Norman On Tour's Drug Policy: "a bunch of @#$%&!!"

An unbylined Sydney Morning Herald story asks Greg Norman what he thinks of Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour's position on performance enhancing drugs.

"Just put rules in place," pleaded Norman.

"I think our organisation, as big as it is, should have something in our by-laws stipulating substance-abuse.

"You hear about it all the time on tour and if there are no rules and regulations in place, you don't blame the players for doing it.

"It's been rumoured for over 20 years, players using outside substances to help their performances. If you're playing for $5 million a week, you've got to take advantage of it the best you can.

"It isn't just steroids. HGH, beta blockers, there's probably a multitude of drugs out there [in the market place] we don't even know about."

Commissioner Tim Finchem has long maintained that the tour doesn't need to test for performance-enhancing substances because there isn't a problem, a view Norman ridicules.

"That's a bunch of bullshit, as far as I'm concerned," Norman said. "Don't stick your head in the sand. Step up to the plate. If there's nothing there, great, but if you find a couple who've done it, at least your organisation has been ballsy enough to eliminate it, because you don't know where it's going to be in 25 years."

He doesn't necessarily think use of performance-enhancing substances is rife, but believes that's not the point.

"It doesn't matter if it's one or 100," Norman said. "If they're using outside agencies to improve their performance and beat you, that's not good."

Notes From TNT's Coverage...Day 1

Poor Bobby Clampett barely got to stick his foot in his mouth today thanks to the rotating announcer setup. Though I did catch where he's added the dreaded "right in front of you" cliche to his repertoire. Only Clampett was describing Medinah's greens, not the views from the tee.

Anyway, courtesy of the PR folks from TNT, the "highlights" from day one's announcing.

Kostis on the threesome of Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy: “The quiet third man in this marquee pairing, Geoff Ogilvy from Australia, is playing the part of Switzerland in this group today.”

He missed his calling!

Feherty seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

Feherty on Jason Gore:  “Jason (Gore) is priceless.  He was wearing a coat and tie at a PGA function that I helped host at Pebble Beach earlier this year, and I’ve never seen anyone look more uncomfortable.  (Wearing) a black tie and a black coat, he looked like Tony Soprano forced to be at the opera.”

Feherty on the outfit worn by Jesper Parnevik: “You need two things to dress that way, you need a sense of humor and you need a great golf game.  You don’t want to go out there in that and shoot an 85.  It’s like a Swedish George Lopez.”

And now, what you've all been waiting for, the lone pearl from Clampett.

Clampett on Sergio Garcia's preparation: “I had a chance to walk with Sergio (Garcia) in the practice round the day before the British Open at Hoylake.  The thing that impressed me about Sergio was his intensity in the practice round.  He was going about it as if he was playing in the final round of the Championship.”

Hmmmph. Brilliant.

Bent On The Run

Thanks to reader Rick for this story on the Roundup resistant bent grass that has made it into the wild, possibly stifling any opportunity for it to become available commercially.

Tiger's Post 1st Round PGA Press Conference

After a 69...

Q. Can you talk about the setup and with that many low scores out there, does it change the approach where par is not necessarily a good score?

TIGER WOODS: Well, the greens are soft out there. The wind was pretty benign most of the day. It would come up, die down, come up, die down, but it wasn't a real big factor out there today. With the greens being soft, the guys are going to aim at a lot of flags, indicative of the scores. Any time the greens are fairly soft, you're going to get a bunch of low numbers on the board.

Q. Just getting back to the greens being soft, were they softer in the practice rounds and were you surprised that for a major championship, we haven't had rain around here hardly at all, that they were this soft in the first round?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I was pretty surprised that they had that much moisture in them. But also, then again, they are not exactly smooth, either. So it will be interesting in the afternoons, see what the scores will be.

You get a lot of balls that are bouncing a little bit out there. There's going to be a lot of that just because the greens are so soft.

Ogilvy's Post 1st Round PGA Press Conference

On his pairing with Woods and Mickelson:

GEOFF OGILVY: If I didn't know any of the back story, would I have said they were two normal guys who like each other just like any other two guys out on Tour. The dynamic was exactly like probably in every group this morning. There's a bit of tension in the first round of a major, everyone's pretty serious, probably not quite as much chat as there is at the Pebble Beach Pro Am. But it was just normal. I mean, you would never know you wouldn't think they are the best of friends but you wouldn't think they didn't like each other, either, which is normal. First rounds of majors, I mean, any rounds of majors is not the most conversation going on between everyone anyway. So, I mean, it was normal.

And...

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the reception that you got today? It seemed, and I don't know, how did it feel, it seemed like it seemed like people were trying to be mindful of when you were putting last. For instance, on some of the first few holes, I would hear, "Poor Geoff, if he keeps putting last, people are going to keep walking." But then it seemed like you would get just as much of a reception after great shots or good putts. Did you expect that, and I guess how did that feel compared?

GEOFF OGILVY: You kind of want to not have downhill left to right three foot putts and to have been last one on the green. You want to be in the hole before they are in the hole.

It was pretty respectful out there. It didn't matter who was hitting it. They were all they were as nice to me as they were to those two guys. No one was running off any more on me than they were on anyone else, you know what I mean? That was fine. I expected it might have been a bit like that, but it wasn't at all. I mean, if I had a putt, they all hung around and watched. There was a few "Go Geoffs" in there, and there was a few "Go Phils" and "Go Tigers," but a few "Go Geoffs." One "Go Joe." (Ogilvie) I felt right at home with that, that was good.

Faxon and Hanse At TPC Boston

Jim McCabe reports on Brad Faxon and Gil Hanse making changes to the TPC Boston after the 2006 Deutsche Bank event.

Brad Faxon confirmed he will join forces with Gil Hanse -- arguably the most unheralded big-time golf course architect in the country -- to give TPC Boston a new look for 2007.

``Most of the work will be re-bunkering, trying to give the course a more traditional New England look," said Faxon. He said there are plans to change a few holes, most notably the short, dogleg right, par-4 fourth, which has confounded golfers since the place opened in 2002. It requires a drive over wetlands and even with the tournament tee pushed back, it leaves good players with an uncomfortable tee shot.

`There's a chance we'll be able to make it almost a drivable par-4," said Faxon. ``It's just such a crazy dogleg."

Changes will also be made to the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, but Faxon thinks only one or two greens will be affected. If Hanse is involved, it bodes well for this young course. Praised by industry leaders, Hanse was the creative mind behind the Boston Golf Club in Hingham, a brilliant layout that has earned a spot on those lists of the best new courses in the country.

Rees On "Pipe 2"

Rees Jones sat in on the Pipe 2 webcast of Mickelson-Ogilvy-Woods and said that "the reason I do so many redos is that I can put myself in the head of the original architects."

It must be nice. 

He also cited his dad as the source of the famous line about balls finishing in bunkers like being in a car crash, versus finishing in a water hazard being like a plane crash.

Wasn't that Bobby Jones?  

Oh, and they did a nice feature on Rees and briefly showed a photo that was identified as Robert Trent Jones Sr.  It was Robert Trent Jones Jr.!***

***When TNT aired the feature, they got a photo of Trent Jones Sr. in!! Nice recovery. 

Update on 2006-08-17 23:15 by Geoff

He's still on and the subject of the golf ball came up. David Fay will be glad to know that he refuted Jack's idea of doing something with the ball for tournament play and went into the various areas the USGA has been looking at (driver size, length of shaft, etc...).

Other wisdom: "The game is like baseball.  the kids coming up want to hit home runs."

And this: "That's the problem with the game.  Every time we make a change to a course the manufacturers are a step ahead of us."

Since TNT Doesn't Come On Until 11/2...

Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com's blog is following the Mickelson-Ogilvy-Woods pairing issuing hole-by-hole reports (just hit refresh every few minutes).

Thanks to reader James for noticing this, especially since all of the great "interactive" stuff TNT's touting has not started yet.

Update on 2006-08-17 15:31 by Geoff

PGA.com's "Player Cam" is following Woods-Mickelson-Ogilvy live. It's working nicely.

Update on 2006-08-17 16:28 by Geoff

Okay, I feel bad now for having ever criticized Phil Blackmar and Mike Hulbert during the Amen Corner Live coverage at the Masters. Beau Estes and Peter Krause are worse, never coming up for air. Krause on Tiger: "nothing slouchy about Tiger's short game." Slouchy?

My Medinah Column

My Golfobserver.com column on Medinah is now posted, complete with photos and that lovely Beat the Bogey Man accompaniment.

Brennan On Drug Testing

The USA Today's Christine Brennan takes on the issue of drug testing in golf and wonders how pro golf can brag about its integrity while running from any kind of testing program.

How he will know his Tour has "issues" without testing is a question that no one in sports has yet to figure out. Perhaps Finchem is the one man on earth who can.

Then again, one has to marvel at how much Finchem sounds like Bud Selig, circa the late 1990s. And we all know how things have turned out for baseball under his infamous leadership.

"It all sounds so familiar, doesn't it?" Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said Wednesday. "It's the old, 'We don't test because there's no problem' idea. Look at the way the (body) shapes are changing in golf. Are all of those drives landing so far down the fairway just because the balls are better and the equipment is better?"

Remember, Dick, it's a paradigm shift driven by agronomy, maybe drivers, and mostly by improved athleticism (and definitely not the ball!). So the major role that athleticism purportedly plays means no one will try performance enhancing drugs! Nope, never. 

Pound said he has talked with Finchem about drug testing. "I've told him, 'Don't wait for something to happen.' He says he doesn't want to be lumped in with all those baseball and football players and what they're doing. But it is disappointing that they've done nothing. They look around them and they see every other pro sport and what they're going through. It's being sort of blind to what's around them. It's such an opportunity for a sport that right now is enjoying success. This is an opportunity for golf to lead."

Hey, the USGA and R&A are up-to-date on transgender athletes, and they're hot on the trail of square grooves. That's leadership!

And a 2005 NCAA survey of a sampling of golfers indicated steroid use by 1.3%, amphetamine use by 3.5%, cocaine or crack use by 2.7% and marijuana use by 25%, according to the NCAA.

Think these numbers aren't high? Compare them to the Olympics, which we know still hasn't caught all its cheaters despite trying since 1972 with the most stringent testing of all. Less than half of 1% of U.S. Olympians test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. And golf doesn't have a problem?

Funny, but if they had equipment under control and power was not so vital, no one would be talking about this.

PGA Clippings, Thursday Edition

SI.com's John Garrity gives us some sites and sounds with his first post on his blog. If this link to the individual post doesn't work (it did not work when I tried), go to the main blog page and scroll down to the bottom post.

Doug Ferguson offers a general preview and says not much has changed from 1999 where the talk centers around the length of the course, a Ryder Cup flap and a resurgent Tiger Woods.

Peter Kessler talks to Brad Klein about Medinah on GolfweekTV.com. Klein gives Rees Jones a B- for his rees-toration.

Golfonline/golf.com featured what seemed like a good idea--a video tour of Medinah in the Snoopy I blimp--but I got tired of hitting the play button after it would pause on its own.  The visuals aren't too stunning. Lots of trees and tents. There is no direct link, just go to their homepage and hit the video link.

Oh, and if you do check out the video, is it me, or do the tents err, chalets, look like they could be in play on 18 for a bomber who loses it right?

Rich Lerner shares a bit of this and that, and picks on Golf Channel cohort Dave Pelz, who, in defending his claims of Phil Mickelson being better than Tiger when his game is on, said he is "data man."

Dave Pelz says he looks at data in making the determination that when he’s on, Phil’s the best in the world. Has he seen the data that reads, Tiger 11 majors, Phil three?

Ed Sherman blogs about his Chicago Tribune Pelz story and about having Kelly Tilghman question his credentials in an apparent attempt to help Pelz squirm out of his remarks. Brian Hewitt admirably came to Sherman's defense and reminded Tilghman that Sherman is a veteran reporter. And he has the interview on tape. 

Lawrence Donegan reports that a possible greenkeeper strike has been averted at the Ryder Cup.

Donegan also writes about Sergio Garcia's return to the infamous 16th hole tree, a much more dignified treatment than the Golf Channel's lame "interview" with the tree. 

This unbylined AP story has the Tour's Bob Combs not exactly disputing Joe Steranka's complaint about the 2008 Ryder Cup date immediately following the FedEx Cup "playoffs." Combs says it's NBC's fault.

PGA Tour spokesman Bob Combs attributed the timing to NBC Sports, which televises the final three tournaments of the FedEx Cup and the Ryder Cup. He said the tour was able to negotiate a one-week gap between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup in five out of the six years, the exception being 2008.

"We agree there needs to be at least a week break," Combs said. "It really was an NBC television issue that could not be resolved. I believe everything is locked up from a television perspective."

Steranka was clearly annoyed, however, choosing his words carefully when he spoke of the goodwill between both organizations.

"That's not the spirit of the relationship," he said. "We don't agree on everything. But this is one thing they felt couldn't change, and we felt it needed to change."

PGA president Roger Warren said the '08 Ryder Cup was locked into Sept. 19-21 dates.

"We're concerned about the impact it might have on the players," he said.

Not to mention the psychological scars of having to play East Lake and Valhalla back to back. And isn't Bellerive in 08 too? Yikes.

Still, no one is sure how the FedEx Cup will unfold. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has said players likely will have to play the final four weeks to have any chance of winning the $10 million prize, although it's mathematically possible that Woods, Mickelson or another hot player could skip a week and still win the cup.

As much money as the players already make, some might even skip events to have their game ready for the Ryder Cup, which is on the same scale of a major championship.

Asked what he thought about the situation, U.S. captain Tom Lehman said "I want no part of this conversation."

Insomnia Issues?

Well, then just click on this link and read the annual state of the PGA press conference, where Roger Warren and Joe Steranka will do their best to knock you out.

Well, there was this from Steranka:

The result is that we think it is not only the only all professional event; it is the most professionally run event in all of golf, and we're very proud of that.

Uh, professionals would move tee times up with a bad weather forecast.

Nice job by the assembled inkslingers to ask if they were going to be sure to avoid a repeat of 2005's Sunday debacle. 

Update on 2006-08-17 02:01 by Geoff

I spoke too soon...there was news from this rivetting gathering. Serves me right for skimming after they start patting themselves on the back.

Q. Joe, are you concerned or are you taking a look at how the Ryder Cup will be affected in two years with the whole FedEx Cup scheme with regards to basically forcing players to play a lot at the end of the year and then a week off and then potential playing in a Ryder Cup? And also, have you spent time or energy on trying to quantify or measure the results of things like Play Golf America in regards to bringing money back to your membership?

JOE STERANKA: On the Ryder Cup question, yes, we've made it clear to the PGA TOUR we are not happy with the scheduling for 2008; that we were not able to achieve a one week gap between their big TOUR Championship and the Ryder Cup, which we don't think is good. We would like to have our players have one week off to kind of regroup. And, so, that is what it is. We'll deal with it. But we would prefer to have one week in between, and I think that's in place for the subsequent years, at least over the next six years of this current PGA TOUR agreement.

How players will react to the new PGA TOUR schedule remains to be seen, but we're going to watch it; if it has an impact on the Ryder Cup that we think we need to address further, we'll address it.  

Multi-platform Live Polling and Sweepstakes!

Get your cell phones ready, this week's PGA is going to be interactive. From the folks at TNT:

TNT and PGA.com join Txtstation to Launch Multi-platform Live Poll and Sweepstakes for the 88th PGA Championship

Golf fans Can Vote for a Chance to Win a PGA Golf Getaway via Wireless Text Message or at PGA.com

Turner Network Television (TNT) and PGA.com today announced that they have teamed up with Txtstation to launch a multi-platform viewer’s poll and sweepstakes in conjunction with the 2006 PGA Championship, live from Medinah (Illinois) Country Club. Each day viewers will be asked to interact using their cell phone or via PGA.com and submit their votes to poll questions, such as ‘the most dramatic PGA Championship moment’, or ‘the best PGA golfer in his prime.’ Votes can be submitted, utilizing Txtstation technology, either at PGA.com or via cell phone by sending a text message to short code number ‘88222’. The live poll and sweepstakes, beginning Thursday, August 17 and running through Sunday, August 20, is part of Turner’s multi-platform campaign in which coverage of the tournament will be simulcast across both television (TNT) and the internet (PGA.com).

“One of our goals is to lead the way in cutting edge interactive sports-related content,” said Lenny Daniels, senior vice president of sports production and new media, Turner Sports. “The PGA Championship Poll is a great example of how mobile marketing is impacting our culture. Adding the mobile component to PGA.com's poll enables them to creatively interact with the sports fans, as well as the broader viewing audience.”

Who's they?

This is fun...

“The Txtstation TV system continues to break new ground with interactive mobile marketing technology concepts, and we are very excited with the opportunity to combine real time entry points from both the PGA website, and mobile phones to drive television viewer response and ratings” said Matt Coleman, founder of Txtstation.

Oh yeah, ratings are just going skyrocket.

Real-time poll results will simultaneously be displayed during the TNT broadcast and on the PGA.com website. Each TXT message costs $.50. Most carriers are available; including Sprint Nextel, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cingular, Boost Mobile and Dobson.

Wow, this interactivity is a bargain. Oh but there are prizes.

Those submitting votes will be eligible to win a 3-day/2-night PGA Golf Getaway consisting of round trip airfare for two to Florida, two nights accommodations at the brand new Hilton Garden Hotel at the PGA Learning Center, a one hour golf lesson for two with Rick Martino, PGA Director of Instruction, training session for two on the Motion Analysis Technology by TaylorMade(“MAT-T”) system, two 18-hole rounds of golf for two at the PGA Golf Club and spending Cash. The winner will be announced by September 25.

This is fun...

About Txtstation

Txtstation is a leading mobile marketing company specializing in sports and entertainment. We allow broadcasters, event owners, sponsors and general media to communicate with viewers or fans directly through their mobile phones and other multimedia platforms.

Txtstation creates one to one ‘real time’ dialog with consumers at specific times and places such as events, concerts and live or pre recorded broadcast. Since 2000, we have been at the forefront of mobile interactivity designing ‘live’ integrated programs that harness the excitement of live events while delivering high consumer response and encouraging brand loyalty.

Remember the good old days when you would get a few synergy mentions? Poor synergy...it's time has passed.

"Give us a chance to sort this out"

Nice to see the PGA Tour Commish Tim Finchem acknowledging that not visiting Chicago annually starting in 2007 was not such a hot idea. Ed Sherman reports:

"The reaction has been strong, and we take that into consideration," said Finchem, in town for the PGA Championship. "It's not often I get e-mails from fans who don't like what we're doing. . . . Give us a chance to sort this out. There may be a change in plans."

"I know people are disappointed about '08 and '10, but I'd like them to think about what they are getting in '07, '09 and '11," he said. "We ask the fans to hang with us. Out of six years, the best players in the world are going to be here at least four years, and maybe [twice in 2012]. That's not bad."

PGA Clippings, Wednesday Edition

Golf World's map and accompanying Brett Avery text package has been turned into a cool interactive map. Well, unless you are Roger Packard and Roger Rulewich featured in your ASGCA jackets and remembered for redesigns since bulldozed.

For those of you in those church fundraising pools, Reuters has the latest WD's. (Grady, Elkington, Van Pelt, Hensby out, Byrd, Estes, Andrade and Warren in.)

Mark Garrod reports on Padraig Harrington donating his winnings to breast cancer research in honor of Heather Clarke.

Lindsey Willhite looks at the rough harvest at Medinah and contrasts it with the USGA's tiered rough at Winged Foot.

Reid Hanley talks to Billy Mayfair about his amazing recovery from cancer surgery.

And Rex Hoggard profiles Kerry Haigh and the usual comparisons to the USGA appear.

From the outset, Haigh's and the PGA of America's plans for preparing championship courses were ideological carbon copies.

"Our aim is for the golf course and the players to be the championship," Haigh says.

Unlike the U.S. Golf Association, whose fixation on producing a winning score around even par has led to several well-publicized miscues, Haigh and the PGA focus almost entirely on creating a "fair" test, regardless of the champion's score.