Doral's Attendance Woes...

Jeff Rude writes about the leaders even noticing the small crowds at Doral and asks...

Why the small crowd on such a perfect day? Well, part of the answer was in the question;

it was a perfect day in Miami, and there’s an ocean a few miles away. It’s a big weekend for NCAA basketball conference tournaments. Woods isn’t in contention.

Might ticket prices be a reason? Yes, tickets cost $50 at the gate Saturday. But daily tickets bought before March 1 were as low as $20 daily and $90 for the week.

$50 is of course ridiculous for a walk-up price in a town where there is plenty to do. That price point backfired dreadfully last year in Los Angeles, another town where there are plenty of cheaper alternatives.

"So many people called in, the officials in the rules trailer unplugged the phone. They ignored it."

Thanks to reader Stuart for catching this from SI's all-player confidential. The topic was "rules warriors."

Van Sickle: This has been a year of weird rules violations. How do you feel about TV viewers reporting potential mistakes?

Henry: I'm not a proponent of fans calling in. Unlike other sports, we don't have an official watching every shot by every player. And not every shot is seen on TV, so some players are under more scrutiny than others. That isn't equal. We need to come up with a solution where a guy isn't disqualified for something he did wrong two days earlier.

Crane: Right. When a guy commits a penalty and doesn't know it, it should be a two-shot penalty, not a disqualification for signing a wrong score. All it's going to take is to DQ a leader everybody wants to see win.

Purdy: I wouldn't mind if the Tour had an 800 number. I wish they'd had that for the Heritage Classic, where Stewart Cink beat me after he moved sand from behind his ball. You can't do that except on a green. So many people called in, the officials in the rules trailer unplugged the phone. They ignored it.

Oops!

Ben Crane Offers Best Incentive Yet To Issue Two-Shot Slow Play Penalties

Rich Lerner interviews Ben Crane about his workout videos and debuts an agonizing new one, this time spoofing his addiction to rudeness, a.k.a. as his slow play addiction. Crane chalks up his inability to be considerate of his fellow golfers to "overtrying, just trying too hard" and because "I care too much."  He also says this "isn't who I am" and, "yes I play slow golf."

So why not make fun of my inconsiderate and entitled ways?

The Commissioner has made clear he does not believe two-stroke penalties are appropriate, but when a player is openly mocking the notion of slow play even as it's become a bigger issue than ever, could this be the time that we start enforcing the 45-second rule?

Heritage Classic Status Moves To DEFCON Three

Is this any way to treat an old, loyal friend?

PGA Tour vice president Ty Votaw says it is “imperative” for the tournament to secure a replacement sponsor to keep the tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links for 2012 and beyond.

"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?