"There's no way that rule should be in effect.”

 I suspect we'll hear more in Doug Ferguson's weekly notes column on the "Rule 78" disaster, but in the meantime he documents this ridiculous example related to Kenneth Ferrie, while over at Golfbrief a staff report quotes Paul Azinger and Tom Lehman as suggesting the rule has Ryder Cup implications, among other problems.

“I think the Tour should change the rule immediately,” said Azinger, who with the PGA of America changed the automatic selection process for the U.S. Ryder Cup team to an earnings basis and has seen the new cut rule compromise that system. “This has an impact on the Ryder Cup and an impact on the FedEx Cup. They’re going to pay you not to play … I think that’s awful.”

Said Lehman: “I would think that Paul was not happy to see this. It will affect the Ryder Cup. Overall, I think it’s simply unfortunate is the best way I can say it. I understand why they chose to do it, but I’ve never been a promoter of doing something because it’s easier. Let’s not err on the side of convenience. We should be maximizing a player’s ability to make a living and move up in the game.

“I think this looks bad, and we should find a way to change it. There are ways of getting things done with a vote of the players. There’s a way to make it happen. Things can be changed.”

And this was fun...

Jerry Kelly, a new member of the Player Advisory Council, said Saturday that he’s been hearing from a lot of players at the Sony Open.

“Every single person I talked to wondered who voted for it and how it got passed. I knew it was coming,” Kelly said. “I totally disagree with (the new rule). There's a bunch of guys in there who said this is terrible.”

On Saturday afternoon, Kelly was the first player who signed his name to a crude, makeshift petition hanging on the bulletin board in the lockerroom that asked the simple question at the top: ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF THE CURRENT CUT POLICY? The unidentified player who posted it, using the reverse side of a paper placemat from the club, left 42 lines in the “no” column and 22 in the “yes,” anticipating a certain outcome. At day’s end not one player had put his name in the second row.

Kelly wouldn’t say who posted it, but he was with that person when it was created.

“I signed my name and said, go ahead, write it up. I would be happy to be the first one, if that breaks the ice, I'm on the PAC, whatever, that's fine.”

He added that the rule, “should be repealed by the first meeting. Let’s change the rule. They made the rule, you can change the rule … bottom line. There's no way that rule should be in effect.”

Ridgewood Photo Tour

Thanks to reader/blogger Rob for the heads up on Ridgewood's excellent web site and course photo tour.

"It is sad that the PGA Tour chose to act like this toward a 40-year partner. It is unbecoming and dishonors our great sport."

John Hawkins first reported that the PGA Tour might be terminating its agreement with Westchester CC immediately and moving to Ridgewood in New Jersey. Courtesy of a reader, we have exclusive confirmation in the below posted letters from Ed Moorhouse to the club, and the club president Phillip Halpern's frank letter to the membership. 

 

Update on 2008-01-14 16:20 by Geoff

Sam Weinman broke the news on his blog, with a longer follow up story in Monday's edition.

Larry Dorman fills in some key details in the New York Times. This was interesting:

One club member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the Barclays said pressure to move the event was coming from CBS, which was disappointed by mediocre television ratings for the 2007 event, won by Steve Stricker.

“A non-playing cut I don't think is going to help the tour"

I interviewed Davis Love about a month ago for a story I'm working on and the chat started with him venting  his outrage over the PGA Tour's new (and incredibly lame) cut system. No longer a member of the policy board, Love essentially warned that it was a huge mistake.

Well the first week saw many players not aware of the rule (their fault!) but more importantly, big fan draws in John Daly and Angel Cabrera making the cut only to find themselves on the cutting room floor. And it's already generating plenty of discussion.

Based on the initial coverage we're seeing the beginning of a huge black eye for the current Player Advisory Council, the Policy Board and PGA Tour executive branch. And a quick remedy is apparently not possible.

Of course, I blame it all on the ball! But that's a post for another day.

First, the controversy. Ferd Lewis explains and issues the first negative view of the new cut rule:

It says that although the top 70 finishers — and ties — make the overall cut, should that number include more than 78 professionals, the field will be sliced to the nearest figure to 70 (in the case of Sony 69), plus amateurs.

The rule was announced Nov. 12, according to a PGA Tour spokesman, but somehow went unnoticed by some golfers. Or, perhaps, they thought it was a bad joke. It is, of course, but that hasn't kept it from being adopted and implemented, aimed at reducing weekend fields, speeding play and allowing more rhythm for championship play. In this case, it has certainly done that, effectively chopping nine twosomes from this tournament. But that's not all.

Doug Ferguson noted this from Daly in his Friday game story:

“I don't understand the rule. I think it's crazy. It's a stupid rule, I'm sorry,” Daly told the Golf Channel. “I grinded my butt off to shoot even. Then I find out on 18 you may not be playing. I just wish we would have known.”

Brandt Snedeker was another guy who didn't read the memo.

He finished at even-par 140, went into the scoring trailer and was told that 1 under likely would be the playing cut, and even par would make the cut. He didn't know the difference, and wasn't pleased when he found out after a call to a tour official in Florida.

“A non-playing cut I don't think is going to help the tour,” he said. “You lose that chance.”

That chance refers to players like Brad Faxon, Chris Couch and Jose Maria Olazabal, all of whom have made the cut on the number over the years and went on to win the tournament.

But with weekend fields reaching the upper 80s, leading to five-hour rounds starting on both tees, the Players Advisory Council recommended a change in the cut policy. The board, after twice tabling the proposal, approved it November.

GolfBrief.com posted a staff report with these additional player comments:

“I never knew that rule,” Vijay Singh said. “I don’t know why the ever made that rule. I mean it’s (70 and ties) has been around forever, there must be some Tour official that doesn’t like staying here late. We’re all here to make a living. And I think it’s a terrible rule.”

There's a great way to bond with the guys making your tee times, pairings and issuing you rulings!

“Makes no sense,” said Jeff Sluman, one of two Champions Tour players in the field, after missing the cut at 7-over 147. “We have had too many guys winning the tournament making the cut on the nose. I suggested a long time ago to play them all on Saturday and make the cut on Sunday if you had over 78. Make a 60 cut. So if a guy doesn’t play very good on Saturday, he probably doesn’t want to start at 7:15.”

Sluman believes that the rule will be reviewed this year and Steve Flesch, newly elected to the 15-member Player Advisory Council, agrees that it needs a second look, though nothing can be done until the 2009 season if a change is forthcoming.

“I think it stinks,” Jim Furyk said. “I’m not a big fan of it I don’t understand why we’re doing it and I much like a hard number the reason I say that is I think one week you could finish tied for 63 and you could be playing and the next week you could finish tied for 63 and you can’t, you’re not going to be playing. You don’t have an opportunity. And I just couldn’t disagree with that more."

Update on 2008-01-13 05:07 by Geoff

Reader JT noticed the new initials for those making the cut but not really making the cut on the PGATour.com leaderboard:

MDF Status for a player stands for "Made Cut, Did Not Finish". These players were affected by the new 2008 cut line rule.

Clemens Would Rather Testify Before Congress Than Play The Classic Club; Now Has No Excuses

Can you blame him? Of course, now that the hearings have been pushed back, will he re-enter and subject himself to The Classic Club?

Phil Chooses To Study Classic Club Course Changes From Safe Confines of Rancho Santa Fe

Larry Dorman reports:

Mickelson will be skipping the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which starts Jan. 16, for the first time since 2001, and there is sure to be speculation that he is not happy with the change of courses at a tournament where he has won twice.

He has not played since winning the HSBC Champions in China in early November.

“Taking more than two months off sounds like a long time, but I’ll have to be fresh and ready to go when the 2008 season starts because I’ll play five in a row starting in San Diego,” Mickelson said on his Web site. "Plus, I just really, really hate the Classic Club."

Just wanted to make sure you were reading!

Larry Bohannan documents the changes to the Classic Club that Phil will not experience this year.

Someone Appreciates The Plantation Course!

Larry Dorman of the New York Times, writing about Daniel Chopra and his play through two rounds at Kapalua:

The winds on Maui’s northwest shore alternately howl and halt, testing a golfer’s ability to work the ball and control its trajectory. The imagination required to solve the nuances of the course created by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore is something Chopra possesses.

“I don’t think I hit a single shot all day long that was, except for maybe with a driver, that was a normal up-in-the-air shot,” Chopra said Thursday. “Every iron shot I hit I knocked down, took loft off of it, cut or drew it in there. I manufactured pretty much every single shot I had to hit today, other than my normal, standard stock which you just hit on the driving range.”

That comes as sweet music in an era of bomb and gouge, where many golfers simply blast the ball with their driver as far as possible without regard to rough or bunkers, then gouge it from the rough on to the green with square-grooved wedges. Young Daniel Chopra, who is working with the old-school instructor Butch Harmon, is attuned to the importance of creating shots.
 

Ames, Ogilvie Blast Commissioner's Absence

Doug Ferguson reports on the only exciting thing to happen during day one of the Mercedes Championship.

"It's the opening of the year, this is important," Stephen Ames of Calgary said after completing the first round of the year at 1-under 72. "I think he should be here.

"He's here at the end. Is this any different? It should be the same."

Is that any way for a former Players Champion to treat a Commissioner?

Finchem doesn't travel to every tournament, and he isn't always at Kapalua for the first event of the year. PGA Tour spokesman Bob Combs said the commissioner was at the Mercedes the last two years and "will be attending again."

"It was a combination of business commitments and trying to manage a very challenging travel schedule over the course of a full season," Combs said of his absence.

Well that makes sen...oh wait.

More troubling to Joe Ogilvie, a member of the PGA Tour policy board, was not seeing any member of the tour's executive staff at Kapalua for the first shot, the first round, the first tournament.

"I'm pretty disappointed there's no senior staff from the PGA Tour here on opening day," Ogilvie said before adding a heavy dose of sarcasm. "Of course, when you shut down your offices from the 21st of December to the second of January . . . I don't know of a $1-billion company that does that. It's puzzling."

Well, it is a non-profit, Joe.

"I think it does (send the wrong message) when you've got four of the top 10 not here at a marquee event," Ogilvie said. "It seems to be common sense to me.

"The tour tells the players, you have to be there for the first tournament, but there's no senior staff. If I was commissioner, I'd be here."

"I don't know what he does for the other 35 weeks a year. It's not like he can wander off and act like a normal human being and just go bowling."

Bill Nichols pens an interesting column on what you would assume is a tired subject: big names skipping Kapalua. But he touches on some key points...

Good thing the tour will set guidelines for its drug policy this season because evidence suggests widespread use of performance-reducing agents. Top players are having trouble getting off their couches.

Kidding aside, Woods' record makes it difficult to criticize his scheduling. Still, it has become a big problem for regular Tour events.

Chances of landing the world's No. 1 player are reduced with Woods booked for four majors, three World Golf Championships and four FedEx Cup events. He also plays Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament, Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Invitational, the Wachovia Championship, the AT&T National and usually two Buick events.

The Tour initially thought the FedEx Cup would entice marquee names to play more. It has had the opposite effect. With four playoffs, a WGC event and either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup at season's end, top players are searching for time off.

But at least the WGC's have...well, taken us to mediocre courses.  Supported the top 50-in-the-world cocoon and alienated the rest of the world by mostly only being played in America. Other than that...

Loved this from Calc, which I didn't see until Nichols printed it:

"He only plays 16 tournaments a year, or 17, and there's got to be a point where that's going to be too many, where he's just going to say, 'OK, I'm done,' " veteran Mark Calcavecchia told reporters at the Mercedes on Tuesday.

"I don't know what he does for the other 35 weeks a year. It's not like he can wander off and act like a normal human being and just go bowling."

"There's so much money in golf today, worldwide, that a ride in a private jet to a limited-field event just isn't worth the inconvenience."

Tough talk from Tim Rosaforte, reporting from Kapalua...

this wasn't the way Tim Finchem designed the FedEx Cup. And this was not what The Golf Channel, Mercedes-Benz or FedEx had in mind when they spent the money, or what the golf fan with a snowdrift outside his window deserves when he turns on the TV for prime-time golf from paradise.

And...

So would Woods, who hasn't been to Maui since 2005. That's the year the tour moved his Target World Challenge to two weeks before Christmas. Mickelson, who hasn't played here since 2001, can be thrown out of this discussion since his problem is not only family, but also 30 mph winds, grainy greens and uphill walks that are part of dealing with the Plantation Course. But Harrington, who is at home in Ireland, and Scott, who is resting up after the Australian circuit, just show that there's so much money in golf today, worldwide, that a ride in a private jet to a limited-field event just isn't worth the inconvenience.

So far, the only suggestion anyone has come up with this week is Steve Stricker's plea to move the event back a week or two (next year it starts January 8th). From John Strege:

"Personally, I think we start too early," Steve Stricker said Tuesday. "I talked to Gary Planos (Kapalua Resort's senior vice president resort operations) and he kind of feels the same way. It's holiday time. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited as hell to be here, but you still have family back home. You've got to take off on the 27th or 28th, right after Christmas, to get over here and make sure you're rested and ready. Personally, I'd like to see it start a week or two weeks later in the season, just to be home through Christmas and the first of the year and be able to spend some time with family and friends."

The merits of his argument notwithstanding, it doesn't seem likely to change, and absenteeism will continue to beleaguer an event that debuted on the PGA Tour in 1953 and probably deserves better.

"Shimabukuro has been called the 'Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.'"

Set your TiVo's Thursday. From the PGA Tour:

Mark Rolfing of GOLF CHANNEL will emcee the Opening Drive Ceremony, which will take place on No. 1 tee approximately 20 minutes prior to the estimated 10:45 a.m. (HT) first tee time.  Four King’s Guard Drill Team members from the Iolani Palace will perform as representatives from Mercedes-Benz present the tournament trophy, and spectators and players will participate in a traditional Hawaiian blessing led by Kapalua Resort’s
Hawaiian cultural advisor Clifford Nae’ole.

Following a presentation of colors by the King’s Guard, the ceremony will continue with the playing of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” by award-winning recording artist Jake Shimabukuro.  A fifth-generation Japanese American, Shimabukuro has been called the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.” He has performed at Wrigley Field and toured with Jimmy Buffett.

Torre, who won four World Series titles as manager of the New York Yankeesand who is a property owner at Kapalua, will serve as honorary starter and announce the Mercedes-Benz Championship’s first pairing.  Stephen Ames, winner of the last official event in 2007 – the Children’s Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart – will hit the first tee shot of the 2008 season.

"Perhaps Shimabukuro ought to be playing taps, because this event is drowning in a sea of indifference"

Steve Elling looks at the demise of the Mercedes Championship and comes to the conclusion that all of the things that should be great about it do no work in the current scheme of things. I particularly liked this point, which never seems to be fully understood in Ponte Vedra or with sponsors:

The low-key Hawaiian vibe, which once seemed to work in favor of the tournament because it felt so novel, has become a cultural setback. The Mercedes event draws a remarkably sparse crowd, which hardly engenders excitement across the viewing spectrum. Indifference among the top players and local residents hardly affirms that it's a top-tier event if you are a guy flipping channels.

"He better come on home with me, then. We've got a lot of changing to do."

Thanks to reader Steve for suggesting I read Boo Weekley's interview transcript from Kapalua (I know, I know...how could I ever pass up the chance?).

The bullets exchange was fun, but this is a nice one for the Monty files:

Q. You played good in China, though, I heard.
BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah, we played good in China. We fed off each other, me and Heath. That was a plus. That was a great time over there. I mean, it was great to be able to go over and represent your country. We didn't know -- I knew how he was going to play but I didn't know how I was going to play. I knew he was going to play good because he's been playing and practicing and I had been up in a woods hunting.

Q. Up in a tree killing something is what Monty said, your new best friend?
BOO WEEKLEY: Yeah, I heard he kind of liked me.

Q. He did. He wants to be like you.
BOO WEEKLEY: (Laughing) he better come on home with me, then (laughter). We've got a lot of changing to do (laughter).

Boo Headed For Terrorist Watch List?

Thanks to reader Charlie for catching Doug Ferguson's summary of Boo Weekley's long trip to Kapalua.

Airport security found two bullets from his rifle in his carry-on bag.

“That was kind of like, right out of the gate started the whole week for me,” Weekley said Monday. “They put the red flags on me. I had the cops there. I thought I was going to jail.”

He used that bag during a hunting trip to Illinois and never saw them when he packed for Hawaii. But as Weekley soon discovered, those airport scanning machines don’t miss much.

“I just begged and pleaded,” he said. “I just sat there and shook my head like I was an idiot, you know? They confiscated the bullets and then broke down a bunch of stuff, got in everything and put a flag by me. They said they were going to red flag me.”

The Rookie Class

Steve Elling analyzes the potential of young players who won't get enough starts between now and Labor Day by looking at both the Q-School grads (with pictures!) and the Nationwide Tour grads.