Saudis Add Key Executives; Norman Teases Australia Stop And Questions PGA Tour's Attempt At A Counter

A couple of reveals in the tussle between the upstart Asian Tour co-sanctioned Greg Norman helmed league.

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig reports that two executives with impressive careers in sport have joined the team, headlined by former PGA Tour and Augusta National executive Ron Cross. Also signing on as Chief Commercial Officer is a former ESPN executive, Sean Bratches, a key figure in F1 who managed their commercial operations until 2020.

Cross most recently worked at the PGA Tour as senior vice president of corporate affairs. Before that, he was special assistant to commissioner Jay Monahan and at one time prior to working at Augusta National he was executive director of the Players Championship. Cross also worked as a senior director at Augusta National for eight years and helped with various grow-the-game initiatives including the Drive, Chip & Putt, the Asia-Pacific Amateur and the Latin-America Amateur.

Bratches was executive vice president of sales and marketing and served on the board of directors at ESPN before becoming managing director of commercial operations for Formula 1.

Rex Hoggard spoke to Cross for a GolfChannel.com story explaining how thins ended with the PGA Tour for the former top advisor to Commissioner Jay Monahan.

When Jay Monahan took over as PGA Tour commissioner in 2017, Cross returned “back home” to where he started his career in golf. “I thought I’d retire at the Tour, but unfortunately the pandemic hit,” he said. As the pandemic hurt the circuit’s business his position was “eliminated” in December 2020.

Cross holds no hard feelings towards the Tour. He understands better than most the reality of a global pandemic on nearly every business. But he also understands – again, better than most – that the product can always be better.

“Continuous improvement,” he said, “that’s what we learned from [the late Clifford Roberts] and Mr. Payne at Augusta. It’s what everybody in golf strives for. You want to make the experience better for fans, for players, for clients, for volunteers.”

Besides teasing an Australia event, Greg Norman responded to an AP story suggesting the PGA Tour is looking at several options as possible responses to disruptor Tours and the coming demise of WGC’s.

Ferguson writes:

The PGA Tour is contemplating a “global series” in the fall with big purses, no cuts and appearance money based on a player’s FedEx Cup standing. It is looking into another bonus program for the top five going into the Tour Championship.

Norman’s reply at Australia Golf Digest:

“Isn’t that their fiduciary responsibility, to be doing that every year?” Norman asks. “Shouldn’t that be the precedent they set, rather than being reactionary to somebody else’s proposal? I shake my head because I’m just so perplexed about it all. I’ve been involved in golf for 40-plus years, and I think I’ve come up with some pretty good ideas based off a few observations. They’re not ‘Greg Norman’s observations’, they’re simply observations the sport should be seeing for itself.”

Norman was kind in his assessment given that the ideas floated merely compound an issue some top players would like to see change: the creation of an off-season.