It’s A Win-Win-Win!
Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 09:50 PM At some point you have to figure Tim Finchem is going to get pretty tired of columns like this one by Ron Sirak, where the Golf World scribe offers sound suggestions about appearance fees, slow play and other concepts the Tour should consider to deal with when and where Tour stars play.
Why should Finchem get agitated? Because such columns reveal the awkward (and often powerless) position he’s in with his "product." That can’t be good as he prepares to enter into television contract talks with the networks, who see the "product" controlled much better in other sports. Of course, I'm assuming that your average television network executive reads these columns. A stretch, I know.
On the appearance fee issue, Sirak has an exclusive with Tiger's IMG agent Mark Steinberg, who defends the Doral Monday event. and says (really): “That was not pay for play. Ford was looking for a way to entertain its dealers and we provided it. The week of the tournament was a logical time when they were all together. Ford was a customer of ours and the dealers had a phenomenal time. It was a win-win-win for the Ford, its dealers and the players."
If you aren't laughing yet, Steinberg said the leaked IMG solicitation letter offering to arrange similar Monday win-win-wins was "a vulgar breech of trust" and told Sirak that it was not a solicitation by IMG, but rather a response to a request by a client.
"The proposal that fell into the hands of the media and the PGA Tour was prepared for a specific company that we had been in talks with for months," Steinberg said. Clients! Sheesh. Just can't trust 'em.
Meanwhile AP's Doug Ferguson reports , and prepare to be shocked: Tiger “doesn’t find fault with Ford or any other tournament willing to shell out money for a good field, especially during his campaign for a shorter season.”
“There are 48 events, and with the economy the way it is right now, the players aren’t going to be playing 38 events,” Woods said. “So it’s tough to get all of the guys. And that’s one way of getting the guys. You’ve seen what they did up in Nemacolin (84 Lumber Classic), down at Doral. They do perks, and that’s one way of getting around it to make sure you get a quality field.”