RBC Canadian Open may have PGA Tour over barrel for better date
The timing couldn’t be better for Bill Paul, Scott Simmons and the gang over at the RCGA to start playing the heavy to get a better date for the RBC Canadian Open.
Not to make light of a bad situation, but the economy is shot and the PGA Tour is sure to feel the heat, much like the rest of us. More than a few sponsors will be jumping ship at renewal time and with a pretty strong title sponsor in tow, Paul, with a little help from the RBC, will now carry a pretty heavy fist at the bargaining table, if they so choose.
There is little secret that Paul would like nothing better than to see the Open staged around July 1st which, to those south of the border that might have a tough time finding Canada on a map of North America, is Canada Day. Not sure if the Open will end up getting slotted into that plum date on the calendar, but no matter where it is penciled in, it is bound to be a heck of a lot better with the garbage, take-it-or-leave-it week they have right now.
Let’s see how much of an effect Tim Finchem’s plea to his players to start showing up to some of the so-called weaker field events will have. Time will tell if the millionaires get the message that more than a few events are hanging by a thread and need a little kick in the rear end. Beats me how the heck an historic national championship falls into that category, but there is little doubt the RBC Canadian Open could use a little star appeal.
At last, thanks to an economy that is on its way to bottoming out, they may get just that. And a much more attractive date than on the heels of the British Open.
It won’t happen in ’09, but the chips may be starting to fall in Paul’s favour. By current title sponsor standards, RBC is about as close to a sure thing as you can get right now.
And if RBC decides to get pushy, it could be Finchem doing the begging instead of the other way around.
Won’t that be a change.
Should Tiger lose top ranking it will be temporary, not much of an off-season for the PGA Tour and Natalie joins Twitter
All this crystal-ball gazing that has people suggesting there is a chance Tiger Woods may lose his number-one ranking in early 2009 is fine, I suppose, except one key element is missing.
If Tiger loosens the grasp on the crown he has held since June of 2005, it is only because he isn’t playing. No one is taking anything from him. It’s what is known as smoke and mirrors.
Woods isn’t expected back until sometime in February, at the earliest, which will open the door for Sergio, Lefty or Harrington to take over top spot should they play lights-out early on. Even then, without a big win from one of those three in early 2009, it may not be enough to knock Tiger from the top perch.
And really, who are we kidding? Tiger will be back on top shortly after he returns. As in four rounds after.
-Just a reminder that the 2009 PGA Tour season gets underway in about a week and a half. I know of some bathroom breaks that are longer than the tour’s off-season.
-Good to see Colin Montgomerie is racking a ton of cash in endorsement deals. Guy has to make a living somehow, and right now Monty isn’t making money the conventional way golfers do – as in, playing good golf.
-We can’t make this stuff up: apparently Natalie Gulbis has joined social networking obsession – er, utility - Twitter and is actually interacting with a bunch of other people with too much time on their hands. Some would say that it is reaching out to her fans. Not sure, but I am sure there are more than a few stalkers doing their homework about now.
-Interesting to see Sergio Garcia opening up about the Ryder Cup beatdown his boys took at the hands of the Yanks and how, in his own way, he spares captain Nick Faldo of any blame. Well, sort of.
“Nick Faldo was not the best captain we have ever had, but I don’t think he was the worst.”
Ringing endorsement from a guy who is still looking for his south end after getting it handed to him by Anthony Kim in their singles showdown, huh?
‘Twas the night before Christmas…with a golfing twist
‘Twas the night before Christmas and past the clubhouse front door
Daly was passed out buck naked on the floor
Sergio was checking his hair in a mirror over there
While Weekley was flashing Poulter – without any underwear.
The players were wishing they were home in their beds
With visions of Ms. Gulbis dancing in their heads
Vijay was practicing shots from a sand trap
And Lefty was telling Williams to shut his damn yap.
From behind the 18th green there arose such a clatter,
Daly woke from his slumber and there went his bladder
Away to the window Camilo flew like a flash,
Tripped over a nine-iron, fell right on his a–.
And in the long shadows of this warm summer night
You heard footsteps before a figure came into plain sight
When, what to Daly’s bloodshot eyes should appear
But the waitress with another round of shooters and beer.
In walked a smug gentleman, so handsome and trim
They knew in a moment it was Commissioner Tim
With a smile and cologne both intriguing and lame
He high-fived and backslapped and called them by name
“Now Tiger, now Weirsy, now Norman and Freddy
On Paddy, on Sergio, stop fighting already!
Hey Hunter, and AK and Weekley you hick
Anyone happen to see Mickelson the pr…oh, never mind.”
His eyes they seemed nervous like a guy on the bubble
He tried to assure all his changes the tour wasn’t in trouble
A wink of his eye, a twist of his head
Ticket sales were down, but there was nothing to dread.
He spoke many words and seemed to revel in his work
Even took a quick moment to call Sergio a jerk.
There was plenty of cash to get through the year
And with Tiger coming back, there was nothing to fear.
And he sprang to his feet, let out a loud yelp
He looked all confused, he needed some help
And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight
“Screw you guys, I’ve got a date with Carolyn Bivens tonight!”
Tiger wrecks Christmas for his colleagues, Finchem turns to pleading on video and I wonder how many times Boo had to use SpellCheck…
So, Tiger holds court in front of his disciples – OK, so it was only a press conference – and tells the planet the stump is fine and he’ll be back - and better- in 2009.
And there goes the holiday spirit sucked from every golfer on your not named Eldrick. Merry Christmas.
Not the best of news when you consider the only thing to knock Tiger off his feet in the past year or so has been a surgeon’s scalpel. Well, and maybe Mrs. Woods, but that is pure speculation.
Chin up, boys of the PGA Tour, things could be worse. There will still be millions to go around – just not those big, fat championship cheques. Most of them are spoken for. It feels something like winning the lottery only to get hit by lightning on the way to cash your ticket.
Deep down, I’m sure some were hoping additional surgery would be required. Like, I don’t know, amputation just below the knee.
-I have a hunch I’m not alone, but I can’t wait to see Fred Couples on the Champions Tour. There is no wonder why Couples is one of the most popular players on the planet. Even at 49, the guy can still keep up with the best. Something tells me he’ll do all right with the greybeards.
-If, as Steve Williams wants you to believe, calling Phil Mickelson a “p—k” was a joke, we’re thinking Williams needs to find some new material. Not only is Williams not all that bright, it would appear he isn’t all that funny, either.
-To no one’s surprise, the PGA Tour could be feeling the pinch of the current economic nosedive. Tim Finchem sent a five-minute video message to players, asking they show up for less popular tournament or two that they hadn’t penciled into their schedule. In other words, it is renewal time and the only way some of these events will re-up is if some of the so-called stars on tour take one for the team.
-Come to think of it, right here, as we speak, wouldn’t Williams be the perfect caddie for John Daly?
-Food for thought: number of major wins notwithstanding, if Golfer A does in six months what Player B does in a year, how, exactly, does Player B get named Player of the Year? Math was never my strong suit, but the numbers don’t add up. Especially when Golfer A has won the crown three years running. Sorry, but you have to knock the champ out to take his title.
-Boo Weekley writing a book and the words “Spot” and “Run” are not in the title, nor is it a picture book? We know, it’s an act when it comes to Boo, but he dumbs it up well.
-Oh, and before I forget, wishing you and yours a safe and happy Holiday Season and all the best for 2009. Two weeks until the start of a new PGA Tour season, but really, does the season ever end? Happy Holidays from the staff of Fairways!
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Golf in the Olympics right idea, wrong participants
Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam are now on board as “ambassadors” as the powers that be try to twist a few arms to get golf included in the Olympics as early as 2016.
‘Bout time, don’t you think?
If you listen closely, you may be able to hear the “Chariots of Fire” theme playing as you visualize Tiger and Phil jump into each other’s arms after clinching gold for the U.S. OK, well maybe not. But hey, maybe we’ll get to see them give each other the finger at the medal ceremony.
But really, it’s time. A hundred and four years – or, 112 once 2016 rolls around – is a long enough wait.
Fact is, there is little argument as to why golf shouldn’t be given an Olympic trial. Only thing is, it shouldn’t be the pros competing for gold but rather the amateurs.
For those who believe golf has no place in the Olympics, you have never been lulled to sleep watching such events as synchronized swimming, trampoline, archery, equestrian and fencing.
Heck, my 19-month-old can perform the trampoline bouncing up and down on the bed, but I’ll lay 10-to-1 odds she can’t break 80.
So the Olympics are the ultimate stage on which to put international bragging rights on the line. But it should be amateurs doing the bragging.
It’s nothing personal, nor will it be when golf is finally accepted as an Olympic sport, which now seems to be a case of sooner rather than later, but pros don’t belong in the Olympics. Never have, never will. End of story.
But because the advertisers are willing to pay record numbers for a 30-second Olympic spot when, say, the U.S. basketball Dream Team tips it off, the Olympic movement isn’t what it once was. It, like everything else in big-time sports, is all about the bottom line.
The World Amateur Championship would be the logical place to mark golf’s return to the Olympics, if nothing else than to realize the Olympic ideal and what it stands for.
Of course, that won’t happen. There is far too much money to be made on the Tigers, Sergios and Vijays of the world.
The question isn’t really whether or not golf belongs in the Olympics. It’s a matter of who should be playing for the medals.
Steve Williams could be headed for soup line in near future
Is the future so bright Steve Williams has gotta wear shades?
Don’t count on it.
One has to wonder if Williams hasn’t talked himself out of a pretty cushy job.
Hey, carrying the bag for the best player in the world is an envious gig with some pretty obvious perks. There are worse ways to make a living.
But after this latest battle of the breath between Williams and Phil Mickelson, Tiger may choose to offer a golden handshake and cut the cord with Williams altogether.
Given what has transpired over the past few days, it’s nearly impossible to imagine Tiger, Williams and Mickelson co-existing on Tour. The media frenzy at every stop is something Woods, quite simply, doesn’t want or need. And instead of dealing with the circus, he is more than likely just going to make the problem go away.
The good news is a parting of the ways would allow for Williams to find a gig where he can play the heavy. Like, say, McDonald’s.
Let’s not forget that Woods canned Fluff Cowan for trying to hog a little too much of the spotlight. And Fluff was just as able a caddie with more charisma that Williams will ever have.
There’s little secret that Williams has always been a bit of a loose cannon. It seems nary a week goes by where he isn’t telling a fan off in some way. He once snatched a $7,000 camera from a photographer snapping for a corporate sponsor and threw it in a lake. At the U.S. Open four years back, Williams once again flexed his muscles, so to speak, prying a camera out of another fan’s hands – only this fan happened to be an off-duty police officer.
Those things Tiger may be able to overlook. This may be different.
No one is saying Lefty and Tiger need to get along. When you get 156 players with varying egos and levels of testosterone, there will be friction. And with Tiger – or at least the guy that carries his clubs – involved, you know the rift will be magnified. Such is Tiger’s life in a fishbowl.
But if Williams feels the need to be the spokesman for Woods, he needs to avoid the mudslinging and keep his trap shut. But that, evidently, is too hard.
Which is why it may be sooner than later that Steve Williams finds himself on the soup line.
Steve Williams is really important - or so his ego tells him
Newsflash, Steve Williams. You’re a caddie. Granted, you happen to have breakfast with the best golfer in the world, maybe even offer advice on what club to hit every now and then, but really, in the grand scheme of things, your opinion ranks pretty low on the list. Like somewhere between the beer cart girl and the guy who makes the clubhouse washrooms smell all pretty.
There are times to keep your mouth shut. Taking a moment to call Phil Mickelson a nasty name is probably one of those times. Not going to say what the name was, but let me give you a hint: it starts with “pr” and rhymes with “sick.”
For reasons that remain a mystery, Williams fired the latest shot across the bow in the Woods-Mickelson feud by saying “I wouldn’t call Mickelson a great player ’cause I hate the p—k.”
And he wasn’t quite done yet.
“I don’t particularly like the guy myself,” Williams added after confirming that, yes, Mickelson was indeed a p—k. “He pays me no respect at all and hence I don’t pay him any respect. It’s no secret we don’t get along either.”
Classy guy, huh? I guess throwing a photographer’s camera into a pond isn’t enough for Williams. Or prying the camera out of another fan’s hands, one that happened to be an off-duty cop. Williams plays the heavy and could care less what anyone thinks. In his mind, he’s earned the right to look down at people, I guess.
Um, Steve, on golf’s food chain, you really aren’t that important a link. Your ego tells you otherwise, but trust me, no one really cares what you think of Mickelson, climate changes or what should be done to bail out the automotive industry.
The running feud between Woods and Mickelson has been well documented but last I checked, no one really cares that there is no love lost between Lefty and Tiger’s caddie.
Williams has made quite a lucrative living, not to mention a name for himself, for strapping a golf bag over his shoulder, counting clubs and making sure Tiger has enough tees. He is a millionaire because his boss is the best player to ever play the game. He could pick up a bag while on vacation in Mexico and his pay at day’s end would be a few pesos and a couple of Coronas. Call it the luck of the draw.
Somewhere, Tiger is wincing. Getting set to return after season-ending surgery last summer, the last thing Woods needed was to have his caddie, of all people, start shooting his mouth off for no apparent reason.
He may drop an F-bomb on air every so often, but Tiger tries to keep his image polished, the one that pays him obscene amounts of money away from the golf course. His image decides on whether the Porsche is paid off with his money or someone else’s.
You can bet Woods has placed a subtle phone call to Williams in the past day or so, telling him to keep his opinions on Mickelson, or anyone else, to himself.
Maybe Tiger needs to say it: Williams isn’t nearly as important as he thinks he is.
Santa, what do you get the PGA Tour pro that has everything?
Best of the season to you, St. Nick! No, that wasn’t one of your elves getting named Ryder Cup captain the other day – it was Pavin. Plenty of action on the golf scene this year, as I’m sure you know. The Yanks won the Ryder Cup, believe it or not. No really, stop laughing, fat boy. They did.
Tiger won the U.S. Open on one leg before going on the shelf for the year. John Daly hasn’t been naughty, so to speak, but he’s had a rough ride. Passing out in Hooters, still smoking and smashing cameras. Try to go easy on him.
Hey, big guy, you might be having a hard time picking out gifts for some of these guys and gals in the golf world, so I’m here to help with a few last-minute ideas. Just for you.
No need to thank me. But, if you could happen to slip Natalie Gulbis’ phone number inside my stocking Christmas Eve, it may make Christmas quite jolly indeed. Oh, you’re all out of those. Darn. How ‘bout an email address? Autographed picture? Hair ribbon?….
Anyway, here’s that list, in no particular order:
Corey Pavin: Two of the one on the right (above). No need to order one of the other. Oh, and a step ladder.
John Daly: Camera repair lessons, anger management and a Hooters gift certificate. Failing that, a new lighter and a carton of Marlboros.
Nick Faldo: An unlisted number. In Europe anyway. Those prank calls are getting tiresome.
Seve Ballesteros: God willing, improved health.
Anthony Kim: Say, three wins this year. Oh, and a new belt buckle.
Adam Scott: Anything but a surfboard.
Erik Compton: Some sort of break. He’s earned it.
Annika Sorenstam: Privacy to tinkle without worrying if the Pee Police are outside the door. Oh, and a happy retirement for the next six months or so. It’ll be a short hiatus.
Tiger Woods: Dang. What do you get the guy that has everything? No, not penicillin. We don’t mean “has everything” in that sense. Tiger has far too much money, a hot wife, beautiful kids and the world by the tail, pardon the pun. What else does he need? Well, besides a Buick.
Sergio Garcia: A Christmas card from Padraig Harrington. Uh, Sergio. Psst, c’mere. Don’t be holding your breath waiting for the mailman.
Wes Heffernan: Qualifying for a Nationwide event and winning the darn thing. Too talented to not have taken the next step in his career.
Graham DeLaet: See Heffernan.
Mike Weir: A win in 2009 just so we don’t have to hear “What’s wrong with Weir?” anymore. It’s getting old.
Stephen Ames: More camera time. Gotta love a guy that doesn’t know how to bite his tongue.
Alena Sharp: An LPGA win in 2009. Girl’s got some serious game.
JP Hayes: Karma. The good kind, of course.
Rick Janes: A title sponsor for the Canadian Tour. Someday, someone with deep pockets is going to realize it is the best-kept secret in golf.
Michelle Wie: For Dad to keep his nose of her*%#@!* business affairs and worry about his patients, not her golf game.
Carolyn Bivens: Unemployment. Or Korean lessons.
Tim Finchem: A healthy Tiger. Life just seems so much easier.
To all Fairways readers: Peace, health and keeping it long and straight off the tee. Happy Holidays!
Stacy Lewis gets shaft thanks to flawed thinking of LPGA
Figure this one out. By now, you’re probably aware of the thorough smackdown Stacy Lewis dropped on the field to win the LPGA’s Qualifying School last week, right?
Well, what you may not know is the only reason she had to go to Q-School was because she was stupid enough to almost win the biggest event on the LPGA schedule.
Confused? You should be. After all, this is the LPGA’s brilliant minds at work again.
Since when is too much money not nearly enough? Well, if you must ask, only on the LPGA.
Exhibit A:
You see, because the U.S. Women’s Open is run by the USGA and not the LPGA, official earnings do not count. Well, sort of.
If you aren’t confused enough already, don’t worry. Read on. Earnings at the U.S. Open DO count on the final money list, but cannot determine whether or not a player – in this case, Stacy Lewis – keeps her card for the following year.
So in layman’s terms, the $162,000 Lewis earned by placing third at the U.S. Women’s Open probably made for a nice down payment on a house or bought her a whole lot of real pretty shoes, but not much else. With her Open money included, Lewis made close to a quarter million bucks, about $100,000 more than she needed to break the top 80 barrier and earn full-time status in 2009.
But because she did pretty darned good at the biggest event of the year, she was penalized. Hence, a trip to Q-School.
Ingenious, isn’t it? I swear if you walked by the office where Carolyn Bivens and her cronies were matching wits, you’d smell the smoke.
Who cares if the USGA runs the U.S. Women’s Open? It is an LPGA event period. The RCGA steers the ship of the Canadian Women’s Open, but there are no asterisks on the money list.
The reality is because of the size of the U.S Open purse ($3.25 million), the LPGA doesn’t want one event being the deciding factor on whether a player retains status. They just don’t want to say it out loud. And it is flawed, if not downright stupid, thinking. Then again, we shouldn’t be surprised. Not with this outfit.
Here’s a thought…
Carolyn Bivens and Co. are so intent on ruling with an iron first when it comes to enforcing the LPGA drug policy that they make the greatest player of a generation take a test immediately after her final round ever on the LPGA.
They may want to start passing the pee bottle around head office first.
John Daly getting desperate, Azinger was logical choice for 2010 Ryder Cup and Wie may save Carolyn Bivens’ job
-John Daly seems to be touching down on every continent - except North America – desperately attempting to salvage what is left of his career.
There was a time, not all that long ago, where Daly was one of the biggest draws anywhere. Now, with his game in the toilet and his image shattered, thanks in no small part to one too many trips to McDonalds, Daly is without a place to play and had stooped to accepting one-offs and lucrative appearance fees in one final act to halt his freefall.
“As players, we wish he’d put a little more time into his game instead of ruining his personal life,” says Aussie golfer Stuart Appleby. “He would be a drawing card, not just a freak show.”
Gee, Stu, tell us how you really feel.
The difference, of course, is that the freak show is more of a draw, a crowd magnet, than guys like Stuart Appleby could ever be. Daly isn’t a guy who will spit out some cliché when someone asks a question. He’s the guy that, right or wrong, goes belly up in a local Hooters, or plays with his gut spilling out of his shirt, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
And until people don’t want to see Daly play golf anymore, the exemptions will keep coming, even if they are in Hong Kong or Australia.
At least Long John still has his sense of humour. When told Adam Scott screwed up his knee surfing before the Australian PGA and had to pull out, Daly deadpanned “”Hell, there’s enough whales in the ocean that I don’t need to be there.”
-Anna Rawson lost her card, then got it back at Q-School again. Which means there is at least one reason to watch LPGA golf in 2009.
-No matter who the PGA of America names as the U.S. Ryder Cup captain –cough, Corey Pavin, cough – it will be the wrong choice. Given what Paul Azinger got out of his charges after almost a decade of beatings, he should have been the no-brainer choice to lead the way in 2010. Pavin is the sexy pick right now, but he is still the wrong one for Wales.
-Hmmm. Rumours suggest the Aussies will do just about anything to get Tiger to the Australian PGA or Australian Masters next year, and figure it will take about $4 million to get him Down Under. Pay that kind of money – not to mention the championship pay day he is more than likely taking home – so a Yank can slap around the boys down under on their home soil. What exactly is the point?
-Seve Ballesteros will make it home for Christmas, far earlier than expected. Life almost seems fair.
-And from the files of Captain Obvious comes word that Padraig Harrington was named European Tour Golfer of the Year. Which begs the question, why, exactly, is Sergio Garcia and not Harrington ranked number two in the world?
-Anyone else think Carolyn Bivens is breathing a sigh of relief that Michelle Wie finally got hold of an LPGA card at Q-School? And why not? If Wie lives up to anything close to her potential, she may get a lot more people paying attention to the LPGA, which could end up saving Bivens’ job.
Fairways Web Editor Marty Henwood spent more than six years as the Media Relations Director with the Canadian Tour and has been involved in sports journalism for more than a decade, including stints in newspaper, radio, new media and media relations. He will offer his unique take on the world of golf, with nothing and no one off limits.