In an effort to provide higher quality fields for some of the lesser name tournaments that could lose sponsorship deals over the next few years, Tim Finchem sent a 5-minute video to Tour players and their respective agents. As Jon Show reports:
Finchem, standing in his office in front of a painting of Fred Couples at TPC
Sawgrass, addresses four areas he would like to see players focus on in '09:
scheduling, sponsor appreciation, public comments and charitable involvement.
"We’re asking every player to add a tournament or two to their historical
schedule to assist the tournaments that historically have weak fields,” Finchem
said. "We have a lot of title sponsors this year that are up for renewal. We
have to put our best foot forward in terms of presenting our competitions."
Here's the real zinger though...
He also requested that players avoid making negative public comments about the
Tour. "We want players to be, No. 1, upbeat and positive about what the PGA Tour
is doing and where we’re going,” Finchem said. "We want you to be excited about
the competitive opportunities that you have. And third, we want you to talk
about PGA Tour properties when you describe what this year, 2009, is all about.
Particularly the FedEx Cup."
I understand that it's important for players to serve as strong ambassadors for the Tour, but if players aren't happy with certain policies, they should be able to air their grievances.
