PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was profiled Monday on Golf Channel's "Feherty," with host David Feherty noting Finchem has been the commissioner "since before Jordan Spieth's first birthday, and the amazing thing is not that he's been in charge that long, but that the public knows so little about him." Finchem noted Tour players are "making more than they used to, but if you compare our world-class athletes to the team sports, it's no comparison." Finchem: "Our job is to create the most opportunities for them." Finchem said of marketing players on Tour: "For a player, we're trying to market them in a way that gets the biggest return back to them. But we're also trying to develop the strongest-possible platform because they all do their own thing. You as a player, you sell the real estate on your body. You sell yourself to corporate relationships, and all that comes back to the strength of the marketing platform"
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? Asked how long he would remain commissioner and about his legacy, Finchem jokingly said, "I can answer both of those things with, 'He died in office.'" Finchem: "There are, let's say, four or five things I would like to see either get done or get on the tracks a little bit before I step aside, and how long that's going to take, I don't know. But I wake up every morning with the same enthusiasm I've had for the last 25 years, so that hasn't changed." Feherty noted The First Tee junior golf program is "kind of your baby." Finchem added the program is "really important ... because you're getting kids excited about the game of golf." Finchem: "Over time, given the growth pattern it's on, it has the possibility to dramatically impact the diversity of the game and also the size of the game. And here's the other thing: from a PGA Tour perspective -- my selfish PGA Tour hat on -- you get a kid through a golf program, and they're going to watch us on television 20 years from now." Finchem also discussed image, and said at the Tour, "we measure public opinion about our players and have for a long time." He said 92-93% of Americans "view PGA Tour players as good role models for their kids -- pretty strong compared to the other sports." Finchem said of golf returning to the Olympics in '16 is important because there are "85 or 86 countries on the planet that invest money into sports, but only government money to sports that are on the Olympic program, so it creates more resources right away. ... It reinforces that golf is a global sport" (
"Feherty," Golf Channel, 5/4).
