The Open Championship For Women

The R&A announced that it is paving the way for women to enter the Open Championship.

"Our Championship Committee pledged to review entry conditions and to assess how women golfers might compete on equal terms with men for a place in The Open. As a result, I am delighted that a qualification route has now been established for the best women players to gain access to the Championship, competing alongside men on the same courses and from the same tees."

Male professional golfers and male amateurs (whose playing handicaps do not exceed scratch) may now be joined at Regional Qualifying by the top five women and ties from each of the four major championships in the women's game. In addition, any women meeting the entry requirements for International Final Qualifying, Local Final Qualifying and The Open itself can enter at these stages directly.

A frantic follow up press release indicates that they are now moving an Open Championship qualifier to accomodate women playing at Newport in the U.S. Womens Open. 

I'm not making any of this up. Just check the links. 

Achenbach on Wie/Pressel

Jim Achenbach looks at the cat fig...rivalry building between Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel, and writes:

The same day that Martha Burk dines on the veranda at Augusta National Golf Club, that will be day that Wie plays in the Masters.

Rude On Long John

Golfweek's Jeff Rude nicely sums up why we love John Daly.

GHIN and a Guilt Chaser

On my recent trip I picked up the Wall Street Journal weekend edition. It included a front page story on CEO's and other corporate types abusing the company flying time. I left the story behind but had meant to post something about what bothered me, and presumably other readers. Namely, how the privacy of these CEO's was violated by turning in golf scores and having reporters dig up those rounds via GHIN.com to confirm when they were taking trips.

Well, Golf World's Ron Sirak has done a nice job summarizing this and the pros and cons with handicaps available online. 

A Layer of Gore Tex!?

COO for the TPC Network David Pillsbury on the TPC Sawgrass renovation:

"[When completed] we'll almost have placed a layer of Gore-Tex over the entire 20-acre complex of fairways and greens that will allow us to ensure consistent, firm, fast and fair conditions regardless of weather," said David Pillsbury, COO of the Tournament Players Club network, who expects the course to re-open in November 2006.

Golf World says the projected cost of the new clubhouse is $16-18 million, while $6-8 million is being spent on theuh, Gore Tex. The story also includes a rendering of the clubhouse, which looks like an Arabian Prince's Lake Las Vegas mansion.

Wouldn't you love to ask some PGA Tour players what they think of spending that much on a clubhouse?

Oh and Golf World also reports that The Players Championship is getting a new logo.

Now we know what's been holding it back from major championship status. The clubhouse and logo.  

Golfweek On New Schedule

Jeff Rude and Rex Hoggard pen an exhaustive look at the likely new PGA Tour schedule, and all of Tim Finchem's brilliant "marketing platform" concepts borrowed from the NFL and NASCAR.

I came away sensing that:

• Not that much is changing, which is good with the successful early portion of the season, not particularly exciting for the lackluster mid-portion of the schedule, but potentially good with the "Fall Chase" concept
  

• As reader Blue Blazer points out, it's hard to imagine the top players playing every week from the PGA until the Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup. So how that will work, or why we'll get excited about what amounts to a series of events where the rich get richer, remains to be seen.
  

• Coming off the success of the AmEx at Harding Park, thereported move to Tampa in March looks like a huge setback compared to what we just witnessed or could see if the event went to exotic courses and cities around the world. Isn't the Florida swing long enough already?
  

• There appear to be no plans to offer a couple of new formats or something to rejuvenate lackluster events. Maybe it's just me thinking of the dreary courses played in certain cities, but moving the Valero Open to May or the Match Play to Tucson (where there aren't too many interesting designs) may be exciting for the sponsors, but why should fans be excited? 
  
  
• The rich get richer. Rude and Hoggard note that Tour school graduates and Nationwide Tour alum from the previous year will be lucky to get in 25 events this year because of medical exemptions, and that number only figures to go do. But since Jason Gore was the best story on the PGA Tour this year (sorry Tiger), and Sean O'Hair wasn't far behind, this is a concern. Unheralded success stories are one of the most compelling things about pro golf, and by discouraging new blood in favor of the marketing-safe star system, the Tour could be doing long term hard to the uh, product. (See Champions Tour.)
  

Thoughts?

Wie Begins

Doug Ferguson does a nice job setting the stage for Michelle Wie's debut.

He also included this:

B.J. Wie has said his daughter will not challenge the LPGA requirement that members be 18 years old. And while he says her focus will initially be on the LPGA Tour, the ultimate dream is to get her PGA Tour card.

Wie is trying to add 10 percent to her length, so the distance she carries her tee shot increases from 260 yards to 285 yards, which the father believes will allow her to compete against the men.

So does how she go about adding that length? Time in the gym, or time on the launch monitor working with the hot new Nike Sasquatch driver?

Donegan On Tiger's Rivals

The Guardian's Lawrence Donegan offers a stinging appraisal of Tiger's rivals. He's really looking forward to the battle for the top spot in women's golf.

Wie's a Rich Pro Now

That means I can poke fun, right? From AP:

Michelle Wie didn't have to wait until she tees off Thursday at the Samsung World Championship to realize she was playing as a pro.

"Just the other day I got my first tax form," she said Tuesday. "I was excited about that. It's not something you should be excited about, but it's pretty cool for me."

She also just got her first check minus the cut from William Morris. That probably wasn't as exciting.

The other sign Wie was now a pro was her bag, with the Sony logo and her name.

"I was so excited when I got my name on my bag," she said. "Usually when you're an amateur, you can't have your name on your bag."

No, just the names of corporations on your clothes, hat and glove. Oh I know, she just turned 16. I'll stop.

TPC Sawgrass Redo

I'm not clear why this story on the TPC Sawgrass's $25 million renovation is making the rounds now, but it is.

Even if golf's fifth major remains in March, the PGA Tour has drawn up plans to make it the premier tournament by weatherproofing the TPC at Sawgrass, moving 65,000 tons of dirt to allow spectators better views and installing technology so fans can know what's going on no matter where they are

Still the fifth of four majors. Sorry, continue. 

The cost for the ambitious project, including a Grand Mediterranean style clubhouse, is estimated at $25 million. Work is expected to begin after The Players Championships is held in March in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

The larger locker area will create more space for the annual locker room rain-delay interviews.

The most dramatic renovation is sub-air pumps beneath each green that can remove 42,000 gallons per hour, allowing the putting surface to drain in minutes. Dirt beneath the fairways will be replaced with sand that drains faster, and the fairways then will be sod anew with high-quality Bermuda grass.

That will allow the course to all but guarantee firm, fast conditions even on rainy days.

No mention if the $25 million includes a switch to copper irrigation piping.

What's Happened Since April?

Going through some files today, I stumbled across this from Thomas Bonk's excellent story on the golf ball that appeared in an April L.A. Times article:

However, there are indications that the golf ball technology — and probably the same advancements associated with large-headed, thin-faced drivers — have actually peaked. Only four players are averaging more than 300 yards in driving distance this year — Scott Hend, Brett Wetterich, Tiger Woods and Hank Kuehne, though it is conceivable with warmer, drier weather and firmer fairways as summer approaches, that number will grow.

Definitely conceivable. Since late April, the Tour average is up 6 yards and 24 players are now averaging over 300.  

For Immediate Release

This popped in my email box today. Keep in mind, Laser Link sponsors the Florida Open.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           October 11,  2005

The Florida Open Tests the Laser Link Quickshot Rangefinder

MADISON, WI – In an effort to keep up with the times and make golf more enjoyable for all players, the USGA and R&A reversed a long standing rule last week that now allows distance measuring devices during all play.

The Florida Open, with a few days to spare between their event and the rule reversal, quickly acted to give the Laser Link Quickshot a try in their yearly event last week in Hobe Sound, Florida at the Loblolly Pines Golf Course.  All players were provided with a Laser Link QuickShot rangefinder to get precise yardage readings.

The leaders finished their rounds in four hours and fifteen minutes.  In previous years it took five hours and five minutes on average for the professional threesome to finish play.

“We are thrilled to see the results come in from this professional golf event.  The simple fact is, faster is better for everyone, the course owners, the players and even our non-golfing spouses.  Everyone wants the game to move more quickly.  If players can get fast and accurate yardage readings in two seconds, rather than forty seconds of ‘huntin and figurin’, the game of golf benefits,” said Rob O’ Loughlin, President of Laser Link Golf.

Colby Beckstrom took first place in the tournament which was shortened to 54 holes by rain with a score of 202.  “The Laser Link rangefinder was just a great tool.  I used it on every shot to the pin.  It helped my game.  It allowed me to concentrate on the shot and I didn’t have to worry about the yardage,” said Beckstrom.

Well I don't know about you, but I'm sold!

Seriously, it's great that Laser Link is willing to donate the "Quickshot" for free for all of the tournament players, and since they are determined to speed up play and their product works, why, I can only hope they'll continue to donate these $300 devices.

More Munis, and How 'Bout Them Scores

Golfobserver features Art Spander's take on Harding Park (scores weren't too low, it's passed the test!). I can't wait to heckle Art about this, since he knows there is much more to the game and to courses than birdie prevention. And I just wonder, if 16 under had won, and everything else was the same (leaderboard, crowd buzz/turnout, etc...), would the reaction really be different?  Hope not.

There is also my take on Harding and the Tour's dire need to fine more mid-city munis like it if they want to generate the kind of buzz that their events so rarely have.

Finchem on Harding

Ron Kroichik talks to Tim Finchem about the AmEx and Harding. Finchem realizes that the U$GA will be interested in a Women's or Senior Open after the success of the AmEx. (Uh, for those dreaming of a US Open, remember that is across the lake in 2012, so the earliest they could talk is 2020. And you can probably guess who will be in line to host that year).

But this quote from Finchem says a lot about how the game has changed since the Harding project commenced just a few years ago:  "We thought it would be reasonably good, but it's really been off the charts. I don't think we could have predicted that a course of this length would give the players the kind of challenge it has."

At least he acknowledges that 7,000 yards has become yesterday's 6,300 yards. But one has to wonder if Harding at 7,000 yards could get selected for a $16 million renovation with the driving distance spike making 7,500 the new "championship" standard?

Tait on WGC's

Alistair Tait of Golfweek says the WGC's have failed to live up to their promise and that the other tours are getting shortchanged because most of the events are played in the U.S.