"It appears Miss South Carolina has found work writing ad copy."

Grant Boone weighs in on the FedEx Cup and always provides

I have no idea where PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem was when he came up with the idea of these playoffs. And despite spending last week in the crapper of public opinion, the Commish still hasn't apologized for foisting this bogusness on an unsuspecting golf world. On the contrary, the TOUR's PR machine keeps pumping out ads like this full-pager in Tuesday's USA Today:

Every drive. Every wood. Every iron. Every bunker. Every chip. Every putt. Every shot counts.

It appears Miss South Carolina has found work writing ad copy. It's repetitive at best, inaccurate at its worst, and repetitive at best. Every shot counts? What, as opposed to regular TOUR events where players buy mulligans before each round?

"Apparently he's a celestial being that you can't touch. That's the way I see it."

Like the motorist who has to slow down for a car crash, I decided to sit in on Rory Sabbatini's meet and fight greet with the scribblers at Wednesday's Deutsche Bank press conference. And he didn't disappoint.

After a pretty rigid, uninspired effort (the course is "fair" and in "great shape"), a question about an incident last week got him going before this question delivered some good old fashioned tension in the room. 

Q. Outspokenness has been a double-edged sword for you, hasn't it?

RORY SABBATINI: No, actually the media has been the double-edged sword in the fact that I'll make a statement and they tend to paraphrase it to their liking and change it. You know, if anybody actually had bothered going back and reading transcripts from previous interviews, they would understand what I said instead of just going with the paraphrasing and following that lead.
You know, I'll say that the media has really put a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Q. Do you suppose that's because of the fact that you speak up or that you speak out on certain topics and no one else really takes a stance publicly on anything, so therefore -- because I haven't disagreed with anything you've said all year. I think you've been right.

RORY SABBATINI: Understand, I'm generalizing. I'm not saying every member of the media.

Q. I know, I don't feel that way.

RORY SABBATINI: The situation is I speak my mind. People always say they want something different; you get me, you get something different, and then they burn you for it. So what do you want, do you want different or do you want the usual fraternal player out here? You guys need to pick and choose what you want. If you want your generic standard answer, hey, I can spend all day long here and talk generic answer with you. But that's not the person I am.

You know, if the situation continues where people continue to burn me and manipulate what I say into what they want to turn it into, I'm just not going to bother talking. That's why, you guys have got to pick and choose what you want.

It's called copy and paste my friend.

Q. Fair enough.

RORY SABBATINI: You make me out to look like the bad guy when I've done nothing but ever actually, in a sense, praised Tiger because I've seen Tiger at his best. I'm the first one to admit, when Tiger is on his game, there's hardly -- I don't know if there is a person that plays on the PGA TOUR or anywhere in the world that can beat him, and I've said that repeatedly.

Q. When you said what you said, he had just blown a three-shot lead with six holes to go at Wachovia. I thought, you know what, he's making a valid point.

RORY SABBATINI: But the thing is people don't see that as a valid point. Apparently he's a celestial being that you can't touch. That's the way I see it.

Well that ought to put things to rest!

Q. If you were Gary Player, who would you pick to take on Tiger at the Presidents Cup in the singles?

RORY SABBATINI: Why not pick me?

Q. I think that's what he's asking you.

RORY SABBATINI: Why not pick me? I would pick myself.

 There's a newsflash.

"Is there another name we could probably call it? Yes."

Jim McCabe looks at the suddenly dirty "playoff" word.  

 "It's not really a good term," said Zach Johnson.

"Is there another name we could probably call it? Yes," said Heath Slocum.

All right then, instead of "playoffs," what should we use? Heads are scratched, laughs are heard, then smiles break out.

"I don't know what you call it," said Charles Howell III.

"I don't know. It's a tough one," said Pampling. "It's a word you've got to use, I think. Obviously, it's not a regular playoff, but it's got to be golf's playoffs, maybe."

Johnson, one of the PGA Tour members who gets involved with company policies, recalled that there was much talk about what to call this series of four tournaments.

"There's not really a good term," said the Masters champ. " 'Playoffs' is the best term you can come up. There really isn't another term that would be sufficient. [But] it's just a word."

Honorary Membership For Wounded Warrior

If only our government treated vets this well...

For Immediate Release

 WOUNDED WARRIOR MARC GIAMMATTEO WILL BE AWARDED HONORARY MEMBERSHIP TO TPC
                 BOSTON DURING DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

NORTON, MA (August 27, 2007) – As part of the PGA TOUR’s ongoing commitment to support U.S. military men and women and their families, the TOUR will award an honorary TPC Boston membership to Captain Marc Giammatteo at a special ceremony at the Club on Wednesday, August 29 at 5:30 p.m.  Working in collaboration with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), the TOUR is providing honorary memberships to special wounded warriors at each of its 17 TPCs across the country.

In addition to receiving the honorary membership, Giammatteo will serve as the TOUR’s special guest during the Deutsche Bank Championship – the second tournament in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, which is taking place at TPC Boston August 31 – September 3.  PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem will be on hand to make the presentation to Giammatteo, a West Point graduate who was severely injured during his tour of duty in Iraq in 2004.

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, we feel privileged to have the opportunity to give back to the brave men and women of our military and their families, who sacrifice so much so that all Americans can enjoy a level of freedom and quality of life unmatched around the world,” said Finchem.

Club Adjustability Rule Change

From the R&A press release on rule changes to accomodate adjustable clubs:

“We believe that the Rule change regarding club adjustability will create opportunities for both manufacturers and golfers alike, without diminishing the challenge of the game,” said David Rickman, R&A Director of Rules and Equipment Standards.

“Top professional golfers have long had the opportunity to have their clubs adjusted or modified quickly and often. This has allowed them to ‘fit’ their clubs to their swings as they wished. By changing the Rules to permit greater club adjustability, all golfers will have the opportunity to enjoy similar fitting benefits” added Rickman.

Yes, the benefits of tour vans will be felt by millions of golfers with this move! 

Update on 2007-08-29 13:54 by Geoff

Huh, an oddly similar quote from the USGA's Dick Rugge. You know what they say great minds...

“We believe that helping average golfers without taking away from the challenge of the game is a good thing for golf,” said Dick Rugge, USGA senior technical director.

“PGA Tour players have long had the opportunity to have their clubs adjusted or modified quickly and often. This has allowed them to fit their clubs to their swings as they feel the need to do so. By relaxing the rules to permit club adjustability, average golfers can enjoy similar fitting benefits.”

"Everybody needs to cool their jets and see how it plays out."

As a rule it is tough to take a newspaper seriously when they run headlines like "Big Ten extends it brand with new network," but Michael Hiestand does feature some interesting stuff in his Wednesday column. First, some slightly different (higher!) ratings for The Barclays...

Last week's first-round playoff action — The Barclays on CBS — didn't suggest postseason golf is a gimme putt. Sunday's final round drew a 2.1 overnight — translating to 2.1% of 56 urban TV markets. That's up just 5% from ABC's final round last year, when the event was in June. Saturday's third-round drew a 1.7 rating — even with last year.

And then he talks to Johnny, where the real fun starts.

But lead analyst Johnny Miller suggests, "Everybody needs to cool their jets and see how it plays out. I think it will grow on the public and even on the guys in golf. If the players look excited at the end, people might say it's pretty good."

What an endorsement. Thankfully, Johnny hasn't cooled his jets...

Talk about being cautiously optimistic. Miller says back in his playing prime, he "wouldn't have been thrilled" to play four consecutive late-season events — which this year are followed by NBC's Presidents Cup and, next year, by NBC's Ryder Cup. "The public might not understand, but that's a lot at the end of the year."

So, here's Miller's modest proposal — "which won't make me too popular with the PGA or NBC" — for tweaking the format: Allow players' scores to be counted from just two of the first three playoff tournaments.

And that's why Johnny will never be commissioner.

This is just plain ridiculous.

This year's playoff field will be whittled down to 30 for the fourth and final event, meaning it might not end up that star-studded. Miller has a nit to pick with that: "I don't see why they need to go under 70."

Might not be star-studded? The system makes it nearly impossible for the stars to miss it!

The City That Never Weeps

Thanks to reader Tuco for Mark Cannizzaro's borderline comical rant about Tiger's PR swing through New York city.

Woods' appearance was a cheap shot that ripped through the heart of not only those organizations but the New York area golf fans who bought tickets for last week's tournament expecting to see Woods competing in an event he even did TV ads to promote.

I think New Yorkers need to let this one go because there's no way he's playing the Barclay's next year either. Especially after he saw the greens.

A Few Quick Comments From TPC Boston

Thanks to favorable weather and the efforts of superintendent Tom Brodeur, the course is dry and firm with a promising weather forecast.

I toured the course today with Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon, so it was fun not only to hear their insights, but to hear player reactions which included several fine compliments along the lines of "I'm not sure how to play this hole" or "that bunker is right where I want to layup." Of course, the players don't realize they are paying the architects a compliment!

The new fourth is a real standout and I'll post more on that with some photos when I get the chance. Both 16 and 17 could be really fun on television, while the 18th is loaded with trouble but until the original green is blown up, I'm not sure how great it can be.

Most exciting of all is how aged the fescues already look. These images are of 5 month old bunkers. In a few years when the grasses break down and see a little wear and tear, they'll only take on more of an antique flavor.

 

Marketing Cash Or Deferred Comp

I had a nice chat with Joe Ogilvie today who takes exception to the criticism of the FedEx Cup's deferred compensation purse structure. I countered that the average fan can follow it more easily with cash on the line, which he understood. But then Joe did some calculating and started dropping figures that sounded something like this from Richard Sandomir's piece in the NY Times while arguing that the deferred compensation will most certainly get the attention of players. From Sandomir's story:

If Woods wins and cashes in at 45, and the $10 million gets an annual return of 8 percent, he would get a $29.4 million parting gift. Mickelson, seven years older, would come away with $18.5 million.

If Vijay Singh, who is No. 6 on the FedEx Cup points list, wins the playoff, then sharply reduces his schedule or retires, he could get his $10 million quickly. He turns 45 in February, one day before Stricker turns 41.

Let’s say a youngster like Hunter Mahan, 25, wins it all. If he collects his deferred prize at 45, and he has received an average return of 8 percent over 20 years, he’ll have $46.6 million in his account. Now let’s let compound interest run wild. If Mahan plays until age 55 and his $10 million earns a smashing 12 percent annual return, he’d have $299.6 million. Such a prospect makes the Champions Tour look like essential estate planning.

So has the Tour made a mistake not better marketing the potential prize take or is simply an impossible concept to market because there are so many variables involved?

While it seems nice that they are "maximizing" the potential take for players due to the wonders of compounding interest, would the FedEx Cup be more fan friendly as a cash bonus pool? And therefore, a more productive exercise for the Tour's sponsors...oh and charity of course.

"I’ve made a pretty good start to this FedEx Cup playoff series, so I really want to push on from here and win one of these things."

Ernie Els pulled out of the Deutsche Bank and apparently his web handlers were last to know...

So, this week we stay on the east coast of the United States, making the short journey from New York to Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship which starts on Friday – not the usual Thursday start – at TPC Boston. This is an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course and it has a lovely mature, almost traditional feel about it. I like it. I understand they’ve made a few changes since we were last here and I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback. I’ve made a pretty good start to this FedEx Cup playoff series, so I really want to push on from here and win one of these things.

So, yeah, the confidence is growing. My game feels in good shape. That gives me a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this week’s Deutsche Bank.

I’ll write again next Tuesday and tell you all about it.

"This looks like a dandy version of a 401 (k) plan, assuming the PGA Tour doesn’t go belly up and well-heeled folks don’t start hating golf."

Richard Sandomir looks at the FedEx Cup annuity concept and says it benefits the players.

This looks like a dandy version of a 401 (k) plan, assuming the PGA Tour doesn’t go belly up and well-heeled folks don’t start hating golf. And it is just the luck of pro golfers that in the privileged sanctum of the PGA Tour, such a retirement plan is possible and a sponsor like FedEx is financing it. The plan was approved last November by the Tour’s policy board, five months after the particulars of the FedEx Cup were announced.

“This was a decision made in the best interest of the vast majority of the players,” said Ty Votaw, an executive vice president of the PGA Tour. “But we recognize that some players would prefer to be paid upfront.”

He added, “Players were encouraged to speak to their accountants.”

But are accountants necessarily the best judges of what would add drama and interest to the FedEx Cup? 

First FedEx Cup Ratings...

Tod Leonard on the Barclay's television ratings...

Before the FedEx Cup can run with the big guns at the NFL and major league baseball, it's going to first have to crawl better than Little Leaguers.

On both Saturday and Sunday, the Woods-free Barclays on CBS was beaten by the Little League World Series on ABC. The World Series final Sunday between Georgia and Japan drew a 3.5 overnight rating, while the golf got a 2.1. On Saturday, both the International (1.8) and U.S. (2.2) finals bested The Barclays (1.7).

The Barclays did fare better than a tournament of few stars the week before, the Wyndham Championship. The Wyndham drew a 1.0 on Saturday and 1.3 on Sunday.

Greetings From Boston

Posting will be sporadic as I've landed in Boston and will be at the TPC the next few days soaking up playoff fever. WiFi willing I'll be posting some photos and other observations from the media center.

To whet your appetite, TPC Boston's pro Tom Ellis talks about the course changes and other issues surrounding the Deutsche Bank event, while Dave Shedloski previews the week in his Tour Insider column.

And over at Golf Digest a FedEx Cup gang bang broke out while I was flying cross country. Ron Sirak is lukewarm, John Hawkins offers less than encouraging reviews for the Cup and Westchester in his Golf World game story, while Bill Fields is hopeful that the playoffs will get interesting. Of course, he also quotes several prominent players saying that playoffs may have been a poor choice of words. Huh?

No, we like the idea of a playoff. It just has to act like one!

Re-branding The Re-branders

Sounds like a bad horror film, eh? Actually, it's just that wonderful world of advertising.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2007

PGA TOUR Helps Celebrate Ad Agency’s Rebranding

Commissioner Tim Finchem joins GSD&M’s announcement to become GSD&M’s Idea City and outlines new assignment

Fix the FedEx Cup?

AUSTIN, TX – The agency that helped develop the PGA TOUR’s two highest-profile advertising campaigns – These Guys Are Good and A New Era in Golf – has undergone a major re-branding campaign of its own.

In a celebration held today at its Austin headquarters that was attended by PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, GSD&M Founder and President Roy Spence unveiled the agency’s new name: GSD&M’s Idea City.

“GSD&M’s Idea City preserves GSD&M’s core values and purpose while stimulating and accelerating progress and innovation in all that we do,” Spence said.  “GSD&M’s Idea City is a destination for visionary ideas that make a difference for our people, our clients, our country and the world.”

GSD&M's Idea City just rolls off the tongue, don't you think? Now I think I'm getting a better understanding of why these branding campaigns are so, uh, incredible.

Commissioner, since you burned up some private jet fuel to be here, would you like to add something?

“On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to one of the great branding agencies on the rebranding of itself to GSD&M’s Idea City,” Finchem said. “It’s very appropriate. Roy is one of the most creative people I know, and he has built a terrific team
that has done some outstanding work on behalf of the TOUR.”

Finchem indicated the TOUR’s involvement with GSD&M’s Idea City will grow moving forward.

“Not only will we continue our storied relationship but we look forward to expanding our association with GSD&M’s Idea City,” Finchem said.

Storied?

“This includes engaging their strategic expertise on activating, integrating and growing the charitable focus for our three Tours and our tournaments.”

Lots of ing'ing going on down there in Austin.

In addition to the PGA TOUR, the agency has helped create some of the most memorable ad campaigns for leading brands such as AT&T, BMW, NCL and the United States Air Force.

The TOUR and the agency have been partners since 1990. Together, they first introduced the award-winning These Guys Are Good ad campaign in 1997. It remains major pro sports’ longest-running ad campaign.

And they have Casey Martin to thank for it! 

Monday Morning Reviews

Brian Hewitt found drama in the first round of the playoffs, Rick Carpiniello loved the Barclay's but says the playoff excitement wasn't there yet and Gary Van Sickle found plenty of playoff-like drama...on his local NBC affiliate carrying the U.S. Amateur:

So here's the verdict on the FedEx Cup playoffs: The needle hasn't even moved yet. It's still on zero. It's been stuck on zero all year long as the race to the FedEx Cup never materialized, which is not a surprise since 144 players made the field. That's the whole all-exempt top 125 and another 19 bottom-feeders. No excitement there. The fact that Tiger Woods elected to skip the first of four tournaments didn't help either. Woods dropped to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, by the way. I'm sure he's pretty worried. He really needs that $10 million in a deferred annuity to avoid ending up in a homeless shelter as an old man.

Give CBS credit for trying to paint a picture of the FedEx Cup race and make it exciting with graphics that showed how players' scores were affecting their projected position in the points standings. It just didn't work. And those graphics and assumptions quickly became annoying, especially early on the back nine during Saturday's round, when imagining where any player would finish was wistful, at best. What if Rory Sabbatini misses this putt and finishes fourth in the tournament? Who cares? What if Emma Peel traveled back in time to help the Mohawks fight off a Martian invasion?