Half Of PGA Tour Pros Think The "Product" Would Be Better Off With Fewer Events

Maybe it’s the sight of a worse-than-most field in Bermuda, or no rounds this fall registering a respectable audience until the ZOZO’s Monday finish in U.S. prime time, but the question of PGA Tour product oversaturation seems reasonable to ask.

So Golf.com did in their anonymous player survey and an amazing 50% said the product would be better a little bit streamlined.

TRUE OR FALSE: THE TOUR WOULD BE MORE INTERESTING IF THERE WERE FEWER EVENTS.

True: 50%


False: 50%

Hot takes:

“More millionaires, but more guys getting hurt. If you increase quantity in any industry, quality goes down.”


“Would not be good for the new guys.”


“A four-month break would make fans psyched that golf is back.”

While we know four months is not palatable, golf sure could use a dead period. We thought September would be that month in the U.S., but next year will now only see one week off.

Reading Between The (TV Contract) Negotiation Lines: Davis To CBS Edition

Michael Bamberger’s Golf.com story on Davis Love joining CBS features this paragraph highlighting the state of the PGA Tour’s closely-watched television contract negotiations, if we will even call it television by the end of the next deal.

Love has a two-year contract with CBS, for 2020 and 2021. It couldn’t go beyond that because the CBS-PGA Tour contract expires at the end of ’21. The NBC-PGA Tour contract does, too. Golf Channel is under the NBC Sports umbrella. Contract negotiations are ongoing. Traditional TV-watching, as Davis grew up doing it, has been turned on its head in the age of ever-connected phones and laptops and iPads. It’s not at all clear what golf-on-TV will look like in the years to come, as attention spans continue to shorten and as live gambling becomes a bigger part of fan engagement. Love’s deep relationships in the game, at the PGA Tour headquarters, among corporate executives, on Capitol Hill, can only help CBS.

While Love no longer holds a seat on the PGA Tour Policy Board like AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, he does have an intimate knowledge of the Tour’s plans, dreams and desires. Will that bolster CBS’s bid? More revealing though may be the idea that longtime PGA Tour partner CBS needs to pull out such stops to retain rights. Stay tuned…

No Shock: Riviera Still A Player Favorite; Only A Few Vote For Pebble And Augusta

Even in it’s mangled state, Riviera remains a player favorite according to players sampled for Golf.com’s annual Anonymous Player poll.

What is surprising: how few gave votes to Pebble Beach or Augusta National.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TOUR COURSE? 

Riviera: 20%

Muirfield Village: 16%

Harbour Town: 8%

TPC Sawgrass: 8%

Pebble Beach: 6%

Quail Hollow: 6%


Whoa…go on…

Augusta National: 4%

Bay Hill: 4%

Torrey Pines South: 4%

TPC San Antonio: 4%

Old White Greenbrier: 4%

And the resounding winner in least favorite also appeared on the favorite list with as many votes as Augusta National. Go figure:

WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE TOUR COURSE? 

TPC San Antonio: 16%

None: 12%

Trinity Forest: 8%

TPC Louisiana: 6%

Bethpage Black: 4%

CC of Jackson: 4%

Coco Beach G&CC (Puerto Rico): 4%

GC of Houston: 4%

Quail Hollow: 4%

Silverado: 4%

TPC Southwind: 4%

Not too many surprises on that list, other than the unfortunate disdain for Trinity Forest, which may be as much about location, environment and eccentricity of features than anything else.

Wow: Colonial Stop Raises $14 Million For Charity In 2020

The Charles Schwab Challenge’s (aka Colonial) first year raised a staggering some for a one-week event, reports the Star-Telegram’s Drew Davison.

He explains that most was on the back of players making birdies:

Much of the $14 million was generated through the tournament’s “Birdies For Charity” campaign. Charitable organizations solicit pledges from individuals and corporations for every birdie made during the tournament.

Pros made 1,111 birdies during tournament rounds, generating more than $13 million.

For some perspective, the NFL gives about $10 million in grants annually. Nothing to sneeze at, but also amazing given that a left-for-dead historic PGA Tour stop with a date following the PGA can generate more. In one week.

The First Tee of Fort Worth is the tournament’s primary beneficiary.

Golf Anonymous Players Poll: 40% Did Not Vote For Player Of The Year

While Rory McIlroy won 2019 Player of the Year in a landslide according to Golf.com’s Anonymous Player survey, the more damning reveal is just how many said they didn’t vote at all. Which, combined with the 10% that somehow found reason to vote for someone other than McIlroy or Koepka, means half frittered away the vote.

WHO GOT YOUR VOTE FOR 2019 PGA TOUR PLAYER OF THE YEAR?

Rory McIlroy: 33%

Brooks Koepka: 17%

Other: 10%

Didn’t vote: 40%

While this validates how many likely voted for McIlroy, it also does not do give much power to that whole “voted by his peers” argument.

"Tokyo 2020 golf must be moved because of heat, politician tells IOC"

Reuters’ Andrew Both obtained a letter that “well-known” Japanese politician Shigefumi Matsuzawa has written to the IOC calling for the 2020 Olympic golf venue—Kasumigaseki—changed due to the likelihood of deadly heat waves.

Matsuzawa said his concern was not only for the golfers but for volunteers and spectators without clubhouse access who, he wrote, would have nowhere to escape the heat and humidity.

The average temperature over the past three years during the scheduled competition dates -- July 30 to Aug. 2 for men and Aug. 5 to 8 for women -- had been 31.7 degrees Celsius (89F), he wrote.

Extrapolating from past figures, Matsuzawa estimated that up to 1,250 people could suffer from heat stroke during the eight days of the golf competition.

"Ambulances and hospitals will be unable to cope and with heat stroke patients collapsing one after the other, the possibility of fatalities occurring cannot be ruled out," he added.

Matsuzawa recommended several possible replacement venues, including Wakasu Golf Links adjacent to Tokyo Bay or the mountain regions of Hakone and Nagano. Wakasu has been mentioned before and appears to lack the yardage or practice facilities necessary today.

The IOC recently moved the Olympic marathons because of heat concerns and is facing criticism from Tokyo’s mayor.

Kostis On CBS: "I believe the production has suffered over the last few years."

Rick Young caught up with ousted CBS announcer Peter Kostis to discuss his departure. Many comments are of note, but these two in particular stood out:

“The timing and the reason for mine and Gary’s departure are the ongoing negotiations with a new television contract,” Kostis explained. “That’s involved here. I don’t know how exactly or what it could be but I do believe the next television contract is going to be radically different. I don’t have any basis for saying that other than my gut instinct. I do know the tour is gearing up to be able to handle gambling. I think it’s one of the ways they’re hoping to grow their fan base with younger people.”

Interesting that he ties the timing with negotiations. Meetings started some time ago, so is he implying a Hail Mary play by CBS?

And this probably means he and producer Lance Barrow won’t be trading Christmas cards:

“There’s a fine line between familiarity and staleness,” he said. “What we’ve been hearing over and over from fans since this happened is, ‘You guys are the voices of my weekends watching golf and we’ve grown to love it.’ There’s a familiarity for the viewers with the CBS team. Having said that, I don’t think it was the announcers that were stale. I believe the production has suffered over the last few years. That’s all I’m going to say. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Mitzvah! PGA Of America Is Able To Locate More Ryder Cup Tickets, Sending Make-Good Emails To Some

I knew somewhere down in Palm Beach they’d find an extra stash of 2020 Ryder Cup tickets and sure enough, reports Brian Wacker for GolfDigest.com, the PGA of America is trying to make up for a massive ticket sale snafu despite claiming as recently as 24 hours ago that only 2000 were snubbed.

The Newhouses Sold A Cézanne For Way More Than Golf Digest

Reeves Wiedeman of New York Magazine chronicles the slow and steady decline of the once cherished Conde Nast family of magazines under CEO Bob Sauerberg and the Newhouse descendants. While the piece is probably only worth your time if you’re in the media industry, this line is pretty incredible related to their sale of Golf Digest:

In 2016, they sold a cable company for more than $10 billion. That made the amount they earned selling Brides, W, and Golf Digest, the last of which went to Discovery for just $35 million — $400 million less than what Condé had paid for it in 2001 and $24 million less than the Newhouses received that week for selling a single Cézanne at Sotheby’s — seem like a rounding error.

Golf Digest was sold by the Newhouse family to Discovery, which is 31% owned by…the Newhouse family.

Continued Decline Of Club Golfers In The UK, Especially Scotland

Alistair Tait of Golfweek breaks down the latest numbers tracking those who are club members. The numbers do no, however, count those who still play but simply choose not to pay club dues.

The figures continue a worrying downward trend for all four nations over the last five years, especially in Scotland and Wales. Wales has experienced a 16.92% loss from the 51,445 registered golfers in 2014.

Scotland has seen a 14.07% decline. The Home of Golf had 209,812 registered players in 2014.

New PGA Tour Event Headlined By Four Players Inside World Top 100

Somehow, 24 world ranking points will be given to the inaugural Bermuda Championship’s winner, even with a strength of field of 27.

The field includes many names you probably did not know still play professional golf and many more that have not earned ranking points in years. Of those ranked—114 according to the OWGR page)—the average is 826.

When do playing opportunities become playing obligations?

To put it another way: players who could not even earn enough points to qualify for the PGA Tour Champions’ Schwab Cup playoffs starting this week at the Invesco QQQ, are playing a PGA Tour event as consolation.

But hey, at least an event in Bermuda let Zac Blair check off another CB Macdonald course and wear pink knee-high socks, so it’s not a total waste of a week. His photo gallery (use the arrows on the image’s right):

View this post on Instagram

Awesome day out in the Bermuda Triangle! MOC was as cool as advertised. Some amazing movement & fun template holes. It’s always fun to see places firm and fast & be able to use the contours/ground. It has one of the most laid back vibes I’ve ever seen at a club. Whipped around in a 7 Ball in 3.5 hours. Pumped I finally got to check it out & how about that cape hole 😵 ... big shoutout to @dswoodcock for setting it all up. #TBC

A post shared by Zac Blair (@zachary_blair) on Oct 29, 2019 at 2:57pm PDT

What Is Delaying The Distance Insights Project?

Originally slotted in for this fall, then pushed to year’s end and now scheduled for release February 4, 2020, the USGA and R&A’s position paper on what distance has meant to the game needed another three months.

Why another delay?

After all, it’s not expected that the report will provide a prescription to restore certain skills or to slow down distance. Instead, the report is expected to piece together data and insights from all sectors of the game while considering the role of a technological expansion and skill.

The delay is unfortunate given the growing groundswell demanding we have a discussion about how the elite game is played. Plenty more want to know if the governing bodies feel a need to cap or contract the scale of the sport in some way. While the percentages are still small, I’ve never sensed the sport was more open to the discussion. Particularly as an increasing number sees a bloated game due to the needed to maintain 18 holes.

Either way, any changes will not be implemented quickly, so the longer they drag this out, the harder it is to understand what the end game might be. We’ll have to wait another three months to see if there is an actual end game, or just new forms of procrastination.

NCAA Caves On Athlete Endorsements: What Now For (Golf) Amateur Status?

Steve Berkowitz and Dan Wolken report on the NCAA caving in rather spectacular fashion to California’s fair pay act, voting “unanimously to permit students participating in athletics the opportunity to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness in a manner consistent with the collegiate model.”

But this was eye-opening given that California’s bill zeroed in on 2023 as the likely start date for such a move.

The statement about the board action did not provide specifics, but said changes to NCAA rules in each of the three divisions could occur immediately, as long as they occur within principles and guidelines that include:

• Assuring student-athletes are treated similarly to non-athlete students unless a compelling reason exists to differentiate.

• Maintaining the priorities of education and the collegiate experience to provide opportunities for student-athlete success.

• Ensuring rules are transparent, focused and enforceable and facilitate fair and balanced competition.

• Making clear the distinction between collegiate and professional opportunities.

• Making clear that compensation for athletics performance or participation is impermissible.

• Reaffirming that student-athletes are students first and not employees of the university.

This would naturally open the door to golf manufacturers to sign players to deals that they already have informal arrangements with to provide equipment. Which, in theory, would be the end of the elite amateur game including top college golfers.

The USGA is monitoring the situation. A statement from Thomas Pagel, Sr. Managing Director, Governance:

“We have been reviewing these same issues for some time, It’s clear that this topic has the potential to impact many amateur sports, including golf. It will continue to be a primary area of discussion as we review the Rules to reflect the modern game, while still staying true to the spirit behind what it means to be an amateur golfer.”

Given the erosion there of amateurism since players could start receiving free equipment and dress like corporate billboards, there may be sympathy for those receiving endorsement income. Ruling them ineligible for prominent amateur events may get chippy!

However, given that golfers like Tony Romo and Lucy Li retained their status even after clearly endorsing products on the back of their golf ability, perhaps some clever lawyer will find a way to maintain the distinction between pro and amateur golfers. But right now, I’m struggling to see how that will work.

Hank Haney Pod: Tiger vs Snead, McCord, Kostis Out At CBS & Gambling

It was a pleasure to talk golf with Hank after Tiger’s 82nd win. We also covered the CBS announcer news and touched on the move toward gambling on golf.

The Apple pod address.

Or you can listen on any podcasting app or below:

Davis Love Joins CBS Golf Team In 2020

Moving swiftly after not renewing Gary McCord and Peter Kostis, CBS hires Davis Love.

I spoke to Love for Golfweek not long after the announcement below.

For immediate release:

HALL-OF-FAMER AND MAJOR CHAMPION DAVIS LOVE III JOINS CBS SPORTS GOLF TEAM 

Davis Love III, PGA champion, 21-time PGA TOUR winner, two-time Ryder Cup captain and World Golf Hall-of-Famer, joins CBS Sports full-time as golf analyst for its coverage of the PGA TOUR, the Masters and PGA Championship. The announcement was made today by Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports.

“Davis is one of the most accomplished and respected players in the game of golf,” said McManus. “With his playing experience, reputation and relationships across the golf community, he brings a unique perspective and insight that will enhance our broadcasts. Davis is the perfect fit for CBS, and we look forward to him making the best broadcast team in golf even better.”

“I have long considered CBS Sports the gold standard in golf coverage,” said Love. “Whether playing or coaching, I have always loved the team aspect of golf, and I am thrilled to now be a member of the best team in television. My playing days are not totally over, as I will play select events, but my focus now shifts to broadcasting. I have been fortunate to spend a lot of time with the men and women of CBS Sports, and I look forward to getting started in January.” 

Love will make his CBS Sports debut as an announcer on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 at the Farmers Insurance Open when the Network tees off its 2020 golf season. 

Love started his professional career in 1985 and won his first PGA TOUR event in 1987. Throughout his illustrious playing career, he ranked in the Top 10 in the Official Golf World Rankings for more than 450 weeks while winning 21 PGA TOUR events, including the 1992 and 2003 THE PLAYERS Championship and the PGA Championship in 1997. After winning the Wyndham Championship in 2015, he became one of three players ever – joining Sam Snead and Raymond Floyd – to win on the PGA TOUR in four different decades. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017. 

Love was a U.S. staple during international competition, as he was selected to six U.S. Ryder Cup teams and six U.S. President Cup teams as a player. In 2011 he was named team captain of the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup team, and led the team to victory as captain in 2016. 

Along with his play on the course, Love has consistently been honored for his demeanor off it, winning the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 2013, the PGA TOUR Payne Stewart Award in 2008, and the Jim Murray Award in 2016, presented by the Golf Writers Association of America each year to the golfer who best cooperates with the media. He also has been elected by his fellow players to the PGA TOUR policy board four times.

Love was a three-time All-American at the University of North Carolina, and won the 1984 ACC Championship.