Thanks for understanding my need to grab the last day of summer...I promise, you'll have my full attention from now forward.
Testing Follies - It's that time again, kids, when we trot out the third of Robert Conquests Rules of Politics (though, really, they're rules of life);
3. The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.
Submitted for your approval is our very own PGA Tour, for which it would be difficult to identify said enemies. Enemies notwithstanding, they seem intent on beclowning themselves without respite. First, the Scauffele shenanigans at Portrush forced the exposure of their rigorous testing protocol.... Yanno, that bit where they can't be bothered testing anything other than the spare driver heads lying around in the equipment vans.
Forced to test actual gamers, five out of thirty drivers tested last week in Napa were found to be non-conforming, a rather gaudy total you'll agree. Michael Thompson, one whose driver was non-conforming, had these reservations:
But Thompson does have two issues with the process.
First, he cited an apparent disconnect between the manufacturers and the USGA as to how the test is being conducted on the clubface. Per Thompson, the USGA is testingspecific “hot spots” its identified as being unique to each manufacturer.
“For Ping, it’s high-toe, which is the case for a lot of drivers,” he said. “You know, if you hit it high off the toe, you get a little bit more distance with regard to rollout. However, the ball speed goes down. So you’re not actually gaining speed hitting it off the toe, and no one in their right mind is going to try to hit a driver off the toe.”
A second player expressed similar concern to GolfChannel.com, wondering why the USGA was testing parts of the face that would make for poor contact and thus a poorer result, regardless of Characteristic Time.
“So I think that was a big issue with a lot of the manufacturers, because they weren’t told that going into this year of testing. … They were told how it was going to be done, and the manufacturer’s testing is done to replicate what the USGA is going to do. And I was under the impression that last week [the test] was not done the way they said it was going to be done.”
OK, that seems a reasonable criticism, no? These guys can only covet my hot toe-hooks, but they find that sweet spot with regularity.... And yet, it's curious, because this is the purpose of such testing, as per Thompson:
“There’s gotta be a limit, right?” he said. “Drivers will go bad over time, depending on how many times you hit it. It’s just the nature of metal – it degrades over time.”
As a unnecessary digression, Michael Thompson as the poster child for hot drivers reminds me of when back-up Yankee catcher Franco Cervelli got busted for steroids. A notoriously punchless batter, my thought at the time was that Franco must have been using them wrong...
But back on planet Earth there's this obvious question provoked... the metal on the toe, that place he's not trying to make contact, either degraded from use or was non-conforming from the get-go, right?
Of course, there remains no shortage of such examples of inconsistency between their words and actions... This captures the big kahuna:
Dennis acknowledged that the difference in distance between a conforming and non-conforming driver is largely negligible, but stressed that the program – just like other testing programs the Tour has conducted or continues to conduct – is about establishing “a level of conformity.”
You keep telling us that there's no practical benefit from violating the CT standards, and yet the manufacturers keep pushing right up against those limits. This does remind me of that precious Tour PR hack's comments in the wake of the POY vote:
In supplying this information, Tour spokeswoman Laura Neal said, “Feel free to debate whether the PGA Tour membership should have voted Rory or Brooks [Koepka] as Player of the Year. What’s not up for debate is the Tour’s integrity – in this process or otherwise.”
So Laura, is it OK if we debate the Tour's competence?
This Bird Has Flown - Anyone get the reference? Oh well, perhaps I'll share below.... But, this is the bird in question:
And fly it did, in response to the provocation of a cell-phone going off mid-swing.
Bio Kim won on the Korean Tour Sunday, but it proved to be a costly victory.
The Korean Professional Golfers Association announced Tuesday that Kim, 29, has been suspended for three years for making an obscene gesture during the final round.
On the 16th hole Sunday at the DGB Financial Group Volvik Daegu Gyeongbuk Open, Kim reportedly lost his temper when a cellphone camera shutter went off during his downswing. According to the AFP, Kim turned and flipped off the crowd, before slamming his club into the ground.
before we go on, let me just say that I actually thought the club slam was worse, if only because it came after the bird. Heat of the moment and all...
Judgment was swift and harsh:
Kim, who played on the PGA Tour in 2011, went on to claim his second title of the season and apologized afterward.
Apparently that mea culpa wasn’t enough to avoid a suspension, as the Korean Tour cracked down by unanimously voting to ban Kim for three years and fine him the U.S. equivalent of $8,350. After the emergency tour meeting Tuesday, news-wire photos showed Kim kneeling in front of a row of television cameras.
In a statement, the tour said: “Kim Bi-o damaged the dignity of a golfer with etiquette violation and inappropriate behavior.”
Prior to the suspension, Kim was leading the Korean Tour’s money list.
Mike Bamberger explains this seemingly excessive punishment in the context of Korean culture:
Is Kim’s penalty excessive? Nearly all of us, we Statesiders, would say it is. But we did not grow up in a country where the government, for years, measured the length ofminidresses and decided what was and was not acceptable. Shame, conformity and obedience are inherent values in Korean culture. We think of those things as negatives. They see them as positives. It’s actually hard to wrap your head around.
Here’s one telling thing about the Bio Kim episode. If you watch the tape, there’s a woman in the background who puts her hand on her mouth as Kim’s hand goes up. She cannot believe what she is seeing. If you responded similarly while walking through your local mall, you’d be breathing through your nose the whole time.
Here’s a second telling thing. When the penalty was announced, with extreme expedience, Kim responded by kneeling in front of TV cameras and apologizing. You know what would happen here, in the U.S.? The golfer would sign his card, collect his cardboard check, then call his agent and his lawyer and go to Twitter with some heartfelt 280-character open letter to anyone I may have offended. You or I would ignore and move on because, really, did the guy do anything to you or to me? We are a country of 327 million individuals. Korea has an ancient, unified culture. Kim’s act was a crime against a society.
Your immediate reaction will no doubt include shock and horror at the mindless conformity required of the Koreans.... Nor for me, I hear you say as I mouth the very same words. But then Mike reminds us of the wages of our individuality and non-conformity:
Of course that sounds excessive to our sensitive ears. Sergio Garcia, provoked at the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage, reportedly did the same thing, in the same direction. What was his penalty? Possibly nothing. (He was more provoked.) Definitely not a three-year ban.
Garcia spat in a cup on the 13th green at Doral one year. He had to be fined for that one. He definitely did not get a three-year ban. It’s unlikely he got a one-week ban.
This year, at the WGC event in Memphis, he took out a chunk of turf with a temper-tantrum second swing. He surely got fined for that, but there was no suspension, or none that was announced, anyhow.
Imagine if there was a three-year ban for his first offense? Sergio would never have had a first offense. Golf means too much to him.
Damn you, Mike! Can't we find some middle ground?
Early Vibes - Captains Steve Stricker and Paddy Harrington shared a stage at Whistling Straits to talk all things Ryder Cup, rendering it necessary to overreact to their comments. First, as relates to the venue:
“Here at Whistling Straits, this is a much more natural golf course,” Harrington said. “I'm interested to see down the road what Steve has in store but doesn't look like you cando a lot with this golf course. As much as it was obviously designed and built there, it looks like it's just in a natural setting all its life and it's going to present its way. Even the weather could be very changeable the week of the Ryder Cup next year.
I'm gonna need a moment to get over Paddy calling WS "natural", because there's likely no more artificial golf course on the planet. But here's the gist of the venue issue:
Yes, he has to be concerned about the team’s performance in France. Yes, he has to beconcerned that the U.S. has won only three of the last 10 Ryder Cups. Yes, he has to be concerned that Whistling Straits might be slightly harder to modify to his team’s advantage, compared to a course like Hazeltine National was in 2016, because it’s a lakeside links course that’s naturally more difficult to alter (less room to change/expand fairway widths, more waste areas that can't be altered, etc.). And yes, to the point that provoked his joke, he even has to worry that Americans are 0 for 3 at the PGA Championships played at Whistling Straits.
But we have this shiny new task Force that was supposed to ensure that all decisions were optimized for the benefit of.... well, that's kind of the kicker, isn't it? Anyway, Strick is a good guy, but whether he's the right guy is quite a different matter. See if you think he's got things under control with this:
“We have been looking into stats,” Stricker said, late in the presser. “We gave a lot of holes away in France by making something other than par. We made almost as many birdies, if I remember right, during that week in France, but we just gave so many holes away in making different numbers.”
He went on to explain the need for conservatism in key moments, but acknowledged the difficulty in achieving that mentality. American players tend to play aggressively, pursuing birdies on every hole in stroke play, and it wouldn’t necessarily be wise to urge caution and take them out of their games, but Stricker pointed out how that tendency has worked against them in Cups played in Europe. Which is why he’ll have faster greens—"It’s not going to be 8 on the Stimpmeter like it was in Paris,” he said to laughter, with a pointed look at Harrington—and why the rough won’t be anywhere near as high. Still, he acknowledged that tweaking the course is a harder prospect at Whistling Straits.
Stats? Sure, no one else has ever thought of that... But riddle me this, Batman? Do those stats tell you that Phil hasn't hit a fairway since the Carter administration, rendering him unfit to play foursomes? And yet, Captain Furyk sent him out in foursomes....
Eammon Lynch finds our leader too old school:
But a more revealing moment came when Stricker was asked about the prospects of U.S. team mainstays Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
“It looks like Phil is building up his calves and getting thinner and hitting more bombs,” he joked. “Anything is possible with Phil, and with Tiger we know what type of player and competitor he is.”
Stricker said it’s feasible both might qualify. As of today, Woods, the Masters champion, stands fourth in the qualification points rankings. Mickelson is 24th. Neither has shown much form in months.
At the last Ryder Cup a year ago in Paris, Woods and Mickelson were captain’s picks for the team and performed abysmally. Mickelson’s selection was greeted warmly in Europe, one former European captain told me. They knew— as Furyk did — that the test in Paris would be hitting fairways and that Lefty couldn’t be assured of hitting French territory if he teed off from atop the Eiffel Tower.
With that in mind, if Mickelson is again showing little form, and by then at the age of 50, he will have no business being on the 2020 U.S. team at Whistling Straits. He could be a tremendous asset in any team room, but his clubs should stay home. But Stricker gave no indication that either Mickelson or Woods would have to prove themselves to earn a spot on his bench. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“To leave any of those guys out would be hard to do, just because of what they mean and what they have meant to these teams over the years,” he said.
That suggests Stricker may be hostage to the same thinking that helped doom the recent captaincies of Furyk and Davis Love III.
I'm as happy to take my shots at Phil as anyone, but Eammon is making way too much of this. Strick gave the only logical reaction to the question, which is to show one's respect for the players but punt the question. In fact, Eammon fails to go for the jugular...
Phil's selection for Paris can be argued, but Tiger's really can't.... But if Furyk knew that Phil was a bad fit for the venue, he should have known that he was a worse fit for the venue in foursomes.... And I also don't remember Davis' most recent captaincy as doomed....
But the jugular he avoids is the folly of allowing Phil's hostile takeover of the event back in 2014. That's what makes it hard to leave him off the team.... After all, he got Strick the gig. And Paris demonstrated that all his nonsense about pods and continuity was just that.... As the wise Captain Watson said, it's about twelve guys.
Life's Too Short - This is way too much work for your humble correspondent, but perhaps it will be of interest to you:
The only reason to blog this is that I loved this stamping:
All Things Brooks - An accumulation of items on the lad for your bemusement. First, I'm not at all sure what he means here:
In May he said he’s stronger physically and mentally than his colleagues, which raised a few eyebrows. While the comment caught some off guard, Koepka believes majors are the easiest tournaments to win because 80 percent of the field has no chance at victory.And while some in the genteel confines of golf didn’t appreciate his candidness, he’ll continue to be outspoken about slow play.
“I’m not going to be someone else just to be more popular,” Koepka said. “I’m not your typical golfer, definitely not a golf nerd. I have an athlete’s mentality, a true athlete, and if that rubs people the wrong way, tough.
“I’m just going to say what I feel, I’m going to be honest and I’m not going to hold back. That’s who I am.
A true athlete? As compared to what? Or, perhaps more on point, compared to whom? Are we still in POY payback mode? Are we talking Rory here?
It so happens that his season, the one in which he won a major and took his friend DJ's manhood, was played with a bum knee:
Still, the more surprising news to arise from Koepka's press conference was the reveal that he played through injury last season, one the required treatment following the Tour Championship in August.
"I had some stem cell done on my knee. My patella tendon was partially torn, so just rehabbing that," Koepka said. "Spent the first probably three, four weeks just rehabbing that and been back hitting balls."
Later in the interview Koepka divulged the treatment, which he received the Monday after the East Lake finale, was far from a pleasant experience.
"It wasn't technically surgery; it was stem cell. Got to go in there and inject it," Koepka said. "I was watching it on the screen as they were doing it and it was probably one of the most painful things. I was screaming when they did it.
"I limped out of there. I was limping for probably two, three days after, and then it's just about trying to grow the muscles around it. Try to get strong again, rest it. That's kind of how we went with it, doing a little rehab. The important thing was to not walk with a limp. Those three days you're kind of off your feet.
Brooks feels pain? JB will be glad to know that...
Joel Beall has an interesting take on where Brooksie can improve, and there's more there than you might expect:
Par 3s
Koepka's par-3 performance cost him the green jacket. He was three over on AugustaNational's par 3s, seven shots worse than Tiger Woods on said holes. For those that spent April in a coma, Koepka finished the tournament one stroke back of Tiger.
The Masters wasn't an aberration. Koepka lost the Honda Classic by one to Keith Mitchell. Koepka was four over on the par 3s to Mitchell's four-under mark. Essentially, he was three to four swings away from a two-major, five-win campaign. For a guy who desperately seeks chips to place on those broad shoulders, this would be a start.
On the year, Koepka finished 52nd in par-3 scoring, and 44th the season prior. The disparity in his par-3 scoring against high finishes on par 4s (first in '19, 15th in '18) and par 5s (10th in '19, third in '18) can be correlated to his driving prowess. Where the equation becomes curious is against a smorgasbord of strong iron numbers: 11th in greens in regulation, fifth in fairway proximity, first in shots from 175-to-200 yards, 10th in approaches under 200 yards, and 11th in sg/approach.
Interesting, though I'm skeptical of any statistical assessment of this guy. That's because the numbers will be weighted towards regular Tour events, whereas the real issue is how he compares in these categories in a certain four weeks of the year.
Of course, Joel has his fun with us:
Fan Engagement
Just kidding, wanted to make sure you are still paying attention.
Good one, kid.
I'll leave you here and hope to see everyone tomorrow.
Oops, I almost forgot to circle back on this.
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