I'm on the clock, as I've an afternoon outing at Brooklawn Country Club with much to accomplish before I hit the road....
Day's Day - I watched about five minutes of the Canadian Open, and in that shor span Jason Day made back-to-back bogeys to cough up a lead.... I wasn't around for this exciting finish:
OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) -- Jason Day birdied the final three holes to win the CanadianOpen on Sunday, spoiling David Hearn's bid to become the first Canadian winner in 61 years.
Day made a 20-foot putt on the par-5 18th for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke victory over Bubba Watson. Day finished at 17-under 271 at Glen Abbey.
"I've never felt so much at home, and I'm not even from Canada," Day said. "I'm looking forward to coming back and defending the title here next year because I know that when I get here next year it's going to be the same. It's great to feel like a Canadian for a week."
Probably the most amazing fact is that this is only his fourth win....but good on him after the disappointments at both Opens. And this, in reference to that final birdie putt, is sure to induce a wry smile:
“The first thing I said was I’ve got to get to the hole this time, that’s what I said in my head."
Good call.
Dawson's Break - My televised golf quota was instead allocated to the Senior Open Championship played at famed Sunningdale Golf Club. Here's the game story:
SUNNINGDALE, England (AP) -- American Marco Dawson held off the twin challenge of super stars Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie over the final nine holes to claim victory in a thrilling climax to the Senior British Open Championship on Sunday.
Dawson finished with a 16-under par total of 264 to claim his second title on the Senior Tour this year after more than 12 years without a victory.
"This is unbelievable," said Florida-based Dawson, who played over 400 events on the PGA Tour without a win.
When you look up "Journeyman" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of Marco, so it's kinda cool to see him have some late-in-life success. I just hope that dictionary used the picture above, instead of this one from a few months ago:
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| Not a great look, Marco... |
A few final thoughts.... I've been enjoying Colin Montgomerie's mulligan on the Senior Tour, and was especially rooting for him yesterday, as a win would have punched his ticket to Troon next year for the big-boy Open. Mony's father was the Secretary at Royal Troon for many years, so it would have been a nice homecoming for the new, soft-and-cuddly Monty.
The event was unfortunately dogged (keep that word in mind) by rain, disrupting play but, more importantly, softening the golf course. I wish you all could have seen the play from Thursday when it was playing firm and fast as it's intended to do. Alas, the final three rounds were mere target practice as we seem to see week in and week out on Tour.
Lastly, when I brought up the event on the driving range yesterday, two fellow members not especially knowledgeable about golf across the pond made comments regarding dogs on the clubs ground. Kind of fascinating how information permeates, as folks who couldn't tell Harry Colt from a Colt 45 know that Sunningdale is the most dog-friendly golf club on the planet.
Things That Shock Me - I'm still recovering from the disillusionment of discovering gambling in Casablanca when this scurrilous attack on a man of noted probity crosses my monitor:
Most golfers who like to fib just shave a few strokes off their handicap or ask for anoccasional mulligan.Most golfers are not Donald J. Trump.
The Donald's financial-disclosure paperwork, released Wednesday by federal election officials, claim that Trump's 16 golf-related businesses are worth $550 million to more than $675 million. That's a big chunk of his net worth, which the filing said was at least $1.15 billion and whichTrump himself says is about $10 billion.
Do tell:
The financial disclosure form values many of Trump's courses at two to four times the multiples of annual revenue other courses command, in an industry where most operators struggle to make profits, according to golf course appraisers. An industry rule of thumb is that courses are worth 1 to 1.5 times their annual revenue.Trump reported combined revenue of less than $160 million, excluding the Miami resort, which doesn't break out golf-related revenue, and land sales at the Los Angeles property. Based on the industry standard valuation metric, that would put the value of Trump's golf empire closer to $160 million to $250 million.
What's a fellow to believe in this crazy, mixed-up world?
The Gift That Keeps On Giving - Not only is Robert Allenby the biggest d--k on Tour, but he's also not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, for which I remain eternally grateful. You'd think after kidnapgate that he'd try to keep a low profile, but you'd be as wrong as I was in Picking Rickie Fowler to win the Open.
Low profile would mean firing your caddie mid-week, as opposed to in front of the gallery on the 18th hole (to be clear, this was their ninth hole of the day)... because people tend to defend themselves when publicly humiliated, and Nick Middlemo had a chance to share the experience of being Robert Allenby's caddie alibi:
Robert Allenby's former caddie says he does not believe the Australian professional golfer's dramatic claims about being abducted and bashed in Hawaii earlier this year, instead declaring he probably "just fell over s---faced drunk" and injured his face.
Veteran Australian caddie Mick Middlemo had nothing but scathing words for 44-year-old Allenby, who last week fired him mid-round after a furious row at the US PGA Tour's Canadian Open.
Allenby blamed Middlemo for a wrong club choice when he hit his ball into a creek at Glen Abbey's par-five 13th, sparking a war of words between the pair.
And lest we have any doubts, and only those unfamiliar with our Robert could, one of the other caddies in that fateful three-ball had this to add:
Speaking out on Friday was Simon Clarke, an Australian who was looping for another player in the group, South Korean S.J. Park. Clarke, who said he has known fellow Aussie Allenby for more than two decades, told Reuters, “I wouldn’t be talking about it if he [Allenby] didn’t tell the media afterwards a whole lot of porky pies [Australian slang for lies]."“I’ve known Rob for a long time and I’ve known Mick for a long time," Clarke said. "It’s disappointing that at age 42, or however old he [Allenby] is, he’s still treating people that way and how many good caddies he’s gone through.
"It’s sad that he speaks to the guys this way and doesn’t wait until after the round. It’s disappointing that he’s up to his old tricks.”
And while the horse is long dead, this comment I find interesting:
Middlemo told News Corp Australia that he "protected [Allenby] to the hilt" in January, telling the media precisely what Allenby told him to say.
OK, he said media, and lying to the media is perfectly legal...but there also a police investigation in process and certainly they would have spoken to Middlemo who was at The Amuse Wine Bar with his employer. To the extent that he lied to the police under Allenby's direction, that's better known as suborning perjury and is, you know, a crime.
Sweet '16 - Jim McCabe doesn't just bury the lede, he entombs it in this piece about changes in the Tour's schedule to accommodate Olympic Golf:
With confirmation coming that The Travelers Championship will move from itstraditional date in 2016 – going from directly after the U.S. Open to a date six weeks later, in early August, after the PGA Championship – next year’s PGA Tour schedule is a study in changes all owed to the return of golf in the Olympics.Things won’t look out of place for the first five months of 2016 calendar, through the U.S. Open (June 16-19), anyway. But with the men’s portion of Olympic golf being held Aug. 11-14, a big knuckleball was tossed at officials with both the PGA Tour and PGA of America having to make alterations. It started with the PGA of America moving its PGA Championship from its traditional mid-August date to July 28-21 and therein created the challenge for PGA Tour folks; there were six weeks available for a half-dozen tournaments, but it would require some movement from traditional times.
So the Travelers will be right after an East Coast PGA instead of after the U.S, Open, no biggie as the kids say... But take a gander at the resulting schedule that Jim posts and see if anything jumps out at you:
- June 2-5: The Memorial
- June 9-12: FedEx St. Jude Classic
- June 16-19: U.S. Open (Oakmont)
- June 23-26: Quicken Loans National
- June 30-July 3: WGC Bridgestone Invitational
- July 7-10: Greenbrier Classic
- July 14-17: British Open (Royal Troon)
- July 21-24: RBC Canadian Open
- July 28-31: PGA Championship (Baltusrol)
- Aug. 4-7: Travelers Championship
- Aug. 11-14: Olympic Golf
- Aug. 11-14: John Deere Classic
- Aug. 18-21: Wyndham Championship
What's missing of course are the four FedEx Cup events, and you have an insane amount of golf being played in n extremely compressed schedule. I could go medieval on Commissioner Ratched, but Shack gave this perfectly respectable rant on the subject, including speculation about unintended fallout:
McCabe argues that the Travelers and Deere, who have settled well into their potentially cumbersome dates, would suffer in this scenario. But I think it's harder to imagine anyone in the world of golf wanting to go to Akron ten days after the U.S. Open and 11 days before The Open, even though the event's primary perk is easy cash and easier world ranking points.
This issue will be avoided in 2020 (to an extent) when the PGA Championship is not played in its traditional date. Though all of this would be moot if the playoffs weren't in a hurry to be played before football season.
Yanno, I'd like to think that's the case, but the lads do love their easy money grabs...
Holly Does Good - A high school senior named Andrew Orishak had life by the throat, enjoying a 5-up lead in the final match at the U.S.Juniors and a promise from Holly Sonders to be his prom date should he win... Ooops, not so fast there, as he let the match slip away:
At the end of a demanding week, Andrew Orischak lost control of the final match at the U.S. Junior Amateur, losing to Philip Barbaree on the 37th hole after holding a 5-up lead.
OK, that's gonna sting for a while, but our Holly makes good:
But there was a silver lining for Orischak. Besides earning a spot in the 2015 U.S. Amateur – which will be played at Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club Aug. 17-23 – and 2016 U.S. Open sectional qualifying, Orischak might have the prom date of his dreams: Fox Sports broadcaster Holly Sonders.
This was Holly's tweat:
And @AndrewOrischak....I'm happy to go to the 2015 prom with you if I'm still invited. Your mom has my phone number. @FOXSports @FOXSports1
I love that bit about his Mom.... Don't get your hopes too high, Andrew, but your classmates will be ever so impressed. And of course you'll see Holly again soon at the Am.
Lots more to discuss, but it will likely have to keep until at least tomorrow.
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