Finchem: PGA Tour Is Always Growing, And It Sure Doesn't Need Tiger For Even More Growth!

Dave Shedloski notes the main takeaway from Tim Finchem's Sunday presser at Kapalua, the Commish's insistence that PGA Tour growth is not dependent on Tiger and that Tiger's success doesn't matter in the all-vital area of...growth!

"The PGA Tour grew when Jack Nicklaus was winning. It grew when he stopped winning and it's grown with Tiger winning. It doesn't matter to us," Finchem said Sunday at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort. "We can grow with one player dominant or we can work with more wide-open competition. The fans like it and are interested in it both ways."

Right, and the ratings sure reflect that!

Moving right along, this was interesting from the presser as well: on top of a V-word explosion, there was his suggestion that schedules were changed last year by top players to help struggling events.

When we talk to players about moving their schedule around, it's a private conversation. We respect their decision regardless. I think that's the philosophy that we'll continue.

Having said that, last year we went out and asked players to move their schedule around and over 90 percent of players did in some fashion and it helped our fields, it helped our sponsors.

Is that 90% based on some sort of sliding scale? Say, with Tiger playing Frys.com accounting for 80% of the 90%?

Q. Why not legislate that players as a part of membership have to play a different event each year so that you can get that remaining ten percent on board?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: Well, we looked at that. We looked at that last year. We said we don't like to legislate and tell players what to do unless it has an overriding importance.

In this particular case, we asked for a volunteer; by now virtually, I'd say 90 percent, I couldn't tell you any players that haven't been helpful to be honest,

...double negative alert...

including a couple of just referenced in your question about moving their schedules around the first quarter this year.

So this is an ongoing process. We are doing very well with sponsors. Our sponsors are very pleased with the value equation on the PGA TOUR; if they didn't, they would be spending their money elsewhere. There are multiple value streams that go to sponsors. Our price point is such that given that value, you are 100 percent sponsored.

Three V's in three sentences. That's a nice clip for the season-opening presser.

We don't have a crisis in this area and we have a very, very positive situation. When somebody writes an article like at Memorial that five of the Top 25 players are not here or something, and somebody is sensitive to that, we are not going to start changing policies because of that.

Of course, in the same press conference he was talking about options to help the weak field situation at the Tournament of Champions, even though they are not sensitive to such things..

Hey, at least the Commish's form-fitting Hawaiian shirt was admired by a former 2-time Players Champion.

Stevie Case Closed, Say Commissioners Who Do Not Comment On Disciplinary Matters

So, let me get this straight. The PGA Tour does not comment on disciplinary matters, which was reaffirmed yesterday in the Steve Williams matter. Today, the PGA Tour and European Tour Commissioners Tim Finchem and George O'Grady issue a statementsaying "We are aware he has apologised fully and we trust we will not hear such remarks again."

Iain Carter reports on the rest, which sounds like teachers scolding 5th graders:

Their statement added: "The International Federation of PGA Tours feels strongly there is no place for any form of racism in ours or any other sport.

"We consider the remarks of Steve Williams, as reported, entirely unacceptable in whatever context.

"We are aware he has apologised fully and we trust we will not hear such remarks again. Based on this, we consider the matter closed and we will have no further comment."

Doug Ferguson says Adam Scott was shown the statement after his 73 Sunday and is not concerned the story will linger.

The following week is the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, where Scott and Woods - or is that Williams and Woods? - could face each other in any of the four days of competition.

Scott tried to deflect speculation that he could be walking into a frenzy Down Under.

"Hopefully, it's just for my good play rather than anything else. I don't think there's a story going forward," he said, adding that "the matter has been put to bed and I've got nothing more to talk about it with anyone. So I'm moving on."

Update on 2011-11-06 21:35 by Geoff

**Here is the full statement from PGATour.com.

Finchem Goes Into Hard Sell Mode On FedExCup; Slips In Rare Aviation Metaphor

You had to think all of these years flying on Air Tim I or II would have led to more aeronautical metaphors, but today's was the first I've come across in several years of agonizing through Tim Finchem press conference transcripts.

From East Lake and sandwiched in between some awards announcements:

About this year, I think it's been a kind of long, grueling year from the standpoint of workload. It's been a tremendously rewarding year from the standpoint of first watching so many good young players succeed and positioning the Tour for the next ten years. And as I said a couple weeks ago in Boston, we're delighted with our new television agreements. It really gives us a long runway.

Yes, it is indeed a long runway. You could take off, land and take off (again) in your Citation on this runway.

These next comments on parity were the primary takeaway remarks for wire stories in search of deep meaning from today's presser.

And then the other thing I'd say about the competition, and I don't know exactly how to articulate this, but clearly we've gone very quickly from a point in time when we were very much a sport that was -- had a dominant player to all the way to the other end of the spectrum, not part way, but all the way to the other end of the spectrum. We had a player on the Player Advisory Council on some issue we were talking about in New York saying we're at a point of total parity. Anybody out here can win any given time. And it occurred to me that that's true, and so far the fans seem to really like it, and it'll be interesting to see what develops in that regard going forward.

Key words: so far.

Our ratings are up this year as a result of that interest, and I think that interest triggered a lot of what was very positive in our television negotiations. On both fronts, television and the caliber of our competition, we're very, very pleased as we come to the end of the FedExCup.

That's because they hit rock bottom last year!

Alright, strap in, here comes the FedExCup pitch.

Then toward the end of the -- just before the Playoffs, we had a really good upsurge in the quality of the field at Wyndham with Harrington and Els and others playing, which is another indicative of how strongly players feel about the importance of the Playoffs in and of themselves and the FedExCup overall.

You know, if you go back in golf and look at any tournament, go back to Tom Morris, however far you want to go back, there is a graduation of stature of any event that rides with the extent to which players prioritize that event.

Whoa there. Did Old Tom Morris just get lumped into a FedExCup/quality of field discussion? Did he ever play the Wyndham to enhance his chances of making it to Cog Hill before the second reshuffle?

And then perhaps most importantly is measuring and recognizing the reaction of the fans to what the FedExCup is. We've had an increase in overall awareness every year, our attendance, our overall gross attendance has been up with one exception the last three years. We attribute the fact that our overall ratings are up this year to the fact that, especially in an era of parity, perhaps, fans are more interested in figuring out who these guys are, spending more time with the telecast and watching them proceed through the FedExCup competition. And so the number of minutes on average that our fans spend with the telecast this year was up nicely.

Or maybe it's just been hot and rainy outside?

Nice adjustment here by the transcript editors. Cume looks so much better than the old transcript spelling:

In addition, our overall cume viewership, 84 million Americans watched us more than ten weeks, 146 million Americans have watched us some. We continue to be on just an event to event basis second only to the NFL in terms of the total audience that's with us in a particular event up against any other sport on average. These are all trends that are really important to the health of our sponsorship, but they emanate from the interest that the fans have.

They just can't get enough of the algorithms?

He did leave a bit of an opening for a change to the end of the FedExCup, with the groundwork laid to blame television for a tweak to have the final days (or day) as a true playoff:

But I do think there's an argument for continuity and letting people settle in with what's happening. It's particularly -- it's a challenge for television to cover when you have two different competitions going on, particularly like last year here where you had a lot of different stories, and the first three weeks in the Playoffs you've got a lot of different stories with the cut line, and then you've got stories at the top. I think it's great television, and I think our partners are doing a really good job. It's a challenge, but I think they've really stepped up and really hit on it now, and I think it's captivating for our fans, and it's good.