Bob Geismar – One Thought Golf

The PGA Tour State of the Game.

The PGATour state of the game is, one word, solid. The tour has a plethora of new players either coming into their own or on the verge of doing so. It has the mix of veteran talent consistently winning and also knowing that they are being pushed by the young guns each and every week.

The new stars emerging with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Patrick Reed, and Derek Ernst, just to name a few. Each of those 4 young men won on tour last year and I see no reason why they should not play significant roles in 2014.

The seasoned vets like Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Phil and Tiger will try to keep their places amongst the top of the game, and I see no reason why each of those men will fade any time soon.

Then there is the group of players who have talent off the charts and will make life tough on all of the above players lead by Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker and Dustin Johnson.

Then there is the great unknown, who will come out of the locker rooms across the tour landscape and become household names. Isn’t that what makes thePGATour so compelling each and every week? I think so, I hope you do, as well. Oh, yes, the PGA Tour is very solid as 2014 looks as bright as is could possibly be.

You are an athletic golfer, not just a recreational golfer from this point forward!

Most average golfers call themselves recreational golfers—that is not dynamic enough to take control of your golfing future. You are an athletic golfer from this moment forward.

Here is what an athletic golfer does:

l. Prepare to succeed—you will think positively about your golf game 365 days—including envisioning great shots every day whether you play or not.

2. Have a game plan. Athletes have real cognitive thoughts about who they are as they go to play their sport—why should you be different? You are not. You need to think proactively about playing great golf every time.

3. Athletes accept mistakes and move along very rapidly. You must be able to accept your poor shots in golf fast because you will inevitably hit poor shots and when you do accept them as fact and that they play a positive role in you learning and becoming better, you will improve immensely. The pitcher who gives up a home run must forget that before the next batter steps to the plate. The quarterback who throws an interception must forget that before he steps back on to the field. The same goes for the athletic golfer—forget the bad shot right away and move along to the next shot. The bad shot does not ruin the hole it’s the next shot that makes or breaks you.

You are now an athletic golfer—what a great, new positive outlook to playing the game that you love and that loves you back!

Why the President’s Cup is worthwhile beyond golf.

In a word: charity. The 100% benefactor of the President’s Cup is the fact that it has helped close to 500 different charities around the world to the tune of nearly $30 million in its 19 plus years of existence. The golfers who compete choose the charities of their choice for the net proceeds to be distributed, helping millions of people across the globe.

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Therefore, it is worthwhile beyond the golfing competition.

The other fact that it is worldwide, with the exception of Europe, is significant, as the charitable money can be spread where it might normally not be included. This year’s International squad has players from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia, Japan, Canada, Argentina and of course the United States.

So, after the golf is concluded Sunday afternoon and the cheering has subsided, the real benefits will be seen. I am interested in seeing how the players distribute the proceeds and I will try to update you on the distribution when it becomes available.

Yeah, we not only see compelling golf action this weekend but a much more important action will help those in need around the world.

The 2013 President’s Cup started October 3, 2013 and is on until the October 6, 2013 and is taking place in Muirfield Village, Dublin, Ohio.

Did the Web.com Tour Finals work? Maybe, but it was certainly misnamed.

It is all over. Tour school or Web.com Tour Finals or whatever you want to call it is over and its now time to allow the dust to settle.

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Did it work? Did you understand it? Did you even care enough to try to understand it? These are questions thePGATour needs to address.

It really should not have been called the Web.com Tour Finals because half of the field was from thePGATour in the first place. I believe that the Web.Com company via paying thePGATour some $10 Million annually for the umbrella sponsorship demanded that their name be on this 4 tournament package of events, even if it was misnamed.

The Tour was not going to displace this $10 million sponsor and upset the first year of a 12 year sponsorship to make sure the fans understood the events. No way, but now that it is over and one year is under everyone’s belt, they need to tweak it to the point that only Web.Com players participate, or simply come up with a marketable name to enhance the events going forward.

Like when they changed the Senior Tour to call it the Champions Tour. That sounds better.

Come up with a better name, make it tour qualifying school only and it will work and be understandable going forward.

Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards 2013

Today, the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards were given out and frankly, there weren’t any surprises. Five-time tour champion in 2013, Tiger Woods, came away with his 11^th P.O.Y. award. Tiger won the Arnold Palmer money title, The Vardon Trophy, for the lowest adjusted scoring average and the five titles was the most by any player on tour. He did not win a major but no one who won a major won more than 3 titles (Phil Mickelson) so the Tiger dominance of this award continues. The Jack Nicklaus award for the Player of the Year goes to the great Tiger Woods.

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The rookie of the year award went to Jordan Spieth who started the year with no status at all and finished the year with a victory and a President’s Cup team member, which, of course, will be contested next week. Spieth became the youngest man to win a title in over 82 years—at age 19 just before turning 20. There were other rookies of distinction, Russell Henley, Derek Ernst, and David Lingmerth of note but what Spieth did was nothing short of breathtaking. He went from 810^th in the world in January to now 21^st in the world golf rankings. This is a meteoric rise of epic proportions and I for one can’t wait to see him perform next week in the President’s Cup.

“How Swede it is”

Swede Henrik Stenson is on top of the golfing world. His victory yesterday at the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola was indeed very “sweet”. It was sweet to the tune of $11,440,000. Stenson became the first European to win the Fed Ex Cup.

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He was up to the pressure all weekend long through torrential rains on Saturday and immense pressure on Sunday. He showed lots of toughness parring both the tough 17^th and 18^th holes yesterday with amazing bunker shots. He is right now playing the best golf of anyone on the planet.

Neither Tiger nor Phil was ever a factor which surprised me a bit, especially Tiger, who has done some pretty amazing things around East Lake over the years but not so this year. As for Mickelson, he always appears to be less than stimulated by any event that is not a major. This is not to say he isn’t prepared and he doesn’t want to win, but for Phil, it’s a major or bust.

Now can Stenson continue this amazing play through the winter months and be a factor atAugustanext April? The storylines are going to be gushing with excitement. Stay tuned.

100 years ago today changed the face of golf in America.

No exaggeration, exactly 100 years ago today, September 20, 1913, Francis Ouimet won the U.S. Open and it changed the face of golf in this country.

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He was a man of the people, a commoner, a young man 20 years old in fact with a 10 year old caddy. It was not improbable, it was impossible, but it happened. The story is so compelling that it was front page news, not just sports page news the next day. It got Americans of all economic backgrounds to take up golf.

Ouimet lived across the street from The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. He was not allowed to play the course – he was a caddy. He qualified for the event and then needed a caddy. Francis asked a friend to caddy, but he opted out at the last moment and the friend’s 10 year old brother volunteered to caddy. The rest is magical history.

Eddie Lowery was the 10 year old, Francis Ouimet was the 20 year old and together they defeated the two most prominent golfers in the world in an 18 hole playoff. Ouimet defeated Legendary Englishman Harry Vardon who today still holds the record for winning the most British Opens at 6 and had won the 1900 U. S. Open. Ouimet also conquered Vardon’s fellow countryman, Ted Ray, who also was a British Open champion and would go on to win the U.S. Open in 1920. Ouimet beat Vardon by 5 and Ray by 6 strokes in the playoff.

This event, in golf history, remains to this day by most golf historians as the single most important for the proliferation of the game inAmerica. Golf went from an elitist sport to one open to everyone virtually overnight. Francis Ouimet and Eddie Lowery connected to golf history forever remembered today and as long as golf is played in America.

Jim Furyk joins a very exclusive club

This past Friday we saw PGATour great Jim Furyk fire a magnificent 59 in the second round of the BMW Championship at Conway Farms outside of Chicago. That is a fact. What is also a fact is that this was only the 6^th such 59 ever inPGA Tour history.

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ThePGATour estimates that there have been somewhere just north of 1 million total rounds in its history. That makes this round about a 175,000 to 1 happening. Remarkable and further in all 6 of them the final hole has either been a birdie or an eagle to complete the mighty task.

The 6 are Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos, Stuart Appleby, and now, Jim Furyk. Not too much of a common thread. Geiberger, Duval and Furyk all have won majors, Goydos, Beck and Duval have gone from top level golfers to the bottom of the barrel, with Appleby not too far behind in that category. But, they do have one thread they all on at least one day outperformed what even they might have thought was possible.

The list is missing Tiger, Jack, Arnie, Hogan, Snead, Sarazen, Player, etc. You get the point. This accomplishment is fantastic no question about it. It is also a snap shot, not a full-length movie.

The other point I want to make here is Jim Furyk is one of the true gentlemen on the Tour. It could not have happened to a nicer man.

Vijay decides to play with the old guys — at least for one week.

Simply put, I think Vijay Singh is tired of not playing competitive golf, so he is making his Champions Tour Debut next week in Hawaii. He failed to make the Fed Ex Cup Finals and has had to stew in his own juice for the last few weeks. I think he’s antsy. Vijay announced yesterday that he will play this event in our 50^th state.

I have always admired Vijay for his amazing accomplishments on the PGA Tour. To me, he is the singularly most “this can not happen story” of all-time even more than Lee Trevino because at least Trevino lived in the Land of Milk and Honey.

Vijay, growing up, of course, in Figi, had to fly somewhere to play in any tournament since there virtually is nothing competitive on the Figi Islands as far as golf is concerned.

Not only did he make it to the PGA Tour, but he won 3 majors, 34 tournaments in all and still counting but he actually rose to become the world’s number one player. Think of this for a moment, there has never been anyone from Figi on any tour anywhere in the world, and yet Vijay Singh became number 1 on the planet. The odds of that happening are so astronomical that it would take a team of MIT brains to figure it out. I’d say it is probably a zero chance, but it happened; he is an inspiration. He is also a complicated person and hard to get to know, but one thing we can never, ever forget he came from nothing to become number 1 and they can never take that away from The Big Figian.

What do you think?

The Champions Tour has become golf’s mulligan for the not-so-great and it is OK

I find the Champions Tour—the over the hill 50 plus guys still loving to play and loving to get PGA Tour paychecks just OK—not great, not overly exciting just pretty darn OK and that’s well, that’s pretty darn OK with me.

The overall packaging of the tour is different than the regular PGA Tour. They usually play 3 rounds instead of 4, and that gives the players an additional day for more pro-ams, and that gives more people a chance to experience playing and watching the champions in a relaxed mode. One other major factor that makes this tour so worthwhile is the charities that benefit from its existence. Never forget for one minute that charity is always the biggest property the tours have. The total amount of money raised by all the PGA Tours combined is fast approaching $2 billion. It literally changes lives and that is way more than OK.

A couple of weeks ago John Riegger won an event on the Champions Tour—he just turned 50 in June and went to Q school last fall got his card and is set to go—Riegger never won on the PGA Tour—so he got his mulligan and took full advantage of it right away. Good for him. Yesterday Esteban Toledo won his second champions Tour event defeating Kenny Perry in a 3 hole playoff in Montreal, Canada—Toledo had never won in a long PGA Tour career—yes, indeed it is more than O.K. with me.

These are just two stories of the Champions Tour.