caption birth_place nationality birth_date image article_title name occupation
finchem players championship awards ceremony -lrb- left -rrb- with phil mickelson at the ottawa , illinois , u.s. american 19 april 1947 mickelsontpcawardceremony.jpg tim finchem
 tim finchem pga tour commissioner
tim finchem

timothy w. finchem -lrb- born april 19 , 1947 -rrb- is the current commissioner of golf 's pga tour .
finchem was born in ottawa , illinois .
he took the position on june 1 , 1994 , succeeding deane beman , who retired after nearly 20 years in the post .
finchem had previously served as vice president of business affairs , deputy commissioner , and chief operating officer of the tour .
finchem graduated from princess anne high school in virginia beach , virginia .
he attended the university of richmond on a debate scholarship , receiving his bachelor of arts degree in 1969 .
he graduated from the university of virginia school of law in 1973 .
after practicing law in virginia beach for three years , finchem served in the white house during the administration of jimmy carter as deputy advisor to the president in the office of economic affairs in 1978 and 1979 .
in the early 1980s , finchem co-founded the national marketing and strategies group in washington , d.c. .
-lsb- http://www.pgatour.com/info/company/executive_bios] as commissioner , finchem has greatly expanded the earnings opportunities for pga tour players both domestically and internationally .
he has presided over the last three television broadcasting deals -lrb- 1997 , 2001 and 2005 -rrb- and has maximized the earnings potential of the tour , and perhaps none was as bold as the most recent deal that excludes abc and espn and challenges the golf channel to get better .
in 2006 , the total pga tour purse was $ 256.8 million , up from $ 56.4 million in 1994 .
that remarkable growth has a lot to do with tiger woods , but finchem 's supporters also give him some of the credit .
-lsb- http://www.golfdigest.com/newsandtour/index.ssf?/newsandtour/gw20060331sirak.html] finchem received the 2001 old tom morris award from the golf course superintendents association of america , gcsaa 's highest honor .
he is a single-figure handicap golfer .
