Over the Green

Phil Mickelson pulled me away from the presidential election talk with a comment made during an interview covered on Reuters News Service by Peter Rutherford prior to the Singapore Open. Cutting through all the clutter Lefty again said he thinks playing the European Tour next year in addition to the PGA Tour is a good idea.

The Euros have a 12-event requirement of members but included are the four majors, the three World Golf Championship events and of course the Barclays Scottish Open which is played right before the British each summer and considered to be a perfect warm-up. Phil is appearing in the Singapore Open this week; an event being considered as an addition to the Euro Tour joining the HSBC Champions in Shanghai where Phil is playing as defending champion next week. Shanghai is already a Tour stop and the official start of the 2099 season. So if you’ve followed the bouncing ball that leaves him only two other starts to fulfill the requirement of 12.

Though Mickelson spoke about the decline in the value of the dollar and growth of the game internationally versus stagnation in the US, he also was up front about his interest in the final event of the European Tour in 2009, the Dubai World Championship. Why Dubai? $20 million is why.

The season long “Race to Dubai” replaces the European Tour Order of Merit and if you make the top 60 you get to go to Dubai for a chance to snag part of the $20 million. I say ‘good for him’ if he can pull it off. He has the time and is popular internationally but a couple of points.

First this is another sign (Like we needed another one. Tell me where has more class, “The Race to Dubai” or “Order of Merit” … case closed) the game is being driven by money. This isn’t inherently bad, in fact it has to be, but since the ‘Era of Tiger’ began it has occurred at an ever accelerating pace. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem certainly has played a major role but again I don’t consider this to be necessarily negative but please let’s call it as it is not some misty video of a bagpiper tromping down a fog shrouded fairway which is the image the USGA continues to foist on us.

As I have written many times, golf at all levels is a business. We shouldn’t lose sight that pro golf is entertainment; amateur’s who play paying money to watch pro’s who play light-years better.

Secondly, Mickelson probably cares less about the money than most of us…he’s already rich and adding the potential winnings from European Tour membership even considering the Dubai prize doesn’t balance being away from his family. But that also doesn’t mean he is above pecuniary considerations. His personal businesses include the marketing of himself as a consumer products endorser and a golf course design company both of which would only be helped by making his name even better known overseas. And just in case it slipped your mind, China is the fastest growing economy in the world.

Seems to me we will see even more American stars heading for the European Tour.

Ms. 59 Perfum
Annika Sorenstam, former world number one who is retiring from competitive golf at the end of this year, will market a perfume due to be released in the U.S., UK, Canada and Scandinavia in time for Mother’s Day 2009. Said to “evoke the essence of Annika, a distinctive, casually elegant and naturally beautiful woman,” the fragrance is being developed in a partnership with SA Fragrances.

Wilson Keeps Paddy
For a reported $10 million fee 2008 major champion Padriag Harrington decided to keep the Wilson Staff clubs in his bag. The Irishman won the PGA Championship and repeated as British Open champion in 2008. Industry rumors had him jumping to one of the larger club companies on the strength of his winning performance.

Praise for Bushnell
The National Golf Buyers Assoc. presented their Award of Excellence to the Bushnell family of laser range finders at the group’s recent meeting. Each year the NGBA recognizes the top selling golf accessory lines in the buying group’s 150-member off-course outlets.

Less Expensive
Golf may be reeling from the world financial problems but there’s at least one small benefit. With the recent increase in the relative value of the dollar versus other currencies, especially the pound, trips to Scotland and England are being promoted at discounts from just a couple of months ago.

A “New” Bayonet Black Horse?
After a project totalling $13 million the Bayonet and Black Horse courses overlooking the Pacific Ocean on California’s Monterey Peninsula will be open for play on Dec. 20. In addition to the renovation of the Black Horse and Bayonet 18s by Bates Design, a 330 room hotel, 125 timeshares and 125 home sites have been added. The courses are on the site of the former Fort Ord US Army base being originally being constructed as part of the post’s recreational program. Bayonet first opened in 1954 and Black Horse in 1964.

Williams Chips In
Tiger Woods’ looper Steve Williams may not be toting his boss’s bag around the links but he has been busy while Woods is on the sidelines. Recently Williams fulfilled a pledge by him and his wife Kristy to donate NZ$1 million to the Starship Children’s Hospital Cancer Center in his native country of New Zealand. The donation is part of the giving program by the Steve Williams Foundation which is a strong supporter of the country’s junior golf.

Money Woes
More continuing signs golf is not immune from the slowdown of the world economy come with ADT announcing it will drop sponsorship after this year of the LPGA season ending event played last year at Trump International. Callaway Golf also said it would likely show a profit loss in the third quarter and a decline in sales for 2008.

Caddy Skills
The ADT Golf Skills Challenge has enlisted PGA Tour caddies to be part of the field, a move that may create renewed interest for an event which is part of what some call the “silly season,” i.e., those exhibitions staged for large purses after the close of the regular tournament schedule.

Tour star Greg Norman will be partnered by his son Greg Norman Jr., Mike “Fluff” Cowan paired with the Champions Tour’s Peter Jacobsen, Joe LaCava with Fred Couples and Matt Achatz with Rocco Mediate. Prize money will total $820,000 for the Nov. 3 event at Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura, Fla. scheduled for airing Dec. 27 & 28 on NBC.

The inclusion in the lineup of non-PGA Tour players is not a first for the Skills Challenge which is in its 17th year. Previously Annika Sorenstam, Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer of the LPGA Tour have played as have sports celebrities John Elway, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire.

Competition will be in eight skills: long drive, greenside bunker, putting, long iron, trouble shot, fairway bunker, chip shot and short iron. In 2007 Gulbis and Elway were the victors.

TMaG Opens Second Hand Store
TaylorMade-adidas Golf has joined with Global Value Commerce, an online golf equipment merchant, to sell previously owned TMaG clubs and provide a place for golfers to trade in old clubs towards the purchase of new. Each of the TMaG clubs listed on the site (taylormadegolfpreowned.com) will be “certified” by the company, undergo a six point check and carry a limited warrantee for 12 months.

TMaG Buys Ashworth
TaylorMade-adidas Golf, a subsidiary of adidas Group, will purchase Ashworth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASHW) in a transaction valued at $72.8 million. The price includes $46.3 million of debt and all of the outstanding shares in Ashworth. “We are excited to bring Ashworth alongside our industry-leading TaylorMade and adidas Golf brands, said Mark King TMaG president and CEO in a prepared statement. He continued, “TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s mission is to be the best performance golf company in the world and adding Ashworth is another important step in achieving that goal.” The acquisition will be paid for with cash on hand or through existing credit lines and is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter.

PGA Show
The PGA Merchandise Show next January not only has attracted Ping Golf back as an exhibitor but also the largest golf company in the world Achusnet with the announcement that Titleist has purchased a major amount of exhibit space. Reed Expositions, owners of the Show, continued to forecast for the 2009 Show approximately the same number of attendees (40,000+) and exhibitors (1,250) as 2008. The PGA Merchandise Show is held annually in Orlando, Fla. and allows only members of the golf industry to attend. Dates for 2009 are Jan. 29, 30 & 31. The second largest golf company TaylorMade-adidas Golf has made no announcement whether it will participate but the apparel divisions of TMag, adidas Golf and Ashworth are listed as exhibitors.

Tiger Woods racks up another distinction and he’s on the disabled list. BusinessWeek ranked him as the most powerful man in sports, topping a list of 100 notables that will appear the magazine’s Oct. 13 issue.

The balance of the top 10 are:
#2 – Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner
#3 – David Stern, NBA Commissioner
#4 – George Bodenheimer, President ESPN
#5 – Dick Ebersol, Chairman of NBC Sports
#6 – Phil Knight, Nike Chairman Nike and Tiger’s main source of endorsement income
#7 – Bud Selig, MLB Commissioner
#8 – Brian France, Chairman and CEO of Nascar
#9 – Michael Jordan, former NBA star
#10 – Sean McManus, President of CBS News and Sports

Others on the list having a connection with golf include at #16 Ted Forstmann, Chairman and CEO of IMG the sports management giant and incidentally Woods’ management company. At #27 is Tim Finchem, PGA Tour commissioner and at #47 one Jack William Nicklaus.

No female golfers are in the 100 and the highest ranked women is Indy car driver Danica Patrick on the list at number 50.