B to have even more trouble coming up with a quality
field. Tour players can go to Hawaii anytime they
want, what with frequent flier miles and fractional
jet ownership.
The ripple effects of these changes are already
starting to be felt. The PGA of Australia is more than
a little concerned about how this new season start
will come crashing down on the three major events
Down Under – the Australian Masters, Australian
Open and Australian PGA, all of which take place in
November and December. Officials there are worried
that the Australian stars who play the PGA Tour will
want to stay in the States when the season starts
in order to get off to a good FedEx Cup start, thus
bypassing the Australian majors.
“There is no doubt these changes are only de-
signed to benefit the U.S. Tour and not designed with
regard to implications on other tours. That’s abun-
dantly clear,” PGA of Australia chief executive Brian
Thorburn told The (Melbourne) Age.
The biggest loser in this melodrama is the
Qualifying Tournament. The “Fall Classic,” as it was
known to the players, was one of the most stress-
filled events of the year. The opportunity to get to the
PGA Tour – or back to the Tour – through a weeklong
torture test is one of the greatest testaments to the
meritocracy of professional golf. To effectively lose
it is to do away with one of the greatest events in the
game.
Finchem, however, looks through a different pair
of glasses.
“The second advantage we see here is that we
feel it will much more effectively communicate the
drama of that unique competition of the Qualifying
School, because there will be a year-long buildup,”
he said. “It will be promoted on television during the
course of the year. The final events will be positioned
on an off-week on the PGA Tour so that we can com-
mand good television exposure, and we can bring
the atmosphere and the drama of that competition
to the fans.”
Jordan Spieth likely will have a tough time going from college to the PGA Tour.
Finchem has been drinking his own Kool-Aid if he
believes that one. In this scenario, Q-School should
be reduced to four rounds instead of six and doesn’t
need to be on television because, frankly, no one
except the players and their families will care who’s
going to the developmental tour.
“It also educates the player about what the PGA
Tour is all about, what the volunteers are there for,
how our charitable focus works,” Finchem said.
“So when they come to the PGA Tour, they are more
knowledgeable about things that are important,
whether it be sponsors, charities, whatever. That’s
really the question.”
No, the question is, “Why mess with the integ-
rity of the game when it really wasn’t necessary?”
Unfortunately, no one in his right mind knows the
answer. l
www.globalgolfpost.com
MARCH 26, 2012
Wittenberg Dominant In Louisiana
BROUSSARD, LOUISIANA | For 27-year-old
Casey Wittenberg it has been an early career
of great accomplishment, but most of the big
splashes he’s made had
come as an amateur.
He now can add a
Nationwide Tour
victory to his burgeon-
ing résumé.
Wittenberg finished
a dominating win at
the Louisiana Open on
Sunday, closing with a 24-under-par score
of 260 that was eight strokes ahead of his
closest competitors.
He began the event’s final day at Le
Triomphe CC, near Lafayette, La., with
a three-stroke lead, then put together a
6-under par cruise to cap his first profes-
sional win since 2007 on the Hooters Tour.
He earned $90,000 for the victory.
Even with a No. 15 Nationwide Tour fin-
ish after the 2008 season that earned him
a PGA Tour card, it had been the showings
before his pro career that had provided
most of the headlines for the Oklahoma
State University product.
A finalist in the 2003 U.S. Amateur. A
member of the ‘03 Walker Cup team. A T13
finish in the 2004 Masters, which earned
him a spot at that year’s U.S. Open, where
he was T36 and second-best amateur for
the weekend at Shinnecock Hills.
As a professional, there were two wins
in ‘06 and ‘07 on the then regional Hooters
Tour, and a T4 showing on the PGA Tour’s
Viking Classic in ‘08 that he played in on a
sponsor’s exemption.
Casey Wittenberg
But his best effort on the Nationwide
Tour had been a second-place finish at the
Wayne Gretzky Classic in that 2008 sea-
son. He led that event going into the final
day, but a 17th-hole bogey dropped him
into a playoff that he lost on the first hole
to Justin Hicks.
There would be no such mishap this
time. Wittenberg shot a Saturday 63 that
gave him the overnight lead, then bird-
ied three of his first six holes to show he
would be very difficult to catch. His week-
end consisted of two eagles and 22 birdies,
with the last bogey coming on the 15th
hole on Friday.
The Memphis, Tenn., native had ended
Saturday with four-stroke lead, but
Canadian Brad Fritsch shot 9-under 62 on
Sunday to jump from T45 to second place
at 15 under before Wittenberg even took
his first swing. Fritsch, who entered the
final day having steadily improved with 70-
69-68 in his first three rounds, finished at
269 and T5.
Fabian Gomez, Chris Riley and Paul
Claxton tied for second place at 16-under
268. Camilo Benedetti joined Fritsch and
three others another stroke back, using a
birdie on No. 5 to be the only player to get
within three strokes of Wittenberg on the
final day.
The Nationwide Tour takes a week
off before starting a two-week California
swing, beginning April 5-8 at the Soboba
Golf Classic in San Jacinto, Calif.
