Not sure when next we'll visit. Definitely not tomorrow, when the Regular Wednesday Game takes a road trip... Thursday looks like a 50-50 proposition, though please do drop by just in case,
All Things Masters - More aerials from Augusta, this time focusing on a certain area of the course where crowds patrons are no allowed to roam. While I've been concerned on this specific subject, it was never going to happen this year:
It appears it's time to press pause on the ANGC No. 13 Tee discussion - at least for now 😉 ©12OCT2020 David Dobbins/EurekaEarth * #EurekaEarth #NotDrone #DiscoverThePresent * #themasters #aerialphoto #aerialphotography #augustaga #augustanational #golfstagram #instagolf #golf #golfer #loveaugusta #masters #masters2020 #mastersgolf #morningdrive #tigerwoods #pgatour #golfaugusta #whyilovethisgame #augustanational #angc #pga365 #golfporn #augustanational #topgolf #fallMasters #topgolfaugusta #beautifulgolfcourses
Geoff had these thoughts as well:
The service road is in, the trees are planted and room has been left for a new 13th tee at Augusta National. All that’s missing is that magical blue hue in Rae’s Creek!
As you can see from Eureka Earth’s latest shot, the land acquired from Augusta Country Club behind the current tee now includes a handsomely decorated service road with lights, landscaping and even a sound wall on the inside corner to shield a future 13th tee.
This is all my nice build-up to pointing out the obvious: it will be years before an extended 13th tee could look even remotely attractive.
Now, I know what you’re saying, extending the par-5 13th would be all about restoring the risk-reward nature. Who cares if the back drop is more Sage Valley than Augusta National. The answer? The Lords of Augusta care.
When players cross the Hogan Bridge and escape the huge crowds, the serenity and beauty of Amen Corner takes on a special atmosphere. Opening up the gap behind the current tee before the area has matured into a more forested surrounds would be aesthetically jarring, not to mention an obnoxiously long walk. And for what? Some manufacturer bottom lines? Protection of governing body nest eggs?
That they care was never in doubt. What's in doubt is the tradeoff between the aesthetics and watching Bryson hit gap wedges into this green. My concern is the severity of the dogleg, which can be seen in this graphic (clearly from prior to the acquisition of Augusta Country Club's ninth hole:
Admittedly, I don't know how far it is to clear the dogleg, though that spot at which the fairway turns left looks barely wide enough to fit a golf ball. Even crazier to me is Alan Shipnuck's recent suggestion to move the tee to the left...
To this observer it's just the perfect golf hole as is, so my vote is for Option No. 1. Of course, the caveat is that we've yet to see Bryson+40 lbs. play the hole, and his stated intention is to bomb into the 14th fairway.... The Lords of Augusta will just love that, I'm guessing.
Because it's never too early, Alex Myers has thirteen top picks for the event, including this guy that events have over-taken:
1. Dustin Johnson (12/1)Reason to pick: DJ put together one of the great stretches in recent memory, culminating with his Tour Championship/FedEx Cup victory at East Lake. He finished runner-up at AugustaNational in 2019 and has finished in the top 10 in each of his past four starts there.Cause for concern: A WD from the CJ Cup due to a positive COVID-19 test isn't the best news for DJ backers. However, as we've seen with other players this season, four weeks should be more than enough time to return at full strength. Assuming he does (Get better, DJ!), you may even wind up getting better odds on him.
Get better? From what? But this is what I meant by events:
Dustin Johnson withdraws from Zozo Championship one week after positive COVID-19 test
The issue isn't whether DJ will be healthy in mid-November, it's rather about his prep and being on form.
Most will think that this guy is ranked a bit low:
3. Bryson DeChambeau (8/1)Reason to pick: He’s coming off grabbing his first major title in which he won by six shots at
Winged Foot despite some gnarly rough. Imagine what he’ll do at a place known for its lack of thick stuff? Also imagine the lines off the tee he might be tempted to take. Augusta National probably has their tree people on standby.Cause for concern: As good as DeChambeau has looked and as much as he deserves to be the favorite, 10-to-1 8-to-1 odds is pretty pricey. And there’s the fact he can’t rely on his precious green-reading books at Augusta National.
The only reason not to pick him seems to be the value proposition. I will lay down just the one marker, to wit, that Bryson's will be some of the most eagerly anticipated practice rounds ever.
Alex's licks exhibit a high chalk content, with King Louis being the only surprise there. Unless, of course, Brooksie has fallen so low in our estimation that it surprises...
You can find a full list of current odds here. Lots of fun to be had once you get past to top ten or so. I was amused, for instance, with the Phil boomlet after his round-belly win. That guy he held off is at 3,000-1, which seems a good proxy for the level of importance we should assign.
These are still a bit early, so shall we hold this thought?
All Things Covid - The hits keep on coming, with this one especially depressing to your humble blogger (h/t Geoff):
For the first time since the final year of World War II, the men’s Australian Open golf tournament will not be staged. Due to COVID-19 related issues, Golf Australia has also announced the cancellation of the Australian PGA and Women’s Open, which were last cancelled in 1995 and2006, respectively.From Golf Australia’s announcement:
“But even with multiple contingency plans, it has reached a point where decisions have to be made and this, regrettably, is the one we’ve had to take.”
A raft of measures were considered – including players entering a hub and competing while serving a strict quarantine period, as well as restricting crowd numbers and movement – but all options were unviable.
“We look forward to bringing all three tournaments alive again when they return as normal for summer 2021-22,” Kirkman said.
The Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship – the feature events on the PGA Tour of Australasia – were originally slated for a late November and early December window, to be played at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath and Brisbane’s Royal Queensland, respectively.
Damn, Kingston Heath! These are wonderful and historic championships often played at wonderful venues. They've been hurt considerably by Nurse Ratched's span-the-globe scheduling strategy, but remain significant events nonetheless.
Today comes news of another cancellation, one I'm sure will erode your will to live:
Tiger Woods' annual Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 18-man tournament that benefits Woods' foundation was scheduled for Dec. 3-6 at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas, where the event has been played since 2015.
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said there were some discussions about playing the tournament in Florida but that a bigger issue was the contingent of Hero MotoCorp executives and guests traveling from the company's base in India.
"Given the current global restrictions and ongoing developments from COVID-19, the 2020 Hero World Challenge will not be played this year," the PGA Tour said in a statement Monday. "This decision was made with the health and well-being of all tournament constituents and the Albany community in mind. We look forward to hosting 18 of the top players in the world and welcoming tournament guests to Albany, Bahamas next year."
I have no problem with this event per se. I do, however, have a serious beef with an 18-man event awarding PWGR points, which to me is completely unjustified. To me, that this event was cancelled due to Hero executives not being able to attend just confirms my point that it's not a serious championship. In fact, it so undermines the event that I'm thinking it's an unforced error from Steiny to have made that admission.
But maybe the strangest thing is this factoid:
The PGA Tour is already scheduled to play the Mayakoba Classic the same week as the Hero was planned, suggesting this move should come as little surprise.
Say what? The Tour was going to allow Tiger's event to compete with its own event? I've been reliably informed that Jay Monahan is a genius, though this is hardly the first time we've seen evidence that casts that assessment into doubt.
One last bit, riffing on that Australian theme above. Mike Clayton, the Aussie architect that is Geoff Ogilvy's partner, makes an impassioned case for architectural merit to a very strange constituency:
Professionally, the PGA Tour is going to be just fine. They have the prizemoney, the post-career pension scheme (appearance money by another name, paid after 55) and easy travel to attract the best players. The home players can compete without ever owning a passport.
The European Tour, essentially a world tour without the prescience quite yet to change its name, faces a more precarious future.
Its stars including Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari and Justin Rose primarily play in the United States. It’s still a wonderful Tour with the advantage of a more diverse option of courses, cities, countries and players.
It’ll never compete with the PGA Tour if money is the standard but with the will it could become the professional beacon of first-class golf course architecture.
Mike, you might want to see someone about these delusions you're experiencing. these are the folks that play in Saudi Arabia, not exactly a hotbed of Golden Age architecture. But Mike knows all this:
All professional golf is dependent on commerce and, despite the platitudes, the architectural quality of the courses is seen as being of little real importance.
There is a reason, one not hard to imagine, The Open Championship is always played on the very best British seaside courses and the Ryder Cup goes to The Belfry, Celtic Manor, The K Club and the third best course at Gleneagles.
So long as the courses are in good shape the majority are happy and a good venue for sponsors, television and spectators trumps a good course.
Don't worry, he also gets to the issues of the players, who rebel at anything new or at odds with their comfort zone. But that middle 'graph is the kicker. That the very organization that has taken us to The Belfry, Celtic Manor and K Club will suddenly exhibit a reverence for timeless design seems...well, I'm forced to go with highly amusing.
He does cite this factoid, which interests me:
McIlroy on a brilliant McKellar podcast (May 15) mentioned he’d properly watched the Presidents Cup for the first time because he wanted to see Royal Melbourne. Then, in almost the next sentence he casually dropped he’d like to play the Australian Open simply because the next one will be at Kingston Heath.
It may be commercial reality but one has to wonder if putting an emphasis on playing better golf courses might make professional golf more interesting.
More interesting, for sure... At least to a small contingent of geeks. Does it generate increased interest among casual fans? I certainly wish that were so, but it seems a stretch, no?
All Things Wyndham - I've long noted that I wouldn't want to be business partners with the Tour, that opinion originating during the Nurse Ratched Reign of Error. They just haven't been good partners to so many of their sponsors and tournament operators, from the infamous Western Open, through The International and the Greenbrier events. It's pretty clear that, once the ink dries on the sponsorship contract, you're on your own.
Today's news concerns the Wyndham Awards:
The company will continue to keep its title sponsorship of the Wyndham Championship inGreensboro. Its current title sponsorship deal runs through '26. The Tour in a statement said it fully supports Wyndham's "decision to focus solely on this long-standing event that has made such an impact in central North Carolina. We look forward to the continued growth and success of the Tour Top 10 program and expect to have further information in the coming months."The top-10 Regular Season finishers in FedExCup points through the Wyndham Championship – also sponsored by Wyndham Rewards – will reap the benefits of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. The leader will earn $2 million, followed by $1.5 million for the runner-up with the 10th-place finisher earning $500,000. Additionally, each player in the top 10 will be invited into Wyndham Rewards at its most exclusive Diamond level, unlocking all the travel perks and unique Wyndham benefits that go along with it.
Which Shack cleverly juxtaposed with this bit from the original announcement two years ago:
And while the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 will be recognized at the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship, the impact of the program will be felt throughout the season; a player’s performance every week becomes more critical than ever before, elevating the significance of each tournament on the schedule and producing drama for PGA TOUR fans at every turn.
Did you feel that drama at every turn? At any?
May I offer a dissenting opinion? The obvious flaw in this plan is that players weren't required to actually show up at The Wyndham to collect their checks, which seems a rather elementary mistake on the part of the hospitality giant. But the schedule is relentless, and there's no way Wyndham could compete with the FedEx booty, so what can be done?
But the FedEx Cup remains a hot mess, mostly because of its desire to serve two masters (Are we allowed to use that word, or has it been stricken from the revised Newspeak Dictionary because of its colonial overtones?) It's a season-long competition, but the outcome must remain in doubt through the Sunday back nine at east Lake... Good luck with that!
Since I think the solution is to make the FedEx Cup a high-stakes shootout, that's easier to accomplish if you're adding a prize pool for the abandoned season-long portion of the schedule. But that was too easy for the gang that can't shoot straight, so we are where we are.
All Things Houston - A couple of notes on that Tour stop in Houston, including a funny graphic from Shack. You might have noticed that the National League Championship Series had, gasp, fans in the stands. Now comes word about the Houston Open:
The Tour and the Houston Open announced Friday that up to 2,000 tickets would be available per day at $79 for the opening round and $109 per day for the remaining three rounds, prices that include food options.
The tour has not allowed spectators at events since returning from a 13-week break due to the coronavirus pandemic in June. The PGA Championship and U.S. Open were played without spectators, and the Masters will also not permit them when it is played next month.
They did have a small number of fans at a Senior Tour event, but this will be the first for the main tour.
Now come word of a title sponsor:
PGA TOUR, Astros Golf Foundation partner with Vivint to sponsor the Vivint Houston Open in 2020
Astros Golf Foundation returns event to Memorial Park Golf Course for first time since 1963
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced that Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (NYSE: VVNT), a leading smart home company in North America, will become title sponsor of the Houston Open for 2020 in support of tournament host and beneficiary, the Astros Golf Foundation. The Vivint Houston Open will be played November 5-8 and returns to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston for the first time since 1963.
The Astros Golf Foundation, led by Houston Astros Owner and Chairman Jim Crane, operates and serves as the host organization for the event. The commitment to the Houston Open from the Astros Golf Foundation, with the support of a number of community partners, is in place through 2023. The Astros Golf Foundation recently completed a $34 million renovation to Memorial Park Golf Course over a two-year period in order to bring the tournament back to the heart of the city.
Geoff attempts to make a little joke about the involvement of the Astros, to the effect that it's logical to involve a home security company as sponsor since that certain baseball team had enjoyed such a strong home-field advantage. I agree, a bridge too far... But that graphic I promised is spot on:
Pretty much.
All Things Bogey - This from Christopher Powers is mildly amusing:
The 9 worst ways to make bogey, ranked from mildly frustrating to rage-inducing
This would have to be one of the former:
9. The dreaded "good" bogeyYou know the one. It always happens on a hole you’ve completely butchered, one you’ve lostinterest in after the third or fourth crap shot. It’s probably after you’ve split the fairway off the tee, then chunked and/or bladed your approach. Finally, you reach the green with your par effort, leaving yourself a 35 footer for bogey, also known as “the next one is good” for double. Instead, BANG! You hole the bogey putt, which you didn’t even read or care all that much about. “Good bogey,” says everyone in your group.
Frustration level: Yippee. Confetti comes down like you’re the New York Knicks after avoiding a playoff sweep.
At the risk of taking his fluff too seriously, how many matches have turned on such a good bogey? Yeah, if your partner is in for par, it'll seem annoying. But if your partner is in his pocket instead, this can be huge.
And this one contains rather a large error, no?
2. Three-putt bogey from five feet or less
Again, you’ve hit a few exquisite shots to find yourself in this situation. Rejoice. A real-deal birdie opportunity. No way you’re making any worse than par. Inconceivable! Ha, just kidding. Another yank or push followed by a quick rake that lips out and you’ve somehow done it again. Quitting the sport, moving out of the country and changing your name are all viable options.
Frustration level: Full helicopter putter throw into the lake, like Rory at Doral
Except for just the one niggling detail, readily apparent in the accompanying photo:
It might have been a full helicopter throw, as you say, but there was no putter involved. other than that, the story is factual... My memory says it was a 3-iron, which hangs behind the bar at Doral.
All Things Matchy - Really, it just sounds dreadful. So dreadful that I'm pretty sure I'll need to wash my hair that day:
Turner Sports confirmed reports from last week that joining Mickelson in the made-for-TV eventwill be NBA legend Charles Barkley, two-time NBA MVP and scratch golfer Steph Curry, and five-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning. Manning, who teamed up with Woods to defeat Mickelson and Tom Brady in "The Match: Champions for Charity," is the only other holdover from the second version played last May.
Mickelson will pair with Barkley, who was a guest analyst for each of the first two iterations of "The Match," to face Manning and Curry. The third edition will take place on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, at 3 p.m. ET. Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Ariz., which is owned by Mickelson Golf Properties, will host the competition, which will be broadcasted exclusively on TNT. Bleacher Report will also provide exclusive live coverage leading up to and during the event on the B/R app.
At the risk of taking their bait, this seems rather a big issue:
Mickelson, who just won for the second time in as many starts on the PGA Tour Champions, relishes the challenge of playing with Barkley, whose golf swing remains the stuff of nightmares."While we may need a handicap for Chuck, I’m looking forward to playing with Peyton and Stephen and to help raise money for another important cause," said Mickelson. "It’s also going to give fans and viewers an up-close look at Stone Canyon Golf Club, a place that I’m extremely proud of and excited to show how special it is."
To the extent that we learned anything from the prior installment, the best-ball portion was awkward because the QBs weren't given enough shots. With only one Tour-level player, you'd think that the only way it works is with full handicaps. But that would mean Phil playing as a +5-7, and Charles therefore getting what, two strokes a hole?
But that's not the worst part, which can be found here:
The event will uniquely contribute toward and highlight diversity, equality and inclusion through donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, while raising awareness and spotlighting opportunities for diversity and equality in sports. Mickelson, Manning, Barkley and Curry have all supported these initiatives throughout their careers, which led to the foursome teaming up for the event.
Oh, so the golf is secondary, it's all about the virtue signaling... As I said, the hair is getting a bit greasy, and I've got this closet that needs organizing..and, well, life is just too damn short to be lectured to. Of course, if Ernie Johnson would ask Curry or Barkley about Chinese treatment of their ethnic minorities... But no, that would be rude.
I'll see you good folks Thursday or Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment