PGA Tour: Transitioning: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).What a win for Justin Rose last week and, from my point of view at any rate, who'd've thunk it so quickly after rather messing up an equally good opportunity at the "Honda". This win compelled me to review my pre-season projection about Rose and I see that he's already exceeded (my) expectations!
He's been big on stressing the upward mobility in the calibre of tournaments won, first "Memorial" and the "AT&T National", then a FedEx Play-Off event and now a WGC Championship. But the fact remains that it's been almost four years since his last Major top ten and one can only hope that Rose takes whatever it is he's found down Magnolia Lane with him.

2).Not much respect in the American media for Justin's win, all the headlines (and those of the BBC website) reserved for another of Sean Foley's pupils who completed his third Tour withdrawal in less than two years. Rose could be forgiven for echoing Caddyshack's Rodney Dangerfield, "I don't get no respect!", yahoo sports even calling Justin "Dustin" in their headline.

3).But the promise of another Tiger spectacular was enough to boost TV ratings 30% over last year, proving the extent to which the Tiger factor attracts viewers even when he slips from contention.

4).One more year of the "tired" old Blue Monster and The Donald will Trump it with Gil Hanse's rebuild of the course. He pledges to leave #18 well alone however and don't you love a finishing hole that is really, truly demanding? "To get a putt at par is sometimes all you're trying to do" on this hole says Stricker, and average score on this 467 yard par-4 was 4.539. (In contrast to the first hole, a par-5, which played to 4.16.)

5).Keegan Bradley seems to have been the flavour of the opening two months or so of the season, but his rather feeble challenge on Sunday seemed to suggest a man in need of a break. He butchered par-5's #8 and #10 from just off, and on, the green in two shots respectively, but he sits on top of the US Ryder Cup qualifying points list.
Mickelson is second and the two of them are some way ahead of positions 3 thru 8, which include would-be-rookies Haas, Stanley, Wilson and Snedeker as well as Stricker and Mahan.
Other among Celtic Manor's vanquished include Watson (10th), D.Johnson (11th), Woods (14th), Kuchar (19th), Fowler (22nd), Z.Johnson (31st), Furyk (48th), Overton (66th) and Cink (who has sunk to 71st).
Other struggling notables inlude Simpson (17th), Toms (24th) and Watney (33rd).

6).Before we leave South Florida, there have been a number of articles in the golfing press recently regarding the number of touring pros now resident there, 61 by one count, including Luke and Ernie, Rory and Jack, Greg and Karrie. That's possibly, depending on who's counting, one up on "Orlando", with an assist of course from Elin's ex.
SI amuse with a story of the Swedish contingent at the "Dye Preserve" where Richard Johnson, Jacobson and Parnevik play regular games, not for the traditional money game Nassaus but for press-ups, "the loser of each hole (having) to do a certain number, right there on the green". And compatriot Elin is apparently a sometime companion at these wags' barbecues! (Don't expect any of the three to be paired with the "ex" any time soon.)


7).And so to the pros' favourite Florida course, Innisbrook Resort's "Copperhead" course, home of the "Transitions Championship", in the Tampa area. The 1971 Larry Packard design is rated 9th in GolfWorld's survey, ahead of TPC Sawgrass (11th), for instance, and well ahead of Doral and Bay Hill, both in the thirties. The set-up for the "Transitions" will feature 5 par-3's and 4 par-5's, and Carnoustie native Ryan Stewart, the Superintendent, is expecting firm conditions helped by a forecast of unseasonably warm, dry weather.

8).Only two more weeks to qualify for a Masters invitation, and those not already in who are on the bubble of making it via the owgr top fifty include:
#45: Paul Lawrie (withdrawn - perhaps tactically? - from the Open de Andalucia)
48: Crane (not playing this week)
52: Goosen - playing Transitions
56: Rock - playing Andalucia
59: Chalmers - playing Transitions
60: Cabrero-Bello - playing Andalucia
62: HowellIII (w/d this week)
63: Manassero - playing Andalucia
64: Allenby - playing Transitions
67: Colsaerts (not playing this week)
68: Els - playing Transitions

9).Strong GB&I representation this week including Messrs Casey, (edit to include Gary Christian who was added to the field Tuesday p.m.), Davis, Donald, Harrington, Laird, Owen and Rose. And Tom Lewis making, as far as I can tell, his first ever appearance on the PGA Tour, in the company of fellow young 'uns Ishikawa and Bud Cauley. Other Europeans include Garcia and Peter Hanson.

10).The "Transitions" tends to favour course specialists and Choi and Goosen have two wins apiece, while Senden and Pettersson have a good record here. After a string of American wins to open the season, GB&I have two wins on the trot now, and I'd expect another "International" win this week. Donald plays his first two rounds with Justin Rose, and maybe he'll find inspiration/incentive to break their tie with Tony Jacklin for most post-war Tour wins by an Englishman not named Faldo.

Maybe Goosen just thinks his days of winning Majors are over and isn't as bothered about missing Augusta as we might imagine. He is 43 and definitely on the slide big time, perhaps he is more aware of that than other people?

John C,
The Tavistock "purse" info is not up yet but, YES!, the pros DO get paid, in that there's a cheque for last place. Can't be bothered to go through last year's details but Poulter, for instance, won $80K for his share of his team being tied for 2nd. Not surprising he made such a miracle recovery from pneumonia to play WGC and Tavistock events where you get paid just for showing up.

The pros talk about the charitable contributions but, make no mistake, the biggest beneficiaries are the pros themselves.

"Truly awful" might be your biggest understatement yet!

The worst bit about the tavistock is when the bloke with the silly moustache tries to interview the air heads at the sponsor stalls at the tees.

Just in relation to appearance money and to slightly balance out the stick that footballers get I was very impressed when reading about Gary Nevilles legacy to the England football team. Sadly not a trophy but it was his idea for all payers to waive their England fees back in 2007 and I believe they have raised well over a million since then. So just shows they are not all bad. Yes they can afford it but that doesnt mean they have to do it.

Two things about the Nevilles:
I reckon Gary is a top-notch "colour" guy on TV broadcasts, really enjoy him.

Nice to see David Moyes rate Phil as the best player to manage in his time at Everton - would think he'd be high on any list of players who'd become top managers.

You not doin a ballwasher for the Tavistock kwini?!

Not in this lifetime, incontinent, unless there's a pay cheque of course.

PS: Not sure the answer to your owgr question about the highest points total, but remember, the formula for calibrating points has been changed several times since the owgr's inception; the more significant indicator of anyone's margin of supremacy is %age ahead of #2.
You'll be able to figure that out by researching the archive pages of the owgr website.

Finchem just concluded his Press Conference regarding changes to the PGA Tour FedEx season AND the qualifying process.

Doubtless there'll be many interpretations on this and the Tour has already issued a partial statement.

Still some ramifications to be sorted out, watch this space on that, but my initial take is that the qualifying process is a bit more inclusive than originally speculated and that having a new PGA Tour season running October 2013 to September 2014 might make a lot of sense.

Players dealt a raw deal at first glance include:
~US college players who have fewer regular season events to earn sponsor exemptions, and:
~Overseas players who don't attract Ishikawa-like sponsor largesse who may have second thoughts about pursuing a PGA Tour career.

Anyway, some details are published herein:

http://www.pgatour.com/2012/company/03/20/schedule-nationwide-changes/index.html#

Don't have a problem with the Fall Series getting shunted forward to the following season, although it does raise a few issues - what will happen with the Kapalua event? Will it move to autumn, or will it stay in January but include Fall Series winners from what will be the same season? And will there be a problem with lack of enthusiasm at the start of each season, due to the underwhelming nature of the first few events (a problem the ET has had for years)?

But I can't understand the Q-school/Nationwide thing at all, I think that is an absolutely awful decision. There are tonnes of big-name international players who have established themselves on other tours, then got a card through Q-school. To name just a few who are currently fairly big-time, Allenby, KJ, Ogilvy, Senden, Pettersson, Davis, Wi, Yang, Bae and Noh all took that route. Is Finchem seriously expecting that guys like those with solid careers in Europe and/or Asia will take a year out of their schedule to play on the Nationwide (or whatever it becomes called)? I can't see it at all personally, unless they've lost their status on their home tour too. Perhaps it's meant to be a back-door way to restoring the massive US-heavy presence on tour, but it surely can't be good long-term for the tour to be turning away most of the next-big-things from overseas. And that's without touching on the various other problems with the idea... for a start, Q-school is popular with the fans, I've not read any comment from any fan who wants to do away with it - it's simple, exciting and with clear-cut results. The same goes for the Nationwide in its current format. Whichever system they end up opting for in the final qualifying events, you can guarantee that it'll be convoluted, long-winded and impossible to keep up with without a few log tables and a calculator to hand. OK so they already have an equally complex FedEx system, but there's only so much you can ask the fans to deal with, and at least that has the best players in the world instead of young unknowns, journeymen and has-beens.

One thing to keep in mind: Even the biggest and best run Nationwide events (Cox Classic in Omaha for instance) had meagre crowds. Sponsors are NOT lining up to support these events. While not necessarily on life support, it's certainly not growing.

So, bigger name golfers get bigger crowds. I'm certain as they were examining ways to keep that tour viable and make it a more interesting feeder system into the US PGA tour this solution made a lot of sense.

The right decision? I certainly don't know ... I thought Apple Stock was too expensive at $90/s!!

SR,

Will it really be any more interesting than it is now though, save for three events which will be held during the Playoffs, ensuring everyone's attention is elsewhere?
I don't know that there's any reason to think it'll have bigger name players this way round, as those coming off poor seasons will have just as much chance to get straight back on tour as they do now. The only potential big names are the overseas ones, and I've already said I don' t expect many of them to forfeit Asia or Europe for a year's Nationwiding (and even if they did I doubt they'd be crowdpleasers).
As for being a more interesting system, I'd say the opposite is true, simply because it'll be more confusing. The only thing that at face value ups the interest is the potential availability of more cards, but that doesn't really affect much until the business end of the year... for the most part the tour won't work any differently, or any more interestingly, than it does now.

Ned - I can only think this will help the Nationwide (or whoever the new sponsor is) events. It should, IMO, attract better names ... both those trying to get into the big tour for the first time, and those ex players ... but only time will tell.

Could be a boost in the arm for other tours around the globe.

Agree with the second sentence more than the first SR! I'd think if the other tours play it right, they could get a big boost, a) from keeping hold of their own players better, and b) by hijacking a few college kids looking for instant success. We've already seen a few US guys trying their luck in Europe this year, Uihlein, Pinckney and Kemmer among them... and I would think their numbers would only increase, if they had a shot at the full ET in their first full season, but no immediate prospects beyond the Nationwide at home.

As for the better names, I just don't see it at all. Who are these big names who aren't on the tour now but will be with this setup?
Ex-tour regulars? This system doesn't bring any more of them to the Nationwide than the current setup as far as I can see, save for the end-of-year bonanza. If Finchem wanted to get more household names from the PGA Tour playing the Nationwide, he should've made it harder for them to immediately regain their card - i.e. fewer spots at Q-school and more on a standard feeder tour. This setup actually bends over backwards to keep guys who've had a poor season on the main tour, with whatever complex weighting system they come up with.
So overseas players? As I've said, I don't see many of them being happy to play Nationwide rather than the Asian, Japanese and European Tours. And even if they did, I'd question whether the potential Nationwide spectator is clued up enough to be attracted by a guy whose wins have all come overseas.
So big-gun college players maybe? Well the vast majority of those grace the Nationwide at some point anyway. In the past few years we've had English and Fowler come through Q-school straight up, and Cauley earning a card on invites, but I can't think of any others who've come straight out of college and on tour. And then there's the risk of the US actually losing out if their college hotshots try Europe instead.

It just doesn't add up to me I'm afraid... having a "second-tier tour" and wanting "big names" on it seems contradictory in itself, and I don't see how any of these changes help.

Ned - You may be exactly correct.

Two things I've been hearing for some time: The US tour will decline. And other tours, most notable Asia and Europe will get stronger. Fundamentally, I don't think there's any other direction for things to go. (See the inevitable decline of the the Roman and British empires for a macro example.)

So, the question becomes how soon and how much? Finchem is paid plenty to keep thing stronger and growing in the US. This strategy clearly tries to protect his interests and may do that in the short term, but the long term impact is TBD.

Been out for an hour.

Finchem is certainly making the "Tour" more of a closed shop but don't feel as if these changes will affect non-Americans as much as it first seems. It's the marginal player who'll be most impacted, the Brian Davises and Alex Cejkas of this world; the higher ranked golfer (Moon for instance, Hanson, Ishikawa) will still have opportunities to by-pass all this by taking the Temporary Membership route that has perhaps not been travelled as much as it might have been.

But concluding the season at the Tour Championship will certainly force overseas golfers who want to play a minimum 15 events to play more tournaments early in case they miss out on East Lake.

Others who will suffer are guys who get injured during the season - there's almost more incentive now to take a Medical Exemption as soon as an injury occurs instead of trying to play Mike Weir-like through debilitating injury.

The 2014 season will start off something like this:
Oct/Nov 2013: Las Vegas, McGladrey, Fry's, Disney, HSBC (which becomes an official event) and Malaysia (which seems to be in flux). Tour shuts down late November until January's re-start at Kapalua followed by Sony and the West Coast swing.
(Finchem's in a pickle right now as Fall Series tournaments are looking for assurances that they'll be accorded full FedEx points and a Masters invite to the winner. That's why details are currently thin on the ground.)


I'm still of the opinion that it's not broken so don't try and fix it but feel as if changes will not be so detrimental to the rank-and-file as initial indications.

As for Shotrock's expectation that the PGA Tour will be diminshed in time, not unless there are mega changes in the way that the European/Asian Tours are run.

Interesting that Finchem was talking about changes to the HSBC; wonder if he's spoken to the other Tours or is it just another case of Finchem playing the Little Dictator. Perhaps it'll move from China to Charlotte?

Well, IMO the fall series has not worked since the introduction of the FedEx Cup. So that needed to be fixed.

But the logical solution would be to give the entire schedule a reshuffle, avoiding to play a season over two calender years. The ET luckily went away from that. The PlayOffs should then conclude the season in November or December. It would however have impact for those players playing both tours, just as the WGC event in China would need a new slot. So practically it would hardly be possible, but I still think it would be the most logical.

pedro,
The crucial element over here is TV coverage, the major sponsors expect that for their events and feel the ratings will be meagre during the heart of "Football season".

Actually feel that the Fall Series events fill exactly the same niche those same events, by and large, did ten years ago, (frankly, I enjoy them!) but it is undeniable that they're not attractions to most of the top dozen or so golfers, and certainly not attractive to the major TV networks who don't televise them.