Tough Love: Today's 59 Scare & Q-School's Demise

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I heard from very angry folks today and saw some of the Twitter backlash about the sheer horror of Golf Channel not broadcasting every moment of the Mickelson-Scott-Woods first-round pairing at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

In a nutshell: we've become spoiled. But in the bigger scheme of things, you need to direct your anger toward the PGA Tour for cluttering the schedule with the Web.com Tour finals.

Sure, it would have been nice to have full Mickelson-Scott-Woods coverage from the moment they got out of bed until they signed their cards. And Golf Channel called a tremendous audible by picking up bonus #59watch coverage instead of showing the Web.com Tour Finals from Indiana. (Even though it meant lopping off 30 minutes of the scheduled broadcast.)

But how difficult is it to understand that broadcast schedules are made in advance and Golf Channel has a stacked lineup this week (including an amazing 15-straight hours of live golf coverage Sunday)? And because we've become spoiled, it's easy to forget that televising golf is a massive undertaking. There are just so many hours in the day that a production team can be going full bore.

Then there is the obligation to cover the Web.com finals.

Longtime readers know that I've not been a fan of "calendar-year" schedule concept and creating the Web.com Tour finals in lieu of Q-School. The litany of sound reasons to have kept the prior setup can be rattled off at another time, but let's take note of what's going on today. The lack of attention or interest in those Web.com Tour Finals--how many even knew they were taking place?--is already apparent as the finals try to go up against a PGA Tour playoff event loaded with a super field on TV-friendly courses.

Could there have been a more cringe-worthy moment than Golf Channel signing off from their bonus coverage showing huge galleries and big stars to an empty golf course in Indiana?

So if you are outraged about only three hours of Deutsche Bank Championship coverage today--deep breaths first--direct your ire at those who have made the PGA Tour a year-round schedule, necessitating the end of Q-School and the ushering in of the ill-timed Web.com Tour finals that are clogging up an already full television schedule.

Blayne Barber DQ's Himself Again

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And while (maybe) not as dramatic as his second stage Q-School penalty from 2012, the Web.com player could not have picked a worse time as he vies for a PGA Tour card.

Jeff Shain reports on the 66 that would have put him in second place.

As it turned out, Barber realized the error as he was discussing the aftermath of last year’s DQ with reporters. He returned to the scoring area after finishing, asked for his card and saw the discrepancy.

Once a player leaves the scoring area, his card is deemed official.

“I looked [the card] over and didn’t see it,” Barber said, noting that he’d confirmed the proper total with his walking scorer but didn’t compare the hole-by-hole scores. “Somehow I missed that one on 16.”

The Final 25 Web.com Graduates Who Earned A PGA Tour Card The Easy Way: Without An Algorithm Interfering

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Next year the Web.com final event will be turned into a three or four event playoff merged with a field of elite non-top 125ers from the PGA Tour. Algorithms will be dictating status of those who get in a few fall "calendar year" 2013 events before the first "re-shuffle" makes it all meaningless.

So soak up the final 25 Web.com grads, with notes from Sean Martin. And Bill Nichols' wrap-up of Sunday's event in the Dallas suburbs that included a heartbreaking finish for Adam Hadwin and joy for Justin Bolli.

Finchem: Sponsors Wanted To See "A closer relationship" Between PGA Tour And Nationwide Tour

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At least the Commish was honest about the reason for the convoluted, as-yet-determined PGA Tour playoff system that will replace Q-School in 2013. It was a business decision. I would have been worried if he thought this was a better way to graduate players or to sift through the 126-and-beyond players to form the strongest possible tour each year.

The transcript of Wednesday's Web.com announcement is here, if you have a few hours to read through the introductory remarks of Brown and Finchem.

The central question was asked about the new PGA Tour qualifying process, and out of it we learn that it sounds like Web.com came along only recently. And more impressively, the honest answer that this new fall finish/playoff for livelihoods was driven by the sponsors and is not necessarily what is best for feeding players to the PGA Tour. At least the Commish admitted the sponsors drove him to this.

TIM FINCHEM: I agree. I don't have much to add to that. We were way down the road before these discussions began. I think because of the things that David said, though, that going forward the way the structure will be starting next year is more of an integration with the PGA TOUR, which is kind of what prior sponsors of this TOUR have always talked about. They'd like to see a closer relationship. David saw that given the restructure, and it's something that'll be part of where this TOUR is now.

But these negotiations had little to do with the direction of the restructure. This has been going on for 16 months.

Worse, check out the options for the new PGA Tour-Web.com season ending playoff at this point, as outlined by Doug Ferguson in his story today.

In one model, the top 15 players from the Web.com Tour would start the three-tournament series with whatever money they earned that year. It would be enough money to guarantee their cards. Everyone else would start from scratch, meaning 35 cards would be up for grabs.

Make $800k on the PGA Tour playing against Tiger and Rory, and start from scratch against guys who were playing against weaker fields. Yes, that makes sense.

In the second model, the top 25 players from the Web.com Tour would be guaranteed their cards. They would join the others in the three-tournament series, with everyone starting from scratch, so only 25 cards would be at stake. The only thing the top 25 players from the Web.com Tour could lose, even if they missed every cut, would be their priority ranking for getting into tournaments.

Oh fans can really wrap their arms around that one!

Let's face it, we'll never figure this one out. And that's just the way the algorithm writers like it. Unfortunately, sports fans don't like their competitions decided by beancounters.

Steve DiMeglio includes some eye-opening comments from Web.com CEO David Brown about his business.

"But we believe that mass adoption of the internet by small businesses is happening now, so now we think it's time to strike. We looked through all the different opportunities, and we felt that the PGA Tour was the best opportunity not only to create a voice in the marketplace but to create a positive voice. That professionalism, that integrity, that dedication that is associated with PGA Tour, that's what we are, as well. And we want that to rub off on us as we build our brand in the marketplace."

I'm sorry, is it 2005 again?

And the video:

Wittenberg Passes On PGA Tour Spot And Wins On Nationwide Tour

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Ryan Ballengee explains the terrific move by Casey Wittenberg to pass on the Travelers Championship, even though he was guranteed a spot based on this T-10 at the U.S. Open. He instead stuck to the Nationwide Tour where he is playing in hopes of earning a PGA Tour card and won this weekend's Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open by two.

Earning $108,000 for the win, Wittenberg jumped from 10th to second on the Nationwide Tour money list, all but ensuring a return to the PGA Tour in 2013. The top 25 players on the Nationwide Tour money list earn full PGA Tour status.

I wonder if a player will do that in 2013 when the Nationwide money list may not mean as much, all because of the atrocious playoff system that looms?  Assuming they ever figure it out.

Holed Bunker Shot Wins Stadion Classic: "I told you he'd make it."

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Hudson Swafford used his local knowledge as a former Georgia golfer to win the Stadion Classic at UGA's home course. Bulldog Russell Henley won last year as an amateur.

Even better, Swafford holed out a bunker shot to win the title, and his caddie claims to have called the winning shot in this video caught by a tournament intern (just a reminder to the PGA Tour Video Police Department who might not have noticed the film is posted on an official account).