Valhalla Vibes

I saw very little of the golf yesterday, and will see even less today.  That would limit a lesser blogger's ability to comment on the proceedings, but we here at Unplayable Lies treat reality as merely a starting point.  And we'll catch up on few items that, while dated, might still be worth a moment of your time...

We should probably lead with the Striped One, as we can't take for granted that he'll be with us through the weekend.  First, a couple of items we missed....Shackelford, in Loopster mode, gave us eight surreal moments from Wednesday.  My fave:

-- Tiger strolled to the range with a blue PGA-logoed bag in his hand. Presumably his free Valhalla golf shirt, free sleeve of PGA-logoed balls and other much-needed swag for finally checking in to the PGA Championship.

If he's like me, he'll have to exchange the shirt at the pro shop in the 12 minutes before they close.  But I'm not bitter...

Matthew Rudy consults with a number of teaching professionals as to how Tiger should fix his swing in light of his back issues:

The blue figures represent Tiger Woods' swing in 2000, the yellow show his current swing. Woods' hands are noticeably more forward at impact, leaning the shaft toward the target. Swing image by Michael Jacobs

"The most obvious thing to see is that he has a tremendous forward lean with the shaft down through impact now," says Jacobs, who was the 2012 Metropolitan New York PGA Teacher of the Year. "The more that angle between the lead arm and club is increased, the more you're going to hit down on the arc, and the more you're going to skew the path to the right. With the driver, it's even more pronounced. That's why you're seeing him have to aim so far to the left and make a violent contortion with his body to try to shove the ball out to the right."

Interesting stuff for sure, though of course he's not, you know, listening...

 And don't miss the fun Shack has with his presser in this post.  Spoiler alert, it's now all about the sequencing... who knew?  I was still laboring under the impression that it was about getting his resps so he could get his golf feels back...I'm so behind the curve.

And on that subject, boy did I step in it a couple of days ago... I referred to the PGA's catch phares "Glory's Last Shot" and Ryan Lavner takes me to the woodshed:

Glory’s Last Shot?

Not anymore.

The tag line for the PGA Championship is now much simpler: The Season’s Final Major.

PGA of America president Ted Bishop explained the change Wednesday at Oak Hill, saying it was a request from the PGA Tour. 

The PGA first asked the Tour to consider a schedule change in 2014 – the FedEx Cup playoffs to be played in four consecutive weeks, allowing a week off before the Ryder Cup in Scotland.

Gee, why am I not surprised to have Commissioner Ratched's fingerprints on this?  Turns out it's not glory's last shot, on account of all the glory to be had in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which I guess are gloryous.  Or something along those lines....

All I can say is thank God for Tivo sparing me this nonsense...

As for the golf, they were certainly making birdies out there... except for the American Ryder Cup hopefuls that withdrew due to injuries, including The Duf (neck) and Kooch (back).  

So what do I have to add to that which you already know?  Precious little, but if you've stuck with this post this far you might as well see it through.  Alex Miceli had this to say about Tiger's- 74 (+3):

Tom Watson effectively is off the hook. 

So the bartender asks, why the long face?

By any conceivable measure, Tiger Woods no longer should be under consideration by the U.S. captain for the 2014 Ryder Cup team. 

Perhaps that's not really a revelation, especially after his first-round 3-over 74 in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. But many observers still think that Woods, by some miracle, will morph back into his early-2000s form and save a reeling U.S. team.

 OK, he's off the hook for now, but how do we think folks will feel when that pick goes to Chris Kirk?  This afternoon's TNT coverage will likely be focused on Tiger's efforts to make the cut, as he's currently T109.  I wouldn't be shocked if he made up enough ground, as he seeems to have one decent round a week in him.

And do check out this spirited Brandel Chamblee-Frank Nobilo cage match on Golf Channel about the state of Tiger's swing.  It gets pretty technical, but is essentially a chicken/egg debate.  Frank basically thinks Tiger can't swing properly because he's injured, whereas Brandel thinks it's the swing causing the back problems.  I, on the other hand, now understand that it's just a sequencing issue... glad we cleared that up.

As for The Freckled One, I shut down as Rory went OB on No. 10 and was back to -1... imagine my surprise to see that he played the last eight holes in -4.  Jeff Babineau with the details:

Thursday afternoon at Valhalla, McIlroy took on the sharp corner of his opening round at the 96th PGA Championship with the skill of a Formula One racer. He was angered by a double bogey at the par-5 10th (where he’d driven it perfectly) and annoyed by a short par miss at the par-4 11th that flittered away another stroke. All that work he’d done on the front nine (3-under 32), and suddenly he was at level par, idling at a crossroads. 

So what did he do? The world’s hottest golfer stepped on the gas, that’s what. He ran off four consecutive birdies, and five in his final seven holes, a two-putt birdie at the last leaving him with a tidy 5-under 66 off the starting line. It’s early yet, sure, but already you get that feeling McIlroy is going to be sticking around deep in this one.

Nothing is ever for sure in this game, but you can bet every player in the field (except perhaps one) knows exactly where he is on the leaderboard.  And really, if it's going to take -20 to win, who do you like better to make a gazillion birdies?

And one last item about the delightfully wacky day experienced by Golf Channel analyst Steve Flesch.  Jason Sobel with the story:

Standing on the Valhalla driving range Thursday afternoon, Steve Flesch alternately laughed at the price sticker still attached to the driver in his hands (SALE: $300), the white towel he used

to wipe his face turning an ugly shade of orange from makeup residue, and the entire situation that had gotten him into this predicament in the first place. 

Flesch had started the week in 93rd place on the official alternate list for the 96thPGA Championship – not that he had any clue. Fresh off a T-21 finish at last week’s Barracuda Championship – his best result in just four starts this season – playing golf was far from his mind. Instead, his job here was to serve as an analyst for Golf Channel’s “Live From” coverage.

 So, how'd it get wacky?

Robert Garrigus was the next alternate on the list, but he wasn’t on site at the course. Then Justin Hicks, but he wasn’t, either. Haigh checked, but nobody else was at Valhalla who could take a spot in the field should there be another withdrawal.

Until he got all the way down to No. 93. 

It wasn’t an easy decision for Flesch. Just minutes removed from talking about the tournament on television, with remnants of makeup still caked to his face and – most importantly – his clubs at home an hour away, he wasn't sure if he wanted to put himself in that position. 

“The last thing I wanted to do was go out there with a rental set, drive it in the rough all day and shoot 85,” explained the Kentucky native. “But then I’m thinking, you never know. You go out there and scramble around, shoot even par, catch lightning in a bottle and then you can use your own stuff the rest of the week.”

 Good stuff, though ultimately there was no further withdrawal and presumably more makeup was required.