"In the shootout scenario..."

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Tim Rosaforte analyzes the state of the FedEx Cup and reports that the PGA Tour is looking hard at some sort of format guaranteeing a grand finale on Sunday at East Lake. Why it took them two years to figure this out, I don't know. Here's what he confirms they are considering, first noted by John Hawkins:

As reported last weekend on golfworld.com, one of the alternatives is an 18-hole shootout among the top four to eight players in the standings. "The fundamental is we know it needs to finish this week," Finchem said, meaning not four weeks earlier, when Singh effectively locked up the Cup by winning the Deutsche Bank Championship on the heels of The Barclays.

In the shootout scenario, the Tour Championship would begin Wednesday and conclude Saturday, leaving Sunday open for the last men standing to play one round of stroke play for a whole lot of money. "In theory, it's a pretty good concept," said Joe Ogilvie, a member of the tour's policy board. 

Here's the problem: the only way this makes sense is as a way to create a gurantee while not doing something closely resembling the LPGA's ADT Championship. Not surprising, but still pitiful.

For a bunch of free marketeer independent contractors, the players and Tour execs sure want to control and worship those points earners until the very end.  Why? To give us a "deserving" champion.

A free-for-all playoff, with eliminations on Friday and Saturday would be way too bold, interesting and potentially thrilling. But totally unpredictable, which scares these people way too much.

The Tour should use the ADT concept of a true day-to-day playoff, but instead, play 36-holes Sunday for the big prize.

"We remain in the planning processes for the 2009 tournament"

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Steve Elling notes this from last week's Tour Championship:

In mid-September, Finchem said he'd issue the 2009 schedule last week in Atlanta, then sort of like the FedEx Cup chase itself, he failed to deliver. Complications, he said.
It's sounding like the Wachovia Championship situation is anything but settled, based on the language in this email that went out today from tournament director Kym Hougham. The underlining is mine:
Subject: Wachovia Championship 2009 Renewal-Update

In an effort to keep our valued patrons, corporate partners and volunteers informed on the day-to-day business of the Wachovia Championship, we wanted to reach out and inform you that we remain in the planning processes for the 2009 tournament, scheduled for April 27-May 3, 2009.

As it stands now some of our timelines in certain areas will need to be adjusted. One of those will be our ticket renewal process which was scheduled to begin October 1. We are going to delay this offering slightly, but please look for your ticket renewal information in the near-future.

We look forward to sharing another great tournament experience with each of you next spring.
Regards,

Kym Hougham
Executive Director

"She argued that golf is primarily played by white men over the age of 45"

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Marisa Lagos posts an item about this week's taskforce meeting to discuss the fate of San Francisco's city courses, and in particular, Sharp Park. Now, I hate to encourage the stereotyping of San Franciscoans. I have to live in the same state as these people, but the item does raise a few questions about the sanity of my neighbors to the north.

There are the locals who want Alister MacKenzie's Sharp Park for soccer fields, even though the course is by no means flat. And then there's this:

The high point of the meeting arguably came when parks advocate Isabel Wade went head-to-head with golf advocate Dave Diller; she argued that golf is primarily played by white men over the age of 45, a statement Diller angrily derided as "racist." Diller's response prompted the packed room to erupt in applause -- though to be fair, many of the people clapping appeared to be white men over the age of 45.

Augusta Making Changes?

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Steve Elling tries to convince us that there is plenty to look forward to in the way of fall golf, and buries this little head-turner:

Staying on the Augusta riff, we have it on solid authority that Augusta National has made some more revisions to the course, which will be unveiled in the coming weeks when the club, closed for the summer, reopens for play. Did Masters chairman Billy Payne hear the fan and media catcalls calling for more birdies and excitement on Sunday after two lackluster years of final-round theatrics? You bet he did. How he will counter-punch, though, is anybody's guess. 

The rough could easily not be included when they start mowing down the fall overseed, but I still think they'll wait one more year and tie that in with the groove spec change.

"We learned the market is not deep enough for fractional residences at that price point."

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In the new Golf World, Mike Cullity considers the plight of Hamilton Hall in St. Andrews.

Hamilton Hall's current state is a far cry from the vision promised by its owner, Wasserman Real Estate Capital LLC, a Providence, R.I., development firm that bought the building from St. Andrews University for £20 million (about $40 million) in 2006. A 40-year-old developer of retail, mixed-use and residential properties, the firm planned to transform the old dormitory into a luxury residence club called St. Andrews Grand that would open in mid-2008 and count Phil Mickelson among the members paying a seven-figure sum for a share in one of 23 lavishly appointed apartments.

But those plans have been abandoned, and as St. Andrews looks toward the Open's slated return to the Old Course in 2010, locals are speculating about Hamilton Hall's future and expressing concerns over its appearance. The public outcry is a prominent example of the conflict that has emerged in Scotland between local interests seeking to preserve the historic character of golf's birthplace and real-estate developers—including Donald Trump, who for two years has battled local officials over a plan to build a $2.1 billion golf resort along Scotland's northeast coast—looking for a piece of the country's lucrative golf tourism pie.

Aiming to attract wealthy travelers, St. Andrews Grand did not generate the interest Wasserman Real Estate Capital had hoped for, said David Wasserman, the firm's principal. "We had demand but not necessarily enough demand to carry the whole project through," he said. "We learned the market is not deep enough for fractional residences at that price point." 

Nice quote, but way too transparent.

"It takes a lot of stress off me, and it gives me a realistic chance."

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Randall Mell reports the good news that the PGA Tour has granted heart-transplant recipient Erik Compton a cart for Q-School.

Compton was informed by telephone this afternoon, PGA Tour Executive Vice President Ty Votaw confirmed. Compton said he expects written verification by FedEx on Wednesday.
Now, if they sent him a letter saying "no," would they send it DHL?


"Play is conducted at a funereal pace."

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Alistair Tait gets us in the mood to not watch the Dunhill Cup, once a great event.

The Pro-Am format of the Alfred Dunhill is something that has never actually caught the imagination of Scottish golf fans. While the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is well supported, Scottish golf fans haven’t exactly welcomed the St. Andrews equivalent with open arms.

I put it down to three reasons. The first is painfully obvious. Play is conducted at a funereal pace. Six-hour rounds are the norm. Play at St. Andrews is usually slow given that everyone who plays there wants to experience every last second on the Old Course. However, pace of play in the Alfred Dunhill would make snails seem quick.

Then there is the time of year. October is hardly balmy weather in Scotland, so the chance to actually recognize a celebrity let alone watch one is almost impossible. Movie actress Ines Sastre was in the field the year I covered the tournament. As far as ogling went, it wasn’t easy to appreciate her full beauty when she was wrapped in waterproofs and a bobble hat.

Besides, many of the celebrities fall into the B-list category anyway.

However, the bottom line is that Scottish golf fans have no interest in watching celebrities, A-list or otherwise, hack their way around the sacred turf of St. Andrews. The year I went I counted just 29 people in the grandstand behind the Old Course’s 18th green as former soccer great Sir Bobby Charlton played his approach.

Sixth Major Safe For Now

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Ron Green Jr. reports that the Wachovia Championship remains safe for now, though I'm still guessing those excessive player bribes locker gifts and player perks may become a thing of the past. Or at least, toned down considerably.

Thanks to reader J. for this:

Officials said the golf tournament is expected to continue in the future with a contract that carries it through 2014.
“We have a six-year extension and we look forward to continuing the golf tournament,” Mac Everett, the tournament's executive chairman and a former Wachovia executive, said Monday.
PGA Tour officials have been monitoring the Wachovia situation and expect the Charlotte stop to remain on future tour schedules.
“We fully expect the tournament in Charlotte to continue,” said Jon Podany, senior vice president for business development with the PGA Tour said..
“The acquiring company would assume the contract. That's typically the way the contracts work.”
It is still to be determined whether the Wachovia brand would remain on the event while officials at Citigroup and Wachovia work out the details of the transition. With a portion of the Wachovia brand remaining, it's possible the tournament name could remain.
As title sponsor of the golf tournament, which had a $6.4-million purse in 2008, Wachovia spent $3,009,000 on its entitlement fee last year. The PGA Tour pays 62 percent of the tournament purse.
Wachovia also paid more than $3 million for television advertising plus a significant amount on hospitality for clients and guests during the event.
I don't care how massive Citigroup is, I'd stamp this one with a big STAY TUNED.

Hawkins: PGA Tour May Be Open To Good Idea!

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It's one thing for a cerebral tour player like Joe Ogilvie to be coming around on the brilliant FedEx Cup fix proposed by yours truly last year in Golf World.

But to see a media colleague, one who is a star and a man who doesn't have to write back-of-the-magazine notes, now taking the same view? it's heartwarming in ways I never imagined.

John Hawkins in this week's Golf World on GolfDigest.com:

One logical and recently discussed scenario involves an 18-hole shootout among the top four to eight players in the standings. The Tour Championship would begin on Wednesday and conclude on Saturday, leaving Sunday open for the last men standing to play one round of stroke-play golf for a whole lot of money. "In theory, it's a pretty good concept," says Joe Ogilvie, a member of the tour's policy board.

Votaw acknowledges the shootout as an option and adds, "It may seem alluring in some respects. We may come up with a better idea or receive feedback that leads us in another direction."
Cruel of Hawkins to have put the question to the PGA Tour's Ty Votaw, who oversaw the creation of the LPGA's similar ADT Championship. That said, isn't it wonderful to see that after hitting rock bottom, they might consider something that people actually want to watch. My heart is warming so much, I have to go now.

Before I do, about those ratings...
Saturday's third round on NBC had an overnight Nielsen rating of 1.3, down 46.4% from last year's 2.8 (that turned out to be a 2.6 in the final rating).

Sunday's fourth round had an overnight rating of 1.8, down 54.5% from last year's 3.3 (a 3.0 final rating).