The Tour Players Association
has been rocked by a series of events the past month that concluded with a decisive
vote against any outside involvement in PGA Tour affairs.
It began with Tom Lehman
sending a letter to the 16-member Player Advisory Council proposing a paid, professional
adviser to represent players. The search would start with two lawyers from Ropes
& Gray, the firm retained by the TPA.
According to two players
who spoke on condition of anonymity, Lehman said he would let the issue die if
the PAC and the four player-directors on the policy board rejected it.
The vote, taken last Tuesday
during the Byron Nelson Classic, was 15-3 against, with two members absent.
Davis Love III described
the vote as a ``groundswell of support'' for the status quo. Hal Sutton said
the proposal -- and the TPA -- ``got bruised up pretty good.''
So what happens now? Lehman
decided not to play this week at Colonial, where he is a past champion, and could
not be reached for comment. Ropes & Gray has invested over a year into the TPA
cause and probably won't go away that easily.
The TPA was started two
years ago by Danny Edwards, Larry Rinker and Mark Brooks. The organization, which
has never divulged its membership, seeks more access to information on PGA Tour
finances and greater player input on how tour money is spent.
Brooks maintains that the
fledgling group is ``not trying to cause trouble,'' and he found some consolation
that the vote wasn't unanimous.
``At least somebody understands
the objectives,'' he said.
But one player said that,
of the three votes in favor of the paid consultant, two insisted that the consultant
not come from Ropes & Gray.
Love noted that tour operations
are not perfect, but that the growth is as good as it has ever been, with negotiations
soon to start on a new television deal that could nearly double the size of purses.
``Ideas are great. We need
ideas,'' Love said. ``What we don't need arelawyers.''
HOUSE CALL
Butch Harmon, whose clients
include Darren Clarke, Mark Calcavecchia and Se Ri Pak, made it clear where his
priorities lie this weekend.
With star pupil Tiger Woods
struggling with his posture, Harmon caught a flight out of Las Vegas at 1:30
a.m. Saturday to arrive in Dallas at dawn and work with Woods.
Woods, once flirting with
a missed cut, went 67-63 on the weekend and missed a Nelson Classic playoff by
one stroke.
``I had some clients who
were understanding,'' Harmon said.
He also felt Woods had a
problem that couldn't wait. Woods is in Germany this week to defend a European
tour event, and the Memorial Tournament next week likely will be his last tournament
before the U.S. Open.
``We couldn't let bad habits
fester,'' Harmon said. ``As sloppy as he was, it would only get worse. It would
take up to the Open to correct, and we wanteverything strong when he gets there.''
RYDER RUCKUS
This time, Ryder Cup controversy
is coming from the other side of the Atlantic. Only it has to do with people,
not money.
European captain Sam Torrance
selected as an assistant Mark James, the captain at The Country Club whose strategy
of sitting three rookies backfired when Jean Van de Velde, Andrew Coltart and
Jarmo Sandelin were trounced in their Sunday singles.
``Don't expect me to be
pleased about Mark James being involved,'' Van de Velde said. ``I would have
hoped that the captain would have gone for someone new.''
Van de Velde offered Costantino
Rocca, saying a continental European might better understand players who aren't
British or Irish.
Torrance, an assistant to
James last September, was far from happy with Van de Velde's remarks.
``I'm not surprised by what
he said because he's criticized Jesse (James) before,'' Torrance said. ``I wouldn't
say I'm hurt -- disappointed, really. I don't think you should be washing your
dirty linen in public.
``It's a team event, and
already we have negatives from the European side.''
The Ryder Cup is 16 months
away. Start counting.
GOLF STUDY
According to a recent study,
there are not more Americans playing golf. They're just playing more often.
The National Golf Foundation
reported that the U.S. golfer population held steady at 26.4 million in 1998,
but the number of rounds increased 6 percent to a record 564.1 million.
The report wasn't all good
news.
While a record 3.2 million
took up the game, an equal number of players quit. The number of junior players
is also going down -- 2 million in 1999, compared to a high of 2.4 million in
1997, the year Tiger Woods won theMasters.
STROKE CHALLENGE
Corey Pavin has some catching
up to do. He made only five birdies while missing the cut in the Byron Nelson
Classic, while Meg Mallon made 13 birdies on the LPGA Tour in Nashville.
Bayer Aspirin is donating
$1,500 for each birdie they make in May to the American Stroke Association. Through
two weeks, Mallon leads 23-5, although she has played one extra event.
To date, the six-year-old
program has raised $912,000.
DIVOTS
Kelli Kuehne raised nearly
$400,000 in her third annual ``Teeing It Up to Cure Diabetes'' charity tournament,
bringing the total to over $1 million raised in just three years. ... Vijay Singh
took a couple of cracks with the Callaway ERC driver on the range of the Byron
Nelson Classic. He mis-hit his first two drives, but sent the third one about
20 yards farther than his regular driver. Asked what he thought about the club,
Singh shrugged and said, ``It's illegal.'' A Callaway official told him it was
OK to use in Europe and in the British Open. ... Former NHL goalie Grant Fuhr
missed the cutby one shot in the Canadian Tour's Q-school.
STAT OF THE WEEK
The past three PGA Tour
events have been decided by a multi-hole playoff. The last time that happened
was in 1966 with the GreaterGreensboro Open, the Masters and the Tournament of
Champions.
FINAL WORD
``I don't know whether
to have champagne or puke.'' -- Ben Crenshaw at the Byron Nelson Classic after
making the cut for the first time in 24 tournaments.
