Phil Could Go "On And On" About How To Improve The PGA Tour

Expecting to delay his opinion of the proposed Premier Golf League after projecting to do so Players week, Phil Mickelson did question why the PGL’s primary opponent, Rory McIlroy, would give up leverage.

From Bob Harig’s ESPN.com report following Mickelson’s missed API cut:

Asked whether he believes the Premier Golf League could possibly influence the PGA Tour to make some improvements, as Rory McIlroy has suggested, Mickelson said: "Well, I wouldn't come out and say I'm not going to do it right away. .. and lose all your leverage.''

But more intriguing: add Mickelson to the list of players suggesting the current PGA Tour model needs work.

Asked for his ideas on enhancements to the PGA Tour, Mickelson said: "I could go on and on. And I really don't want to talk about that right now.''

WGC Dell Match Play A Go: You Can Bring Your Very Own Hand Sanitizer, Just Don't Expect Autographs

With Friday’s SXSW cancellation in Austin, Texas, Steve DiMeglio gets answers on questions about the WGC Dell Match Play.

The event, which brings the top 64 or so golfers from around the world, is three weeks away but forging ahead despite a Coronavirus “local disaster” declaration by Mayor Steve Adler.

From DiMeglio’s story:

The Tour has established protocols for the safety of fans, volunteers and players, including equipping the event with extra hand-sanitizing stations at all restroom locations, along with stations positioned in high-traffic fan zones and in the volunteer headquarters.

Fans will be permitted to bring hand sanitizer into the tournament. Also, heightened cleaning practices with disinfectant in restrooms and food-vending areas will take place each night.

Further, the Tour said out of an overabundance of precaution, “some players may decline to sign autographs at the event. This is out of respect for the health and well-being of all involved, and the PGA Tour and its players greatly appreciate your understanding.”

Is Tiger On A Hogan-In-'53 Schedule, Or Is It Something More?

He did warn us he would be playing a lot less. We just didn’t know his schedule would look like Hogan’s in 1953.

Tiger Woods’ decision to skip the 2020 Players after looking seemingly healthy the last we saw him, suggests there is reason to be concerned about his back, writes ESPN.com’s Bob Harig.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, offered nothing more than a text that read: "Back just not ready. Not concerning long term, just not ready.''

Given the chance to ask -- a simple question: How could this not be concerning?

Is there more to it than just a stiff back? Is another part of the back compromised? Could it be some other injury not being disclosed -- like the knee troubles that plagued him last year that nobody had a clue about until Woods announced he had surgery?

Given Notah Begay’s comments earlier this week about a 2019 “ripple effect”, Daniel Rapoport’s conclusion makes sense even though Woods swung the club beautifully at January’s Farmers Insurance Open.

Perhaps Woods' hectic end of 2019 is still taking a toll. After winning the Zozo Championship in Japan to tie Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour victories, Woods finished T-4 at the Hero World Challenge, then made a 26-hour trip to Australia for the Presidents Cup, where he went 3-0-0 as a player-captain of the winning American side. He said after that trip that he would put the clubs away for a while to rest.

In a pre-Masters conference call, Woods had said his upcoming tournament decisions would be “weather dependent.” The Players forecast calls for sunny, mid-70s days.

Third Missed Event: European Tour Postpones Kenya Open

The Magical Kenya Open is already off the schedule

Next week’s Magical Kenya Open has been postponed by the European Tour after a Coronavirus-fueled government advisory, meaning the Hero Indian Open is the next scheduled European Tour event.

The Kenya postponement/cancellation joins the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and the Volvo China Open as events lost this year.

The European Tour statement on the Kenya Open:

Due to the threat posed by the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Government of Kenya has this morning advised of their decision to postpone all meetings and conferences in the country of an international nature, a suspension which will be reviewed in a month’s time.

This means the Magical Kenya Open Presented by Absa on the European Tour, scheduled for the Karen Country Club in Nairobi next week from March 12-15, will now not take place.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour said: “We understand and totally respect the decision made by the Government of Kenya in these difficult times.

“We are looking into the possibility of rescheduling the tournament at some point later in the season, but that remains simply a possibility right now – we have no definitive plans at this stage.

“I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Kenyan Government for their unwavering support, alongside Kenya Open Golf Limited Chairman Peter Kanyago and Tournament Director Patrick Obath for their strenuous efforts and commitment. We look forward to returning to Kenya in due course.”

Justin Rose And Honma Appear To Be On The Rocks

During his World No. 1 reign, Justin Rose’s contract at Taylor Made expired and in 2019 he opened the season with a Honma bag and clubs. The lucrative deal did not require Rose to adopt Honma’s driver, but he did anyway and won his first week using the clubs in PGA Tour action.

Way back in mid-February all seemed well, even as Rose has slipped to No. 13 in the world and failed to capture the glory of his first PGA Tour event with Honma (a 2019 win at Torrey Pines). From the chat a few weeks ago with Golf.com’s Jonathan Wall.

And the team has just been so excited to respond to the challenges that I’ve been throwing at them. Every rendition of the product just seems to be getting better and better and better. And obviously to win pretty much first time out with them at Torrey was awesome last year. And I’ve got admit I didn’t have my best year last year from a mechanics and a swing point of view, and sometimes you’ve got to blame the Indian not the arrows, but I feel like I’m really beginning to get back on track here. The whole team’s been just so responsive and the new, I’m sure we’ll get to it, but the new TR20 stuff is even better.

“Responsive” popped throughout the interview, almost as if there has been more back and forth than normal.

Then last week Rose was spotted with a Taylor Made driver and this week at Bay Hill, the bag has seen a total turnover from Honma to mostly Taylor Made, reported Wall.

And now this…

Spoke to Honma this morning and, out of respect for Arnie’s event, was told there won’t be an official comment until Monday. Expect statements from Honma and Justin Rose at that time.

— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) March 5, 2020

Poor Europe, Files: Rory Says "PGA Tour has given me a platform...to turn me into this golfer and athlete than I am"

Following an opening 66 in the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy joined the Golf Channel set to discuss his day.

Rich Lerner opened with a question about the Premier Golf League. (Rory said he was “out” on in Mexico City, yet validated a good portion of the proposed league’s ideas yesterday.)

Thursday at Bay Hill, McIlroy was emphatic about what the PGA Tour has done for him over winning majors or his early years on the European Tour.

The full clip is below, the text:

I’d like to think I’m quite a loyal person, and I think the PGA Tour has given me a platform to showcase my skills, to build my brand, to turn me into this golfer and athlete than I am. I think Jay Monahan and his team do a wonderful job with the tour.

Someone else got his Limited Edition Live Under Par puzzle from the Commissioner!

And look, the reason I said what I said was because, we were in Mexico and some people decided not to go. But that was their choice. That was the freedom that they had. They have autonomy over their schedule and they can pick and choose when and where they want to play. Where if we go to this new way, that’s not going to be the case. You’re going to play 18 events. They’re going to tell you where and when you should be there. As a golfer and an independent contractor, I didn’t like the sound of that.

McIlroy then made clear the league’s Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund money did not sit well, even though the Premier Golf League backers say they have 60 investors.

Didn’t really like where the money was coming from, either. I wanted to be the first one to speak out against it and I’m glad that I have.

And he has, though few others have been as forcefully opposed as McIlroy.

Either way, feel for the European Tour today. McIlroy’s view of what the PGA Tour has meant for his career had to sting.

What Would Arnie Do After An Opening 65? Probably Not Lobby For Cannibis!

That was Matt Every (65), unlikely Bobby Jones Award winner in this or any lifetime, gunning for his third Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard win. And using his platform as first round leader to make a case for scrubbing marijuana off the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned substance list.

Evin Priest with this in his report from Bay Hill where Every, after serving a 12-week suspension for prescribed marijuana use, lobbied the few writers who hadn’t moved their game to Rocco’s for a margarita.

"I think it would be cool if we were proactive about it and made some changes," he said.

"Anxiety is a real thing and the way I treat it is the healthiest way possible for my body.

A case could be made for yoga.

"It bothers me that (cannabis) is even an issue (and) on the list of banned substances," he said on Thursday.

"You could fail for heroin and marijuana and the penalty is the same. If anyone wants to make the argument that that is performance enhancing, they have never done it before."

These guys are good!

PGA Tour University: Policy Board Approves Plan To Reward Top College Seniors With Korn Ferry Tour Access

Of all the ideas hatched at Camp Ponte Vedra over the last decade, I’m not sure there is one that appeals more than the PGA Tour University concept, reportedly approved by the Policy Board this week.

It’s forward-thinking both in extending the Korn Ferry Tour’s reach, while addressing signs that college players increasingly turn pro before they are ready. The idea of incentivizing top seniors to finish their eligibility via access to the PGA Tour’s top feeder tour should ensure players get a degree (or at least take all Concepts of Coaching classes offered). And should produce a more mature, polished player at 22 or 23. In theory, anyway.

From Ryan Herrington’s Golf World story explaining the concept:

The plan allows for the top five players on a new created collegiate player ranking, which will include only golfers playing in their fourth year of college eligibility, to gain immediate membership on the Korn Ferry Tour after the NCAA Championship in late May, allowing them to compete in the final eight or nine KFT events as full members. If these college players earn enough points in those tournaments to crack the top 25 on the KFT’s year-long points list, they will earn a PGA Tour card for the following season. They can also play their way into the top 75 on the points list and gain entry in the KFT final series. If a player doesn’t crack either threshold, they will still get direct entry into the final stage of KFT Q school later in the year.

Golfers ranking Nos. 6-15, meanwhile, will get to move directly to either the PGA Tour Latinoamérica or Mackenzie Tours, according to sources, and will also be given automatic entry into the second stage of KFT Q school. There will be no direct access to PGA Tour membership.

The program will not impact generational talents either.

NASCAR, XFL Stealing Eyeballs? 2020 Honda Classic Ratings Down

NASCAR’s Auto Club 400’s 2.9 Nielsen average easily beat out the Honda Classic won by Sunjae Im. According to Showbuzzdaily.com, the 2020 Honda on NBC drew a 1.67 overnight rating, down nearly 30% from last year’s 2.4, also on NBC.

The slide continues a tough start to 2020 for golf ratings, which have now seen ten straight broadcast television windows down. Most recently, the WGC Mexico City saw weekend ratings drop 37% Saturday and 18% Sunday despite an excellent leaderboard and finish.

Possible influences? NASCAR’s renaissance built on improving race intrigue and even the XFL’s sliding ratings still make a dent. (Sports Media Watch’s Paulsen on the XFL’s ratings).

The fall is noticeable because both events featured compelling final rounds and did not feature Tiger Woods to influence ratings.

Other notes:

-Saturday’s third round 1.17 rating on NBC was down from a 1.4 (2.1 million avg viewers).

-Sunday lead-in coverage on Golf Channel fell from a .8 in 2019 to a .47 in 2020

Bevacqua: Golf Channel Move From Orlando Long In The Making

NBC Sports President Pete Bevacqua talked to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand about Golf Channel’s move to Stamford, Connecticut. He said the move “started well before” he began with NBC in September 2018.

“It’s the continued evolution of the media landscape and something that started well before I got here if you think about how we brought all the different components of NBC Sports primarily under one roof in Stamford. This was the next step in that process.” NBC Sports HQ moved from Manhattan to Connecticut in 2013.

Bevacqua also said the move is intended to improve the final product with production teams interacting with NBC Sports Network executives.

“Nothing can take the place of talented people interacting with one another. When you can have the great people of the Golf Channel interacting with the Sam Floods of the world and the Fred Gaudellis and the Rob Hylands and all the people that bring our other sports alive, we’re all going to be better. We’re all going to be more creative.”

McIlroy Suggests Pro Golf Needs Streamlining, Might Be Oversaturated

The question came at the end of Rory McIlroy’s press conference in advance of the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By Mastercard. If the Premier Golf League does not happen, what changes might it inspire for the PGA Tour?

What McIlroy presented sounded a lot like…the Premier Golf League!

Ewan Murray reports for The Guardian.

“I don’t want to come across as sort of elitist but I think some smaller fields [would help], maybe a few more events with no cuts,” said the world No 1 when considering how the game can be modified. “There’s so many tournaments and there might be an over-saturation in a way. You look at the NFL and they play 18 games a year, 20 games a year max, and people want it all the time.

“I know football’s different than golf and all that, but I think being a golf fan these days can get quite exhausting following so many different tournaments, different tours, all that stuff. So maybe streamlining it a bit might be a good place to start a conversation.”

McIlroy, as you may recall, announced his opposition to the league’s plans barring a mass exodus of players citing history and the lack of independence.

Also in Murray’s story from Bay Hill was this from Adam Scott, who is still “very positive” about the concept though doesn’t think “it’s going to happen necessarily.”

And this:

“Everyone sees it from somewhat of their own agenda. Being an international player, the thought of a world tour sounds really great. Maybe less so for someone based in Florida who doesn’t have to necessarily travel as much. I don’t think my sentiment has changed at all. I still think it’s fantastic.”

Marion! Finally, Hollins Is A World Golf Hall Of Fame Finalist

The World Golf Hall of Fame’s release of finalists for its next induction class includes Tiger Woods (too soon), Tom Weiskopf (took too long), Dottie Pepper (this time!) and Tim Finchem (inevitable). You can see the full list of finalists here.

But for history buffs, the inclusion of Marion Hollins is both a win for her remarkable life, but also for the many folks in Northern California who have championed Hollins. Namely, Pasatiempo’s Bob Beck.

The Hollins description:

Marion Hollins – Won the 1921 U.S. Amateur and went on to become one of the most influential women in the game’s early development, including her work as a golf course architect and one of the only female golf course developers in history; a principle force behind the founding and formation of Cypress Point, Pasatiempo and the Women’s National Golf and Tennis Club.

Let’s never forget that she was vital in the shaping of Augusta National, both in helping Bobby Jones find his architect, and in visiting during construction on behalf of MacKenzie.

John Boyette wrote about Hollins a few years ago in advance of the Masters.

At Golf Channel, profiled Hollins as part of a pre-Masters feature last year and I wrote about her here.

THATgate: Azinger Regrets His Grammar, Lee Westwood Comments

Since we have enough problems in this world, it appears we can cross out the impending Azinger v. Europe summer long brouhaha.

Doug Ferguson talked to Paul Azinger following last Sunday’s bold commentary, and it appears the NBC announcer brought a mop along to mop after his first unsuccessful attempt.

“A lot of pressure here,” Azinger said on the broadcast. “You're trying to prove to everybody that you've got what it takes. These guys know, you can win all you want on that European Tour or in the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour.”

That European Tour.

“Bad grammar,” Azinger said Monday. “If I had said ‘the’ European Tour, the whole thing would have been different.”

Maybe.

Either way, that was his lone regret.

It was easy to assume this was just an unfortunate word choice. But it was the take on Lee Westwood, with 41 worldwide wins, that he says were not his intention.

Westwood isn't on that list, but with 41 wins around the world across four decades, his record speaks for itself. Azinger was bothered only by the notion that Westwood took his comments as being disrespectful of his career.

“I would never do that,” Azinger said.

The Daily Mail’s Derek Lawrenson argued that Azinger’s comments hit close to home for a reason: he was correct. Still Lawrenson described the Azinger episode this way:

How insular can you get, topped off by the sneering ‘that’ for good measure. Cue predictable outrage all over Europe, from players such as Ian Poulter to fans and critics, with Westwood summing it up deliciously on Twitter: ‘Oh dear, oh dear.’

At least Azinger was being true to form. As the man who said Francesco Molinari was ‘facing the biggest putt of his career’ when trying to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year, eight months after the Italian had won the Open and five months after claiming five points out of five at the Ryder Cup, we shouldn’t be too surprised.

McCord On Recent CBS Broadcasts: "I have never seen anything quite as negative...It’s not a good time."

Note the cap.

Longtime CBS golf broadcaster and pretty-good golfers, too, Gary McCord sat down to talk with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz of the Subpar podcast.

It’s a terrific listen, but McCord’s comments on the state of CBS golf broadcasts jumped out after Peter Kostis’ recent podcast statements.

“I’m not part of it. You can kind of react to it from a position I have never had before for a long, long time. It just so happens that my former network is not doing as well as they would like with the golf broadcast at this point. I have never seen anything quite as negative as I’ve seen coming out of everywhere about what’s going on, so I have a lot of empathy. Those are my friends. I don’t want to see them fail, but they are getting blasted. It’s not a good time.”

If reports are true of—wild guess here, $8 billion 10-year TV deal announcement next week that includes CBS—they’ll have 10 years to figure it out.

On the overall state of “analysis” found on PGA Tour broadcasts of late, McCord says a lovefest is making for awful TV.

“If you go, ‘Wow, that was a great shot, and let’s go to Gary.’ ‘Oh, that was a wonderful shot, and how about that one? That was fantastic.’ Are you kidding me? You can’t have that,” McCord said. “You gotta have this ridicule. Some guys gotta jack it up and another guy has to break and you got to get those people together and get your team together and do it. And that’s what we are lacking at this point in my humble opinion.”

The full podcast:

From Many, Plenty Of 2020 U.S. Open Tickets Still Available Including The Corona Beer Garden

Good news for those hoping to walk the grounds of Winged Foot in 2020: U.S. Open tickets are still available, reports Mike Dougherty of the Westchester County Journal News.

Saturday’s third round is sold out, but tickets remain for all other days for the re-brand-platformed national championship.

Dougherty writes:

A sell-out is expected, according to the USGA.

The number of tickets for the 2020 U.S. Open will be capped at 25,000 per day. It’s a reduction from the maximum of 30,000 tickets sold each day of the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

“We’ve surveyed our fans over the last eight or so years and some of the feedback we’ve gotten indicates that it was a little too crowded, so we took that to heart,” said Charlie Howe, who is the USGA’s championship manager for the 120th U.S. Open.

If you were hoping to attend Saturday, the only option is the Corona Beer Garden—not to worry 38%, it won’t infect you—at $225.

The lack of a sellout isn’t big news after Shinnecock’s so-so sales ended various sell-out streaks and the overall saturation of the New York market with significant USGA, PGA Tour and PGA of America events. But with more limited quantities this time around and USGA’s need to generate revenue from the U.S. Open to offset money-losing events, the situation warrants monitoring.