"And whether it is stroke play or whether it is match play or some combination of both is what we are discussing with the top players."

During Thursday's teleconference to announce that Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam are supporting the Olympic golf push, someone asked about the format possibilites:

TY VOTAW: Jack and Annika, for your benefit and for the benefit of those on the line, we are in the process of talking to the top players in both the men's and women's game to get their feedback as to what format they feel would be the best test for an Olympic golf competition. That will actually be memorialized in the detailed questionnaire that we will be providing to the IOC by the end of March. We are in the process of getting that feedback.

Memorialized? Ty? I think someone's been taking too many meetings with a certain Commissioner?

The one thing that we have said in terms of some parameters that we presented in November, Peter and I, in our presentation to the Program Commission was: We do see this as an individual competition, not a team competition; country-by-country, but individual, and approximately 60 players for the men's and 60 players for the women. And whether it is stroke play or whether it is match play or some combination of both is what we are discussing with the top players.

Given the fact that the IOC has said that the top players have to support and want to play in the Olympics if golf were part of it, we think it's critical that we get that feedback from the top players so that we maximize the potential for that sport, and the format is certainly something that we are going to be going to the top players and talking about before we submit the bid.

I'm not sure if I think it's a good idea that they are talking to the players. Of course, since many of the folks involved are infatuated with 72-hole stroke play events, perhaps the players are the best hope the cause has of creating an innovative, must-see format.

"The penalty wasn’t something that was decided overnight. There was lots of feedback and lots of reasons."

You have to give Carolyn Bivens big points for sitting down with Beth Ann Baldry since it was Baldry who broke the LPGA's learn-corporatespeak-or-else provision. And credit Baldry for asking tough questions.

GW: Looking back on the way everything developed, is there anything you would do differently? Is there anything the LPGA has learned from this?

CB: We learn from everything.

GW: Would you care to expand on that?

CB: The only thing I would expand on there is that this was not an announcement and it was not a policy. Unfortunately that is the way that it was portrayed.

In her defense, the media did blow that. Check out this L.A. Times front page story.  But isn't this kind of overblown reporting typically a consequence when word gets out about a boneheaded, insensitive policy?

GW: But it was a rule. There was a very strict penalty.

CB: I said it wasn’t a policy. It was a small part of a program. There was feedback from lots of different groups, just as Rae Evans told you. . . . On Sunday I was in Albany, and we have 10 new members of the LPGA. Half of those are international players. The list for Qualifying School was released this morning; we have almost 70 international players. That provides both challenges and opportunities for us. . . . What we were doing is looking down the pipeline and saying this is the perfect time of year to be looking at what’s coming to the LPGA over the next couple years and make sure we’ve got the resources and support to be able to handle that.

GW: So it wasn’t so much the current players on tour as it was looking ahead.

CB: Correct.

Are we now putting lipstick on a pig? Wait, don't accuse me of calling the Commissioner a pig!

GW: Looking at it now, do you realize or recognize that the penalty portion was a mistake?

CB: The penalty wasn’t something that was decided overnight. There was lots of feedback and lots of reasons.

Would that last sentence be allowed on the LPGA's English exam?

GW: Looking back on it now, do you wish you have discussed the penalty portion with more sponsors or...

CB: Sponsors never want to be part of these decisions.

Huh, she told Tommy Hicks the same day that "we were addressing sponsors' needs and requirements."

GW: Whom will you consult now, going forward? Will you include more people on this?

CB: What do they say . . . a camel is a horse built by a committee?

Good animal metaphor, much better than lipstick on a pig. I have a lot to learn.

What we need to be able to do is include enough for a cross-cultural group and to be able to control and announce. And not have something play in primetime way before it was ready. It was never intended as an announcement.

Got that Beth Ann. It's all your fault!

Speaking of fault, Ron Sirak says that the LPGA's triple-bogey could impact the Olympic golf push.

Fathers are angrier than their daughters at a perceived cultural insult, and the jury is still out on the mood of Korean companies who pour millions into the LPGA and have great national pride. The issue also may impact next year's vote on whether to add golf to the 2016 Olympics. It's the kind of insult the IOC remembers, such as when the Atlanta games proposed Augusta National as the golf venue.

“If you’re doing P&L’s these guys have done spectacularly."

There's nothing golf related in Richard Sandomir's story on ESPN firing the first warning shot in bidding on the next two Olympics games, just some beautiful businesspeak that our friends and Ponte Vedra may want to note.

“Our DNA is different than theirs,” John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president for content said by telephone on Tuesday. “We serve sports fans. It’s hard in our culture to fathom tape-delaying in the same way they have. I’m not suggesting it wasn’t the smart thing for them to do, but it’s not our culture. We did Euro 2008 in the afternoon. We’ve done the World Cup in the middle of the morning. We have different audiences.”

I always love the talk of culture and ESPN. They two words really are synonymous.

Skipper, who returned earlier this week from Beijing after attending the Summer Games, said NBC’s enormous success over the first 11 nights of the Games “probably forces us to change some of our calculations.”

“If you’re doing P&L’s,” he went on, referring to profits and losses, “these guys have done spectacularly. If I was holding the rights to this, this is a great time to be selling them.”

Meanwhile, the thought of golf in the Olympics prompted this positive post by Iain Carter at the BBC, with one caveat: he wants to see a better format. Who doesn't?  Gary Van Sickle at golf.com was not so kind.

"There is a simple litmus test to determine whether a sport is of Olympic caliber: Does winning a gold medal trump anything else an athlete can do?"

I feel for Bob Harig tonight, because he's likely to be getting a phone call (go easy on him Ty!) for making the most persuasive case yet against golf in the Olympics...

There is a simple litmus test to determine whether a sport is of Olympic caliber: Does winning a gold medal trump anything else an athlete can do?

In golf, the answer is quite obviously no. You would be hard pressed to get a single player to say he would rather win at the Olympics than capture one of the four major championships. Let's face it; those four tournaments are golf's Olympics. They are for players from all around the world, with numerous countries represented. True, the players do not show up to represent their countries, but these tournaments are the most important events.

There are several logistical hurdles as well. How would you alter the current schedule? If golf were in the Beijing Olympics, would players be expected to head right from the PGA Championship to China? Would they be forced to skip important tournaments on the PGA Tour, including the FedEx Cup playoffs? Would the tour alter its schedule to accommodate?

In the name of growing the game, of course they would!

What about the format? Being discussed is 72 holes of stroke play. If golf is going to be included in the Olympics, at least make the format for the competition one that is not used every week, one that is more fun, perhaps one that is more team oriented. At least in that case, players would be competing for their teams instead of themselves.

Oh yeah, you're definitely getting a phone call. Even if he has to do it from Beijing and through a PGA Tour-logoed smog mask.

"So, now that the fertile fields of home have been scorched, we're headed abroad to see if we can fool 'em into making the same mistakes. Shame on us."

Steve Elling considers Tim Finchem's "grow the game" argument for making the push to get golf in the Olympics and writes:

Costs for players skied as daily fee courses commanded triple-digit payouts. Courses became too hard to play in under five hours. The cost of a new driver, needed to handle the 7,000-yard tracks being built, rose to $400. A legion of folks was priced out of the game because of time and money. For every new customer, another one quit.

The number of rounds played each year in the U.S. stagnated. Now, alarmingly, it has begun to drop in some parts of the country. Worse, more courses have closed over the past three years than have opened. People bought homes in golf communities in good faith, only to see the developer-owner of the courses bolt when the land was sold.

The economic model of the game in the States pulled a hammy chasing after money. Now that some cities are cracking down on water usage, which will affect course conditions and desirability, it's likely going to get even worse. Crude prices have driven up fertilizer costs markedly.

So, now that the fertile fields of home have been scorched, we're headed abroad to see if we can fool 'em into making the same mistakes. Shame on us. Granted, it's a slight leap of faith to hold the PGA of America or USGA responsible for the general direction of the game and current economic climate, but in golf, most of the parts are somehow linked.

And of course, regarding the format, which in a sport full of potentially emotion-rich team formats is 72-holes of individual stroke play...

Besides, is there really a great appetite for golf in the Games among the public, especially if it results in yet another four-day stroke-play event? I'm not feeling the love.

"We have been in constant touch with WADA since the beginning of our effort and WADA has been very supportive of the construct of our programme."

Still waiting on Peter Dawson's transcript to appear to determine what kind of softballs were lobbed by the wannabe and current R&A members in attendance,  but in the meantime we learned that Ty Votaw has the unenviable task of trying to package and sell the IOC on what golf does not need: another 72-hole stroke play event once every four years.

In the first wire story that went out on this with Olympics-related comments from Peter Dawson, I couldn't help but notice this little nugget:

Potential stumbling blocks include the need to move the date of the USPGA Championship to avoid a clash in dates, and the difference between golf's newly-introduced drug-testing programme and the requirements of the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

"The distinctions between our policies and full WADA compliance are not significant," added PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

"We have been in constant touch with WADA since the beginning of our effort and WADA has been very supportive of the construct of our programme.

"There will probably be some issues, but we don't see any major hurdles in terms of reaching an understanding about what changes need to be made to bring us into total compliance."

Now, as you may recall it was pointed out here that Dr. Gary Wadler of the WADA was quite blunt in a recent New York Daily News story by Andy Martino that analyzed deficiencies in the PGA Tour's testing program.

For example, the drug salbutamol, found in asthma inhalers, is anabolic and can build muscle. Salbutamol is banned in the Olympics, but allowed in golf. Also, though human growth hormone is prohibited, neither tour administers the blood tests that would possibly detect it. All 33 WADA labs worldwide test for HGH, although the efficacy of the tests are in question.

Wadler also takes issue with the language used to describe the testing process. The PGA Tour manual says: "Once notified, you should report to the designated testing area as soon as possible. The collector may allow you to delay reporting ... however, you may be monitored."

"What do you mean, 'should' and 'may?'" asks Wadler. "These things have to be required. What if the player goes to the bathroom after being told to report? That's no good."

And here's where one can see this getting ugly...

In terms of public disclosure, the policy states that "the PGA Tour will, at a minimum, publish the name of the player, the anti-doping rule violation, and the sanction imposed" - a statement that is contingent on Finchem having sanctioned a player in the first place. Clearly, if a star player were to test positive for steroids, that player "may" face a punishment and public embarrassment - or he may not. Wadler also points out that amphetamines, commonly used as performance enhancers, are classified under the tour's policy as drugs of abuse, meaning that players, if caught using these PEDs, could be quietly sent to rehab. All of these shortcomings, Wadler says, could be cleared up if both professional golf tours would cede control of their programs to WADA.

I wonder how many PGA Tour players will be willing to see the drug testing program turned over to the much tougher WADA so that three Americans can play 72 holes of stroke play every four years? I'm guessing not many.

Ty, Will Ye No' Call Back Again?

Does this mean PGA Tour exec Ty Votaw won't have time to call editors, writers and bloggers to set us straight that, in fact, the FedEx Cup is exciting?

Say it ain't so Ty!

International Golf Federation Creates
 Olympic Golf Committee to Enhance Drive for 2016


PGA TOUR’s Votaw Selected To Coordinate Olympic Golf Initiative

The International Golf Federation, recognized as the representative body for golf by the International Olympic Committee, today announced the creation of an Olympic Golf Committee to drive its effort for the sport’s inclusion in the 2016 Games. Organizations that will be represented on the committee are The R&A, PGA European Tour, USGA, PGA of America, PGA TOUR, LPGA and Augusta National Golf Club.

During a press conference at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, the IGF also introduced PGA TOUR executive Ty Votaw as the person who will coordinate the Olympic golf movement on behalf of the IGF’s Olympic Golf Committee and other golf organizations around the world. Votaw will serve in a newly created position as Executive Director, IGF Olympic Golf Committee and will work closely with the organizations involved.

Votaw, who will continue as PGA TOUR Executive Vice President of Communications and International Affairs, will lead the Olympic effort until October 2009, when the International Olympic Committee votes on which, if any, sports to add.

“Considering his vast experience in dealing with international golf organizations and issues as a member of the PGA TOUR executive staff and as a former commissioner of the LPGA, Ty is uniquely qualified to lead this effort on behalf of the International Golf Federation,” said Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. “Having someone of Ty’s reputation and expertise serve in this capacity certainly enhances our efforts to add golf as an Olympic sport.”

“There is a significant amount of work to be done between now and next October, when the IOC makes its decision,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. “As the PGA TOUR considers this a very important initiative on behalf of the international golf community, we are pleased to provide Ty and the majority of his time to coordinate this effort.”

And now a word from the poor lad stuck who has to sell this mess man of the hour...

“Without question, golf’s international popularity has grown significantly over the past couple of decades and the sport continues to expand and develop in new countries,” Votaw said. “So the time is right to champion golf as an Olympic sport. It’s wonderful that this has become such a united effort among golf’s leading organizations. I’m excited about this opportunity and very much look forward to the challenge and, hopefully, reward of bringing golf back to the Olympics.”

"I don't think professional golf needs the Olympics, nor does the Olympics need professional golf."

Geoff Ogilvy is the first prominent player to shrug off the golf Olympic movement, reports Adrian Proszenko.

Here he shows a complete disregard for the most important people in the world: network television.

"If the sport does join the Olympics, my suggestion would be that it would be more appropriate for amateurs to play, rather than pros, to promote the true spirit of the Olympics. However, I am generally not in favour of the idea."

Amateurs? That's so last century. 

Remember Geoff, the Olympics are about the needs of the advertisers and the folks hunting for higher ratings and don't you forget it!

"Google 'Olympics' and 'Rogge' and the search engine spits out pages of the kind of bad press golf has so successfully avoided."

Rex Hoggard becomes the first of hopefully many who write off the ridiculous quest for golf in the Olympics.

In the mean time, golf’s powers may want to convince the game’s rank and file of the benefits of golf in the Olympics.

“Golf may already have enough big events with the PGA Tour and the majors and the European Tour and the Ryder Cup,” Stewart Cink said. “I’m just not sold.”

The Tour season begins and ends with the majors, despite the best efforts of FedEx or Finchem. Toss in the Ryder Cup, which hasn’t smiled on the New World side for a generation, and Presidents Cup, which hasn’t smiled on the rest of Atlas over a similar news cycle, and you have a dance card on the busy side of hectic.

“We play over 36 events a year. How many times do you see ice skating, figure skating, speed skating, track and field on TV in a year?” Jason Gore asked. “We get a chance to show our stuff every week.”

The timing of the games would probably be the biggest hurdle faced by Olympic organizers considering this year’s games get underway on the heels of the year’s final major and just before the FedEx Cup playoffs in August.

“If it was in China or some place right in the middle of the season, I’m not sure I’d go play in it,” Cink said.

Golf’s Olympic trump card is Tiger Woods, perhaps the most marketable athlete of his generation. But in 2016 Woods will be 40 years old, maybe four or five Grand Slam keepsakes past Jack Nicklaus on the all-time list and, by all current accounts, working on his fifth swing change and 10 more majors. However, nowhere on the bedroom wall in the childhood home in Cypress, Calif., did Woods hang Greg Louganis’ gold medal totals.

“If you spend a lot of time and resources getting golf into the Olympics and suddenly one or two players don’t play . . . I don’t know. There are a lot of really big tournaments already. Would the Olympics become a major right away?” Cink asked.

Gaining a spot in the Olympic Games is seen by many as the best way to grow the game. But at what cost?

Google “Olympics” and “Rogge” and the search engine spits out pages of the kind of bad press golf has so successfully avoided.

Blackberrying From Lausanne

We learned last week that Tim Finchem let USGA-Executive-Director-in-hiding David Fay and LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens inside his PGA Tour jet for the low cost, minimal upside trip to Europe to pitch the IOC on the ridiculous notion of golf in the Olympics. I'm sure the PGA Tour's rank and file would be thrilled to see the price tag for this pricey little excursion. 

The jet took on extra weight with PGA Tour's Ed Moorhouse and after a stop in London, Euro Tour headman George O'Grady, who joined the braintrust for the final leg to Lausanne, Switzerland. 

My NSA sources were able to intercept Blackberry messages sent by three of the passengers after stepping down in Lausanne, starting with Bivens writing to top lieutenant Jane Geddes.

Jane,

Greetings from Lausanne by way of London by way of Daytona and Teeterboro!!! We just touched down in the tour jet. What a cool ride. Thankfully we had George O'Grady to liven things up on the flight from London to Lausanne. It was just Tim, Fay and Ed Moorhouse on the first leg of the journey. Tim and Ed pretended to fall asleep about an hour into the flight, but I know they were awake because Ed kept kicking Tim's seat every time Fay mentioned the Yankees. Which reminds me, could you look up who this Joba guy is that Fay kept talking about needing to come off the DL? Is this a Star Wars reference I didn't understand?

CB

PS - how did Corning go, are they going to bump up their purse or are we going to have find another sponsor willing to pay full market value? 

PGA Tour Commish Finchem wrote to VP of International Affairs, Ty Votaw.

Ty,
Be grateful you didn't make this trip, even though the bottle of PGA TOUR cab we opened is just stunning. Nice sunny, smoky flavor, probably from the California wildfires? And please thank Chef for the cheese production, very appropriate selection with the cab. Hope the Corning HOF induction ceremony went well. Ed and I got some much needed rest on the flight over. Not much in the way of coterminous interfacing with our guests. Bivens and Fay looked lost when I suggested ways of monetizing and value modulating the Olympic movement. I finally had to take a nap when Fay kept reminding me that he'd love to run the Olympic golf federation if we are successful. I explained that we need to get golf in the games first, then we would codify the resource structuring.
Ed sends his best,
TF

And David Fay wrote to USGA CBO Pete Bevacqua, who apparently has created some fascinating new rules for staff.

Pete,

Just arrived in Lausanne. Even though this wasn't an official USGA function, I only had two drinks on the flight over from Teeterboro per the new company policy. That okay? Or does the two drink max not apply to me and the XC? Either way it was fine, Tim opened a bottle of the PGA Tour's new cab and it tasted like the fire hydrant runoff from a building fire on the upper eastside. I had to talk to Bivens most of the way. She tried to convince me we needed to hire her branding firm for this Olympic golf movement. She talks about branding more than you do. As I explained to you, President Rogge would not be interested in that at his point. Let's hope she doesn't bring it up at the meeting. Well, that's my update, I look forward to your response in less than two hours, again, per your new policy.

DBF

Golf Invited To Vie For 2016 Olympic Slot

I know, stunning news, but it's official: all of the rejected sports from 2005 have been asked to make their pitch for the 2016 games, and golf is one of them.

"The Olympic competition would be four days of individual stroke play for men and women."

In the April 18 Golf World, Ron Sirak opens The Bunker with an item atttempting to figure out why there is this sudden love for golf in the Olympics, a movement that finally received an official endorsement from Tim Finchem this week.

Sirak's piece sounds very similar to something we would have read a few years ago when the last Olympic golf push last died. There's the USGA's David Fay and R&A's Peter Dawson pushing hard in the name of growing the game. Besides the obvious hypocrisy of pushing for growth as they have defended "progress" in distance advances that bloated the game, the "International Golf Federation" predictably came up with a format that will do absolutely nothing to demonstrate the potential thrills and passion that we see in Ryder Cup golf.

Sirak writes, "The Olympic competition would be four days of individual stroke play for men and women."

Couple that with the possibility that the Olympics could go to Chicago in 2016 where the least interesting course possible will be selected (Kemper Lakes...no wait, Olympia Fields!), and it's hard to see how this would grow the game.

Finchem Endorses Olympic Golf Movement...

...and does it in a blog post!

I’ve just returned from Augusta National and The Masters. I always enjoy Masters Week very much, not only for the great golf we see, but also because everyone involved with golf attends. It gives me an opportunity to discuss issues and ideas with everyone from around the world.

And see Tom Fazio in a seersucker jacket. Sorry, continue...

One of the matters that we have talked about over the last several years and which came up again last week is whether golf should be an Olympic sport. In 1993, we actually announced that golf would be in the 1996 games in Atlanta. However, this never materialized for various reasons.

Let's not go there.

Since then we have continued to examine the various issues presented by golf being an Olympic sport.  While there remain questions to be answered and issues to be resolved, I believe the time is now right to move forward. The LPGA and the European Tour have previously indicated their support for Olympic golf. Also, the R&A, the USGA and the PGA of America are evaluating the possibility of Olympic golf.

And David Fay and Peter Dawson have been dreaming of their next jobs.

Finchem goes on to explain how he's been inspired by a study that says golf in the Olympics will grow the game and bring peace to the Middle East.

Here's why it will be interesting to watch this unfold: the entire thing will be geared to what NBC and Dick Ebersol want.

Now, Dick could either be shallow and obsess about getting Tiger Woods to play, then settle on some dull, simple-for-TV format like 72 holes of individual stroke play. 

Or, Dick could be bold, forget trying to please Tiger and say, we need a compelling team format that brings out passion and patriotism. Something that will prove golf is Olympic-worthy. Something that stands alone from all others in golf, but also exciting for the world's best to be part of something unique.

Say, three-man teams in a Dunhill Cup style stroke/match play event? Suggestions?