Fox Will Keep Eye on Golf Battle : Television: Network won’t take part in legal conflicts between PGA Tour and World Tour.

Fox Television is not the bad guy in the World Golf Tour’s conflict with the PGA Tour, said David Evans, the network’s president and chief executive officer.

“It’s easy to say Rupert Murdoch has thrown his money around and he and Greg Norman have tried to take over golf, but that’s not the case,” Evans told The Times. “Fox came in and upset everything, that’s just not true.”

Although PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said the World Tour is not in the best interests of golf, Evans said Finchem is mistaken.

“The World Tour idea came to us from Greg Norman,” said Evans, speaking publicly for the first time on the World Tour. “It was and still is an extremely interesting idea. I know it would be good for golf, the best players playing against the best. It’s like Greg Norman said. We both hope to see it happen through the right channels.

“Why wouldn’t (the PGA Tour) do something about it? It’s a bloody good idea.”

Evans, who signed a contract for Fox to own the television rights to the tour, said he isn’t sure how far the World Tour will go to stage its events in 1995. Evans said the World Tour could sue the PGA Tour over the control of players.

“I don’t know whether they will try to take on the PGA Tour in the courts or whether that’s a good idea,” Evans said. “But we at Fox are going to wait and see. That’s all we can do. We’re not about to engage in pro-active legal activities.”

Finchem said in a statement that he would enforce the tour’s conflicting event and television release rules to prevent players from playing on the World Tour. After a meeting of the PGA Tour policy board, he also said in a later conference call that he would suspend or fine players who violate the rules.

It appears that the PGA Tour is getting ready for court action on some front. In his statement, Finchem said the PGA Tour “welcomes the opportunity” to defend in court its conflicting event and television release policies, should a Federal Trade Commission task force looking into their merit find against the tour.

Evans said Finchem might not be able to avoid a world tour concept of some kind at some time.

“No doubt he’s just had his wake-up call,” Evans said.

Evans said Fox Television’s role in the conflict between the World Tour and golf’s Establishment will be as an observer.

“We don’t want to get into the golf business,” he said. “We are broadcasters.”

The World Tour, which Norman helped launch two weeks ago at a news conference during the Franklin Funds Shark Shootout, is a $25-million venture featuring eight $3-million tournaments with $600,000 for each winner and a $1-million bonus to the top player at the end of the year.

Fox’s financial stake in the World Tour extends only to the rights fees it paid, said Evans, who would not disclose the amount. He said the World Tour hopes sponsors will make up the difference between the rights fees from Fox and the $3-million prize money.

The World Tour might take place before or after the four major tournaments, according to organizers. No sites, dates, sponsors or players have been announced.

Norman has backed off his vow that the World Tour would begin on schedule in 1995, regardless of opposition from the PGA Tour.

“It will happen,” Norman told the Associated Press in Melbourne, Australia. “Whether it happens in 1995, 1996 or 2006, it will happen.”

Finchem said Norman is the only player behind the World Tour and that all the other PGA Tour members are outspoken in their support of the U.S. tour. Evans said Finchem is only half right.

“Frankly, the talk of most of the golfers is that they would do nothing to jeopardize the PGA Tour, but also that they love the world tour,” Evans said. “(Finchem) is leaving off that one piece of it.”

The eight-tournament plan for 1995 was cut down to six by World Tour executive John Montgomery Jr. at a meeting with the PGA Tour policy board. A further reduction of tournaments to as few as one event in 1995, such as a revamped Shark Shootout in mid-November, would not fall under Fox’s contract with the World Tour.