Cell Phones Allowed: PGA Tour Hopes To Make Fans Less Disconnected

Golf Channel's Steve Sands is reporting a change in the PGA Tour cell phone policy for 2011. The GolfChannel.com item notes it this way:

According to Sands, the PGA Tour has been discussing the cell phone policy for several months and feels that, in today's world, fans can become disconnected for long periods of time while on the golf course. Their hope is that allowing people to carry a cell phone while at a tournament will help grow attendance.

Or just pass the time while the players are taking six hours to play.

"What it is that we, the public, really want from Mr. Woods at this point."

John Paul Newport raises a fair question about Tiger's PR surge.

Here, in summary, is what Mr. Woods has to say: He acknowledges his guilt and rotten past behavior. He accepts full responsibility for his conduct and maintains that his biggest regret is the pain he caused others. He contends that he is working hard, "each and every day," to reclaim the values he was taught as a kid. And he insists that his main concern going forward, as well as his greatest joy, is his two young children.

There's nothing to object to in that set of answers, except for the fact that they satisfy no one's curiosity. As I sat in my car listening to Mike and Mike batter away at Mr. Woods's defenses, pushing for more, I had to wonder what it is that we, the public, really want from Mr. Woods at this point.

Hard to say what the public wants, but no PR campaign might send a stronger signal than any weepy guest column in Newsweek. Let the media bask in the dark anniversary while you quietly prepare for the future. Wouldn't that be better than something cooked up by the IMG braintrust?

That seems to be the takeaway for AP's Tim Dahlberg (thanks reader Mel).

His public rehabilitation is now officially under way, surely to be followed at some point by some cutesy Nike ads that will enlighten us even further.

Op-ed piece in Newsweek. Radio interview on ESPN. Even a couple of tweets.

And not a clue that Woods even begins to get it at all.

And...

The problem isn't just that Woods is perceived as an aloof phony interested only in padding his still hefty bank account. He's been exposed for all to see, and people have made their judgments.

The real problem is that he's not remotely interesting unless he's winning golf tournaments. And until he does that again, no media blitz is going to make him palatable to the public again.

"I don't think there's much mileage in Tiger Woods anymore finishing 12 strokes off the pace."

Buried at the end of Ben Klayman's look at Tiger's lost endorsement revenue a year after his accident is this on PGA Tour ratings:

The average audience of Saturday and Sunday PGA Tour golf telecasts on broadcast networks has declined 21 percent to almost 2.8 million viewers this year, according to Nielsen.

"Tiger's still a draw when he plays, but frankly until he starts winning again he's just another golfer," said Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and now head of his own sports consulting firm. "I don't think there's much mileage in Tiger Woods anymore finishing 12 strokes off the pace."

Condi On USGA Fast Track?

Jim Achenbach reports that Condoleeza Rice will be on the 2012 USGA Nominating Committee and may be on the fast track to the Executive Committee.

In addition to Rice, other members of the 2012 Nominating Committee will be former USGA presidents Fred Ridley and Walter Driver, along with three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Sarah LeBrun Ingram and M.J. Mastalir of Denver.

The announcement of the 2012 Nominating Committee will be made at the USGA’s Annual Meeting, which concludes Feb. 5 in Phoenix.

“We’re certainly interested in having highly qualified women involved in leadership roles,” said current USGA President Jim Hyler, who will serve his second one-year term in 2011.

“We’re excited to have Condoleezza Rice participating in the nominating process. She brings a lot to our organization, although I should say that the slate is wide open for women in the USGA. You don’t have to be famous like she is. We look forward to welcoming more women across the board, both as volunteers and as staff.”

Frankly I'm shocked. After all, with Fred Ridley and Walter Driver, who value loyalty over competance, how can an iconoclastic, independent thinker like Condi fit in with those two? I smell trouble!

"The ability of a big hedge fund to get several hours alone with a corporate executive on a golf course reveals the great information disparity that exists between ordinary investors and the savviest of traders."

Matthew Goldstein gives people more reason to love golf, profiling golf-pro-to-the-hedge-fund-stars Sam Evans, who brokers rounds at elite courses for hedge funders and other corporate tycoons. Warning, this is mildly painful reading.

And Wall Street investment firms are famous for sponsoring charity golf outings that are widely attended by hedge fund traders, mutual fund managers and corporate executives. Investment firms and mutual funds often arrange similar "corporate access" events -- typically conferences and dinners -- where money managers and analysts are invited to meet and schmooze with business leaders.

Yet, the ability of a big hedge fund to get several hours alone with a corporate executive on a golf course reveals the great information disparity that exists between ordinary investors and the savviest of traders. "To some extent, the notion of a level playing field and a truly public market is a myth," said Donald Langevoort, a Georgetown University Law Center professor.

Evans did not want to talk to Goldstein for the story.

What's clear is that there aren't many on Wall Street, much less at a hedge fund, like Evans, who gets paid to play golf three or four times a week with corporate executives and other rich people at historic courses like Merion Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia or Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island.

In fact, one person who knows Evans and has golfed with him calls him something of a "pioneer" in the $1.7 trillion hedge fund industry. Others, upon learning of Evans and his unusual post, expressed a sentiment similar to the one stated by the manager of another hedge fund: "How do I get a job like that?"

Evans, a 1987 Harvard Business School graduate who was named one of Wall Street's top institutional equity salesmen in a Reuters survey in 2000, declined to comment through an SAC Capital spokesman. Like his boss, Cohen, he appears to guard his privacy vigorously -- a fairly intensive Internet search for a picture of him on the links came up empty. Jonathan Gasthalter, SAC's spokesman, also declined to discuss Cohen's decision to hire Evans and his unusual corporate role.

Who Killed Designated Tournaments?

Not surprisingly, the reviews are in and they aren't pretty: no one can figure how a simple, common sense proposal to help struggling PGA Tour stops attract a few more top players died after no significant opposition.

The more I ponder this one and the dreadful ramifications heading into a television contract negotiation, the less the demise of "designated tournaments" makes sense for anyone with an interest in the tour's future. Consider the various entities with a stake.

• The Commissioner wanted it. He does not go public with something and then change his mind. Ever.

• Tournament directors were (at least publicly) in favor of the proposal, even if their event risked branding as an also-ran in need of help via the designated tournament label.  The viewing public could care less how they get to see a few more top players as long as they have a better experience.
• Sponsors undoubtedly were in favor, and you have to figure no network executive was opposed to improving a field at select events.

• Players did not openly oppose the proposed change and most voiced support for what amounted to a  small sacrifice.

That leaves us with only one possibility! Our two favorite stars, who the FedExCup has been built around and who have the commissioner's ear, suggested they might re-think their PGA Tour membership.

Now, I have a hard time believing Phil Mickelson would drop his PGA Tour membership over such a policy change, but he did put PING wedges in his bag to prove a point. So anything's possible.

Then there's Tiger, and you know the only thing he hates more than people he perceives to be making money off his back? That's right, being told where and when he can play.

Tiger could drop his tour membership and still get in the golf he needs to please sponsors and to aid in his preparation for majors. But with such a move would come a public relations black eye for Tiger and a nightmare scenario for the PGA Tour heading into the television contract negotiations next year.

We'll never know unless they admit who killed the mandatory designated tournament policy, but I'll always wonder if Tiger threatened to resign his membership over this as one top agent suggested to Steve Elling.

GMac In Singapore Airport Meltdown Over U.S. Open Trophy Surcharge

Apparently Cathay Pacific Airlines has a thing against U.S. Open trophies.

McDowell was checking in at Singapore's Changi Airport on Monday afternoon on his way to the UBS Hong Kong Open straight after finishing joint third in the Barclays Singapore Open.

The airline adjudged his luggage to be over the weight and demanded an excess fee of around €300. Shane Lowry, checking in at the same time, had a similar amount of luggage, with the exception of the US Open trophy, and paid no excess.

"All because I was carrying the US Open trophy that I brought to Shanghai, Singapore and on to Hong Kong, so that people could admire it," said an angry McDowell.

IMG And The Art Of Public Relations

Reader Don emailed about Tiger's PR offensive as his car accident anniversary arrives and Don reminds me of a theme we visited several times during the heyday of the crisis: IMG is unbelievably terrible at image building.

"Offensive being the operative word," was how Don put it:

In this whole 12 month saga, the biggest shocker for me is how poorly IMG has handled any sort of remedial PR campaigns.

There was the argument early on (and likely valid) that Woods may be intractable and that's why things moved so slowly or clumsily.

But we're long past that point now. The IMG people are just flat out crappy at this.

This latest salvo is (bad) textbook: A highly orchestrated (read: cynical, calculated) attack that's going to last about 3 days. Just enough to get the attention of anyone who's the slightest bit jaundiced in their view of the guy and way too limited in scope to sway the public at large.

I guess the use of Newsweek was any attempt to broaden the reach, but the timing was hilarious. Already a moribund entity, there was the merge/takeover thing with The Daily Beast at the start of the week. My understanding is the Newsweek website didn't even exist for 24 hours or so. You went there, you got redirected to The Daily Beast site. Then there was a hue and cry from the dozen or so loyal Newsweek readers and the site got resuscitated.

Deadspin nailed the analysis of today's silly ESPN radio interview which instead of helping Tiger's image just made people feel like nothing much has changed.

"It didn't matter all that much."

E. Michael Johnson concludes that the groove rule change had little impact on PGA Tour play even though some players insist it made a difference.

The numbers show there may be a reason for that. Or at least a reason not to abhor them. Although the tour's scoring average did rise to 71.15 (from 71.04 in 2009), driving distance was nearly the same (287.3 yards compared to 287.9 last year) and birdies per round was a virtual dead-heat (3.43 to 3.42 in 2009). Greens in regulation rose, from 64.7 percent last year to 66.26 percent this year. Driving accuracy rose from 62.91 percent to 63.51 percent. To put that jump of slightly more than a one-half percentage point into perspective: PGA Tour pros, on average, were hitting one additional fairway every 13.5 rounds. When you consider that the primary rationale for the rule was to restore accuracy to the game, that's not a lot. In short, whether the numbers moved up or down, not a single stat that can be related to grooves showed a significant move in either direction. 

So is it fair to judge the impact of the groove rule change after one year?

"No one will dig them up. Golfers play without reflecting upon what lies beneath the verdant 18th hole."

James Montague of CNN.com suggests that Lebanon Golf Club is a possible mass grave. (Thanks reader Digsouth via Kevin Robbins.)

British journalist Robert Fisk, who wrote "Pity The Nation" about the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, has repeatedly claimed the golf course as the burial site of many of the missing bodies.

"There are perhaps 1,000 murdered Palestinian civilians under the golf course near Beirut airport, dumped there by Israel's Phalangist allies after the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres," Fisk wrote in the British newspaper The Independent.

"No one will dig them up. Golfers play without reflecting upon what lies beneath the verdant 18th hole."

The piece includes a photo gallery of the club in various war-torn stages and scenes from today.

"It will be interesting to see which, if any, may be formidable films."

In Golf World's classy looking new Arts Issue featuring a Mike Miller painting on the cover, Bill Fields looks at the mixed bag of golf films and concludes that for most of the failed movies, it comes down to the golfers not making convincing golfers. He also notes a few possible film topics and what's on the way...

The human drama of a golfer such as the late Bert Yancey, who bravely battled manic depression to play on tour, would seem to be a natural for the screen. Arnold Palmer's life story also makes sense. In any case, there are a couple of golf movies on the way. "Golf in the Kingdom," based on Michael Murphy's mystical 1972 novel, starring David O'Hara and Mason Gamble and filmed at Bandon Dunes, should be released in 2011. Robert Duvall and Lucas Black star in "Seven Days in Utopia," adapted from David Cook's tale of redemption at a run-down Texas driving range. Steve Carell is slated to star in "Missing Links," under development and based on Rick Reilly's 1997 novel.

A Tweeter Tiger Should Not Emulate

That would be the head of his foundation. You know, the one that has educated 10 million children.

Even though Greg McLaughlin has had to take down one embarrassing tweet after Tom Brady's car accident, he continues to post eye-brow twitching items that make Tiger's Twee today look eloquent, timely and downright bang-fist-on-table-funny.

On the Mike and Mike interview today, panned by most...

On the new DC mayor where the foundation has learning centers:

On Stephen A. Smith, a sometimes Woods critic...

And today, on Tiger's revelation that he shops at Albertson's...

I bet Steiny just loved that one!