Players Guffaw At Finchem's Salary Plus Other Player Meeting Nuggets

Nice work by Stephanie Wei to get some players to blab about Tuesday's mandatory players meeting. My favorites...

*The Commish’s 2009 salary including bonuses was revealed to the players and the magic figure is — wait for it — $4.7 million. Reaction? The room exploded with grumbling and snickering. A tour official told everyone to simmer down and pointed out that compared to commissioners of the other major leagues, the number was actually quite reasonable.

Just the image of Tim Finchem sitting on a stage as one of his lieutenants asks the boys to simmer down before defending his boss's salary...comedy gold!

*Finchem expressed the significance of players giving positive messages during TV interviews. Don’t forget — sponsorships are tough to come by these days! And it’s especially crucial to support The Players Championship and the FedEx Cup on-air. The Tour’s version of the playoffs hasn’t quite caught on (shocking!), so to increase support and TV viewership, promote the FedEx Cup whenever the opportunity presents.

This might be an indication that FedEx is on the fence about its commitment to a Cup renewal. Can't imagine why.

*Oh, I loved this — beware of the big, bad media. It was advised players should try to avoid sending negative messages or anything that can be construed as such. In other words, think twice before you speak. A few guys might be innocently griping over a course, but next thing you know a reporter has the conversation on tape and spins it into some unfavorable story. It only takes one sentence for the wily media to do harm. Maybe if we weren’t given so many boring, robotic answers, that wouldn’t happen. And controversy isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just saying.

I guess my Golf World column didn't strike a chord with the Commish?