Loose Ends

We've fed the beast with two longer posts already today, but still I hear you screaming for more... I've created a monster...

That Awkward Team Room - On Tuesday we covered Rory's allegation that he was "On inferior commercial terms" to former good buddy Graeme McDowell, as part of a filing in the contentious lawsuit between the Freckled One and former agent Conor Ridge.  There's always another slight to be publicly aired, and Dearbhail McDonald (I've no idea what his friends call him) is on the beat for the Irish Independent:

Rory McIlroy has been accused of "orchestrating" the timing of a contentious lawsuit against his former agent to clash with the Bahamas wedding of fellow golfer Graeme McDowell.

The former good mates before the 2012 Ryder Cup.

The sensational claim has been made by Horizon Sports Management, the Dublin agency Mr McIlroy is suing in one of the most bitter commercial actions to come before our courts. 

Horizon, led by MD Conor Ridge, has claimed that Mr McIlroy issued legal proceedings against the agency in September 2013 to "inflict maximum reputational damage through the media" on Mr Ridge and Colin Morrissey, his trusted lieutenant.

And from later in the piece:

Mr. McIlroy's legal team was at pains this week to stress that their client had “no issue” with Mr McDowell, but it is feared the forthcoming litigation could place a strain on their friendship. 

Ya think?  From this I'd intuit that that horse is long out of the paddock:

Mr McIlroy was conspicuous by his absence at Mr McDowell’s sun-kissed nuptials in Baker’s Bay in the Bahamas.

Shack is envisioning a delightfully awkward team room at the Ryder Cup, though at this point McDowell is not guaranteed to be there.  

R & A Rehash - Sources withing the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, never to be confused with the rules making and Open Championship sponsoring R & A, inform me that a vote will be taken of the membership in July as to whether or not to allow voting by mail (by post if your affecting Old World airs).  I'm unclear as to how this voting will take place, but it may be that a meeting is convened at Royal Liverpool during Open week.

It's something of a walkback, for Peter Dawson, but it's unclear if it represents concern about the result of said vote.  Amusingly enough, one correspondent expressed frustration that certain women-only clubs, namely St. Rules, St. Regulus and the Ladies Putting Club of St. Andrews are not under the same pressure as the R & A.  Let's ee whether the vote actually passes, shall we, before we complain about the injustice of it all...

While There, Pick Up Your Heart - Joe Passov gets credit for breaking the news that Harding Park will host the 2020 PGA Championship, and it later emerged that it will also host the 2025 Presidents Cup.  Here's Joe's pitch:

Situated in the heart of San Francisco, in sight of the vaunted Olympic Club, this venerable

1925 muni sports fairways hemmed in by frequent fog and cypress trees, lush rough and a wild closer (the 15th during the Presidents Cup), a 475-yard par-4 that opens with a bite-off-as-much-as-you-can-chew drive over a lake, followed by an uphill smash to a rollicking three-tier green. While some contend that too many holes look and play alike at TPC Harding Park and that facilities aren’t quite top-tier, there’s no denying that the handsome setting and mild weather would be welcome relief for players and fans, who usually swelter at many PGA Championship destinations. Couple that with new (April 2014) bent grass greens, new bunker sand and other changes, and perhaps TPC Harding Park will make a stellar major venue.

Eh, not so sure about that last bit.  It's a great looking venue, but in reality a poor-man's Olympic that's really quite boring.  

as usual with the two PGA organizations, there's lots of sordid history for this decision, which Shackelford helpfully details in a post at the Loop:

And while San Francisco’s climate is infamously unreliable due to nearby coastal fog, the announcement of Harding gives the PGA of America options for the playing date, most likely in late spring or possibly in early fall 2020 after the Olympics. A May date could also come into play if the Players is moved back to its March spot on the calendar.

Wednesday’s announcement will give the PGA of America back-to-back public-course venues (with Bethpage scheduled to host the 2019 PGA) after many years of avoiding municipal or state-owned courses. The last genuine public course to host a PGA was Tanglewood Park in North Carolina in 1974. Harding Park is co-managed by the PGA Tour and has been officially known as the TPC Harding Park since November 2010, making this the first major championship to visit a Tournament Players Club course.

After many years of poor maintenance, the course, which was previously used to park cars for the U.S. Opens played at nearby Olympic Club, was renovated in 2002. The PGA Tour Design Services renovation of Willie Watson and Sam Whiting’s 1925 design came in at a staggering $23 million -- $7 million over budget. Harding Park then hosted the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship, won by Tiger Woods over John Daly in a sudden-death playoff.

Yeah, the taxpayers got soaked pretty well on that one, and the city even managed to lose money hosting the American Express.

Now Shack is somewhat crest-fallen by this announcement, as he was checking fares to Melbourne for the 2020 PGA Championship at Royal Melbourne.  That's obviously a Olympic year, and assuming it survives the Rio yawn-fest, the typical August date is a non-starter.  But if Shack had returned my calls, he'd have been reminded that it's not called the PGA of America for nothing...

This Space Available -  Mike Stachura, who used to be either Bomb or Gouge (though that Golf Digest blog has gone fallow), has an item on a meaningful missed opportunity:

Players often finish majors upset about missed opportunities, but rarely is it the winner -- or more specifically, his sponsors -- doing the missing. From a marketing perspective, that's what happened with Martin Kaymer.

Despite having deals with TaylorMade, Hugo Boss, SAP and Rolex, Kaymer is the first U.S. Open champ in decades to carry a bag free of sponsors' logos (the sunflower was a tribute to his late mother, Rina, who died of cancer in 2008). Had one been on the bag, it could have paid off handsomely. Eric Wright, president/executive director of research at Joyce Julius & Associates, which studies sponsorship value, estimates Kaymer's in-broadcast exposure during the final round alone was worth "in the range of $600,000 to $1 million."

That's a bit rich for my blood, but now that Kaymer has missed the cut in this week's Euro event perhaps an Unplayable Lies logo would work on his bag?  Of course I'd need Employee No. 2 to get off her duff (correction, her very attractive duff) and whip us up a logo...

From Can To Can't - It's been a bit since I've sent you David Owen's way, but he's back with another account that makes me want to apply for membership in his Sunday Morning Group,  As always, it's better when I let David spin the yarn:

To celebrate the official arrival of summer, my friends and I played golf on Monday from can to can’t -- from when you can see until you can’t. Seven of us teed off at 5 a.m., when it was just light enough to follow a ball most of the way to the dogleg in the first fairway, and about 30 minutes later we were joined by Peter A., who had just discovered that he didn’t know how to set his alarm clock.

And later there's this:

After the first 18 holes, we drove to the coffee shop on the village green for breakfast. After the next 27, we made ourselves cheeseburgers and hot dogs on the grill in the parking lot next to the clubhouse. We also stopped occasionally to change socks, shoes, and shirts. I flipped my socks every time we passed the clubhouse, so that they would dry evenly:

It's a fun read, but you knew that.  He ends with this video of an elderly member on the putting green:

That reminds me of a story from my first year at Willow Ridge.  Theresa and I were hitting on the range when an extremely elderly man was helped up to one of the practice tees, think Wodehouse's Oldest Member if that reference is known to you.  A spectacularly beautiful woman, who we assumed to he his caregiver, would place a ball on the tee for him and he'd do his best to put a swing on it.  All I could think was that I hope she's still in the business when I'm in my dotage.   

Easy With That Car Trunk, Bog Guy - The TV is on in the background and out of the corner of my eye I'm watching Tiger finish his second round at Congressional.  He's not sniffing the cut, the victim of bad driving, bad iron play, bad wedge work and really bad putting.  I don't think it's the least bit surprising that he's not game-ready, though that 3-birdie binge yesterday doesn't seem to have had any legs.

The dilemma he faces is that he's got two weekends before Hoylake, does he really think that practice alone will get it done.  If not, he's got two logical choices...  He can elect to play at The Greenbrier next weekend, though today is the cut-off for him to declare for that event.  The other option would be the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen, though I'm guessing the former is more logical.

And Tiger, just to be safe, how about we let Joe LaCava slam the trunk lid.