Late Week Laments

I don't have much left in the tank, as far as blogging is concerned....  But the good news is we've got a howler for you, though I'll make you wait a bit....

Hartford Happenings - I'm always surprised that the elite players who go to this event the week after the Open, but at least this year it's a short drive private flight:

Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson atop crazy good leaderboard at Travelers Championship

Of course, one of those guys cleverly arranged to have last weekend off.

LEADING: As far as Thursday leaderboards go, it doesn’t get any better than this. Two multi-major winners share the lead with Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson in front at 7

under, while Rory McIlroy is just one back at 6 under. 

Johnson was the only member of said trio to make the cut at last week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he finished T-12. 

Spieth is the defending champion here and looking to repeat after last year’s thrilling hole-out bunker shot for the win. He’s been stuck in a putting funk all season and didn’t make anything over 36 holes last week, but that all changed with a 63 Thursday. Spieth made six birdies and an eagle, with a lone bogey at the par-4 15th.

It's Rory that's of interest now, who had these comments: 

“I’m trying to get back to the way I swung in 2010, 2011 and it’s sort of hard because my body’s changed quite a bit since then,” the 29-year-old, whose muscular frame now is a far cry from the scrawny teenager of days gone by, told reporters.

“The feeling I have now is the feeling I had in the middle of 2009.

“That’s basically what I did over the weekend. I got a feeling that really resonated and brought me back to a time when I was swinging really well, and sort of went with that feeling."

So, Rors, your body just up and changed on you?  An oddly passive construction that, given the long hours in the gym.

Also, it's one friggin' round, just a tad early to be declaring victory.  

The Curse of Shinnecock -  A fascinating after-action report in The East Hampton Star:

The circus has left town. And won’t be back until 2026. You missed a doozy. No

elephants and only one Tiger (briefly), but lots of clowns and cops and barkers and ushers and walking billboards with names like Justin Thomas and Zach Johnson and Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson. 

There were protesters too. While the pros were teeing off, the Shinnecock Nation was pretty teed off too. They were marching and carrying signs. Unlike the insiders, however, they never complained about wind or rain or slope of the earth. The Shinnecocks are accustomed to the natural elements and receive them all as gifts from the Creator.

Though they don't seem any happier with the USGA than that Phil guy....

They're also not crazy about that logo:

The golf course logo is a different matter. It’s insulting — it’s a cartoon Indian with a big hook nose wearing a war bonnet festooned with an arrow and a putter. Like a kindergarten coloring book circa 1955. So the tribe requested a redesign or a flat-out removal. They got neither. Shinnecocks don’t have much luck when negotiating with the white man, not here, there, or anywhere.

A big hook nose?  Hey, we're on your side....

A timeline is provided, with the troubles appearing quite early:

1703 — The Shinnecocks sell 3,200 acres to the colonists for $2,500 (or $67,500 in current currency) but retain a 1,000-year lease. Such a decision demands forethought and unity.

1859 — A document is presented to the New York State Legislature that shows the Shinnecock Tribe has agreed to sell off parcels of that sacred leased land to some powerful businessmen. The tribe calls the document preposterous — they would never sell out their ancestors, and never undermine their own 1,000-year compact. The document has 20 Shinnecock signatures. Of those 20 names, 10 are not Indians and the other 10 are dead Indians.

Par for the course. There is a railroad coming through and a golf course to be constructed and mansions to be built.

It's way above my pay grade to deal with the injustices to indigenous populations, so I'll not opine thereon.  But the tribe remained involved in the maintenance of the property until more recent times:

1999 — Peter Smith is demoted without stated cause. Crestfallen, he decides to manage a course in Rhode Island. Sixteen of the 20 Shinnecock grounds crew go with him. Shinnecock Hills will never be the same. Tournaments in the future will be criticized and condemned. No one calls this the Curse of the Shinnecocks. Someone should.

See, it's not Mike Davis' fault....it's a curse.  Can you get a mulligan for a curse?

More Lefty, But Just a Bit - We all deserve a Lefty-free day, but life isn't any fairer than golf.  But we'll be brief, I promise.

I got to that Dylan Dethier item on the Phil rule ahead of Shack, though he had this Lee Westwood tweet that mirrored my thoughts about its applicability to a certain noted golf hole:

 To summarize, Phil's strategic brilliance is only practical under the following narrow scenario:

1. The ball must be headed towards a yellow-staked water hazard and the across said hazard must be truly terrifying (to be forever known as The Sergio Codicil), and;
2. The player's time in the scouting combine 40-yard dash must be about half of Phil's, because those greens are really fast (we'll call this the Lumpy Codicil).

There two points I'm looking to make.  First, neither Phil nor any other player would ever pull this s**t at Augusta.  'Nuff said?

The second point relates to this from Shack's post:

I would normally argue that the honesty of the players and fear of being ostracized by their peers would make this unnecessary. But with the USGA coming to Mickelson's rescue week without even a single word of disdain for his behavior, and in a world of backstopping and players snickering at Mickelson's actions, it's time to cook up the new rule before this shameful stuff happens again.

But this is the place we've reached in golf: to explore such a decision in the next rules of golf, the USGA would first have to come to terms with not condemning the behavior in any way that might deter repeat offenders. Strange times.

I don't have the energy for a full-throated rant, but you all know how I feel about the PGA Tour's disciplinary procedures, both the the lack of severity and transparency.  DJ, as an example, has failed three drug tests, none of which have been publicly confirmed....  If your primary concern is for the Tour's reputation, you keep such information in the family.  If your concern is for DJ, then you disclose the violation and use shame to force him to deal with the consequences.  

Phil has obviously been coddled, and that which is rewarded is repeated.  Want an example?  The PGA Tour has a bylaw prohibiting associating with known gamblers.  yet Phil received an insider trading tip from such a gambler, to whom he owed in excess of $1 million, yet has never been suspended....

I noted previously that the USGA was in an awkward position to come down hard on the guy, having screwed the pooch incurred the Shinnecock Curse with hole locations on Saturday.  But fortunately, in this case some combination of the media, private discussions with rules officials and the reactions of fellow players rose to the level where Phil needed to shut it down and issue an apology...  And he only left Amy hanging out there for three days.

Mike Bamberger had a series of non-tweets on this subject that are all close to on point:

3. Amy had it exactly correct on Father’s Day: Phil had a bad day in the office.Too bad he didn't acknowledge that after playing on Saturday. 

4. On an emotional level, most people, I among them, think Mickelson should have been DQ'ed. It's the rulebook that kept him in, just as it did John Daly in 1999 at Pinehurst. Should the rule be changed? Yes. 

5. I miss the old stern USGA. Mike Davis is a truly knowledgeable and caring golf person. He had nothing to apologize for Saturday night. Courses change with the wind, literally and figuratively.

 As for No. 3, who does that to their wife?

As for No. 4, it was the USGA that saved Phil....  They interpreted the rules to get the result they wanted, which I'm mostly OK with.

No. 5 is the most interesting, because it is a very different USGA these days.  Their reticence has arguably gotten us where we are with equipment, requiring setting courses up on the edge to create a stern test.  But his point about courses changing throughout the day is important, but there also has to be a point where we can't allow playing conditions to change that radically from a 10 mph increase in wind.

Shall we move in....

The Living Brand - I'm so old that I can remember when Greg Norman was so shy that the naked pictures he shared were mercifully from the waist up....

Fortunately Alex Myers has been plowing this field for some time...Alex is back with behind the scenes from ESPN's The Body Issue, featuring none other than The Shark.  

The Greg Norman "Body Issue" pictures are in and they're . . . well, you decide

Shall we?  This one is actually on the tame side:

Is that an old persimmon club?  Because if so, the caption "Greg Norman With Wood" kinda writes itself.... But get a look at this one:

Anyone up for a caption contest? 

Eamon Lynch jumps in to inform us that great golfers have been cernterfold material for way longer than I realized:

These Guys Are Good!  That said, I'm unsure how long it will be before I can keep food down....

Enjoy your weekend.