BMW PGA Announces Move To September Before Ink Is Dry On PGA Move To May Deal!

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Pelley!

Wasting little time...about 10 minutes to be exact...the European Tour announced a shift in the BMW PGA Championship's date to September.

I'd give then an "8" for passive aggressiveness, even this could end up being a great switch.

With the PGA Championship moving to May and the Players to March, the European Tour immediately seized on the likely shortening of the PGA Tour playoff season to push their marquee event into a month where the field stands to improve. Furthermore, the European Tour's Race To Dubai should also benefit from the U.S. calendar changes.

More on the PGA move to May later, as we learned a few fun things in today's press conference that I'm writing about for Golfweek. In the mean time, for immediate release... 

The European Tour today announces that the BMW PGA Championship will move from its current date in May to a new September slot from the 2019 season onwards.

The prestigious Championship, which is part of the European Tour’s Rolex Series, will be played at Wentworth Club from May 24-27, 2018, before moving to September for its 65th anniversary edition the following year.

The move comes following news announced earlier today that the 2019 US PGA Championship will move from its traditional August date into May, with The Players Championship on the PGA Tour moving from May to March.

The specific date of the 2019 BMW PGA Championship will be released in due course but it will be central to a strong and robust end of season schedule on the European Tour.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “Significant changes to the global golfing calendar have given us the opportunity to move the BMW PGA Championship to a more favourable date from 2019 onwards.

“Wentworth Club is an iconic location in the realm of British sport and the BMW PGA Championship is always hugely popular with the public as was seen in May when it launched our Rolex Series with 110,000 spectators in attendance over the course of the week.

“This is a new chapter for the event but we expect similar interest in the autumn, as was shown historically by the World Match Play Championship when it was played at Wentworth Club at that time of the year.”

The BMW PGA Championship was the first of eight Rolex Series events to be played on the European Tour’s International Schedule in 2017, all of which are part of the Race to Dubai. Sweden’s Alex Noren claimed the title in May, overturning a seven shot deficit with a stunning final round of 62 to win by two strokes over the West Course, which had undergone a multi-million pound revamp in the period between the 2016 and 2017 Championships.

Noren joined an illustrious Roll of Honour for the Championship which includes Seve Ballesteros, Arnold Palmer, Tony Jacklin, Sir Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, José María Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy.

Assessing Where A Spieth Career Slam Fits In Golf History

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When you break down the career Grand Slam winners and the many legends who have won three of four legs, the opportunity facing Jordan Spieth becomes impressive. 

Mention that he can do this at a younger age than Woods and Nicklaus and it becomes, as Jim Nantz noted in the piece I wrote for Golfweek, one of the great accomplishments in the history of the game.  

Jaime Diaz assesses where this feat would fall in the game's history and notes that Grand Slam is not a perfect measure of greatness.

Walter Hagen, who won 11 major championships, didn’t have a real shot at what evolved into the Grand Slam because the Masters wasn’t even played until he was well past his prime. And what of Bobby Jones’ “original” Grand Slam in 1930, winning the U.S. Open and Amateur and their British counterparts in one year, which has never been replicated by any golfer over an entire career? That feat, or the still unattained the calendar professional Grand Slam, or even the Tiger Slam of 2000-’01, would all have to be more exalted than the career Grand Slam.

Ryan Lavner reminds us that Tiger Woods, the last in the modern era to achieve the feat, didn't have much time to ponder the possibilties but pulled off the slam in his first try.

Not only was Woods, at 24, the youngest to win the career Grand Slam, but he was the fastest, too – needing only 93 starts, compared with Nicklaus’ 125.

“They’ve been the elite players to ever play the game,” Woods said that day. “And to be in the same breath as those guys, it makes it very special.”

Besides Woods, the only other players to complete the career Grand Slam in their first attempts were Gene Sarazen (age 33) and Ben Hogan (40).

Jack Nicklaus narrated this tribute:

 

Shorts Give The PGA Championship A Member-Guest Vibe

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Not that there's anything wrong with the member guest!

I bring you great news from soggy Charlotte: now you can come to a major and not discern the players from the spectator.

Baba-booey!

Allowing the players to wear shorts in the practice round--a policy already adopted on the European Tour--screams Bushwood member-guest.

I realize I'm in the minority on this one, as every poll and every player declares how much they enjoyed letting their underexposed skin breath. And yes, pro golfers are real athletes these days, confused almost daily with linebackers, decathletes and boxers, so why not let them show off their physiques? Says the theory.

For me, the casual look reaffirms the fourth major as the fourth major.

 

 

I at least have one person agreeing with me...

ShackHouse 45: PGA Championship Preview, Amanda Balionis

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Lots of fun stuff to cover from Steph Curry to PGA Championship news to Jordan Spieth's shot at history. We try to put it all in perspective and give out a few picks too. And if you listen, you know there are some sweet giveaways, so get those picks posted below (and don't forget to leave an email address).

As always, you can subscribe on iTunes and or just refresh your device's podcast subscription page.

Here is The Ringer's show page.

Same deal with Soundcloud for the show, and Episode 45 is here to listen to right now. Or this new platform or wherever podcasts are streamed.

ShackHouse is brought to you by Callaway, and of course, the new Steelhead fairway woods along with the new O-Works from Odyssey as well (hint, hint!).

Rio A Year Later: Golf Is In Better Place And The Course Is Alive!

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Exactly a year ago the Rio Olympic course opened to the first practice rounds while many of us were getting our first introduction to new smells and brutal takes on coffee. Golf's place in the Games was still very much in doubt and predictions suggested the entire thing was dead on arrival.

The Rose's, Stenson's, Fowler's, Watson's, Kuchar's, Reed's and others of the game showed up and had the times of their lives, followed by the Park's, Ko's, Juntanagarn's, Thompson's and Lewis's of the women's game putting on a similar great show one week later. The course was a huge success and to this day, is believed to be shuttered because some do not know what rustic golf looks like.

The course is very much still alive, despite the latest bizarre Tweet from the courses greatest hater (AP's Stephen Wade) that received pushback from the Mayor. On Instagram you can follow the latest from the course, including wildlife sightings and, less thrilling, images of the new cart fleet.

A year later golf is locked in through the 2024 Games and will be headed to established venues in Tokyo and Paris. However, should golf make it to the LA Games in 2028, it will be contested at private clubs for all three. The impact of such venues is bound to impact atmosphere and venue enthusiasm. But ultimately all of that will be ignored if the format is built around a great competition and the Olympic spirit instead of the schedules of players and tours. The IOC has signaled it wants bold and fresh formats, as evidenced by 3-on-3 basketball. Now it's golf's turn to pitch similar updates to classic formats in hopes of exciting a younger generation while giving us all reason to support Olympic golf.

 

 

We discussed today on Morning Drive...

Breakfast Viewing Trend? Ricoh British Highest Rated Women's Major Of The Year

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For the first time the men's Open Championship edged the U.S. Open in a once unthinkable occrence. And while the 2017 KPMG LPGA was not a morning show, it also beat the U.S. Women's Open ratings.

While the Ricoh Women's British Open had its moments and there may be a Michelle Wie bump, I.K. Kim still held a huge lead heading into the final round. Translation: not the recipe for ratings success.

But are we seeing more evidence yet that sports and golf fans are preferring their golf in morning or prime time hours now that we learn the 2017 Women's British was the season's top rated broadcast?

Remember, all of the events in question are network broadcasts (NBC or Fox), so this is not a cable vs. broadcast network story. And maybe there is no story yet, but the interest in morning golf is a trend worth noting.

For Immediate Release:

HIGHEST-RATED OVERNIGHT TELECAST FOR WOMEN’S GOLF IN MORE THAN A YEAR

The RICOH Women’s British Open Final Round coverage on NBC yesterday posted a .86 Overnight (11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET), +15% YOY, making it the highest-rated overnight telecast for women’s golf in more than a year (2016 U.S. Women’s Open; .98) and the highest-rated women’s golf telecast on NBC since 2014 U.S. Women’s Open (1.67). Final Round coverage, which saw I.K. Kim (South Korea) win her first major championship, also became the highest overnight rating at the event in more than 10 years (2006 on ABC; 1.30).

This is the first time in the history of the Women’s British Open that it reigns as the highest-rated women’s golf telecast of the year, to date, despite its morning/early afternoon telecast window. 
The comparable final five hours of the RICOH Women’s British Open’s Final Round coverage across Golf Channel and NBC was a .64 (9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET), which makes it the highest overnight rating for a women’s major 5-hour telecast in 2017 (FOX, U.S. Open Final Round, 2-7 p.m. ET; .63). And the comparable final three hours of broadcast television coverage makes the RICOH Women’s British Open the highest rated ( 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET; .86), +21% vs. U.S. Women’s Open on FOX (4-7 p.m. ET; .71) and +25% vs. KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (3-6 p.m. ET, .69).

Next up in women’s golf will be Golf Channel and NBC’s coverage of the Solheim Cup, the biennial team match play event featuring the United States vs. Europe, being contested in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, August 18 – Sunday, August 20.

Golf Channel Acquires Revolution Golf

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Erik Matuszewski reports at Forbes on Golf Channel's purchase of Revolution Golf and its 2 million subscribers.

He explains how this could be an Amazon Prime-inspired play:

Five years ago, Revolution Golf launched a premium subscription offering for which members pay up to $124 annually to access a library of exclusive video content, special offers on training aids, equipment, and exclusive member-only events. Two-thirds of the business's subscribers play golf at least once a week during the season. That participation is part of what makes golf unique – the sport’s fans are also passionate players.

Golf Channel is serving that passion. And not just via TV, but also through its continually growing digital businesses: playing, instruction, travel and now e-commerce.

As Golf Channel’s McIntosh says -- “We want to connect the world to golf.”

U.S. Women's Amateur: San Diego Kicks Off SoCal USGA Swing

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Tod Leonard previews the U.S. Women's Amateur at San Diego Country Club.

This kicks off what figures to be a fun swing of national championships and a Walker Cup in southern California over the next month or so.

While the wives of country club members once were prominent in the Women’s Am — partly because until 1979 only those who belonged to country clubs could enter — it now mostly serves as a high-level competition for the young. There are 108 women this year in the bracket of 16- to 20-year-olds.

Youth was served last year when 16-year-old Eun Jeong Seong of the Republic of Korea defeated 19-year-old Virginia Elena Carta of Italy. Seong became the youngest player to win three USGA championships, though she chose not to defend the Women’s Am this year.

While Riviera and Los Angeles Country Club will get the majority of the attention, San Diego CC is a much-beloved course that has produced two legends, notes John Strege for Golf World.

When one enters the clubhouse, the Billy Casper Grill is on the right, the Mickey Wright Lounge on the left.

No other operating club in the U.S. likely has spawned two greater champions than Wright and Casper, each of whom were members in their youth, while Casper remained a member until his death. Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were both products of Glen Garden Golf & Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, but the club went out of business a few years ago.

Wright and Casper are both World Golf Hall of Fame members.

Fox Sports 1 will cover matches beginning with Wednesday play, airing the action from 6-9 pm ET through Friday. Weekend windows are 7-10 pm ET Saturday and 4-7 pm ET Sunday.

NY Times: "You Can Always Get a Tee Time, but Turning a Profit Can Be Tricky"

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Paul Sullivan uses his NY Times Wealth Matters column to talk to a nice range of golf course developers, including Warren Stephens at Alotian Club and Paul Schock of Prairie Club. The topic? The costs and perils of buying or building a golf course.

Most of the stories end on a positive note, but not after cautionary tales about spending.

This from Chip Smith, who bought the TPC Myrtle Beach but later sold it to Chinese investors in 2014.

But last year, when he and a partner, Doug Marty, bought a course in Florida, Wellington National, he said he realized just how much money it could cost to turn around a course and make it profitable.

“We went into that one and evaluated the facilities and the golf course,” Mr. Smith said. “It was by far the worst one I’d ever seen in terms of being open and playable but being in awful condition. Doug likes to say we went in with an unlimited budget and exceeded that.”

They shut the club for a year of renovations. It has now reopened and started to attract members. The two partners are betting that it can attract members from the surrounding equestrian community and nearby Palm Beach.

But recouping their investment will take time. The initiation fee is $7,500 and annual dues are $6,750, comparatively modest in an area where $50,000 and $100,000 initiation fees are common

Rory Ready For Quail Hollow? Averages 328.7 At Firestone

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I know, I know, the the ball just rolled forever at Firestone and those Trackman carry numbers CBS showed us were just made up.

Still, it was fun to see seven players get their season driving distance total over the 300 yard average plateau following play at Firestone and Reno. That makes 40 players averaging over 300 yards on the PGA Tour.

Just think, only one player did that in 2000. But these guys eat carrots, broccoli and do four minute planks! I know, I know.

I have to say though in the world of astounding distance numbers, Rory McIlroy's numbers were particularly wild at the 2017 WGC Bridgestone, notes Golf.com's Golf Wire.

McIlroy awed the golf world with his driving capabilities at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this week, and for good reason: 52 of his 56 tee balls (non par-3s) traveled farther than 300 yards. (And one that came up short was only 298.)

Of course, he ranked first in driving distance this week, averaging 328.7 yards off the tee—almost 10 yards more than Jason Day, who ranked second at 319.2 yards.

Naturally he needs to find some magic on the Quail Hollow greens, but with his distance spiking at the right time, it's hard to discount the mojo factor for someone who feeds off of overpowering a course.

Quail Hollow PGA Mood Setter: Rosaforte Profiles Harris

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Johnny Harris is mentioned pretty relentlessly when the PGA Tour annually visits Quail Hollow Club, so it'll be interesting how center-stage he becomes during next week's PGA Championship.

Tim Rosaforte helps us get to know Harris so that when you hear players rave about Johnny or preface criticisms of any course changes as, "I love Johnny, but..."

Speaking of the constant updates and tweaks to the property since being awarded the PGA:

“That was $10-15 million ago,” says Harris, who is famous for taking care of the little things like personally overseeing changes to the service roads to a major decision of re-designing the opening three holes just after the final round was played of the Wells Fargo in 2016. This one took some selling with Bevacqua and Kerry Haigh, Chief Champions Office for the PGA. With a 90-day window and rotating crews working around the clock, club members were playing the new holes on the 89th day. More improvements are planned for the Presidents Cup in four years.

PGA Tour Misses "Golden" Opportunity: Steph Curry Shoots 74, No One Sees It Live

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Steph Curry, with his nine million Twitter followers, his MVP statue, his two championship rings and rare crossover talent he's willing to show off on a Web.com Tour stage, posted a first round 74 in the Ellie Mae Classic.

No one saw it live.

No one could. They had to follow social media postings like it was 2008 all over again.

On a busy day of golf that included the Women's British, a WGC in Akron and a secondary PGA Tour stop in Reno, the Ellie Mae was never on Golf Channel's schedule. Yet, as one of the world's most beloved and fascinating athletes in his prime attempted something bold, Curry's appearance on an exemption understandably got the most social media attention despite the lack of television coverage.

Imagine if The Logo, Jerry West, had decided to put his scratch handicap up against the pros in 1972 after winning 33-straight and the NBA title? It would have been an epic attention-getter but there was no option to televise such an event then. Now there is, and the PGA Tour missed a chance to show it's serious about becoming a broadcaster and serious about its minor-league equivalent, the Web.com Tour.

Golf Channel was criticized on social media for not showing Curry's round, but this one wasn't on them. So what an ideal opportunity for the PGA Tour, partners with Twitter and eager to show The Valley that pro golf is a product worth streaming on their burgeoning PGA Tour Live, right?  Imagine the chance to stream the Web.com Tour to the hoodie set, who could watch their beloved Golden State Warrior play in a professional golf tournament as they sip Philz and cranked out world-changing code?

Yet the PGA Tour passed up a, gulp, "golden" opportunity to show that they are serious about getting in the broadcasting business. Was it cost? Was it too much work? Was it an oversight? Or some rights issue?

Those should not be stumbling blocks since the Tour has made clear it wants, at minimum, an ownership stake after 2021 while opting out of its network deal very soon. The goal, apparently, is to either move some tournaments to the burgeoning PGA Tour Live or bring in new bidders, perhaps Amazon or YouTube.

Lofty and ambitious dreams!

And it's a fantastic concept to focus on streaming until you tell a CEO paying $8-12 million for a tournament sponsorship that they'll be reaching 171,000 folks via streaming. Oh, and yourr logo will be hard to see because the viewer is watching on a tiny screen. One last negative? Those eyeballs who are currently seeing golf in the 19th hole grill or the local Yard House? Not happening (yet) when you go to streaming.

The possible erosion in already eroding audience sizes by moving some events to digital has not deterred the Tour from sending out signals that they are somehow a wronged party under Deane Beman's brilliant model. After all, they help networks sell 80% of their ads without lifting a finger while possibly making less than they should if they were owners of the airwaves. And the Tour makes clear on a daily basis they are in the millennial business with PGA Tour Live as the way to this future. 

Commissioner Jay Monahan has wisely tried to walk some of this talk back by reiterating the importance of the "linear product" (network TV), while still dangling his fascination with new media. But way too many of his lieutenants and players haven't gotten the message: it's nice having people write you rights checks instead of writing the checks yourself as owner of the product. 

Which brings us back to the Ellie Mae Classic.

With no way out of its Golf Channel arrangement until 2021, the tour started PGA Tour Live as their way of carrying action during earlier hours or to create a "product" to possibly break free from the Comcast-owned network. At the very least, PGA Tour live would help them negotiate an ownership stake that they once reportedly passed on when they originally negotiated the 10-year Golf Channel deal. The "they" in that sentence no longer work for the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour Live app gives them both leverage in the next negotiations, but also, theoretically, a way to cover action not currently in Golf Channel's rights windows.  So I can't fathom a more opportune moment than Steph Curry's Web.com Tour appearance to show Featured Group coverage of the Warrior and his playing partners, Sam Ryder and Stephan Jaeger. Talk about a chance to reach the supposedly young and influential digital audience paying $39.99 a year.

Or, what a swell chance to join forces with San Francisco-based Twitter on coverage since they are a new PGA Tour partner and, presumably, big Warrior fans.

Instead, we got video highlights:

 

Live televised golf is expensive and difficult. Especially when you know the player in question is only likely to play two rounds. But there are new and cheaper ways to provide something that would have been enough to get the job done for those wanting to track this very unique appearance in a pro golf tournament.

And yes, the egos of other Web.com Tour players would have been bruised having a special broadcast of non-member Curry's round, but it might have also brought in new fans or generated intense buzz had he done something special. The failure to capitalize on this situation should be noted the next time the PGA Tour tells us how serious they are about getting in the business of entertaining paying customers.

(End of rant.)

There was some nice coverage of Curry's admirable performance, starting with the SF Chronicle's Ron Kroichick Tweets and his game story on Curry's opening round.

A great image gallery from the Chronicle's Michael Macor accompanies the piece.

Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler wrote "our Little Steph hung with the big boys" and noted:

Bad news for the Warriors. One more good day out here, even if Curry misses the cut after Friday’s round, and the Warriors are going to have to drag him off the golf course when training camp opens.

Make no mistake: For Curry, playing the Web.com Tour event — the pro golf equivalent of triple-A baseball — was no lark. He’s realistic, he knows he can’t really compete with full-time pro golfers, but Curry does not lack for quiet confidence. He’s closer to these guys than logic would dictate, and he’s got something to prove.

So there was tension all around Thursday. On the practice range before the morning rounds, I could see a thought balloon over the head of every golfer: “Beat Curry.”

For 155 golfers, their honor and dignity was at stake.

For Curry, there was something to prove, and a huge opportunity for embarrassment and disappointment.

BTW, fun note: Curry's caddie is Jonnie West, son of Jerry.

The Web.com Tour's Twitter account may have sensed the lack of live coverage and went all out on Twitter, with this nice video and also a great retweeted photo after that.


Here is part of Curry's post round interview courtesy of GolfChannel.com, discussing how he could barely feel his hands on the first tee:

And great comments here from Sam Ryder, playing partner and recent Web.com Tour winner who was a shot worse than Curry.

Last note: Curry beat ten Web.com Tour players Thursday, including three winners of Web.com Tour events in 2017!