PGA Tour Pulling Out All The Presidents Cup Stops: Kenny G Enlisted For Another Sunday Night Property Evacuation

Calling on one of the more brilliant operational ploys in sports venue management history, the PGA Tour will again call on Kenny G to begin ushering fans off of the Muirfield Village property following Sunday's Presidents Cup play but before the Closing Ceremony.

In other words, he's been brought in to give the players and dignitaries time to make their nineteenth wardrobe change of the week.

Used to great property-clearing effect at The Players in 2007, G will lean upon his indecipherably different renditions of Songbird, My Heart Will Go On and close his set with smooth jazz-infused rendition of the Ohio State fight song Battle Cry.

Kenny G to perform in The Presidents Cup Fan Experience prior to Closing Ceremony


DUBLIN, Ohio (October 1, 2013) – The long, anticipated wait is over and The Presidents Cup week officially began this morning with gates opening to the public at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.  While there is much to do, see and celebrate over the next six days, tournament officials are pleased to unveil plans for Closing Ceremony on Sunday, October 6.  In addition to marking the official close of the event, fans will be treated to a performance by Grammy-Award-winning saxophonist Kenny G prior to the introduction of the teams.

The Kenny G performance and Closing Ceremony will be held in The Presidents Cup Fan Experience, which offers fans and local residents a place to enjoy food and beverages, entertainment, shopping and a variety of interactive displays throughout tournament week. The Presidents Cup Fan Experience is located on approximately 3 acres just outside the main gates at Muirfield Village Golf Club and is open to the public, with no ticket required.  Parking is free at the Columbus Zoo and Gardens with a free shuttle to the Fan Experience.

Shark Shrieks About Lost Prez Cup Captaincy, Rolex To Blame?

Even though it was just time for some new blood in Greg Norman parlance, the Great White Shark has opened up about not getting the "real reason" from sparring partner Tim Finchem over being replaced as Presidents Cup Captain. The Shark calls it "extremely disappointing."

Robert Lusetich documents all of the whinging, which includes a conspiratorial angle related to the living icon's watch deal.

Norman, who was sponsored by Rolex, became public enemy No. 1 when he departed for Omega. Not just because he left but because Rolex believes he has used his contacts to usher Omega into golf, a sport that had largely been Rolex domain.

You know, sometimes I just feel so detached from the First World. Go on...

Rolex remains the official timekeeper of the PGA Tour and the Presidents Cup.

Last summer, after Omega replaced Rolex as the official timekeeper of the Ryder Cup at Medinah, Norman was told he wasn’t needed to play in the pro-am for the Senior British Open at Turnberry — where he won one of his two majors, in 1986 — and was asked to leave the room at a Rolex-sponsored press conference.

“Look, I know that Rolex is a corporate partner of the PGA Tour and there’s been some speculation I’ve heard that that was the reason why (he was replaced),” he said.

“If that’s right, then all I can say is that it’s really pathetic.

“The other sad part about it is that nobody has reached out to me or any of my past team and asked us what we thought would be good changes to make, or ideas we might have had about the Presidents Cup.

“We were just completely cut off."

State Of The Game Podcast 28: Judy Rankin

Judy Rankin is a 26-time winner on the LPGA Tour, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame as a player, and if there was ever a golf broadcasting wing, she'd be inducted again for her eloquence, class and succinct appraisals that set the standard for on-course reporting.

Judy kindly spent more than hour with the State of the Game podcast to talk about her career, the LPGA Tour, golf broadcasting and of course, the state of the game.

You can listen via MP3 here. Or to past shows the same where via this page. And the iTunes option for all past shows, or this week's episode to listen/subscribe.

Update on 2013-10-01 18:05 by Geoff

**And while we're in podcast mode, here's my chat with Josh LaBell and Adam Fonseca on the Dimplehead golfer podcast about the Presidents Cup.

Jordan, Schmordan: Hideki Matsuyama Makes Prez Cup Debut

Jordan Spieth's first professional team competition will be analyzed to death, as it should for the impressive upstart and captain's pick.

But as Sean Martin notes, the International squad has a 21-year-old phenom in Hideki Matsuyama who has great finishes in the Masters and Open Championship on his resume and is every bit as talented.

Matsuyama's performance at some of the game's biggest tournaments confirms Maruyama's assessment. Matsuyama occasionally wears a logo depicting a cartoon penguin with half of an egg shell atop its head. It's the logo of the Tohoku Fukushi golf team; the head coach, Yasuhiko Abe, selected it because of penguins' patience and perseverance in trying conditions. He wants his team to display similar fortitude. Abe is a short, stocky man with a crew-cut haircut; he coached baseball before becoming Tohoku Fukushi's golf coach. He calls Matsuyama a “fighter” and a “bulldog.”

Said International Team Captain Nick Price, “He’s obviously got big-game temperament, no doubt. Playing the way he did at the U.S. Open and British Open as a rookie was simply amazing.”

Matsuyama will be tested in another big arena this week. He's the only player at the Presidents Cup who hasn’t previously completed at Muirfield Village.

"What will fewer star appearances mean for the PGA Tour and its smaller events?"

Nice SI/golf.com Confidential today with this especially sharp discussion on the trend of stars playing less as the tour adds more.

Gary Van Sickle and Joe Passov with two vital points:

VAN SICKLE: The PGA Tour continues to eat its young. The World Golf Championships made the lower-level Tour stops seem less, then the FedEx Cup made the WGC and all the regular stops seem less. Plus the FedEx Cup "playoffs" killed the summer schedule. Players are forced to play seven of 11 weeks from the U.S. Open on (two majors, four FedEx Cup, one WGC), thus making every other date on the schedule unattractive to the top players, and therefore to potential sponsors. “Less is more” sounds like a snappy argument unless you're out of the top 50 and suddenly can play only 22 events instead of 32. It's an alarming trend.

PASSOV: If he skips smaller, Tiger-less events such as Humana, L.A., Houston and St. Jude, they're in trouble. Here in Phoenix, where we have been without Tiger since 2001, we always say, "But at least we have Phil." Nobody moves the needle like Tiger, but Lefty is a healthy second.

Video: All Of W's Walker Cup Opening Ceremony Speech

Those who were there still remember it, but for those who couldn't be at the Walker Cup, the USGA has posted all of George W. Bush's opening ceremony speech.

You can watch it here.

St. Andrews Record Ad Asks Peter Dawson About Changing His Views On Altering The Old Course

Thanks to the reader who sent in this image of an ad in Thursday's St. Andrews Record calling out R&A Chief Inspector Peter Dawson for his reversal on Old Course changes.

The full text:

“Because of the history of the Old Course, moving hazards is not the option it would be at many other places. You simply can’t move a bunker here or there on the Old Course. All that leaves is to move tees. The course has proved many times that it is subtle enough to provide a strong challenge. We are not trying to change the character of the course…” 22 02 2005

Mr Dawson, why have you changed your mind?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/4292635.stm

The course is currently hosting the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with Phase 2 of the R&A mandated changes set to begin this winter. Though there have been indications that support is not unanimous for going forward with some of those changes.