The Golf Watch

The Nick Faldo-TaylorMade issue

During early round coverage of the Memorial on The Golf Channel, viewers saw Nick Faldo serve not only as analyst, but also in commercials promoting TaylorMade products in between live segments.

I am perfectly fine with announcers promoting products and being endorsed by equipment brands.  After all, many of these guys play themselves when they are not announcing.

But during a tournament, commercials should not be aired of Faldo promoting equipment before he provides his analysis.  How can Faldo be an objective analyst and provide trustworthy information for viewers when he is seen promoting the latest TaylorMade driver 10 seconds earlier?  It only lessens Faldo and the network's credibility. 

Taylormade-Adidas pursues Ashworth?

With Taylormade-Adidas doing pretty well during this economic crisis, a number of industry experts are questioning their interest in buying Ashworth, which would include covering $46.3 million worth of debt.  Gene Yasuda and Adam Schupak provide the scoop over at Golfweek, quoting one industry analyst as saying...

“Without the Callaway business, Ashworth is not worth what TaylorMade paid for it,” said Casey Alexander, a special-situations analyst for New York-based Gilford Securities. “Ashworth is worth nothing more than its trademarks.”