Green Reading

PGA suit a preemptive strike

The PGA Tour has sued Ginn Resorts citing breach of contract because the real estate company dropped sponsorship of the Champions Tour Ginn Championship. Ginn said late last year that it was dropping the PGA Tour's sur Mer Classic because of the ailing real estate market. PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said the tour was not given advance notice Ginn was going to pull out of its Champions Tour event, which was scheduled for April, and sued to recoup money and other benefits that were included in existing agreements.
But more than an actual attempt to collect anything from Ginn, I believe the suit is more of an admonition to other companies that have sponsorship contracts for PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour events. If Ginn is in the dire straits it is claiming, there may be nothing to collect. But the tour likely envisions other companies struggling in the recession will attempt to renege on their commitments to the tour in increasing numbers, and the tour wants those companies to know it will not allow them to back out of agreements without recourse. This probably won't be the last lawsuit the tour files against a company for breach of contract.

 

We want Monty . . . in 2012

The R&A is going to announce its selection for the 2010 European Team Ryder Cup captain on Wednesday morning, and you just know it’s going to be Colin Montgomerie. And that’s a shame. Not because I don’t want Montgomerie to be the team’s captain, but it’s two years early. I’d love for him to be the team captain in 2012 when the Ryder Cup is held at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago. Monty has had a largely contentious relationship with U.S. fans, many of whom love to prod and needle the sometimes cantankerous Scot into icy stares and torment him for his slight resemblance to Robin Williams’ cross-dressing character Mrs. Doubtfire. Though he’s come tantalizingly close, particularly in majors, the eight-time Order of Merit champion on the European Tour has never won a pro tournament on American soil. What better way to break the ice, or a crowing failure in the U.S. in the event Monty treasures the most _ in part because of his overwhelming success against American opponents as a player. Either way, it’s great theater. Better than whatever will play out in Wales in less than two years. Jose Maria Olazabal is the other primary option, though Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle are also considered candidates. I’d take any of those this year so Monty would have a chance to leave the U.S. a hero. Monty has indicated he’d like to be the captain in 2014 in his native Scotland. That would be fun for him, not for us.

One small piece of memorabilia that still takes up space on my desk is one of the red and white ``Be Nice to Monty’’ buttons Golf Digest produced and handed out at the U.S. Open several years ago. I find Monty funny even when he’s not trying to be, and he’s hilarious when he’s trying to be. He certainly adds flare to the game. I wouldn’t put it past Monty to use a captain’s pick on himself. Now that would be a gas. He felt shunned when he was bypassed for a captain’s pick last year European Team captain Nick Faldo, you know.

Finchem addresses economy's impact

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem addressed the potential effect the economy could have on the tour and its sponsors this year and beyond. He expects some attrition but seems confident the tour can survive while losing very little. Of course that depends on the breadth of the economic slump. Finchem said at a press conference on Wednesday at the Bob Hope:

``I think we will lose some sponsors in this cycle the next couple years.   don't think there's any question about that. The challenge is to retain a hundred percent [the number of] sponsors. You've got to replace sponsors in a downturn, and when the economy being as dour as it is that will present some real challenges. . . . I think we will, but we won't know until we're done doing it.  So we are very concerned about that.

``We have a great group of sponsors, I think they have gotten a lot of value from using our platform over the years.  Times are tough, we're going to take our knocks, but in [Arnold Palmer's] words, he thinks that we might come out of this better than maybe some other businesses.''

Finchem has asked for cooperation from the players, requesting that they play more events and also be more visible and accessible for sponsors. The tour is reluctant to drop its purses any, however, and has actually raised many of them this year. That might lead title sponsors to believe the tour is unwilling to negotiate and will drop their sponsorships. The tour may be in more trouble than Finchem is willing to admit.

PGA of America wrong again

Corey Pavin is a great choice as captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Just not the next U.S. Ryder Cup team. The Americans will be seeking their second consecutive victory in a Ryder Cup in 2010 for the first time since 1993 after winning for the first time in nine years. So the PGA of America clearly hasn't done a good job of picking U.S. team captains. So what makes them think they'll get it right this time after being right just once in a decade. They made the right call with Paul Azinger, who clearly had a proactive outlook to the captain's position and pulled the right strings to lead the U.S. to a 16.5-11.5 victory at Valhalla in September. All without Tiger Woods. So why be in such a hurry to replace Azinger? He should have been retained for 2010. The last time Americare-appointed a captain was Ben Hogan in 1949. The PGA is too afraid to veer from its past practices. Pavin, winner of the US Open in 1995, won four of his five matches in the 1995 Ryder Cup to finish his career with eight wins and five defeats. He would have been a great choice in 2012 or beyond.

Compton forces tour's compassion

With its decision regarding Erik Compton, the PGA Tour has shown it has apparently heeded a lesson learned from its long battle against Casey Martin. The tour is facilitating an amazing story of human spirit by displaying the common sense and compassion it lacked in Martin's case in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Compton has had two heart transplants _ the second just five months ago _ to amazingly continue playing competitive golf. On Friday he earned a spot in the second stage of PGA Tour Q-School by shooting a 4-under-par 68 in the final round, the low score of the day. He entered the final round seven shots out of advancing. The PGA Tour granted Compton, 28, the right to use a cart during Q-School. It only makes sense. No matter how Compton gets from tee to green, there's no way he has an advantage over healthy professional golfers. That was also the case with Martin, though the tour chose to fight him _ unsuccessfully.
Martin suffers from a painful degenerative leg condition yet played on the PGA Tour in 2000. But his request to use a cart was denied and he was forced to walk. Martin, who played with Tiger Woods at Stanford, first requested a cart from the PGA Tour in 1995, though he didn't become a full-time member of the Nationwide Tour until 1998. All the while he battled the PGA Tour in court, receiving two favorable rulings before the case reached the Supreme Court. Martin won a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2001 allowing him to use a cart in competition. But the damage to Casey's career, the tour's reputation and human decency had already been done. The tour could have benefitted from the feel-good story rather than attempt to discriminate against a disabled player. Hopefully the PGA Tour made the decision on Compton out of compassion and common sense rather than out of a fear of losing a legal battle. Either way, the correct decision was made.
Compton has accepted a sponsor exemption to next week's PGA Tour season-ending Children's Miracle Network Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando (a fitting place for his return to the PGA Tour) and we have to assume the tour will allow him to use a cart in the event.

Johnson a late WD

Dustin Johnson was a late withdrawal on Thursday from the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. He was the only player in the 132-player field to withdraw, and has now withdrawn from three of his past seven events, though this is the first time he's withdrawn prior to a round. Johnson withdrew from July's RBC Canadian Open after the first round citing the need for a root canal, and withdrew after the first round of August's Wyndham Championship due to a severe cut on his finger. Johnson was replaced in the field Thursday in Las Vegas by Jason Allred, who has made six cuts out of 19 starts this year and is currently in 221st place on the Money List. Michael Bradley was the first alternate but was not available when Johnson pulled out, opening a tee time for Allred, who was the second alternate.

Wachovia Championship future in doubt?

It happened to the Verizon Heritage a few years ago when it was called the MCI Heritage and MCI was hit with a financial scandal. And it could happen to the Wachovia Championship after Wachovia bank was failing before being recently acquired by Citigroup. The deal makes Citi the largest U.S. bank by total deposits. The Heritage, the annual PGA Tour stop in Hilton Head, was in danger of losing its title sponsor and no longer wanted to be affiliated with MCI, but MCI was absorbed/morphed into Verizon and that company retained title sponsorship. So what of the Wachovia sponsorship of the prestigious PGA Tour event in Charlotte, a deal that costs about $10 million annually according to Golfweek magazine and was extended in May to 2014? Well, on the surface at least, the sponsorship seems secure. A spokesperson for Wachovia marketing told Ron Green Jr. of the Charlotte Observer that ``For now it's business as usual as far as our sponsorship commitments.” PGA Tour officials have stated they expect the tour stop in Charlotte to remain, as well. Time will tell.

Ryder Recap: Bring back Azinger

The PGA of America should extend the invitation today to Paul Azinger to return as captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team in 2010. The organization has employed a one-and-done philosophy for its captains, but the recent captains were all thoroughly beaten and deserved to go. Azinger clearly had a new proactive outlook to the captain's position and should return following his team's 16.5-11.5 victory Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club.
He clearly out-managed European Captain Nick Faldo. Though I didn't agree with his use of a captain's pick on Chad Campbell, who went 2-1-0 _ his singles victory over Padraig Harrington came long after the Cup had been decided _ he made a bevy of correct decisions. He revamped the selection process, placing more emphasis on play during a Ryder Cup year in the points system, and giving the captain four picks instead of two. His change to alternate shot rather than better ball to open the competition resulted in the U.S. team taking a 3-1 lead. He had a pep rally, handed out 13th man T-shirts and selected Kentucky native J.B. Holmes from well down the Ryder Cup points list to get the partisan crowd more involved. He encouraged Boo Weekley to be Boo Weekley and keep the team loose rather than trying to rein in the eccentric hillbilly. And he tried to make his players have fun rather than play tense.
Faldo allowed his apparent personal dislike of Colin Montgomerie to factor into not selecting the Ryder Cup dominator with a captain's pick, and he also didn't select Darren Clarke, who had been a member of four European winners and carried a 10-7-3 Ryder Cup record. He is Lee Westwood's good friend and regular partner in these events and brought a lightheartedness to previous European teams. Without Clarke, Westwood went 0-2-2 in the matches. Captain's pick Ian Poulter played well, but Clarke and Monty may have done more for the team's overall performance. Faldo also held both Sergio Garcia and Westwood out of matches Saturday morning, and despite trailing entering the final day, he put his best players at the end of his singles lineup and their play wasn't a factor in the outcome.
Azinger has earned another shot.

On another Ryder Cup note, Weekley had a response Monday to Westwood's suggestions that he should have postponed his crowd-whooping tactics until after holes were completed rather than in between shots. When asked in an interview with the The Golf Channel's Vince Cellini Monday about Westwood's comment, Weekley responded, ``I think the problem is just he was getting his heinie kicked and he didn't like it.  That's the way I look at it.''

Ryder Cup weather and TV coverage

Weather shouldn't be a factor in the Ryder Cup since the forecast for Valhalla Country Club and Louisville calls for sun, temperatures in the low 80s and wind at 6 mph or less each day.
After Thursday's opening ceremony on ESPN from 3-5 p.m., ESPN has coverage from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, NBC has the same hours Saturday and NBC will air coverage from noon-6 p.m. Sunday, with ESPN completing coverage from 6-6:30 p.m. 
Golf Channel has a lot of preview and analysis programming. Peter Alliss will appear Wednesday as a guest panelist on a special Ryder Cup edition of The Grey Goose 19th Hole at 10:30 p.m. Highlights and commentary of Ryder Cup player news conferences will be aired from noon to 3:30 p.m. Weds. Host Vince Cellini will be joined by Frank Nobilo, Brandel Chamblee, John Hawkins and Steve Flesch. And Live From the Ryder Cup, a news and analysis show, begins its coverage Wednesday night at 6 p.m. and subsequent shows will air from 6-8 p.m. following play through Sunday.

Ryder Cup primer worth a look

The Golf Channel has come up with a show that might actually be watching as an entertaining primer to next week's Ryder Cup. The second part of the two-part program ``The Faldo-Azinger Captains Challenge'' airs Sept. 15 and features Ryder Cup captains Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo. They will be competing head-to-head at pursuits both enjoy:  fly fishing, poker and golf. Personable PGA Tour pro Rocco Mediate hosts the event, which pays $25,000 to the winner. The special was filmed over a hectic two days in August, beginning in Detroit, stopping in Pennsylvania and ending on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. A cumulative score encompasses all three challenges and golf is given double weight.
The first episode aired this past Monday and featured fly fishing at Spring Ridge Club near State College, Pa., for brown and rainbow trout on the limestone-fed Spruce Creek. The second episode features the duo at the MGM's Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss., competing in a Texas Hold 'em tournament. Highlights from an 18-hole stroke-play match at Beau Rivage’s Fallen Oak Golf Course are featured in both episodes.