"If you are not moving forward, you are moving backwards."

Larry Bohannan nabs a rare sit down with Commissioner Tim Finchem to talk about the demise of the once great event known as the Bob Hope Classic, and it's nice to know that the MBAspeak isn't confined to press conferences.

On the move to The Classic Club:

"If you are not moving forward, you are moving backwards. This tournament for a long time sort of set the bar in a lot of ways toward charitable giving, going back to the 1970s," Finchem said. "They need facilities that they can use to effectively market the tournament in today's world.

"You see all the other sports building new facilities. These facilities allow us to give the customer, the fan, a better experience."

Yeah it really looked like it the last two years!

And regarding the pro-am...

"I'm not so sure that the experience for the amateurs here can't be even more effectively marketed. It has been effectively marketed through the years."

Today's key phrase, effective marketing. As opposed to mere marketing. This man makes $7 million a year!

On the Nationwide Tour caliber field...

"From a field standpoint, you always have in a multi-day pro-am, whether it is here or Pebble Beach, you've got some players who like that format and some players who don't," Finchem said. "That is always going to continue."

But Finchem said it's important to look at the field as a legitimate PGA Tour field even if some stars are absent or avoid the event.

"The tour as a whole continues to get stronger and stronger. The fan base is getting bigger. We've got more stars. Here you've got some international players sprinkled in, I'm glad to see Phil make his debut after five months off this week."

Yep, stronger and stronger, that's why there were more world ranking points available in the Persian Gulf than Palm Springs. Fan base bigger? More stars? Uh huh.

On The Golf Channel GOLF CHANNEL and the new TV deal:

"We are going to learn more after the first couple of years of this new schedule.

First couple of years? More like first couple of months. 

We see good underlying trends with the Golf Channel. We like their presentation. We think it is getting better."

One key to the new deal is the potential for growth for Golf Channel, which currently reaches about 75 million homes.

"We like the way their distribution is going. We think we are on track for them to be in 90 million homes by '09," Finchem said. "By that time, all of the fan base of the sport will understand where the Golf Channel is. And that creates a really good base for us."

It's all about the base!

Azinger Elected To PAC Board

Oh to be a fly on the wall at those Player Advisory Council meetings. Doug Ferguson reports:

PLAYER ADVISOR:@ Paul Azinger has been one of the sharpest critics of PGA Tour policy, from title sponsorship to player input over the new FedExCup. Now, the Ryder Cup captain will have a small say in matters.

His peers elected Azinger to the 16-member Player Advisory Council, which reports to the main policy board. Next up is an election to see who will be chairman of the PAC, and that player eventually is appointed to the policy board. But that's one election he won't win, because Azinger is taking his name out of consideration.

"I'm more interested in making history than making policy," he said.

Judging by past comments like this from Azinger, his sense of humor will make those meetings most interesting. 

Tampa Sponsor

PODS...the company that Kirk Triplett represents, has signed up. Bob Harig notes:

PGA Tour sponsorships run about $7-million per year or $42-million over the six-year contract, which is tied to the tour's network television deals. The PODS Championship will be televised for the first two rounds on Golf Channel and the weekend rounds on NBC, Channel 8 locally.

Title sponsorship dollars fund part of the $5.3.-million purse, with the remaining money coming from the PGA Tour. The sponsorship also covers a required minimum of advertising dollars to be spent on television as well as tournament operations.

PGA Tour officials, however, have suggested that PODS is not paying the full sponsorship amount, hence the need to secure other funding.

"Including, for the first time, TOUR-branded apparel for kids"

Thanks to reader Scott for noticing the great news that PGA Tour PGA TOUR branded apparel will now be available for children. It's all about family values further extending the brand.

"We are pleased to have the following companies as new retail licensees of the PGA TOUR, which further extends the TOUR brand into new product categories, including, for the first time, TOUR-branded apparel for kids," said Leo McCullagh, PGA TOUR Vice President for Retail Licensing and Consumer Marketing. "Many of these companies will exhibit their TOUR-licensed products at this week's PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando."

Oh Canada Stop Complaining!

Thanks to reader Noonan for noticing this Chris Johnston story on the Canadian Open's struggle to find a sponsor, and the PGA Tour's Ty Votaw's condescending rebuttal (to their faces!):

The 'For Sale' sign hanging on the title sponsorship of the Canadian Open is beginning to fade with age, but the PGA Tour isn't worried about the lingering vacancy.

Tour executive Ty Votaw believes it's only a matter of time before a company steps forward and pays the $6-million (U.S.) a year needed to get its name on the event.

"The PGA Tour brand is strong," Votaw said yesterday after speaking to the Royal Canadian Golf Association's board of governors. "The history of golf in Canada is strong. I think the event itself is a selling point. It's a question of finding the right [fit]."

This is the fun part...

Votaw, however, believes the tournament's place in the run-up to the new FedEx Cup playoff system should boost the field and sponsorship interest.

"It's not less than ideal, it's not lousy and it's not between a rock and a hard place," said Votaw, the PGA Tour's executive vice-president of international affairs. "We want to build a crescendo to the end of our year.

"You should be proud that you are within that group rather than bemoaning that you're in that group."

Paige On International Rumblings, Vol. 2

Woody Paige speculates on why Wednesday's press conference between the PGA Tour and Jack Vickers was cancelled, though he comes to no conclusions and the whole thing sounds strange.

I have no inside information or sources but I believe the PGA Tour could be offering The International a World Golf Championship event in the future, tournament dates more conducive to Colorado or, most likely, assistance in gaining a title sponsor, maybe an automobile company, maybe Buick - the car Tiger Woods drives. (Woods won the Buick Invitational and the Buick Open last year.)

Are there tournament dates conducive to Colorado? June's too early, July has too many international events, August has too many thunderstorms and the Broncos--God's gift to sport--start in September.  

Paige On International Rumblings

The Denver Post's Woody Paige says that Jack Vickers isn't happy with his new date and other demands of the PGA Tour, but offers no actual specifics, nor any quotes from those associated with the event.

In fact, as he works his way through this apparent tragedy, Paige buries this note late in the column.

The PGA Tour did propose that one of the late-season "playoff" tournaments this year be held at Castle Pines, but the timing (the first weekend of football season in Colorado and potentially cooler weather), the cost ($7 million) and the prospect of miserable ratings and few corporate partners turned him off.

Whoa Nellie. He got offered one of the playoff events, with likely a great field, and passed?

Sorry, if that's true, and it's definitely an if when read some of the other stuff in Paige's column, there won't be much sympathy here for The International's plight.

Mercedes Ratings Put Medicus, LaLanne Infomercials To Shame

Unfortunately, according to a reader who gets Street and Smith's Sports Business Daily report, Golf Channel's four-round live coverage of the Mercedes Benz Championship averaged 370,728 households, down 44% from the event's four round average on ESPN last year.

The final round averaged a 505,129 households, down 49% from ESPN's 997,310 households in 2006.

Ty Votaw, The PGA Tour's Executive Vice President of Whatever Bob Combs Used To Be In Charge Of, issued this statement...

"Conclusions after only one event--and the first event--in this relationship are not terribly productive. We're pleased with what we achieved in that first event because they were consistent with our projections. 

So even if the numbers were lousy, our VP of Number Crunching got it right, so it's all good! 

We're on track with respect to where the Golf Channel is in distribution.

And that means? 

Production quality, energy levels of the commentators and the way they could personalize the players to a much greater degree were huge positives...

 Yeah those energy levels will pay the bills...

...if you compare what we've been able to achieve in this first week with the numbers in comparison to previous Golf Channel programming numbers, we're doing precisely what the Golf Channel has paid us to do: cause people to find the PGA Tour on the Golf Channel."

They are paying us to up their numbers.

Of course, the Tour's sponsors are also paying handsomely for certain numbers.

"Synthesize new technologies and trends into impacts, opportunities, threats and ultimately, strategy."

Sounds like a job description at the Department of Homeland Security, right? Close! The PGA Tour, actually.

Reader Tom found some interesting positions opening up in Ponte Vedra, and I tell you, I'm polishing my resume as you read this. With my FedEx Cup messaging skills I just may have to say goodbye to the writing and course design world. Don't believe me?  Wouldn't you say I'd be a strong candidate for this one that lets you spend time with Ty Votaw or Bob Combs or some other VP:

POSITION OVERVIEW: Reporting to the Director of PR and Media Relations, this position is primarily responsible for development and implementation of the FedExCup messaging at each tournament site.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

· Advise/counsel players regarding media opportunities.

I do that!

· Assist in development and implementation of weekly TOUR/FedExCup messaging.

Check.

· Pursue and develop story lines about our athletes and the FedExCup.

· Assist New York PR agency in telling story of our athletes and the FedExCup.

· Create “player personality” database.

Check, check, check.

· Compile advance story ideas for assigned tournaments.

Is that like propaganda for lazy writers and TV producers? That I'm not so good at.

· Focus on publicity efforts for upcoming events.

· Serve as PGA TOUR/FedExCup spokesmen in press conferences or radio/television interviews.

My calling!

· Serve as liaison between players and media and between PGA TOUR HQ staff and players.

· Provide media with background information and story ideas on players, FedExCup, officials, tournament, etc.

· Maximize publicity efforts for TOUR Marketing Partners.

· Handle special circumstances and requests from players, media, sponsors, or TOUR staff.

· Attend host broadcaster production meeting every week.

Would I get to bond with Bobby Clampett?

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education/Certification: Bachelors degree required, preferably in Communications, Journalism, Business Management or Marketing.

I knew that Communications degree from Pepperdine was good for something.

Experience: Must have a minimum of 3-5 years experience in Media Relations, Event Management, or Public Relations preferably in a professional golf environment.

Skill set requirements:

    * Strong Oral and Written Communication    

    * Relationship Building

My specialty!

    * Collaboration and Teamwork    

    * Creativity and Innovation

    * Judgement    

    * Negotiating

    * Networking

    * Political Savvy

Done deal!

Wait, there is also this one...

POSITION OVERVIEW: Serves as main point of contact at TOUR for a sub-set of TOUR’s Official Marketing Partner relationships – many of which with Fortune 500 corporations. Plays a leadership role in the management of a portfolio of relationships.

I've always wanted my own portfolio of sub-set relationships.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
§ Has responsibility for management of a portfolio of relationships valued at $30 – $50M

§ Has responsibility for monitoring contractual elements to ensure they are fully executed by TOUR and Partner

§ Has responsibility for maximizing revenue to TOUR via media, tournament, network, player spending from assigned Marketing Partners and grow even beyond the contractual requirements

Because after all, this is a non-profit organization.

§ Responsible for renewing the Partner (or finding a suitable replacement)

§ Develops strong and positive relationships with portfolio of Marketing Partners with objective of attaining high sponsor satisfaction

§ Responsible for having a deep understanding of Partners’ businesses and industries

Key word: deep.

§ Works closely with client on development of PR, promotion, advertising and relationship-building plans to ensure Partner fully leverages its relationship with PGA TOUR

I think it's well established that I'm all about leveraging brands.

§ Works with assigned Partners to implement TOUR-themed advertising and promotion which is prominent and delivers strong brand-building value to TOUR

§ Responsible for strategically identifying TOUR initiatives that fit the Partners’ objectives and selling concepts in to Partners

§ Monitors portfolio of Partner relationships and ensures that TOUR touches all levels of management at Partner (from day-to-day to CEO) and guides interaction between TOUR and Partner senior management

§ Responds to various Partner requests quickly and thoroughly and provides excellent service

Would you get the CMO another gin and tonic please?

You know, maybe not. But wait, I think this next one screams me!

POSITION OVERVIEW: The Manager will work very closely with the New Media Director to spot marketplace trends, evaluate new business opportunities, manage existing syndication partnerships and help close new deals and renewals.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

    * Renew and manage existing New Media partnerships.
    * Negotiate and close New Media deals in the U.S. and international markets.
    * Support analysis and create deliverables for larger partnership opportunities (e.g. RFP’s, presentations, models, draft of terms etc)

Hmmm...deliverables? Is creating a deliverable, like, you know, like, FedExing the Commissioner's broken wedge to Cleveland for overnight repair?

    * Research and evaluate new partnership opportunities -- investigate new ideas and prospects for validity, merits and potential.
    * Gather market research across the new media landscape, both U.S. and international – synthesize new technologies and trends into impacts, opportunities, threats and ultimately, strategy.

Ohhhhh!!! That's a winner. Synthesize new technologies and trends into impacts, opportunities, threats and ultimately, strategy. I think you get the job if you know what that means. Especially the threats part.

    * Develop and update monthly New Media newsletter summarizing trends and events that affect The Tour.

Ooops. That's TOUR, not The Tour. Sloppy branding I tell you!

    * Provide and assist with day-to-day communication with our strategic partner, Turner Sports Interactive. Help build network of contacts at TSI.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education/Certification: BA/BS or equivalent required/MBA is a plus

Oh is it ever a plus.

Golf Channel Ownership ?

Regarding the question I asked about the PGA Tour owning part of The Golf Channel, reader Rick shared this:

According to the Comcast annual report for 2005 (filed last spring), Comcast owned 99.9% of The Golf Channel.  It didn't say, as far as I could see, who owned the rest, but if Arnie was a co-founder, he probably owns the last sliver.

That may have changed since then, as of last spring, it didn't look like the tour owned any of the Golf Channel, and definitely could not have owned more than 0.01%.

PGA Tour: Partial Golf Channel Owner?

Thanks to reader Noonan for noticing Len Shapiro's Washington Post piece on Nick Faldo, which included this curious mention...

Sadly, ABC and its corporate cousin ESPN, are now essentially out of the golf business, save for their contract to keep the British Open (with Faldo in the booth, by the way). Instead of having many of its regular season events covered Thursday and Friday on the so-called sports leader, ESPN (or previous partner USA Network), the suits at PGA Tour headquarters in their 2006 round of TV negotiations decided they'd rather have all early round tournament coverage on The Golf Channel, which the tour partially owns.

I know there have been other mentions of the PGA Tour owning The Golf Channel GOLF CHANNEL, but has this ever been confirmed by the Tour, or one of the policy board members? Wait, why would the policy board know anything. Silly me!

"There was a lot of post 5-o'clock conversation"

In John Hawkins's excellent Golf World story on the FedEx Cup's evolution, there was this head scratcher:

If the old season had become outdated, this was an idea whose time had come, although you probably could have said that a decade ago. "We've talked about it since the second year I was here," says vice president Ken Lovell, who joined the PGA Tour in January 2000. "There was a lot of post-5-o'clock conversation regarding that actual theme. If you could do anything to produce the most exciting golf product, what would it be?"

I can't keep up with this business lingo, so I'm going to take a stab here and guess that "post 5-o'clock conversation" translates to "us hardworking, overpaid PGA Tour Vice Presidents rolling up their sleeves, working late, trying to stay later than the boss and brainstorming so we don't have to go home to the wife."

Or does it mean something else?

Of course one wonders why this conversation has to take place after 5, as opposed to during business hours.
 

Lift, Clean and...Entertain?

Since taking in a portion of Sunday's Target World Challenge at Sherwood, something's been bugging me about the playing conditions. Naturally it took until Wednesday for me to figure it out.

Now, I'm all for playing the ball down whenever necessary, especially in major championships.

But a Saturday rain combined with the newly sodded fairways (not draining worth a lick) led to poor conditions and balls covered with mud. Third round leader Geoff Ogilvy and eventual winner Tiger Woods hit their share of squirrely shots, with Ogilvy twice having mud wreak havoc that ultimately cost him a shot at defending his third round lead.

The decision not to play lift, clean and place sums up pretty much everything that I find disappointing about the current PGA Tour leadership: their consistent inablity to understand what makes golf entertaining to watch. As I understand it, this was tournament director Mark Russell's call, and it was not his best.

The Target World Challenge is an exhibition intended to entertain the fans, enrich the players and benefit a worthy cause. This is not the time to worry about the integrity of the game. The primary goal is to create some excitement, and in this case allowing the players to play shots with a clean ball would have been a lot more fun than what ultimately unfolded Sunday.

I appreciate the Tour's stated desire to uphold the traditions of the game, but this was not the time to do it.

If they want to get serious about integrity and protecting the traditions of the game, they should worry more about the impact of distance increases. I know, now I'm really delusional.

The Red Pens Of Ponte Vedra...

...sounds like a children's story? Actually, it is in a sense.

Now read this clip from Doug Ferguson's AP game story from the Target World Challenge.

Woods was surprised to hear that Daly didn't earn a single paycheck over $100,000 this year, although he can understand given the distractions he had off the golf course.

On the eve of the Buick Invitational, Daly got word that his wife, Sherrie, was on her way to prison to serve a five-month sentence. She was indicted a week after giving birth to their first child, and eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to structure a transaction to evade reporting requirements involving an alleged drug and gambling ring.

Then came the nagging injuries, first to his back, then to ligaments in his left hand, ultimately a broken pinky on his left hand when he was trying to make compensations for his grip.

"Just the injuries killed me this year," Daly said. "That stretch in June or July with my back when I had that sciatic nerve for six or seven weeks, I tried to play and couldn't play. That cost me six, seven, eight tournaments. Later in the year, my pinkie broke. Just been a year with a lot of injuries. It was just one thing after another."

Then came what Sherrie Daly's lawyer described as a "race to the courthouse." She filed on Oct. 17, he filed the next day.

"We're trying to work it out," Daly said. "I think we will."

He thought about seeking a minor medical exemption to help win back his card, but only would have received two tournaments to get that done and opted to take his chances asking for sponsor's exemptions.

Now the PGATour.com version...

 Woods was surprised to hear that Daly didn't earn a single paycheck over $100,000 this year, although he can understand given the personal distractions he had off the golf course.

Then came the nagging injuries, first to his back, then to ligaments in his left hand, ultimately a broken pinky on his left hand when he was trying to make compensations for his grip.

 "Just the injuries killed me this year," Daly said. "That stretch in June or July with my back when I had that sciatic nerve for six or seven weeks, I tried to play and couldn't play. That cost me six, seven, eight tournaments. Later in the year, my pinkie broke. Just been a year with a lot of injuries. It was just one thing after another."

He thought about seeking a minor medical exemption to help win back his card, but only would have received two tournaments to get that done and opted to take his chances asking for sponsor's exemptions.

Well, you know how the Internet is. Space constraints.

"We do that through not only visual monumentation..."

Here's the PGA Tour's David Pillsbury, talking about the revamped TPC Sawgrass The Player's Stadium Course THE PLAYERS Stadium Course during the PGA Tour's Communications Summit:

The feedback has been extremely positive.  The rough is very punitive.  It will grow another inch and a half or two by the time we get to THE PLAYERS.

The idea is that the ball, unless it's hit perfectly, rolls into the rough.  That's the way this golf course was designed, to play firm and fast.  And that's the way it will play in May, and we are very excited to have our players out there, the best players in the world, with what we think is one of the greatest golf challenges in the world as a result in large part to these renovations and the masterpiece that Pete Dye created 25 years ago.   

We obviously also focused on the clubhouse, along with a number of other areas that touch various constituents of THE PLAYERS.  The clubhouse is critical to our proud partners.  By the way, without their support, none of this would be possible, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, UBS and JeldWenn are the three partners that have really driven this process for us financially.  But they also wanted a world class venue for their clients during the tournament.  So we wanted to create a clubhouse that matched the iconic stature of this golf course.  What we've created is something that has some majestic qualities.  It adds a new dimension, a presence at Sawgrass that we simply didn't have before.

Just to give you some scale, 77,000 square feet.  Just the tile for the roof weighs 680,000 pounds, two Boeing 747s.  It is a massive building.  It's also going to be a lovely building.

I've never heard massive, 77,000 square feet and 680,000 pounds likened to lovely!

It's going to be a building that will be a place where stories are told on the walls.  Stories will be told by our teams, and that carries onto the golf course, with the improvements we've made to the experience itself.

Our mission is to bring to life the PGA TOUR experience across all of our TPCs starting here with the mother ship.  We do that through not only visual monumentation but with caddies, caddies that tell you about great moments at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Monumentation. Take that Commissioner!