"The problem seems to be that Bivens has stuck to her hard-line negotiating even as the economy has imploded."

Someone sent me a less than nice email about the Bivens-mutiny post below. I started to write back an explanation, but Alan Shipnuck summed it up better in the lastest SI/golf.com roundtable:

Shipnuck: It's clear Bivens's hard-charging personal style has rubbed a lot of players and corporate types the wrong way, but you can't fault her original vision: raise purses, improve the pension and retirement benefits, and expand the tour's TV presence. The problem seems to be that Bivens has stuck to her hard-line negotiating even as the economy has imploded. Sponsors are hard-pressed to maintain their current commitments, and she's asking for them to pour in more money for next year and beyond. Something had to give, and it's being reflected by the tour's contracting schedule.

There has been no sign that Bivens called an audible after the economic collapse and postponed her vision to get them through these tough times and save some of these mom-and-pop events that are dropping like flies. That will ultimately be her undoing.

XM Radio Appearance Monday: Making The Turn With Peter Kessler

I'm scheduled for around 10:40 a.m. EST/7:40 PST on the show, which starts at 10 and can be accessed through PGATour.com's home page link to PGA Tour Radio.

Report: Top LPGAer's Convene To Roast Brand Lady, Ponder Possible Replacements

Jim Gorant reports that a "dozen or so" top players had dinner last week to decide if a different commissioner could run off fewer sponsors. He also indicates that a letter to the LPGA Board may be in the works.

Player director Juli Inkster, who was at the dinner, also said that as far as she knew no letter had come out of the meeting. Inkster told SI that the dinner "was kind of a personal talk about where we need to go and what we can do. As far as who was there and who said what, I can't get into that."

Don't we at least get to hear how much wine was consumed? That would give us a better idea how nasty the name calling got. Just a thought.

"He told me to stay positive, something like that"

I can't post much because I'm looking into two health stories related to the 2009 AT&T National final round. One involves reports of several suicide attempts after the second mesmerizingly depressing SPCA ad ran during the finale. The other involves the poor lad turning his back and bending over to avoid Anthony Kim's 18th hole drive, only to be plunked on the tush.

Meanwhile, Thomas Bonk, writing about Tiger Woods' win over rival-in-the-making Kim:

Kim dropped to third behind Mahan with a one-over 71. The way things were going, his most interesting shot of the day might have been his tee shot at the 18th, where the ball went so far off-line, it popped a fan on the derriere.

Woods and Kim shook hands before they got started and that's about as close as they got the rest of the day, unless you count the times they stood in the tee box together. Until they chatted while walking down the 18th fairway, they hadn't exchanged a word.

"He told me to stay positive, something like that," Kim said.

See how took those words to heart!

Kim chalked the whole thing up as a learning experience, sort of on-the-job training.

"I learned that if you have a birdie putt, you'd better make it, especially on the last day," Kim said. "Tiger obviously wins for a reason."

See, he doesn't miss a beat.

Two mind-boggling Tiger stats, courtesy of the PGA Tour's Mark Williams:

• Woods has now won 46 of 49 tournaments (94%) when leading/co-leading after 54-holes. The three he didn't win -- 1996 Quad City Open/T5, 2000/2004 THE TOUR Championship/2ndboth times.

• Woods has won 32 of 38 tournaments after holding the 36-hole lead/co-lead -- that's 84 percent.

Showdown With Woods Offers Kim Chance To Face His Hero And Ask How Many Majors He's Won

Doug Ferguson reports on Sunday's potentially exciting showdown between Anthony Kim and Tiger Woods, with background on Kim growing up idolizing Woods. But unlike Woods who committed every Jack Nicklaus record to memory, Anthony is still fuzzy on Tiger's history.

Actually, wouldn't it be fun if old geezer Michael Allen slipped in and won the thing?

Pro Golfer Tweet O' The Week, Vol. 1

The flood of fascinating, deep and almost-malaprops from pro golf's finest Tweeters has forced my hand: introducting, the Tweet O' The Week.

Ian Poulter, who displays a Brunoesque love for fashion and his own hair, also has captured Bruno's Tweeting vocabulary:

Bettors: The Annual Call For Unionizing PGA Tour!

I took over July 1 and based on Rex Hoggard's posting, I have a claim ticket to cash in!

What remains to be seen is how the new rule impacts play on Tour – most players didn’t think there will be a drastic adjustment but few have actually tested wedges with the new grooves – and how players will react to having their opinions brushed aside by the Tour.

“If Tim wanted a union, he’s got one now,” said one player who noted that a healthy cross section of the Tour was in favor of delaying the rule one year.

Of all the reasons to form a union and open up the books, this is the topic that got some guys worked up? Really?

Loopers Earning Their AT&T Pay...

...trying to remember to keep Saturday's American flagstick flags from touching the ground, as Rex Hoggard notes.

“We can see everything, frame by frame.”

Rex Hoggard says that D.A. Points attributes his improved play to...his iPhone 3GS.

“It’s amazing,” said Points, who has his caddie video him with the new device and then e-mail it to his swing coach Brian Mogg in central Florida. “We can see everything, frame by frame.”

Happy 4th Of July!

"There are markets we'd like to get to, and we've done some things to get there in a variety of ways."

Thanks to reader Jeff for Joe Juliano's story about the AT&T National's move to a much better course Aronimink for two years. But as Jeff asked, how are the Philly fans going to like being lumped into the same market class as Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Portland and Seattle?

Maybe that's why the paper ran that less-than-flattering peppy shot of the Commish?

"Awkward" Tees At Congressional

I have to confess it's been a while since I looked at Congressional very closely but today's AT&T National first round was an eye-opener. The list of cringe-inducing sights is too long, so let's just hope they do some tree and bunker work before the 2011 U.S. Open. To call the bunkers there two-dimensional would be unfair to two-dimensional bunkers.

Rex Hoggard blogged about this change, which actually sounds like it fits with the rest of the course:

The Blue will close shortly after this week’s event and the greens rebuilt, but some new tee boxes that the U.S. Golf Association may use have already been installed, at Nos. 9 and 15 for example, giving players a glimpse at what may await in ’11.

“(Nos.) 15 and 9 seemed very awkward because they move away from the way the slope is,” said Jim Furyk, who has played in the last four Tour events played at Congressional (’97 U.S. Open, ’05 Booz Allen Classic and ’07 and ’08 AT&T Nationals). “They both slope left to right and the tee is going back to the left, which makes the tee shot a little bit more awkward.”

Speaking of awkward, that hill behind below the new 10th tee, old 18th green site. They will find a way to put people there in the U.S. Open, right? It looks a little strange right now with just a television tower. Actually, that's the least of Congressional's issues.

"Ian Poulter causes plenty of commotion with his style on the course."

Golfweek "Fashionistas Ash and Ash" were invited "to hang out on the set of the latest IJP Designs photoshoot." 

Poulter had better be careful, especially after the part where he's doing his hair. It might not be long before his fellow pros tag him with the Bruno knickname.

Actually, Bruno's a lot more fun.

"We can handle it"

Look how well some of the principals in questioning the groove rule change have lightened up. At least, on Twitter:

"We have a 50-50 chance of being here next year."

Reading the AP blurb that went out suggesting the $1.4 million Jamie Farr Classic has only a 50-50 chance of returning in 2010, it was hard not to wonder if anyone at the LPGA is thinking that it might be nice just to have some tournaments next year, regardless of purse size and market?

Then I see that Beth Ann Baldry raised this very point in a tough Golfweek.com plea for the Brand Lady to wake up before it's too late. Calling the LPGA "a floundering tour with flourishing talent" Baldry writes:

The days of Bivens doing too much too soon should be over. The LPGA needs to bend over backwards to make things work from here on out. The tour needs strong partners such as Wegmans, a supermarket chain in the Northeast (Everyone’s got to eat, right?) now more than ever.