The State Of The Donald

His helicopter will be strategically parked and he'll be conspicuously present this week at Doral (as well as next week for another PGA of America-related announcement), so Steve DiMeglio takes stock of Donald Trump the golf course developer.

As I told John Patrick's radio show today, love him or hate him, The Donald has an entertainer's sensibility and seems to do a nice job reminding the PGA Tour that they are, in fact, supposed to be entertaining.

Even Commissioner Moonbeam is a fan...

Trump started building courses using some of the game's best architects. Then in 2008 when the market crashed, he started buying up existing golf properties and rebuilding them.

"I've always liked to say I'm a plus 10 (handicap) at building," Trump says.

He says he has no plans to expand his golf portfolio unless the right deal comes along. Such as the 800-acre Doral resort, which he snapped up out of bankruptcy in 2012 for $150 million. Trump pumped $250 million into a tired-looking resort in need of restoration, refurbishing the 643 guest rooms, updating a 48,000-square-foot spa and rebuilding and touching up 90 holes of golf, including the 18 of the famed Blue Monster course the PGA Tour stars will tackle this week.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem says Trump is leaving a lasting mark on the sport.

"He has found a successful formula in purchasing wonderful properties like Trump National Doral Miami and then teaming with respected designers like Gil Hanse to bring these courses to their true potential," Finchem says.

The Annual Most Overpaid Golf Association Executives List

The March Golf Digest features Ron Sirak's annual look at the 50 biggest wage earners in golf. But of more interest are the concrete numbers listing executive salaries. Most are based of 501c-3 filings and while coming from 2013 means we miss out on some newer execs or leaps last year, you get the idea at the excess, waste and occasional golden parachutery.

Congrats to Joe Steranka for a 6&5 win over Dick Rugge in the Going Away Package Classic, while Zink and Moorhouse continue to collect generous pay for telling Commissioner Farquaad what a great job he's doing. And that David Pillsbury makes more money than Mike Whan or Mike Davis or Mike the cartboy at TPC Sawgrass is just plain wrong.

Video: ESPN's Getting Us In The Masters Mood

Nice look inside the clubhouse from ESPN, set to comments from players and including a rare glimpse inside the Champions Locker Room.

Television does not do justice to the intimacy of the holy grail of golfing locker rooms...but who cares, we're only a four weeks away from the Drive, Chip & Putt.

Bears Club Fine For MJ; Exclusive Video Of Meeting With Jack

Tim Rosaforte reported in his Golf World video diary that Michael Jordan texted him to clear the air regarding his plans to build what the Jupiter market so desperately needs: an ultra-exclusive golf club.

MJ confirms he's interviewing architects, with Tom Doak as the leading candidate to design the course, Rosaforte reports. The NBA legend mostly wanted to deny that pace of play at Jack Nicklaus' Bears Club is driving him away.

However, my sources suggest Jordan was called into Mr. Nicklaus' office at Bears Club and the two had a healthy discussion about the claims in golf.com's original report, even sharing a Fresca to break the ice. Here's the exclusively obtained footage:

R.I.P. Jay Morrish

Golf Course Industry's Pat Jones reports that the golf architect known for his work as a Jack Nicklaus associate and later for his highly successful partnership with Tom Weiskopf, has passed away.

Post by Pat Jones.

Update on 2015-03-03 16:25 by Geoff

**The ASGCA's remembrance of a former association president.

Update on 2015-03-04 16:35 by Geoff

**Ron Whitten remembers Morrish fondly and talks to former design partner Tom Weiskopf who said their courses had never needed changing.

I had to challenge Tom on that last statement.  After all, he'd just spent much of 2014 rebuilding every hole at TPC Scottsdale, an early Morrish and Weiskopf flagship design.

"That was a result of technology," he said. "When you have the world's best golfers playing a course every year, you'd got to keep it competitive. But its basic structure was still sound. We didn't change that."

Fox Wants AT&T U-Verse To Pay More To Show USGA Events

Variety's Brian Steinberg reports that Fox Sports 1 and AT&T U-Verse are in a battle that may cost the cable server's 6 million homes a chance to watch eight USGA events.

At issue is Fox Sports 1 adding many rights (fees) that did not exist prior to the last agreement with AT&T, so Fox is threatening not to beam, say, the USGA Four-Ball and other recently acquired packages like NASCAR to AT&T U-Verse customers. The blackout of select content provides a new twist in the various cable company spats with content providers.

In the current fight, Fox Sports 1 is trying to get paid for programming that was not in place when its carriage deal with AT&T was established. Nascar signed a new deal in 2013 that moved its events to Fox and NBC from Walt Disney’s ESPN and Time Warner’s Turner Sports for this year. Many of the other events at the center of the new dispute were also added to Fox Sports 1 after it secured carriage rights.

AT&T U-verse has approximately 6 million subscribers, according to market research firm SNL Kagan.

Fox Sports 1 said it had made “attempts to negotiate an agreement that extends to these events.” Unless each side’s stance changes, U-verse subscribers may miss out on a Nascar race tomorrow.

And the U.S. Junior Amateur!

Fox Sports signed a 12-year (12 years!) rights deal with the USGA in August, 2013, but this is the first time since handing the USGA a lavish sum that there has been any sign of squeezing cable companies for the privilege of showing USGA championships. Something tells me the AT&T folks aren't going to budge on this one for a while.