The Open Champion Caught Browsing At The Open Shop!

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Heaven knows few spend much time these days in the beautifully restored Tom Morris shop, since converted to a place for The Open gear just off St. Andrews’ 18th green.

But Shane Lowry, the Champion Golfer Of The Year, added to the long list of legends to set foot in the space. He was caught there claiming he’d been asked to stop in for a quick photo. Sure Shane! ;)


Tiger Says He Can Resume Full Practice, Lifting

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He shared the good news with Michael Stranahan on Good Morning America following a successful inaugural NEXUS Cup, a TGR Foundation fundraiser.

From a Golfweek report:

“I got the clearance last week to start full practice, so I played nine holes the other day,” Woods said of his recovery in an interview this week with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan. “It’s sore, yeah, but now I can start lifting and getting my muscle back.”

Lee Westwood Scores The First Hole-In-One Captured By Plane Tracer

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Definitely a first! And what a fantastic look given how tight the shot was to the ball.

From round one of the Alfred Dunhill Links, Lee Westwood making an ace at Carnoustie’s 8th hole.

Awkward Alert: Romo Opens Strong In Napa; A Made Cut Will Interrupt His CBS Work Sunday

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In a contract year with CBS and rebelliously teeing it up during all-important NFL regular season, former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo opened the Safeway Open with a 70, his best PGA Tour round by far.

The possibility of a made cut has him potentially playing the weekend and missing his Vikings-Bears NFL assignment with Jim Nantz.

According to the New York Post, Boomer Esiason is slated to replace Romo.

While this is an awkward situation for CBS given Romo’s popularity as a broadcaster and his obvious passion to play golf over watch film of the Bears, imagine how the 74 PGA Tour pros who were beat by Romo feel? Granted, the field includes a few retreads and folks you didn’t know have tour status, but Romo’s T28 position has him well ahead of several major winners.

From Adam Schupak’s Golfweek report in Napa:

That would prevent him from doing his day job commentating for CBS Sports on the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on Sunday.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Romo said with a smile.

Romo is playing this week as the lone amateur in the 144-man field, and had players buzzing about his round.

“It’s bloody impressive,” said Adam Scott, who held a share of the lead after shooting 65. “I ain’t ever going to throw a pass in the NFL, that’s for sure, so I think it’s unbelievable that he can do that.”

Romo tees off at 1:25 Pacific, putting him in a good portion of Golf Channel’s broadcast window.

Endeavor: IMG Owners Scrap Planned IPO

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While IMG has a different presence in golf than in years past when they were known primarily for representing players, Mark McCormick’s brainchild remains a major player in tournament operations, licensing and consulting.

Purchased in 2014 by WME, the conglomerate scrapped its IPO at the last minute. The impact on golf is not clear, though a possible change in direction for the operation now known as Endeavor could lead to big changes.

From Ryan Faughnder and Stacy Perman in the LA Times on Endeavor leader Ari Emmanuel:

Emanuel built his reputation and that of Endeavor on a series of bold, risky moves and unexpected acquisitions, including Professional Bull Riders. The IPO slated for Friday was his biggest gamble to date, intended to catapult Endeavor into a global juggernaut, one that would shape the future of media and entertainment. Now that is all on hold and Emanuel is going to have to define a new future for the company.

SBJ: Pitchtime In Ponte Vedra For Network Executives

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Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reports in great detail that some network heavyweights are descending on Ponte Vedra Beach to make initial PGA Tour, Champions, Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and LPGA Tour media rights pitches.

Ourand lays out the schedule to include sessions with Warnermedia chairman Jeff Zucker and Turner Sports head Lenny Daniels, CBS’s Sean McManus and David Berson, ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus (EVP programming), Eric Shanks and president Mark Silverman from Fox Sports, Amazon’s Marie Donoghue and Jim DeLorenzo, with NBC Sports Group President Pete Bevacqua and Golf Channel President Mike McCarley helming Comcast’s effort.

With the NFL’s timing in limbo, Ourand notes the PGA Tour’s desire to wrap things up by year’s end comes with risk.

The tour is coming to market after a year that saw weekend television viewership (excluding the majors) drop considerably. NBC’s weekend coverage was down 18% this season; CBS’s was down 10%.

The looming NFL rights negotiation also could have an effect on these negotiations. All the networks are prepared to pay a lot more to keep the NFL when its rights come up in 2021 and 2022. The risk is that the prospect of those rights could keep networks from committing as much money as the PGA Tour is hoping for.

(The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan filed an update on the NFL’s proposed plans which now focus on a 17-game schedule and other elements that might take their schedule into late February if the season begins in the traditional post-Labor Day period, including an extra playoff game and an added bye week.)

Ourand says the number of bidders is working in the PGA Tour’s favor in spite of a ratings drop.

AT&T has told tour officials that it has looked into flipping one of its existing channels (Headline News or truTV) into a golf channel that would pick up the rights that currently are on Golf Channel. It’s likely that AT&T would offer the PGA Tour a stake in that channel.

ESPN is expected to make an aggressive pitch centered on streaming rights for its ESPN+ platform. CBS has carried PGA Tour rights since 1970 and wants to maintain that relationship. Finally, NBC has built a healthy business around PGA Tour rights, like Golf Channel and GolfNow, and is expected to be aggressive in trying to keep them.

Notably absent from the meetings: Discovery and its GOLFTV Powered by the PGA Tour, aka golf Netflix.

Justin Timberlake: "I hit the ball with an old ass club and it was chill."

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Add Justin Timberlake to the list of hickory converts or technophobic anti-capitalists, depending on your world view.

Neat moment in the Dunhill Links practice round posted by the entertainer:


Jack Nicklaus To Renovate His Muirfield Village Design (Again)

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Tim Rosaforte reports on Jack Nicklaus announcing to the Muirfield Village members a planned greens redo, not the first for his co-design with Desmond Muirhead.

Most noteworthy may be the efforts to lengthen the 11th and 15th holes, two splendid back nine par-5s he’s been unwilling to stretch out. Does Nicklaus believe regulatory help is not coming and this is why he did so, or is he believing that even with some sort of change in equipment rules, the tees are still needed?

Flashback: Love For And Resistance To The European Tour's Seve Logo That Never Was

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With the excitement already cratering from the European Tour’s brand refresh, I went back into the archives after Seve’s passing and was reminded how aggressively players and fans attempted to initiate a change. Stories about player support for the idea were written in places as varied as PGA.com and the Wall Street Journal.

Then Chief Executive George O’Grady had to issue a statement and Seve’s children had concerns about the use of his likeness. That killed the issue.

Padraig Harrington advocated for it and even Monty…MONTY loved the idea!

"I think you will find it does change and let's hope it is sooner rather than later," said Montgomerie. "I would vote for that immediately. When you talk about the European Tour you talk about Seve, and I think it's only right he should appear on our logo."

So there you have it. A bummer.

Costco's Latest Foray Into The Golf Business Fizzles Fast

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MyGolfSpy made Costco’s original “K-Sig” ball a hit, insanity then ensued, lawsuits even happened and the new ball briefly put a dent in Titleist’s business until it became apparent Costco was selling a one-off run of Taylor Mades.

Now MyGolfSpy has exposed the latest version of Costco’s inexpensive ball as, uh, not up to snuff. Or being struck by modern equipment.

Costco is now refunding customers based on the MyGolfSpy testing. The Tweets and link to their latest pod discussing their findings.

Dunhill Links Trots Out Stellar Field But Will Slow Play Keep The Scots Away?

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Rarely have I seen anyone project a tournament struggling to attract fans due to slow play, but as Martin Dempster writes for The Scotsman, this week’s Dunhill Links at St. Andrews-Kingsbarns-Carnoustie features a strong field, some A-list celebrities and players happy to be there (like Rory McIlroy teaming with his dad).

Still, as Dempster notes, the tournament can lack in Scottish support due to dodgy weather and 6-hour rounds.

Put it this way, more non-golfers are likely to take in this event, especially when they can take advantage of a free admission offer on the first three days, than have attended any other golf tournament held so far this year in Scotland and the game can surely only gain from that.

The Irish would be all over an event like the Dunhill Links like a rash and Scottish golf fans should certainly be giving this week’s event the support it deserves.

Playing the Irish card! Bold. But maybe helpful.

Still, it’s fascinating to see the length of the day possibly factoring into decisions about whether to attend even when admission is free. That’s a big deal if the Scots are ahead of the curve when it comes to attendance and pace of play.

European Tour "Brand Refresh" Includes Yet Another Unnecessary Slogan

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The PGA Tour Lives Under Par and no one knows what that means, still. The LPGA is going to Drive On and probably just keep pumping out Nike ads, circa 2002, and now the European Tour brass undoubtedly survived many meetings to unveil “Driving Golf Further” as part of a brand “refresh”.

That replenishment includes a wildly uninspired logo but another crack at updating the website that has already undergone a relaunch so unsuccessful, it was scrapped and we were returned to the old, gasp, mobile unfriendly site. The new “beta” site (what a concept!) is live and looks infinitely improved over the last relaunch effort.

As for the “Driving Golf Further” slogan, Chief Executive Keith Pelley once again matched his glasses with the backdrop to perfection. And here is the full explanation of the new scheme.

The European Tour has launched a creative new brand strategy, with the aim of broadening the Tour’s appeal to new and existing fans and commercial partners.

Golf’s global tour has unveiled its new identity, which includes a modern, fresh logo alongside a new website and App, all underpinned by the Tour’s guiding principles of Innovation, Inclusivity and Globality.

Saudi Arabia, here we come!

BTW, why Globality is capitalized, I have no idea.

The brand refresh focuses on ‘Driving Golf Further’, the strapline which features underneath the new logo, as the Tour seeks to build on its strong, established reputation for award-winning content, innovative tournament formats and immersive technology.

I see.

The European Tour’s new identity was unveiled at the Tour’s recently refurbished, state-of-the-art headquarters during the BMW PGA Championship, the fourth event in the Tour’s Rolex Series – an alliance of its eight premium events. It will be rolled out on October 1, coinciding with the launch of the Tour’s revamped website and App.

Designed to stand out from the rest of the busy golfing category whilst retaining its golf context, the bold, simple aesthetic is modern and flexible, suitable to be used across all platforms. It comprises a suite of assets, with a new logo, avatar and a range of graphic devices.

Or it’s just very boring, to put it another way.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “It is an exciting time for us to unveil our new brand strategy. While we continue to celebrate our traditions and our core audience, the Tour has a strong desire to innovate and broaden the appeal of our sport.”

Max Hamilton, Head of Commercial Partnerships said, “Golf remains the sport of business, with 90% of CEOs playing our sport, however we believe golf has to modernise and appeal to everyone to thrive. We hope our bold new creative and brand strategy will attract new partners who align with our new brand ideals.”

Yes, the new logo and Globality of it all will make the difference.

But here’s the good news: they used further instead of farther. So at least the European Tour stayed out of teh distance debate with their new slogan.

European Tour's Crackdown On Slow Play Gets Off To A Slow Start

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At least in Matthew Fitzpatrick’s eyes, after having his and ever other player’s bag bugged for electronic time posting, only to still take too long.

The four-point plan debuted this week at the BMW PGA and despite some nice additions to the list of slow play remedies, we know the players aren’t always to blame. Even with the overrated field size reduction to 132, there is the pesky matter of modern distances on any course under 8,000 yards. That means waits, more waits and almost no chance of getting around in the time par of 4:30 or so.

His Tweets:

asfd

"Somewhere in the last three years, we’ve crossed the transom from being a sports industry to being a media industry"

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As part of their “Sports Visionaries” series, the New York Times’ Ken Belson talked to sports psychologist Rich Luker about the world of sports and his polling company that works with “professional sports leagues and teams.”

He’s not wild about what he’s seeing in sports as leagues, teams and individuals soak up the numbers while distancing themselves from the core tenets of their “product”.

First off, this…

I do all I can to encourage sports to continue to be sports in the same way classic rock is classic rock. It was something that was part of the definition of the times, and it stood the test of time regardless of how things have changed. Sports in America, particularly the traditional sports, should be the same. Be the classic sports and provide the social context that is being lost on the internet.

Yeah, but Jack Nicklaus didn’t live under par dude! Sorry, go on to the really good stuff that may ring a bell, or not…

The people who run the sports are business people. They love their sports. But they are looking at what’s going on and see people developing new technologies that surpassed things in their own sports, so the logical temptation is instead of trying to beat them to join them.

If they dedicated 5 percent of their time, energy, effort and resources to the heart of their games, as well as doing the technology, they’d be just fine. My fear is that somewhere in the last three years, we’ve crossed the transom from being a sports industry to being a media industry. They are focusing more on the technology and the media than the sport itself.

But chicks dig the long ball, so we’re told without any actual spike in audience numbers to prove it.

What obstacles do you face in your field?

It’s something every social scientist faces. Some people are in research in sports who are only collecting behaviors and they do that using machines — Nielsen boxes and clicks on web pages and so on. There’s no interaction with human beings, they’re only collecting outcomes without knowing why. The biggest obstacle we face is that the research I do has always been about why you do what you do, it’s never been just what you do. It’s about understanding the motivations and your fulfillment and what detracts from your fulfillment.

If only Dr. Luker could get his hands on golf executives…