I Don't Know About You...

...but after reading this Gerry Dulac story on the 84 Lumber Classic's demise, I could take a big rain check on meeting  Joe Hardy's daughter:

"My dad, he can spend money," said Maggie Hardy Magerko, Joe's daughter and president/owner of 84 Lumber Co.

It was that spending, apparently, that helped lead to the demise of the tournament, which will be discontinued after this year as part of a growth plan by 84 Lumber to expand the nation's largest privately owned lumber and building supply retailer into a $10 billion company.

And that decision was made by Hardy Magerko, not her father, whom she says did not want to cancel the tournament.

"It was my decision," said Hardy Magerko. "I'm 40 and my dad is 83. We don't always agree on things. He has different motivation. I want to pass 84 Lumber to my sons. He likes legacies.

"That's our biggest dilemma. He spends too much money. I want to make money."

The 84 Lumber Classic agreed to a six-year sponsorship extension with the PGA Tour that would allow the tournament to move to June, beginning in 2007. Four months later, Hardy Magerko changed her mind because she said the cost of running the tournament for the next six years would have been $100 million.

Among the reasons: Hardy Magerko said her company will be spending "lots of money" to aggressively purchase smaller lumber and framing companies to eliminate competition.

So good to know the money is going to such a worthy cause. What a legacy!

Innisbrook In

I know I'm sleeping better on the news that Innisbrook has been locked up through 2012. Then again, after Redstone and the new Hope Classic host course, it looks wonderful.

Now they just need a sponsor for the event! 

D.C. Ultimatum

Leonard Shapiro has the latest on the Washington area event status...

The PGA Tour has set a May 15 deadline for organizers of Washington's tour event to come up with a title sponsor or face elimination from the schedule starting in 2007.

A month after Booz Allen, the title sponsor since 2004, decided not to renew its three-year sponsorship agreement, a replacement has not been found to commit the necessary funds -- about $4 million per year. The Tour's decision to move the event, which has been played in Washington since 1980, to the fall portion of the schedule beginning in 2007 was a factor in Booz Allen's decision to scale back its commitment.

Hartford: They Were The First Port 'O Call!

Commissioner Tim Finchem drops a juicy nautical metaphor in this Bruce Berlet story on how Hartford landed back on the 2007 PGA Tour FedEx Cup schedule.

First, you might some want some Dramamine after this song-and-dance routine on the summer vs. fall...

"It was a tough call but we thought, for a lot of reasons, that it could work quite well in Hartford in the fall," Finchem said. "But that was a miscalculation of the attitude of the community, which felt strongly that it could not be as strong in the fall. That led to the shift in interest in the Champions Tour, which obviously isn't as big a deal but what [the Jaycees] thought might work better in the summer than the fall date.

"Hartford had always been a priority for us, but [its date] had moved around a lot and inhibited the tournament from being able to grow from a marketing standpoint. We never felt Hartford was a tournament that didn't deserve to be in the summer, but we just had to make some choices. We made the determination that we were going to lock people into dates as best we could, and we felt Hartford would be good in the fall because of agronomics, weather, being one of the top two or three courses in that time frame and being able to be marketed well."

Amazing what work it is to say "the 84 Lumber people were more willing to meet our price, then they changed their mind."

Now, for those permutations of the port of call...

"But the community felt they would much prefer to be in the summer, so we worked with them on all the permutations. We already knew it could work in the time frame and told St. Paul we weren't in position to do exactly what they wanted to do to trigger their commitment. But when 84 Lumber stepped aside, they were the first port of call and everybody got excited."

 You know I've been thinking, the Commissioner could better tap into the youth market if he would talk more like HBO's Ali G. Using the Ali G translator tranzlata, see how that last statement could better connect with the coveted 18-34 year olds:

"but da community felt dey would much dig to be in da summa, so we worked wiv them on all da permutations. we already knew it could wurk in da time frame and told st. paul we weren't in position to do pacifically wot dey wanted to do to trigga their commitment. but whun 84 lumba stepped aside, dey were da first port of call and me crew got excited." 

"Me crew" is just so much more youthful. Anyway, just a suggestion on skewing younger Commissioner. Yours in branding, Geoff.

Oh, and he also talked to Berlet about the FedEx Cup...

Finchem said the FedEx Cup points system is likely to be finalized at a tour board meeting in June, with major championships having more points but not "throwing the system out of whack." Players will accumulate points from January to mid-August, and those higher in the standings will have an advantage going into a three-event series in suburban New York, Boston and Chicago before playing the Tour Championship.

"Top players have to pay attention to the aggregation of points and that translates into the likelihood of playing a more concentrated schedule," Finchem said.

Ah, maybe he's been looking at MacDuff's FedEx point standings?

And Yet More 84 Talk

The shock is wearing off and Gerry Dulac points out the absurdity of a company doing billions in sales and that spared no expense to make the 84 Lumber Classic a significant event, suddenly worrying about the PGA Tour's measely $8 million price tag. Something strange is going on here...

As if a couple million, even $8 million, can even begin to put a dent in $10 billion?

And when did the Hardy family all of a sudden start worrying about a couple of million?

He has poured more than $100 million into making Nemacolin Woodlands the destination of the rich and famous, and that doesn't include the $66 million Falling Rock lodge that is patterned after The Cloister at Sea Island, Ga. After the first year of the tournament, he bought more than 250 acres to build access roads to the golf course and had a driving range constructed that was the envy of other PGA Tour events. What's more, Pete Dye, the architect of Mystic Rock, was brought back so many times to improve the golf course that even he joked, "That's my annuity."

84 Classic Follow Up

Gerry Dulac has a little more insight into the impact of 84 Lumber's "aggresive three-year business plan," but the end of this emerging event is still a shocker:

The decision came as a surprise to just about everyone because the tournament recently reached a new six-year agreement with the PGA Tour to move the event to mid-June, beginning in 2007 -- a time spot that had long been targeted and desired by tournament host and sponsor Joe Hardy.

What's more, since the inception of the tournament, Mr. Hardy had spent more than $80 million to improve facilities, upgrade the Mystic Rock golf course that hosted the event and make the tournament one of the best late-summer stops on the PGA Tour.

In a statement released yesterday, Maggie Hardy Magerko, owner and president of 84 Lumber Co. and Mr. Hardy's daughter, said the tournament will be discontinued as part of a strategic growth plan in which the company wants to add 125 stores and hit $10 billion in sales by 2009. The firm also plans to close 67 "underperforming" stores; that move would affect 600 employees.

Mrs. Magerko unveiled the financial plan last week and immediately informed PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. But the announcement that the 84 Lumber Classic will cease to exist didn't come until yesterday, when a tournament in Hartford, Conn., sponsored by the St. Paul Travelers Co., was named as a replacement.

Just When We Thought That They Were Out...

...Hartford is back in in the uh, FedEx Cup (formerly known as the PGA Tour).  Dont' worry, the PGA Tour didn't come to its senses and realize that it had shipped a 55-yaer old history and charity-rich event off to the fall.

Instead, according to Commissioner Finchem:

"The opportunity for Hartford to move into the June 2007 slot previously committed to the 84 Lumber Classic recently arose when 84 Lumber informed us that it had embarked on an aggressive three-year business plan and wanted to reevaluate the June sponsorship."

I'm open to suggestions on what embarking on "an aggressive three-year business plan" translates to?

Thanks to reader Robert for the heads up.

Bellerive Here We Come

Dan O'Neill reports that Bellerive, that bastion of scintillating 60's golf architecture, will likely host the 2009 Western Open.

No More Booz Allen

Not exactly shocking news, but it does seem unusual that the Tour would move an event knowing that it would likely lose a loyal, albeit outspoken, sponsor.

Finchem Is Talking Bunkum...!?

Alan Campbell in the Sunday Herald may have to pay for a Tour media guide after this little WGC inspired column:

...what is despicable is the conduct of PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. Not content with ruling the roost over a circuit which is the Premiership to Europe’s Coca-Cola Championship, this myopic golf controller has annexed the so-called world golf championships for the greater good of Uncle Sam. Next year all three WGC events will be staged in the United States, just as they will in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Finchem’s defence? “They’re staged at a level which can pay significant prize money,” said the PGA Tour commissioner. “That costs money.”

Pausing only to let this staggering sliver of logic sink in, Finchem continued: “The American marketplace is best suited to generate those kind of resources. I think that’s why, historically, three of the four Major championships are in the United States.”

Finchem is talking bunkum, as the American marketplace wasn’t involved in the evolving of the Majors. He compounds his error by inviting the question: given that the United States already has the cream of world golf’s championships, why does it need to selfishly syphon off the next tier?

And...

The unwillingness of the Phil Mickelsons and Davis Loves to rack up transatlantic air miles is, along with the financial muscle of US corporations and the dictates of the American television networks, the reason why the world golf championships have become almost as big a misnomer as the World Series in baseball.

John Daly and Woods are just about the only two high profile Americans prepared to leave the country for anything other than the Open Championship. While both are paid handsomely in appearance money, they see the bigger picture. “There should be at least one [WGC] every year somewhere other than America,” said Woods. “Obviously the market is huge here, but it is a world game and any opportunity to get the best players to other parts of the world is a great way to grow golf.”

The PGA Tour have cemented the WGC events into their revamped schedules, which start from next year. It stinks, but then money usually does.

Florida Swings

Steve Elling breaks the story on the long overdue name change of the Bay Hill event to the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

And Tim Rosaforte has the complete history of the Honda and new site PGA National while explaining the rationale for the event's latest move.

An Integral Part of the FedEx Cup

In announcing the Honda's move from Mirasol to PGA National, note Commissioner Finchem's quote:

"We look forward to a bright future as the Honda Classic moves to PGA National's renowned Champion Course and becomes an integral part of the FedEx Cup for years to come."

Not an integral part of the PGA Tour for years to come, but an integral part of the FedEx Cup for years to come.

Translation: after this year, the PGA Tour name is going to become secondary to FedEx Cup.

I hope they're getting a lot of money for this.