[Hennybogan]

Your right 6B, the Tour does have a bug up their ass about the pro-ams..Because those people are the ones that give the money so that there even is a tour. It's pretty important and just like any other business.

Imagine if you blew off a client meeting in the morning because you were told wrong by someone who you shouldn't have been talking with about the issue anyway.....I would guess your boss would not like it...and you would not have that client anymore...You may not get fired, but I would bet there would be a post-it in your personnel file.

One more thing. I am sick of all these Tour players and all they can talk about is "getting away from the game" every damn one of them acts as if they hate the game during interviews. JD included. If they hate it so much, don't play, do something else, I am sure everyone of them has made a ton of contacts playing the tour and could do pretty much anything they wanted.

No excuse missing a commitment. I did not read the he said--she said. No interest.

But they let Phil play in Dallas last year when he had trouble with weather when traveling from a corporate outing and missed the pro-am. They said it was up to the sponsor. Phil "happened" to be the highest ranked player in a very weak field. Many players felt they, personally, would not have been given the same break. I was on the range Wednesday when the tour was trying to explain it to the field. Lot of skeptics.

Linking pro-am play to ability to play in the tourney proper is a new rule. It has only been in effect a few years. The penalty used to be not getting points toward one of about four retirement programs. Some players used to let the tour know ahead of time that they were not going to play because of injury or distaste for pro-ams. Pro-ams fund the charity, not the purse. Still worthwhile, but John gives away a fair amount of time and money.

The shift is all about branding, corporate packaging, value to sponsors, big business. On one hand, bigger purses are great. Everyone likes money. Everything comes at a price. Marry for money, and you will earn it. Finchem is trying to maximize the money side, often at the expense of the quality of the experience. The tour sold out TPC Woodlands (one exciting course) for 250 grand to move to a new development, ask Hal Sutton. Power is sexy, so power is emphasized.

As far as getting away from the game. Without doing it day to day, it is hard to understand the energy it takes. The other 143 guys that are your buddies and fellow competitors are trying as hard as they can to eat the food off your table. Old story about a player telling about a bad shot, round, etc: Half don't care, half wish it were worse for you.

Notice you don't hear Tiger or Nicklaus complain about wanting to go home? They play (ed) 20 or fewer times a year. They get their rest, so they can play their best. Some guys feel like they need to play more often to compete. A player complaining about fatigue or showing signs of it is one who needs to manage his schedule better. Often those guys are so tired by Sunday that they don't have the reserve strength to meet the demands of Sunday pressure (sadly they often think they need to work harder). They end up dropping down the leaderboard, making a smaller check, and feeling like they need to play more to make their money. Marthoners have found they perform better by training smarter and tapering down the pre-race training. It is a delicate balance between doing everything you can to be ready and having enough energy to compete. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.

No secret that Tiger learned a lot for the Nicklaus model. Only he stepped it up with a rigorous fitness schedule. It is not so much to hit it longer. More to prevent injury and to have the energy to drag the field every week he plays.

Most players have no idea what they would do if they did not play golf.