When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
My sources aren't what they used to be, so it's been hard to obtain instant message conversations between the PGA Tour's Tim Finchem and the LPGA Tour's Carolyn Bivens. Thankfully my NSA mole lifted this chat on the eve of the FedEx Cup. Previous chats are here, here, here, here and here.)
Tuesday produced a rivetting Q&A exchange between the scribblers and Tim Finchem, with tense back and forths on subjects of little interest.
At least someone asked him to flesh out how The International met its demise:
Q. Was there always, "We would like to be involved but we want to do it on the East Coast?"|
COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: There was never a discussion about -- I think in my preliminary conversation with Tiger, maybe there was some discussion about Florida or the southeast, but it never got that far. There just wasn't really any talk about it because we didn't have any schedule flexibility.
And even then when we got the -- with The INTERNATIONAL, and we waited until the 11th hour trying to marry them to a sponsor, we still looked at two other alternatives because we were not certain that all of the stars would line up here in terms of a place to play, a great title sponsor.
Does this mean he's for marriage between sponsors and tournaments, or just civil unions?
Because if you're going to do an event with Tiger Woods, and he's going to land his persona and his energy, it's going to be a pretty special event.
And so that's the way we felt, that's the way the Foundation felt. So it had to all come together and so we were looking at two other markets with two other sponsors for a period of three weeks.
And...
Q. Is the modified Stableford scoring system just going to die a slow death, or do you have an emotional attachment to having that on the TOUR?
COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: It has died a death. I mean, it's not on the TOUR right now. So it would be would have to be resuscitated to come back to answer your question. I suppose it could be. It seemed like that concept, at first -- the first few years, it was a bit of a struggle for the fans to get their arms around it. Then it generated some interest for a few years, and then it kind of lost its appeal. I don't know exactly why that was.
The INTERNATIONAL was hit with the perfect storm. There were three or four different factors to led to us finally concluding that we should move forward; it wasn't just any one thing, but a number of things.
Tarik El-Bashir and Marc Carig file a lengthy Washington Post story on the evolution of Tiger's new D.C. event. Thanks to reader Sean for this, which includes one nice ironic bit.
Finchem said last week that he kept Booz Allen in the dark to avoid a leak of the Tour's planned schedule changes. But he also was less than generous in his assessment of the tournament's performance.
"All of this happened in the backdrop, candidly, of recognizing that the event in Washington had not performed over the years at the level we want to see a PGA Tour event perform generally, but particularly an event that we want to see perform in the nation's capital," he said. "In the seventh-, eighth-, ninth-largest market in the country, we weren't comfortable with that."
Asked for his response to Finchem's comment, Shrader said: "I felt we tried hard to earn a world-class event here in Washington. I feel that the event we had at Congressional in 2005 was a world-class event that demonstrated given a golf course and a date, we could have a world-class event here in Washington, one that the city and the people deserve. I'm happy Tiger and AT&T have come and I look forward to it being a big success."
Somehow I'm having a hard time believe Booz Allen was the problem here. It can't be all technology driving the $20 million being put into TPC Avenel.
John Hopkins scores a rare one-on-one with Tim Finchem and asks him about...the Ryder Cup!?
JH Do you back the proposed change to four days and a later date?
TF I like the intensity and pressure of the Ryder Cup. It is pretty damn good. From that perspective I wouldn’t rush to change it. But the Ryder Cup is so big it isn’t going to hurt it to change it. If it created more presence in the marketplace it might be a good thing for golf. I wouldn’t chastise anybody for saying: “We’ve had it this way for a long time. Let’s leave it as it is.” It could go either way.
More presence in the marketplace. MBASpeak translation: starting the matches on Thursday.
This is fun...
JH Nick Faldo is alleged to have had a couple of his children induced so their birth would fit in with his schedule. Do you see Tiger doing the same to be able to play in the Open at Carnoustie from July 19 to 22?
TF I couldn’t speculate on that. If the baby is two weeks late it will be the week of the Open. That is not going to happen, so the baby will be born on July 11 to 12. It’s clear to me.
But he's not counting the days or really giving this childbirth much thought, is he?
Mark Heisler penned a typically entertaining Sunday L.A. Times column on David Stern's mind-numbingly poor decision last week to suspend Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for game 5 of the now complete Suns-Spurs series. In the piece, he questions Stern's ability to lead after this and mentions his salary is $6 million a year. Another NY Times story I found cites it at $3.5 million (but I'm guessing that Heisler has good information that Stern's bonuses and perks take it to $6 million).
I bring this up because we know Tim Finchem is actually making nearly as much as Stern with his announced extension of 6 years at $4.5 million, not including perks and bonus packages that many believe have it going higher than that).
I'm curious if you think Finchem's worth an amount comparable to Stern who prior to this incident, has struggled with rules changes to make the game more fun to watch but who has made his owners millions and kept the league healthy.
Finchem has shown a consistent lack of creativity and imagination when it comes to course architecture (look how many lousy TPC's have been built under his watch), history (sayonara Western Open), varied tournament formats (72-hole stroke play every week gets old) and the role that reduced creativity plays in undermining the "product" (leaving equipment governance to the USGA and R&A).
The FedEx Cup will likely prove to be a dud in terms of making players tee it up more and in creating a compelling playoff scenario with a big, thrilling finish like the LPGA's ADT Championship (but the players may be as much to blame for this).
However, Finchem's never done something as stupid as Stern just did, a move that undermined the credibility of the league and the integrity of the playoffs. Even as pathetic as his stance on drug testing has been, no one can contend that it has hurt the PGA Tour. Yet.
So is Finchem worth $28 million over the next six years?
Damon Hack, quoting Tim Finchem on the Barclay's "playoff" event moving from Westchester to Liberty National in 2009:
“With camera angles, 4,000 feet on the water and the Statue of Liberty very much a part of the landscape, it will look more like New York to the rest of the country when it’s on television. The golf course was built with hospitality in mind, and I think it will be a nice move in 2009.”
I've always said, strategy, greens, angles mean nothign if you don't build with hospitality in mind! And from Bob Cupp, with modesty:
“Players, deep down, love to compete on hard golf courses, and the Tour likes to see 30-mile-an-hour winds,” Cupp said. “The course has places to make birdies and places to make a bunch of ‘others.’ It’s a course that has every shot.”
Oh they're going to love this!
Thanks to reader Michael for this.
Courtesy of The Golf Channel, but minus what they're actually thinking. Any mind readers out there?
You know since I've been doing this blogging thing I've seen some soft questions thrown at Tim Finchem, but never have the assembled scribblers and inkslingers lobbed 'em up so generously before.
Let's start with the illiterate. Apparently this scribbler does not subscribe to any golf publication...
Q. Was Pete Dye involved in the revisions, and to what extent if you would?Who let Jeff Gannon in the room?
Here's another one:
Q. There's been a lot of unofficial talk about the purse this week. Can you confirm what the purse is and whether the final amount is a world record for a golf tournament?Wow, they clocked that one at 19 mph!
And Finchem's answer, also available in oh, every major or minor publication:
COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: Is it a world record? The purse is $9 million. The record part I'm not -- I'd have to defer to our brain trust over here.
JAMES CRAMER: We'll have to look. We'll research that.
COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: I've learned over the years never to jump in and say, "Yeah, absolutely."
Well, except when Manougian said "how about 15 years?"
Back to the fast balls...
Q. What was your reaction to Tiger calling 17 gimmicky, being that it plays such a central role in this tournament?
COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: I read the transcript. It doesn't trouble me. There are an awful lot of players over the years who have not had a good time at 17 for whatever reason. It plays -- you know, his suggestion that maybe it should be No. 8 is an interesting one. It plays as No. 8 -- everybody who's ever played the tournament has played it as No. 8 because we have a two-tee start on Thursday and Friday, so they have that experience. He's the first player I've heard suggest that we move it to No. 8 on the weekend. We don't intend to do that. I saw in his comments he used the word "wonderful" related to the hole, so I like that part.
Q. It was somewhat confusing. We weren't sure if it was wonderful or gimmicky.
You can just feel the tension in the room! I bet Tony Snow reads this and thinks, I have it easy!
Q. You're now 33 years into this thing. Every year we come here and there's always the question fifth major, is it a major, isn't it a major. Where do you see that argument going or that discussion going, and how does it get -- Jack yesterday said maybe it could replace one of the existing four. What do you see happening down the road here?
Yes, what would a Players press conference be without a fifth major question?
Wait, finally something tough...
Q. Does Tiger and to a lesser extent Phil have more influence on TOUR decisions and how the TOUR is run than other players?
COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM: No.
Wow, we know how to stop the Commissioner from rambling!
Nice follow up too:
Q. And if not, do you think there's a perception that they do and how do you confront that?
Here's where the rambling answer unravels a bit:
I continue to be amused -- I'll give you one example. I just read an article here this week that said that the reason for the FedExCup was because Phil and Tiger wanted a shorter season. That's just wrong. It actually had nothing to do with the FedExCup. I mean, it's true that Tiger and Phil at one point or another have said, you know, I'd like to see a shorter season. I think lots of top players over the years -- a lot of players generally have said I'd like to see a shorter season. Why is that? It's a long season. It starts in January and goes until November. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that if you're going to end the season with the TOUR Championship and it's well into the football season, that's a challenge.
So we wanted to convert that to a system where we could have a good solid season to a section of our season and maintain solid playing opportunities for the membership, so we managed the situation where we have $32 million in prize money in the fall and we have the FedExCup, and these guys can decide how they want to use that platform. I think there is way too much written about that subject from a perception standpoint than relates to the real world.
Oops, we launched into nonsensical MBASpeak mode. You know what that means? Translation: Phil and Tiger wanted a shorter season.
More hard-hitting stuff:
Q. As a fan of all sports, I enjoy Major League's Homerun Contest or NBA's Slam Dunk Contest. I don't know if it's in the works or not, but would it be asking too much to have a TOUR long drive contest this week in the future since there is no Pro-Am?
And here's where Finchem's saying to himself, "I picked the wrong week to stop wearing deodorant."
Q. What is your assessment of the way the FedExCup race is going, and do you see it picking up even more popularity as it continues?
Our assessment right now is it is an absolute plus for the TOUR and for tournaments and for sponsors and for the players, no question. How big of a plus, we'll have a better sense of after the Playoffs this year, and then we'll see what happens next year. But if we get a good base late this year then I think we'll be in good shape for next year.
I think we have to be careful to remind fans that this is in addition to everything else we've had. It's not in place of anything. It doesn't take the place of some things that the Money List stands for. It doesn't -- it is not in competition with THE PLAYERS or the PGA Championship or any of that. It stands for what it is; it's a season-long competition, and I'm delighted that the players see it that way, are supporting it, and I'm pleased that from my perspective, maybe not 100 percent, but virtually all the players that are in those top seeds going into the competition will play all four weeks, which that would be the first time that ever happened in this sport, and I think it would be pretty exciting.
Wow, that was productive.
I believe Wednesday at The Players means Tim Finchem will come down from his new clubhouse patio and answer questions from the assembled inkslingers. Just a few contributions, naturally, please post yours in the comments section.
- With the PGA Tour looking at reducing field size at Tiger's mid-summer event and cut sizes possibly being reduced, have you considered stepping up efforts to deal with the pace of play problem?
- Do you see any connection between the pace of play issues and the distance explosion of recent years in the form of longer waits on par-5's and driveable par-4s, narrow fairways, more rough, tucked holes, etc... and if so, do you think an easier solution to this problem might be a slight rollback in the ball?
- In the current Sports Illustrated, 73% of players polled said the PGA Tour should get tough on performance enhancing drugs. Can you update us on where your efforts to develop a tougher policy?
- Do you or any of your senior vice presidents own significant shares of Comcast?
Whoa Nellie how did that get in there? Hey, just want to squelch that rumor before it spreads...eh, too late.
- Harding Park is going to be a future playoff venue in 2013 or 2014, can you see the Western Open returning to a summer date that year so that you can retain a tournament in the nation's third largest market and restore a full field to this one-time "major."
- Tom Pernice, Great American or The Greatest American?
SI's Alan Shipnuck pens a long (and I mean long!) feature on The Golf Channel Golf Channel and how it's really all things wonderful. So touching to see how fatherhood has mellowed Alan to the point he can listen to Jerry Foltz drone on and not want to scream like Howard Beale.
Well, we learn that Nick Faldo and Kelly Tilghman engaged in carefully conceived exercises (they hiked, they surfed!). And we learn that when you combine the ratings of all the telecasts the numbers are actually up, which still doesn't settle the Sportscenter issue that was the heart of those begging for some ESPN involvement. And we learn that a 15-year deal was necessary because, as Tim Finchem asks inanely rhetorically, "How do we build the platform together?"
Oy.
I did love this from Dave Manougian, who apparently bamboozled the PGA Tour's army of VP's with this logic:
"I'm not sure if there's much difference between 15 years or 12 or 10," says Manougian. "To increase our distribution, we obviously needed a long-term commitment from the Tour, but quite honestly, once you get past six or eight years you sort of say, Well, we might as well go for it now!"One revealing quote comes from Joe Ogilvie:
"There's no question all of us benefit as the channel grows," says Ogilvie. "There are kickers in the contract to guarantee that. I think players are slowly starting to realize we're married to the channel, so to speak. It's in our best interests to help it succeed."And isn't this precisely the danger?
That the PGA Tour becomes a soft core version of the Big Break, with the separation of media and player turning each telecast into an infomercial?
Or is an infomercial-like brand plugfest just what today's America finds most comforting?
Oh please thoughtful readers, chime in.
That inevitable commentary you've been waiting for that analyzes the strange relationship between Tiger and the PGA Tour?
Naturally, just as she did with the technology issue, you finally get to read about it in provocative and fresh fashion from the New York Times' Selena Roberts.
Either way, Tiger is in charge. How do you please the host with the most? No event is cheap. As it is, the Tour donates about $240,000, according to tax documents, to Tiger’s Target World Challenge, an unofficial event. To co-sanction official Tour stops, PGA officials supplement the purses. The AT&T National and Deutsche Bank could run the PGA about $8 million this year, according to industry experts.
The payoff for Tiger is tucked in the pocket of his charity. Last year, his foundation received an estimated $1.5 million from the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Is there a money trail to Tiger’s heart? What’s wrong with buying Tiger’s affection, anyway?
It contradicts every tenet of golf’s righteous culture of integrity. “This is golf,” Finchem said repeatedly during an interview last week, as if the sport’s virtue inoculates it from scrutiny.
The PGA Tour doesn’t drug-test, because that would imply a steroid problem exists. Who knew willful ignorance was a marketing strategy? The Tour applies this see-no-evil approach to glaring conflicts of interest, too.
Whoa. Roberts didn't get the memo that you are no one in golf unless you have a conflict of interest!
More tough stuff...
Tiger has played only five events in four months. This weekend’s Byron Nelson is not among them. For years, Tiger played out of deference to Nelson. Now Nelson is dead and Woods is a no-show.
Woods is a schedule recluse, the J. D. Salinger of golf.
It's okay Damon Hack, Tiger'll talk to you again sometime this century! When you've won your Pulitzer, retired from the Times and write lucrative books!
As disturbed as Roberts is by Tiger's selective schedule, it's the PGA Tour she blames.
Now Woods is a Beltway power broker. He already legislates to the PGA.
“It’s only leverage if you use it as leverage,” Finchem said, adding, “I don’t have a concern about that.”
And Tim it's only murder if you kill someone!
But Tiger does exploit his sway, if passive-aggressively. Other voices are ignored on issues, but a suggestion by Tiger is processed as a demand. In 2000, Tiger complained that the Tour was taking financial advantage of him, that Finchem ignored him. Voilà, Finchem and Woods met and love was in the air.
Tiger wanted a shortened season. Tiger received a FedEx Cup race that ends in September. Tiger wanted a tournament like Jack’s. Tiger received the D.C. gala, which was delivered, as desired, with a reduced field of 120 to enhance its prestige, and, as Woods mentioned, to speed up play.
Don't forget driver testing.
Wasn’t Tiger supposed to bring inclusion to the game? Instead, the Tour is more polarized than ever, between the haves and the have-nots. Several tournament officials say privately that they are tempted to barter for Tiger with a donation, but others refuse to abandon their community aid.
“You have to ask, how long is Tiger going to be out there?” said Dave Kaplan, the tournament director for the AT&T Classic in Duluth, Ga. “Is it till he’s 50 or 35? Who knows? If he catches Jack Nicklaus, does he say, ‘That’s it’? And you’d hate to think it, but Tiger, like anyone, could get hurt tomorrow. Stuff happens.”
Stuff makes it a lateral hazard for the Tour to wrap itself in one player. The Tiger Boom could vanish as quickly as the dot-com high. Sports wither all the time, from American pro soccer after Pelé, to boxing after corruption, to a National Hockey League with a puny television deal.
For the Tour to empower Tiger above all is to create a petri dish for an abuse of fame, to lose the ability to tell its rock star no, to sanction its own tumble from virtue.
This is not Tiger’s issue, but a Tour management flaw. What is best for Tiger is not necessarily a 2-foot gimme for those below. It was, after all, a tiny turtle squeezed beneath the pond king that, with a wiggle, toppled Yertle.
I didn't want to distract from Selena Roberts's piece on Tiger and the Tour by pointing out this NYTimes.com snafu which was not repeated in the print edition, mercifully for Tim Finchem's dermatologist and his hair stylist Marcel, who in between coloring some of Jacksonville's richest trophy wives...oh anyway, the caption and photo:
When Tiger Woods talks, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is likely to listen closely. The Tour often adjusts its schedule to accommodate Woods
My NSA sources took time out from their search for those lost RNC emails to share a Sunday night conversation between the LPGA's Commissioner Carolyn Bivens and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. This followed Sunday's bizarre day in which the LPGA event on CBS was delayed, the PGA Tour's Heritage play on CBS cancelled by high winds, and with the delayed LPGA's event on CBS airing on The Golf Channel.
DaBrandLady: tim, you there?
twfPGATour©: Hi Carolyn.
DaBrandLady: Rough day for the product.
twfPGATour©: I know, our consumers had to listen to Bobby Clampett on two channels at once.
DaBrandLady: oh. I meant the winds.
DaBrandLady: i thought he was great on the ginn. we feel lucky to have his insights.
twfPGATour©: Yes you are. He's a big talent.
DaBrandLady: say tim, I know the ginn on cbs was an ad buy for us and all, but since it was running long and the heritage was in that hurricane delay, don't you think we could have seen more of our event shown live on cbs instead of tape from last year's heritage?
twfPGATour©: Well you know I wish could have helped, but as you well know the platform layering dynamics are intensely complicated.
DaBrandLady: ha! i actually wrote a dissertation on that when I was at the usa today and they wanted to change the life's section color from purple to navy blue.
DaBrandLady: anyway, i do know all about the parameters involved. it just seemed odd to have our event going on with so many dynamic young women-American golfers competing with a future hall of famer, and then to turn and see you all teasing the viewer with updates before heading back to tape of last year.
twfPGATour©: I feel your pain Carolyn. It's out of my hands.
DaBrandLady: and for cbs, what an opportunity to declare their devotion to young women-american athletes in light of the dan imos de-branding thing.
twfPGATour©: It's actually Don Imus I believe.
DaBrandLady: of course, silly me!
DaBrandLady: say, that new creative with zach johnson was quite exquisite.
twfPGATour©: Yes, fortuitous timing for strengthening our family of brands and for Zach's ability to leverage the equity in his newfound brand stature.
DaBrandLady: whoever thought of using him in those new spots should get a big raise!
twfPGATour©: Glad you reminded me of that Carolyn. I'm making a note right now to bump Tom Wade's salary another $100,000 a year. He's undervalued at $550,000 per year.
DaBrandLady: say, speaking of salary Tim, did you see this sports business journal article about how much I'm making?
twfPGATour©: They had you at around $500,000 I believe.
DaBrandLady: yes they got it off this battlestar web site that monitors non-profits.
twfPGATour©: Guidestar.
DaBrandLady: well, anyway, i was looking around their site and i noticed you guys have managed to keep your most recent tour returns off. how do i do the same thing? because my brand coaches feel i took a hit in light of the fact that i'm only making a half-mil while you are making $7 million and Len Zelig is making $14.5 million.
twfPGATour©: it's Bud Selig and can you believe that? I need to go back to the policy board for a raise.
DaBrandLady: right, so how do I stop this brand-damaging from going online?
twfPGATour©: well it's a legal issue for us, but if you call Ed M he'll explain how to do it. It's a layered process that involves many dynamics and metrical platform delineational restructuring with the IRS.
DaBrandLady: oh, and here i was hoping it was just something powell-tate handled up in d.c.
twfPGATour©: Well, there's that too.
DaBrandLady: great! thanks tim!
twfPGATour©: My pleasure Carolyn. Give my best to, uh...
DaBrandLady: he says hi back!
In a full field, half a dozen players shoot lights-out every day. In a half-field, only two or three do. Golf leaderboards are exciting because they're bunched, and that's a function of the numbers. With a full field, it's going to be more like the Tour de France — no one usually breaks away from the pack without taking a half-dozen pursuers with him. In a half field, well, Tiger or Darren Clarke or someone else can break away from the field and win in a runaway.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
