A Blogger's Conflict

I love you, I really do...  with a love as pure as the driven snow.  Hence, the dilemma, as there's 9" of fresh stuff out there, and with winter temps back it might even be dry and fluffy.  Picture a warm knife through butter....  OK, let's get done with this.

The Bromance, Further Thoughts - It's rare that I beat Shack to a major item, but I got him by a day on the Bambi profile of Pete Bevaqua.  His header tells where he's headed:

"It may go unsaid, but Donald Trump wants something from the PGA of America."

It goes unsaid because he's Trump, it's in his nature.  But here's Geoff's take on that which he might covet, using this excerpt:

The PGA of America has two of its events scheduled for Trump courses, the Senior PGA Championship in May and the PGA Championship in 2022. Trump and the Trump

Organization would gladly welcome more PGA of America events. A great golf prize for the Trump family would be a Ryder Cup on one of its courses on either side of the Atlantic. (Venues have been selected through 2024. The '26 Ryder Cup appears to be headed to Ireland. Trump has two Scottish courses, in Turnberry and Aberdeen.) Eric Trump—now in charge of running his family's golf business in conjunction with Larry Glick, a Trump Organization executive—would naturally love a U.S. Open, a British Open or a PGA Tour event at any course bearing the Trump name. Long before Trump was elected, the USGA awarded Trump National Bedminster with the 2017 U.S. Women's Open. But given some of the extreme language used by Trump as a candidate and some of the positions he has taken as president, it seems unlikely that the PGA Tour, the USGA or the R&A, administrators of the British Open, will be eager to choose another Trump venue anytime soon.

Here's Geoff's take:

I disagree. Should the PGA Championship move to May, Trump Doral is a no-brainer as either a future venue or replacement for one of the northern venues currently on the PGA Championship schedule.

Perhaps, especially since that venue just lost its annual Tour event.  But one of those northern venues to be abandoned is Bedminster, so isn't that pretty much a push.

The Ryder Cup speculation is interesting, but only barely.  The thought of one of Trump's GB&I venues getting a Ryder Cup is laugh-out-loud funny....Yeah, they go to the highest bidder (and there's trouble with the Italian venue in 2022), but that's the one check they won't cash.... Funny that Bambi notes that the '26 RC is rumored to be going to Ireland, but doesn't mention Trump has real estate there).

As for home games, they're already going to New York in '24, so it's not likely to return there anytime soon...  Trump likes his prizes YUUUUGE, and in golf that means majors....  there's only three organizations that have those to award, so why whould be surprised to see him schmoozing the head of one of those groups?  Especially one that's already given him a big one...

But no one expected him to win, and the political terrain is risky looking forward.  Even a flatworm is smart enough to turn away from pain, so a bold projection...  Risk averse administrators will award nothing to Trump in the near future.  I'm not exactly sure of the definition of near future, but they'll keep him in the game but not sign anything....

Mike Hargrove, Call Your Office - I'll get to that in a second....  The news comes from the R&A, who has a new initiative on offer to combat the scourge of slow play:

“Ready golf” is to be implemented at this year’s Amateur Championship as the R&A steps up its attempt to improve pace of play in golf, with chief executive Martin Slumbers insisting that players like 
Jason Day have a responsibility in that respect as “role 
models”.

Don't ask me what those icons are in the excerpt, call The Scotsman instead.... Now, there's nothing wrong with this, and a couple of things might surprise you.  First, they actually have Ready Golf Manual available for review...  OK, it's not actually a page-turner, not least because it's only one page....

The second notable factoid is as follows from the Irish Close Championship:

A strategy used by the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) to improve pace of play in August’s AIG Irish Close Championship staged on the Glashedy Links at Ballyliffin proved a hit among players and tournament administrators.

Windy conditions meant that the average round time for Round 1 of the Championship was 5 hours 15 minutes, over 50 minutes longer than the time par of 4 hours 25 minutes for the links course. 

After identifying the challenges facing the players, the GUI implemented a directive to play ‘Ready Golf’ during the next round in order to improve the pace of play.

Anyone here familiar with Ballyliffin?  Excuse me, beloved Ballyliffin, that is.... For newcomers to this blog, that's where I cut my teeth on this blogging thing...

I can imagine that event on the Glashedy in a strong wind....the fairways are not excessively wide there, but if you miss the fairway by a yard your ball is in long marram grass that folds over on itself and, should the ball dive, good luck stepping on it, because that's about the only way to find it.

But what has me amused is the R&A promoting ready golf....wait for it, at a match play event.  Which, of course, is the one time you can't play ready golf.  They're using it for the 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, but isn't this a tad confusing for folks?

Oh, and Slumbers has some other odd things to say:

Slumbers also called on the top professionals to respect the game’s etiquette at all times after American Pat Perez sparked anger by not even attempting to shout “fore” on more than once occasion during the Geneis Open in Los Angeles on Sunday, hitting a spectator on the head with one wayward drive. 

“The safety of spectators is a key part of the etiquette of our game,” insisted the R&A supremo. “I wouldn’t think twice about shouting “fore” if any ball was heading towards another player, and I think that’s a standard that should be adopted at all levels of the game.” 

Asked if he thought that culprits like Perez should be fined or even banned, he added: “A lot of that is up to the tours in terms of how they want to work with their players. But there’s something about the integrity and the values of of this game that is different to pretty much every other sport. I think the etiquette of the game is as important a matter as the individual 34 rules. I don’t see any reason why any player at any level should not follow that etiquette.”

OK, so if it's up to the Tour, why are you sticking your nose in?  FWIW, Geoff tells us that the spectators at that hole can't see or hear anything from the tee box.... 

OK, that header....I thought of Hargrove because Shack started his post with this news from baseball:

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, in collaboration with his quisling associates in the players’ union, is apparently ready to do away with the normal and basic baseball act of four balls leading to a walk. He and they have agreed to a scheme by which the intentional walk doesn’t physically occur, but is simply motioned for from the dugout.

This is revolting, not just because Manfred is a dope who doesn’t understand the first thing about why people enjoy the sport he’s in charge of, but because the intentional walk is good baseball. By its nature, the traditional intentional walk call sets up a comic situation and then, once in a while, delivers.

To bring things full circle, Mike Hargrove was the Ben Crane of baseball:

But with a better nickname...  He is forever known as The Human Rain Delay.

My Eyes Didn't Pop - But your mileage may vary.... Alex Myers files this hiomage to DJ's ascension to No. 1 in the world, with all sorts of fun numbers about the ranking.  A small selection:

683: The number of weeks Tiger Woods has held the top spot. That comes out to more

than 13 years. 

598: The number of weeks all 18 golfers other than Woods and Greg Norman (331) have held the top spot combined. 

281: The number of weeks in a row Woods held the top spot from June 12, 2005 to Oct. 30, 2010. Woods owns the second-longest streak also at 264 weeks. The third-longest stretch is Greg Norman's 96-week run from June 18, 1995 to April 19, 1997. 

8: The number of full calendar years Woods spent in the top spot. Nick Faldo (1993) and Greg Norman (1996) are the only two other golfers to do it.

Tiger's dominance was other-worldly for sure.  Let me offer up my favorite factoid as well.  There was a time during Peak Tiger that he was so far ahead of No. 2 (who happened to be Phil), that if you had any world ranking points you were closer to Phil than Phil was to Tiger....  Think about that!

Doing The Jobs Americans Won't Do - Like this blog, for instance....  Alan Shipnuck's mailbag feature is making my life very easy.  Like this:

"Will Phil Mickelson win a tournament ever again?" -- S. Dunne (@warmheart_88) 

The cruel thing about golf is that you never know when you’ve had your last victory. Phil has been playing at such a high level for the last 31/2 years, and yet he hasn’t been able to get it done. Think about some of the guys who have won on Tour in that stretch; Mickelson has way more game than many of them. But winning is a delicate, ephemeral thing. Arnold Palmer perfectly expressed the capriciousness in a 2011 interview with Charlie Rose: "Once you vary, and you lose that thing … What is it? Sometimes it’s hard to put in place. What is it? I’m not sure I know. I’m not sure Jack knows. … Can you get it back, can you get that thing you can’t put your finger on and get hold of it and choke it and keep it? Boy, that’s a tough deal. … It could be a psychological thing. You say, ‘Well, I’ve done it.’ Then you say, ‘I want to do it again.’ But it isn’t there. You can’t find it. You can’t grasp it. You can’t hold on to it." 

It’s hard to image Phil will never win again. He’s done it. He wants to do it again. But can he find it and grasp it and hold on to the magic that has carried him to 42 Tour wins? I’m not so sure.

I'm gonna put you down as a "Maybe"....  But choke it?  Not only does that veer dangerously close to you-know-what, but we try to stay away from the "C-word" in general.

All I'll say is that while I think he'll catch lightning in a bottle again, he'd best do it soon.

Now this answer is Passovian:

"What is your favorite hole at Augusta and why?" -- Ryan (@Therealsneek1) 

I love standing behind the 3rd green, because you get to see a lot of fun, funky approach shots and can also peep the tee shot on 4. I’m a big fan of No. 5, because it’s a tough drive and a crazy green and that hole is never crowded. Laying in the grass on the hill below the tee at the par-3 6th used to be one of my fave spots, but it’s become too jammed up with seats and assorted jabronis. Still, it’s fun to watch the shots into that green as well as the putts on 16, which is adjacent. Standing behind the 7th green used to be more fun before the hole was stretched out because guys were hitting shorter clubs and could more effectively feed the ball down the slope; still, it’s a great vantage point, and now there are more chips and pitches, all of which require a sound understanding of gravity and geometry. Few fans make the trek to the 11th tee, and it’s a heckuva view from back there—the tee shot is so scary, and it’s a nice intimate spot. The amphitheater behind the 12th tee is quite grand, but the players are so far away while putting it’s tough spectating. I love the 13th hole, but it’s become too short for most of the pros, taking some of the excitement away. No, my favorite hole at Augusta National is the 15th. The second at the par-5 is the ultimate do-or-die shot; it seems like the ball is in the air forever, and the suspense is agonizing. Those who bail out long face one of the toughest pitches on the planet. I spend much of Masters week in the back row of the grandstand left of the green, which allows me to turn around and look down on the tee shots at the par-3 16th. Golf heaven.

OK, I'm gonna put you down for "All of them".  What I do like about the answer is the focus on the front nine, which remains a blur to most of the golf public.  You know, the nine they wouldn't let us see for decades...

Is this because it's, you know, in English?

"What are odds that DJ is actually the one tweeting from his own Twitter account?" -- Anna (@AnnaH247) 

Very close to zero.

Alan seems to be advocating for a CBS intervention:

"If you were commissioner for a day, how would you improve the telecast? My kids love golf but can’t watch it for one minute." -- Chad (@KennyDaGambler) 

1. All players and caddies must wear microphones, and their dialogue supersedes that of any paid commentator.

2. Tap-ins shall never be shown…unless they’re missed.

3. If the CEO of the title sponsor is interviewed in the 18th hole tower, we all get a free car.

4. ProTracer is mandatory for every tee shot.

5. Any fan who yells “Mashed potato” or other such nonsense will be taken to a guillotine behind the 18th green, and their execution will be shown live and then replayed with the Konika Minolta BizHub SwingVision.

6. Players are hooked up with heart monitors on Sundays.

7. Mandatory on-course interviews for the leaders, particularly after they’ve made bogey.

8. No question in said interview may begin with, “Talk about…”

9. Kelly Rohrbach shall be given a sponsor’s exemption to every tournament.

No. 2 seems curious, no?  Alan seems to have not considered the possibility that they might show a golf shot live and not know the outcome.... As for No. 4, The Masters seems to keep us interested, with no ProTracer at all.....  Just sayin'....

And he goes out on a high with this:

"Best 18 holes across Pebble, Spyglass, and Cypress? #AskAlan" -- Kevin (@vedderkj) 

Oooooh, I like this one. To make it more interesting, I decided the holes have to keep their actual number, so of the three opening holes, clearly I’m taking No. 1 at Spyglass. I also wanted to bring it home in a total par close to 72. Let the disagreements begin: 

No. 1 Spyglass, par-5

No. 2 Cypress Point, par-5

No. 3 Spyglass, par-3

No. 4 Spyglass, par-4

No. 5 Pebble Beach, par-3

No. 6 Pebble Beach, par-5

No. 7 Pebble Beach, par-3

No. 8 Pebble Beach, par-4

No. 9 Pebble Beach, par-4

No. 10 Pebble Beach, par-4

No. 11 Cypress Point, par-4

No. 12 Cypress Point, par-4

No. 13 Cypress Point, par-4

No. 14 Spyglass Hill, par-5

No. 15 Cypress Point, par-3

No. 16 Cypress Point, par-3

No. 17 Cypress Point, par-4

No. 18 Pebble Beach, par-5 

Total par: 72 

Joy this course would bring you: infinite

This is fun, at least for golf nerds....  It's funny how this works, because Spyglass peaks early, Pebble in the middle of the round and Cypress, well, except for the first and last holes, it's perfection.  The 9th and 10th at Cypress are pretty special as well, though very short....

Spyglass is the underrated one of the old Clambake rota, but back in the day it was really a hrad track.  The most famous quote about the three comes from Jack, who opined that Cypress Point and Pebble mad him want to play golf, but that Spyglass made him want to go fishing....