Putting The (Miniscule) New Skins Game Purse Into Perspective

Just a few weeks ago, the FedExCup’s $15 million first prize reached a level of excess that appeared to not resonate with fans as expected.

The original Skins Game, a really important event for many years as a the dreaded “grow the game” staple, but also simply as good entertainment. Don’t forget, in the 1984 Skins, Jack Nicklaus made a putt for $240,000 and threw his putter to the sky.

“Even old unemotional Jack got excited,” a smiling Nicklaus said. “I threw my putter high in the air because . . . well, it was exciting.”

While purse strength is rarely of interest to fans, dollar figures are vital in Skins because the amounts can add up. That builds tension and the entire point of Skins is to have carry overs and big putts for big dollars. The format also ends up having players take different rooting interests in the name of friendly competition.

In other words, Skins is dependent on a purse that gets the attention of players. This is no easy task in today’s game and likely why the annual Thanksgiving weekend event stopped attracting top stars.

So it was a little strange to read that the first real stab at Skins from “GolfTV Powered By The PGA Tour” will feature a lower purse than the 1983 Skins Game. Given that the “golf Netflix” international streaming channel has committed to a multi-billion investment in distributing the PGA Tour internationally, the Tiger-Rory-Jason-Hideki launch event is their first high profile property in eight countries. Playing for $350,000 over 18 holes is modest, at best. With the last hole worth $100,000, that leaves only $10,000 per hole for the first six.

A $360,000 purse—the first Skins bankroll-is just under $1 million in 2019 dollars.

Not surprisingly, the paltry purse went unmentioned in GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour’s press release and was only reported on by AP’s Doug Ferguson.

FYI, last place at this year’s Tour Championship was $395,000.

Furthermore, the head man at Discovery, purveyor of GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour, enjoyed a compensation package valued at $129.4 million in 2017. That means David Zaslav made more per-day in 2018 than the four players will compete for in this new Skins.

Zaslav’s 2017 compensation totaled $42.4 million in cash and stock options, meaning his pay every three days is the same amount as GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour’s initial Skins Game purse.

Tiger is there as part of his GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour deal. The other players are undoubtedly earning some nice appearance money, but GOLFTV Powered by the PGA Tour will not be televising movement of that money from their coffers to the players. Nor do we tune in to watch a wire transfer.

When it’s a Skins Game, we want to see them facing putts that prompt putter tosses and excitement.

Rory: If Tennis Can Hand Out Penalties For Slow Play, So Can Golf

The Rory McIlroy news from Wentworth has, so far, been mixed: he’s retaining his European Tour card after some negotiation with Chief Executive Keith Pelley (good), he opened the BMW PGA with a 76 (bad).

But as Rex Hoggard reports for GolfChannel.com, his comments on slow play add to the list of strong remarks by top players advocating penalty strokes for slow pokes. While that may not seem earth-shattering, the recent shift of players advocating penalty strokes is a change from years of players protecting slow pokes and muttering nonsense about field size.

The U.S. Open’s recent penalty of a lost point after a third violation by Rafa Nadal, got McIlroy’s attention:

Like many Tour players, McIlroy sees a reluctance to penalize players in high-profile situations and used last month’s U.S. Open in tennis and Rafael Nadal’s timing violation during a match as an example of what golf needs to embrace.

“Rafa got a time clock violation on a really big serve like at the end of the final of the U.S. Open, so if they can do it then, there's no reason why we can't do it in our tournaments, either,” McIlroy said. “It's just a matter of enforcing it and being consistent with it.”

Flashback: Remember When "Flogton" Was A Thing To Save The Game?

Actually, I forgot about this doozy of a grow-the-game program, too.

Al was hatched in high-profile fashion eight years ago when former CEO Scott McNealy and friends appeared at the PGA Show, followed by a media tour to promote this game savior—including a lively episode of Talkin’ Golf with Rod Morri and yours truly debating McNealy.

I’d blissfully forgotten about this grow-the-game initiative until seeing it mentioned in this Golfweek item on McNealy hosting a President Trump fundraiser.

The group behind Flogton (Notgolf backwards) wanted to sell you non-conforming equipment to make the game more accessible. They believed excessive regulation by the USGA was stifling growth.

Some of their ideas sound incredibly absurd just eight years later and in a world more open-minded to distance regulation:

Probably the best aid right now is a low-friction face, created by either lubricating the face of the club and ball or by applying a stick-on face to the driver. By simply reducing the face/ball friction, you can reduce slices and hooks by over 50 percent.

Ah, a lubricant. Why didn’t I think of that?

Flogton has test wedges that increase spin 100 percent, just by improving the grooves and adding friction-inducing surfaces. With new, soft-but-durable-skin balls, we believe we can give “the rest of us” the ability to stop a well-hit ball on the green just like the pros.

The entire push faded fast. Which should be an important reminder for the governing bodies this fall when issuing their distance report: golfers want to play a version of the game in line with the traditional golf as we know it. The majority value rules to protect a reward for skill.

Flogton failed because the founders were attempting to profit off the game and blow a hole in the rules for a buck. Golfers, or aspiring ones, were not attracted to a dumbed-down, Al Czervik-friendly version of the sport.

It’s heartening to know something so short-sighted was a failure. It’s even more heartening that just eight years later, the array of “solutions” praised at the time no longer seem welcome now that so many more realize the game’s issues have more to do with time and cost than with ease of play.

So where is McNealy’s in 2019?

When you want to read about flogton from the AltGolf.org site it has vanished. Even the domain is now available, however, given the rise of the Alt Right, here’s guessing no one is in a hurry to claim this URL:

GOLFTV's Tiger-Rory-Jason-Hideki Skins Game Is On, Golf Channel To Air In U.S.

Originally mentioned as part of Tiger’s exclusive GOLFTV deal was this skins competition, which has finally been announced for October 21, 2019. Finishing under the lights sounds fun, though the absence of a dollar figure in the press release for the skins stands out (“high stakes”).

There was a good reason. Doug Ferguson’s AP story has the dollars and it would seem the appearance fees didn’t leave much left for the “skins”:

Players need to win a hole outright, or it carries over to the next hole. Total prize money is $350,000 -- $10,000 per skin for the opening six holes, $20,000 for the next six holes, $20,000 through the 17th hole and $100,000 for the 18th. There also will be charitable component.

In the original 1983 Skins Game, the dollar figures were:

$10,000 is at stake on each of the first six holes, $20,000 on each of the next six and $30,000 on each of the last six.

Granted, it would take astrologically silly dollar figures to get the attention of these four, so perhaps the $350,000 should just be for charities. The four of them getting to Japan with their “team” will spend more on travel to Japan than they are playing for.

Anyway, For Immediate Release:

TIGER WOODS TO GO HEAD TO HEAD WITH RORY MCILROY, JASON DAY AND HIDEKI MATSUYAMA IN GOLFTV’s “THE CHALLENGE: JAPAN SKINS”

• New skins competition presented by GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR

• The unique event will be available exclusively live and on demand for free* by registering with GOLFTV around the globe (U.S. fans can watch the live simulcast on Golf Channel)

• Woods: “After discussing The Challenge with Discovery and GOLFTV, I wanted to be a part of it.”

NEW YORK, LONDON, TOKYO - 19 September: GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR has today announced an upcoming high-profile, live competition featuring global golf icon Tiger Woods. The Challenge: Japan Skins will see Woods go head to head with reigning FedExCup champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year Rory McIlroy and multiple-time PGA TOUR winners Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama in a globally-televised skins game.

The high-stakes exhibition event kicks off the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP week, sponsored by ZOZO, Inc. – the first-ever official PGA TOUR event to be played in Japan. Both events will be played at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan, during the week of October 21, 2019. The Challenge: Japan Skins marks the first in a series of annual Challenge events that are set to become a thrilling addition to the global golf calendar, and tees off at 13:00 p.m.** local time on October 21.

Endorsed by the PGA TOUR and produced in partnership with Excel Sports Management, The Challenge: Japan Skins unites four of the top players in the world from separate continents, who will also participate in the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, in an exciting competition format that’s sure to thrill audiences around the globe.

Alongside special in-match challenges and surprises, and finishing under floodlights, each hole will be assigned an increasing monetary value as the competition plays out. Players need to win a hole outright to take a “skin” (tied holes result in a “push” of the skin to the next hole), so golf fans can expect to see aggressive play from start to finish.

Alex Kaplan, President and General Manager of Discovery Golf, commented: “The Challenge: Japan Skins is a unique experience that no golf fan will want to miss and will be an exciting way to begin ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP week. GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR is growing to become the one-stop-shop for all the best in golf, and The Challenge is another significant step in that direction.

“To be able to bring many of golf’s biggest names to GOLFTV screens for our customers is hugely exciting for everyone involved. On October 21, fans will be able to see a totally new competition join the golf calendar, supporting some fantastic charities and showcasing the very best golf has to offer in the most fun, exhilarating and unpredictable way.”

Promising a new global moment for golf, fans around the world can watch the inaugural event live and on demand for free* exclusively on Discovery’s GOLFTV, the new digital home of golf for the global fan community, by registering for the service. The Challenge: Japan Skins will be produced in Japanese and English, and covered by a stellar lineup of leading presenters, commentators and on-course reporters.

In the U.S., The Challenge: Japan Skins can be viewed live on Golf Channel starting at 11 p.m. EDT/8 p.m. PDT on October 20. 

Cameron Champ Returns To Scene Of His Breakthrough Win Humbled, Healthy Again

Cameron Champ

A year ago the longest driver in professional won the Sanderson Farms and returns this week having struggled most of the time since due to back issues and a balky short game.

GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker profiles Cameron Champ, who has plenty of interesting things to say about his experience since being the breakout player of fall 2018.

Rarely is the road so smooth for seasoned players used to navigating it, never mind a rookie suddenly thrust into the spotlight while still trying to learn new courses each week not to mention the rigors of treating a game like the job it had become. Over his next 19 starts after a T-11 at the limited-field event Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Champ missed the cut 10 times and withdrew once.

“Expectations,” Champ says when asked as he gets set to defend his title this week in Mississippi what the most difficult thing was for him in his first year. “Whether you realize it or not, they’re always going to be there.

“Once you get to a certain point—and Matt and Collin are going through this now—it’s all new. You’re suddenly playing in featured groups, have a lot of people following you, you’re dealing with crowds and comments. It’s not anything I ever played in.”

Don't Tell Brooks: 2019 PGA Championship Merch at Firesale Prices For A Good Cause

Not only was he snubbed by his peers, but now Brooks Koepka’s win at Bethpage does not appear to have been commemorated with a big rush of post-championship sales despite discounts. Or, perhaps, the original pricing was a tad aggressive in a market that has had plenty of majors with more on the way.

Thanks to all of the PGA pros who sent this Met PGA notice on prices up to 65% off 2019 PGA Championship merchandise, with code REACH giving you an additional 35% off.

Now, I know I’m not great at match, but I feel like that adds up to 100% off.

Anyway, this isn’t just a sale of XXXXL Greg Norman Collection polos, but a nice array of all items in all sizes from all of the major brands, including Adidas, Polo, Nike, Ahead, Tervis, Puma, Cutter and Buck, Under Armour, Footjoy, Vineyard Vines, New Era and 47 Brand. Even better, the Met PGA is putting an unspecified return of the sale proceeds into their junior golf foundation.

Here is the link to the sale, while supplies last! And remember code REACH.

17-Year-Old Akshay Bhatia To Test Boundaries Of Pro Golf's Youth Movement

While he has picked the third weakest PGA Tour field of 2019 with only four world top 50 players and no one inside the top 40, Akshay Bhatia is still moving into bold territory leaping from junior golf to professional play.

The 17-year-old turns up fresh off a Walker Cup appearance to debut in the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms. He’s got a new Callaway deal, new woods, maybe a new putter and high expectations for a player jumping from the junior circuit to a PGA Tour event.

“Akshay is one of the most prolific amateurs the golf world has seen in a long time, and we’re thrilled to have him join our Professional TOUR Staff,” said Tim Reed, Senior Vice President of Global Sports Marketing at Callaway Golf, in a press release.

Bhatia has one previous appearance in a Tour event and one Korn Ferry Tour cut made as an amateur, but has long targeted a pro debut in lieu of college golf.

Bhatia generates plenty of speed:

View this post on Instagram

@akshaybhatia_1 getting ready for pro debut this week 💦💦💦

A post shared by George Gankas (@georgegankasgolf) on Sep 17, 2019 at 4:55pm PDT

I would agree with Morning Drive’s Damon Hack that too many cautionary tales are getting lost in the rush to push players into cashing checks at a young age.

View this post on Instagram

Too much too soon? @damonhackgc gives his take on young PGA pros, let us know what you think!

A post shared by Golf Channel's Morning Drive (@gcmorningdrive) on Sep 17, 2019 at 8:15am PDT

Hank Haney Is Back, This Time As A Podcaster

At the PGA Tour’s instruction Hank Haney was suspended from SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Network in May for comments deemed insensitive.

As I explain here for Golfweek, Haney is returning as part of iHeartRadio’s move into golf. Haney spoke to me exclusively to update on his new show, the reaction he’s gotten to his comments and what he has in store for his large following of listeners.

The new show debuts September 23rd and is already listed for subscription in some podcast outlets, but not the iTunes store just yet.

Not Surprisingly, Michelle Wie's Got A Future In TV

As compelling as the Solheim Cup final day was, the week was also marked by Michelle Wie’s start in television.

I would agree with the Forecaddie that it’s not a huge shock given her Stanford degree and communications experience since the age of 12 or so, but it’s still another thing to be thrown onto a set with bright lights and captain’s decisions to dissect. Wie not only did that smoothly, but had not problem questioning Juli Inkster’s Sunday singles lineup.

Rory Hoping This Rivalry Is Finally The One

There is plenty of great stuff from the latest Rory McIlroy podcast with Carson Daly in the latest installment of his Golfpass contributions.

Golfweek’s Roxanna Scott highlights his comments on creating a rivalry to raise his game at the 2019 Tour Championship.

Finally, it seems maybe McIlroy has met his rivalry match after years of flirtations.

“Brooks has been undoubtedly the best player in the world for the last couple years. I’ve been lucky that my career and my consistency level has been good for the last 10,” McIlroy said. “I feel like they’ve tried to create a rivalry between myself and Tiger, myself and Jordan (Spieth), myself and Dustin (Johnson), myself and Brooks, myself and Jason Day.

“It’s nice there’s a common denominator and it’s usually me, which means that I’m doing something right.”

As for the rivalry mindset, this was interesting:

“I needed that mentality going into East Lake because, you know, there was a little bit of revenge in there. He talked about trying to be the dominant player in the game and that was said to me in the media and I said, ‘He’s going to have to go through me first.’

“If that’s both of our mentalities going forward, I think that’s good for the game.”

Daly responded, “I love that. That’s what you should say. If you didn’t say that, you’ve got a problem. As a fan, that’s what you want to see.”

You can listen to the Rory & Carson podcast wherever fine pods are given away for free. Here is the iTunes store link.

Flyovers: Hirono's C.H. Alison Restoration

Always high on the list of courses architecture aficionados hoped to see restored: C.H. Alison’s design of Hirono Golf Club design. Not only did it exhibit some extraordinary bunkering, but the amazing property has long been seen as one of the more dramatic in golf and deserving of a sensitive replenishment.

Brad Klein at GolfAdvisor.com scouted out the work recently and filed this piece.

And now architect’s Mackenzie and Ebert are tweeting side-by-side aerials showing the work before and after. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen such a thing and it’s quite compelling.

You can check out the holes posted so far at their Twitter account.

Here is the third hole. And if you go to full screen with a decent connection, the details really shine through.

Hirono has been regarded as the Pine Valley of Japan. The creation of a sand area in the carry of the 3rd strengthens this comparison. Two world class courses which benefited from Colt & Company input. pic.twitter.com/zCwIzhhZh4

— Mackenzie & Ebert (@golfarchitects) September 16, 2019

Club Pro Guy Shows How You Can Improve Your Fairway Bunker Lies, Just Like Matt Kuchar

Finally, answers to solving the dreaded fairway bunker shot, thanks to Matt Kuchar’s liberal interpretation of the golf’s revised Rules. (Thanks reader Stephen for the head’s up.)

In this edition of the ClubProGuy #LearningCenter, I'll show you how the new rules of golf have made a once difficult shot, much easier. @usga pic.twitter.com/UEQwAwevNy

— Club Pro Guy (@ClubProGuy) September 16, 2019

Tiger Reveals Plenty About His Presidents Cup Plans

Usually Captain blog entries are full of fluff and merely part of the job as outlined in whatever agreement the cart drivers sign to fetch bananas and pick out rainsuits.

But Tiger Woods’ latest blog post updating his Presidents Cup thoughts telegraphs more than I would have expected about December’s much-anticipated match at Royal Melbourne.

Before we get to the meaty stuff that matters, the initial post included this unfortunate mistake that was not picked up by the Ponte Vedra Senior VP of Microediting.

Of course there are many innocent explanations for Viktor Hovland’s inclusion: he speaks better English than most Americans! And with a nice Oklahoma twang. And he’s kind of looking like one of the best players on the planet right now.

However, he’s 2020 Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington’s to have since the Norwegian on his squad than Tiger does of bringing Mr. 64 (another one Sunday at Greenbrier) to Melbourne.

For starters, it’s clear now that Tiger’s play in Japan this fall (Zozo, skins game with Rory) will determine whether he is the first playing captain since Hale Irwin:

While I was disappointed to not earn one of the top 8 spots, I’m hopeful to perform well at my next start in Japan. In the meantime, I’m going to rely on playing with some of the guys in Florida to stay sharp. I’ll practice hard, work on my game, and we'll have some matches. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also always fun.

He later signed the blog post with this, as I believe he’s done before:

Maybe I’m reading to much into thoughts that I know Tiger slaved over while doing his nightly novel writing at the computer, but Kevin Kisner seems a more logical addition to the team given his recent match play record.

There are so many guys who are world-class players who aren’t yet on the team like Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Gary Woodland, Jordan Spieth and many more.

Thankfully, he remains high on Royal Melbourne and how much the players will enjoy it.

The guys will thoroughly enjoy the fact that the ball runs. It'll move on the fairways and it'll move on the greens. Some of the guys who have played events in the Sandbelt in the past will tell you it’s one of the best collections of golf courses on the planet. It’s really a unique experience and some of the greatest golf you play.

I can’t wait to feel the atmosphere at Royal Melbourne. Melbourne is one of the greatest sporting cities in the world and I know their fans will turn out to watch another great Presidents Cup. If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, make sure you head to PresidentsCup.com.

Now there’s a buried lede: good seats still available. While supplies last.

Perhaps sales are lagging since my visit to PresidentsCup.com this evening was producing an error message, but according to Ticketmaster, weekly badges are AU$530 and weekend dailies go for AU$155, about $364 an $106 in US dollars.

AT&T: Stephenson Makes Exit Plan Known, Activist Investor Pounces And Lodges Proxy Fight

And we in golf just want to know what will happen to one of the best corporate partners in the game.

The Wall Street Journal’s Drew FitzGerald, Shalini Ramachandran and Corrie Driebusch lay out in fascinating detail how AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson signaled his forthcoming exit and set off an activist investor proxy by Jesse Cohn of Elliott Management. The battle for AT&T is sure to have ramifications for golf down the road and more immediately, upcoming PGA Tour television contract negotiations where the company is reportedly prepared to offer a new golf-only channel.

The next day, Elliott Management issued a 23-page report that publicly questioned the logic of AT&T’s $49 billion takeover of DirecTV in 2015, shortly before cord-cutting accelerated, and its $81 billion deal last year to buy Time Warner, home of HBO and Warner Bros, only to replace almost all of its experienced entertainment bosses.

Elliott’s report Monday also questioned whether Mr. Stephenson’s presumed successor could successfully integrate the conglomerate into a force able to compete for advertising dollars against the likes of Google and win a costly battle for streaming supremacy with rivals like Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

Plans for Mr. Stephenson’s triumphant exit, as early as next year, now threaten to turn into a monthslong fight over the direction of the $280 billion telecom company and a test of the board’s loyalty to his long-term vision.

The challenge issued by Elliott pits the 59-year-old AT&T chief executive against a 39-year-old Wall Street manager known for pressuring his targets to shake up their operations.

The letter does not question any of AT&T’s investment in golf, which includes sponsorship of two PGA Tour events and the Masters. So there’s that.

A Solheim Cup Finish For The Ages: Pettersen Makes The Ultimate Walk-Off Winning Putt

I feel like we’ve had more “sad someone had to lose” events in golf in recent years, and you can add the 2019 Solheim Cup to the list. Team USA and Team Europe—once they actually hit their shots—put on valiant efforts under intense pressure. Everyone really should get a trophy for the show they put on.

But it was the final 45 minutes, where the outcome was in doubt and a screenwriter seemingly scripted the series of events in brilliant coordination with Golf Channel, that makes this one so unforgettable. (It replays at 11 am ET Monday.)

Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek captured the magical day here very well, and in this paragraph summed up the stunning composure of Bronte Law and Suzann Pettersen, along with the brilliant captaining by Catriona Matthew to place them in the last to singles slots.

Everything down the stretch had to go Europe’s way. Bronte Law, an English lioness who sprinted out the tunnel and onto the first tee, walked in a birdie putt on the 16th hole and closed her match against alternate Ally McDonald on the 17th to leave the fate of the Cup in Suzann Pettersen’s hands. They are cut from the same mold, Law and Pettersen. High-octane players who feed off of moments like this, particularly in team competition.

Ron Sirak has seen has share of great moments and writes “you’d have to search far and wide to find a more dramatic finish anywhere in the history of sports.”

Suzann Pettersen was blocked out on 18, wedged out, wedged close and made the winning putt. A controversial captain’s pick, she returned from a maternity leave and announced her farewell soon after the matches, writes Alistair Tait.

Brentley Romine with the Sunday singles roundup…each match mattered.

As with all team events, the day yielded many emotion-laden images.

As for Sunday’s strategy, Michelle Wie made her TV debut and confidently questioned Juli Inkster’s decision to middle-load the USA lineup with veterans while Matthew clearly looks brilliant for backloading hers with the most fiery competitors:

Golf Central’s highlight package: