It was confirmed this morning in the annual PGA of American press conference that it was PGA Tour Commissioner, Tim Finchem who was influential in the PGA of America dropping their championship tag – ‘Glory’s Last Shot’.
For the past few years the PGA Championship has been labelled with the tag – ‘The Seaon’s Final Major – Glory’s Last Shot’.
But that was not to the liking of Finchem and the PGA Tour as revealed by PGA of America President, Ted Biship.
“We have had conversations the last few months with the PGA TOUR, and one of the questions that we had of Commissioner Finchem and the players was to consider playing the FedExCup in four consecutive weeks the year of The Ryder Cup in 2014,” said Bishop.
“Our captain felt like that it was imperative that our players had a week off prior to THE TOUR Championship and the beginning of The Ryder Cup, and in exchange, one of the things that Commissioner Finchem asked us to consider was dropping the tag line of Glory’s Last Shot.
“He was very provocative and emphasized the fact that the PGA Championship is the strongest field in major golf; that it stands on its own merits and that there was golf that was played after the PGA Championship, most notably the FedExCup. I think that we feel that our championship does stand on its own merits and there is other golf that’s played after this championship, albeit not major golf.
The PGA Championship – ‘Glory’s Last Shot’ in 2010, 2011 and 2012 but not 2013. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)
2013 PGA Championship no longer ‘Glory’s Last Shot’. (Photo – www.golfybytourmiss.com)
“And so that was just one example of some of the many things that I feel like we have been able to work together and accomplish hand in hand with the PGA TOUR. I think it was a change that was good for them, and obviously the week off prior to The Ryder Cup, hopefully will be good for our players.”
And PGA of America CEO, Pete Bevacqua added: “And if I can just add, it was interesting, because we were having internal conversations about the same topic: Does this tag line make sense? What is it really doing, if anything, for the Championship?
“And then to hear the perspective of the TOUR and Commissioner Finchem; and then when we had a conversation with our broadcast partner, CBS, it was three entities that all quickly came to the same conclusion that, you know what, there’s just not much in that tag line and we don’t feel it’s doing much for the PGA Championship, so let’s not stick with it. Let’s think what else is out there.
The final major is more of a description than a tag line, and we think we feel good about the decision.
