More Stroke Play! PGA Tour Adds "The CJ Cup" In South Korea

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I held out hope that the PGA Tour adding an event in Korea with "cup" in the title might give us something to get excited about. Instead it's following the same old script beyond the massively unsustainable ($9.25 million) purse: limited 78-player field, 72-holes of stroke play.

The CJ Cup "@" Nine Bridges does bring us closer to our first tournament title including an Emoji in the title, and as far away as possible from a format that will inspire interest. It also just adds more clutter to the fall wraparound that isn't working well for players or fans, as we discussed on Morning Drive.

From the PGA Tour release on what we first learned about last week from Doug Ferguson, only with not as many CAPS.

THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES will feature a field of 78 players, with 60 coming from the PGA TOUR FedExCup points list. The remaining players, with many of the best Korean players represented, will come from a number of different exemptions to be named at a later date.

“This announcement is a historic landmark for the PGA TOUR as we add another tournament in Asia. We had such a phenomenal experience in Korea last year at The Presidents Cup, and we hoped an official, permanent event in this great country would be the result of that success,” said Monahan. “Partnering with a respected business leader like the CJ Corporation means this tournament will be on the Korean sports landscape for years to come. We have a tremendous population of Korean golfers on the PGA TOUR, and we anticipate that will continue as THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES inspires a new generation of players, not only in Korea, but also around the world.”

And...

The 72-hole tournament will feature competition Thursday through Sunday, with a pro-am on the Wednesday of tournament week. The host site of the tournament will be announced at a later date.

“The addition of  THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES to our schedule gives us three strong tournaments in consecutive weeks in Asia, and they will play a significant role in shaping the early part of the FedExCup season and the FedExCup chase overall,” Monahan continued. “The CJ Group is well-trusted and highly valued in the global marketplace. We couldn’t be happier to partner with such a strong, vibrant company that taps into the lives of consumers worldwide through food and food service, bio pharmaceuticals, homeshopping and logistics, entertainment and media, and now golf.

“South Korea is a beautiful country with a rich golf tradition,” Monahan added. “Many of our players who have been to the country already know that, and those who haven’t are in for a treat. The fact that valuable FedExCup points will be offered only enhances this tournament’s position on our schedule.”

As long as the Nine Bridges folks aren't hoping for big ratings, the event should succeed though prove utterly unremarkable beyond the purse.

Last week's CIMB Classic drew dismal ratings for the first three rounds (here, here, here) with the usual competition (baseball, football) and unusual (debate coverage) drawing viewers elsewhere.

Would a different tournament format boost audience sizes into six-figures? Probably not, but we'll never know apparently, either.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie Files: Tiger and His Stanford Regret

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During Tiger's rebranding/Foundation 20th media tour, he understandably didn't have much to talk about given the state of his game. This unfortunately led to the strange comment of only having one regret: leaving Stanford with two years of eligibility remaining.

This opened the door for this analysis of the many reasons Woods had no choice but to flee Stanford. From GolfDigest.com's John Strege, who closely covered Tiger's junior and college career and said the comments "ring hollow".

1. The NCAA’s influence. It began when he was a high school sophomore and had accepted an offer of an honorary membership at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach. The NCAA was concerned that Woods might be jeopardizing his college eligibility. The NCAA eventually ruled that that there was not a rules violation.

Once Woods started at Stanford, several NCAA conflicts or potential conflicts arose, among them: Writing diaries for magazines from his first Masters appearance, warranting a one-day suspension; using, in the same Masters, balls and equipment not provided by the university in potential violation of rules. “If you look at this situation objectively,” his father Earl said, “this is the perfect opportunity for Tiger to say, ‘kiss my yin, yang’ and leave school.”

Woods also was suspended briefly for having lunch with Arnold Palmer at the Silverado Resort and allowing Palmer to pay for it. “I don’t need this. It’s annoying,” he said.

Tiger was also mugged by someone who knew his name, reason enough for most of us to get out of Palo Alto!

The SI/golf.com gang kicked the topic around in this week's Tour Confidential and if you can handle the constantly wiggling web page, the discussion is interesting. From Gary Van Sickle:

VAN SICKLE: Tiger isn't delusional, he's utterly competitive. What's delusional is that he regrets leaving Stanford, where he was mugged at knifepoint on campus by someone who knew his name, and that he could've possibly remained eligible for NCAA or amateur golf after his first two years and all that went on. Other than that, it was close to the vest and, to be honest, kind of a snooze despite Rose's best efforts.

Lions Muny Gets Endangered Places Landmark, Still Needs Help

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Jenni Lee of KVUE reports on the dedication ceremony bequeathing official national endangered status on Lions Municipal. The course land is owned by the University of Texas, the former football power mired in another rough season, which wants to turn the historic course into a mixed-use development.

Among those turning out where golfers who enjoyed the links thanks to integration and affordability.

Such rich history is the reason Muny was added to the National Register of Historic Places in July.

But it was also added to the list of Most Endangered Historic Places earlier this month. The University of Texas Board of Regents wants to shut down Muny when its lease expires in 2019 and replace it with a mixed-use development.

"Here we go again," said Mary Arnold, a member of the group Save Muny.

This is the third time 81-year-old Mary Arnold is fighting UT. The university’s Board of Regents has already sold off acres of the donated Brackenridge tract of land for development twice before.

A stone lion has been greeting visitors at Muny since 1924. Supporters hope it sticks around.

I would argue that the fight for Lions is important in establishing the vitality of city-center golf courses as green spaces, but when they are in deteriorated shape, they become more expendable. One more reason we need a serious program restoring important public courses and WPA project links.

A video from KVUE's reporting on the ceremony:

Repot: Dick's Sporting Goods Wins Golfsmith Bankruptcy Auction, Loves Golf Again!

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By winning the Golfsmith auction, Jessica DiNapoli of Reuters says Dick's Sporting Goods will become the leading golf retailer based on number of stores (it may already be now).

Pending bankruptcy judge approval, DiNapoli says:

Dick's plans to keep open at least 30 Golfsmith stores and wind down the rest with liquidators from Hilco Global and Tiger Capital Group, the people said. It plans to keep about 500 of the company's employees.

Golfsmith had 109 stores in the United States at the time of its bankruptcy filing last month, and has been closing stores since then.

With the bid, Dick's, the largest U.S. sporting goods retailer, also won Golfsmith's intellectual property and inventory, the people added, asking not to be identified because the results of the auction are not yet public.

Mike Stachura of GolfDigest.com notes Dick's bullish attitude towards golf continues after the retailer gave indications that it saw golf as in "structural decline" and layed off its professional fitters not long after buying into Mark King and Adidas' Taylor Made vision of three new driver releases in one year.

Now, it looks like Dick's Sporting Goods, whose sporting goods store model is megasized but its Golf Galaxy brand model is a more conservative sized store, will be dictating a big part of golf's retail footprint going forward.

Flashback: When Bjorn Wasn’t Captain Woosnam’s Biggest Fan

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You know Thomas Bjorn is in full Ryder Cup captaincy campaign mode when he's congratulating old ("barmy") pal Ian Woosnam on his newfound World Golf Hall Of Fame status.

It's been a decade, but James Corrigan's story on Bjorn lashing out at then-Captain Woosnam from a decade ago makes for enjoyable reading, including the jab about not being burdened "with too many leadership qualities."

Amazingly, the issue was primarily over Lee Westwood getting a captain's pick with little-to-no consideration for Bjorn and others. How times haven't changed!

"So far his captaincy has been the most pathetic I have ever seen," said the 35-year-old, who is one of the European Tour's most respected players, and who is extremely popular throughout the Ryder Cup team room. "The man is barmy - to be captain and not communicate with a team or those in contention at all. I haven't spoken to him for six months, and then I find that I'm not in the team by watching it on television. How can that be right?"

This was nice too...

"I haven't heard a word off him for half a year, and I've spoken to several players who are on the team, and have been for a long time, and they haven't either," he said. "What sort of captaincy is that? I have lost all respect for him. My relationship with him is completely dead and will remain so. This will be the first time I don't even watch the Ryder Cup on television, and you don't know how sad that is, given how much I care for that tournament. I desperately want the 12 players to be a success, but I want them to do it in spite of the captain."

Ahhhh...but all is well now...that someone wants to be captain!

"Possibilities abound for South Shore-Jackson Park golf course"

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The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein considers the possible South Shore-Jackson Park-Obama-Woods-Keiser-Rolfing project on the South Side and gives it an endorsement, seeing plenty of potential "greatness," assuming green fees for the locals do not go up substantially.

The project has been a dream of Rolfing's that has taken an intriguing turn with the possible inclusion of Tiger Woods and now, the Obama library. I hate seeing the dreadful TPC Harding Park redesign--a massive cost overrun boondoggle with dreadful architectural results--as a precedent setter, but Greenstein notes the green fees have at least held steady:

That's what officials did at TPC Harding Park, the San Francisco course that was transformed into a facility worthy of the 2009 Presidents Cup. Senior residents of the city can play the 18 holes from Monday-Thursday for $39, about one-fourth of the standard rate.

Rolfing also wants to design a "short course" in the vein of what Harding Park has — nine holes ranging from 140-405 yards

Tiger No Shows Galore But Makes Time For Colbert, Rose!?

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It’s a sorry state of affairs, and I want to sympathize with Tiger's swing and injury issues, but celebrating the 20th anniversary of his fine Foundation and the not-so-fine launch of his rebranding with appearances on Colbert and Charlie Rose? Strange timing.

It's not a great look that he committed before pulling out of last week’s Safeway and inexplicably passed on Arnold Palmer’s funeral, yet Woods can make time for talk shows? Given the amount of money he has made thanks to Palmer’s breakthrough efforts for athletes or the intelligence gleaned by his operation from IMG as a result of Palmer and Mark McCormick’s pioneering ways, the appearances seem poorly timed (at best).

If you want to set the DVR, here is a preview often October 20th appearances from Joel Beall at GolfDigest.com.

Woosnam In The HOF: Miscarriage Of Justice Rectified?

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That was Anthony Woolford's view of Ian Woosnam's previous Hall Of Fame slights, now rectified by the committee.

We discussed on Golf Central both Woosnam and, more importantly, Henry Longhurst's selection, and while I'm happy for Woosnam and the validation of his 29-win European Tour career, in a strange way his selection is fascinating because he overcomes a bold Tweet.

From Woolford's story:

Woosie wrote on Twitter at the time: “After seeing the results of the World Golf Hall of Fame, I think it’s time to say goodbye to golf and retire.”

But two years on former world No.1 Woosnam took to social media again to tweet his delight at finally being recognised by the World Golf Hall of Fame when he joined fellow inductees Davis Love III, who captained the US to Ryder Cup victory over Europe this autumn, another well-known figure in British golf, the legendary late BBC commentator Henry Longhurst as well as Solheim Cup stalwart Meg Mallon and former women’s world No.1 Lorena Ochoa.