Flotsam and Jetsam™ - Pre-Trip Edition

I apologize to my readers for Friday's unplanned radio silence, but we'll try to make up for it with a higher than typical level of weekend blogging.  And since there's news from our two major governing bodies, I'll take the precaution of removing all liquids from my work area.

Go West Young Man - In recent years the USGA has largely ignored Horace Greeley's sage advice, but this news broke on Thursday:

Los Angeles Country Club is close to a deal to host the 2023 U.S. Open.

 

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the club's membership has been notified via email of an impending vote about hosting the Open, an event that has not been played in the Los Angeles area since Riviera Country Club held the 1948 playing won by Ben Hogan. In 2017, Riviera co-hosts the U.S. Amateur with Bel-Air CC, while Los Angeles Country Club hosts the 46th Walker Cup. A contract with the USGA has yet to be signed.

The North Course is a wonderful George Thomas-William Bell collaboration, that was recently renovated by the team of Gil Hanse and none other than our man Geoff Shackelford.  In addition to his work on the course, Shack also wrote this highly-regarded book on George Thomas, so it's not for nothingthat I link to him so often, he actually knows stuff.

Here's Shack's brief description of the venue:

If ultimately awarded, this will be the first U.S. Open played in the heart of a major American city. The 7,236-yard North Course features views of the Hollywood Hills and west to the South Bay, yet still exudes a rural sensibility with several holes playing along or over a sandy, sycamore-dotted barranca.

 OK, I'm sold and I've been looking forward to that Walker Cup for a while.  John Strege jumps in with a short piece on some of the more colorful history of LACC:

Los Angeles Country Club has a colorful history that includes its proximity to the Playboy Mansion (adjacent to the 13th green) and Groucho Marx’ failed bid to join, prompting him to famously say, “Why would I want to belong to a club that would have me as a member?”

Never realized Groucho was speaking in specifics, but  no doubt it's a snooty place.

Tatum also had an ally in the club president at the time, Judge Charles Older. His Honor was no obscure judge, incidentally. He was the presiding judge in the trial of serial killer Charles Manson in 1971 and was the man who sentenced Manson to death. 

Eddie Merrins, then the head pro at nearby Bel-Air Country Club, once said that Older wished to bring the Open to LACC “so [the public] could see that the members of the club weren't so bad after all.”

For anyone interested, the full text of the letter to LACC members soliciting their support can be found here. All credit due to Mike Davis for widening the net in finding U.S. Open venues, and fingers crossed that certain clubs (cough- Congressional - cough) might be banished from the rota.  The fact is that you couldn't pick a worse date than June in which to try to set up a golf course to play firm and fast, and LA should work nicely.  They'll also maked their new BFF's at Fox happy by allowing for prime time broadcasts.

Binders Full of Women -  Ballots have been sent to the R&A's  2,500 members and there's at least one curiosity.  But before we get to that, Sam Weinman, provides this backgrounder:

More telling than the questions themselves are the revised conditions for voting. For 260 years the bylaws of the club required members to show up in St. Andrews to cast a ballot. Now it says members can vote remotely. Once requiring two-thirds to change a bylaw, this time it's merely seeking a majority.

Both are reflections of an organization that wants to eliminate any risk of an old-school local faction within the club conspiring to halt progress.

This has  me a tad confused, as it's my understanding that the club's bylaws require in person voting on major issues.  So wouldn't they have to, you know, vote to allow voting by mail?  Want some more perspective?

For all the hand-wringing over Augusta National's former all-male membership -- the host of the Masters finally invited women members in 2012 -- the R&A membership issue carries far more significance. As opposed to Augusta National, where women have long been invited to play and stay, the R&A literally bans women from its clubhouse -- a symbolic indignity, sure, but also one with practical and professional consequences.

In July, Louise Richardson, the principal of the University of St. Andrews, described to the New York Times the disadvantage of not having access to the R&A down the road from her office. Her two immediate predecessors were granted honorary memberships to the club, but Richardson said she was often left to conduct important university business from afar.

OK, there's much to unpack here.  Weinman glosses over another reason that this is far more significant, the R&A is/was the governing body for the game on a worldwide basis, excluding only North America.  The is/was relates to the fact thaa in 2004 the members club was spun off from the body that sets rules and stages the Open Championship, but even Peter Dawson has acknowledged that to be mere cosmetics.

As for Ms. Richardson, it seems a bit of a split verdict.  My source informs me that her comments have set off a bit of a firestorm within the membership, as they have been construed to mean that she would use The Big Room to conduct business.  Quelle horreur, regardless she has been deemed "Unclubbable" by certain members, though Weinman sees her as a shoo-in.

But this is how the motion was put to the members:

Are you in favor of women members? And if so, would you be open to letting 15 women in at once?

That follow-up question seems a tad strange, as a "Yes" vote on the first would not be limiting.  Though perhaps Mr. Dawson wants his members clear on what to expect.  It can't be limited to only one, as Lady Bonallack needs someone with whom to have lunch.  My primary source within the R&A will be attending the Fall Meeting so we hope to have reports from The Big Room in the days leading up to September 18th.

Wow, That Was Close - In other R&A news, Royal Portrush has cleared another hurdle towards hosting the Open Championship.  Brian Keogh files this exhaustive report:

All bar two of the 237 members of Royal Portrush who attended Friday evening's Special General Meeting at the Magherabuoy House Hotel voted yes to accepting the R&A's invitation to rejoin The Open rota and the proposed course changes which will see two new holes built on the Dunluce Links for a potential 2019 staging.

The changes are more extensive than previously detailed, including moving the green back on the Par-5 second fifty to sixty yards, though they will "replicate" the existing green.  Other items that caught my eye:

The eighth and ninth greens, which were not holes designed by Harry Colt, will be changed. The eighth green will become a two-tier green while the (par-five) ninth will become a par-four, as it was in the recent Amateur Championship.

OK, but we're being a tad inconsistent here, as the 17th and 18th ARE Harry Colt holes... not his best, mind you, but the 8th and 9th holes were good enough that the sainted Harry S. left them as is.

The current practice ground as well as the current 17th and 18th holes on the Dunluce and the area right of the first will be used for tentage.

Nothing new here, I've just never heard the word "tentage" (nor, apparently, has Spellcheck).

"Peter Dawson has been very involved and walked the course many times," club captain Simon Rankin said. "He has an opinion on the ground on the decisions that are taken but the course will not look differently to what it does now."

Ummmm...having played Mr. Dawson's 17th green at Birkdale and seen his out-of-bounds tees on the Old, this is not as comforting a thought as you seem to think.  But how about this?

Royal Portrush will retain the current 17th and 18th holes on the Dunluce Links so give members the choice of playing the old Dunluce routing or the new Open course.

 Interesting, no?  Now I was under the impression that the new hole would intrude onto the Valley Course such that they couldn't be played except during the Open Championship.  But if this is the case, I'm hoping that future visits to the Dunluce include twenty holes.

In any event, Unplayable Lies will be making a site visit to Royal Portrush on September 13th and we will scout out these new holes.

Beware the Early Call - Perhaps I jumped the gun in writing off Stephen Gallacher's chances to earn his ticket to Gleneagles.  Gallacher rebounded from his mediocre Thursday round to shoot 65-69, and finds himself currently alone in sixth place.  He's six strokes behind Hennie Otto, and four behind Richie Ramsay in second place.  Still a longshot, but quite doable.... as I complete this post Gallacher has himself within a stroke of second place, so it's very much up in the air.

I suppose the more interesting question is whether Paul McGinley's picks are carved in stone, or whether a high finish would warrant reconsideration of the Scot.  

In other Unplayable Lies bad calls, admittedly a category worthy of a Solzhenitsyn-length tome, Brandt Snedeker missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank, with a putting exhibition worthy of one of Jerry's kids.  With putting as the primary reason to add him to the team, Captain Watson is well-advised to have a five-sided coin available Tuesday morning.  A win by Ryan Palmer could further complicate the plot, though bubble boys Bill Haas and Webb Simpson could also help themselves with a strong finish win.

Good Stuff - We haven't checked in with Justin Leonard lately, because well... why would we?  But set aside the flickering golf career and let's give the entire Leonard family credit for this good work:

His wife and four kids had spent a week in Colorado the last previous two years at Camp Mati, where children with cancer and their families are afforded a brief escape from the emotional, physical and financial strain of coping with cancer. Leonard had been involved in fundraising, though his golf schedule always kept him from going. 

''Last summer my kids came back and said, 'Dad, you've got to go with us,''' he said. 

Leonard couldn't recall his children (ages 4, 8, 9 and 10) wanting him to do anything this badly.

''Other than play Disney, and we don't have that tournament anymore,'' he said with a laugh. 

''No, that was probably the first time. So I said that whatever I need to do, I'll do. There are more important things (than golf). And it was an amazing week.''

Give it a read, as you'll appreciate the entire family.

Say It Ain't So, Ko -  Bad news for my favorite woman golfer in the world:

For years, Lydia Ko has dealt with a cyst on her left wrist. The cyst had grown in recent weeks, causing considerable pain. 

After playing last week in Canada, Ko, already a four-time LPGA winner at age 17, returned home to Florida and visited Dr. Bruce Thomas, the tour's medical director, in his Melbourne office. According to Ko’s IMG agent, Michael Yim, she underwent an MRI and then had the cyst drained. She intends to take a week off to heal before preparing for the year’s final major, the Evian Championship, on Sept. 11-14 in France.

Yim said the cyst resulted from years of diligent practice and that Ko has had it drained before.

Ko's options include continued drainage or, for a longterm solution, surgery. The drawback of surgery is that she would have to take at least two months to heal.

Heal quickly Lydia, we need you out there.

Not a Morning Person? -  I believe that the last time we checked in with Brendon de Jonge it was in conjunction with the fat-boy grouping at the U.S. Open.  Good times, no doubt...  De Jonge was actually in pretty good position to move on the Cherry Hills with a good week, but he started slowly.  And by slowly I of course mean disastrously:

Brendon de Jonge arrived at this week's Deutsche Bank Championship with a good chance of

advancing to the third leg of the FedEx Cup Championship. But by the third hole of the first round at TPC Boston, his 2013-14 PGA Tour season was all but over.

After a 280-yard opening drive in the fairway on No. 10 (his first hole of the day), things went bad quickly for the 34-year-old Zimbabwean. De Jonge found the water with his approach shot and after taking a drop, he took four more shots to finish. 

On the par-3 11th, he found a greenside bunker. His first shot from the sand didn't get out. His second went well over the green. Three shots later, he had recorded a disastrous second straight triple bogey to start his round. "Triple doubles" are good in basketball. "Double triples" in golf? Not so good.

Say Bye-Bye, Brendon.  Thanks for playing...

A Team Player - I'm not sure about you, Dear Reader, but I have found Michael Jordan's ubiquitous presence at recent Ryder Cups to be off-putting.  He doesn't belong there and it's unclear what purpose is served.

Per Shackelford, the NBC/Golf Channel series The Road to the Ryder Cup will reveal that Jordan inappropriately and unsuccessfully attempted to heckle and/or physically intimidate Ian Poulter at the 2012 event at Medinah.  Shack has the trailer for the series embedded in the linked post, but Mr. Jordan should be nowhere near any future Cup venue.  Sorry Mikey, it's a game for gentlemen....

A Note to Readers - As I may have mentioned once or a thousand times, the bride and I are Ireland-bound on Tuesday.  I'll attempt to keep posting between now and then, especially as we'll have the conclusion of the Deutsche Bank and Ryder Cup Captains' picks.  But at some point clothes need to be shoveled into a suitcase and trip prep might cut into blogging.

I will be lugging the laptop and intend to blog the trip, so please do stay tuned.  I'll also be blogging our matches, though given the bride's recent strong play I'm quite pessimistic about my chances to keep things competitive.  For a backgrounder on our marital cage matches, read this.  Candidly, I had forgotten the Attila the Hon quip, which I may have cause to trot out in future posts...