Much to cover today, including some items buried in our flood-the-zone PGA Championship coverage. Golf tomorrow, so I'll likely next see you on Thursday.
Harding Park Remainders - Can't think of a better place to start than with the final installment in Bamberger Briefly, in which insufferable purist Mike Bamberger re-imagines the golf world. In the present instance, he thinks he's identified an identity for the PGA Championship, though he ledes with this list of truths that aren't all that, you know, true:
You have to be a bomber to win a major these days.
Collin Morikawa proved on Sunday that that’s not true.
You need years of training, and some considerable distance from your playing prime, to be an effective golf color analyst.
Phil Mickelson showed on Saturday that that’s not true.
You can’t have a major golf event in the middle of an international pandemic.
The four days of golf at Harding Park proved that that is not true.
Mike, please don't tell me that those protests aren't mostly peaceful.... I can deal with your list, but it would be awfully disillusioning to think that those mobs in the street didn't have our best interests at heart.
That said, this is my most recent nominee for Peak 2020:
WATCH: Woman Shouts ‘I Can’t Breathe’ As She Loots Luxury Clothing Store In Chicago
OK, sorry for getting a little distracted there... Back to Mike and his killer point:
The Masters is the Masters. The U.S. Open is the U.S. Open, and British is the British. But what is the PGA Championship?
It’s past, grand though it has been, does not have to be its future.
This outstanding 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park, despite the many impositions wrought by the pandemic, was an eye-opener.
The PGA Championship could be the one major title played only on public courses.
On the West Coast.
In early August.
Talk about your West Coast Cool.
Awkward, Mike, given their recent move to May... But Mike might have sampled the mushrooms, because he's got a rota for us:
Torrey Pines in San Diego. A revived Rancho Park in Los Angeles. One of the Bandon Dunes courses, on the southern coast of Oregon. An improved Chambers Bay, near Seattle. AWashington State course built by the PGA of America. Pebble Beach. Harding Park.
Courses with a summer wind. (Wasn’t it great to see the flags on the flagsticks waving?) Courses close enough to the ocean that they almost never get uncomfortably hot. (Wasn’t it great seeing the players in sweaters at Harding Park?) Courses where you can grow some rough. (Wasn’t it great to see the players praying every time they hit a wayward shot?) Courses that celebrate scruffiness as a traditional golfing value. (Wasn’t it great to see the players flummoxed by those thin Harding Park traps?) Courses that any of us can play.
As for early August: East Coasters and Midwesterners can play a morning round, mow the lawn, start the grill and watch the PGA while eating supper!
The PGA Championship can have an identity that is completely its own.
As fever dreams go, this isn't half bad... But Mike, permission to interject some counter-factuals, first from this January 2019 Q&A:
AS: What is your current roster of golf memberships?
SW: Seminole, Lost Tree and Old Marsh down here. I guess I'm a member at PGA National, too. Then there's Old Town in Winston-Salem [N.C., where his son played college golf, at Wake Forest]. I voluntarily gave up Pine Valley and Garden City because of the single-sex thing. I didn't think that would be fair to the clubs or the association if that came out. Deepdale, Westhampton, Quogue [Field Club], National [Golf Links], Shinnecock, Cypress Point and San Francisco Golf Club, Boston Golf Club, Lahinch in Ireland and Royal Aberdeen in Scotland. Too many.
The AS is Adam Schupak of Morning Read, but the SW is, of course, Seth Waugh, the man currently running the PGA of America. One immediately grasps his affinity for public golf, no?
The second counter-factual can be found in Frisco, TX. Need I say more?
Lastly, here's a brief listing of future PGA Championship Venues:
2021 - Kiawah Island2022 - Trump Bedminster2023 - Oak Hill2024 - Valhalla2025 - Quail Hollow2026 - Aronimink2027 - Frisco2028 - Olympic2029 - Baltusrol2030 - Southern Hills2031 - Congressional
A list that just screams muni golf....
Not that I have any interest in discouraging Mike, but has he taken a closer look at the organization lately? My fever dreams are far less ambitious than Mike's... For instance, I'd be thrilled to see this organization do something, anything really for its 29,000 members.... Fact is, this event and the Ryder Cup are a distraction for the PGA of America, but the Frisco Taj Mahal just confirms that which we've know all along, that this organization has long lost interest in its members.
Moving on, Geoff has this listing from the week that I can only take as a positive:
Things NOT Overheard At The 2020 PGA Championship
Everything about the 2020 PGA Championship week was a success, from compliance with COVID-19 guidelines to the quality of play. But with only essential personnel, coaches and media on site—no ten-percenters though—the energy was quite different. So were the things you did not get to overhear.—I miss having my agent here to watch me warm up and blocking everyone from learning my secrets.
—Baba booey.
—The Wannamaker Trophy’s lid is clipped on tight, ready to go for the ceremony!
—Sure wish we could wear shorts during the competition days.—Where is my agent to cut these post-round interview sessions short?
—Mashed potatoes.
—Every course should have bunkers like this.—Do you have some sunscreen I can borrow?
—Phil needs to drink more coffee.
—Hey kids, sorry I can’t sign now, I’ll getcha after the round.—My agent will help with that.
—It’s just not a PGA without hearing the same Omega ad played over and over again.
—That was really smart of Brooks Koepka to belittle the competition, he’s got ‘em right where he wants ‘em.—My agent makes one helluva breakfast omelet AND does the best laundry pickup.—I think they’re about to post the Weather Warning sign.—Where’s Steiny?
—I really miss TNT.—Playing without fans is one thing, but playing a major without my agent here really drives home the seriousness of this pandemic.
Am I the only one that was shocked by the number of people hanging out on the golf course? I'm glad to hear the agents were excluded, but they seem to be the only ones that were....
That said, I've a got a couple of additional suggestions:
- Boy that Brooks Kopeka seems like a loyal friend.
- Nick Faldo sure is quick to pick up on a gag.
- That DJ sure is a cold-blooded closer.
- I never realized how graceful Bryson is.
Feel free to add your own...
As you guys know, I'm not the biggest fan of the CBS telecasts, not least because they fail the most basic test of competence. But from the invaluable Classic TV Sports, comes news about the ability of old dogs to accommodate themselves to new realities:
Once again, I tracked the strokes televised by CBS during the Sunday round of the PGA Championship. I started the tracking at 4pm ET and counted 496 televised strokes from the finalround. This total includes 33 shots that CBS aired on its Eye On The Course split screen feature during seven of the commercial breaks. I stopped the tracking when the final group putted out. This resulted in an average of 1.69 strokes per minute which is by far the highest I have ever recorded for any golf major since starting this tracking in 2014. The previous high was 1.41 for the 2017 Masters. For comparison, the 2019 PGA had only 1.14 shots per minute.
With no paying spectators in attendance, CBS focused on golf rather than fan reactions. With so many players in contention, CBS moved around constantly and showed between 48 and 57 strokes for seven different players. Eleven players received coverage for at least 10 shots. Overall, CBS showed 27 different golfers playing strokes during the tracking period, but 13 of those players only got three shots or fewer. The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Brendan Todd who tied for 17th.
Their broadcasts suck, but 1.69 shots per minute is significantly less sucky than that 1.14 spm that they foisted on us from Bethpage...
This is interesting as well:
Geoff had these comments:
I have seen quite a bit of grumbling that Morikawa did not get more coverage and an on-course reporter.
I’m sorry people, but there was a 7-way tie with an hour to go and he’s 23, largely unproven. What is a producer to do but try and show as many as possible in a race like that and hope you get lucky backing the right horse.
Of course CBS' judgment is to be questioned, but it was very much a rugby scrum and you'd have to recreate the action unfolding on multiple holes simultaneously. I'd almost argue that the bigger slight would seem to be to Paul Casey, but that's Monday Tuesday morning quarterbacking...
Did you know that our top-ranked player in the world has a potty mouth?
But Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship once again showed the Jupiter resident has a problem – his competitive drive is so strong that when he becomes frustrated on the golf course, he starts dropping f-bombs.
And that problem is a bigger problem these days with all the hot mics sitting around spectator-less courses on the PGA Tour. During ESPN’s telecast, Thomas dropped the f-bomb when a birdie putt slid by the cup on the fifth hole. He said it loudly.
“Dude, you’ve got to be f—ing kidding me,” Thomas said.
What’s amazing is ESPN announcer Scott Van Pelt wasn’t even stunned by Thomas’ words.
“Well …” was all Van Pelt could say.
Later, on CBS’ telecast, Thomas could be heard cursing again when he hit a bad shot from the ninth fairway into a green side bunker. Thomas muttered two expletives that clearly were audible.
“We apologize for anyone who may have been offended by a couple of Justin’s comments there,” said CBS’ Ian Baker-Finch, another Jupiter resident.
I never know what to say when this issue pops up, because there's no easy answer. This part of sports and life, and we don't want these guys being robots and all.... But still, we also want kids to watch, and there's no way to reconcile those two reactions.
That said, I did like this personal story from the author:
Spit happens on a golf course. But there’s an easy cure.
I remember watching an LPGA Tour event 20 years ago with my daughter, Alexandra, when Dottie Pepper hit an offline shot. “Dang it, Dottie!” she scolded herself.
A day later, my daughter got upset at something and yelled, “Dang it, Dottie.”
The next time I saw Pepper, I profusely thanked her for her choice of words.
“I know some kids are going to be listening, so I try to be careful with what I say,” said Pepper, who serves on the board of directors of my son’s Eric Dolch Children’s Encephalitis Foundation. “That’s not to say I don’t get mad on the course.”
Kudos to Dottie for that presence of mind. And even her most famous hot mic moment features nothing racier than "freakin"...
An unbylined Golf Digest piece does a deep dive on the winner:
14 Things You Need To Know About Collin Morikawa
It's mostly odd snippets from his life, worth a look if you're so inclined. He's a TaylorMade guy these days, but he does have one interesting club in the bag:
He's young enough to not sweat the carbs, I guess.
Here's an interesting premise:
PGA Championship 2020: Was Collin Morikawa's drive on 16 the greatest shot in PGA history?
Which I find amusing because, despite a love of golf history, I have little clue what the other contenders might be... Though I'm glad that this author exclude the most common suggest for the sames reasons as your humble blogger:
(For those curious about Shaun Micheel’s approach shot at the 2003 PGA, recall that he was already up by a stroke at the time, so the kick-in birdie, while impressive, did not clinch victory.)
In that case it was sufficient, but unnecessary...
For your (and my own) edification, here are those other contenders:
1. Gary Player, 1972, Oakland Hills. On the 16th hole that year, Player faced a difficult approach shot from beaten-down rough, behind an enormous willow tree and separated from the green by water. In fact, he had to stand on a chair just to see his line. He pulled out a 9-iron, hit a high swooping shot over the willow, and it rolled to within four feet of the cup. He made par on 17 and 18 to close out the victory, but it all went back to what Denney called “an amazing feat of athletic ability.” Player considers it his best shot ever.
Sounds like his more famous shot at Bellrive, but that of course was an Open.
This one I actually remember from 1986, the year of the Saturday Slam:
2. Bob Tway, 1986, Inverness. Tway was in a bunker on 72nd hole, and on the tiny greens of Inverness (“I bet your living room has more floor space,” Denney said), he floated the ball just over the lip to sink the shot for a walk-off win against Greg Norman. “He was jumping like a school boy in the sand.
Of course, guys were doing that to The Shark on a weekly basis, but it was a moment for sure.
This is the best story of the lot:
3. Gene Sarazen, 1923, Pelham Manor. This was in the match-play era, and Sarazen was taking on Walter Hagen in the 36-hole championship. They finished tied, and on the 38th hole, Sarazen drove into deep rough. According to Sarazen, he told the gathered crowd that “I’ll put this one up so close to the hole that it’ll break Walter’s heart.” He was as good as his word, hitting his pitch two feet from the hole, forcing an error from Hagen, and then winning with birdie.
Of course this championship always suffers from comparisons to the other three, and here The Squire's accomplishment will be lost in the shuffle due to that certain 4-wood twelve years later...
Lastly before we move to udder stuff, Ian O'Connor I think oversells this premise:
O'Connor: The humbling of Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship
Mebbe, but he starts with this misguided premise:
Golf was one of the last trash talk-free zones in American sports until Brooks Koepka swaggered his way to the first tee. He was never going to be Conor McGregor, but emboldened by his superhero arms and unbending belief in himself, Koepka sometimes said things that would make a pay-per-view promoter proud.
Cover golf much? Because while golfers are perhaps a subtler crew than MMA fighters, smack is hardly an unknown factor out there.
But here's the gist of his case:
In the end Sunday, Koepka lucked out when Johnson's 68 wasn't good enough to claim his second major title. But this wasn't about Johnson as much as it was about the guy who shot 74, the guy who looked completely washed out on his last hole while he finished off his sixth bogey.
Brooks Koepka was finally humbled. And that was by far the biggest upset of the day.
Golf is by its very nature humbling, so it's hardly the first time. But at the close of business Sunday, Brooks still had the four and DJ still only the one, so Brooks got it half right. It wasn't a great day for the guy, but I'd argue the lost opportunity was more important to DJ than Brooks.
Lydia, Oh Lydia - Did someone mention chokin' freakin' dogs?
I'm watching the early coverage from Harding Park Sunday afternoon in my office, when Employee No. 2 advises me to not turn to Golf Channel.... "Your girlfriend is chocking horribly".
SYLVANIA, Ohio – Danielle Kang won for a second time in as many weeks, but the lingeringtalk about the Marathon LPGA Classic centered around the stunning way a once-dominant Lydia Ko managed to lose the tournament.
A woman with one of the most enviable short games in golf misjudged one shot after another on the par-5 18th after her second shot settled on a cart path behind the green. After Ko took what felt like an eternity to play her third shot, the rest of the collapse happened in short order. A failed bump into the bank for her fourth rolled back into a greenside bunker. Her fifth from a good lie settled 10 feet from the hole. She two-putted for double-bogey, a gut punch felt all the way down in New Zealand.
Yeah, I don't need to see that... But really, it's all gone pear-shaped since she lost the glasses.
Wither Tiger - Bob Harig does a deep dive on the Striped One under this header:
Tiger Woods has work to do and not a lot of time to do it after PGA Championship
Really? Because it's hard to discern any urgency in the subject. But am I alone in thinking his priorities are a bit askew:
Woods clearly has work to do. He struggled on the greens, had trouble getting the ball in the fairway consistently, and wasn't his usual stellar self with his iron play -- yet he still finished under par, turned what should have been a really bad round on Saturday into a 72, and was able to leave Harding Park with plenty to build on.
But it all goes back to his health. Now a busy stretch awaits, some of which explains why he didn't play more to this point. Woods has this week off before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin with the Northern Trust at TPC Boston on Aug. 20.
So he limited his reps leading into the PGA so he's be fresh for the FedEx Cup? Is Ryan Moore making his schedule?
It just gets curiouser and curiouser:
At 47th in the FedEx Cup standings, Woods can't afford to skip that tournament if he has intentions of getting to Atlanta for the Tour Championship, where he won in 2018 for his 80thPGA Tour victory. Woods has 604 points -- with 500 of them coming from his October victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan.
That means the possibility he'll play multiple weeks in a row, something he has not done since the Hero World Challenge and the Presidents Cup in December. And at that Presidents Cup, he was able to skip a day because of back stiffness.
"We've been training for that,'' Woods said. "Trying to get my strength and endurance up, that ability to making sure that I can handle that type of workload. We knew once I started playing again when I committed to Memorial that this was going to be a heavy workload, and my training sessions we've been pushing it pretty hard, making sure I get my strength and endurance up.
"This will be no different. We'll be pushing it hard to make sure that I can stay strong and have the endurance to keep going.''
And you saw no need to do that in prep for an actual major? And Joey sounds as crazy as his client:
"Hopefully there are at least two more tournaments to get into the winner's circle,'' LaCava said. "He's had a win this season [Japan], but he'd like to have one in the calendar year. He's only played four times [in 2020]. To me, it's not so much the Tour Championship -- that would be a bonus at this point -- just give us two more chances to win a tournament. That's what we're looking for.''
Yanno, Joey, not all tournaments are equally important?
It's been a long time since I thought Tiger had a real chance to get to 18, but it seems he and his looper are more focused on his ZoZo defense.
Venue News - Actual good news, a return to an interesting venue:
It’s official: the 2024 Presidents Cup will be staged at Royal Montreal Golf Club.
Michel Lacroix, the in-house announcer of the Montreal Canadiens since 1993 and one of the more renowned sports broadcasters in Canada, opened a Zoom call on Monday, and set the stage for the announcement speaking in French. He then switched to English to introduce PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who then announced that the 15th Presidents Cup in 2024 will return to Canada.
“The people of Canada are some of the most loyal and passionate sports fans in the world and given the overwhelming success of the Presidents Cup in 2007, it was a natural step for the event to return to The Royal Montreal in 2024,” said Monahan.
Which presages a Mike Weir captaincy for sure.
But get this eliminationist rhetoric:
The course previously held the seventh edition of the Presidents Cup in 2007. The U.S. won 19¹⁄₂–14¹⁄₂. Canadian Mike Weir famously eliminated Tiger Woods, winning the final two holes during the Sunday singles matches.
Eliminated? He beat Tiger in their Sunday singles match, though the outcome of the team event was not ever in doubt.
I'll release you here to get on with your day, and we'll catch up later in the week.
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