Late Week Leftovers

A quiet day, so we'll just have a few items for you today....

Desert Doings - The excitement is palpable.....or something:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bill Haas’s 9-iron landed to the right of the pin and spun left, settling three feet away for a birdie on the par-3 16th in the Waste Management Phoenix

Open. 

“I just tried to play the hole like I would any other hole, even though it’s not like any other hole,” Haas said about the stadium hole that was packed with 20,000 fans on the warm Thursday afternoon. 

Haas shot a seven-under 64 at TPC Scottsdale to take a two-stroke lead. The birdie on 16 capped a five-hole stretch he played in five under, with birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 and a 20-footer for eagle on the par-5 15th.

That which was even marginally interesting is unlikely to ever make it into a Tour highlight package.  First, it was apparently Throwback Thursday:

It wasn't the show the fans at No. 17 came to see. But once the Scottsdale Streaker made

his way, fully nude, onto the fairway, he held the crowd's attention. 

The 24-year-old, later identified by the Scottsdale Police as Adam Stalmach, spent his time in the spotlight practicing his golf swing, showing off some break-dance moves, and tossing sand from a bunker.

After successfully dodging several golf balls hurled his way from the crowd, he received a standing ovation before surrendering himself to security. 

Sgt. Ben Hoster, a spokesman for Scottsdale police, said Stalmach "showed signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication." Based on the below video, we're inclined to believe him.

There's alcohol at The Wasted?  Who knew?  Peter Jacobson was unavailable for comment.... Just a word of advise from my long ago memories of romance on the beach, I'd be careful of that sand....

Then there was this bank-shot from defending champion Jon Rahm:

No backstopping rant here, as this is ordinary course of business for a full shot.  

Lastly, is there trouble brewing in paradise?  Those that don't dig the 16th hole antics usually just skip the event, but pushback from this guy?

Fowler played the 16th hole early Thursday morning, before the thousands of well-hydrated fans gathered in the stands had reached their full-throated peak. But there were still a few comments from the gallery that caught the ear of Fowler, who shares the early lead after a 5-under 66. He was “disappointed” with some of what he heard from the tee box. 

“I may be somewhat of a fan favorite, but they weren’t holding back,” Fowler said. “I was a little disappointed with some of the stuff that was said, and I don’t want much negativity. The normal boos for missing a green, that’s fine, but leave the heckling to a minimum and make it fun, support the guys out playing.”

The key point is that he was in the morning wave, so I guess we'll have to watch him play it this afternoon, especially after the public comments.

Local favorite Rahmbo has some....well, pushback to Rickie's pushback:

“I heard my fair share of comments on that hole; we’re all going to, even when I was on top of the ball and about to take the club back,” Rahm said. “But then it’s as good as it can be bad. If you hit a good shot and a good putt, you get the best reaction you’re going to get in your life. So it’s both. You hit a bad shot and you’re going to get the worst reaction you’re going to get in your life.”

Shack Unplugged -  Geoff goes full-tilt boogie in the aftermath of the J.B. Holmes incident from last week and, while I share his frustration, it's quite the curious rant.  Let's give him the precious pixels to make his case:

The European Tour introduced a shot clock tournament this year in response to a growing sense the pro game takes too long. And while we have not seen the slow play "personal war" predicted by Chief Executive Keith Pelley when he took the job in 2015, the European Tour continues to suggest that it sees where the world is headed: toward shorter, tighter windows for sporting events.

Errrr...OK, but aren't we over-interpreting the Shot-Clock Open?  Which, I hasten to add, hasn't even taken place yet....  Pelley is doing interesting, albeit crazy, things as an upstart organization will, but  only with his minor events that need the buzz.

So, I'm not in love with that appeal to authority, and I like the next one even less:

Major League Baseball is working desperately to shorten games. Bold proposals will be floated at the upcoming owners meetings, even to the point of experimenting with radical 

Geoff is on a roll with his photo selections.

plans for extra innings. This comes after the first wave of pace initiatives did not go far enough.

The NBA has already limited timeouts at the end of games and cut TV timeouts. The end of a game moves better. 

The NFL attempted to address fan concerns about their long games but only made a half-hearted attempt at picking up the pace. At least they tried.

Has Geoff seen the NFL: ratings recently?  Shall we let him go on, Fair Use be damned?

The PGA Tour avoids enforcing its pace of play rules and, as we saw at Sunday's 6-hour Farmers Insurance Open that was tainted by J.B. Holmes, this is a tour rallying around a player who openly defied (paying) fans, his playing partners and common sense. He knew he could not be penalized so why rush?

We could blame the PGA Tour's slow-play apathy to now-retired Commissioner Tim Finchem's disdain for penalty strokes and his obsession with vanity optics (such as players taking off their caps to shake hands). Those concerns of the Commissioner's office about a player's brand taking hit made enforcement impossible for the tour's referees, who also face pressures in moving fields around from faster greens and distance-driven log-jams on half-par holes. 

There was hope new Commissioner Jay Monahan would follow the progressive lead of colleagues like Adam Silver (NBA) or Rob Manfred (MLB) and realize that younger fans are far more interested in action sports that take less of their time. But forget the kids. Who can watch a sport that takes over five hours and featuring players who have no regard for anyone else but themselves? Imagine paying $55 to watch a guy not play ready golf and playing only when he absolutely feels ready.

OK, I'm not a fan of six-hour rounds any more than he is, but....  I'm finding it hard to treat J.B.'s sin as anything more than a breach of etiquette for what it did to Alex Noren and Ryan Palmer.  He wasn't breaking a rule, and I don't think it's fair to imply that he was....  

Before I get serious, one more excerpt:

By signaling this week he sympathized with the supposed plight of Holmes, Monahan confirmed he will not use the power of the Commissionership to speed up play. All Monahan had to do was suggest that with high winds and pressure, it was a tough spot but the fans were right to believe this was a less-than-ideal look for the sport, particularly at a time millions of non-golf fans had tuned in for the Grammy's. 

Instead, Monahan made it hard to believe his tour is interested in gaining new fans or in addressing the concerns of longtime fans that some of today's players are just too slow to watch. The Holmes incident captured on camera what paying fans all-too-often see during a PGA Tour event: a player taking much longer than their allotted 40 seconds.

I do't think those comments were Jay's best moment, but I also don't think they meant a whole lot.  But can't we all just take a moment to enjoy the irony of Kendrick Lamar fans tuning into CBS and seeing.....golf!  C'mon, that makes it all worth it, no?

I don't like 6-hour rounds any more than Shack, but we remain without an effective process to address the issue.  The current enforcement mechanism, which puts groups that lad on the clock, seems to inevitably catch the wrongs guys with bad times.   Or catch nobody, which is just as bad....

So, I'm all ears to hear how we use an equitable enforcement mechanism to speed up these snails.... We know who the slow guys are... heck, Jason Day brags about it.  

The Best of Instagram - Shack has had some wonderful photos, most but not all golf-related.  Shall we enjoy some of them?  

How about this cute tyke with an even cuter sign?

I'm guessing he cleaned up....

Apparently Rory's Starbucks barista isn't a golf fan:

So close, indeed.  I feel certain he'd have gotten it on his second try.....

Here's one that's news to me:

Interesting.... That should be the ninth fairway in the background, which seems awfully tight....  I may have to get back there after it's open.

Get on with your day and weekend.