Confidence Men

We'll try our usual Q&A thingee with this week's Sports Illustrated/Golf.com Tour Confidential:

1. A 79 for Tiger Woods and a MDF (made cut, did not finish) at a place he's won eight times. Is this cause for concern, or should we just chalk this one up to off-season rust?

Pro's Response:  Nobody's pushing the panic button (and a bonus reference to the Bat Signal), though some Spidey sense tingling (my contribution to the pop culture references).

My Take:  I feel strongly both ways (yet another pop culture reference).  No one round or tournament tells us much about the future, but Tiger never used to shoot that kind of score and he was always ready for Torrey.  I would expect to see him look sharper in Dubai this week, but the weaknesses that have crept into his game remain in evidence, and I'm guessing will reappear at times of maximum stress.

2. There was talk about the rough being too thick at Torrey Pines this week with the implication that it led to Phil Mickelson wrenching his back and Tiger's early exit. Is that a valid point? Why or why not?

Pro's Response:  Most believed the rough was ill-advised, though not responsible for Phil or Tiger's travails.  A minority thought they should just suck it up, and one even strummed the world's smallest violin.

My Take:  I am anti-rough for the simple reason that it promotes boring golf.  The scoring invited comparisons to the scoring in the 2008 U.S. Open, and that's with calm weather.  Imagine if the wind had been up?  The writers also made the point that it's likely self-defeating for the event, which competes with the other tour events for their field.  It will inevitably create another reason for the lads to use the West Coast swing to take some time off and recharge the batteries, a loss for us all given the top-notch venues.

3. Jordan Spieth went out and dusted Tiger, head-to-head, 63 to 71 on Friday, after beating him by just a stroke on Thursday. This from a kid who had never been paired with the 14-time major winner. Is Tiger's so-called intimidation factor completely gone, or is Spieth just fearless?

Pro's Response:  The guys appropriately take apart a silly question, as both are true.  And Michael Bamberger makes the obvious point that nobody is intimidated on Thursday or Friday.

My Take:  Not much to add, except that the intimidation factor was always overstated.  It was more the case that his opponents knew that he wouldn't come back to the field, and that they therefore had to play mistake-free golf.  

4. Scott Stallings made a birdie on 18 to separate himself from a crowded leaderboard Sunday afternoon and win the Farmers Insurance Open. What was your most memorable moment from a wild final day at Torrey?

Pro's Response:  Not much to work with here, though Mike Walker found the final round exciting.  He might need to get out more....

My Take:  It was a crowded leaderboard and the event could have gone to any of them, but from what I saw it was a yawn.  I'll agree with Josh Sens who noted that his strongest memory from Sunday was Tiger's 79 on Saturday.

 5. Sergio Garcia won the Qatar Masters on Sunday, following a solid 2013 season that ended with a win in Thailand in December. What's behind Garcia's resurgence?

Pro's Response:  Much psychoanalysis is offered, touching on girlfriends, mother issues and the ongoing battle between his ego and id (just kidding on the last two).

My Take:  Sergio has always been a superior ball striker and not as bad a putter as his rep, so it shouldn't surprise us when he plays well or wins.  Unfortunately he tends towards the whiny and petulant, making it hard to root for him.  

6. At the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando this week, TaylorMade CEO Mark King led the call to change the game in order to attract new players. Among his ideas was to outfit courses with 15-inch holes into the greens, nearly four times larger than a standard cup (while offering a standard cup as well on the same green). Should the game be going down this road? What if anything should the game do to attract new players?

Pro's Response:  You'll not be surprised to hear that the writers are all over the lot on this one.

My Take:  This is obviously a huge issue for the game of golf, but I side with Joe Passov and Mike Walker who make the important point that golf is appealing to us because of, not despite, its inherent difficulty. Golf is, like it or not, a niche sport that is not going to appeal to everybody.  That may not please equipment manufacturers or real estate developers, but as a certain Canlinasian golfer is wont to say, it is what it is.  I may try to expand further on these thoughts in a future post, but I find most efforts at expanding the appeal of golf (i.e., the Olympics, 15 inch holes) to be naive in the extreme, but I believe there is magic in this game of ours and we should be looking to expand opportunities to expose people, preferably when they're young, to its charms (and frustrations).