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Shag Bag
Welcome to the Shag Bag, where the GolfChannel.com team and Golf Channel talent will regularly file thoughts and opinions from around the world of golf.

2Whan impresses TOA in first meeting

profileIconRANDALL MELL, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/29/2009, 3:36 PM EST

New LPGA commissioner Michael Whan made a large impression on Tournament Owners Association members in his first meeting with them Thursday morning at the Rancho Bernardo Inn at San Diego.

He did so by giving out his cell phone number and e-mail address to TOA members at the end of his 20-minute speech.

It was a profound act in front of a membership that felt communication was a problem under the tour’s previous regime.

TOA members were also impressed that Whan flew cross country Wednesday night to be with them after being introduced as the LPGA’s eighth commissioner in a morning news conference in New York City. He joined about 50 tournament owners and title sponsors for breakfast Thursday morning, hopping from table to table before speaking to the entire membership.

“Very engaging, very nice,” said Gail Graham, president of the TOA. “He’s a very unpretentious man who fit in smoothly with everyone here. He gave us insight into who he is and what his passions are. I think what struck people most is that he came with no grandiose promises, but he came with a real willingness to work together for our collective success.”

Graham said Whan reiterated what he told media in his introduction, that his aim beginning the job will be to listen, learn and then lead.

“We were thrilled he could be here,” Graham said. “It was really a great gesture.”

Graham said what TOA members probably want most from Whan is meaningful communication. That's why his offering up his cell phone number and e-mail address meant so much.

“There will always be issues and challenges, but if you don’t talk about them, they will never be resolved,” Graham said. “I think this was a huge step to effective communication.”

Whan also impressed TOA members by telling them he always empties his inbox at the end of each day.

“But he told us to give him a few days to get his feet on the ground before e-mailing him,” Graham said.

 

29
Oct

13Whan and the South Korean question

profileIconRANDALL MELL, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/29/2009, 1:31 PM EST

It’s noteworthy that the LPGA introduced its new commissioner with most of its tour players in South Korea for the Hana Bank-Kolon Championship.

As the LPGA’s new leader, Michael Whan’s first order of business has to be securing playing opportunities with the tour projecting it could feature as few as 22 tournaments next year, the fewest since 1971. The total prize money could dip below $40 million, down from the $64 million cited in the tour’s media guide as the total prize money played for last year. At most the tour is projecting 25 events next year, down from 34 last year.

Another large issue Whan must tackle is South Korea’s growing dominance in the women’s game. There’s a troubling disconnect between South Korean success on tour and English speaking fans. That country’s gifted contingent is a large factor in every event, but English speaking fans aren’t connecting enough to the personalities or their stories.

South Koreans have won nine times this LPGA season, more than any other nation, more than twice the number of events Americans have won. One of Whan's challenges is figuring out a way to make that work better for the tour. It’s a job for a superstar marketing leader. As his predecessor, Carolyn Bivens, learned, he has to be careful how he goes about it.

 

29
Oct

02010 PGA Tour schedule (rough draft)

profileIconREX HOGGARD, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/29/2009, 11:36 AM EST

The PGA Tour continues to drag its feet on the release of its 2010 schedule, the byproduct of ongoing sponsorship issues according to some industry observers, but GolfChannel.com has obtained a “draft” of the first half of next season’s schedule that was sent to players in September.

According to the draft, the biggest changes so far will occur during the West Coast Swing. Following the Tour’s two-tournament swing through Hawaii (SBS Championship and Sony Open) the mainland portion of the schedule starts at the Bob Hope Classic followed by Torrey Pines, which is searching for a new title sponsor after Buick stepped down.

The FBR Open, normally played the last weekend of January, will anchor the West Coast swing instead of the WGC-Match Play Championship. The move is temporary, however, and the event will reportedly move back into its traditional Super Bowl weekend slot after 2010.

The Florida Swing remains the same (Honda Classic, WGC-CA Championship/Puerto Rico Open, Transitions Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational) as does the run up to the Masters (April 8-11) and U.S. Open (June 17-20), which will be played at Pebble Beach and will again be followed by the Travelers Championship June 24-27.

Some have speculated the Tour is delaying the release of the schedule to fill sponsorship holes – 11 title and presenting sponsorships expire at the end of 2010, with FBR and Verizon (Hilton Head) having already announced they will not renew.

U.S. Bank pulled its sponsorship of the Milwaukee stop earlier this year and it doesn’t seem likely organizers will find a replacement in time leading some to speculate the Turning Stone Resort Championship, the cream of the Fall Series crop with a $6 million purse but dogged by bad weather in September and October, could step into Milwaukee’s date opposite the British Open.

Draft 2010 schedule
Jan. 4-10 – SBS Championship
Jan. 11-17 – Sony Open
Jan. 18-24 – Bob Hope Classic
Jan. 25-31 – Buick Invitational
Feb. 1-7 – Northern Trust Open
Feb. 8-14 – AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
Feb. 15-21 – WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
Feb. 22-28 – FBR Open
March 1-7 – Honda Classic
March 8-14 – WGC-CA Championship/Puerto Rico Open
March 15-21 – Transitions Championship
March 22-28 – Arnold Palmer Invitational
March 29-April 4 – Shell Houston Open
April 5-11 – The Masters
April 12-18 – Verizon Heritage
April 19-25 – Zurich Classic of New Orleans
April 26-May 2 – Quail Hollow Championship
May 3-9 – Players Championship
May 10-16 – Valero Texas Open
May 17-23 – HP Byron Nelson Championship
May 24-30 – Crown Plaza Invitational
May 31-June 6 – Memorial
June 7-13 – St. Jude Classic
June 14-20 – U.S. Open

Second half of season TBD

 

29
Oct

0Japan gets 2010 Asian Amateur

profileIconGolfChannel.com Team   Posted 10/29/2009, 9:43 AM EST

The West Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club, Japan has been announced as host of the 2nd-annual Asian Amateur Championship, held Oct. 7–10, 2010. Like the U.S. Amateur, the Asian Amateur champion receives an exemption into the Masters Tournament.

The announcement was made during the week of the inaugural event, which began Thursday at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China. Kwang-soo Hur, President of the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, Billy Payne, Chairman of the Masters Tournament, and Keith Hodgekinson, Chairman of The R&A’s Golf Development Committee were among those on hand to make the announcement.

The Asian Amateur Championship was created by its three founding partners, the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and The R&A and was launched in Hong Kong in February 2009.

 

29
Oct

0Whan’s game isn’t bad for a commissioner

profileIconRANDALL MELL, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/28/2009, 6:51 PM EST

In case you’re wondering, the LPGA’s new commissioner plays golf.

Michael Whan, however, doesn’t have an official handicap.

“I don’t actually have one posted anywhere, but I’m about a 10,” he said.

Whan, 44, grew up in Chicago but his family moved to Cincinnati before his freshman year of high school. He lived in a house about a mile from Coldstream Country Club, where he got a job on the maintenance crew in the summer.

“The only reason I joined the groundscrew was so I could play for free in the afternoon,” Whan cracked. “I’d get up at 5:30 and cut the greens, go home and sleep for an hour and then go back and play golf.”

Whan’s father and mother both played golf, though his mother took it up later in life.

“My dad always believed that the game of golf was more than just a sport, it was more than just competition, it was life lessons,” Whan said. “Sometimes when you're 12, 13, 14 years old, you don't realize you're learning them, but as I think back to the lessons I apply to life every day, a lot of them come right off the golf course.”

 

28
Oct

1Glover, Bethpage and the Big Apple

profileIconREX HOGGARD, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/28/2009, 2:09 PM EST

Lucas Glover: U.S. Open champion, Clemson sports fanatic (“I’d watch checkers on TV if Clemson had a team,” he once said.) and diehard New York Yankee fan. And his penchant for pinstripes goes beyond that victory lap he took in the shadow of the Big Apple this June at Bethpage’s Black Course.

Glover, who has been a Yankee fan since he was a little leaguer and New York great Don Mattingly was his hero, will join the faithful at new Yankee Stadium for Games 1 and 2 of the World Series between New York and Philadelphia starting Wednesday night.

Glover has plenty of time to take in the Fall Classic. Unlike his post-2008 plan, which featured nearly two consecutive months without any Tour golf, Glover’s only other start this season will be Tiger Woods’ Chevron World Challenge in December. But then the Yankee diehard probably isn’t thinking past Game 4 and a New York sweep.

 

28
Oct

2Woods staying active in "offseason"

profileIconREX HOGGARD, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/28/2009, 11:00 AM EST

The World Series is upon us, the NBA’s season got underway this week and football, both college and professional, is inching toward another consuming post-season. Golf, however, doesn’t seem content to slip quietly into the fall foliage.

Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Padraig Harrington (Nos. 2, 4 and 6 in the World Ranking, respectively) are in action this week at various PGA European Tour stops in Spain and Singapore; and Tiger Woods, on the shelf since the Presidents Cup, returns to action next week for the HSBC Champions, a newly minted World Golf Championship event in China. Woods was runner-up at the event in 2005 and 2006.

From China, Woods will travel to Melbourne, Australia, to play the JBWere Australian Masters Nov. 12-15, his fourth trip to Australia for a tournament, and wrap up his season Dec. 3-6 at the Chevron World Challenge in California which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation.


WGC-HSBC Air Times on Golf Channel:

Wed, Nov. 4:  LIVE 11 p.m. ET (Round 1 )
Thurs, Nov. 5: 11 a.m & 6:30 p.m. ET (re-air of Round 1)
Thurs, Nov. 5: LIVE 11 p.m. ET (Round 2)
Fri, Nov. 6: 11 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET (re-air of Round 2)
Fri, Nov. 6: LIVE 10 p.m. ET (Round 3)
Sat, Nov. 7: 10 a.m. & 6:0 p.m. ET (re-air of Round 3)
Sat, Nov. 7: LIVE 10 p.m. ET (Final Round)
Sun, Nov. 8: 10 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET (re-air of Final Round)
 
JBWere Masters Air Times on Golf Channel:

Wed, Nov 11: LIVE 10 p.m. ET (Round 1)
Thurs, Nov. 12: 9:30 a.m. ET (re-air of Round 1)
Thurs, Nov. 12: LIVE 10 p.m. ET (Round 2)
Fri, Nov. 13: 9:30 a.m. ET (re-air of Round 2)
Fri, Nov. 13: LIVE 10:30 p.m. ET (Round 3)
Sat, Nov. 14: 9:30 a.m. ET (re-air of Round 3)
Sat, Nov. 14: LIVE 10:30 p.m. ET (Final Round)
Sun, Nov. 15: 9:30 a.m. & 12 a.m. ET (re-air of Final Round)

 

28
Oct

0Futility with a capital F

profileIconRANDALL MELL, Senior Writer, GolfChannel.com
Posted 10/27/2009, 10:29 PM EST

Professional golfers will be looking to end a couple futility streaks this week.

On the PGA Tour, 47 events have passed since a rookie has won. There are just two events remaining to prevent this from being the first year since 1998 that no rookie has won a Tour event. Marc Turnesa is the last rookie to win on the PGA Tour, claiming the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Childrens Open late last year.

On the LPGA, 15 events have passed since an American has won. That’s the longest American dry spell within any of the 60 seasons in LPGA history. It’s closing in on the longest American dry spell ever. Americans went 18 consecutive events without winning at the end of the 2002 season and the beginning of the 2003 season.

There would be a certain irony if the Americans break their run at the Hana Bank-Kolon Championship in South Korea this week with that country overtaking the United States as the dominant power on tour. Americans have won just four LPGA events this season, the fewest by Americans since the tour was started in 1950. South Koreans have claimed more LPGA titles (9) than any other country this season.

 

27
Oct
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