Finchem: U.S. Golf Has Seen Continuous Growth Since Palmer

I'm always fascinated by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem's theories on growing the game as the mastermind of The First Tee designed to teach life lessons and now a grow-the-game initiative.

Not sure I buy the view he expressed in China Sunday while launching the developmental tour PGA Tour China, which should be a hit with the Australians.

Fourth, we know from looking at the history of golf, that the growth of the game is driven first and foremost by the development of elite players who perform at a unique level. Having the opportunity to grow elite players; thus, accelerate the development of elite players in China, will also translate into the acceleration of the growth of the game in China, which is in all of our interests.

In addition to all of those reasons, I think in summary, it's clear that today's announcement is a milestone to benefit China golf, PGA TOUR, global golf, certainly growth in China, and as a consequence, it is an important day for all of us in the game.

We've got some pretty elite players in the Tiger Woods era, starting with Tiger Woods, and the game hasn't really grown has it? In fact, most barometers suggest it's contracting.

Yet Finchem expanded on his view a few moments later in the press conference:

Q. And for Commissioner Finchem, what do you see as the No. 1 benefit to the PGA TOUR, and what will be your investment?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: Well, I think the overall fundamental situation is that the faster the growth, the faster we have growth of the game, impacts every aspect of the sport; certainly the professional side.

And because participation in the game drives, it drives viewership, it drives support for events, etc., etc., and they go hand in hand. Historically, the elite player comes first; strong growth comes second, and certainly that's been the case in the United States since Arnold Palmer came along in 1960 and it's been 40, 50 years of continuous growth.

Continuous? It must be so nice to live on Planet Tim where the flowers are always in bloom and everyone doesn't smoke, shaves hourly and takes their hats off before shaking hands.

So anything we can do to assist the expedition and acceleration of growth is very much in the interest of the professional game, but also golf as a whole.

I'm thinking speeding up play, shrinking the footprint of courses and figuring out ways to create fun, affordable facilities might be more, uh, impactful than developing pro golfers. I know, how absurd.

Finchem: "I can't find too much wrong in what we're doing."

Commissioner Vader appeared on Morning Drive for da full hour and if you like an arrogant, dismissive and a steady monotone, this was television gold!

As usual, the Commish put out all of the fires of the current tour, of which there are many created by the thirst to fill every week on the calendar with PGA Tour golf. (Kudos to Williams, Hack and even Finchem fishing buddy Rolfing for picking sensitive topics).

A few quotes to remember from Finchem.

On players skipping playoff events: "I don't see it developing as some kind of trend."

He did concede that the FedExCup points have "too much volatility" but summed up the current state of the tour by saying, "I can't find too much wrong in what we're doing."

Gary Williams left the interview (AFTRA rules forbid listening to Commissionerspeak for an hour straight) and Finchem fishing buddy Mark Rolfing took his place, and the topic of rules came up. Unfortunately, the one really bizarre moment was not part of the Golf Channel uploads posted below.

In a nutshell: when the topic of Tiger's ridiculous final round drop at The Players came up, Finchem revealed his axe to grind with Johnny Miller for basing his analysis on Mark Rolfing's initial reaction and the blimp shot, whereas Finchem took the evidence in and as he said this morning, declared to himself, " no problem here."

How anyone could watch that situation play out and not even concede it looked bad, is pretty disturbing.

Anyway, Finchem's rambling answer on simplifying the rules where he essentially says the PGA Tour has no desire to get into the rules business and that the Rules of Golf, as written, are "not that far off now."

On fan rulings he tries to explain why they aren't the end of the world, but doesn't go so far to say that getting rid of phone-in help would create the perception of cheating or incompetance.

Tiger Runs "Out Of Gas" & Schedules Only Get Worse From Here!

It was a pretty shocking admission for physical specimen Tiger Woods to say his Tour Championship second round fell apart because he "just ran out of gas" and calling the ResetCup series of events (even with a week off) "a long grind." (Mark Lamport-Stokes reports.)

And guess what? The 2013-14 season starts in three weeks and next year's playoffs do not include a week off. But there is a week after the playoffs so you can rest for the Ryder Cup in Scotland.

In 2015 the Presidents Cup, presumably soon after the FedExCup, will be in Korea on the moundiest looking course you'll ever see.

And do we even want to talk about the mess that is 2016? Ewan Murray did in assessing (and agreeing) with Woods' complaint about fatigue.

Woods was right to point to a condensed schedule from the Open Championship to this, the climax of the FedEx play-off events. He also predicted that matters will become even more hectic in 2016, when golf returns to the Olympic Games in Rio.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the stars getting older while Commissioner Blankfein's vision for non-stop golf plays out.

Oh Do Tell: Woods, Finchem Meet For An Hour

GolfChannel.com Digital, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Digital, were visionairies in naming their first born, reports that Tiger Woods and Commissioner Tim Finchem met for over an hour Wednesday. An hour, for Tiger preparing to tee off the next day in a big event and listening to the Commish bellow on, is the equivalent of a 24 hour meeting for the rest of us.

Here's guessing they were not comparing notes on the G650 or working a Steve Sands-branded whiteboard over how to revamp the FedExCup points (again) or discussing how to televise all of Tiger's shots in SD to avoid future rules mishaps.

Digital speculates that it had to do with "call-in" violations based on Tiger's press conference remarks.

“There are certainly a lot more viewer call-ins,” Woods said. “I get it from the first time I step on the range on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all the way through, and virtually every shot is on something, and some of the top players are getting it. Most players don't get it until they're in the leader groups on Saturday or Sunday.”

Bob Harig zones in on Tiger's assertion that there needs to be a time-limit on call-ins, though what that has to do with any of the situations he was involved in is beyond me!

"There needs to be a time limit, and I think there needs to be a discussion obviously where is that time limit? Where is that line of demarcation? You've got to start with disqualification and then work our way back from there.