Back In The Saddle

Apologies for the unexpected hiatus....  A bit of a scramble wrapping things up in Utah, then yesterday was our travel day.  But we're home for good, and we'll commence our flood-the-zone Masters coverage immediately....

All Roads lead To... - Magnolia Lane, Final Answer.  Even though no one actually drives down Magnolia Lane during Masters week....

Before we get to the actual coverage, I'm just a few pages from the conclusion of David Owen's The Making of the Masters, quite the enjoyable read.  Here's David's opening sentence:

The modern golf season never ends, but it does begin.

True that, even back in 1999 when the book was written and the wraparound season was just a glimmer in the eye of Nurse Ratched.... David's subtitle might surprise some folks:

Clifford Roberts, Augusta National and Golf's Most Prestigious Tournament

To many, there will be a name missing, but if you read the book it seems appropriate.  Golf.com offers up this column on Roberts to "fact-check" his reputation, and though they cite Owen's book as

the most accurate history of the club, they differ on a couple of important stories.  First, they perpetuate the myth of a rift between Roberts and Bobby Jones before the latter's death, to which David devotes several pages to refute.  If there were a rift, it was because Roberts didn't want a disease-ravaged Jones to be embarrassed on TV, a desire consistent with his decades of devotion to the man.

More substantively, the authors see fit to use this incendiary quote from Roberts:

"As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white, and caddies will be black." 

And that's all they have to say on the subject, which is journalistic malpractice....  The reality of Roberts, Jones and Augusta National's roles in race relations of their era is complicated, but no worse than that of, say, The PGA of America, which by its own bylaws was open only to Caucasians.   

The club was frequently criticized for not inviting black golfers to the Masters, but the reality is that they simply waited until a black golfer qualified under their criteria.  It's perfectly fair to suggest that they could have done more, but so much of the criticism seems unhinged from the era in which they lived, especially given their Southern location.

In fact, after Lee Elder qualified for the Masters by winning a PGA Tour event, a member wrote to Roberts suggesting that he host Elder at the club in order that he feel more comfortable when he arrived for the Masters.  Roberts responded that he thought that a great idea, and hosted a lunh or dinner for Elder during that visit.  Perhaps of greater interest, he reminded the member that he had the right to bring any guest he wanted to the club, and didn't require Roberts' approval.

Roberts has long been accused of nefariously intervening in the infamous Roberto DeVincenzo scoring incident, with the purpose being to ensure a victor of the Aryan Nation.  I jest, but you get the gist of the assumptions involved.  Curiously Roberts was actually very close to DeVincenzo, and quietly worked after the fact to ask ANGC members to help Vincenzo (and Bob Goalby, as well), to create opportunities for them that might have been lost due to the controversial finish.

No doubt the biggest takeaway from the book is how much the club and its little tourney are an accident of history.  Oh, Bobby Jones thought big and had so many great instincts, but breaking ground on a new golf course in 1932 was a pretty risky proposition.  The club logically should have failed, and almost did many times throughout the depression.  Looking back it seems as if the Masters has always been with us, but it just ain't so....

Shall we move on?

No doubt you've heard this:

Woods announced on his website Friday that he'll miss the first major of the season for

the third time in four years. He also missed it in 2014 and 2016. 

"I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn't allow me the time to get tournament ready," Woods said. "I'm especially upset because it's a special anniversary for me that's filled with a lot of great memories. I can't believe it's been 20 years since I won my first green jacket. 

"I have no timetable for my return, but I will continue my diligent effort to recover, and want to get back out there as soon as possible."

I'm sure that  Steiny's apology to Brian Wacker is in the mail....   It's the twentieth anniversary of his 1997 win and you know he'd love to promote his book, but better not to embarrass himself.  

I'll just note that the calendar doesn't get an easier for the man, if he still wants to give it a go.  Erin Hills is a notoriously difficult course even to walk, and Open Championship weather can't be a pleasant prospect for an old guy with back issues....

Are you ready for some Masters scripting?  I know, but trust me here....First the obligatory stuff:

And here's the payoff:

That's of course one of Geoff's April Fools Day posts...  Not quite up there with Tim Herron's scripting, but that's tough standard to match.

Dinah Doings - The ladies are playing their first major of the year, the one that mirrors the Masters in all important ways.  Here's an update from Golf.com....  Not.  Because in their infinite wisdom, Golf.com has nothing on the event to be found on their home page....  Oh, they've got real estate for that master scripting and they'll help you stop shanking, but women's golf?  Not cool, guys.

So, here is a game story from Golfweek, focused on the Korda sisters:

Rookie Nelly carded a pair of 69s in the first two rounds of the year’s first major to sit one shot back of leader Suzann Pettersen, who paces the field at 7-under 139. Meanwhile 

Jessica, 24, posted a sizzling 67 on Friday afternoon to get to 3 under for the tournament. 

The Kordas endured a marathon day as half the field had to complete the first round Friday morning after high winds suspended play. 

The leaderboard heading into the weekend features a host of big-name players, including major winners Michelle Wie, Inbee Park and Cristie Kerr in a share of second place with Nelly at 6 under. Play was called at 7:03 p.m. local time Friday evening due to darkness. Fifty-six players have yet to finish the second round.

There's also a gaggle of talent at -4, including Lydia and Lexi...   Should be a fun weekend, if the ladies interest you.  And perhaps you should give them a look, as the only thing coming out of Houston is social media nonsense.

Media Fails - Anyone out there a Grayson Murray fan?  He's been beclowning himself on Twitter, and he doesn't have the game to back it up.  It started when fellow rabbit Kelly Kraft tweeted to the effect that those playing on the Euro and Asian Tours were overrated in the OWGR and therefore able to gain access to the majors and WGC's.  Now this is an arguable point, but the logical reaction to it would be to, you know, go play in Europe or Asia.  Instead, Mr. Murray got personal:

Ben An with the tip-in:

The full exchange is here, which also drew in Thomas Pieters.  But this is probably all you need to know:

For the record, Pieters is ranked 34th in the world, An 55th, Murray 155th, and Kraft 178th.

Next up, Jordan Spieth, who stunk up the joint in Houston and missed the cut.  Asked about next weeks event, he had this to say:

“I think we know, and the other players that are playing next week know, that we strike fear in others next week,” Spieth said. “So that’s our idea, that’s going to be my confidence level going in, and we’ll step on the first tee ready to play.”

I'm not sure which is the more curious, the concept of fear or the use of the first-person plural adjective.  There's no need for him to be defensive about missing a cut, but all that he really needed to say was that he'll be ready next week.  

We haven't had a Shark citing in a while, so good to see the Great White One on Fox continuing to bloviate about his partnership with Verizon and the disruptive technology that will change the world of golf on October 1, 2017.   Video here....

Shack also delights in this inconsistency:

Thanks to reader LC for this BBC interview with Greg Norman explaining why Rory

McIlroy was right to accept President Donald Trump's invitation to play golf. Apparently this was a placeholder discussion as we await Norman's Q3 plans to revolutionize the game. 

More mesmerizing is Norman recounting the story he's told many times about not wanting to golf with Bill Clinton, only to have President George Bush set him straight. Norman admits to that round changing his perspective of Clinton and even becoming friends with the former president. 

Why that experience didn't stop Norman from suggesting more than once that President Barack Obama was playing a "hefty" amount of golf, is a mystery. Or worse, hinting Obama's supposedly flippant approach to keeping score was the sign of character issues. Or the Shark weighing in on any of this!

Heaven forfend that I put a damper on any Shark-bashing, because Lord knows he has it coming....  But given that the entire media treats Presidential golfing in the mirror image to this, I'm gonna give him a pass.

Journalism Fail - If you're going to write an article, is it too much trouble to connect a few dots?  Someone named Kevin Cunningham writes for Golf.com (not a good day for them) with this "news" about Phil Mickelson and the trial of Billy Walters:

Phil Mickelson's name has once again surfaced in the federal insider-trading case involving professional gambler Billy Walters.

Court documents revealed that Mickelson gave Walters $1.95 million in the summer of 2012 to pay off gambling debts, according to the New York Post.

Last year Mickelson was forced to pay federal regulators $1.1 million for benefiting from investment tips received from Walters, though the golfer was not charged with any wrongdoing. According to the feds, Mickelson paid off his large gambling debt just months after earning nearly $1 million through Walters' tips.

To be clear, Mickelson is not facing any charges in the trial, and last week his lawyer said that if called as a witness, Mickelson would keep his silence under the protection of the Fifth amendment.

Now, that's the entire article, Fair-Use be damned.

Those court documents that that revealed the payment?  I'm guessing there's a context to this payment, perhaps the prosecution alleging that the money came from the illegal stock trades?  Perhaps your item might have been better if you had shared that?

There does seem to be a little newsiness here...  First, the amount is higher than I've previously seen.  I had thought it was just over $1 million from previous accounts.

Also, the intention to refuse to testify I'd not previously seen, and I have to wonder if it's accurate.  I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on television, but there's a concept called use immunity, which requires testimony but precludes the use of such testimony to prosecute the individual.  I understand that golf writers might not be well-versed in such subjects, but one assumes they have Google and a telephone.

Lastly, the coverage of this story continues to evidence a stark lack of interest in what I consider the most intriguing unanswered question, which is why this gambling debt was not satisfied.  My highest regard goes to that intrepid journalists that asks Phil, perhaps at his Masters presser, whether it his practice to not pay his gambling debts....