The Primary Cut

Fourteenth installment of The Primary Cut – weekly insights from the world of golf player management and other golf-related industry and player news.

Links Sports, We Hardly Knew Ye

When David Parker of the now-defunct Links Sports Management Group announced via email to his clients, Kenny Perry, Chad Campbell and Shaun Micheel, that he would be retiring, you wouldn’t have blamed one of them for quickly double checking that it was indeed not April 1. Who drops his entire roster and retires from the player management business through email, anyway? But Parker’s end of the year surprise for the trio is still ongoing—still to be decided by the courts will be what payment Parker is entitled to on the future earnings of his clients based on contracts already in place that Parker negotiated. Perry, for instance, has five years left on his deal with TaylorMade, and three years remaining with Hartford Life. In most cases, Parker and Links Sports would be entitled to a fee each year until the respective contracts expired. With their relationship kaput, Parker naturally wants an up-front lump sum from each of his clients—and has offered to settle for a buyout deal worth roughly 95% of the existing contract. But his clients have little incentive to conduct such a settlement. “What if I write him a big check and [a company goes bankrupt]?” Perry said. Meanwhile, the trio is expectedly irate. “My attorney is trying to meet with Dave’s attorney and they’re trying to come to a common ground,” Micheel said. “Thus far, we haven’t found that – not really close. It’s a tough way to start the year, but I’ll just let my lawyer handle it and try to play good golf. I haven’t spoken with Dave. I’m not sure I’ll ever speak to Dave again.”

However, one can argue that red flags appeared long ago at Links Sports. In 2005, David Toms filed a lawsuit against Parker that eventually was settled out of court. And Dennis Harrington, who worked with Parker, resigned from Links Sports in September and reached a non-compete settlement. Since then, Harrington started his own company, Orasi Sports, and is currently helping Campbell and others out as they try and return to some state of normalcy with the start of the 2008 season.

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John Daly Needs Your Help

Seriously, it might be time for John Daly’s agent, Bud Martin of SFX, to start passing around a collection plate on the Tour driving range. The 41-year old Daly lost endorsements to TaylorMade and to Maxfli in the past year and is reportedly currently going through his fourth divorce. Remember, Daly once said that he needs to earn at least $1 million a year to break even in order to pay all of his exes, children, mortgages and other cost-of-living expenses (which include few very well documented side trips to Vegas, where Daly claims he’s lost over $25 million on gambling alone).

The problem for Daly is that he’s now without a PGA Tour card, and thus solely reliant on tournament exemptions through the largesse of sponsors. Yet Daly is considering suing one of those very sponsors from whom he’s seeking a pass–the insurance company for the Honda Classic, a tournament where most of the profits go to a children’s charity run in part by Jack Nicklaus’ family—over an incident involving an overzealous, camera totting fan at last year’s event. “If I give him a sponsor exemption,” tournament director Ken Kennerly asked, “should I make him sign a contract where he agrees not to sue me?” He wasn’t laughing.

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Pettersen goes Swoosh

Suzann Pettersen, the world’s second ranked female golfer who is represented by Vicky Cuming out of IMG’s London branch, signed a multiyear agreement with Nike Golf and will use Nike clubs, balls, bag, footwear and gloves. And while Petterson is still under a clothing contract with Peak Performance, Nike officials say Pettersen eventually will wear their apparel as well. It’s Nike Golf’s fifth women’s golf client, although Pettersen is by far its most heralded talent wise.

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Lefty to plug Crowne Plaza

Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts signed Phil Mickelson as its primary spokesman and star of a new interactive ad campaign, whereby “Lefty” will appear in a series of six, 30-second commercials titled, “A meeting with Phil,” in which he chats with golf fans in impromptu conversations. Participants for the campaign, which is set to run from April through September, will be chosen through an online contest held at www.ameetingwithphil.com.

Crowne Plaza officials state that the Mickelson campaign is meant to target corporate meeting planners, a demographic that accounts for 40 percent of the hotel chain’s revenue. And this not the first time the company has looked to the golf world to sell its product. In April 2007 it aired its first national TV campaign, “The place to meet,” featuring golf commentator David Feherty moderating a boardroom meeting with celebrities and tour players such as George Lopez, Alice Cooper and Natalie Gulbis. And Crowne Plaza is also the title sponsor of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club in May.

The deal is a savvy one for the Mickelson camp, headed by primary agent and Gaylord Management CEO Steve Loy, given Mickelson’s relatively recent split with Ford Motor Co., whose advertisements and accompanying slogan, ‘What Will Phil Do Next,’ showcased Mickelson’s humorous spirit and uncanny ability to poke fun at a swashbuckling style of play that won the world’s No. 2 player legions of fans worldwide.

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Look Out For Adams Golf

In 2008, the Adams Golf brand will receive further exposure on the major golf tours with the signings of Rory Sabbatini and Aaron Baddeley, the 11th and 18th-ranked players in the world, respectively. Also representing Adams Golf on the PGA Tour will be Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey and Brad Elder. Over on the LPGA side of things, Brittany Lincicome, who won the 2007 Ginn Open, heads a female stable of golfers that includes Brittany Lang, Lindsey Wright and Taylor Leon. Finally, the Champions Tour continues to be Adams’ priority, with 10 tour pros representing the brand including the Tom Watson and two-time Masters Champion, Bernhard Langer. Rounding out the Champions Tour staff will be Brad Bryant, Scott Hoch, Dana Quigley, Allen Doyle, Jerry Pate, D.A. Weibring, R.W. Eaks and Des Smyth.

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Player To Watch: Martin Kaymer

Only true golf rubes and/or insomniacs know about Martin Kaymer, the young German who won the 2007 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award from the European Tour. That may change, however, on the heels of Kaymer’s dominating win at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last Sunday, which vaulted him to 34th in the world rankings–making him the only player in the top 50 under the age of 25. More importantly, it also secured him entry into the WGC Match Play event in February, and The Masters in April.

Kaymer is managed by Johann Elliot of the Sportyard agency in Sweden, and seems fairly levelheaded. For all of his airtime this past weekend, Kaymer’s body was conspicuously barren of corporate art. But while Kaymer admitted in his post-win press conference that he has been with Lacoste for two years and that Elliot is in the midst of trying to negotiate some new sponsors, “I don’t want to have too many [sponsors],” he insisted.