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
Holy Guacamole, we have an admission from the Commish that his Kapalua press conference was "testy!"
Tim Finchem, talking to Ron Sirak who sums up the business issues facing the PGA Tour in 2010 and pulls this out of a Commish well-rested following his soulful, male-bonding-heavy fishing trip with Sid Wilson and Mark Rolfing:
Finchem had a rocky pre-tournament session with reporters Tuesday as they peppered him with questions about Woods, sponsors and drug testing.
"I think I am entitled to one testy news conference every 15 years," Finchem told Golf World with a laugh after returning to the mainland. "People keep predicting that we are going to implode. Why don't they just wait for us to implode and then talk about it? It's almost as if there are some who are rooting for us to implode, and then when the Tiger thing came along, they were saying, 'Ah, this will do it.' "
It's a bit odd that he found the questions related to Tiger or drug testing to be of such a sensitive nature. Looking back on the press conference I don't see any suggestion from the scribes that they were hoping for a PGA Tour implosion, do you?
It seems the SBS transcripts are posted on a new provider (not ASAP) and I got to learn a new buzzword from Commissioner Finchem. Here are the highlights, minus yesterday's cranky exchange.
On the topic of San Diego and a possible last minute sponsor signing:
Alex Miceli reports on Tim Finchem's testy sitdown with the scribblers just a few weeks after he put on a brave face to talk about Tiger's leave.
It appears that ASAP has not been hired to do transcripts for the Kapalua event, but we thankfully have Golfweek's Miceli to share the key exchanges with us:
Question: Have you talked to Tiger or attempted to talk to him?
Tim Finchem: Have I talked to who?
Q: Tiger.
Finchem: I answered this question before. The answer is, I have not.
Q: When?
Finchem: The day I did my press conference (Dec. 17).
Now that's a weird answer. Or just a wee bit smart assy...take your pick.
Q: It’s a few weeks later.
Finchem: No, I have not talked to Tiger. No, I have not talked to him. I don’t know when I would talk to him.
Q: It’s been three weeks. I just thought I would ask.
Finchem: When I addressed that, I thought I addressed it in this context, that he asks for privacy. We pledged our commitment to give him privacy, so that would include me trying to talk to him.
Q: I understand that. I thought with a personal relationship, if you tried to reach him at all.
Finchem: No.
That's just bizarre he did not try to reach out and touch someone. Actually, this is more peculiar:
Q: You were asked about Tiger’s relationship with (inaudible). You said you had no concerns...
Finchem: No, what I said was that I was not involved in evaluating it myself. That our anti-doping team, which includes internal people and external people, had reviewed the procedure that was given to Tiger in media reports, and they had no concerns that that procedure violated our anti-doping policies. That’s what I said.
Q: You also said, according to the transcript, ‘I have no reason to have any concern.’
Finchem: Because of that report, I had no reason.
So they reached their conclusion about Tiger's work with Dr. Galea based on news reports? Granted, Dr. Galea did blab excessively to the New York Times but that sure seems like an odd way to conduct an investigation even if it was the paper of record.
Q: That comment was widely panned by a number of doping experts, including the head of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), who accused you of having your head in the sand.
Finchem: Was he talking about the procedure or the possibility of using HGH (human growth hormone)? I had no report that they said anything about me having my head in the sand.
Q: Well, he said, I quote, unquote, As a doping expert, when I hear in the same question, blood spinning, HGH and Actovegin, I tend to straighten up and have a better look. At least you look into it.
Finchem: I appreciate his advice. I will stand by the response I gave during the press conference. I had no reason to be concerned about the procedure that was reported. I’m not so sure that that’s inconsistent with what he said. I’m not suggesting it is, but I will stand by my response. Do you have another question?
Oh, a do you have another question! I believe that's MBASpeak for, go...oh wait, this is a family website.
Q: You don't think maybe you could have phrased it differently?
Finchem: I’m not going to play word games with you.
He would never do such a thing. Well there was the time he used Latin. And there was coterminously.
I answered your question. If you have another question, I will try to answer that one.
I think someone needs a Kapalua Spa day! Get this man a Waihua’s Lomilomi Massage, followed by a Blueberry Soy Slimming, a Vitamin C Firm & Tone and top it all off by throwing a Microdermabrasion & Yam Enzyme on the old PGA Tour expense account. (And you think I'm making those up...here's the menu.)
My understanding is that it was AP's Doug Ferguson asking Finchem about whether he had talked to Tiger and Andrew Both asking the Dr. Galea questions.
The surprisingly chipper talk of Tiger coming back unblemished meant this exchange from the SI Confidential went unnoticed:
Anonymous Pro: The thing that we thought would drive the Tour was the World Golf Championships. If anything, those events are killing the other tournaments. Why? The WGC tournaments draw top players away from regular Tour events, which we need now more than ever.
Bamberger: The Tour basically oversold Tiger, and in the end it's an uphill slog when he doesn't appear. The Tour's long tradition is about local events and local charities. They tried to join the big leagues and were somewhat successful but found that golf is still a niche sport, although it can break out from time to time. The WGC events haven't connected with anyone and at the same time have ruined the real heart of the Tour, stops like L.A. or Hartford or Colonial that are now unfairly perceived as second-rate.
Anonymous Pro: Tiger and Phil wanted the season to end sooner. They weren't playing after mid-August, sometimes not even in the season-ending Tour Championship. Now that the FedEx Cup concludes the season in September, they're taking advantage of the downtime they asked for by playing overseas for big appearance fees. Didn't Finchem know that was going to happen? I'm not blaming Tiger or Phil. I'd play in a dress for $3 million. It is the Tour's fault for allowing it, and it really rubs me the wrong way. This is the biggest bogey Finchem has ever made.
Short term I think it's terribly wrong to call the WGC concept a bogey. But in the post-Tiger accident and Great Recession economy, long term the events appear to bring as many complications as solutions.
I'm guessing that hard questions internally about the value of WGC events will be forbidden as long as Finchem is commissioner. But the combination of increased animosity outside of the U.S. toward the America-centric concept and the inability of stops like San Diego to draw sponsor interest, could mean 2010 will lead to a closer examination of the World Golf Championship concept. Long overdue.
Not to sound like Tim Finchem...but there are so many more elements to golf tournament sponsorship than just Tiger Woods. The LA Times' Dan Neil--an incredible auto reviewer and Pulitzer winner--reinforces the that lack of sponsorship understanding in a point-misser piece suggesting Tiger's phony image means all of pro golf is a charade unworthy of corporate support.
Without Woods, the game trails off and rolls back into the weeds of cultural irrelevance, long weekend tourneys among more or less evenly matched men in more or less equally ugly clothes slapping balls around while the real players get loaded in corporate hospitality tents. There is no heroism in golf without Tiger -- at least the Tiger we thought we knew -- no drama, and scant male pulchritude besides. Unless your business is actual golf balls or clubs (Titleist or Ping or whatever), I'd say your marketing dollars could be best spent elsewhere.And, of course, as a practical matter, there will be far fewer eyeballs watching golf on TV. Various estimates have the viewing audience sans Tiger dropping by 50%. Who knows if they'll ever come back.
The illusion that professional golf was somehow a sport with a higher calling, a game of honor and ethics played by fundamentally decent men, has been shattered. This isn't about counting strokes you took while nobody's watching. Tiger's trollop-taking is precisely the sort of thing we've come to expect from pro basketball and football players -- and, shamefully, our indifference implies consent. For the most dominant golfer of all time to be so caddish seems to be a signal that lesser golfers transgress in lesser degrees. In any event, the safe harbor of golf's presumed decency has been drained. Meanwhile, now that the tabloid press has had a taste for golfer flesh, I wouldn't be surprised if we have to live through a season of golf-related exposes. All the more reason for marketers to pull up stakes.
The scribblers didn't give Tim Finchem the best reviews yesterday on his teleconference performance and I must say his tone during the call was different from what was exhibited in his chats on CNBC, ESPN and The Golf Channel.
Maybe he should talk to the scribes on video? Ty, set that up please. Help the big guy out. It's going to be a long year.
Unfortunately we don't have images to see if he rekindled last year's kidnapping video sensibility, but Finchem did apparently talk to his players again via video and was a bit more candid than he was in talking to us lowly writers. Sean Martin reports:
The nine-minute video appeared to have been filmed in the locker room at TPC Sawgrass. It was divided into three segments: "Business Update," "2010 Season," and "Tiger's Absence."
Way to weave those current events in!
In Thursday's press conference, Finchem denied reports that the Tour is having trouble securing sponsorship renewals. However, he said in Friday's video that he will travel to fewer events in 2010 as he focuses on securing those sponsorships.
“In 2010, this economy hasn’t gotten any better,” he said. “We have a lot more renewals for 2011. My focus, my priority is going to be the business of the PGA Tour. You may not see me out there as much.”
He sure knows how to spoil a PGA Tour pro's Christmas.
However, he did say 2010 should be a “very, very solid year” for the Tour. “We have a full schedule. We have playing opportunities that are very close to 2009. We will have prize money about the same, maybe a little higher than 2009. Our charity dollars will be up somewhat.”
Actually, it's down $4 million give or take a few dollars..
“I don’t want to misrepresent the facts. Tiger has a strong impact on the PGA Tour, but we can perform well, and perform adequately for our sponsors in his absence,” Finchem said.
“... But in the meantime, we need to do a little more work. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it’s incumbent on all of us in 2010 to work hard, continue that effort we had in 2009, and roll into 2010 with an upbeat attitude.”
Finchem asked players to continue an increased effort to interact with sponsors.
“As you did in 2009, stepping up and committing yourselves to extra effort for sponsors and tournaments, we want to carry that right into 2010,” he said. “... This helped us a lot in this downturn, and we need to do it again in 2010.”
Tim Finchem actually made Tiger second-hand news Thursday and maybe even into Friday...unless Tiger surfaces or his Citation overruns a short runway in Wickenberg, Arizona near a certain rehab clinic made famous by David Duchovny.
Unfortunately for Finchem, the reviews weren't so hot for his whirlwind press tour that commenced on CNBC, included a teleconference with scribes, and wrapped up with Golf Channel and ESPN appearances.
Jim McCabe says you got the feeling that Tim Finchem's "at the helm of the S.S. Good Ship Lollipop," and while he really enjoyed Finchem's praise for the President's Cup, he couldn't quite let the Dr. Galea component of the press conference and Finchem's brush-off go unnoticed:
While it’s documented that Dr. Galea is under arrest for drug-related charges, no one is suggesting Woods should be the subject of suspicions. Still, it was alarming to hear Finchem state, almost brushing it aside like a three-putt bogey, that “I have no reason to have a concern with respect to him and a doctor (Galea) who has used HGH with patients for whom it’s not an illegal drug (which is true of HGH, in Canada).”
Dick Pound wonders. The former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency said, “You would have a heightened awareness. I would not put it any further than that.”
Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the WADA, does take it a step further. Asked if he thought Finchem should have expressed a little more concern, Dr. Wadler said, “You can’t be dismissive. I’ve seen that for years and years and years. Let’s put it this way: As a doping expert, when I hear in the same sentence ‘blood-spinning, HGH, and Actovegin,’ I intend to straighten up and have a better look.
“(I hear) that combination, those three things, and I immediately think about doping. At best you look into it.”
“That’s what clean athletes expect,” said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. “You believe what they say, but also, you have the responsibility to verify.”
Bill Huffman also wasn't impressed.
But even more than the media’s unquenched thirst for Tiger’s secret life and his, some might say, “pending’’ divorce, is the way the Tour seems to be protecting Woods, who "reportedly'' is on his way to an addiction clinic in Wickenburg. And the big question that goes along with that is, does Tiger deserve such protection?
More than one reporter has brought up the fact lately, that despite being independent contractors, Woods seems to get the kid gloves from Finchem when compared to, say, John Daly. And, yes, that exact question came up Thursday and here’s what Finchem had to say about the insinuation that Tiger’s behavior had smudged the Tour’s guideline for “conduct unbecoming,’’ which is an area that allows the commissioner to level fines or suspensions.
“Historically, the PGA Tour has never, to my knowledge in our history, taken a situation in someone’s personal life and dealt with it from a disciplinary matter or considered it conduct unbecoming as it relates to our regulations,’’ Finchem said, adding quickly: “Our regulations relate to conduct unbecoming that’s either in the public arena or law enforcement arena.’’
OK, so Tiger didn’t hit the fire hydrant with his Escalade at 2:30 in the morning when he was high on Ambien, right? And he didn’t lie to the cops when he said that his distraught wife knocked the back window out of the car – on both sides! – to rescue him, correct? And, well, the hookers and the steroids are just ill-timed rumors as long as they don’t end up in the “law enforcement arena,’’ and so there is no reason to look into them, huh?
Steve Elling noted the Commissioner's often contradictory statements and finds it hard to fathom how golf wasn't damaged by the last three weeks.
Playing defense because of the manifold ties Woods has to the tour product, as well as the game's general health, Finchem came out swinging with his driver, although plenty of the missives missed the mark. Deny and defy it loud enough, brother, and somebody might believe it.
Thanks to Woods, golf news has been almost uniformly brutal for 21 days and counting. He has more alleged mistresses than majors. Porno videos are being shot with Woods' life as the punch line and plotline. He has been linked to a controversial physician who is facing drug charges. Every day brings another hurtful revelation.
Nobody is suggesting that golf will crash and burn because Woods' reputation is tainted or he's gone underground. After all, the tour survived when he missed eight months in 2008-09. But Finchem's insistence on soft-pedaling the impact, to use one of his favorite terms, is just plain counter-intuitive.
Mike Walker had a hard time telling the difference between Finchem's appearances and SNL's sketch.
The silver lining for the Tour is that when Woods comes back, interest in him and the game will be greater than ever. Finchem told Rovell that Woods is not bigger than golf. That's wrong. After what happened these last two weeks, he's bigger than sports. When he comes back, the Tour will have Brangelina on the course 16 weekends a year. Someone ought to be able to sell that.
Jay Busbee summed up the teleconference this way:
Regarding Woods, Finchem pursued an it's-unfortunate-but-let's-give-him-his privacy approach. One wonders what Finchem would have said if it were any other golfer, with the possible exception of Phil Mickelson, who had acted in the same way Tiger Woods apparently has been over the last few years. I'd expect he'd have far harsher words for any other golfer who had, by his own admission, subverted the very "gentleman's code" upon which golf so prides itself.
Just now weighing in on the saga is a once big Tiger fan Gene Wojciechowski, who writes:
How many times will we get burned by corporate -- and, yes, media -- image inventions before we learn?
Mark McGwire … fraud.
Sammy Sosa … fraud.
Barry Bonds … fraud.
Roger Clemens … fraud.
Alex Rodriguez … liar.
I could keep going. The list is as long as a Wrigley Field bathroom line.
Woods is the latest name on the disgraced sports hero time line. His descent is stunning because we never saw it coming. The Ice Man melteth.
I'm not sure Tiger was beloved. He was admired, respected, even feared. We saw his sharp edges but rarely saw the sanded-down parts of his personality. He was in total control -- or so we thought.
In an improvement over his last piece, Huffington Post's Matthew DeBord takes shots at just about everyone in the golf establishment from The Golf Channel to Phil Knight to the National Enquirer to Tim Rosaforte to Dubai, then says this about Tiger:
The game is in no way bigger than Tiger. In fact, Tiger is so immensely, hugely, ginormously larger than mere golf that golf may never recover from this monumental fall from grace. You could go nuts and say that Tiger is golf, except that he's even bigger than that. Tiger, truth be told, is bigger than Tiger. He is, or was, so mega, so money, that he transcended even himself. The complexity of this scandal, the depth of psychological and emotional trauma that must have been and may still be present to enable it, is of Hegelian dimensions. More than a decade of intricately orchestrated deception. Nixon wasn't this good.
Phillip Reid features lengthy comments from Padraig Harrington.
“That’s what amazes me, I thought the guy was, and I’m particularly loath to use the word, but let’s say had a quiet life, went back to his hotel room every night . . . (to) sit in your room for six hours is not a pleasant experience, he couldn’t go out.
“I felt sorry for him in that sense, (because) I could go out (for dinner) every night. I assumed life on tour was real tough (for him). You knew when he was off tour he enjoyed his boat and going fishing and that was the only freedom he ever got.
“I’m amazed by both sides, that if somebody goes down that road you usually can tell, there’s a bravado in it and all that sort of stuff . . . the odd time he’d be in a hotel and you’d see him going getting his ice to have an ice bath for his knee and things like that, you’d see him in the gym, always just incredibly diligent.
“You’d kind of often think (of asking), ‘do you want to go out for dinner?’, and not (ask), think he is trying to do his own thing and trying to be special in that sense. I felt for the fact he was absolutely in a fishbowl, life was tough in that sense.
“The only thing I can give on the whole story is ‘wow’, I was out there on tour with him for 10 years and often Tiger himself has said I’d be (considered) a friend, and I had no idea this was going on in his life . . . a triple life: golf, home and when he was away.”
Bookies are offering some unusual bets.
Bookmaker William Hill is taking bets on just how much Nordegren will get if she decides to divorce the world's No 1 golfer. As the scandal widens with claims of more mistresses, punters can get odds of 25-1 that Nordegren will receive more than half a billion dollars in a divorce settlement. The odds drop to 6-4 for a settlement under $100m. William Hill offer 1-2 that she gets between $100m and $500m. William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: "It's largely a bit of fun."
That's nice.
Besides the divorce rumors getting picked up just about everywhere, US featured this about Tiger's current routine:
After those grueling sessions -- which a source describes as the golfer "just apologizing over and over again" -- Woods heads to a nearby course to hit golf balls "to clear his head," another local says. "He goes after dark so he can't be seen. For him, what's more therapeutic than hitting golf balls, the thing he's best at in the whole world?"
And finally, several outlets seem to think Tiger is headed to Meadows Rehabilitation Center, former home to celebrity sex addicts like David Duchovny, and Halle Berry's former hubby, Eric Benet.
Going to Mark Steinberg's choice for revealing news, Commissioner Tim Finchem makes an interesting, uh, platform selection to break his silence.
FIRST ON CNBC: CNBC MEDIA ALERT: CNBC'S SPORTS BUSINESS REPORTER DARREN ROVELL WILL SPEAK WITH PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM, TOMORROW, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17TH ON CNBC'S "SQUAWK ON THE STREET"
WHEN: TOMORROW, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17TH AT 10:10AM ET
WHERE: CNBC'S "SQUAWK ON THE STREET"
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem will give his first interview since recent developments in the life of Tiger Woods became national headlines. CNBC's Darren Rovell will speak with Finchem on Thursday, December 17th at 10:10AM ET on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." Finchem will discuss his reaction to Woods' announcement that the world's top golfer would take of an "indefinite break" from the sport and its potential ramifications on the game's television ratings and future investment from corporate America.
Finchem is also scheduled for a teleconference with scribblers at 11 EST.
The opening sketch is brilliant...
Tim Finchem, Geoff Ogilvy among others were hauled into this Woods saga, with a nice Bernie Madoff connection too:
Wanda Sykes also opened her show with a great skit, but because Fox has some weird video player I refused to download. It'll be on YouTube soon, hopefully. If you want to risk downloading their suspicious player, the episode is here.
**The Sykes opening sketch and entire show is now on Hulu:
I used to be able to joke about PGA Tour executive pay, but when you see these numbers...
Jon Show of Sports Business Journal did the digging and writes:
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
