Midweek Musings

Your traditional MM come with a kicker...As our Member-Caddie event is tomorrow morning, there will be no Thursday Threads, Thoughts or Themes....  I know, but Friday will arrive before you know it.

Antrim Afterthoughts - Kyle Porter at CBS tells us about his Open week.  No, not the Harbour Bar, he seems to have been in an isolation tank:

I cried on Sunday when Shane Lowry won The Open Championship. Covering The Open from afar is a bizarre experience. It's always one of my favorite weeks of the year,

but it's still a little weird. My family drove to Colorado for the week for a wedding, and I was left in my house for four straight days of nothing but consuming Royal Portrush, pounding venti coffees from Starbucks and trying to make funnies on Twitter. 

It sounds sad -- and maybe it is sad -- but there's nothing I enjoy more than howling at 3:30 a.m. (ET) at Golf Twitter and texting with friends about the stuff we can't say publicly (Golf Twitter After Dark). The entire week really is a joyful experience, and as much as I genuinely love traveling to events with friends, often you get a more holistic, immersive experience by watching on the telly.

The cost is two-fold. The first is that you don't really sleep, and the second is that it's a rather lonely existence. I went to a neighborhood party with some friends on Saturday night and felt like I had to relearn how to interact with humans.

The first step is always to admit that you have a problem....

Despite being geographically undesirable, Porter captures some poignant moments:

1. A man alone with a trophy: On Saturday evening, Lowry told us what was on his mind. "I'll go to bed thinking about holding the Claret Jug tomorrow evening," said Lowry. "It's only natural, isn't it? We're human. We're not robots. We can't not think about things. And when you try not to think about something you end up thinking about it more, so you might as well talk about it."

I'm not sure anything will ever touch the theatrics of Phil Mickelson kissing his hand and touching the glass around the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in 2016, but to see Lowry on Sunday on the first tee and know what he was feeling on Saturday evening and the four-stroke lead he blew at Oakmont in 2016 ... well, the hooking bullet he hit off the first told me everything I needed to know about where his stomach was at. The whole thing wobbled, and you wondered if 80 was in play.

I did not see them play that first hole, but that's a meaningful part of the challenge, as it's a very late tee time.  But Lowry salvaging a bogey might have been just what he needed, or at least that's how it turned out.

2. Sauce at the 16th: It was pretty much over by then. Much weather had been weathered. Many pars had been saved. Many contenders had been blasted into the stratosphere. Lowry had two dangerous shots left. The first was his tee ball into the laugh-out-loud difficult 16th. He hit a searing missile right at Calamity Corner and right for the tournament's heart. He never even watched it. The ultimate sauce.

Major Sauce trumps Tour Sauce.  In fact, the only thing that trumps Major Sauce might be this:

3. The 18th: It's always the best five minutes of the golf year, but this one seemed extra special. Lowry's hands were in the air nearly before his approach shot landed. The good-but-not-great player who had missed four straight Open cuts won this one by six was and was also from the place where The Open returned after seven decades? It would have seemed silly at the beginning of the week to insinuate that this was the script, and yet, here the jolly lad from this very island bounded up the horseshoe while surrounded by orange, green and white and Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington and Ricky Elliott. Ole, ole, ole played in the background. It seemed too good to be reality.

While many are disappointed that it wasn't closer, that which it lacked in competitiveness was made up by the emotional impact of the (sort of) local winner.

Also, we tend to overstate the importance of sports in culture, though in this case I do think it's true.  Amateur golf on the island of Ireland has long been a one-island program, as evidenced by Lowry have played the North of Ireland at Portrush.  In that sense, it was ahead of the culture, and played a part in the easing of tensions.

Remember those nine things you didn't know about Shy-ane?  E. Michael Johnson will see our nine, and raise to fifteen:

He missed the cut in his last four Open Championship starts before this year 

Lowry’s win at the Open Championship could not have been easily predicted off his track record in the event as he had missed the cut in the last four. Lowry shot 73-72 at St. Andrews in 2015, 78-71 at Royal Troon in 2016, 72-78 at Royal Birkdale in 2017 and 74-73 last year at Carnoustie.

I knew he had been in the wilderness, but I didn't realize it was quite that bad....  But he seems like such a good guy, who knew he could do such a spot-on Robert Allenby impression:

He fired his caddie midway through last year’s Open Championship

Frustrated by his poor form, Lowry dumped his bag man, Dermot Byrne, mid-tournament at Carnoustie. “It’s something that I felt I had to do, but I should have waited until after it was over,” Lowry said late last year. “I’ve never said it to him personally, but I’ve said it publicly: If I was to do it again, I would do it a little bit differently because Dermot is a very good friend of mine.

 OK, but the introspection and regret is obviously not Allenbyesque.

But this might be my fave:

He skipped Rory McIlroy’s wedding to attend his grandmother’s 80th birthday party 

Lowry told RTE Radio One in 2017 that he opted not to attend the wedding of Rory McIlroy and Erica Stoll at Ashford Castle to attend a different bash—his grandmother’s 80th birthday party. "I wasn't at the wedding,” Lowry said. “My granny was 80 on Saturday night, so we had a birthday party for her at home. Like I said, family comes first."

Well said, Shane, though the more important part is the actual doing....  Don't miss this video via Shack of Shane's granny talking about how hard it was to watch....   No brandy since 2009 sounds like a human rights violation....

Do we think Dylan Dethier can deliver on this header?

Why, in the end, Rory McIlroy actually got the Open Championship he wanted

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

But with the power of hindsight, the most defining moment of McIlroy’s week actually came on Wednesday, when he was asked an expansive, high-stakes question in his pre-tournament press conference: What were his hopes for the tournament’s legacy? 

“In golfing terms, I think its legacy could be young boys and girls are keen to pick a golf club up and play,” McIlroy said. “I’m very fortunate that I grew up here because it was

so accessible and you didn’t have to come from money or anything to play the game. So I think no matter what happens this week, if I win or whoever else wins, having The Open back in this country is a massive thing for golf. And I think as well it will be a massive thing for the country.” 

It’s not clear if McIlroy was watching when the Portrush crowd rallied behind Shane Lowry on Saturday afternoon as he reeled off one crowd-fueled birdie after another. Nor is it clear where McIlroy was Sunday afternoon, as fans stampeded down the fairway behind Lowry, Irish flags raised proudly in the air. It must have been bittersweet, watching Lowry celebrate where he’d envisioned himself doing the same, letting the “Ole!” chants and the “Hey, Sha-ane Low-ry!” songs wash over him, reveling in the joy he had just brought to so many. But seeing the Northern Irish crowds rally behind a bearded bear of a man from Clara actually did just what McIlroy had hoped it would. Back to that Wednesday presser: 

“Sport has an unbelievable ability to bring people together,” McIlroy said. “We all know that this country sometimes needs that. This has the ability to do that. Talking of legacy, that could be the biggest impact this tournament has outside of sport, outside of everything else, is the fact that people are coming here to enjoy it and have a good time and sort of forget everything else that sort of goes on.”

I actually think Rory has it a little wrong, though I for sure don't want to be harsh.   Because, as noted above, golf has been doing its bit for many, many years...  I'm not sure this event will create any new golfers, because pretty much everyone there already plays.  But why spoil such a feel-good moment...right?

Right?  Well, there was this:

Why Rory McIlroy's 2019 season at major championships was even worse than you think

Ummm... is that even possible?  Because I haven't exactly had the highest opinion of his game....

It's not that McIlroy played awful in golf's four biggest events this year—two of those

top 10s came at the PGA Championship (T-8) and U.S. Open (T-9)—but he certainly didn't perform up to the lofty level that he has in other events, including a certain "fifth major." In addition to those pair of (barely) top 10s, McIlroy finished T-21 at the Masters and missed the cut last week at the Open Championship in his home country of Northern Ireland. And another stat shows how disappointing his collective showing in those four tournaments was.

Twitter's unofficial Official World Golf Ranking guru @Nosferatu calculated the world ranking points earned by players in major championships this year. And despite Rory ranking high in just about every other metric in 2019 (First in strokes gained total on the PGA Tour, second in total world ranking points gained, third in FedEx Cup points, etc.), he just makes the top 20 of this list topped (obviously) by Brooks Koepka.

That's great, as long as "not awful" is the standard....  But here's my standard, in the two events he cared most about, The Masters and the home-game Open Championship, he was pretty awful....  

Next up, dog bites man:

Video surfaces of Sergio Garcia tossing club at his caddie during the Open, Golf Twitter takes him to task

I had been reliably informed that we would see a kinder, gentler Sergio after he got the major monkey off his back at The Masters.   But, then again, there was something about a leopard and its spots...

Though there is a minor twist in this one that might amuse:

Adding another layer to this incident is who Garcia's caddie was for the event: Victor Garcia. As in Sergio's brother.

I can only hope that Sergio pays better than Kooch....What a year for the Spaniard... the bunker meltdown, the DQ for damaging greens, and now this seemingly minor bit.  Like Rory, it must be frustrating to fail to recreate the apotheosis of his career.  Doesn't "I didn't really spit, I just let go" belong in the pantheon with "It depends upon the meaning of 'is""?

One last bit of amusement and we'll move on....

Rota Ruminations - The annual guessing game begins, with Martin Dempster as tour guide:

Can the R&A really be thinking about returning to Royal Portrush as early as 2024 after the Antrim venue lay dormant to major golf for 68 years before staging the 148th Open Championship? 

“Why not?” would have to be the answer to that, based on the resounding success of its much-anticipated return to the global sporting spotlight, on the course in particular – and what a bonus for it to throw up a home winner in Shane Lowry – but also off it.

However, the worry if that is indeed the case is that one of the other venues on the R&A’s pool of courses for the event could be about to miss out on a “turn” to host it, with Royal Lytham looking as though it might lose out to Royal Portrush.

The Lancashire venue is landlocked and, though that awkward scenario has been overcome in the past, having staged 11 Open Championships, the scale of the event in terms of infrastructure has grown considerably in recent years.

 This is very much inside baseball, interesting mostly to those of us that obsess over links golf.  he accurately captures the issue of attendance at remote Turnberry, though of course the world at large will focus on the ummm, ownership issue.

The only surprise to me are his concerns about attendance at Muirfield, which is likely to get the nod in 2023.  But I'd trade Lytham for Portrush in a heartbeat....

On a related note, this is an issue than many of us saw coming.  As we found out above, Kyle Porter was nowhere near the Antrim coast last week, and yet he knew there was a letdown coming:

 Ya think?  Mark Giannatto takes it upon himself to defend Memphis' honor, labeling Porter's tweet "incendiary".  The lady doth protest too much, methinks.  here's a sample of his defense:

Now it should be noted that Porter’s tweet did get at one notable issue this year. If you ignored that 46 of the world’s top 50 golfers will be here this week, it’s easy to see why a historic event for Memphis is being looked down upon by outsiders. 

The PGA Tour deserves some blame for that. 

FedEx used its leverage as the title sponsor of the Tour to get a world-class golf tournament in Memphis that still benefits St. Jude, a cause as worthy as any in professional sports. But then the Tour mucked it all up with its new, condensed schedule this season, effectively diminishing an event considered just a notch below a major by putting it immediately after a major.

 I'm guessing that what really has them pissed is that they got played by the Tour.  

By the way, there's another comparison in which they come out inferior... Compare this:

With this:

OK, one's an actual vehicle, and the other merely a tee marker.... but still.

But it just gets funnier and funnier:

That’s why Porter is off-base. That’s why, for that matter, Shane Lowry was wrong Sunday when asked about the throng of fans in his gallery in Northern Ireland. He joked, “Next week I’ll be in Memphis and there’ll probably be 10 men and a dog following me.” 

He might be right about the dog part because TPC Southwind superintendent Nick Bisanz is known to walk the course with his two dogs, Millie and Honey.

Oh, never mind, Shane has pulled out.

Look, they have a strong field for all the usual reasons... a huge purse, small field and no cut.  As long as FedEx is willing to pony up, no worries....  But that doesn't mean the rest of us have to pay it any mind.

News You Can Use - Or, more to the point, that Xander can use....Geoff pens a Golfweek column in which he advises the aggrieved player to STFU...  I agree with that advice, though I have other questions:

Shackelford: It's best if Xander Schauffele accepts the injustice and moves on

 Ummm, Geoff, what injustice?  The man was using a hot driver and was forced to replace it....

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Xander Schauffele “politely declined” a request to 

Why the long face, X?

speak to press following his British Open final round Sunday. 

That might have been the smartest move he made all week. 

After all, had Schauffele never mentioned his driver failing a random test following Friday’s 65, no one outside the inner circle of the PGA Tour would have known of his run-in with the R&A’s random driver tests in its search of non-conforming clubs. 

If Schauffele keeps quiet, he might prevent a spiraling debacle that could taint his recent success, his relationship with his sponsors and most of all, turn fellow players against a player who is otherwise likable and to be admired for his recent play.

I know we're in the midst of the victimhood Olympics, but this is the very definition of a first-world problem.  But you know what is a clear-cut injustice?  Telling the world that other manufacturer's clubs failed, when it's not the case:

By pushing for an increase in the R&A’s driver testing sample size and attempting to out other failed tests at Royal Portrush — incorrectly at least in the case of PXG — he could force testing of all drivers at all majors.

I have no issue with his calling for all drivers to be tested, as that would seem to make the playing field level (and, as noted yesterday, the incentives are quite perverse).  He thinks his privacy was violated, whereas I don't think a professional golfer should have the expectation of privacy in the first place.  But, even accepting his premise, his reaction was to do to TaylorMade and PXG, that which was done unto him....  Don't look to me to have your back here, Xander.... I know, not much of a threat.  But he can't expect his peers to have his back either, and that's something he would be wise to bear in mind.

Good On Him - We like when the old guys give it a go, so kudos to this controversy-seeking missile for exposing himself:

Brandel Chamblee qualifies for Senior Open for the second year in a row

What I liked most was his description of his play last year at St. Andrews:

Chamblee's next goal? Play better than he did at St. Andrews last year, where he shot 77-75 to miss the cut. After, he bluntly assessed his golf game. 

“It was tougher than I thought it would be,” Chamblee said after the second round. 

“Yesterday I wasn’t sharp hitting the ball, and I putted atrociously. Today, I was pretty sharp hitting the ball, but I found my way into a couple of pot bunkers. And continued to putt like a buffoon.”

See, he's every bit as cruel about his own play as he is about others'...  I find that endearing.

see y'all on Friday.