"This is not Tiger’s issue, but a Tour management flaw."

That inevitable commentary you've been waiting for that analyzes the strange relationship between Tiger and the PGA Tour?

Naturally, just as she did with the technology issue, you finally get to read about it in provocative and fresh fashion from the New York Times' Selena Roberts.

Either way, Tiger is in charge. How do you please the host with the most? No event is cheap. As it is, the Tour donates about $240,000, according to tax documents, to Tiger’s Target World Challenge, an unofficial event. To co-sanction official Tour stops, PGA officials supplement the purses. The AT&T National and Deutsche Bank could run the PGA about $8 million this year, according to industry experts.

The payoff for Tiger is tucked in the pocket of his charity. Last year, his foundation received an estimated $1.5 million from the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Is there a money trail to Tiger’s heart? What’s wrong with buying Tiger’s affection, anyway?

It contradicts every tenet of golf’s righteous culture of integrity. “This is golf,” Finchem said repeatedly during an interview last week, as if the sport’s virtue inoculates it from scrutiny.

The PGA Tour doesn’t drug-test, because that would imply a steroid problem exists. Who knew willful ignorance was a marketing strategy? The Tour applies this see-no-evil approach to glaring conflicts of interest, too.

Whoa. Roberts didn't get the memo that you are no one in golf unless you have a conflict of interest!

More tough stuff...

Tiger has played only five events in four months. This weekend’s Byron Nelson is not among them. For years, Tiger played out of deference to Nelson. Now Nelson is dead and Woods is a no-show.

Woods is a schedule recluse, the J. D. Salinger of golf.

It's okay Damon Hack, Tiger'll talk to you again sometime this century! When you've won your Pulitzer, retired from the Times and write lucrative books!

As disturbed as Roberts is by Tiger's selective schedule, it's the PGA Tour she blames.
Now Woods is a Beltway power broker. He already legislates to the PGA.

“It’s only leverage if you use it as leverage,” Finchem said, adding, “I don’t have a concern about that.”

And Tim it's only murder if you kill someone!

But Tiger does exploit his sway, if passive-aggressively. Other voices are ignored on issues, but a suggestion by Tiger is processed as a demand. In 2000, Tiger complained that the Tour was taking financial advantage of him, that Finchem ignored him. Voilà, Finchem and Woods met and love was in the air.

Tiger wanted a shortened season. Tiger received a FedEx Cup race that ends in September. Tiger wanted a tournament like Jack’s. Tiger received the D.C. gala, which was delivered, as desired, with a reduced field of 120 to enhance its prestige, and, as Woods mentioned, to speed up play.

Don't forget driver testing.

Wasn’t Tiger supposed to bring inclusion to the game? Instead, the Tour is more polarized than ever, between the haves and the have-nots. Several tournament officials say privately that they are tempted to barter for Tiger with a donation, but others refuse to abandon their community aid.

“You have to ask, how long is Tiger going to be out there?” said Dave Kaplan, the tournament director for the AT&T Classic in Duluth, Ga. “Is it till he’s 50 or 35? Who knows? If he catches Jack Nicklaus, does he say, ‘That’s it’? And you’d hate to think it, but Tiger, like anyone, could get hurt tomorrow. Stuff happens.”

Stuff makes it a lateral hazard for the Tour to wrap itself in one player. The Tiger Boom could vanish as quickly as the dot-com high. Sports wither all the time, from American pro soccer after Pelé, to boxing after corruption, to a National Hockey League with a puny television deal.

For the Tour to empower Tiger above all is to create a petri dish for an abuse of fame, to lose the ability to tell its rock star no, to sanction its own tumble from virtue.

This is not Tiger’s issue, but a Tour management flaw. What is best for Tiger is not necessarily a 2-foot gimme for those below. It was, after all, a tiny turtle squeezed beneath the pond king that, with a wiggle, toppled Yertle.

Who Goofed I've Got To Know, Vol. 375

I didn't want to distract from Selena Roberts's piece on Tiger and the Tour by pointing out this NYTimes.com snafu which was not repeated in the print edition, mercifully for Tim Finchem's dermatologist and his hair stylist Marcel, who in between coloring some of Jacksonville's richest trophy wives...oh anyway, the caption and photo:

When Tiger Woods talks, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is likely to listen closely. The Tour often adjusts its schedule to accommodate Woods

IM'ing With The Commissioners, Vol. V

My NSA sources took time out from their search for those lost RNC emails to share a Sunday night conversation between the LPGA's Commissioner Carolyn Bivens and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. This followed Sunday's bizarre day in which the LPGA event on CBS was delayed, the PGA Tour's Heritage play on CBS cancelled by high winds, and with the delayed LPGA's event on CBS airing on The Golf Channel.

DaBrandLady: tim, you there?

twfPGATour©: Hi Carolyn.

DaBrandLady: Rough day for the product.

twfPGATour©: I know, our consumers had to listen to Bobby Clampett on two channels at once.

DaBrandLady: oh. I meant the winds.

DaBrandLady: i thought he was great on the ginn. we feel lucky to have his insights.

twfPGATour©: Yes you are. He's a big talent.

DaBrandLady: say tim, I know the ginn on cbs was an ad buy for us and all, but since it was running long and the heritage was in that hurricane delay, don't you think we could have seen more of our event shown live on cbs instead of tape from last year's heritage?

twfPGATour©: Well you know I wish could have helped, but as you well know the platform layering dynamics are intensely complicated.

DaBrandLady: ha! i actually wrote a dissertation on that when I was at the usa today and they wanted to change the life's section color from purple to navy blue.

DaBrandLady: anyway, i do know all about the parameters involved. it just seemed odd to have our event going on with so many dynamic young women-American golfers competing with a future hall of famer, and then to turn and see you all teasing the viewer with updates before heading back to tape of last year.

twfPGATour©: I feel your pain Carolyn. It's out of my hands.

DaBrandLady: and for cbs, what an opportunity to declare their devotion to young women-american athletes in light of the dan imos de-branding thing.

twfPGATour©: It's actually Don Imus I believe.

DaBrandLady: of course, silly me!

DaBrandLady: say, that new creative with zach johnson was quite exquisite.

twfPGATour©: Yes, fortuitous timing for strengthening our family of brands and for Zach's ability to leverage the equity in his newfound brand stature.

DaBrandLady: whoever thought of using him in those new spots should get a big raise!

twfPGATour©: Glad you reminded me of that Carolyn. I'm making a note right now to bump Tom Wade's salary another $100,000 a year. He's undervalued at $550,000 per year.

DaBrandLady: say, speaking of salary Tim, did you see this sports business journal article about how much I'm making?

twfPGATour©: They had you at around $500,000 I believe.

DaBrandLady: yes they got it off this battlestar web site that monitors non-profits.

twfPGATour©: Guidestar.

DaBrandLady: well, anyway, i was looking around their site and i noticed you guys have managed to keep your most recent tour returns off. how do i do the same thing? because my brand coaches feel i took a hit in light of the fact that i'm only making a half-mil while you are making $7 million and Len Zelig is making $14.5 million.

twfPGATour©: it's Bud Selig and can you believe that? I need to go back to the policy board for a raise.

DaBrandLady: right, so how do I stop this brand-damaging from going online?

twfPGATour©: well it's a legal issue for us, but if you call Ed M he'll explain how to do it. It's a layered process that involves many dynamics and metrical platform delineational restructuring with the IRS.

DaBrandLady: oh, and here i was hoping it was just something powell-tate handled up in d.c.

twfPGATour©: Well, there's that too.

DaBrandLady: great! thanks tim!

twfPGATour©: My pleasure Carolyn. Give my best to, uh...

DaBrandLady: he says hi back!

Nothing A Full Field Can't Fix

SI.com's golf.com's Gary Van Sickle is the latest to weigh in on the sad state of the World Golf Championship events. As it relates to the recent debate over the AT&T National, Van Sickle notes that the WGC's have often been plagued by run-away wins, something easily curable by larger fields:

In a full field, half a dozen players shoot lights-out every day. In a half-field, only two or three do. Golf leaderboards are exciting because they're bunched, and that's a function of the numbers. With a full field, it's going to be more like the Tour de France — no one usually breaks away from the pack without taking a half-dozen pursuers with him. In a half field, well, Tiger or Darren Clarke or someone else can break away from the field and win in a runaway.

IM'ing With The Commissioner, Sergio Edition

As promised during his spellbinding sitdown with Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller, Commissioner Tim Finchem has contacted Sergio Garcia about his spitting-in-the-cup incident Saturday at Doral. And because they were done with their setup at Alberto Gonzalez's house (now that he's a goner), my NSA sources were able to obtain the instant message exchange between the Commissioner and Garcia. 

twfPGATOUR©: Sergio?

SharketteHunter: Timmy?

twfPGATOUR©: Do you have a minute?

SharketteHunter: Anything for my favorite Commissioner.

twfPGATOUR©: About that distractive behavior Saturday at the CA Championship.

SharketteHunter: The thing with the marshall?

twfPGATOUR©: No.

SharketteHunter: Oh the courtesy car?

twfPGATOUR©: No.

SharketteHunter: Wait, the guy I flipped off down at South Beach?

twfPGATOUR©: No. I am referring to the oral secretion that you discharged into one of Doral's cups.

SharketteHunter: Oh that. Well it was a clean hit. I just nailed the little opening where the flagstick goes.

SharketteHunter: You know, like when Luke Skywalker dropped that hit into the Death Star in Star Wars. Clean shot all the way.

twfPGATOUR©: I'm sure it was, but that's not the issue. This was behavior distractive to the PGA Tour, our brands, consumers, our good friends and corporate partners at CA, and not to mention, to your brand.

SharketteHunter: Distractive?

twfPGATOUR©: It's the adjective form of distracting.

SharketteHunter: So why don't you just say distracting?

twfPGATOUR©: There are many dynamics at play that make it a less appealing choice of words. Just review my interview with Dan Hicks today and I think you'll see that of all the possible permutations, it really was the best choice.

twfPGATOUR©: I should note that we ran several metrics and it tested best.

SharketteHunter: Well what do you want to know, Tim? I dropped a big loogey in the cup. Take the fine out of my account like you always do.

twfPGATOUR©: And as always, charity will be the real winner.

SharketteHunter: Whatever you say. Anything else?

twfPGATOUR©: I was thinking that we might be able cut into what I believe will be a record compulsory contribution to charity.

SharketteHunter: Tim, I'm not doing any FedEx Cup ads. That Shackspear thing is the dumbest ad I've ever seen.

twfPGATOUR©: Shakespeare.

SharketteHunter: Whatever. What do you want?

twfPGATOUR©: You are currently proactively engaged in pre-marital interfacing with Greg Norman's daughter, is that correct?

SharketteHunter: We're dating, if that's what you mean.

twfPGATOUR©: Do you ever ask Greg if he gets the urge to compete, say, on the Champions Tour?

SharketteHunter: Tim, it's not going to happen.

twfPGATOUR©: I know, I know. But, if it ever comes up and you feel that you can influence his platform agenda, that would be great. I'll make it up to you. I'll guarantee you will not be paired with Ben Crane at the Players.

SharketteHunter: Wow, great.

twfPGATOUR©: Thanks, I would really appreciate it. Also, have you tried Greg's 2004 Cab?

SharketteHunter: Yeah it tastes like it's been stored in a cab. I'm a Michelob man, remember?

twfPGATOUR©: Oh right. Well good to know. We've got a really nice plum bite to our '04 Cab, I'll have our people send you a case. We're very excited about it.

SharketteHunter: Excellent. I'm starting my own label, did you know?

twfPGATOUR©:  Really?

SharketteHunter: Yeah, Greg saw that Luke Donald was starting one and thought that the day had arrived when it was not necessary to have a major on your resume to start one's own label.

twfPGATOUR©:  Well you're in good hands there with Greg's advice.

SharketteHunter: I'll tell you him you said that.

twfPGATOUR©: That's not necessary.

SharketteHunter: Yes it is! :-)

twfPGATOUR©:  And please Sergio, let's try to not have any more oral secretions on the golf course?

SharketteHunter: I'll do my best Tim.

twfPGATOUR©:  For the brand's sake, if nothing else.

SharketteHunter: Right Tim.

twfPGATOUR©:  Give my best to...

SharketteHunter: She says hi back!

twfPGATOUR©:  Goodnight.

SharketteHunter: Adios amigo.

"It's just a shame that it's come to that."

This really just sums it all up so beautifully.

Paul Azinger, as quoted by Tim Rosaforte in this week's Golf World (no link): 

"I don't have a problem with [converting the holes], but it's more of a Band-Aid, really," said Paul Azinger. "The manufacturers have outsmarted the rules of the game and we don't have a commissioner in place who plays golf, so he has not clue what to do. It's just a shame that it's come to that."

I'll be setting up a Paypal option for those of you who'd like to help Paul pay the inevitable fine for this brilliance. 

IM'ing With The Commissioner...Tiger Edition, Vol. 2

Hard to believe my NSA sources had time to pick up this Tiger Woods-Tim Finchem instant message exchange, what with all the time they put in on the Libby jury deliberations. Anyway...

twfPGATOUR©: Tiger, are you there?

TWPrivacy:  Hey Timbo. Sup?

twfPGATOUR©: I just wanted to thank you for today, I felt like it went very well. So great to have a monopolistically coterminous brand like AT&T on board isn't it?

TWPrivacy: Yep, very exciting stuff.

twfPGATOUR©: And of course it's just great to be back in the Washington market, where we always wanted to be. Well, without Ralph Shrader involved.

TWPrivacy:  The Booz Allen dude?

twfPGATOUR©: Yes.

twfPGATOUR©: More importantly, the military serviceman and women component of this D.C. re-branding really is playing nicely in the early pushback.

TWPrivacy:  Yep, and maybe we can even do a little for Walter Reed too?

twfPGATOUR©: Is he the VP of Platform Protocol at Schwab?

TWPrivacy: No, that's the hospital with the mice and mold.

twfPGATOUR©: Of course.

TWPrivacy: So what can I do for you Tim? We're third in line here at Dulles and I might lose you.

twfPGATOUR©: Oh great, we're 7th up here, taxing in the Falcon.

twfPGATOUR©:  Well I just wanted to thank you for wearing the FedEx themed tie and shirt today.

twfPGATOUR©: I'd do one of those smiley icons after that, but we have them shut down in the company instant messaging. Security issues.

TWPrivacy: Uh, okay. Not sure what you mean, it was just a suit and shirt and tie.

twfPGATOUR©: Say Tom Wade is here, our EVP and CMO. He says thanks for wearing the FedEx Purple with the FedEx Light Platinum suit.

TWPrivacy: Well actually, it wasn't intentional.

twfPGATOUR©: Tom says that in the future if you are interested, you can read all about their brand color regulations here: http://www.fedexidentity.com/guidelines/FedEx_Guidelines.pdf

twfPGATOUR©: One thing, Tom was hoping you'd note that the purple you wore today was a little different than the PANTONE 2685 that defines the FedEx brand.

twfPGATOUR©: And not to be too picky, but the grey suit was a little off from the PANTONE Cool Gray 6 that Tom says brings the entire FedEx brand come together.

TWPrivacy: Thanks Tim, I'l make sure to get this off to my Nike people. Anything else?

twfPGATOUR©: No that about does it, just wanted to thank you again for you help and support here.

twfPGATOUR©: Oh and one other thing. Uh, the limited field concept, how did my explanation of the hot weather and slow play go over you think?

TWPrivacy: I saw one of the writers shake his head in a positive way.

twfPGATOUR©: Excellent. It's just, you see, I'm going to have a little trouble with the Board on this, since we're not really adding a playing opportunity for a portion of the membership.

TWPrivacy: Well, that's why you have the 5 directors that you appoint, and 4 player directors.

twfPGATOUR©: Good point. Well thanks again Tiger for this very special day. Oh one other thing, could you ask Mark Steinberg to give me a call tomorrow?

TWPrivacy: Actually Tim, this is Mark. Tiger had to step away.

twfPGATOUR©: Oh...

TWPrivacy: It was me all along. Say, I'll be in after 8, and you have the cell.

twfPGATOUR©:  Right. Safe travels.

TWPrivacy: You too Tim.

Question About Size of Field

About the only highlight from the Finchem-Woods press conference to launch the new Washington D.C. tour stop:

 Q. (Operator interruption. Question about size of field.)

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: I've had some preliminary conversations with our board and I have to believe that we will work with Tiger and the Foundation to fine-tune it, but my guess is that at the end of the day, the field size will be commensurate with what you generally see in Invitationals which is a somewhat limited field.

Now there's a couple of reasons for that. One is prestige of the event. The other is, even though it's snowing today, it's quite warm here -- I used to live here for ten years, July 4th, and pace of play -- we want the pace of play and the experience for the players to be positive as well. So you put those two things together, and it argues for a somewhat shorter field and I think that's where we'll be.

So the experience for the players needs to be positive, therefore limit the field size so that pace of play has a chance of breaking 5 hours?

In other words, slow play is in the best interests of the world's top players?

The slower they get, the smaller the fields become?

Anyway, thanks to reader Steve for this link to Len Shapiro's online chat spelling out the key event details.  

Tour and Tiger Return To D.C.

 Does this mean Tiger really hates Denver's altitude that much?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2007
PGA TOUR, TIGER WOODS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE
NEW TOURNAMENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Finchem, Woods to Announce Event Details at March 7 Press Conference

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - The PGA TOUR, in conjunction with the Tiger Woods Foundation, announced today that the TOUR will return to Washington, D.C. as a result of the two organizations reaching a long-term agreement to create a new PGA TOUR event in the nation’s capital, beginning in July, 2007.

The new tournament will be held the week of July 2-8 with the Tiger Woods Foundation serving as the event's host organization and primary charitable beneficiary. A press conference is scheduled for March 7 in Washington, D.C. where PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem and Tiger Woods will announce further details of the tournament, including the title sponsor, total purse, and the charitable vision for the event.

"After an extensive search, we are very excited about our partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation to bring a PGA TOUR event back to our nation’s capital over the 4th of July holiday celebration," Finchem said. "We are delighted to be able to work with Tiger and his Foundation, and I look forward to joining him on March 7 to announce a very strong title sponsor and additional details of the tournament."

"This is a wonderful opportunity to expand awareness and interest in the work we're doing for millions of kids across the country," said Woods, founder of the Tiger Woods Foundation. "I'm grateful the PGA TOUR selected us as partners and am very excited my Foundation will host another amazing event, this time in our nation’s capital. I'm delighted to think of all the young people this will help us reach."

Additional information on the time and location of the March 7 press conference will be released later this week.

"Sadly, he doesn't pay much attention to that, and never has."

In his Scotland on Sunday column, John Huggan lets Greg Norman rant about the usual stuff. I still enjoy reading it even if he's made many of these points before. Well, he's taken it up a notch on the topic of his good buddy, Tim Finchem.

"I can't fault Finchem in some respects," said the two-times Open champion in Dubai. "You have to say he has done a good job in getting prize- money up in America, so that players from all over the world are going there to play. But when you are the leader of the free world, as the United States is, you have responsibilities beyond that. President Bush has global responsibilities on his shoulders, whether he likes it or not, because of the power of the position he is in. It is the same for Finchem.

Ouch, a Bush-Finchem analogy. Has Greg turned on 43 too?

"He has a responsibility not to forget the rest of the world. He must support the likes of the European Tour, the Australian Tour and the South African Tour. Which has not been happening. Finchem has to be aware that every decision he makes has an impact around the world. Sadly, he doesn't pay much attention to that, and never has."

Now now, he $ee$ great potential in China!

On the subject of the world No.1, Norman is just one of a growing number of informed observers despairing of the fact that, Woods and one or two others apart, the sharp end of the professional game is populated by an ever-growing number of golfing robots devoted to hitting basically the same shot, time after tedious time.

"Because I grew up in an era when we could manoeuvre the ball maybe 60 feet in the air either way, I wonder at the game today," he sighed. "You don't see that any more. There were a lot of shot-makers in my day. And now, even though the very best players still come through, technology has bunched the players up. Tiger, of course, is the exception that proves the rule.

"I see so many players making a lot of prize-money without ever winning a tournament. In my day, you could make the cut, and still not win any money. You had to play hard to get anywhere. I realise people don't like hearing the old war stories about what we went through, but the powers that be in golf - the USGA, the R&A and the PGA Tour - should put some restrictions on the equipment used by the best players in the world."

They should, but that would require an ounce of integrity!

"I would rule the golf ball back to 1996 specifications, number one," he declared. "It's a crying shame that so many of the world's great courses have been lengthened by 400-500 yards for one week a year. The cost of that is just ridiculous, especially when you multiply it 30 or 40 times. That money could be better spent elsewhere. Golf is too expensive, and getting more expensive.

"I look at the Open at St Andrews two years ago. There were four tees there not even on the golf course. And I think of golf courses like Merion or Inverness. There is a long list: Royal Melbourne and Royal Sydney in Australia. The men who designed those great courses must be rolling over in their graves. I know I would be, in their position."

"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!

IM'ing With The Commissioners IV

My NSA sources forwarded another exclusive, this time another of golf's two commissioners chatting it up via instant message. As with the past exchanges (here, here and here), the insider details are rivetting, I must say. 

This time they are chatting right after Bob Hope Chrysler Classic play where high winds, grump players and a sluggish Golf Channel telecast made it all but impossible not to watch the Saints-Bears game. Commissioners...

DaBrandLady: tim, you there?

twfPGATour©: Hi Carolyn.

DaBrandLady: Great product today.

twfPGATour©: Thanks, I thought so too. Wonderful storylines with that whole structural dilemma of dealing with that really bizarre wind event, and so many players in the coveted demo contending.

twfPGATour©:  Best of all, GOLF CHANNEL is really contextualizing the storylines and creating that feeling of pressure building on players who are falling behind in the FedEx Cup points race.

DaBrandLady: totally! tiger has so much ground to make up already! we pray for storylines like that!

DaBrandLady: but i was wondering why they didn't have those fancy windmills out there at the classic club.

twfPGATour©: Oh, haha, yes it was a bit windy, but my people say that's unusual for that part of the desert. They say those other 100,000 or so power generating wind towers you see out there are simply tax deductible means for the property owners. It really isn't a windy spot.

DaBrandLady: really? when the huz and i drove to the nabisco from l.a., we were wondering if any courses had ever thought of incorporating those wind energy things into their designs.

twfPGATour©: You're serious?

DaBrandLady: absolutely. hear me out. you line the fairways with them in lieu of trees.

DaBrandLady: you could sign one of these windmill makers up as a presenting sponsor, have them out there generating revenue for the platform as the tournament is going on. you would be delivering value to your players and to your new presenting sponsor. you might want to run some metrics on this. i know i would.

twfPGATour©: Interesting. Maybe we could have the guy who does GOLF CHANNEL's Win Zone cook up some numbers. Isn't that a great advance? Adds so much texture to the telecast.

DaBrandLady: yeah i saw where they had charley kaufman at 7.3% with a hole to go!

twfPGATour©: It's actually Hoffman.

DaBrandLady: The Win Zone guy?

twfPGATour©: No, Charley Hoffman, who won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Hosted by George Lopez.

DaBrandLady: oh. well anyway, the windmill thing was just a thought. you know how i'm always looking for ways to cross leverage value through sound metricking to better the lives my players sponsors. hey is that a word, metricking?

twfPGATour©: I don't know Carolyn, but I like it.

DaBrandLady: say tim, there's an issue that's come up and i wanted to run it by you before i have to deal with the media.

twfPGATour©: What's that?

DaBrandLady: well my people have been looking at your golf channel ratings and well...

twfPGATour©: What? The 18-34 number? We think it can only go up.

DaBrandLady: no no, the overall ratings. you see, well, at some point we at the lpga are going to be on espn or "the deuce" as i like to call it

twfPGATour©: The deuce? Oh ESPN2. Very original Carolyn. And your point?

DaBrandLady: well, we're probably going to score a higher rating on one of the espn's than what you all are pulling in on the golf channel.

twfPGATour©: I find that hard to believe because of the numbers we'll generate on the repeat airings. My dad says he's watching it live and on the repeat. But I'll have Ty look into it and get back to you on the language of how we deal with that and give it texture and meaning for the consumer. And I appreciate your concern for our brand.

DaBrandLady: anytime tim. well, that was all. again, great product today.

twfPGATour©: Thanks Carolyn. Give my best to, uh...

DaBrandLady: he says hi back!

"Somebody's going to be leading the FedExCup tonight, and it's not going to be one of those two guys."

Yes, this is what it's come to. Mickelson and Woods aren't at Kapalua, therefore they are behind in FedEx Cup points.

Voila...storyline!

That was a highlight of Tim Finchem gracing the media center at Kapalua for an impassioned exchange...well, actually, a really boring press conference.

On the FedEx Cup:

Everything tells us that we are on the right track, and we are just excited to get this first one down and get our fans an actual list of points, which is going to begin the process of bringing people into recognition of what the FedExCup is all about.

Please name one article not on PGATour.com or TheGolfChannel.com that raves about the FedEx Cup concept, please.

The last comment I'll make, and I'll be happy to take your questions, is simply to congratulate and thank the Golf Channel for their efforts this week. We knew about their plans. We have worked closely with them over the last year, but I think they have done an outstanding job in bringing resources, the number of cameras and new technology, and I'm particularly pleased with the effort they have made with player interviews. We've got a lot of first-time winners here, players who need their story told. We need to get them in front of the fan base, and those interviews are real important.
So we think they have done a fine job this week.

Was it me or were the interviews the worst part of the telecast? Not because of Rich Lerner, who is making the best of a situation, but because the players just are not very interesting?

Asked about the Tiger-Phil no-shows...

You know, as I said at THE TOUR Championship about the same phenomena at THE TOUR Championship, sort of disappointed about that, but let me make two comments.
One is that your question goes to the future, and I'm focused on the future, but I'm also focused on the FedExCup right now.

Uh huh.

The future, in my view, has a lot to do with the new schedule. And we're not going to know until this time next year how that really plays out. We are still in the -- certain decisions have been made about scheduling the last few weeks and this week are still a part of what 2006 was about from a scheduling standpoint.

Oh that makes sense.

On the other hand, you know, and I don't want to sound like I'm trying to sugarcoat things, because I'm not. I am disappointed, and to your point, having a smaller press core here and less eyeballs because Tiger Woods is not at an event is not something that's a positive any week he doesn't play.

But having said that, let me just make also another point, which is that somebody's going to be leading the FedExCup tonight, and it's not going to be one of those two guys.

Wow, this is why he gets the big bucks! What a revelation.

Q. Why was there a conflict with the Sony Open and the Wendy's Champion's Skins Game? They are both being played on the same weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

Oops, that wasn't on the list of pre-approved questions. Where's Ric Clarson?

RIC CLARSON: Wendy's Champions Skins Game is traditionally played on the Super Bowl weekend, and some of the television windows that were available were not available for 2007 only, in order for that event to continue, we needed to move it to this coming weekend, which did put it on the same weekend as the Sony Open.

We did talk to the Friends of Hawaii Charities about it as a one-year situation, and we've already assigned dates to that event for the organizers to start working on their television packages. We wanted to keep the events going and showcase the tomorrow Champions Tour players, different islands, different air times. And while it might fragment a tad of the media core here in Hawaii for it, but we thought over the long haul, it would be best to be able to maintain that event.

Fragment a tad of the media core here. Translation: the scribblers from the Hawaiian papers are going to have to decide what they are going to cover.

Q. With such enthusiasm on the staff's part about the FedExCup, and interest in educating and so forth, I was out there so much that when Vijay came out here and was asked about it on Thursday, he said was tired of listening to it and went on to compare it to the Presidents Cup. At what point do you scale back the full core press on FedExCup promotion, and at the same time still keep people educated on what it is?

Somebody's tired of the uh, branding. 

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: Well, we could promote it, you know, none, or promote it five times as much, and that really wouldn't be what affects you guys asking Vijay questions.

I think what he said was he was tired of answering questions about the FedExCup.

Q. It could have been anything with us, too. (Laughter).

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: And there is a lot of questions about the FedExCup because everyone wants to know what they think, and that's a good thing.

Vijay has been pretty, consistent starting with last year, about his enthusiasm for the FedExCup. The fact that he individually determined that he had said that enough, that's his prerogative, and it doesn't have anything to do with our promotion plans. We think we're on the right course in terms of explaining to fans what the FedExCup is, and we will continue to do so.

I think the thing about the FedExCup -- somebody asked me the other day, or I saw a comment, that perhaps it was complicated. I'll just say, I think it's the perfect thing. I mean, it's very simple. It's very, very simple. You get points, the guy who gets the most, wins.

Very, very simple?

Now as a fan, you could settle for that amount of information, and you could watch each week, the standings, and wait to see who gets the most points, and you might be satisfied with that. Based on our research and what we're seeing in terms of inquiries, there's a lot of fans that want to know a lot more.

Riiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhhhhttttttttttt!

They want to know, you know, how many points are distributed, where they are distributed. They want to know -- they want to know how a player's schedule relates to point accumulation. They want to know how the intervals and the seeding react to a player who is 10th or 15th or 18th on the list having a chance to win.

And so I think that that's probably true in every sport. If you take all of the fans and put them on a grid, they want to know varying degrees of detail about statistics or the competition.

Putting the fans on a grid? These guys are good!

At its core, the FedExCup is a very simple process, but we are going to see people spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure it out. And you'll see the television commentators as we get into the season, if Player X birdies this hole, he's on this par 5 in two; if he two-putts for a birdie, he'll pick up X number of points, and he'll move from sixth to fourth or more. So you'll see a lot of that during the course of the season.

And won't it be life changing for us fans.

I think it's going to be a year, really, until the Playoffs are fully played out before people really do have a sense of it. Sometimes I rely on my wife, Holly, as a barometer, and she was extremely interested in the golf week article that laid out different scenarios of point distribution. She said, her reaction was, "This is fascinating how this could play out."

First it was his dad and now the wife he cites for market research. Kind reminds you of someone else, doesn't it? Actually, that other guy doesn't even listen to his dad.

We hope people are fascinated. But I think everything dramatically changes tonight when we have a leaderboard, we have points distributed, people will know how many you get for winning. That's going to be clear on into the season.

Amen brother. I can't wait to study where we stand with 30+ weeks to go.

Q. How do you define success then? At the end of the year when you're trying to figure out to change it or not change it, what would you measure as success, to say, this succeeded, so there's no reason to change it?

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: Well, let's say that we got to a point where a player was seeded first, won the tournament, the first playoff event, and the next eight guys have all missed the cut and this guy was sailing -- it was almost inevitable that he would win. Our models tell us that's not going to happen. Well, let's suppose it did. Then we might want to change the intervals. We might want to reduce that size of the interval.

Key word today: interval.

As The Woods Camp Requested...

File this Tim Rosaforte paragraph in the buried-lead file. He's writing about Tiger not appearing at Kapalua:

In truth, this could have been averted. Had the Target World Challenge been scheduled the week after Thanksgiving, as the Woods Camp requested, instead of two weeks from Christmas, it would have given Tiger almost a month of downtime before getting back to business at Kapalua. Instead, The Target was given Dec. 14-17, and Mercedes/Kapalua takes the hit.

Hmmmm...do we have a Commissioner-Tiger spat in the making here?

Tiger and The Commish

Well the new year is off to a roaring start, as my NSA sources picked up this Monday night IM exchange between what appears to be Commissioner Tim Finchem and Tiger Woods, chatting on the eve of golf's new era commencing this Thursday at Kapalua.  

twfPGATOUR©: Tiger, is that you?

TWPrivacy:  who is this?

twfPGATOUR©: Commissioner Timothy B. Finchem

twfPGATOUR©: Tiger, you there?

TWPrivacy: how did you get this IM address?

twfPGATOUR©: Oh, uh, uh through Mark Steinberg.

TWPrivacy: sure you did. sup?

twfPGATOUR©: Just wanted to say hi from Kapalua where it's lovely. Thought I saw your preferred Citation X next to our Falcons but I guess it was just wishful thinking.

TWPrivacy: yep, spending time with my family in the mountains.

twfPGATOUR©: Well, wish you were here at Kap to see how the Ritz Carlton people have leveraged their brand. Inspiring how they have vertically and horizontally integrated their platforms to elevate the resort experience.

TWPrivacy: that's great tim

twfPGATOUR©: Anyway, I also wanted to congratulate you on the new project in Dubai.

TWPrivacy: thanks

twfPGATOUR©: Maybe you could talk the Sheiks into adding a First Tee facility with the project?

TWPrivacy: uh, i don't think there are many kids over there in need.

twfPGATOUR©: Yes, point taken.

twfPGATOUR©: You still there?

twfPGATOUR©: Hello?

TWPrivacy: yeah, just in the middle of something

twfPGATOUR©: Oh, Ric Clarson is here in our secure meeting operations center with me overlooking the bay. 

TWPrivacy: who?

twfPGATOUR©: I also wanted to congratulate you on Elin's pregnancy. It's wonderful that you'll be further platforming the Woods brand while finally conjoining with the PGA Tour's core values of family and charity.

twfPGATOUR©:  Tiger, you there?

TWPrivacy: yes tim. thanks on the pregnancy. elin says thanks too.

twfPGATOUR©: Is she there?

TWPrivacy: no, she's out skiing.

twfPGATOUR©: So our marketing people were wondering if you've decided how you are going about branding this?

TWPrivacy: what? having a kid?

twfPGATOUR©: Yes, how are you going to brand it. You know, how are you going name the child.

TWPrivacy: we haven't gotten that far tim.

twfPGATOUR©: Well we have a Vice Presidents here who specializes in name gentrification as well as all forms of cross platforming who I'm sure would be happy do a lot of post 5 o'clock brainstorming with your branding people, maybe even work up some metrics on how the various brands play out.

TWPrivacy: thanks tim, but we'll be okay.  is there something else?

twfPGATOUR©: Yes one last thing. What's the due date?

TWPrivacy: can't say

twfPGATOUR©: We're hearing July here, which of course is great because that will allow you to play in The PLAYERS.

TWPrivacy: yeah, i can't wait

twfPGATOUR©: I'm just wondering if you've thought about how much time you'll want to spend with the new baby in say, August and September when the PGA TOUR Playoffs begin?

TWPrivacy: probably a lot of time

TWPrivacy: tim, you there?

TWPrivacy: tim?

twfPGATOUR© signed off at 08:19:34 PM EST