Your Friday Frisson

Employee No. 2 is still miffed about her stinging 4&3 defeat on Wednesday, demanding a rematch this morning...  So, let's get to it without further ado.

R.I.P., Roberto DeVincenzo - Sad news broke yesterday afternoon about the passing of the great Argentine:

De Vicenzo enjoyed a decorated playing career, one that included more than 230 worldwide victories across five decades. The pinnacle came in 1967, when he won The Open by two shots over Jack Nicklaus at Royal Liverpool. He also represented Argentina 17 times at the World Cup of Golf and captured the inaugural U.S. Senior Open in 1980 at age 57.

But of course that's not what first comes to mind upon mention of his name:

But De Vicenzo is most well-known for perhaps the biggest gaffe in major championship history. Facing the prospect of an 18-hole playoff with Bob Goalby at the 1968 Masters, De Vicenzo signed for a par on the 17th hole when he, in fact, had made a birdie. The scoring error stood, and Goalby won the tournament by a shot.

From his N.Y. Times obit:

De Vicenzo told Sports Illustrated in 2008 that he had earned lucrative appearance fees as a result of the mistake. “I’ve gotten more out of signing the card wrong than if I had signed it correctly,” he said.

“Every now and then,” he added, “I will drop a tear, but I’ve moved on. I got to see the world through golf. No one should feel sorry for me.”

As I noted back in April after reading David Owen's book, much of that was the result of the efforts of Clifford Roberts.

That link above includes the highlights from his Open Championship...  It's way too long to be considered a highlight package, but it's there for when the biblical rains come next week.

He was a well-liked man, who absorbed one of the games epic injustices without bitterness....  He'll be missed.

Playahs Gonna Play -  Skack blogs this WaPo item via a charming anecdote from the late Frank Hannigan:

Our late, great friend Frank Hannigan always pointed out to me that the New York Times 

seemed spectacular until they covered a topic near and dear to your heart by exposing their weaknesses or all-out knowledge blind spots. 

So while I’d respect the Times and Washington Post’s efforts to scrutinize the goings-on in Washington, the WaPo’s story on sagging business at Trump Ferry Point seemed like a headline reach (“Business sags at Trump’s New York golf course as players stay away"), which didn’t reflect a mostly-balanced piece of reporting from a small sample-size.

Weakness?  Bias?  Whatevah.... Geoff, you weren't paying attention, he was warning you not to trust them on anything.... Oh, and it goes way beyond the header.

Business sags at Trump’s New York golf course as players stay away

OK, that sounds fairly dramatic, so how bad is it?

President Trump’s newest U.S. golf club — a luxury-priced course in New York that opened in 2015 — reported a 12 percent decrease in revenue over the past 12 months, as its banquet business sagged and golfers played fewer rounds.

Is 12% a sag or modest decline?  Depends whether there's a "D" or "R" after the name....  But the piece is a fine example of the genre...  This 'graph, for example, is just priceless:

From the records alone, it is impossible to tell whether politics played a role in the business decline at the Trump course. In the 2016 election, Trump lost the neighborhood around the course by 53 points, and New York City as a whole by 60.

We don't know whether politics played a role, but since it supports the narrative.... And just to keep your head spinning, we'll throw in an irrelevant data point to confirm that we don't know anything about golf or New York City.... But wait, they're not done displaying their ignorance:

One expert on the golf industry said that a revenue decline of 12 percent should be “nothing alarming” for a course such as this one. Tom Stine, whose ­Florida-based Golf Datatech does market research on the golf business, said that something as simple as rainy weather could cause a drop in demand.

“Public courses are more affected by fluctuations in weather than private courses are,” Stine said, because private courses have members who still pay their dues, even if it’s too wet to play golf.

So, did it rain more?  It must have, because despite their layers and layers of fact checkers, that's one fact that goes unchecked.  And that last bit is oh so helpful to the reader....

I'm too lazy to Google this guy, but wanna bet he's not exactly an impartial observer? 

But Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates, said he thinks the Trump course’s troubles go beyond weather. 

“It’d be hard to imagine, with all the controversy associated with the Trump name, that it’s not impacting the fortunes of this course,” Croft said.

Vive la résistance!

Despite two bylines and the entire WaPo infrastructure, they missed that little elephant sitting in the corner (as did Geoff, as well).  For more than a decade, New Yorkers have watched this course take shape as they transited the Whitestone Bridge between The Bronx and Queens.  But the essence of this type of high-end daily-fee golf course is that you play it once out of curiosity, but it's too pricey for regular play.  The challenge is to draw them back again, but given the cost and the rather awkward location, that's a really big challenge.....

Dunluce, Revealed -  The new and improved Dunluce will soon be played for the first time.  What's a Dunluce?  Sigh, you really should be taking notes...

The Open Championship might be two years away but the new look Dunluce Links will be in play for the first time in a championship when Royal Portrush hosts the Cathedral

Eye sponsored North of Ireland Amateur Open from July 10-14. 

Golf’s oldest major visits the Causeway coast in 2019 and Ireland’s top amateurs have first look at what awaits the world’s best, providing they enter by June 12. 

Two new holes have been added to the famous links and play will now finish at what was originally the 16th. After playing the 189-yard (sixth) Harry Colt’s, a stunning par-three perched above White Rocks beach, players turn right into a valley where they will encounter a new challenge. 

Holes seven and eight run parallel to the coast, high dunes concealing the shoreline as play sweeps through previously uncharted territory.

That's one of my own photos of the 13th green, the background of which is the land into which the two new holes were cut.  The dunes are so dramatic, there was little chance that these new holes would be anything less than spectacular, and the video at the link confirms.

Don't miss the recreation of the famed Big Nellie bunker on the right side of the landing area of the new 7th....  It's a great links, and should be a great addition to the Open rota.

Values for Life - No word if this young lady is a First Tee graduate, but I'm a sucker for these stories:

A young golfer in Minnesota turned herself in for accidentally signing an incorrect scorecard, costing herself and her team the opportunity to play at the high school state tournament on June 13, according to PGA.com.

Kaylee Gossen, a junior on Marshall High School's varsity golf team, realized after her round was over that she'd unwittingly signed an incorrect scorecard. When comparing her score on the 16th with the scorecard her parents had kept for her, she realized that she had been mistaken. Gossen brought up the issue with her coach and then with tournament officials. She was ultimately disqualified. "I realized I needed to do the right thing, losing my shot at going to state," Gossen said. "I knew walking in there...I started tearing up. I knew I was going to be disqualified, but it was the right thing to do." 

"I don't have words to express how proud I am of her," said Gretchen Flynn, Gossen's coach. "She could have left there and nobody would have known the difference but her."

 Young lady, can I buy you a drink?  OK, perhaps not, but you rock...

Martin Kaymer, Unplugged - See how you react to these comments:

Speaking in serious tones and filming himself in a dimly-lit room, Martin Kaymer posted 

a video defending Tiger Woods and issuing a plea to his critics Thursday afternoon following Woods’ Memorial Day arrest on suspicion of DUI. 

“Hey, guys. I have something to say that bothers me already the past couple days, to be honest,” Kaymer says to start the Twitter video. “Obviously a lot of people know what happened to Tiger Woods the last few days, few weeks. There’s so many comments, so many opinions. They are so unfair and so disrespectful, in my opinion.” 

“He inspired kids, teenagers. He inspired all of us,” Kaymer said. “I find it so nasty that people just kick him while he’s already on the floor, and at the end of the day it’s just using someone else for your own sadness. Yes, he’s in the public eye, he’s in the spotlight a lot, so of course people will talk about him. But why be so nasty? Why don’t you try to do the opposite and help him now in the way he inspired us? … My wish would be, stop being so nasty. Try to help. We all want to see him happier and hopefully one day see him play golf again. That’s my only wish.”

Who ya calling nasty?  Care to step outside and settle this?

Give the video a look-see, as the combination of amateur noirish lighting and Martin's German accent might not produce the effect he was after...

I think it's great that the players are trying to be supportive of Tiger, and I do hope that's of comfort to him.  But a cynic, and I try never to give in to that vice, would note that today's pampered superstars aren't exactly impartial observers  of the scene, as they're the major beneficiaries of the boom in purses and endorsements resulting from Tiger's meteoric career.  So, when you say that he inspired you.... OK, point made.

But Martin, can you not see where Tiger's fans might be a little put off by the man at this point?  I mean he had us convinced of what a great family man he was, and that didn't exactly pan out...  In recent years he's not exactly been forthcoming about his physical condition and game...  The folks at Silverado expected him to show up and the mark that wrote him a seven-figure check to come play in Dubai might be a tad miffed... No word on whether Bridgestone and TaylorMade think they got played, but we can make an educated guess...

I certainly hope he comes to terms with this latest problem, especially since there are two youngsters in need of a father.  But as I've noted recently, he's not distinguished himself as a particularly worthy human being....  As I said above, I'm happy to see the players rally around him, I'm just not especially swayed by their arguments.

Have a great weekend.