Other Stuff

If you tuned in anticipating a disquisition on the Byron Nelson, I'm sorry to disappoint.  I saw about ten minutes of it, and while I'm glad they got the event in despite 142 inches of rain, it's probably the worst golf course played on Tour (at leas the worst played for all four rounds).  So, you're on your own there, but we've got a few things that may interest you....

He's Baaack - Part-timer Tiger Woods will once again grace us with his presence this weekend, naturally kicking off the speculation of how he might perform.  I can help you there, in the immortal words of William Goldman, Nobody knows anything" ... but I did like the lede in this John Strege version of the genre:

The first time Tiger Woods played a competitive round at Muirfield Village Golf Club

he shot 78, then assuaged his anger by eating 10 tacos. The next day he shot 66. He was 16.

Those were the days, when he could eat 10 tacos with impunity. Those were the days, as well, that Woods turned to when he took up with yet another new instructor, Chris Como, six months ago. “We looked at a lot of video from when I was a junior,” he said shortly after his work with Como began. “And it was quite interesting to see where my swing was then and how much force I could generate with a very skinny frame. That’s kind of what we are getting back into.”

He shot 66 there when he was 16?  Wow, I've heard that he used to be able to play some...

He's Also Baaack, Alas - Sometimes when couples split up they realize that whatever small issues they had, life is just better together... 

Not sure I'd have gone with the
wifebeater...

Either Steve Williams is just helping out a friend in need, or maybe he isn't so committed to retirement after all.

The game's most famous caddie, who won 13 major titles with Tiger Woods and was last helping Adam Scott reach world No. 1 status, had stepped away from the game at the end of 2014, but is coming back to caddie for Scott through the heart of the major championship schedule. Scott has said he's no longer working with Williams' replacement, Mike Kerr.

Gentlemen, hide your cameras...but is he more famous than Bones or Fluff?

Trouble in Paradise? - This news broke over the weekend:

Golf Channel laid off about 30 employees, or 3 percent of its workforce, on Friday. 

Most of the layoffs came in Golf Channel’s original-production division and related positions. The cutbacks indicate a reduction in costly programming that has a limited shelf life or use on the channel’s website. 

“Golf Channel has realigned some business functions to add emphasis on live events, news and digital businesses,” a spokesman said. “As a result, some positions primarily working on taped programming with limited digital focus have been impacted.”

They've been doing a great job with the NCAA coverage, plus the extended broadcast from Royal County Down, so I've no problem with the refocusing on that side of the business.  The other stuff is just filler...  Though this is troubling:

“Big Break,” the long-running reality show, is on hold as Golf Channel searches for a viable production and sponsorship model. “Altered Course,” a new reality show that debuts June 15, will air as planned, but going forward, the spokesman suggested it also will undergo the same cost rationalizations.

No Big Break?  How's a fellow going to get himself out of bed in the morning?  All joking aside, since they don't pay the talent anything, how can it be a bad business model?

Charles Darwin, Call Your Office - Who doesn't love pics of kids with golf clubs?   So of course everyone cooed over the video of Bubba Watson's son Caleb's first swings...video is here including the obligatory hashtag #DropTheClubAndRun.

Shack posted it with a reference to the apple not falling far from the tree, though he seems to have missed the broader implications.  Given that Caleb was adopted, doesn't this put the timeless Nature-Nurture issue to bed?  Just askin'...

Shack also has a cute video of Joshua Poulter at that link, and while I agree with Geoff that there's more clubhead speed than from his dad, I'll also add that he seems to be a better dresser.  

Still Creepy - Thanks to the USGA , I'll be spending far more time with Greg Norman than I'd other wise be inclined... I know, what's a golf blogger to do?  Remember a bit ago when we had pictures of Mrs. Norman's rather unusual 60th birthday gift for his Sharkness?  

As we saw with Steve Elkington, social media and senior citizens can be an awkward fit... as the Shark and his Missus insist on posting additional photographic evidence of their self-absorption.  To wit:

And just to show what a match made in heaven this is:

Really Kirsten, this just isn't normal... you couldn't just get him an Asian hooker like a normal wife would?  Though admittedly this allows him to spend more time with the one he loves most...

Chambers Bay - Mike Davis had to do a modified limited hangout on his impolitic comments about our U.S. Open venue, as Dave Shedloski informed:

“My point was this is really a unique golf course that was going to require a lot of

study,” Davis said. “[There’s] more elevation changes than a normal U.S. Open course. It’s wider. It’s all fescue. They had never seen it before. There’s a lot of local knowledge needed. 

“This is going to be my 26th U.S. Open, and I’ve noticed that players just don’t play as much golf there [at the Open site]. They’ll play nine holes a day, rely on their caddies instead of coming in early to play three or four rounds the week before like they did in the past … it’s just the way things have become. And what I wanted to communicate is that the advantage really goes to the player who knows the course inside and out. There is so much bounciness to that course that you just can’t learn it quickly. You certainly can’t learn it well from a yardage book. It is not a straightforward test, like, say Oakmont next year, which many of them have already seen.”

That second 'graph is quite true, and Jack Fleck famously played 186 practice holes at Olympic before his stunning defeat of Ben Hogan.  On the other hand, our Touring professionals are an entitled sort, and they don't like being told how to prepare.

That said, in the last few days we've received word that both Phil and Tiger have visited the golf course.  Phil gave Todd Miles these cryptic comments:

“A very interesting course,” he added. 

Finally, Mickelson was asked if anything about it surprised him. He responded by saying that Chambers Bay, indeed, closely resembled the type of links course found in Great Britain. 

And with that, Mickelson sped off into the afternoon.

And by interesting he means?  

Love Is The Drug - I'm entirely clear about my good fortune in hiring marrying Employee No. 2, and I don't even dabble in spousal humor of that kind.  But see if this isn't the saddest (and funniest) Craig's List ad ever:

But at least he's not bitter....