Harding Wrap Up

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Ron Kroichik talks to Sandy Tatum and Chris Gray about Harding. Tatum is hoping for a U.S. Women's Open, which will be tough with Pebble Beach getting one in the near future and David Fay not exactly chairman of the Tatum fan club.

Meanwhile, Gray is having to defend the 18th hole and he raises a good question:

"As I said before the tournament, No. 18 is an awkward drive and somewhat of an uncomfortable hole," Gray said. "The question is, is that a bad thing?" 

The Open Championship For Women

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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. 

GHIN and a Guilt Chaser

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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!?

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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.

sawgrass20.jpgWouldn'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

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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

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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?