Blood Testing (Finally) Comes To The PGA Tour

Rex Hoggard explains for GolfChannel.com how the PGA Tour's new blood testing will impact the players and perceptions of the sport.

Hoggard says most players he spoke to felt the time had arrived for this more complete program, an amazing shift compared to a decade ago when Tim Finchem was resisting testing and players generally declared golfers clean and therefore not needing testing of any kind.

This was interesting:

“Why can’t we do hair samples, because then you can actually trace further back?” asked Casey, who is also an amateur cyclist. “There are certain drugs that are flushed out of the system within a day or two days, hair actually holds that drug in the follicle longer.”

Golf’s return to the Olympics last year will ensure the game remains vigilant when it comes to testing and officials haven’t ruled out new tests as the science and doping evolves. But for now, the circuit is content with the new testing methods.
“There is a lot of alternative testing methods, including hair, but the efficiency of these tests is really not at a level that would warrant use in a sport anti-doping program at this time,” Levinson said. “Urine is the most effective method of detecting most of the substances we are looking for.”

Reminders Galore That Wraparound Schedule Needs A Wrap

As I wrote for Golfweek's Presidents Cup coverage, Team USA's on-course performance was especially remarkable given the noticeable fatigue of the recent PGA Tour playoff participants. Less remarkable was the team and leadership no-show effort for the World Golf Hall Of Fame ceremony, and I'm chalking part of that mistake to this being the culminating week of a season filled with multiple obligations and the pressures of 21st Century PGA Tour golf. (Just look how rail-thin Jordan Spieth looks in the photo below after going all-in on the playoffs and Presidents Cup.)

Meanwhile the feeder tour that has been designated as the only way to the PGA Tour played its final and arguably most important event against the Presidents Cup. Even more amazingly, the Web.com Tour Finals finished the week prior to the start of the next season.

Asking Web.com players to compete for their livelihood over two months, then turn around and play for their new status before the PGA Tour's eligibility re-shuffle in November is not a rational way to develop new stars.

Congratulations to Jonathan Byrd (Nicklaus Parker's game story here) and the many players who completed the playoffs Monday in Florida, but there were 13 who already had status locked up WD'd from the Monday weather-delayed finish to get to Napa for this week's PGA Tour season opener.

While the PGA Tour brass and some players will continue to defend Tim Finchem's "wraparound" vision for the PGA and Web.com Tours as the proper proving grounds, the emphasis has lost sight of what makes most sense for all parties.

Besides developing talent, the Web.com Tour is also a tour that should help serious golf fans get familiar with emerging players. Playing against the PGA Tour Playoffs and Presidents Cup certainly won't help on that front. When the PGA Tour had a week off during the playoffs, so did the Web.com Tour. Oy. Vey.

The many compelling card-chasing stories we would have learned via the old Fall Finish race or Q-School are getting lost. (This year there was a traditional heartbreaker of a finish for Matt Harmon that was covered because he missed short putts coming in, snapped his putter and missed out on a chance at his card).

The wraparound was created to save the fall events at the expense of the PGA Tour's very attractive natural January beginning. I just can't see how, given some of the signs of fatigue, the wraparound's impact on players from both circuits is offering a logical ebb and flow for anyone. Nor is it working for anyone but the fall events that get to say they are offering FedExCup points.

How's This For A Tour Championship Plus One Scenario?

If the 2017 Tour Championship had been in 2019 when it could potentially change, here's how I would love to have seen it play out.

Remember, the schedule that year will likely finish on Labor Day Monday, meaning the Tour Championship could start on Thursday and end on Sunday.

Instead of everyone trying to figure out who is winning the FedExCup and overshadowing a golf tournament Coca Cola pays handsomely to sponsor, what if Sunday was mostly about the Tour Championship and the need to make it to championship Monday.

In the case of the 2017 Tour Championship, Xander Schauffele's win would have been a huge way to sneak in to the Monday finish. And what happens Monday?

Why six players at 18 holes of very simple stroke play for $10 million.

If the Tour Championship this year had cut to six--other numbers seem awkward--we'd have the guys broken into two threesomes or three twosomes playing Labor Day Monday for the big prize.

Here were the top six after play Sunday at East Lake courtesy of GolfChannel.com and I must say, kind of a perfect scenario of season long stars and playoff upstarts:

And here are the almost-finalists who had nice seasons and playoffs, but I think everyone would agree, were not deserving of making it to Monday's madness either because of playoff struggles or just not enough regular season success.

For those who don't recall the many times I've floated these scenarios where we send the algorithms home and just let the lads play golf, spare me the arguments that season long success must matter to the very end.

At some point we have to cut the cord and just make this a very simple shootout for the big money.

The entertainment will ensue and even better, sponsors will love it, television will have something to talk about that is actually more interesting than a mysterious mathematical formula, and the average fan will be able to follow along. Best of all, the sun will still rise in the east and set in the west.

PGA Tour Considering Shocking Plan To Emphasize Entertainment And Clarity Over Current Playoff Conclusion

I'm getting ahead of myself here because, after all, Doug Ferguson's AP report on the possible FedExCup playoff change wil be taken to the players for feedback. You know, the same players who said 72-holes of stroke play is the only way for Olympic golf to be presented.

Still, the possibility of a playoff shakeup is exciting. Sure, Steve Sands will have to retire the white board and algorithm writers may protest a Sunday finish that is straight-stroke play, but we'll deal with that when it happens.

ShackHouse listeners know I floated two scenarios this week, including an algorithm-driven elimination system that whittles the field down after 36 and 54 holes.

And while I think that would be great fun, especially by injecting life into Tour Championship rounds other than Sunday, the scenario Tour officials are considering makes more political sense. In other words, it will hurt fewer feelings.

One concept being explored is staging the Tour Championship, handing out a trophy, and then the top FedEx Cup finishers playing the next day over 18 holes to determine the winner.

That's a long way off from becoming a reality, and it includes feedback from the players. One area of dissent is that the current system works fine.

Fine=draws ratings in the mid 1's consistently!

PGA Tour Plans To Keep Pants As The "Uniform"

There are first world crises and then there is the turbulent question of pro golfers wearing shorts in competition.

It sounds like the schlub sector of the tour has not been very vocal, perhaps after seeing way too many OB stakes masquerading as legs? Anyway, Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com talked to Commissioner Jay Monahan who reiterated that the players will be wearing pants for the foreseeable future.

“Having worked in other sports, when you get on the tee on Wednesday and you see a player playing in their uniform, the same way they are going to look over the next four days. Treating that event professionally, there’s a lot of value to that. You have to protect that.”

PGA Tour Pros Say Golf Is Healthier Than The Ratings Suggest

While Nielsen ratings are by no means a measure of a sports' popularity, I do think it's fascinating to see how much players quoted in this Karen Crouse New York Times piece suggest the game is healthier than flatlining ratings indicate.

“TV ratings are really not a measure of whether golf is popular,” said Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion.

His view is widely held by the pros, who see ratings as a flawed indicator of golf’s reach. Television is the pretty packaging. The substance of golf is the indelible — and wholly organic — image from the end of the P.G.A. Championship, when Jordan Spieth and a handful of other players stuck around long after they were finished so they could be among the first people to congratulate Thomas.

The show of sportsmanship highlighted golf’s capacity for competition and friendship. It made golf look cool and fun, the Tour veteran Charley Hoffman said, adding, “I think it can’t do anything but help the game.”

And...

Topgolf, a booming entertainment franchise with roughly three dozen locations around the country and several more to open soon, is an entryway to golf for adults. It offers a more relaxed approach and easy access to the game.

Do the barefoot man and the woman in stilettos count as golfers? Paul Casey believes so.

“They are still golf fans, they are still absorbing, or taking in — consuming — the game,” he said, adding, “I don’t think the game has any issues whatsoever. I just think it’s changing and it’s organic. I think it’s cool.”

PGA Tour: Will Smart Schedule Sense Or Playing Opportunities Prevail?

Many in and outside of golf will be watching how the PGA Tour maneuvers through the next year in re-imagining its schedule around the rest of sports.

At ESPN.com Jason Sobel looked at why the PGA Tour season seems so long and does not see the situation changing. Also featured with his piece is a snippet of Michael Collins talking with Commissioner Jay Monahan about the PGA Tour historically playing a long season schedule.

I had a different take over at Golfweek.com: Monahan is having to send mixed signals to prevent a riot, but to make a Labor Day finish work and to restore some sense of a cycle and brief downtime that golf enjoyed pre-wraparound calendar, something has to give. Will the playing opportunities of those 50th to 150th prevail? Or will the tour shed a few events to tighten up the core portion of the calendar?

Video: Stewart Cink's Payne Stewart Award Speech

If you're looking for some nice listening while paying the bills, the eloquent Stewart Cink accepting the Payne Stewart Award might do the trick.

Cink also talked to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis after his speech in Atlanta.

Need For PGA Tour's Gambling Focus Making More Sense

Between Commissioner Jay Monahan's comments and a few smart takes, we have a better sense now why the PGA Tour is taking a proactive approach to any potential gambling related matters.

The obvious issue involves daily fantasy and the potential to hop on any sports better legalization trains. From Rex Hoggard's GolfChannel.com take:

In fact, Monahan said the policy, and partnership with Genius Sports, is part of the Tour’s ongoing analysis of online betting websites like DraftKings.

“That's something we have been and we'll continue to take a hard look at, but as of right now I would say two things. One, that's not the reason we've made this move, and two, you have to continue to see how daily fantasy continues to evolve,” Monahan said. “We're intrigued by daily fantasy, we're intrigued by gaming. Fan engagement I think it’s important for any sport and you look at the activity in other sports and you look at the activity in golf, it's significant.”

This is especially significant given that Commissioner Smails has never shown much interest in using fantasy or gambling to grow the sport. But given the state of ratings, the push for legalization and the potential to use betting to retain eyeballs, Monahan is right to explore the possibilities.

Now, a less understood issue may involve the potential for match fixing or real time gambling practices,  as Brian Wacker notes in covering many sides to this for Golf World.

According to a handful of players and caddies, wagers are made regularly by those on the “inside” (caddies, for example) and often done so in real time with up-to-the-second information being used in markets where live betting is permitted.

One real-life example provided by a caddie is knowing that an injured player is poised to withdraw and therefore loading up on his opponent in a match bet. In short, it’s the equivalent of insider trading on the stock market.

Such live betting is enormously popular in the United Kingdom, among other places. It’s also gaining traction in Nevada, where some sports books already offer mobile apps to customers who are inside state lines.

Here are Monahan's comments from Atlanta:

PGA Tour's 2017-18 Schedule Last Of An Era

No real shockers on the 2017-18 schedule, though it was encouraging to see the Houston Open and D.C. stops kept on the list without sponsors. Amazingly, what's left of the Florida swing is still interrupted by the WGC event in Mexico, the strangest travel sequence on the 2016-17 schedule.

The 2018-19 PGA Tour schedule figures to be much different if the vision of a Labor Day finish is executed, so in the meantime one last go-round of the current structure.

For Immediate Release, with the full schedule here.

PGA TOUR releases 2017-18 Season lineup of 49 FedExCup events

Includes new tournaments in the Dominican Republic and Korea

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (September 19, 2017) – The PGA TOUR today released the full 2017-18 Season schedule of 49 FedExCup tournaments, representing an increase of two events with the previously announced additions of THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES at Jeju Island, Korea, and the elevation of the Web.com Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. Total prize money for the season will be a record of more than $363 million.

THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, Korea’s first official PGA TOUR event, debuts October 16-22 at The Club at Nine Bridges as one of eight tournaments in the 2017 portion of the schedule, which was released in August.

The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, which was held for two years on the Web.com Tour, will debut on the PGA TOUR March 19-25, 2018, the same week as the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play. The Tom Fazio-designed Corales course will continue to serve as the tournament course.

The Puerto Rico Open, in turn, moves from Match Play week to February 26-March 4, coinciding with the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. With the addition of the two new international tournaments, the schedule includes nine tournaments in eight countries outside the United States.

Other significant changes relate to venues. The AT&T Byron Nelson (May 14-20) moves to the new Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, while two FedExCup Playoffs events change courses: THE NORTHERN TRUST (August 20-26) returns to The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey and the BMW Championship (September 3-9) visits historic Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia for the first time, marking only the second time in the tournament’s 115 years of play that it will be held in Pennsylvania (1959 being the other).  

Additionally, the U.S. Open (June 11-17) returns to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, for the first time since 2004; The Open Championship (July 16-22) rotates to Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland and the PGA Championship (August 6-12) will be held at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis for only the second time (first being in 1992).

One final change sees the open week during the 2018 FedExCup Playoffs shifting by one week. The first three events will be held consecutively – THE NORTHERN TRUST, the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston (August 27-September 3) and BMW Championship. Then comes the open week, followed by the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta (September 17-23).

Update on 2017-09-20 03:14 by Geoff

**Our quick takes on Alternate Shot today regarding the schedule announcement:

PGA Tour Implementing New "Integrity Program" In 2018

For Immediate Release...

PGA TOUR implementing new Integrity Program in 2018

Genius Sports to monitor global betting markets, provide educational services

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (September 18, 2017) – The PGA TOUR has announced that it will implement a new Integrity Program effective January 1, 2018, to protect its competitions from potential outside influences related to gambling.

Ah, only the outside influences? What about inside ones?

While the TOUR has a longstanding policy prohibiting players from betting or related activities at TOUR-related events, the new Integrity Program is more comprehensive. It will cover all facets of competition and operations on the six Tours overseen by the PGA TOUR, including players and their support teams, all tournament staff and volunteers, the entire PGA TOUR staff and the PGA TOUR Policy Board.

There goes the Policy Board's legendary fantasy league!

The Program’s stated mission is: “To maintain integrity and prevent and mitigate betting-related corruption in PGA TOUR competitions – ensuring competitions always reflect, and appear to reflect, the best efforts of the players, while protecting the welfare of the players and others involved with the PGA TOUR – through clear policies and regulations, ongoing education and training, and effective and consistent monitoring and enforcement functions.”   

To assist with the implementation of the program the TOUR has engaged Genius Sports, the global leader in sports integrity services, to provide several key services. This includes its state-of-the-art bet monitoring system which tracks real-time betting activity and utilizes proprietary algorithms to identify potentially suspicious patterns occurring in global betting markets. 

“The bedrock of PGA TOUR competition are the inherent values of golf and the honesty and integrity of our members,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “We recognize, however, that no sport is fully immune from the potential influence of gambling. So, we felt it was important to move forward with an Integrity Program to further protect our competition from betting-related issues. Genius Sports will provide essential support as we roll out the Program across the entire PGA TOUR.”

The TOUR has worked with Genius Sports to develop a tailored educational program that will help players, caddies and officials to identify, resist and report incidents of potential betting corruption.

Oh those will be real barnburners.

Educational workshops will reinforce the PGA TOUR’s regulations and highlight the potential consequences related to betting corruption.

Good news: undisclosed fines and suspensions!

Additionally, custom-made e-learning modules will be available on a worldwide basis to all PGA TOUR players in multiple languages.

Mark Locke, CEO at Genius Sports Group, said: “We are delighted to partner with the PGA TOUR to drive its integrity initiatives. Protecting the integrity of sport has never been of greater importance and it requires forward-thinking organizations such as the PGA TOUR to proactively invest in both proven technology and education driven by true expertise.”

Translation: integrity isn't cheap.

The TOUR will receive important insight into global betting activity on its tournaments across the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR China, covering approximately 140 events per year. The Program will be administered by a PGA TOUR Integrity Officer, and investigations will be conducted by an independent group with experience in law enforcement.

On a serious note, this is a wise area for the Tour to address should sports betting be legalized. Given what we've seen in tennis, coupled with the bizarre trend of players blatantly assisting their peers by leaving balls down as a backstop or sideboard, getting out in front of these matters will be important in protecting the Tour's image.

Update on 2017-09-19 03:30 by Geoff

**ESPN.com's Ryan Rodenberg says this is a move to prepare for a possible legalization of sports betting.

The PGA Tour's move is similar to other U.S.-based sports leagues who have increasingly entered into related arrangements in the gaming sector. Such moves are widely seen as helping sports governing bodies be better positioned for potential widespread legalization of sports gambling domestically.

Congressional Action: Tiger's DC Event Ends Contract With Club

You never want to see a tournament go--especially one that's provided some wonderful memories--but the PGA Tour calendar will need to lose a few events to make a Labor Day conclusion work. The sponsor-less D.C. area stop seems to be near an end after eleven playings that also included at stop in Philadelphia.

JP Finlay was first to report the letter to Congressional members notifying them to expect no tournament in 2018 or 2020.

Rex Hoggard reports some of the letter language for GolfChannel.com:

“The Tiger Woods Foundation currently has no title sponsor for their PGA Tour golf tournament. Because of that circumstance, the PGA Tour has exercised its right to terminate our facilities agreement with them for 2018 and 2020, while they seek a title sponsor for The National,” the letter from club president Richard Sullivan Jr. read.

When Will We Have Brand Team Play?

Alan Shipnuck has an extra fun Golf.com mailbag this week and is asked a fair question asked before in other suggested tweaks to PGA Tour event formats, this time from @AlexDunlopGolf: "When are the golf brands going to do a team event? Titleist vs TaylorMade vs Ping vs PXG Callaway vs Cobra…" 

Shipnuck responds:

This is so craven it’s genius. The companies would surely flood the event with hype and build in huge bonuses for the players. I mean, the Tavistock Cup was a pretty fun event and those teams are based on an absurd idea: real estate subdivisions! Tour players have a deep and personal relationship with their equipment and the technicians who help them maximize their games — to say nothing of the huge checks that pay for their Porsches — so this event would definitely have some juice.

I do wonder if the event would, though well intentioned as a way to raise awareness of the companies, become impossible for media to cover due to brands griping over the tiniest of coverage imbalances?

PGA Tour Makes The Right Call To Stick With The Current Network TV Deal Through 2021

We all want to see golf on television adapt to the times and improve. While Friday’s network opt-out deadline came and went as an opportunity for the PGA Tour to shake things up, they chose not to do so.

Very shrewd move, Commissioner Jay Monahan.

For fans, the only intrigue in a possible opt-out would have centered around Monahan’s desire to move the look and feel of golf into the future. But the cost of risking partnerships and jumping in with new partners was too great, with no clear sign of a positive outcome for such a move at a time ratings are down.

Besides, significant progress has come with various tracer technologies, HD, employing Trackman, super slow motion replays, Playing Through, live look-ins on breaking events and alternate viewing options like Amen Corner Live.

Despite the views of some at PGA Tour headquarters reportedly pushing for change, Monahan made the right call to put off any shake-up for a few years while the PGA Tour revamps its schedule. (Golf Channel’s current deal to televise also expires in 2021, with no opt-out). This also allows them to get a better sense of how the cable vs. streaming wars play out and strike a better deal going forward.

Consider just some of the reasons Monahan made the right call (The PGA Tour confirmed the contract is going forward and may be addressed at the Tour Championship):

—Schedule madness. The upcoming schedule revamp has way too many open-ended questions and uncertainties to have renegotiated deal terms or welcomed-in other networks. It’s going to be tricky enough to work out the changes with current network partners, sponsors and players, why add more headache?

—Our Future Is Not Quite Here Yet. Many believe streaming is the future and cord cutting will collapse the cable model, but has any major sports property said goodbye to guaranteed network or cable money to take their chances with disruptive mediums? Golf should be about the last sport to do so because…

—The Audience Is Not Ready. While many younger fans are prepared to watch golf via streaming, a majority of golf’s demographic still watches via cable. That demographic hurdle is not changing fast enough to justify taking a tour event away from a network and putting it on Amazon or YouTube or Twitter.  Unless the tour is in the business of setting precedent over making money for its players.

—Sponsors Are Not Ready. You might get a more engaged audience of 180,000 watching the final round of the Dell Technologies on Apple and Amazon TV’s. You might even get one that directly taps that sponsor’s audience, but nearly all tournaments would still rather take their chances reaching a larger number of eyeballs. The blue-chip brands the PGA Tour loves (and who like golf) want to see their logos on big screens in bars and golf courses. They still want to invest in something reaching more than a very targeted audience. The current deal accomplishes this for the people who fund the product.

—Opportunity To Change The Tone. I’ve heard no shortage of players and PGA Tour brass suggest angrily they could be doing way better. Now, this ignores that things are pretty incredible right now, and definitely ignores the post-Tiger ratings decline. But this attitude also mystifies countless network types and marketing world figures who cannot fathom how the PGA Tour believes they hold the stronger hand in the post-sports rights fee bubble. With a good deal for all sides in place through 2021, Monahan can use his personality to repair relationships and create a dialogue amongst his media partners that satisfies their needs and the desires of the Tour’s fanbase.

—Alignment Possibilities. There is a lingering bitterness over the sense that the PGA Tour left money on the table by locking into Golf Channel through 2021—a deal many saw as just as big of a risk for Golf Channel at the time. This rage clouds the thinking of many who disregard how simple it is for fans, bartenders and anyone with a cable package to find PGA Tour golf on a Thursday, Friday or weekend morning. But as the media world changes, not opting out allows the PGA Tour to gain a few more years of perspective and data. In two years they can better align possible weekday partners with weekend partners in a new deal or spend hundreds of millions starting their own channel. Or, pursue different terms with Golf Channel that can serve as an anger-management soother for Ponte Vedra’s disillusioned Vice Presidential core. Win-win!

Status Of TPC Boston Stop Still In Limbo As Opt-Out Day Arrives

It's opt-out day!

That's right, the September 1 deadline has arrived and we'll find out if the PGA Tour is going to continue with its current CBS/NBC network deal until 2021 or exercise an option to get out of the contract to renegotiate different terms.

In the meantime, Bill Doyle explains the issues facing the PGA Tour's Boston stop, currently sponsored by Dell Technologies through 2018, and it sounds like it may be transitioning to a spot in someone's tournament rota. Who what someone is, we're not sure.

Jordan Spieth said he’s been involved in discussions about revamping the PGA Tour schedule.

“There’s still a chance,” he said Thursday after playing in the pro-am at TPC Boston, “that we would still move up here every other year or something. So there’s still a lot of options available. There’s not much set in stone right now.”

Spieth went on to say that the PGA Tour might even come to TPC Boston only every third year.

There were also these two interesting quotes...

“I don’t blame them for watching football,” Dustin Johnson said, “because I probably would be too.”

“If we can make it,” Rickie Fowler said, “to where we’re ‘the’ thing to watch on TV at the end of our season, I think that’s the main goal.”