Finchem covers many topics at PLAYERS, including slow play

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- In a wide-ranging news conference on Tuesday, PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem touched on everything from slow play to how fast THE PLAYERS Championship has established itself among the game's elite.

The topic of slow play was among the subjects discussed at the players' meeting last week during the Wachovia Championship. Finchem said he sees the issue two ways -- the extent to which it's a problem at the professional level and how long it takes for the average player to complete a round at his local course.

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PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem covered a wide-range of topics in his press conference on Tuesday.

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More: Finchem interview transcript

"I think there's a debate as to how they overlap, those two issues," Finchem said. "But just focusing on pace at the professional level, it's always been a challenge to maintain a system that's fair to the competitors and tries to maintain etiquette in the game. You owe your fellow competitor the courtesy of maintaining a reasonable pace."

Earlier this year the TOUR amended its cut policy to provide for two cuts when the low 70 players and ties after two rounds includes more than 78 players. Finchem said the TOUR might consider timing players without warning them, as well as cutting to the low 65 and ties, but the key is developing a comprehensive plan.

"We make it very difficult, because we put a lot of people on the golf course on Thursdays and Fridays, sometimes 156 players. We push the number we play based on daylight," Finchem said. "We set up the golf courses as hard as we can set them up. We put the pins three paces from the side of the greens. We try to create excitement on the golf course by having reachable par 5s and drivable par 4s. All of these things slow play down. They create situations that bottleneck play.

"So in too many weeks, we have players waiting on the tee, and some weeks, we struggle to meet the television window; and sometimes ... we struggle to get done by dark. Most of the year we put ourselves at jeopardy of the vagaries of the weather, because the longer it takes to play, the more difficult it is to play in."

Finchem held court with the assembled media just a few hundred yards away from TOUR headquarters to extol the virtues of arguably the strongest tournament in professional golf. He didn't have to dig deep or search hard for reasons to celebrate the renewal of the TOUR's flagship event, which begins here Thursday.

"Everybody is very excited about everything that is going on with the tournament," said Finchem, who announced that the game's richest event raised the stakes even higher, with the purse increasing from $9 million to $9.5 million. The winner's share is $1.71 million, plus he receives 4,950 FedExCup points, the highest reward along with the four grand slam tournaments in the year-long competition.

Finchem said that there are three things that, "distinguish THE PLAYERS as a superb championship on the PGA TOUR." They are: the quality of the winners, including defending champion Phil Mickelson, the overall strength of the field, and the outstanding venue in THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

In reference to the strength of field, even without the presence of No. 1 Tiger Woods, who is sidelined after undergoing knee surgery, this week's field of 144 players features 101 who have won at least one TOUR title -- more than any other tournament in the last five years -- and 24 major champions. The field also includes 55 international players from 16 countries, which gives the tournament even wider global appeal. THE PLAYERS will be televised in over 200 countries and in 35 languages to an estimated 500 million households.

This year's 35th PLAYERS is being conducted in May for only the second time after the course underwent a thorough renovation following the 2006 tournament. Finchem expects the layout to once again be a superb site for a major competition.

"The golf course over the years has proven to be a terrific test, one that various different kind of players can win on, but only a player wins here who plays exceptional golf," Finchem said. "We think that's going to be the same case this year. We've got the golf course, we think, in terrific condition after the rebuild coming into last year. I think (outgoing Superintendent) Fred Klauk and his team have done a great job. ... We've seen firm and fast conditions, and challenging rough conditions, and we have that and we're right about where we want to be. With the weather forecast the way it's laid out at the moment, it should be just a tremendous week and a tremendous test."

While the condition of the golf course in May has proven to be a boon and the weather is better than in March, Finchem noted that television ratings have benefited, too. THE PLAYERS saw a 24 percent increase in viewership last year compared to the three previous years when the tournament was staged in March.

While the PLAYERS is celebrating its 35th year, Finchem also pointed out that the TOUR would soon celebrate another anniversary -- its 40th. The first official board meeting for the TOUR was conducted in December 1968, spearheaded by the efforts of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Nicklaus on Wednesday is being honored with the PGA TOUR Lifetime Achievement Award.

"When we recognize Jack ... we will focus to some extent on the role that Jack played in creating that day when the PGA TOUR started in 1968 and the tremendous growth that's occurred over the years with Jack's support and commitment," Finchem said.

Of course, strong evidence of that growth can be found quite easily this week at THE PLAYERS.