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Tour Goes Dark At Right Time Quotable

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the PGA Tour is taking a week off in the middle of the season.

The timing couldn't be better.

Tour commissioner Tim Finchem built this break into the schedule last November so players would not have to compete four straight weeks in the FedEx Cup and then head straight to Valhalla for the Ryder Cup.

Little did he know that the FedEx Cup would be over by now, assuming Vijay Singh doesn't get lost on his way to East Lake. Nor could Finchem have anticipated such negative vibes about the latest version of golf's playoffs. Best anyone can tell, only one player liked the new points system, and that was Singh.

The LPGA Tour thought it had problems?

It worries that some of its international players don't speak enough English to satisfy the sponsors. The PGA Tour has a player who in effect was handed $10 million from sponsors and didn't have the courtesy of saying anything at all.

Sunday at the BMW Championship provided an embarrassing moment for the tour. By ignoring repeated requests from NBC Sports for a few minutes of his time, Singh either showed what little regard he has for the FedEx Cup or what little regard he has for a television network that helps make it possible for him to be a millionaire.

Probably both.

Meanwhile, the FedEx Cup will "resume" one week after the Ryder Cup, which offers no prize money at all to 24 players from both sides of the Atlantic who would pay to be at Valhalla.

Go figure.

The Tour Championship will only have one major winner - Masters champion Trevor Immelman - in its 30-man field.

And that's assuming all 30 guys show up.

Wie Enters Q-School For LPGA Tour

Unable to earn her card through sponsor exemptions, Michelle Wie has entered the LPGA Tour qualifying school and will play the first stage next week on the California course where she first rose to fame at age 13.

The first stage will be at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif., site of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, where Wie played in the final group of the LPGA's first major when she was in the eighth grade.

Wie turned pro in 2005 and a year later had at least a share of the lead on the back nine of three majors. Her career went into a tailspin short after that, when she tried to play through wrist injuries, withdrew from the Ginn Tribute when she was on the verge of shooting 88 and facing suspension, and continued to play the occasional event on men's tours.

She has not won any tournament since the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in 2003 at age 13.

By The Numbers

5

U.S. players on LPGA Tour ranked in top 25.

9

South Korean players on LPGA Tour ranked in top 25.

12
PGA Tour players in their 20s who have won this year (Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, D.J. Trahan, J.B. Holmes, Sean O'Hair, Andres Romero, Johnson Wagner, Trevor Immelman, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Chez Reavie and Parker McLachlin).

"Nobody has played better in his 40s since Ben Hogan." - NBC analyst Johnny Miller on Vijay Singh, who clinched the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus three weeks before the season-ending Tour Championship.

"It's something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid." - Vicky Hurst, 18, who earned her LPGA Tour card by finishing first on the Duramed Futures Tour money list.

"We're trying to make lemonade out of the competition we've got." - Gin sur Mer tournament director John Subers, on offering free admission to anyone wearing school colors to the Palm Coast PGA Tour, event, which will be played in competition with the annual Florida-Georgia football game in Jacksonville.

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