New Golf Tour in Works

What do such golf stars as Fred Couples, Nick Price, Paul Azinger, Curtis Strange and Steve Elkington have in common? They have all won major championships and now they are part of an elite group considering withdrawing from the PGA Tour to join another tour featuring only major winners.

The Major Champions Tour, which would be open to major winners between 37 and 55 and played on such storied courses as Winged Foot, Merion and Baltusrol, would begin play in 2003. It remains deep in the planning stages, hinging almost entirely on a television deal, although player interest seems to be running high.

“I think it’s a very interesting idea,” said Peter Malik of IMG, who represents Mark O’Meara and Strange. “I think guys will take a serious look at it, that’s for sure. Mark’s seen it. He’s looked into it. Even though there are a lot of issues on the table, you would be silly not to.”

The concept of such a tour would be to fill in a competitive gap between great players of their era who are not always in the hunt on Sundays on the PGA Tour and a growing sense that the Senior PGA Tour is not something they would wish to play when they reach 50.

“The [PGA] Tour is for guys who hit it a country mile,” said the agent for one player with several major titles but who did not want to be identified. “This era we’re talking about just doesn’t have that anymore. The [PGA] Tour is being set up for guys who are younger, stronger, longer, faster, which is the way it should be.

“But what’s being talked about here is a platform for those guys to compete and get re-energized. That’s what they’re looking for, besides the money.”

The depth of the quality of players eligible for the new tour is impressive. Greg Norman and Nick Faldo gave up their PGA Tour memberships this year. Among the others who would be eligible to play include Mark Calcavecchia, John Daly, Lee Janzen, Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman, Jose Maria Olazabal, Corey Pavin, Jeff Sluman, Craig Stadler, Hal Sutton, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson and Ian Woosnam.

There are 35 players who will be between 37 and 55 in 2003 and have won major championships.

The first-year plan calls for as many as six or eight events on the Major Champions Tour, each with a minimum purse of $2 million. Each tournament would be a 72-hole stroke-play event with a cut to the low 20 and ties. Prize money would range from $500,000 to the winner, $200,000 to the runner-up and $50,000 for 20th place.

Lynn Roach, who is Couples’ agent, said his client brought him the idea at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in August.

“He’s been very open about it and excited about the chance to play with legends like Greg Norman and Nick Price and Nick Faldo, and then to play on great courses, you can see how inviting it is,” Roach said. “It takes stars we’ve known for the last 15 or 20 years and showcases them, which doesn’t really happen right now on the PGA Tour. All we’re saying is ‘Here’s an idea. Does it make sense to the group?’ I think most people like the idea. Will it work out? I guess time will tell.”

Couples asked independent television producer Terry Jastrow to draft the details of the proposal and more important, to try to land the Major Champions Tour on television. Unless there is a TV deal, as well as a corporate sponsor, there is no tour.

Jastrow is an expert in televised golf events and was senior producer of golf at ABC for 20 years, where he oversaw 68 majors. He also was partner with Jack Nicklaus in a television production company.

“All I’ve done is to explore the feasibility of such a tour and to try to determine the level of player commitment,” Jastrow said. “I find the concept so intriguing, I’m happy to do it.”

A new, four-year PGA Tour television package begins in 2003 and tournaments are parceled out to CBS, ABC, NBC, USA, ESPN and the Golf Channel. Fox is not part of the deal, so it would be the only major network buyer of the Major Champions Tour.

Fox Sports chairman David Hill said he and Fox Sports President Ed Goren met with Jastrow on Monday.

“Terry is a delightful person and a very dear friend,” Hill said. “And he has an interesting proposal. But then we get a lot of interesting proposals.

“We listened to this one and we’ll consider it.”

As for how important it is that Fox have golf, Hill said, “I really can’t say, although I’d say it is not as important as the NFL, baseball or NASCAR.”

Golf does stack up pretty well against other sports. Through 13 regular-season telecasts on NBC to date, the average Nielsen rating is a 2.9 with a 7 share. Through CBS’ first four golf tournaments, the four that make up the West Coast swing of the PGA Tour, the average is a 2.8 with a 6 share.

The PGA Tour’s television contract represented a 25% increase in rights fees to $850 million, based on generally increased ratings numbers, a circumstance that is usually credited to the emergence of Tiger Woods as the preeminent player in the world. For instance, the fourth round of the Masters, where Woods won for the second time, drew a hefty 13.3 rating.

The last time someone floated an idea for a new tour, it quickly sunk. In 1994, the so-called World Tour, a partnership between Norman and Fox, never got off the ground. At that time, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem lobbied behind the scenes to scuttle the fledgling tour, using the threat of holding back player releases to prevent them from jumping ship.

That would not be a consideration for the Major Champions Tour, because none of the players would be members of the PGA Tour. So far, the PGA Tour has done nothing to shoot down the proposal.

“We’re aware of the general concept, but we lack substantial detail on the proposal and some of the specifics and how it would be implemented,” said Bob Combs, senior vice president of public relations and communications. “In view of that, we have no specific comment.”

The new tour would be played during the normal golf season, beginning in March, with tournaments scheduled so they would not conflict with majors or popular PGA Tour events.

The impact the new tour would have on the Senior PGA Tour can only be imagined. The Senior Tour, which has been around since 1980, has enjoyed a comfortable niche as the only playing arena available for players when they reach 50. That could change now.

However, there is no guarantee that players such as Couples, Price and Norman would play the senior tour anyway. This is the first generation of players who are so financially independent that they do not need the senior tour. But they do have a need for quality competition, Roach said.

“Fred didn’t sign up for the senior tour when he signed up for the PGA Tour,” he said. “And if he left the PGA Tour, would he rather play with guys like Faldo, Norman and Olazabal? Why wouldn’t he? He’d get more out of that.”

What ramifications there may be for players who leave the PGA Tour is not known, although there is certainly nothing in the scenario that would affect the players’ pension plans because the players already are vested.

IMG’s Malik says not enough is known about how resigning from the PGA Tour would affect a player’s insurance plan, or endorsement income that stipulates a player must play in PGA Tour events. There also is the issue of the PGA Tour owning the rights to a player’s image and likeness.

However, even without a PGA Tour card, a player in the top 50 on the career money list, which many of the players on the proposed tour would be, can still play in as many as 10 selected PGA Tour events--drawn from the four majors, the three World Golf Championship events and seven sponsors’ exemptions.

At this point, it’s too early to say there’s a new game in town, but like those who have studied the idea of a Major Champions Tour, Malik is intrigued enough to follow the events closely.

“Sure, there are a lot of things that need to get fleshed out before they get even one player who will sign on the dotted line,” he said. “But there’s no denying this. It’s certainly a viable option to look at.”

Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Major Players

Active players who will be between 37 and 55 in 2003 and have won a major golf championship would be eligible to play in the Major Champions Tour. A look at those players and their ages in 2003 (major titles in parentheses):

Paul Azinger, 42

(1993 PGA Championship)

Seve Ballesteros, 46

(1979, 1984, 1988 British Open,

1980, 1983 Masters)

Mark Brooks, 43

(1996 PGA Championship)

Mark Calcavecchia, 43

(1989 British Open)

Fred Couples, 43

(1992 Masters)

Ben Crenshaw, 51

(1984, 1995 Masters)

John Daly, 37

(1991 PGA, 1995 British Open)

Steve Elkington, 41

(1995 PGA Championship)

Nick Faldo, 46

(1987, 1990, 1992 British Open,

1989, 1990, 1996 Masters)

Lee Janzen, 39

(1993, 1998 U.S. Open)

Steve Jones, 45

(1996 U.S. Open)

Tom Kite, 54

(1992 U.S. Open)

Bernhard Langer, 46

(1985, 1993 Masters)

Tom Lehman, 44

(1996 British Open)

Davis Love III, 39

(1997 PGA Championship)

Sandy Lyle, 45

(1985 British Open, 1988 Masters)

Larry Mize, 44

(1987 Masters)

Greg Norman, 48

(1986, 1993 British Open)

Andy North, 53

(1978, 1985 U.S. Open)

Jose Maria Olazabal, 37

(1994, 1999 Masters)

Mark O’Meara, 46

(1998 Masters, British Open)

Jerry Pate, 50

(1976 U.S. Open)

Corey Pavin, 44

(1995 U.S. Open)

Nick Price, 46

(1992, 1994 PGA Championship,

1994 British Open)

Scott Simpson, 48

(1987 U.S. Open)

Vijay Singh, 40

(1998 PGA Championship,

2000 Masters)

Jeff Sluman, 46

(1988 PGA Championship)

Craig Stadler, 50

(1982 Masters)

Curtis Strange, 48

(1988, 1989 U.S. Open)

Hal Sutton, 45

(1983 PGA Championship)

Bob Tway, 44

(1986 PGA Championship)

Lanny Wadkins, 54

(1977 PGA Championship)

Tom Watson, 54

(1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983 British Open, 1977, 1981 Masters, 1982 U.S. Open)

Ian Woosman, 45

(1991 Masters)

Fuzzy Zoeller, 51

(1979 Masters, 1984 U.S. Open)

*

Game of Ages

Major tournament winners since 1998 and their ages when they won:

(text of infobox not included)