PGA Tour Executives Respond To Mickelson...Anonymously

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Golf.com’s James Colgan spoke to multiple PGA Tour executives who took issue with Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” remarks from that liberal democracy, Saudi Arabia. But at least he signed his name to his opinions even if they suggest he’s only about the money at this point.

A rebuttal was surely warranted given some obvious fibs and exaggerations by Mickelson. Yet not finding one Tour executive willingly going on the record highlights how much the organization is all bluff and no backbone. Given Mickelson’s hostility, the Tour would be well within their rights to push back on the record.

As with giving players waivers to play in Saudi Arabia with almost no meaningful strings, rebutting anonymously only says to the world: Phil was wrong but not wrong enough to sign our names to it.

Regarding the Global Home’s return volleys, Colgan writes:

In conversations with GOLF.com, PGA Tour executives painted a far different picture of the economics of golf’s largest professional tour, characterizing it as a highly successful, multi-billion-dollar business model built around its media-rights deals — and with constituents who’ve largely been content with that structure. (It should also be noted that the Tour operates as a federally registered non-profit, which means though it donates large sums to charity it also is sheltered from paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.)

“I’ve never seen anybody be really interested in how we generate the money,” one Tour executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told GOLF.com. “There’s some conversation about it now because, you know, Phil’s making stuff up that’s just not true. But in general, they’re happy that there’s a lot of money that comes from it.”

While it would be tough to call a generational star a liar and sign your name to it, if ever there were a time, it might be when the entire enterprise is facing disruptive forces who will chop you up and incinerate the remains.

Predictably, Mickelson’s assertion that he had to pay $1 million each time to play in The Match was refuted, as it should have been.

As Mickelson rightfully pointed out at the Saudi International, the Tour charges a fee for those who wish to stage a golf telecast outside of the Tour’s media partners, as was the case with The Match. But, the Tour confirmed, Turner Sports paid the $1 million rights fee, not Mickelson himself, as he alleged. It’s even possible Mickelson profited from that rights fee, a Tour source said, because more than half of such fees are added to the revenue pool that the Tour redistributes to players. The same would be true for the Tour’s new Netflix series or any other media-rights deal.

There was also this clear rebuttal to Mickelson’s crypto-craze fueled claim of $20 billion in digital rights for the taking if only the Tour would get out of the way.

“Whatever gets generated goes to the players, the same way all other media rights do,” the executive said. “If we could make $20 billion on it, we would, believe me. But no one’s figured out how to do that exactly just yet.”

And they won’t.

ESPN, Omaha Productions To Develop Golf Manningcast

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Quad readers know I was hoping for this back in October and it seems the smart folks at ESPN and Omaha Productions, creators of the wildly successful Manningcast, see the opportunity in golf. (Omaha is Peyton Manning’s production company.)

From Variety’s Brian Steinberg:

Under a new deal, the brothers will add a fourth year of their “Monday Night Football With Peyton and Eli,” so that it extends through the NFL’s 2024 season. The agreement, struck with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, also calls for the creation of similar programs alongside UFC matches, college football and golf, using other hosts and produced by Omaha in collaboration with ESPN.

When queried ESPN could provide no other details at this time.

The network started hosting PGA Tour Live streaming coverage on ESPN+ this year as well as the first two rounds of the Masters and PGA Championship along with digital coverage of those events. The “Live” coverage is produced by the PGA Tour, so the better likelihood for such a secondary broadcast seems more likely to happen at The Masters or PGA Championship.

Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, February 10, 2022

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In this week’s Quadrilateral, I follow up on last weekend's events with some player moves and claims of obnoxious green analyzed.

Plus, a very historic Augusta National image sells and I’ve got a few more details on the recent course work courtesy of John Boyette, who debuts a much needed pre-Masters newsletter.

Plus, Masters v. Super Bowl tickets, Old Course-adjacent real estate moves and a bunch of Reads.

More on The Quadrilateral here.

And the free sign up page is here.

"For Mickelson, actions will speak louder than words"

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AP’s Doug Ferguson put Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” remarks into context and it’s time for him to put up or shut up, ish.

Mickelson is not at the Phoenix Open this week. He was headed to Montana to ski. Setting a schedule is what golf affords, not to mention the ability to compete at a high level for 25 years — or in his case, win a major championship at age 50 — all while accruing an enormous pension.

It’s a lot to digest. Mickelson conceded as much when he said he wasn’t sure where it was headed because of so much that needed to be addressed. He has served on the tour’s Player Advisory Council twice in his 31 years, most recently in 2001.

Ultimately, though, he felt it would end on a positive note.

Most telling was when Mickelson was asked for a general comment on Golf Saudi. He applauded the group for its support of the players, for sponsorship of Ladies European Tour events and for creating leverage for the players to try to improve the PGA Tour.

If that’s what this is about — leverage — then maybe Norman is the one who should be worried.

David Cannon To Receive PGA Lifetime Achievement Award In Photojournalism

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Congrats to the man who's covered some of the great golf images in the modern era.

Bill Fields, the PGA of America’s lifetime achievement award winner in journalism, saluted David Cannon at The Albatross. And Brian Wacker profiled Cannon a few years ago and it’s worth checking out.

For Immediate Release:

DAVID CANNON TO RECEIVE PGA OF AMERICA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN PHOTOJOURNALISM
Cannon’s career to be celebrated on May 18 at PGA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (Feb. 8, 2022) — The PGA of America today named David Cannon of Sussex, England as the second recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Photojournalism. Cannon and his work will be celebrated on May 18 in the leadup to the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Recognizing the vital role that photography has in chronicling the rich history of golf, the PGA of America celebrates individuals who have promoted and honored the game by establishing the PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Photojournalism.

Cannon’s citation follows that of his friend, Leonard Kamsler, who was the inaugural recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Photojournalism from the PGA in January of 2020.  

Cannon, 66, has worked for Getty Images since 1998, when the media company purchased Allsport, where he began working in 1983 and was elevated to director and part owner three years later.

“David Cannon’s choice images have long served the game of golf as historical markers that allow the greatest stories to be shared in the visual form in perpetuity,” said Jim Richerson, President of the PGA of America. “His technical mastery and artistic proficiency are renowned, but it is his warm smile and enthusiasm for his craft that made him an institution in major championship golf circles. On behalf of the PGA of America, I salute David for his career achievements in the area of photojournalism and look forward to more in the years to come.”

A high-level amateur golfer during his late teens and early 20s, Cannon competed against the likes of Sir Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle and, in 1974, was selected for the English youth squad training program. 

His interest in photography began on Nov. 18, 1978, when he was invited by a close friend, Neville Chadwick of the Leicester News Photo Service, to work a Midland Counties-New Zealand All Blacks rugby match in Leicester, England. Using his first professional-grade camera: a Canon AE-1, Cannon’s initial foray resulted in the Sunday Express using one of his images to anchor its sports section.

“From that second onward, I basically stopped playing serious golf and every bit of spare cash I had went toward buying camera equipment,” said Cannon, who has traveled the world ever since covering every sport imaginable. 

According to Cannon, soccer is “the best sport to learn photography on. If you can shoot (soccer), you can photograph any sport in the world. In any one game, there are no predictable plays on the pitch.”

Originally his work with Allsport focused on soccer, leaving his summer’s open. Golf photography would never be the same.

The first golf event Cannon “shot” was the 1981 World Match Play, while the 1982 Open Championship (won by Tom Watson) was his Major Championship baptism. He hasn’t missed an Open Championship since ー 39 and counting.

“To jump from soccer to golf is liberating with all of the space to maneuver, but you are quickly reminded just why golf is also so hard. It is played over around 200 acres and the range of most top cameras is 40-50 yards. If you are not in range, good luck!”

By 1986, Cannon began working for Golf World UK Magazine, a relationship that continued until the publication’s recent closure. He’s done instructional shoots with Golf World staff players like Faldo, Bernard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam and Ernie Els, building familiarity and trust along the way. But he formed a special relationship with one Golf World player: Seve Ballesteros.

Cannon had a preexisting “soft spot” for Ballesteros, beginning when the two played together in a May 1976 pro-am at his home club, The Leicestershire Golf Club. after a nearby European Tour event. 

“In 1984, when (Ballesteros) won the Open (for the second time), I got what has become an iconic sequence of him holing that famous putt on 18, which I presented to him. He was really appreciative of those pictures and what they represented.”

Cannon added another iconic image to his portfolio weeks later at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, when he captured an enduring image of an accelerating Carl Lewis ー elevated and mid-stride ー en route to winning gold in the long jump. 

His 1986 shot of Jack Nicklaus ー putter raised on 17 green and on the precipice of history at the Masters ー is another image that has withstood the test of time.   

Cannon photographed every Ryder Cup from 1985 to 2018 (travel restrictions precluded him from attending the 2020/21 Ryder Cup last September at Whistling Straits).

“I have come to understand that the Ryder Cup is the most exciting event in golf for me to photograph,” said Cannon, who served as the official European Team photographer from 1995 to 2018. “It’s the way the players react, their emotions. You get more celebration and emotive moments in three days than you do in 12 months on tour.”

Cannon cited his 1991 shot of José María Olazábal jumping up and nearly over the back of Ballesteros ー his fellow Spaniard and playing partner ー as his all-time favorite Ryder Cup image. 

So far, Cannon has covered more than 700 events around the world, including 121 men’s Majors, 71 women’s Majors, 17 Ryder Cups, 17 Walker Cups and 15 Solheim Cups. 

Off the golf course, there have been eight World Cups, four summer Olympic Games, two Winter Olympic Games, Cricket internationals, Rugby Union internationals and club matches, Wimbledon, the Australian Open, motor sports, including Formula 1 and Grand Prix motor-cycle racing, and both downhill and slalom ski racing.

Cannon estimates he’s taken over 3.4 million frames either on film or digitally, flown 2.6 million miles while visiting 115 countries, walked 13,000-plus miles on golf’s greatest courses and slept 5,000-plus nights in hotel beds.   

“Over the last forty years, my ambition has been to leave an important legacy to the sport. And while I am not done just yet, I hope this award serves as an annual reminder that (photographers) put an awful lot into the game of golf.”

2022 AT&T Ratings Down, Continuing A Trend For The Event

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In a new date one week earlier than normal, the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach took a ratings hit.

According to Showbuzzdaily.com, the 1.87/3.1 million average viewership was down from the Waste Management Open’s 2.10 on the same weekend last year.

Over the last four years, the AT&T’s final round numbers:

2022 1.87/3.1 million
2021 2.55/4.2 million (no pro-am)
2020 2.27/3.5 million
2019 2.39/3.7 million

The most surprising decline may be Saturday coverage, once a popular viewing day:

2022 1.11/1.8 million
2021 1.50/2.37 million (no pro-am)
2020 1.58/2.4 million
2019 1.93/2.9 million

For some past numbers, Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch.com offered ratings from 2003 to 2013 that included the 4.9 for 2009’s Tiger-Phil showdown.

What ate into the numbers in 2022? The Beijing Olympics might be to blame for Saturday’s rating on what was an otherwise light day of sports options. It’s a shame, as CBS presented a really good show a little lighter on celebrities, heavier on tournament coverage and full of breathtaking moments (i.e. Jordan Spieth’s cliffhanger, amazing aerials).

The 2022 final round was almost certainly impacted by going up against the NFL Pro Bowl and NASCAR “Clash at the Coliseum” qualifying and race.

Incidentally, the Saudi event where several former AT&T winners and other name players took place in the early hours , did not draw a rating for any of its four rounds.

Bamberger: "If Mickelson really wants to affect change..."

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Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger assessed Phil Mickelson’s attack of the PGA Tour and majors making money off the player backs and suggests Lefty’s never talked better but also may be going about this the wrong way. In making his point, Bamberger also inadvertently hinted at another potential problem Mickelson created for himself.

The fellas playing MLB, in the NFL and in the NBA, have an appealing level of individuality, but they are union workers playing team sports. They have, really, a completely different mentality.

If Mickelson really wants to affect change the most effective thing he could do is get 150 or so Tour players to stage a sit-down strike on the eve of, say, the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Then get that group to agree on media rights, purse distribution, governance structure and a million other things.

Good luck with that.

There has been some talk about Phil getting Tony Romo money to talk golf on TV. He’d be good at that, but it would bore him. It’s easier to imagine him as the commissioner of a golf league. Which one is hard to say just now.

Except that with his latest “obnoxious greed” charge leveled at the Tour and indirectly at The Masters, Mickelson all but ruled himself out of a TV job unless it’s covering Saudi Golf League events. I’m not sure he’s ever really wanted to take on such a job, and the tone of his recent remarks all but rules out CBS or NBC who were already unlikely to pay NFL money to analyze for a much smaller audience.

Jordan On A Special Week At Pebble: "You don't want to leave."

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While a late bogey cost a few other small mistakes cost Jordan Spieth the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he (A) still managed to find his way to the interview room afterwards and (B) said glowing things unrelated to his sponsorship obligations. (Yes, I’m thinking of players raving about Royal Greens in fear of their lives.)

The bar these days is low for sure, but it’s still nice to see a player with such perspective after a tough loss down the stretch.

Q. You spoke on Tuesday in your opening press conference about loving this course loving this tournament. Can you just reflect on the week a little bit and how it went for you?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I mean, I can't tell you how many times maybe had half a dozen times I got to tell Jake, Hey, we didn't even have to pay to play Pebble Beach this weekend. And the weather we had, I mean it's just, you don't want to leave. Like we we've been here since Saturday and as excited as I am for the next couple events, I mean I could stay here for months and just play this golf course, it's just -- all three of them were so much fun this week. They were in such great condition, they were firmer, faster, weather permitted. So it's always amazing it's one of our favorite places in the world on the Monterey Peninsula.

SiriusXM Moves Quickly To Can Mark Lye

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Former player and longtime Golf Channel analyst-turned-PGA Tour Radio commentator Mark Lye was fired by SiriusXM after a strange characterization of the WNBA. In an apparent defense of how much better he finds the LPGA than he did a decade ago, Lye trashed the WNBA while talking to co-host Kraig Kann, former LPGA Communications head.

Nick Piastowski of Golf.com reports that Lye apologized in the following segment for his comments but was fired by SiriusXM the next day.

“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said. “… You couldn’t pay me to watch. You really couldn’t. Because I just, I couldn’t relate at all. It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I’m not trashing anybody; please, don’t take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies’ basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself than watch that.

At this point, a co-host interjected: “Good luck getting some WNBA stars to come play for you.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Lye said. “I’m off their list. I’m sorry about that.”

Lye has since taken to Twitter to wheel out the cancel culture defense instead of owning his poor judgement.

The clip caught by a listener and shared on Twitter:

Winners And Losers: The Clash With The Clambake

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A predictably awkward week from the Monterey Peninsula to the Red Sea claims its share of victims. I kind of rank them from least harmed to most harmed, ish.

What would Der Bingle say about all of this. But hey, at least CBS had some stellar production values and Spieth made it interesting.

In Appreciation Of Pebble Beach's 11th Hole

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It was a lively Saturday at Pebble Beach but with most of the amateurs sent home Sunday should make for a fun finish. I hope we get to see a good pin on the 11th hole, an unfairly maligned par-4 in my view.

I took to The Quadrilateral to detail how the hole was intended to play, its evolution and what we can look forward to in upcoming men’s and women’s U.S. Opens.

DeChambeau Denies He Was Offered £100 Million, WD’s From Saudi Event

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Given the end of his newsboy cap tribute to Payne Stewart and his choice of golf tournament this week while the PGA Tour plays not too far from his childhood home, there have been suggestions DeChambeau consider updating his logo.

DeChambeau subsequently WD’d after his round one 73. Tournament officials said he’s dealing with the same wrist and hip injuries that caused his WD from the Sony Open and missed cut at the Farmers. That’s no way to show you’re worth £100 million.

Early Reviews Are In And Phil's Obnoxious Greed Comments Going Over Like You'd Expect

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Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” claims have not gone over well in a variety of ways, namely that he’s in Saudi Arabia collecting a hefty appearance fee from some pretty shady characters.

His comments were posted on Golf Digest’s Instagram account and earned this reply from Brooks Koepka:
DK if I’d be using the word greedy if I’m Phil…🤔”

The Daily Mail offered this headline to Derek Lawrenson’s story, which ran for some time on its home sports page.

After his opening 67 in the PIFSIPSIA, Mickelson was sort of asked about his comments to Golf Digest.

Q. There's a lot of buzz this week; is the sport itself the true nature, the competition, something to lose, to gain?

PHIL MICKELSON: You know, there's a lot of complexities that are working themselves out right now in the sport of golf. Because of some opportunities that create leverage for the players, we have a chance to get in a more equitable position with other major sports.

We're so far behind because we don't have player representation like the players Association and the collective bargaining and all those things, and we have such differing views, and for the first time in my 30 years there's some leverage. I don't know where we're headed, to answer your question. I don't know, because there's so many different parts that need to be addressed.

I think in the end, all the things are going to be very positive, but there's a lot going on, which is a good thing.

Oh, just tremendously good.

Golf Channel Is Back In Orlando And No, A Nuclear Bomb Did Not Go Off

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Nothing screams corporate passion like returning to your old stomping grounds the way Golf Channel has this week. Apparently the return of studio shows to Orlando is due to the bleak Winter Olympics in already awful Beijing necessitating NBC’s use of the lavender-tinged broom closet in Stamford, Connecticut.

While some might see a post-Chernobyl vibe to the former newsroom emptied of people, it’s also a fitting way of saying, “yes, we know a lot of people are paying attention to golf with no NFL and with the Saudi and Pebble events this week, but guess what? We just don’t care, plus we’d have to pay camera people and electric bills to go in the old studio just over their shoulders. And our partners, sponsors and viewers don’t deserve quality!”

Or, maybe it’s a way of signaling to a buyer? You know, one who’d like to return to where Arnold Palmer started the channel and it remained until his passing? And they tried to put out a good product? If only we the sport of golf could be so lucky.

Mickelson: Tour's "Obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere."

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Phil Mickelson unleashed a torrent of criticisms at the PGA Tour from the Saudi International. (I covered the major championship-related claims at The Quad.)

After a fairly benign press conference session, Mickelson told GolfDigest.com’s John Huggan that he’s been forced to consider various business opportunities because of the Tour’s “obnoxious greed.”

The us vs. them stance, even though players appear to have more control and influence over the PGA Tour’s operation, may not resonate very well with fans. Mickelson is aware of this danger but forged ahead with some incendiary comments.

“It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on,” Mickelson said. “But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the tour wanted to end any threat [from Saudi or anywhere else], they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel.

“There are many issues, but that is one of the biggest,” he continued. “For me personally, it’s not enough that they are sitting on hundreds of millions of digital moments. They also have access to my shots, access I do not have. They also charge companies to use shots I have hit. And when I did ‘The Match’—there have been five of them—the tour forced me to pay them $1 million each time. For my own media rights. That type of greed is, to me, beyond obnoxious.”

Two parts to this stand out. The rights to “my shots” would seem motivated by a desire to cash in on NFT’s. More concerning is the claim of personally paying $1 million each time he’s played The Match and the “beyond obnoxious” green of the Tour.

I reached out to the PGA Tour and will add any comment they might have on Mickelson’s claim.

It is well known that the organizers of such silly season events pay a fee to cover everything that comes with official Tour sanctioning of the event and support services like rules, scoring and promotion.

Mickelson also used an odd example with Huggan to support his case: the famous 2010 Masters shot off the pine needles.

There are other examples of what Mickelson clearly sees as golf’s equivalent of “intellectual property.” During the 2010 Masters, he famously hit a shot from the pine straw to the 13th green at Augusta National. Later, someone wanted to use seven seconds of that clip. They had to pay $30,000 per second every time it aired. The total cost was $3.5 million, which was three times what Mickelson earned for winning the tournament. (Editor's Note: Although the Masters counts as an official PGA Tour event, the event and its media are not owned by the PGA Tour.)

While that’s a hefty sum, it’s also a dubious claim to suggest this is part of his beef with the PGA Tour and undercuts any case he might have.

One of the more interesting points made to Huggan relates to the bizarre refusal of players to wear microphones and provide inside-the-ropes access. Mickelson claims there may be a business reason.

“Why hasn’t golf had cameras and microphones on players and caddies?” he asked. “Because the player would not benefit, only the tour [so players resist wearing them]. Take this Netflix project that is underway. None of the players are getting paid. But the tour is getting paid a lot of money. As is Augusta National. As is the USGA. But if the players had their own channel, maybe they put up their own content and we start to see golf presented a bit more intimately.

“If I had access to my own channel and access to my own media, I would have a camera and microphone on my hat,” he went on. “And on my [caddie] brother’s hat. And on my golf bag with a 360 view. And I would bring the viewers in. They would see and hear what is going on. But none of that happens [currently] because why would any player do that? To make more millions for the tour? They already make enough. The tour only understands leverage. And now the players are getting some of that. So things are changing and will continue to change. I just hope the leverage doesn’t go away. If it does, we’ll be back to the status quo.”

The “leverage” would be the Saudis who have no business model. As for fans? Hard to say how many would feel for his plight. It sounds like Mickelson isn’t worried what they think. For a fan favorite who has cashed in on his likability, that’s a risky game to play.