Tiger Announces Target Field; Editors and Writers Plot Interview Possibilities

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Tiger's event at Sherwood has become a media favorite, but surprisingly not because it brings them close to Rustic Canyon and one of their favorite public golf courses in the land. No, it's because it's the one week the players are jovial, the days are short and the is range incredibly close to the media room. In other words, it's an ideal opportunity for the monthlies to stock up on inanities for the upcoming year, so send out East Coast types already bitter about the onset of winter who will gladly ask Padraig Harrington about his favorite soccer football futbol team and grill Luke Donald about what he loves most about America.

Otherwise, no one else should really care who is playing. But in case you are wondering, Mark Lamport-Stokes breaks down the field.

"So why, oh, why, did I start now?"

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070918_HGP_GolfTN.jpgThanks to reader Lara for passing along Emily Yoffe's entertaining Slate.com piece on taking up golf. Usually these types of essays aren't particularly original, by Yoffe brings a fresh perspective to the table.
During my brief immersion in the world of golf, I determined that gloom is an essential golf component, as befitting a game that started on the moody moors of Scotland. When tennis players get thoroughly beaten, they come off the court sweaty and smiling. Their endorphins have shot up, and they look cute in their outfits. Even skiers being carried off the slope on a stretcher seem bizarrely thrilled about the elemental encounter between body and mountain. But golf induces despair. Take the observations in the book The Bluffer's Guide to Golf, by Peter Gammond, "The golfer [is] a miserable wretch at the best of times." "A golf match is designed to make as many people as possible unhappy." There are very few golf jokes, he writes, that do not mention "death and destruction."

Knost Chooses Q-School First Stage Over Masters, Wouldn't You?

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coltcolt.jpgRex Hoggard has the details and repeated use of a quote nicely crafted by his handlers.

“Foregoing my invitations to their championships was a very hard decision. But I feel like now is the time to begin my professional career,” said Knost, who ends his amateur carrer [sp] No. 1 in the Golfweek/Titleist Amateur Rankings.

“I hope to play in many of their championships in the years to come.”

I guess it would have been tacky if he said toon-a-mint. 

Tiger Already Easing Sam Into The Family Design Business

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Jeese, even Jackie didn't get started this young.

From today' press conference to plug the Target World Challenge:

Q.  A question for both of your tournaments.  We had news last week about '09.  I wondered if you're getting closer to maybe anchoring your tournament to Congressional.  The other thought is, with two golf tournaments to play, and a golf course design business developing, how are you going to juggle all those things with time?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, as far as Congressional, we're still working on that.  We'll have a better idea for you probably towards the end of the year and early next year, what we're going to do.

As far as the two tournaments, then juggling the golf course design business, I think the golf course design part of it is something I'm really looking forward to, I'm really excited about.  It's been a lot of fun and eye‑opening to be involved in that.  Something I've always wanted to do.

As far as the time commitments, that's something that I've been trying to work.  Obviously some things are going to have to probably go away to make time for that.  My most important thing right now is my family, being around Sam as much as I possibly can.  The golf course design stuff, the reason why I like it so much, is I can hop in, hop back, still be at home.  A lot of stuff that we do, I can actually take her to these sites, walk the golf course with me, walk properties.  I think that's been a lot of fun for all of us.

Poor thing, having to stomp through the Dubai desert before her first birthday! 

Apathy Builds On Eve Of Presidents Cup

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sept23_prezcup_299x322.jpgYou can just sense the underwhelmed enthusiam in the various Presidents Cup preview pieces.

Lorne Rubenstein offers the Canadian perspective while Doug Ferguson previews the Cup by considering its recent history.

golf.com's Michael Walker says the world isn't watching and offers this interesting comment from Rubenstein about the future of the matches:

"The one problem I could see is if Tiger or Mickelson decided not to play," Rubenstein said. "They'll play as long as Nicklaus is captain because they're not going to snub Nicklaus. But if there's a new captain and Tiger decides not to play, then I think the Presidents Cup would have a real problem."
Gary Van Sickle says "few serious international golf competitions have received less buildup than this week's Presidents Cup, to be played in Montreal," then rants about the FedEx Cup ad saturation.
 

But as he notes in his entertaining look at the teams and possible scenarios, it may all be worth it if we can get this on Sunday...

1. Tiger Woods vs. Rory Sabbatini: The mouth of the south against the king of the hill.

If the Captain's have any heart at all, they will give us the pleasure of watching these lovebirds in singles play. 

Order Now, Operator Standing By

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And you say this blog isn't handy. Imagine if you missed out on this pre-ordering opportunity...

The 2007 Presidents Cup Official Film presented by Rolex now available for pre-order DVD will feature behind-the-scenes footage, highlights, interviews from 2007 event

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL –The 2007 Presidents Cup Official Film presented by Rolex, which is produced in high definition television by PGA TOUR Productions, gives golf fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes ticket to this world-class competition and is now available for pre-order.  The documentary will allow fans to relive the intensity, passion and excitement of what promises to be the most competitive Presidents Cup yet through behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive interviews and event highlights.

The 2007 Presidents Cup, to be held Sept. 27-30 at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, will mark the seventh playing of the event and the third time it has been contested outside the United States. World Golf Hall of Fame members Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player will reprise their roles as captains of the U.S. and International teams, respectively.

Are they actors signed up for a sequel?! Well, actually...

Two years ago in Price William Country, VA, the U.S. and International Teams came to The Presidents Cup with “unfinished business,” as the 2003 event in South Africa ended in a tie after Tiger Woods and Ernie Els battled in a twilight playoff.  But Chris DiMarco ensured the two teams would not share the Cup in 2005, as he sank a 15-foot putt on the 18th hole of his singles match to defeat Stuart Appleby and clinch The Presidents Cup for the United States.  The U.S. Team holds a 4-1-1 overall record in the event.

From the opening ceremony to the trophy presentation, The Presidents Cup Official Film presented by Rolex will take fans inside the ropes for an exclusive look at of all the pageantry and competition that makes The Presidents Cup one of the premier team events in any sport. 

Yep, right up there with the MLB playoffs, World Cup, Olympic hockey, NFL...

From the International Team’s arrival to the captains’ press conferences to the captain's consultations with their assistants to remind them the name of that guy in the team uniform who he can't remember picking to the final celebration, fans will experience first hand why The Presidents Cup has set the standard for sportsmanship and competition.

Just wanted to see if you were still reading. I know it's tough to concentrate when you just want to get to the 800 number...

The Presidents Cup Official Film presented by Rolex will be available for shipment on Nov. 30.  DVDs can be pre-ordered now for $19.95 by calling 1-866-216-7965 or visiting  www.pgatour.com/presidentscupdvd.  Also available for purchase is the 2005 Presidents Cup Official Film presented by Rolex, which captures the incredible excitement of the 2005 event – one of the most dramatic in golf history.

The highlights I saw on Sportscenter were great!

"Of the 24 players in this week's top 30 in the world golf rankings who were members of the U.S. tour last year, eight have played in more events in 2007."

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Steve Elling challenges the Commissioner's assertion that the FedEx Cup led to an increase in top-30 player appearances. Of course Finchem's definition of top-30 probably differs significantly from Elling's, not that we'll ever know how he defines top-30...
"We're pleased by the support the players have given the playoffs, in particular, and the FedEx Cup throughout the year," Finchem said. "During the year, total starts of our top players -- whether you look at top 30 in the world rankings, the top 30 from last year's money list, the top 50 -- the total starts players have made this year compared to last year is up and moving in the right direction. So we're pleased to see that."

He won't be pleased to see this. Because we did look, and unless the "right direction" is downward, these assertions are pure myth.

In fact, of those who finished in the top 30 on the 2006 money list he cited, only six had played in more events through the completion of the FedEx Series last week. The series, mind you, signaled the end of the season for many top players, including the guys who sell the majority of the tickets and drive TV ratings.

Let's do some verifiable math, so that there's no gray area here. Using Finchem's own yardstick, a review shows that the top 30 in earnings from '06 have combined to play in 60 fewer events this year, an average of two starts per player. Since those in the current top 30 in earnings have averaged 20.2 starts this year, that's a dropoff of nearly 10 percent across the board.

But what do I know? I attended public schools.

The only scintilla of credibility to his 90-degree verbal shank is that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have combined to play three more times than in 2006, which can be partly attributed to Woods skipping two months last year while mourning the death of his father. The big hitters? As a group, Woods, Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen have combined to play in two fewer events this year than in 2006. Still, it's a slight drop.

Let's apply a more current measure. Of the 24 players in this week's top 30 in the world golf rankings who were members of the U.S. tour last year, eight have played in more events in 2007. A total of 13 have played fewer times and three had no change in total starts. All told, those 24 players have competed in 27 fewer events vs. their combined 2006 total.

While we're spouting trends here, let's back up another year and get a bigger dose of reality.

The star-filled group of Woods, Mickelson, Furyk, Goosen, Garcia, Scott and Singh have made 16 fewer starts this year compared to 2005, or more than two per player. (We did not include Els, because he suffered a major knee injury and made only 11 starts).

Note to the corporate spin artistes in Ponte Vedra: Sometimes when you bother to actually crunch the numbers, the numbers can crunch you.

"When we talked to Tom Fazio, he said that he would like to make this the Augusta of the North"

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Chris Wagner of the Syracuse Post-Standard proves that there are still people who aspire to build the Augusta of their neighborhood, even if it's at a casino in the middle of nowhere.

Atunyote, on the other hand, came wired for the future. Made-for-TV fiber-optic cable was installed to every hole designed by Tom Fazio, considered by many to be the top golf course architect of this era. He also is the person responsible for this decade's facelift at Augusta National, home of the Masters.

The clean, classic, country-club look of Atunyote was a polar opposite of Shenendoah's and Kaluhyat's wild-nature, wild-fescue appeal. Even Atunyote's state-of-the-art practice range was better than Shenendoah's, which was lost when Kaluhyat's 18th hole was built over it.

None of it was by mistake.

"When we talked to Tom Fazio, he said that he would like to make this the Augusta of the North," Halbritter said. "And we liked that. We liked the sound of it. We liked the quality of it. We liked the history and the legacy of it. ... So, that was part of the whole process of thinking, for people to think of our Atunyote as the Augusta of the North."

You know what P.T. Barnum said...  

Broken Heart Clubs

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From the wire story on round two of the British Masters, courtesy of reader Steve...

Robert Karlsson (75) broke two clubs, an 8-iron and a 6-iron, trying to hit a ball next to a tree on the third hole. He took an eight.

Karlsson sent for his clubs to be repaired and had them back by the sixth hole.

Also, Alastair Forsyth shot an 11 at the revamped sixth hole and missed the cut. The Scot drove into the water, put a 3-iron into the water, then hit two 2-irons into the water.

Then he threw the 2-iron into the water.

"Four hours should be the limit to play a round in a three-ball - fine everybody that takes over that."

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Monty's complaining about an under-5 hour round! I guess he forgot the PGA Tour would kill for a round that speedy on a Thursday or Friday.  Mark Garrod reports:

After an opening 70 in the Quinn Direct British Masters at The Belfry that took only ten minutes under five hours, Montgomerie called for a clampdown on slow play.

"It's a problem every week," he said. "Four hours should be the limit to play a round in a three-ball - fine everybody that takes over that. We're given too long to play the course.

"I was brought up on a three-hour game of golf and the pace of play out here is too slow."

The eight-time European No.1 was delighted to hear that two players - England's Gary Lockerbie and Brazilian Alexandre Rocha - had been fined £4000 for taking too long yesterday. But he will be happier still if others get the message and get a move on. And that includes Ryder Cup team-mate Robert Karlsson and English pair Ross Fisher and Edward Rush, who were the three players immediately in front of him again today.

Montgomerie was paired with South African Richard Sterne and Spain's Santiago Luna and commented: "Richard only took 65 and is very quick, Santiago is another quick player and I'm one of the fastest out here.

"So it felt slow. We had a very fast group behind a very slow one!"

 

PGA Tour Declares Playoffs A Success On Many Levels

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fedexcuplogo.jpgFrom the For Immediate Release files...

PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup a Success on Many Levels

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL. (Sept. 21, 2007) – The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, which culminated on Sunday with Tiger Woods being crowned the first-ever FedExCup Champion, brought an unprecedented level of late-season focus to and interest in the TOUR, as indicated by impressive increases in television and online audiences, tournament attendance and sponsor activation.

Oh yeah, sponsor activation baby. We have a new buzzword du jour. Stay tuned, if you can stomach it...

Interest in the Playoffs was driven by a run of some of the strongest fields in the history of the PGA TOUR, particularly for consecutive tournaments.  At least nine of the top 10 players on the FedExCup Points List and eight of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking played in each event.  The fourth and final event, THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in Atlanta, boasted all 10 from both lists.  Since the PGA TOUR began keeping field strength records in 1980, never before have four consecutive events had fields as strong.

“In every aspect, the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and the FedExCup season as a whole represent a successful run for us and the sport, and we’re very pleased with the impact,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem.  “Now that we’ve developed a strong foundation, we can focus on building on the enthusiasm that the players and fans have for this new competition.”

The judges just deducted a point for not taking advantage of an opportunity to drop an impactful or impactfullness.

Television
The four Playoff events delivered record television viewership at a time when sports fans historically have watched the start of the NCAA football season and NFL pre-season and opening games.

CBS, NBC and GOLF CHANNEL telecasts of The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola cumulatively reached more than 65 million people, a record for the PGA TOUR in this time period.

The average television rating for the eight network telecasts during the Playoffs was 18 percent higher than telecasts for the same events last year.

Hmmm...I wonder how much that 233 percent increase at the Tour Championship helped? Oh wait...

The final round telecasts of the BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola were two of the highest on record for the PGA TOUR against NFL football.  THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola’s final-round telecast received a 233-percent ratings increase over the rating of the event’s 2006 final round.  Moreover, GOLF CHANNEL’s early-round coverage of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola delivered more than 2.5 times the households than the previous year; the second round was its highest-rated broadcast ever (1.7 rating).

See, it was a good idea to show us that on tape.

Let's get to the important numbers. Satellite radio.

PGATOUR.com and XM Satellite Radio
In addition to television, millions of fans followed the Playoffs through PGATOUR.com and PGA TOUR Radio on XM (Channel 146).  Unique users on PGATOUR.com were up 48 percent over the same four-week period last year, with a weekly average of 3.8 million uniques and 45 million page views.

The popular PGATOUR.com Live@ feature, which provides tee-to-green action for every player on a signature hole at each golf course, was streamed nearly 2 million times over the four weeks of the Playoffs, twice the number of streams of these events in 2006.

Interest in the Playoffs and on-line coverage at PGATOUR.com built significantly over the four weeks of competition, peaking at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Traffic for the culminating event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup was up significantly versus 2006, with unique users increasing 167 percent to 4.4 million and page views increasing 189 percent to 52 million.

PGA TOUR Radio on XM saw similar increases.  Audience figures for in-car listeners are not yet available, but streams of the XM Radio tournament broadcast on PGATOUR.com showed triple-digit increases for each event.

Tournament attendance
In addition to tuning in via their TVs, radios and computers, golf fans in New York, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta contributed to the success of the Playoffs by attending the four events in record numbers.  Highlights of Playoff market sales include:

THE TOUR Championship hospitality sales up 37 percent and ticket sales up 30 percent versus 2006;

Boy that's a relief.

BMW Championship corporate sales up 27 percent and ticket sales up 6.3 percent versus 2006;

Oh that number ought to get Ed Sherman and Len Ziehm on the phone this weekend.

Deutsche Bank Championship corporate sales up 10 percent and ticket sales up 20 percent versus 2006; and The Barclays corporate sponsorship up 30 percent, reaching a sell-out for the first time ever, and ticket sales up significantly versus 2006.

Ditto that weekend research project for Sam Weinman.

Oh now it's time to activate.

Sponsor Activation
The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup received unprecedented activation by title sponsors and Official Marketing Partners of the PGA TOUR.  Fourteen PGA TOUR Official Marketing Partners activated around the Playoffs, with sweepstakes, giveaways, Playoff-specific advertising and other Playoffs-related promotions.  Additionally, the Official Marketing Partners supplemented their activation by hosting substantial Hospitality activities at each of the Playoff events for key clients, senior management staff and employees.

FedEx activated in a myriad of ways, including: Playoff-specific tags to television advertising, print advertising, retail promotions at 1,200 FedEx Kinko’s stores, a targeted on-line contest, special truck wraps, covering a building in New York City with turf and a flag stick, hiring “golfers” to walk around New York and Atlanta with a caddy and a gallery of fans, sidewalk stickers in New York and Atlanta depicting a golf hole, special uniform enhancements for FedEx employees, and promotional signage at public transportation areas in Atlanta.

After all that, I still don't know what it means to activate. But it sure looks like a good business to be in.