Bridgestone CEO: Tiger More Valuable As An Endorser Than He Is As A Player

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Catherine Campo at CNBC summarizes Bridgestone CEO Angel Ilagan's assertion that Tiger "on board" is spurring growth for the game and Bridgestone.

More fascinating is Ilagan's assertion that Tiger is better endorsing than playing.

"He actually has more power as an endorser than he does as a player," the CEO said.

He added that Woods is "the Michael Jordan of golf" and "the single golfer who's had the greatest impact of bringing consumers into [the game]."

Ilagan's suggested that as long as Woods is around (on or off the green), the golf industry is safe.

"I think the industry is in a little bit of panic, although it really need not be," he added.

All of the delusional talk can be viewed here...

Bridgestone bets on Tiger from CNBC.

 

Reminders Galore That Wraparound Schedule Needs A Wrap

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As I wrote for Golfweek's Presidents Cup coverage, Team USA's on-course performance was especially remarkable given the noticeable fatigue of the recent PGA Tour playoff participants. Less remarkable was the team and leadership no-show effort for the World Golf Hall Of Fame ceremony, and I'm chalking part of that mistake to this being the culminating week of a season filled with multiple obligations and the pressures of 21st Century PGA Tour golf. (Just look how rail-thin Jordan Spieth looks in the photo below after going all-in on the playoffs and Presidents Cup.)

Meanwhile the feeder tour that has been designated as the only way to the PGA Tour played its final and arguably most important event against the Presidents Cup. Even more amazingly, the Web.com Tour Finals finished the week prior to the start of the next season.

Asking Web.com players to compete for their livelihood over two months, then turn around and play for their new status before the PGA Tour's eligibility re-shuffle in November is not a rational way to develop new stars.

Congratulations to Jonathan Byrd (Nicklaus Parker's game story here) and the many players who completed the playoffs Monday in Florida, but there were 13 who already had status locked up WD'd from the Monday weather-delayed finish to get to Napa for this week's PGA Tour season opener.

While the PGA Tour brass and some players will continue to defend Tim Finchem's "wraparound" vision for the PGA and Web.com Tours as the proper proving grounds, the emphasis has lost sight of what makes most sense for all parties.

Besides developing talent, the Web.com Tour is also a tour that should help serious golf fans get familiar with emerging players. Playing against the PGA Tour Playoffs and Presidents Cup certainly won't help on that front. When the PGA Tour had a week off during the playoffs, so did the Web.com Tour. Oy. Vey.

The many compelling card-chasing stories we would have learned via the old Fall Finish race or Q-School are getting lost. (This year there was a traditional heartbreaker of a finish for Matt Harmon that was covered because he missed short putts coming in, snapped his putter and missed out on a chance at his card).

The wraparound was created to save the fall events at the expense of the PGA Tour's very attractive natural January beginning. I just can't see how, given some of the signs of fatigue, the wraparound's impact on players from both circuits is offering a logical ebb and flow for anyone. Nor is it working for anyone but the fall events that get to say they are offering FedExCup points.

Singles First! Presidents Cup Needs Just A Little Gamesmanship To Thrive In 2019

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The proposed fixes are flying and some of the assessments are downright bleak (Gray/GolfChannel.com), but as we discussed today on Morning Drive, drastic changes to make the Presidents Cup more winnable for the Internationals could be demeaning to them and discounts the closeness of the 2015 matches.

The talk also downplays a sensational Team USA performance for the week, but particularly in key moments of matches that were often tight through nine or so holes.

As we are prone to do with post-Cup assessments, the suggestions for change and forming of task forces lose sight of the role these events play as exhibitions. The Internationals may have been routed last week, but they were still apart of a valuable experience that will help their games and exposed them to the media capital of the world. The Presidents Cup was beemed all over the world and viewers saw moments of great passion along with historic visits from Presidents past and pressent.

Jaime Diaz urges patience at Golf World because this was mostly about poor play from the Internationals. Just look at the Golfweek report cards and you're reminded that the International stars did not deliver. Jason Day had no idea where the ball was going--with his coach not there to help, eh em--while Charl Schwartzel and Adam Scott could not muster up play close to their best.

There is also the lesson to learn from golf team event history.

As Joel Beall noted early last week, two other notable cup competitions--Ryder and Walker--saw major imbalances in their early years. But the Presidents Cup works with slight variations to the format by extending to a fourth day, though as we saw last week, the four-ball portion of the proceedings seemed bland and in need of some spice. However, that may have been more of a Liberty National and state of the game matter.

While I love Karen Crouse's idea for a mixed team event, I don't think blowing up the Presidents Cup is the place to do it.

Indeed, the 2019 Presidents Cup needs a little sizzle when it returns to Royal Melbourne. The incredible venue is a star already. Els is in and while Phil Mickelson seems determined to keep playing (Ahern/Golfweek), Tiger Woods should ascend the Task Force latter and become the next logical USA captain since he appears to enjoy the job, loves the Sandbelt and will be a Ryder Cup captain whenever he wants the job. In other words, the 2019 event will have plenty of intrigue.

Still, the concerns about competitiveness can be addressed in a clever way that carries a little bit of risk taking for the Internationals.

I'm very much on board with Brandel Chamblee's suggestion that the Internationals, as hosts, propose a home-field change to the order of play. Given their recent success in singles, Chamblee suggested presumed-captain Ernie Els propose opening with singles to prevent a huge early points deficit.

It's also a gamesmanship play. The Presidents Cup has generally lacked the chippiness that makes the Ryder Cup so compelling. By using the home field advantage, the risk and potential reward could be enough to turn the tide for the Internationals.

So would better play.

NY Times On Joe Louis Barrow And The First Tee

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The New York Times' Gary Santaniello profiles The First Tee's retiring and amazingly well-compensated CEO, Joe Louis Barrow, who oversaw the program's growth and subtle transition in recent years to a grow-the game organization overseen by the World Golf Foundation.

He is to be replaced by former Viacom executive Keith Dawkins.

Santaniello explains The First Tee's emphasis on the "Life Skills Experience" and shares some success stories of former First Tee grads.

The First Tee’s programs reached 5.3 million young people in 2016; nearly half of the participants in the golf programs are minorities, and 39 percent are girls.

The scope of what the First Tee does has expanded, but, Barrow said, “the mission hasn’t changed.”

That starts with providing its participants with coaches, teachers and mentors. Seeking more than an instructional relationship, the organization seeks to promote lifelong relationships.

Drake Moseley participated in First Tee programs outside Houston for nine years before attending Talladega College in Alabama, from which he graduated in 2016.

The lesson that most sticks with him from the First Tee is his first one. He remembers sitting in a circle with 25 others and being taught how to introduce himself to others, with a firm handshake and the proper exchange of names.

“That was even before we got into the golf,” said Moseley, who attained a full-time position at the First Tee’s headquarters in St. Augustine, Fla., upon graduation. “The first thing you learn is how to carry yourself.”

According to the Dawkins announcement note, Barrow expanded The First Tee to these "capacity" levels.

In recent years, Barrow led The First Tee through an ambitious effort to reach 10 million additional young people between 2011 and 2017, and he built its capacity to reach more than 5 million young people annually through the various programming channels.

Gulp: Liberty National Succeeded As A Venue

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Words I never imagined typing! But given the visuals, the views, the atmosphere, the event buzz in New York City and what sounded like a solid fan experience, Liberty National worked as the Presidents Cup venue.

Several people at the PGA Tour deserve credit for making the golf course and incredible site build-out work so well, as noted in my assessment for Golfweek.

Mmatch play can make the edgier or more abrasive features more palatable than when players confront them in stroke play, and that happened at the Presidents Cup. Also helping is that Bob Cupp and Tom Kite's design as adjusted by the PGA Tour's Steve Wenzloff, it's severely over constructed and quite possibly the most-catch basin-littered property in golf.

And you know how I love the architectural influence of catch basins.

Liberty National next hosts the 2019 Northern Trust playoff event.

Wraparound Absurdity: Web.com Tour Finals Spill Into Monday, Graduates Expected In Napa Thursday

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Just a reminder: it was retired PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem's vision to save four fall events, turn those into the start of the next season in the "wraparound" season concept. It's looking more ridiculous by the day as Web.com Tour Finals grads who have been grinding the last two months  need to turn around and tee up in Thursday's 2017-18 PGA Tour season starter in Napa Valley.

And now with a rain-delayed Monday finish, they have two days to prepare for the start of their PGA Tour season. Oh and a status reshuffle looms after Sea Island.

Visionary!

Task For Bros: Tiger And Phil Show They're Friends, But Will They Hang Around When The Other Wins (Again)?

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Of course not, but it's still nice to see these two rivals and Task Force partners sharing in the celebratory mood and no doubt thanking their bud Tom Watson for helping bring everyone closer together. Next thing you know they'll be hanging out by the 18th green the next time one of them wins a golf tournament.

This big hug followed Team USA's 2017 Presidents Cup win.

After play, the two insisted it's the media's fault for not seeing what friends they are, reports Will Gray for GolfChannel.com. Tiger:

“I think the press has made it out to be more than what it has been. We’ve been friends for a very long time,” Woods said. “We’ve had some tough moments where we’ve lost some cups, and also the flip side is we’ve had some great success. Hopefully, going forward, we can continue doing it.”

Wanted: LPGA On-Site Weather Experts, Pronto

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Another week, another strange decision by the LPGA to resume play, this time in the New Zealand Women's Open that was eventually finished on Monday. Brooke Henderson is your winner.

A roundup of the player criticism here at Golfweek, which included Belen Mozo suggesting the players "were like sheep."

The video is pretty epic if you haven't seen it.

Not Trumped! 45 Delivers The Presidents Cup To Team USA

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Team USA's victorious 2017 Presidents Cup team received the gold trophy from President Donald Trump who kept his remarks brief.

Golfweek's David Dusek on the presidential arrival and visit.

Things got off to a rocky start when the President hit send on a Tweet that criticized his predecessors.

The full transcript for those eager to relive the moment, the video and the text:

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are very talented, and they really are people that have good hearts. I want to congratulate the Internationals.

On behalf of all of the people of Texas, of all of the people of -- if you look today, if you see what's happening, how horrible it is but we have it under really great control, Puerto Rico, and the people of Florida, who are really suffering over this last short period of time with hurricanes. I want to just remember them and we are going to dedicate this trophy to all of those people that went through so much.

And I tell you what, I've been watching this from the beginning, and I have to say our Team USA, wow, did you play well.

That great putter that I've been copying his putting stroke for many, many years, but it hasn't worked; Steve Stricker. We're going to present Steve with the trophy. I want to thank everybody. This is a special group of folks, tremendous money is donated to charity by the TOUR every year.

Stricker said it was a great honor to be the first captain to receive the cup from a sitting President of the United States, Will Gray reports.

The circumstances led to some fascinating scenes, including this sight of Commissioner Jay Monahan having been commissioned by Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky for a photo with Donald Trump.


The Presidents Cup Almost Ends...A Day Early!

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I know some saw a blowout coming but clinching the Presidents Cup on Saturday before a single match is played?

It almost happened if not for the heroics of Si Woo Kim and Anirban Lahiri, who beat Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell 1-up to earn a point. This still sends us to Sunday with the U.S. needing just a point to win the Presidents Cup.

While those eager to harpoon this poor man's Ryder Cup will rejoice in the runaway, I will continue to remind that (A) team match play is still better than most stroke play events and (B)

Okay so I don't have much.

Let the solutions to the Presidents Cup begin...and please, let's be constructive!

Why Is Four-Ball Play Not As Compelling As It Used To Be?

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As day three of the President Cup carries on with an inevitable USA blowout, the contrast in urgency between foursomes and four-ball play has been noticeable.

Foursomes match play is faster, more volatile and more tense.

Four-ball match play just doesn't seem as lively as it used to be.

Martin Kaufmann noted in his Golfweek review of Friday's 2017 Presidents Cup four-ball session that pace of play was lethargic, making the telecast difficult to sit through.

Then, 2 hours 49 minutes into the show, Tom Abbott said this: “The first match has reached one of the most picturesque spots on the golf course, the short 10th hole.”

In other words, the pace of play was about 5 hours, 30 minutes for 18 holes. I’m not sure there’s anything a producer or director could do to inject excitement into the event when the players are sucking the life out of it with such tedious play.

The pace of play certainly is a factor, but it wasn't that long ago foursomes was less appreciated than four-ball. Alternate shot was seen as fluky, four-ball was a purer test (our friends in the UK, to their credit, never subscribed to this thinking).

Liberty National's lack of great risk-reward holes also reduces the number of four-ball situations where player A can take the safe route to set up a bolder shot by player B. Again, this puts the emphasis on putting over the total package of shotmaking and strategy.

Finally, the consistency and reliability of today's players, combined with improved equipment and conditioning, turns many matches into contests of putting over genuine strategy-fueled jousting. It's hard to create great risk-reward scenarios at today's distances with today's skill. Sure, we will still have players get nervous and even some team-pressure meltdowns, but the overall elevated consistency, regardless of cause, tends to place a greater emphasis on putting.

Now, we could make four-ball play a more compelling and speedier putting contest by forcing players to play their ball down on the greens. Besides elminating the tedium of watching golfers line up their arrows with the path to the hole, we might even have the occasional stymie scenario. Gasp!

A Sunday Presidents Cup Visit By President Trump Seems Likely

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As I write for Golfweek.com, the signs were less than subtle Friday of an impending visit. To no one's surprise, it's unclear when or what the President plans to do, though an afternoon visit for the trophy ceremony is the current 2-1 betting favorite.

But he is, after all, the Honorary Presidents Cup Captain!

"The Other Arnold: Palmer's daughter reflects on the chasm between the brand and the man"

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Carve out a few minutes for Michael Bamberger's Golf.com story on Peg Palmer if you haven't already. A year after her father's death, the 61-year-old is celebrating her father's legacy but also lamenting many things, from the production values of her father's funeral to the $25,000 designated for Doc Giffin in the estate. Mostly, however, she fears the Arnold Palmer "brand" will "subsume any real sense of whom her father was."

It's a fascinating read on many levels and clear the 61-year-old has no interest in tainting her father's legacy. However, she's not a fan of some.

The power, the fame, the money, at some point it distorted who he was," Peg said. "Marketing turned Daddy into somebody who was pretty bland, and he was not bland." Mark McCormack and Alastair Johnston and the company they worked for, IMG, comes up often in her conversations. McCormack, the founder of IMG, was a marketing genius. Johnston got the deals signed and tracked the numbers. Peg finds Johnston, a native Scot, to be opaque and cold in their business dealings. But her standards are outside the norm. She is uncommonly giving and open.

For all of her concerns expressed, there was also this endearing image of her father:

"He put the time into his clubs because he loved doing it—he was a man who did what he loved. My dad was a manly man, kind of macho, kind of a chauvinist, but he was also a very creative person. The workshop gave him a chance to be creative. It wasn't mindless repetition. It was part of a process. He was at his most focused, his most engaged, his most peaceful, when he was in the workshop. It was a tonic for him. He liked seeing sparks fly, he liked all the stimuli of the workshop.

"Working on the clubs also kept him in touch with his working-class roots. I think my dad really celebrated the working class, and he felt connected to people who did things for themselves, as he did. That helped him be the architect of his own destiny. Doing things with his own tools, with his own hands, that was part of his identity.

PGA Tour, Golf Channel With Some Good Ratings News

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The Tour Championship final numbers haven't been posted, but the two preceding PGA Tour playoff events demonstrated nice ratings spikes, reports Paulsen at Sports Media Watch. (Love that he still calls is the Western, but this is indeed, the BMW now.)

Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Western Open delivered 1.9 million viewers on NBC Sunday afternoon, up 23% from last year (1.5M), up 6% from 2015 (1.7M) and the largest audience for the tournament since 2012, when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson finished in the top three (3.6M).

Ratings increased 25% (from 1.00 to 1.25) and also hit a multi-year high.

The Dell Technologies on Labor Day weekend was the highest rated since 2013 for Justin Thomas' win.

Final round coverage of the PGA Tour at Boston earned a 2.0 rating and 2.9 million viewers on NBC Monday afternoon, up a third in ratings and 27% in viewership from last year (1.5, 2.3M) and flat and down 1% respectively from 2015 (2.0, 3.0M).

Golf Channel posted its second most watched third quarter, exceeded only by last year's Olympic-fueled August.

For Immediate Release:

Golf Channel Digital Records Highest Quarter of Streaming Consumption Ever, Marking 11th Straight Quarter of Year-Over-Year Growth
 
Golf Channel Continues to Rank as No. 1 Most-Affluent Audience in All of Television in Total Day and Primetime
 
The Open, Slate of Women’s Golf Events, FedExCup Playoffs
and World Long Drive Highlight 3rd Quarter Viewership
 
ORLANDO, Fla. (September 28, 2017) – Golf Channel posted its 2nd most-watched third quarter on record after drawing 116,000 average viewers in Total Day, up 2% vs. 2015. Trailing 2016 with golf’s inclusion in the Rio Olympics, 2017’s third quarter was down 3% YOY and up 5% YOY when excluding Olympic content. This record viewership in a non-Olympic year was driven in part by The Open, a slate of premier women’s golf events, and the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs. Golf Channel also continued the network’s run in drawing the most-affluent audience in all of television in both Total Day and Primetime, according to data released by The Nielsen Company.
 
GOLF CHANNEL THIRD QUARTER VIEWERSHIP SINCE JOINING
NBC SPORTS GROUP IN 2011:
2017                116,000
2016                120,000                       -3% (+5% excluding Rio Olympics content)
2015                114,000                       +2%
2014                106,000                       +9%
2013                112,000                       +4%
2012                102,000                       +14%
2011                85,000                         +36%
2010                74,000                         +57%
 
GOLF CHANNEL DIGITAL POSTS RECORD STREAMING CONSUMPTION
Golf Channel Digital already has posted its highest quarter of streaming consumption ever with third quarter through Wed., Sept. 27 drawing a total of 171.2 million minutes (with an additional three days of streaming the 2017 Presidents Cup still to come in Golf Channel Digital’s third quarter). Third quarter is currently up 16% vs. 2016 third quarter in total live minutes streamed, which includes 2016 Rio Olympics content (up 58% vs. 2016 excluding Olympic content).
 
 
ADDITIONAL VIEWERSHIP NOTES FOR THIRD QUARTER, 2017

·       2017 FedExCup Playoffs: Total Audience Delivery (TAD) for Golf Channel on NBC’s coverage of the last three FedExCup Playoff events was 2.137 million viewers, up 13% vs. 2016. And Golf Channel’s TAD for live early-round coverage of all four FedExCup Playoff events delivered 615k average viewers, up 27% vs. 2016.
·       The Open: This is the second year of NBC Sports’ coverage of The Open.

o   The final round’s TAD for Golf Channel on NBC was 4.97 million average viewers, up 1% vs. 2016.

o   Golf Channel on NBC’s linear broadcasts household rating (3.23) was the second highest for golf’s 2017 major championship final rounds: PGA Championship (3.22) and U.S. Open (3.12).

o   NBC Sports’ Digital platforms delivered 100.8 million live minutes streamed (+96% YOY), 917k unique devices (+51% YOY), and 34k average minute audience (+92% YOY). Golf Channel Digital for The Open week totaled 42 million page views (+12% YOY), the most for any week on record, and 8.9 million total visits (+18% YOY)

·       Women’s Golf:

o   KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: Seen by a total audience of 6.58 million viewers across Golf Channel and NBC, it marks the largest total audience for the event on record and second largest for women’s majors in 2017. Final round coverage on NBC posted a .6 US household rating (+18% YOY) and 840k average viewers (+21% YOY), making it the most-watched telecast in the event’s history (2006-2017), both ranking 2nd for women’s majors in 2017.

o   RICOH Women’s British Open: Seen by a total audience of 7.01 million viewers across Golf Channel and NBC, the RICOH Women’s British Open posted its largest total audience since 2005 (7.12 million), and was the largest total audience for the 2017 women’s majors. Final round coverage on NBC posted a .78 U.S. household rating (+22% YOY) and 1.1 million average viewers (+28% YOY), both ranking 1st for women’s majors in 2017, despite its morning/early afternoon timeslot.

o   2017 Women’s Major Championships:

§  RICOH Women’s British Open (NBC): Final Round: .78 rating, 1.1 million avg. viewers; Four-Day Total Viewers: 7.01 million

§  KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (NBC): Final Round .60 rating, 840k avg. viewers; Four-Day Total Viewers: 6.58 million

§  U.S. Women’s Open (FOX): Final Round .56 rating, 790k viewers; Four-Day Total Viewers: 5.98 million

§  ANA Inspiration (Golf Channel): Final Round .35 rating, 551k viewers; Four-Day Total Viewers: 3.62 million

§  The Evian Championship (Golf Channel): Final Round .13 rating, 181k viewers; Four-Day Total Viewers: 3.13 million

o   Solheim Cup: Seen by a total audience of 7.3 million viewers across Golf Channel and NBC, the Solheim Cup posted the largest total audience for women’s golf since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open on ESPN/NBC. Golf Channel’s live coverage of the final day drew 795k average viewers, becoming the most-watched women’s golf event on cable in the last eight years, since the final day of the 2009 Solheim Cup

·       FEHERTY 7th SEASON:

o   Became the most-watched season to date for both Live+Same Day (202k average viewers) and Live+3 Days (298k average viewers) for premiere episodes.

o   Feherty’s 100th Episode (July 24) was the 5th most-watched premiere episode of all time, trailing only both weeks of season premieres with Jordan Spieth (March 2016) and Phil Mickelson (March 2017).

o   The season finale with reigning PGA champion and eventual FedExCup champion Justin Thomas (263k average viewers-Live+3, Sept 4) became the 5th most-watched premiere in season 7, behind both season premieres with Phil Mickelson (640k average viewers-Live+3, 616k average viewers-Live+3), the April premiere with Matthew McConaughey (299k average viewers-Live+3) and the 100th Episode in July (421k average viewers-Live+3).

·       World Long Drive Association: Golf Channel expanded its schedule to feature three televised events in 2017, including the Clash in the Canyon (June 6, Mesquite, Nev.), Mile High Showdown (July 25, Denver, Colo.) and the Volvik World Long Drive Championship (Sept 5-6, Thackerville, Okla.).

o   Clash in the Canyon: 1.05 million unique viewers across all telecasts during premiere week of the newly televised event. (2nd Quarter)

o   Mile High Showdown: 1.34 million unique viewers across all telecasts during premiere week of the newly televised event.

o   Volvik World Long Drive Championship: 2.15 million unique viewers across all telecasts during premiere week, up 32% vs. 2016’s World Championship and the most-viewed World Long Drive Championship week in its five-year history on Golf Channel.

One other TV note: the PGA Tour and Twitter have renewed their streaming agreement after year one of providing pre-PGA Tour live coverage.