Commish Killjoy Strikes! Bans Throwing Items To Phoenix Fans
/Two years ago he put a stop to caddy races for reasons only a fun-loving guy like Tim Finchem can understand, and now with the Waste Management Open looming as a huge week, Commissioner Boilerplate returns in the latest episode of his long-running drama, Taking Ourselves Too Seriously (TOTS).
Alex Miceli Tweeted the locker room bulletin to players which was accompanied by a little graffiti from a less-than-enthusiastic admirer. (This document is no doubt on its way via FedEx to the PGA Tour's VP of Handwriting, whose sole job is to analyze the source of efforts to defile PGA Tour locker room memos).
The PGA Tour becoming like the no fun league. Trying to take the fun out of Phoenix Open. pic.twitter.com/tuWl7dAwsp
— Alex Miceli (@alexmiceli) January 13, 2015
Dare I boldly suggest this to be yet another sign of the PGA Tour's lack of comfort with the Waste Management Open antics and the once-a-year show put on by the folks in the greater Phoenix area. I'm also quite positive this one lands in the top 400 of reasons why the PGA Tour has never reached the level of NFL popularity, as Commish Killjoy once so happily dreamed out loud. Still, to point miss on such a grand scale takes a special person!
**Thanks to reader Jeremy for AP's Doug Ferguson item reporting on a talk with PGA Tour operations chief Andy Pazder who says this is a safety matter and offers this:
What first got the tour's attention was Padraig Harrington kicking a football into the stands. That's now forbidden.
Pazder said a direct handoff is fine.
''If a player is going by handing them out or flipping them to someone in the first row, that's fine,'' he said. ''But not going by throwing things like a Frisbee.''
The grandstands at the 16th are designed to keep the fans at an elevation well above the players, so hand-offs would seem very dicey. And dare I say, more unsafe than what goes on now if a fan falls over the rail reaching out for that free Puma hat from Rickie.
**From Alex Miceli's report on Golfweek.com:
Pazder spoke with the Thunderbirds, who host the Phoenix Open, and the players about the need to quell the level of enthusiasm at the 16th hole to help provide a safe environment for the fans. Both parties supported Pazder, and made the decision to implement the new policy once they understood the reason for the change.
