Golf Magazine, Golf.com To Be Purchased By Howard Milstein, Emigrant Capital

Golf Magazine and its coveted web URL, Golf.com, have been purchased by investor Howard Milstein and Emigrant Capital, according to sources briefed on the sale.

The 58-year-old publication has been part of the Time Inc. family since 2000 and was put up for sale in October, 2017. The golf publication and its digital site never were expected to be part of any sales talks with Meredith, the new owner of Time Inc. 

A sale price has not been disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close on January 19th, 2018.

Some staffers at Golf were notified Monday of the transaction and have been told that the Milstein group expects to invest in content and production. Plans call for a more luxurious print product and enhanced online resources. Still unknown is the status of contributors Alan Shipnuck, Michael Bamberger and other Sports Illustrated writers who worked mostly on the Golf side in recent years.

Milstein reportedly beat out multiple suitors, including Golf Channel and tee time services eager for the user-friendly URL. Several parties signed non-disclosure agreements to inspect Golf’s books, including Golf Digest.

Milstein is no stranger to golf, having invested in Miura Golf, True Spec and in the Jack Nicklaus empire. That partnership began in 2007.

Insiders say the Chairman, President and CEO of New York Private Bank & Trust—the nation's largest privately owned, family-run bank, is purchasing Golf through its operating bank, Emigrant Capital.  Milstein is believed to be bullish on making Golf work as a media company with the obvious synergistic benefits to his other investments in the sport.

Responding to a reply for comment, Time Inc spokesperson Jill Davison said, "The sales process for Golf is proceeding well and as soon as there are further developments we will share them."

Efforts are ongoing to obtain comment from representatives of Mr. Milstein and Golf.

Golf Magazine Not Part Of Time Inc. Sale To Meredith

From Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke and Evan Clark's WWD story on The Meredith Corporation's purchase of Time Inc.:

“Time has publicly reported that they have some assets that are currently for sale, the Time U.K., Golf magazine, Sunset and Essence. And we’re going to allow Time Inc. during this — before the close period — to go for it and consummate those transactions, and we think that they’ll have those done by the end of the calendar year,” Meredith’s chief operating officer Thomas Harty said.

The all-cash transaction was announced Sunday and features financing by the private equity arm of golfers Charles and David Koch, but appears to not be on the radar of the new owners or their partners.

I've asked for confirmation of the status of the Golf sale but a Time Inc. spokesman has ignored two requests for comment.

Korean Press Greets Commissioner With Some Tough Questions

With the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridges over and another nine playings on the docket, Commissioner Jay Monahan and tour EVP of Global Business Affairs Ty Votaw traveled to Korea. They kindly sat down with the assembled media before Sunday's final round and took some interesting questions.

Q: It’s great that we have got another event in Asia. From the next season, 2018-2019 season, you are going to make some big changes with possibly the playoffs coming soon  and the PGA Championship moving. It looks to me as though you are going to free up more dates in the fall, in the post-labor day area. Are you planning more tournaments in Asia? Japan or China?

Jay Monahan: I would answer that by confirming that we have what you just mentioned, which is we have the commitment to move the Players to March and PGA Championship to May. You were right in that it does freeze some time in the fall. The next step we are going to take in order affect change is to essentially complete other parts of our schedule the tournaments that exist in that pre-labor day window in the U.S.

But we are a global game. If you follow the logic trail of being here, you look at the fact that you’ve got 3.5 million participants and 36 million rounds of golf played, we love what we are seeing in terms of emergency screening technology, the fact that we’ve got such a rich number of players.

Wait what? Uh, I'm chalking "emergency screening technology" up to a translation gaffe. Go on...

As you look out into the future, the reason that we are putting so much resource into key international markets is so that we are prepared when an opportunity presents itself to expand to be in the right position. But to say something is imminent would be a miscalculation and a mistake at this point.

We'll put them down for no further Asian expansion at this time.

Q: Are you surprised to see only a few foreign press covering the event, given that this event is quite significant? Why do you think that there aren’t many global press covering this event here?

Ty Votaw: There is no question that we are very excited about the opportunity to be here, first time being an official event. The media landscape in all countries is changing and as you know, the golf media in the US is also changing with decreased budgets and decreased stabilities to cover even some domestic events in the US. We now have opportunities with other platforms and other areas.

Opportunities!

I know that our own platforms are here covering extensively for the US and for other countries around the world. I will say that, much like the reactions of our players, when they go home and talk to other players about their experience here, I think you will see over the next 10 years when we are coming to South Korea and to Jeju for this event that a broader swath of media coverage will follow.

Actually, probably not.

Q: The Korean fans are grateful that Sang-moon Bae and Seung-yul Noh were given exemptions, given their situation with the national service, and that PGA has shown a lot of respect for the Korean golf. However, given that is a Tier 1 tournament with a decent sum of prize money, don’t you think that we are missing a lot of the top-class players? For example, Hideki Matsuyama and Ernie Els pulling out and not many players from the top 20?

Ty Votaw:As I mentioned earlier, I think that the experiences of the players who are here this week, when they take those stories and those experiences back with them to the PGA tour it’s going to be very positive story that they are going to be telling. As any PGA tour event on our schedule, our players choose their schedules according to what fits their specific need and their specific goals and desires. Certainly, we have added a third event in Asia this year and there has been a significant support of all three events by the top players but, perhaps not all three events by the top players.

Uh, no way.

I think what you are going to see is, the ability for players to evaluate what their experience was this week and last week in CIMB and in HSBC, and they will set their schedules accordingly. I think we are very pleased with the feel that we have this week, as commissioner mentioned earlier, our ability to have our Fedex Cup champion, our rookie of the year, former number ones Jason Day and Adam Scott plus all the other great players who are on the field this week. It’s a great start to a long term commitment by CJ and I think we will continue to do everything we can to make sure that our players support these important sponsorships.

All fair points, but it's hard to read this and wonder about the impact on up to four sponsor-less U.S. stops and many other domestic events get poor fields because players may now skip those for $9.2 million purses in Asia.

Q: I think there are a few things that can be improved in the future. The tournament is over at 3pm and it seems to feel a bit loose and it’s difficult for the gallery. Would it be possible to increase the field?

Monahan: This is just the first of our ten-plus years here. One of the things we knew going into this week was that we're going to do our very best to execute a world-class THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, but when we left at Sunday night there’ll be a number of things we could learn from over the course of the week, and our constant pursuit to improve and get better and do the best we can in South Korea.

That’s exactly what will happen. We’ll look at every facet of the tournament. We'll make significant improvements in any facet of this event. We're not done yet. This tournament will be finalized in the next several hours but I would say that at this point on Sunday, what has happened on the grounds here, the response that we received, the things we learned from the fans here, we’re really pleased with where we are.

First on tap, ordering extra satellite time!

Social Media Police Disbanded: Tours Cave On Fan Phone Policy

The evolution of fan rules for cell phones at golf tournaments has shifted gradually everywhere but Augusta, Georgia. Still it was fascinating to see the PGA Tour and European Tour both allow fans to shoot photo and video this week (Casey/Golfweek).

As noted by Casey, the main hope here is more social sharing from fans.

For the PGA Tour, its new policy also allows spectator photo and videos taking during tournament days to be shared on social media platforms.

Live streaming and shot-by-shot coverage are still not allowed, and the new policy also states that phones must be on silent at all times and use of flash is prohibited.

But select media that dares to live Tweet a round in progress will still face losing their credentials, and don't you forget it, worthless non-PGATour.com scribblers!

The European Tour's video announcing the changing going forward:

We officially launch our new phone 📱 policy this week. Keep them on silent & we look forward to seeing your pics 📷https://t.co/6XXS8Msfhh pic.twitter.com/xNFa7czjnN

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 23, 2017

Bloomberg: Time Inc. Exploring Sale Of Golf Magazine

Bloomberg's Gerry Smith quotes Time Inc. CEO Rich Battista as saying the venerable print title and its Golf.com website are for sale along with Coastal Living and Sunset.

In the interview, Battista called the three publications “wonderful brands” but said Time needed to invest in other properties instead. The company also publishes People and Sports Illustrated.

“It’s really important to focus on the key biggest growth drivers of this company that will move the needle the most,” he said. “These are wonderful titles and wonderful brands. They’re just relatively smaller in our portfolio.”

Meanwhile, WWD's Alexandra Steigrad reports that Golf Digest Chief Business Officer Howard Mittman has left for Bleacher Report amid rumors of more shake-ups in the Conde Nast business model.

It's A Wild And Zany Press Center At Trump Bedminster!

I'm very happy to be at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open starting Thursday where the controversies will extend to who should have won the daily photo caption contest and whether Keith Pelley will sport the red or blue frames.

But reading these two extreme takes from the U.S. Women's Open press sessions at Trump Bedminster has me agreeing with neither writer and wishing there was a more reasonable middle ground.

Steve Eubanks in Global Golf Post says the questions of USGA officials and players explains why "they hate us" (us being the media).

Every player and official who came in for interviews on Tuesday was hit with the same battery of questions. Do you think this championship should have been moved because of President Trump’s statements about women? What do you think of President Trump? Is it appropriate that our women’s national championship is held at a Trump property? Do you think the president should stay away from this event? One reporter even asked a couple of players and USGA officials what their position was on sexual assault.

And writing a column about it!

Besides filing a column asking the President to stay away from the U.S. Women's Open, Christine Brennan of USA Today pressed the USGA on its sexual assault policy in a lingering-aftermath question tied to President Trump's infamous Access Hollywood tape.

But when you’re in business with Donald Trump, the man who appeared on the infamous Access Hollywood videotape bragging that he could sexually assault women without having to worry about the ramifications, your values start to fade.

Your principles waver. Your admirable efforts to try to attract women and girls to a game with a long history of discriminatory and exclusionary practices run head-long into your need to prostrate yourself at Trump’s feet.

And so, in what was a truly remarkable moment in sports news conference lore, three supposed leaders of the USGA sat dumbfounded, unable to utter even one word against sexual assault, while the fourth, a spokeswoman, said the foursome was there to talk about “the golf competition,” but would be happy to discuss the “important question …afterwards.”

Afterwards turned into one hour, then two. Finally, nearly three hours later, a spokesman emailed this to me:

“The USGA has a longstanding policy on harassment. This policy governs not only the conduct of our employees, but safeguards staff, players and fans at all USGA events. Our Staff Code of Conduct prohibits any workplace harassment, including but not limited to, sexual harassment or sexual assault.”

While I'm sure few can agree that a few of the questions were within reason given the public interest in President Trump, but trying to pin the USGA down on sexual assault seems strong too.

I do think we can agree in the humor of learning this from Eubanks:

The Washington Post and Politico have an entire front row of seats in the media center. The former never sends more than one reporter to this event (if any) and the latter (according to officials on site) has never covered a women’s golf event.

Update on 2017-07-13 09:13 by Geoff

**Karen Crouse of the New York Times presents a more level-headed examination of the many issues colliding at Trump Bedminster.

In his life before politics as a real estate mogul, Trump practiced inclusivity, inviting players, including Kerr, to his courses for informal rounds during which he dispensed business advice. For a few years, he hosted the players at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., during the L.P.G.A. Tour’s season-ending ADT Championship at Trump International Golf Club. In 2006, the tournament became the first women’s event to offer a $1 million first-place prize.

The staunch supporter of women’s golf — and her own career — is the Trump that Kerr knows. She said she did not recognize or condone the behavior of the commander in chief who posts on Twitter disparaging comments about women and who has been accused of harassing women.

Trump Properties Include (Fictional) Time Magazine Covers

The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold reports what any visitor to a Trump golf property knows: featured prominently on walls are framed magazine covers featuring the now-President.

What we visitors didn't know, however, is that some of the covers are not real.

Time Magazine is demanding that they be taken down in the wake of Fahrenthold's story.

The framed copy of Time magazine was hung up in at least five of President Trump’s clubs, from South Florida to Scotland. Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” the big headline said. Above the Time nameplate, there was another headline in all caps: “TRUMP IS HITTING ON ALL FRONTS . . . EVEN TV!”

This cover — dated March 1, 2009 — looks like an impressive memento from Trump’s pre-presidential career. To club members eating lunch, or golfers waiting for a pro-shop purchase, it seemed to be a signal that Trump had always been a man who mattered. Even when he was just a reality TV star, Trump was the kind of star who got a cover story in Time.

But that wasn’t true.

The spoofs are already rolling in... 

Why stop at @TIME? pic.twitter.com/WomYHPsNWs

— Kierán Suckling (@KieranSuckling) June 28, 2017

SI Media Podcast: Golf Channel's Molly Solomon, AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson

You'll have to get back to the regular reminders of how little SI's Richard Deitsch likes or cares about golf--we get it Richard!--and he steers the conversation away from the game a bit too often due to that, but there is still plenty to chew on here.

For your weekend podcast listening...

Diaz: "Everybody loses when players don't come to the interview room."

After an opening 65, Rickie Fowler was asked by USGA officials to visit the interview room for a sitdown with writers and various television outlets. Instead, he kept his comments confined to various TV interviews and the "flash" area.

But as Jaime Diaz of Golf World explains, this was a precedent-setting move in line with the recent tradition of players increasingly staying out of the press center and distancing themselves from the press. Because of the player in question--and one who is traditionally media friendly--Diaz views this new precedent as dangerous.

But Fowler was the leader, and his decision to break precedent matters. Whether they like it or not, the game’s best players are also its most influential thought leaders. What they say at tournaments, and especially majors, can both inspire and deepen understanding of a nuanced game. Forfeiting such a platform ultimately hurts golf.

What’s worrisome is that players will take note of Fowler’s decision and start to emulate it. Indeed, through he first two rounds of the championship at Erin Hills, more than 50 players were interviewed in the flash area, but only one—Brian Harman (one of four players who tied for the 36-hole lead)—came to the press center to be interviewed.

It’s understandable in the current climate—which now includes journalists regularly considered to be putting out “fake news”—that agents and managers who handle the players see an opportunity for lessening media obligations. Perhaps Fowler’s decision was in part a test to see if anyone would notice.

"He’s the most-read golf writer in the world. He just wants a little more company."

Ed Sherman uses the U.S. Open to file a Poynter.org story on AP golf writer Doug Ferguson and the dwindling number of golf writers covering the sports for local papers.

He notes the concern about the increased presence of PGATour.com covering the sport over independent outlets.

Ferguson can’t help but take note of the PGA Tour going all-in with PGATour.com. During most tournaments, the tour’s digital operation makes up a large chunk of the press room with its writers and social media crew.

Clearly, the PGA Tour has the most resources and the greatest access, but Ferguson contends golf fans don’t get the complete picture from its site. He says the content always comes from a biased and, let’s say, decidedly positive point of view.

“I don’t know a lot of people who go to the site except to look at the leaderboard,” Ferguson said. “You’re only going to see the birdie putt that gets made. You’re not going to see the birdie putt that gets missed.”

ESPN To Revisit Practice That Improved Tiger's Mugshot

You might have seen my Tweet and many others expressing surprise at the haircut and sudden glow Tiger took on when ESPN posted his DUI mugshot in their lefthand sidebar.

On a scale of 1 to Nick Nolte, I'd say this mug shot is an 8. Unless you are looking at the Photoshopped @SportsCenter version. pic.twitter.com/ZqeFUcLW7M

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) May 29, 2017

Cork Gaines at BusinessInsider.com explains why the tidying up occurred and chalks it up to unintentional and "sloppy" work.

When selecting part of an image in Photoshop to move it to a different background, the most popular methods are the "lasso" tool, which allows the user to select the portion he or she wants by simply drawing a freehand line, or the "magnetic freeform pen," which is similar to the lasso but assists the user by having the line "stick" to edges.

One problem with the magnetic pen is that it struggles with areas in which there is not a distinct line. In this GIF, I attempt to select Woods' head with the magnetic pen. If not being careful, the pen will easily skip over the thin areas of hair.

Now, that doesn't quite explain the glow Tiger took on, including some nice face smoothing.  Either way, ESPN issued this statement to make clear it's probably not happening again.

“We have utilized a standard template for on-air headshots, which led to the background being dropped for consistency. We will revisit this process to improve it going forward.”

The episode was brought up by Liz Claman of Fox Business News when talking to Brad Faxon about Tiger. Claman seemed to be almost gleeful to have found prime "fake news" but made a fool of herself by interview's end. Seems Claman is covering the U.S. Open in two weeks on site, but still asked Faxon if Tiger would be playing. Faxon's surprise is priceless but because he's a pro's pro, Faxon calmly points out that Tiger's recent back surgery will preclude such an appearance.

Flashback: LPGA Commish On Golf Digest's Paulina Cover

With an LPGA tournament holding a Twitter poll to determine a sponsor's invitation, there is an apparent blessing from Commissioner Mike Whan that seems inconsistent with the outrage his organization directed at Golf Digest two years ago.

To recap: Golf Digest put Paulina Gretzky on the May 2014 cover and many in the women's golf world were outraged given how few females had ever graced the front page. And when a woman did make the cover, it was not one of the LPGA's many stars.

Whan at the time:

"Obviously, we're disappointed and frustrated by the editorial direction (and timing) Golf Digest has chosen with the announcement of its most recent magazine cover," Whan said in a statement released Friday. The tour's first major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, began on Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

"If a magazine called Golf Digest is interested in showcasing females in the game, yet consistently steers away from the true superstars who've made history over the last few years, something is clearly wrong. ... 'Growing the game' means a need for more role models and in these exciting times for women's golf, the LPGA is overflowing with them."

At the time, it was surprising that Whan to disrupt his tour's first major championship of the season given the importance of that event and the reduced importance of magazines or their covers. But given his membership's strong feelings about media emphasis of sex appeal over on-course accomplishment, many could understand why he spoke out.

Fast forward three years and the ShopRite LPGA Classic is essentially holding a beauty contest between four non-LPGA Tour members for a field spot. Only one of the four is on the Rolex Rankings (Booth at No. 365).

Golf Digest was trying to sell magazines and generate attention. No professional golfer was harmed by the cover.

But the ShopRite exemption could go to a promising Symetra Tour player in need of starts. Or a recent college golfer looking to "showcase" the start of her career could benefit. Instead, a spot in an LPGA Tour event will go to an attractive but undeserving player in large part to get the tournament attention.

Maybe Whan and the LPGA will think twice about letting this happen again? Because they risk losing credibility the next time a player is passed over because she doesn't fit someone's idea of what sells.

John Feinstein and I debated today on Golf Central:

ESPN! Stephen A. And Kellerman Trash Golf, Do We Care?

Golf has needed ESPN but since losing or waving goodbye to the many golf properties they once enjoyed rights to, not so much.

ESPN the television network makes clear it needs golf once a year when the Masters rolls around (ESPN.com still shows great interest in and respect for covering the sport with their team of Harig, Sobel, O'Connor, Collins, Maguire, Wojciechowski, etc.). But as we saw with last week's no-golf Sportscenter in between live broadcasts and the round replays, golf seems to be an annoyance these days.

Still, the ignorance and disrepect shown by Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman takes things that may have the golf world no longer caring what the network thinks of our sport.

Let's get to the comments first as transcribed by Joe DePaolo (do watch the Mediaite embed as the tone is worse than the transcript.) Here is Stephen A lamenting the sportsmanship shown by Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose's:

This notion that we’re really not competing against each other. We’re really just playing golf and it’s really competing against the course. Nonsense. There’s a game to be played. Each of you go out there to do it. You’re trying to compete at a level that eclipses the individuals that are also on the course. Last time I checked, that’s competition.

He added: “I damn near told them to get a room. It was ridiculous, how they were with one another…I want to see you rooting for the other to fail.”

These comments were the most-noticed and they are silly given that Sergio and Rose did not walk arm-and-arm up the playoff hole. Even sillier when you have to know the heartbreak Rose the competitor feels in those moments and yet shows such respect.

Sure, there is a discussion to be had for players helping each other out by leaving balls down as backboards, or a softening of competitive edges due to the immense amount of money in the sport.

However, I feel the comments from Max Kellerman, Stephen A's colleague on First Take, speak to a lack of knowledge within the Worldwide Leader that is perplexing. He questions golf's "status as a sport" and then...

I would define a sport as a competition through which you accurately gauge the athleticism of its participants. And I don’t think that’s the case with golf. Among its many flaws…this ain’t Ali going at Frazier. They’re not throwing punches. They’re not tackling each other. They’re not in each other’s way. Golf is not a zero sum game. It’s more like a standardized test.

Needless to say we know some of the greatest athletes in the world have said they admire golf as a sport and have profound respect for their fellow athletes.

What's troubling is that a network we once relied on for balancing smart with entertaining coverage and for knowing where to draw the line on First Team All-American ignorance, even allows such an uninformed discussion to take place.

Mercifully, golf goes off ESPN's radar now until next year at The Masters. If there is a next year for ESPN.

Update on 2017-04-12 02:16 by Geoff

**The Big Lead's Michael Shamburger points out that Kellerman needs to get a clue:

If Kellerman truly believes that golf is not a sport, I challenge him to head out to the driving range and hit 1,500 golf balls between Monday and Wednesday and then play four rounds from Thursday to Sunday and walk, not ride in a cart, but walk up and down the hills on the course as he chases his ball around. After that, get back to me on whether golf is a sport. Let me know.

Maybe you agree with Kellerman and maybe you agree with me, but what no one can deny is that it takes an unbelievable amount of skill and mental toughness to not only win a major championship, but also to win on the PGA Tour, Web.com Tour, European Tour and so on.