The fate of golf would seem to lie in the hands of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the United States Golf Association. Can we expect that they will protect and reverence the spirit of golf?
MAX BEHR
In case you were watching the Waste Management Open playoff--that would be most golf fans--GolfNow rolled out an ad during Super Bowl pre-game coverage by The Martin Agency. It's the first of a fun campaign featuring three other spots...
It's one of those traditions we longtime West Coasters have never grown accustomed to: a college basketball game running into CBS's scheduled golf coverage, condensing the broadcast window when the PGA Tour is getting it's best ratings, playing its most compelling events and often on the best courses.
The problem has been exacerbated since Golf Channel began providing lead-in coverage, leaving us with a scheduled half-hour break that has been shortened to 15 minutes in 2018 (undoubtedly after no one was buying that a half hour was needed to switch the graphics over).
Saturday's 2018 Waste Management Open telecast started at 12:46 due to the Kentucky-Missouri NO OVERTIME game running 45 minutes long, meaning an hour of golf was lost unless a viewer wanted to stream the telecast online.
The absurdity continues Sunday as two Big Ten powerhouse programs having below-average seasons are likely to spill into WMPO coverage. Remember, the madness continues next week when leaders at Pebble Beach are playing the most beautiful stretch of holes in golf as Michigan and Wisconsin inevitably run long.
The practice has grown old with viewers, who bombard social media with complaints that did successfully shorten the re-entry into earth's television atmosphere. Providing Golf Channel coverage up to the allotted time only gets us ten additional minutes in Saturday's scenario.
The obvious remedy?
Scheduling the games to start a half-hour earlier might mean--gasp--that a blowout ends a few minutes early and CBS can't deliver that strong "lead-in". To a sponsor like Waste Management, are those lingering fans as important than a happy TV audience seeing their ads?
Staying on Golf Channel until the basketball is complete would be trickier, but doable in just the same way Golf Channel picks up CBS broadcasts that have run past network coverage windows.
Either way, Sunday at the WMPO should be a dandy featuring 12 players within 3 strokes of Rickie Fowler's lead. Storylines include Phil Mickelson's shot at his first win since 2013, Fowler finally breaking through at TPC Scottsdale, Bryson DeChambeau picking up his second win thanks to fresh grooves (Will Gray reports), and Jon Rahm lurking a shot back.
Brentley Romine sets it all up at Golfweek.
“It’s anyone’s tournament tomorrow,” said Rickie Fowler, the 54-hole leader by a shot at 14 under. “Yeah, I have a one-shot lead, but this tournament is not going to be given to anyone.”
There are plenty of players ready to earn it, including Tour winners Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Daniel Berger and Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner in Phoenix. The task of winning this week? The difficulty is tougher than trying to score a front-row seats in the grandstands on the 16th hole.
Sunday's tee and telecast times, college basketball permitting.
We all must thank Golf World's Ryan Herrington for attending and reporting on the USGA Annual Meeting so that the rest of us can only dream of mingling in a sea of navy, grey, officials from wannabe U.S. Open courses, and many others working to not say anything construable as interesting. Because you know how rumors get started!
New President Mark Newell replaces Diana Murphy and he sounds aware that the USGA's focus on sustainability is going to be pressured by distance increases.
“When you combine [distance] with the effect of the size of golf courses on the economics of the facilities, on the environmental issues that come from that and, in some cases, on the effect on just the enjoyment on golfers, it’s something we need to look hard at,” Newell told Golf Digest. “That’s what we’re planning to do. We have been, and we’re going to be focused on what that situation is and how we can deal with it.”
Herrington says the end of February will yield a joint USGA/R&A distance study update. Last year's said there wasn't anything to see here.
There was also this from Herrington's report:
In addition to the bigger picture issues, there are other practical matters the governing body is preparing to address. Among Saturday’s announcements was the formal transition of the USGA Members Program, established in 1975, into a newly formed USGA Foundation, charged with helping increase the ability for golfers to invest and contribute financially to the game.
To paraphrase our late, great friend Frank Hannigan, you're no one in golf if you don't have at least two foundations.
In conjunction, the association is launching a multi-year campaign “Driving Golf Forward” to help fund innovation and research while boosting inclusivity within the sport.
PSA makers rejoice!
The full release on Newell's appointment is here, along with a discussion hosted by Mike Trostel.
Mark Newell Elected as 65th USGA President
Other elected volunteers include World Golf Hall of Fame member Nick Price
LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (Feb. 3, 2018) - Mark Newell of McLean, Va. has been elected to serve a one-year term as the 65th president of the United States Golf Association (USGA). The election took place at the Association’s Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, Fla.
Newell will lead the 15-member volunteer USGA Executive Committee, which provides strategic direction and oversight to the Association's full-time management and staff.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the game of golf as USGA president, and to champion our staff’s work to lead, grow and sustain our sport,” said Newell upon his election. “We are at an exciting time in golf’s evolution, and our collective focus on ensuring its future has never been stronger.”
Newell, now in his eighth year with the Executive Committee, has chaired the Rules of Golf Committee since 2013. During that time, he has been a leading force behind the USGA’s joint initiative with The R&A to modernize golf’s Rules. He also chaired the USGA Handicap Committee and spent four years as co-chair of the USGA/R&A initiative that led to the development of the World Handicap System, which is scheduled to debut in 2020.
The other members of the 2018 Executive Committee were also elected at the Annual Meeting, with four new additions: three-time major champion and former world No. 1 player Nick Price of Hobe Sound, Fla.; Kendra Graham of Winter Park, Fla.; Sharon Ritchey of Asheville, N.C.; and Paul G. Brown of Brookville, Md.
Current members of the Executive Committee who were elected to continue their service to the game are: J. Michael Bailey, of Sandy, Utah; Stephen E. Beebe, of La Quinta, Calif.; J. Stuart Francis, of Burlingame, Calif.; Robert D. Kain, of La Quinta, Calif.; Martha Lang, of Shoal Creek, Ala.; Gregory B. Morrison, of Duluth, Ga.; Clifford J. Shahbaz, of Portland, Ore.; and William B. Siart, of Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Two current members of the Executive Committee were also elected to serve as officers: Mark Reinemann, of Pinehurst, N.C., as secretary, and Thomas Barkin, of Atlanta, Ga., as treasurer.
Richard A. Shortz, of Los Angeles, Calif., was elected to serve as USGA general counsel. Robert Weber will retire as general counsel.
The USGA Women’s Committee, which advises the Executive Committee on matters pertaining to women’s golf and supports women’s amateur championships, has appointed Pam Murray of Richardson, Texas, as chairman and Courtney Myhrum of Pittsburgh, Pa., as vice chairman for the 2018 term.
Other members of the 2018 Women’s Committee are Jan Berry, of Madison, Ala.; Debbie Bizal, of Evansville, Ind.; Barbara Byrnes, of Mesa, Ariz.; Carol B. Graybeal, of Chatham, N.J.; Jean Mulcahey, of Hydes, Md.; Delia Nava, of The Woodlands, Texas; Nancy Rees, of Rye, N.Y.; Mary Shepperd, of San Diego, Calif.; Peggy Span, of Houston, Texas; Kathryn Washburn, of Mill Valley, Calif.; Ginny Waller Zanca, of Memphis, Tenn.; and Patti Zeeman, of Lake Bluff, Ill.
As the Wall Street Journal sorts through the reasons for another NFL ratings drop (thanks reader John), golf continues a positive start to 2018 with this news from
For Immediate Release:
GOLF CHANNEL POSTS MOST-WATCHED JANUARY, CAPPED BY MOST-WATCHED SUNDAY IN NETWORK HISTORY
Golf Digital Wraps Best January Ever for Minutes Streamed and Page Views
ORLANDO, Fla. (February 2, 2018) – Golf Channel posted its most-watched January ever with an average of 116,000 viewers per minute in Total Day, up 23% vs. last year and up 10% vs. the previous high in January 2013, according to data released by The Nielsen Company. This builds off December 2017 being the most-watched December ever for Golf Channel. Additionally, January’s success was mirrored across Golf Digital, which posted its best January for minutes streamed (22.6M) and page views (78.5M), up 34% and 19% respectively.
Sunday, January 28 was Golf Channel’s most-watched Sunday on record. During the PGA TOUR’s Farmers Insurance Open playoff between Jason Day and Alex Noren from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday – airing opposite The Grammy Awards – Golf Channel was the No. 1 Nielsen-measured cable network for Total Viewers, up 24% vs. second place (ESPN). The playoff was also Golf Channel’s most-watched PGA TOUR telecast ever.
“Golf is carrying a lot of momentum into 2018 with a deep roster of developing stars across the professional tours, a superstar making his return to competitive golf and a rapid evolution in the many ways golfers are participating in and consuming the game,” said Mike McCarley, president, Golf, NBC Sports. “It’s especially promising to see record viewership — and it’s only January.”
Golf Channel’s comprehensive slate of tournament coverage rounds out record-setting January:
· LPGA Tour’s Pure Silk Bahamas Classic Round One became the tour’s most-watched Opening Day in 9 years.
· PGA TOUR Champions saw 2nd best Opening Day in 5 years at Mitsubishi Electric Championship.
· Web.com Tour’s Round One from the Bahamas Abaco Classic was the tour’s most-watched telecast since July 2016.
The European Tour introduced a shot clock tournament this year in response to a growing sense the pro game takes too long. And while we have not seen the slow play "personal war" predicted by Chief Executive Keith Pelley when he took the job in 2015, the European Tour continues to suggest that it sees where the world is headed: toward shorter, tighter windows for sporting events.
Major League Baseball is working desperately to shorten games. Bold proposals will be floated at the upcoming owners meetings, even to the point of experimenting with radical plans for extra innings. This comes after the first wave of pace initiatives did not go far enough.
The NBA has already limited timeouts at the end of games and cut TV timeouts. The end of a game moves better.
The NFL attempted to address fan concerns about their long games but only made a half-hearted attempt at picking up the pace. At least they tried.
Even professional tennis is experimenting with a much faster product for the "NextGen".
The PGA Tour avoids enforcing its pace of play rules and, as we saw at Sunday's 6-hour Farmers Insurance Open that was tainted by J.B. Holmes, this is a tour rallying around a player who openly defied (paying) fans, his playing partners and common sense. He knew he could not be penalized so why rush?
We could blame the PGA Tour's slow-play apathy to now-retired Commissioner Tim Finchem's disdain for penalty strokes and his obsession with vanity optics (such as players taking off their caps to shake hands). Those concerns of the Commissioner's office about a player's brand taking hit made enforcement impossible for the tour's referees, who also face pressures in moving fields around from faster greens and distance-driven log-jams on half-par holes.
There was hope new Commissioner Jay Monahan would follow the progressive lead of colleagues like Adam Silver (NBA) or Rob Manfred (MLB) and realize that younger fans are far more interested in action sports that take less of their time. But forget the kids. Who can watch a sport that takes over five hours and featuring players who have no regard for anyone else but themselves? Imagine paying $55 to watch a guy not play ready golf and playing only when he absolutely feels ready.
By signaling this week he sympathized with the supposed plight of Holmes, Monahan confirmed he will not use the power of the Commissionership to speed up play. All Monahan had to do was suggest that with high winds and pressure, it was a tough spot but the fans were right to believe this was a less-than-ideal look for the sport, particularly at a time millions of non-golf fans had tuned in for the Grammy's.
Instead, Monahan made it hard to believe his tour is interested in gaining new fans or in addressing the concerns of longtime fans that some of today's players are just too slow to watch. The Holmes incident captured on camera what paying fans all-too-often see during a PGA Tour event: a player taking much longer than their allotted 40 seconds.
Meanwhile, the European Tour is forging ahead with pace-related initiatives on multiple fronts designed to draw in new fans and intrigue those bored with the sport. While some of the measures are extreme and a middle ground with the PGA Tour position is the ideal, at least the European Tour is building off of the prevailing view after golf's 2016 return to the Olympic Games: the professional sport is woefully ill-equipped to compete in the global sports marketplace at its current pace, scale and preferred format. The pro game will fade into irrelevance if it does not adapt in a world that loves sport more than ever, just in smaller doses.
Even though it's widely declared a great thing once a year, not everyone loves the gladiator pit of noise that is TPC Scottsdale's 16th hole.
Michael Bamberger called it awful this week at Golf.com.
And while players who don't care for the event generally just stay away, Rickie Fowler has been a supporter of the Waste Management Open. So to see him mention his disappointment at hecklers there during his morning round 66, suggests the language and commentary may be edging into dangerous territory.
From Will Gray's GolfChannel.com report, that also features a bit of a rebuttal from Jon Rahm.
But there were still a few comments from the gallery that caught the ear of Fowler, who shares the early lead after a 5-under 66. He was “disappointed” with some of what he heard from the tee box.
“I may be somewhat of a fan favorite, but they weren’t holding back,” Fowler said. “I was a little disappointed with some of the stuff that was said, and I don’t want much negativity. The normal boos for missing a green, that’s fine, but leave the heckling to a minimum and make it fun, support the guys out playing.”
If you lose Rickie, Scottsdale, maybe you've lost the plot...
It's hardly a shocker that someone who speeds up a shot in hopes of taking advantage of a backstopping ball on the green has no problem with J.B. Holmes pitching a tent, even when at the expense of his playing partner and the PGA Tour product.
But that's Justin Thomas' view of last Sunday's debacle.
Brentley Romine, writing for Golfweek from the Waste Management Open, includes this from the current PGA Champion and Player Of The Year:
“I have J.B.’s back all day on that situation,” Thomas said Wednesday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “It bothered me and I hate it for him. I went up to him (Tuesday) and told him … it was a great tournament for him, but I have a hard time saying I wouldn’t do anything differently than he did.
Again, nothing a penalty stroke now and then wouldn't fix. Or a "spirit of the rules" class.
Sadly, Commissioner Jay Monahan missed an opportunity to address speed of play, essentially confirming he will continue the do-nothing approach of his predecessor Tim Finchem.
From The Forecaddie's report from TPC Scottsdale where Monahan played the Wednesday pro-am and made excuses for Holmes taking over 4 minutes to play a shot:
“As it relates to J.B. … He was in the heat of the moment. It’s really hard to win out here. You’re trying to think through how you can get on the green in two with that amount of wind. I think he thought it would subside quickly, and it subsided and picked back up, and I think he said what he needed to say.”
There you go boys, take all the time you need until you get the wind you like. The Commissioner will have your back.
The Chicago Park District presented an refined vision that merges Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses, reports Lolly Bowean for the Tribune. The project, with players from Mark Rolfing to Tiger Woods to Mike Keiser to Barack Obama, could be a future host of PGA Tour events if it happens.
Community concerns were behind the revised routing and presentation. Cost is still very much an issue:
For more than a year, there has been a push to transform the two golf courses into a PGA Tour-worthy course. Constructing the new course would cost about $30 million and it would take another $30 million to make infrastructure improvements, said Michael Kelly, Park District general superintendent and CEO. At the public hearing, officials said much of the money would come from private donations, but a firm spending plan was not presented.
And there was this, where I'm pretty sure the writer innocently left out the key word "public":
Beau Welling, who is helping design the course for TGR, said the reason Tiger Woods wants to complete the project is because he sees it as an opportunity to improve a course that serves the public, not just elite athletes.
“I’ve never seen him so excited about a project,” Welling said at a news conference before the public meeting. “Tiger Woods is really about meaningful projects that have impact,” he said later. “It’s really about the community. Tiger Woods grew up on golf courses … this is a very special thing (for him).”
The updated routing (click on it to enlarge):
The Forecaddie reported last week that Tiger Woods practically moon-walked at Torrey Pines last week upon hearing that PGA Tour events could mimic the LPGA's longtime policy of nine hole pro-am rounds for players.
As Brentley Romine reports for Golfweek, everyone at the Waste Management Open was praising the first official day of 9&9, including Jordan Spieth:
“I’m a fan as long as the sponsors are enjoying it, too,” Spieth said. “They’re the reason we are here. A lot of times we get caught up in what the players want and we forget about why we actually have this. … I thought it was a good idea when it was proposed last year, just within the PAC because I thought the sponsors might actually enjoy it more. The opportunity to have somebody very engaged for nine holes and you get another guy fully engaged for nine holes versus sometimes it just gets long and for us players, it’s fantastic because I’ve got the rest of the day now that I can go out there and get work done."
Clever sign from a cool kid on Waste Management Open Wednesday where most of the antics were not embed worthy.
A Starbucks barista did his or her best to keep Rory McIlroy humble.
Ru Macdonald with some recent drone shots of the new 7th at Royal Dornoch under construction, slated for play in 2021.
Peninsula’s South Course renovation by Ogilvy-Clayton-Cocking-Mead looks sensational in this Gary Lisbon image.
Eddie Gomez will make you feel better whatever excessive money and space you’ve devoted to collecting with his putter collection.
Sometimes golf-photographer Donald Miralle got up so we didn’t have to and captured a stunning “Superman Blue Collared Blood Red Strawberry Banana Moon.”
I'm fairly certain this is a lesson that won't be happening, but in the Golf Channel Podcast with Will Gray this week, Tiger-love/hater Brandel Chamblee proclaims that he's got the fix for Tiger's wayward driving.
From the online transcript dutifully posted by G.C. Digital, in case you're wondering, Tiger:
“And so I know that he’s trying to move off the ball, and he’s trying to stay tall. And if he does that, well, it’s game over. It’s game over. … I mean, I’m convinced, honest to God, if Tiger walked out here tomorrow, I would have Tiger driving the ball straight in two minutes. Two minutes. Two minutes. Because there’s no way he can’t do – all he needs to do is move three inches to the right in his backswing. That’s it. It’s game over from there. He can’t mess it up. But he doesn’t. He stays centered, and he drops down, and he turns left, and it’s like one bleeds into the next which causes another problem, which causes another problem, which requires another compensation. And you’ll never drive it good there. Never ever, ever. No one ever has; no one ever will."
Cue up those Curtis Strange tapes circa 1985 showing a nice three inch backswing slide, drink plenty of water and call Brandel's office if you have any more issues.
The Arizona Republic's John Davis says records are not just expected to fall as they do almost every day every year, but may fall hard at this year's Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale. 
The reasons?
Warm temperatures, young stars, a good pro-am field and a new heat-seeking dart organizes believe will find a record attendance number the very first time they fire away at the board giving them record attendance number options. Just kidding!
The Phoenix Open draws the largest crowds in golf, with an estimated 655,434 fans attending last year. With the forecast calling for sunny skies and temperatures around 80 degrees every day this week, one of the strongest fields in the history of the event and an impressive pro-am lineup, that mark could fall again.
“With the field, the crowd and the pro-am lineup, in my opinion we have the right ingredients for an amazing week,” chairman Carlos Sugich said.
Of course, it is the best attended event on the PGA Tour and that's enough for most of us to be impressed without the annual fictionilization of the numbers. Cut them in half and they're still stupendous for a golf tournament.
Sunday, February 4, 2018 at 07:51 PM