Rude On Western Open

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Jeff Rude on the proposed disaster known as the Western Open moving to September:

Cog Hill owner Frank Jemsek has given his course to the Tour annually for no charge — that's right, no site fee — and this is what he gets? A sharp stick in the eye? Right after he meets with architect Rees Jones with the idea of face-lifting the course?Doesn't seem quite fair.

Well, that's what you get for hiring Rees. Oh wait, you meant, oh I gotcha. Sorry. My bad.

You want to rotate the Western around to four courses, then let's do it in Chicago. Knock on the doors of Medinah, Olympia Fields, Butler National and others. Get three courses to rotate with Cog Hill. If those clubs don't step up, keep going down the wealthy list.

I challenge the Tour and the membership of those clubs to step up and keep a Tour event in Chicago every year. I'm looking for someone with soul.

Jeff, you meant, $oul.

More Questions About Cup

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There seems to be a consistent thread emerging from stories looking at the "FedEx Cup" and Tim Finchem's Tour Championship press conference. Dave Perkins in the Toronto Star:

The feeling here is that Finchem is making it up as he goes along, so sketchy are the precise elements to date.

And Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

As with any new endeavor, there are a lot of questions with very few answers before it gets rolling.

Chris DiMarco, one of the tour's straightest shooters, on and off the course, said last week: "I don't know whether it's my Florida education or not, I still don't quite understand everything that's going on."

Don't worry Chris. Harvard can't have pegged this one yet.

Two More Takes On Schedule Proposal

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Tim Cronin lays out a devastating case against moving the Western Open to September. Makes you wonder if anyone at Tour headquarters gave this much thought.

Mark Bradley in the Atlanta JC points out a key distinction between NASCAR and the Tour, and why this proves that the "FedEx Cup" probably won't work too well.  

The big golfers --- Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh --- pick and choose. A NASCAR driver runs every weekend. Jeff Gordon can't skip a race just because he feels a little peaked. He can't because the folks at DuPont, the company bankrolling his car, want their logo displayed before 100,000 spectators plus another hefty TV audience every time the green flag waves. Estimates put the cost for a primary sponsorship in a Nextel Cup team at upwards of $15 million. When you spend that kind of money, you expect the maximum return on your outlay.

The FedEx Cup is designed to make the Big Names play more, but will a series of end-of-season tournaments capped by a fabricated "championship" alter the schedules of guys who adjust their calendars to prepare for the four majors above all else? Consider: Ted Purdy has played in 34 Tour events this season; Woods and Mickelson have played in 21 apiece.

As has been noted, NASCAR is different from other sports. It has its Big Event --- the Daytona 500 --- at the start, and then everything else is geared toward the Chase. The Chase works because Gordon and Earnhardt wanted badly to be part of it but missed the cut, not because their attentions were elsewhere.

"Do I fully understand [the FedEx Cup]? No," Ben Crane said. "But the commissioner [Tim Finchem] has a history of doing great things for the Tour."

Still, Tim Finchem doesn't control golf. Tiger Woods does. And Woods, when asked Friday if he'd consider playing five or 10 more events a year to accommodate the FedEx Cup, looked at the questioner as if he were nuts. "I don't know if my body could hold up," Woods said. "I've never played in more than 21 events."

And there's your answer right there. Gentlemen of golf, find yourselves a different gimmick.

Fall Series Question

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During Tim Finchem's ABC visit, a graphic was posted explaining the parameters of the proposed 2007 schedule. Regarding the post-Tour Championship Fall Series, it said that such a swing would determine the "remainder of the 125 players who will be eligible for next year's FedEx Cup."

So if there was at FedEx Cup in 2004, would only the top 125 from the previous year have been eligible for the 2005 season? Where would that have left a 2004 Q-School grad like Sean O'Hair, or a Nationwide "Battlefield Promotion" like Jason Gore?

Eligible or not?

PS - I just looked at the 2004 money list and these players finished outside the top 125, yet each played in this year's Tour Championship: Olin Browne, Lucas Glover, and Billy Mayfair. 

Finchem On TC Telecast

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Commissioner Tim Finchem stopped by the ABC booth for his annual Tour Championship visit. He noted that the reaction from players to the proposed FedEx Cup has been "very positive" and the dreaded "impactful" was dropped again. Most importantly, the new, more impactful finish will allow the events "to raise more money for charity."

Mike Tirico asked why now, and Finchem launched into the usual lines about how the Tour has been growing and will "continue to grow," then offered this: "The competition in today's environment is strengthening. When you see what other sports are spending to create the theaters for their sport and the fan experience for their sport..." etc, etc...

So the message remains the same: continue to focus on the imagery and mythology, ignore issues with the way the sport is played and how it might be made more entertaining. It's worked so well for tennis and the NBA, why not golf?

Relatable?

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Email from reader Keith: 

I just finished reading The Future of Golf, and I'm thrilled that someone other than me is talking about something so obvious as that golf is NOT in good shape. The parallels to the Rise and Fall of the Tennis Empire are very real, but everytime I bring it up to someone in the golf industry they dispute it. We shall see! I also just visited your website for the first time and was glad to see you question the mighty Tim and his incredible use of the English language. It's amazing how long it takes him to say nothing of interest or value. The one factor Tim and the geniuses who run the PGA Tour seem to have forgotten is that NOBODY CARES ABOUT WHO WINS THE FEDEX CUP or any other tournament for that matter. I have yet to meet one person who gives a &%$# about who wins the Charles Schwab Cup, and at least 9 out of 10 people have no idea what I'm talking about when I ask them. Golf ratings are down because none of us can relate to anything we see on the TV. It is BORING to see nothing but drivers and wedges, and to hear about who hits the ball a mile when I (and most players) are happy to hit one 225 yards! Golf is in for a BIG fall as it moves in the current direction, and I think the new proposal is the roadmap to disaster. America cares about the NFL and NBA and MLB ONLY because of heated rivalries. When Tampa Bay plays the Saints - NOBODY outside of those areas cares. When Houston plays the WhiteSox - NOBODY cares - or tunes in. NASCAR is popular only because of rivalries and the fact that all of the top drivers and teams show up for virtually every race. Golf has part of the necessary equation right - cut back the schedule WAY back and tell every player on the tour they must show up for at least 75% of all events - or go and get another job next year.

Campbell On "Point System"

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Steve Campbell in the Houston Chronicle:

The points system is another potential series of land mines. If the tour puts too much weight and too much money on a fall finish, it runs the risk of undermining the majors and unduly rewarding a player who gets hot at the end of the season. If the tour puts in place a points system that measures a player's entire body of work, how much would that differ from the money list?

Set up a system where too many players are in contention, and the championship cup will runneth over with hold-your-nose champions. Set up a system where only the most deserving players are in contention, and you get the Tour Championship multiplied — a series of money grabs meaningful only to the richest of the rich and their accountants.

Remember, the Tour Championship seemed like a great idea once.

Sandomir On Cup Race

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Richard Sandomir in the New York Times:

How much more money the PGA Tour will reap should be a concern. It has created a new revenue stream by selling the title sponsorship to its championship race to FedEx (the champion will receiver the hitherto nonexistent FedEx Cup), but will the four-tournament Championship Series be alluring enough to networks, whether it is sold as a package or piecemeal?

"It could be on different networks," Moorhouse said.

Who will carry the playoff? CBS and Fox are out, because they televise the National Football League on Sundays; ABC will return to Nascar in 2007 (replacing NBC); and NBC will be showing Sunday night N.F.L. football.

Moorhouse sees some daylight. ABC won't have Nascar every Sunday; NBC might have Sunday afternoons open; and before Labor Day, CBS might have some time. But there might not be the consistency of a single network carrying all four events. The last eight races of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, for example, are all on NBC.

Early Reaction To Finchem

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TGC's George White is undestandably confused.

SI's Chris Lewis says the press conference left a lot of unanswered questions, and proceeds to analyze how much of the new schedule is network driven, and how much is player driven (hint: he says the networks are in control, and after Finchem's press conference, it's hard to disagree).

GolfDigest.com has...wait, they don't have anything.

Jeff Rude looks at Phil Mickelson's unusual decision not to play at East Lake and how it relates to Finchem and the TV situation.

Finally, the 2006 schedule was also released. No big surprises. 

Thoughts On "State of the Tour"

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Without seeing what the inkslingers filed for tomorrow, I have to say that based on what I heard today and their questions for Tim Finchem, they probably left the "State of the Tour" press conference with more questions than answers.

Basically, we learned FedEx is going to put up a lot of money for a year end points race where the PGA Tour really hasn't figured out what the"playoff" seeds will do for anyone (I suggest seeds 1-10 have the option of saying no to a Ben Crane pairing).

I find it  amazing that after all this time, the Tour brought nothing other than FedEx to the table.

The fact that they can't even commit to the Players moving to May means that if a network wants to play it on the Moon in January, the Tour might consider it.  

But hey, we may get to see FedEx Cup finish events at Bellerive every three years. Oh joy!'