Imagine A Flex Schedule on the PGA Tour
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 27, 2009 1:02 AM EDT
12 comments
Tim Finchem held a press conference this week before the Canadian Open. Geoff Shackelford noticed a particularly interesting passage of the transcript in which the Commish acknowledges that a "flex schedule" may be coming in 2012 or '13.
Well, if it works for Sunday Night Football, it has to work for golf. Tell 'em, Commissioner!
[O]ne of the things we're looking at in the mid term, which would be after our television agreements are renewed, which are currently through '12, so starting in '13, is going to perhaps more of a flex schedule where we actually move some tournaments around to two or three dates so that they can take advantage of reaching more players.
I can't swear we're going to go to that. There are a lot of issues with it. There are some down sides to some weeks, but it's something we're looking very carefully at. We've had some very preliminary discussion with the RCGA and the RBC.
This may well tie into the notion of how the PGA Tour is considering a new approach to required participation by Tour members. That proposed notion is that tournaments would be ranked on a sliding scale of importance. A player would have to achieve a certain number of total points - using the ranking system they would create - in order to maintain membership.
Also, this may be an issue that ties into the problems with the Milwaukee event. US Bank dropped out as sponsor because it wasn't getting enough ROI in having a multi-milion dollar investment for a tournament annually held opposite the Open Championship. With a better date, maintaining a sponsor would be easier. Given the rigidity of the PGA Tour schedule today, new dates only arise when another tournament disappears.
But, with a fleixble schedule, perhaps cohorts of tournaments would be created and their dates would rotate in a three or four year period. For instance, the Canadian Open, Travelers Championship, and Buick Invitational could be grouped together and switch dates each year for a three-year cycle.
If the Tour wanted to get even crazier, they could switch out Playoff tournaments. Could you imagine placing the Canadian Open in the Playoffs? Then again, who knows if the FedEx Cup endures into 2013. So, let's hold off on that chat.
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Flex schedule or
“one every four”, will the Commissioner actually suspend a players tour card if he does not comply? Because you know Tiger is not going to be told when and where to play.
...from the land of pleasant living, Baltimore.
by One-Eyed Golfer Guy on Jul 27, 2009 7:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
He’s talking about moving the tournaments – not the players. Guys like Woods and Mickelnuts schedule more by date so they’ll be peeking for the majors and WGC’s, than by locations – so if you rotate the other three tournaments each month the guys who play by date will see all three sites every three years.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 27, 2009 9:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
This was my idea 4 years ago.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 27, 2009 9:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I’m pretty sure I brought this up in passing probably some time ago before we knew one another, but was more fixated on the one-in-four idea. I think doing a flex schedule would skirt around having to have one-in-four.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 27, 2009 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
With the rotating schedule, it’s not one in four – it’s one in three – even better. The “new” schedule they started 2 years ago puts a major or WGC each month during the main part of the schedule before the playoffs. Since the WGC’s are short field events, the Masters is an invitational, the PGA is pretty close to an invitational, and the Opens are qualifier based – they are excused.
The ones I wonder about are Bay Hill and The Memorial, which are short field invitationals, but not majors or WGC’s. How do you require players to play an event they aren’t eligible to play ? Those two months will get mucked up because the biggest names won’t want to change their schedule before a major – and how do you tell Jack and Arnie that they have to change their position ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 27, 2009 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don’t think you could do the flex schedule with invitational events. You have these anchor events each month that could not be in there also. So, really, you have like 15 or 20 events that you could put into these two or three event groups. That would still go a long way in helping out the events that are most prone to suffering.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 27, 2009 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ok – there are 2 months with these invitationals – do you exempt those 2 months from…ummm…flexing ? (clearly, Villegas and Tiger can flex anytime they like…but I digress) :-)
Bay Hil and The Memorial are set up 2 weeks before majors specifically because so many top players like to take the week off before a major. The big names who schedule like this won’t skip Bay Hill and The Memorial out of respect for Arnie and Jack…ok…and the paycheck…but they won’t like having their schedules messed with for majors.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 27, 2009 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I would have to work out the logistics a little bit more, but I think it could be done without messing with Jack and Arnie.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 27, 2009 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Why not cut the schedule?
The tour would probably be stronger with five fewer events. It would strengthen every other field, make each tournament more important to the players & fans, and eliminate weak events that nobody watches anyway.
by MattSpence on Jul 27, 2009 11:06 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
not sure what you mean. can you explain that a little more ?
the tournaments exist because sponsor dollars are available – has very little to do with whether you or I watch on TV. There are 7 tournaments in the fall just itching for tournaments in the regular season to fall off so they can fill in. How does cutting the schedule make it strtonger ? Pretty sure the guys playing in those tournaments wouldn’t be happy if the Tour cut the schedule. If 12 tournaments lose sponsorship, then it is the market doing the adjusting, but The Tour isn’t going to just cut tournaments.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 27, 2009 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Matt, while I don’t disagree that a shorter schedule would help, there FedEx Cup related reduction from November to September didn’t really change anything. Because of the OWGR and money elsewhere, players almost have to play some kind of 12 month season. The downside of that is smaller events get nailed. But, like court said, there are companies willing to pony up money so the B-list and C-list guys will surely come to play. The participation problem is really with the greatest players because they make so much money that they can play whenever they want outside of the majors.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 27, 2009 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Something I've always wanted to see...
…Tiger playing a full schedule like the lower ranked players play. Some of these guys play 30 weeks a year in an effort to keep their cards.
When he was getting started on Tour, Tiger talked about being an old school kind of player and wanted to be mentioned with guys like Palmer and Nicklaus and Watson and Snead, etc. I always wanted to see a Tiger Woods barnstorming season where he played most of the schedule and drove from tournament to tournament like the real “old school” guys – not playing once a month and jetting from place to place.
When pigs fly – right ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Jul 27, 2009 11:52 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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