Not a ton going on in our little bubble, but we'll scrape a few things together and call it a post. It's what we do....
Kooch The Mooch, Day Two - Joel Beall has an interesting take on the Kooch/El Tucan story, though one in which he gives the appearance of having resided in a bubble in recent years:
The past decade has shown that realities can come to life through social media. There are arguments for the virtues and vices of digital platforms, but there’s no debate over theircapability. Facebook and Twitter have helped overthrow tyrannical regimes, brought improper behavior to light, given the oppressed a voice. Tangible paragons of speaking truth to power.
There’s an upshot, however. The mob mentality often found on Twitter and Facebook can go unchecked, taking on lives of their own. The forums are so emotionally driven that narratives can reach a fever pitch without consideration of context or facts, and the appetite for "owning" someone overtakes the crusade that's supposed to be fought.
For Kuchar, this materialized at the hands of Tom Gillis of the PGA Tour Champions. In a series of tweets, the 50-year-old Gillis claimed that Kuchar had stiffed David “El Tucan” Ortiz—the local caddie Kuchar had on the bag for his victory in Mayakoba—something fierce.
Joel doesn't get out much, does he? He'd probably be shocked to learn that Twitter has been waging war on conservatives for years now, shadow banning them routinely for unexplained reasons.
But in this case the allegation comes from a specific user, of course using the Twitter platform. So this is obviously a completely new phenomenon, right? If so, this famous quote with a convoluted attribution might be unknown to Mr. Beall:
A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.
Attributed to Mark twain, Winston Churchill and Cordell Hull, among others, we can safely conclude that it predates social media by close to a century.
Setting aside the effect of social media, which no doubt accelerates reactions, the source is a specific individual, and there are two known factors guiding an assessment of credibility, first:
That Gillis’ previous blast of Ben Crane over an unpaid bet to Daniel Berger proved accurate wasn’t helping, nor was Australian pro Cameron Percy’s reply of, “It’s not out of character if true.”
Alas, the second data point cuts in the opposite direction:
Kuchar was emphatic in denying the allegations (also worth noting when Gillis was asked how he got his information, he was light on specifics).
Fair enough, but then Joel trips over his you-know-what with this:
Kuchar's case, however, felt different, for it wasn’t a tip as it was wages owed. The optics alone—a veteran with $46 million in career earnings low-balling a man who makes less than $46,000 a year—were damning.
This is a target-rich environment, for sure, but mostly I want to quibble with his assertion that this is about wages. It seems that the two principals may not have had an agreement on Ortiz' salary for the week, but logically that would be a certain number, certainly far below 10% of winnings. But we would expect that, having won for the first time in 4 years, that Kooch would have thrown a nice little bonus at the local looper, no? And what's another word for a bonus? yeah, a tip... so, Joel, this is about a tip.
And here's Joel's rousing coda:
On Sunday the Golf Channel made a brief mention of Kuchar's Twitter drama. On socialmedia, some saw it as rubbish, the tour and its partner putting their heads in the sand to a story that had become bigger than the tournament. Conversely, as bad as Kuchar looks at the moment, we still don't have definitive proof that the story is legitimate. A mere one-off by the broadcast would have given Gillis' accusation more merit and steam. Once that train leaves the station, there's no turning around.
So you give Kuchar the benefit of the doubt. Even if that doubt is raised.
These are awkward times, where suspicion and truth are blurred. But it's the new reality.
There's absolutely nothing new under the sun, as my Twain/Churchill/Hull quotation above demonstrates. But riddle me this, Joel, whose job is it to determine the truth or falsity behind the allegation? So yes, Kooch gets my benefit of the doubt, unless and until a golf writer commits actual journalism to prove otherwise.
Prayers, Answered - Forgive me, but I can't remember whether I covered the online petition to get Hosung Choi a sponsor's exemption into the Phoenix Open. Don't remember the name? Perhaps this will remind you:
Yeah, THAT GUY! While I acknowledge he's a perfect fit for Phoenix, Ron Kroichick of the S.F. Chronicle with the scoop about Carmel's scoop in landing the young man:
Golf’s wackiest, craziest, most unconventional swing is coming to Pebble Beach.
South Korea’s Ho-sung Choi, who hits a golf ball unlike Tiger Woods ever did, has landed a sponsor exemption to play in next month’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Tournament officials made the announcement Monday.
Choi’s unorthodox action — sometimes he practically hops out of his stance upon making contact with the ball, and other times he whips his right leg around like he’s dancing — has made him an internet sensation in the past year. Several PGA Tour pros, including Justin Thomas, posted tweets about Choi’s curious swing upon seeing it last summer.
It'll be good fun.... he's got style even just taking the putter from his caddie:
And, just because we can, here's video of his crazy action:
You're welcome.
Equipment Notes - I try to stay out of the deep weeds on equipment, but times are interesting in that regard. This from the Sony is surprising:
The latest example is Titleist’s driver count win at the Sony Open, where the brand outpaced the field with 45 drivers in play, according to this week’s Darrell Surveyresults, compared the nearest competitor with 32. Taking a closer look, 38 of those drivers were Titleist’s new TS Series, with 11 players switching to the driver for the first time in Hawaii.
To be clear: Titleist’s recent driver count win is a small sample size. With the meat of the Tour schedule ahead, equipment usage can change rapidly. That being said, the driver win was significant for a number of reasons: It broke an 18-year drought for Titleist, which last won a driver count at the 2001 PGA Championship. And in terms of non-major driver wins, you have to go back to the 2000 Buick Open.
Not only did Titleist win the driver count, but they also swept the board in every major club category at Waiʻalae — an impressive feat that almost never happens at the highest level of professional golf. But we’re not here to talk about across-the-board count wins.
This represents the confluence of multiple factors, including Titleist's success with their now offerings:
“We wanted to get rid of the slow, spinney label that had been placed on Titleist drivers in recent years,” said Talge. “We measured every little thing to get better results, with thegoal of creating a club that’s considerably faster than anything we’ve created in the past.”From a Tour standpoint, Titleist’s push for more speed appears to be paying off early in the year, based solely on the numbers that have switched to the driver, especially those available players (Kyle Stanley, Kevin Tway and Troy Merritt) who came over to the driver but didn’t sign full line deals.
Titleist even shook things up with the TS driver launch on Tour, releasing it earlier than usual at the U.S. Open — a move that provided the club with some early visibility and saw Justin Thomas switch the first week it was available.
“It’s a couple miles per hour faster,” Thomas said of the TS3 driver. “It’s anywhere from 176, 177 to low 180 miles per hour. It’s nothing monumental or something you guys will be watching me and noticing a difference, but it’s a little bit faster.”
Slow and spinny won't get you much these days, but this is as much about TaylorMade's new strategy under private equity ownership:
TaylorMade, which won every PGA Tour, World Golf Championship and major driver count during the 2017-18 season, is unlikely to repeat the feat this year due to the significantly reduced Tour-player staff the brand now employs — only five staffers are listed on its website.
TaylorMade’s decision to partly back out of the driver arms race helped Callaway and Ping pick up one “win” apiece during the fall portion of the season; TaylorMade still logged six wins.
TM has notably parted ways with stalwarts Sergio and Justin Rose, and we also have an unusual number of guys out there without equipment contracts, including all 2018 major winners. Interesting times....
Hot Takes - That anonymous polling of Euro Tour players is out, and there's much with which to amuse ourselves.
There's a few items related to the U.S. vs. Euro Tours, including:
WHAT PERCENT OF EURO TOUR PLAYERS ASPIRE TO PLAY THE PGA TOUR?
0-25%: 6%26-50%: 6%51-75%: 41%76-100%: 47%
HOT TAKES“It should be 99% PGA Tour.”“The PGA Tour is too far away from my home and family.”
IF YOU HAD YOUR CHOICE TO PLAY THE EUROPEAN TOUR OR PGA TOUR BUT COULD ONLY PLAY ONE, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE
PGA Tour: 70%European Tour: 30%
WHICH TOUR IS MORE FUN TO PLAY?
European Tour: 88%PGA Tour: 12%
HOT TAKES“[PGA Tour] You know what’s fun? Making three times the money.”“[Euro Tour] It’s less serious. The PGA Tour is big business.”
You'll expect the perfunctory trashing of American golf fans, though it's actually less vicious than I'd have expected:
ARE U.S. FANS GENERALLY LESS KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN EUROPEAN FANS?
Yes: 35%No: 65%
HOT TAKES
“No, just louder.”“No, we go to some places where the fans are clueless.”“About golf or about beer?”“Yes, Americans know less about Europeans than Euros know about American players.”
ARE U.S. FANS GENERALLY LESS RESPECTFUL THAN EURO FANS?
Yes: 52%No: 48%
HOT TAKES
“American fans are just crazier.”“The difference is American golf attracts more sports fans whereas Europe attracts more golf fans.”
That 52-48% might be surprising, though it also might depend on whether Sergio was polled.
I might circle back to this tomorrow, but one last item for your perusal. This is damning, no?
WHO IS THE BEST EUROPEAN TOUR PLAYER RIGHT NOW?
Justin Rose: 64%Tommy Fleetwood: 24%Francesco Molinari: 9%Rory McIlroy: 3%
HOT TAKES“Justin Rose turns up at events expecting to win.”
OK, I lied, the above needs to be paired with this:
WHICH EUROPEAN-BORN PLAYER HAS THE MOST NATURAL TALENT?
Rory McIlroy: 29%Sergio Garcia: 21%Tommy Fleetwood: 12%Victor Dubuisson: 9%
Well played, Rors. You've converted your great natural talent into a rounding error....
More tomorrow.
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