Fifth Major Watch, Vol. 3

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playerschamp.gifI wonder if in making the push to declare The Players the greatest golf tournament on the planet (and therefore, a major), anyone in Ponte Vedra realizes that the near desperation only lessens the chance of it becoming a major? Or that the Grand Slam can only ever have four events to be, well, a Slam.

Well, maybe Dave Shedloski at PGATour.com understands. Amazingly, he got this line by those guys with the little red pens who sit in some back room at Ponte Vedra headquarters:

Whether the PLAYERS is deigned a major or not is immaterial. It plays like one.

MacDuff's Post Bay Hill Fed Ex Cup Points- Corrected

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Reader MacDuff has kindly computed the post-Bay Hill points standings for a 2006 FedEx Cup. This week I'm including the players outside the top 70 so you can see who would not be in the "playoffs" (again, using the top 70 number most often cited). The recent reports of taking as many as 125 for the final playoff series, while absurd, makes sense when you look at this list (note some of the names outside the top 70).

1    Sabbatini    10891.66        7
2    Toms    10509.37        6
3    C.Campbell    10175        8
4    Singh    10071.87        7
5    Glover    9854.16        7
6    Gf. Ogilvy    9387.5        6
7    Mickelson    8934.37        6
8    Petersson    8695.83        8
9    Pernice    8425        6
10    Furyk    8345.83        6
11    Verplank    8187.5        6
12    Donald    8109.37        5
13    T.Woods    7684.37        4
14    Chopra    7424.5        8
15    D.Wilson    7400        7
16    Lehman    7337.5        6
17    Appleby    7233.33        6
18    Mayfair    7191.66        7
19    Weir    7159.37        5
20    Parnevik    6817.5        7
21    Oberholser    6737.5        5
22    Barlow    6601        7
23    Van Pelt    6527.5        7
24    Franco    6237.5        6
25    Villegas    6200        6
26    Palmer    6166.66        6
27    Rollins    6137.5        6
28    Rose    5966.66        5
29    JB Holmes    5945.83        5
30    T.Clark    5892.5        6
31    J.Ogilvie    5845        6
32    Pampling    5792.5        5
33    Love III    5762.5        5
34    Gay    5662.5        7
35    Bjornstad    5655        6
36    G. Owen    5487.5        5
37    Olazabal    5450        4
38    Jobe    5392.5        5
39    Z.Johnson    5337.5        5
40    Jerry Kelly    5325        4
41    Warren    5295.83        5
42    Imada    5212.5        6
43    N.Green    5162.5        5
44    Garcia    5137.5        4
45    Calc    5125        6
46    Langer    5079.16        5
47    Bub Watson    5075        5
48    Choi    5062.5        5
49    Purdy    5037.5        5
50    Cink    5021.33        5
51    Funk    5000        6
52    DiMarco    4984.37        4
53    Bertsch    4900        6
54    Leonard    4895.83        5
55    Watney    4737.5        6
56    Bohn    4720.83        5
57    Senden    4625        4
58    Matteson    4600        6
59    M.Wilson    4590        4
60    Triplett    4575        3
61    Bryant    4500        4
62    Westwood    4437.5        4
63    Pat Perez    4437.5        6
64    Gore    4387.5        4
65    Olin Browne    4387.5        5
66    A.Scott    4375        3
67    J.Smith    4350        4
68    Atwal    4312.5        4
69    Allenby    4262.5        4
70    Baird    4200        5
71    Couples    4125        5
72    Harrington    4050        3
73    Frazar    4012.5        5
T74    Cook    4000        4
T74    Ames    4000        4
T76    Veazey    3962.5        4
T76    Kenny Perry    3962.5        4
78    Branshaw    3875        4
79    Curtis    3875        5
80    Hoffman    3852.5        4
81    Vn Taylor    3825        4
82    Howell III    3818.5        7
83    Estes    3775        3
84    Fischer    3775        6
85    J.Byrd    3750        3
86    Slocum    3725        6
87    Sluman    3725        7
88    Els    3662.5        4
89    Herron    3657.5        4
90    Immelman    3650        4
91    Goosen    3587.5        3
92    Kent Jones    3537.5        4
93    F.Jacobson    3512.5        3
94    Micheel    3500        4
95    JJ Henry    3487.5        3
96    Crane    3482.5        3
T97    S.Jones    3475        4
T97    Cabrera    3475        4
99    Hart    3362.5        3
100    Stankowski    3265.5        5
101    Beem    3256.25        4
102    Waldorf    3200        4
103    D. Howell    3175        2
104    Dickerson    3137.5        6
105    Gove    3125        3
106    Azinger    3112.5        4
107    Lonard    3100        4
108    Maggert    3006        5
109    S. Maruyama    3000        5
T110    Sean O'Hair    2912.5        4
T110    Ridings    2912.5        4
112    Br.Davis    2900        5
113    Garrigus    2850        3
114    JL Lewis    2800        5
115    Huston    2762.5        3
116    B. Quigley    2750        3
117    Points    2737.5        3
118    Mahan    2662.5        5
119    Levet    2637.5        5
120    Flesch    2600        4
121    Kaye    2487.5        3
122    Lowery    2475        3
123    D.Clarke    2462.5        2
124    Gamez    2462.5        3
125    Faxon    2450        4
126    M. Cambo    2437.5        2
127    Allen    2400        4
128    Goggin    2387.75        3
T129    Petrovic    2362.5        3
T129    Pavin    2362.5        3
131    Barron    2293.75        3
132    Lickliter II    2287.5        2
133    Stricker    2225        2
T134    Geiberger    2225        3
T134    Dawson    2225        3
136    RS Johnson    2212.5        2
137    Bren Jones    2050        2
138    Sindelar    2050        4
139    Baddeley    2043.5        4
140    Kevin Na    2037.5        2

Pebble's Plans

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Michael Hiltzik writes about Pebble Beach development plans in his LA Times "Golden State" column.

How big a deal is this? The California Coastal Commission's public hearing on the plan, held in Monterey on March 9, lasted 12 hours. That reflected mostly local interest, but there's much more at stake. "The forest is a statewide coastal resource," says Mark Massara, an attorney for the Sierra Club. And the way the pressure for development gets balanced with the need to halt incursions into the forest by the Coastal Commission, which has the ultimate administrative jurisdiction, will say a lot about California's environmental future.

One obvious question is why Pebble Beach needs another golf course. Eastwood, Ueberroth, Palmer and their partners bought Pebble Beach Co. from a Japanese corporation for $820 million, cash, in 1999. No one denies that they're entitled to a fair return, but room rates at the company's two major resorts start at $535 a night and top out at $2,275. A day on the links will cost you as much as $450. (All rates are as of April 1.) So it doesn't seem as though the typical Pebble Beach client would object to paying a few extra bucks to make Messrs. Eastwood, Ueberroth and Palmer whole.

Another issue is whether the partners are being truly candid about their intentions. Some of the community's 4,500 residents may favor the new plan because Pebble Beach has sold it as less drastic than what it's entitled to build anyway, and as its last development request ever. "What's really great is that Pebble Beach is talking about it as a final buildout," says Gerald Verhasselt, a longtime resident and an officer of the Del Monte Forest Property Owners Assn., which supports the project.

The company claims that it now has the right to throw up at least 850 new homes within the forest, and possibly more than 1,000. Given that its new plan asks for only 62 homes and resort suites (along with a few units of "employee" housing), it feels justified in bragging that it's cutting back its development ambitions for the good of the forest.

"We're trying to do what's environmentally right," says Alan Williams, head of the development company that designed the project for Pebble Beach.

But the commission staff notes that the plan removes limits on new units at the two luxury lodges, which otherwise are topped out. And it contends that the company's right to build 850 homes is an illusion. Although county zoning standards might theoretically allow construction on such a scale, in the Del Monte Forest, any construction is subject to severe environmental restrictions, and the company doesn't have a prayer of obtaining permits for even a fraction of those units. The staff says that if the Coastal Commission wants to be a stickler, it could limit all residential construction in the forest to about 40 new homes — or even no new homes.

"Once something is identified as environmentally sensitive habitat, you just aren't allowed to develop it," Charles Lester, the commission's deputy director, told me. That classification, he adds, may apply to virtually the entire 600-acre tract covered by the proposal, which is habitat for the endangered native Monterey pine, a rare orchid and other endangered species. The commission arguably could forbid almost any construction.

 

SF Chronicle On Golf: The Green Blues

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Thanks to reader Scott for this Susan Fornoff story on the state of the golf business in Northern California. A few highlights, or lowlights:

Much easier to find are stories such as the one in the Feb. 18 editions of The Chronicle, which reported that San Francisco city golf courses, including the newly renovated and universally praised Harding Park, operated more than $500,000 in the hole in the 2004-05 fiscal year. In Napa, a pretty, vineyard-lined 27-hole complex called Chardonnay went into bankruptcy and emerged under new ownership.

Same story in Antioch, where Roddy Ranch, a player-friendly and media-acclaimed golf course, couldn't sustain itself without homes on the property and went into bankruptcy, emerging in the hands of Black Mountain Development of Pleasanton and Pacific Coast Capital Partners of Sacramento with plans to eventually build 700 houses.

Ditto in the mountains of Plumas County, where a well-marketed and challenging golf course, aptly named the Dragon at Gold Mountain, landed in bankruptcy after the lots sold and the course and clubhouse couldn't make a go of it. Yet just up the road, a new course opened last summer, with developers Lowe Enterprises ga-ga over the possibilities of Grizzly Ranch, where private golf memberships are going for $50,000 and home sites start at $150,000.

Mike Mohler, the project manager, said the company prefers communities with plenty of amenities. "Would we have built a golf course without real estate? Probably not."

Probably most certainly not. The game that experienced a boom in popularity with the coming of Tiger Woods and the strong economy in the late 1990s is busting in the 21st century. Nationally, rounds declined by 3 percent in 2002 and 1.5 percent in 2003, bounced up by 0.7 percent in 2004 and dropped 0.1 percent in 2005, according to the National Golf Foundation.

And...

"What I'm seeing is that everybody's running very aggressive deals," said Hiddenbrooke director of golf Matt Ochs, who brought golfers out in February for golf and lunch at $50. "We need to stop building golf courses and we need to start growing golfers."

Even golfers agree there are two things wrong with the game: It's expensive and time-consuming to learn and play. Eighteen holes take a minimum of four hours; add the drive, the warm-up and the wind-down, and there goes the day. Green fees range from $23 to walk 18 at Castro Valley's Willow Park on a weekday to $180.20 with cart on a weekend at the seaside Half Moon Bay Golf Links at the Ritz Carlton. In the Bay Area, weekend golf costs more than $60 at all but the most budget-friendly municipal courses.

"The new course in Pleasanton has a $60 weekend green fee; ours is $95," said Truebridge of the Bridges. "If you're a senior or are on a budget, where are you going to go play? We're getting 43,000 to 45,000 rounds a year. I'd like that figure to be 50,000 to 55,000, yet I'd like to get the green fees over $110."

Add to fees the cost of lessons and equipment -- and the luxury of having the time the game takes to play -- and it's no wonder that homeowners are perfectly comfortable having a couple hundred golfers stroll by the backyard every day. It's not as if the visitors are going to jump the fence to take the patio furniture.

"Golf obviously adds value to real estate," Krah said. "People like living on a golf course and are willing to pay a premium to do that."

What about the cost to the developers? "Golf courses are a million dollars a hole, that's the round number," he calculated. "Directly, you get premiums back -- you can charge somebody an extra $50,000 to live on the golf course instead of having to stare at the neighbors."

A million dollars a hole? I forget...that copper irrigation piping...

So real estate sales can safely cover the golf course building costs. Now players have to cover the annual maintenance and staffing fees. And because the rule of thumb seems to be that residents will account for no more than 10 percent of the annual rounds, 90 percent of the players have to come from somewhere else.

The golf course's reputation with the media and players influences that, which is why the Tahoe Mountain Club is managing to fill Old Greenwood in Truckee even at $170 per round. East West Partners, developer of 99 home sites and 174 resort homes on the property, hired golf legend Jack Nicklaus to design the course on a gorgeous piece of land, guaranteeing great publicity and playability.

NBC announcer Johnny Miller put his signature on the Bridges, which had a dry creek bed on the property that couldn't be filled and thus has a reputation for being tough, the kind of place where players lose a lot of golf balls.

Fifth Major Watch, Vol. 2

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We'll go easy on Ron Sirak's fifth major declaration since the Carolyn Bivens-Golf Digest credential form battle is forcing him to avoid LPGA Tour coverage.

Still, we must have our fun...thanks to reader Marty for the heads up.

For at least a decade, the question that has refused to go away concerns whether The Players Championship is the fifth major.

And I bet we're reading articles about the debate in another ten years!

That debate will gain even more momentum next year when the tournament moves to May and it is contested on a rebuilt Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. The new date and the new playing characteristics for the course will focus even more attention on the Players, and will intensify the discussion as to its status.

Perhaps most importantly, the new spot on the schedule will semi-formalize the Players' position as the fifth major.

Yes, key word: semi-formalize.

Enjoy this year's Players Championship, and smile when it is over knowing that next year it will be even better.

Or smile because it'll be 14 months before we resume the annual fifth major debate!

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Week 11

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pgatour.jpgThe PGA Tour driving distance average dropped from 288.956 to 288.5 in spite of the Bay Hill rough harvest.

There were 2 drives at 350 or longer, bringing the season total to 830 (there were 2059 in 2005).

As for the percentage of drives over 300 stat, the PGA Tour average dropped slightly to 25.3%, down from 27% after the Honda.

Was Palmer Kidding Around?

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Did anyone catch the Jimmy Roberts interview where a grinning Arnold Palmer talked about changing two of Bay Hill's par-5s to 4s and moving the sixth green based on Bubba Watson's play?

I thought he was joking, but the NBC crew seemed to think he was serious.

It would be somewhat ironic that he criticizes Hootie Johnson for so radically altering Augusta in response to the ball, while doing the same at Bay Hill.

More On The Sawgrass Gore Tex Layer

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Great hearing the Commissioner tell the NBC boys at Bay Hill about the new irrigation system that allows them to water on the roughs and not the fairways. I'm so glad MacKenzie and Behr aren't here to see this! Anyway... 

Ryan Herrington looks at the TPC Sawgrass renovation and includes this quote from the Tour:

"We spend a lot of time talking to our tournaments about the need to upgrade what they do," said Bob Combs, the tour's senior VP for communications. "Yet we're the marquee event, and if we're going to urge others to keep raising the standard, we have to show them what it is."

I'm having a hard time envisioning that $16-18 million clubhouse renovations and $6-8 million course upgrades are that necessary for one week of Tour play. Especially when the course redo motivation is driven in part by a dislike for low scores, as this Garry Smits story pointed out:

Since Greg Norman torched the Stadium Course for a record 24 under in winning the 1994 Players, the Tour has attempted to set the course up with firm fairways and greens and high rough. In years when there wasn't much rain, that has been accomplished. An example was 1999, when David Duval won at 3 under, the highest winning score in Stadium Course history.

But if the area experiences a wet winter, there's not much Klauk could do with the current course to help drainage, as too much organic material has built up near the surface of fairways, causing them to be slow to drain.

The contrast between wet and dry has been dramatic. During years the Tour considered dry, the average winning score was 8.5-under-par. During years considered wet, the average winning score was 13.6 under, according to PGA Tour statistics.

Fifth Major Watch

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This Scotsman story says "it is hardly surprising that the Players' Championship is commonly referred to as 'the fifth Major'. Golf's powers-that-be have yet to give it that status but they may as well." 

Meanwhile, Dermot Gilleece reports that Johnny Miller says the status of the event is "getting to be a real issue." 

Please Johnny. It became an issue when won Craig Perks won. That's when I thought, "this is the fifth of four majors!"

Anyway, Gilleece talks to Padraig Harrington who noted a change in the TPC Sawgrass:

"Sawgrass used to be fearsome, but it is now quite a normal test of golf. There's nothing extreme about it anymore. But if they get the greens really firm and fast, which they can in May, now you're talking scary course, especially with the rough up."

Would this strengthen its major aspirations? "Maybe," he said. "But I believe that if there is to be a fifth major, it should be the Australian Open, provided you get the right field. Most of the great players have played it; it's been around for more than 100 years (instituted in 1904) and has a choice of some wonderful courses. So all that's missing is the right field."

Oops.

Gushing Johnny

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Thanks to reader Noonan for this item from Phil Mushnick's NY Post column:

 It can't get much sillier than this:

Johnny Miller, forthright NBC golf analyst since 1990, until two weeks ago never pointed to a car sponsor and gushed how great its cars are. Until two weeks ago he was never moved to blatantly shill for any sponsors' products.

But two weeks ago, as the Doral Ford Championship was being played on NBC, Miller began to appear in Ford commercials. And then, during NBC's coverage of the Ford Doral, Miller, on at least two occasions, saw fit to interrupt that coverage to tell us what fabulous cars Ford makes.

For that, Miller was scolded in newspapers and golf magazines. The sarcastic question was even raised whether Miller, during NBC's coverage the next weekend of the Honda Classic, would see fit to give his automotive take on Hondas.

And then, during the Honda, Miller, with a straight face - and for the second time in two weeks after having never acted similarly in 15 years with NBC - volunteered his automotive take on Honda, even stating that Honda makes better trucks than Ford and Chevy.

And some folks felt his comments about Honda were evidence of Miller's integrity as opposed to having painted himself into a ridiculous corner, a corner far, far away from the golf commentary he'd been entrusted to provide.

Perhaps this newfound interest in affiliations will force an assessment of the relationship that other announcers have with corporations, and how that may influence their commentary?