Some Tour Players Seeking Less Length

By Thomas Bonk

Dec. 14, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The 2003 PGA Tour season ends today. Gentlemen, start your packing.

No matter whether it’s measured by weeks, tournaments, money or miles, the men’s professional golf season is the longest par five in the sport’s history. The question might come up whether it’s too long, but only if you consider 56 tournaments from the first week of January to the middle of December too long.

That’s exactly the way some players are looking at it, and the issue became a lively topic this week during the Target World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club.

“I think we have too many tournaments,” Fred Couples said. “But I keep hearing the PGA Tour is all about -- what’s the word? -- ‘creating opportunities’ to play. But a lot of top players only play 17-18 times. What other sport can you get the top players to play just half the time?

“As far as I’m concerned, you always get a better product if you get better players to play in better tournaments. But 45 straight weeks or whatever it is of golf? That’s crazy.

“It’s such overkill. I can’t accept an answer that it’s all about creating opportunities to play from January until the last of November.”

Justin Leonard agrees. He said there are too many tournaments and the season is too long.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to win that battle. I think there is too much golf,” Leonard said. “It seems to me that at some point, you put so much golf on the air and give people so much that at some point, they’re going to say that this is enough and your ratings are going to go down.”

Jay Haas said he thinks Leonard is just worn out.

“That might be the words of someone at the end of the year,” said Haas, who turned 50 on Dec. 2. “The bulk of the tour players would say there’s not too many events. I’m not saying Justin is right or wrong, but you’re not going to find that most of the players say there are too many tournaments.”

Leonard made it clear that he was speaking only for himself.

“The tour has done an incredible job keeping that interest up,” he said. “The World Golf Championship events, trying to get guys to play more, but [this is] one guy’s opinion. I’d like to see maybe a January-February through maybe early October kind of schedule.”

Overall television ratings for golf were generally flat this year, the first of the PGA Tour’s four-year deal with the networks, an agreement worth about $850 million. That represents a 50% increase over the previous contract. The deal expires at the end of 2006, but negotiations on a new agreement could begin at the end of 2005.

Because of a general upturn in ratings since Tiger Woods turned pro, prize money has increased. The tournament prize pot has more than doubled in the last six years, from $96 million in 1998 to $235 million in 2003.

Leonard says he understands the ramifications of saturation, but also scheduling.

“[Commissioner] Tim Finchem has told me that if we don’t have a tournament, somebody’s going to put a tournament on and they’re going to get players to play. They’re going to pay appearances, whatever they need to do. So regardless of whether there’s a tour event that week or not, somebody’s going to put on a tournament. I can’t argue that point.”

Leonard played 23 tournaments this year, three more if you count the World Cup, the Presidents Cup and this week’s event at Sherwood Country Club. Woods has played 19 events worldwide and adds one for this week.

“Tiger plays ... how many PGA Tour events are there? Forty-something and he plays 18?” Leonard said. “We need to do something to get him to play at least half. I’ll talk to him. Now that he’s getting hitched, he’ll want to play more.”

Davis Love III, who played 25 weeks, including the Presidents Cup and this week, said the outcome of any vote of the players about the number of tournaments on the schedule would be easy to predict.

“The top players would vote for 20 and the bottom would vote for 50.”

But as far as whether golf has reached the saturation point on television, Love says that is not the case.

“The hard-core public, they watch as much as they can watch. You can’t over-saturate it,” Love said. “It’s a tough dilemma, though. Are people bored with it? I don’t think so. Is there a lot of golf? Yeah.”

Don’t expect any changes, said Brad Faxon, a member of the PGA Tour’s policy board.

“Justin’s got his opinion about the number of tournaments, but the policy board hasn’t even talked about it. This has never become an issue. The tour is not trying to shorten the season.”

Couples played 20 times, counting the Skins Game and the Target tournament. He won at Houston, had four top 10s and won $1.8 million. Along the way, he formed an opinion that a season that lasts 340 days is way too long.

“The truth is the truth,” he said. “We have a great commissioner who tries to cater to playing golf [tournaments] every single day. And I think that’s too much. Some players want to play in the dark on concrete for a chance to win.”

But Couples said the PGA Tour is driven by star power and that Finchem should take more notice of the star players. In fact, he offered some advice to the commissioner.

“Why don’t you take a little peek and listen to those guys?”

Love shot a nine-under 63 Saturday with 10 birdies and one bogey to take a three-shot lead over K.J. Choi at Sherwood. Choi’s 65 was the second-best round of the day.

“I thought I could birdie every hole,” said Love, sporting the beginnings of a goatee. “I came pretty close to it.”

Padraig Harrington, the defending champion, bogeyed the last hole for a 70 and is six shots behind Love. Tournament host Woods had a 72 and is nine shots back.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

World Challenge

Third-Round Scores

Saturday’s results at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Par 72:

Davis Love III...70-72-63 -- 205 -11

K.J. Choi...72-71-65 -- 208 -8

P. Harrington...74-67-70 -- 211 -5

Mike Weir...75-68-69 -- 212 -4

Justin Leonard...71-72-70 -- 213 -3

Fred Couples...73-72-69 -- 214 -2

Tiger Woods...71-71-72 -- 214 -2

Chris DiMarco...74-68-72 -- 214 -2