Weekend Wrap

For reasons that escape me, they persist in playing golf this time of year.  But there's no truth to the rumor that the PGA Tour incorporates the "Leaf Rule" as a local rule....

Anyone Can Have A Bad Decade - The Cubs trademarked a similar motto substituting century for decade, but this guy has been in the wilderness for a bit:

LAS VEGAS (AP) Rod Pampling won for the first time in 10 years on the PGA Tour when he closed with a 6-under 65 for a two-shot victory Sunday in the Shriners Hospitals 

for Children Open. 

Pampling holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole at the TPC Summerlin that clinched the victory. He raised his right arm and thrust it when the ball was still another foot away from the cup. The 47-year-old Australian last won on the PGA Tour at Bay Hill in 2006.

''It's extremely rewarding,'' Pampling said. ''Winning Arnold Palmer's event is still on top. But coming back from what we've had the last few years, to get a win under the belt, it's phenomenal. Amazing.''

If you have to play golf out of season, it should be for the sole purpose of allowing the have-nots to improved their status, as they at least play like it matters.  Exhibit A is the look of anguish on Lucas Glover's face after stubbing his chip on the closing hole....

But for perspective on the significance of this event, Golf.com convened their Tour Confidential panel Sunday night and not a single question was asked pertaining to this week's Tour event.  Tree, forest....

Tour Governance, Part A - Euro Tour majordomo Keith Pelley indicates a willingness to boldly go.... well, somewhere:

“Our job as the gatekeepers of the Tour is to provide bigger purses, greater experiences

and greater courses so that the players want to play here – and play here more than they need to just to stay a member – and so be a Ryder Cup player,” he said. 

“The Ryder Cup is a critical component of our Tour and it is a sensational event. But it shouldn’t be the only reason why someone wants to be on our Tour. That’s our job at hand right now. 

“We are having discussions regarding the qualification system. We will have them with our players, with our tournament committee and our board over the coming weeks and months. We will adjust the Ryder Cup qualification if we feel that we need to. We won’t be afraid to make the changes.”

That's obviously a response to Rory's frustration about the guy pictured above not being on the team, but John Huggan is here with the required cold water:

Still, it would be a brave move for Pelley and the tour he leads to fiddle with a formula

that is perhaps the key component in getting his star players to compete as much as

 possible at home. Eligibility for the Ryder Cup is one of the few “weapons’ he has in the

on-going - and generally losing - battle with the bigger purses on offer on the PGA Tour. Which is not to say he was slow to talk up what the European Tour does offer, other than lower prize money.

“Part of our job at the tour is to get players to come and play because it is just a terrific place to play,” he continued. “We play at world-class resorts, like here in Turkey this week. We play on great golf courses in great cities. For any world-class player, the European Tour is a fantastic place to be.

Of interest to me is that the discussion to date has been limited to the tour membership requirement, which Pelley simply can't risk.  But what they could consider is dispensing with the use of the Euro Points List in automatic qualifiers, which rewards those that play mostly on their home tour.  I'm not going to expound on this in detail now, but this sometimes allows a weak sister to qualify.  Mind you, they've still won more than their share in recent years...

Tour Governance, Part B - Meet the new boss.... let's hope the rest isn't true.  That TC panel was asked the following question, and the responses are, well, underwhelming would be a kind word:

1. Deputy PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is expected to assume the role of commissioner on Monday, replacing Tim Finchem, who has held the post for more than two decades. How would you like to see Monahan evolve the Tour?

Josh Sens bats leadoff, and is obviously still feeling the Bern:

Josh Sens: The Tour has started in the right direction by requiring players to add new events to their schedules. As it stands, it's one new event that the player hasn't played in over the last four years. I'd like to see the Tour step up those requirements, the better to bring top names to some of the light events. The Tour schedule has become too much like our country: too great a disparity between the haves and have not events. Spread the wealth.

You didn't build that!  I actually don't have a problem with this, though I also think it's more guidance than required.  But I also think it's a smoke screen for how badly Nurse Ratched has treated some sponsors after, you know, the check has cleared.

Shane Bacon: I think continuing to evolve in the digital world is something the PGA

Tour has taken a big first step with and something they could continue to grow. PGA Tour Live has been an incredible asset and I think it really gives fans, especially young fans, a chance to always see the player and players they want to watch. The European tour has done an amazing job at using social media to their advantage and 2016 was a big year for the PGA Tour in that regard. Sports fans want to watch their favorite sports, so for golf fans, making it as easy as possible to watch golf is a simple way to engage fans and keep them hanging around.

This is actually more important than dinosaurs like your correspondent realize, but it shows the suits in Ponte Vedra Beach at their worst.  A couple of examples... A while back Henrik Stenson hit a monster shank.  he was joking about it later that day, but the Tour made YouTube take down the video....  It's a tough game for all of us, but it's an oddly humanizing moment when a pro accepts his fate, and it shows them in a very favorable light.... Or not.

Even worse was their witch hunt against blogger Stephanie Wei for posting pro-am video on something called Periscope.  We can't have people interested in our event, can we?

Of course this plea for sunlight earns a hearty Amen:

Jeff Ritter: We've covered this ground numerous times, but the change in leadership also presents an opportunity to upgrade the Tour's drug testing program and announce player-conduct-related suspensions and fines, as they do in all other major U.S. pro sports leagues.

This is far too big a topic for this time, and I'm sure we'll be treated to many wistful odes to the departing Commish.  That will be a good time for me to update my multi-count indictment and discuss where I'd like to see Monahan take the Tour.  

Question And Answer -  Another bit stolen from James Taranto (you know, flattery):

From curmudgeonly James Corrigan: Is European Tour ‘bending over backwards’ to keep Patrick Reed as a member?

Not so much says Alistair Tait:  Reed has been stripped of his 2016 European Tour membership since he will not contest the required five “regular” tournaments to maintain membership.

Hmmmm, I'm beginning to think that Reed Fellow might not be on the next Euro Ryder Cup team.

Tech Talk - Does 2016 strike you as an especially good year in golf innovation?  Yeah, me neither...

Michael Chwasky (Vanna, I'd like to buy a vowel) does his best with his list of best innovations, but the pickings are a tad slim.  He's got smart shoes for dumb golfers, and minor refinesments at best to counter-balanced putter grips and GPS watches.

And the fact that this appears on the list attests to how slim the year wa son things that actually help us play better:

TECHIEST HANDICAPPER: ECONOMIST EAGLE

Want to destroy your buddies in the next Masters office pool? Check out EAGLE (Economist Advantage in Golf Likelihood Estimator), the Economist's new handicapping system. By combining a player's World Golf Ranking and the par and length of his remaining holes in a given major, EAGLE can, more or less, predict his chances of victory. While not an exact science (EAGLE made Jason Day the favorite to win this year's British Open and PGA), it's fun— and provocative. EAGLE assesses the 10 worst major collapses since 2001, and ranks the best performances of all time. The greatest week ever? No shocker: Tiger at the 2000 U.S. Open, which he won by 15 strokes.

OK, who wants to break it to him that fantasy picks are due before the event starts?

What's In A Name? -  This header seemed promising:

The 5 Worst Official PGA Tour Event Names in History

 I sense your confusion, as this would seem to be right up my alley....  the problem is that it's a one-trick pony, that time in the evolution of sponsorships where they tried to cram everything, including the celebrity endorser into the event title.

So, this is funny in that awkward, easy for you to say manner:

Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic

Though I do love the Jackie Gleason stick figure because it's so, shall we say, improbable.  But is the event name any funnier than the:

Canon Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open

Or the:

Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open

OK, we got it.

Ripped From Today's Headlines -  That TC panel linked above had a couple of questions of a topical nature.  The first I believe refers to the game of baseball:

4. The Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years last week, beating the Indians in a Game 7 thriller. What long-standing golf drought would you most like to see come to an end?

SENS: An end to Tiger's eight-plus year major-less streak would be pretty compelling. But I'm also a sucker for the Sergio Garcia story. His winning a big one would be like Charlie Brown finally kicking the football. 

GODICH: Your 2017 U.S. Open champion: Phil Mickelson.

Good luck with all of those... but this answer was a bit curious:

BACON: Since the obvious choices are taken, I'm going with an albatross on one of the back-nine par-5s at Augusta National. We haven't seen one on 13 since ‘94, and haven't seen one on 15 since the "shot heard ‘round the world” by Mr. Sarazen in ‘35. Give me an albatross or a double-eagle on those famed par-5s at the next Masters and let the roars shake buildings in Atlanta.

There's two important words missing from that, specifically "Sunday" and "afternoon". Why bother dreaming if you don't dream big.

The curious thing is that there have been exactly four alby's in Masters history, one on each for the four Par-5's.  Symmetry and all....

And then this question:

5. It's election week, so we have to ask: Which PGA Tour player do you think would make for the most effective politician?

I'd vote for this ticket:

GODICH: I'm all for a Geoff Ogilvy-Joe Ogilvie ticket, though we're going to have citizenship issues with the former.

It is funny that two of the more thoughtful players on Tour share, kind of, a surname. 

But this one is gonna leave a mark:

BACON: Being a politician is all about thinking you're the smartest and most well-versed person in the room about anything and everything. So with that in mind, Senator Phil Mickelson has a nice ring to it.

And since Shane mentioned Phil, there's a little news from him.  First, this medical update:

Phil Mickelson underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia on Oct. 19, a source close to Mickelson told GOLF.com. 

He had the procedure three days after the conclusion of the season-opening Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., where Mickelson tied for eighth. 

"The only thing I know is that the surgery went well," said the source, who requested anonymity.

Does Phil still play sports?  At his age? 

Does that term surprise you?

According to OrthoInfo.org, a sports hernia is a tear or strain to the soft tissue in the groin or lower abdomen. It happens most often in sports that require sudden changes of direction or twisting.

Hmmm, you heard it here first, unless of course I'm wrong.  But I'm gonna guess that he injured himself with that jump on the 18th green Sunday at the Ryder Cup.  Let me rephrase, attempted jump....

Lastly, add this to to our recent spate of woe in the golf industry.  Not only are Nike and Adidas getting out of the biz, but so is Phil's BFF:

“We are paring back our golf investments in Las Vegas because the golf business isn’t

what it used to be,” Walters said. “There is too much supply and too little demand, and our operating expenses are going up double digits. That isn’t a good combination in any business. I’ve made a lot of money and lost a lot of money in deals over the years, but those are the facts about the so called ‘preferential treatment’ I got on these course deals. 

“Businesswise, these are the worst decisions I’ve ever made in my life, but at the time, they looked good. I knew the risk going in, and that’s all part of it.”

 Worst decisions?  That's quite the competitive category:

Walters is under investigation for insider stock trading, but said he couldn’t discuss the case.

I do so hate to be critical, but investigation is not a synonym for indictment.  Phil's name seems likely to come up during the trial, so stay tuned...  Oh, and you know that plea above for transparency in the Tour's disciplinary proceedings?  This would be a perfect example of why that's important.  Because I'd hate to see Phil have a jet-ski accident...