Bamberger: USGA Prez Wanted Mike Davis To Quit

A little slow out of the gate, Michael Bamberger files a golf.com item that builds momentum and ends with briliant, if slightly-depressing closing kick.

First, he backs up Ron Sirak's reporting in the January Golf Digest, citing "five sources" on the Glen Nager coup attempt. And Bamberger includes this shocker:

Multiple sources said Nager was orchestrating an effort to persuade Davis to quit.

Arguably the USGA's strongest asset over the last five years has been Davis, restoring faith in the organization with sound championships and common sense responses to questions following the disastrous Tom Meeks era. And Nager wanted to end that?

But when Bamberger goes to the whip, he poses some big questions for the folks running the game.

The USGA survived an activist president who is leaving in less than glorious circumstances. Whether the FOX deal is good for viewers, the USGA and golf remains to be seen, and that will be a central part of Nager's legacy. It would be easy to dismiss his failed coup as an overreach after getting a seat at the head table and liking the offerings there. It certainly seemed ungentlemanly, a move straight out of a corporate boardroom and foreign to the tweedy culture of Golf House. But the truth is that golf's culture of grace is dying if not already dead.

The biggest challenges facing the game -- the time and expense it takes to play, the amount of water and energy necessary to maintain a course -- are staggering. Mike Davis and Tom O'Toole are steeped in the game. The ultimate question for that duo, and for Ted Bishop and Tim Finchem and leaders of the game everywhere, is this: In a culture where money is god, where self-interest is rampant and power is measured by eyeballs and clicks, can they help our niche game prosper? Can the game's future be as great as its past?