Commish Welcomes FOX Sports & Their "Work In Progress" Coverage; Just Loves The European Tour

Doug Ferguson reports that PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem welcomes the USGA bringing Fox Sports into the golf world because (A) they will now be forced to show and pay for golf highlights on their nightly new shows that no one watches, and (B) they will make CBS and NBC look super while stumbling through the inevitable hiccups that come with trying to launch a full golf telecast operation.

Finchem did not say if the tour was concerned about Fox's ability to handle golf because it had never televised the sport. Miller was particularly critical, saying that "you can't just fall out of a tree and do the U.S. Open."

"It's going to be a work in progress," Finchem said. "They've got to build a capability there, working with the USGA, and I'm sure they will. They're professionals. They do an excellent job in producing the other sports that they have. I'm sure they'll get the talent together to do a good job for the USGA, but it will be interesting to see what happens when that lines out. When they get certain people in certain positions, we'll find out."

Now, as a connoisseur of Finchemspeak, anything but a resoundingly positive statement means that when he learned of the announcement, he turned to Ty and mumbled, "what are they smoking back there in Far Hills?"

Finchem's comments Wednesday about the European Tour were much more interesting. It's becoming clear the PGA Tour would like to be in business or partnership with the struggling circuit and why not?

Jason Sobel reports on the cryptic language from the Commish, which included lots of praise, speculation, platform references, and this:

“You just don't do something and turnaround and do something else. So I think the timeframe is fine. And there's nothing urgent about any of this. I think professional golf has made a lot of strides in the last five years, not just here, but around the globe, and continues to do so. And if there's a way we can do it better together then that's good.

“But if it's 10 years or 15 years, I think we're still headed in the right direction. So I don't feel like this is a situation where we have to fix anything. Things are moving very well.”

Right!