ORLANDO -- One of the big questions going into this year: How is The Golf Channel going to do broadcasting the PGA Tour?

One of the big questions going into next year: How is The Golf Channel going to broadcasting the PGA Tour without Don McGuire?

In a move that shocked most of its talent and production personnel, Golf Channel President Page Thompson sent out an inter-office memo on Wednesday explaining that McGuire, its senior vice president of programming, production and operations and its most experienced link with the networks, had "left the Golf Channel."

McGuire, 58 on Saturday, had one year remaining on his contract. He joined The Golf Channel in 2005 after working at Turner Sports for nine years, NBC for four and Raycom for four. Thompson, 45, replaced Dave Manougian as The Golf Channel's president after distinguishing himself at Comcast in programming, management and its On Demand service.

"I was told by our President that they want to make a change," McGuire told Golf World. "I'm treating it as the new GM wants a different coach. I believe Comcast is going to be generous to me in making this change and I'm moving on."

McGuire cleaned out his office Tuesday night. He added that he sold off businesses to join The Golf Channel and will remain in Orlando. "I have no lack of options to do other things, but I definitely had a commitment to the Golf Channel," he said.

In his memo, Thompson praised McGuire's work in getting The Golf Channel up and running with its launch of PGA Tour On Air. He instituted Aimpoint as a technical innovation, but it was McGuire's strong-willed leadership that was his legacy at TGC: He supported Kelly Tilghman when she took hits early in the year as The Golf Channel's on-air host, extended telecasts when it wasn't cost-effective, battled with network producers over Thursday-Friday treatment of his product and backed Dottie Pepper when a technical error caused her comments about the U.S. Solheim Cup team being "chokin' freakin' dogs" to go out on-air.

“Shocking,” Pepper said Thursday. She heard playing with Frank Nobilo playing a match against NBC producers Tommy Roy and Tom Randolph at Lake Nona. Nobilo, a Golf Channel analyst, got a text message with the news, “and it was a huge buzz,” said Pepper.

“Don was one of those guys, if he told you no, you respected it,” Pepper said. “Or if he had a criticism, you knew it was warranted, but I certainly appreciate the way he backed me (during the Solheim Cup controversy) and guided me through that like a friend.”

Industry sources have indicated that Thompson hopes to create new programming and may be looking to hire an executive with experience in that area. In other words, developing more shows like The Big Break that can draw ratings during the hours when The Golf Channel is not broadcasting its 15-year investment potentially worth several billion dollars. "The diamond in our jewelry was the PGA Tour," McGuire said. "That was 100 percent of our focus in 2007. That was the mandate from the top down."

-- Tim Rosaforte

WEST PALM BEACH--The ADT Championship, the LPGA's entertaining season-ending event that pays a $1 million first prize and a measly $100,000 for second place, cleared a hurdle Friday that tripped up the HSBC Women's World Match Play earlier this year. That is, a lot of big names made it to the weekend, the notable exception being Annika Sorenstam. The Match Play lost the top nine seeds before Saturday, prompting HSBC to convert the event to stroke play for 2008 and move it to Singapore, as the women's game continues to chase the plentiful Asian golf dollars. 

There will be no sponsors messing with this event. For the second consecutive year, there was a compelling playoff to advance to the weekend. In 2006, six players played off after 36 holes for three spots. This year, the high-profile threesome of Sorenstam, Natalie Gulbis and Ai Miyazato played off for two spots, with the Swede being the odd woman out. On the first playoff hole--the par-3 17th--all three made testy par putts in the five-foot range to extend the playoff. But on the difficult 18th, which bends around water on the right side of the fairway, Gulbis and Miyazato both hit the green in regulation, while Sorenstam, making another of the kind of mistakes she never used to make, pulled her shot into the left bunker. Her bunker shot from fluffy sand stopped on the fringe, 14 feet above the hole, from where she missed. Sorenstam was eliminated when Miyazato made a five-foot par save. It ended the first season since 1994 in which Sorenstam has failed to win an LPGA event.

Sorenstam's round Friday, in which she shot 73 with a quadruple bogey, was a microcosm of what her season has been like. She made three birdies in the first six holes, then made a 7 on the par-3 eighth hole. That's where she sliced a 4-iron into the water, then after drawing a hanging lie in the rough following her penalty drop, shanked her second shot in the water. Consistency has been an issue in Sorenstam's injury-plagued season. Time and again, when it seemed she might get on a run, a killing mistake would pop up.

"You get stabbed in the back with something, even though it's your own fault, and you go from so high to so low in the matter of 10 minutes," Sorenstam said about her quadruple bogey. "Yesterday I had three balls in the water, today I had two." Also erratic this year has been her putting, which failed to bail her out when she needed it. If not for a short miss on No. 16 in regulation, she could have avoided the playoff.

Besides Sorenstam, the biggest name eliminated after 36 holes was Se Ri Pak. Among those advancing were Lorena Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen, who have won seven and five LPGA events, respectively. Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Juli Inkster, Sophie Gustafson, Mi Hyun Kim, Nicole Castrale and Karrie Webb also made it to Saturday, as did Christina Kim, Seon-Hwa Lee, Catriona Matthew and Sarah Lee.

All 16 who advanced will start all over on Saturday, with the eight lowest 18-hole scores advancing to Sunday's final round. That's a change from last year when scores were reset only once--after 54 holes. This year they will be reset after 36 holes and again after 54, leaving eight players to pursue the $1 million first prize Sunday. In another twist designed to create intrigue--and guarantee attendance at the Saturday night party--the eight advancing to Sunday's final will draw for tee times. The best score after 54 holes gets first pick for which of the four the times she wants. Players who don't show up for the draw get the last available tee time.

Unlike the FedEx Cup, which extends playoff drama over four weeks, the ADT Championship compresses it into four days. There are some players--make that quite a few players--who don't like the $900,000 difference between first and second place, feeling that is too severe of a punishment for what could be a one-stroke loss. But it's exactly that drama that gives this event its identity. While it seems odd that the goal the first two days is to finish among the top 16 and Saturday's mission is to be no worse that eighth, that's part of the charm of this tournament. And with the quality of the players who advanced, it seems certain that Sunday will be a scintillating shootout for a million bucks.

--Ron Sirak
(Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Punching your ticket to the Champions Tour always has been tough. Last year it  got even tougher when Q school stopped awarding full one-year exemptions to the top eight finishers and replaced it with the right to qualify weekly for the top 30 finishers and ties. The same system is in place for this year's 72-hole qualifying tournament finals, which begin Tuesday at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fla.

Some familiar names are in the field -- including Kirk Hanefeld, Rick Karbowski, Rick Rhoden, John Ross, Harry Taylor, Roy Vucinich and Bruce Zabriski -- but I'm going to be paying attention to two players I met while covering the senior tour this season.

One is Frank Apodaca, who was a professional roller-derby skater for 27 years and works for a building supplies company in San Jose, Calif. When I blogged about Apodaca during the Wal-Mart First Tee Open, he gave me a great quote: "In golf you have to be mentally tough. In skating you just have to be tough."

The other golfer is Jim Woodward (above right), who jumped into contention at the U.S. Senior Open and was a hit with his engaging personality.

Lukewarm has to be the best review anyone has given the qualifying method begun with 2006 Q school, where the top 30 earn a chance to compete for up to nine slots at each tournament. "I don't know that it's been a failure," said Champions Tour president Rick George. "A lot of people have had an opportunity to compete. Has it been successful? I don't know that I would say it's been successful. It's somewhere in the middle."

In the middle of the pack is about the best any of the top-30 qualifiers from the '06 school did this past season. Bruce Vaughn was 44th on the money list, followed by Rod Spittle (53rd) and Mitch Adams (61st). Medalist Boonchu Ruangkit (72nd) was the only other player from Q school in the top 75 on the 2007 money list.

"We rarely go past 40th on [the prior year] money list [to fill tournaments]," said George, noting the reality facing the middle-rung money earners. "So how many events [Vaughn] would get into, I'm not sure. It's tough to become exempt out of this system. You almost have to win."

Expect a lot of talk about ditching the "new school" next season in advance of 2009 with something closer to the old one. In the meantime, this week's winners know what they're getting into. They will need some serious mental toughness -- and some seriously low rounds week-to-week to get a chance to play.

--Bill Fields
(Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The nine-member PGA Tour Policy Board will vote Monday in St. Augustine,
Fla., on several proposals concerning the Fed Ex Cup playoff system and
implementation of a drug policy. Among the changes is revision of the 2008
schedule to provide an off-week between the third of four playoff events
and the Ryder Cup, thus resulting in a move of the Tour Championship to a
slot after the biennial matches between the United States and Europe that will
be staged in Louisville, Sept. 15-21.

If ratified, the playoffs will be held as follows: The Barclays in New
York Aug. 18-24, Deutsche Bank in Boston Aug. 25-Sept. 1, and the BMW
Championship in St. Louis Sept. 2-7. As first reported in the Sept. 21 issue
of Golf World, the Tour Championship, originally scheduled for the following
week, would then be contested later in Atlanta.

The board also will address the Fed Ex Cup payoff, which was $10 million
deferred to the champion, Tiger Woods, in its initial year. One possibility
is that a substantial amount--perhaps as much as $9 million--will be issued
up front. In addition, the board will study a proposal to decrease the size
of playoff fields to 120 at Barlcays, 90 at Deutsche Bank, and 60 at the
BMW. The field for the Tour Championship is expected to remain at 30.

The new drug policy, providing for a variety of suspensions from several
months to one year to life, likely will include random testing to be
instituted as early as January 1 but no later than the middle of the 2008
season.

--Bob Verdi