Sunday Stuff

Fresh snow in the driveway, the wind howling and my afternoon flight is at best uncertain, so let's see if we can close some browser windows, shall we?

Governance - It's a perfect day to spend some time with the powers that be (and will be), don't you think?  First up is this long, flattering profile of PGA of America CEO Pete Bevaqua, who turns out to be a local boy.  This is the bit that's getting the most attention:

Bevacqua calls Bishop's denouement "without a doubt the toughest period of my

professional life." It was his grim duty to deliver the news. Bevacqua called his friend's office and left a voice mail. 

"That hurt," says Bishop. 

They had spoken nearly every day for two years, but then the line of communication went silent. Finally in mid-January, following a couple of email volleys, Bishop wrote in another email to SI, "You prompted me to think out some things last week, and I reached out to Pete and we spoke today." 

Bevacqua describes the call as "the weight of the world coming off my shoulders. I think we both felt that way. It's the beginning of rebuilding a relationship between two people who like each other and admire each other and love golf."

It's touching that the former BFF's can speak civilly to each other, but I'm still unclear as to why Ted needed to be defenestrated so shortly before the end of his term.  And while his focus on his members is no doubt genuine and appropriate, here's in a nutshell the case for his leadership:

Yet even while thinking big-picture, Bevacqua acknowledged that the PGA needed "victories" in the short term. He noted some of the biggest wins of the last year-plus: the creation of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, a reconstituted major that will debut in June; the PGA's principled refusal to support the USGA and the R&A in the ban on anchored putting, citing the many recreational golfers who would be disenfranchised; extending and expanding through 2030 a programming relationship with NBC; getting the PGA Championship back to the West Coast for the first time this century (Harding Park in 2020); and muscling in on one of the USGA's signature venues (Bethpage Black, which will host the '19 PGA and the '24 Ryder Cup).

 Each of those "wins" raises questions that go unanswered:

1. I very much like the KPMG arrangement, but how did the organization representing all club pros get to 2015 without having (not to mention avoiding heat for not having) a women's championship;
2. What exactly is the principal in that principled stand?  All I remember is Bishop asking for more time for the recreational golfer, with nary an explanation of why they needed four years to prepare in lieu of two.
3. I'm not sure of the NBC deal, did they extend their rights to the Ryder Cup?  It's only the most exciting event in our game, so I'm pretty sure that either of our cats could have gotten that deal done.
4. As for venues, meh!  Harding Park is a yawn, and the USGA had already lost interest in Bethpage... I do like Bethpage for the Ryder Cup far more than for the PGA, but for every inspired venue they come up with there's way too many Atlanta Athletic Clubs, Hazeltines and Valhallas for my taste.  In fact, their love of steamy August venues and cold weather/early morning frost in late Fall is kinda passive-aggressive...

He seems a decent chap notwithstanding the over-reaction with Ted, but the role of the organization deserves some existential thought.  They have legacy championships that are almost accidental, but no clear vision on how to use that influence for the benefit of their members and/or the game at large. 

Scotsman John Huggan provides us an introduction to Martin Slumbers, who will soon seize the R&A conn from the retiring Peter Dawson:

He didn't say much, other than the normal platitudes one would expect from a man who

has yet to start a new job and is sitting right next to his predecessor. But Martin Slumbers, who will join the R&A on March 2 before officially taking over for current chief executive Peter Dawson in September, uttered just enough during his introduction to the British golfing press Tuesday to make it clear he is nobody's fool.

Well, they are politicians, after all.  Though interesting that he wasn't already a member... very much the Dawson profile.  Then there was this from Euro Tour player Oliver Wilson:

"Martin seems very level headed and open to listening to the ideas of others," says Wilson, who won the Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews last year. "My impression is he will do a great job. People will warm to him. He is obviously very clued-up in the business world. He can definitely help take the game in the right directions. Hopefully he'll roll the ball back and stop meddling with the great courses."

Good luck with that last bit, but a nice dig at Dawson on his way out the door...

Pebble in Passing -  It's hard to control one's excitement in seeing Peter Kostis analyze Ray Romano's golf swing for the 114th time, but I did have it on in the background just because it's so damn pretty... I'm reliably informed that a man named Jim Furyk is leading the event... assuming my flight is not affected by the wind, I'll not see how Alas, Poor Furyk lets this one get away until this evening.

But in case you missed this Ryuji Imada routine par on No. 7 yesterday, give it a look:

As noted by the announcers, he likely played the hole SW-SW-SW and was a three all the way... But how bad a tee shot must that have been, given that there wasn't a lick of wind.

That's The Ticket - I could focus this blog exclusively on ill-considered attempts to grow the game and never risk an absence of content.  I was going to give this one a miss, but you really can't make this stuff up:

The PGA Tour is trying to broaden its appeal to millennials. 

It plans to do so via Skratch TV, an online TV network promising to be “Golf. But louder.” 

“We've had a healthy anxiety that we weren't going to reach this generation with our traditional platforms,” Rick Anderson, Tour executive vice president for global media, told the New York Times. “If we’re not producing content and putting our sport out there on platforms in ways that they’ll consume it, are we going to miss them?” 

First point, millennials don't read the N.Y. Times...then again, pretty much no one does any more.  Second, millennials love to talk about platforms and content, but again, who doesn't?

So, what have the come up with?

The Tour, in its partnership with media company Bedrocket, is hoping to show professional golf in a different light. One of the most recent videos— showing Jason Day receiving the Farmers Insurance Open trophy via a skydiver— does just that:

Nothing offensive there, but did we create any new golfers?  But we made quite a few over-compensated suits in Ponte Vedra Beach feel better, so we've got that going for us...

Maybe louder gets their attention in a crowded media market, but it's the part where we get them interested in golf that eludes me...