Way of the Shark by Greg Norman & Donald T. Phillips

Author:Greg Norman & Donald T. Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

* * *

AFTER THE SHARK SHOOTOUT, I sat down by myself for several hours to think about everything that had happened. And the more I thought about it, the more dejected I became. PGA Tour executives had reacted emotionally and defensively to our idea for the World Tour. They didn’t perform their due diligence and moved too quickly—which is why incorrect statements were made. Moreover, I could tell that a set of “talking points” had been created by the PGA Tour, and that these messages were conveyed in an effective and consistent manner to the players, to the sponsors, to the directors of the other tours, and to the media.

It will harm the PGA Tour.

Tournaments will lose their sponsors.

Sponsors will lose revenues.

It will negatively impact charities.

It will be bad for golf in general.

It is about short-term money gains.

It is about Greg Norman.

Do not bite the hand that feeds you.

Do not turn your back on the PGA Tour.

These points were repeated over and over by different people. For example, several players made virtually identical statements to the press. “You just can’t turn your back on the people who supported you all these years,” said one. “We can’t just turn our backs on the PGA Tour,” said another. “Tournaments will lose their sponsors!”

At this point I did not want to give up on the World Tour. I had made commitments, and people were depending on me. I was simply not going to turn my back on my friends or a great idea whose time, I believed, had come. So we attempted to work things out with the PGA Tour.

Along with John Montgomery, I met personally with Finchem and expressed a willingness to be flexible in our planning, and we agreed to have additional discussions. But right after that meeting, the commissioner issued another press statement in which he emphasized that “an accommodation would be extremely difficult.” He stated that the PGA Tour didn’t have any flexibility at all from January 9 to October 29 because every one of their events is on TV. Then he closed with “Arnold Palmer and the other organizers of the modern PGA Tour set standards for golf and established a structure that has worked well. [Actually, it was Gardner Dickinson who started the PGA Tour.] As we move forward in the world of golf and address inevitable change, we must be vigilant of those standards and structures and make sure that changes better the whole world of golf, not just individual participants.”

When I read his statement, not more than two days after what I thought was a productive meeting, it became clear to me that Finchem really didn’t want to work anything out with us. And it was also pretty clear to me that he was subtly accusing those of us associated with the World Tour of trying to enrich ourselves individually rather than doing what was best for golf.

On November 22, 1994, a two-and-a-half-hour meeting was held at PGA Tour headquarters, attended by staffs only.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.