A look at this week's issues, elements or players that are heading in opposite directions on the game's cultural, topical scorecard:
Up
Aussie Masterful
Admittedly, I was not only leading the charge, but leading the chorus of criticism, in 100-part harmony. When it was learned in March that Tiger Woods would be playing at the Australian Masters and receiving a reported $3 million appearance fee, half of it subsidized by tax dollars, it was easy to ramp up the outrage -- especially given the number of taxpayer-subsidized title sponsors on the PGA Tour of late. But hand it to the Aussies, they had not seen Woods in 11 years, and he once again proved to be the game's ultimate show pony. Officials reported selling all 100,000 tickets (capped at $44 Australian dollars per round) for the week, and presumably, the Victorian government has a chance of finishing in the black once all the hotel stays, car rentals and incidentals are tolled. By the way, the tax hit in Australia is a shade under 50 percent in this bracket, so Woods will be contributing to the Oz coffers himself, too. Ah, economics in the 21st century, huh?
Checkmate, Tiger
They began the week playing Chinese chess as a publicity stunt to spur interest in the HSBC Champions. In the end, they paired off again, and Phil Mickelson clearly mastered Tiger Woods on the golf course as well. In what has become an interesting turn of events, Mickelson played eye-to-eye with the world No. 1 on Sunday in China and schooled him yet again, marking another step in a complete reversal of their interpersonal mojo. Granted, the HSBC requires an asterisk since it wasn't an official PGA Tour event (although it was sanctioned), but Lefty has gone 5-1-1 in his last seven head-to-head pairings with Woods, including their past three Sunday soirees. After a dismal start, Mickelson's career mark when paired with Woods, if we count the HSBC, is 10-11-4. Impressive, in any language. Speaking of reversals, it marks the second time in three years that Mickelson has won twice after the PGA Championship, usually a time when he'd already packed away the clubs for a long winter's nap. Still, we have to wait 10 weeks to see him again.
Welcome to the party, P.K.
The latest in a long line of experts, pundits or players to sound a similar sentiment, CBS Sports television analyst and longtime tour swing coach Peter Kostis has joined the long and distinguished line of folks advising the tour to trim purses next year as a show of good faith. Among the others who have been vocal regarding the tour's insistence on raising purses are Greg Norman and Deutsche Bank chairman Seth Waugh, who said he personally asked the tour not to hike purses this season. Next year is positively crucial to the tour's success because five sponsors disappeared this year (U.S. Bank, Chrysler, the Legends casino and two Buick events), FBR and Verizon are bailing for sure after next year and another 10 title contracts are up for renewal after their 2010 tournaments are staged. In the view of Kostis and many others before him, engendering some goodwill among the sponsors and general public cannot be bad for business.
A million err
As detailed in this neighborhood last week, thanks to the washout of the Viking Classic, all second-year tour pro Kevin Streelman needs to do this week to collect the winner-take-all $1 million prize for winning the inaugural Kodak Challenge is keep breathing. Streelman enters the PGA Tour season finale at Disney with a two-shot edge over three players in the cumulative-stroke event, which means that one of the trio needs the make an eagle on the 17th hole at Disney's Magnolia Course to tie him. The thing is, the hole hasn't surrendered an eagle in 11 years. Apparently, that came as unwelcome news to two of the three guys tied for second, since Nathan Green and J.J. Henry de-committed from the Disney field. The only player with a chance of catching Streelman is Bo Van Pelt, the lone guy tied for second who remains entered. His chances of winning any money are so slim, we've dubbed him Bo Diddley. Too bad the first Kodak Challenge was as compelling as the first two incarnations of the FedEx Cup. Unlike the latter, though, this season-long points race will be easier to fix.
The laundry list, expanded
There's never a shortage of opinion on Woods, a lighting rod of criticism, both constructive and otherwise, for darned good reason over his 13 years in the tour circus. The Scotsman over the weekend published a list of nine ways Woods could dually improve his image and the game, and it's both spot-on, well-reasoned and pithy. I humbly contribute a couple more myself, including requesting that Woods add one tournament each year on the U.S. schedule, at a venue or event he has mostly skipped, at which to play. Think what it would mean for the John Deere, Greensboro or the now-defunct Milwaukee stops. Also, stop playing games with the commitments at the 11th hour. Tournaments need to market themselves to sell tickets, and committing earlier would simultaneously help your popularity, the title sponsor and the tour itself. Jumping aboard two days before tournament week begins is within the letter of the commitment law, but it's not helping anybody. Third, just for general crowd morale, always bring your wife. And whenever possible, her twin sister.
Down
Kicking him while he's Down Under
Woods rolls into Australia this week having just finished off one of his ugliest final-round performances in ... weeks? Yep, while Woods was missing putts, spraying balls into trees and water hazards and blowing a 54-hole lead last week in China, it was shocking mostly for its familiarity. Remember the final round of the Player Championship in May? Woods played in the last group with Alex Cejka and chopped his way out of contention before the front nine was over. At the season's final major in Augusta, Woods blew a two-stroke lead and lost to his playing partner, unknown Y.E. Yang. No question, Woods is in contention nearly every time he plays these days, so he's bound to blow a few or get flat beaten by a hotter hand, but he has lost two of the past three times he has held the 54-hole lead. Last week's result won't count against his career total on his primary tour since HSBC was deemed an unofficial event in the States, but Woods had won 48 of 52 times he had held at least a share of the 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event. Still, the event was sanctioned by the PGA Tour, so it hurts his air of invincibility just the same. Is there such a word as vincible? There ought to be.
Fallen Series
The PGA Tour schedule for 2010 was released last week, and amid some of the interesting tweaks was one that wasn't made. Last week's HSBC Champions in Asia wasn't moved into the so-called regular season -- although I detest that term -- which means that it will again be siphoning players away from the '10 Fall Series events in the States. As though events like Disney World and Las Vegas aren't already scrambling to find top-tier players, offering a guaranteed payday overseas just makes the domestic fields even thinner. Granted, it's hard to say many of the players in the HSBC would have played this week's season finale at Disney even if the China event hadn't been added to the tour schedule at the comparative last minute April 26. Only Brian Gay committed to play in both, and he lives about five miles from Disney World. One top 25 player in the world rankings has committed to play at Disney, Zach Johnson at No. 24. In all, the field includes four top 50 players, rendering it the weakest in Disney history. When Disney agreed three years ago to segue into the fall, officials assumed warhorse guys like Vijay Singh would continue to play. Small wonder that since last year, the number of Fall Series events has dropped from seven to four for 2010. Guess I'm still tilting at windmills, because nobody else seems to care.
R2D, too
No, this isn't a salute to the robot from Star Wars. R2D is the shorthand term being used for the Race to Dubai, the heralded first-year enterprise on the European Tour. It was one of the key storylines heading into the 2009 season as a handful of U.S.-based tour players took on membership in the world's second-richest tour in hopes of cashing in at the European circuit finale, set for next week in the United Arab Emirates. The migration dried up faster than the Dubai economy. Last week, U.S. Ryder Cup standout Anthony Kim, who had taken up European membership, said he wouldn't be playing next week even though he has qualified. Of the half-dozen PGA Tour regulars who took on new affiliate memberships -- a group that included Boo Weekley, Stuart Appleby, Rory Sabbatini and Kim -- only Camilo Villegas is expected to participate in the Dubai World Championship, which is limited to the top 60 on the Euro money list. Kim is No. 35 in Euro earnings but said he burned himself out this year, playing too often and in far-flung places. As it has been since the Pilgrims, it seems like the migration from Europe to the States remains a one-way street.
Third-time lucky
In case you missed it, and the PGA Tour would prefer to leave it that way, the FedEx Cup points structure was left unmolested at last week's final Policy Board meeting of 2009, which likely means that for the first time, the existing point structure will remain intact. We could burn a slew of virtual Internet ink cataloguing why more changes need to be made, but the tour's governing board clearly decided that handing Mickelson the winner's check and Woods the FedEx bonus at the season finale means the system is working. Yeah, except for the part where Woods technically could have been beaten out for the $10 million FedEx bonus by a guy with zero wins. Or when he found out that he could have skipped the first three FedEx Cup events and been seeded third at the series finale, won in Atlanta, and claimed the $10 million. We'll see if their feeling about design flaws changes next year when Woods skips The Barclays again.
Good luck with that
It would be easy to poke fun at Greg Norman for pulling out of the Australian Open. After all, he has been a whipping boy all fall after naming pal Adam Scott to the Presidents Cup team and for the fast breakup of his too-good-to-be-true marriage to Chris Evert. Norman's latest stumble was probably nobody's fault -- after signing months ago to serve as the marketing focal point of the once-esteemed Australian Open, Norman hasn't yet recovered from September shoulder surgery and won't be able to play, leaving the tournament in the promotional lurch. The Aussie Masters landed Woods and the Open countered with national hero Norman, who hasn't played much back home lately. Yet now the Aussie Open, once regarded as the fifth major, is bereft of its biggest star during the worst possible week to find a replacement. The Open is set for Dec. 3-6, the same week as two huge-money invitationals -- the Chevron World Challenge and Nedbank Challenge in South Africa. Even pulling a few second-tier stars will be tough since PGA Tour Q-school finals are the same weekend. With Norman out, Geoff Ogilvy is the top draw, and he's sure to be burned out from a series of events that could include stops in China, Australia, Dubai and back to Australia. The well-centered Ogilvy told the Australian AP: "If they're trying to sell the tournament on me, good luck." Pity the Norman news happened to such a worthy event, but 53-year-old part-time players are prone to breaking down. Not-so-good on ya, mates.
