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Is Finchem opposed to anchoring ban? Stay tuned

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:08:00 GMT

Keegan Bradley lines up a putt during the second round of the Northern Trust Open. Photo: Chris Condon/Getty Images

Here we are again, at the intersection of golf and politics, though not to bear witness to the heavyweight pairing of President Obama and Tiger Woods. Nothing so trivial as that.

On Monday, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem will convene a conference call with members of the PGA Tour policy board to discuss the USGA's proposal to ban the anchoring of a putter against the body. And if former board member Brad Faxon is correct, the potential ramifications won't be insignificant.

Faxon predicts that Finchem will attempt "to persuade the board that the tour should urge the USGA to withdraw the proposed ban," he wrote in a column for Golf.com.

This would put the tour in direct conflict with golf's governing bodies, the USGA and the Royal and Ancient, who have proposed the ban because they believe it necessary. "This decision gets back to the USGA and R&A feeling that fundamentally golf for 600 years has been about picking up the club, gripping it with two hands and making a free swing away from the body," USGA Executive Director Mike Davis told Golf Digest's Mike Stachura in November.

It also would pit two important and powerful entities, the PGA Tour and the PGA of America, against the two governing bodies. Previously, PGA of America president Ted Bishop said that the organization opposes the ban.

Faxon also predicts that the USGA won't back off its position and that ultimately the tour will acquiesce. But if it doesn't? Section I in the Rules of Golf, dealing with etiquette ("the game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and to abide by the Rules"), will be tested.

The tour conceivably could override the USGA, allowing anchoring as a condition of play on the PGA Tour. But it would have no jurisdiction over the U.S. Open, the British Open or the Masters, none of them PGA Tour events. "If that happens there will be chaos," Faxon wrote, this an understatement.

The PGA Tour is not immune from controversy, but neither is it the partner with whom other professional sports are forced to dance with alarming frequency. A solitary player confessing to his use of deer antler spray is a big deal in golf. Elsewhere, it's business as usual.

But the possibility, however remote, that the most powerful and visible group in golf might unilaterally choose to play by different rules would qualify as bona fide in the controversy industry.

The USGA and R&A have reserved the right to stand down and allow the status quo to prevail. Ostensibly, that's the purpose of their open comment period, to entertain all opinions before rendering a final decision.

Obama beating Woods from the back tees at the Floridian on Sunday seemed more likely than the USGA backing down. As Davis told Golf World editor-in-chief Jaime Diaz recently, "If we don't do what we think is the right thing for fear of a lawsuit, then shame on us. We shouldn't be in the governance business then."

All we know for certain at this point is that that Monday conference call will be a spirited one. Meanwhile, Bernhard Langer won the Champions Tour's ACE Group Classic on Sunday using a long putter anchored to his chest, and Webb Simpson was in contention at the PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open using a belly putter.

The beat goes on.

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Simpson on Murray: 'He's big-time now'

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:58:00 GMT

NAPLES, Fla. - Scott Simpson is still waiting to hear from Bill Murray after his old friend and longtime partner at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am paired with D.A. Points to win the event for the first time last week.

"I sent him a text. He usually texts back. I guess I'm old news - he's big-time now," Simpson joked at the ACE Group Classic.

Simpson and Murray teamed at Pebble Beach 13 times between 1993 and 2007. Although Simpson always had a blast playing with the actor, his best individual finish was T-36. "He wants nothing more than for the pro to play well," Simpson said. "He really believes that if you relax, you're going to play your best."

The formula certainly worked for Points, who scored his first PGA Tour victory alongside Murray. "Bill called me before Pebble started when he got D.A. as his partner," Simpson said. "I told him that it was a good pairing because D.A.'s a great guy, and it turned out D.A. had always wanted to play with Bill. D.A. really embraced the experience. It was really cool to see."

Simpson expects to talk with Murray next week, and he may see him soon at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am on the Champions Tour.

"Bill's played in the Outback and said he was going to play in it this year if he wasn't in jail," Simpson said. "I told him there are work-release programs."

-- Bill Fields

Champions Tour's peers following Couples

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:18:00 GMT

NAPLES, Fla. -- To those who have competed against him on the Champions Tour, there wasn't much surprise when 51-year-old Fred Couples appeared on top of the leader board Friday at the Northern Trust Open, which he is playing instead of defending his 2010 ACE Group Classic title.

"It's his favorite course," said Jay Haas.

"He just loves Riviera," said Bernhard Langer.

"That golf course, you have to have some power and some length and some local knowledge, and he certainly has that," said Mark O'Meara.

This is one of the rare times when the winner of a Champions Tour is skipping an event he won the previous year. Privately some players grumbled about Couples' decision, and O'Meara said he would not have bypassed a tournament where he was the defending champion.

"It's difficult [but] I would have come back and defended, but that's just me," said O'Meara, while acknowledging that Couples' history at Riviera and affinity for it made it a tough call.

Couples would have had to play very well if he had been competing against his age-group peers Friday. Langer and Russ Cochran shot eight-under 64s at The Quarry to take the first-round lead, with O'Meara one stroke behind. Even though it's not a gallery-friendly course - players who aren't using carts are shuttled from green to tee on 10 holes - there was a good crowd on hand for the first round.

Couples' decision to play on the PGA Tour this week is another example of how the Champions Tour has changed through the years. Once players turn 50, if they have the skills and the inclination, they can and do make appearances on the PGA Tour.

"I played on the European and PGA tours for so many years and I don't miss it," Langer said. "I like what I find out here [on the Champions Tour]. But Fred Funk and Tom Pernice ... they're still excited about out going out to the PGA Tour and trying some of the tournaments there. So everyone's different. That's good. But I'm not surprised Freddie's leading [the Northern Trust] because he's got the game to compete anywhere. He's long enough. He likes the golf course, he's done well there before, so why not, if that's what he wants to do."

No doubt while the seniors tend to business in Florida this weekend, they'll keep an eye on how one of their own is faring in California.

-- Bill Fields

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