"The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship is leaving Tucson. What do the French say? Fait accompli? Yes, in any language, it is terminal here."

That's the Arizona Daily Star's Greg Hansen on the prospects of the match play's return to Tucson after next year's event.

Wade Dunagan, the executive director of the last three Match Play events, will be the first to go. The PGA will appoint new leadership soon, and the tournament itself will follow, probably after the last putt drops in February 2012.

If it doesn't make it for another year, it will be a surprise, but pro golf is full of surprises. Who could have ever predicted that Tiger Woods would be eliminated at Dove Mountain by the likes of Thomas Bjorn, Nick O'Hern and Tim Clark?

At this stage, it's fluid. Anything goes.

This would be a good place to insert some perspective, some damage control, from Finchem and the tour, but he was not made available for comment in the days he spent at the Ritz-Carlton. You pick the appropriate term: This type of treatment for a city that has played host to the PGA Tour since 1945 is (a) insulting, (b) arrogant or (c) bad business.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Hansen was kind to not point out that Dove Mountain was a Finchem/Nicklaus vision that was doomed from the start because of its location and the always fatal awarding of a tournament to a course that hasn't been played yet.

"At this stage - without a contract for 2012, without a word from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem or the Accenture high command - paranoia creeps in."

Greg Hansen notes the uncertainty surrounding the Accenture Match Play's future at Dove Mountain.

When the Tucson Conquistadores aggressively chased the Match Play event, then located in Carlsbad, Calif., it wasn't much of a secret. Conquistadore Russ Perlich, who was also a PGA Tour board member, estimated he flew to the tour's Florida headquarters "umpteen times" over several years to broker the deal.

About 18 months before leaving golf-saturated Southern California, the Match Play people scouted potential sites in Las Vegas, the greater Phoenix area and in Santa Barbara, Calif. It settled on Tucson for five reasons: climate; the Conquistadores; a 60-year history of community support for the Tucson Open; the promise of a new golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus; and an on-site hotel built by Ritz-Carlton.

It seemed to be enough to please the golf people for at least 10 years, but business is business, right?

"From The First Tee To The First Family"

Almost straight from The Onion.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Thanks to rare access to one of America's most prominent families, From The First Tee to the First Family presented by The Dow Chemical Company, a half-hour NBC Sports special airing at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 27, takes a closer look at the Bush family's connection to The First Tee.

Wait, the first family is sponsored by the Dow Chemical Company?

Former President George H.W. Bush has served as honorary chair of The First Tee since its inception. On February 18, it was announced that George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, will succeed his father and become the new honorary chair. President George H. W. will become honorary chair emeritus.

Since 1997, The First Tee has impacted more than 4.7 million young people at 750 golf courses, in 4,000 elementary schools and on 120 military installations. As The First Tee moves forward, continuing to use the game of golf as the platform, the goal is to see that as many youth as possible are exposed to character education and life skills lessons, giving them the opportunity to grow individually and to become productive members of their communities.

Who aren't playing golf.

From The First Tee to the First Family presented by The Dow Chemical Company showcases personal, uplifting stories of young people who have had life-changing experiences thanks to The First Tee. Viewers will get a closer look at the history of The First Tee, its incredible growth around the world and the personal involvement of President George H.W. Bush in the program over the past 14 years. In addition, this special examines the future of The First Tee with a specific focus on the next decade with George W. Bush's involvement.

Does he have any thoughts on maybe growing the game?

The special was produced by PGA TOUR Entertainment. As "The Official Chemistry Company" of the PGA TOUR, Dow provides significant philanthropic support to The First Tee. Together, Dow and The First Tee are furthering education and building career paths and opportunities for deserving and talented young people of all backgrounds across the nation.

Break out the fog filters, blur those edges, cue the schmaltz and write things like this: "rising together theirs is a song for all to sing, an unfinished symphony, different notes creating perhaps the game's greatest masterpiece."



"I can easily picture a teenager in 2050 measuring greatness both in terms of majors won and FedExCup titles."

Whoa Nellie, the FedEx negotiations must have hit a snag!

According to Yahoo's Jay Busbee, PGA Tour VP Ty Votaw felt compelled to rebut a Michael Arkush column blasting the ridiculous early season FedExCup shilling. And Arkush didn't even mention the offensive electronic scoreboard posting of standings that makes catching a leaderboard about as common as a rare white elk sighting!

Ty writes:

Let me say this loud and clear: I LOVE THE FEDEXCUP.

Caps, but no copyright symbol?

There, I've said it. And the PGA TOUR's "partners" (the television networks) updating us more on the standings this early in the season is no different than NFL announcers talking about whether the Pittsburgh Steelers can still make the playoffs after starting 2-4. Doesn't that provide relevance to the Steelers' season and what they have to do to get to the playoffs?  Same goes for the FedExCup.

There is a difference. People actually care about the NFL playoffs. Millions of people, actually.

At this time last year, I don't know if many people were predicting that Jim Furyk would win the FedExCup.

He's right few were predicting it because no one cares enough to get into the FedExCup predicting business.

But two wins in the spring (Transitions and Heritage) positioned him quite nicely when The TOUR Championship came around.

Was that after the first or second point re-shuffle?

I have no problem with the TOUR trying to promote the FedExCup.

You're paid several hundred thousand dollars to think that, it should be noted.

I know how overwhelming it is to have great fields play four weeks in a row. Five years into this experiment, the FedExCup means more to me now than it did when it first started.

See last snarky cut-in.

Seriously. There is no doubt that greatness in golf, and this is part of the sport's beauty, is measured by how players perform in the major championships. That's why great players and FedExCup winners like Tiger Woods (14 majors, 2 FedExCups), Vijay Singh (3 majors, 1 FedExCup) and Jim Furyk (1 major, 1 FedExCup) have made the season-long competition so compelling. Time will tell, but I can easily picture a teenager in 2050 measuring greatness both in terms of majors won and FedExCup titles.

Your imagination is richer than I thought!

My dream is for Michael Arkush to see that the FedExCup was never intended to be more important than the major championships, but rather be an additional achievement in measuring greatness. Maybe after he reads this column, my dream can come true.

Keep dreaming the dream, Ty!

"People today understand that being in movie theaters, church or somewhere rings are frowned upon, they get that."

That's the PGA Tour's VP & COO Andy Pazder speaking about the new cell phone policy going forward starting with the Honda Classic.

“We learned that the fans were very conscientious about keeping their phone on silent,” said PGA Tour Exec VP & COO Andy Pazder. “That really was the easiest piece of the puzzle to solve. People today understand that being in movie theaters, church or somewhere rings are frowned upon, they get that. We had a ring or two, but that was very minimal."

"They wouldn't even let me leave early before Shabbat."

Jill Painter files a story about Wade Morris, a former Angeles National Golf Club employee who was banned from the Northern Trust Open qualifier at the course because he has filed a discrimination complaint after the course fired him. It's a bit confusing because the Southern California PGA runs the qualifier, but it appears they are the ones who complied with the course's wish to ban Morris.

This year, he and Hull went through the Southern California PGA to get permission to play at Angeles National, where Morris felt he would have an advantage since he played the course and worked there from 2006-09. Morris said he was told on Friday that he couldn't play because the PGA-sanctioned event would follow the rules of the club. Hull said Angeles National filed paperwork so that Morris couldn't play there.

given the option to play another qualifying event in Southern California. He played at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills. He shot an 80 and didn't advance through qualifying.

The next qualifier is Monday.

The 25-year-old Morris said when he worked at the club he was not given Jewish holidays off or time to attend temple.

"I was a salaried employee and manager as well," Morris said. "I would request time off for holidays, and they wouldn't give it to me.

"They wanted to pay me the same amount, no matter how much I worked. I requested four to five Jewish holidays off and no luck. They wouldn't even let me leave early before Shabbat."

Finchem On DQ Rule: “I am cautiously optimistic"

Doug Ferguson reports that PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem not only welcomes welcomes viewer call-ins on rules violations, but it also sounds like his visit with the USGA last week has him realizing the governing bodies will not be rewriting the rules to protect those who don't know the rules.

“In Harrington’s case, you could see the ball move a little bit in HD television. You couldn’t see it move in analog. And he didn’t know,” Finchem said. “So there needs to be fairness and common sense to the rule.”

Finchem said he wants the PGA to follow the USGA’s lead and he anticipates they will end up with “a few, little, small” changes to the rules.

“I am cautiously optimistic we’ll get to some modifications that will just create a better system.”