Tuesday Tidbits

There were a number of sub-stories to The Players that I didn't get to yesterday, and the extra day of ageing might actually work to our advantage.  Or not, you make the call...

Rahmbo:  Unplugged or Unhinged - Here's an obvious instance where my short attention span got the better of me....I got so caught up in the Charizard chromosome discussion that I failed to cover the most interesting part of his God-awful day, the fairway bunker shot on the 11th.

In case you were in a bubble yesterday, this is the sequence:

Rahm bogeyed three of the first four holes at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course and turned in one-over 37. But he parred the 10th and, with others slumping as well, was still tied for the lead and with plenty of opportunities ahead. 

Then came the par-5 11th and his whole tournament changed. Rahm found the left fairway bunker off the tee, which put several trees — and water, of course — in his way.

Rahm’s caddie, Adam Hayes, was trying to talk him into pitching it out to the fairway right, which would have left just a wedge in and still a chance of birdie. Rahm disagreed. He wanted to get near the green, which would have required a sweeping hooked eight-iron from 220 yards (from the sand) against left-to-right wind with water and sand to clear. 

“I’m gonna get you flat over here,” Hayes said, pointing over to the fairway. “You’ll have a flat lie, you’ll have 100—” 

“The problem is,” Rahm started, “I’m not confident hitting that shot. If you hit it too far down there you’ll have a very tough angle.” Rahm also thought his lie in the sand was better going farther left (the shot he wanted to take) instead of aiming farther right to pitch out. 

Hayes faintly shook his head and pursed his lips. “Ok, yep,” he said. 

Rahm dug in, swung mightily and rinsed his ball in the water. It wasn’t close and led to a bogey. The NBC microphones picked up his disgust. “I was so f—— sure the first time,” Rahm said.

How much do we love the audio the networks are able to grab for us, though admittedly here the tell was Hayes shaking his head as he watched his player commit tournament suicide.

This to me is where it gets interesting, as Rahm explains that last bit from the excerpt above:

“Adam was trying to convince me to go right, and when I first got to the ball I was really sure I could do it. I mean if you give me 10 balls besides that one I’ll hit the other one on land. But unfortunately I got a little bit of doubt in me.”

Not a great sense of personal responsibility, eh?  But what do you have a caddie for, if not to talk you out of flushing your chances with a crazy play? 

Want to know how crazy the Spaniard was?  Here's a Google Earth view of the shot:

We heard much about the kinder and gentler Rahm this week, and one can't really know from the jumpy TV coverage.  But there seem to be some issues in how he processes data, at the very least.

First, I'm having a ton of trouble understand how his lie could be perfect for the 220 yard smother hook, but iffy for the 100 yard lay-up.  Secondly, I'll acknowledge that lay-ups are harder than they seem, but I've played that shot (yeah, I know you're shocked, but I was in that left bunker at least a couple of times).  That tree provides a perfect line, and you have about seventy yards to play with.  This is one of the best professional golfers in the world, and he can't hit a 100-125 yard shot?

I also get that if he lays up he's going to likely make a five, whereas if he goes for it he can still make four.  But even is his shot found land, what are the odds that it would be in a spot from which four is realistic?  But the six is just a killer on a five-par, and the priority has to be keeping himself in the tourney, no?

To me, what's most interesting is the player-caddie dynamics, and Sam Weinman enlists veteran looper Kip Henley to see this through a caddie's eyes:

In the ensuing exchange, Hayes was unambiguous with his preference: He wanted Rahm to forget about the green and just lay up. And as Henley noted, it was undoubtedly the right call. He calls Hayes one of the best caddies in the game—smart, confident and a

good player in his own right—but in this instance, expertise was secondary to common sense. The shot Rahm was contemplating was difficult under normal circumstances, but even more so with the wind gusting and one of the biggest prizes in golf on the line.

“Ninety-eight percent of America looks at that and knows Adam was making the right call,” Henley said. “Birdie is great, but par doesn’t kill you, and a good caddie is able to look at the situation without as much emotion as the player." 

So Hayes does fight—at least to a point. As Henley said, the odds are always stacked against a caddie when player digs in his heels as well. He says a caddie wins these arguments about 10 percent of the time, so at some point, a caddie has to contemplate caving. That’s what you’re seeing when Rahm starts explaining why he doesn’t feel comfortable laying up because it will leave him an awkward lie. At that point it doesn’t matter that Hayes is still in the right. He knows he can’t win.

“The whole time you’re fighting you better be aware where your guy is leaning because if you know he’s not coming over, you need to start backpedaling,” Henley says. “You then need to make him feel like it’s a good decision. Everybody does that. You read your guy, and you find a way to change your tune.”

Sure enough, Hayes doesn’t say much more as Rahm ultimately opts for the more aggressive shot. And he sure doesn’t say anything after the shot ends up disastrously in the water. In another context—the corporate world, married life—there might be a level of satisfaction in proclaiming you were right all along. With a caddie and a player, you go out of your way to say just the opposite. 

“The one thing you don’t do is let it hang out there,” Henley says.“You remind him that he did what he thinks was right, and that it was a good decision. Maybe he lets it hang over him, but your job is to try to get him to turn the page.”

It's not a democracy, and it obviously can't be, because only one of them has to commit to the shot.  But the player can come away thinking that he didn't pull off the shot because the caddie introduced the negativity, whereas the caddie is trying to save his player from himself.  Fun stuff, but I come away with a lesser opinion of Rahm's mental approach to the game.

 Should we worry about Adam Hayes' job prospects?

With another caddie, that could spell the beginning of the end. But Hayes and Rahm are said to have a strong enough bond that it will weather the trials of Sunday. Besides, Rahm probably can't protest too much when deep down he knows his caddie was right.

Does he?  He's still saying he could have hit the green nine out of ten times....

Bombs Away -  In all the coverage of the island green, it's sometimes gets lost how immense the green is.  Unsurprisingly, there are more three-putts on that green than any other on the golf course.

That's why the back to back bombs dropped by Eddie Pepperell and Jhonattan Vegas were so shocking.  The former's was 49'7", a longer version of Martin Kaymer's putt in 2014, over that ridge that cuts in from the right.

But Eddie will quickly go down the memory hole because of  the Venezuelan's putt a mere ten minutes later, which looks impressive even on ShotLink:

Video of both can be found here.  These were back-to-back groups.... Is this a crazy game, or what?

More Rules Stuff - Did you catch the Webb Simpson penalty?  It's interesting, though I for one am having difficulty summoning any outage or compassion for the victim.  Here's what happened:

Add Webb Simpson to the list of players who find the new Rules of Golf frustrating.

Simpson, the 2018 champion of the Players Championship, was 4 under and had a 47-

foot shot for birdie on the 14th hole Sunday when he was assessed a one-shot penalty for inadvertently moving his ball, a violation of Rule 9.4b. The rule states, “if the player lifts or deliberately touches his or her ball at rest or causes it to move, the player gets one penalty stroke.” 

He made bogey on the hole and the next one before carding two more birdies in his round of 4-under-par 68. Simpson blamed the penalty on his shirt and putter.

Play it as it lies has been the foundation of our game since Mary Queen of Scots broke her nibblick over her knee, so what's the problem here?

He was asked about why he was penalized since he didn’t intentionally move the ball. “(The official) said if the ball’s off the green it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter,” Simpson said. 

“So like today … what they try to say is either it’s hard to write the rule with intent or you open it up for gray area. Well, I think it’s actually the opposite because I’m playing with Lucas ( Bjerregaard), we’re up there, why would I try to move the ball? Like there’s no advantage. Hey, and there’s cameras everywhere, too. I don’t know if that got on there, but my putter hit my clothes, it moved it a quarter inch, I’m going to move it back. So I’m just I’m hoping that somehow or another intent can get broadened, I guess.”

I actually think just the opposite, that the rules and enforcement thereof have over-emphasized intent.... The players now seem to think that is they put their hand over their heart and say the magic words that all is forgiven....  You moved your damn ball, and you're supposed to do that.

Eamonn Lynch has this reaction:

“This is nonsense. Intent is not what we need in the game,” Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch said. “If I’m caught speeding, I’m not going to plead intent to the cop who pulls me over that I didn’t mean to do it. 

“We seem to have this disease right now, where every pro who breaks the rule, thinks the rules needs to be changed. … Suck it up, read the rulebook and just live by the rules.”

And Geoff was of the same opinion:

While I understand his point—seemingly arcane rule violations causing the game to look bad—I’m not sure this is one of them? Or close.

We all feel bad for a player when these inadvertent things happen, but the rules have never been and shouldn't be about feelings.  Besides, Webb still gets his participation ribbon.

The other interesting rules issue involved that Tiger guy, and his Friday quad at the island green.  no doubt you've seen it, both balls landed on the top ledge and went over the back into the drink.  Full details and Tiger's own explanations can be found here.

Here's the gist of the issue, as Brandel Chgamblee I believe was the first to note:

But as the Live From crew noted last night, the yellow penalty area marking means there was an opportunity to possibly drop on the manicured walkway. The wording of the new rule also gives the player room to drop where a stance might be possible. Brandel Chamblee has since Tweeted suggesting his take was confirmed by a rules official.

It's really so maddening, because it's apparently a function of the rewrite of the hazard penalty area drop rules, though unclear if it's an intended consequence.  And, by the way, what exactly was wrong with the term hazard?  One of my frustrations with the powers that be is that rule-drafting is necessarily hard, and yet they take on stuff that really doesn't matter, such as the choice of words.  Sheesh!

Right Track/Wrong Track - That's a political polling construct, but we can apply it to two prominent practitioners of our game as we look forward to the second week in April.  First up is The Striped One, who thinks it's all coming together:

Yet Woods seemed more than content. The neck problems that kept him from the Arnold Palmer Invitational might have been more blessing than curse, a week off from a grind

that would have seen him play four times in five weeks. 

"I needed that. I needed to get that organized," he said, referring to the neck strain and all that came with it. 

"I was close to getting over the hurdle and getting things rolling, and unfortunately I made a 7 [on Friday] over at 17," he said, referring to the momentum-killing two balls in the water at the island green. "I missed a few putts that I could have very easily got the momentum going that could have gotten me on a run. I was close.

"I know the score doesn't really indicate that, but this is one of those golf courses where there are some weird spots and is probably the most stressful golf course you ever play when there's wind out there. It swirls, and you have fairways that are tough to hit, and then you have the greens that are tough to hit and put it in the right sections, and if you don't, you're going to be standing on your head hitting some shots. All in all, I had a solid week."

If you say so, though there are those lyin' eyes of mine.  This would seem to be cause for concern, no?

But he was just 70th in the field in strokes gained approach, an unusually poor number for him. Woods hit 52 of 72 greens for the week and had fewer than 30 putts in only the final round.

I suppose the good news is that he's got one more start in which to dial in his game, though that presents its own risks:

Woods is skipping this week's Valspar Championship, where he tied for second last year, instead opting for the WGC-Dell Match Play next week. It is a tournament he has not played since 2013, nor has he played at Austin Country Club or in the round-robin format now used by the tournament.

The potential exists for seven rounds in five days for Woods if he were to make it to Sunday, but that doesn't seem to bother him, either.

Is that good idea fro a guy with back issues and a recent WD due to neck discomfort? 

Bob Harig takes on the subject of Rory, including this curious insight:

"It's very nice to get a win,'' he said. "Especially doing it on this golf course, which played similar to the way Augusta will play. I'm playing some of the best golf of my life.''

Say what?  Yes, it's similar to Augusta in that it has eighteen holes and tee markers and.... well, that seems about all.  But perhaps this explains why Rory hasn't sniffed a win there.

 Dave Dusek goes at from a statistical angle, pegged to this graphic:

Here's the case he makes:

All of the recent Masters champions, with the exception of Patrick Reed, could be considered excellent drivers, but McIlroy’s strokes gained off the tee average (1.308) is bigger than the edge Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Adam Scott enjoyed. McIlroy’s strokes gained approach the green average, which is a measure of effectiveness from the fairway, is also higher than each of these five recent winners. 

Jordan Spieth was a marksman with his putter heading into the 2015 Masters, but it might surprise some to see that McIlroy’s strokes gained putting average this season is a respectable 0.326 (57th on the PGA Tour), better than Reed’s was heading into the 2018 Masters.

I'm certainly not as high on Rory as others.  I expect him to play some good golf at Augusta, but do we think he can avoid the unforced errors with his wedge and putter for four days?  I'm a no, but obviously he has the game to won there....  

I've got more, but it would just spoil you folks.  Let's save it for tomorrow.