Sorry for the delayed post, but I just finished the tape of the overnight matches.
You heard it here first, things had to tighten...
Of course, we've been hearing lots of things this week. For instance, I have it on reliable authority that Americans make putts in the Prez Cup. True that, except when they don't...
We've also heard that Phil Mickelson provides wily veteran leadership, except when he's trying to be too smart by half... and, see below, playing that firmer ball might have only been the second stupidest thing he did in that match.
And the highly-professional rules officials? As we saw with Tiger's Master's drop, they can cause as much confusion as the resolve...but you should never be penalized for adhering to the instructions of a man with a walkie-talkie, I think we can all come together on that.
Your humble correspondent considers himself reasonably conversant in the rules of our game, but I'll admit to no prior relationship with a Match Adjustment Penalty (this Michael Johnson FAQ is very helpful). Though admittedly there have been times, principally in connection with hypotheticals about discovering a guy with 15 sticks on the 14th hole, and somewhere in the recesses of my mind I was aware of the cap of a two hole penalty.
But this seems counter to the spirit of match play, which is that the remedy for everything from moving your ball to grand theft auto is loss of hole. Yanno, that hole, especially when the violation is discovered immediately.... Now as to whether that LoH is the team or just the individual involved, it seems it should be the the latter where feasible...
Now let me also say that I'm no particular fan of the one-ball rule, as it seems far more likely to happen by accident and the only players penalized will be the honest ones... But not only did Phil not know the rules of the competition, but so didn't Jay Haas. Sheesh! A pox on them all...
And the collars might be getting a little bit tight for our guys, despite the one-point lead. First, there was absolutely no animosity exhibited among the players during the incident, but these choice words from Phil might alter that equilibrium. Yes Phil, they couldn't beat you despite the break, but you couldn't beat them despite holing out from a fairway bunker.
And what was that nonsense on the 14th green. On that 300-yard Par-4 that gave the players fits, Phil had a long birdie putt and Zach had a 6-7 footer. The geniuses decided to let Zach putt first, but the mic picked up that Phil and Z read the putt differently... Oh, and did I mention that Phil's putt was on kinda, sorta Zach's line. So, you have confusion between the players of the read, you can roll a longer putt and see how it moves around the hole but, no, that wouldn't be prudent. By all means let's put Phil in charge of the Ryder Cup...
Then there's everyone's hero Jordan, who played like Jordan Goldfarb in the match. Here's his post-match charmer:
Following a surprising 4-and-3 loss to Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace on Day 2 of the Presidents Cup, Spieth was understandably frustrated. And in comments to the Golf Channel after the loss, Spieth let his competitiveness show, saying: "That was Merry Christmas to them."
Here's the video of the comment and the "Live From" segment where analyst Arron Oberholser calls Spieth's comments "slightly classless."
Well, the South Africans played quite well, and Branden Grace made a mile of putts, whereas Wolverine hasn't made anything that wasn't conceded.
So, where does Cap'n. Haas go:
Match 11: Louis Oosthuizen & Branden Grace (Int’l) vs. Patrick Reed & Rickie Fowler .
Trying to recapture that Ryder Cup magic, eh? I've no real gripe with reteaming them and it would be helpful to get Mr. Top 5 untracked, I just hope Jay remembers that they didn't win any of those matches at Gleneagles.
Match 12: Adam Scott & Marc Leishman (Int’l) vs. Bubba Watson & J.B. Holmes (USA)
Holmes and Watson was, what's the word, elementary.... One big surprise is how badly Adam Scott has been playing, he looks like a 12-handicap.
Match 13: Sangmoon Bae & Hideki Matsuyama (Int’l) vs. Bill Haas & Matt Kuchar (USA)
Problem children will be happier after this match, I'm just not sure if it's Nick's or Jay's. Smells like a good pairing for Hideki...
Match 14: Jason Day & Charl Schwartzel (Int’l) vs. Jordan Spieth & Dustin Johnson (USA)
Given how DJ has played, I'd have broken this team up in New York minute and played DJ in the afternoon fourball.
On the U.S. bench are Phil (thank God), Zach, Chris Kirk and Jimmy Walker. Those other guys are sitting Bowditch, Jaidee, Danny Lee (mercifully) and Lahiri (who hasn't played since the first session).
But my biggest takeaway is how poor the level of play has been. It has to improve, no?
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