Bonus weekend content for you ungrateful wretches....
Tiger, the Postmortem - It wasn't pretty, my friends:
SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods’ game was better on Friday at the Farmers Insurance Open, but still not good enough. In making his first official PGA Tour start in 17 months, hehad to do two things that he abhors at golf tournaments: One, pack for home on Friday; and two, depart without a trophy.
“It’s frustrating not being able to have a chance to win the tournament,” Woods said after a level-par 72 on the North Course left him at 4-over 148 for two days. “I didn’t make the cut. Overall, today was better than yesterday. I hit it better. I putted well again. I hit a lot of beautiful putts that didn’t go in, but I hit it much better today, which was nice. We fixed a few things while playing today, which was nice.”
But not nearly nice enough. Woods will have the weekend off in SoCal due to a sloppy four-hole stretch on the South Course on Thursday that he played in 5 over par. He went from 1 under through 11 holes to 4 over through 15, and on a course that yields very little in return, barring a low round in tough conditions Friday, he basically was done.
It takes some combination of delusion and brass-plated you-know-whats to talk of winning after failing to even sniff the cut line... And while he perhaps played a little better on Friday, that's setting the bar awfully low...
I'm unable to find it in the coverage, bu is post-round presser was bizarre even by the standards of the genre. He seemed more concerned with how his body will react to the 17-hour flight to Dubai, as opposed, say, to the fact that he couldn't find a fairway with a sextant....
This is about as optimistic a take as can be found:
“Playing tournament golf is a little bit different than playing with your buddies at home in a cart,” he said. “I need to get more rounds under my belt, more playing time, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
It’s progress of a sort, at least, that he’s finally come off the bench. There also are the statistical improvements; he hit 10 fairways on Friday, six more than Thursday, and 11 greens in regulation, up from nine.
More reps, got it.... He'll have no shortage of reps in the coming weeks, unless of course he keeps missing cuts...
Good on Alex Myers, in his preview of weekend sports on TV, for a timely caveat:
1. Tiger Woods vs. Torrey Pines: Well, maybe. Woods first has to make it to the weekend for us to watch him and he likely needs a great second round after a Thursday 76 at Torrey Pines left him near the bottom of the Farmers Insurance leader board. In any event, this is the first big tournament of the year and a great opportunity for golfers to shine as football fans wait for next week's Super Bowl.
It was Torrey in a TKO.... And to think it was mere days ago that people thought the contract with Tiger might induce Adidas to hold onto TaylorMade.
Golf Channel's amusing Tiger Tracker outshone Tiger himself in his optimistic summary:
• Let’s start with Tiger’s exit. He may have missed the cut Friday at the Farmers Insurance Open, but, dammit, he left with his glutes activating! There’s a victory in that. There’s hope in that when you remember how he left here two years ago, slumped in a cart, withdrawing with back spasms, leading to more physical woes that year.
Good times! That's why I laugh when folks note that this is Tiger's first MC at Torrey... Talk about your fake news....
Now perhaps the strangest part of the week was the performance of Tiger's playing partners, arguably the two best players on the planet. both of whom shot 74 on the easier North Course to miss the cut. We'll turn to the gent using the nom de Twitter Tweeter Alliss for the definitive word on both. First the Aussie:
Rounds were taking about 5:20 out there, at least on the tougher South course, so I'm sympathetic. But players aren't allowed to choose with whom they play, and it's probably worse if you're behind him....
As for DJ, the subject is Great Expectorations:
Majestic, indeed. Tiger has also been guilty of this in the past, and I just don't understand the need....
But we cling to our faves like a dog with a bone, so I must remind all of the high water mark of the genre:
No majors, but he split the uprights with this loogie.....
Phil, Unplugged - Golf.com has rolled out a platform for the work of Alan Shipnuck called The Knockdown.... Beats me what a platform is, but he's quite good, so more Alan is better than less.
He has a long and wide-ranging interview with Phil that you can listen to here, though it's a full hour of talk. I haven't listened to it yet, but they've also transcribed some of the more obvious bits, including this on Tiger:
According to Mickelson, Woods' ideas during the Ryder Cup were instrumental in thegame plan that helped deliver the Cup to the Americans after eight years of European domination. One example Mickelson mentioned was moving the tees back on par-5s when shorter hitters were playing, so they could take advantage with their strong wedge play. And, for the bigger hitters, moving the tees up so they could attack the green in two.
"I don't know what it is but the last three or four years he's been much more approachable and engaging with the guys and really fun to be around," Mickelson said. "Guys grew up, on the team, idolizing him and watching him, and to have him support you and talk to you and be with you has been really fulfilling."
I know, not exactly rocket science, is it? But good to know the bromance continues....
But you know your humble correspondent just can't resist.... Because of the long podcast, they cleverly provide this listing of subjects covered:
Why Phil needed offseason surgery (4:01)How Bones likes to use his yearly veto (17:05)The dumbest shot he ever played (18:18)His Tuesday money games (25:10)Why settling up bets quickly is vital (29:20)American Ryder Cup strategies (34:00)His relationship with Tiger (39:32)Why golf is his therapeutic release (41:15)And much, much more...
Can you guess which one of these topics intrigued me the most? Anyone? Bueller?
It's that one that comes at the 29:20 mark.... If settling up quickly is imperative, Phil, praytell how you came to have such a large gambling debt outstanding to Billy Walters, requiring an insider stock tip to satisfy? Just askin'...
A Bunched Leaderboard - I've no interest in the event, but funny is funny:
There are bunched leader boards and then there's what's taking place at the Qatar Masters. Through two rounds, nine (yes, NINE) players are tied for the lead at the European Tour event.
Since we strive for fair coverage, here's a list paragraph of the names currently tied for first at eight under par: Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jeunghun Wang, Jaco Van Zyl, Andy Sullivan, Thomas Aiken, Nacho Elvira, Bradley Dredge, Mikko Korhonen, and Jorge Campillo.
Nacho Elvira? Who says the best names are on the LPGA?
Sneak Preview - There aren't many new golf courses being built, so it's a delight to be able to anticipate one... and Bradley Klein will have us salivating:
BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – Even at Streamsong Resort, which rests on a massive, 25-square-mile mining site, the newest addition is noteworthy for its vast scale.
Architect Gil Hanse’s Black Course, the resort’s third track, fills up a 300-acre stretch that wraps around the south side of the property. The land here is more foreseeable in one big vista, stretching two miles from west to east and transitioning elegantly through three distinct landscape rooms that Hanse describes as “valley, sand ridge and glove.”
Wow, 300 acres is a large site for one course, but don't beat yourself up if you don't know what a glove is, because I'm pretty sure he made it up:
By “glove,” he refers to a central stretch of open, low-lying terrain (holes 1-2, 7-11) with a steady uplift on the western side to dramatic, billowy sand ridges (holes 4-6) and a fascinating little formation nearly sunken in effect – think Tobacco Road in its complexity – at the far eastern end (holes 13-17). The drama of these large-scale landscape rooms is enhanced by the ease with which holes 3, 12 and 18 transition in and out of them.
I hated Tobacco Road as much as any place I've played, but I'll not overreact.... and it gets only better:
Streamsong Black includes a full practice range, something the resort badly needs.
There’s also a clever six-hole short course Hanse completed and a Himalayas-style putting course. It all makes for a major enhancement of a resort that already had established itself on the golf map.
It just moved up a few notches on my list...
The Merchants of Orlando - The PGA Merchandise Show is winding down in Orlando, and there's no shortage of technology to be found. First up, a cure for the obvious weaknesses in simulator golf:
Virtual Green from Full Swing GolfOne of the shortcomings of golf simulators has always been the lack of realistic putting surfaces. That’s not the case with Virtual Green, which is more realistic and adaptive than others before it. Made by Full Swing Golf simulators, which has found its way into the homes of PGA Tour players like Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, the Virtual Green product (starts at $38,500) allows golfers to choose the type of break and speed of a putt. Thousands of pinpoint undulations on the green replicate the putt the user selects —downhill, uphill, left-to-right, right-to-left, etc. — all that’s left to do is practice your stroke. -- SH
Get that sucker down to 500 smackers, and we can talk....
This seems pretty clever:
ToughLie 360Replicate any lie with this portable teaching aid. Just rotate the device around to simulate downhill and uphill lies, and when the ball is above or below your feet. The ToughLie 360 is designed to be used as a tool to help you practice your short game or full shots. -- SH
Usually you have to go out on the course to try the gamut of shot conditions, so that's impressive in a simple way.
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