Midweek Musings

Just a few items for your amusement today...

The Fayetteville Horror - The weather, that is, as yesterday again didn't go as planned:

Arizona's Haley Moore

How far back does déjà vu apply? At the 2019 NCAA Women’s Championship, it can be as short as a few days, or as long as a year. 

For the third time in 72 hours, thunderstorms interrupted play at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., forcing the NCAA D-I Women’s Golf Committee to once again tinker with the schedule. Instead of whittling down the remaining teams from eight to four to two on Tuesday as planned, only the match-play quarterfinals could be completed by day’s end due to the six-hour delay. 

Half the action didn’t mean half the drama, however. All four of the quarterfinal contests were decided by 3-2 margins, the first time that’s happened since the addition of match play into the national championship five years ago.

Well, this team match play thing has a long history of delivering the goods....

Winning close matches is something Arizona has become accustom to, having done it through their NCAA title run a year ago at Karsten Creek. The defending national champions carried over the good vibes on Tuesday when they faced Pac-12 rival USC, the No. 1 team in the country entering nationals. The Trojans grabbed two points from Malia Nam and Alyaa Abdulghany, while the Wildcats’ Bianca Pagdanganan and Y.C. Chang won their matches. 

Once more, Arizona relied on Haley Moore, who won the deciding point in last year's championship match against Alabama and was 3-0 in match play a year ago. The senior from Escondido, Calif., came from 3 down when play was suspended by the storm to win over Gabriela Ruffels, making a 12-foot birdie on the 18th hole for a 1-up triumph.

She's the biggest reason that they're the defending champs, so why not?

The best match of the day was Duke v. Stanford:

Arizona will square off on Wednesday against Duke, who prevailed over Stanford in their quarterfinal clash. The two schools split the first four points, with the overall match resting on the outcome of Blue Devil senior Virginia Elena Carter versus Cardinal junior Ziyi Wang. Carter, the NCAA individual champion as a freshman in 2016, had a 3-up lead with three holes to play, only to see the match go to extra holes. On the 24th, Carter finally prevailed with a birdie in the gloaming. 

“We saw a lot of changes on this course so it can be hard to get back in the rhythm of things,” Carter said. “When you’re making good shots and then have to stop for such a long time it can be hard to get back to it. I don’t think I played as well in the afternoon as I did this morning so I’m happy to get the win.”

Carter tried her best to give it away, but Wang kept barely missing putts to win in OT, including an agonizing horseshoe....  

Let's hope they have better weather today so they can get the semis and finals completed, and you might think about tuning in.  I'm not suggesting that you eschew Jeopardy James or anything, but this is really good fun.

Bethpage Blues -  It's that time in the news cycle when folks wax nostalgic and draw tenuous conclusions....  Otherwise known as time for my iconic Midweek Musings, when we make up all sorts of stuff to buy time until the next event begins.

The Golf.com gang pooled their reflections form the week, some of which are moderate interest.  First up is Dylan Dethier who captures that crazy scene on No. 18:

The champ kept his cool 

When Brooks Koepka missed a short par putt on No. 17, his three-shot lead suddenly became two again. Three shots feels impossible to blow on one hole (apologies to Mr. Van de Velde) but two? Two is always in play. You could feel the tension suddenly

rebuilding in the crowd. The last hole of a major is always mobbed, since there’s no action anywhere on the course, but this was particularly tense. Drunk Long Island fans. Long Island fans, period. A fading two-shot lead. A potentially historic win or historic collapse hanging in the balance. 

I was inside the ropes with my boss Alan Bastable plus a dozen or so reporters and a handful more cameramen, photographers, etc. Harold Varner III teed off first and fired his way right. Then Koepka hit a pull-hook to parts unknown down the left side of the hole, toward bunkers, fescue and trees. Everything was suddenly in play. As Koepka walked off the tee box, the first fans ducked under the ropes to join our yellow-lanyarded crew. Then a few more. The State Park police started to take notice, and grabbed one or two, but then the dam started to break. Chaos! 

For a moment it felt completely inevitable that this would be some sort of Tour Championship redux, where fans poured down the fairway behind Tiger and led to one of the most electric scenes in sports history. But this time, at least half the crowd was hoping for disaster and a DJ-Koepka playoff. 

Somehow, the cops reacted quickly enough to keep the mob from growing to critical mass. They lined up their bikes, end-to-end, and a few key standoffs and rough shoves seemed to do the trick. But what I’ll remember from the week more than anything is that energy coming down the 18th. Koepka kept his cool, just enough. He finished it off. But at that point, nothing was guaranteed, which made it exciting as hell. — Dylan Dethier

OK, but that came during that riveting DJ interview, and Amanda and he had only gotten to the third grade when the last group teed off.  Speaking of DJ, Luke Kerr-Dineen isn't the most observant sort of fellow:

Why Dustin Johnson needs another gear 

Without being too harsh — because Dustin Johnson did enormously well just to put himself in that position in the first place — we saw DJ once again stumble with a major championship on the line. And for the first time, I finally started realizing why DJ needs to do to turn these near-misses into the major total worthy of his talent. 

Johnson’s problems are the product of what we all wished we had: immense talent, raw athleticism, and supreme ability. He swings hard and aims at pins, over and over and over again. Unleashed, there may be no better player in the sport today, and it works wonders in regular Tour events, where birdies need to fly in fast and free. But majors are different. There are times when players need to learn to manage the situations. To fold a decent hand instead of raising once again. Trailing by just one shot at the time, DJ was the only player inside the top 10 to miss long on 16 because he tried to rope a long draw into a back pin. It was an error he compounded by missing a short par putt not long after. And again when he flared his next shot right and failed to get up and down. And again on 18, when he pulled driver and lost it right, costing him a birdie look on the short finishing hole. Miss anywhere not long on 16 and it’s advantage DJ. Guarantee yourself anything from the fairway on 18, even if it means clubbing down off the tee, and birdie remains very much on the table. 

Dustin Johnson doesn’t play golf like Zach Johnson or Nick Faldo because he’s never needed to. Where they’ve been forced to use their mind to create tools to compete in a world of abundance, DJ continues playing off instinct and talent with reckless abandon. But knowing how to hone that ability is something all the greats did. Tiger and Jack weren’t just the most powerful players on Tour, they were also the smartest. If DJ aspires to that level, it’s a tool he needs to add. — Luke Kerr-Dineen

Seriously?  After three failed drug tests, bunkergate at Whistling Straits and major on-course cock-ups from Pebble to Chambers Bay, only now does it occur to you that there's something a little off  with our DJ?  In other breaking news, Hitler had a mean streak....

2024 Blues - Folks seem to be realizing that there can be too much of a good thing, as Eamon Lynch notes:

So much of the coverage seemed to soft-pedal another dependable feature of the Black:

Loudmouth drunks in the gallery. 

Most of the fans of the PGA behaved impeccably. They were enthusiastic, good-humored. But those folks tend to be drowned out by the halfwits who have beer dribbling from one chin down to the next. 

The TV folks should stop treating them as a cute stereotype of New York golf fans instead of what they are: jackasses, who should be shown the gate as soon as they start drooling on themselves.

Yes, and the problems are exacerbated at a Ryder Cup, where there's very little actual golf to be watched.

Mutt Luke Kerr-Dineen (I kid, and he explains the M-word) is quite worried:

As a proud son of an American mother and a British father, the Ryder Cup holds a special place in my heart. I pull for Europe because that’s who I grew up supporting, and it’s where I learned golf, but it’s never all or nothing. When the U.S. lifted the cup in

2016, I was actually quite pleased, even if it’s not the outcome I personally hoped for. It’s a strange, conflicted place, but in essence I root for the glory of the competition itself, which is why I’m utterly terrified for what we might see at the 2024 Ryder Cup.

Yes, it was a minority of idiots perpetuating the problem — something I wrote at the time — but there was also an element of complicity from all involved. 

Ryder Cups are more fun when they’re a little feisty, so the various parties make it so. The media, the fans, the tournament itself; they turn up the heat. That week, the pot was running too hot, and by the time they realized that it was already boiling over uncontrollably. 

There was no revving-up of the crowd during the PGA Championship, but it boiled over anyway. Just as it did in 2002, when a young Sergio Garcia struggling with an uncontrollable hitch didn’t elicit sympathy from the New York crowd — but anger.

He's actually referring to the crowd from Hazeltine in 2016, where Minnesota Nice was apparently suspended under a local rule.

As you know, I've been on this for some time now, and it's a very legitimate concern.  Everyone is conceding Phil that captaincy, but here's a scary thought:

Gotta be either Poults or Sergio, no?  Not quite sure which is the bigger incitement, but it'll be a powder keg ready to go up at the slightest provocation.

Shack's got a different concern about 2024, one we've considered previously:

Not much needs to be done at Bethpage Black for the 2024 Ryder Cup.

Take down the rough cut for the bomb-and-gouge loving American team, more concession stands and way more grandstand seating, then convince presumptive Captain

Phil Mickelson to talk the fans into a little bit more restraint when it comes to shouting out the first inappropriate thing that comes to mind. 

Sure, some improvements are easier to accomplish than others.

The most complicated of all involves the oft-discussed, widely loathed par-4 18th hole.

Tweaks were made this time around, more bunkers added to the already excessively-trapped, straightaway mess and a dreadful finishing hole remained so. The last time a major was played at Bethpage, the USGA tried to improve 18 by moving up tees and that just led to the regrettable sight of 6-iron lay ups and a sense that the hole was no better.

In the past, consideration was given to creating a hybrid hole utilizing the righthand bunker complex, the first fairway on the Red, and the current 18th green. Many others have advocated that players be asked to take a walk from the par-3 17th to the Red Course’s 18th tee. 

For the 2009 PGA, the 18th played slightly over par but still offered a bizarre ending to the round. The bomb-and-gouge mindset, combined with a slight fairway widening, had players smacking driver and hoping for the best.

Red 18 is the far more interesting hole, and the logistics of getting the players to that tee are more manageable in a Ryder Cup than in a full-field event.  That said, there will be strong resistance to any admission that the Black is lacking, so chances are nothing will change.

I'll just leave a small marker for 2014, to wit, that Black will not be a terribly interesting Ryder Cup venue, excepting of course for the drunks.  It's DNA is to play extremely difficult, and dumbing it down will be awkward... 

Gear Stuff - An interesting piece on Brooksie's lob wedge:

It was during the summer of 2012 while playing in England, Italy, Norway and Kazakhstan that Koepka learned some valuable lessons about his equipment — particularly the lob wedge he was carrying at the time. 

Coming from Florida, where course conditions were practically pristine, Koepka found himself tackling rock-hard fairways and uber-tight lies around the greens on a regular basis. Recognizing a reduction in bounce on his lob wedge could be beneficial — less bounce allows the leading edge to sit tightly against the turf for consistent contact on firm conditions — Koepka began working with a lower bounce Titleist Vokey TVD M-Grind. 

“He took things a step further for sure and we went down to 36 [degrees forward bounce] and reduced the camber,” Dill said. “What he essentially ended up creating is this low bounce skid plate. He wanted to figure out that perfect bounce and how he wanted it to feel going through the turf, and being a low bounce guy, that wedge offers him a ton of versatility around the greens.”

I have never even heard the term "forward bounce", but apparently it converts to about 4 degrees of bounce, which is exceptionally low.

Of more temporal interest, did you know that Brooks does not have an equipment deal?

Over the last few years, nearly every high-profile former Nike equipment staffer has signed on elsewhere, including Tiger Woods (TaylorMade), Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade), 

Tony Finau (Ping) and Francesco Molinari (Callaway). 

Only Koepka, Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood — all three are currently inside the top-20 in the world rankings — have elected not to sign a full-bag staff deal elsewhere.

Of the three, Koepka stands to make the most coming off his fourth victory in the last nine majors, an astounding clip that any equipment manufacturer would love to capitalize on. But instead of cashing in on his success, Koepka and his team have refrained from signing a lucrative club and/or ball deal. 

“Koepka’s just so unusual,” said one of two veteran golf-equipment marketers who agreed to speak to GOLF.com provided they remain anonymous. “For literally every player on the PGA Tour, their ego gets in the way at some point and they feel like they need to get paid for what’s in the bag. But Brooks hasn’t felt the need to cash-in. He seems pretty content to just let it ride and stick with what he’s playing. The plan is obviously working.”

Interesting, and it makes me more favorably disposed to the man.  But, of course, this is the obvious follow-up:

So what’s Koepka’s value on the open market when it comes to his gear? 

“It’s probably a stupid number for a four-time major winner — somewhere in the $3 to $7 million range per year without the hat,” one of the marketers said. “That’s based on just his playing resume. Would he get that? Maybe not. But he’d probably get somewhere in the $3 to $4 million range. And if he were like Tiger and could sell his golf bag to, say, [Monster Energy], that’s a couple million just for the bag.”

Egads, that's a lot of scratch to leave on the table, and I assure you that it's not my ego talking....

As an aside, if Brooks plays in new Orleans next year, wouldn't this just have to be his walk-up music?  Yanno, another middle finger to Brandel, and all.

A Better Time - It's the 100th anniversary of that famed PGA Championship at Engineer's Country Club and...well, OK, it's not all that famous, though it is a fun track:

Among the bounty is a former PGA Championship venue. Can you name it? We’ll wait. Give up? It’s the Herbert Strong design at Engineers Country Club, tucked away 15 miles west of Bethpage in the tiny village of Roslyn Harbor (pop. 1,051). You get a pass 

The iconic "Two or Twenty" green.

for not remembering the Engineers PGA. That’s because it happened 100 years ago, hot on the heels of World War I. The PGA was a 32-player match-play contest then, with the 6-foot-4 Englishman “Long” Jim Barnes emerging victorious. In the 36-hole final, Barnes blasted his close friend, Scotsman Freddy McLeod, 6 and 5. It was the 1919 version of Brooks v. DJ. “In the eyes of many he stands as the greatest professional golfer in the United States,” The New York Times wrote of Barnes.

When it comes to course design, Svoboda’s a Golden Age guy, so when he spotted the job opening at Engineers, he jumped at it. His enthusiasm was contagious as we toured the property. “Check this green out,” Svoboda said, leaping out of his cart on the par-4 opener. The putting surface is bisected vertically by a wicked slope, creating two distinct plateaus and a medley of hole locations that would leave Phil Mickelson’s head spinning. 

“It really makes an impression right out of the gate, kind of like No. 1 at Winged Foot West,” the pro continued. “Extremely difficult but fair. You got a back pin up here that’s unbelievable.” He was pointing all over the place. “Up there’s very cool, that one’s unbelievable. You could sit out here all day hitting different putts, because it’s, you know — it’s fun.”

I'll be there for their lavish Member-Guest on June 27th....  Last year I made a two on Number 14, so I'm quite certain I'll be in double-digits this year, with no shortage of company.

See you tomorrow.