Friday Fun

Sorry for the late posting, but life occasionally intervenes.  

Ryder Reax - The reviews are in and folks are....well, let's go with perplexed.  First there was fellow Nike stablemate Rory:

Told of the news after his opening round in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai,

a visibly surprised McIlroy said: " I don't know what to think about that, I really don't. 

"It's great that he wants to help the US team in any way that he can, and if that's not in a playing capacity, then as a vice-captain. Just sort of makes me think what really his health is like and how he feels like he's going to come back from that.

" I'd rather see him on the course at Hazeltine but if not, at least he'll be there and it will be a good addition for them."

Well sure, the way he's played the last two years he'd want to see him play in all five sessions...  Then 2014 Euro captain Paul McGinley:

“But I’m surprised that they’ve done it so early. Normally, in Europe, we might announce one or two vice captains well in advance, but we don’t really until the 11th hour. We give everyone the best chance they have of making the team.” 

McGinley pointed to Jim Furyk, who turns 46 in May but is still one of the Americans’ best players. Furyk won his first tournament since 2010 at the RBC Heritage, was one of the top contenders for the FedEx Cup before a wrist injury, and currently sits 10th in the Ryder Cup points standings. He has a 10-20-4 record in nine appearances in the biennial event.

“Is his mind going to be swayed by the fact that he was announced early as a vice captain?” McGinley said. “We’re going to have to wait and see. But it is a bit strange.”

Yes, it occurred to me later yesterday that Furyk might be an even stranger case, as he would still legitimately think he can qualify for the team.  So McGinley might not understand the move, but Davis Love has things well under control:

Love said Wednesday that the reason he wanted to name the assistants so early was because “we’ve got to get to work.”

Ummm...doing what, exactly?  And Joel Beall confirms what most expect:

In the Ryder Cup guidelines, the teams have the latitude to name five assistants to their respective clubs. Aside from Woods, Love has picked Tom Lehman, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker to be by his side. Reading the tea leaves, the open spot could be in line for Mickelson, who's been instrumental in the 11-man committee to help with the Ryder Cup process following the American debacle at Gleneagles in 2014.

And by instrumental you mean?  Oh, never mind!  And those boys at Extra Spin put their minds together and came up with nine further steps to improve our chances.  This last one is sure to be a crowd-pleaser:

9) No texting the captain 24 hours before he decides his captain's picks

 Webb, it seemed like such a good idea at the time... though I suggest we suspend this rule when Phil is named captain, and make sure that the top 125 on the points list have the number.  Think how many pods he could create!

Upon Further Review - It was just a short while ago that I was defending Commissioner Ratched in

the matter of PGA Tour v. John Peterson, as relates to his famous Happy Gilmore swing in Malaysia.  As you'll no doubt recall, my logic was that a PGA Tour event is a meaningful competition, and therefore the players need to be treating it as such.

You've no doubt heard that Davis Love's son Dru is in the firled this week at Sea Island.  Dru got in through qualifying, so this will not be your typical malfeasance with sponsor's exemptions posts.  But imagine my surprise when I turned on the TV last night and saw that Dru was paired with....Daddy!

So. a member of the Love family was keeping the card for another with the same surname...  can you say "Appearance of a conflict of interest"?  I thought you could...

So, Commish, if you're going to allow your own events to be beclowned, who are you to criticize a Happy Gilmore swing?  Or, for that matter, John Daly Tin-Cupping it until he runs out of golf calls.

Now On the Tee... - And truly for the last time, none other than the irreplaceable Ivor Robson., before he's, you know, replaced.  But this was a nice Instagram from the Euro Tour celebrating the man with the iron bladder:

This was Shack's take:

Oh sure, he'll probably be enlisted to record voice mail messages for charity and whatever else someone lures him into, but the legendary first tee announcer Ivor Robson is calling it a career after this week's European Tour event. 

While Dubai isn't quite St. Andrews (where Robson called his final Open Championship last summer), this will be your final chance to hear a grown man sounding like he's been goosed everytime he announces a golfer on the first tee.

Wouldn't that be a great way to raise money for charity?  For a $100 contribution, Ivor Robson or Jim Nantz (Hello friends, Scott can't take your call...) will record your outgoing voicemail message.  And it wouldn't be right if we didn't share this one more time:

And I shall not rest until I find video of Y.E. Yang's impression of Ivor Robson introducing Y.E. Yang.

Ladies Days - The gals are on a bit of a roll, and it's certainly been a long time coming.  Ron Sirak had this earlier today:

In 2011, during the depths of the Great Recession, the LPGA bottomed with 23 official

events and $40.5 million in prize money. It was the fewest number of tournaments for the tour founded in 1950 since 1972. My how times have changed. 

Commissioner Mike Whan unveiled a 2016 schedule on Friday at the CME Group Tour Championship that includes 34 tournaments and $63.1 million in total purses. Just call him Magic Whan.

With Inbee and Lydia, et.al, he's got a good product and they've stopped with the circular firing squads, and that's typically sufficient.   

So the gals whose names we know are set for life, but of greater interest is this from tour rabbit (rabbitette?) Alejandra Llaneza on the grind that awaits lesser players:

When you get to the next tournament, the math is not exactly in your favor. You’re paying $500 a week for the tournament entry fee. But you also have to pay between $500 to $800 per week for a caddy. There’s 144 players. The top 70 make the cut to the weekend. Even if you get into the money, the payout for 70th place can be as little as $300. 

So $300 minus $500, minus $500, minus gas, minus tolls.

The old joke on the tour is, 'My caddie made more than me this week. They’re buying dinner.

It's the far more typical experience as many more wash out than make it.  It's well worth a minute of your time to see a side of our game that's mostly hidden.  Kudos also to Derek Jeter's The Players' Tribune, which has proven to be far more interesting than most of us expected. 

Cabot Links, The Video - Josh Sens pulled the long straw and got the plum assignment to file a video post from Cabot Links.  It's well worth 7:20 of your day, but you'll have to click here to see it.

Who wants in on a trip there next summer?