"PGATour.com Drives Record Numbers"

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Is it me or do these numbers sound inflated high? 3.2 million unique visitors? Did that many people watch on television!? Or, to put it another way, why didn't millions more watch based on these numbers?
 

PGATOUR.com Drives Record Numbers

Fans flock to PGATOUR.com’s exclusive LIVE@ THE PLAYERS coverage of the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL -- PGATOUR.com’s exclusive live coverage of the competition set records for the LIVE@ series. Golf fans have embraced the LIVE@ series, PGATOUR.com’s free, live video streaming coverage of every shot from a signature hole at top PGA TOUR events. PGATOUR.com’s LIVE@ THE PLAYERS streamed all the action from the legendary 17th island hole from THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Results from the week include:

      • Over 1.1 million video streams for LIVE@ THE PLAYERS, at an average duration of 25 minutes
      • Over 3.2 million unique users and 4.7 million visits, generating over 70 million page views, all up from 2006
      • Nearly 2.2 million video starts

“This is exciting news for us. These figures demonstrate that PGATOUR.com is a mainstream medium for event coverage; there is a significant fan value for compelling online tournament coverage,” said Lee Bushkell, General Manager, PGATOUR.com. “PGATOUR.com provided over 40 hours of exclusive live coverage of THE PLAYERS, complementing the PGA TOUR’s expanded television coverage on GOLF Channel and NBC.”

“The success of LIVE@THE PLAYERS further establishes the public’s desire for compelling and cutting-edge sports coverage online,” said Scott Bailey, VP/GM of Turner Sports New Media.  “We’re thrilled with the success of LIVE@THE PLAYERS and look forward to continued growth throughout the remainder of the LIVE@ series.” 

LIVE@ THE PLAYERS is the fourth of 10 scheduled LIVE@ series events in 2007. The next LIVE@ series event will be LIVE@ the Memorial, highlighting Muirfield Village Golf Club’s 12th hole, May 31-June 3. Other scheduled events include LIVE@ The Buick Open and all four events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. “PGATOUR.com is all about the fans, and the site’s continued growth shows that we are providing quality coverage that enhances their golf experience,” said Bushkell.

 

Ogilvy's Golf Digest Interview Vol. 1

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Geoff Ogilvy's "Golf Digest Interview" seems shorter than some of the past incarnations of these always enjoyable chats, especially since just as it ended it felt like things were really rolling. Still, there's still plenty of good stuff to consider.

John Huggan asks the questions and as usual, Ogilvy has a fresh take on the still interesting subject of American golf and the dreaded state of our under-30 set:

There is a contrast right now between Europe and the U.S. when it comes to developing young players.

That's true. I know the U.S. press is looking for the next great American under 30.

Is it just cyclical?

It's an expensive sport in the U.S. It's cheaper in Australia, or the U.K. or South Africa. Anyone can play.

I do think that the American college system is really good at producing guys who can get the ball in the hole, but it neglects the technical aspects of golf. They're looking for the wrong things. I'm not saying the American guys aren't talented; all I'm saying is that some talent is getting missed.

If the Americans sorted their system out, we'd have only five on the PGA Tour [a dozen Aussies are among the top 100 of the World Golf Ranking]. We get more out of our talent than they get out of theirs. Their way of doing things can't be better than ours, because we have 20 million people and they have 300 million. It just doesn't add up.

Given the enormous influx of Australians on the PGA Tour, why hasn't a college coach wondered why and gotten himself down to the VIS [Victorian Institute of Sport] to have a look?

What is that, exactly?

If you go way back to the early 1980s, the Australian government realized we weren't winning any gold medals in anything. Or hardly any. For such a proud sporting nation, that was unacceptable. So the Australian Institute of Sport was started, mainly for Olympic sports. We did well in Atlanta [nine gold medals in the 1996 Olympics], and Sydney [16 golds in 2000] was amazing. And we did even better in Athens [17 golds in 2004]. It's crazy how well we do for such a small nation.

How did golf become a part of that?

The Victorian government decided to supplement it with an institute. Golf kind of came along for the ride. The deal was that you got a scholarship for a year. You got access to the top coaches. You got physical training and nutritional advice. Anything that was going to help make you better.

If I had to sum it up, I'd say that they basically took the best boy and girl players in Victoria and gave them access to all the experts in Victoria--for free. It was brilliant, really. And the bonus was funding for travel.

The best part of it was that they never dictated where you went or how you went about things. They would simply make everyone and everything available to you and let you get on with it. You had to make your own way. And you got time to ride out any bad periods of play.


"At heart we truly like each other. I can't say the same for Ben Hogan and me."

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From Arnold Palmer's "My Shot" as told to Golf Digest's Guy Yocom...

It's pretty well known that Ben Hogan didn't bond with anyone, but I have to say, he was particularly chilly to me. He very pointedly referred to me as "Fellah," even face to face. I just accepted it, and in the end he wasn't my type of guy anyway. I wasn't a special case; he didn't bond with Nelson or Snead, either. He was cordial to them but never was close to either man. He never grew close to any golfer, with the possible exceptions of Jackie Burke and Jimmy Demaret. For all of the talk of my rivalry with Jack Nicklaus, at heart we truly like each other. I can't say the same for Ben Hogan and me.

 

"Increasing brand awareness and consideration while activating our golf platform on a national scale"

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Wouldn't you just love to be in on the meetings that conjured up reasons 1-6 why the Colonial will be must TiVo and fast forward viewing?

Oh, the six reasons being those lame, Man-law wannabe ads for Crown Plaza. What's more tortuous, the press release or the actual ads? Let's start with the release...

Unscripted Meeting of Golf Greats and Celebrities Lends Humor to a 'Good Walk Spoiled'
ATLANTA, April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Two professional golfers, two golf journalists, one Latino comic and a heavy metal rocker arrive at a meeting room ... the set-up for a comedy skit? Nope, it's the setting for Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts' first national television advertising campaign. Slated to debut April 12, the multi-million dollar TV and online campaign features national golf commentator/journalist David Feherty attempting to moderate an entirely unscripted conversation amongst TV personality and golf fanatic George Lopez, shock-rocker and avid golfer Alice Cooper,
golf-great Lee Trevino, LPGA star Natalie Gulbis, and outspoken golf scribe Dan Jenkins.

Branded as "The Place to Meet," Crowne Plaza assembled these six seemingly disparate personalities in a Crowne Plaza meeting room to showcase the brand's new golf affinity marketing program, the cornerstone of which is the title sponsorship of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial PGA TOUR golf tournament.

Somehow I never thought I'd associate Lee Trevino or Dan Jenkins with a "golf affinity marketing program."

"Golf has long served as the informal 'place to meet,' so developing a golf platform was a natural way to further align our meetings focus with our customers' interests and hobbies," said Kevin Kowalski, vice president, brand management, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.

"Our new ad campaign further emphasizes our focus as 'The Place the Meet,' increasing brand awareness and consideration while activating our golf platform on a national scale," Kowalski added. "By showcasing highly entertaining dialogue among some of golf's most unique personalities in a Crowne Plaza setting, we'll entertain our core target - who share a love of golf - and bring to life our meeting room experience in a bold, new way."

And just one of these lovely spots...

 

For Those Of You Traveling By Helicopter To Oakmont...

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...good news, you now have a place to land. I know you've been on pins and needles. Though for those of you with an early tee time who hoped to shuttle in from Nemacolin Woodlands, I think there might be a problem.

Mr. Walker said his service would shuttle people primarily from Pittsburgh International Airport to Plum, but that he also had had inquiries from Nemacolin Woodlands resort and other sites.

The service's helicopter will be permitted to fly in and out of the site, a commercially zoned area at 2015 Eastern Ave., near the Pennsylvania Turnpike, between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. throughout June.

 

"The two parties love to squalk about each other"

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The Journal News' Sam Weinman has a good feel for the Westchester CC-PGA Tour situation, and blogs about it and about being slightly scooped by Damon Hack in the New York Times:

I’ve been following the tour’s tenuous relationship with Westchester pretty much since I started writing about golf in the late 90s, and the same fundamentals still apply. The two parties love to squalk about each other—Westchester members lamenting the inconvenience of the event, the tour lamenting Westchester’s high-maintenance membership—and yet they can’t seem to live without each other.

In some ways, this deal is a match made in heaven. Westchester still has the prestige of hosting a PGA Tour event (a FedEx Cup playoff event no less!), but doesn’t have to do it on an annual basis. Meanwhile the tour can try to capitalize on other pockets of the New York market—I haven’t been to Liberty National but I’ve only heard good things—but can also consistently return to a traditional venue that many of its players still revere.

It seems the Tour's strategy is not to get away from Westchester or the Western but to give the playoffs more excitement by injecting fresh venues. I like the idea of placing an emphasis on architecture and varying setups, though I could also see the merits of returning to the same courses each year too in order to build "tradition." Thoughts?

Stack and Tilt

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tourswing.jpgWhich one is Stack and which one is Tilt? Oh wait, that's the method they're teaching. I was thinking of Bored and Grouchy over at GolfDigest.com.

I'm curious what you all think of the hottest teachers in the game, Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, and their "Stack and Tilt" method that Golf Digest is humping the daylights out of in the June issue.  And Bob Carney followed up in the editor's blog.

It seems (to me) anyway that someone has finally taken what Mac O'Grady has been teaching for years, tweaked it a bit and simplified the message? No?

Players Ratings Up

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Good to see the May date was validated...

NBC reported an overnight rating of 3.7 and a 9 share for Sunday's final round, in which Phil Mickelson won his first Players with a closing 69. Mickelson and Sean O'Hair were locked in a battle for the lead until Mickelson took a two-shot lead on the 11th hole, and O'Hair hit two balls in the water at the par-3 17th hole.

The network estimated that the rating equated to more than 4 million households tuned into the telecast at some point during the final round, and more than 8.6 million viewers.

"We're very pleased, especially since there was some unexpected competition from NASCAR, when their race was rained out Saturday. That won't happen every year," said Edward L. Moorhouse, co-chief operating officer of the PGA Tour.

"We also got a big break on the weather, and we had one of our marquee players in a very exciting finish. And some of our other players, such as Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal, playing very well down the stretch. We think all of the changes we made contributed to the high ratings." 

Now Ed, I don't think the Taj Mahal clubhouse added viewers. Then again there were a lot of flatscreens in there tuned to the golf.

"It's been a long time, but it's been a short time at the same time"

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Thanks to reader Steve for picking up the highlights of Seve's pre-Champions Tour debut conference call:

I will do my best, but I don't want you guys to have too much expectations from me. Obviously from time to time there will be one great shot here, one great shot there, but nothing that you haven't seen before.
 
It's been a long time. It's been a long time, but it's been a short time at the same time (laughing) because it's unbelievable how quickly the time goes by, you know? They say that it's like you're going to bed -- it's like a dream. Life is like a dream. You go to bed and you wake up with age. I don't know if that's a good translation, but we say that in Spain. Life is a dream. You know, you go to bed and you wake up with age. That's exactly what happened.

In one way it looks like it's been many, many years, and on the other hand it looks like it was yesterday when I joined the TOUR, you know? Time goes by very quickly for everybody. For everybody.
 
Q. You look like you're in the same shape you were when you were winning the British Open and The Masters. What have you done to prepare for this tournament and to get ready to come out here?

SEVE BALLESTEROS: (Laughing) well, thank you for that compliment. I wish you were right (laughter).
And on Sergio...
As you say, his putting is not very consistent. He's very young, you know, and he nearly won the TPC last week. You know, he has plenty of time ahead to win a major. But remember, to win a major, there's only four per year, and it's not easy. In fact, neither have the Europeans; they haven't won a major championship for the last four years. I'm wondering what the hell is going on there (laughter).

You know, we've been beating the Americans quite easily, but when they compete in the majors, they -- I don't know. They can't win. Something is not right there. I don't know what.

Things Are Going Well In Fresno

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Avid Reader caught this local news story from Fresno where the PGA Tour is asking for tax dollars to supplement the purse of its new event there. Oh, and it sounds like they don't have a golf course to play yet! But otherwise the October 22-28 brainchild of the Commissioner is shaping up nicely.
Tuesday two council members asked that the city of Fresno pitch in $1.2 million to sponsor it.

The city council says 90 golfers have committed to coming to town for the tournament in October.

Monday night the City of Clovis pledged $24,000 for the tournament.

Council member Larry Westerlund says Fresno could see a $30 million economic impact from the event, a return That would far outweigh the investment.

The council admitted it's been hard to find sponsors since plans for the original location at Running Horse Golf Course began falling apart.

Council members are asking for a special meeting to address the $1.2 million pledge.

"The golf course was built with hospitality in mind"

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16golf.1.190.jpgDamon Hack, quoting Tim Finchem on the Barclay's "playoff" event moving from Westchester to Liberty National in 2009:

“With camera angles, 4,000 feet on the water and the Statue of Liberty very much a part of the landscape, it will look more like New York to the rest of the country when it’s on television. The golf course was built with hospitality in mind, and I think it will be a nice move in 2009.”

I've always said, strategy, greens, angles mean nothign if you don't build with hospitality in mind! And from Bob Cupp, with modesty:

“Players, deep down, love to compete on hard golf courses, and the Tour likes to see 30-mile-an-hour winds,” Cupp said. “The course has places to make birdies and places to make a bunch of ‘others.’ It’s a course that has every shot.”

Oh they're going to love this!

Thanks to reader Michael for this. 

"No one is talking it up"

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fedexcuplogo.jpgThe USA Today's Jerry Potter files this downer on the lack of interest in the FedEx Cup:

That's the problem PGA Tour executives have identified with the season-long points system that will set up a four-event season-ending playoff with a $10 million first-place prize: Neither the players nor the media are talking it up. No one, in fact, seems to be talking about the FedExCup except PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.

Ken Schanzer, president of NBC Sports, said Tuesday that was to be expected. He has seen this scenario before, notably with Major League Baseball and NASCAR. NBC will televise the final three events of the season, or three of the four events that make up the playoff that ends in mid-September with The Tour Championship in Atlanta.

"All of what we say now is speculation," he says. "We won't know about the Cup's impact until we get through the season, and we may not know then."

Schanzer and NBC were involved when baseball expanded to division playoffs, and they were involved when NASCAR went to the Chase for the Nextel Cup, the model for golf's system.

"I told Bud Selig (baseball's commissioner) and Brian France (NASCAR's president) to get ready for a lot of criticism," he says of the first year of changes in baseball and NASCAR. "I told them at the end of the first year it will either work or it won't work. There's no way to know. All you can know is that it makes a lot of sense."
Hmm...not sure about this baseball analogy.
Those changes have worked for baseball and NASCAR, creating more interest. The PGA Tour is different because it has long been driven by the four major championships. The Masters is past, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship come in June, July and August, respectively.

Ric Clarson, the Tour's senior vice president for brand development, says two big events played in consecutive weeks — the Aug. 2-5 Bridgestone Invitational and Aug. 9-12 PGA Championship — will heighten focus because combined they'll award 15% more points.

"We're positioning them as the 15th and 16th games of the NFL season," he said. "Those games determine who gets in the playoff and who has home-field advantage."
Oh dear Lord.
Last week at The Players Championship, Finchem repeated his refrain that the system is a plus for the Tour, its players, sponsors and tournaments.

"We have to get people engaged in the playoffs," he says.

One positive sign for Finchem came Tuesday.
Oh? Uh, not really...
Corey Pavin said the FedExCup might give a lift to the July 19-22 U.S. Bank Championship, which is played in Milwaukee opposite the British Open. Players who don't qualify for the Open, he suggested, might come to Milwaukee to play for positioning in the FedExCup standings instead of taking the weekend off.

"If they need to play some more, they're going to add more tournaments in to make sure they get up as high on that list as they can get," said Pavin, the defending champ.

 

Yes, a very positive sign. I take it today was U.S. Bank Media Day?