Thursday Threads

Slim pickings in the golf world this morning, so I shan't keep you long....

The Dukes of Hazard Penalty Area - Just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?  I do hope you caught some of it, as comely coeds playing team match play rocks:

For the seventh time in program history, Duke is the 2019 NCAA Div. I Women’s Golf National Champion after defeating Wake Forest 3-2 in an all-ACC final match at Blessings Golf Club. 

“I couldn’t feel more proud than I do right now,” said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. “We’ve had a tough team all year long and they were tough this week.” 

The finals came down to the third pairing of the day between Duke sophomore Miranda Wang and and Wake Forest freshman Letizia Bagnoli. Bagnoli put her second shot from the fairway left into the water with a fairway wood, putting Duke in prime position to clinch the title. 

Bagnoli’s fourth shot after taking the penalty came up short of a greenside bunker, but her fifth was great, coming to rest inside four feet. Just off the green with her second shot, Wang’s pitch to 30 feet set up a two-putt par to win. The first missed and the second was conceded, giving the Blue Devils the win.

With five matches and no halves ties, they all end 3-2 for somebody, typically leaving the outcome in the hands of youngsters with years to wait before their first legal cocktail

Equally poignant are the grizzled veterans taking their one last shot before the lonely grind of the professional game.  This time we had Jennifer Kupcho, the best player in the women's amateur ranks, who couldn't summon the magic this time.  But also this girl, whose nerdy charms Employee No. 2 dug:

Duke’s Virginia Elena Carta entered on top, and now she leaves on top. 

Learn from Lydia:  Stick with the specs.

Three years ago as a freshman, Carta dominated at the NCAA Championship in Eugene, Ore., winning the individual national championship by eight strokes thanks to four consecutive stroke-play rounds in the 60’s. 

As a senior, the native of Udine, Italy, capped off her college career in Hollywood fashion with a team title. 

In a wild final match at Arkansas’ Blessings Golf Club that featured three pairings (including Carta’s) in need of playoff holes to decide the winner, the Blue Devils beat Wake Forest in an all-ACC final Wednesday 3-2.

Quite the bookends to her college career...  Hopefully the decisions of the Kupchos. Fassis and Cartas, combined with the option afforded by the LPGA to defer Q-School status, will lead to more of the girls remaining for the full four years.  This is the most fun they'll ever have, and these friendships tend to last a lifetime.  The grind of the professional tour will be there later, no need to rush things.

The men kick off at the same venue over the weekend, with Golf Channel picking up the coverage Monday.  Though, and let's just keep this among ourselves, I don't find the men as compelling as the ladies....  Why that might be will just have to remain one of life's enduring mysteries....

Bethpage Leftovers - Josh Berhow espouse the majority opinion as relates to Black 2024:

But fans, regardless of which side they cheer for, will have little to applaud about if the Black Course sets up similar to how it did last week. The hack-it-out rough and brutally long par-4s are a match-play fan’s nightmare. Match play, and the Ryder Cup, should be about risk, reward and shot-making — not winning demoralizing par-4s with a par. 

Poor Harold: Now the poster child for degree of difficulty.

(Bethpage, in fact, only has two par-5s.) And of course a venue doesn’t need water hazards to be great, but Le Golf National and its splashy finish — bad pun intended — was great theatre as hopes were dashed in a blink of an eye. 

But this shouldn’t be breaking news. The PGA of America has years to identify its Black Course setup. Players are expecting a tamed version, too. 

“Typically in match play you want scoring opportunities, so I don’t think it will be a good idea to set it up like it is here, which I don’t think they would,” said Webb Simpson. “I think they’ll have light rough. I think it needs to be a little shorter for a Ryder Cup, maybe take No. 7 back to a par 5.” 

Graeme McDowell, who was an assistant captain for Europe in 2018, agreed. Although he also campaigns for more neutral setups. 

“They won’t set it up like this,” McDowell said. “This will not be the ’24 Ryder Cup setup — I can guarantee you that. This looks more like Paris National than Hazeltine. It will be more of a Barclays setup for ’24. It will be less rough, it will just be bombs way.”

For a different perspective, we make our initial foray into Alan Shipnuck's weekly mailbag:

Rory mentioned yesterday that he’d like to see a few more birdies at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage – do they simply move the tees up to achieve this? Easier pin locations? #AskAlan -@JWilliams263 

Either or both of those setup changes would help scoring, but the point of the Ryder Cup is win the damn trophy, not make birdies. The tricky setup in Paris was so successful in reducing the Americans’ power advantage that future European courses are sure to be presented in a way that maximizes home-field advantage. But Le National did not work simply because of the thick rough and narrow fairways; it was more about the watery, target-golf layout. On many of the holes the Americans were forced to lay-up to the same spot as the Euros, who turned out to be far more efficient from 150 yards in. There was simply no space for the Yanks to swing away — it was all risk and no reward. The gnarly rough at Le National suggests that American setups should be wide open, to let the big hitters attack. But look at the leaderboard at Bethpage: penal rough on a really, really long course actually favors the U.S. bomb-and-gougers if they can still hit driver. The likes of DJ and Koepka and Gary Woodland find enough fairways to have a huge advantage, and if they miss they’re still much farther down the fairway so they can muscle their approach shots onto the green using shorter clubs. So it’s very likely that Bethpage in 2024 will feature a similar setup to this PGA.

I know Rory would like to see more birdies, since about 2014 now.  Joking aside, I really wasn't sure whether Rors was expressing his preference, or taking a guess at what Cap'n. Phil will have in mind.

I think it's pretty obvious that the rough will be cut lower, and the greens kept receptive.  Though, given the pre-event rains, I'm not clear that they'll be any softer than we saw last week.

All the same, it seems.... well, awkward.  The course was designed to be a brute, and to dumb it down seems silly.  There's only one reason that the PGA of America got wood at the thought of bringing the Ryder Cup to Bethpage, that being to torment Sergio....  Admittedly an objective we can all get behind.

Captain America - Chill, guys, it's not a Patrick Reed item....  though, does anyone know whether Patrick is still playing professional golf?  We kid because we love.

I've made many jokes about the water supply to Far Hills Liberty Corner, where increasingly one gets a whiff of desperation in the air (I know, I'm having analogy commitment issues).  Seriously, these guys don't seem to understand their job:

The USGA is teaming up with an unusual partner in an effort to spread the reach of its game. Some might even call the effort “super.” 

The USGA on Tuesday announced its partnership with Marvel to create a Junior Golf Guide, hoping to engage and educate junior golfers on the values of the sport. This collaborative product will take the form of printed and digital comic books featuring Marvel Superheroes in golf settings. The first comics will be available in June, and posters will be made available on Sunday at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in three weeks. 

“We’re excited for this opportunity to introduce and teach the game of golf to a junior audience in a way that’s completely unique,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA. “Utilizing the power of the Marvel Universe will help us introduce the game to potential new golfers while also giving our existing players a fun new way to learn.”

Shockingly, "super" wasn't the first adjective to pop into your humble blogger's mind....  

Since the time of Mary Queen of Scots, our game has attracted generation after generation of devotes participants.  But rather than trusting the timeless appeal of golf, our current administrators demonstrate their lack of belief that this millennial generation could ever find their way to our overly-complicated sport.  The obvious problem is that changing out the fabric of our game pisses off the rest of us...  and undermines the authority of the USGA when they inevitably cock it up.

So Mike, I'm way past needing a fun  new way to learn.... I want to play that timeless game with quaint, intricate terms such as all-square and hazard.  You'll have to pry "dormie" from my cold, dead hands.....

Can't Suck More Than The Match - Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the TV:

Coming soon: Tiger Woods, the TV show?

Oy.  What do they have in mind, watching him play Call of Duty? 

Interest in Tiger Woods never really waned, though it might have taken a hiatus while he recovered from his spinal-fusion surgery. But now that he's back and is a Masters champion again, it has resumed in full. 

To help supply the demand, author Jeff Benedict, in partnership with Wheelhouse Entertainment, will develop film and television projects based on his intellectual property, the first of them "Tiger Woods," drawing on content from the 2018 New York Times bestseller "Tiger Woods," co-authored with Armen Keteyian. 

“As a rabid sports fan," Wheelhouse CEO Brent Montgomery said in a news release, "I had seen Jeff’s byline and read much of his work, always impressed by his insights and access into some pretty rarified worlds, but when I picked up ‘Tiger Woods’ I saw what a true force Jeff really is – and a compelling way to bring the Tiger Woods story to life as one of the most moving in sports history."

That non-waning interest was in watching the man play golf....  Just a reminder, Lindsey Vonn dumped him mostly because he's a pretty boring guy....  Just sayin'.

The Snooty Roll of Honor - For unexplained reasons, the Golf.com gang posted an item on the eleven most exclusive golf clubs in the world, which largely qualifies as rounding up the usual suspects.  

But this one offers an excuse to dive into my photo archives and exhume one of my favorite signs of all time:

Royal County Down, Newcastle, Northern Ireland 

Northern Ireland’s most socially conscious golf club is awash in doctors, lawyers, judges

and industrialists, mainly from Belfast. There’s no waiting list, not that it matters: few members leave before death and membership is by invitation only. What’s valued is camaraderie, the better to contend in the Hat game, where names are drawn to see who plays with whom. A bit of patience is in order, too, to handle one of the most beautiful, brutal links in the world. It’s not impossible for a visitor to play as a guest, but bring a blazer and be prepared to change clothes and shoes in the car park. As David Feherty once wryly said, if you show up without dandruff on your collar then the club will provide it for you.

That's one of my own photos there, and that spire visible is the Slieve Donard Hotel, quite the place.  In its basement is this helpful sign:

It adhere's strictly to Maslow's Hierarchy, yet never fails to bring a smile to my face.  

Crowd Scenes - Back to Shippy's mailbag, in which he takes on those Bethpage rampaging hordes:

New York crowds…. does something need to be done OR do you just know what you are getting into when you “sign up”? -@aronpricePGA 

This is certainly on everyone’s mind with the Ryder Cup coming to Bethpage in ’24. The crowds last week were often obnoxious and occasionally disruptive, and that was merely for a PGA Championship, a tournament which rarely arouses passions. The Ryder Cup could easily get out of control. A zero-tolerance policy carried out by trained and uniformed Pinkertons in the gallery would be a good start, but that costs a lot of money and has the possibility of leading to a bunch of confrontations and related messiness. A simpler solution is to not sell alcohol at these events. I know that’s a bummer for some folks, but it would lead to a much more pleasant and peaceful experience for everyone on the grounds.

Yes, but the PGA of America is not known for leaving money on the table....  I do love that bit about the PGA not arousing passions, though....  Alan has a gift for understatement.

But, a point I've made further, is that the dynamics of a Ryder Cup are quite different, including the fact that on the first two days there's shockingly little golf to watch.  Picture your common man running to grab a seat on the later holes when the gates open.  he'll wait hours to see his first shot hit, then will have another hours-long gap before the afternoon session.   

And this:

#AskAlan The media seemed to have more issues with the Bethpage galleries than the players. Or am I missing something? -@PopGaryPopovich 

Yes, locker room access. The players were afraid to say anything publicly because they didn’t want the tribal New York fans to turn on them. In private, they were horrified and/or fuming about the fan conduct.

Seems wise.

Shall we see what else Alan has on offer....  It's always entertaining, and it's easy blogging for your humble correspondent.  First, a few on Brooks:

How important has being an equipment free agent been to Koepka? And do you think other players will start following his lead? -@HenryFettes 

There are tons of examples of players who have struggled after signing endorsement deals, most recently McIlroy confiding that he spent all of 2018 fighting a driver he was mandated to play. Brooks has made the correct calculation that you can make an obscene amount of money simply winning the biggest tournaments, so why compromise any bit of performance just for more dollars which he doesn’t really need? Tour players are noted copycats, so you have to assume more of Brooks’s colleagues will unshackle themselves from onerous endorsement deals.

An interesting trend, no?  Molinari as well, I think..... mostly ex-Nike guys, for obvious reasons.  But it's a big number to turn down for Brooks.

I think Koepka’s win was diminished since he didn’t win by at least 8. Agree? -@JoeGunter 

Not in the slightest. A win is a win. However, it was a missed opportunity to justify the Tiger comparisons by extending the lead with airtight play, which was Woods’ Sunday specialty. But Brooks got the victory and that’s all that really matters.

Yes and no...  Diminished is far too strong a word, but an eight stroke win is more impressive than a two-shot win...  and it was a Tiger signature move, so those comparisons are somewhat tamped down.  He'll just have to console himself with his four of eight stretch, which doesn't suck.

Yeah, he’s not likable, but we have to give Brooks his due. If he had hit a serviceable tee shot on #12 at Augusta, he would have won three majors in a row and four out of the past five. That’s dominance. How many major wins do you predict for Brooks in his career? -@Steffi_Latina25 

Predicting the future is a fool’s errand. (See Ryder Cup 2018.) If we had asked this question about Rory McIlroy in August 2014 – or Tiger Woods in June 2008 – I’m quite sure all of us would be stunned at how the future has played out. So many things can derail a career, and Brooks got a little taste of that with his wrist injury a couple of years ago. But I liked when he said double digits is his goal for a career haul of major championships. I’d love to see him get there, and certainly Koepka has the game and the head for it. But so much more than that will tell the tale.

I'm guessing that some people like him...  I don't buy the premise, that a dry tee ball on No. 12 would have won him The Masters, not with six holes yet to play.   On that fool's errand, I've staked out a different position, to wit, that Tiger will be the last to ever win double-digit majors....  Of course, I remain the '62 Mets of fantasy golf, so carpe diem.

And on our almost-hero:

#AskAlan How big of a story is it that DJ can hang around the top of a major leaderboard but hasn’t shown enough to close it out? The money is great but Brooks is up 4-1 on him. -@forearmshivers 

It’s poetic that Dustin is returning to Pebble for another U.S. Open, to end a star-crossed decade in the majors which began with his epic meltdown at the 2010 national championship. By finishing second at this year’s Masters and PGA, DJ now has 17 top-10s in the major championships but only one victory. This most recent blown chance was revealing, and I keep going back to the 16th hole on Sunday. 

Johnson had played nearly perfect golf to that point, cutting Koepka’s lead from seven to one lone stroke. The crowd was on his side, and Dustin had a chance for a monumental comeback which would have validated his greatness and dramatically altered his relationship with Brooks, the frenemy who become the player we all expected Johnson to be. A good drive left DJ in the fairway on one of Bethpage’s toughest holes, facing the defining shot of his tournament. No doubt Dustin felt he needed at least one birdie, but ahead of him were a downwind par-3 (#17) and one of the easier par-4s at Bethpage (#18). Brooks was falling apart one hole behind him; the key for Johnson was to avoid making any mistakes that would take the pressure off Koepka. 

The pin on 16 was back-right. Long was dead. Dustin had acres short and left, but after spending a long time trying to read the gusts he attacked the flag with a roping hook. On that line the green was much more shallow. There was no room for error. Alas, Dustin’s ball flew over the green into a nasty patch of rough. With the green sloping away from him, the best he could do was gouge it out to seven feet. Shotlink stats show that pros make it only 50% of the time from that distance, and that’s not with the PGA Championship on the line and all of Bethpage at full throat. Dustin missed, of course, and his bid was blunted. 

Afterward, he expressed surprise that his 5-iron flew the green. Did the wind die? Maybe, but that is always a possibility on a gusty day. Was it too much adrenaline? That happens, too, but he didn’t allow for it by recklessly firing at the flag. Playing short/left would have given DJ room to miss. Quite simply, it was the wrong shot at the wrong time. It’s a subtle thing that led to yet another coulda/woulda/shoulda near-miss.

Gee, you're saying that DJ made a bad decision.  Who coulda seen that coming?

And on another fallen hero:

How encouraged are you by Jordan’s performance at Bethpage? #AskAlan -@_SMisner 

Massively! Bethpage is a big ballpark with relatively flat greens – on paper, it’s not Spieth’s kind of course. But he was in control of his golf ball and poured in plenty of putts, and that formula works pretty much everywhere. Golf is so much more interesting with Spieth on the leaderboard. I hope this is the start of another run because we need a few superstars to step up and challenge Koepka.

Massively?  With an exclamation point?  Of course Alan is the guy that predicted the coming era of U.S. Ryder Cup dominance, and I'm guessing there were exclamation points involved there as well.

It was a pretty good week for Jordan, admittedly, given the standards he's been lowering for two years now.  But I'd want to see more before I'd put a shekel on him.

This one is a fun walk down memory lane:

Ever been a worse final round than Harold Varner excluding Rory at Augusta (2011) of course?! He was playing the round like a 20 handicap hacker. -@boblpartridge 

I’ve seen plenty. Dustin’s 82 at the 2010 U.S. Open was worse. So was Jason Gore’s 84 at Pinehurst in ’05, alongside Retief Goosen’s 81. Nick Watney’s 81 at Whistling Straits in 2010 was brutal. Jeff Maggert making a 7 and an 8 in the final group at the 2003 Masters might be worse. Ernie Els’s 80 at Shinny in ’04 was a shocker from a future Hall of Famer. There are a ton more examples of players losing their games (and their minds) in the crucible of major championship Sundays. I was actually impressed by Varner’s comportment. He’ll learn a lot from that disastrous round and hopefully come back stronger.

Varner is such a good guy that it was hard to watch....   

One last bit on the golf course:

From the difficulty standpoint, there’s little doubting Bethpage is a major-worthy venue. But in many intangible areas, it lags for me. Normally I am locked into majors, but I channel-surfed in ’09 and ’19 alike. Sorry, “tough course and tougher crowd” alone don’t do it. Am I nuts? -DannyLawhon 

Not at all. Bethpage is a brutal but one-dimensional test. The course dictates how every hole must be played: smash a driver, then fly the next shot all the way to the green, and if either swing goes awry hack out of the rough, possibly sideways. There is no room for improvisation or creativity. It identified a very worthy and proficient champion, but I would not call this PGA an artistic triumph.

My only reaction would be to note that we've only seen it play in wet, soft conditions....  But it's hardly a course that asks questions of a strategic nature.  And where it tries, think No. 6, the guys just bombed drivers anyway....

Thanks for stopping by, and perhaps we'll meet again tomorrow.