Midweek Musings

Shocking news from the fishbowl in which we swim....

Now We Have Two - From Wikipedia, the plot summary for the episode titles The Foundation:

Jerry tells Elaine that he had a perfectly mutual break-up with Jeannie over the summer.

And to think you were convinced that I'd go with the Lip Reader episode:

Gwen breaks up with George, saying "it's not you; it's me"; George is offended, as he considers this to be his signature break-up line.

See, blogging is about choices....  So, where were we?

Phil Mickelson and his longtime caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay are ending their working relationship, according to statements released in a joint email to reporters on Monday. 

"After 25 very rewarding and memorable years, Bones and I have mutually decided to end our player-caddie relationship." Mickelson wrote. "Our decision is not based on a single incident. We just feel it's the right time for a change."

Mackay wrote the following in his statement, "Player-caddie relationships don’t often last that long. I will always be grateful that I was around to witness so much of Phil’s career." 

In their storied career together, Phil and Bones have captured five major championships (three Masters titles, one PGA Championship and one British Open) among 41 total PGA Tour titles. 

Mickelson notes that his brother Tim will carry his bag for the rest of this season.

I for one didn't see this coming, as they remain a great couple...  And one last bit of schtick on the way out:

When Phil hired me in 1992, I had one dream: to caddie in a Ryder Cup. Last year, at Hazeltine, Phil played in his 11th straight Ryder Cup. It was so cool to have a front row seat. 

I wish Phil nothing but the best. His game is still at an elite level, and when he wins in the future (definitely the Masters), I will be among the first to congratulate him. 

I do want to say for the record that I did not use my “veto” this year. I would like to pass it along to Tim, in all its glory.

Ah, that unused veto that Bones somehow didn't employ near the hospitality tent at Winged Foot.... Good times.  As for the Ryder Cup, he can wax nostalgic because he wasn't at that Gleneagles presser....

Steve DiMeglio says what most of us are thinking:

This is Lucy divorcing Desi. In a pressure-cooker sport in which some caddies change partners as often as Taylor Swift rotates beaus, Phil and “Bones” working more than 550 tournaments together with not so much as a single public spat borders on being a miracle. 

Let’s be real: The fact “Bones” didn’t strangle Phil on numerous occasions makes him something of a saint.

But what a curious choice of analogies, since Lucy and Desi did, in fact, get divorced....  But this to me is interesting:

This has been their relationship – the ability to needle when the time was right, but stand as a united front in the toughest of circumstances. And there were plenty of them. Mackay might have wished for a dozen vetoes a season, but he never showed any signs of second-guessing his man in public. 

In fact, Mackay has said repeatedly that he’d encourage Phil to make the same decisions he did on the disastrous 72nd hole of the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. 

Mackay saw too many miracle shots – like the rifled 6-iron through the trees at Augusta’s 13th when Mickelson seized the 2010 Masters – to doubt that Phil would fail at anything he tried.

For them to have survived together so long, Bones had to be on board with the nature of Phil's needlessly reckless play....  Or, perhaps that was the only way he could play.  

But, they'll always have Memphis:

“I do think every time I come back here, 25 years ago to the day basically on Monday, Tuesday, it was at Farmington Golf Course was the first day that Bones and I ever worked together. It was exactly 25 years ago this week,” Mickelson said on June 7. “Every time I come back here to Memphis I always think about that and that particular moment.”

 Shocking.  But at least they stayed together long enough for Amanda to graduate from High School...

Rumors quickly spread that Bones had a bag waiting, but this presumably throws cold water on that:

Bones doesn't need to deal with that volcano at this stage in his life....

Unsurprisingly, Twitter is not taking it well:

Yes.  To Keegan Bradley....  I know, that's a cruel thought, at least for Bones.

Monahan Rules - I must admit that I find this item as shocking as the one above:

The PGA Tour is beefing up its anti-doping policy by adding blood testing next season.

The tour also is bringing its list of banned substances in line with the World Anti-Doping 

Association. The revised policy takes effect in October at the start of next season. 

Blood testing will allow the tour to detect any use of human growth hormone, which is on the list of banned substances but cannot be detected through urine. The tour, however, still plans to use urine samples for most of its drug testing next season. 

The tour says it will report any suspensions for drugs of abuse. Under the current policy, the tour is required to announce when a player has been suspended only for performance-enhancing drugs.

The important part is the drug testing, necessary to detect the use of any PED's....  Commissioner Ratched did his best Inspector Clouseau on this for years, to the detriment of our game.

I am also glad that they will announce any violations related to "Drugs of Abuse" as well.  I'd have no problem if they decided to not test for those, but the farce of DJ's jet-ski accident is unworthy of a major sport.  More importantly, I don't think it actually was helpful to the user....  Name and shame, and hope they clean up their acts...

Shack writes of the benefits of transparency:

• Say goodbye to rumor mills. Without transparency, seemingly healthy players who took any protracted leave were increasingly susceptible to suspension rumors. Golf’s rumor mill can reach levels of absurdity not seen in other sports. But gossips and conspiracy theorists can no longer seize on the Tour’s secrecy policy. Transparency is a powerful antidote. 

• Player image … boost? The PGA Tour attracts fans in part because the athletes are incredibly clean-living lads. The new policy and the anticipated absence of announcements will only reinforce their purity and quiet those who have been suspicious of the PGA Tour’s secrecy.

Now we'll know the guys are clean, as opposed to just taking Tim's word for it....  Assuming, of course, that the testing regimen is serious.

As for Geoff's assertion that slow-play is next, that seems like wishful thinking, though Jay has been surprising us with some regularity.

But props to Jay Monahan for having the cujones to move on from the Ratched era.  I know this is motivated by the Olympics, but he seems like he knows what he wants to do and isn't afraid of the consequences.  We could do far worse...

U.S. Open Leftovers - So, Erin Hlls?  Jaime Diaz has some thoughts:

Let’s make clear that Erin Hills was far from perfect. Even if it had played firm and fast, the fairways were too wide. Koepka, who was seventh in driving distance with an average of 322 yards, also hit 88 percent of the fairways (4th in the field), an impressive statistical combination that allowed him to hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, a phenomenal 86 percent that led all players. 

Yes, it was very nice to see drivers come out. But it was obvious that slightly flared drives, a soft-landing miss that is a “safety shot” for the longest hitters, weren’t sufficiently punished.

Of course, with firm and fast conditions they would have played much narrower, but then the course would have played shorter.... But he gets the yin and the yang of it pretty well:

But even if Erin Hills was fair and visually impressive, still up in the air is whether it passes the U.S. Open’s ineffable atmosphere test. It was widely felt that over all, this Open felt a little flat. 

I’d agree, but would put lack of urgency down to the cautious setup and the unluckiness in getting wet, windless weather. Erin Hills was too friendly, perhaps unavoidably so, but it didn’t provide the truly edgy test of skill and mental strength that most differentiates the U.S. Open. 

“It would be a lot of fun to see this place firm and fast,” said Rickie Fowler, T-5. “It might just be a little bit more of a mental headache if we do get to see that.” 

To its credit, Erin Hills at any time offers the chance for a shots that might not be tried amid the tighter confines of more traditional Opens. The most vivid memory of the four days will be Justin Thomas’ majestic 310-yard wood to 6 feet and an eagle for 63, which until further notice is the greatest second shot to a par five in the history of the U.S. Open.

Left unsaid?  If you need firm and fast conditions to create the right kind of test, what are you doing holding the event in June?  In so much of the country, June is too hot and wet...

Gary Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette uses Jack to carry his water:

“I think that the USGA has gotten away from their identity with what they’re doing. I do,” Nicklaus said to reporters after his news conference at Muirfield Village last Tuesday. “I happened to like the U.S. Open the way it was.”

“I just happen to love what I grew up on and I thought that the era that I played in, I thought that the golf courses were fantastic,” said Nicklaus, a four-time U.S. Open champion who won his first at Oakmont in 1962. “They’re getting away from that. And I don’t know whether that’s good or bad, it’s just different.” 

Let me answer that. It’s bad.

OK, but it might have been nice if you let Jack finish his thought, recognizing that he might, at this point, be a cranky old guy:

And I'm not sure that I thought that was what a U.S. Open should look like, I don't want to be an old fogey about it and say that everything that we did was the right way. There's other ways to do it and they did it a different way and I think they had a great tournament.

But Dulac's though is a tad extreme in his own way:

If it were up to me and not Mike Davis and the USGA, I’d play every U.S. Open on the great, traditional, classic and iconic courses in our country, not these pop-up daily-fee facilities designed to bring the national championship to the public golfer, which, to me, is like playing the Super Bowl at Cupples Stadium on the South Side.

But I would also limit the U.S. Open to a handful of sites, like the British Open does with its rota system, sites with history as thick as the yellow pages. And I would limit the venue to five courses — Merion, Winged Foot, Shinnecock Hills, Olympic Club and, of course, Oakmont.

Notice what's missing?  Yup, Pebble, Pinehurst and Oakland Hills:

They just don’t carry the same mystique, challenge and historical magnificence as the five sites I prefer.

Really, no history at any of those....Curious.

Now, that mention of Oakland Hills was curious, especially with these rumors floating around:

The USGA is committed through 2026 with a greatest hits collection that includes Shinnecock Hills, Pebble Beach, Winged Foot and Oakmont. USGA executive director Mike Davis said that “in a few months, we’re going to name another tried-and-true.” 

Insiders predict Oakland Hills’ South Course, a Donald Ross design near Detroit that has hosted six U.S. Opens, will get the call in 2027. Erin Hills should return soon after as another anchor of the Midwest. 

USGA executives love that owner Andy Ziegler was willing to close Erin Hills to public play in October, taking a financial hit with the payoff of perfect conditioning.

Ugh!  I guess you can't make everyone happy.....

A couple of inside baseball items, first from Shack:

Bring back the walking official. 

On the list of world plights, the demotion of rules experts walking alongside each U.S.

Open group barely registers on the spectrum. But in trying to avoid a repeat of various rules-related imbroglios, the U.S. Golf Association’s decision to re-assign officials to stationary hole duty may have set players up for embarrassment while taking a bit of joy away from career Rules of Golf devotees. 

“You get invested in the group,” Fay said at Erin Hills, where he worked as Fox’s rules expert. “If there is an issue, the official is right there. You can help a player not do something stupid. And you get the best view of the action.”

Plus, some of these guys need the exercise.... I have no opinion here, as it comes down to efficacy.  I'll just note that "investment in the group" is an odd way to sell it, no?  But the guys sitting on lawn chairs is a bad look....

This seems ominous, no?

Mimi Griffin, CEO of the hospitality sales company handling the event for the USGA, says there is a big shift occurring in demand toward more modest tables and nimble offerings.

Fading away are the 100-125 ticket "chalets" that have crept closer to play and cost $325,000 at Erin Hills. In? More table packages with a

prediction from Griffin that after the next two years, we'll see fewer classic corporate tents. 

“The 100-ticket tent is going by way of the dinosaur,” Griffin said from a suite overlooking the scenic sixth green at Erin Hills. “Smaller, nimble and daily, that is what the market demands.” 

Hospitality offerings at Erin Hills ranged from the platinum premier package along the 18th hole, which cost $325,000 for 125 tickets for the week, to a one-day table package for $9,225 along the 13th hole that included 15 tickets. 

Griffin said hospitality sales at Erin Hills were down about 10 percent from last year’s event held at Oakmont outside of Pittsburgh. “It is not drastic, but noticeable.”

But does smaller, nimble and daily generate the same revenue?  Because the USGA needs its war chest so that it can....  well, we're not sure why, but it needs it.

A couple of loose ends from the week, first Jaime Diaz:

ERIN, Wis. — For veteran golf scribes, it was a jarring moment. On Thursday, Rickie Fowler, one of the most popular players in the game and arguably the best current player

never to have won a major, had shot 65 in the opening round of the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. In the first official round on the longest course ever to host the world’s best players, his score tied the championship record of seven under par for a single round.

And yet Fowler, known for being cooperative with journalists, chose to skip coming into the media center for the long traditional sit-down, post-round interview before what would have been a packed room. 

Instead, he gave his comments at a microphone standing before a smaller group of scribes outside the Erin Hills clubhouse in the so-called “flash area.” As the term implies, the format is fast and compressed, with fewer questions, shorter answers and little chance for follow-up. There’s an unmistakable sense that the player is in a hurry.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this, because while Jaime lays this on Rickie, he then provides an historical perspective that lays the blame elsewhere:

Inevitably, that sense of obligation started to change as players became more wealthy and didn’t feel as much urgency to take advantage of opportunities for exposure. Fred Couples was indifferent during group interviews. Tiger Woods knew he couldn’t escape them and consistently fulfilled what he was constantly told was his responsibility, although sometimes grudgingly.  

It was the Woods era that gave birth to the flash area. Woods learned to take advantage of its expediency more and more, until the flash areas became the predominant venue for his interviews. Phil Mickelson moved in the same direction.

But how the game has changed:

Naturally they favor the flash area. One of the biggest losers in this sequence is Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, who effectively serves as the golf writer for all the newspapers who never had or no longer have a golf writer. Because of his constant deadlines, he doesn’t have time to leave his computer to wait at the flash, where he knows it will be difficult to ask more than one question. When players do come to the media center, Ferguson, who has the most urgent need for the latest material, asks lot of questions, many of them good ones that usually produce answers that benefit every journalist present. But without players coming to the media center, such “good stuff” will be lost.

To be fair, most of the guys don't have much of interest to say....   

Lastly, I haven't seen Sunday's numbers, but the ratings were pretty dreadful all week:

The third round overnight rating for Fox's U.S. Open third round telecast drew a 2.55, tying last year's rating for the lowest third round on record and down 24% from the 3.35 Fox drew it's first year at Chambers Bay. Do remember these numbers do not account for streaming views. These are also the longest viewing windows in the history of the U.S. Open--nine hours Saturday, nine-and-a-half on Sunday.

The third round overnight, if it holds, is actually lower than last year's Open Championship third round (2.75) on NBC, which was played in the morning hours vs the U.S. Open spilling into Saturday night prime time.

That last bit is telling, given the difference in broadcast windows.  But when Chambers Bay is your high-water mark....

Rehab -  You've probably heard, but:

Tiger Woods, issuing his first public statement since Memorial Day arrest, said Monday he is receiving assistance with prescription pills and the way he handles back pain and sleep issues. 

“I’m currently receiving professional help to manage my medications and the ways that I deal with back pain and sleep disorder,” Woods tweeted. 

“I want to thank everyone for the amazing outpouring of support and understanding especially the fans and players on tour.”

That seems wise....  One just hopes he takes it more seriously than he seemed to take his sex addiction counselling back in the day.

Now Comes The Hard Part -  We'll keep our eyes on this one:

As first pointed out by Bunkered Golf Magazine, Jordan Baker (aka @OfficialBakes on Twitter) has successfully completed the first two legs of the golf gambling Grand Slam. It's part of a four-event parlay in which Baker took Sergio Garcia to win the Masters, Koepka at the U.S. Open, Rickie Fowler at the British Open, and Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship. 

If you're thinking, those are some long odds, you're right. One MILLION-to-one odds in fact. Baker's two-pound bet will fetch him two million pounds ($2.52 million) if Fowler and Thomas are able to win the season's final two majors. Here's a look at the potential golden ticket, with which the lucky (genius?) Baker has been taunting bet365, the online book where he placed the wager:

Rickie isn't a bad call for an Open Championship, nor is JT for steamy Quail Hollow.... 

I'm In - We'll close with this important announcement:

It's officially time to start thinking about the 2017 British Open

The course: Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

This classic course has hosted the Open nine times, most recently in 2008 when Padraig Harrington won his second straight Open championship. His daring approach on 17 which led to eagle and ultimately a four-shot victory is still fresh in our minds as the world’s best prepare to take on Royal Birkdale yet again. Featuring small fairways and sand dunes around the greens, accuracy is a must at this par-70, 7,156-yard venue. Camilo Vilegas’ 5-under 65 was the lowest score from any player in 2008.

Birkdale is the best of the English venues, if you can get past the odd clubhouse.  Beautifully-framed driving corridors are featured, though tighter than many of the other venues.

More importantly, we'll have a month or more of linksy goodness, featuring the Irish and Scottish Opens in the two weeks leading up to it.