Even More Of Jack On Augusta

/

Several writers filed comprehensive stories on Jack Nicklaus' criticism of changes to Augusta National.

Some of the comments appeared in Doug Ferguson's story yesterday, and all came from a press conference Nicklaus held at The Bear Club to plug (I think) something related to the 20th anniversary of his Masters win.

Showing just how highly he thinks of these inkslinger gatherings, Jack donned shorts with loafers and no socks.Q-15NJACKSC-5658_o.jpg

Anyway, here is some of the new stuff, including bits that David Westin of the Augusta Chronicle picked up from Tiger's web site and from Mike Weir at Bay Hill.

Woods, a four-time Masters champion, played the latest "new" course for the first time Sunday and shot 2-under-par 70, he said.

"It definitely played longer," Woods said on his Web site. "It will be a big challenge if the golf course plays fast."

"I love Augusta, don't get me wrong," Nicklaus said. "And all I want for Augusta is to be Augusta and be the best it can be because it's such a great event.

"But when they take the golf course and limit the number of people who have the ability to win ... their intention is not to do that, but they're doing exactly that."

"They're making the long holes really, really long," Nicklaus said. "They are frustrated, as I am doing my courses. They're trying to figure out how to compete with the length of the golf ball."

Weir played Augusta National the "last few days," he said Tuesday at the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, Fla., and also had an issue with No. 7.

"I didn't think they needed to do anything to it (the course), but I don't mind the added length," Weir said. "The only hole I don't think they needed to lengthen was No. 7. That green is not built for a 4-, 5-, or 6-iron."

Safe to say that No. 7 sounds silly. Of course,most people could have told Hootie this change was a bad idea. Except apparently, Tom Fazio.
 

Jeff Shain in the Miami Herald was there and put this answer into context:

As Nicklaus discussed his charge from four shots back, he was asked if the ''new'' Augusta could produce a similar run.

He suggested ''about 10 guys'' could pull it off.

''Could Tiger [Woods] do that, or Ernie Els or Vijay [Singh]? Yes, because they have the length to do that,'' he said.

"Could a Mike Weir or José María [Olazábal] or Bernhard Langer or one of those guys of moderate length? Probably not. Not with the golf course today. That's the change at Augusta I have a hard time with.''

 And Ray McNulty had this story on the gathering, with remarks you probably won't read in many other places:

...should the men of Augusta, if only to preserve their course, if only to protect the integrity of The Masters, take the lead in placing limits on the golf ball?

"They would be the only place that could," Nicklaus said.

If you listened closely enough, if you looked into his eyes as he uttered those words, you knew that he wanted Augusta to take a stand.

Even though he didn't actually say it.

 

Norman Flashback

/

If you are wondering why Greg Norman is so interested in opening the PGA Tour's books, a bit of the dreaded backstory might be worth re-reading.

Here's Norman talking to Bob Verdi in the April, 2002 Golf Digest:

You went across the grain in 1994 with an idea for a world tour for the best players -- an addition to the PGA Tour -- and it blew up in your face.

Each event was to be for $3 million, for the top 40 players in the world. Start with eight events a year, building to 12 down the line. We had an agreement with Rupert Murdoch of the Fox Network for $120 million. That's what turned the sirens on at PGA Tour headquarters. That caught their attention. How did they do that? Why can't we do that? They still haven't figured it out.

Arnold Palmer and [PGA Tour Commissioner] Tim Finchem came to the Shark Shootout in 1994, my own event, to talk to the guys about this evil concept of mine. I was done. I listened to the whole spiel, sitting in the boardroom of Sherwood Country Club, and I was feeling worse and worse.

Their spin was that it was my deal, about me and for me. But we had agreed to subsidize the [PGA Tour] events we were up against. If a world-tour event went against, say, the Milwaukee Open, we would subsidize the Milwaukee Open. "You can't do that," I was told. Well, what have they got now but their own world-tour events? And what are they doing for tournaments up against them but subsidizing them?

Apparently, my bad idea wasn't such a bad idea. And as our president [of Great White Shark Enterprises], Bart Collins, says, all these other golf federations from other countries march to whatever the PGA Tour wants, like puppets.

But when you were inducted into the Hall of Fame last November, Finchem credited you with the vision for the world-golf concept.

It was sad. I wish he had never said that. Cut a guy's legs off, then give him a pair of shoes.

What took so long? In 1994, I was tarnished tremendously, being branded as someone who was trying to hurt the game of golf. It couldn't have been too strong a PGA Tour if one guy could destroy it. But Finchem knew he couldn't control it. It was all about control. So it was portrayed as a money-making scheme for Greg Norman.

I was devastated. I was angry, really angry. I didn't care about golf, and I was angry at my peers, who hung me out to dry. They said they would support the idea. But where were they? Slay the dreamer. I was alone on an island. I was the Bird Man of Alcatraz. I was a maverick.

Then, last November, Finchem says this about me at the induction. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We were all sitting up there. I looked at Laura and Bart, and we were all amazed. What the hell was that all about? Thanks, but no thanks for the pardon.

I still haven't forgotten what he did to me, and I never will. Never, ever will I forgive Tim Finchem, and he can induct me into a Hall of Fame once a week.

What about the proposed idea of a players' union?

I took an interest in it, but I told them [the organizers] it was best for them if I wasn't on their roster. I never joined.

I could do them more harm than good, given my reputation. The PGA Tour propaganda machine did a masterful job of sweeping that under the rug, too.

But why don't we have an association as players? I've talked to Phil [Mickelson] about this. He's got a lot on the ball. But a lot of guys are content, making a handsome living. They're nonconfrontational. I'm for thinking outside the box.

And here is Norman a year ago, again talking to Verdi:

Norman is asked whether he would consider spending part of the rest of his life as commissioner of the PGA Tour.

After all, incumbent Tim Finchem, whose administration Norman frequently disparages, will retire eventually, presumably creating a vacancy for someone who has done it all--like winning 88 tournaments worldwide, presiding over a robust corporation, and rubbing elbows with business, political and entertainment icons. All while managing to remain a doting husband and father, whether at home or on a 228-foot yacht that was sold last year to Wayne Huizenga for the ungodly sum of ...

"Sorry, no financial figures," says Norman, chuckling. "Now, PGA Tour commissioner. Have I thought about it? Absolutely. Of course, have I also thought about becoming president of the United States? Yes." But there is no rule against an Australian-born multimultimillionaire becoming boss of golf's biggest league. "I understand," Norman says, "though I'd bring a completely different mind-set to what exists on the PGA Tour."

He cites a top-heavy organization that encourages a pack mentality resulting in a "quagmire" (his word). "I would love to know what really happens on the inside of the tour," Norman says, "but to do that, I would have to give up what I have here, and also give up playing, which I still love."

I guess this means we won't be seeing more of Greg on the Champions Tour? 

1986 Masters Redux

/

nicklaus861.jpgGolf Digest's Guy Yocom compiled an oral history of the 1986 Masters, and from the parts I've skimmed, it's a must read.

Yocom also answers questions from and unnamed interviewer about how the project was put together, including who cooperated, who didn't and who turned out to be the best source of fresh insight into the greatest golf tournament ever. 

Norman Threatening Legal Action Against PGA Tour

/

Golf World's March 17 issue is reporting that Greg Norman is threatening legal action against the PGA Tour.

In a story by Tim Rosaforte that first appeared on ESPN.com(!?), Norman says he wants to see the books and the minutes of all meetings.

"It's their fiduciary responsibility," he said. (He also has a business relationship with the tour as a golf course architect for a handful of sites that host tournaments.)

"The past never goes away," Norman said last Friday from his office in Jupiter, Fla. "Even now Scott McCarron stays at my beach house and we work out last night and the conversation comes up about the FedEx Cup. The wound gets ripped wide open."

Okay that's waaaaayyyyyy more detail than we needed!

Anyway, Rosaforte also writes:

Decof, the longtime legal nemesis of the tour -- he represented Ping in the famous square-grooves case -- believes so as well. The posturing has been ongoing for months, but Norman decided to go public after his demands were circulated in a memo to members of the Players Advisory Council, Policy Board and Independent Board of Directors.

PGA Tour co-COO Ed Moorhouse confirmed the tour has been in touch with Norman and Decof. "We've offered to sit down and answer any specific questions," he told Golf World Monday. "To this point he has not availed himself of that, but we are ready to sit down and discuss any questions he has."

See, the Tour is trying to cooperate. They would be happy to sit down in a windowless room with no one taking notes and discuss any questions Greg has, completely off the record and without any documentation!

 You can't make this stuff up.

"They're looking for a way to compromise," noted Decof. "They want us to submit our questions, and they'll answer them. That's not what we want. Under law, every person has [the] right to access the books. It's an absolute right. The players don't know what's going on. They go to those meetings and they get mumbo-jumbo. Greg wants to know what's going on in a corporation that he's a member of. You can't do that by answering questions."

More Nicklaus Comments On Augusta

/

Jack Nicklaus makes some more interesting comments about Augusta in this AP story that reader Tim forwarded.

On Tuesday, he discussed the last of his 18 professional majors, and he was asked whether a back-nine charge was still possible.

"I know what Augusta is trying to do," Nicklaus said. "Whether they've gone overboard, I'm not sure. But they've eliminated a lot of guys who are able to do that. Could Tiger (Woods) do that? Or Ernie Els? Or Vijay (Singh)? Yes. Could Mike Weir or Jose Maria (Olazabal) - one of those guys of moderate length - could they do that? Probably not. That's the change at Augusta I have a hard time with."
And...
Nicklaus didn't mind the change at No. 4, saying it was always a 2-, 3- or 4-iron shot, and that's likely the club that will be used at this year's Masters.

"But No. 7? Wow," Nicklaus said. "I had dinner with Ernie the other night, and he played 4-iron and 7-iron. A 4-iron into that green? Ernie Els? What is Mike Weir playing, a 4-wood? That's the issues I've got."
And...
"I love Augusta. Don't get me wrong," Nicklaus said. "All I want is for Augusta to be Augusta, because it's such a great tournament. But when you take a golf course and limit the number of people that have the ability to win ... Their intention is not to do that. But they're doing that."

Letter from Saugerties, March 13, 2006

/

Frank Hannigan, who last wrote to this site about the USGA Executive Committee's use of private jet travel, spotted the recent Gary McCord-CBS-Masters post and offered his second exclusive "letter."

Dear Geoff,
I notice you ran the weird Golf World story about Gary McCord and the Masters with a straight face.  The story said McCord is no longer persona non grata at Augusta, that CBS can assign him as a Masters announcer whenever it feels like doing so.

BUT (and it says so on page 13) “McCord turns down Augusta National’s offer to return to CBS’ Masters telecast.”

The likelihood of the following is infinitely higher than Gary McCord’s return to Augusta:  Osama bin Laden turns himself in, the president says “no hard feelings” and Osama is seated next to Laura Bush at next year’s state of the union message.

Golf World (owned by the Newhouses, who know less about golf than Osama) also whispers it has long heard that there is a clause in McCord’s contract whereby he will not permit the network to assign him to do the Masters.

For l5 years I had a contract with ABC to lurk around that network’s golf telecasts. If I insisted to my agent, he would have inserted a clause which the network would have accepted as the harmless earmark of a nut, that under no circumstances could ABC assign me to be the host of the Oscars telecast.

Yes, it is true contractually that CBS has the right to put McCord back on the telecast. That would be the last Masters ever to air on CBS. Augusta would not turn it over to NBC because the last thing it needs is a Johnny Miller Masters.

But the Disney Corporation, owner of ABC and ESPN, which recently pulled out of Tour golf effective 2007, would get back into golf in a New York minute given the chance to do the Masters.

McCord’s work was disliked intensely by Hord Hardin and Jack Stephens, the two predecessors of current Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson.  McCord was seen as trying to sell himself, not the golf, during the Masters. He was warned to cool it.

After the warning McCord, assigned to the 17th hole, then managed to work into his commentary the phrases “bikini wax” (which I personally thought amusing) and “body bags” (which I found miles beyond tasteless.)

Then CBS producer Frank Chirkinian didn’t even have to be told.  There would be no more McCord at the Masters.

So why is the story of CBS new independence being planted in Golf World? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s because the president of CBS Sports, Sean McManus, has also been made president of CBS News. It doesn’t look right for the president of a network news operation to be shoved around and pocketed by the management of a golf tournament.

Meanwhile, the content of the Masters telecasts is determined as it has been – by the club, not the network.  When Golf World’s girlfriend Martha Burk (whatever happened to her?) failed utterly three years ago, the decision to not so much as mention Ms. Burke’s threatened protest--which had been THE golf story of that year--was that of Augusta National, not CBS.

When McCord did his “bikini wax” and “body bag” shtick my friend Peter Alliss, the great British golf announcer, first sided with McCord. Peter said that if you do live television long enough some things are bound to come out of your mouth you wish hadn’t.

I told Peter that the folks at Augusta were guided by their understanding that McCord’s little witticisms were logged in by him in advance on a laptop.

Peter said “Oh, you mean he wrote down his jokes in advance?  Oh well, that’s cheating.”

Hawkins On FedEx Cup

/

John Hawkins's latest Golf World column is also posted on his "blog" (uh, note to GD: a web log is not a blog when you are copying and pasting material published elsewhere on the same web site!)

Anyway, it's an interesting column in that it throws out some of the ideas circulating on the Tour's FedEx Cup "playoff" system.

It sounds like the FedEx Cup could go one of two ways.

One, is a legitimate playoff system that forces top players to play more often, assuming they'd like to be part of a huge payoff at season's end. The points breakdown would produce something similar to what MacDuff has concocted and shared with us here. On paper, a setup with equal points for all events (and extra for majors) would be the ideal "incentivization" system that the Tour's pension program was supposed to provide.

Or, the FedEx Cup will have a cut off of 125 players to make the "playoffs." There would be a points padding system for stronger field events to coddle international players and those who don't like to play more than 20 events. Just what the big names need, more incentive to play less.

But there is one positive with the latter. It would help golf continue to follow the example led by that once-popular sport known as tennis: shift to a power game, have top stars play sporatically and rarely against each other.

(And please, no emails about how splendid Roger Federer is...it's UNWATCHABLE!)

The Microchip Driver

/

Thanks to reader Chris for this Maurice Chittenden story in the Sunday Times.

Scientists have invented a computerised club to help golfers hit the ball straighter and further.

The club uses a microchip and electric fibres in its titanium head to calculate where the ball is being hit. In the milliseconds the club and ball are in contact, the microchip redistributes the forces in the head to put as much power and accuracy behind the shot as possible.

It may offer the perfect answer for the bad golfer who wants to reduce his handicap.
But whether it is a fair way to play golf is another matter. The invention seems certain to drive a wedge between Head, the sports equipment manufacturer, and the R&A, the sport’s ruling body based at the Royal and Ancient golf club, St Andrews.

The new driver could cost as much as £1,000, more than a whole set of standard clubs.

Johan Eliasch, the multi-millionaire chairman and chief executive of Head and a scratch golfer himself, said last week at his office in London’s Mayfair: “We have been through the rules of golf and we believe it is legal.

“Even though it started as an April Fool’s joke people bought into it and now it is for real. It will revolutionise golf and take the sport’s technology to a new level. We have tested it with robots and the new club will drive a ball 10-15% further and the shot will be 25% straighter.”

His company uses what are known as piezoelectric fibres, which are made of lead zirconate titanate. They were developed by the US defence department and are used in satellites and Stealth bombers.

Thinly layered in the head of the golf club, they react to the mechanical energy of the ball being struck, converting it into an electrical current that is fed to the microchip.

The microchip produces its own electrical response, which is sent back into the fibres to produce a corrective force behind the ball. All this happens while the ball and the club are still in contact.

Head is also reportedly working on a brain microchip implant that electronically zaps any feelings of regret that the golfer might sense after spending $2000 dollars and still not hitting it any straighter.

On a serious note, Tony Jacklin was asked about the club. As usual, the technophobic media led him astray...

“It’s mindboggling what is going on in developing new clubs. The professionals have already made some incredible headway in the distances they are hitting the ball.

“But while golf gets hooked into this technology, traditional golf courses, especially in Britain, are becoming obsolete for professionals because there is no room to lengthen them.”

MacDuff's Post Honda FedEx Cup Standings

/

Thanks again to reader MacDuff for this list, which does include points for the Mercedes and WGC Match Play, but no extra points for the limited field events (as is reportedly being considered). The Top 70:

1    Sabbatini    10891.66        7
2    Toms    10509.37        6
3    Mickelson    8934.37        6
4    C.Campbell    8850        7
5    Glover    8529.16        6
6    Singh    8371.87        6
7    Gf. Ogilvy    8350        5
8    Donald    8109.37        5
9    Petersson    7308.33        7
10    Mayfair    7191.66        7
11    Chopra    7149.5        7
12    Furyk    7133.33        5
13    Lehman    6962.5        5
14    Appleby    6858.33        5
15    Parnevik    6817.5        7
16    Pernice    6800        5
17    Oberholser    6737.5        5
18    Verplank    6712.5        5
19    Barlow    6601        7
20    T.Woods    6471.87        3
21    Palmer    6166.66        6
22    Rollins    6137.5        6
23    Villegas    5925        5
24    D.Wilson    5925        6
25    T.Clark    5892.5        6
26    Weir    5834.37        4
27    Love III    5762.5        5
28    Van Pelt    5490        6
29    JB Holmes    5433.33        4
30    Franco    5412.5        5
31    Jerry Kelly    5325        4
32    Imada    5212.5        6
33    N.Green    5137.5        4
34    Calc    5125        6
35    Cink    5021.33        5
36    J.Ogilvie    5020        5
37    DiMarco    4984.37        4
38    Leonard    4895.83        5
39    Bjornstad    4830        5
40    Bertsch    4725        5
41    Z.Johnson    4687.5        4
42    Senden    4625        4
43    Gay    4625        6
44    Matteson    4600        6
45    Langer    4429.16        4
46    Olazabal    4412.5        3
47    Olin Browne    4387.5        5
48    A.Scott    4375        3
49    Jobe    4355        4
50    J.Smith    4350        4
51    Rose    4341.66        4
52    Atwal    4312.5        4
53    Bub Watson    4250        4
54    Choi    4237.5        4
55    Watney    4225        5
56    Baird    4200        5
57    Couples    4125        5
58    Warren    4083.33        4
59    Harrington    4050        3
60    Cook    4000        4
60    Ames    4000        4
62    Veazey    3962.5        4
62    Kenny Perry    3962.5        4
64    Hoffman    3852.5        4
65    Vn Taylor    3825        4
66    Branshaw    3812.5        3
67    Estes    3775        3
68    Fischer    3775        6
69    M.Wilson    3765        3
70    J.Byrd    3750        3