Tuesday Tidbits

Let's continue our catch-up process....

Northern Exposure - DJ's insane drive on the playoff hole provides today's "Math is Hard" moment:

Dustin Johnson got himself into a playoff, and he didn't hold back. 

Evidence of this was his drive on the 467-yard, par-4 first playoff hole, which led to a birdie and a playoff victory over Jordan Spieth at the Northern Trust on Sunday in Long Island. 

Johnson took a line directly over the pond and his drive measured 341 yards—the longest of the week on 18. He had 94 yards remaining to the green (and stuck it inside four feet) compared to Spieth's 174 yards he had left.

OK, I agree that the 80-yard difference between the two is a wow, but DJ's lne turned the 467-yard hole into a 435-yard hole.  Not something we see every day.... 

Given the ease with which he carried the water, one wonders why he didn't take that line the four previous times.

The guys, led by Ian Poulter, were highly critical of the hole...  Let me clarify, those that can't carry it 315, were highly critical.

You might recall that I played there last year in the Met. Open Pro-Am, and it's a God-awful golf hole for everyone... The problem is that any normal human's drive leaves a downhill hanging lie, for a long shot played to a substantially-elevated green.  If you're looking for a definition of architectural malpractice, you could do worse.

One last note on a subject that has long amused me, the linkage of sponsorships and events.  As I understand the Tour's style book, this event, which became the Northern Trust Open this year, is to be treated as if it carried that name from inception.  Barclays therefore becomes the equivalent of a non-person, to be airbrushed out of history like certain Commissars in the review stand for the May Day parade.

But Jim Nantz broke the rules in noting that this was only DJ's second playoff, the first having been at Riviera, when the event was sponsored by, you guessed it, Northern Trust.  But that event is now sponsored by Hyundai, so inquiring minds want to know if they have a cause of action...  Or is Northern Trust treated differently because they're still in the family?  Having, strangely enough, traded the sponsorship of an event in a city in which they have no significant presence for an event in a larger city in which they have no significant presence?

Who's Got Next? - That would be Fred....  As in Fred Ridley....  We'll start with this Tim Rosaforte puff piece, and the C.V.:

Fast-tracking through the hierarchy, Ridley became Walker Cup captain in 1987 and 1989. Five years later he transitioned to the USGA Executive Committee, ascending to

president in 2004 after working on the Championship, Amateur Status and Conduct and International Team Selection committees. 

The door to membership at Augusta National opened in 2000, and the new member was quickly put to work as Chairman of the Cup and Tee Marker Placement Committee. When Payne became chairman in 2007, Ridley was named chairman of the club’s Competition Committee. For the past 11 years, he has basically run the tournament under the direction of Payne.

That's a lot of boxes checked, and he'll be the first Chairman that has actually played in their flagship event, three times to be specific.  Anyone recognize the other guy in this pic of Fred from the '76 Masters?

Tim's profile is of a low-key man liked by his peers:

“You could see it early on in Fred,” Koch said. “We go back to high school golf, back in the late ’60s. He was always a guy that did things the right way, that was very respectful of the game and everything the game stands for. He was a bright guy, very smart, and he figured out through college his golf game wasn’t probably going to serve him later in life as a means to making a living. At a pretty young age, when a lot of kids are indecisive about what the future held, he certainly wasn’t.” 

Ultimately, this is how Ridley found his calling in golf administration. One of his mentors was former USGA president Reg Murphy, who took a liking to Ridley.

“I think he’s one of the really good people in golf,” Murphy said. “He’s courteous as can be on a golf course. He’s just a fine human being.”

But our Shack sees clouds on the horizon:

Payne's likability makes the choice of Fred Ridley as successor a bold and curious move. 

While Ridley has been a dutiful lieutenant as chairman of the rules committee who also

helped right the ship on Masters course setup following the cynical and shallow Hootie-Fazioapproach, it's still not clear what Ridley thinks of Augusta National's architecture. The former U.S. Amateur champion, former USGA President, former IMG agent, former Walker Cup captain and current lawyer is also strongly linked to the USGA's most unsuccessful presidency: the Walter Driver years and nominating committee aftermath.

Driver and Ridley, serving as past-presidents heading the Executive Committee nomination process, have driven the corporatization of the USGA via the nominating process, resulting in the organization taking credibility hits for failing to acknowledge the role of distance and for emphasizing the stockpiling of wealth. 

There is one counterpoint to those repulsed by the organization's infatuation with the dollar: the USGA had to stockpile cash to be ready for a legal fight over distance. It's never been clear if that's where Driver and Ridley stand.

 Shack's got more, but I'll just give you his call to arms coda:

New chairman-Ridley could either be the perfect person to help pave the way for bifurcation using the power of The Masters, or the worst person possible for the job if he's determined to keep sweeping the matter under a tapestry of tees, rye grass and trees. 

Good luck, Mr. Ridley!

I think it's fair to assume that Shack has written off the actual governing bodies in this regard, not that I necessarily dispute that conclusion.  But it remains a big ask of this club to assume responsibility for saving our game....

The other amusing issue to me is that in none of the coverage of Ridley's assumption is there mention of his biggest cock-up, Tiger's famous drop on No. 15.  It was our new Chairman that brushed off David Eger's concerns and failed to speak to Tiger, only to be confronted later by Tiger's unwitting testimony in a media interview.  Not a hanging offense perhaps, but not a good look for the new boss either....

Rio Loco, The Return - Rex Hoggard returns to Rio and provides some good news:

An Agence France-Presse report last November described a layout overgrown with natural vegetation and nearly devoid of players. But as the anniversary of that historic

hand-over passes it appears the rumors of the layout’s death have been greatly exaggerated. 

“The visions of an Olympic course that was going to be overgrown and left to waste didn’t occur. There seems to be a genuine desire to create white elephants when the Olympics are over,” says Mark Lawrie, the R&A’s director for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

In April, when Lawrie returned to the Rio course, he found a much different reality. Although he admits the volume of play hasn’t been what officials hoped for, the course itself remains playable with conditions Galvão contends are better than what the world’s best competed on for medals a year ago.

Fair enough, though Shack and others are I fear reading far too much into this.  One hopes that this is more than wishful thinking:

The remainder of that growth will be homegrown via an ambitious green-grass plan that begins in elementary school. 

“We have to implement the golf legacy from the Games. We need to increase the number of golfers through social inclusion,” Galvão says. “It’s important to have a partnership between the public and the private school to bring kids to the course.” 

Every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon, Galvão and his staff offer free lessons to new players, both children and adults, on the Rio course practice range. Players graduate to the small four-hole course from there. Galvão says those clinics are currently fully booked, a sign, however anecdotal, that despite the public perception of golf being only for the elite, there is at least a passing interest in the game.

But reality has a way of intruding:

Galvão’s optimism is contagious and he’s confident his plan, which he will present to the IGF and R&A later this month, is a rare mix of financial responsibility and social activism, but the challenges he and his staff face can’t be ignored. He sees them every morning on his drive to work. 

Green fees for foreigners at the Olympic course are about $150, a reasonable sum for a tourist to play the same course where Justin Rose won a gold medal, but resident rates range from about $75 on the weekend to $50 on a weekday, which are both outrageous sums for a country where the average monthly salary is $678. 

“I would say a little bit,” Galvão concedes when asked if those green fees might be too expensive.

This is a country that can't process the sewage created by its citizens, so forgive me for playing Debbie Downer.  But should they be worrying about golf?

Best Job in Golf? -  It's either Joe Passov or Matt Ginella, but don't struggle too much making the decision, because they have the same job.

the latter files a two-part video series on golf in Ireland, that might wet one's whistle....Part I, which starts at the over-rated Cliffs of Moher, but the time in Lahinch is well-spent.  Not only is it a spectacular links, with the unlikely design lineage of Old Tom and Dr. Alister MacKenzie, but it's great hipster surfing town.

But it's Part II that I really highly recommend, as it concludes with  Matt on the links with our old friend John Farren at Beloved Ballyliffin.

Not. Gonna. Happen. - We love taking the air out of delusions of grandeur, but this one has far too low a degree of difficulty:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Los Angeles is a town defined by stars and the stages

on which they perform. It has the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys, the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl and Hollywood Bowl. Go big or go home, as they say. 

This is the underlying principle that animates Michael Yamaki, a prominent criminal defense lawyer and power broker in Los Angeles sports. 

“Los Angeles is a town that only comes out for the big events,” Yamaki, a board member of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, said here last week. “But it’s got to be the main event. When it comes to the big events we can showcase and do it better than anyone else.” 

So it is that Yamaki, who runs Riviera Country Club as its corporate officer , is determined to host championships and competitions commensurate with the course’s standing as one of the finest in the country, No. 24 on Golf Digest's ranking of the 100 Greatest Golf Courses, in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world. 

His is a short wish list long on history that starts with the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup.

They just had a cameo with the USGA, an U.S. Amateur in which way too many balls were lost because there were no spectators.... 

Laid back LA and The Ryder Cup seem an especially bad fit, no?  But how do you think this elevator pitch will work out:

“If Merion [site of the U.S. Open in 2013] can do it with that footprint, we could do it. It just has to be a mindset for the USGA. [The Open] has been such a money driver today that everything is getting bigger and bigger and needing more and more space. In that regard we’re limited. The course certainly holds its own. But here’s the difference. You can make more money here with less volume than you can any place anywhere else because in LA they’re used to paying higher prices. 

“With the USGA, we drove by San Vicente [Blvd.] and Allenford and saw a Union Station and gas was four dollars a gallon. How much is gas for you? Well, this is how much gas is in this area. You go go a Lakers game it’s $75 for valet parking. In LA we would pay a heftier price.”

Come here, we'll let you rip us off....  It's an historic club and a fine course, but we already see it every year.  And, as the author notes, he'd be better focused on a PGA, whose options will have shrunk by the move to May.  But neither Merion nor the PGA's visit to another regular Tour stop, Quail Hollow, were particularly successful.

Things We Already Know - Jason Sobel tackles the subject of the effect of pairings on the quality of play, with predictable results:

Ask most touring professionals and they'll usually insist that there are extremely beneficial playing partners and ... other guys. Which is to say, when players receive their

early-week text messages revealing first- and second-round groupings, most will celebrate the positive discoveries, but won't grouse about potentially negative ones. 

"I usually play well when I have a fun group, guys who I like," Pat Perez said before the opening round of The Northern Trust. "This week is going to be fun as s---. I've been playing against [Charley] Hoffman since I was 7. [Brian] Harman is cool as s---. We're going to have a great group."

the conclusion is spot on, that it shouldn't matter but it does....

Most people think of this issue in terms of quality of play, but the second obvious point is on pace of play.  Mostly quick players complaining about the slowpokes, though this was interesting:

There's the negative impact: During last year's third round of the Masters, when McIlroy 

Didn't your experienced caddie tell you to slow down?

played with Jordan Spieth and -- stressing this was an explanation, not an excuse -- said the slower pace of play affected his focus.

Then there was the 2011 Masters. 

"When I played with Angel Cabrera on the last day," explained McIlroy, "he was almost too quick for me and [it was] almost like I started to rush. I'm a fast player, but the pace of play was almost too quick, to the point where we were waiting so much on the group ahead instead of me maybe just taking my time and walking a little slower in between shots."

That's the reaction of an inexperienced player, with predictable results.

But this was my favorite bit:

You play with Ernie Els and by the end of the day, your rhythm is better.

Well, yeah!