RIP, Charlie Sifford - Sad news this morning about the passing of Charlie Sifford, golf's Jackie Robinson.
Charlie Sifford, considered the “Jackie Robinson of golf” for breaking the PGA Tour’s
Charlie might have broken the cigar barrier as well. color line in 1960, died Tuesday in Cleveland. He was 92.
Born in 1922 in Charlotte, N.C., Sifford learned the game as a caddie. He won twice on the PGA Tour, at the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open, but he is best remembered for forcing the PGA Tour to abandon its “Caucasians-only” clause and accept him as its first African-American member in 1960 at age 38.
That Caucasian Only policy is quite the blot on the PGA's reputation, and survived long after Jackie and Lary Doby broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. We can only guess at what Charlie endured, as per this excerpt:
As a playing professional, Sifford had to deal with threats and slights. He was sometimes prohibited from eating in the clubhouses of tournament courses, and he was never invited to compete in the Masters. Confronted with racism, Sifford followed the advice of Robinson, who broke baseball’s color line almost a generation earlier in 1947.
“Above all, you can’t be going after these people who call you names with a golf club,” Robinson told Sifford. “If you do that, you’ll ruin it for all of the black players to come.”
Sifford's rewards came late in life, in the form of election to the World Golf Hall of Fame and, most importantly, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the third golfer so honored after Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
Luke Kerr-Dineen has a roundup of social media reaction that you might want to browse.
Truly a life well-lived. RIP.
Rory, Unbound - As they are wont to do, the litigation between World No. 1 and his former management company settled on the courthouse steps:
Rory McIlroy avoided a potentially nasty court battle with his former managementcompany, Horizon Sports, after the two parties officially settled the case on Wednesday. Rumors of a potential settlement had been rumbling a day earlier, but the pair made it official with a short-but-sweet statement to the media:"The legal dispute between Rory McIlroy and Horizon Sports Management has been settled to the satisfaction of both parties who wish each other well for the future. The parties will be making no further comment."
And to answer the most obvious question you have at this moment:
The exact terms of the settle remain unknown, but a report from the BBC pegs the potential dollar amount at more than $20 million:
Seems that that level of settlement might have been available long ago, but at least we can dispense with the litigation affecting Rory's Masters prep meme.
R&A Under Fire - Peter Dawson is in full damage control mode, justifying moving the Open Championship from the BBC to Sky Sports. Before we dive in, there's a couple of aspects of the contract that bear note, per Shack:
Below is R&A Chief Peter Dawson's letter to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St.Andrews membership on the "controversial" departure from the BBC, which will be the network of Open Championship coverage for two more years before moving to Sky Sportsin 2017. The deal is a sensible five years. (Full release here.)
Another positive note, the R&A will be limiting the commericial interruptions to four 60-second breaks and to see The Open, fans will not have to subscribe if they sign up for Now TV, mitigating one of the major concerns with audience access.
Also, that 2017 date is new, meaning that the Beeb will provide the coverage from Troon in 2016.
Here's how Dawson is positioning the move (from his letter to R&A members):
"Our new agreement will enable us to take our support of golf’s development in the UK and Ireland to unprecedented levels," Dawson writes. "We are undertaking a comprehensive strategic review on the subject of golf participation in the UK and Ireland and we will ensure that golf feels the full benefit of the enhanced resources available."
So, do we think that their use of the additional three million quid will outway the inevitable decrease in viewership? I'd take the under on this prop bet, but you know I always err on the side of cynicism. LKD does his social media wrap on this one as well, and the notices are not surprisingly harsh, including this one from an interested party:
James Corrigan, always the curmudgeon, files this strong dissent:
To my mind, golf’s biggest problem with the youth remains its fuddy-duddy image. It is perceived as a rich old man’s game and, I’m sorry, but no matter how much one admires Peter Alliss’s commentary skills (which, I actually do) he does nothing but propagate this stereotype.The BBC should have updated its golf coverage years ago, It has a brilliant young commentator in Andrew Cotter and very capable professionals in the likes of Hazel Irvine. Alas, they must have felt like extras in Downton Abbey.
Whatever ails our great game, I'm pretty sure that Peter Alliss isn't the problem...
Bring Lawyers, Guns and Money - If you're disappointed that Rory settled his case and have a Jones for more golf litigation, we've got you covered with this rather interesting development:
A lawsuit has been filed by a number of professional golf caddies against the PGA Tour.The class-action complaint seeks damages from the PGA Tour for forcing the caddies to wear logos of the PGA Tour’s corporate sponsors on their bibs without providing any compensation. The PGA Tour allegedly receives tens of millions of dollars from corporate sponsors in exchange for the advertising on the bibs. The caddies say that is not fair and are seeking relief from the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California .
The caddies claim that the value of the advertising on the bibs is approximately $50 million annually. Caddies receive none of that revenue. The plaintiffs state that they never consented to the PGA Tour’s commercial use of their likenesses and images.
What makes this of interest is the legal status of the caddies. As most are aware, the players are independent contractors, and there's a wealth of case law that's developed over the years dictating at what point the contractor is deemed to be an employee. Caddies are of course one step further removed, and to the extent that they would be deemed employees it would be of the player for whom they tote the luggage.
We can all agree that the Tour should have the right to control many aspects in the players' and caddies' participation in their events, such as ensuring appropriate dress and behavior. But as to whether they have the right to dictate that the independent contractor of their independent contractors where the logos of the Tour's sponsors, that's a very interesting legal question.
There's two other notes of interest in this matter. First, the bad blood has been building for a while, and the Tour seemingly could have been a bit more accommodating to keepp the bitterness under control. From Stephanie Wei's blog, Wei Under Par:
Additionally, the suit alleges that the Tour has treated caddies as “second-class participants of the game.” The complaint details an incident that occurred at The Barclays event in 2013, when during a rain delay, caddies and some members of their families retreated to a shelter designated for caddies. Although the area was not crowded, security officials entered it and demanded to see identification and began to shout and berate caddies and their families. While caddies who showed their credentials were allowed to remain in the shelter, the caddies’ wives and children were put out into the rain by security personnel.
The origins of the lawsuit begin with a group of caddies that formed the Association of Professional Tour Caddies (APTC) last year to improve their working conditions and week-to-week treatment, and most important, to secure healthcare and retirement benefits. Over the past year, APTC officers have been working with the PGA Tour to come up with a solution to fund the latter through securing some of the revenue obtained by the advertising dollars from the bibs. However, after several meetings with the Tour, it became clear to the board members of the APTC that the negotiations were not going anywhere and they felt compelled to take further action.
Technically, that allegations seems inconsistent with their basic claim. If you want them to provide for you, then that would give them a greater level of control, no? Additionally, they chose very carefully where to file this suit:
The suit -- similar to the landmark O'Bannon vs. NCAA action -- seeks access to what it says is a revenue stream worth $50 million annually from caddies wearing of traditional "bibs" adorned with sponsors logos. The caddies are required to display those sponsors' logos controlled by the Tour that derives revenue from them.
The suit was filed Tuesday in the same United States Northern District Court of California that was home to the O'Bannon class-action suit vs. the NCAA involving college athletes.
That's a notoriously liberal district, but the downside is that they have a higher percentage of their decisions overturned on appeal. Stay tuned...
Tiger, Heal Thyself - Everyone and their cousin has advice for our Tiger, first from the ubiquitous Luke Kerr-Dineen:
We're not sure if Tiger Woods' current funk is technically a "slump," but regardless, it's clear he's not in the same groove he's used to -- especially around the greens.Whatever the case with Tiger's game, playing poorly for extended periods of time isn't a concept lost on golfers everywhere. So, with Tiger in the forefront of our minds and some lurking fears about our own game stationed in the back, we enlisted the help of Dr. Jay P. Granat, a Psychotherapist, Hypnotherapist and founder of the website StayInTheZone.com, who specializes in helping athletes snap their slumps.
I think we can call it a slump...so how does he fix it? There are eight suggestions, we'll excerpt just the one:
Take Some Time Off"Sometimes," Granat says, "golfers get burnt out and they don't even know it. Taking time off and refreshing can be hugely beneficial."
Been there, done that....The others aren't all that much better, at least knowing the intended audience.
Alex Myers, on the other hand, has a referral for The Striped One:
A chorus of golfers and analysts led by Rocco Mediate and Paul Azinger claim theycould fix Tiger Woods' golf game in a few minutes. That's probably a stretch, but Dr. Richard Crowley thinks a couple hours should do the trick -- and he can do it over the phone.
Crowley is the author of Mentalball: How to beat your invisible opponent at its own game and the San Francisco-based psychologist has worked with thousands of athletes. His specialty? Curing the yips.
Do tell. here's the diagnosis from Crowley:
"There's an extra thought in [the athlete's] head," Crowley said of Woods. "Every kid will call it 'weird.' 'The ball felt weird coming out of my hand.' That feeling comes from the unconscious and it comes from the middle of nowhere to a player. In a millisecond, they're disconnected."
That extra thought, Crowley says, can't be gotten rid of with a simple adjustment and can be triggered by a variety of things. But he believes finding the trigger isn't important and it isn't part of his solution. Instead, he treats athletes for these "invisible opponents" or "psychic viruses" by having them go through a series of mental exercises that shows them how to use their imaginations to fix themselves. This allows them to reconnect to the mindset that existed before the person encountered their problem. It sounds complicated, but Crowley claims to have a 95-percent success rate with athletes who spend five phone sessions with him.
Draw your own conclusions, but this smells to your humble cynic like new age nonsense. But for those that can't avert their eyes from the train wreck, Tiger will be giving his presser at 2:00 EST. I've got my DVR set...
Geoff, Unshackeled - Great new video feature from our Shack this morning on Torrey Pines:
He's often posted iPhone video, but if Golf Digest is providing a cameramen all the better. I just hope his commenters convince him to lose the jacket...
Geoff only hints at thhe fact that Torrey is one of the most overrated golf courses on the planet. You'd think that if you were building a golf course on spectacular bluffs above the Pacific Ocean that you'd perhaps route your golf course within shouting distance of said bluffs. But not so much, and in fact the holes Geoff is showing are greatly improved from the original routing. And when this guy compliments Rees Jones, you know something is amiss...
The reason to play there is the site, which is a ten. The golf course itself is barely a six... you jjust wish they could blow up what they have and bring Tom Doak and Coore/Crenshaw in to create a new 36.
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