New R&A Chief Makes Growing The Game His Focus; Could Start By Helping Out The Pete Cowen's Of The World

Alistair Tait reports that incoming R&A Chief Martin Slumbers, who takes over this fall for Peter Dawson, is already beating the grow the game drum.

Don't worry, he'll learn soon enough. In the meantime...

“I think we have to get back to grassroots. We have to find something that appeals to different generations. I think the answer for under 15- to 20-year-olds is going to be different than the answer for 30- to 40-year-olds is going to be different than the answer for 50- to 60-year-olds.

“Absolutely I think the R&A can help. What we want to make sure is we help the unions, help the PGA, do everything we can, use the benefits of the commercial success of the Open and really work to go, over a number of years, find a series of solutions that get people wanting to play this game."

Mr. Slumbers need not look far: The Daily Mail's Derek Lawrenson opens his weekly column with a look at the struggles of noted instructor and all-around nice guy Pete Cowen, who has developed many top golfing talents.

Cowen's Rotherham-based academy hosts all kinds of aspiring players, from disabled children to elite amateurs, but has been broken into recently and faces funding issues.

Picture a British tennis coach so good he pulled off the equivalent of tutoring the top three the last time The Open was staged at St Andrews. This is a man whose teaching skills are so respected 11 of the 12 players who contributed to Europe’s Ryder Cup victory at Gleneagles last year were coached or asked for his help at some point. The untold largesse the Lawn Tennis Association would lavish in his direction.

In golf? ‘I’ve been in touch with the various bodies but when you ask for help it falls on deaf ears, unfortunately,’ says Cowen. ‘I’m not looking for any massive handouts. I don’t think you produce great sportsmen and women that way. But we do need a helping hand.

‘My fear is golf is dying at grassroots level. If places like mine are forced to close, what hope is there?’

Sounds like a perfect place for the R&A to spend its new Sky money!

Oh and on that topic, it seems Slumbers' predecessor and mentor for the next six months, Chief Inspector Peter Dawson, has been hearing from his constituents about leaving the BBC for Sky.

In a roundtable with reporters, Dawson suggested the BBC did not even make a final offer (or cynics might suggest the Beeb saw where things were headed and didn't want to help drive up the price).

James Corrigan reports on this and the hate-mail received by Dawson.

“We have had plenty of hate mail, mostly from people who clearly haven’t read our rules regarding etiquette judging by the intemperate language they contained,” Dawson said here at the R&A clubhouse.

“It is a natural reaction for people to be upset, but when you analyse the two bids we received, they shouldn’t be. If they could see what those bids involved, everyone would have made the same decision that we reached.”

Everyone! He will be missed.

Ewan Murray of The Guardian noted Dawson's stance that moving from BBC to Sky would not in any way matter with regards to the state of the game, and sadly, Dawson probably is right. Though I can picture some serious jaw-clenching as he says this...

“I think it is actually borderline absurd at this stage to suggest that, given where we are at in golf and broadcasting, four days of the Open is going to make a dramatic difference in participation in itself,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the case, frankly."

But as The Scotsman's Martin Dempster writes, Dawson also contradicted himself in defending the BBC's decision.

He was asked if the BBC had lost interest in golf due to the game losing some of its appeal, a fact backed up by a drop in both participation and membership numbers. “I think it’s certainly something that crosses one’s mind from time to time. I think BBC, as anyone does, has to make choices as to their priorities,” replied Dawson. “I think it’s down to the economics of it all and the commercial pressures that free-to-air TV is under.”

Lawrenson, in his column also took on the R&A's stance after surveying golfers.

Rarely in 30 years writing about golf can I recall an announcement provoking the depth of anger that has followed the Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s decision to take live coverage of The Open away from the BBC.

Indeed, you’d probably have more luck finding business CEOs who support Ed Miliband than golfers who think our leaders have got this one right. I’ve had emails from readers asking me to organise petitions, even a boycott of this year’s Open at St Andrews.

At my local club on Saturday, the verdict was unanimous. ‘Even my friends who are R&A members think it’s a dreadful decision,’ said one influential member, who really would know plenty of R&A types.

Meanwhile, as Brian Keogh notes based on a radio interview Peter Alliss gave today, this year's Open may be the last for the announcing great.

A-Listers Beware: Fox Showing Weekday Coverage In Prime Time

Mike Reynolds reports on Fox's ambitious plans for U.S.G.A. event coverage and in particular, the U.S. Open. The news coincided with Fox's launch at the USGA annual meeting at the hotel of the people, the Waldorf Astoria. (Brad Klein with notes on the weekend.)

While the coverage time is up about only three hours for the U.S. Open over NBC/ESPN (who were on seemingly all day) with Fox Sports 1 showing golf from noon to 8 pm ET, the real eye-opener is Fox's plan to air three hours Thursday and Friday in east coast prime time (8 pm to 11 pm). NBC used to come on weekday afternoons to show a few hours of marquee players.

This means a "11.5 of the 22.5 hours scheduled for Fox will air in primetime," according to Reynolds.

Generally, the late wave of play at west coast US Opens has consisted of qualifiers and the trash crews. Galleries are thin and volunteers often outnumber fans. By 8 pm PT the A-listers are off having dinner and most of the media has moved on, while sensible spectators left hours before. And with a 17-mile spectator shuttle ride for all, the masses will be long gone even if Bobby Jones came back from the dead to qualify and is out on the course.

Yet with Fox (the big network) going live from the U.S. Open Thursday/Friday for prime time and the network paying handsomely for the privilege, this would seem to force the USGA to go with elite pairings very late in the day. It's hard to imagine Fox showing qualifiers on the big network on a Thursday night. But stranger things have happened.

The full U.S. Open broadcast schedule:

R.I.P. Billy Casper

One of the game's all-time greats-particularly with a putter--has passed. Billy Casper was 83. While I never saw him play in his prime, the three-time major winner and 51-time PGA Tour winner displayed his controlled hook with grace and precision on the Senior Tour where he was a 9-time winner.

Tod Leonard, of Casper's native San Diego, on the legend's passing.

In an email, Bob Casper said his father had suffered from pneumonia after Thanksgiving, spent five weeks in the hospital and then returned home. He was doing rehabilitation four days a week, but last Thursday became weak.

“He went downhill quick,” Bob Casper said. “It was quick. But he didn’t have any pain. It was peaceful.”

The AP’s obituary, by Doug Ferguson.

The New York Times' obituary, by Richard Goldstein.

Jaime Diaz’s Golf World feature on Casper prior to the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.

Rex Hoggard on Casper's legacy in golf, including one remarkable stretch.

Dubbed “the most underrated golfer of all time” by Johnny Miller, Casper’s 27 Tour victories from 1964 to ’70 topped every player during that timeframe, including Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.

Jack Nicklaus took to Facebook to remember his friend. Just part of the statement:

“Billy Casper was one of the greatest family men—be it inside the game of golf or out—I have had the fortunate blessing to meet. He had such a wonderful balance to his life. Golf was never the most important thing in Billy’s life—family was. There was always much more to Billy Casper than golf. But as a golfer, Billy was a fantastic player, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for being one. I have said many times that during my career, when I looked up at a leaderboard, I wasn’t just looking to see where a Palmer or a Player or a Trevino was. I was also checking to see where Billy Casper was.

Here's a fairly recent clip of Casper telling David Feherty how even Tour Players are unaware if his accomplishments.

Update on 2015-02-08 18:43 by Geoff

**Golf Channel's obit narrated by Rich Lerner, which aired today on Golf Central with follow-up talk (in lieu of Farmers Insurance Open talk).

Update on 2015-02-08 23:56 by Geoff

**Michael Bamberger writing for golf.com:

He will be missed throughout golf, a gentle man who welcomed questions on any subject and who never seemed to be in hurry for anything. He will be especially missed at Augusta. During the Masters, he would have long lunches on the upstairs clubhouse veranda, in his green coat -- 50L would be a generous guess -- surrounded by friends and many family members. Casper and his wife, Shirley, who survives him, had 11 children, six of whom were adopted. Casper was a devout Mormon, a proponent of the health benefits of eating buffalo meat, and a successful businessman. He started a golf-course management company, Billy Casper Golf, that operates well over 100 golf courses.

Golf Channel will re-air Feherty featuring Casper on Monday at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET.