Cypress, MPCC and Fazio in the ATT Rotation?

[A_Clay_Man]

Jacobsen is very wise. He eludes to the gripping and believe me "these guys can whine". I think they also forget the origins of the clambake, a party. Who cares if it rains? Only us caddies, who have to lug all the crap.

[SL_Solow]

Klangone; so that we understand your point of view going forward I take it that your position can be summarized as harder = better.

[SPDB]

I have a freind who is one of the partners at the Pebble Beach Corp and you can assume he is very wealthy and a former CEO of a large company.  Most of the other partners are as well.  These are not the type of guys that you can push around and they have no interest in putting up with some small time CEO from Georgia that Azinger wants to play with.  

I think you're right. The nerve of Azinger. Did either your friend or his partners show Azinger a copy of his most recent tax return? I'm sure zinger would not have tried to push him around if he knew about his net worth.

 

[ed_getka]

Why should anyone need to show a tax return to garner respect? Azinger is an ass obviously, and he probably is narcissistic enough to be sitting by the phone waiting for someone to beg him to come back.

[Bob_Huntley]

Dan,

de Tocqueville be damned, ask what Ollie Nutt thinks!

[Jeff Goldman]

Ollie Nutt?  Must be the Hootie of the West Coast!  

[Mashie1]

Who gives a Rat's patootie what the PGA Tour does??

 

[SPDB]

Ed - I was poking fun.

although joel probably didn't mean it, and as I think Dan Kelly noted, his post implied that his friends and their partners are entitled to respect because they are rich and head large companies (or at least larger than the one Colson runs). How is that any different than Azinger believing he's entitled to respect as a past champion?

Both are flawed. One, however, is more laughable than the other.

[Michael Moore]

OK, count me in as someone else who doesn't get it.

How does the tour benefit from a star-studded field at Pebble Beach?

Is a CEO really going to throw money at a tournament because he got to rub elbows with brand name players at another tournament?

[A_Clay_Man]

You guys are forgetting all the "new" owners. I bet there are at least a hundred. Maybe Bob knows the math.

Part of the supply side issue has to be directly related to accommodating their wishes, over others.

[Mike Benham]

OK, count me in as someone else who doesn't get it.

How does the tour benefit from a star-studded field at Pebble Beach?

Michael -

Watch the coverage of the tournament on Saturday, tell me how much golf they really show (of the pro's not the amateurs aka celebrities) ...

Listen to the oohs and ahhhs from the crowd when Ray Romano duffs another shot ... or Tom Brady whacks one into Carmel Bay ...

Check out the purse for the toonamint ...

The ATT has one of the highest TV ratings of the year ... ratings drive advertising dollars ...
advertising dollars drive tournament purses ...

As a comparison, Callaway hosts a 4-day tournament at Pebble in December for professionals of all 3-tours ... it didn't gather much airtime during golf's silly season ...

The views of Pebble Beach from the blimp, with an occasional breaching whale or shot of CPC's 16th are nice, but it doesn't put money in the tournaments purse ...

Take away the antics of the celebrities and Pebble Beach and you have another Buick Open ...

Mike

[SPDB]

The thing that really annoys me is the recent shameless "synergistic" cross-marketing that CBS barrages its viewers with.

Nantz: "David, what's going on over there on the 10th"

Feherty: "Well, Jim, Ray Romano has found himself in the beach...quite, literally"

Nantz: "Ahh, the incorrigible Ray Romano. Now you can see why Everyone Loves Raymond"

[A_Clay_Man]

I did get the sense the year I was in it, that most of these big (humongous) CEO's rarely get a chance to pow wow with other humongous CEO's.

Talk about the opportunity to synergize.

[ed_getka]

SPDB (Sean?),
  Point taken. However, I wouldn't call it laughable, pathetic is the word that comes to mind, in both those cases.

[SPDB]

Adam - You're being sarcastic, right? Thankfully, investment banks abundantly fill the void for CEO pow-wowing in the 51 weeks between the Clambake.

[Michael Moore]

Mr. Benham -

By star studded I meant top world golfers. Sorry for the confusion.

Anyway, my question clearly was how does the Tour benefit not how does ATT benefit.

Peter Jacobsen calls this the most important stop of the year because all the CEOs are there. Apparently other golfers feel the same. I find that hard to swallow.

[Scott_Burroughs]

'"It frustrates me when players grouse about the conditions of the golf course without checking the circumstances,'' said Peter Jacobsen, making his 25th start at the AT&T. ''It has a tendency to rain here. And when greens get wet, I don't care if you're playing Isleworth, Augusta or Pebble Beach. It's going to be bumpy.''

I like Jacobsen's not-exactly-indirect jab at Tiger ("Isleworth") about skipping AT&T.

[Kevin_Reilly]

You guys are forgetting all the "new" owners. I bet there are at least a hundred. Maybe Bob knows the math.

Part of the supply side issue has to be directly related to accommodating their wishes, over others.

Over 130 investors put in $2-10MM each, in addition to the big names (Ferris, Ueberroth, Palmer, Eastwood) and GE.

[Mike Benham]

SF Chronicle - Feb. 5, 2004:

Pebble Beach -- Clint Eastwood may best be known as a legendary actor and the Oscar- nominated director of "Mystic River," but he's also the chairman of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation -- the group that puts on the AT&T.

As such, Eastwood bristled a little and gave a typically candid and colorful answer on Wednesday when asked his thoughts on this year's AT&T, with 16 of the top 20 players in the world skipping the event.

"It's a great tournament," Eastwood said at Pebble Beach's 18th green after the 3M Celebrity Challenge. "If you don't want to show up, don't show up. Those who do, support PGA Tour tournaments. We've got great players here this week, so we're not going to worry about one or two guys having a bug up their ass." [/i]

[A_Clay_Man]

Thanks Kevin. While the majority don't want to participate in the Pro-Am, there is a small group who do. Then there's the friends or family of all those who don't and all those possibilities for consideration.

It really is a great carnival atmosphere at this show. I always got a kick out of the women who show-up just to get a chance to run into Costner or Garcia. Pretty funny.

[Bob_Huntley]

I would hazard a guess that the majority of amateurs in the field are selected by A.T.&T. They are not all CEO's of large corporations but a great number do seem to control a lot of telephones! I remember one year, when Spyglass was washed out and they came over to MPCC, I played a practice round with the President of Penn State University, a real bludger.

[Joel_Stewart]

This weeks Golf World stated that Jack Nicklaus (Mr. Money Management) sold his stake.  He was one of the original 120 investors who purchased a share for $2 million.  These partners have a certain number of spots for the AT&T.

When the Azinger statement came out, someone from the foundation said they only receive 38 to 44 spots per year.  So basically you have spots for the foundation, AT&T and the Pebble Beach Corporation.  I would guess that AT&T receives maybe 50 spots?

I looked at the field this year and there a lot of has-beens in the field.  When was the last time Tom Driessen made someone laugh?  Glen Cambell fresh off his DUI is in the field?

[Rick Shefchik]

Glen might have wanted to wait a year or two -- either that, or talk Justin Timberlake into caddying for him.

[ChipRoyce]

Here's a tangent we might want to go down. Do you think CPC could lose its luster and mystique by being part of the AT&T?

[Rick Shefchik]

I have a corrolary question: When CPC was part of the Crosby rotation, how much TV coverage did it get? I must confess, I don't remember.

Frankly, if they don't show it on TV, I don't care if it gets added back to the ATT. And if it isn't on TV, I don't see how it loses -- or gains -- much luster by rejoining the ATT rotation.