The Golf Watch

WGC-CA Championship < Puerto Rico Open

FIrst, congratulations to Ernie Els for winning the WGC at Doral, his first win since the Honda Classic in '08.  Els doesn't have the appeal Tiger and Phil have with the casual golf fan, but enough people know who the Big Easy is that it's a popular victory.

Minus the Els factor, there's not much else you can say about the tournament.  With only one player within striking distance all day, the tournament certainly lost some of its appeal.

Then there's the Puerto Rico Open.  A tournament that has a smaller purse, a weaker field, has been delayed due to weather and has suffered from a much smaller media contingent.  Nevertheless, I expect the tournament's final round to be much more exciting than the WGC.  Why, you ask?

The Puerto Rico Open brings together old and new.  You have veterans like Kirk Triplett, Steve Elkington and Jeff Maggert within 5 strokes of the lead trying to relive past glories.

Young guns like Kevin Streelman, Jeff Overton and Chad Collins are all hoping to capture their first victory.  

It's what makes the game of golf so special to me.  It pits players who want to prove they still belong against players who want to prove they do belong.

With 22 players within six strokes of the lead, today's final round is sure to provide some excitement. If only more people knew about it. 

Sparse galleries at Riviera, Dubai worrisome

I'll admit it.  I'm worried.

As I watched the Dubai Desert Classic and Northern Trust Open this weekend, I couldn't help but notice how small the galleries were. 

Let's start with Dubai.  The event arguably had a much stronger field than the Northern Trust.  With a leaderboard that had names like Westwood, McIlroy, Kaymer, Jimenez and even Tom Watson, you would expect strong crowds.

But watching the event on television, it was clear that turnout was poor.  The reports that I have read indicate that the real estate slump likely effected turnout, but also the lack of a Tiger Woods appearance. 

Either way, the European Tour has put a lot of faith in that area and the Race to Dubai. They might have to reconsider. 

And that leads us to the Northern Trust, which drew the short straw in having to compete with Super Bowl weekend. 

That, combined with hiked ticket prices and Phil Mickelson's name disappearing from the front page of the leaderboard, led to Mayakoba Classic-like crowds. 

Why would a tournament sponsor like Northern Trust, or Omega in Dubai, want to renew their sponsorship when the ratings are poor and no one shows up?

As much as I love the Steve Stricker story and his strong character, we need better storylines moving forward. 

Torrey Pines Sunday Jan. 31, 2010: The round that would never end

I understand that Ben Crane is a slow player.  I also understand that he was in a threesome and had to wait on a few holes.

But Sunday's final round at Torrey Pines was agonizingly slow.  In fact, 5 hours and 25 minutes slow.  That's how long it took the final group. 

Crane, Michael Sim and Ryuji Imada teed off at 1:20 ET and didn't finish up until 6:45.

Crane has improved when it comes to how long it takes him over each shot and playing ready golf.  That being said, he still hasn't done enough. 

10 minutes between drive and second shot can be pretty agonizing for any viewer, let alone a playing partner.

My guess is CBS wouldn't have cut into 60 Minutes or The Grammys if Sim would have chipped in at 18 to force a playoff.  Just a hunch. 

Bill Haas finally meets expectations

I remember reading in one of John Feinstein's books about the pressure put on Bill Haas at the beginning of his career. 

With a dad who was still playing competitively in his late 40's, Bill Haas was seen as a wonder kid.  If his dad could be successful, why couldn't he?

Before even becoming a full-time PGA Tour member, he had already scored an endorsement deal with Titleist and was receiving sponsors exemptions left and right.

There were thoughts that with his power, he would be the next big thing on Tour.

Well, that never happened.  And it took more than 5 years for that dream Titleist had of him becoming their poster boy to come true (look out for the Titleist/Bill Haas full-page ads in your Goldworld/Golfweek issues). 

Haas caught most fans off-guard with his win yesterday at the Bob Hope.  Jay Haas had watched his son fall short too many times as he tried to make an impact on Tour.  Not this time.

My 3 players to watch this week aren't doing so hot...

Rickie Fowler, Cameron Tringale and Billy Horschel.  Those were the four players names I circled this morning before I left the house for work.  I was hoping to write a post about them later tonight, mainly on how excited I was to follow their PGA Tour careers.

Then, I looked at the first round leaderboard...

Has the 18th at Kapalua lost its charm?

When Tiger Woods and Ernie Els had their epic bout 10 years ago--where they played the 18th hole time after time--there was serious drama.  And its not because Tiger was in the playoff.

Viewers saw some weird bounces that week around the 18th hole, some of which were receptive and others that weren't. 

The last few years I've watched the tournament, the hole has gotten way too predictable and has lost its novelty.

It has gotten to be quite boring to watch each player hit their drives off of the 18th tee roll out for 50 yards without a penalty. 

Then there are the countless number of bail outs to the right of the green.  And with the relative softness of the fairway 50 yards and in, there weren't any weird bounces we have grown accustomed to seeing.

I used to get excited as the final groups neared the closing hole at Kapalua.  Not anymore.

Let's learn a lesson from Wyndham

It's been a disappointing couple of days for the PGA Tour.  So in light of the news that Buick and the PGA Tour have cut ties, what better way to move forward than to share a success story.

Robert Bell of the News & Record reports that Wyndham Championship officials are expecting to sell out all of their skyboxes and suites for next month's tournament.  The Zurich Classic is the only other tournament to have accomplished this feat. 

So what's tournament director Mark Brazil's trick?  Last year, only 10 percent of corporate sponsors came from outside of Greensboro.  This year, it's 50 percent.

In a fledgling economy, why would outside sponsors want to commit to a tournament with one of the weaker fields of the year?  Flexibility is the key word...

Tournament officials maintained prices from last year and have been flexible in selling this year. Instead of offering one large suite around a green, Wyndham officials have broken suites into smaller sections to accommodate sponsors unable to commit to the cost of a large suite. Air-conditioned suites and skyboxes, which range in price from $37,000 to $70,000, come with food and beverages for the week.

I don't know how often these tactics have been implemented by other tournaments since the economy tanked, but it makes sense. 

Just imagine if the LPGA Tour had this mindset at the beginning of the year. 

Listen up--Joe Ogilvie's point system could save the PGA Tour

Let's face it--the PGA Tour is in trouble.  There are too many tournaments like the WGCs that flood top players' schedules--making it an incredibly difficult sell for the Tour when seeking out sponsors for lesser name tournaments. 

Different proposals have been thrown around to counteract this trend, including a plan requiring players to compete in a tournament at least once in a four-year time frame.  But here's a plan that finally makes sense--a la Joe Ogilvie in an interview with The Man Out Front in Golfweek (print only, sorry folks). 

So here's the gist: Each player would still be required to compete in a minimum of 15 Tour events, but there would be an assigned point value for each tournament based on the quality of the field.  So the bigger the tournament (i.e. Masters, Players Championships)--the lesser the point value.  The smaller the tournament (i.e. Bob Hope, Texas Open)--the higher the point value.

Ogilvie is suggesting that there be a designated minimum point total for a player to reach in order to be a full-time PGA Tour member.  So let's say a player had to reach 30 points in order to be a PGA Tour member.  A player like Tiger Woods would need to play in more than just the majors and the WGC's, which would only be worth one point.  The idea is that this would spread the love to other tournaments. 

According to Golfweek, Ogilvie will present the idea at the next Player Advisory Council meeting at Colonial.

Honestly, I think this could save the Tour from losing some of its sponsors--and most importantly--some of its most cherished tournaments.

Jim Nantz sends Finchem's charitable message home

We all know the PGA Tour wants to start sending the message home that tournament sponsors are charitable.  Well, rather than just having commercials to promote the charitable giving and a 30 sec. interview greenside with a company official before the tournament ends, why not have the lead broadcaster interview the tournament sponsor's CEO in the tower?  That's what happened during yesterday's telecast at the Valero Texas Open.

CBS' Jim Nantz took the time to spotlight some of Valero's charitable contributions, and this was most likely a direct result of the PGA Tour's "charitable giving publicity" initiative.  Here's part of what Jim Nantz said to Valero CEO Rich Marcogliese during yesterday's telecast:

I hope everybody grasped that right there.  What you've done for local charities, going back to last October, it amounts to something in the neighboard of almost $17M for local charities.  That's just pretty remarkable...Again, I salute it.  Unfortuntely, this message doesn't always seem to resonate with people, that's why I'm going to keep repeating it.  The charity side of these tournaments and being involved in it as Valero has, that is something that I think is very special and I commend you and your team. 

Note: Sponsors have spoken with broadcasters like Nantz in the booth before, but the timing of this was noteworthy. 

No black tie fundraising gala at Buick

Erring on the side of caution, Buick Open officials have decided to cancel their annual black tie fundraising gala which has raised a great deal of money for a number of groups including the American Red Cross. 

The ABC-affiliate report indicates that the tournament wants to scale back slightly this year. Tournament Director Robb Grainger said:

From GM specific, there is probably a likelihood that they will step back from some of the traditional hospitality venues that they would have for dealers and executives and that type of thing.

Pictures of Buick officials celebrating in formal attire could draw the ire of the likes of Barney Frank, even if it is a charity event. 

Let's lay it out there--the tournaments needs a Tiger Woods appearance.