See you after the seaon starts...

If Phil needs 12 weeks off and Tiger needs six weeks off, I might as well take a few days off over here at the goffblog. See you boys once balls start flying in 2006. Have a happy year and to all a good night.

Mercedes' Five Stars who "Crashed the Ratings"

The 2006 PGA Tour Season gets started with the Mercedes Championship, at Kapalua. It's a posh tourney for Champions from the previous season. The tourney features an elite field, no cut and last place money pays around $65,000.00.

Playing the Mercedes would seem a logical way to start the PGA Tour season. Just ask two-time defending champion, Stuart Appleby, who has racked up $2,120,000 in two victorious weeks in sunny Lahaina, HI. Appleby has teed it up 50 times over the last two years, and these two victories account for over 40% of his $5,151,741 in earnings over that period. Appleby’s got a racket going that is even better than Fred Couples’ silly season. I wonder how long Stu will ponder if it’s worth a 10 hour flight from Australia to play in this year’s event?

Here is a look at the field for the 2006 event with those opting to skip the event in bold:

Stuart Appleby, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, David Toms, Geoff Ogilvy , Padraig Harrington, Kenny Perry, Fred Funk, Peter Lonard, Tim Petrovic, Ted Purdy, Bart Bryant, Sergio Garcia, Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk, Sean O'Hair, Jason Bohn, Ben Crane, Retief Goosen, Vaughn Taylor, Brad Faxon, Olin Browne, Mark Calcavecchia, Jason Gore, Robert Gamez, KJ Choi, Wes Short Jr., Lucas Glover, Heath Slocum.

Upstarts Jason Gore and Sean O'Hair will occupy some of the spotlight. Marquee players like Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh will garner plenty of air time. The issue that will be hard for the average fan to grasp is how Woods and Mickelson need more vacation time and how playing golf in Hawaii for guaranteed money doesn’t qualify as “vacation time.”

Woods will lay low from 12/12/2005 – 1/26/2006.
Mickelson’s sabbatical will run from 10/17/2005 – 1/19/2006.

I’m not saying Tiger and Phil don’t have every right as “independent contractors” to pick and choose their events. They do. I’m just saying a few weeks of posh golf in Hawaii aint for everybody, that’s for sure!

Who knows, maybe it’s the “Kona winds of the Big Wiesy” in the forecast for the following week’s Sony Open that’s keeping the boys on the mainland. It probably isn’t good to risk being upstaged by a local 16 year-old (girl).

“No thanks boys, enjoy the islands, we’ll see you in California…”

Note: In fairness, Woods and Mickelson, have never stuck around and played in the Sony. Wie has played three times on sponsors exemptions; Sony Open (2) and the John Deere Classic. Woods and Mickelson have not been in those events. "Katy Bar the door" if Wie ever plays a tournament that has Woods or Mickelson in the field. Just don’t look for that to happen anytime soon.

Going Low

I love diggin' on Duval. I realize he held the top spot in the world golf rankings for 15 weeks in the late 90’s. I think it would be good for golf if Duval regains his form, but it appears golf is not as important to David if you listen to his interviews since things started heading south. He made enough money back then and I don’t think he will climb that mountain again. Good play could spark the first purchase in the last five years, of his golf instruction classic, “Going Low.” It would be interesting to know if anyone has picked that book up this decade.




Wie’s performance in 2005 LPGA events was impressive. No doubt she can compete at that level. I just think the crossover “circus show” is a little silly. I, like everyone, enjoy seeing Wie show up at little PGA Tour Events and try to make the cut. The lowly John Deere obviously benefits from giving Wie a sponsor’s exemption. I just think she has the opportunity to be a hero out there for women’s golf and not just a novelty for ratings and revenue for down weeks on the PGA Tour. Despite all my rhetoric, I respect Wie’s talents on the course. I just question where she plants her tees in the ground. Maybe she will settle on playing solely at the PGA’s Sony Open each year and then focus on being the world’s top female golfer. Annika (10 wins in 20 starts in 2005) needs some competition.

One final note, I think you over estimate the power of endorsements in golf anyway. People play what has "buzz", not what Tiger plays. If Tiger moved the marketing needle so well, Nike wouldn't have to go out and sign the mob of PGA players it ponied up cash for in '04 (Leonard, Choi, etc.) When was the last time you saw Nike Drivers at anything but a clearance rack. Who does Odyssey pay to endorse the 2 ball putter? It seems to have been fairly successful. (editor's note: I personally have never used a 2 ball putter)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I heard an Aretha Franklin song today and it got me thinking about a little respect. Thus Morgan Pressel and Annika Sorenstam make their debut on the Goffshot’s blog.

The much ballyhooed Michelle Wie turned professional at a press conference in October where Nike and Sony made her the highest paid female in the history of golf. Wie will garner $10,000,000.00 annually in endorsement deals. She has more talent than Ty Tryon, and a resume as unimpressive. Tyron and Wie have collectively won very little on the course. (Wie’s only victory being the 2004 USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links)

Tyron got a gig wearing the Target Bullseye and Wie is flashing Nike’s Swoosh and toting a Sony bag as a 16 year old unproven talent. Tyron’s career to date has been a flop. Wie looks like a can’t miss star, but has wilted in every men’s event as the cut line loomed and pulled a “Goosen” at the 2005 US Women’s Open. Her lack of composure is the issue that will remain under the microscope until she starts winning events. She also will need to prove how her way is better than the proven “Tiger Woods path” to golfing success. (ie. dominate at every level until you are the best in the world) Woods waited in line to ride the roller coaster until it was his turn, Wie just cut to the front of the line.

Wie is an awkward specimen. She has the raw gifts of a twenty something man. This manchild talent is the very thing stifling her progress. She should be playing junior golf against other girls (See Morgan Pressel.) Wie instead chooses to jet set across the globe playing both men and women events. Wie and her 300 yard drives have no clear focus and no clear path to domination. Pick a genre and be the best of that genre. (See LPGA phenom Paula Creamer)

Meanwhile, Morgan Pressel, another teen, turned pro this fall. Pressel’s press conference was more discreet. She didn’t have any endorsement deals as of the announcement. All she has is a rock solid resume with 11 AJGA titles. She would be the reigning 2005 US Women’s Open champion if not for Birdie Kim’s hole out of the bunker on the 72nd hole. Let’s take a look at Annika Sorenstam’s resume which boasts 62 career victories. Annika teed it up 20 times this year on the LPGA, winning 10 times, and finishing in the “top 10” 15 out of 20 events.

So how does Pressel not have companies lining up with millions and why Annika is playing second fiddle on the pay chart? Should Wie be more marketable than a proven teen like Pressel or than Sorenstam, the game’s greatest champion? Somehow her “manly” gifts coupled by her blended ethnicity put her ahead of the rest of the field and make her worthy of $10M a year? Wie’s endorsement deal shows how reality can be distorted and R-E-S-P-E-C-T is no longer a requirement in selling shoes or peddling electronics.

Just ask your wife or a female co-worker if they have ever heard of Wie or Pressel. The media has slanted the public perception of female golf. Maybe this will be a reason for the Pressel’s and the Sorenstam’s of the world to keep winning. All I can say is Wie better win, and win big, or she is going to be the biggest bust this side of David Duval.