TV moguls have too great a say

CADDIE'S ROLE:Some of the recent decisions on the US PGA tour regarding bad weather would make you wonder who exactly is pulling the strings, writes Colin Byrne

I REMEMBER THE days when you went out in a tournament and you were pretty certain of the endgame; shoot as low as you could and hope that someone didn't outshoot you. Of course there were exceptional events when the weather was so bad that a round had to be cancelled and a player was deemed the winner after three rounds.

Whatever happened the players always knew what the circumstances were before they went out to play. I recall going to the US in the early 90s and marvelling at how decisive they were at making decisions when it came to inclement weather. Rarely were you kept hanging around the golf course all day.

There seems to be a new dynamic on tour in the US when it comes to dealing with bad weather. There is not a lot we can do about the weather in the short term but we really need to reconsider our lifestyles when it comes to the bigger climatic picture. Indeed, it is no different for golf which of course is at the behest of nature.

With an abundance of meteorologists heavily armed with Doppler radars and other sophisticated weather readers on hand at a golf tournament today somebody calling the shots is not listening to their advice or is being guided by a more influential force.

The PGA Tour is driven largely by its popularity on television, especially when the world's number one is in the event. Of course last year saw the advent of the FedEx Cup and a brand new departure for the US Tour in a conscious effort to maintain its television ratings. Naturally when the main man doesn't play the punters use the remote control more often.

There is a strong suspicion on the tour's corridors that the decision two Sundays ago in Miami, resulting in a large part of the field sitting back in their hotel rooms for the best part of the day, having completed the third round earlier that morning, was driven by the demands of the TV producers. Most of the players seemed to favour continuing on with the same pairing that they started with that morning. This, they felt, would give them a far greater chance of finding a winner by Sunday night instead of late Monday morning.

On hindsight, and having monitored the available weather reports, this would have been the most convenient move for all concerned. Perhaps the TV moguls were betting on having Tiger in the last group, just in case he looked out of place playing in any grouping earlier than that.

There was a general consensus that the Monday finish could have been avoided which did no favours to a number of us who were committed to the Tavistock Cup which was held in Orlando last Monday and Tuesday.

Having hung around all day on Sunday, Monday was a contrast where the only delay was waiting for the rotor blades to slow down and avoid decapitation by the helicopters laid on to take us from the private planes on which they had flown us all up on from Miami in order to make our tee times at the Isleworth club that afternoon.

After our whirlwind trip to Orlando where the hosts, Isleworth, beat the visiting team, Lake Nona, in the world's most exclusive club competition myself and Retief made our way last Tuesday night to the Big Easy, New Orleans for the Zurich Classic. It was a golf marathon that we had got involved with and the previous Sunday's delay was beginning to take its toll.

Retief rallied on the back nine on Friday to make the cut on the mark. It was a cut with 81 players qualifying to play at the weekend. There is a new rule on the PGA Tour which comes into effect when more than 78 players make the Friday cut. It means that there is another cut on Saturday back to 70 players. As if the professional golf existence isn't precarious enough already, the double cut has thrown another dimension of uncertainty into the mix.

Retief shot two over on Saturday and having hung around for an hour after play to try to gauge if we would make the Saturday cut or not, the odds suggested that we would be fairly safe in heading home that afternoon. One of the advantages of your player having his own plane means that you can make a quick getaway if needed. We were on the way back to Orlando at four in the afternoon when a storm hit the New Orleans area. Play was suspended at the tournament.

With the suspension of play it meant that they could not enforce the third-round cut. As I was walking towards the gate to catch my flight back to Europe I got a phone call from Retief telling me that he was heading back to New Orleans to play the fourth round at 7.48 the next morning.

He was as baffled as I was with the convoluted new weekend system that had been devised by the tour. He wasn't the only player who had to turn back to New Orleans last Saturday evening. Fortunately for me Retief understood that I could not retrace my steps so he drafted his pilot in as my replacement.

I hope he is not expecting the same favour if the pilot is indisposed in the future.