PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem explains the “Friday start” of Hyundai Tournament of Champions
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is optimistic for all the right reasons at the start of the opening event on the 2012 PGA Tour calendar and defended the idea of concluding the event on Monday, instead of the usual Sunday closings.
This week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions will kick off on Friday, January 6, and will culminate on Monday, making it one of the only two events on the calendar that are scheduled to start on Friday and end on Monday.
The other event is the Deutsche Bank Championship on the FedEx Cup Playoff Championship.
"One of the exciting things about this year is that we’re going to be experimenting with a lot of different things — a lot of stuff online, a lot more digital content to our fans — and also we’re going to play around with different formats and different times and this is one of them. We’ll see how it feels, see how the fans react to it. If it’s a more compelling and a more efficient way to get what our players are doing in front of our fan base it will be a winner." Finchem said.
Finchem was talking to the “Morning Drive” on Golfchannel along side golf writers and commentators Gary Williams and Erik Kuselias.
The tour commissioner insisted that the sport is experiencing an unprecedented upsurge in publicity and acceptance.
The tour is planning to concentrate more on the young aspirants who are trying to find their way into the mainstream sport.
He also revealed that the tour plans to utilise the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Keegan Bradley, and the young blazing gun, Rickie Fowler, as the young ambassadors of the sport.
Finchem said that the recent popularity of the sport is supported by the fact that when Tiger Woods launched his career, players like Fowler and Bradley were around eight or nine years old. The sport has turned more athletic, players have become stronger and more skilful in their trade.
Finchem also lauded the sponsors on the PGA Tour who have been thoroughly supporting the tour’s calendar in all these years.
He revealed that the tour is experiencing an increased inflow of finances as the sport is recuperating from the severe jolt of economic recession which struck the US in 2008.
Finchem supported his comments by the fact that the world number two Lee Westwood has decided to join the PGA Tour from the current year, an indication that the tour has excelled in terms of prize money as well as worldwide recognition.
He particularly lauded the contribution of FedEX for its continuous support and promotion of the FedEx Cup Playoff Championship, which arguably is, one of the most lucrative events on both sides of the Atlantic, with a prize share of a whooping $10 million.
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