Weekend Wrap

The Kobe story was quite the shock....  I've long been a Lakers fan, at least to the extent that I have any interest in the NBA.  But it's the daughter that I think cuts the deepest, no?

Unleish The Dogs - Well, January 26th is Australia Day....

Who won: Marc Leishman (seven-under 65, 273) 

How it happened: Rahm began the day with a one-stroke lead after a Saturday 65, but

Rahm couldn’t get off to the same Sunday start as Australian Marc Leishman, who opened birdie-birdie and was five under on the front nine. Leishman got to 13 under at the turn, which at the time put him ahead of seven others stuck at 10 under — McIlroy and Patrick Reed among them — and kept it up on the back nine. He birdied the 11th, and even when Brandt Snedeker eagled the 13th to the cut the lead to two, Leishman birdied 15 and Snedeker fell back with a bogey two holes later, making the deficit four strokes. Leishman gave away a stroke with a bogey on 17, but got it back with a birdie on 18. That last one proved crucial, as Rahm finished on a tear but came just short. Rahm was three over on the day through 12 holes, but he played the last six in five under. That included an eagle on 13 and birdie on 18. His tying-eagle attempt on the 72nd hole couldn’t fall to force a playoff. 

Why it matters: It’s the fifth PGA Tour win for the 36-year-old Leishman and fourth since 2017.

I was particularly impressed by the aggressive third shot on the finishing hole....  I'm sure he knew exactly where he stood, don't they all, though I didn't actually think he needed to be pin-hunting at that moment.  Can you say Kyle Stanley?  

Before the inevitable Tiger navel gazing, how about a moment for Jon Rahm....  Let me just cherry-pick this Alan Shipnuck comment from this week's Tour Confidential:

Shipnuck: That Jon Rahm is an absolute menace. He had a complete crack-up on the front nine today…and still nearly pulled out the win.

That was crazy impressive, especially as it happened on an extremely challenging set of holes.  That said, WTF?

Jon Rahm thought he was going to a playoff to decide the winner of the Farmers Insurance Open. And then he found out he wasn’t. 

Rahm, the 54-hole leader at Torrey Pines, stumbled early on Sunday but caught fire late. He played the first 12 holes in three over par — “I can’t really play much worse for the first 10 holes,” he said — but rebounded with an eagle on 13. He then made three birdies and a bogey over the next four holes and stepped to the 72nd tee, the par-5 18th, with the trophy still in sight. Kind of. 

“What people probably don’t know is that on 18, after I made that putt on 17, I never looked at the scoreboard, so as far as I was concerned I was one back,” he said. “So with a birdie, I was going to be in a playoff.” 

Problem was, Marc Leishman birdied the 18th two groups ahead of Rahm and was the clubhouse leader at 15 under. Rahm needed to eagle the 18th to get into a playoff.

Jim Nancy-Boy, Mumbles Faldo and the rest of us were all caught up in the fact that he was on the very same line he had in 2017, never realizing that he had lost situational awareness.  

As someone obsessed with golf history, I usually remind folks that the ability to know where one stands in a tournament is a relatively recent innovation.  heck, back in the day, they used to spread the leasers out intentionally...  Just ask Sam Snead, who came to the final hole of the 1939 U.S. Open sure that he needed a birdie, whereas a bogey would have won.  His eight wasn't helpful...

This, of course, was a terrifyingly fast putt that he no doubt would have been more aggressive with, had he only known where he stood.  It would seem to me that this is the job of one's manservant caddie, no? There's no shortage of cameramen and sound guys as one walks up the 18th, and they're all allowed to let you know where things stand, not to mention the ubiquitous scoreboards.

As for Tiger, a pretty good week methinks:

3. Tiger Woods made his first start aiming for a record 83 PGA Tour wins at the Farmers Insurance Open, and while he was never out of contention he never seriously threatened, either (thanks in part to an ugly second-round four-putt), closing with a 70 to finish six back of Marc Leishman, in a tie for 9th. How would you grade Tiger’s 2020 debut? 

Bamberger: Excellent. Bad weather, long rough, long days — he did much better than I thought he would in those conditions. 

Sens: Michael’s right. Cool air. Shaggy rough. Those have been Tiger’s Kryptonite in his comeback. It was a great showing. 

Dethier: Ditto to the above. Last year, it felt like Tiger had no chance if he was wearing a sweater. His Saturday front-nine charge teased us into thinking he might contend, and even when those chances fizzled he battled through all 72. Great start. 

Shipnuck: Solid B+. Maybe even an A-.

I think Mike nails it, for all the reasons he notes.  Cold fog, marine layers and the like?   

But am I the only one amazed that Tigers seems to have finally learned to control his tempo?  Since the mid-90's I've been wondering why he can't just swing at 80% with his driver, yet we'd see him so often coming out of his shoes....  Funny game.

I'm not going to rehash the timing of Joe LaCava letting Tiger know the sad news.  But Mike Bamberger ties the two alpha dogs together:

But here, in this nook of golf, let’s consider Tiger. In so many ways Tiger was Kobe and 

Together at The Forum in 1997.

Kobe was Tiger. The fact that both of them could travel the world on a mono-name basis is merely a starting point. Kobe followed his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, into basketball. Tiger, of course, followed Earl into golf. Kobe was named for Japanese beef. Tiger was named for a South Vietnamese colonel who fought alongside Earl in the Vietnam War. Tiger is 44 and he grew up on the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe played for the Lakers 20 seasons, his entire absurdly long career. They both turned pro in ’96, Kobe after graduating from Lower Merion High School near Philadelphia, Tiger after two years at Stanford University. At 18 years and 72 days old, Kobe became the youngest player to start an NBA game (a record that has since been broken). At 21 years, 3 months and 14 days old, Tiger became the youngest player to win the Masters (a record that still stands).

Although in the midst of this tragedy Mike adds this howler:

Tiger turned golf into basketball. It’s not. It’s a fussy old game that requires tremendous levels of precision in ways basketball does not. But Tiger’s swing, his winning margins, his gym work, all of it — golf was a game for players. Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, even Charles Barkley, moved effortlessly from the court to the course and back. Making free throws and making five-footers requires skill. Tony Finau looks like an NBA small forward. He was at Torrey Pines on Sunday, playing in the same event as Tiger.

I assume hes' the first to describe Charles Barkley's golf game as effortless.... Just profoundly sad.

Dubai Doings - Aussie Day for sure:

Lucas Herbert survived two playoff holes against Christiaan Bezuidenhout Sunday at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic to earn his first European Tour win. 

Herbert, along with Bezuidenhout, entered the final round six shots back of leader Ashun Wu at Emirates Golf Club. Wu finished Sunday with a 5-over 77 after he was 5 over on the back nine. He finished T-6 at 6 under. 

On the 18th hole before the playoff, Bezuidenhout found water, but saved his chances at victory by making a putt for bogey to match Herbert’s final-round 68 and sit at 9-under 279 to force the playoff. 

Herbert, who birded 18 the first time he played it Sunday, birdied the second playoff hole on No. 18 to seal the win.

There are a couple of notable aspects to this win, and I'm excluding his rather primal reaction here.  Hey, sometimes a fellow just needs a drink...we don't judge here... except, yanno, when we do.

First, at this very event last year, the winner was penalized under circumstances eerily similar to PReed at The Hero (alas, the video has been taken down, but get a load of this excerpt):

Herbert was attempting to utilize the new rule introduced this month that allows players

to ground their club and remove loose impediments in the sand. But a two-shot penalty remains in effect if players are deemed to have improved their lie or tested the surface of the sand, which Herbert was. After holding a share of the 36-hole lead, Herbert fell back with a third-round 72 that included the penalty but bounced back with a closing 69 to tie for seventh. 

While he remained quiet about the incident at the time, Herbert opted to share his side of the story in an interview this week with the Inside the Ropes podcast. According to Herbert, the move to swipe away loose impediments was "more of a visual thing" and, in his view, too far behind his ball to have affected the actual lie. 

"A bad brain fade, I guess," Herbert said. "In my heart of hearts, it didn't affect the actual golf shot. I went back and looked at the lie, even recreated a similar lie later on. It was still a horrible lie. I would have loved to have hit a different shot if the lie was a lot better. At the end of the day, it was still a horrible lie and it was still a long way away from the ball."

Bad camera angle?  Check.  Still a terrible lie?  Check.  

As Shack notes, quite the dodgy reaction, though it's aged reasonably well:

A year ago Lucas Herbert was trying to explain away his sand raking in Dubai, today’s he’s an Omega Dubai Desert Classic winner. What a world. 

Herbert’s explanation for last year’s penalty—”a bad brain fade, I guess”—looks downright confessional compared to Patrick Reed’s recent run-in with lie improvement. Though Herbert never really took full responsibility and suffered the rest of last season, the Golf Gods apparently sensed he’d suffered enough and the young Aussie has won his first European Tour event, taking the tournament in a playoff over Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

 It's just a funny old world, no?  

The other interesting note relates to another of our favorite pinatas, Bryson Dechambeau:

DeChambeau cruised to victory a year ago at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, where TV cameras caught him discussing air density calculations on the 72nd hole with his caddie, Tim Tucker. He started Sunday's final round two shots behind Ashun Wu as he sought to keep the trophy and had moved into a tie for the lead with four holes to go. 

But DeChambeau's pace of play again became an issue when he received a slow-play warning from a European Tour official on the 10th hole. He went on to make par, and cameras later documented a thorough club choice debate with Tucker on the 14th hole between a "10 o'clock" 8-iron and a "10:30" 9-iron.

The problem with Bryson remains that I need English subtitles.... I understand each individual word, yet have no idea what he's talking about.

But Will Gray avoids the best part of Bryson's Sunday....  We do love our awkward pairings:

Eddie Pepperell hinted that he is not expecting much in the way of conversation with Bryson DeChambeau as he prepares to play alongside the American in Dubai. 

Pepperell has been critical of DeChambeau on social media in recent months and created a stir when describing him as "a single-minded twit" in August last year as he hit out at DeChambeau's pace of play at The Northern Trust.

Well, sure, when you take "single-minded twit" out of context it's gonna sound harsh...

Bryson got his warning on No. 14, the proceeded to lose the plot:

DeChambeau's subsequent par on No. 14 kept him tied for the lead, but it proved to be his final par of the day. He closed his round with four straight bogeys from there, dropping from a share of the lead into a tie for eighth and four shots out of a playoff after signing for a 76.

But Eddie was kind:

Some saw a silver lining Sunday when it came to DeChambeau's overall pace. Eddie Pepperell has lobbed a few Twitter barbs in DeChambeau's direction in recent months over slow play, and the two were paired together for the final round in Dubai. 

"We actually got on quite well," Pepperell tweeted. "And to his credit, he's sped up."

If you say so...  But there was still that warning....because we know how slow you have to be to earn that warning.

We Are The World - A few new bits on the Tour de Farce efforts, including that they're determined to piss off just about everyone.  First, diversity is our strength:

While the questions will keep coming over the proposed series of 18 events and pro golf “league”, one question I’ve received from some: will they go after the women’s game as well? 

Documents I’ve seen do refer to a “women’s format” and an effort to “cooperate with the LPGA” to establish an identical format of individual events along with a team component.

The World Golf Group also intends to, “where appropriate, operate a complementary schedule enabling both formats to share and thereby reduce aggregate event and production costs.” 

Since those documents, the LPGA Tour has merged with the LET and Alistair Tait looks at the gamble Commissioner Mike Whan is taking. The European Tour is a partner and their efforts now figure to at some point potentially involve discussions about “The League” and how it might impact the women’s game.

To me, this just makes them sound less focused and, therefore, less credible.  So much for featuring only the best 48 players in the world....

This as well:

The Australian Open could be in for a major boost with organisers of a new global golf tour keen to include the 116-year-old championship in its mega-money plans. 

A quarter-century after Australian legend Greg Norman had his dreams of a similar world circuit squashed by the US PGA Tour, British-based World Golf Group have revealed their outline for a world tour they aim to launch in 2022. 

Ten of the PGL events would be held in the United States but the Australian Open has been earmarked as one of eight overseas fixtures. 

Sources have told AAP that the WGG recently held discussions with Australian Open organisers, given the British company wants to acquire some events rather than create 18 new tournaments. 

The Australian Open has been approached along with organisers of the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, the Dubai Desert Classic and the Singapore Open.

Interesting, and even logical, as they left the impression that they were conceiving new events.  But perhaps we should take a moment to acknowledge why the series of Australian events is in eclipse:

If successful, It would be a massive boon for the Australian Open, which has struggled to attract golf's biggest stars in the past few years due to a year-long US PGA Tour schedule.

Pretty much.  It'd be ironic, wouldn't it, if Nurse Ratched's bigfooting of the world's golf calendar created the opportunity for a new tour.....Schadenfreudalicious, even.

 But, doesn't this conflict with a number of aspects of the PGL's program.  The four month off-season and limitations on travel, most notably.

The Tour Confidentialistas state the obvious:

1. A new global golf tour, the Premier Golf League, might soon become a reality, as first reported by Geoff Shackelford. The league, of which there have been rumors for years, is aiming to create a circuit with 18 big-money worldwide events featuring the world’s best players, with a launch date of 2022 or 2023. While PGA and European tour brass have stayed relatively mum on the prospect of a new tour, the PGL released a statement saying: “We would like to say that it is our intention to work with, rather than challenge, existing tours for the betterment of golf as a sport, pastime and media property.” If the PGL actually takes flight, can you see a way the three tours could work together, or is this ultimately bad news for the PGA and European tours? 

Josh Sens: I don’t see them playing nicely together. There are a lot of ifs here, of course, one of the biggest ones being if fans really have a huge interest in seeing this come off. Maybe I’m out of touch, but isn’t there already an overabundance of limited-field events where the biggest names play for obscene purses? Do we really need more huge cash grabs at just-add-water (or should I say, just add money) events? I don’t think we do. 

Dylan Dethier: To Josh’s point, this hypothetical tour would be a better and more efficient way for the top players to cash in — but it’s not necessarily better for fans. Lacking any of tradition or identity of the established tours, this would lean heavily on star power to start new traditions. I think that can work, but I’m not positive it can. 

Michael Bamberger: There is no way they can work in harmony. The people who put up the PGL money are not going to play nice with anybody. What they are proposing is a direct threat to the other major tours. 

Alan Shipnuck: This is the most boring idea I’ve ever heard. It’s basically 18 Hero World Challenges — except Tiger might not play in any of them, or only a few. There are already too many mediocre golf tournaments out there, we don’t need more!

When someone threatens to drink your milkshake, one should take them at their word.

Like Josh and Dylan, I just don't see the market opportunity the way these folks do.  Although I'd feel better if a guy like Mike would acknowledge that any such opening is the result of our friends in Ponte Vedra Beach not playing well with others...  

I also keep coming back to the idea of no-cut tournaments, which I find one of the worst aspects of the WGCs.  They said, "You don't send the best players in the world home early", which seems superficially reasonable.  But one of my favorite aspects of our great game is the liberal dosages of humility it doles out, eventually to everyone.  Some weeks, the best players in the world aren't very good, and the deserve the ritual humiliation of leaving early.  We don'y always accept it as graciously as we should, but it makes us (well, them) so much more relatable.

I shall leave you there.  Tomorrow is a travel day, so we'll likely see each other next on Wednesday.