Clarke leaves Wilson

Reporting from Chicago

Monday, February 20, 2023

Tim Clarke is out as president of Wilson’s golf division. Clarke, who led Wilson’s return from the brink of irrelevancy to its traditional position in the sport as a respected equipment manufacturer, has left the Chicago-headquartered sports giant.

Clarke’s next stop is undetermined.

The only announcement Wilson made Monday was to note one of their putters ranked second in a poll.

Wilson, a leader in golf since the 1920s, was foundering when Clarke joined the sales department in the 1990s, the result of a succession of owners, notably Pepsi, with clumsy ideas on how to grow revenue. Most of those ideas failed to do that, also damaging a brand that was one of the big four in the persimmon-wood era, with MacGregor, Spalding and Acushnet-Titleist.

He took over as boss of the golf division late in 2006 and began to rebuild the brand, bringing back the Wilson Staff line of products, re-establishing alliances with club pros, and upgrading the quality. Wilson had been known for first-rate products before expanding into department store and off-course sporting-goods store sales with a lower-priced group of products that proved inferior to both their better products and the lower-cost lines of their competitors.

Clarke signed a handful of players to endorsement contracts, and one, Padraig Herrington, immediately paid off with a victory in the 2007 British Open, then repeated and added the PGA Championship in 2008.

The hard return to relevancy showed up in the bottom line. Wilson Golf became profitable again on a year-to-year basis. John Barba of the My Golf Spy website, which broke the news of Clarke’s departure on Monday, reported that at one point, when Wilson had been spiraling downhill, the golf division lost $15 million one year.

Barba reports Wilson global VP and research and development chief Bob Thurman will take over on an interim basis. Thurman has some 25 sports-equipment patents to his credit, including for golf ball dimple patterns.

Wilson isn’t back in the big four yet – that’s generally considered to be Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway and Ping – but it’s closed the gap. Gary Woodland’s U.S. Open win in 2019 kept the brand’s streak of winning at least one major a decade since the 1920s alive. The sight of a Wilson bag on TV once again was as important.

This year, Clarke supervised the relaunch of Wilson’s Dynapower brand, created in 1956 and a top-seller in the business for years.

“As we were developing this new series of distance-focused products for 2023, we were prepared to re-enter the adjustable driver category with truly innovative solutions, as well as launch a powerful new set of irons. This family of products truly represented the start of something,” Clarke said at the time. “When we considered naming for these products, we thought it was time to bring back a name that resembled power, and something that was synonymous with groundbreaking.”

Now, someone else will have to carry the Wilson name forward.

– Tim Cronin

Smith cashes in at Rich Harvest

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Sunday, September 18, 2022

In the end, Cameron Smith’s victory in the LIV Golf Invitational in Sugar Grove was a matter of execution. When Dustin Johnson could make only pars on the last six holes and Peter Uihlein stumbled after closing to within two strokes, Smith ran in a six-footer for birdie on Rich Harvest Farms’ treacherous par-4 17th and stroked a 20-footer into the cup at the par-5 18th to wow the gallery and win by four strokes.

His total of 13-under-par 203, capped by Sunday’s 4-under 68, matched Branden Grace’s score at Pumpkin Ridge, both in aggregate and against par, for a par-72 layout on the LIV circuit. As records go, it’s modest, but one has to start somewhere.

Smith, on the other hand, is anything but starting. This is his second win in five starts, the other being the 150th Open Championship. The Old Course at St. Andrews and Rich Harvest will never be confused, and nor will the Claret Jug be mixed up with the slivery bauble LIV hands its winners, but $4 million for first is $4 million, plus the $41,666.66 he snagged for the Punch team being part of a three-way for third in the team standings. And Smith’s bomb at the last was the reason why the extra dough is in his account.

“I said to Sam, my caddie, we need to drain this one for the boys,” Smith said. “Yeah, it was nice to get that done because I know it means a lot for those boys, but also the team standings for the end-of-the-year event.”

The team championship may mean nothing to most people, but there will be $50 million up on offer for the top three teams at Doral in Miami at the end of October.

It’s also his third win in his last 14 starts, going back to his victory in the Players Championship. Add up his money on both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf in 2022 – and why not, since LIV is all about the dough – and Smith has won $15,162,063.66. Whether the money won in LIV is on top of the reported $125 million he received for signing or is applied against it like an advance on a book contract is unknown. Either way, the tag day for Mr. Smith has been cancelled.

“I think it was quite frustrating at the start of the day,” Smith said. “My warmup wasn't fantastic. I didn't feel like I was striking the ball as well as I had the first couple of days. I just kind of stuck in there. There was a couple of really poor shots off the tee that led to a couple of really soft bogeys on quite easy holes.”

Well, one bogey, actually, when things were still in doubt. Smith started the day two strokes ahead of Johnson and three up on Uihlein, but the lead was down to a stroke after his bogey on the sixth hole. Back-to-back birdies on the next two holes moved him three ahead of Johnson and four ahead of Uihlein, and from then on, it was catch him if you can.

“I think after that putt went in on 7 and then 8, I started to feel a little bit better about myself and kind of got the round going again,” Smith said.

Nobody could catch him. Johnson, who opened with a course-record 63 on Friday, went out in 1-over 37 with bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes and could do nothing to help his cause after birdies on the 10th and 12th holes.

“I was in a very good spot, just didn't get off to a great start, especially 8 and 9 kind of killed me,” Johnson said. “Especially hitting the fairway on 8, and then 9 I wasn't in a bad spot, just made two really bad bogeys there.”

Patrick Reed threatened for a time and settled for 68 and 5-under 211, but fan favorite Phil Mickelson, whose agitation to straighten out the PGA Tour, and then his exile after inflammatory comments about the LIV-backing Saudis set the new circuit back for a bit, closed with a 6-under 66 for 6-under 210 and a share of eighth place. It’s his best round since a 66 in last year’s WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, 39 rounds ago.

“I’ll take the momentum and go to Thailand and then go to Doral (where he won on the PGA Tour in 2009),” Mickelson said. He did not mention Saudi Arabia, the tournament in between, where lives crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the deputy prime minister and economic boss – and thus overseer of the Public Investment Fund, which funds the LIV operation – who denies ordering the killing of journalist-critic Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Said Mickelson of Salman and Co. to author Alan Shipnuck, “They’re scary (expletives). … have a horrible record on human rights.” Ir might be a good tournament for Mickelson to skip.

Around Rich Harvest

Johnson’s 4 Aces team, which includes Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez, won the team title, each pocketing an extra $750,000 for the effort. Johnson, aware the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces won the league title on Sunday, said, “I think it's pretty cool because you don't get too teams named Aces that win on a Sunday too often. It came on my phone. I knew it. I was watching it all day.” … The gallery wasn’t announced, but appeared to be the equal of the 18,000 that LIV announced on Saturday. Adding in the 8,000 that Illinois Golfer estimated on Friday, and that’s 44,000 for three days for a tournament on a new and often-maligned series at a course on a two-lane road nearly 60 miles from the Loop. Course owner Jerry Rich and LIV supremo Greg Norman have to be tickled at the interest. It has been three years since a top-tier pro tournament open to the public, in the previous case the 2019 BMW Championship, has been in the Chicago area. … The BMW is at Olympia Fields next August. It was held there in 2020 but fans were barred because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Smith goes to the top

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Saturday, September 17, 2022

If you are someone with a Claret Jug in your back pocket and the No. 3 world golf ranking in your wallet – along with the reported $125 million the LIV Golf group has shelled out for your services the next few years – you could probably take it easy on the golf course, not taking chances, not grinding, not worrying about anything but when the Dow Jones Industrial Average will rise again.

Cameron Smith is that someone, but he’s not thinking that way. Smith wants to earn his keep in the LIV Golf series, and Saturday at Rich Harvest Farms was an example of how he’s going about it.

How’s a windblown 4-under-par 68 for a 36-hole aggregate of 10-under 134 and a two-stroke lead sound? Smith accomplished that via five birdies against a solitary bogey and is two strokes ahead of Dustin Johnson with a round to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Chicago.

A large chunk of the gallery of 18,000 – a LIV series record, their group trumpeted – watched Smith, Johnson and Matthew Wolff traipse around Rich Harvest, and were rewarded at 4:49 p.m., when Smith dropped a seven-foot birdie putt on the devilish par-4 17th to move to 9-under and nudge Johnson out of the lead. Johnson’s 1-over 73 was his first over-par circuit in the larval LIV league, a mere five tournaments old, and 10 strokes over the course-record 63 he posted in the first round.

“We had a gusty, windy start,” Smith said. “Then it laid off a little bit and came up again at the end. It was quite tricky there guessing clubs. That’s when I made my bogey (on the 11th hole). If they leave the course be overnight I think it’ll be really fun tomorrow, firm and fast."

Smith’s effort was the second-best round of the day, trailing only Peter Uihlein, who paid no mind to a southwest breeze that gusted to 25 mph and was a steady 18 mph for hours. Uihlein fired a 6-under 66 to move into solo third at 7-under 137 and grab a spot in the final threesome with Smith and Johnson.

The shotgun start format – air horns, actually – had Uihlein opening on the fourth hole. He bogeyed the fifth, but a birdie on the par-4 eighth was critical in his view.

“That righted the ship,” Uihlein said. “After that, I played great. Steady, solid, hit some fairways, hit some greens, just took what the course gave me. I hit a bomb on 13 (one of his seven birdies), and kind of stole one there, but it was steady all the way.”

If anything, Smith was most impressed with the gallery. Friday’s first-round independent estimate of 8,000 was surpassed by 10 a.m., when 10,000 were already on hand. By 3 p.m., it was 18,000, according to a LIV staffer, and the only question was how everyone would fit onto the two-lane road after the round to get back to civilization.

“It’s a big walk out there, and the fans did it all day,” Smith said. “It was perfect.”

That shows Chicago’s golf fans, who last had a big-time tournament in town and open to the public three years ago, are starved for stars. The 2019 BMW Championship / Western Open at Medinah Country Club was a big hit. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2020 BMW at Olympia Fields was closed to the public unless you were watching through a fence on Vollmer Road.

Around Rich Harvest 

Greg Norman, the LIV commissioner whose original plan of a world golf circuit has come to reality almost 30 years later, was on hand Saturday, slapping players’ backs on the driving range and generally schmoozing his way around. He was absent on Friday, said to be in meetings elsewhere. For a TV deal, perhaps? … The YouTube audience was around 62,000 late in the round. The LIV telecasts in the U.S. are also on LIV’s website and DAZN, another online service. … Sunday’s start is 12:15 p.m., following a quartet of parachutists with the 18th fairway their target. Saturday, three of the four were on the mark. The fourth landed on the second fairway. … The 4 Aces, captained by Johnson, leads the Punch quartet, helmed by Smith, by a stroke. The top three teams split up $5 million of the combined $25 million purse, so even Marc Leishman, at even par individually, is playing for big bucks two ways in the final round.

Johnson races to LIV lead at Rich Harvest

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Friday, September 16, 2022

Dustin Johnson says of Rich Harvest Farms, “The course is great.”

Which brings to mind the old saying, “Winners tell funny stories and losers say deal.”

Johnson was in the mood for funny stories on Friday, authoring a course-record 9-under-par 63 to take the lead in the LIV Golf Invitational Chicago.

“It's just like anywhere, you hit it in the fairway and hit it on the green and you can usually shoot a good score,” Johnson said.

Aside from a putt that hung the lip on the first hole, Johnson played nearly-perfect golf, scattering nine birdies across his scorecard, including four straight from the sixth hole onward, though he’ll probably kick himself for settling for par at the last, a 522-yard downhill par 5.

“Obviously the reachable par-5s you need to take advantage of, but you've got to hit it in the fairway just so you can control the golf ball coming into these greens,” Johnson said. “I missed the fairway on 18, but all the other ones I could get to.”

Johnson’s birdie on the par-5 seventh came via one putt, as he decided to lay up because he wasn’t comfortable with the shot.

Because of such prudent play and a puissant putter, Johnson leads British Open champion Cameron Smith by three strokes and Matthew Wolff by four. Smith fired a bogey-free 6-under 66 on the 7,425-yard layout. Wolff’s 67 included a bogey on the par-4 17th hole, but he more than made up for it with an eagle-3 on the 18th.

Phil Mickelson is tied for 11th after a 2-under 70, his third straight sub-70 round following the last two rounds at LIV’s Boston stop.

David Puig of Spain, the newly-minted pro who played the first and third tournaments as an amateur while mulling whether or not to leave Arizona State, scored 1-over 73 in his debut round playing for money. Shaun Norris brought up the rear in the 48-man field with a 7-over 79.

Around Rich Harvest

Contrary to a rumor that had only 1,500 tickets sold, there was a solid crowd for the first round. Based on the nearly-full parking lot to the north side of the course, the educated estimate is about 8,000 spectators, not including volunteers. The retail ticket price was $49, but you could find tickets on StubHub for $9 in the morning. … The shotgun starts Saturday and Sunday are at 12:15 p.m.

WWGA mulls return of Women's Western Open

Writing from Golf, Illinois

Thursday, September 15, 2022

There are plans afoot to bring a ghost golf championship back to life.

The Women’s Western Golf Association, in conjunction with the Western Golf Association, is trying to bring back the Women’s Western Open, the first major championship in women’s professional golf.

The surprise announcement came at the WWGA’s annual meeting, and from Judy Rankin, who was being honored as the organization’s 2022 Woman of Distinction.

“I hope one of these days soon, and I’ve heard a lot about it, that the Women’s Western Open will be reinvented,” Rankin said. “I think that would be great.”

WWGA and WGA officials weren’t available for comment, but it is understood that recent work by both groups, part of their alliance to boost the visibility of the Women’s Western Amateur and Junior championships, led to investigating potential sponsors for a WWGA-bannered pro tournament.

First played in 1930, the Women’s Western Open was the first golf tournament open to female professionals. The first major championship on the LPGA circuit – which itself began in 1950 – the Women’s Western Open was shelved after the 1967 playing, a victim of rising costs.

The WWO had no purse the first few years, but there were also no female professionals. That changed by the mid-1930s, and by 1941, when Patty Berg claimed the first of her record eight titles, she won the entire purse – $100.

When the WWO was shelved after the 1967 playing, the WWGA said it was concentrating on amateur golf, which was true, but the second half of the story was the $10,000 purse became too much for the all-volunteer group to raise.

Even today, Women’s Western Open winners, of which Kathy Whitworth was the last, at Pekin Country Club in 1967, are listed as major champions by the LPGA.

Rankin played in four Women’s Western Opens in the 1960s, her best finish a tie for fourth in 1964, as Judy Torluemke.

“It was played at some great golf courses in my time,” Rankin recalled, mentioning Beverly on Chicago’s South Side by name.

– Tim Cronin