Tiger Trying To Wrap His Head Around The Wraparound Schedule

Bob Harig covered several of the topics from Tiger's pre-World Challenge conference call and shared this about the PGA Tour's new calendar-year schedule.

"The whole idea of ending the season earlier was to give us a bigger break," Woods said. "Guys were taking their breaks basically in October and sometimes even into November, then going down to either South Africa or Australia and playing those events in December. You had a month or two off where guys would take their breaks because of the FedExCup ending earlier at the end of September, then guys would go support their home countries either in South Africa, Australia, or the American players would go down there to play to get ready for the following year.

"It's going to be interesting to find our break time now with this scheduling. It's new to all of us, this wraparound schedule."

Some of you longtime readers will recall that I believe the West Coast swing--when the most eyeballs are traditionally watching the PGA Tour on television--serving as break time.

Adam Scott Apologizes To Aussies For New Calendar Year Schedule

This Ben Everill story is just the kind of thing that hurts Viagra sales in greater Ponte Vedra, but mostly it makes me sad that the PGA Tour's "calendar year" schedule welcomed by no one but the four fall events, has this kind of residule effect.

The gist? Adam Scott is essentially apologizing for the PGA Tour taking quality Australian golfers away from visits to their home country events so they can play early fall PGA Tour events.

'Playing the PGA Tour is very tough, it's a fine line week to week and it's players' careers at stake,' Scott said.

'You can easily be off the tour and it would be unfair for these guys to jeopardise their careers for a couple of events at home.

'It is too much to ask.

'I am in a fortunate position where I can play and I am happy about that.'

"Economic uncertainty hits Asian golf"

As the playoff extravaganza winds down and the massive audiences take in one more week of PGA Tour golf before turning their attention to football and baseball, Asia will soon come into focus with a few big events on the various tours.

An unbylined APF story looks at the suddenly less prosperous times in Asian professional golf.

Asia's end-of-year golf round remains studded with lucrative, imported events, including the CIMB Classic, BMW Masters, WGC-HSBC Champions and the World Cup, offering combined prize money of more than $30 million.

But with about 20 international events scheduled across the Asia-Pacific region in the last few months of this year, it's no surprise that some are crowded out.

The Singapore Open, previously billed as 'Asia's major' and with a $6 million purse last year, is the glaring omission from this year's schedule. Its promoters are promising it will return next season, but the date, venue and sponsor are all unknown.

Meanwhile India's European Tour-sanctioned Avantha Masters has been shelved after its main sponsor withdrew due to the "current economic condition", including a plunging rupee.

And the Hong Kong Open, long a cornerstone of Asian golf, is without a sponsor and is relying on government funds to help pay its prize money.

Johnny's Silverado To Host PGA Tour Starting In '14

Ron Kroichick with the exclusive news that Johnny Miller's renovated North Course at Silverado resort in Napa will be hosting the Frys.com Open starting in 2014, and not the Frys' brothers ultra private Institute disaster course across the highway.

The Rickie Fowler generation won’t remember this, but Silverado hosted one PGA Tour event (1968-80) and another, the Transamerica, on the then-Senior Tour (1989-2002).

Home to the legendary J.C. Snead-Dave Hill fistfight on the range! Oh sorry, go on...

Miller joined Silverado’s new ownership group in 2010. He promptly renovated the North Course, with an eye toward bringing back high-level professional golf.