Friday Fun

Just a few lighthearted items to send you off to your weekend with a wry smile on your face:

Today's Required Reading - Cameron Morfitt is far from the first to compare the player-caddie relationship to a marriage, but the important thing is that he handles it well.  And since we don't see much of our hero Vijay these days (Note To Self:  Check on the status of Veej's lawsuit against the Tour), it will shock you, shock you I say, to learn that Vijay can be a little tough on those around him:

Although Singh and Tesori promised each other that their second partnership wouldn't

It's not you, Paul...Oh who am I kidding, it can't be me.

revert to the way it was, old habits die hard. Having amassed six wins in their first collaboration, they raked in six more the second time around. The bad news? Singh, as driven as ever, was still dragging Tesori to the range on their off weeks. 

"After another year and a half, I quit," Tesori says. "[Going back] was a decision I never liked. I did it for the money, the notoriety and the respect, and none of those were the right reasons. Jerry Kelly was top 30 in the world at the time, we'd done the 2003 Presidents Cup, and he was treating me well. It was something I said I wouldn't do again. When it's time to split up, it's time to split up." 

Except, of course, when it's time to get back together.

Veej is no doubt the poster child for Battered Caddie Syndrome, but such are the unique demands and frustrations of our game that the nicest player, maybe the nicest guy on the planet, 

If that's the case, Els and Roberts should be the healthiest player-caddie marriage on any tour, a love-hate relationship that has spanned eras from Norman to Woods to McIlroy. Els describes both himself and Roberts as hardheaded. Roberts calls them stubborn. 

"With guys like Phil and Bones," Els says of Mickelson and his caddie of nearly a quarter-century, Jim Mackay, "you've got two different personalities. The one [Mackay] is going to kind of take it [the guff and grief] and move on. Those relationships tend to last." 

Els pauses when asked which of his many breakups with Roberts was the most dramatic and, therefore, the hardest to come back from. 

"It was at [the British Open at] Birkdale in '98," he says. "We were both fired up, and things were said. We had a frustrating week, and I didn't behave that well. It's a tough game. You've got to take your hat off to these guys. They put up with a lot."

They'll always have Oakmont....

Fun With Water - A couple of videos making the rounds united by the common theme of agua...first up, Web.com player Peter Malnati channels his inner Woody Austin and hilarity ensues:

I know, those white pants seemd like a good idea at the time... And this one leaves you wondering how the trolley and bag, you know, got there:

I've got two important words for the videographer: Landscape mode.

Plainfield Parsings - I only saw an hour or so of the coverage, as the weather was simply too good to remain indoors.  But add to the "Is This a Great Game or What? files the fact that I couldn't design a golf course less likely to appeal to Bubba's "eye" than Plainfield, yet there he is on the top of the leaderboard.  I'm not saying he'll stay there, but if he's in the right frame of mind one never knows...

And while I enjoyed the Cam Morfitt item above, one of it's obvious flaws is that it presented the Adam Scott-Stevie Williams reunion tour as a success.  Yes, Scott threw up a torrid 64 in the final round at Chambers Bay to sneak into contention, but it would be hard to identify a more disappointing season than the Aussie's, especially with January 1, 2016 rapidly approaching:

Adam Scott, who won the Barclays in 2013 and finished fourth in the final FedEx Cup standings that season, is currently 94th and needs a finish no worse than solo 54th to quality for the Deutsche Bank.

And no sooner do I give Joel Beall props for his tongue-in-cheek take on the FedEx Cup than he posts this dictation from Nurse Ratched that leads one to conclude that his tongue is an an entirely different set of cheeks:

Sure, Horschel isn't a household name. That doesn't mean the FedEx Cup was given to

him. Man was scorching last fall, finishing second at the Deutsche Bank Championship before capturing back-to-back Ws at the BMW and Tour Championships. 

So if someone not named Jordan Spieth or Jason Day wins this year's cup, don't shake your head in scorn. That player just beat the world's best over a four-tournament span. Such a performance deserves praise, not put-downs.

C'mon Joel, you're giving me whiplash here.  The problem with the FedEx Cup is that we're still trying to figure out what it rewards.  Yes, last year Horschel won the last two events and was clearly the best player over those four events.  But there was also 2012 when a kid named Rory won the Deutsche Bank and BMW, so naturally he won the FedEx Cup, right?  Yeah, that's my point...

OK, that's all for now folks, as I'm the lucky recipient of another invite to play Engineer's today.