Rio '16 Golf: What a Shame

In October of 2009, I pictured this month’s Sports Illustrated cover with grandiose visions dancing in my head from memories of a February, 1991 cover depicting Michael, Charles and the Mailman with Magic and Bird - the Dream Team. 

My imagination, dancing from those memories, conjured up a special meeting in New York City with a few cases of cold suds and a few industry friends. We’d take-over a conference room at Sports Illustrated and SI-writer extraordinaire Jack McCallum would be holding forth, along with the creative minds of Chris Stone (now the head honcho), longtime basketball scribe and author and former Vermont Frost Heaves GM Alex Wolff, legendary writers like Gary Smith, Steve Rushin, Leigh Montville, and Ian Thomsen along with award-winning photographers Walter Iooss and John McDonough.

From the NBA’s side, we’d toss in Brian McIntyre, Russ Granik and Rick Welts, for old times sake, as they were among the architects of the “original” Dream Team. Kim Bohuny, a scratch golfer out of Furman and a longtime NBA-USA Basketball-Goodwill Games executive would be asked to put on both her basketball hat and golf visor, for which we would reward her with a bottle or two of Silver Oak.

From the world of golf, we’d need some creative genius and no better place to start than with David Feherity, commentator, talk show host and former pro golfer. He’d be joined by Golf Channel cohort Tommy Roy, the executive producer on the PGA Tour but also a contributor to the NBA on NBC. Add in the great Bob Condron, formerly of the USOC and currently the venue chief for golf at Rio 2016, along with golf course architect Gil Hanse as the majordomo for the return of the sport of golf to the Games. We’d toss in Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery for some sporting perspective and humor, and top it off with the brilliance of Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus to be sure everything was as copacetic as a Bill “Bojangles” dance marathon.

The issue at hand and nearing deadline would be the proper naming and headline writing of my imaginary (but just recently received) “Double Issue” Olympic Preview of Sports Illustrated, once king of Olympic Games coverage. The assembled group would discuss the options.

Fast forward  -- In the July 25-August 1st edition, seven United States Olympians graced the cover. It was fine. There were stories on Simone Biles, the new Queen of women’s gymnastics, on Usain Bolt and the "next gen" of track & field athletes, on the most decorated Olympian ever in Michael Phelps. His USA Swimming teammates Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky had their S.L. Price moment, right alongside a Price-penned “back-of-the-book” piece on the “Refugee Team,” a group of Olympians competing without the backing of a country to call home or a flag with which to march into the Olympic Stadium.

There wasn’t a single story on GOLF.

With the sport of golf teeing it up for the first Olympics since 1904, I envisioned an issue filled with profiles on the greatest active golfers - the “Dream Teams” of Dormie.

Let’s take a quick look at who could’ve graced the “Golf Plus” SI cover of a lifetime.

USA

Tiger Woods

Phil Mickelson

Jordan Spieth

Rickie Fowler

Spain

Sergio Garcia

Miguel Angel Jimenez

Ireland

Padraig Harrington

Northern Ireland

Rory McIlroy

Darren Clarke

South Africa

Ernie Els

Retief Goosen

Louis Oosthuizen

Australia

Jason Day

Adam Scott

Germany

Bernard Langer

Martin Kaymer

England

Lee Westwood

Justin Rose

Ian Poulter

Luke Donald

S Korea

KJ Choi

Japan

Hideki Matsuyama

Fiji

Vijay Singh

Sweden

Henrik Stenson

And, that’s just to name a few of the sport’s greatest active golfers. 

The SI Cover could’ve looked a little like the album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, although I’m not a sure we could replace only four Beatles. We might’ve needed eight or ten silky psychedelic suits to do the sport and its global appeal justice. They could’ve all gathered around on the Zoysia grass with a few flowers to add some color. Peter Blake and Jann Haworth would be much obliged by the newfound work and a hefty Time, Inc. payday.

Of course, the pundits would’ve been conjuring and criticizing an Isiah Thomas-like conspiracy theory snub-fest, fueling enough debate to knock The Donald off the boob tube for a night or two, and we don’t mean The (Luke) Donald.

The gripes?

Where’s Jim Furyk?

Where’s Colin Montgomery, that old crank from Scotland, the birthplace of the sport?

How come there are no golfers from Canada on the cover?

Tiger’s washed up and can’t play anymore (Remember the Larry Bird critics?)

Instead? We give you Golf in the 2016 Summer Olympic games.

Thud! What a waste of a sport.

Just as sure as the IOC reinstated Baseball and Softball for the 2020 games in baseball-loving Japan, you can bet your Callaway Great Big Bertha that golf will get the (sand) trap door at the next world congress of sporting corruption. Hospitality and event planners for 2024, you can kiss your birdies good-bye.

It could’ve been great. It could’ve done for golf what the Dream Team did for basketball in 1992. 

But, oh no, only a handful of the best golfers in the world wanted to play. 

If it were the ’92 basketball players balking, it would’ve been a public relations nightmare for the N.B.A. and, the likes of Ben Simmons, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Tony Parker might’ve never seen United States soil, never mind NBA stardom, worldwide fame and fortune. But, this summer, golf is being given the benefit of the doubt and a free ride, PR-wise, as health threats from the terrible Zika virus and the outdoor nature of the game have swayed public opinion of the sporting slight to say, “Well that’s alright with us”

Rightfully, we should point out and give proper credit where it is due to the likes of Kaymer, Stenson, Rose, Fowler, and Harrington. High-fives to Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson of the USA, Graham Dalaet and David Hearn of Canada and Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, just to name a few of the men’s golfers scheduled to compete. And, the women of the LPGA deserve much credit as their showing is strong, but sadly, far less impactful for the overall growth of the sport.

Just think of what could’ve been as we all planned the cover and penned the new name.

What would your suggestion have been for the headline of the Return of Golf to the Olympics issue?

Sadly, we could only come up with - “What a Shame Game.”

In Your Life!

It's time for The Masters and you know the clip!

It's also fun to watch the difference in the call of Tiger's great chip-in with Verne's call above, compared to the BBC call below:

"Tee-Off" from the PGA Tour event in Boston

Notes and Quotes on the 2014 Deutsche Bank Championship:

By TERRY LYONS

Rory McIlroy at the DBC in Boston (Getty Images)

NORTON, MA, August 29, 2014 -- The Deutsche Bank Championship - @DBChampionship - is the second of four events of the PGA Tour's FedExCup Playoffs. After the full PGA season, the top 125 players qualified for The Barclays tournament, held last week in northern New Jersey. The top 100 players after The Barclays qualified for this week's tournament in suburban Boston. Ninety-three players are teeing-off on Friday, a day later than usual first-round play as the DBC tournament wraps around the Labor Day holiday in the USA. Notable PGA Tour players, such as Tiger Woods (DNQ-injuries kept his FedEx Playoff points total down), Jason Dufner (neck), Dustin Johnson (leave from PGA Tour) are not playing while Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey are taking a week off with personal time to witness the birth of their children. Casey's decision will cost him the opportunity to advance to the third round of the FedEx Playoffs in Denver. Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose each took the week off but at 15th and 20th, respectively, on the PGA's FedEx Cup listing, he will advance and is expected to play the final two rounds. Tim Clark (elbow) withdrew from the tournament on Thursday.

Tourney Sites: The DBC Championship at the TPC in Boston (Norton, Mass) and the Tour Championship (East Lake CC in Atlanta) are the two constant sites for the PGA Tour playoff system. The BMW Championship, to be held next week in Denver, rotates through various courses in the Midwest and The Barclays, the first-round tourney, is staged at the premier courses in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, some of the best courses in the Continental USA.

Pay the Man: The Tiger Woods Foundation is the host charitable organization for the DBC within the PGA Tour's season-long commitment to local and national charitable efforts. Overall, the PGA Tour has donated more than $2 billion to charity with $133 million donated in calendar year 2013. Tiger Woods' foundation concentrates its efforts on youth and breaking cycles of poverty through college-access programs for children of low-income families. Significant efforts are made in the area of mentorship, professional development and providing four-year scholarships to many first generation scholars. ... On the player's side, a purse of $8 million is on the line at the DBC with $1,440,000 going to the winner and $864,000 for the runner-up. Overall, the FedExCup playoffs has a $10 million dollar bounty awaiting the season champion with the top five players at the Tour Championship being in the best position to gain the lofty prize.

Hunter, the hunted: Hunter Mahan vaulted to the top of the FedExCup points list with his win at The Barclays in Ridgewood, NJ last weekend, shooting 68 and 65 to close out the tournament. "Jumping to "No. 1" and securing my spot in Atlanta, it feels good having done that," said mahan when he met the media after the Thursday Pro-Am outing. "I want to be the FedEx Cup champion. I was close a few years ago (2011 when he finished 2nd). "Golf is all about winning. Top-5s are great, Top-10s are great, but if you don;t win, you're not making an impact in the game. Winning is the most important thing and it's heavily favored in this format. I think it's fun for our sport to have a "winner-take-home" (all) kind of mentality, since we don;t have that in golf, kind of a finale. I think it's pretty neat with so much on the line."

Defending Champ: Henrik Stenson, the 2013 DBC Champion, is teeing-off as No. 66 on the FedExCup list after serious moving-up exercises at the PGA Championship where he tied for third place and his T38 at The Barclays last week. In doing so, he moved from No. 92 to 66 and is now in place to possibly defend his title. Last year, Stenson overcame a two-stroke deficit to Sergio Garcia to card a 5-under 66 to outpace Steve Stricker on a rain-soaked Labor Day, The 38-year old Swede became the fourth international golfer to win the DBC, joining Adam Scott (Australia, 2003), Vijay Singh (Fiji, 2004, 2008) and Rory McIlroy (No. Ireland, 2012). Stenson recorded scores in the 60s in each of his four rounds, becoming only the seventh player to do so.

Said Henson when he met the media in Boston: "It's great to be back at a venue where you've done well in the past or won in the past," he said. "I need some sort of result this week to carry on to Denver (BMW Championship). I don;t need any miracles, but if I want to make it to Atlanta, I have to have a good showing this week or next week. I'd rather do it this week than to wait to the last minute. I'm trying to move on and it would be a shame not to make it to the Tour Championship and defend my title."

Be sure to follow @DigSportsDesk for up-to-the-minute coverage of the Deutsche Bank Championship and visit http://www.digitalsportsdesk.com 

Stenson Wins at DBC; Overtakes Tiger in PGA Playoffs

(The following column appeared on DigitalSportsDesk over Labor Day Weekend):

Henrik Stenson of Sweden was winner at TPC Boston (Getty Images)

NORTON, Mass, September 2, 2013 - - The day of golf did not begin very well for Sweden's Henrik Stenson. With skies threatening and a morning drizzle lending its way to a steady rain, play was delayed from 8am to 9:30am due to the dangerous weather conditions and sporadic thunder and lightening. When the skies cleared and sun peeked through the overcast skies, Stenson set out at the TPC Boston for the fourth round of play at the Deutsche Bank Championship, trailing third round leader Sergio Garcia by two strokes. Stenson bogeyed No. 2 to drop a stroke as did Garcia, so the Swede caught a break from the Spaniard and felt quite comfortable heading onto No. 4 as the skies darkened.

The mental gamesmanship was off to a soggy start and some 20 golfers were within striking distance on a course where soggy greens lent their way to low scoring as the thunder rumbled. But like those cloudy skies, Henrik Stenson had seen the dark side of the game before, when he suffered through two major slumps - maybe even chasms - back in 2001-02 and again in 2011.

"The one I had back in '01-02, when I was really, really lost," he noted when asked to compare the two lapses in his pro career. "I was lost and confused with my game and with my swing and everything. It's the frustration of dealing with that, because I've had enough good results to know I can play this game at a very high level. Not to be able to be anywhere near that standard is, of course, frustrating."

There was a noticeable difference between the slumps, some 10 or 11 years ago and the smaller imbalance in his game from 2011-12. So, stepping up to the fourth, Stenson proceeded to birdie four of his next five holes before the skies threatened so much that the PGA Tour officials blew the siren, right after he putted for birdie on the par-3 eighth hole. When play resumed after a 1:51 delay, Stenson had a much-mental break to focus his game once more. He stepped out to warm-up at the range, then walked up to the ninth hole and ripped his 3-iron tee shot to finish 33 on the way out, grabbing a strangle hold of the DBC lead where he didn't look back until he faced another bout of adversity on the back nine.

Veteran Steve Stricker was applying pressure and was hovering closely behind on the leaderboard. At 17, Stenson, having found the bunker, sealed the tournament by holing out for a birdie to bring him to -22 on the tournament board, securing a comfortable lead as he walked to the 18th and final hole.

"I hit it left on 17 and I was going to hit a little nine-iron there and tugged it a bit left but got a good lie in the bunker," he said. "I thought I was going to look at a four, five or six-footer for the par, but you know how it turned out, so that made the walk to 18 a little bit easier."

Stricker would proceed to birdie his final two holes and card (66-68-63-67) for the tournament to rise up the FedEx Cup points standings to a lofty seventh place but it wasn't enough to unseat Stenson who took home honors at Boston, including a hefty $1.44 million, then paid the Beantown patrons back by donating a significant portion of his winnings to the One Fund, established to help the victims of the senseless bombing at the Boston Marathon this past March.

With the victory, Stenson jumped ahead of Tiger Woods amongst the FedEx Cup points standings. Stenson will advance to the BMW Championship in the 'burbs of Chicago where the Top 70 PGA Tour players compete for the challenge to rank amongst in the Top 30 FedEx Cup qualifiers. It's all for a chance to grab the $10 million first place prize at the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola, the final round of the complicated PGA Tour playoff system. Embedded in the system is an advantage for the Top 5 FedEx Cup points holders who can win the $10-mil automatically with a win at East Lake GC, the site of the Tour Championship, scheduled September 19-22.

For Stenson, it was his first win on the PGA tour since the 2009 Players Championship, and his first overall win since the South African championship in 2012. His TPC Boston round of (67-63-66-66) earned him a chance to win the top prize on the tour championship with only two weeks left on the season, but it came with some cause for reflection for the dismal days of 2011.

"My 2011 was a really poor season, by any standards," he said. "But, I started coming back at beginning of last year. At the end of the year, I won the South African open but then I didn't get it going early this year. Houston (Open) time, I got my ticket to Augusta, and from then on, it's been steady progress and a couple of fantastic months. This is icing on the cake. I was longing for a win and I got it."

Yes, he got it with the hole-out from the bunker which sealed his fate and the tournament much to the dismay of a charging veteran golfer in Stricker, a self-proclaimed scoreboard watcher, who heard the crowd reaction and saw the number change when Stenson sealed the tournament.

"I just kind of rolled my eyes and said to my caddie, that he's been knocking on the door for a couple months," said Stricker. "He's been playing some great golf. You don;t think it's going to happen to you (when you are defeated) when a guy holes out from a bunker. But, I was a couple of shots back at the time, so I don't think - unless he made bogey - it would've changed things. But, you play it out.

"I was trying to make eagle on the last because you just don't know if a guy is going to run into trouble on the last and you have to play 72 holes. Good for him. Great shot, and like I said, he's been knocking at the door for quite some time and he finally got his win."

"I'm just going to continue to play my best," said the FedEx Cup points leader when he was asked about the next two weeks on the tour. "That's gotten me a very long way. It's going to be no different going to Chicago. I'm going to try my best there and then in Atlanta. I've always been a pretty good front-runner. I always like to think that the 'other guy' is going to have to play better than I do, if I'm in the lead. So, that's always been the mindset and I won a lot of those tournaments," he added smiling at his family seated in the back of the media interview room, his son nodding off.

"Yeah, I'm going to try my hardest. We'll see what happens.

"Chicago ... CHI-CA-GO!"

"Yeah."

Lefty Shoots a 63, Then Shows his Real Priorities

 (This column is the lead of the Digital Sports Desk (dot) com coverage of this weekend's Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, the second round of the PGA Tour's Fed Ex Cup Playoffs).  Be sure to follow #DigSportsDesk on Twitter and click HERE for more of this weekend's coverage, scores, stats and video).

Phil Mickelson at the DBC Championship

NORTON, Mass - August 30, 2013 -- Every weekend duffer in the world wishes he could relate to the golf game of Phil Mickelson. If it’s been said once, it's been said a million times on courses all around the world.  "Just once, I wish I could hit it like the Lefty."  Or, "if I could play like Phil Mickelson - just one round - I'd be the happiest golfer on the planet."

Reality sets in, however, when you look at the leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second rung on the ladder for the complicated PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoff system, and you see the fact Mickelson birdied seven of his first nine holes and made the turn with a 28 on his scorecard on the way to carding a tournament-leading 63 on the par-71 TPC Boston. The fact of the matter is many a weekend warrior has looked down to his scorecard after only four holes to see the same number on his card and felt the agony of defeat in the mind games of golf.

Yet, while we are not all golfers, every father in the world found a way to relate to Mickelson today.  After the 2013 British Open champion answered all the golf-related questions, telling the assembled media what clubs he had in his bag and how he actually did think of the illustrious "59" after his amazing first nine holes today, Mickelson was asked about whether he had time to get home this week to take his daughter, Amanda, to her first day of high school. At that moment, the golfer became a father who let his guard down as the visions of his baby girl danced in his mind’s eye. His eyes seemed to mist over as they do for all Dad's when we're asked about the fact our "little girls" have grown-up to be young women.

"I was able to take her (to school)," said Mickelson. "It's a big change to see how quickly it's gone and for her to be starting high school and in four years, off to college. I was glad to that I was able to be home for that."

With that short description of everyday life as the shadows get longer, and late August turns into September on the calendar and so many mothers and fathers across the United States grab the camera and take that patented still photo on the front steps in front of the front door, Phil Mickelson the golfer reminded everyone, his first priority in life is his family.

Sometimes in the big-time world of bigger-time sports, we all tend to forget the fact we're watching everyday people do extraordinary things right after they’ve done the everyday things themselves. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is married to a supermodel and his athleticism allows him to throw touchdown passes in the same manner many of us flip pancakes, three or four every Sunday, but the truth of the matter is that there are three kids - John, Benjamin and Vivian - who think of Brady in only one way - as their Dad.

Similarly, back in Racho Sante Fe, California, Amanda, Sophia and Evan might watch their Dad play a little golf this weekend but when it all comes down to that everyday life we all treasure, they’ll just be happy that their father, Phil, is home for dinner on Tuesday night.

In Your Life, Have You Ever Seen Anything Like That?

I really enjoy The Masters.  It is... Perfect.

And, for frequent and longtime readers of this blog, this is NOT the first time nor the last you will see this clip.

There are some calls from televised sports history that always make the Top 10s.

You know them all. The Stanford Band ... to "The Giants Win the Pennant" ... Touchdown pass by Flutie ... The Kurt Gibson, "I can't believe what I just saw," ... "Do You Believe in Miracles?" ... and "Down Goes Frazier!"

There are some others.

I have one call that is often overlooked on the all-time Top 10s.  

Admittedly, the highlight is the key and in this instance, it's not only the highlight, but the circumstance and the set-up for the moment.

It's the 2005 Masters at Augusta, 16th hole.

Chris DiMarco has Tiger Woods in his sights, as he turned "Amen Corner" and birdied 14 to cut Tiger's lead - which was three at the 10th, to two, then to one after the 15th.  DiMarco was sitting pretty on 16 with his ball right in the middle of the green.  Woods hit a shot off the green against the "second cut," more or less into no-man's land on the slope.

Verne Lundquist and his CBS golf partner from 2002-06, Lanny Wadkins, set the scene and this is what happened as Verne said, "Lanny, what about this?"

Tiger Loves the PGA Playoffs

By TERRY LYONS
(Special to DigitalSportsDesk)

NORTON, Mass. – August 31, 2012 -- For any sports fan, September might be the most wonderful time of the year. Major League Baseball begins its playoff stretch in earnest and the new, extra wildcard spot means the world to fans in cities from Baltimore to Tampa to Oakland to St. Louis to Los Angeles, amongst others. Ask an NFL football fan to a Sunday or Monday night dinner and movie and you’re likely to get the grande blow-off.  Have you seen your neighbor with the Notre Dame flag flying on his house lately?  Well, he might be in Ireland this weekend rooting against the Midshipmen. Tennis anyone? Hardcore tennis fans from far and wide travel to New York every Labor Day for the U.S. Open, one of the great spectacles of American sports.

Tiger Woods at the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship

Golf you ask? Even the most savvy golf aficionado might struggle to explain the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup system to determine the PGA Tour Champion, now in its sixth year.

Like the fiasco that is college football’s BCS or the (insert sponsor here) NASCAR championship, the PGA, in 2007, created a complicated points system to crown its playoff champion.

  

Sounds fine, right?

Fine, except for the fact the FedEx Cup rules have been tweaked so often by the tour hierarchy and its promotional partner, FedEx, the average sports fan need a 30-minute video tutorial rather than a simple bracket sheet.

What’s the good news, you might ask?  The PGA Tour FedEx Cup system seems to be catching on with players and fans alike and there is no better person to explain that fact than Tiger Woods, who shot a scorching (-7) 64 to take a share in the lead at the Deutche Bank Championship on the outskirts of Boston.

“I think we’re just trying to play for position in the Tour Championship,” said Woods to the assembled media at the TPC in Boston, “because we know if we’re in the top five and we win the Tour Championship, you automatically win the FedEx Cup. The guys are just trying to position themselves and, somehow, try and get there.

“It’s one of those weird things, you could win all three of these events (the early round PGA playoffs at the Barclays/Bethpage, Deutsche Bank Championship/TPC Boston and the BMW Championship/Crooked Stick GC in Carmel, Indiana) and still lose the fedEx Cup,” said Woods, smiling at the dilemma.

“The argument would be, unfortunately for you (New England) Pats fans – what was it? 18-0? And, they, unfortunately, lost one. That’s kind of the argument, but that’s also why they set it up that way. Just because you sweep the playoffs, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed that you’re going to win the overall title.”

While New England Patriots fans and coach Bill Belichick might cringe at the comparison, as would Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs (NBA regular season champion each of the last two years with no rings since 2007), the fact of the matter is underlined by Woods’ point – sweeping the early rounds of the playoffs doesn’t earn a thing come Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals nor any other sport.

The key is positioning and being at your best when the PGA Tour tees it up at the annual Tour Championship, scheduled this year for September 20-23 at the East Lake GC in Atlanta, Georgia.

Do you think the system is gaining some momentum with the fans, Woods was asked by DigitalSports Desk?

“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “The fans are starting to understand it, they’re starting to get it, and we, as players, are starting to get it, too.

“The format has changed. The points structure has changed, and I think we’re trying to figure it out now and starting to have a better understanding of what’s going on.”

* * *

Here is a quick tutorial, courtesy of PGATour.com –

The 2012 FedExCup Regular Season will consist of the events beginning with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and ending with the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.

The PGA TOUR Playoffs in 2012 will consist of The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.

Points Distribution: FedEx Cup Season

• Official PGA TOUR events each award 500 FedEx Cup points to first place.
• The Masters Tournament, THE PLAYERS Championship, U.S. Open Championship, British Open and the PGA Championship award 600 FedEx Cup points to first place.
• The first three World Golf Championships events award 550 FedEx Cup points to first place.
• Additional events played during the FedExCup Season (those played the same week as a major or World Golf Championships) award 250 FedExCup points to first place.

Additional notes on the system and the PGA Tour and FedEx Cup agreement, extended through 2012 earlier this year:

The PGA TOUR and FedEx Corp. announced a five-year extension  of the company’s umbrella sponsorship of the FedEx Cup, effective 2013 through 2017.

The FedExCup introduced a season-long competitive and promotional platform for the PGA Tour in 2007.

The promotion offers $35 million in total bonus money to players based on their finish in the (points) standings, including $10 million to the winner. Beginning in 2013, the four-tournament PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup will be officially called the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

What They’re Saying:

"Since its inception in 2007, the FedEx Cup has transformed the competitive landscape on the PGA Tour and significantly benefitted all of our stakeholders," said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. "It makes every FedEx Cup event more meaningful, adding substantial value to our tournaments, title sponsors and television partners. Most importantly, the FedEx Cup offers our fans more ways to engage in our sport.”

TIGER and T ...

The DigitalSportsDesk crew is covering the PGA Tour Playoffs at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.  Here's a little tweet after Tiger Woods did some tweeting himself ... with seven birdies, one bogey and a -7 (64) to take share of the lead after 1 round.

#TigerWoods meets the press at the #DeutscheBankChamp in Boston after shooting -7 at #TPCBoston twitter.com/DigSportsDesk/…
— DigitalSportsDesk (@DigSportsDesk) August 31, 2012

"In Your Life, Have You Ever seen ..."

In honor of today's 75th Masters, here's Verne Lundquist's call of the greatest moment in professional golf history and one of the best sports moments in history when Tiger Woods played The 2005 Masters.  Enjoy!

Top Ten Sports Stories of 2010

Here is the my list of the top 10 most important sports stories of 2010:

1. Tiger Woods' falls from PGA's #1 golfer, world's most popular athlete and top sporting world endorsement icon.

2. Lebron James flubbed his decision to join Miami Heat and ruins his global reputation and fan following.

3. The Giants won the pennant, the Giants won the pennant and World Series + the record low interest of MLB World Series.

4. Spain took the 2010 World Cup in South Africa - as top honor in a great year for Spanish sports teams and players.

5. New Orleans Saints won 2010 Super Bowl to bring New Orleans one step further back from Katrina

6. Duke beat Butler to end Cinderella story of NCAA's/March Madness.

7. Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics marred by death of 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvil of Georgia

8. Hall of Fame Coach John Wooden passed away at age 99.

9. Sidney Crosby scores in OT to beat USA for Olympic Gold medal in ice hockey.

10. NBA All-Star Game drew 108, 713 fans to Cowboys Stadium, largest basketball crowd ever.

Tiger

Tiger Woods apology was compelling TV viewing which apparently stopped trading on the floor of the stock exchange and merc exchange.  My take on the continuing drama: His remarks ran 13.5 minutes but they will fuel some 48+ hours to months of talk show fodder for TV, radio, online, gossip pages and water-cooler chatter.  Most of the chatter is baseless and a waste of time.


From the start, I've thought that only two people and their kids really matter in this whole hill of beans.


What will continue?  The public relations gurus and many others - in and out of sport, golf, TV, will attempt to make a name for themselves or make a few bucks from these unfortunate circumstances that Tiger - and only Tiger - is responsible and accountable for.


See exhibit 1-A:  available if you have a subscription to Sports Business Daily:  http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=tdi.external&departmentID=24&remote_url=biz_wire

If not, here is portion:

At Tiger Woods’s press conference, he will speak to the media about his alleged indiscretion and the future of his career. Will it be received as an act of contrition or suspicion?

Gregory FCA, a national top 40 public relations firm and the largest in Pennsylvania, will conduct an online survey of sentiment among millions of blogs and bloggers, using data from Nielsen Online’s BuzzMetrics, to determine whether Tiger Woods’s image and reputation have been enhanced or diminished in the hours and days following his press conference.


The results will at first evaluate the sentiment of bloggers throughout the Internet and will be available by 1:30 p.m. EST. Gregory FCA will continue the survey throughout the day and through the weekend as the online conversation unfolds and sentiment changes.

The final report, available Monday, Feb. 22 at 11 a.m. EST, will sample a broad cross section of digital media including blogs, message boards, forums, Web sites, Twitter, and reader comments from more than 100 million online sources. Gregory FCA will be able to provide reliable information to the media on which to base their reporting of a story that has enthralled the American public.
 

I hope he can work things out for his family.  Period.  I'll have nothing more to say or add to that out of respect for his wife and kids.

Oh Tiger, We will miss Ye

 For the indefinite period of time, I will miss Sunday afternoons with some time to relax and shots like this:

Tiger PR Stategy? Opinions Everywhere

Tiger's decision to step away from the game just made this story legit general and sports news... This CNN piece is certainly worth a few minutes of your time:

Sully on Tiger

This from a Kevin Sullivan blog now featured on Yahoo.com:

Tell it first, tell it yourself and tell it all. That is the tried and true formula for handling a messy public relations crisis in the smoothest possible way.

When Tiger Woods let 13 hours lapse after Friday's early-morning accident without issuing an explanation, he ceded control of his story not only to legitimate news outlets, but also to celebrity gossip mongers on the hunt for a tale –- made up or otherwise -– of adultery and mayhem. The story of Tiger's first major off-the-course bogey was in their sights and the race was on to fill in the juicy details.

Woods hired attorney Mark NeJame, which shouldn't raise eyebrows -– after all, the police are investigating Woods' crash -– but repeatedly declining to be interviewed by the police makes it look like he has something to hide.

When Woods finally responded with a Sunday afternoon statement, he called the rumors false, malicious and irresponsible. Good for Tiger, who has a track record of successfully taking on the tabloids. But while he took responsibility for the crash, he provided scant information. ”I want to keep it (private),” Woods said of the details surrounding the middle-of-the-night incident. Good luck with that.

Woods' strategy leaves many questions unanswered, which has ignited a media frenzy to fill in the blanks and take down the world's most successful and well-known athlete.

Tiger's problem is that we've seen plenty of public figures in hot water make stern denials only to later be backpedaled into confessions after third parties talk or more information is unearthed. Remember the cases of Marion Jones, Michael Vick and Pete Rose, to name a few -– along with a parade of politicians, most recently former Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards –- who misled and later came clean.

I want to believe Woods that all those salacious rumors are false. I certainly don't blame him for wanting to keep private whatever happened that night between him and his wife, Elin. But it's unrealistic. The state police want answers about the incident. The media won't let it go. And while Rachel Uchitel has denied the National Enquirer report that she had an affair with Woods, watching the video of her at LAX Sunday standing silently before the cameras alongside celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, it's hard to imagine that we're not going to hear from her soon.

So here are three suggestions for Woods:

1. Don't delay. Hold your scheduled press conference Tuesday to kick off the Chevron World Challenge, which, since it benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation among other charities, makes it the perfect backdrop. Without going into every private detail, provide a sense of what led to the collision. Give an explanation, take a couple questions, and then move on to previewing the tournament and how it will benefit the work of your foundation.

2. If you have something to own up to, do it completely and you will be forgiven. Just ask Kobe Bryant.

3. If not, disarm the skeptics with your sense of humor. Gary Peterson of the Contra Costa Times had a suggestion: Say you were excited about a Black Friday sale and got carried away. Then give a sincere explanation.

Anything that actually addresses the incident will bring Woods one step closer to putting it behind him. Otherwise, he better get used to seeing the TMZ.com van hanging around his subdivision.

this from:

Kevin Sullivan is the founder of Kevin Sullivan Communications, LLC. He was White House communications director under President George W. Bush, and before that was a communications executive with NBC Universal, NBC Sports and the Dallas Mavericks.

Ramble On ... Thanksgiving Sunday Musings

Okay? Who had the worst Thanksgiving weekend? Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin or the PR guy for Chevron World Challenge golf tourney?

Our online community has hit new levels of cyber-chase with the Tiger/Elin Woods car crash story. PR execs and crisis communications gurus are using the news frenzy to waive their business cards and grab public attention in the 48-hours since the initial report of the early Friday morning incident.

I'll choose to stay out of the commentary business but I will offer two or three cents of viewpoint:

1. Like everyone else, I think Tiger and his IMG handlers have blown this in epic proportions. The silence - all day Friday, all day Saturday and well into the afternoon today, has fueled speculation from every precinct from the PGA to TMZ. Addressing it no later than Saturday morning, then referring all additional questions to one single spokesperson (IMG's designee in a city other than Orlando) who could schedule one daily update which would've provided Woods with total control over the media coverage.

Also, announcing the site of a scheduled meeting with law enforcement officials at a location other than his home, would have allowed the authorities to secure his home and rope off an area to keep media at a distance to provide a reasonable amount of privacy for Tiger and his neighbors.

2. Obviously, one of those neighbors - whoever called the 911 - is a first-hand eye witness of the incident. Now that the story has fueled possible wrong-doing, the eye witnesses are a major part of the story.

3. During instances like this, I often wonder what would happen if the circumstances were different, and say, it were an NBA player and his wife or girlfriend, rather than a golfer. Can you imagine the coverage? The differences? Or, if the roles were changed and Tiger's wife was the one in the car and he was found standing over her with a golf club in hand?

Let the speculation continue. It's past 2:00pm est.

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Notice? Not a world from the PGA Tour and its commissioner?

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On another subject, St. John's is 5-0. including consecutive victories over (ranked) Siena on neutral court and a road win over Temple.

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Mareen Dowd on Abe Pollin is worth a read.

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Shooting for Tiger...

In every sport, we've heard it time and time again. Who will be the next Babe Ruth? Who will be the next Bobby Orr? Who will be the next Gale Sayers? Who will be the next Roberto Clemente? Who will be the next Michael Jordan?

In golf, the question is: "Who will be the next TIGER WOODS?"

“Shooting For Tiger: How Golf’s Obsessed New Generation Is Transforming a Country Club Sport” by William Echikson takes a look at that question in the world of golf, as marketers, fans and networks look to where golf’s next stars will come from and who they may be. Echikson followed the junior golf circuit of the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and many of its young players who are striving to become the next Tiger…or Tigress.

Echikson, an author and former staff correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE, and Business Week who also worked as the Brussels bureau chief of the Dow Jones Newswires, embarked on the journey of junior golf with his son Samuel. Along the way, he gained unique access to some of the most gifted young golfers in the world to report his fascinating insight to the mind-set of teenage athletes who face the challenges of the golf course and its potential to lead them to a life on teh PGA or LPGA tour..

Seventeen-year-old Vicky Hurst (Melbourne, FL) is one of the rising stars profiled in “Shooting For Tiger.” Dubbed “the female Tiger,” Hurst is a 2006 Junior All-American, ranked No. 2 on the Polo girls ranking of all American junior girl golfers, and a legitimate candidate for Player of the Year. Hurst, along with Courtney Ellenboggen (Blacksburg, VA), Kristen Park (Buena Park, CA), Jane Rah (Torrance, CA), and others represent a new breed of female golfers who are turning professional in their teenage years with high-powered games that is rejuvenating the once-sleepy Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour.

Along with Echikson’s son, Samuel, the author also follows in the footsteps of numerous prominent boys including Peter Uihlein, a 17-year-old front-runner for Player of the Year honors and son of Titleist CEO Wally Uihlein. Another familiar face dotting the pages of “Shooting For Tiger” is tennis legend and eight-time Grand Slam champion Ivan Lendl, whose daughters Marika and Isabelle compete in the AJGA events. Lendl explains how his family splits time between homes in Connecticut and Bradenton, FL in order to keep his daughters on the golf course all year long.

According to the press material recently issued in support of the book, “Shooting For Tiger” culminates with the following assessment from the author:

“The long junior golf journey across the United States, and for some, across the Atlantic Ocean, has witnessed teenagers soar to victory and display impressive sportsmanship in one tournament, only to crumble in the subsequent event and descend into childish temper tantrums. Many parents have lived vicariously through their children’s moments of triumph and failure; others have provided impressive and moving moments of selfless support to help their children ride out their rockiest moments. No single method of parenting or training has emerged as a magic ticket to ensuring future success.”

The boot camp academy approach has produced legions of standout players, but it is expensive and too young an institution to offer a conclusive track record. The method of homeschooling players to allow more dedicated golf time remains, at best, an experiment. The European socialist model, which relies on combing the countryside for the best players and enrolling them in rigorous training programs, is hard to imagine on American turf. The Korean method, which leans heavily on parents to play a steadfast role as coach and encourager, isn’t easily replicable.”

“If teenagers want to succeed, in golf or any other athletic or artistic passion, they must practice and compete. Studies show that many stressed teenagers, under pressure to perform, risk tumbling into severe depression, while talented offspring of more laid-back, encouraging parents are more likely to be able to enjoy and excel at their passion. In junior golf, it’s often difficult to discern whether parents or children take the lead.”

“For the most part, the junior golfers on the green are too young to ask tough questions about their passion. They just go out and play. ‘I just love golf,’ is the only answer Alexis Thompson offers when I asked her about her choice to dedicate herself to this tough sport.”

“Shooting For Tiger: How Golf’s Obsessed New Generation Is Transforming a Country Club Sport” is available in all major bookstores, as well as Amazon.com.

Pressure ...

Pressure is...

Standing over a 12-foot birdie putt on "18" at Augusta National tied for the lead against Tiger,

Returning serve in fifth set tie-breaker at the US Open against Federer,

Taking the mound in the bottom of the ninth of a 2-2 tied world series game at Fenway with the bases loaded, two outs and a 3-balls, no strikes count,

Heading to the line for two shots, down 71-70 at the NCAA Final Four, no time remains on the clock.

Standing at center ice, women's Olympic ice skating finals, you have a lock on the silver, but the gold is within reach... the music is about to begin and you need to skate the performance of your life,

Final turn at Daytona 500, and Jeff Gordon has just bumped your rear fender but you're still in the lead, heading about 210 mph towards the held checkered flag,

Your the goal-keeper, score is tied in the Stanley Cup Finals and you're facing a penalty shot with :03 left in the game.

You are 8 years old and you're about to take the stage at the Met for Cavalleria Rusticana and you are dressed in a long holy communion gown with a burning candle in your hand.  You stare out at the capacity audience for the first time and you have to walk up the steps of the church, an extraordinary set built to scale.  Your stage Mom leads you to the first step and you begin your walk.

You have no money and you need to feed your family, pay the rent or the mortgage.

Pressure.

Tiger ...

Tiger Woods hit a putt about eight minutes before the NBA Finals bewitching hour of 9pm EDT to force a playoff for the 2008 US Open golf championship. The 18-hole playoff will be contested today. Here is the LA Times story on Tiger and the exciting day in US Open golf:

Tiger Woods is the true master of suspense
He plays on a different level, letting the story build and holding everyone's attention, even though the inevitable almost always occurs. He did it again to perfection to force playoff at U.S. Open.

By Bill Dwyre

June 16, 2008

LA JOLLA -- Contrary to popular opinion, Tiger Woods is not a golfer. He is a leading character in an Agatha Christie mystery novel.

Need a story line to captivate and mesmerize? Get Tiger.

Want the story to have drama, action and a mystical hero? Get Tiger.

Want a guarantee that the buildup won't get to a peak and suddenly fall flat? Get Tiger and put a putter in his hands.

On the 72nd hole of the United States Open on Sunday, Tiger Woods did what he almost always does. He came through in the clutch. He gave us goose bumps. He made us wonder how anybody can succeed so often at such a high level in such an imperfect game.

We don't applaud him now as much as we shake our heads in amazement. We think he is flesh and bones like we are, but we are becoming less and less certain.

The game he plays is not one of those dominated by God-given size or speed or strength. It ebbs and flows with wind and heat and fat and skinny grass. Tuned bodies are fine but only if they work in unison with tuned minds.

At 5:52 p.m., West Coast time, Woods stood over a 12-foot putt on No. 18 at Torrey Pines. It was a situation that would have rendered mere mortals jelly-legged and useless. So much was at stake -- money, prestige, golfing immortality. So much had happened, certainly enough to rationalize a miss and nod satisfaction for a good effort.

Good efforts don't register with Woods. Only winning.

When he stood over the putt, he knew that making it would get him a spot in today's 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate. He also knew that, if he missed, his courage for getting that close on a left knee still not healed from recent surgery would be universally applauded. More so, he knew that if he made the putt, he'd have to walk another 18 holes.

This is not just another star golfer in his prime. If he wins today, he will move to within four of Jack Nicklaus' record 18 major tournament victories. At age 32.

This is a driven athlete with a flair for the dramatic and the instincts to perform and entertain while succeeding.

Still, there was no way he could top the theater of his Saturday round. That was a day when he made two eagles, including a long putt on the 18th hole that gave him the lead going into Sunday, and also chipped one in on the second bounce from an impossible side-hill lie in the rough.

Surely, the golf gods had given him enough. Surely, he couldn't keep turning up four-leaf clovers on the fairways of Torrey Pines on Sunday.

Surely, you jest.

He started with yet another double bogey at No. 1, a hole that is neither difficult nor notable. It was his third in four days and he has yet to set foot on the No. 1 fairway other than as a passageway.

After that, he kind of slashed around the rest of the day, losing three strokes to par in four holes and slipping from first to third on the leader board. On particularly bad swings, he bent in pain as the knee screamed at him.

He made a bogey on a par five, No. 13, and he hates that. Then he disappointed the crowd around the tee at No. 14, a hole set up at par-four and 267 yards to tease the golfers into going for it. Woods, later saying his five-wood wasn't quite enough and his three-wood was a little too much, laid up with a short iron.

Tiger made par and looked defeated and fatigued.

One group in front and one shot ahead was Mediate, who at 45 was having the time of his life. By now, the fans had adopted him, knew his story, knew that he had to qualify to get into the field and that, were he to win, he would be the oldest U.S. Open champion in history. It was a Rocco love fest and Rocco was returning the love of his newfound fans.

Mediate walked past the pond and onto the 18th green with waves to the huge crowd and an unwavering smile on his face. He had a 25-foot putt for birdie four, and when it slid past, he tapped it in for his one-under 283, waved goodbye to the crowd and did what most of the rest of the golf world did. He waited for Tiger.

Woods and playing partner Lee Westwood, the last group, were an entire hole back, barely visible from the 18th green as blue and red dots on the tee, 570 yards away.

The clock said 5:30. The huge scoreboard had just put up the numbers so that everybody knew that, from either in the last twosome, an eagle would win and a birdie would bring a Monday playoff.

The dots in the distance swung and soon Westwood was standing in sand to the right, Woods in sand to the left. Eagles were no longer an option, and birdie didn't look all that likely for Woods, when he hit an ugly nine-iron out of the trip and still 120 yards away in the right rough.

But this was Tiger Woods. It was also high drama. So when his third shot landed 12 feet away, tantalizingly makable, there was a roar of both appreciation and awe.

Westwood went 25 feet past the pin, two putted and stood aside for the final act.

Woods, like an orchestra conductor, baton poised for the right moment, making sure everything was perfect, circled his ball, sizing up the angles from side, back and front. One minute passed. Two.

Woods crouched, measured his line with hands mimicking binoculars. There were probably 20,000 people within a quarter mile of the green, and you could hear a bird chirp.

Finally, he stood over the ball, made two practice swipes, locked his gaze over the ball and froze in concentration. The putter went back and through, the ball bumped and rolled.

And it stopped where all of us, deep in our hearts, knew it would.

Mediate was nearby, watching on TV.

"I knew he'd make it," he said.

For golf, it was another best-seller. For Woods, merely another routine chapter.

Bill Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com.

Stupid Sports Fan banter ...

Overheard from the clueless masses of sports fans this weekend ...

"NBC and the USGA "wanted" the playoff and they had Tiger hit that putt on 18. We saw Ebersol down there."

"On Saturday, the USGA officials placed the back nine pins in position to help Tiger."

"The UEFA officials wanted Turkey in the last eight instead of small market Czech Republic."

"The Rice pitchers are in on it. They grooved those four Fresno HR balls."

Tiger at the 2005 Masters ...

In honor of the great Tiger Woods and The Masters golf tournament, I give you a clip from CBS Sports' coverage of the 2005 Masters from Augusta National.

I remember watching this as it happened and screaming at the television in joy. In NYC, there's a coolness of the apartment dwellers watching a big sporting event. As I screamed loudly, golf fans watching in other apartments in the surrounding blocks were doing the same. With all the windows opened on a beautiful spring afternoon, the screams of joy carried throughout the cityscape. It was terrific.

The call by Verne Lundquist is one of the greatest in television sports history. Verne also had the call on Jack Nicklaus' putt on the 17th when he went eagle-birdie-birdie to set up his win at the 1986 Masters but his call of Tiger's shot makes the shot all the more fun to watch over and over again. I have watched this clip a dozen times while making this entry for the blog and smile the same smile every time I see it.

So, without further ado ... here is Tiger, the greatest golfer of all-time with his best shot: