Over the Green

Titleist may be sold
Acushnet Co., makers of the top rated and best selling Titleist Pro V1 golf balls and FootJoy shoes, could be part of a corporate shedding by parent Fortune Brands (NYSE:FO). Rumors have both Callaway Golf (NYSE:ELY) and Nike (NYSE:NKE) as potential purchasers of Acushnet, the world’s largest golf equipment company.

The equipment business has not been doing well in recent years with insiders citing a shrinking golf base in the U.S. and a collapse of formerly high growth markets in Asia. Acushnet reported third quarter operating income down 43 percent ($5.5 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30 and down from $9.7 million for the third quarter 2009. Sales were $265 million down $13 million quarter over quarter. Compared to last year Acushnet sales were up about 2 percent to over $1 billion had operating income of $115 for the nine months, an 85 percent increase over 2009.

So at least Acushnet is making a profit. Callaway Golf, contrasting to Acushnet’s core ball business (over 50 percent market share) has not seen their basic business of metal woods expand in the face of dominant competition such as adidas’ (PINK:ADDDF) TaylorMade Golf. Callaway had more than a 10 percent loss in the most recent quarter and lost 1.6 percent in 2009 so unless they find affordable financing they probably cannot afford a deal for Acushnet.

Nike’s golf business is built around Tiger Woods and particularly in the past year has not done well as they would like especially with the previously top ranked fan-favorite (see next item) golfer as spokesman. Nike most likely has the money and it would be a way to pair the competitive environment at the top of the golf equipment market from four players to three.

Tiger shut out
Tiger Woods, golf’s fallen idol, according to a story on Bloomberg.com still retains his attractiveness to tournament goers, at least in Australia. Playing to a fourth place finish in this past weekend’s Australian Masters, Woods the defending champion still drew large crowds whether watching him warm up or his amazing 6-under par finish in the last round.

It was almost one year ago; two weeks after Woods triumph at the 2009 Australian Masters and last tournament victory, his troubles came to light with the early morning car crash at the end of his suburban Orlando driveway. The victory last year was not without controversy though, since he received a reported $3 million appearance fee which was justified as having helped generate $34 million for the local Victorian economy. Total tournament purse was $1.5 million and Woods received the same appearance fee this year.

With this loss Woods also missed his last chance to win a sanctioned event on one of the world professional tours in 2010.

The Great White Shark & Lorena vs. The Golden Bear & Annika
With the 2016 Olympics being held in South America and for the first time in a century including golf, host city Rio de Janeiro needs a golf course worthy of the competition. Stepping up to win the bid to design the new Olympic course are a couple of interesting couples.

Jack Nicklaus has teamed with Annika Sorenstam while Greg Norman and Lorena Ochoa will co-design if they are chosen. No word if Arnold Pallmer will pair up with someone like Laura Davies or maybe Tom Fazio will look to Natalie Gulbis as a partner.

The siege of Troy
Nobody has ever said professional-level golf was easy as PGA Tour rookie Troy Merritt well knows. Trying to keep his Tour card for 2011 Merritt started the final week of the season at 121 on the money list seemingly a comfortable distance above the magic 125 spot to retain full playing privileges.

Sunday of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World Merritt lost ground in the marathon which becomes a sprint at the end of the year, but did manage to finish right on the 125 spot. He also went back home to Arizona with a million dollars from his one hole playoff win of the Kodak Challenge over Rickie Fowler and Aaron Baddeley.

There’s new queen of the hill and as unbelievable as it may seem, it’s an American. Cristie Kerr with a win of epic margin securing her second career major leaps from fifth to first in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings.

“Epic” might not due justice to the way she blew away a field of the best lady players in golf. Twelve strokes over Song-Hee Kim (Korea) and by 14 over Ai Miyazato (Japan) who had held the number one spot in world rankings for one week taking over from Jiyai Shin after her win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

More importantly Kerr is the first American ever to be in the number one spot since the rankings were launched in February 2006. Annika Sorenstam and then Lorena Ochoa, now both retired, had dominated the list for four years until Shin took over.

Does this signal resurgence by American women in world golf? Let’s hope so for the sake of the LPGA, their marketing efforts and their ability to attract tournament sponsors.

A few facts though put some dimensions on the situation.

Kerr’s major win is the sixth win for an American this year-her second.
American’s have won only four of the past 14 majors-Kerr has two of those.
Kerr’s win the LPGA Championship is the first by an American in 10 years.
Michelle Wie is the only other American in the top 10 of the Rolex Rankings.
Kerr is second on the 2010 money list-$60,000 behind Miyazato.
Azahara Munoz (Spain) leads U.S.’s Amanda Blumenherst for rookie honors.
Mina Harigae is the only other American (#10) in the rookie top 10.

As has appeared in this column on other occasions, the LPGA Tour is truly the only international golf tour, way ahead of the PGA Tour or any other of the male tours. While this is wonderful and good for the game it is not the business plan which will either cause intense fan involvement in the United States nor corporate sponsorships from U.S. companies.

The answer is simple. The LPGA needs to keep doing what it’s doing around the world, particularly Asia where money/sponsorships have grown but to make the Tour work in the U.S. American players have to win and win often. In short, Cristy or Michelle or Paula or whomever needs to dominant.

And by the way, Mrs. Ray Knight made one of her rare appearances on Tour at the LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans thrilling the Rochester crowd. Unfortunately Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez in her first tournament of 2010 missed the cut with rounds of 87 and 86.

Doug Barron
I had refrained from opinionating about Doug Barron and his being the first to be nabbed by the PGA Tour’s drug policy, which if you will remember was inspired by the burning desire to get in line so golf could become part of the Olympics. The reason for my reticence was the view that golf (the last gentleperson’s sport) being associated with the Olympics (a den of bribery, dope and kick backs) looked like a very bad idea. That in spite of the big names of the game falling over themselves to help the Olympic Committee make the positive decision they did.

So who did the reported $2 million Tour program nab? A guy who could at best could be described as a journeyman and who will not be missed during his year’s suspension. Barron is suing the Tour since he says he told them he was taking the drugs, appealed and they rejected his appeal telling him there would be no exceptions.

That of course raises the question would the same rejection have been done if it were Woods or Mickelson, etc.?

Monty to the Hall?
All the recent speculation Colin Montgomerie should be in the World Golf Hall of Fame is just so much hot air. It’s obvious he certainly can play the game well as proven by his seven Order of Merit titles, i.e. leading the European Tour money list seven times.

But there are two insurmountable reasons why the HOF is out of Monty’s reach. He hasn’t won on the PGA Tour and he hasn’t won a single major championship. Those who are proposing his career is Hall material are either of the “Well, he really tried hard” school or don’t understand the magnitude of achievement by the enshrined 129 or both.

Monty’s not in that league much less in the ball park.

Golf’s Greatest Day – by Bill Bales, CEO of aboutGolf

For the last couple years I have sporadically presented my opinions through the Web site www.TheNext500Years.com. The site is home to a myriad of musings related to how we might assess the future of golf by reflecting on the approximate five hundred year history of our game.

With that as the preface, I assert that golf’s greatest day in its five-hundred-year history was October 9, 2009.

If you are a diehard golf guy/gal and you don’t know what that date means, shame on you. As a patriot, I remember where I was when JFK was assassinated, when Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, and when the events of 9/11 unfolded. And, as golfers, we should remember where we were when we first heard that the International Olympic Committee officially announced that the game of golf would rejoin the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Golf last was played as an Olympic sport in Paris in 1900 and St. Louis in 1904; before Walter, Bob, Ben, Byron, Sam, Arnie, Jack, young Eldrick and modern media made golf culturally significant.

Folks, this is a BIG DEAL. This makes Tiger, cavity back irons, metal woods, and Natalie Gulbis’ miniskirts look like Bo Peep.

Do you know what this means? I do.

It means that every podunk country in the world will start scrambling to figure out how to produce Olympic class golfers. It means the likes of China, Russia, Germany, Korea, Japan, and others are going to invest more dough than is used to make a Man Versus Food pizza to create and expand organized programs to produce golfers. It means every worthwhile country in the world will be digging their heels in and doing everything reasonable to crank up our great game on their soil.

What’s the payoff? Well, the GAME of golf wins. We get more participants and more lovers of the game. And, the BUSINESS of golf REALLY wins. We’ll sell more Sasquatch drivers, more Pro V1 balls, more Nike shirts (lots more Nike shirts), more Footjoy shoes, more Visiball golf ball finder glasses, more Ballzee pocket golf ball cleaners, more…

You get the picture. The return of golf to the Olympics represents a shift of monumental proportions within the golf culture. In modern terms, it’s a paradigm shift, an inflection point. In anthropological terms, it’s on par with the industrial revolution.

But such an event begets disruptive change (like with paradigm shifts, inflection points, and cultural revolutions). The game is going to change. The business is going to expand. Golf culture is going to hyper-evolve.

Why such big effects on golf, when it wasn’t such a big deal with other Olympic sports?

Consider the following:
*Golf is a mainstream sport with massive participation. Active golf participants cross over almost all age groups, a wide range of physical abilities (and disabilities), and even though golf has previously been considered an exclusionary sport, the Olympics will push it into a wider socioeconomic range of participants. Compare this to track and field in which the participants are typically young, athletic, and extensively trained. And, even though track and field is bigger outside the U.S., golf generally has a much bigger following. Most Olympic sports are fairly obscure, and virtually all of them–besides golf–have participation limited or at least heavily weighted to young, fit, specialized athletes.

*Golf is big business. Besides having large mainstream participation, it requires a lot of stuff: clubs, balls, bags, shoes, gloves, golf courses, golf carts, golf pros, driving ranges, golf resorts, swing aids, simulators, launch monitors… Most sports require not much more than the likes of a ball, good shoes, and some open space.

The Olympic movement is going to make golf “hip,” which will make the game a bit less formal. Participants will place more emphasis on performance, and less on decorum. Spectators at events will get more rowdy (we’ve already had a taste of it at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup–”Ole, Ole Ole Ole”). The staid game we’ve known all our lives is going to get a little crazy.

Don’t rule out that professionals on the PGA TOUR one day will be members of teams, like NASCAR (Team Nike), wearing uniforms with large numbers on their backs. Countries getting into golf in a big way for the first time will contribute new cultural nuances surrounding the game and some will find their way into the mainstream.

The modern Olympic movement is going to help transform the game of golf into a sport for every man. It’s going to get a bit rude, crude, and unattractive, and it’s going to be a beautiful thing.

I can’t wait.

Olympic Follies Golf

Though subject to change, the format for Olympic golf starting in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro will be four round event, one each for men and ladies of 60 players.

The first 15 of the World Golf Ranking get automatic invites with no consideration to the number of players per country. The remainnig 45 would also come from the world rankings with a maximum of two golfers per country that doesn’t already have two from the first 15.

According to the World Golf Rankings if the selection were made today, team USA for the men would have seven from the first 15 and therefore no additional players from 16-60. The seven are (1) Woods, (2) Mickelson, (3) Stricker, (6) Perrry, (9) Furyk, (13) Cink and (14) O’Hair.

The only other country with two or more eligible is Great Britain/Ireland with (4) Casey and (11) Westwood.

The Team USA ladies from the top 15 would be (4) Kerr, (6) Creamer, (7) Stanford and (14) Wie. Korea would have five players (2) Shin, (9) Kim, I.K., (11) Kim, Song-Hee, ( 13) Choi and (15) Ji.

Please note as predicted previously, no amateurs are in the mix or have any possibility of being in the mix. So much for the “Olympic Spirit.”

The announcement of the final vote by the International Olympic Committee allowing golf to join the list of Olympic sports beginning with the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro has been made.

In addition to the stated reasons why golf should be included – exposure of the game around the world and tons of money from governments of countries who need to develop players to compete – there is a long list of unanswered questions. I have be raising them for some time and as yet have not seen a lot of satisfactory answers coming from those pushing for Olympic inclusion.

Not that they have to be concerned what one writer thinks but because these are serious questions concerning the future of competitive golf and golf in general. My concerns where initially covered in a column on June 8, 2008 which is reproduced below.

NEWS FLASH! Canadian George Lyon Wins Olympic Gold Medal in Golf.

I’m sure I’d be very unhappy as a PGA Tour tournament sponsor, finding my event (and millions of dollars) are to be pushed back to a second class status for the sake of ‘international golf.’

Isn’t this like the car makers back in the fifties who liked the idea of tail fins, making them bigger and bigger until the back end of my father’s Buick looked like the flight deck of the USS Enterprise?

And one further bit of numbing news, there are no high quality tournament courses in Brazil much less the Rio de Janeiro area. This is in the face of a slow world economy with courses closing and those remaining open going through more than a little belt tightening. Expect the scramble to find an appropriate venue to be resolved by building a new course for the Olympics, which not to say there will be anyone in Brazil to play it after the Olympics are over.

Yesterday was the final presentation by the International Golf Federation to the International Olympic Committee to have golf included in the Olympics beginning in 2016. The IGF presenting group besides Ty Votaw (of the PGA Tour) and Peter Dawson (from the R&A) was comprised of Colin Montgomerie, Annika Sorenstam and Chako Higuchi plus PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

It’s obviously a “full court press” effort by the leaders of the game though not everyone is thrilled about adding another “must play” event to an already crowded professional schedule particularly in light of the problems maintaining current tournament sponsors not to mention finding new sponsors who will pay the money needed for even a regular event on any of the world tours.

However, the powers that be say it’s all about growing the game since once Olympic inclusion is assured presumably dozens of national governments will start funding golf programs with tax payer money creating millions of new golfers around the world. Maybe. I’m a skeptic to say the least.

One of the more interesting points though is the IGF has said none of the major golf championships will have a scheduling problem and of course Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Michael Wie etc. all will tee it up.

Again, maybe, at least considering the present schedule.

The timing of the eight professional majors (Masters, men’s and women’s U.S. and British Opens, the PGA, The Kraft Nabisco and MacDonald’s Championship) runs from early April to the middle of August. The Olympics is usually the end of July through mid-August and therefore has the potential of being coincident with the PGA Championship and the Women’s British Open.

Not that either of these two can’t be moved to accommodate the Olympic event but we’ll have to wait and see what’s decided.

Yes, I’m assuming it’s a given golf will become an Olympic sport. The final IOC decision is due in August.