By Robert Thompson | July 20, 2005
- There’s an interesting piece in USA Today about how Michelle Wie’s expenses work. Interesting in that the story doesn’t really present many specific examples of how her father, a professor, pays for her $100,000+ in yearly expenses so she can tour all over the world playing golf as a pseudo-amateur. You can read the story here. Wie’s father, B.J., says: “I pay all expenses, except those we are allowed to take. Sometimes we stay in a host family house. Sometimes we get courtesy cars.” The question is, where does he get the cash. Wie’s mother is in real estate, so maybe that’s where it comes from. The story doesn’t ask whether B.J. has been made a “consultant” to one of the big sports agencies, like IMG, which is how Earl Woods paid for Tiger’s amateur career. Apparently the USGA is so concerned about the situation that David Fay has sit downs with the family to discuss what amateur status means. I wonder how many people get to have dinner with the head of the USGA just so they are clear on who they can and can’t take money from?
- Apparently Tim Finchem is seriously considering shortening the PGA Tour season, according to ESPN. Wonder where this will leave the Canadian Open? There’s no mention of it in the story, but there is talk of ending the tour in September and having the Tour Championship follow Tiger’s Deutsche Bank event in Boston, which is where the Canadian Open currently sits. This could be good for the Open, especially if it got a summer date that allowed the tournament to be moved around Canada more easily.
A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in Golf Magazine, the Globe and Mail, T&L Golf and many other media outlets. Currently a columnist with Sympatico.ca and Ontario Golf, and a contributing writer to ScoreGolf, his blog, Going for the Green, was launched in 2004. 
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If the season is contracted, look for The Memorial to be one of the tournaments on the bubble. The underground continues to rumble with that bit of information…
It’s not like a July date is the greatest for a PGA tour event. You don’t want to be the week before, during or after the Open Championship. Look at the fields at the Quad Cities and John Deere, not to mention the BC. That elminates most of July. You might almost say the same for the PGA in August – you don’t want to be within a week of a major.
A summer date would allow the RCGA to move the tournament around, however.
In the past the Canadian Open has been played as early as May. I think a June date would work well, perhaps around the US Open.
But the week before or after the US Open is not ideal, especially if they want to move the Open to the praries or BC. It will be hard to attract the pros to, say, Calgary when they have to be in NY the week before or after. (Note that 4 of the next 6 US Opens are in the northeast, the other 2 are in California which isn’t particularly close to anywhere in Canada).
Stop blogging right now!
Why would I stop blogging? I’m just starting to enjoy it….