Moving For The Gallery

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The Arizona Daily Star has all sorts of interesting information regarding the WGC Match Play's move to Tucson.

Charles Durrenberger writes:

The competition for the foreseeable future will be staged at The Gallery's South Course, where expansive fairways will be shaved down to 25 yards wide, providing ample spectator avenues.

"Fans will not be walking through the desert, except between holes, and we will have wide expanses for that," said Gallery head golf professional Paul Nolen. "The Tour has not requested us to do anything special to the golf course."

No, just cut the fairway widths in half. They don't matter anyway! Shoot, take 'em to 15 yards so the fans can be part of the action...sell hard hats, have paramedics on hand. I still say the 18-34 year olds will love it.

That is primarily due to a temporary situation. Ground is to be broken in August on the Nicklaus course.

The Gallery Golf Club's 36-hole layout is at 14000 N. Dove Mountain Blvd., two miles north of Tangerine Road, roughly 23 miles northwest of Tucson's city center and at the base of the Tortolita Mountains.

Parking is planned at lots near Tangerine Road and Dove Mountain Boulevard, with shuttle service to the course. Intense traffic is anticipated.

Hey, they should see Sunset Boulevard on when school lets out on Valentine's Day. Bet it doesn't take 2 hours to go 3 miles!

And thanks to reader John for this Greg Hanson column:

The Gallery is expected to pay something in the $500,000 to $750,000 range to play host to the Match Play Championships. The typical PGA Tour host fee is 37 percent of the purse (or about $3 million in this case). How's that for a discount? When the Match Play purse rises to $8 million next year, the Tour and Accenture will pay almost all of it. 

Giving back is the heart of the PGA Tour!

The attendant exposure should launch the Gallery into the stratosphere of elite-level golf facilities.

Yes, it did so much for La Costa. The Tour couldn't get out of town fast enough.

The Conquistadores will be given the entire ticket inventory. They will distribute all tickets and keep all the profit for their charities, the First Tee program and their foundation. More important, they will be able to retain their identity with pro golf. 

They no longer will operate the tournament, but their charitable profits are expected to increase. Crazy. 

Hey, they deserve it.

The Dove Mountain development, part of Tucsonan Dave Mehl's tony 6,200-acre property, will become Southern Arizona's Scottsdale, a community that will next include a Jack Nicklaus-designed course scheduled to play host to the Match Play event beginning in 2009. 

They'll need at least 10 more Nicklaus courses to catch up with Scottsdale. And preferably all of them at one development.

"We expect to break ground perhaps in August," said Mehl, who has twice met with Nicklaus at the Gallery in recent months. 

What is with the Tour and the love affair with unfinished Nicklaus courses?

Accenture, which posted a 2005 net profit of $15.5 billion and has more than 125,000 employees worldwide, uses the WGC event as a corporate celebration.

Yep, at $15.5 billion in profit, an $8 million purse is no big deal.
 

It's All About Capacity...

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Who says there's no Christmas in February?

After Commissioner Tim Finchem thanked more people than an Oscar winner, he took a few questions from the assembled scribblers:

Q. The commitment to Tucson, how long is that for, is that through the sponsorship? 2010?

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: Virtually all our agreements are linked to our cycles, a sponsorship cycle and television cycle. All of our agreements dovetail; in this instance they dovetail in four years.
Judge, can you direct the witness to answer yes or no. 
Q. The other part, do you think the World Golf Championships are meeting the stated aim of developing developed to enhance the competitive structure of World Golf worldwide?

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: Yes, I think the first and primary reason for the World Golf Championships was to create a vehicle whereby the fans could enjoy the opportunity to watch all of the best players in the world assembled, a more frequent number of times during the course of the year. Heretofore, that was primarily the major championships and THE PLAYERS Championship.

Heretofore? Mr. Commissioner, we're not dictating a memo to Candace. You are talking to people. Well, members of the media. Please, continue...

Today we have, with the World Golf Championships, another group of tournaments where all the best players in the world play. There are others, as well, but as a constant flow with Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup competition included in that. And that was the primary mission.

The secondary mission was to continue to grow interest in the game by focusing on the International and global aspects of the game. And that's why we've had such a great relationship with a company like Accenture, because they have a global focus. And I think that secondary mission is being met, as well.

See, Accenture has a global focus, so the events have had a worldly flavor! That answers the question, right?

Nope, it's about to get awwwwkwaaaarrrd.

Q. I think 39 of the 64 players in this week's field come from overseas. Can you part one of my question, can you explain why so many of these championships are played in the United States? And part two is don't you think that you have a responsibility to take these tournaments elsewhere in the world and to grow interest in the game elsewhere in the world?

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: Where the players come from is frankly not of too much import. Our system is such that from the start of the system...

Q. I'm trying to point out that it's a global game, golf is a global game.

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: I understand that. I'm remarking that I had questions during the course of the week, and they're disturbed that over half of the field is not from the United States.

Q. That was not my question.

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: I understand that. To the second part of your question, yes and no. We would like to see World Golf Championships played around the world, and we have seen that the first eight years. I think we've played on five different continents. Today the World Cup continues to be played this past year in Portugal, and this coming year in Barbados as part of the World Golf Championships. We may add another World Golf Championship. That is a nice thing to do.

That is a nice thing to do? Uh, let's back to the MBAspeak...

I think the fundamental, however, is not that. The fundamental is to bring to the world via incredible television capability, to 145 countries, all the best players in the world playing. The reality is that frankly Sergio Garcia is seen who is not here, is seen when he's played in a World Golf Championship by more people than typically any other event he plays, regardless of where it is, whether in Europe or Asia or anywhere else.

See, it doesn't matter where you play. It's about the television capacity. This is why they should just build one golf course in Orlando with stadium seating and a big parking lot. Construct a 6,000 foot runway (for the G5s, of course), some player housing, and just play all of the events in one place. You can maximize margins and just let that television capacity do its thing! 

Ernie Els gets more global television exposure when he plays here this week than he does when he plays in China or Hong Kong.

Imagine if he won a match how much capacity he would have maximized!

But I think the important thing is not that, it's that who are we reaching through World Golf Championships, are we reaching just as many people, and we think the answer is absolutely. Not to say we won't continue to work with having tournaments around the world. We are proud of the fact that we play on five different continents, and we will continue to play somewhere around the world, as well.

I think he meant the past tense there, "played on five different continents." But hey, we're going to throw an event to China so we'll still be playing around the world. Quit your complaining!

And now it's time for the Commissioner's intermission so the Accenture suit can out-MBA the Commish (the audacity!):

Q. Mr. Murphy, was Australia that much of a failure for you when it was played down there? If you were to continue your relationship with this World Golf Championship, would there be any scenario in which you'd be willing for one year to take this tournament abroad?

JIM MURPHY: The Australian tournament in many ways was a huge success for us, because we relaunched our new brand from that place. And Australia happened to be the major continent in the world where our brand was new, because in the time zones that's how it worked out. We changed our name from an older name to what we have now on midnight that day, and we played that week.

Ah those fond memories of the brand relaunch. Amazing how these WGC's just warm the heart.

But it's not all about relaunching the brand for Mr. Murphy...

From a timing point of view, it worked out great. We were somewhat disappointed in the field; some of the top players didn't come. The television coverage was great, we had great client entertainment there, and we saw it as a plus.

Would we do it again? Well, we'd consider it. Certainly we'd talk to the PGA TOUR about it. The PGA TOUR and other Tours drive this process, and we're sort of in a reactionary mode.

A reactionary mode? Scribblers, was Finchem making a note of that one? That's a peach, hon!

We can influence what happens, but they're the experts on golf, and we're experts in managing and selling technology services. We recognize our roles.

Oh, nice, subtle plug. I was wondering what the heck Accenture does.

Okay, enough of him. Back to the Commissioner...

Q. Based upon your knowledge of The Gallery, what were your impressions of the course specifically, and anything you feel The Gallery needs to do to be fully prepared for that event next year?
COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: We've been engaged for months, and our team has, with everyone related to The Gallery, many of whom are here today. We have a good, solid working relationship on the short term and long term planning that will relate to the conduct of the Accenture Match Play in Tucson. There are, obviously, in any instances like this, a lot of things that need to be done. We're very, very comfortable with the working relationship we have.

Uh, that's a no, he hasn't seen the course.

Q. What's your feel for the State of golf worldwide at this time, is it growing or is it receding, both in terms of the PGA and in terms of..

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: I gather the question is what is my perception of the state of the game in terms of its growth globally; is that correct? Well, that's an interesting question, because it's an interesting question, the answer of which has been perhaps many times in the media misanalyzed to some extent.

Pausing here to allow you to go back and read that one more time. After all, it's an interesting answer to an interesting answer.

And by that I mean here in the United States, for example, there is a focus on the total number of rounds played as it relates to golf courses. And in today's society the regular golfer is playing a few rounds less than perhaps he played he or she played five or ten years ago.

On the other hand, there's been each and every year an increase in the number of participants in the game. So from a total participant standpoint we've seen regular growth here in the United States.
More people playing less. At least he's honest about it. 

Q. I realize it's not done yet, Commissioner, on the FedEx Cup points, but where do you see the World Golf Championships positioned with that series going on next year?

COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: It would be premature for me to say. We're evaluating different processes. It will be a process that goes to June. But whether or not it's a process that relates to strength of field or a process that relates to purse or a process that relates to stature of events, under any of those scenarios World Golf Championships will fare well, and fare well in that configuration.

And it's a process that we'll be processing for quite some time since no one can really process how this FedEx Cup process is going to be processed.

Some Consolation

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Winner Geoff Ogilvy talked about the pace of play during Sunday's WGC final:

Q: Did the pace bother you, the fact that you guys waited quite a bit?

Geoff Ogilvy: It was quite slow; we waited for most of it, yeah.

Q: What did you say to Mark walking up 10 fairway?

Geoff Ogilvy: I just asked him why they weren't like 15 minutes in front of us in the tee time and not five or ten minutes, just to have a bit of a separation. I know all the TV and all the volunteers and everything want to be on one spot on the golf course, which makes sense. But they could have made it a hole in between us. Me and Davis play quite fast; we probably would have caught them anyway. No big deal. I've never been one of four people on a golf course and waiting (laughter).

Q: What did he say?

Geoff Ogilvy: Who?

Q: Mark Russell.

Geoff Ogilvy: It was because of all the infrastructure and everything needs to be all in one spot. It's a bit of a mess if it's all spread out. And it makes sense.

It was just we played quite fast. We obviously played just a hair faster. It wasn't relentless waiting, but it was enough to be waiting. We were obviously playing each hole faster than the other two guys and we were catching them every hole.

Q: They could have put them off 25 minutes early and it wouldn't make any difference.

Geoff Ogilvy: I would think so. But we may have caught them anyway after four holes. If we have a couple of good holes we might catch them anyway, and you've got volunteers and cameras spread out over three holes, and that may not be what they wanted.

Q: Did you want to play through?

Geoff Ogilvy: We asked the question.

Q: Did you ask?

Geoff Ogilvy: We asked the question on the 8th. Because I was messing around and Zach had done something in the water, I don't know what he did, it looked like he was playing a left handed shot and it went and there was all sorts of they stood around for five minutes, and actually Davis asked the question, hey, Mark, can we go, can we just go in front of them? Because we shouldn't be waiting.

It was fine. We still probably played 16 holes in three and a half hours, so it wasn't bad.

 

Boring Course=Boring Match?

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Geoff OgilvySunday's Geoff Ogilvy-Davis Love match was not exactly a heart stopping thrill-ride to culminate the WGC's run at La Costa.

The ABC announce team implied that the play was lackluster at times, but that seems unfair to Ogilvy and Love.

The real fault for another less-than-exciting match play goes to La Costa's insipid design.

Since I'm apparently the only one that thinks the stymie would have livened up today's match (and maybe more replays of Tom Lehman getting into a sword fight with his bag), consider how the architecture failed to offer chances for daring play.

Other than the short par-4 6th (which technology helped turn into risk-reward short par-4), the design offered few tough decisions that might create dramatic turning points. There are were even fewer "scary" shots that might put the player in an uncomfortable position (and leading to more tough decision-making scenarios or hope for the player who was down in the match).

In fact, the inconsistent rough provided the only real "danger," and we know how interesting rough is as a hazard. 

In general, the design rewards a conservative style of play, and Ogilvy handled it beautifully. Watching him play last week at Riviera, the combination of his steady ball striking, solid putting and easy-going demeanor made him an ideal uh, match for La Costa.

Last year I had suggested in this Golfobserver.com column why La Costa is a dud for match play and why PGA West-Stadium would be far more compelling.

But as we learned today to end golf's worst kept secret, the WGC Match Play moves to Tucson's The Gallery at Dove Mountain, home to a 725-yard par-5. Excited?

Fans of match play can only hope for the sake of the format that the Fought-Lehman design will elicit a few more decisions and uncomfortable shots that can make match play so fun to watch. 

Sahallee Blues

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Blayne Newnham, writing about Sahallee deserving another major in the Seattle Times:

There is concern the PGA Championships have outgrown Sahalee and Seattle, that the 27 holes isn't big enough to do the corporate tent thing, that there isn't room for enough spectators, that Seattle has shown less than robust corporate support.

Concern, too, that the course isn't big enough to handle 350-yard drives.

After the PGA in 1998, Kerry Haigh, the director of tournaments, was asked about the tightness of Sahalee's fairways limiting the use of the driver among players.

"It was their choice and it made for long iron shots to the greens," he said. "Some players hit more drivers than others, and none of them, as far as I know, complained."

The PGA of America wanted to expand its horizons, it wanted to bring the tournament to the Northwest.

It found a different and spectacular course, one that could quiet technology with nature.

Or, someone could quiet technology by actually regulating it? Nah, that makes too much sense!

Unlimited, Perpetual, Nonexclusive...

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Frank Bridgewater in the Honolulu Star Bulletin elaborates on the LPGA's photo policy and shares details not previously reported. Hard to see how there was a misunderstanding here:

"ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN AT LPGA EVENTS ARE TO BE USED SOLELY BY THE SPECIFIC NEWS MEDIA OUTLET FOR WHICH THE CREDENTIAL HAS BEEN ISSUED AND FOR NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN THE NEWS COVERAGE FOR THE PARTICULAR LPGA EVENT AT WHICH THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TAKEN."

 And...

"the LPGA shall have an unlimited, perpetual, nonexclusive right to use ... photographs taken at LPGA events for the noncommercial promotion of the LPGA and LPGA events, at no additional expense, in any form worldwide."

And several thousand dollars of legal fees later, the corrected language:

"Notwithstanding any other provisions of the LPGA Photographer and Journalist Media Credential Regulations, media outlets may make unrestricted editorial use of any images or articles they create pursuant to their access to any LPGA event."

Firing Up The Match Play

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WGCNEC05logo.gifWriters are already moaning about the weekend match-ups at La Costa. Earlier in the week, John Hawkins suggested ways in his new Golf Digest blog to fire up the match play.

Since no one except me and Bobby Jones like the idea of the stymie making a cameo, and with the event moving to a course over 20 miles outside of Tucson next year, the prospects of renewed energy coming to the WGC Match Play appear dim at best.

So I'm wondering if anyone is aware of a round robin format similar to something we see with Olympic team sport competitions where the individual brackets would play amongst themselves (maybe even 9 hole matches?), with the player having the best record in each bracket moving on to the semi-final matchs?

The idea would be to create a series of short matches that would have big names playing every day through Friday (or even Saturday), perhaps with sem-finals Sunday. And as Mike Tirico has suggested on the air, maybe a Monday late afternoon, prime-time-in-the-east finish?

Thoughts?

Weeks In Review: Feb. 12-25: Nissan Week

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WeekInReview2.jpgWith L.A. Open in progress I was unable to do a week in review, so here's just some of what has been posted the last two weeks.

We learned that pro-technology Acushnet is seeking a patent for a reduced flight ball, prompting reader Jonathan Cummings to ask "why in the world is this so hard? Developing a shorter ball is child's play from a technical standpoint."

Frank Hannigan analyzed the Jim Vernon speech that made many manufacturer lawyers salivate.

I obtained another exclusive transcript of those wacky PGA Tour Policy Board meetings.

David Fay's recent comments questioning the importance of governing the game for elite players elicited this from reader JPB: "The answer is the USGA governs for all players. Golf has gotten to this point because there have been rules on equipment, rules on amateur status, and a sense of etiquette and sportsmanship. Pro golf has profited because of these things, and so has the USGA. The answer is not to abandon the rules and tradition, but to celebrate them and strengthen them. Pro golf can thrive, as can amateur and recreational play."

Speaking of the USGA, they debuted a super cool new search engine this week, though reader MacDuff reminded us that it's not quite so cool for those using dial-up.

News of The Country Club's interest in the 2013 U.S. Open prompted Ned Ludd to say the USGA shoudl forget the Composite Course and "combine the Clyde and Squirrel in their entireties into one 14000 yard course. Will make for some really weird doglegs, but we are assured it will identify the best flogger...er...I mean golfer. Gas up the jet, Walter, we're goin' to Beantown!"

The Nissan Open at Riviera was kicked off with a look at the most recent course meddling, name at the 3rd, 9th and 12th holes.

I offered up daily reports from Riviera. Here they are should you want to relive this great moment in blogging history. Vol 1, Vol 2 (which included the J.B. Holmes press conference where he talked about how he doesn't work out), Vol 3, Vol 4, Vol 5, Vol 6, Vol 7 and the wrap up.

We learned about Ernie Els' bizarre trip to Hawaii in between the match play and Nissan, prompting some interesting remarks from you all.

At the Nissan, Rory Sabbatini nearly created the early frontrunner for wacky story of the year by deciding to change irons before the final round.

My Nissan Notes column for Golfobserver.com looked at the effort by Mrs. Sabbatini, the 10th hole and other assorted bits from the event. I also looked at the 12th hole courtesy of ShotLink.

Steve Elling looked at the USGA's rough plans for Winged Foot.

And I followed up with some photos of two holes that will not feature the new "tiered" rough.

Just as things were seemingly going well for the LPGA Tour, they decided to pick a fight with the media, a move which Robert Thompson summed up nicely when he said, "I don't have any sense of why the LPGA, at this critical stage in its development, would wade into a copyright issue that it can't win. AP brings coverage of its events to all those papers in small and mid-sized cities through the U.S. and Canada -- why mess with that? I suspect this has something to do with Bivens' background in advertising and the general disdain that many in advertising have for the editorial side of the equation."

We learned that Cog Hill is going to be Rees-tored soon, prompting Smolmania to write: "My only fear about this whole process is the horror stories which have been documented about Torrey Pines. It seems that many (most?) long-time players don't enjoy the renovations to the South Course, and now we've got Mr. Jones in charge of our local gem. I hope that in the search for acceptance by the USGA -and isn't that a scary concept - that Joe Lee and Joe Jemsek's goal of a country club quality public course doesn't go by the wayside."

I made my usual plea for the stymie to appear in a big time match play event and was met with the usual jaded responses. Where's your sense of fun?

And finally, things in golf got back to normal with a  commentary from someone at Titleist about the evil media, prompting Sean Murphy to share an interesting perspective on the golf ball and the transition to a power game that you won't want to miss.

"Top Level Energy For These International Questions"

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John Davis writes about the WGC Match Play's move to Tucson and features this quote from PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem:

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said recently that he hopes to schedule a WGC event in Asia within the next year. Last month the tour hired former LPGA Tour Commissioner Ty Votaw as executive vice president of international affairs.

That could mean that the WGC events, including the Match Play, will be rotating to other markets.

"I do think it's a transition phase," Finchem said. "That's one reason we brought Ty Votaw aboard, to allow us to get some top-level energy for these international questions." 

Top level energy? Is that coterminous with...ah, forget it. 

Driving Force: The Anti-Tech Agenda At Play

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The Arizona Daily Star's Charles Durrenberger reveals his agenda to bring down the ball companies by writing about the emergence of power thanks to technology.

Despite lengthening the Catalina Course by some 500 yards, the big hitters still have a huge advantage — especially on the par 5s — which yielded a record 54 eagles in 2005.

For example, [Bubba] Watson can carry the bunkers on the redesigned par-5 eighth hole, some 305 yards off the tee. Purdy says he has trouble reaching the green in two.

"It's become a big man's sport," added Purdy, who ranked 131st in driving distance last year. "The technology and equipment have allowed players to hit it further than ever."

See, it was the writer's agenda to put those words in Purdy's mouth.

Veteran Nick Price said technology and equipment have had the biggest effect on the game since he turned pro 29 years ago.
"Younger guys know more about the swing than I did at their age," Price said. "And the sweet spot on these drivers is as big as a plum. You can swing a lot harder without losing it."

See, Nick Price was just spellbound by the swaying stopwatch that Durrenberger dangled before him, repeating whatever Durrenberger wants to spread the gospel of anti-technology!