Tuesday Tastings

Spanning the globe....  Best of all, we've got another golfer behaving badly.  Really, really badly, though we'll make you wait for that one.

The Bjorn Enigma - There's movement on the Euro qualification lists, so shall we have a gander?  First, the home points list, from which the top four qualify:

And now the world list, with the automatic qualifiers again bolded:

His high finish at the Nordea Masters has vaulted Thorbjorn Olesen over Rafa Cabrero Belo, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey on the outside looking in.  Shack had an amusing note from Captain Bjorn on this very player:

I'm not sure if the best European Ryder Cup team on paper remains so in Monty's mind after this week's move by Thorbjorn Olesen, but we have time to mull! At least on

current form, however, getting Olesen on the team appears to be a positive. Particularly since Captain Thomas Bjorn has already said he will be hard-pressed to pick his fellow countryman for fear of looking biased.

Olesen has spent most of the season just outside automatic range, but has always been in consideration for a pick.  I'm not sure why Bjorn would preemptively accuse himself of favoritism, as the decision will be agonizing in any event.

This guy makes the case for Sergio, though the header and lede might be the more compelling arguments:

Forget his form – Sergio is a must for the Ryder Cup

He might have missed the cut in all four majors and he won't be part of the FedEx Cup Play-offs, but Mark Townsend believes Sergio Garcia should be off to Paris

After the endless questions, year after year after year, of when Sergio Garcia might win a major, there is a chance that he might never play a Ryder Cup having finally won one.

The irony, she burns.

There's obviously a case to be made for Sergio, it's just that there are alternatives....  Cap'n. Bjorn has four picks to use, based upon current standings, the following list of names:

Poulter
Casey
Rafa
Stenson
Garcia
Fitzpatrick

And how to interpret this? 

Henrik Stenson won't earn one of the automatic berths for Team Europe when Ryder Cup 

qualifying ends in two weeks, far behind in both the European and World point rankings the club uses to construct its roster. Depending on perspective, Stenson's latest decision could signify his belief that he's already on the team via captain's pick. 

Stenson announced on Monday that he's pulling out from the Northern Trust at Ridgewood, the first leg in the PGA Tour's four-tournament postseason.

It could well come down to Henrik v. Sergio for that last slot.   last go around, the choice of grizzled veterans backfired spectacularly, though the range of alternatives then was less appealing.

The Playoffs, A Preview - I expected Golf.com to inevitably run a feature pumping us up for the playoffs, I just never considered that it would be penned by Mike Bamberger.  Bambi as as crusty a veteran golf writer as we have, at least that's not named Dan Jenkins.  

I'm just thinking he must have effected some kind of transaction with the devil to get caught with this:

This week, the Tour stops in New York. Then, Boston, then Philadelphia, then Atlanta. (I 

continue to think of the Tour in terms of a map with dots on it connected by hand-drawn red lines. That, of course, is how the Tour got its name. It’s a tour.) Those four events comprise your FedExCup Playoffs, to use the spelling Ponte Vedra is pushing. Occasionally but not often you will hear a fan refer to the “FedEx events.”

What it really is, is four more good tournaments on network TV on the weekend featuring players whose names you know. Nothing wrong with that. More golf, crammed in this year between the final major and the Ryder Cup. Next year it will all feel different, with the PGA in May and only three FedEx events, all played in August. It all makes sense. But change is never easy.

Yes, next year it will be shorter, the only reason to hope for it to suck less....  Can you feel his excitement?  Even with a gun to his head, the best he could do is "nothing wrong with that".

Also trying oh so hard is Joel Beall, with his seven story lines to watch.  Yeah, of course he leads with Tiger, it's the law, but also this:

What's up with Rory? 

Similar to Spieth, this warrants a provision. After all, the four-time major winner just finished T-2 at Carnoustie last month, and, unlike Spieth, he's won on the PGA Tour this season with his triumph at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

On the other hand, McIlroy's game was such a mess at Bellerive that he hinted he was going to skip the first leg of the postseason to figure out what's going on. 

"I need to assess where I'm at, and I think the best thing for me to do right now is take a couple of days off and reflect on what I need to do going forward," he said at the PGA Championship. "I'll do some practice this week and see if I feel ready to go there and play five out of six weeks leading up to the Ryder Cup." (Update: McIlroy appears to have made good on skipping the Northern Trust as his name is not included on the PGA Tour's field list as of Monday.) 

McIlroy won the FedEx Cup just two seasons ago, and does rank 11th in strokes gained this season. Nevertheless, his wedge game, or lack thereof, has rendered his prolific distance moot, and the putter, again, hasn't bailed him out. McIlroy's nearing a bit of a career crossroads. Tis postseason won't define his legacy, but it can get him back on track.

Not to undermine you piece, Joel, but he's now confirmed he'll not play at Ridgewood.  

But let me acknowledge that Joel is spot on with this:

Architecture aficionados, rejoice! 

For connoisseurs of course design, the past month has not been Christmas morning. That changes during the FEC thanks to: 

• Ridgewood Country Club, a 27-hole A.W. Tillinghast design with its history including a Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur and a handful of Barclays' events. Gil Hanse's team has done restoration work over the past couple of years, making Ridgewood as

good as ever. Ridgewood features a mix of Tillinghast-eque bunker-guarded greens with the option to run it up on many holes. The rough is expected to be thicker than the last time the FEC visited, possibly leading to U.S. Open-like scoring. 

• TPC Boston, while not beloved by players, produces plenty of red figures, and it's various lines and contoured greens offer more set-up options and mind-sets than a rank-and-file tour course. 

• Aronimink, another track that—we hope you're sitting down—was restored by Hanse and his team. Set to host the 2027 PGA Championship, Aronimink has eliminated a ton of trees from the property, but its tight fairways and challenging par 4s—and Donald Ross greens—make it one of the Northeast's toughest tests. 

If you can't get behind that lineup, you don't have a pulse.

It is great, but has anyone told Joel what the weather has been like on the East Coast the last month or so?  Can you say mud balls?

Last on this topic is Jess Marksbury with 16 helpful facts about the playoffs.  First and foremost, it's a friggin' boatload of money:

12. Not only does each playoff tournament have an individual purse of over $8 million, but after the Tour Championship, the top 30 players are awarded with $35 million in bonus money — with $10 million going to the winner of the FedEx Cup. The 30th finisher receives a bonus of $140,000.

I'm very happy for them, but it doesn't compel me to watch.....

But here's a new one, at least to me:

14. The handles of the trophy are designed to trace the arc of a golf swing.

Really?  I guess we know what all those suits in Ponte Vedra Beach do all day, but all I can see is the leading edge making contact with the middle of the golf ball, meaning that worms are about to die.

A Cri de Coeur - See if you find this call to action as moving as I:

Bring back the duct tape.

I take a backseat to no man in my appreciation of duct tape, but I'm guessing that you'll need a little context here.... It's our Shack lamenting the fall-from-grace of the U.S. Amateur, though this seems more of a pet peeve than serious argument:

Once counted as a major by Jack Nicklaus and a vital championship on the golf calendar, 

the U.S. Amateur has drifted to the back pages and in the ratings division. The amateur game has been weakened by few lifelong amateurs and players turning pro at increasingly younger ages. 

But after last week's U.S. Amateur, I'm convinced the event is also undermined by players looking like pros. Maybe it's too subliminal and maybe the trend is irreversible, but I was struck by how many people noted when a player wore a corporate-affiliated hat or looked too much like a professional golfer. 

College gear didn't seem to offend even though some of America's finest institutions might as well be corporations. Seeing a player advertising their school reminds us they are still an amateur. But young players looking like PGA Tour pros, down to scripted outfits and an overpolished look envisioned in a corporate meeting room, strips the event of its integrity.

To me, the issue is the youngsters turning pro earlier, which can be fairly laid at the feet of the Tour and Commissioner Ratched.  The USGA bears a measure of blame as well for their opaque selection process for the Walker Cup, as Sam Burns might tell us.

But Shack does make a strong point with this excerpt for the USGA's FAQ's om amateur status:

May I accept free equipment? 

Yes. Even if you have golf skill or reputation, you may accept a reasonable amount of golf balls, golf clubs, clothing, shoes and other merchandise from a company or source dealing in these types of equipment (e.g., equipment manufacturer or golf shop). However, if you are considered to have golf skill or reputation, you must not advertise or promote the source of the equipment.

Of course, neither you nor I have ever been accused of having skills or reputation, which might explain why we're not offered free stuff.  But Geoff's larger point is that these kids in their Cally and Titleist hats are obviously violating this guidance, which leads to this amusing trip down memory lane:

The USGA did once try to regulate the logos, according to former Executive Director David Fay, who recalled amateurs at the 1989 event even being asked to cover manufacturer logos with duct tape. The USGA even offered the amateurs who made it to the TV rounds a free host-Club logo hat.

"But it all started to feel (and look) silly to duct tape “Titleist”, when more and more 15 handicappers started wearing equipment-manufacturer hats and carrying equipment-manufacturer bags and head covers," says Fay.

Not at all.... Duct tape is always classy.  And thus we end where we started, with Geoff's cry in the woods to bring back the duct tape....

A Pebble Preview - the Forecaddie with some valuable insights into expectations for the 2019 U.S. Open at iconic Pebble Beach:

Granted, the event was played with the resort fairway widths and a little more rough, but officials revealed a largely identical game plan for the 2019 U.S. Open in terms of

logistics and fairway widths. 

The U.S. Golf Association’s Mike Davis and Jeff Hall expect to fine tune a few landing areas after consulting their GPS-shot lines and notes from previous U.S. Opens. 

Contestants will be greeted next year by a new 525-yard tee at the par-4, ninth hole, panned by Jack Nicklaus and several players as absurdly long. Yet there were several youngsters in U.S. Amateur match play laying back off the tee with driving irons to avoid a hanging lie, leaving a mid-iron approach.

Of course the course will be expected to be far firmer in June, meaning the even-longer players will hi driving iron-wedge into a 525-yard hole.  Nothing to see here...

More interesting will be what the USGA does at the par-5, sixth, where some players intentionally played to a dry hillside left of the fairway to take Carmel Bay out of play. A similar tactic was used in 2010 but even more players figure to try unless native grasses sprout by next June. 

TMOF was most surprised by what a pushover the par-5, 18th has become, with the loss of several trees to disease since 2010 making the lay-up shot pedestrian. 

Couple that with players able to get near the green in two shots, even with wind in their face, and it’s a less intimidating finish. Look for the fairway to be reduced in width significantly after next February’s AT&T National Pro-Am.

To me, this is one of the few holes made more interesting by the increase in distance.  It used to be a spectacularly beautiful but deadly boring three-shotter.  Now, there's at least some drama in the ability to risk reaching in two with the Pacific on the player's immediate left.

I'm only disappointed that he had no discussion of the new greens on Nos. 14 and 17....

 It Didn't Pan Out - C.T. Pan needed a fill-in caddie last week, and found a cost-effective solution.  He damn near won the event, so one could be excused for thinking the caddie worked out, but he wasn't having any of it:

Needing a fill-in looper for the event, Pan convinced his wife, Michelle, to step in for the week. It just might take even more convincing the next time. Check out this interview Pan did with CBS' Amanda Balionis during a weather delay on Saturday. In a clip captured by Golfweek's Bill Speros, Pan says his success at the Wyndham "was a coincidence," that "she doesn't help me much," and, referring to a familiar caddie saying, that "she just needs to show up, keep up, and shut up, I guess." Ouch.

To be fair he said it with a smile, had other gracious words for his bride and helped tote the luggage:

Hope it works out for the kids.....

Golfers Behaving Badly, The Pinnacle? - it can't get much worse than this, can it?

Golfer pleads not guilty to biting off part of another player’s finger in bizarre golf course brawl

Derek J. Harkins pleaded not guilty Monday in Plymouth District Court to charges of assault and battery, disturbing the peace, and mayhem for “permanently disfiguring” Daniel Menton in the incident on Friday at Southers Marsh Golf Club. Menton told police that doctors could not reattach the tip to his left index finger. 

Bail was set at $10,000 cash. Harkins, 46, was ordered not to have contact with the victim and to refrain from drinking alcohol. Harkins left the courthouse Monday without speaking to reporters.

We'll maintain the presumption of innocence, not the easiest thing to do with that severed finder bleeding out.  So, what led us to this point?

Menton told police that he and seven others were playing the ninth hole when Harkins’s father, John, arrived in his golf cart and complained they were playing too slowly and cheating during an ongoing tournament.

I know how much I hate an eightsome in front of me....But do go on:

Menton told police that he saw Derek Harkins following his father in his own golf cart “at a fast rate of speed” and that he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. He said Harkins then sprang from the cart and punched him in the face. 

Menton told police that they were wrestling on the ground when Harkins bit his finger. 

“Derek Harkins grabbed his wrist and pulled his hands down near his mouth, then bit into his finger,’’ the report said. “The noise created by Derek Harkins biting onto his finger sounded like ‘someone chewing on a Dorito.’ ”

 That's a nasty bit, though we've got more....

Menton shouted in pain that his finger had been bitten. 

“Daniel stated that he was able to get out of the pile, and pulled his golf glove off of his hand,” the report said.

After the brawling parties were pulled apart, Menton’s son, Jake, discovered the fingertip was still inside his father’s golfing glove, the report said. The son put the fingertip into a glass of ice prior to his father being taken to the hospital.

OMG, he had his glove on?  Is this the best golf story ever?  OK, hold that thought, there's more telling details:

One of the golfers shared with the police a video of the moments when the combatants separated. “While viewing the video it was clear Derek Harkins was acting out of control and was trying to be restrained by the other individuals,’’ the report said. “It should be noted that there was blood coming from his mouth and face.”

There's video of blood dripping down his face?  Good luck with that not guilty plea, sir.