Your Friday Frisson

I do appreciate your patience as I took a couple of days off.  We're going to need the refuge that golf provides, so maybe the Lords of Augusta knew what they were doing when they picked their date.

Houston's Week - We've previously covered the nice story that is this week's venue, and there are other aspects to the week of import.  Not least this:

Just like old times, the Vivint Houston Open is being played the week before the Masters. And also just like old times, fans will be back in attendance, too.

Beginning Thursday, up to 2,000 fans per day will be allowed at Memorial Park Golf Course just outside downtown Houston, the first PGA Tour event played in the United States to allow general admission spectators since the restart of the season after the COVID-19 hiatus (last week’s Bermuda Championship had fans as well, the daily cap at 500).

This comes despite the fact that cases of coronavirus are on the rise throughout Texas, including in Houston, where most stats have shown a slow and steady climb for several weeks.

Mindful of those metrics, tournament and tour officials remain comfortable with the plan to let in spectators, even if they won’t be allowed next week at Augusta National or when Houston also 

hosts the U.S. Women’s Open next month, for a myriad of reasons.

 

There's quite a bit more there about the road forward, which is still uncertain. Not only will next week's Masters not have spectators, but the U.S. Women's Open, being staged no more then twenty miles away in a few weeks, will also have no fans. In this case, women truly are hardest hit... Then we may not see fans again until Florida.

Shack has some player quotes I'll share, though he screwed up his link and I'm unable to find the source item:

In fact, the only complaint Texas native Jimmy Walker had was there were only 2,000 fans.

“I wish there were more this week, but at least it’s a start,” Walker said.

Is that the "Mashed Potatoes" guy?

Local tournament officials wished there were more, as well, but settled on 2,000 after discussing it with the PGA Tour and City of Houston health officials. The U.S. Women’s Open, 20 miles away from here next month, is not allowing any fans.

“It’s pretty much shoulder to shoulder on every green,” said Houston business owner David Miller, who came as the guest of a client. “I’m trying to live my life, but be cautious about it.”

It is a start, though mostly we seem to be going the opposite direction.

Spieth said he was taking a more wait-and-see approach with having fans.

“Yeah, I think we have to see,” he said. “It certainly felt more normal as we were playing, so obviously if we’re able to do it safely, that’s a huge win for the tournaments and the Tour. Hopefully it continues to go well like it did this morning.”

“Pretty much everyone was wearing a mask that I saw,” added Scottie Scheffler, who was tied for second, behind leader Brandt Snedeker, after a 67.. “I felt very safe out there on the course. So for the players, I’m sure it will be fine.”

There was also a Pro-Am this week, which might be as important to sponsors as fans...

One other news item of note is the return of the Covid boys, first Adam Scott:

“Not only not getting Zozo in, not getting any practice in for those 10 days either is a little

setback, but I’ve actually come out swinging good this week and at least feel fresh,” he said. “Hopefully that works in my favor…What I had planned in preparation was to kind of peak at the Masters and Houston’s a big part of that. It’s even more important since I tested positive and had to kind of not play in Zozo and not really get practice in and make sure I got healthy again. So, this is an important week for me. There’s a lot to take out of it.”

“It just becomes harder for guys getting well into their 40s to be consistently competitive. It just takes a bit more. They’ve got to find their right weeks and take advantage of that,” Scott said. “Hopefully there’s room for a couple of older folk to hang in there like me for those next five or 10 years.”

For that one, Geoff couldn't even summon the effort to provide a broken link... 

And DJ:

The good news for Johnson is that he said he experienced only mild symptoms and felt like he had a cold for a few days. But being stuck in a hotel room for nearly two weeks also meant no practice, which he said he didn’t resume doing until 10 days ago before arriving at Memorial

Park for this week’s tournament.

“The first day I didn’t hit balls for very long because I got kind of tired,” he said. “Then kind of practiced a little bit more each day. My health is good. The state of my game is undetermined.”

While Johnson said he isn’t sure how he got coronavirus—everyone around him, including his fiancee Paulina Gretzky and two kids, River and Tatum, tested negative, he said—there is at least one positive he is happy about.

“The only good thing that came out of this,” Johnson said, “is I know I'm playing next week at the Masters.”

The former shot 68 (-2) and has a good shot at getting four much-needed competitive rounds in.  The latter shot 72 (+2) and may need to improve on that today to get in his reps over the weekend.

The bride and I had a few minutes of the coverage on last night, and she picked up on the design credit being given this guy:

HOUSTON — Don’t mistake Brooks Koepka’s involvement in the Memorial Park Golf Course renovation project as meaning the four-time major champion was an equal partner in converting the Houston municipal course into the gem it is today.

I certainly knew enough to maintain my skepticism, and he seems to not be aggrandizing his own efforts as well:

“I’ll be honest, I give Tom all the credit. He came up with 99.9 percent of (the ideas) and I just

kind of threw in a couple ideas here and there,” Koepka said. “He’s a hell of an architect and designer, so it was fun to work with him.”

OK, so Koepka can’t take credit for many of the details about the revamp, one that has converted Memorial Park into the second municipal golf course on the PGA Tour schedule.

But the Florida State product admits something stirred in him while seeing the process through. Koepka took the gig simply to appease his buddy Crane, but as it wore on, he warmed to the concept of watching the course mature.

“To be honest with you, I had no aspirations of ever being like, ‘I want to design golf courses,’ — nothing,” Koepka said. “But then being asked to do this, it’s a really cool idea. Obviously, I wanted to help Jim out. I think any time you can play a hand in having some opinion on a course that we’re going to play out here, I think it’s unique, it doesn’t happen very often.

I do find this interesting... I can be a bit of a harsh critic ( I know, you're shocked), but Brooksie is one of those guys for whom his next interesting thought will also be his first.  But he seems to relish having been involved and learning a few things, so we'll see where it goes.

Of course, his relationship with Crane remains highly troubling.  Brooks plays a game dependent on integrity, yet he's consorting with a know cheater...  Developing, as the kids like to say.

Masters Stuff - Mt plan is to be tanned, rested and ready for Masters week, but we can never start too early.  How about Bradley Klein asking the question on everyone's mind:

2020 Masters: Can Augusta National withstand the onslaught?

Brad is a strong voice on architectural issues, but I think this framing is completely wrong:

We’ll also be watching Bryson DeChambeau. He threw down the gauntlet and all but announced himself as a looming threat. And he did so not with his triumph at the U.S. Open in September but with his Instagram post on Oct. 23 claiming “First time over 400, Carry… Not even the

48inch driver.” The accompanying image showed a launch-monitor readout of a 403.1-yard carry and a ball speed of 211 mph.

Welcome to golf’s new world order.

Not since physicist Enrico Fermi sent out his famous coded message in December 1942 announcing the first successful chain reaction involving the atom (and we all know what that led to) has a technical breakthrough of this magnitude raised alarms about what lies ahead. If DeChambeau can replicate anything close to this admittedly experimental achievement under championship conditions at the Masters, it could reduce Augusta National to a pitch-and-putt course, with the par 5s particularly vulnerable and within reach with wedges on second shots.

 Ummmm, no!  Guys, here's the driving distance leaders for the season just concluded:

Was Fermi's progress a mere one-tenth of a yard  Remember what I told you, evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary...This isn't even about the seven yards back to that chase pack, this is a year-by-year progression...

Brad makes the case that Augusta is unnaturally exposed to distance gains, though I'm again not on board with him:

At Augusta National, that kind of distance brings particular rewards, given the nature of the

design, the positioning of key hazards and the way in which forward-kick points are positioned. At the full-length holes with fairway bunkers – Nos. 1, 2, 5, 8 and 18 – a 330-yard carry gets the golfer just over the sand. On the 350-yard par-4 third hole, a fairway-bunker complex is in play for the layup, but the green is readily within reach for a DeChambeau-ian drive. Whether it’s wise to do so is another matter, but having a chipping club in hand, regardless of the intervening ground contours, might well be preferable to a fully flighted approach.

Of real concern strategically to the design integrity of Augusta National, a 1933 Alister MacKenzie/Bobby Jones creation that has been lengthened to 7,475 yards, is how fairway kick points in the 320-330 range are now carry-able and thus vulnerable to a bonus thrust of forward roll that will further separate the power game from a more strategic, tactical approach. Two par 5s, the 575-yard second and the 530-yard 15th, are extremely vulnerable here; drives cresting the hill and carrying 330-plus yards on either hole will gain a forward turbo boost of another 50-80 yards, leaving short irons or wedges for second shots to these greens.

To Brad's credit, he then lists all the options available to the Lords of Augusta.  I'm remind of this from Paul Azinger in 2018 (pre-Bryson), which I actually found via the Wayback Machine:

Major champion and winning Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said other iconic golf courses could be in trouble but not Augusta National.

 “The Old Course at St Andrews, the home of golf, is different, because the course isn’t as long and the greens are pretty easy to putt and don’t have nearly as much slope,” Azinger said. “Augusta’s greens are frightfully fast, and they can stick the pins two paces from the edge.

“Augusta can always be defended. St Andrews is in trouble.”

 That 2022 Open at The Old Course seems like it could be significant, unless they get high winds.

So, we'll have to do without some of our treasured Masters traditions, though I find this from Geoff incredibly depressing:

The Crow's Nest: Will This Be The Year Amateurs Stay Around Or...?

Who knew they weren't staying in the Crow's Nest?

One of the stranger recent Traditions Unlike Any Other: Masters amateurs doing an obligatory night in the Crow’s Nest around Monday’s Amateur Dinner, then moving to a rental house with their “team” (because you know, amateurs need to be with their agents).

With COVID-19 making the sharing of a living space possibly problematic—it’d still be nice to hear that one amateur stayed all week in what most normal human being-Americans would call one-off lodging opportunity-of-a-lifetime: the Crow’s Nest during Masters week.

Well, the rest of us can dream next week to the club providing a little bit of access to golf’s ultimate lodging spot:

What's wrong with these crazy kids?  You stay in school to play at a Masters and then stay in a rental house instead of here?  

New names appear on an hourly basis at the major golf publications, including a Derek Duncan opining on how the course will play in November vs. April.  First, about those greens:

Here’s why: Bentgrass greens, like those at Augusta National, thrive in cooler weather. Fall already provides ideal growing conditions, but the club has the added ability to control each green’s climate and moisture content via sub-surface air systems. The systems can vacuum water from the greens if they’re too moist, and they can also adjust the temperature of the root zone, cooling the grass during excessively hot days and warming it to promote growth during cold (morning) periods.

The ability to manipulate temperature and moisture levels is critical at Augusta National because the greens are located in vastly different microclimates. Think of the disparity between the small 12th green, located along a shaded creek at the lowest section of the property, and the lareg 18th green, exposed and situated at its highest point. The incredible range of temperatures, sunlight, size and contour throughout the course means that each green needs an individual program, which they receive whether it’s April or November.

But the technology and unlimited budget allows for almost-complete control here, but the fairways are another matter entirely:

Where there is likely to be a significant difference is in the fairways. Augusta National’s fairways are Bermuda grass, though almost no one plays on them—during the late spring and summer, when the Bermuda grows aggressively, the golf course is closed (the club is typically open from mid-October to late May). In the fall, to prepare for the arrival of members and as the Bermuda begins to go brown and dormant once temperatures drop, the fairways are scalped and a heavy application of perennial ryegrass seed is spread across the entire course, except on the greens. For the emerald ryegrass to take root and grow, the fairways and roughs must be watered excessively.

This typically takes place early in the fall, before prime play. You probably saw it playing out in near rear-time this fall when Eureka Earth shared on social media aerial images in late September of a very brown Augusta National, then within a week, the course had returned to its lush green self. After several weeks the ryegrass stabilizes, then continues to grow and establish over the winter months. By the time April arrives, the grass is dense and hearty, and the fairways and green surrounds can be firmed up and mowed to a racy height of approximately .350” to .375”.

It’s unlikely this year that the ryegrass will have had enough time to establish, at least not to the degree it would if it had an entire season of growth. Though Augusta National is capable of nearly anything agronomically, there’s a probability that the fairways will be playing softer than in the spring because of the water needed to encourage the rye to grow, as well as the inability to cut it as low and tight as desired. Meanwhile, the 10-day forecast hints that rain also could be in the offing during tournament week.

As for that forecast, there was this scare a couple of days ago:

Could Augusta and the Masters be in the path of Tropical Storm Eta? Sure, it's 2020

Accu-weather now has rain only on Thursday of tourney week.  But, as the header writer notes, a washout would be completely on brand for 2020...

I'll leave you with this last bit on this subject:

The story behind the Masters’ first-ever color-TV broadcast

It's an interesting piece, though with a couple of significant caveats.  First, there are just too many howlers for your humble bloggers taste, including this early on:

Augusta National isn’t a golf course, not anymore. But once upon a time it was. Once upon a time, Augusta National was a small southern golf club, founded and designed in part by the late Bobby Jones upon a 365-acre peach farm. A year later, Jones and Clifford Roberts, the club’s first chairman, elected to create an invitational golf tournament to attract crowds and interest to their new club. They called it the Masters.

No, actually they didn't call it The Masters, they called it the Augusta National Invitational, and how it came to become The Masters is its own interesting tale...   You don't need to tell that story a spart of this one, but is it too much to ask you to avoid things that are flat-out historically inaccurate?  It's a pretty low bar, no?

Anyway, here's the story he wants to tell, which leads into my more important caveat:

The dynamic between producer and chairman was no more obvious than in 1965, when Jack Nicklaus shattered the tournament scoring record en route to his second Masters victory. CBS doggedly followed Nicklaus all day, capturing his awe-inspiring performance right up to the 18th

green. But as soon as Nicklaus claimed victory, he was whisked off to Butler Cabin for his interview with Roberts.

With “The Ayatollah” assuredly fuming, Roberts welcomed Nicklaus to Butler Cabin with a surprise planted firmly up the sleeve of his green jacket. The pair completed the interview in traditional fashion, but when it was time to send the show back to the CBS studio, the Augusta National chairman halted himself and issued what Chirkinian would later call “the dictum to end all dictums.”

“Next year, you’ll be seeing the Masters in color,” Roberts said, staring firmly down the barrel of the camera.

Back in New York, CBS executives toasting the end of another Masters choked on their drinks.

“The network had no plan to use color at the Masters in 1966,” Chirkinian told Sports Illustrated. “It wasn’t in the budget.”

So much of how golf was and is televised derives from The Masters, that this individual story is hopelessly incomplete.  The best accounting I've found is from David Owens's The Making of the Masters, whose subtitle properly focuses the reader:

Clifford Roberts, Augusta National, and Golf's Most Prestigious Tournament

Note that Bobby Jones is omitted.... Sure, it wouldn't have happened without him, it was his vision after all, but Roberts is the interesting part.  An irascible curmudgeon for sure, but he drove the club's development and his relationship over the years with CBS is fascinating reading.  He pushed for many of the advances in the broadcast, color being the best known, but also stood in the way of many things we take for granted elsewhere.  Folks are often shocked to learn that there are no on-course reporters or overhead blimp or drone shots, and there's a bare minimum still of shot-tracer usage.  It's a story well worth the golf fan's time, and Roberts remains one of the singular influences on our game, despite barely playing the game.

We'll Always Have England - But apparently the English won't always have golf, because....reasons.  I had told you about golf course being closed in England, though their local organization petitioned the government for reconsideration.  Today comes word that the towel has been thrown in:

England Golf Chief Executive Jeremy Tomlinson confirmed the news that, despite intense

lobbying to government, increased national lockdown measures will force the closure of golf clubs and driving ranges from tomorrow until December 2.

A letter has been sent to all affiliated clubs and facilities to inform them of the fact.

It states: "It is with a feeling of deep regret that we must now inform all affiliated golf clubs and driving ranges that they should prepare to close from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December 2020.

Why?  Yeah, good luck ever getting an answer to that, but you peons are only allowed to leave you homes for government-approved activities...  I don't want to have to have this conversation with you again, remember your place! 

Scotland is operating under a highly-confusing tier system that I shan't bother to explain, but see how you react to these restrictions (as received from our friends at Crail):

The health risks of driving in your own vehicle being?  Yeah, why do I even ask...  They do this to their own citizens for the simple reason that they can....

Enjoy the weekend and we'll flood the zone on Masters coverage next week.