GOLF:Jon Swift
THERE is, so the talk goes, a job in professional golf that no one wants right now. It is the hole left by the departure of Brent Chalmers as the South African PGA tour commissioner.
The public announcement of Chalmers’s departure came at the annual general meeting of the PGA this week, and Chalmers insists that “there is nothing sinister” in the move.
In many ways, golf will be different without the brash Chalmers at the forefront. He has done much for the professional game in this country, taking a tour that was staggering towards extinction and getting First National Bank and the corporates to revive their interest.
He has fought the twin spectres of declining gates and abridged TV coverage and managed to bring the tour through.
The TV question remains a moot point. One side contends that Chalmers was far too demanding in what he wanted. The PGA’s position was that coverage had been downgraded and that the game deserved better treatment. It is one of those Catch 22 arguments where the only real losers are the viewing public. It is an issue which will have to be sorted out for the future, long- term good of the game.
The biggest point at issue has been the wall-to-wall coverage accorded the European Tour-aligned tournaments as counterpoint to the normal FNB tour events, both those on the main tour and on the winter leg designed for the stay-at-home pros.
Chalmers was the driving force behind South Africa getting a look-in on the European Tour – a move not roundly applauded by all – and bringing the vistas of courses like Houghton into the consciousness of the rest of the golfing world.
For this he must be applauded and he will continue in a marketing capacity for the PGA he has helped take out of the red. In doing so though, Chalmers has not made a host of friends and, while this does not necessarily mean he has made enemies at every turn, his abrasive approach has been both his greatest strength and his signal weakness.
Chalmers admits to being a maverick, a loner who makes his own decisions without the hindrance of consultation with those around him. A former high-ranking officer in the citizen force, Chalmers has always been a gung-ho type of person, a full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes approach typifying his actions.
In an organisation which depends on the OK of every professional player in the country, it has always had the look of a marriage of convenience.
Chalmers has trod his own path, bringing in the sponsorships and ensuring that the tour got off its knees and stood proud again. In doing so though, he has forced a path against some fairly hairy thickets of resentment and opposition.
This is more a general observation than a criticism of Chalmers. His record speaks for itself. But human nature being what it is, people do not like to be dictated to.
It is, admit sources close to the inner circle at the PGA, an attitude that has done much for the game in making the tour a viable arena for this country’s professionals to make a living.
But those same sources point to the problems that this kragdadigheid has caused in logistics and administration, both portfolios which Chalmers carried as commissioner on his own insistence.
And it is these areas – vital in the long- term success of any endeavour – that the sources claim the problems have begun to surface.
It is a matter though that the PGA will have to sort out for themselves. They are certainly not going to air any linen – no matter how lily white it is – in public.
But right now, the PGA will be run by its own executive, a board headed by no less a businessman than Johan Rupert. And Chalmers will be left to do what he does best, get out there and get the financial wheels turning.
But the job of tour commissioner that Chalmers has vacated? Doubtless someone will come forward from the pack to fill the high- profile position. But right now, who wants to?