Sunday Stuff

Sorry about ducking out on you Friday, but there was golf to be played.  It may all be behind us now, but at least we closed strong.

Dispatches From Down Under - Under cover of darkness the Aussie Open concluded last night, with a surprise winner:

This was where it began for Jordan Spieth, Sydney, Australia, liftoff for his rapid ascent to the pinnacle of golf, an ideal platform from which to issue a timely reminder that he

doesn’t intend to surrender the stage. 

Two years ago, Spieth, 16 months removed from his maiden victory in professional golf, went to Sydney and won the Australian Open. What followed was one of the great seasons in golf history. 

This time, six months removed from his last win, now fifth in the World Ranking, he returned to Sydney and won the Australian Open for a second time with the kind of clutch performance on which his reputation was built.

Hmmmm....Spieth?  That name seems vaguely familiar....

Sorry to hear that Geoff Ogilvy stumbled down the stretch, as it's a better game when he's around.  Mike Clayton, who happens to be Ogilvy's design partner, explains the pressure under which he's playing:

This season he takes his one ‘get out of jail free card’ in America by using his career

money list exemption allowing him to play the last part of this year and all of next season. If he were to miss the top 125 again the only resort is to plead for sponsors invitations and no one wants to be at the mercy of tournament directors for a start each week. 

A few weeks ago he was 4th in Las Vegas and he made a big pile of money, probably a quarter of what he needs to in order to keep his card.

For anyone who watched him play this third day at Royal Sydney the pessimism seems silly. He was around in 64, made by beginning with two birdies and then saving pars after marginally errant shots at the next two holes. From there it was a ball-striking clinic with the final two birdies, coming after a run of pars from the turn, with a two putt at the par 5 16th and a wedge to a foot at the last.

Now I take no pride in that which I'm about to do, but Mike Clayton also struggles at this game.... and it's a cold, nasty Sunday morning and you need a good laugh.  Mike, I'm sorry, but you need to take on for the team:

Be kind, it could have happened to any of us.

You Go, Ko - The ladies looked like they were going to finish on a high note, before things got ugly the last few holes:

The stakes could not be higher for Lydia Ko and Jutanugarn, the world’s top two players. World No. 1 Ko must win the season-ender to overtake Jutanugarn in the Rolex Player of

the Year race. A victory on Sunday for either player would secure the $1 million bonus in the CME Race to the Globe. (The Kiwi has won the last two.) Ko also aims to fend off In Gee Chun for the Vare Trophy, given to the player with the lowest scoring average. 

They’re tied for the week at 11 under, and only 0.021 separates them for the season. 

Ko and Jutanugarn enter the final round in a share of fourth place, but after wildly different Saturdays. One day after Ko fired a sizzling 10-under 62, she stumbled in with a watery 73. Ko pulled a 7-iron into the hazard from 158 yards on the final hole, an unforced error that dropped her two shots back of Charley Hull.

Pity that, but golf happens.  The ladies are blessed with an abundance of young talent these days, but they're similarly blessed with the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, so stay tuned.

Before we leave the ladies, there were a few recent stories that I failed to blog.  They've recently strengthened their schedule in a couple of obvious ways:

Mike Whan donned a faux kilt (actually it was a towel) for the announcement that the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open now will be a co-sanctioned LPGA

event, giving the world’s best back-to-back weeks in Scotland in 2017. 

The tour won’t be announcing its 2017 schedule for another week or so as several details still need to be ironed out. But expect another packed summer, featuring 34 or 35 events, and an increase in overall money. The U.S. Women’s Open purse, for example, will increase by $500,000 to $5 million, Whan said. 

“There’s internal competition to keep up,” Whan said of the financial rise. When the 2011 schedule featured 23 official events, top players were guaranteed to show up. Now, they must be enticed. 

The Scottish Open marks the second new international event the LPGA has announced this week. On Wednesday, Lydia Ko passed out chocolate to the media to celebrate the new McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open.

Strike while the iron is hot, Mike.... 

Also predictable is this thumb-sucker on the state of the women's game here in the U.S.:

Talented female golfers in other parts of the world frequently are immersed in golf at younger ages through organized channels of a national scope -- federations or

associations charged with developing and supporting young talent. No existing American entity has that responsibility. 

"It really is a missing link here," says Hall of Famer and 31-time LPGA winner Juli Inkster. "Places are trying to grow the game but not really grow individuals. We don't have a federation to push our young athletic girls into golf, and we've come to a point where we need a federation to really grow top-level golfers. I'm not saying our girls aren't good, because they are. But they've grown up in a different type of golf atmosphere."

I assumed that's what he meant by Make America Great Again.

Seminole, Restored -  Famed Seminole is on my short bucket list of courses largely because I'm curious as to how one builds an interesting golf course in South Florida.  The course is undergoing a dramatic restoration by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, that latter of whom narrates this wonderful video explaining their work.  

Why are you still here?  It's got wonderful drone footage and one of the premiere architects explaining their work, it doesn't get much better than that.

Rory, Unplugged - Everyone has posted this delightful video of Rory submitting to a grueling interview.  It's up there with Frost/Nixon, as no subject was off-limits:

Good fun.

The Obligatory Trump Item - The last couple of weeks have been simply schadenfreudalicious (take that, SpellCheck), as all the right heads have been exploding.  And their certainty of victory ensures that there's an abundant supply of hypocrisy on parade..... Wow, who knew the filibuster was the only thing saving us from the savages....  Because I'm old enough to remember, about three weeks ago, when it was perfectly fine to nuke the filibuster to get Hillary's nominee confirmed.

I know, I'm enjoying it more than I should, but bear with me.  Shack links to this WSJ editorial advocating that Trump must divest.  Everything must go!  

Mr. Trump could put the cash proceeds in a true blind trust. The Trump children can keep the assets in their name, and he can transfer more to them as long as he pays a hefty gift

tax. Finally, Mr. Trump should stipulate that he and his children will have no communication about family business matters.

The alternatives are fraught, perhaps even for the Trump Organization’s bottom line: Thanks to a Clinton Administration precedent, Presidents can face litigation in private matters—so the company will become a supermagnet for lawsuits. Rudy Giuliani lamented on television that divestment would put the Trump children “out of work,” but reorganizing the company may be better for business than unending scrutiny from the press. Progressive groups will soon be out of power and they are already shouting that the Trump family wants to profit from the Presidency. 

The political damage to a new Administration could be extensive. If Mr. Trump doesn’t liquidate, he will be accused of a pecuniary motive any time he takes a policy position. For example, the House and Senate are eager to consider tax reform—and one sticking point will be the treatment of real estate, which will be of great interest to the Trump family business. Ditto for repealing the Dodd-Frank financial law, interest rates and so much more.

Now the Clinton precedent is just laugh-out-loud funny, because wasn't that a time?  But in all candor I think this is a non-trivial issue, with a big BUT attached.

The people that are going to be lecturing us (the WSJ Editorial Board aside) had no discernible issue with a certain candidate selling the State Department for personal gain....  including our uranium supply to the Ruskis....

So, is it possible that both sides could be held to the same standards?  Nah, what was I thinking?

The funnier item was this limited time offer, also via Shack:

Join us at this unique world class event and play all 12 Trump National and International Championship Courses in the United States. Endorsed by the US President-elect himself you will play golf in California, Florida, North Carolina, Washington D.C., New Jersey and New York. You will stay at Trump's most prestigious properties along the way. You will also enjoy the final round of the US PGA Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and visit the World Golf Hall of Fame. US President Donald Trump will welcome you personally during the "Trump Presidential Challenge". 

• 1 round at Trump International Golf Club, Palos, Verde (California)

• 1 round at Trump National Doral Blue Monster Course (Florida)

• 1 round at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach (Florida)

• 1 round at Trump National Jupiter Golf Club, West Palm Beach (Florida)

• 1 round at Trump National Charlotte Golf Club (North Carolina)

• 1 round at Trump National Golf Club (Washington D.C.)

• 1 round at Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point (New York)

• 1 round at Trump National Philadelphia Golf Club (New Jersey)

• 1 round at Trump National Hudson Valley (New York)

• 1 round at Trump Bedminister International Golf Club (New Jersey)

• 1 round at Trump National Colts Neck Golf Club (New Jersey)

• 1 round at Trump National Westchester Golf Club (New York)

• Ticket for the final round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass

• Visit to the World Golf Hall of Fame

• All rounds in carts

• Use of all practice facilities including range balls

• Lunch at all golf days 

Other Inclusions: 

• 20 nights 4 and 5-star Accommodation

• Daily Breakfast

• Welcome Cocktail at the Portofino Yacht Club Hotel, Palos Verde (California)

• Welcome Dinner at the Portofino Club Hotel, Palos Verde (California)

• Tour of The White House (Washington D.C.)

• Drinks with US President Donald Trump

No word on whether this is real....

But my question is how much without that last item?  More I'm guessing.....

He's Not Called "Cartilage" - Our man Bones was in the shop for his 100,000 mile check-up: 

It turns out that it wasn't just one surgery that Team Mickelson underwent last month. It

was two ... or three, depending on how you choose to count it. 

"It's a good question. I don't know if you say I had one or two operations," said Jim "Bones" Mackay, the longtime caddie for Phil Mickelson, who had both knees replaced on Oct. 19, the same day his boss was having sports hernia surgery. 

Though the two have worked together for 25 years, the scheduling of their respective procedures was coincidental. "We didn't even talk about it. We were both in a hurry to get it done, and it just happened to be the same day," Mackay said. "The next day we were texting back and forth. 'So, how are YOU doing?'"

 I have something to share with Mrs. Bones... as I've discovered from Employee No. 2's hip replacements, once you go metal you'll never settle.