Yardbarker: Aaron Baddeley

Johnny Miller Speaks on Tiger Woods, Exactly What You'd Expect

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:06:00 -0500

You guys know Johnny Miller. Broadcaster. Guy that says a lot of **** you wish he wouldn't say, and you roll your eyes when he says it. Double chin. Used to wear pants that remind you of Aaron Baddeley. Miller recently did the anti-CBS, and talked about Tiger Woods. His response not only included some poignantly placed words, but it has the word "hoe" in it. Seriously.“His integrity’s been shattered,” Miller said. “More importantly, he’s injured his marriage and his family and it’s going to be tough for him. President Obama did say something. He said `I’m a strong believer that anybody can look within himself, find their flaws and fix them.’ I hope Tiger, I’m sure he’s heard that, knows he has a heck of a road to hoe to get that respect and integrity back and build the game back up again.”Johnny Miller could come to my house with a staff bag presented with my name, 14 dozen Pro-V1's and a model girlfriend, and for some reason I'd be annoyed. I have no idea why I dislike him, but he's like "The Golf Channel." Golfy, but annoying.

No Fivesomes, Please: We're in LA, get ready Freddie

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:46:52 -0500

Riviera Country Club is a gem of a course and I'll always make time for the PGA Tour stop in Los Angeles. I know it's Super Bowl week and all that, but let's not forget our Fantasy Golf interests as the Northern Trust Open settles in for the next four days.Everyone can figure out the favorites; my job is to get some sleepers on your plate. Last week we got Michael Sim out to the masses (T2), and the prior week Bill Haas was one of our selections (winner). We also suggested Ben Crane in the middle of January, a prediction that was just a little ahead of its time. Enough of the scoreboard watching, we've got picks to make.Fred Couples: I don't care how old he is, I don't care how infrequently he plays on the PGA Tour these days, when you see Riviera on the menu, you get Couples onto your roster, somehow, someway. He's made 25-of-27 cuts here, including two wins and three seconds, and there's been plenty of success in recent years as well (third last season, fourth in 2007). It's a track that suits Fred's eye and his game, and I fully expect the likable vet to stick around for another strong check this week. Aaron Baddeley: He's got a solid if unspectacular record at Riviera, with seven straight cuts made including a T7 check back in 2005. He's got that angelic putting stroke which sings like a siren, makes you think "this is the week, this is the week." I don't know why Baddeley continues to be one of the worst returns in Fantasy Golf, but he'll make the cut this week and if he can get a little momentum going early, maybe a Top 20 check will result. J.B. Holmes: I'm surprised he's not getting a lot of respect in the offshore books this week - you can get a ticket anywhere from 80-1 to 100-1 on Holmes (in theory). He finished sixth here last season and seventh the previous year, so he's figured out the lay of the land. They've added some real estate to the grounds, which is just fine with Holmes, one of the longest hitting players on the circuit.Charlie Wi: He plays as much as anyone (81 events the last three years) but still he's somewhat anonymous out here, a late bloomer who's never won a PGA Tour event. The extra distance of Riviera won't play into Wi's hands but he's a super putter (fourth in putts per round last year) and a straight man off the tee. And heck, he coaxed a T14 check here two years back, so it's not like he hasn't figured out this test to some extent.Webb Simpson: Just a hunch play, and I don't blame you if you don't want to come along for the ride. Simpson has never played in this event, he's got two ordinary showings this year (MC, T33), he's an erratic ball striker, he's still trying to show he belongs on tour. But I like his resourcefulness around the green (17th in scrambling last year, 25th in putting) and this column is all about taking chances. Let's roll the dice on the North Carolina kid.Who are your sleepers this week? Who are your Yahoo! Fantasy picks? Let's go over it in the comments.

Preview: Verizon Heritage

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:18:31 -0500

Boo Weekley returns to Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island as the two-time defending champion. Weekley finished last year’s win with a comfortable three shot edge over Anthony Kim and Aaron Baddeley…will he stroll down 18 to the thundering sounds of “Boo” again? The atmosphere, and course, at Harbour Town is suited for Weekley. [...]

The Davis Love III Masters Qualification Process Has Become Complicated

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:20:49 -0500

Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press points out something rather interesting about the Davis Love III Masters saga. If DLIII would have skipped the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he would have qualified for the first major of the year. Now? He missed out by seven-thousandths of a point! Whaaa?!The latest world ranking is out, and qualifying for the Masters effectively is closed. Love needed to be in the top 50, and he missed out by just over four-hundredths of a point. If he had not played Bay Hill, where Love missed the cut, turns out he would have been at No. 50 by seven-thousandths of a point over Louis Oosthuizen.But assume Love had taken last week off, and Hunter Mahan had not five-putted the 16th green at Bay Hill in the final round. Love then would have fallen to No. 51 and been kicking himself for not playing.Confused yet? It gets better.Even after missing the cut, Love had a chance to stay in the top 50 when Stuart Appleby shot 80 in the third round and Aaron Baddeley tumbled down the leaderboard with a 76-74 weekend. But right when his odds were looking up, Prayad Marksaeng shot 64 in the final round in Thailand, and Soren Kjeldsen pulled away toward victory in Portugal.After all that, Love still had hope. Pat Perez was in a two-way tie for third late Sunday on the 18th hole at Bay Hill, and if he were to make double bogey and slip into a four-way tie for seventh, Love would have gone to 50.Perez went over the water and right at the flag - remember, he still had an outside shot at winning the tournament - and the ball cleared the rocks framing the lake by no more than a foot. He was able to chop his next shot onto the green and he made bogey.So now, Love is No. 51 and must win the Shell Houston Open this week to be able to drive down Magnolia Lane.Wow. That is the most I have ever copy/pasted in my entire life. The thing is, it is probably worth it. I talk up professional golf all the time as the best job in the world, and Davis isn't exactly running to the unemployment line with this problem, but it is rather confusing. I'm still confused he has no exemption into this tournament. I guess those two second place finishes in 1995 and '99 really do come back and haunt you at this point. Love not being at the Masters would almost be as strange as if Fred Couples lost his invitation in the mail. The only way Love III can avoid his second straight year away from Augusta is if he wins this week at the Shell Houston Open.

Arizona connections in the Accenture Match Play Championships

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:16:45 -0500

Tiger Woods has captured most of the media attention (like he always does) in the early going at the World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana. Woods won his first match, defeating Australian Brendan Jones, 3 and Aside from the ...

Tiger's Return: The Open Thread

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:21:22 -0500

One of my favorite open threads was the Tiger Woods-Rocco Mediate open thread during the 2008 U.S. Open last year. I spent a day chronicling the playoff between the two, and had a blast doing so. I'm going to try and do a little of that today during Tiger's round, and if you want to follow along, you're more than welcome to do so. Woods is teeing off in about twenty, and I'll give you a hole-by-hole recap, as well as some video when it's warranted. It's Tiger, It's Brendan Jones, and it's on the Golf Channel....NEXT! ___________________________________ Mark Rolfing says that Tiger looked brilliant in his warmup, but that he didn't seem to be swinging too hard. Brendan Jones is in for a heck of a round today. Here are some of the notable winners from earlier.... Lee Westwood, Camillo Villegs, Anthony Kim, Oliver Wilson (over KJ Choi) HOLE #1 Tiger is walking to the tee, and getting his potassium in with a quick banana before his round. He and Brendan Jones are waiting for another match, that went into OT, to move out of the first fairway. Tiger is up first and he hits his first shot, a 3-wood, in the fairway down the right hand side. Jones follows with a good strike as well that just scoots through the fairway into the left side rough. And we're underway!!! Tiger is away and sticks his shot within 10 feet of the pin. Man, the guy is a machine. Jones has a downhill lie, and will be trying to hit it on the right of the green and run it towards the hole (same thing Tiger did). He's short and in the left, front bunker. Nice out by Jones and his bunker shot skips past the hole, but within Tiger's distance. Tiger with about a six footer.....Drains It! Welcome back. Woods 1 up thru 1 HOLE #2 We've got a Par 5 for hole two, and it's 574 yards. Tiger with another shot in the fairway, and Jones follows with another drive in the rough. It should be okay though. Quick flip over to Phil Mickelson, and he smashes a drives through a Par 3 and into the gallery. Good one, Phil. Jones with 252 to go....down the middle but short of the green. Tiger with 238 to go, but a difficult angle. WOW!!!! It's another shot within 10 feet of the hole. Perfect play, and he'll have an eagle attempt to go up 2 holes on Jones. Jones within 12 feet after a chip, and he misses. Tiger won't even have to putt on this hole. Woods 2 up thru 2 HOLE #3 Third up is a 205 yard Par 3, and Tiger has the honor. And there's his first bad shot of the day. It hits the fringe and bounces into the right side bunker. Jones is long, but right on the edge of the green. The two halve the hole and we're off to number four. Woods 2 up thru 3 HOLE #4 We've got a Par 4, and Tiger sends another shot in to the fairway down the right. Jones follows with a shot way way right, and it's not a good start for him today. Jones is in the desert, and is out down the fairway. Woods' second is on the green about 30 feet or so away from the pin. Oh, and Cabrera has squared his match with Mickelson going to the 18th. Jones' third shot is a nice one, and pitches it within five feet or so, and has a chance to split another hole. Tiger leaves his first long putt a bit short, and the two will push the 4th. Woods 2 up thru 4 HOLE #5 Aaron Baddeley goes down to Paul Casey, and it looks like Mickelson might hold on against Cabrera. Jones and Woods both go right off the tee into the rough. Jones follows it with a dribbler down the fairway, and Woods ends up in the green side bunker. "He's (Mickelson) got humps and bumps everywhere."- Roger Maltby Well that's not a nice thing to say, Roger! It was said about his long putt, but it could certainly be taken another way. Cabrera has a 10-footer to extend the match, and he misses. He makes it, and this match with Mickelson will head into extra innings, after Phil gave up four straight holes leading into the 18th. Jones shoot well past the green, and with a good chip, Tiger can take another hole. He chips out of the sand to about 12 feet or so. He'll likely have that to go 3 up. Jones flops it onto the green, Tiger misses his putt, and Brendan will have to hit a long putt to halve it. He finally makes a good stroke and they split another. Woods 2 up thru five HOLE #6 Six is a Par 3, and Tiger is still away. He hits it dead center right in the middle of the green a little ways past the hole. Jones follows with a shot within 10 feet of the hole, and he'll have a chance to get one back. Woods narrowly misses his putt and will finish the hole with a par. Jones misses his opportunity and Tiger lets him pick it up for the push. Woods 2 up thru six HOLE #7 Par 4, 463, and Woods has another FIR on the day. Phil wins his match and will be moving to face Zach Johnson who won his match as well. Jones is back in the rough. Tiger has 159, up hill, and leaves it short. The ball rolls way back down the hill and he'll have a tough chip for his third. Jones' second has a left to right, lie in the rough, and sticks it within 20 feet. That'll give him another chance at a hole. Tiger chips it past Jones' ball and leaves himself a tough putt. He leaves it short and Jones has two chances to go back to only 1 down. Jones puts it within a foot and finally takes a hole. Woods 1up thru seven HOLE #8 Jones is up first on the Par 4 8th, and his tee shot ends up either in the fairway bunker or right beside. Tiger destroys his shot right down the center. Great swing there. Jones hits a fairway wood from the low rough, and that shot rolls off the green. Tiger with a pretty straightforward second shot from 258 away....and he nails it into the rough on the right of the green. Both chip it on, with Tiger about five feet closer, and Jones will have a much tougher line to split the hole. BJ misses his 13-footer, and Woods will have about an 8-footer to move back to 2 up. Tiger drains it, and we're going to the ninth after he gets the hole back he lost. Woods 2 up thru eight HOLE #9 Woods and Jones both end up in the fairway, and Woods' second shot from 150 hangs onto the green on the right side. 23 feet away on the putt, and Tiger leaves it waaaay short. Not a good stroke at all. Jones putts out, and Tiger will have a tough one to stay at 2 up. He drops it, and we're at the turn. Woods 2 up thru nine HOLE #10 The first hole after the turn is a Par 4 at 450, and Tiger pulls it a bit left onto the fringe of the fairway. The Golf Channel is now skipping Jones' tee shots, but I think he's over there with Tiger. Tiger's second hits the green, but rolls off. Jones was actually closer to the pin than Tiger, and chips it right up near the hole. He's trying to hang around. Woods leaves it short, and Jones has a six-footer to get back to 1 down. He promptly misses, and Tiger now has the line to stay at 2 up. He's got it, and we're onto the 11th. Woods 2 up thru ten HOLE #11 Here's the huge Par Five on the course, and Tiger hits his tee shot....well we can't really see where it goes. Great job by the Golf Network cameras there. Okay, it was apparently in a fairway bunker, and he'll lay up his second shot into the fairway. Jones is in the fairway and hits another straight shot down the middle. He could be up if he could have just sunk a few early putts. Woods' third is about 260 into the wind, and he's hitting a 3-wood. Nope, scratch that. Steve Williams talks him into a five, and he skips it up onto the green, but a good distance from the hole. Jones' chip ends up past the green in the rough, and he lets Tiger off the hook once again. Woods just misses his putt, and Jones follows with a nice chip to leave him a short distance for a halve. He gets it. Woods 2 up thru eleven HOLE #12 Another short, but tough, Par 3. The wind is picking up in Arizona as well. Woods is away, and his shot starts right and stays right. Holds up on the fringe though. Jones lines up his tee shot, and hits another shot long past the hole. In fact he's actually right up against a wall. Not good. Jones' ball didn't quite make it to that wall, but he's got a tough down hill chip to get it close. Annnnnd....he hits it about four feet back into the rough. That should be another hole for Tiger. He puts a nice chip to about two feet, and will go up three with six to go. Woods Up 3 thru twelve HOLE #13 Another Par 5, and another shot heading right by Tiger. It holds up in the short stuff though, and he'll be okay. Jones' drives his ball well past Tiger's and is smack dab in the middle of the fairway. Woods' second shot....Wow! Just drills an iron a million feet into the air, and it comes down on the green and just slides past the hole and onto the fringe. He struck that one just about perfect. Jones follows that with a similar look but his roll takes him into the bunker. BJ almost holes it out of the bunker, but Tiger still has an Eagle putt from the edge of the green. NAILS IT! This one could be over soon. Woods 4 up with 5 to go HOLE #14 Tiger finally gets his drive back into the fairway, and Jones follows that excellent shot with a slice onto another hole. That could be it, folks. Tiger's second is 168 into the wind, and he hits yet another green in regulation as his ball stops above the hole about 40 feet away. Jones is in the middle of nowhere and will have a tough shot at hitting the green.....and he somehow makes it on! The ball hit the edge of a bunker, and sprinted back onto the back of the green. Both have ridiculously long birdie putts. Jones takes a run at it, but his ball goes well past the hole. Tiger can end it end it here.....great putt, but it's just right. Jones has a seven footer to keep the match alive. He drops it and we're onto the fifteenth. Woods 4 up with 4 to play HOLE #15 Woods is away on this short Par 4, and he has a shot to drive the green with a good strike. They're waiting for a previous pairing to finish up the hole first though. After a long wait, Tiger's finally ready to go with his 3-wood. And he's on the front of the green. Great shot. Jones tee shot is even better though. He almost holes it! It draws back to the hole and is only about 10 feet away. He's trying to make it interesting. Tiger leaves it short, and Jones has a chance to extend it. He drains it! Great putt, and he's down three with three to go. Woods 3 up thru 15 HOLE #16 The sixteenth is another Par 3, and Brendan Jones has the honor. He'll need a birdie here to get to seventeen. Jones drops it within about 25-feet, and Tiger's up. He steps away a few times as the wind picks up, but is ready to go now.....AND HE'S IN THE BUNKER!

Round Up: Buick Invitational

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:47:56 -0500

Congratulations Nick Watney!? What a great comeback win. Tough day for John Rollins and Camilo Villegas, who both played well all week.? Lucas Glover and Matt Jones finished strong for their first top 10s of the season.? Other strong final rounds came from Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan, who finished 7th and 11th respectively.? Rookie Webb [...]

Woods Rolls to Win No. 63!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:51:56 -0500

Tiger Woods has now accomplished what only three other golfers in history have done, win at least 63 events on the PGA tour. This weekends victory in the Accenture Match Play Championship moved him past Arnold Palmer into fourth on the all time win list. His opponent on Sunday, Stewart Cink, could only watch and laugh as Woods made 14 birdies in 29 holes to dispose of him 8 and 7. Woods could have easily been beaten in the first round by J.B. Holmes, but a stretch of three birdies and an eagle on the last five holes gave Woods the come from behind win. He was also pushed by Aaron Baddeley and Henrik Stenson on previous days, but just like his first round, Woods made the shots when it counted. This is what Makes Tiger Woods the best player of all time, beating contenders and adjusting to the conditions. This give Woods his fourth straight win on the year and makes the possibility of winning the grand slam that much more attainable. This is the third time Woods has won at least four straight PGA Tour events. He also won in Dubai three weeks ago on the European tour by coming back from a four-shot deficit. He has now won six of his last seven PGA Tour events, 16 of his last 30 over the last two years. Woods' next win will tie him with Ben Hogan for third all time in career wins, leaving him eight wins away from his idol, Jack Nicklaus. That's amazing considering Woods is only 32 years old...an age that most describe as a golfers prime. If this is Woods' prime, then every other golfer should be scared.

The Primary Cut

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:01:05 -0500

Second installment of The Primary Cut??"weekly insights from the world of golf player management and other golf-related industry and player news. The Shark The Shark Bites Back According to Golfweek's John Steinbreder, Greg Norman will be appointed the new chairman of MacGregor Golf, the culmination of "a leadership change that began in July when Norman and other board members relieved MacGregor CEO and majority shareholder Barry Schneider of his operational duties and began a strategic review of the Albany, Ga.-based clubmaking enterprise." During that time, "The Shark" and two other investors have helped lead a recapitalization effort of MacGregor "designed to strengthen the company's balance sheet and give MacGregor greater financial flexibility and provide resources for continued growth." Norman actually joined the board of MacGregor last fall after acquiring a minority stake in the company. The McGregor entity includes MacGregor clubs and outerwear, as well as the Greg Norman Collection apparel business. Norman's first order of business as chairman? Finding a new CEO. Read between the lines and you'll notice that Norman has grand plans for MacGregor. He also seems fluent in business lingo and speaks in terms of motivation and accountability??"kind of a cross between Gordon Gekko and Knute Rockne: "We have to get back to the basics of what the company is all about," he told Golfweek. "Also, we need to make things far more integrated from an operational standpoint. I believe we have to empower middle management more and have them be the ones who make and implement the decisions as we make them more accountable. I also want to make sure our employees understand the direction of the company and the places we want to take it. I am a huge proponent of that, and the idea that you have to lead from the top down, that you have to lead by example and make the people who work with you understand where you want to take the business. Do that, and they work with much more enthusiasm." Norman was explicit in stating that he envisions MacGregor providing "products that can be described as 'modern classics' and likely would compete against brands such as Mizuno." In other words, "players clubs" that may help the company garner more usage on Tour. Now whether or not the company will be able to produce a worthwhile product that will cause even the ficklest of players to contemplate a brand change is another matter. Regardless, one thing is for certain: following a bitter and costly divorce in 2006 that took a healthy bite out of Norman's previously estimated $500 million net worth, it seems that Norman, always the business connoisseur and a man who seemed to get more enjoyment and personal satisfaction out of his plethora of business pursuits, than he did actually playing professional golf, is back in the game. Polo, anyone? Looking to dress your client in fashionable yet practical golfing apparel? Ralph Lauren hopes that you consider its new RLX Golf line, which according to Golfweek "reflects the company's push to reach hip, athletic-minded players who have been fueling the performance apparel craze??"and making the techno-wares of Adidas Golf and Nike Golf such hot commodities." The primary spokesman for RLX Golf is Luke Donald, the rather cosmopolitan Englishman whose classic style meshes well with other Polo golfing clients like Davis Love III, senior player Tom Watson, Jonathan Byrd and Morgan Pressel. Donald has been Polo sponsored since 2002. Jamie Lovemark likes Polo Industry experts claim that the move is an "effort to bolster Polo Golf, which has lost business to upstart competitors such as Fairway & Greene and Peter Millar." However, some question the move of dropping the "Polo" brand name altogether from the new RLX line. Other prominent golf fitters such as Izod and Ashworth, for example, "have found that consumers don't always catch up with a company that creates alternate brands with different names." Generally, unless making a fashion statement per se is the primary want (see Camilo Villegas, Hank Kuehne, Aaron Baddeley, Jesper Parnevik and company in J. Lindeberg's collections, which look like they ought to be on display at the Tate Modern rather than Augusta National), the fit of the garment and the nature of the fabric are the two most essential elements of desirable golf wear. Therefore, some retail analysts argue, "it is a gamble to think Ralph Lauren, best known as a fashion brand, has the cache to persuade cutting-edge consumers that it can create better technical fabrics than Nike and Adidas, which have long histories in performance wear. Furthermore…'better fitted' apparel may not appeal to older golfers with expanding girths who may prefer loose, oversized cotton shirts." But that much is irrelevant to the modern professional. As more and more college players look up to fitness freaks like Tiger Woods, the desire to be dressed in comfortable yet muscle revealing slim-wear is only increasing. Plus, more attention than ever is being placed on golf fashion (Golf Digest's Marty Hackel gets at least one page per month in which to praise or bash), and future players are less likely to simply defer to their equipment manufacturer's line of wear unless it truly fits their wishes and needs. The RLX brand was designed with this new, uber-fit and fashionable trend in mind. And there's no reason to think that young players won't flock to this line. USC's Jamie Lovemark, for example, the nation's number-ranked amateur (per the latest Scratch players' ratings), is typically decked out in Polo's vintage line when not in official team wear (see picture, inset) and, if Lovemark's eventual agent plays his cards right, could be a leading spokesman for the company for decades to come, given his classic style and laid-back California demeanor. Bruin18.com Challenging Lovemark and the aforementioned Trojans all year long will be cross-town rivals UCLA, whose men's team is about as deep talent wise as they come. The Bruins are also part of a growing trend in college golf that is utilizing the internet to showcase its talent. Bruin18.com, for example, was created and is maintained by the team's Director of Operations, Daniel Hour. What I enjoy most about the site, aside from the up-to-date schedule and statistics relating to the team (they finally kicked off their 2007-2008 campaign with a win, surprise surprise, at the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge at the brand new and decadent Chambers Bay GC in Washington), is how much in-depth information pertaining to players' equipment preferences is available. In golf representation, one of the most important negotiations a player manager enters into on behalf of his client is the equipment deal. But generally, college players tend to stick with the same club makers with whom they found success as junior and collegiate players. To this extent, an agent scouting the Bruins' latest star recruit, Phillip Francis, would find that Francis currently plays Callaway X-Tour forged irons. Even more telling, however, is that Francis states that his favorite golfer is Charles Howell III, who is Callaway-sponsored. Hmm, do you think maybe Callaway has the inside edge already on landing Francis as a client down the road? Additionally, individual college players are getting in on the action. As Peter Webb of Gaylord Sports Management noted in his recent interview with the blog that "recruiting by means of the internet is going to grow tremendously." To that extent, college players are making themselves more and more accessible with their personal websites, not to mention whatever Myspace and Facebook pages their teams may allow them to maintain. Two sites that come to mind are those of USC teammates Rory Hie and Lovemark. Now you can follow their day to day travails. Lovemark especially has hordes of potential agents waiting in the wings, who watch his tournaments and silently cursed when pal Phil Mickelson advised him not to rush into turning professional (Lovemark and Mickelson are from the same area in California and Jamie, like Phil, has already won a professional event while still an amateur in the Pac-10). Sites like these will only make it easier for his eventual suitors to keep tabs on him. - Jason G. Wulterkens

The Primary Cut

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:13:45 -0500

Enjoy this first installment of The Primary Cutâ€"weekly insights from the world of golf player management and other golf-related industry and player news. More Woes For Wie If you're scoring at home, this is now successive agents for Michelle Wie who have quit after less than a year on the job. In a 2007 season that saw the now 18-year old Wie break par only twice, make only three cuts, and continue to be dogged by criticism and second-guessing about her decision-making and those of the vast team around her, at least one man had enough. Greg Nared, a former Nike business manager whom the William Morris Agency hired a year ago to manage Wie, resigned as Wie's manager and as vice president of William Morris Golf. His announcement came one day after Wie finished 19th in a 20-player field at the Samsung World Championship. Let the rumors begin that Nared, like Wie's original agent Ross Berlin, was in fact fed up with Wie's father, B.J., whose relationship with his daughter seems eerily similar to that of Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena. It was as recently as February 2006, when Wie was ranked third in the world in the initial Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings behind Annika SÃ¶renstam and Paula Creamer, that her future looked nothing but bright. Wie had just turned professional by inking over $20 million in endorsements the previous Octoberâ€"including a reported $5million/year in equipment and apparel with Nikeâ€"and signed with the William Morris Agency. According to John Hawkins of Golf World at the time: "Wie's alignment with William Morris formalizes a relationship that began seven or eight years ago, according to an insider, although the agency has no prior experience in representing pro golfers and has struggled in previous partnerships with athletes. By signing with a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based image machine known for its roots in the entertainment industry â€" Clint Eastwood, John Travolta and Heidi Klum are among William Morris' more notable clients â€" Wie continues to defy any conventional mold." Since turning professional right before her sweet sixteen, however, there has been little to cheer about. In 2005 Berlin, who had only been representing Wie for William Morris for less than a year, left the company to return to the PGA Tour. Ironically, but perhaps not coincidentally, Berlin was immediately replaced by Nared, who had in fact spearheaded Nike's aggressive recruitment of Wie during the past years. Flash ahead to 2007. Wie is ranked 55th in the world and plummeting fast, engulfed by a fury of controversy and criticism. One, she goes through caddies like chewing gum (Wie has employed at least nine caddies since her father stopped caddying for her in 2004). Two, she arguably improperly horded sponsors exemptions (particularly in men's events) by taking away opportunities from more talented golfers. Third, she may haveâ€"on at least one occasionâ€"fabricated injury to avoid playing (or in one case, to avoid being barred by the LPGA from further play under the aptly titled "Rule 88â€³). Wie recently turned 18 on October 11th and finally became eligible to officially join the LPGA Tour. Hopefully this is where she'll finally focus her attentions. Despite resounding advice from professionals and pundits alike around the world throughout her junior years to focus on learning to how to win on the amateur circuit, Wieâ€"whose actions and statements some allege are basically controlled and contrived by her fatherâ€" stubbornly stuck to a plan to play primarily with the game's elite professionalsâ€"be it men or womenâ€"whenever and wherever. However, in doing so her play has floundered, and her confidence and swing are at least temporarily shot. As I blogged last week, what tends to separate professional golfers is their mental state more than their physical abilities with the golf club (rather, one leads the other). Tiger grew up winning tournaments on all levels, and in that sense programed his psyche to understand nothing but utter domination of his opponents. Wie, on the other hand, decided to jump into the deep end right out of the gate, with no sense of direction. She's sinking fast, but hopefully her father and new manager at William Morris will help right the ship. Tigerade? Speaking of Tiger, Gatorade announced this week that "Gatorade Tiger" will make its debut in March. Remember that we previously posted that Woods had inked a five-year deal with the Pepsi-owned brand (after spurning a less generous offer from Vitamin Water) that would reportedly pay him as much as $100 million, moving him closer to the $1 billion mark in career endorsements (arguably a more Herculean feat than Nicklaus' majors record?). According to the AP report, Woods has chosen the flavors himself, and the drink will be available in a cherry blend, a citrus blend and grape. Woods' IMG agent, Mark Steinberg, stressed the importance of the deal for Tiger from a licensing perspective. Though Tiger's "likeness" has been utilized in the past, most notably by Electronic Arts for their popular EA Sports video game, Steinberg remarked that this was Tiger's first true licensing deal. "There have been some licensing elements to things we've done [in the past]," said Steinberg. "But everything he does with Gatorade is going to be creating new products. It's something Tiger and I and our licensing business has been looking at for some time." In fact, it seems the crux of the deal, from Steinberg's standpoint, was the ability for Tiger to innovatively break new ground. "We wanted to get away from a straight endorsement deal in the beverage category," Steinberg said. "We thought this would be the best fit for his first licensing deal. It's authentic to what Tiger does every day, as hard as he works out every day." IMG 'down under' While IMG certainly boasts an impressive client list of international professional golfersâ€"British Open Champion Padraig Harrington, former power-lifter K.J. Choi, Michelob-sponsored Sergio Garcia, and personal friend of CEO Ted Forstmann, Vijay Singh, among othersâ€"one continent they have been relatively quiet on has been Australia. Aside from Robert Allenby, for example, IMG represented only one of the four Aussies that comprised the field in the Fed-Ex Cup ending Tour Championship. And it was somewhat telling when former number one-ranked amateur Michael Sim chose Tony Roosenberg's SFX Golf Australia (where he is managed by Ian Davis), based out of Sydney, over David Rhodes' IMG division counterpart, in the summer of 2006. Had IMG ceded to SFX some territorial control in golf? Maybe not. IMG announced today that it has signed 22-year old Rick Kulacz from Perth. Kulacz was the 2001 World Junior Champion and Australian Junior Champion, and has been a member of the Golf Australia National Squad since 2002. But he opened the eyes of prospective agents most recently this summer when he was a quarter-finalist at the British Amateur Championship and when he won the increasingly prestigious Scratch Players Amateur here in the U.S. Kulacz finished his amateur career ranked 20th in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking (put out by the R&A, the leading golfing body outside of the USGA), but second in his country to Rohan Blizard. One reason why Australia (as well as South Africa) is such a hotbed for young talent is because the most promising young juniors there are generally steered early on into sport-specific programs, such as those offered by the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS), that "develop sport specific competencies and life skills via a combination of coaching, sport science, sports medicine and vocational support, providing athletes with the tools to compete at the national and international level." Allenby, as well as well-known professionals such as Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, and 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, are all graduates of the VIS Golf Program. And it's with this type of program in mind that IMG has patterned its globe-stretching David Leadbetter Golf Academies. â€"Jason G. Wulterkens

Doing It The Forstmann Way

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:34:48 -0500

In all walks of business, one creed remains constant. If you want to know where a company may be headed, if you want to know the underlying philosophy behind its otherwise sleekly polished mission statement, and most importantly, if you want to know where a company may or may not be vulnerable, look upwards. Way up. At IMG, the sports, entertainment, media superpower, look up and you'll meet the steely glance of financier Teddy Forstmann, a founding partner of Forstmann Little & Company, a private equity firm that acquired IMG for $750 million in late 2004. Forstmann's vision for the mega-firm can be gleaned while reading New York Time writer Richard Sandomir's January 12, 2007 in-depth (registration required) look at the 66 year old, lifelong bachelor, whose heart belongs simultaneously to both leveraged buyouts (RJR Nabisco) and Hollywood glamour (Elizabeth Hurley). Say and feel what you want about IMG, but Forstmann's bottom-line mantra took the firm from over $200 million in debt to over $100 million in the black. And it will be interesting to see how Forstmann's relatively impersonal reorganization of the company both affects and influences the long-term landscape of the company, as well as the entire sports and event management industry per se. In the spirit of IMG (the overall leading talent management agency for both golf and tennis), and also the final leg of the PGA Tour's first-ever "playoffs," which culminates this weekend with The Tour Championship and (for the time being) the unusually choppy greens of the famed East Lake Country Club outside of Atlanta, the following is a list of the primary agents (and their respective companies), representing the 30-man field competing for the $35 pot of deferred FedEx Cup money. It is interesting to note that while IMG (and specifically agent Clarke Jones) dominates the list, there are plenty of other management and marketing entities representing the world's elite golfers. (Note: I'm still in the process of obtaining information for Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, Hunter Mahan, John Rollins and Heath Slocum. Moreover, while I am fairly certain of the names that follow, there may be some errors, reflected by inter-agency changes and other factors. So if any of our readers know of any omissions or corrections that should be made, please do not hesitate to email me!) Woody Austin - Kevin Canning - Goal Marketing Jonathan Byrd - Mac Barnhardt - Crown Sports Management Mark Calcavecchia - David Yates - Gaylord Sports Management K.J. Choi - Michael Yim - IMG Ernie Els - Andrew "Chubby" Chandler - ISM Jim Furyk - Andrew Witlieb - Goal Marketing Sergio Garcia - Clarke Jones - IMG Padraig Harrington - Clarke Jones - IMG Charles Howell III - Clarke Jones - IMG Zach Johnson - Brad Buffoni - SFX Phil Mickelson - Steve Loy - Gaylord Sports Management Geoff Ogilvy - Jens Beck - no company affiliation Justin Rose - Marcus Day - 4 Sports & Entertainment Rory Sabbatini - Bud Martin - SFX Adam Scott - Perry Rogers - Prism Sports Marketing Vijay Singh - Clarke Jones - IMG Brandt Snedeker - Mac Barnhardt - Crown Sports Management Steve Stricker - Mark Steinberg - IMG Scott Verplank - Bud Martin - SFX Camilo Villegas - Clarke Jones - IMG Boo Weekley - David Hill - no company affiliation Brett Wetterich - John Mascatello - SFX Tiger Woods - Mark Steinberg - IMG - Jason G. Wulterkens

Baddeley's Collapse

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:22:06 -0500

After winning the Australian Open as an 18-year-old amateur, Aaron Baddeley spoke confidently of someday taking on Tiger Woods for major championships. Eight years later, someday arrived Sunday at the U.S. Open. Unfortunately for Baddeley, his game didn't. His day started badly and only got worse during a 10-over 80 that represented the worst final-round letdown by a contender since Jason Gore went from second place to 49th with an 84 at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2005.