The Week That Was, october 26, 2014

     As far as the PGA of America is concerned, Ted Bishop never existed. His nearly two-year term as the group’s 38th president never happened. He never fought against the proposed ban on anchored putters, he never established a task force to test non-traditional ideas for growing the game, and he wasn’t responsible for appointing Tom Watson as the captain of this year’s miserable Ryder Cup team.
     Ted who?
     Like others in many walks of life, Bishop lost his job -- and lost it literally a month before his term was to expire -- because he made ill-advised tweets. Specifically, he made what the PGA described as “insensitive gender-based statements” in an online exchange with professional golfer Ian Poulter.
     Make no mistake: Bishop’s tweets were inappropriate and clearly worthy of punishment. Words matter, and they matter especially when they’re spoken by someone in a position of power.
     But is the PGA’s punishment commensurate with Bishop’s crime? Because Bishop has received what amounts to a professional extermination. In an act that might have been scripted by the Russian politburo, the PGA has forever made him a persona non grata and plans to strip him out of the group’s history. Bishop will never be able to show his face at a future PGA Championship or Ryder Cup match, never be honored as a past president, and never be invited to participate in PGA-sponsored events.
     Of course, there’s a certain absurdity involved in this business of vacating Bishop’s presidency. Like the NCAA (not to mention Josef Stalin, the world’s first Photoshopper), the PGA apparently believes that history can, when desirable, be rewritten. Fairly or not, however, Reggie Bush won a Heisman, the Fab Five played twice in the Final Four, and John Calipari won a bunch of games at UMass and Memphis that he no longer gets credit for. Asterisks can be added to record books and banners can be removed from stadiums, but memories can’t easily be erased.
     Damning Bishop to oblivion is a peculiar end to what Geoff Shackelford, during face time on the Golf Channel, called a “largely successful presidency.” To put the PGA’s verdict into perspective, rewind to the spring of 2013, when, in a room filled with many of golf’s most influential people, Sergio Garcia made a racist joke about professional golf’s biggest star. The outcome: Garcia received no punishment whatsoever -- no suspension, no fine, no anything. He simply apologized and then cashed his next paycheck.
     Bishop is the first president of the PGA to be dismissed while in office. As embarrassments go, his “impeachment,” as he called it, was probably punishment enough. Why did the PGA’s board feel it necessary to take a pound of flesh as well?

     The operator of a health-club chain in California’s San Francisco Bay area is on the prowl for golf properties that it can transform into “modernized country clubs.” Bay Club Company hasn’t spelled out exactly what the transformation will entail, but it’s got something to do with “fitness, sports and recreation, families with children, and hospitality.” We’ll learn more after Bay Club completes the renovations it aims to do at its first golf property, StoneTree Golf Club in Novato, which features a 14-year-old course that was co-designed by Johnny Miller, Sandy Tatum, and others. One change has already been made, as the club is now called Bay Club StoneTree. “This is just the beginning,” Bay Club’s president acknowledged in a press release. “We have identified and are in active conversations with several attractive acquisition candidates, including golf clubs, across California.” Bay Club’s purchases are being funded, at least in part, by York Capital Management, and it’s getting development advice from JMA Ventures.

     After lying low for a few months, Concert Golf Partners has purchased its eighth golf property. The Newport Beach, California-based group paid an undisclosed price for Sand Creek Country Club, a private venue in Chesterton, Indiana. The seller was a utility company based in Northwest Indiana. Sand Creek, which was established by Bethlehem Steel, features a well-regarded 27-hole complex and considers itself to be “the premier family-oriented country club in the Midwest.” In early 2014, CGP acquired Gaillardia Golf & Country Club, a financially troubled facility in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The company also owns four golf properties in Florida and one each in Maryland and North Carolina.

     Another domino has fallen for the PGA Tour. On its path to world domination, the tour has established a presence in South America, as it’s licensed its Tournament Players Club brand to a resort in Colombia. TPC Cartagena at Karibana features a two-year-old Nicklaus Design golf course that will host a $700,000 event on the Web.com Tour next year. “The PGA Tour has viewed South America as an important part of a larger picture,” said a spokesperson for the tour. The larger picture includes 32 TPC properties in the United States and another in Mexico. Eventually the tour hopes to create one in Beijing, China, and maybe another in Shanghai.

     Slowly but surely, real money is starting to flow into Asia’s professional golf circuit. Next year, despite a military coup and martial law, Thailand will host its richest golf event ever, the $2 million Thailand Classic. The tournament, jointly sanctioned by the Asian and European tours, will be played in February, at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin. “Thailand has been one of our strongest markets over the years,” the Asian Tour’s chairman said in a press release, “and the addition of a new event will cement the nation’s place as one of Asia’s golfing giants.” For comparison’s sake, it’s worth noting that $2 million in prize money is small potatoes compared to the purses that U.S. golfers compete for. In the United States, even the low-budget events -- the Franklin Templeton Shootout, the Barbasol Championship, the Barracuda Championship -- offer $3.1 million or more.

     Even if he has to say so himself, Greg “the Living Brand” Norman believes his new, links-inspired golf course in Vietnam will someday be ranked among the world’s elite. “I absolutely believe the Bluffs has the potential to be one of the top courses in the world,” he said at the course’s official opening. To be sure, Norman is generously paid to make such statements. He isn’t paid to make predictions, however, and he made a bold one during his visit: “I firmly believe that Vietnam will steadily evolve as another links destination as more courses like the Bluffs Ho Tram Strip are developed along the coastal areas of the country.” Sounds like an invitation to Mike Keiser.