Midweek Musings - Day Late Edition

I gave myself a day off yesterday, after our flood the zone coverage of Augusta.  Need to pace myself in view of the quick turnaround for Bethpage.

The bride and I will be taking a long weekend to visit friends in Vermont to celebrate her birthday, so no promises about blogging...  You'll do fine watching Hilton Head without my guidance.

Tiger Scat - Folks are running short of adjectives as the search for the meaning thereof....  Golf Magazines writers take another shot at here:

2. If you’re debating the most thrilling shot in golf with your bros, it’s not a debate. The correct answer is the going-for-the-green second shot at Fire Thorn, Augusta’s sublime par-5 15th. Balls launched from the crest of the fairway hang in the air for an eternity. Late on Masters Sunday, there’s more drama in those 3-5 seconds than there is in an entire season of The Bachelor. The nerviest shot in golf is also not a debate: it’s a wedge shot into 15.. — Alan Bastable

True that.  It even looks that way on TV.  The guys all go for it, even from behind the trees on the left side of the fairway, because that wedge in after a lay-up might be the harder shot.  Which makes me wonder whether the members, excluding Jeff Know, have much fun out there.

I brought this ennui with me to the Masters, traditionally the hardest week of the year for reporters to do their job due to the draconian rules of the green coats. But then all heaven

broke loose. Ben Crenshaw ambled into the press building, exuding warmth and good cheer. I had set up some podcast gear on the veranda but it took us 20 minutes to make a 100-yard walk, as Gentle stopped to schmooze with his many friends among the scribes. Then we sat down and chatted for 45 minutes. Crenshaw was funny and unguarded as he spun yarn after yard. Afterward he thanked me for my time. Shortly thereafter Jack Nicklaus his ownself arrived, having previously agreed to a 90-minute sitdown interview. (These days, the standard offer from a B-list player’s agent is one hour for a feature…and that includes the photo shoot.) Big Jack had already had a long day, having awakened before dawn for the ceremonial opening tee shots. But over an hour and a half he was alert and engaged. He told great stories and offered heartfelt thoughts on a wide variety of topics. When the allotted time was up the great man lingered for another half hour, enjoying watching the televised golf and a wide variety of snacks. It was as if he had all the time in the world and was happy to share it.

Why do golf fans love Nicklaus and Crenshaw so much? Their on-course heroics are only part of it. They have given us so much more. They have always let us into their hearts and minds, one conversation at a time. That is how you build an enduring brand. — Alan Shipnuck

You can read for yourself the source of Alan's ennui, but this engaging account is under a header of "building a Brand."  Maybe they're good at it, Alan, because they never thought of themselves as brands.  Perhaps, and I'm just spit-ballin' here, they're just nice guys....

 Jack famously never wanted to be a ceremonial golfer, but he really should have thought about that before winning those six green jackets.

I'm thinking this guy might have been into a different ilk of vapor:

Nike’s scripting for Tiger was basically a throwback homage to his mid-2000s

dominance, and called for the Big Cat to don a TW Vapor Mock polo on each tournament day at Augusta. Though Nike had no way of knowing what would transpire last week, it was certainly a bold move. Why? Because the clothes we wear tacitly communicate so much to those around us. With these ensembles, Tiger was basically saying, “Look at me. I’m the man.” He oozed alpha vibes. Wearing those mocks while everyone else was dressed alike in polos was a pure power play. I mean, did you SEE him at Augusta? He looked like a super hero, while everyone else just looked like … themselves. — Jessica Marksbury

OK, Jess, but I'm expected back on Planet Earth.

You might enjoy this Dylan Dethier take on Tiger's irons into greens on Sunday vs. 22 years prior:

No. 11

1997 (455 yds): Pitching wedge

2019 (505 yds): 7-iron 

I defy you to stand on that new back tee at No. 11 and feel anything but fear. Woods’ take: “On 11 you used to try to hit the ball up against the gallery. Well, now there is literally a forest that is there. The fairway used to be 80 yards wide, that’s no longer the case.”

No. 15

1997 (500 yds): Pitching wedge

2019 (530 yds): 5-iron 

Yes, that’s pitching wedge into a par-5. That’s the sort of thing Tiger Woods used to do all the time. But this year’s 5-iron from 227 was pretty special all the same.

So much for the drama of that shot with a PW in hand.  Like No. 11, the players used to aim to the right and hope to catch the downslope of those old mounds that would kick it forward 60-70 yards.  Of course that was before they mowed the grass back towards the tee...

Buried is this little nugget:

By my count, Woods was 44th in driving distance at this year’s Masters. In 1997, he led the field by some 25 yards. This was a different brand of victory, to be sure.

Anyone remember the shock and awe that Monty experienced when paired with Tiger on Friday?  He basically conceded Tiger the win after 36 holes... 

Geoff has an interesting take on the golf course we saw last week:

“During our overseed period we saw four times the amount of normal rainfall,” he said. “To say that growing conditions were a challenge would definitely be an understatement. And given the recent rainfall, the course will not play as firm and as fast as we would like it.” 

Fairway speed is rarely an ingredient here because the club has presented longer fairways with the mowers pushing grain toward the tees. The ball rolled minuscule amounts, and

all but 12 players still averaged over 290 yards. But having players openly note the lack of green speed and hearing Tiger Woods say words like “fuzzy” to describe them might be enough to make some chairmen panic. 

Yet when Ridley, the former competition committee head, sits down and reviews the numbers, he will notice that slower greens helped the tournament finish Sunday.

“During our overseed period we saw four times the amount of normal rainfall,” he said. “To say that growing conditions were a challenge would definitely be an understatement. And given the recent rainfall, the course will not play as firm and as fast as we would like it.” 

Fairway speed is rarely an ingredient here because the club has presented longer fairways with the mowers pushing grain toward the tees. The ball rolled minuscule amounts, and all but 12 players still averaged over 290 yards. But having players openly note the lack of green speed and hearing Tiger Woods say words like “fuzzy” to describe them might be enough to make some chairmen panic.

Yet when Ridley, the former competition committee head, sits down and reviews the numbers, he will notice that slower greens helped the tournament finish Sunday.

And this doesn't bode well for one of the best golf holes on the planet:

The numbers from the two back-nine par 5s most likely will not sit as well in Augusta. While both holes created moments of drama, the former icons of risk and reward now rely on the golf architectural equivalents of smoke and mirrors to retain traces of danger. At the 13th, the field recorded 17 eagles and averaged an all-time low of 4.474 in scoring since the hole was lengthened in 2002 or any year before that. Players had created a muddy, worn area on the tee by Sunday, all teeing up in the same right-side post due to a conspicuous overhanging limb. Tied at the time, Woods and Francesco Molinari had 161 and 180 yards left, respectively, for their approaches. 

The momentous decision Ridley longs to restore was not part of the equation.

The par-5 15th, which appeared wider this year due to lost limbs on a once meddlesome left-hand pine, was lengthened in 2006 and yet has never played easier than it did in 2019, with its 4.532 average and 15 eagles.

There's a reason they're called half-pars, but let's hope Fred understands that to the players they're already Par-4's.  Because this revamped hole did its job:

By contrast, the revamped par-4 fifth hole played as the course’s most difficult with a 4.336 scoring average and just 13 birdies.

Tiger bogeyed it all four days.  

Alan on Augusta -  You knew this would be good, no?  The first two question cover the yin and yang of nonsense:

Is Tiger back? -@Rbrown1518 

Duh.

Is Tiger going to win the Grand Slam this year? -@AmandaGolf59 

He might as well. If he drives it at Bethpage the way he did at Augusta National, Woods will surely be in contention. With his guile and the crowd on his side, Tiger could easily bring it home. Then he goes to Pebble, which like Augusta National is a quintessential second-shot course. Tiger was first in strokes gained approach-the-green at the Masters; if he strikes it like that at Pebble he will surely be in contention. If Woods were to somehow win both the PGA and U.S. Open is there any possible way he could be denied at Portrush? It’s absurd to even be entertaining these notions but Tiger just proved, yet again, he is not of this earth. Might as well let our collective imagination run wild.

Alan was far more civil to that first questioner than I'd have been, but was he into the mushrooms to the second?

Do you think the revelation that it’s STILL in there despite everything he put himself through elevates Tiger to second most reckless self-saboteur of all-time? -@Lou_TireWorld 

This will always be one of golf’s most tantalizing questions: what might Tiger have accomplished if he didn’t waste a decade of his prime because of scandal and injuries that may be directly related to killhouse cosplay and vanity-induced overtraining? No doubt he would have smashed Nicklaus’s record by now. But think how differently we would feel about Tiger if he had simply continued being the golfing automaton of the 1997-2009 epoch. He’d be a more accomplished golfer, yes, but a far less interesting and sympathetic human being. 

The old Tiger – emotionless and seemingly infallible – was revered but never loved. The explosion of emotion that accompanied this Masters win (by the man himself and everyone else) was not because Woods won the Masters. It’s because he’s been to hell and back (a couple of times!) and we were all part of the journey. Without the self-sabotage there wouldn’t be the redemption, which in the end is a better story than a few extra trophies.

Man, that's harsh.  

Is 12 at Augusta National the best golf hole in the world? -@SteveThomsonMN 

Not sure ‘best’ captures it, exactly. It is certainly the most fraught, nerve-jangling and exacting. It’s amazing how many Masters dreams can be found at the bottom of that creek.

Not even close, but No. 13 might be....

Seriously, I had thoughts on this in a prior post.  I thought the hole was in danger of losing relevance, but that four out of six has me puzzled.

Can fat guys wear mock turtlenecks? Asking for a friend. #AskAlan -@SHistorians 

Sure, they hide all the extra chins!

Just because they can, doesn't mean they should....

And the inevitable:

Okay, now that we have a reset with Tiger at majors, where do you rate his chances at catching and passing Jack? -@KeithKHorton 

It’s *still* a tall mountain to climb. I was interested in Tiger talking in the champion’s press conference about how sore he was going to be the next day, since he had spent the back-nine swinging with abandon. This remains the biggest question how long will Tiger’s body let him play at this level? If the answer is five years, Jack’s record is certainly in jeopardy. It’s also worth noting that on Sunday, Woods putted like a 43 year-old who has been saddled all season with mediocre putting stats. The longest putt he made all day was eight feet, and that was on the third hole; his birdies on the back-nine were two-putts on the par-5s and a kick-in on 16. If Woods is going to win a handful more majors he’s going to have to rediscover some of his old magic on the greens.

I'd almost think that he needs to grab another one this year to have a chance....  Not to be Debbie Downer, but I think it's far more likely that he ends at fifteen than at nineteen.

These next two are pretty funny, as it's always shocking to find folks snarkier than I:

Is Koepka finished? -@WillBardwell 

No, but he is diminished. It would have been sooo on-brand if Koepka had ruined this Masters by winning it. As bad as the water-ball at 12 was, those shortish birdie putts at

17 and 18 never scared the hole. Things get a lot more interesting if Koepka makes either one, but he shrank from the moment.

If Frankie had won, would he or Cink (Turnberry) be a bigger spoiler? -David (@dmalament) 

I still think it’s Cink because we all knew Watson would never again have another opportunity like that. This Masters marks three straight major championships at which Tiger coulda/should won. Win or lose on Sunday, it’s increasingly obvious he is going to be a consistent force at the game’s biggest events as long as his body doesn’t betray him.

Silliness.... If Frankie had held on, he would have been a deserving champ...  As for Brooks, the only thing that's diminished him is the purple thong.

Did I say the questioners were snarky?

Fred Ridley’s acting job during the Patrick Reed’s-been-a-great champion-speech…too late for an Oscar nod? #AskAlan -Jason (@jasleeack) 

That was delicious. So many golf fans loosed a violent guffaw at that moment I’m surprised it didn’t register on the Richter scale.

What do you think of this Q&A?

Which sponsors that deleted Tiger during his controversial years are kicking themselves the most right now? #AskAlan -@GolfingBrock 

All of them, plus the thousands of other corporations that could have bought a piece of Tiger at a firesale price. But loyalty is a rare commodity in corporate America, so Nike deserves to benefit wildly from its decision to stick with Tiger all along.

Nike may deserve Alan's praise, but given the tawdry nature of Tiger's scandal, I'm not in the least critical of those that didn't want to be associated with the man.  Most women still evidence a visceral hatred for the man.

What was your nightmare outcome? #AskAlan -@_SMisner 

Webb. Schauffele and Cantlay could both get the star-is-born treatment; the former is a very likable kid and the latter has a moving personal story. Webb is Webb – nice guy, good player, minimal buzz. If he had stolen this Masters we’d have to elevate him to a great player, but I’m still not sure what the second paragraph is.

Nor the first...  

#AskAlan Many are pointing to 16 as the defining shot for Tiger. Why not 17? After back-to-back birdies he pulls out his driver (kryptonite) and puts it in the fairway. Never doubted he could hit an iron (9-iron no less) but a driver… -@HighFades 

I was a guest on a podcast today and, without having seen this question, brought up this very same drive, which I said was the best swing I’ve seen Tiger make in at least a decade. That tee shot on 17 is so awkward, but even with the Masters hanging in the balance he made a gorgeous, smooth, confident, controlled swing. If he is going to drive it like that in crunch time, everyone else on Tour should be very, very concerned.

Lede, buried....  Not only has that very tee shot befuddled our hero, but a she himself note in one of the pressers, the last time he walked off No. 16 with a two-shot lead, he proceeded to bogey in.

This is a fine exit question (and answer):

Dream scenario for the last three majors of the year? #AskAlan -@Michael_Tyler22 

Jordan wins the PGA, Phil takes the U.S. Open, Rory prevails at Portrush.

Dream on, Alan.  I have a follow up question for all thos ethat thought Augusta was the cure for what ails Jordan....

Suspicion, Confirmed -  I had the same thought in the moment, that we had missed a shot of significance:

To all those golf fans who think TV networks show "Too much Tiger!" during broadcasts, you're not going to believe this. CBS did not—I repeat, did NOT—show

every Tiger Woods shot during Sunday's final round at the 2019 Masters. 

OK, so they basically did, only missing one of his 70 strokes (a tap-in for par on No. 1) on his way to winning a fifth green jacket. The network was nearly as thorough with Woods' playing partner and 54-hole leader Francesco Molinari, showing all but two of his actual strokes (Molinari was also penalized two shots during a final-round 74). However, one of those two swings turned out to be critical to the outcome of the event.

Thanks as always to ClassicTVsports.com for charting all the shots televised during the final round of a major. The site confirmed what I believed to be true while being in and out of the Augusta National media center on Sunday: Molinari's second shot on No. 15 never made it on TV.

CBS' broadcasts have become a parody of themselves, but that's a rant for another day....  But it was significant shot, and I wondered  how Frankie got there.

The Significance of 82 - With everyone focused on eighteen, it's far more likely that Tiger's next milestone will be to halve tie Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour wins.  I'm not terribly excited by this one, because it's a hash of a record.  here's the skinny on the Slammer's First "Tour" win:

So what exactly was the West Virginia Closed Pro? 

In 2010, the Charleston Daily Mail ran a piece that unearthed information on that 83-years-ago tournament. A Greenbrier press release, dated July 9, 1936, that Ann Snead, Sam’s daughter-in-law, found in an old scrapbook early in 2013, verified the Daily

Mail’s findings. The Greenbrier hosted the tournament simultaneously with the West Virginia Amateur, but the “Closed Pro” nomenclature meant no amateurs could play. Snead shot rounds of 70-61 in the one-day, 36-hole professional tournament, defeating nearby Logan Country Club Head Professional Clem Weichman by 16 strokes. It was certainly an impressive feat. But should that tournament have shown up on Snead’s “official” record? Was it really an admissible TOUR event? 

And therein lies the rub. It was a Snead win, of that there is no dispute. But since the entire field consisted of local pros from in and around West Virginia and Virginia, and since none of the stars of the day entered, not even TOUR pros from the area—Bobby Cruickshank, Chandler Harper and Denny Shute—its place in history is somewhat dubious. Should it have been considered official?

We have the very same issue with majors, of course.  There's no way to compare across the ages in any way that is fair to players of both eras.

Eyes, Rolled - Was your concern about world ranking points for the Tour Championship keeping you awake at night?  Your concerns have been addressed:

The player who takes the fewest strokes might not win the Tour Championship because of the radical scoring change for the FedEx Cup in which the top seed will start at 10-under par with a two-shot advantage. 

The PGA Tour will continue to keep a traditional score, even if it won’t be published, so that world ranking points can be awarded. 

The Official World Golf Ranking board met last week at the Masters and approved a PGA Tour proposal that awards full ranking points based on where players would have finished without the staggered start. 

The No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup starts the tournament at 10 under, with the No. 2 seed at 8 under, and then 7 under, 6 under and 5 under. The next five players start at 4 under, all the way down until Nos. 26 through 30 begin at even par.

Is this stupider than dropping from knee-height?  Our governing bodies continue to beclown themselves....

Adios Sheep Ranch -  I expect that this will be epic:

BANDON, Ore. – Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is famous for the clifftop, ocean-front 

Mike Keiser, Phil Friedman and Bill Coore on the site.

holes on three of its four highly ranked courses set basically in the middle of nowhere next to the Pacific Ocean. 

There soon will be even more flagsticks along that coastline.

Nine new cliffside greens are under construction just to the north of Bandon Dunes as part of what is being shaped into the par-71, 7,000-yard Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch. The opening date has not been set, but expect play to begin in spring of 2020 if all goes to plan. 

And you read that right – nine of the 18 greens will be directly on the 100-foot cliffs. Compare that to the resort’s Bandon Dunes course, which has five greens directly on the cliffs, six if one green (No. 5) shrouded by a dune is counted. The Pacific Dunes course has three greens directly on the cliffs and a couple very close, and the Old Macdonald course has one.

I would expect this to be pretty great, as the coastline if more jagged, offer better opportunities for tees and greens, than the earlier courses.

Although I had always wanted to play the Sheep Ranch:

The site of what had been the Sheep Ranch – 13 greens with an unset, play-as-you-like routing built by Tom Doak – will become the fifth 18-hole course associated with the resort that already has four of Golfweek’s top 10 resort courses in the United States. The Sheep Ranch had existed since Doak built the resort’s Pacific Dunes course and came next door to set up a rustic experience accessible to a handful of golfers who went to the trouble to determine the place actually existed and to gain access.

 Put Bandon on the schedule for a return visit in 2021.  Though we need to go for two weeks, to play all the course a couple of times each.

I'll see you when I see you...