It's A Playoff...Sort Of

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Wow, maybe Tom Pernice ought to speak out more often. Here's his rant from two weeks ago, and now this from PGATour.com:

Specifically, the fields in the 2007 Playoff events will be reduced from week-to-week as follows:
Barclays Classic -- 144 players
Deutsche Bank Championship -- 120 players
BMW Championship -- 70 players
THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- 30 players

The release then included this from the Commissioner, who naturally is delighted to have his public statements from a week ago contradicted.

PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said, “I’m delighted with this direction, and believe it represents an important improvement in our Playoff structure. I had recently indicated we would not be recommending any changes in our Playoff structure given that we had preliminarily announced the format earlier this year. However, the TOUR and a number of our players had heard from several sponsors and tournaments that going in the direction of a field size reduction was the right thing to do for the success of the FedExCup. The Player Directors and the full Policy Board were in unanimous agreement.

“Not only am I pleased but am impressed that our sponsors and television partners felt strongly enough to communicate their views on making the FedExCup as good as it can be,” Finchem said.

“We are now well positioned to offer PGA TOUR players, along with other important TOUR constituents, a more compelling finish to our season,” Finchem said. “With this step, PGA TOUR players, sponsors and fans can look forward to the inaugural FedExCup Season and the exciting drama of the 2007 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.”

Now keep in mind that this is going to be one confusing playoff, because the season points race along with your play in these events will determine if you move. How on earth anyone will keep track of that is beyond me. But it's a start. 

"It all makes for a truly impacting statement"

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Dave Shedloski talks to Dave Pillsbury about the reopening of, of, of, well, that course Pete Dye designed for Deane Beman in some Florida swamp wetland. I don't even know what it's called anymore. So much for the brand.

Anyway, Pillsbury offers several insights into the project and only gets bogged down in Finchemspeak once:

The clubhouse simply adds a dimension of presence and magnificence that was not there before. You can see the new structure from 12 holes. We will now have an iconic golf course with an iconic clubhouse. It all makes for a truly impacting statement.

One other thing. In the story, they refer to it as THE PLAYERS Championship. I thought it was not just going to be The PLAYERS now?  No caps on the The.

SOMEONE please HELP with this BRANDING clarification. I can't sleep.

"Holding onto...the Old Course as tests for elite players out of an obligation to the past is sheer folly."

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It's time for another interesting tirade by Bollocks and Garbage Bomb and Gouge who put shopping above even the most sacred traditions. This time a reader wonders at what point the game breaks after sigificant advances render courses obsolete or pocketbooks empty and the Belch and Gulpers joined forces for this gem:

When does the game break? When it refuses to move forward by mindlessly clinging to the past. Amazing how Dr. Naismith let his game advance beyond the peach basket.

The USGA has changed its ball regulations as recently as 2004, and if you read the rule carefully, it may have even been more restrictive. But to your concern over the great venues, I can only offer this:
Myopia Hunt
Newport CC
Garden City
Prestwick
Musselburgh
Chicago GC

Oh but here's where it gets good.

We've had the courage to move past these venues as sites for major championships because for reasons of length, and sometimes more importantly, infrastructure, they stopped being relevant as a site.

Courage? Well, I guess placing consumption over Chicago Golf Club does take courage.

They didn't stop being relevant as significant golf courses. Are their places in history any less secure for not being part of any major championship rota today. No. But holding onto the Winged Foots, the Augusta Nationals and Merions and even the Old Course as tests for elite players out of an obligation to the past is sheer folly. Let's remember that Merion didn't host a U.S. Open until 1934, nearly 40 years after the U.S. Open began. They had the courage to do new and different things back then. Where is the courage to do the same today?

True, it does take courage to move golf's most historic events to lousy new 8,000 yard courses in order to preserve the right to buy a new driver every year. It takes even more courage to put such a thought in print.

"They will say it was a major turning point for us."

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Craig Dolch talks to Carolyn Bivens about her eventful year and she offers a few keepers...

"We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and be certain it's not an oncoming train," Bivens said during a phone conversation last week. "A few months ago, we weren't so sure."
Nice metaphor usage, I give it 6 on the Finchem scale. No, make it an 8 for the first show of humility by the Commissioner.
"The way we operated before isn't going to get us where we want to go," Bivens said. "A lot of major, successful companies are finding out their business models are no longer working. The LPGA was in the same situation the PGA Tour was 20 years ago and the NBA was 10 years ago - we have a good slate of stars, and we have a chance to maximize our product and turn it into a business. That's never easy."

Eh, not very fresh, make that a 5.

"Some of the media and our partners tried to make this year about me, but it really wasn't about me," Bivens said. "I hope our partners, supporters and detractors understand we're not being capricious or arrogant or cocky in what we do. What we are is confident.

"I hope when people look back on this year, they will say it was a major turning point for us."

Capricious gives that a 7.

Meanwhile Adam Shupak at Golfweek analyzes the 2007 schedule, which produces this discussion of Bivens' uh, confidence.

 "We agree with what she's trying to do to change the business model of the LPGA," says TOA chairman Jack Benjamin. "It's the tactics that we are concerned about."

 Counters Bivens: "We're trying to operate more as a 2006 business, which means we operate with signed contracts. That's the way title sponsors like to operate. Frankly, that's the way most businesses operate."

"As I look to build my brand"

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Craig Dolch writes about Annika's boyfriend taking over her business empire the Annika brand.
For more than a year, Sorenstam has been dating Mike McGee, a golf agent and the son of PGA Tour golfer Jerry McGee. The relationship has grown to the point that McGee on Monday announced his plans to leave International Golf Properties to help handle the business affairs of Sorenstam, who wants to transition from star golfer to corporate executive with her company, ANNIKA.

"I think the timing is right as I look to build my brand," said Sorenstam, 36, who hasn't said much about her personal life since her divorce from David Esch in 2005.

"Mike is a wonderful guy, and I appreciate that he can understand what I go through. He has an upbringing and background in sports, especially golf, so he is able to relate to my life. ... It's great to know he has my best interests at heart."

Sorenstam said she will continue to have International Management Group handle her endorsements, but McGee will work on her businesses. Plans include a golf academy, a foundation, several golf-course design projects, a fitness DVD, clothing and jewelry lines and two tournaments she hosts.

"Annika has so much going on from a business standpoint," said McGee, 32. "Since I'm in the business and she knows how much I care about her, she knows I will work my tail off for her. I understand the business end and what it means to her. That's her office. The time constraints that go with it can be overwhelming for someone who doesn't understand it."

"The whole marketing theme is, 'Play the Stadium before the players do'"

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Garry Smits on the TPC Sawgrass  TPC Stadium Course Players Stadium Course  PLAYERS Stadium(C) Course reopening:

The first ceremonial shot will be hit at 7:30 this morning by Truett Ewton, an original member of the TPC at Sawgrass and one of the first to play the Stadium Course when it opened in November 1980.

As of late last week, TPC general manager Billy Dettlaff said only about 10 tee times were available today. The club anticipates that bookings will be higher than normal for this time of year.

"The whole marketing theme is, 'Play the Stadium before the players do,' " Detlaff said, referring to the date change of The Players Championship to May 10-13 next year. "I think a lot of people are going to want to see it before then."

So much for a subtle marketing approach.

This surprised me...

The biggest change above ground will likely be noticed only by the competitors in The Players Championship. The entire course is about 200 yards longer from the back tees (stretching up to 7,200 yards), with the increased distance more pronounced at Nos. 1, 11, 14, 16 and 18.

200? That sounds like a bit more than they had advertised going in. I still haven't noticed any talk of widening out some of the corridors to bring the trees and pine straw more into play. 


"This could be wonderful for the design business."

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A couple of notes from Steve Elling's piece on Tiger getting into the design business. One, that it will be "based out of his primary business offices near his home at Isleworth Country Club," and...

 Woods will chair the firm himself and it will have no ties to the design firm run by his sports-management agency, IMG.

That's good news.

Elling also had this quote from Tom Marzolf, who not surprisingly, had little to add.

 "Everybody in the industry has been waiting for this day," said Tom Marzolf, past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. "This could be wonderful for the design business."

A Few Loyal Golfers

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I've gotten three emails from readers noting that they had intentionally let their USGA memberships expire out of protest for a job not well done.

Apparently each of these folks continued to receive email newsletters and the Rules of Golf in their mailbox (along with address labels and renewal pleas). But they were still not members, nor did they want to be.

Lo and behold, each of these former members received word (and bag tags to confirm) that they were members again, free of charge. According to an accompanying letter from membership director Fiona Dolan: 

"I'm delighted to inform you that the USGA has decided to reward a few loyal golfers with a one-year complimentary membership, complete with all your benefits, effective immediately.
Loyal?
"We have taken this step because we value support for all that the USGA does to keep this game great."

It ends with:

"We are pleased to welcome you back and fervently hope that at the end of your complimentary one-year term you will consider renewing your membership and remain a valuable member of the USGA."

They are also apparently adding golfers from regional associations to bump up the membership tally.

Wouldn't it just be easier to bring back Golf Journal, do something about equipment, ditch the private plane and run the U.S. Open a little better?

"We move on."

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In working through my issues as diagnosed by Brandy and Gin Bomb and Gouge over at GolfDigest.com, I went back to read their diagnosis and noticed that a rather spirited debate was taking place.

Since this stuff can only be read in small doses, let's start with Gouge's (Mike Stachura) reply to Chuck, who was pointing out that allowing significant distance increases to occur has the dreaded side effect of leading to unnecessary architectural changes.

GOUGE responds: It is unfortunate that some people like yourself continue to believe that journalistic integrity is dead. But so be it. I have no financial stake in the equipment debate. As for Mr. Tarde's statements in print, well, they are his, they are not always mine. That is the beauty of a public forum. That is the beauty and strength of our enterprise as a magazine. And the only thing I must admit is that the game must adapt. I have no impractical affinity for maintaining the relevance of venues of the past. If a great course from the past is no longer a sufficient test for the .0001 percent of the universe of golfers, that is not a tragedy. We move on. If Winged Foot, Augusta National and even the Old Course get left behind as outdated and irrelevant for championship golf, I cry no tears. That leaves those majestic venues for the 99.9999 percent of us who can still appreciate their greatness. But thanks for your thoughts. The discourse shows the game itself still has meaning.

It's amazing what grown men will do to preseve their shopping privileges!

Apparently, whipping out the credit card to purchase new hope that's scientifically proven to not significantly help 99.9999 percent "of us," is more important to the game of golf than playing the Masters at Augusta National or the Open Championship at St. Andrews.

What makes it all so bizarre, is that even if the game were bifurcated or the ball rolled back to preserve these venues, people will still buy plenty of balls and clubs and the pro game might be a lot more fun to watch.

"I feel like I am playing the same golf week in, week out."

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Robert Allenby joins the list of players bemoaning the sameness of PGA Tour golf...
"America, it is just very much the same every week and I am bored, I get a little bit bored with it and I feel like I am playing the same golf week in, week out," he said.

"Whereas if you come down here and play or in Europe, you are playing different golf shots every week."

"It's all about money. It's all about the pension."

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From Seth Soffian in the News-Press of Southwest Florida:

Greg Norman drew the ire of some PGA Tour members recently when he criticized today's players for lacking charisma and the overt desire to challenge world No. 1 Tiger Woods.

On Saturday, he drew support from partner Nick Faldo in the Merrill Lynch Shootout. After their round, Faldo told CBS, for whom he will become lead analyst next year, that the riches in today's game have robbed players of the single-minded will to win.

"It's all about money. It's all about the pension," Faldo said after Norman again raised the topic.

"We have a great group of guys out here calling penalties on themselves, let alone thinking about drug tests."

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Greg Hardwig in the Naples News talked to various Shark Shootout contestants about the idea of drug testing.

"If you were to do that (steroid testing), I think it'd be an interesting thing to do," says Fred Couples. "I know the sponsors would probably support you, but I think the tour would work something out to suspend you. I'm not for it; I'm not against it. I think it would be very interesting.

"The next question would be, do you think anyone's on steroids? I would say I have no idea, which would probably mean that someone is on them."

Okay!

And now for the fantasyland perspective:

"If you suspect someone, yes, but what we have now is probably OK," says Scott Verplank. "If they suspect something's going on, the commissioner has the right to basically levy any penalty he wants, where if we go with some drug testing policy, we're going to have to negotiate through lawyers what the stipulations are going to be, and it's going to be a lot more difficult.

"As long as we have a competent man as commissioner, I think we're probably going to be OK."

And...

"I'd like to think that golfers as a whole are doing the right things out there — to be honest, I don't know a whole lot about that stuff — but I don't think it would be that beneficial anyway," J.J. Henry says. "We have a great group of guys out here calling penalties on themselves, let alone thinking about drug tests."