Peter Williams: Cambo's wake-up call needs to be recognised

Cambo wanted heads to roll at New Zealand Golf (NZG). He got his wish. A new president, a new chairman and three new board members out of eight represents a fair clean out of the governing body.

But I suspect his real target with those extraordinary comments, which surfaced here on Tuesday morning, was the CEO Larry Graham.

Graham set himself a monumentally difficult task last year when he dispensed with the services of International Management Group (IMG) as promoters and marketers of the New Zealand Open. His rationale for doing so was most reasonable, and remains so. He thought IMG was taking too much cream off the top of their deals. He was justifiably angry that a sponsor of another IMG event, the V8 Supercars, had a hospitality tent at Gulf Harbour but wasn't a New Zealand Open sponsor.

However, Graham, formerly CEO at Equestrian New Zealand and Sport Wanganui, made a big mistake when he said that he and his commercial manager Brendan James would sell sponsorship for the New Zealand Open themselves. Neither had any previous experience doing deals of this sort.

When NZG ditched IMG, they should have contracted another golf tournament promoter like Australians Bob Tuohy or Tony Roosenburg to do the job for them. The board of NZG last year was seriously remiss in approving the CEO and his staff to attempt a major assignment they weren't qualified to perform, and are still struggling to complete.

So priority number one for Phil Hassall and his new board is to ensure that such a situation never happens again. No matter what happens between now and late November at Gulf Harbour, the marketing and selling of the New Zealand Open has to be done differently in future, and by professionals.

Selling a million-dollar international golf tournament in an economy the size of New Zealand at a time when advertising and marketing budgets are contracting, is not a task for the faint-hearted. But the deal cannot concentrate simply on the New Zealand Open. A sponsor who puts up hundreds of thousands of dollars just for one four-day tournament in late November is not going to get the best value for money.

Deals have to be structured offering added value in the months before and after the Open. One hopes the proposals Graham has in the marketplace at the moment have that added value.

Cambo's outburst shouldn't have come as a surprise. He's expressed his frustration already this year about the lack of a title sponsor for the NZ Open but his annoyance with NZG isn't just over that issue.

He's asking why the New Zealand system is not producing a steady stream of quality players for the world stage. How come no amateur since his generation in the early 1990s has made any sort of impact. Where did Eddie Lee, Gareth Paddison, Marcus Wheelhouse, Mark Brown and countless others go? Why are we watching players from India, Norway, Thailand and Colombia leaping up the world rankings past players from this, the world's most golf-accessible nation?

A deal to salvage this year's New Zealand Open will no doubt be done in time. But the new leadership of NZG has got to face the issues. Cambo's outburst is yet another wake-up call. How many more times does the alarm clock have to ring?