Lots happening, some even related to golf, out there. Shall we catch up on things we might have missed due to the PGA?
RIP Robin Williams - As is everyone, I'm shocked and saddened by the death of a very funny man. Time and again we see that despite great success and adulation that people still struggle with their inner demons. Williams did a marvelous bit on our silly game that most have no doubt had the pleasure of watching, but I'll embed it for anyone that might have missed it:
Warning: It's definitely not safe for work or with small ones around, and anyone watching it for the first time should make sure there are no liquids nearby.
The Fallon Gong Show - More fun golf-related video, this time from the Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon:
So, yesterday afternoon I had written a couple of snarky comments about Jimmy's pronunciation of a certain French surname, put the post in the incubator for the evening and woke up to an Earth-shattering kaboom, specifically this comeback from the Ponte Vedra suits:
Wow, just when you think surgical removal of a sense of humor is a non-negotiable requirement to be hired by the Tour, comes this bolt from the blue. If humor can be found in Ponte Vedra Beach, there may be hope for mankind after all.
How Much for a Sleeve? - We previously discussed that the ball Rory threw into the gallery after the Open Championship was up for auction at Green Jacket Auctions. Well, it went for a pretty penny:
After tapping in for his third major victory last month at Hoylake, McIlroy turned and chucked the ball into the stands in celebration.
Lee Horner of Leeds, England was the lucky fan to catch the ball and offered it up for auction on Internet site greenjacketauctions.com.
Nike confirmed the custom Nike RZN Black golf ball with “RORS” embossed was authentic and Horner just waited until early Sunday morning before learning that he made just over $38,000 with the items final price of $52,038.65. According to the auction agency, the winning big came from an American.
I'll Handle The Funny Stuff Here, Bud - It's a constant source of annoyance that others are allowed to be funny, but this little throwaway quip from Alex Myers' weekly The Grind feature had me smiling:
How much Jagermeister can fit in the Wanamaker Trophy?
That's a reference to this post-Open Championship celebration and Claret Jug abuse:
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| Mother knows best! |
RIP, Publinxs - Last year the USGA announced that it was discontinuing the U. S. Amateur Public Links championship, an important link to public golf in the U.S. It was replaced by a four-ball event, and a USGA press release indicates it's something of a hit:
FAR HILLS, N.J. (Aug. 12, 2014) – The United States Golf Association today announced that it has accepted entries for 2,234 teams (or two-player sides) for the 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, scheduled for May 2-6 at The Olympic Club, in San Francisco, Calif.
To be eligible for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 5.4, with no age restrictions. Team partners are not required to be from the same club, state or country, and substitution of partners was permitted until the close of entries.“We are pleased that nearly 4,500 players will compete in qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship,” said Daniel B. Burton, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “The four-ball format is exciting for amateur golf and we are confident that this championship will continue to grow in popularity for both players and fans.”
Apparently there were only some 2,800 entries to this year's final edition of the Publinx, so they do seem to have increased participation. But couldn't they have just added the four-ball event?
Stardate 1996 - In October 2013 I played in the Atlantic City Pro-Am with Big Break Anthony and two fellow members at Willow Ridge. I was sitting at a blackjack table at the Borgata when Anthony introduced me to Steve Scott, a fellow professional playing in our event.
Scott, those of us who don't get out enough, remember as the player that should have almost beat Tiger Woods in his last U.S. Amateur. Scott is the subject of a profile by Tim Rosaforte on the Jimmy Roberts Golf Channel sahow In Play, and a four-minute preview can be found here.
The story is eerily similar to that of Bob May, who took Tiger to the limit as well in 2000 at Valhalla. I was in Scotland that year and never saw the match until Golf Channel replayed it some years ago. It was truly epic, and I've long thought that the most incredible feat of Tiger Woods was his three straight Junior Amateurs followed by the three consecutive U.S. Amateurs. Six years of matches and you never have an off day or run into a Steve Scott? Well, in this case he prevailed, but he was five down after 18 holes.
Steve Stricker, Call Your Office - Not a fan of links golf? Are you a successful PGA Tour professional that hates the feel of a rainsuit and prefer not to allow wind to affect your oh-so-precise trajectory? Hate big breakfasts, long flights and adjusting to new time zones? Well, good news, you no longer have to choose between the indignity of the Open Championship and forgoing a paycheck in July:
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (August 11, 2014) – A new PGA TOUR tournament sponsored by Barbasol, the No. 1 shaving cream brand in the U.S., will debut in 2015 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National near Opelika, Ala. A four-year agreement establishing the Barbasol Championship was announced today at the Alabama State Capitol by Governor Robert Bentley and representatives from the PGA TOUR and the Robert Trent Jones Trail Foundation, which will serve as the tournament host organization.
The Barbasol Championship will be held at the Grand National - Lake Course July 13-19, 2015, the same week as the British Open.
OK, I've no real objection to the guys that haven't qualified having a place to play, but I'll think less of anyone who is qualified playing there. My greater objection is to the discontinuance of open Open qualifying, as per a prior post. I'd prefer that the amateurs and other players have a chnce to play their way in. As per the recent changes, it's a closed shop unless you have a PGA Tour card.
Good News/Bad News - Randall Mell files a piece from Rochester, NY, site of the final Wegman's LPGA Championship:
For 38 years, the Rochester area has been home to an LPGA event, with Locust Hill Country Club host to every tournament played here until this year’s. In news that hit this golf community hard, the LPGA announced 10 weeks ago that it wasn’t just leaving Locust Hill, it was reconfiguring the LPGA Championship as the new KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And it was taking it on the road, beginning in 2015. It’s partnering with the PGA of America and ending its long association with Rochester.
This is superficially similar to some of the egregious mistakes of the Carolyn Bevis era, but this is unquestionably the right move for the ladies. Mell cover that part of it well in these nonsequential 'graphs:
The emotion is understandable from a local perspective, from folks who have poured so much into hosting an event since 1977. Looking at the bigger picture, though, this was a terrific movefor the LPGA. Wegmans commitment was uncertain. It’s a regional company, and it’s been operating with a year-to-year agreement with the LPGA. The new PGA deal was a chance to lock in this major’s long-term future.
Knowing the strong emotion that would follow the LPGA’s decision to leave Rochester, Whan flew here three days after the announcement. He stepped in for a player scheduled to be the center piece of the Wegmans LPGA Championship’s Media Day. He took all the hard questions.
“There were myths vs. reality flying around,” Whan said. “I was glad I went. I’m not saying it was easy, but I loved the fact that people at Rochester were struggling with the decision because they loved the event. I know we struggled with the decision, but that’s why I believe we’ll be back. I think there’s just a lot of love between Rochester and the LPGA.”
It seems that Mike Whan gets it. When Bivens pulled the Toledo event, her implied message to that town was that her tour was too precious for a gritty town like Toledo. But the reality is that Rochester and Toledo are exactly the kinds of communities in which the LPGA can succeed. In the present case, with Wegman's unable to make a long-term commitment and the allure of the PGA of America, KPMG and Westchester Country Club, the decision was easy. But they need to go back to Rochester, and hopefully soon.
Doom and Gloom, Redux - Tony Covey, writing at something called mygolfspy.com, updates us on the latest from TaylorMade/Adams:
Earlier this evening we received confirmation that The adidas Group (parent company for TaylorMade-adidas, Ashworth, and Adams Golf) has decided to close Adams Golf headquarters in Plano, Texas and to consolidate business operations at TaylorMade Headquarters in Carlsdbad, California. Additionally,15% of the golf division’s global workforce, including what I’m told is a majority of Adams Golf employees, has been laid off.
A company spokesperson declined to comment on specifics, but confidential sources are telling us that the cuts include a high-ranking member of TaylorMade’s golf ball R&D Team.
It's a long piece with lots of details, and the picture is not pretty. TaylorMade appears to have been extremely slow to respond to the buildup of inventory at Dick's, hard to explain in this day of instantaneous availability of POS data.
Apparently TaylorMade is going to forgo any new or refreshed products for the balance of 2014, an eternity for them, in the hopes of working down the inventory. They also seem to have been slow in consolidating the Adams operations, though most people would consider Plano, TX to be a far better manufacturing environment than Carlsbad, CA.
It's common knowledge that TM was forced to acquire Adams to make a thorny intellectual property issue go away. Nonetheless, I thought it was actually a good fit in that Adams, with its strong position on the Champions and Ladies tours, would become their game improvement vehicle. Nonetheless, they've kept churning out their TaylorMade game improvement products, completely oblivious to the ability of their distribution channels and consumers to absorb it all.
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