New deal for PGA Tour’s Finchem

Staying power: Tim Finchem has signed a new deal to remain commissioner of the PGA Tour until 2016 

PGA Tour commissioner to spend another four years at the circuit’s helm

Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, has signed a new four-year deal which will keep him in charge of golf’s most lucrative circuit until 2016.

Finchem, 64, penned the extension ahead of this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, the second PGA Tour event of the season. His new contract comes hot on the heels of securing a money-spinning new nine-year television deal with NBC Sports and CBS Sports for the tour.

“It was a no-brainer decision,” Finchem told the Associated Press. “It’s what I do. Plus, we got done with TV. And with a runway for ten years, I figured we could do some good stuff long term. I’m as optimistic as I’ve ever been.”

Finchem was appointed commissioner in 1994, having previously served in the White House during Jimmy Carter’s stint as President of the USA. By the time his new contract expires, he will have been the longest-serving of the three men who have held the post since the PGA Tour broke away from the PGA of America in 1969.

During his tenure so far, he has overseen monumental growth. Indeed, at the time of his appointment, the total PGA Tour purse was $56.4million. This year’s prize-money, by comparison, is an eye-watering $323.8million.

He has also had to respond to Greg Norman’s proposals for a world tour, prevent the inauguration of a players’ union, and come up with the World Golf Championships that began in 1999.

However, he says that the past three years – during which the world has been plunged into economic crisis and the tour has had to cope with the absence of its most profitable player, Tiger Woods, through a combination of health and private issues – has been ‘the most trying period” since he took office.

“It was a combination of things,” said Finchem. “It wasn’t just a downturn. We had bankruptcies going on, which plays into TV. We had the No.1 player not playing a lot. That plays into TV. There was an extra level of concern. It wasn’t a big downer. It was just hard work.”

Despite being happy to stay on for another four years, Finchem doesn’t expect to stay in the post beyond his current contract.

“I never rule out any possibilities,” he said. “But the likelihood is this will probably be it for me. There are other things I want to do.”

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered