PGA Tour Does Not Practice What It Tries To Preach

So we’ve got this great new campaign  “Live Life Under Par.”

It is the brainchild of some public relations company that sold the PGA Tour a bill of goods and convinced them it was awesome.

Only one problem.

The Tour isn’t following it’s own campaign.

Why?

The Ebeneezer Scrooges up there in Ponte Vedra have issued a mandate to the players this week:

No signing autographs during practice rounds!

Seriously?

Somebody need to throw a bucket of cold water on Jay Monhan and the rest of the stuffed dress shirts up there in the tour’s palatial $81 million mansion that will be so proudly on display during this week’s Players Championship.

At least the players understand.

They’re paying it no nevermind — at least some are.

Enter Jason Dufner and Paul Casey, to mention two.

“I still sign for kids on the course. I’ll flout the policy,” Paul Casey said. “How are you going to walk by a kid holding a flag? You’re not going to do that.”

As Jason Dufner walked off the ninth green earlier this week at The Players during a practice round, he stopped to sign the young fan’s flag. It happens every week on the PGA Tour, but at The Players, Dufner’s gesture defied the PGA Tour’s policy of not allowing autographs during practice rounds.

Good for Duf!

Here’s the tour’s take, coming from one of Commissioner Monahan’s henchmen:

According to Andy Pazder, an executive vice president with the Tour and chief of operations (aka Monhan’s henchman), the policy wasn’t designed to speed up play.

“It was designed to allow our players to properly prepare themselves for the tournament,” Pazder said. “Practice is distraction-free. I remember two players telling me that to go from 16th green to 17th tee, it took them 20 minutes because of all the autograph request.”

Seriously?  Seriously?

They gotta be kiddin’ but unfortunately they are not.

So much for  “Living Life Under Par.”

The PGA Tour gets a big fat triple-bogey on this one.

Keep signing guys, keep signing!