“Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders"

Wells Fargo guy on the event formerly known as the Wachovia Championship: “Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders," which, after run through the MBA Jargonometer, means, "We aren't going to become the next Northern Trust.

First reported by Sports Business Daily and fleshed out by several including Bloomberg's Ari Levy and David Mildenberg, we see the first PGA Tour event going retro. Presenting, the Quail Hollow Championship.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf and Chairman Richard Kovacevich are among executives who won’t receive bonuses for 2008 because Wells Fargo didn’t meet its performance goals, the bank said today in a regulatory filing. Separately, Wells Fargo changed the name of the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Quail Hollow Championship and said it won’t host client events tied to the tournament. Wells Fargo acquired Charlotte-based Wachovia in December.

“Anyone who is taking any type of TARP money is going to have a harder time sponsoring these kinds of events,” said David Lykken, a consultant at Mortgage Banking Solutions in Austin, Texas. “These are legacy ventures.”

And the spin...

“Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders,” said David Carroll, a Wells Fargo executive, in a statement.

Wachovia renewed its contract with the PGA in 2008 and extended it through 2014. Wells Fargo still plans to honor sponsorship obligations and hasn’t determined what the tournament will be named in future years, spokeswoman Mary Beth Navarro said in an interview.

Ron Green Jr. quotes the club president and tournament director:

“All of us involved with the tournament have enjoyed the last six years and are looking forward to doing something very special with the tournament over the next six years,” Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris said.

“We have been working diligently to do what is necessary to produce the premier stop on the PGA Tour and we feel strongly this will do nothing but strengthen the golf experience for our players and patrons.”

Is that a nice way of saying people really don't like to see corporate logos everywhere?

And this is beautiful...

“This clarifies a lot for us,” Hougham said. “Now there is a name that can stay on the tournament for the next six years. We’ll work with the bank after this year’s event and we hope they stay involved.

“With the new name, it gives us a solid brand to build on for the future, just like we built the old brand.”

Oh yes, this is prime branding 101 textbook stuff!

NBC Contemplates Running Continuous Loop Of Tiger's Matches This Weekend Before Settling On Slightly Excessive Coverage Plan

From Diane Pucin's media column in the L.A. Times:

Tiger Woods is out in the second round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, beaten Thursday by South Africa's Tim Clark. That means Woods won't be playing Saturday and Sunday during live network television coverage of the event, but he'll still be prominent on NBC.

"We'll have to deal with showing what happened to Tiger because this has gone from being a golf tournament to a news event," NBC golf producer Tommy Roy said. "Our weekend telecast will have to deal with showing what happened to Tiger. It will be our duty."

Northern Trust Hostage Crisis Enters Day Three: Media Steps In To Defend Tour And Sponsors

Isn't it wonderful seeing everyone get along, and more importantly, sticking up for the PGA Tour as a viable and reasonable marketing tool. Well, until it has to stick up for itself.

John Powers says Northern Trust should give back the TARP money and keep on sponsoring golf tournaments.

Garry Smits takes Maureen Dowd and TMZ to task for stretching key facts and writes that TMZ should have stuck to what it knows -- Jessica Simpson's weight or whether Jennifer Anniston still pines away for Brad.

Andrew Malcolm says a conservative watchdog group wants to know more about the relationship between Northern Trust and the Obama's.

And Ron Sirak really lays into the Dowd column, doing the PGA Tour's job of laying out talking points to defend golf sponsorship (okay, maybe minus the Tiffany trinket bags for a while, eh?).

That there is much reform needed in the U.S. economy seems to be indisputable. The business practices of the financial services industry, in particular, need serious scrutiny. No one can argue with that. But the scope of the problem extends well beyond professional golf tournaments and entertaining at those events. To rip golf is an ill-informed, easy way out -- a smokescreen retarding real reform.

What seems to be happening is that golf has become a convenient scapegoat for frustrated pundits and politicians who rely on the fact that an ill-informed public can be manipulated. Golf is not the enemy here, nor is the PGA Tour. The sport, in fact, is an extremely effective and cost-efficient marketing tool.

Shocker: R&A's Dawson Says Golf In For Rough Year Ahead

It's good to know the R&A is on top of things, as always. Mike Aitken fills us in on Peter Dawson's dire warning:

"I don't think we've seen the bottom of this and I don't think anyone is immune," said Dawson. "I'm no economic forecaster, but it's hard to see the situation turning around quickly. There may be quite a way to go.

"I think people who are members of golf clubs will be thinking twice about their subscriptions. Like everything else which is discretionary (spending], people will ask, 'Do I need to buy a new driver this year?' All these things will contract."

I tell ya, he is a visionary.

Aitken also files this piece on the state of club golf in Scotland, where memberships are not being renewed at a disturbing pace.

Greater Tucson Economy On Verge Of Collapse After Tim Clark Defeats Tiger Woods; All No. 1 Seeds Gone

Golf Channel reconsiders Friday telecast; Johnny Miller's jet turned around midway from NorCal after Tommy Roy sends him home; Airlines say re-booking fees may first quarter earnings

Seriously, it will be fun to see how many scribblers are fleeing Tucson now that the most anticipated comeback in PGA Tour history is history?

And the dream matchup with Rory? And Phil soon after that? It's match play's fault!

Steve Elling writes:

Given his early departure, the temptation for some will be to exaggerate the gravity of Woods' early defeat, but given the layoff and the caprices of the match-play format, that would be a bit premature and reckless. While he was hardly in vintage form, he made it through the two days without any issues with his knee, which is more important in the grand scheme of things heading into Augusta. 

Is The PGA Tour Going To Fight Back?

Granted, they've talked about their charitable work so much that some people might not want to hear it, but in response to media attacks on golf and tournament sponsorship I would have expected a more visible sign of urgency from Ponte Vedra.

Perhaps some talking points about what the PGA Tour means to the economy? Or maybe some World Golf Foundation bullet points on the game's economic impact? Just something to stop the bleeding.

Maybe this piece of New York Post composite art accompanying a Bloomberg wire story and courtesy of reader Jim will do the trick:

Day Two Of Northern Trust Hostage Crisis: Morgan Stanley Abducted!

This Reuters story explains how Morgan Stanley will be at the Memorial in name only. Sort of like most of the tournament's past honorees.

"We've canceled our participation in the event due to the environment," a spokeswoman said, though she declined further comment.

Meanwhile Hostage #1, Northern Trust, posted a somewhat defiant letter on their website from CEO Waddell. I think this thing could drag on for a while. Bring in a negotiator!

Bloomberg's Christopher Condon reveals all sorts of interesting details about Northern Trust. Let's start with this on Wells Fargo, which controls golf's sixth major, the Wachovia Championship:

Wells Fargo & Co., a recipient of $25 billion in government aid, said it’s cutting spending on the Wachovia Championship golf tournament April 27 through May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wells Fargo, which acquired Wachovia Corp. in December, is evaluating all sponsorship agreements to determine how they benefit the company and communities, Mary Beth Navarro, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based company, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

Is that any way to treat a major?

Frank said today in an interview he was “disappointed” with Northern Trust’s reaction to his letter. “They can’t argue anymore that they didn’t want the money but Paulson made them take it. While that’s accurate, they can return it now.”

I'm telling you NoTrust gang, print up a big winner's check, Barney's name and it'd be a beautiful moment for all.

Unlike TARP recipients such as Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., Northern Trust has remained profitable amid the financial crisis. The company, which has handled accounts for President Barack Obama and his wife, reported operating profit of $323.3 million in the fourth quarter, a 48 percent increase compared with a year earlier.

Wow, there's a buried lede if I've ever seen one. And...what?

The company managed George W. Bush’s investments in a blind trust during his presidency. Obama and his wife, Michelle, had their checking account and home mortgage with Northern Trust as of mid-January.

See, not all bad publicity is bad!

As far as columnists go, the L.A. Times' excellent Michael Hiltzik mostly gets it right (until he starts quoting that Dwyre piece on Chrysler) and in a moment of good news for the PGA Tour, seems to differentiate between spending money to sponsor a golf tournament and spending lavishly to entertain fat cats.

The bank plainly didn't realize that the ground has shifted beneath the industry's feet; in the post-meltdown spotlight, no institution, no matter how fiscally virtuous it thinks it is, can do business the old way. One reason that banks have become such a despised species is that their managers still resist publicly accepting responsibility for their role in the financial meltdown. Instead they resist caps on executive pay and gripe about coming regulations.

In the current economic environment, there's no way to rationalize an entertainment expenditure that looks so insensitive on the surface.

Update on 2009-02-26 06:23 by Geoff

Maureen Dowd in the New York Times brands them Northern Untrustworthy and Northern No Trust, writing:

Coming in a moment when skeptical and angry Americans watched A.I.G., Citigroup, General Motors and Chrysler — firms that had already been given a federal steroid injection — get back in line for more billions, the golf scandal was just one more sign that the bailed-out rich are different from you and me: their appetites are unquenchable and their culture is uneducable.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes:

Senator Kerry's solution to this "idiotic" decision is to outlaw fun. "Kerry's TARP Taxpayer Protection and Corporate Responsibility Act," the Senator's press release announced, "would prevent any recipient of TARP funds from hosting, sponsoring, or paying for conferences, holiday parties and entertainment events." Penalties would include fines and forced reimbursement of TARP funds. A bank could still throw a party for customers, provided it gets a "waiver" from the Treasury Secretary, who has 30 days to issue his golf and chardonnay diktat.

We'd be the first to agree that taxpayer money should be spent wisely. But Northern Trust makes money. It could probably pay back the TARP funds tomorrow if the terms of that investment didn't make it onerous to do so before three years have elapsed.

Tiger Shows No Ill Effects In Comeback From Head-On Bus Collision

Wait, sorry, wrong "most anticipated comeback in golf history," as Kelly Tilghman put it after that enormously lame opening capped off by Frank Nobilo doing a Tiger fist pump.

I just want to know: who was standing next to the green-screen holding a gun to Frank's head?

Since they made a movie about Hogan's bus accident comeback at Riviera--the previous most anticipated comeback in golf history until today's event in Arizona--I've been trying to envision a similar epic in the vein of Follow the Sun, only this time shot at The Ritz Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain. Just doesn't have quite the same ring to it, eh?

Anyway, all of the day-one matches were nicely summarized here by PGATour.com.

From the parts I saw, Tiger's swing looked incredible and kudos to Golf Channel with the side-by-side comparison between Saturday of the U.S. Open versus today's swing. It made up for Rolfing's early telecast Rossie moments (Oh it's started right and really high, ballooning in the wind...it's four feet for birdie!).

In reading the coverage, the most interesting accounts focused not on Tiger, but his relatively unknown opponent.

Bob Harig offers this observation and comment from Jones:

During the long walk between the first green and the second tee, Jones found himself walking with the masses, where he heard somebody remark that just nine more holes were necessary for a 10 and 8 outcome -- which would mean Woods' winning every hole.

"That annoyed me to a point," said Jones, who couldn't have been happy to see Woods float a 5-iron from 235 yards to 4 feet at the second to set up an eagle.

"I've never hit a shot like that, that high and soft," Jones said. "He hits some shots that other people can't hit."

At his peril, Steve Elling acknowledges the presence of other players while noting why Tiger's match started late.

This time, there wasn't an inch of wood available in the bleachers. Fans stood four deep around the tee box, and they lined the ropes all the way to the green some 460 yards away. It was a bigger crowd than when Cink played Woods in the championship match last year.

"I just told everybody on the first tee that he's waited eight months to play," Cink said. "He can wait two more minutes."

Cink wound up winning his match, one of six that required overtime.

Cameron Morfit notes this about Jones.

Unlike the Accenture's first round in 2008, when J.B. Holmes nearly upset Woods, Jones looked like he was in over his head.

"We have to buy our own lunch," Jones said earlier in the week, when asked about the differences between the Japan Tour, where he works, and the PGA. He added: "You don't have the media to a point that we have got here or in America in general."

Preparation had gone well enough. Jones secured a seasoned caddie, Ron Levin, through his friendship with Levin's old boss Todd Hamilton, another Japan Tour veteran. Jones and Levin began learning the new course on Monday, and there was much work to do. Woods had not hit a shot in competition since last June. But that didn't necessarily give Jones a leg up; because of the vagaries of the Japan Tour's schedule (it doesn't start until mid-April), he had not competed since early December.

And Jeff Rude shares this:

This is a candid, affable Australian who isn’t shy about sharing thoughts about his raw emotions.

“I’ve been nervous ever since I found out I was playing him,” Jones said. “Today was my least nervous. When you think about him in bed, he’s very daunting. I’m a bad sleeper. That’s why last night surprised me when I got good rest. I was dreading the thought of having to play him on no sleep.”

That kind of talk helps explain why Woods is so difficult to beat. His opponents lie in bed thinking about him. Woods, meanwhile, doesn’t spend a second thinking about the Brendan Jones of golf. Or the Phil Mickelsons, for that matter.

"Not having to spend millions upon millions of dollars to change golf courses for four rounds"

It's been so long since I've had anything to add to The List. Great to see what Greg Norman had to say this week:

Norman, who was in Australia to play the Johnnie Walker Classic last weekend in Perth, also said golf's international administrators should limit the impact of technology to save time and money rather than lengthen courses to accommodate for players hitting the ball further with increasingly advanced clubs.

"I think the powers that be could have done a better job of managing the technology breakthroughs that took place over a period of time and implemented different rules for us, the professionals, and not having to spend millions upon millions of dollars to change golf courses for four rounds," he said.

Goodell Takes Voluntary Pay Cut, Will Any Of Golf Execs Do The Same?

Of course when you are making $11 million, it's a totally different pay grade than a measly $4.8 million.

Not All Bad News For Golf!

Keith Kelly in the New York Post looks at Conde Nast's advertising slide but notes:

Only one magazine in its stable is showing a rise over a year ago: Golf World, a small circulation weekly, that is up 16.5 percent through the Feb. 23 issue.

And Sean Martin reports that despite executive upheaval and huge losses at Nationwide, the insurance giant is continuing its support of the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit:

John Aman, Nationwide’s associate vice president of strategic sponsorships, said he does not expect any “wholesale changes” to the company’s marketing approach.

“We remain committed to the Nationwide Tour, as well as our other sponsorships,” Aman told Golfweek. “That’s a question we’re getting asked across the board, and it’s part of what we think we need to do to be in the marketplace in a competitive insurance climate.”

"I would still say we are in a position where we can see lesser growth — but growth."

The most disturbing thing about FBR pulling out of the Scottsdale stop (thanks Steven T.) is not that a penny stock investment group can't go on, but that the Commissioner is talking about "bumps in the road" and offering this as reported by Doug Ferguson. Finchem is discussing extensions with Travelers and Accenture during a press room gathering Tuesday:

"In these times, any level of growth is a victory," he said. "And if I had to guess right now where we come out after another year of this, I would still say we are in a position where we can see lesser growth — but growth."

Is the growth mantra is appropriate right now? I'm guessing Greg Norman suggesting this (thanks reader John) would not agree with Commissioner:

"Prize money's being scaled back in Europe, I wouldn't be surprised if prize money's scaled back in the U.S. just out of respect to every citizen and taxpayer over there who's suffering dramatically," the two-time British Open champion was quoted as saying Wednesday on the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Web site. "It seems like on the PGA Tour the players are still playing for a million dollars first week, like they're recession-proof.

"I think there's got to be a lot of sensitivity shown. If I was PGA commissioner that's what I would be recommending," he said.

The Day Corporate Cool Died?

I leave for a few hours and we go from a shoddy TMZ report with exaggerations and blatantly incorrect information about the Northern Trust Open, to prominent members of Congress using it to call for everything but a public execution.

There are a number of ways to look at the Northern Trust situation. Obviously it's hard to sympathize with a group that received TARP money going on to do over-the-top entertaining when other recent examples of such excess have turned prominent companies into dirty words (A.I.G.).

Northern Trust signed on as L.A. Open sponsor to build it's brand in the west. Well, today they went national today.

On the other hand, Northern Trust is a victim here. Having been forced to take TARP money they apparently forgot there were new rules of doing business attached to that money no matter how unnecessary they believed it to be. If CEO Rick Waddell and his board had any cojones, he'd hold a press conference tomorrow with a big $1.6 billion winner's check in his hand and an offer to give it all back to the government.

My initial reaction to these events has more to do with the PGA Tour and the future of the sport. You may recall that I spared you more detailed thoughts about the direction the L.A. Open has taken with Northern Trust and PGA Tour's Championship Management whispering in their ears to push out the L.A. Junior Chamber of Commerce, corporatize everything in sight and in general, make the event more like events the PGA Tour operates: bland, soulless and devoid of local character but "elegant" to the discerning corporate clients visiting from Chicago who can pass a blindfold taste test between Grey Goose and Smirnoff.

While some of you might giggle at my pleas for an 18th green manual scoreboard, it's little things like this that lie at the heart of the utterly disastrous direction the PGA Tour has taken where the corporate world takes total priority over the experience of the everyday fan.Do we really need an on course concierge? (click image to enlarge)

As Barack Obama spoke Tuesday night and made the boldest declaration yet to end corporate greed, malfeasance and excess, I couldn't help but think that the PGA Tour had better be holding emergency meetings through the night figuring out how to wean themselves from a fatal attraction to this peculiar world of arrogant excess that mercifully died on February 24, 2009.

Obama: "I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer. This time, CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over."

Countrywide was visible at the 2009 NTO (click to enlarge)This doesn't mean golf or the days of golf tournament sponsorship are over. Nor does this unravelling of greed and corruption mean that corporations are going to be going away as hosts of golf tournaments and supporters of the game. And nor do we want them to go away.

However, the folks running the game are going to have to rethink their complete and utterly nauseating obsession with pleasing often out of touch and sometimes downright moronic hooligans who want tinted windows on their elevated luxury boxes so they can look down on the little people, who have little genuine regard for the values golf stands for, and who consistently display a disdain for anything beyond themselves.

Report: Tiger Woods Nearing Return To Competition

Based on this match play bracket, it seems he is due at 2:02 EST. Then and only then will we get some closure.

And it sure sounds like he'd love to ditch the match play from his schedule based on his remarks about the course. Shocking, I know, that the PGA Tour moves to an untested Jack Nicklaus design and it seems to, well, stink.

Jim McCabe on Golfweek.com:

Welcome to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, which will not elicit many warm emotions toward the designer, even if his name is Jack Nicklaus. Diplomatically, Woods called the greens “severe,” which is like saying the desert can be dry. Opened Jan. 17, the Ritz-Carlton GC features one wild putting surface after another, and while Woods had never seen the place until he stepped onto the first tee just after sunrise, some four hours later he was able to provide expert testimony that the quirky greens will dominate this week’s play.

Gary Van Sickle files this ringing endorsement and longer quote from Tiger.

As for this week, Woods commented on the obvious: the greens on this new Jack Nicklaus design are clearly over the top.

"The greens are a little severe," Woods said. "The speed of the greens is down because if they ever got them up, you couldn't play. It'll be interesting to see how the tour sets up the pins. The greens have so much pitch and slope and movement, there aren't a lot of pin positions they can go to."

I guess I might as well debut my new Tiger translator, which takes his delicately worded quotes and spits out what he's really thinking:

"Jack still can't do a decent green," Woods said. "They're unplayable if they are more than 10 on the Stimp. They have no more than a couple of hole locations per green. Real shrewd planning there Jack! This is why I get $25 million and you only $2.5 mill. I'd drop this dog from my schedule if Accenture weren't my sponsor."

Meanwhile the Armchair Golf blog lands an exclusive with Tiger's left knee.

Steve Elling describes the scene this morning when Tiger appeared and more importantly, the majority of the golf media arrived at the press center three hours earlier than normal.

Considering the buildup, the day was surprisingly devoid of soppy sentimentalism. In fact, since Woods teed off shortly after 7 a.m. and the gates didn't open until 7:30, the first cry of "Welcome back, Tiger," didn't occur until a pair of elderly women shouted it in his direction on the fourth hole. Woods, never one to acknowledge much, actually turned to the pair and said, "Thanks." They giggled like a pair of schoolgirls.

The scene before dawn on the practice range looked more like a red-carpet opening on Broadway, with golf paparazzi lined up on both sides of the ropes. Approximately 50 cameramen were encamped on the range awaiting Woods, who was in the clubhouse eating breakfast.

When Woods appeared, whirring camera drives erupted in a cacophony of beeps and buzzes. Somewhat humorously, longtime rival Phil Mickelson actually beat the notoriously early rising Woods to the range, and he cast an occasional bemused look in the direction of the comeback kid.

A moment later, as he tried to push his way through the crowd of media packed around Woods on the range, Mickelson's coach, Butch Harmon cracked, "What are you guys watching?"

Jason Sobel will be live blogging every excessive comment made by the Golf Channel crew. Actually, I believe the telecast will be reuniting Azinger and Faldo, so it may just be watchable.

Governing Body Reigning In Technology...

As Lisa Dillman reports (thanks reader Scott), the folks overseeing swimming have had enough of hi-tech suits. Inspiration for our friends in Far Hills and St. Andrews:

Among the proposals was that FINA establish its own independent control and testing program. Swimsuit makers can make submissions for approval of suits until March 31. The next major meet of significance is the world championships in Rome, starting July 18.

"With these amendments, FINA shows that it continues to monitor the evolution of the sport's equipment with the main objective of keeping integrity of sport," FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui said in a statement.