'11 Flashback: Clinton Foundation Signed On For Eight Years

Tuesday's news that the Clinton Foundation was no longer going to be associated with the old Bob Hope Classic was surprising, and topped a day later by the news of Phil Mickelson's SEC issues seems pretty embarrassing for the PGA Tour.

Having the announcement of Mickelson as new "ambassador" a day before his SEC matter went public looks terrible given the comments of Mickelson's attorney, which suggests he knew this was coming.

As for the Clinton Foundation saying goodbye, the original 2011 announcement said it was an eight-year deal, yet they are now out after five years?

Thought for players to consider: perhaps Tim Finchem should be spending less time working on building leveraging plays to boost his retirement package and more time talking to Bill and Phil?

Just a thought.

Former WADA Chief On Golf: "There’s a problem there."

Moira Gordon quotes former WADA chief Dick Pound, hosting a lecture at Stirling University, explaining golf's attitude toward drug testing.

Long opposed by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, he recounted this conversation.

“We have all seen the shape changes in golfers and the distances they are hitting now and we know that the equipment is better and the balls are better but it isn’t just that,” said Pound, who recalled a conversation with the commissioner of the PGA Tour, Tim Finchem, stating that the sport which “has a great reputation for calling faults on yourself” could set an example to others by outing the cheats. But, the reply he received was disappointing. “He said: ‘Ah, but if I do that then they are all going to think my guys are just like those baseball players and football players and I don’t want that’. But if you follow some of the shape changes in the golfers and follow how, at a certain point, if they happen to come off them, you see how many more injuries they get. There’s a problem there.”

Happy Easter! Commish Finchem "Likely" Retiring By End Of '16

AP's Doug Ferguson reports that PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has signed a one-year extension but plans to retire by the end of 2016, pending Policy Board approval of Deputy Commish Jay Monahan.

Ferguson writes:

"For every organization there is a time,'' said Finchem, 68, who began his tenure in 1994 and is just the third commissioner in the PGA Tour's history. "I could probably go on another five or six years. But I don't think that is best for the organization. I don't consider myself old. But I'm getting old.''

Oh 68's the new 60 Tim, except for the people you pushed into retirement at 60!

Monahan was named the tour's COO this week, which many assumed was a sign of Finchem hanging on a few years more to finish off two or three pet projects.

Monahan, former of Fenway Sports, figures to be more in the vein of Adam Silver (NBA) and Rob Manfred (MLB), bringing a modern sports fan perspective and a lot less aloofness. But more gray hair!

Update on 2016-03-27 20:57 by Geoff

**Alex Miceli at Golfweek.com with extensive quotes from Finchem about his plans, with the suggestion he could do the job another 5-6 years, but that it's time and Monahan will bring a new energy.

"The only remaining thing, candidly, when we named him two years ago was relationships, honestly, because relationships take a while to transfer,” Finchem said of Monahan’s professional development upon being named deputy commissioner. “So we've been working hard on that for a couple of years. You all know Jay. Making a relationship is a slam dunk for him.”

Pieters: PGA Tour Provides (Photoshop) Grooming Services

Jason Crook reports on Thomas Pieters going to Facebook to show how the PGA Tour altered his stock photo. Pieters, who finshed second to Rickie Fowler in last week's HSBC in Abu Dhabi, appears to have run into Commissioner Kiehl's and his army of Photoshopping barbers.

Look out Boo Weekley!

Update on 2016-01-27 16:40 by Geoff

**Alex Myers with an update and statement from the PGA Tour's Ty Votaw:

"In the standard process of prepping new headshots for broadcast TV, electronic scoreboards and other uses - which always requires a bit of retouching and color-correction - our vendor was a bit too heavy-handed in the editing of Thomas Pieters' photo. The image has been returned more closely to the original photo - although some editing is always required - and reissued to our database. We regret this sequence of events and meant no disrespect to Thomas. We think he has a great head of hair."

Thomas's hair has been restored to its original design!

Rio Test Event Participation Facing "Compaction" Issues

Commissioner Coterminous wheeled out his first gem in a while, describing for AP's Doug Ferguson the issues facing golf's effort to get players to Rio for the necessary "test event" to fulfill all obligations with the International Olympic Committee.

"We've got a good list of players who are, quote, interested in coming," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "But we don't have a long list of players who are committed to coming. That's the case with the guys who are currently playing on the PGA Tour, just because of the schedule, looking ahead to the summer, seeing the compaction. So I don't know."

Not Going Anywhere: Finchem Calls His Future "Ill-defined"

Commissioner Tim Finchem tells AP's Doug Ferguson that his retirement schedule is still on hold as he works on "a couple of three major kind of projects" he'd like to get "pushed a little bit."

This was a startling revelation for an organization that allowed Finchem to put numerous executives out to pasture when they turned 60:

Finchem turns 69 next year, though the PGA Tour policy board recently extended the age limit of board members to 75. So that's not an issue.

Hilariously, another massive amount of cash is set to be put into The Players and Stadium Course, and there is the inevitable effort to re-up FedEx for the Reset Cup beyond 2017.

There was also this:

An early start on the next round of TV negotiations. The contracts are up in 2021, though it's never too early to start.

If the tour was going to invoke an out clause in their current network deal, it would need to happen very soon. But with ESPN getting out of golf and Fox not showing much sign of interest outside its USGA contract, the leverage to pick up more money seems gone. As does the cord-cutting momentum that now makes some TV rights deals look bloated.    

Finchem: Appearance Fees Can Go To A Player's Head?!

Commissioner Timmy Fallon is fresh off his year-end employee summit where he actually put on a wig to look like Jimmy Fallon and delivered a, gulp, humor skit (thanks for the blog shoutout "Timmy"!).

So apparently emboldened by his effort last week in Ponte Vedra, the Commish was asked about the prospects of a bleak start to the 2016 as top stars chase appearance fees.

The question prompted a strange response. From Rex Hoggard's GolfChannel.com report:

“There isn't anything happening out there that would say the guidelines are starting to get pushed by players in typically unique situations,” Finchem said. “Certain places have a fair amount of appearance money and it can in turn go to the player's head.”

Good thing money never goes to Timmy's head!

Meanwhile the Commish was cracking jokes about the reaction to Tiger's press conference, reports Jim McCabe at Golfweek.com.

“I saw Tiger. It was good,” Finchem said. “It was fun. He seemed fine to me. I kidded him, because based on the media reports I read before I came down this morning, I thought he had actually died. I said, ‘Tiger, you’re supposed to be dead.”

Finchem chuckled, then confirmed, “he’s alive.”

Maybe if the narrative was not to Finchem's liking, he can always rely on the TigerWoods.com account which noted how the injury time is allowing Woods to improve "his already proficient skills in video games."

Boo Weekley: "Honestly, this wraparound season sucks. It does, seriously."

Why provide commentary when I can just let Boo Weekley do all the heavy lifting? He's teeing it up as defending runner-up in the Sanderson Farms Championship and needs to make a nice check to offset the inevitable fines for conduct becoming of an honest PGA Tour member.

Weekley...

Q. How have you come to view the wraparound season and the importance of trying to get out to a big jump in the fall?

BOO WEEKLEY: Honestly, this wraparound season sucks. It does, seriously.

Q. It's long?

BOO WEEKLEY: It's just, it's stupid. I still ain't figured out this FedEx -- what does this FedExCup stuff do? It ain't doing nothing, but it is what it is. It's supposed to be the players tour. It's Tim Finchem and them's tour is what it is.

It's aggravating having to play this much, but yet it's important to come out and try to get a good start. I mean, it's good for the rookies, I think. It gives them something they can up can out and get their feet wet before they actually get into the bigger tournament. I think that's a good thing.

Q. Does it just feel like a warn out extension?

BOO WEEKLEY: It's just golf after golf after golf. Ain't no time for hunting and fishing, man. You know, you've got to come in here and bring my rods over here to go fishing, but you can't go fishing because you get out there and next thing you know somebody's aggravating you, and you can't actually enjoy going fishing.

New R&A Chief, Finchem Say Distance Issue Not An Issue

The R&A's Martin Slumbers and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, speaking at the HSBC Golf Business Forum, made clear they are not the least bit interested in doing a thing about distance increases.

So much for those hoping Slumbers would reverse the course of Peter Dawson, who said things were holding steady as he ordered "The Treatment" on all Open rota courses to mask his organization's fear of doing something meaningful.

No doubt this gibberish, quoted by Doug Ferguson AP notes colum, was followed by speeches about the need for sustainability to keep the game healthy. Hard to do when 8000 yards becomes the norm.

"What we are seeing at the moment is a fairly consistent percentage of some tremendous athletes who are hitting the ball farther," Slumbers said at the HSBC Golf Business Forum. "The percentage of them is unchanged. The average is a lot less than what the media talk about. The average has only moved 3 to 4 yards in the last 10 years. There's no burning desire on our part to make any changes."

We knew about the burning desire part, but to say players are hitting it farther and then say they are not according to the average, is an inconsistency even Peter Dawson never let slip.
at least made clear he's all about the PGA Tour.

"I do think if we get to a point where 75 percent of the field is hitting it where Dustin [Johnson] is and it gets a little boring, and we see signs of it affecting the integrity of the sport, it's a different matter," Finchem said. "Right now, I agree totally. We shouldn't do anything."

Slumbers also said distance "isn't getting out of control."

"It's a single-digit number of players who hit over 320 [yards]," he said. "The average is in the mid-280s -- this is run and carry. As long as it stays within those parameters, I'm celebrating skill."

Sigh.

South Africa Balks At $29 Million Presidents Cup Price?

In his Golf World I Think, I Saw, I Heard notes, Tim Rosaforte says the PGA Tour blew a chance to return the Presidents Cup to South Africa in 2019 where Ernie Els would be perfectly aligned to captain.

You'll be shocked...shocked..to learn that it was all about the money for the Finchem administration.

Rosaforte says the PGA Tour asking price was $29 million to hold the cup, South Africa balked, and Australia will be ponying up $25 million to host the Cup as well as next year's World Cup.