Tuesday Trifles

Folks are upset by the strangest things these days....

To Stream or Not To Stream - You might not be interested in the streaming wars, but the streaming wars are interested in you.  The subject is CBS' tape-delayed coverage from Hilton Head:

Few things rile up golf fans like watching PGA Tour events on tape delay, yet due to ominous weather forecasts it seems to happen at least once a year. 

But maybe a solution is in the works, at least for one network. 

CBS Sports, in a statement to Golfworld, said it is "re-examining our policy" after it played the final round of Sunday's RBC Heritage on tape delay and did not offer streaming options to follow the action in real time. CBS Sports held rights to the tournament, but final round tee times were pushed up due to the severe weather expected in Hilton Head Island, S.C., that evening.

Here's Shack's take on it:

If you weren't aware by now, CBS and the PGA Tourdid not see fit to live stream the

RBC Heritage final round, which featured expedited tee times to beat forecasted bad weather. 

The weather came, the golf was finished on time, and the telecast windows on Golf Channel and CBS featured tape-delayed golf as PGA Tour Radiolisteners could enjoy a live broadcast on the tour website. Social media and PGA Tour app users knew also where the RBC Heritage stood.

Unlike NBC, which has previously live-streamed golf and shown the tape-delay on its broadcast networks, CBS is holding out and blaming the affiliates, writes Golfweek's Dan Kilbridge:

I got a push notification on my iPad, which I thought said that the PGA Tour app was streaming it live, but perhaps I misinterpreted.

I guess the logic here is that we can't possibly attract the M-generation with tape delayed coverage, but the streaming audience is quite smaller, and presumably smaller still when the streaming is suddenly moved up because of weather?   Or are we just assuming that the M's are sitting in their parents' basement doing absolutely nothing?

Shack does amusingly tie it together with the week's big news:

I'm not sure what the affiliates or network partners will say after the ratings came out, but given the history of CBS holding out as long as possible to modern day trends, I fear they will say the anti-streaming strategy protected the audience size. But the PGA Tour acknowledging a reconsideration suggests that Ponte Vedra Beach wasn't too thrilled with the policy, particularly in week one of life under par where cords are cut, golf is streamed and life is a party.

There's a joke to be found in there somewhere, the confluence of "Plausibly live" broadcasts with "Live Under Par",  Live Plausibly Under Par?  OK, I can see it needs work....

The Shinny Skinny-  A confluence of items related to the U.S. Open, in no particular order.  First, a nice little tribute:

On Tuesday of U.S. Open week, the USGA will hold the inaugural Celebration of Champions, a four-hole exhibition at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southamption, N.Y., 

that will pair 2017 USGA champions in a two-player, mixed-team event. 

“It really is all about saying with all these champions what can we do more to celebrate them,” said USGA executive director and CEO Mike Davis. “To win a USGA championship is to have reached the pinnacle, whether it’s junior golf, amateur golf, professional or seniors. … And we felt we weren’t quite doing enough to celebrate them. So this is a great chance to give them a place to honor their accomplishments.”

Meh.  As you'll see, except for a certain firefighter, not a lot of familiar names:

The event’s participants include: Frankie Capan (U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion), Alice Chen (U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion), Kelsey Chugg (U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion), Noah Goodwin (U.S. Junior Amateur champion), Sean Knapp (U.S. Senior Amateur champion), Judith Kyrinis (U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion), Matt Parziale (U.S. Mid-Amateur champion), Kenny Perry (U.S. Senior Open champion), Doc Redman (U.S. Amateur champion), Sophia Schubert (U.S. Women’s Amateur champion), Taylor Totland (U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion) and Ben Wong (U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion).

Since these are all 2017 winners, can I dare hope that Diana "Open Bar" Murphy will reprise her role of handing out trophies?  Perhaps then Bethany Lang will put in a  cameo appearance....  I know, a lot of inside baseball, but it was such fun.

Fox has announced their broadcast schedule for this and other USGA events:

The USGA announced on Monday that FOX will air more than 150 hours of coverage

across its nine 2018 championships this summer, including more than 45 hours from Shinnecock Hills. 

“FOX Sports has furthered its commitment to an innovative viewing experience with its coverage of our championships, in a format that will deliver more golf content to fans around the world,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA. 

FS1 will handle the the bulk of coverage during the opening rounds, airing action from the Southampton venue from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday and 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. EDT on Friday. Evening coverage will jump to FOX from 4:30-7:30 p.m. each day. On the weekend, FOX grabs the reins, showing coverage from 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to completion on Sunday.

They paid big bucks for this package, the result of which is that we'll have way too much Buck aural pollution....

Lastly, apparently with nothing else important to discuss, the Tour Confidential panel was asked to pick their early faves for Shinny, with curious results:

​2. Speaking of betting, according to Vegas, the three early favorites for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills are Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. Yes, we’re still two months out, but who’s your early pick?

Rory?  Were these folks in an isolation tank on Masters Sunday?  Are they aware that sometimes the wind blows at Shinny?

Shipnuck: Yeah, with his win today in Spain, Rahm has now won five times in the last 15 months. Pretty stellar start to a career. Straight chalk looks good, but don’t forget Phil — in ‘04 he played some of the best golf of his life at Shinny and should have won that thing.

Alan, '04 was a while ago, and your horse isn't, Muirfield withstanding, the best wind player out there. 

Sens: Tommy Fleetwood is currently listed at 40 to 1. That’s good value, I think, especially given the linsky venue, just the kind of golf he cut his teeth on.

Shinnecock is not linksy, or even "linsky", though his value play isn't bad.... 

Bamberger: My early favorites: Alex Noren, Fleetwood, Fowler.

I assume that's only because Bernhard Langer isn't in the field?

Way too early for this, methinks.  I'm focused like a laser on who I like for The Valero....  Not!

What's In The Water Down There? -  The Aussie golf scene has so much to recommend it, though we have a couple of stories that are cause for concern.  First up, this bit of legislating from the bench:

Can you be kicked out of a golf club for being...unpleasant? Not so fast, says one Australian court. 

An Australian woman who had her golf club membership suspended after 50 years for being 'rude and unpleasant' is getting a second chance. 

Bernice Peterson was a member at Proserpine Golf Club in Queensland, Aus. from 1965 until September 2015, when her membership was suspended in the wake of allegations that she "acted aggressively and swore at other players at a pennants event." But Petersen told the court those reports "are based on personal opinions, bordering on gossip and not facts."

The strangest part of this story is of course that the club has put up with her for fifty years.... But I might have to begrudgingly conclude that the court got this one right:

Petersen confessed to 'acting emotionally on occasions' but didn't think she'd been given the opportunity to present her case. Awkward or not, she'll be returning to the club this year.

Deliciously awkward for sure.  What's not to like?

Secondly, I've been reliably informed that golf is game for gentlemen:

The Herald Sun reports that the day started with three friends — Matthew McKay, Simon Mudd, and Shaun Peterson — drinking and watching boxing on television before

heading to Broadford Golf Course just north of Melbourne. 

The dispute arose over McKay’s behavior. The 31-year-old was damaging greens, "scratching one with a flag and stomping golf balls into another." But when his friends insisted he stop, McKay headed to the parking lot, where he returned with a Smith and Wesson switchblade. 

Peterson was the target of McKay’s first knife swing before he turned to Mudd, driving the knife into his left thigh. The blade hit an artery and Mudd immediately began to sustain serious blood loss. He was airlifted to a hospital for a blood transfusion and emergency surgery, arriving at the hospital "minutes away from death," according to County Court Judge Frank Gucciardo.

The best part of this is the header, which refers to it as a "Drunken etiquette dispute".   I'll stipulate to the drunken part, but is there a party taking the position that stomping balls into greens is proper etiquette?

I'm also pretty sure that the knife would be considered a fifteenth club, so add two strokes for each hole...

The Haves and Those Other Guys - Lots of money to be had out there these days, so you might enjoy this John Feinstein story on the not so recent past.  It starts with a not atypical story of how Mike Christensen ended up toting Kevin Streelman's bag, leading to this scene:

It was all good, until a Sunday afternoon in 2010 when Streelman began the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied for sixth, meaning he played in one of the last groups. Late Sunday afternoon, a huge lightning storm swept through Bay Hill, and the players were evacuated from the golf course. Everyone headed for shelter. 

Except the caddies. 

“They wouldn’t let us inside,” Christensen says. “Kevin and the other players did everything but beg, pointing out it was dangerous outside. No. The rules said no caddies in the clubhouse—period. There were probably no more than 20 of us still on the course at that point, but that didn’t matter. It was frightening and humiliating. I was really shocked.”

They left them outside in a lightning storm with the feral dogs....  Nice.

But you know who isn't left outside?  All those Ponte Vedra Vice Presidents, as Shack posted this exhibit from the Tour's 2016 tax return:

And this:

Good times indeed!  You might think I'd be all over the big number for Nurse Ratched, but I'm more surprised at the largess for ever it's called).   Now I understand that bi of negative campaigning by Billy Hurley...  What a sweet gig!

Mayday! - It's essentially a month away, but those of us concerned about a mid-May major in the Northeast, might be interested in this posted by Geoff:

Yes, it's been unusually cold here this Spring....  But still, seems a foolish risk.

I'll be at Bethpage with the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association, so let's see how it looks then.