PGA Tour's Finchem reconnects with UR roots

His golf handicap is six, impressive for a 64-year-old who spends half of each year on the road.

"When I was young, I got it down to two for a while," said Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour and a 1969 University of Richmond graduate. "Six is pretty good. I don't play as much as I used to, but I'm a little smarter. I think if you watch these (professionals) as much as I do, some of it rubs off."

Finchem, a Florida resident, stopped by UR on Friday to attend a meeting of the board of trustees, on which he serves, and make a family visit. He has two daughters who are UR undergraduates, one a senior, the other a freshman. Finchem marvels at the growth of the university, and recalled his path to a much different UR.

His father spent his professional career as a U.S. Marine, and the family with six children lived in various locations across the country before settling in Virginia Beach.

"I had to get a scholarship to go to college," said Finchem, a native of Illinois. He played golf while attending Princess Anne High, but Finchem said "it was clear that getting a scholarship in golf wasn't going to happen, in all likelihood."

He used his after-school hours to practice with the Princess Anne High debate team, among Virginia's best at that time. Finchem was invited by Dr. Bert Bradley, the director of UR's debate program, to attend a summer training session for promising debaters at UR between Finchem's junior and senior years at Princess Anne.

Because of his debating skill, "I got a small scholarship to attend (UR), and that was the deciding factor, really," Finchem said of his college choice.

With Finchem among them, UR debaters competed at Notre Dame, the Naval Academy, Wake Forest, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Miami, among other spots. "In addition to the intellectual side of it, the traveling was really nice," Finchem said.

He went from UR to law school at the University of Virginia. Finchem practiced law in Virginia Beach, and then accepted a government job in Washington. He became part of a consulting firm, and the PGA Tour was among Finchem's clients.

"It's a classic story of being at the right place at the right time," he said.

Finchem was hired as the PGA's vice president for business affairs, and was promoted to chief operating officer, and then deputy commissioner. In 1994, he was elevated to commissioner. Finchem guided the PGA through uncertain sponsorship times during the last few years of economic turbulence, and recently was rewarded with a four-year contract extension.

He is pleased by the state of professional golf, with its mixture of well-known elite players and newcomers, sponsorships, TV exposure, involvement with charities, and growing international presence. On the participation side of the sport, "it's a little bit challenging," Finchem said. Recreational players are less likely to invest four or five hours in a round of golf than they were decades ago.

"For golf facilities, it puts some pressure on them," Finchem said. He advocates a faster pace of play among amateurs.

While Finchem attended UR, there was no Robins Center, and no Tyler Haynes Commons stretching across the campus lake. It was a two-part university: Richmond College for men on one side of the lake, and Westhampton College for women on the other.

"When I came here, 85 percent of the students were from the state of Virginia," Finchem said. "Today, 85 percent of the students are from outside the state of Virginia."

Speaking of UR's gradual upgrade of admissions standards, Finchem says he has admitted to his daughters "if I was applying now, I wouldn't be getting into the University of Richmond."

Finchem estimates he is on the road 180 days a year, all over the world. Conversation often turns to family, and when Finchem informs associates that two daughters attend UR, "the response is, almost to the word, identical. 'That is one hot school right now,' " Finchem said.

When Finchem was inducted to UR's Hall of Fame in 2002, a former classmate from Princess Anne High was on hand to offer congratulations. Buster O'Brien, the former Spiders star quarterback during the late 1960s, told Finchem "I always knew you would do well, but being in a sports hall of fame wasn't one of the things I would have thought you'd accomplish."