It's National Golf Day...Golf CEO's, Commissioners And Other Luminaries Convene On Washington

From Bob Combs and the World Golf Foundation:

In a series of meetings on Capitol Hill, golf’s leaders are carrying the message of the industry’s enormous economic impact. A study released last year at the inaugural National Golf Day, the 2005 Golf Economy Report, quantified golf’s annual direct economic impact as $76 billion, and highlighted the fact that the industry provides 2 million jobs and $61 billion in wage income. The study also found that golf generates more than $3.5 billion annually for charities across the country.

And the fate of the game is in these hands...

PGA President Jim Remy, Vice President Allen Wronowski, Secretary Ted Bishop and CEO Joe Steranka will lead The PGA of America contingent. Participants from the allied golf associations included Club Managers Association CEO Jim Singerling, The First Tee CEO Joe Barrow, LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, National Golf Course Owners Association CEO Mike Hughes, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, U.S. Golf Association Executive Director David Fay, and World Golf Foundation CEO Steve Mona.

Feel better?

Report: Poppy Hills To Be Replaced By MPCC Shore Course

It was reported back in March here that Poppy Hills was on its way out as a AT&T National Pro-Am venue, a victim of a Tiger Woods edict. Naturally, I was told by many that this would never be the case but yet here we are, and voila!

Say goodbye to Poppy Hills, say hello to the Shore Course in a major architectural upgrade, so says KSBW in Monterey.

On Friday, MPCC contacted its 750 members, recommending that they accept the request to use their course for the 2010 Pro Am which could mean drawing up to 10,000 spectators to the private club every day during the tournament.

MPCC rejected a similar proposal back in 2005.

So what has changed? Supporters said they need the attention to attract new membership since the economy has tanked.

Proponents believe the Monterey Peninsula Foundation would benefit the most. The foundation raised more than $8 million last year for local charities. Organizers said a long-term relationship with the exclusive country club would help the foundation secure its goal in increasing grants 25 percent to $10 million by 2014.

And make Tiger more likely to play.

The general manager at Poppy Hills said one reason behind the potential venue change is AT&T wants a more prestigious location for the 25th anniversary of the Pro Am this next year.

"The prestige is more the celebrities that are there and pros and great charity work that's done. I don't know if it's the golf course so much though it's Pebble Beach. That's where they end up and that's the big ticket in the draw," Todd Butler said.

And make Tiger more likely to play.

Heinrik!

Reader David reported that Commissioner Finchem bungled Henrik Stenson's name during the trophy ceremony. Since Kenny G was not part of the proceedings, I didn't pay attention. Turns out, David heard right, as Lulu McGrew reports:

Hey, did anyone else catch the PGA Tour Commish, Timothy Finchem mispronounce Stenson’s name at the trophy presentation? He called him Heinrik…twice. This is not the first time that Stevenson…er, I mean, Stenson has dealt with his name being mangled. It is one of the easier names out there, sounding just like it written. How do you think he was have pronounced Cejka’s name?

Actually, it was Cejka's fault. Finchem was up late the night before practicing his German and he just never recovered from that.

Players Sunday Ratings Up 21%

Nice to see everyone in Florida was watching based on this listing of the markets.

"But will his fellow pros be so lenient, once they have all had a chance to see it?"

Lawrence Donegan reports that Kenny Perry has been cleared of a possible rules violation that occurred during the FBR Open playoff. Video evidence suggested that Perry had improved his lie. I've seen it. Not good. But also not hard to come away feeling like there was intent of any kind. Then again, the rules of golf don't care about intent.

Rule 13–2 of the Rules of Golf states that a player is not allowed to improve "the position or lie of his ball". Mark Russell, a senior rules official with the PGA Tour, said he had "no problem whatsoever" with Perry's actions, adding that the footage was "inconclusive".

"During the course of the telecast of the FBR Open‚ we received no calls from viewers reporting a potential rules violation involving Kenny Perry. When a question was raised this week, several members of the tournament committee reviewed the videotape of Kenny Perry, and no evidence of any rules violation was found ... We will have no further comment on the matter,'' he said.

The Super Bowl had started at that point so I'm pretty viewership was light to non-existent.

Derek Lawrenson notes in the Daily Mail:

By waving his wedge behind his ball before playing a chip shot during a play-off against Charley Hoffman, Perry raised the question of whether he had improved his lie, and thereby broken the rules. After a further review on Sunday, US Tour rules officials exonerated the personable man from Kentucky, who charmed everyone with his grace in defeat at the Masters.

But will his fellow pros be so lenient, once they have all had a chance to see it? Or will this be like the Colin Montgomerie saga in Indonesia a few years ago, when he was cleared by the referee at the time of wrongdoing, only to be declared guilty a month later by a court of his peers?

"These comments hurt the game."

I was traveling most of the day and haven't followed the David Feherty situation very closely, but just taking a quick look at the wires it appears that while his apology was prompt, the Wanda Sykes controversy is bringing him back into the national debate over what constitutes tasteless. (You don't say bomb on an airplane and you don't joke about wanting to see die...is that hard enough?)

Based on what Michael Hiestand writes in a thoughtful and surprisingly-long-by-USA Today standards piece, the next few days will determine where the Feherty situation heads and his name being dragged into the Sykes situation may prove problematic. Unlike past CBS announcer brouhahas, Feherty's inflammatory comments were written instead of uttered, ultimately making it hard to see this as a well-intentioned joke gone bad.

Ron Sirak at Golf World comments on the situation, and compared to everything else I've read and the critical emails I've received for daring to touch a golf story making national news, he offers a nuanced and insightful take as someone who has interviewed Feherty. His conclusions ultimately raise more questions than the apology tried to put to sleep.

My first thought was that Feherty, who is known for his humor, may not be as sensitive to this issue because he did not grow up in the United States. But then I remembered an interview I did with him more than a decade ago in which he talked about growing up in Northern Ireland during "the troubles," the political violence between Catholics and Protestants centered around English rule of the North. David should know better. He saw first-hand the bloody results of extremism.

The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto drags Feherty into the Sykes mess and wonders why liberals aren't more upset at her remarks. He'd have a little more credibility if he didn't spell Feherty as if he were some distant relative of Rick Fehr.

Mike Lupica takes the same stance, and several others and I stopped reading because he was going all Nuke LaLoosh on us and I was getting dizzy.

Sunday At The Players

Henrik Stenson overcame heat, humidity and greens yellower than an R&A member’s teeth to capture the 2009 Players Championship. Crispy, firm and “icy quick” in the words of runner-up Ian Poulter, the relentless Pete Dye design’s mini-verde bermuda surfaces may have looked dreadful in HD but played better than the PGA Tour ever could have dreamed since committing to a hoped-for fast and firm warm season base three years ago.

“Pretty incredible,” said Tiger Woods of Stenson’s bogey-free 66 that included 13 of 14 fairways, all but one hit with his trusty three wood. A birdie at the ninth put Stenson ahead and he soon pulled away in Mine That Bird fashion with birdies at 11, 13, 15 and 16.  Yet even with a four-shot lead the island green 17th loomed like the giant barrier that so many told us strips the course of any world class integrity. However it's late-in-the-round placement is the very thing that makes The Players so intriguing. Champion Stenson approaches the 18th green en route to victory. (Click to enlarge)

Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee was the most visible opponent, calling it gimmicky. The Florida Times-Union's Garry Smits inquired with the tour about Chamblee's record there during his playing career and found that he played the hole 26 times in nine starts in The Players, and averaged 3.46 with six water balls.

Lorne Rubenstein talked to former Dye protege Tom Doak about the moaning.

"As Mr. Dye once described it to me, it's a 130-yard hole with an 8,000-square-foot green -- a target a tour pro would hit 98 percent of the time, if he wasn't scared of it."

Tiger Woods struggled Sunday, posting a 73 that included a bogey from the fairway bunker on No. 7 (click to enlarge)It's actually just a shade over 4,000 square feet and by no means is an inviting target. The contours appear to have grown too severe for modern green speeds, yet the hole played to a reasonable 3.025 average, yielding 80 birdies compared to 43 bogies, 13 doubles and 6 triples. 83% of shots hit the green in regulation this week.

The folks it seems to be harassing most are the $375 paying customers. As Robert Lohrer noted on his blog, the number of balls retrieved annually and floated this week was 155,000. A Golf Journal (R.I.P) story from 1998 reported that divers dredge up 120,000 balls, "so, if we take these numbers at face value, the only conclusion -- as the number of rounds is the same in both reports -- is that, collectively, as golfers, we're getting worse."

Asked after the round about the 17th tee conversation, Stenson said he was trying for a "r pitching wedge at the middle tower" by aiming just left of the bunker in hopes of getting it on top.The fifth hole scene on Sunday (click on image to enlarge)

He didn't quite pull that off, finishing on the front tier where he two-putted from in stoic fashion.

Having survived that test, he striped his tee shot and coasted to a victory that paid $1.7 million and garnered a whopping 0 FedEx Cup points thanks to his non-PGA Tour member status.

T3 finisher John Mallinger takes the walk toward the 17th green (click to enlarge)Still, the 17th was the crowd favorite, particularly among the coveted 3-12 demo. They were hounding players as they walked down the railroad tie raised ramp. Vets like Kenny Perry and Woody Austin complied but handing their balls to new fans for life, Kevin Na acted like they didn't exist and John Mallinger shined his pearly whites while dishing out high-fives.

Ben Curtis, who hit his tee shot in the water and posted a double bogey 5, entered the fluorescent-lit tunnel on his way to the 18th tee when a young girl yelled out from above.

"Can I have a ball please?"

"I only have two left," Curtis grumbled back.

Her dad offered this consolation: "He still has to play number 18 and there's lots of water."

Okay, so maybe the 17th isn't the only terrifying hole at the other-worldly TPC Sawgrass.