Midweek Musings

Back from our daytrip to Little Cottonwood Canyon.  It's quite the place, though we didn't catch the best conditions.... Today will hit 40 degrees on the mountain, so time to work on our tans.

Rejected! - Steph Curry drives for a seemingly uncontested lay-up, but at the last second.....

The PGA Tour abandoned plans Tuesday to hold a new, Stephen Curry-hosted event at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City in September. 

Tour officials had anticipated announcing the new tournament in the next two weeks. They even held dates on the calendar (Sept. 19-22) for the fall portion of the 2019-20 season. 

But negotiations with potential title sponsor Workday, the finance and human resources software company in Pleasanton, unexpectedly broke off. Tour officials didn’t have time to find another title sponsor, especially given the course changes Lake Merced would need to make in eight months. 

“We are still committed to bringing an event to San Francisco,” Curry told The Chronicle. “It just won’t be this year.”

This is one of those time I when I rue not taking the effort to tag my posts, because of the insufferable promotion of Steph's exemptions and potential sponsorship of this event.  If memory serves correctly, this was single-handedly going to save our game, or something.... 

No disrespect to Steph, who seems a fine young man and avid golfer, but he's just the new Justin Timberlake.  Our game's history is measured in centuries, but without Steph we're all gonna die!

Shack poses this logical question:

The question then may be, why didn’t the PGA Tour just sponsor this in year one to ensure they’re in the Steph Curry business.

I'm just gonna spitball here, but perhaps it's because these Fall events don't have much economic value?  If it's a sponsor's money being burned, then bring it on!

Or, perhaps we just need to scroll down to Geoff's previous item, wherein we're reminded that the rainy day fund is less flush than it's been.

Mr. Sunshine - The best-mannered player on Tour, at least in the opinion of Mike Bamberger, is maintaining that relentless optimism for which he is renown:

After more than five years of legal wrangling, Vijay Singh settled his lawsuit with the

PGA Tour in November, and on Tuesday at the Sony Open he said it’s relief, not necessarily vindication, that he feels now. 

“I just thought it was a very unfair deal. That’s why I pursued it, and I’m glad it’s over,” said Singh, who is beginning his year at the Sony Open for the 22nd time. 

“It didn’t weigh on me. It was just there. I had a pretty good relationship with the Tour, and I still do, but that kind of set me back with the Tour a little bit.”

Boy, I'm just glad that you kids could work it out... It did work out, Veej, didn't it?

Although a confidentiality agreement prevented Singh from disclosing any terms of the settlement, he did seem pleased to move beyond the distraction of the lawsuit. 

“I can get on and do my own stuff and not worry about anything anymore,” he said. “I think both sides are happy, although I might be just a little bit happier.”

Sounds like a "yes" to me.

Shack, on the other hand, is maintaining that relentless negativity for which he is renown:

Ahhhh…maybe one of the guys can ask him this week on the range how much Vijay’s win took out of the retirement accounts! That’ll liven up the range chatter. 

As previously noted, Vijay has only made 11 cuts in his last 28 PGA Tour starts and hasn’t snipped a top 10 finish in that time.

Snipped?  I'm guessing he was going for sniffed, though those two keys are remotely near each other on a qwerty keyboard.

Reunited -  Remember Cody Blick?  He's one of our more recent heroes:

Cody Blick became an instant Q School legend when he shot a final-round 63on Dec. 9 just hours after discovering his golf clubs had been stolen. Incredibly, the story of how he got them back is even crazier.

But the details Blick told GolfDigest.com are even wilder. It began with a random Arizona woman's encounter with a homeless man, which led to her buying a set of golf clubs he had possession of for $75. Upon seeing Blick's name stamped on the bag and clubs, she Googled him and learned of his story. From there, the woman managed to track down the phone number of Blick's mom and reached out.

Needless to say, Blick was surprised to get a New Year's Day text from his mom regarding the found clubs. He was excited when photos confirmed the clubs were his, but somewhat disappointed by the condition they appeared in. Still, Blick decided they were still worth buying back. During a follow-up phone call, Blick's dad offered $300 for the clubs and the woman quickly agreed (Apparently, she hadn't seen Blick's $5,000 reward offer from Dec. 9).

Just a great story, but only because he sucked it up and played great....  Hope he makes it to the big tour soon.

Preaching To The Converted - My mancrush on Geoff Ogilvy remains intact, in fact it's only intensified by this travelogue he posts on his buddy trip to Scotland.

It;'s not terribly long, so you'll want to read it all.  It's really just perfect, as they unsuccessfully entered the daily ballot to play the Old Course.  What I love most is the common experience curve, after ticking off the Open Championship venues we all discover the joys of the less-known courses, each with their distinct charms.  Here's his ode to Elie and it's unique first tee:

The highlight of the trip – for me at least – turned out to be Elie. I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of golf in Scotland over the years. And I’ve played a broad cross-section of courses. But I had never been to Elie. I’d done Musselburgh, Prestwick and North Berwick and most of the older courses. But not Elie, which was founded in 1832. 

The New Course at St. Andrews.

The clubhouse and the 1st hole has to be the most Scottish thing there is. At some point you think that you have seen all of the “quirk” Scottish golf has to offer. But I’m not sure you ever really do. The opening shot at Elie has to be fired blind over a massive hill. It’s like hitting over a house, it’s so steep. Back in the day the club would employ a young lad to stand on top of the hill and signal when the fairway was clear. Now, however, there is a periscope next to the starter’s hut to do that job. Yes, a periscope, one that apparently came from a ship, the HMS Excalibur. 

It’s brilliant, especially for an architecture geek like me who loves all the “crazy” stuff you can’t build any more. You can even swing the periscope round and look across the Firth of Forth to Muirfield, Gullane and North Berwick. It really is the most Scottish-links thing possible. The hill was there. The hole had to go over the top. And they just worked something out. It’s so unique and fun on a course that has some really dramatic and enjoyable ocean holes.

I'm embarrassed to admit that Elie is one i'e missed in my travels.... An omission that will be remedied at my earliest opportunity.

Here's Geoff's rousing coda:

That actually got me thinking. When people talk about “links golf” they tend to suggest that every seaside course can be thrown into the same basket. Not so. We played six courses on this trip and they were all very different. Links golf is actually more varied than parkland golf. Because there are no rules. You can have 600-yard par-5s and 230-yard par-4s. You can have stone walls crossing holes. And you can have any number of blind shots. Almost anything is possible. And that is the fun of it. 

“Fun” is the word that sums up my time in Scotland. I had never been on what you might call a “boys’ trip,” one where conversations are dominated by tales of shots and putts. But it is one of the best things you can ever do. It doesn’t get any better than travelling, eating and playing golf with your mates. In Scotland, a country that has retained so much of its green space. The towns and the villages are so understated and charming. They get the balance between quality of life and standard of living just right. I’ll definitely do it again.

True that.  I'll only add that because wind is the primary defense, everything changes with the strength and direction of the wind, keeping it infinitely interesting.

On Course Ratings - Golf Digest has dropped its latest Top 100 Golf Course in the U.S., with Pine Valley retaining its top position.   Lots of companion pieces as well, including these eleven curiosities, such as:

No. 76 Myopia Hunt Club (pictured), No. 79 Monterey Peninsula (Dunes), No. 89 Sleepy Hollow and No. 98 Old Town Club are the four additions to this year's ranking

Sleepy should never have been outside looking in, but that's just one man's opinion.  If I seem insufficiently enthusiastic about this effort, perhaps this will clarify:

Architect Tom Fazio boasts the most designs in the top 100 (13), including No. 26 Shadow Creek. Pete Dye and Donald Ross are next with nine

Oddly, they say that like it's a positive.....

Of course, everyone's a critic, though this guy makes a good point:

That question answers itself, though Castle Pines should be exempted because of the altitude.

I'm going to leave you here, kids.