Daily Pulse

Web Street Golf Daily Pulse

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 223

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

ANY IDEA WHO SAID THIS? “There is no point playing a tournament that you don't want to be at.”

ON THIS DAY: In 1991, Mike Hulbert beat Davis Love III in a playoff to win the Isuzu Kapalua International.

HEIR APPARENT: John K. Solheim, son of PING Chairman John A. Solheim and grandson of PING founder Karsten Solheim, was appointed President & Representative Director of PING Golf Japan effective January 1, 2011. In his new position, Solheim, 36, will lead all aspects of PING’s business in Japan, including operations, sales and marketing. He’ll also have additional responsibilities for the company’s activities throughout Asia.

“Our business in Japan dates back to the mid-1960s,” said John A. Solheim, who first visited the country in 1969 while working for his father. “It’s been a very important market for us and one that presents exciting opportunities for growth. The decision to appoint John K. was made with great confidence in his ability, along with a feeling of fatherly pride. He’s aspired to a role like this for the last few years. It’s a natural next step in his development. I’m excited to see the impact he’ll have as PING elevates its presence in Japan and throughout Asia.”

The father of four has been PING’s Vice President of Engineering since 2001. In that role, he oversaw all product development while managing a team of 60 engineers and research specialists.

“I’m excited to take on this new challenge,” said John K., whose appointment marks the first time a member of the Solheim family’s third generation has assumed the top leadership role at one of its companies. “I’ve been preparing most of my work life for an opportunity like this. The Japanese golf market is very different from the U.S. market. I’m looking forward to gaining a better understanding of it while focusing on ways to grow our presence. Our reputation for bringing performance-driven technology presents us a tremendous opportunity to further elevate the PING brand in a region that places a premium on innovation.”

PING Golf Japan was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Karsten Manufacturing Corporation in 2004 to provide a facility dedicated to assembling and calibrating custom-fit, custom-built golf equipment for the Japanese and Asian markets. The company, located in Tokyo, employs 75 workers who service the needs of Japan and several other Asian countries, including South Korea. Prior to the formation of PING Golf Japan, the company operated through a variety of Japan-based independent distributors. Solheim will relocate in mid December

TRENDS: For those wondering whether the next generation of players might choose something other than golf, consider No. 100 on ATP list made $281,378 this year, while No. 100 on PGA Tour earned $954,011. Now on the Ladies side of the ledger, #100 came in at $37,434, thus implying boys might be more inclined, than girls to pick golf if they are persuaded by the almighty dollar.

Tennis, however, is considered the fastest growing sport, according to data released earlier this year by Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. According to the SGMA, tennis was one of only six sports to experience participation growth exceeding 40 percent from 2000 through 2008.

BUCKING THE TREND: Despite a lousy economy, a fallen star and three out of four major championships being won by foreign stars, advertising spending on the PGA Tour was up over 2009. For the first nine months of 2010, all golf on TV generated $582.4 million in ad revenue. That’s up from $554.6 million generated during the same period in 2009, according to Kantar Media. READ MORE>>>

KID’S PLAY: Ryo Ishikawa won for the third time in 2010. The victory, which was the teenager’s ninth career title, earned Ishikawa a winner’s prize of $363,500. READ MORE>>>

HOW’S BIZ? Dick's Sporting Goods reported sales increased 9.0% from the third quarter to $1.08 billion due primarily to a 5.1% increase in consolidated same store sales and the opening of new stores. It reported a 2.4% increase in Golf Galaxy sales. In the third quarter it closed 12 underperforming Golf Galaxy stores, while it has plans to open two stores in the fourth quarter.

TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS: Ready to follow the lead of players like Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez, who run tour events in Spain, Padraig Harrington said: “I have already made my own tentative enquiries to see whether companies would be interested in sponsoring the Irish Open. “It was on a very casual basis, obviously nothing formal. But I suppose if something came out of that, it would be along the lines of me being part of it.” READ MORE>>>

TOP OF THE CHARTS: TOM WATSON: LESSONS OF A LIFETIME, a two-DVD instructional set has surpassed 25,000 sets sold, making it the best selling golf DVD of 2010. READ MORE>>>

WEB GEMS:

SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT: Jim Furyk and fellow American Matt Kuchar made the most of a forgettable year for Tiger Woods by landing the leading honors after the 2010 PGA Tour ended with the Disney Classic at the weekend. READ MORE>>>

ON THE JOB TRAINING: It’s closing in on the first year on the job for Mike Whan, LPGA Commissioner. What has he learned? “It's been like any rookie season, a straight-up learning curve. I'd love to lie and say I walked in there as a well-groomed commissioner, but that's not the case. There's no commissioner class in college. If there was, I probably would have failed it. But I enjoy the learning process.” READ MORE>>>

TIMES CHANGE: “Simply winning is the important thing, whether that be in Europe, America or Asia, and the Ryder Cup proved that there is no need to play in America all the time. The European Tour has made great strides forward in the intervening years but two decades ago everything was fairly primitive in comparison to America.” READ MORE>>>

MAKE OR BREAK? Tiger Woods: can a once great champion turn his career around? The world No2 had better produce the goods in 2011 or the obituarists will be lining up to chronicle the demise of a fallen icon of the game. READ MORE>>>

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: If you like what you have seen with the Daily Pulse, help spread the word. Pass along your copy. Its free and all anyone needs to do is send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it asking to be put on the distribution list. It is a complete opt in or out system.

BEFORE WE GO: If you feel like you may have missed something from a back issue feel free to check out the archive section of the Daily Pulse, which includes an easy to use word search!

ANSWER: Rory McIlroy on Sky Sports regarding his intention to focus predominately on the European Tour next year.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IS BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, BUT IT IS NOT GUARANTEED. THE OPINION EXPRESSED IS THAT OF TERRY O AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED A SOLICITATION TO BUY OR SELL SECURITIES IN ANY OF THE COMPANIES DISCUSSED WITHIN THIS NEWSLETTER. CONTENTS OF THIS NEWSLETTER MAY NOT BE REPRINTED OR REBROADCAST WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED WRITTEN CONSENT OF TMAC GOLF

Web Street Golf Daily Pulse

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 222

Monday, November 15, 2010

ANY IDEA WHO SAID THIS? “When I got home, I was like, hey, I made a half million dollars and I blew a golf tournament. So what?”

ON THIS DAY: In 2004, Charlie Sifford became the first African-American inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame.

THE ART OF A DEAL: The golf industry loves rumors. One that is making some noise is the possibility of Fortune Brands selling its golf division. It could mean Titleist or FootJoy if not both or frankly nothing at all? Where this might get some legs, is that Fortune Brands, parent company to the two brands is said to be willing to cooperate with activist shareholder William Ackman on a plan to split up the company's three business units, golf being one of them. A piece devoted to this popped up in the Wall Street Journal late Friday. Earlier this year, the company sold Cobra Golf to Puma, so there is some precedent that could be correlated to the notion of where there is smoke, it can lead to fire.

But a few points of sanity are worth exploring. First and foremost, Fortune Brands has someone who is trying to push his way into its business. So it’s prudent to play nice, at least in the beginning, especially if there is a way to make money for all those concerned. The premise begin Ackman’s theory is the sum is worth less (reflected in market value) than the parts of Fortune Brands. It’s fair to say that it’s difficult in the current climate, to get top dollar for nearly anything. It remains to be seen if any entity has a burning desire to acquire the profitable golf assets and pay a premium price. Given the state of the industry, golf’s peer group doesn’t appear to have many qualified buyers and there would be the possibility of an anti-trust issue to contend with. Time will tell whether another Puma AG emerges, but for now its more likely that Ackman’s investment isn’t going according to his original plan and he is looking for a bail out, one way or another...

WHO KNEW? The 2010 professional golf season will be one to remember, as the world welcomed a new #1, saw a crop of rising young stars challenge for some of the most prestigious titles in golf, and witnessed a decline like none other before it. Amidst all this, fan favorites and Bridgestone Tour Team members, Matt Kuchar and Fred Couples achieved career years on the PGA TOUR and Champions TOUR, respectively. READ MORE>>>

STATUS QUO: “Designated events,” the proposal designed to bring star power to some of the PGA Tour’s weakest events, likely won’t be implemented next season, sources told Golfweek. “It’s been passed, but I think we’re going to backtrack on it,” Davis Love III, a Policy Board member, said when asked to respond by Golfweek. Another change likely to come out of the upcoming Policy Board meeting: the WGC-Match Play final likely will be reduced to 18 holes and played the same day as semifinals. READ MORE>>>

LET’S DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN: The PGA TOUR and Puerto Rico Tourism Company today announced a two-year tournament extension that continues the island’s PGA TOUR tournament in March through 2012. In conjunction with the agreement, the tournament will be renamed the Puerto Rico Open presented by seepuertorico.com.

Introduced in 2008 at Trump International Golf Club, the Puerto Rico Open is held the same week as the World Golf Championships event at the TPC Blue Course in Miami. Rookie Derek Lamely won the 2010 tournament in only his 12th PGA TOUR start. Greg Kraft won the inaugural event, and Michael Bradley won in 2009.

LOOKING FORE HELP: 2010 JBWere Masters Champion Stuart Appleby and eight-time LPGA title holder Rachel Hetherington have been enlisted to press the flesh and talk up the importance of golf to Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott. “The Australian Golf Industry is an extremely important component of the Australian economy and one that transcends many areas outside of the sport, including health, the environment, tourism and trade,” said Max Garske, the CEO of the PGA of Australia and Chair of the AGIC. “We have a number of meetings planned throughout the day where we will ask for support for key industry projects while also increasing general awareness levels within the walls of Parliament House.” READ MORE>>>

GREAT SCOTT: It was familiar results for Adam Scott in Singapore but with some new tools get the job done. “It feels great,” said Scott, who earned back-to-back Barclays Singapore Open victories in 2005 and 2006. “Relief to finally get finished, it’s been a bit of a long week. I’m very happy to be winning here again." READ MORE>>>

WEB GEMS:

NO WORRIES MATE: Aussie golfing great Greg Norman has taken another swing at marriage, wedding for the third time at a ceremony in the Caribbean. Norman told New Idea magazine that everyone was barefoot and dressed in white. “Kirsten walked down the aisle on her own - we were all waiting for her,” Norman said. “To me, she is the most beautiful woman in the world. She looked stunning.” Let’s see how this one turns out. READ MORE>>>

THRILL OF VICTORY, AGONY OF DEFEAT: Adam Scott won a million, Aaron Baddeley just missed a million and a handful of their compatriots lost their playing rights on the multi-million-dollar US PGA Tour as a dramatic few hours unfolded for Australian golf across Asia and America yesterday morning. READ MORE>>>

LIFE BEGINS AT 50: It's the last chance to qualify for the second chance tour in 2011. Since its earliest days, the Champions Tour has earned the distinction of being a second opportunity at forging a career at the highest levels of tournament golf. It offered a mulligan at a pot of gold for senior golfers, age 50 and above, and the history of the circuit is replete with stories of players taking advantage in a big way. READ MORE>>>

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: If you like what you have seen with the Daily Pulse, help spread the word. Pass along your copy. Its free and all anyone needs to do is send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it asking to be put on the distribution list. It is a complete opt in or out system.

BEFORE WE GO: If you feel like you may have missed something from a back issue feel free to check out the archive section of the Daily Pulse, which includes an easy to use word search!

ANSWER: Robert Garrigus, yesterday’s winner at Disney, about his collapse earlier in the year at Memphis.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IS BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, BUT IT IS NOT GUARANTEED. THE OPINION EXPRESSED IS THAT OF TERRY O AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED A SOLICITATION TO BUY OR SELL SECURITIES IN ANY OF THE COMPANIES DISCUSSED WITHIN THIS NEWSLETTER. CONTENTS OF THIS NEWSLETTER MAY NOT BE REPRINTED OR REBROADCAST WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED WRITTEN CONSENT OF TMAC GOLF