Monty's Induction Sparking Outrage?

I certainly agree with all of Gary Williams' points about the World Golf Hall of Fame voting and criteria, though I'm a little surprised at the outrage expressed on Twitter over Colin Montgomerie's selection when he at least has on-course successes to point to.

It's the cronyism and overall oy factor behind selections like George H. Bush and now Ken Schofield that I find detrimental to the Hall's street cred.

For those who will scream that no criteria will create total chaos I would point to every other Hall of Fame. Outside of removal from the game for a certain number of years there are no benchmarks that players must hit for eligibility. Many things about golf are not analogous to other sports but in this case it most certainly is and leave it up to the voters to know, or at least feel, when it's time for a player to take his place in St. Augustine.

For the Monty skeptics, Daniel Wexler takes a closer look at his record and can't even get excited about the "superhuman" order of merit success cited by George O'Grady.

Third, while one can surely only beat the competition that's put in front of them, a quick glance inside Monty's halcyon 1993-1999 run indicates that in winning his seven straight Orders of Merit, he averaged exactly 20 official E Tour starts per season.  And what of his primary competition?  Jose Maria Olazabal was next with an average of 18 annual starts - but that's not including the 1995 and '96 campaigns which he missed entirely due to injury.  Seve Ballesteros averaged 17.2 E Tour starts during these years, but was clearly well beyond his elite form before Monty's run even began.  Ian Woosnam also averaged 17.2 starts in this period, while Bernhard Langer weighed in at 16.7.  And then there was Sir Nick Faldo, who was also somewhat on the down side by the time Monty got rolling, but had already largely packed it off to America anyway, averaging only nine annual E Tour starts from 1993-1999.

So while seven consecutive Order of Merit titles is indeed impressive, Monty did manage to time them perfectly (peaking just when much of the competition was somewhat on the wane) and was aided in earning the most money simply by making the most starts.

April Fools Early: Monty & Ken Schofield In World Golf HOF

The standards for induction continue to be lowered. But not to worry, cronyism's alive and well!

For Immediate Release:

World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum completes Class of 2013 with Colin Montgomerie and Ken Schofield

European duo joins Couples, Venturi and Park Jr.

London (Dec. 18, 2012) – Colin Montgomerie and Ken Schofield share, as player and administrator respectively, a special affinity with both The European Tour and The Ryder Cup and they will be honored for their contribution to the game next year when they are inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum.

Montgomerie – elected through the International Ballot – and Schofield – selected through the Lifetime Achievement Category – will be honored along with fellow 2013 inductees Fred Couples, Willie Park Jr. and Ken Venturi at the Induction Ceremony on May 6, 2013, at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. The Ceremony will once again kick off THE PLAYERS Championship week.

George O’Grady, The European Tour Chief Executive, and Jack Peter, the Hall of Fame Chief Operating Officer, made the official announcement at a press conference attended by both Montgomerie and Schofield prior to The Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Year Luncheon in London.

“This is a very special day for golf and for The European Tour,” O’Grady said. “Colin and Ken are unique individuals and their contribution to not only The European Tour, on and off the fairways, but also The Ryder Cup makes them both very worthy candidates for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“Colin’s achievement in winning the Harry Vardon Trophy eight times, including seven in a row, took considerable talent, skill, imagination, endurance, physical strength and mental resilience. Any aspiring and ambitious golfer on The European Tour today craves the opportunity to win The Race to Dubai, which has succeeded the Order of Merit, just once – to  do it eight times is universally viewed as a superhuman feat.

Easy there George.

“Colin became European Number One for the eighth time in 2005 which, coincidentally, was the year I succeeded Ken. Unquestionably, Ken’s contribution to The European Tour is incalculable. His vision, passion and reservoir of knowledge established the foundations that we enjoy today and, like Colin, he has enthusiastically supported and taken enormous joy from Europe’s recent triumphs in The Ryder Cup.”

The accomplishments of both Montgomerie and Schofield have been recognized around the world.

"Ken and Colin are truly worthy of induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame,” said Mike Davis, USGA Executive Director and chairman of the World Golf Foundation Board of Directors. “These two men played huge roles in golf's international development in the late 20th century. Ken provided more opportunities for top players to compete around the world, while Colin took advantage of these opportunities and set an unmatched standard of prolonged excellence on The European Tour."

I'm guessing that was as torturous to write as it was to read.

“Colin Montgomerie and Ken Schofield are outstanding ambassadors of the game,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “Each has made vital contributions to golf’s global expansion.

Vital!

Colin’s achievements on The European Tour and the Ryder Cup have gained him fans worldwide, while Ken’s tireless work during his time at The European Tour created new innovations and tremendous international growth. Congratulations to both Colin and Ken on this well-deserved honor.”

Montgomerie dominated The European Tour in the 1990s, finishing Number One seven times in succession from 1993 and then capturing another Harry Vardon Trophy in 2005. The Scot turned professional in 1987, following his second Walker Cup appearance, and won 31 European Tour titles – a record by a British player – including three successive PGA Championships at Wentworth Club and, in total, 40 tournaments worldwide.

In eight successive Ryder Cup appearances from 1991, Montgomerie created a remarkable record of being unbeaten in the singles with a 6-0-2 mark, in addition to winning 9 1/2 points from 14 foursomes and 7 points from 14 fourballs.  He then went on to captain the European Team, which regained The Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, South Wales, in 2010.

Montgomerie, who received the MBE in 1998 and then the OBE in the 2005 New Year’s Honours List, will be eligible to compete on the European Senior Tour when he celebrates his 50th birthday on June 23 next year.

“It is a wonderful surprise to hear that I will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame next year,” Montgomerie said.

He's so modest.

“I know I am very fortunate to have enjoyed such a successful career playing the game I love and it makes me feel very proud that my achievements have been recognized in this way. While my eight Order of Merit wins were very special, as everyone knows my Ryder Cup experiences have provided the very best moments in my career and receiving this great honor is the icing on the cake. I am delighted that my dear friend Ken Schofield’s notable contribution to European golf will also be recognized at next year’s Ceremony and I look forward to sharing this special occasion with him.”

You know how I begged Golf Channel to televise the speeches live? Rescinded. This'll be the longest night ever!

Schofield became First Secretary and Executive Director of The European Tour on Jan. 1, 1975, succeeding John Jacobs. When he took the helm, The European Tour comprised 17 official events with an official prize fund of €599,084. When he retired at the end of 2004, there were 45 official events with official prize money of £106,010,654, in addition to 29 European Challenge Tour events and 21 European Senior Tour events. Schofield initiated global expansion for the game when he took The European Tour outside of the European continent for the first time in 1982 with the playing of the Tunisian Open. That began a structure whereby the Tour positioned itself internationally – co-sanctioned tournaments with other Tours now total 164 since the inaugural one in South Africa in 1995 – with more opportunity and incentive for the players in first the major championships then the World Golf Championships.

Since his retirement Schofield, born and raised in Perthshire, Scotland, where he became, at 23, Scotland’s youngest bank manager, has become an integral part of The Golf Channel’s broadcast team at The Ryder Cup and major championships. He also served for five years as President of The Golf Foundation, of which a founding member was Hall of Fame member Sir Henry Cotton, prior to being succeeded by Montgomerie. He is also on the board of several companies and organizations and was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 1996.

Oh, a CBE in the Queen's 1996 Birthday Honours List? I think half the country was on that list!

And the voting...

World Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2013
International Ballot Results
 
Candidate                                 Voting Results (%)
Colin Montgomerie                    51 %
Graham Marsh                           34
Ian Woosnam                            21
Padraig Harrington                    19
Retief Goosen                           18

Winning two majors never has had the same cache as those superhuman Orders of Merit!

Norman von Nida                      15
Max Faulkner                            7
Darren Clarke                            5
Miguel Angel Jimenez               2

AT&T SVP: We Want A Non-Profit Architect For Our $150,000 Membership Course In Dallas

AT&T Senior Vice President Ron Spears, heading up the Trinity Forest project in South Dallas that hopes to get some government breaks and host the Byron Nelson someday, is insisting that architects and the project manager of the new semi-private club in south Dallas work on a non-profit basis.

Why?

Because they've lumped a First Tee onto the project and the club is a non-profit.

Rudolph Bush in the Dallas Morning News reports the remarks from Spears.

“No one gets to make a profit out of this. That’s been our intent from the beginning in the way we thought about putting it all together.” Spears said. “This is a not-for-profit in every way.”

So sweet hearing a corporate officer preach the gospel of non-profiteering! And...

Senior officials at AT&T and SMU have not yet selected an architect or project manager. But Spears said he is making it clear to anyone who wants to be involved that they can cover their time and costs and nothing else.

“If you don’t buy into the mission of the club, then it may not be the club for you,” he said. “This is not something for a bunch of rich people. We’re trying to do something good for the city of Dallas, for the kids of South Dallas and to help SMU bring a national championship to Dallas.”

And the First Tee of course is at the heart of this plan...

Spears, though, indicated that the club is intended to operate in a more open and inclusive way than many of the exclusive private courses that host professional golf’s most prestigious tournaments.

The inclusion of First Tee of Dallas will help ensure that, he said.

And that’s going to be attractive to architects and project managers who Spears has already spoken to, he said.

“People are looking at it and saying, ‘I really want to get involved in something for a change that is not just a bunch of guys with lots of money building a toy for themselves,’” he said.

And how, with $150,000 memberships for the "semi-private" club, is this not a bunch of guys with money building a toy for themselves?

Thankfully, Spears and friends will pay and pay dearly for this approach.

They won't get an architect who works on the Coore/Crenshaw model of a modest fee while paying for their shaping team which works in lieu of a primary contractor.

Instead, AT&T will get an architect who puts together big pretty plans, announces he'll work for free because his life is devoted to charity as said architect then creates an arrangement with a contractor or requires the use of his preferred contractor, making his money through a side deal. Sadly, this arrangement was all too common in the Roaring 90s and led to costly change orders that only enriched the architects further.

Ultimately, assuming the quality architects demand their very reasonable fee, Trinity Forest will go the way of so many others and leave Dallas with an overbuilt, over-budget, underwhelming mess.

NCAA's Championships Coming To Golf Channel!

Let's face it, college golf has been largely irrelevant because its championships aren't on television. Sad, but true.

That's finally changing, as the television-friendly team-match play format (mens) will finally be coming to Golf Channel in 2014, and the women will start in 2015. Too late to have seen Riviera and University of Texas' thrilling win, but Prairie Dunes will be hosting in 2014.

For Immediate Release...

NCAA DIVISION I GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS COMING TO GOLF CHANNEL
 
Men’s Golf Championships Coverage Begins in 2014, Followed by Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships in 2015
 
Golf Channel to Complement Tournament Action with Ancillary Programming and Comprehensive News Coverage On-air and Online
 
ORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 17, 2012) – Golf Channel and the NCAA jointly announced today the return of the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships to television beginning in 2014 with the Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Prairie Dunes Country Club, in Hutchinson, Kan. The announcement was made today by Mark Lewis, NCAA Executive Vice President of Championships and Alliances and Mike McCarley, President of Golf Channel. As the fastest growing network in television in the U.S. with distribution to 140 million homes across 83 countries and territories around the world, Golf Channel will present these marquee NCAA golf championships to a worldwide audience via all its media platforms.
 
“This is the culmination of a collaborative effort between a lot of individuals over a long period of time, including the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Committees,” said Mark Lewis, NCAA Executive Vice President of Championships and Alliances. “We are excited for our men’s and women’s golf student-athletes to gain additional exposure and for the fans of the sport to be able to see up close what makes these championships so special. Partnering with the Golf Channel made perfect sense for us and we appreciate their commitment in helping to grow the audience for the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships.”
 
“We are committed to covering all facets of the game of golf and this new partnership with the NCAA will be the centerpiece of our broader commitment to covering the collegiate game,” said Golf Channel President Mike McCarley. “We look forward to introducing our viewers to the future stars of the game and tapping into the tremendous passion collegiate fans have for their schools.”
 
Golf Channel is scheduled to air three days of action from the 2014 men’s championship. Hosted by Wichita State University, the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship will feature the top collegiate golfers in America and the game’s future stars. Beginning with 30 teams and six student-athletes competing over 54 holes, an individual champion will be crowned before the top eight teams advance to the final three rounds of match play competition for the team championship.
 
Through a multi-year partnership with the NCAA, Golf Channel will air tournament action from both the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships beginning in 2015. The 2015 championships are scheduled to be contested at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla., and hosted by the University of South Florida. The 2015 championships will mark the first time since 1997 the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship will air live on television.

Who won that year? Oh right, Pepperdine!

Tiger's 2012 Assessment Of Tiger, Edgar's Dinner Speech

TigerWoods.com lands the exclusive year-end wrap-up by Tiger Woods where the buried lede was the news of his Foundation taking over management of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Oh, and of course, Tiger's immense joy upon hearing the news of Tom Watson's Ryder Cup captaincy.

But the best part was Tiger's posting of the emotional Edgar Perez speech that we'd heard about during the World Challenge this year. This ought to motivate you...

Guy Who Erected Dinosaurs: "I would prefer to have Peter Senior than Tiger Woods."

The dinosaur thing was cute as was the locking out of tournament officials on the eve of the tournament, but now resort owner Clive Palmer tells Brent Read in a wide-ranging and completely disastrous Q&A that even if he gets the Australian PGA back next year (he won't), Tiger would not be his first choice.

But at least he lays the groundwork for Tiger to entertain the idea….

"Tiger Woods isn't the No 1 golfer in the world any more," Palmer said. "We don't want to look backwards, we want to look forwards. So why would you get Tiger Woods here? I would prefer to have Peter Senior than Tiger Woods.

"I am sure Peter Senior could beat Tiger Woods on a good day. I am sure he could.

"Tiger Woods has improved a lot but he's an emotional wreck and he's not a good example for kids, anyway."

As for McIlroy, Palmer said: "If you rang him now he would probably tell you unless it's at Palmer Coolum Resort, I won't come.

"We can be sure he won't come if it goes somewhere else."