Interview
Tour Insider: Rick Anderson Controversial anti-doping policies, expansion into China, a fifth major—to the PGA Tour’s chief legal officer it all goes with the job. We caught up with Anderson as he prepares to leave for a trip to Beijing. INTERVIEW BY CHARLES MCLAUGHLIN
SOS – Strategy on Seventeen One of the unique things about the TPC Sawgrass is that the property is populated by volunteer “docents” (storytellers) from the community who are trained to provide assistance or information to anyone who wants it—including impromptu guided tours of the course and clubhouse. Our storyteller was Gerald W. (Doc) Stokes, a 78-year-old former professor of history and philosophy who gave us a local’s perspective on the course’s most famous hole. The Tee Shot: “This is the thing [about seventeen], you can spin it back into the water, or if you hit it hot it’ll go over. It’s a real soft, high, floating shot that’s required to stay on the green. There’s usually a wind in the face and you can hit a bit more aggressively, but if you get it way up in the air you’re messing with the wind because it’s invariably swirling here. It’s swirling, but it more comes from the left to the right. If the wind isn’t howling, I tell people make sure that you aim to the left of centre of the green well enough to allow for the wind, because the wind is going to take it twenty yards. I’ve just seen it happen too many times, and I’ve played out here too many times myself. The Green: “Now you can see the slope [of the green] here. You can see how undulating it is, but they took about thirteen inches off the top of it. When Tiger made that “Better than Most” putt, coming down that hill, it was so dramatic because it was going to roll right off. That year there were ninetynine balls in the water from the pros and that’s outlandish. That’s why they shaved it off. The Bunker: “The small bunker there isn’t the bailout people might think it is. It doesn’t work. From here you can barely see it, it’s so deep. It’s like a pot bunker at St Andrews; it’s deep, real deep and it’s very difficult to come out of there soft. It’s such a difficult shot to come out of there and keep it on the green. The 2008 PLAYERS: “Sergio, one of his shots was there on the cart path [walkway]. He putted from the cart path. I felt for Paul Goydos, he played so well and had such a great personality. Such great quotes. He was relatively unknown but I had followed him as he moved up from the Nationwide Tour. He won before some ten years ago. I loved his attitude; I just loved the way he took it. It was sad that he lost by hitting into the water.
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The Other Course
The TPC Sawgrass is home to not one but two world-class courses. Dye’s Valley Course, younger sibling to the famous Stadium Course, is another fabulous track but one that is often overlooked by visitors who come with clubs in tow. This is a mistake, according to the locals, because not only does it feature all the ingredients of a Pete Dye classic—the liberal use of water, railroad ties and heavy mounding—but it’s also a much friendlier test. Not as long as the Stadium Course and with bigger greens, a round on Dye’s Valley is a comparatively soothing affair. As one regular told us: “It’s more favourable for regular play. You can relax on the Valley. Relax on the Stadium Course and you’re toast.” Completed in 1997, the course has hosted events such as the SENIOR PLAYERS championship and the final stage of Senior Qualifying School.
Getting a Tee Time
Both courses are accessible throughout the year; however the Stadium Course closes approximately three weeks prior to THE PLAYERS Championship, which next takes place from 4-10 May, 2009. Visit www.tpc.com/sawgrass for booking. Tee times are also available through the Marriott Sawgrass Golf Resort & Spa (www.sawgrassmarriot. com), where the majority of overseas visitors choose to stay.
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HKG: Were you a big golfer before you joined the PGA Tour? RA: Not at all. I was not a big golfer, and I’m still not a big golfer. But when I came to the Tour, I was single. I took up golf in earnest and got to almost the point where I didn’t embarrass myself. The pinnacle of that was in 1998 when I went to Scotland for a ten day trip, where I got to play some of the greatest venues in Scotland. And that was important to me. I wanted to play, but coming from outside of golf, I really wanted to immerse myself within the game, and no better way to do it than to spend some time in the birthplace of golf.
the world of professional sports today and not address the subject. When we launched the program with a player meeting in San Diego, in February, we had a few players that were very vocally opposed and that opposition grew mostly out of the clash of cultures that anti-doping in golf represents, because of the inherent nature in golf of being a game of honour. So that was understandable. Also an interesting point is that the players who are under 35, largely they are used to this because they were tested in college, and the players who are over 35 really had never been tested and had more anxiety about it. We started our testing process and the first week, I’m happy to report, went very smoothly.
HKG: What would be a normal week for you? RA: I’m travelling a lot…so this year my week is usually out Monday through Wednesday at a tournament, talking to players, attending a Players Advisory Council meeting or attending one of our Tour Policy Board meetings. I’m also out at various times, engaged in different business negotiations. Then, when I’m in the office, it’s generally a kind of revolving door, with members of my team coming in to ask about various issues, or other business units or people coming in and wanting to talk about a particular issue or reacting to things that happen and we have to address. The way I’ve described it, it’s a 100 miles an hour on 100 different subjects a day. I love that. I do love that.
HKG: You don’t want it to happen, but the proof will come with the first positive test…. RA: Absolutely. That’s absolutely right.
HKG: What has been reaction of PGA Tour players to anti-doping? RA: Overall, very positive. Our players absolutely understand why we need to have a program. They also all feel, as we do, that we don’t have a problem, but you cannot exist in WWW.HKGA.COM
HKG: It is going to be interesting…. RA: It has been! I’m happy that my personal time in it is near over! (Laughs) I’m still responsible for it, but Alison Keller, who runs the program, just does a fabulous job and she’s not going to need my time any more, I think! (Laughs)
HKG: THE PLAYERS Championship, is that your biggest week of the year? RA: Certainly here, in this physical location, it’s definitely the biggest week for us. For the PGA Tour, this is our championship; this is the Players’ Championship, aptly named. And so, in terms of the events that we run, that are really ours and we’re not just associated with, sure it’s absolutely the big week. We’ve done so much to try to elevate the tournament. This building that we’re sitting in, I think is going to wind up being a very iconic symbol, you know, the way you see the clubhouse at Augusta National. I think, over time, this event will fall into that status. HKG: You wonder how an event gets “Major” status, but it has to be a whisker away here… RA: Yeah, you would think so. Of course, there is no official criteria, no vote or anything like that, and it’s really about how the players feel about it, how they talk about it. Every year that’s gone by, you see them talking more and more; they focus like it’s a Major. Certainly moving it into its own month, so that you have a Major every month [from] April through August only helps. So it’s all these different things that we do, and then we just turn it over to the media and the players to decide when it’s a Major. HK GOLFER・SEPT/OCT 2008
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HKG: I think all you have to do is come up the driveway to this clubhouse and see all the previous winners of THE PLAYERS Championship on signs on each lamppost to appreciate the quality of this tournament. Forgive me, but frankly the USPGA Championship has a lot more relatively unknown winners. RA: Right, right. Also we had a great winner this year in Sergio. “I think we recognize the That’s just such a good thing both in value and importance of an terms of him, and the competition, event that was in the FedEx but also frankly for business, to have a Cup being played in China.” European winner. HKG: Commissioner Finchem’s blog mentions golf in the Olympics, and it isn’t news, we’ve been talking about it for years. Is your trip to Beijing connected to this? RA: My trip in particular is not, actually. I am going over to work on some details of the event that we have at Mission Hills—the World Cup—and we’re going to be adding a new event. We’ll be converting the existing event over to a World Golf Championship event. We are going to have a big announcement relating to the formal structure of our Olympic bid, of golf’s Olympic bid, and we’re going to be doing that out of a newly formed Olympic Committee of the International Golf Federation. I’ll wind up being heavily involved in it. I’m the PGA tour representative to the committee. It’s a significant push for us to get in, and there’s a lot of competition, essentially seven sports that are trying to get in, only two spots, so… HKG: You have to figure that the reason a lot of sports don’t get chosen is that they aren’t truly global sports… RA: Absolutely true. HKG: You assume golf will, apart from the fact it’s global, you are talking about lobbying being key and you have golfers in very influential positions… RA: Absolutely, that’s very true. I think when you look at baseball and softball, well not baseball so much, but softball certainly had that problem because it’s viewed as an American sport and that’s difficult for them because the IOC, understandably, wants a more ubiquitous sort of sport. HKG: The PGA Tour has events in Mexico and Canada. Will there be a fully sanctioned event in China? RA: If by fully sanctioned you mean an official money event, the time of year makes it a little 52
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difficult in terms of getting over there and getting back in a way that you can do it within the body of the season. The natural time of the year for us is October and November, which is after the FedEx Cup season. But having said that, I think we recognize the value and importance of an event that was in the FedEx Cup being played in China and in other parts of the world, so it’s one of the things we are studying right now…to figure out is there a way that we could alter our regulations so that that event counted somehow. Could it count for the next year? We are working on all of that, but you know, just from a calendar perspective it’s difficult. HKG: What would you say has been the biggest crisis during your tenure here? RA: I guess it was the immediate time after September 11, and the ensuing economic troubles and recession. You know, when we signed up new TV deals in July of that year, the economy had been strong and we were really at a very high growth rate. We did those deals in 2001 for the beginning of the ’03 season, we do them two years in advance, and we didn’t have title sponsors signed up, any of them, for the ’03-’06 period. Well, then you had 9/11 and then the Enron and Arthur Andersen scandals and suddenly we had TV deals that were based on the existence of title sponsors buying significant advertising on screen, and suddenly we had no title sponsors signed. And that was a time of crisis where we said, “How are we going to advance and get all these companies signed up at a time when they wanted out and to scale back?” That was a time when literally all hands were on deck in terms of finding and cultivating sponsors, and we came through it well. We’re actually not having any specific fallout from the current recession but we’re preparing for it already—sort of applying a lot of the lessons that we learned. Now, we do our business differently. Fortunately for us our business is very secure through at least 2012, so our hope is that we can get through this time as a whole, and by the time we go back to negotiate again with TV the economy is better. HKG: On a personal note, what is your record on the seventeenth like? RA: I’ve put a lot of balls into the water on seventeen! (Laughs) Definitely true! Although then there is other times when it’s just…it’s all mental at 17, except when the wind is blowing, when the wind is blowing it’s real…but most days it’s mental. HKG: What is your favorite hole on the Stadium Course? RA: The seventeenth is obviously this kind of mythical thing. I think the eighteenth is just a tremendous hole. I think, as a finishing hole, it’s just outstanding. WWW.HKGA.COM
Pro Shop
Rescue Me Ping G10 $1,600
A great complement to the award-winning G10 irons and driver, the sloped crown helps create highlaunching shots and a weight pad puts the centre of gravity lower to increase launch and increase spin. It’s also very good from those gnarly lies in the rough. A very solid choice and suitable for pretty much all standards of players.
Cleveland HiBore XLS $1,300
The deep face of the HiBore makes it really good off the tee, while the more upright lie encourages you to swing it like a n i ron. T he club’s f a m o u s (o r i s t h a t infamous) scooped crown is loved and loathed in equal measure. If you can get used to the look, it might well be the right one for you. Great value.
Cobra Baffler DWS & PRO $2,000-2,500
One of the best-selling hybrids in Europe, the DWS has a very powerful feel to it and launches the ball long and straight—always a good sign for any club! The clean lines, heavier shaft and smaller head of the PRO version will appeal to better players.
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6 of the best: Hybrids
Callaway FT $2,200
One of the longest hybrids on the market, the FT has a nice compact head, but the tungsten in the sole makes it ultra-forgiving. The ball gets up easily because of the club’s high launch, and doesn’t balloon. Suitable for every standard of player, although some might think the smaller head doesn’t inspire as much confidence as clubs here.
Taylor Made Burner $2,200
A real change for TaylorMade, the triangular shape of the Burner is very different to last year’s model. It’s certainly long and easy to hit, but the face is shallow, which makes it difficult to hit it back from the rough. It’s huge, too—the head could pass for a 5-wood. Its radical design won’t attract everyone, but a s t he say i n g goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Titleist 909H $TBD
Part of Titleist’s all-new 909 series, the club won’t be available in Hong Kong until November, but we’re giving you a sneak peak now as it really looks the business. With its larger head and longer face, the 909 is more forgiving and confidence-inspiring than its predecessor, the 585H, but retains that tour preferred launch and flatter ball flight.
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