Tuesday Tastings

I'm so old that I can remember when this time on the calendar was deep into the Silly Season, when the only golf was of a highly lucrative but utterly inconsequential nature.  So set your Silly Meter to 11, because many of our favorite folks are beclowning themselves for our amusement.

Is Now a Good Time For This? - I'll do the best that I can with this story until my team of Viennese psychiatrists ifs on the ground....  This is the kind of story with which I don't necessarily have a quibble (not that I'm above parsing the nonsensical B-school mumbo-jumbo), I'm just in shock that Team Tiger dropped it on us this week.

Not only was Greg Norman first past the post with his "redirection", but most of the golf world is still trying to sort through the 72-hour journey from committed to vulnerable.  Now comes word that Tiger's mind has been elsewhere:

Today he is announcing the launch of TGR, a new company that will house a portfolio of 

Methinks he's bene hanging with Lebron too much.

Woods-related businesses. Woods will serve as chairman and plans to be closely involved in day-to-day decision-making. "There is so much excitement about the potential of TGR," says Woods. "I'm excited to explore the possibilities in design, product development, hospitality, and possibly entertainment." He is also unveiling his new logo, made up of three triangles that look like a tiger's stripes and also resemble a W.

I've always considered logos to be like jokes, in that when an explanation is required it's a pretty good indication of failure.  See if you find the similarity to tiger stripes as unconvincing as I:

Here's what passes for a big idea:

It's a big move for the golf superstar, who is bringing all of his existing businesses under a single umbrella for the first time and will also pursue new endeavors under the TGR brand. The company gives Woods a unified corporate structure that will serve as a home base for all of his businesses moving forward. Woods is wagering that the move will help define his legacy and keep him in the game long after he's done bringing home golf titles. TGR will now oversee TGR Live, his events company that organizes PGA TOUR tournaments; his The Woods restaurant, which opened last year (its name will stay the same); TGR Design, a golf-course firm he launched a decade ago; and his charity, the Tiger Woods Foundation, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. Several new endeavors are set to be announced over the next few months.

OK, so he's going to be doing the same things he's been doing, we're just gonna call it something different....  Got it.  Mind you, he's got exactly one restaurant and has designed exactly two operating golf courses, so it's not exactly up to Greg Norman standards.  Now, did you catch in that first excerpt the reference to product development?  Obviously there's not much meat on that bone, but here's some speculation:

Woods has been closely associated with Nike for the last 20 years, and that relationship will continue. But in August, Nike announced that it would no longer make golf equipment, including the clubs that Woods has used throughout his career. That vacuum is sure to prompt speculation about whether TGR will start making golf gear. While there are no specific plans for TGR to enter the equipment business, Jeff Kempler, COO of Sub Rosa, the corporate strategy and branding firm that Woods hired to help develop his new brand, says it's a possibility at some point.

That speculation is of course inevitable, but strikes this observer as unlikely.  Woods is notoriously tight with a dollar, and color me skeptical that investors will think that they can do better than Nike in that stagnant market.

But perhaps I'm being unduly negative, because there are pens:

In the immortal words of Emily Litella, that's very different....Sorry for going on so long, but this kind of item is golf blogging porn.  It's admittedly unseemly to take such pleasure in it, yet one can't avert one's gaze....

Among the nonsensical jargon was this:

The first step was to identify some central themes from throughout Woods's career. "We knew that there was connectivity," says Emily Taylor, a VP at the Tiger Woods Foundation who has been working with Woods for 14 years and was integral to TGR's brand-development process.

Yes, when I think of Tiger the first word that comes to mind is connectivity....  to skanks, perhaps.  And perhaps I was prematurely dismissive of the product development efforts, as in addition to the above-noted pens, we have ties and this, which I assume to be a scarf, adorned with the TGR logo (though I don't see the tiger stripes triangles):

Yeah, that's the ticket.... The only man in North America that polls worse among women than Trump is going into women's apparel.

I guess Tiger doesn't read the Tour Confidential panel, as I have it on good authority that the end is nigh.

And apparently lost among all that talk of positioning and portfolio activation (and yes, they used that term), did the subject of a web url ever come up?  Because when I enter tgr.com it redirects to tleaves.com....  Oops!

As an aside, I'll link you to this Tim Rosaforte item on the Safeway WD...A warning, Golf Channel calls him their insider, but Tim can't do any more here than summarize the rumors and speculation.

You Don't Need A Task Force To Know Which Way The Wind Is Blowing - Apologies for the awkwardly-long header, but on what other golf blog will you find a shout-out to the most recent Nobel Laureate?

It turns out that it took only one loss for the Euros to realize that they're losing the task force arms race.... Apparently envious of the Horschel rule, stay tuned to this station for the Noren rule:

A radical overhaul of the qualifying system for Europe's Ryder Cup team is on the cards

as those in power consider the appropriate response to the heavy defeat at Hazeltine a fortnight ago. 

Alex Noren's victory at the British Masters on Sunday will have concentrated minds that change is needed. If the qualifying system had not ended a month before the Ryder Cup, Noren's victory in the first week of September in Switzerland - following his Scottish Open success in July - would have identified him as a player with a hot hand and worthy of a place in the team. 

I can reveal Paul McGinley, Europe's captain at Gleneagles in 2014, had strong reservations the system had outlived its usefulness during his time in charge.

These guys are good!  Their task force will apparently anticipate wins in events played after the Ryder Cup...

Here's the gist of the argument:

The biggest problem is the three megabucks events that form the Final Series and close out the Race to Dubai each November. 

Because they offer so much money and thereby qualifying points, any player doing well in those tournaments is almost guaranteed a Ryder Cup spot for a match that does not take place for 10 months. How does that make any sense?

Call me crazy, but winning the Tour's biggest events with the strongest fields might be an indicator of golf talent....I know, crazy talk.

Barring last-minute manoeuvrings, expect them to appoint Thomas Bjorn — and if anyone should know the time is right for change, it is the Dane.

Your next Euro Ryder Cup Captain.

Bjorn benefited from the failings of the current qualifying system when he made the team at Gleneagles.

He won the first qualifying event in Switzerland, then the Nedbank Challenge at the back end of 2013 - and was still hanging on to a place despite a single top-three finish over the next 10 months. 

He then struggled in Scotland, contributing a half-point. Yes, it is true the Americans putted far better than the Europeans at Hazeltine and that is why they won. But it is also true that players bang in form invariably do.

Bang in form?  There's that separated by a common language thing.... perhaps John Coupland can explain the expression to us?

We discussed the folly of taking the hot golfer ad nauseum during the U.S. selection process.  I think we can agree that if your reconfiguring your selection process to add Billy Horschel (or Alex Noren), you might want to keep your expectations modest.

Somewhat amusing is the fact that this soul-searching ignores the actual process by which Europe has handicapped itself, the use of the European points list to allow marginal players to qualify.  This has allowed marginal players to qualify over the years, though it's been deemed a necessary measure to support their tour.

Call Your Broker - Have you locked down your allocation in the most anticipated golf-related IPO since.... well, that's unintentionally amusing:

A new symbol will soon scroll across the New York Stock Exchange ticker: GOLF, representing Fairhaven-based Acushnet Holdings Corp., maker of Titleist golf balls and other golf equipment and apparel. 

The initial public offering next week — hinted at for more than a year — will peg the market value of Acushnet at around $1.7 billion. The offering is expected to raise roughly $435 million with the sale of 19.3 million shares priced between $21 and $24. Previous investors, not the company, will reap the proceeds.

Thanks to a series of related transactions in advance of the offering, the majority of voting shares will be retained by Fila Korea Ltd., which has owned Acushnet since 2011.

  That's the shot, this is the chaser:

It’s the most anticipated IPO since Callaway Golf Founder Ely Callaway took his company public in the early 1990s – a move that sparked a Wall Street run (with varied results) on golf equipment companies.

 Yeah, that was a while ago.....

Sandy Lyle Defends - The Scot is an interesting guy, with two majors that attest to a meaningful career...  There are those that will offer that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but the insufferable purist in me can't help but admire him for this:

Sandy Lyle lit up a disappointing season by regaining the World Hickory Open title with

a 10-shot victory over two rounds at Panmure, where he also claimed his inaugural win

in the event two years ago. 

The two-time major winner backed up his three-under-par 67 on Tuesday with an equally impressive 71 on the second circuit to finish well clear of Norfolk club professional and defending champion, Andrew Marshall. 

“While I regard this as a bit of fun, winning the title again is the best thing I’ve done this year,” admitted Lyle.

It is a bit of fun, even perhaps more than just a bit.  But how often do we see our professionals succumb to enjoying themselves on the golf course?  And wouldn't we benefit from seeing more of it?

But this was news to me:

The 58-year-old secured his impressive win in Carnoustie Country with the Tad Moore hickory clubs he used in a practice round at Augusta ahead of last year’s Masters. “I started off okay that day but then didn’t score too great after that,” he recalled. “I’ve also played in the Par 3 event at The Masters with them a couple of times, which has created a bit of a stir. They all thought they’d have steel rods in them but, no, it it proper hickory shafts.

The ESPN broadcast of the Masters Par-3 contest has become relentlessly treacly in recent years...  I know, but how many three-year olds can you watch miss nine-inch putts?  Seeing Sandy play the event with hickories.... that's too interesting to show.

Know The Rules, Part LCVIII - I've been harsh in the past on our professionals that don't know the most basic of golf rules, see, for instance, McIlroy, Rory.  But I have to feel sorry for this kid, mostly because he's you know, a kid:

Josh Hogarth, 15, playing in the junior championship at South Moor Golf Club, an Alister MacKenzie design in the village of the Middles, used a 6-iron on the 186-yard par-three 14th hole, and appeared to have made a hole-in-one, though the ball lodged against the flagstick. 

“I thought you had to pull the flagstick out keeping it directly upright,” Hogarth told the local newspaper, the Chronicle. “When I did that, the ball squirted out and ended up an inch from the hole.”

Hey, at least he made the putt... Here's the actual rule:

Alas, 17-4 in the Rules of Golf state: “When a player's ball rests against the flagstick in the hole and the ball is not holed, the player or another person authorized by him may move or remove the flagstick, and if the ball falls into the hole, the player is deemed to have holed out with his last stroke; otherwise, the ball, if moved, must be placed on the lip of the hole, without penalty.” 

In other words, all he had to do was maneuver the flagstick to a degree that allowed the ball to fall and he’d have had an ace.

As you can see, the lad won the event, though it also cost him the outright course record.

A Blogger's Remorse - Employee No. 2 will no doubt be surprised that anyone plays more golf than your humble correspondent, but I find myself seething with jealousy:

The first thing I noticed when I met Barry Gibbons was his tan. He glowed with a skin

hue that would make George Clooney jealous. Of course, it helps to have a schedule that would make any golfer jealous. 

The retired Gibbons, 57, hasn’t just played more rounds of golf in 2016 than anyone in the world. He’s on pace to play more rounds of golf than anyone in the world has EVER played in a year. 

Gibbons is in the process of obliterating the record of walking rounds (611) set by Richard Lewis of Texas in 2010. What’s Gibbons' target? 850. Yes, that’s eight HUNDRED and fifty. Think about that for a minute. That’s the equivalent of playing more than 40 times a year for 20 years. Or, playing 20 times a year for 40 years. That's a lifetime worth of golf in ONE year. And you thought you loved playing the game. 

“People are either envious or they think I'm nuts,” Gibbons says.

Those two are in no way mutually exclusive... (h/t Maggot).