Over the Green

Its all over the web. The LPGA will lose at least two more high profile tournaments with sponsors pulling out due to money and publicity considerations. The Safeway event was already a casualty with the SemGroup Championship and Ginn Tribute now added. SemGroup filed for bankruptcy and Ginn says it is stuck with major problems from the slow down in the housing market. I pointed out this problem a few weeks ago regarding the PGA Tour.

PortaPro Video, a golf cart mobile golf video system, has teamed with PackageYourGolfLesson.com to create an on-course swing analysis system to aid instructors with both recorded and real time video. The company says it not only assists instruction but brings an added benefit to golf outings and tournaments.

It’s an open secret, Titleist’s new 909 driver has been seen on Tour for the past several weeks and recorded its first win Sunday when Chez Reavie took the RBC Canadian Open with 16 others in the field also hitting the new stick. Look for the D2 and D3 models in October in your favorite golf shop. ‘Tis the season though, TaylorMade, Nike and Callaway all have new models set for a similar time frame.

Both John Cook and eventual playoff winner Bruce Vaughn used a Rife Putter at last week’s British Senior Open. Vaughn had an Antigua model and Cook the Cayman model. Rife is on quite a roll with six Champions Tour wins so far this year.

We got a call yesterday from a friend suggesting we take a look at the new Yahoo Golf site. Turner Broadcasting has been contracted to furnish content and since Turner handles both PGA.com and PGATour.com the Yahoo site could really benefit. After a several minute appraisal however it seems more of the same old stuff with a non-appealing layout and uninspired writing/editing. Hum…sounds like exactly the kind of thing I battled in the newspaper business 40 years ago and it’s a sure sign that the media may have changed but not the problems. Do not assume as some in the media have this will create a golf monster for Yahoo. The product is just not that good.

There aren’t many if any golfers who wear performance enhancing clothing. Some would say it’s because golfers are not really athletes and others opine a typical golfer’s physique is not the kind one would like to see in a Speedo much less wearing compression shorts. More…

I’ve always enjoyed my old friend Steve Elling’s writing. Not always agreed with him but definitely liked his style and the fact he seems to take on those long hours of research to find the rarest of all things, the facts.

He has taken on topic concerning the efforts of PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and other like the USGA and LPGA to get golf on the roster at the Olmpics. Readers will remember I first thought this was a dumb idea when it surfaced years ago and recently wrote a column saying we don’t need another international competition ‘for the good of the game.’

Elling basically says golf will not gain being assiciated with the Olympics, an event whose history is filled with sex, scandal, drugs and all sorts of mischief that golf is famous for NOT standing for. Secondly the ‘Growth of the Game’ slogan is really a euphemism for the sad fact golf in the US is in a no/slow growth phase and the light at the end of the tunnel would seem to be money thrown at developing the game from the governments of countries such as China and India if golf were in the Olympics.

Here’s the link…see if you agree this is something we don’t need.

Before the Nationwide Tour was sponsored by Nationwide Insurance it was the Nike Tour and before that the Ben Hogan Tour. If you’re trying to sell golf clubs or golf balls I always thought having your name on a tour was a great idea. Every time players or tournament results are mentioned so is your company name. That translates into tons of free exposure, especially handy if your company’s goal is to build brand awareness, which had been the case with Ben Hogan and in particular Nike as they were just entering the business.

I’m sure Karsten Solheim was in part acting with similar motives when he donated the cup and his name to the ladies international competition the Solheim Cup. I’m equally sure Ping has never regretted the decision.

However, with all the good event and tour names taken and though I haven’t checked recently to see if the USGA has a name sponsor for the Open, the next best thing is to start your own tour which is what Cleveland Golf has done. The Cleveland Golf Tour will consist of eight 36-hole events for players missing the cut in Monday qualifiers at Nationwide Tour stops beginning in Omaha July 29-30.

You will remember Cleveland was just purchased by SRI Sports of Japan who also own Srixon. So it seems besides moving Cleveland’s headquarters from Georgia to southern California, SRI is also moving Cleveland, which is known primarily for its wedge line, into a bigger arena in terms of product promotion.

The TV cable and broadcast networks are always in the market for a hot idea for yet another of those obnoxious reality shows and should look no further than Michelle Wie for the next hit.

Just put a camera crew on her and sooner rather than later she will be involved with one more logic-defying incident. Witness last weekend’s State Farm Classic when Ms. Wie walked out of the scoring tent without signing her scorecard resulting in a disqualification. Not unheard of maybe but at a point in her young life when she really needs to start proving she’s worth all the hype and all the endorsement money simply beyond belief.

And by the way, she was one shot out of the lead when she was pulled out of the event by rule officials.

In the face of the tremendous win by Padraig Harrington there are a lot of fans who were subjected to another of Phil Mickelson’s disappointing British Opens. It’s kind of like a club I used to belong to where the same guy won the club championship 13 years in row. We changed the format, the dates, everything we could think of and he still took us all to the cleaners.

I used to think it was just the idea of links golf Lefty had a problem with, that is lots of wind, funny bounces and playing the ball for yards and yards of roll. After this week and the demonstration at the U.S. Open its clear the world’s number two needs lessons in keeping the ball in the short stuff from the tee and actually putting the ball into the hole.

You may have missed it but this week Conde Nast owner of Golf for Women magazine announced the 20-year old pub was shutting down, apparently due to a lack of advertising revenue. The company also publishes Golf Digest and GolfWorld.

With 600,000 subscribers the magazine really didn’t stand a chance to generate enough money to move the profit needle positively especially since GFW experienced a percipitous drop in revenue during the first quarter. Demise of a women golfer publication can only hurt industry efforts to attract and keep new players.

According to a Wall Street Journal story Susan Reed is moving on to be editor-in-chief of O, the Oprah magazine.

I continue to be amazed the hold Tiger Woods has on the game of professional golf. Even with the world’s #1 on the side lines the golf media continue to file ‘compelling’ stories such as the recent semi-exclusive interviews followed by breathless commentary. Isn’t there something better in the golf world to cover or is it just the rest of the stories aren’t as interesting?

In effect there may be a news wasteland to be crossed between the U.S. Open and the British which has only come to light with Woods’ injury timeout and the Yankees muddling along at .500 ball.

The fact is Tiger is a cultural phenomenon transcending the game which is neither news nor a particularly insightful observation. The latest evidence though of come from the world of business.

According to Forbes Magazine, sometime in the near future and probably by the end of 2010, Woods will become the first to earn one billion dollars by playing a sport. Talk about amazing it wasn’t all than long ago (or was it?) when “The King” Arnold Palmer set a one season winnings record surpassing $100,000 with $128,230 in 1963.

Woods’ take breaks down into roughly $100 million to date on the PGA Tour with the rest from endorsement contracts including the likes of Nike, American Express, Gillette and Buick. His current annual income is in the neighborhood of $115 million with $90 million from endorsements. If you need another comparison, the past 12 months world #2 Phil Mickelson totaled about $45 million including $35 million of endorsements, which by the way is also amazing.

While investigating the above numbers I stumbled across a final fact in Forbes and I will let the reader judge its’ place on the amazement meter. The non-phenom and current poster child for ‘how not to turn your kid into a tour star,’ Michelle Wie has off-course endorsement contracts paying her about $19 million annually which as any golf fan knows are added to what is essentially zero dollars from on-the-course.

Maybe when she graduates from Stanford in two years she’ll consider turning amateur.

I’ve been a fan of the LPGA Tour for over 30 years. I’ve met, played with and written about a number of the players including one Nancy Lopez, in my view the queen of golf.

While in the public eye she was both a winner and fan favorite exhibiting the rare ability to truly connect with fans. Call it charisma, sex appeal or simply just je ne sais quoi, she had it and it helped move the LPGA Tour to its present position. An international tour, charity benefactor, marketing machine are only some of the words to describe women’s professional golf as represented by the LPGA.

However, there’s been something bothering me about the LPGA Tour for several years. Not enough to totally lose interest but enough so to speak ‘take the blush from the rose’ of my interest. I’ve chosen to ignore this change in attitude but reading a book last evening about Ms. Lopez and then Dan O’Neill’s column this morning suddenly brought it all into focus. The queen of golf knew the key to her success and the succes of the Tour. Has that disappeared?

Read O’Neill’s column and make your own judgment.

I’m relatively sure this won’t be reported by any of the major golf news mags. So on the premise you need a break from the excitement of the AT&T National sponsored by Tiger Woods sans Tiger of course or Lefty for that matter and the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship on the LPGA Tour without Lorena and Annika here’s a bit of news.

According to an AP story Annika Sorenstam took Lorena Ochoa to the cleaners for the third year in a row at a skins game in Mexico to the tune of 11 skins and $165,000 to Ochoa’s $105,000.

Just thought you’d like to know.