Getting Down To (Tour) Business
/SI's John Garrity profiles future PGA Tour policy board member Joe Ogilvie, who has established himself as an independent thinker (wait until he downs some of that special Ponte Punch they serve up at Tour policy board meetings! He'll sound like Rick Fehr in no time.)
Ogilvie also pronounced the Tour "guilty" of bad communication and failure to stamp out rumors about its '07 schedule. "At the beginning of the year they handled it very poorly," Ogilvie said. "They talked to Tiger, Phil and Vijay," but not to the rank-and-file players, who were "pretty much spectators."
Showing a willingness to step on even the most talented toes, Ogilvie later addressed the rumor du jour on Tour -- that third-term Policy Board member Love will be awarded the contract to rework the TPC of Avenel in Potomac, Md., if tournament sponsor Booz Allen decides to return to the unpopular venue. "There's clearly a conflict of interest," Ogilvie said. "Davis probably wants the business, which is fair enough, but there's been a lot of discussion about it, and I think ultimately the Tour will give somebody else that contract." A Tour spokesman told SI that no contract has been awarded, and before one is, the matter will be the subject of full Policy Board discussion.
Golfweek's Forecaddie recently reported that the Avenel redo is pegged at $24 million. Amazing they know that without hiring an architect. And what a bargain!