, especially on the PGA TOUR."

More Criticism Of Western Change

Paul Azinger talking to Len Ziehm:

"The Western Open, are you kidding me?'' Azinger said during last week's John Deere Classic. "Some guys, like Sam Snead, have it as a major championship on their resumes.

"But the tour's not loyal to anybody. Players have no input at all, but what can we do? We can't be a union. We've just got to accept what they do. The players will make a little more money, but there's not a lot of loyalty in big-time sports now.''

Phil Kosin in Chicagoland Golf had this to say in a July issue:

How can the PGA Tour claim Chicago golf spectators will be better off if the tournament formerly known as the Western Open is rotated out of town every other year?

“We really don’t look at it as abandoning Chicago,” said PGA Tour chief financial officer Tom Wade. “We look at it as really upgrading and bringing a top-level world-class event to Chicago. I think it’s fair to say that the whole restructure of the PGA Tour with the FedEx Cup competition culminating in the new PGA Tour playoffs is the most important change we’ve ever made on the PGA Tour. We have big, big expectations and big plans for this.”

What a crock. I’m offended because the PGA Tour actually expects Chicago golf fans to buy this manure.

Why is the PGA Tour abandoning the nation’s third-largest market, golf-crazy Chicago, to take the event to smaller markets like St. Louis, Minneapolis and Indianapolis?
First, the Tour is still seeking a site in the Twin Cities area. We announced on our radio show two weeks ago that Hazeltine, which had been floated around as the third out-of-town site, had already told the Tour “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Maybe St. Louis and Indianapolis are golf-starved markets eagerly waiting to be tapped. But I remember vividly last September, while in Indy covering the Solheim Cup (the women’s version of the Ryder Cup) that the town’s big daily, the Indianapolis Star, did not even mention the event on its front page. Or in the first section of the paper. That’s a commitment to golf?

Oops, Wrong Attachment

Looks like the PGA Tour's Joan Alexander attached the wrong Henry Hughes statement on Michelle Wie's John Deere WD due to heat stroke:

Comment from the PGA TOUR on Michelle Wie making the cut at the John Deere Classic:

“The PGA TOUR congratulates Michelle Wie on her historic accomplishment in making the cut at the John Deere Classic, the first female in more than 60 years to do so on the TOUR. Her quality of play over the first two rounds is a testament to her high level of performance and individual achievement. The PGA TOUR wishes her well in her play this weekend.”

Henry Hughes
Senior Vice President and Chief of Operations PGA TOUR

Jeld Win Teleconference

The PGA Tour held a teleconference to unveil yet another new THE PLAYERS logo and to announced another presenting sponsor. Some nice Finchemspeak for your files.

One of the most important things about next year's tournament is the telecast. To think that we're going to have later air times, that's important, but we're going to have limited commercial inventory, with only four minutes of commercials an hour.

Limited commericial inventory. Is that why we have all of those The Villages ads?

So over the years we have been blessed in the last few years with our relationship with Price Waterhouse Coopers and also with UBS. And today we're delighted to announce that Jeld-Wen, which is the largest manufacturer of reliable doors and windows in the world, will become our third sponsor.

That is particularly important to be able to generate the kind of television presentation that we want to present. It's also important to help underpin all the changes and presentation that will occur with the players going forward.

Underpin...nice verb choice Tim. 

Jeld-Wen is -- why Jeld-Wen? Not just that we have a relationship with Jeld-Wen that goes back several years, when Jeld-Wen has been sponsoring a major championship on the Champions Tour, the Tradition. The Jeld-Wen Tradition has quickly become a fixture on the Champions Tour.

Is that like one of the nine majors in a row they're currently playing?

But the nature of the people at Jeld-Wen, the executive team at Jeld-Wen are a group of people that believe in the game of golf. They believe in what the game can do for a brand. They have demonstrated in their relationship with the Tradition out in Portland, a commitment to charity as well, a million dollars have been raised for charitable causes in the Portland area. So they are a natural, big company, global brand to align not just with The PLAYERS, but in association with The PLAYERS with Price Waterhouse Coopers and UBS. So that rounds out our charitable mix and gives us the basis where we can move forward and have the security to know that we can accomplish the things we need to accomplish to create a better PLAYERS and bring it to our fans.

So many words, and yet so little actually said.

Ah but here's the best part, the report on course and clubhouse renovations from David Pillsbury.

DAVE PILLSBURY: Well, first, I can assure you that the windows and doors are in fact Jeld-Wen through and through. We are very proud to say that. A great product for a great clubhouse, building a platform really for the next 25 years.

And you wonder why I'm cynical? 

Michaux: "Finchem is a corporate drone"

In introducing this web site's week in review, I wondered why Tim Finchem has received little criticism for so many questionable initiatives, most notably the recently announced FedEx Cup.

Well, the Augusta Chronicle's Scott Michaux not only criticizes Finchem, but undoubtedly will have some Vice Presidents running around tomorrow working to make sure no one ever utters the words "FedEx Cup Evaluation System."

It is difficult to swallow, much less stomach.

What I'm talking about is PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem's undigestible contrivance coming in 2007 dubbed - depending on your threshold for corporate jargon - the FedEx Cup or Finchem's Folly.

A couple of weeks ago, Finchem unveiled the hardly anticipated FedEx Cup Evaluation system, which heretofore will be referred to by its acronym, FECES.

Whoa Nellie!

Without boring you in excruciating Finchemesque fashion with any of the details you already don't care about, it is just another list attempting to quantify the relative values of professional golfers in a cluttered landscape that already includes an official world ranking, money winnings, orders of merit, various international team standings, etc.

The only thing that makes the FECES curiously different is the PGA Tour's transparent attempt to mathematically equate its Players Championship with the universally acclaimed four major championships.

Uh Scott, it's now THE PLAYERS. Please, get your facts straight!

Finchem's goal with this whole FECES thing is to create a "playoff-like" finish to his laudably truncated PGA Tour season. Through the first 36 events of the season, the roughly 240 players who start the year with some semblance of official status will be whittled all the way down to 144 lucky few who qualify for a four-week, no-tee-times-barred, battle royale culminating at the Tour Championship at East Lake. For getting hot at just the right time, Finchem will reward $10 million to the man who, in essence, turns out to be the glorified player of the month.

When the FECES hits the fans, will anyone care other than the individual who'll get to fortify his already lucrative retirement portfolio?

No.

Finchem believes he created some kind of excitement that will compare to NASCAR's season-ending chase for its championship or the NFL's compelling buildup to the Super Bowl. Instead he's done nothing but give birth to another flawed BCS concept that ultimately won't resolve anything. He's tried to rationale his baby with another postseason analogy about a 105-win Yankees team having to start over in October, but those Yankees wouldn't have to start over against the last-place Royals.

And he's just warming up.

If this were the only thing that Finchem had overdone in his tenure as commissioner of the PGA Tour, it would be almost excusable. But seeing as he's callously dismantled or neutered some golfing traditions that have been around for more than a century in the process, shackled the tour to the ultra-fringe Golf Channel for an astonishing 15 years and stepped on the toes of every other worldwide golfing entity with his avarice, Finchem's Folly loses any benefit of the doubt.

Finchem is a corporate drone who believes everything is better based upon money. If the Players pays more money than the Masters Tournament, it must be better. If The Golf Channel is willing to pay you more money over the course of 15 years than ESPN would have for the next four, it must be better.

That's why Finchem believes he's doing a good job, because the players he (with one whopper of an assist by Tiger Woods) made rich and spoiled gave him a $27 million contract extension.

More money, however, hasn't made the PGA Tour better. It's made it worse. Extra zeroes only add to the numbing. If you really want to see the best players on the PGA Tour going head-to-head more often, start paying them what they were making back in the '80s and early '90s - when making a million dollars was a season's work for the hardest workers who performed the best instead of a week's salary for a tournament winner or the median annual income for finishing in the top 150.

Just how much of Finchem's decision-making is based upon money? Consider that the only way the nearly 70-year-old event in Greensboro, N.C., was spared the cutting block was because it ponied up $500,000 to agent Mark Steinberg - just to be granted an audience with Finchem in order to make its case.

Ah, there's a story that no one really has explored enough.

That was not a benefit granted to, say, the 102-year-old Canadian Open, which was rendered all but obsolete with an untenable date between the British Open and PGA. Or the Western Open, which will be stripped of its venerable title and relegated to semi-annual visits to the Chicago area. Or the tournament outside Washington D.C., which was shut out of the regular season because FedEx attracted favoritism to its Memphis, Tenn., event. Or the Disney Classic and 84-year-old Texas Open, which were all but dismissed without any more dialogue than a curt "thanks for coming."

Not that the overly fattened PGA Tour season couldn't use a little trimming, but Finchem handled the whole process badly.

This next statement is precisely why Finchem can't be relied upon to deal with equipment.

Finchem constantly displays an arrogant disregard for everything in golf outside of his own tunnel vision. Who cares if the new tour schedule will gut the European Tour's prime events during the spring and late summer? Who cares if its big announcements distract the attention from the LPGA Tour's most important event? Who cares if none of the so-called World Golf Championship events are played in front of audiences outside the United States?

Finchem has unilaterally constructed the PGA Tour to fit his vision. Thank goodness he has no control over any of the major championships, meaning the most important historical results of the year will never be sullied by an inadequate TPC venue or distasteful title sponsorship.

At least that knowledge can settle the uneasiness in the stomachs of the constituents who really matter - the golf fans.

Tour's Washington Ad

(click on image to enlarge)Thanks to readers Jonathon and Jay for the heads up on this PGA Tour ad that appeared in the Washington Post.

Apparently the news of an expensive TPC Avenel redo is supposed to excite the masses?