Late-Week Laments

Shall we lose ourselves in some golf  Remember, the fact that it doesn't mean anything is a feature, not a bug...

Maui Wowie - No real golf wows, just those spectacular vistas at a time when your humble blogger needed it most.  Anyway, folks have thoughts and we have time:

The PGA Tour is back, Justin Thomas is really good, and three other takeaways from Day 1 of the Sentry Tournament of Champions

I assume one will be that, when scouting venues for your next lockdown, Hawaii might not be a bad call...Let's see what the nice gent has for us:

This, this felt like the beginning of the golf year

We know, we know, wraparound season and all. And we mean no disrespect to the Safeway Open, which is by all accounts a delightful event. But this is the tournament that always feels like the

beginning of the golf season. Maybe it’s because most of the big boys tend to show up, with nine of the top 10 in the World Ranking in the field this week. Maybe it’s because the bulk of the country is trudging through the short, cold days of winter. Or maybe it’s because we still, for better or worse, orient our lives around the Gregorian calendar, and thus we think of golf in terms of years rather than arbitrary 11-month periods.

In any case, being able to sit back, melt into the couch and admire the idyllic beauty of Maui really hit the spot—particularly given the craziness of the past couple days. The colors, the gentle breeze, the sultry tones of Terry Gannon. Golf, we are glad you’re back.

I am pretty sure that Terry Gannon and that specific adjective have never previously populated the same sentence...  I could have lived with "calming" or even the attention-craving "mellifluous"... But sultry  Please take it back...

On the substantive point, it feels like the beginning of the year for the simple fact that it IS the beginning of the year.  Of course it also serves to focus the mind on the profound silliness of what's become of our Silly Season, but those Island scenes sure are purty,,,

There remain two seemingly intractable problems with this event.  The first can be gleaned from this bit on Sergio:

KAPALUA, Hawaii — The last time Sergio Garcia played in the Sentry Tournament of

Champions was 15 years ago. A lot’s changed since—marriage, two kids, a major on his résumé—but not everything.

Though Garcia had qualified for the winners-only event in previous years, he often begins his year on the European Tour, playing events in the Middle East instead of flying to Maui. This year, however, COVID-19 restrictions prevented him from visiting his parents in Spain, plus there was the possibility of the country going into lockdown because of the ongoing pandemic.

This is where the schedule madness hits.  Interestingly, there was a lengthy discussion on the broadcast about extending this year's qualification adjustment, making all those who qualify for the Tour Championship eligible for this perk as well, which was rejected out of hand by pretty much everyone with a microphone.  I quite agree, of course I'm a well-known reactionary bitterly clinging to...well, whatever, but logically the Tournament of Champions should, at a minimum, require you to, yanno, be a champion of something.  But we also can't ignore the diminished fields the vent has recently drawn, and I would have to believe this is a space worth watching in the context of the marriage-between-equals that is the new PGA Tour-European Tour "Partnership".  

The second ongoing issue is also to be found in that piece on Sergio:

“The course is definitely playing a lot slower than it used to last time I played here,” Garcia said of the Plantation Course, which underwent an extensive renovation in 2019. “I think it’s a combination of the rain and how the course is, it’s a lot greener, a lot lusher than it used to be, but yeah, the essence of the course is still the same.”

Actually, it isn't, and we've never really had an explanation.  That 2019 project was less a renovation and more a re-grassing, intended but not yet achieving a return to the course's previously renown firmness.  I dare anyone to watch the footage of Tiger and Ernie, and then watch the current play on the 18th hole.  It's pretty easy to see which is the more exciting, but it most certainly isn't about the rain this week, as we've been discussing this for several years.

About That Schedule... - There was a reference a few months ago about the dark side of Adam Scott, which thought was triggered by his comments at Kapalua.  I'm still trying to discern where that alleged dark side can be found.

The Aussie had comments that your humble blogger found interesting, though admittedly he got there in a non-linear fashion:

A question about this week’s expanded field led to talk of the Tour Championship. What does he make of the recent format changes, which mean the player who shoots the lowest score might not

win?

“I think as a whole, as the Tour, we have decided that that event is not a normal event,” Scott said. “The Tour Championship is now the finale of the FedEx Cup and it doesn’t run like a usual tournament. Yes, it’s peculiar, but other tournaments have changed their formats as well, like [team event] New Orleans did, and the Stableford [in Reno] as well.”

I feel the ice getting very thin, but he actually goes on in this vein:

“I think somewhat that there’s not space for 50 stroke-play events in the calendar year,” he said. “I mean, they can’t all be serious, 72-hole events. Some of this is, of course, about competition, but it’s also about entertainment, when there’s so much of it, and the Tour’s got to try and find that balance.”

Scott was cognizant of golf’s big-time numbers in 2020, “ratings-wise and participation-wise,” but he’s among those pros who sees room for other formats in the professional game. He’s open to the idea of more match play and even embraced the idea of a mixed team event featuring PGA Tour and LPGA Tour pros in the same field.

“Well, yeah, I mean there’s so many events it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Absolutely.”‘

I'm pretty sure that, at right about that moment, an unknown caller from the 904 area code was received on Adam's cell phone.  But amazingly, he's got more to say:

Then he put his thesis all together:

“Like I said, I think you’ve got to identify that there’s probably 10 or 12 serious competition events during the calendar year and then the rest is a bit of entertainment, really, but the thing for all of us and people trying to peak for those 10 or 12 serious events is they have got to use those entertainment events to get prepared and get ready. So it’s finding that balance of your schedule and also for the Tour’s schedule and what’s entertaining and how seriously it should be taken.”

Heresy!  You can't possibly mean that some tournaments are more important than others?  I've consulted my Newspeak dictionary and have been reliably informed that Oceana has always been at war with Eastasia... I'm guessing I'll have no shortage of opportunities to trot out that reference in the next few years, eh?

Dylan Dethier offer this framing, which I think is both understandable but also kind of misses the point:

This is, of course, the mindset only of the Tour’s upper crust. Thousands of aspiring pros would kill just for a chance to compete in one of these low-key Tour events, and plenty of pros with their Tour cards grind week-in, week-out just to try to hang on to their spot in the sport’s top tier. Joel Dahmen aptly described this as the difference between the “PGA Tour” and the “PGB Tour.” There’s no doubt that it’s good to have status on the latter and far better to join the ranks of the former. That’s when some events can become more special than others.

 That PGB reference is I believe to Joel Dahmen here.

Yes, Adam is speaking as one of those PGAers, but he's also speaking on behalf of golf fans.  It's pretty obvious that not every tourney can matter in the same way, and I think the Tour hurts its own product in glossing over that fact.  I think that most readily be seen in the Fall wraparound portion of the schedule, where those events would be better left to the B-team, as was the case a few years back.  

But the most important point Adam makes is that the Tour needs to give folks a reason to tune in.  That 47th 72-hole stroke play event in late October at a nondescript venue with a marginal field doesn't get it done.

Amusingly and ironically, as thoughtful as he can be, he gets the answer to the actual question quite wrong, at least in your humble blogger's opinion.  He makes the case for other formats, just not the one about which he was asked.  That format isn't wrong because it's different, it's wrong because it's so profoundly stupid and arbitrary.  The diagnosis remains unchanged...  Make the FedEx Cup a high-stakes shootout, and stop pretending that what happened the prior October has any relevance.

ObiWhan Exits Stage Right - LPGA Commish Mike Whan has announced his intention to move on, and well deserves the recognition and plaudits being thrown his way.  Here's a brief sample:

There are many ways to measure Mike Whan’s impact on the LPGA. Numbers tell one story —

when he took over as commissioner 11 years ago the tour had only 24 tournaments and official prize money of $41.4 million while in 2021 the women of the LPGA will play for a record $76.5 million across 34 official events…in the midst of a global pandemic.

Another feather in Whan’s visor are the creative initiatives he spearheaded: the founding of two elite new tournaments, the International Crown and the Founders Cup; the creation of the season-long Race to the CME Globe, which is a more streamlined and satisfying version of the FedEx Cup; a groundbreaking partnership with the Ladies European Tour. He helped make the LPGA among the most fan- and media-friendly universes in all of sports thanks to both his impossibly upbeat demeanor and his constant exhortations to his players to “act like a Founder.”

I don't actually think that C.V. does him any favors, as those events are marginal (though Shipnuck's wife is a lucky woman, in that Alan seems easily satisfied), and I suspect we'd find that the LPGA lost ground to the big Tour over this period.  I think to understand Mike's accomplishment you have to acknowledge what a weak hand the ladies tour has.   

Beth Ann Nichols covers the LPGA more than anyone, and make4s an impassioned case for Whan:

When Whan took over the LPGA 11 years ago as a 44-year-old father of three sons, he was a golf lover who viewed himself as the “turnaround guy” for the LPGA. He had a list of objectives

With LPGA founder Shirley Spork

coming out of the Great Recession in 2009 – rebuild the schedule, increase TV viewership, create better paths for up-and-coming players – and figured he’d be around for a handful of years and then move on to the next thing.

But something happened along the way: He fell in love. And he didn’t just fall in love with the tour and its people. He fell in love with the mission. And he got angry, too.

This fast-talking middle-aged man with three boys who’d never thought about or worried about the discrepancies that exist between the genders, had his eyes opened in a massive way when he took on the role of commissioner. And he could’ve just used his dynamic personality and creativity to get the LPGA back on its feet again and then walked away.

But he didn’t. He couldn’t.

I think that's right, but perhaps it's also a good time to dispense some tough love to the ladies.  You'd be right in thinking that the keys to his success were things we would take for granted, a love and respect for the game and its athletes.  But to disprove that all one needs to do is look at his predecessor, the dreaded brand lady Carolyn Bivens.   For her, the LPGA was just a brand, no different than razor blades, and how did that work out?  

To me, the LPGA get itself in trouble when it loses its firm grasp of who and what it is.  To me, the key bit in that first excerpt is this:

He helped make the LPGA among the most fan- and media-friendly universes in all of sports thanks to both his impossibly upbeat demeanor and his constant exhortations to his players to “act like a Founder.”

They can't succeed by merely copying the PGA Tour, they need to offer a different product, because the men will always win on their own turf.  Where you see me push back against the ladies (Stacey Lewis, call your office), is the whining about being just as good as the men.  You're not as good at golf, and the sooner you get over it the better it will be for you.  There's an inherent appeal they provide, but they make bad decisions when they lose sight of that.

There is one meme making the round about which I'm skeptical, as explained by Shack:

One job of note that Whan could be a candidate for: the USGA CEO job. However, he’s not shown great enthusiasm for some of the issues the USGA will look to their leader to champion (distance), which might make it a less than perfect fit.

Yeah, that USGA search is kind of interesting given the distance issue.  My guess is that Whan is smart enough to avoid that train wreck.

The Road Ahead -  A few unrelated items to share.

Ironically, as we all lose hope, we have an item about the Hope:

Officials from The American Express golf tournament are pledging to increase donations to

Coachella Valley charities from this month’s event, but the money will be raised in a different way from any of the tournament’s previous 61 years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Express, the PGA Tour and the Mickelson Foundation announced Thursday the tournament will guarantee more than the $1 million in charity donations from the 2020 event. But the tournament’s traditional pro-am field will be eliminated for one year, and the $6.7 million event will be played on just two courses in La Quinta rather than three.

“Due to the current local climate in Riverside County caused by COVID-19, and considering national travel associated with the event, the tournament will be played without the traditional multi-day pro-am format and ticketed spectators, and will be held on only two courses: PGA West’s Stadium Course (host) and Nicklaus Tournament Course,” the PGA Tour said in a release Thursday. “The three-day pro-am format, which has been a part of the tournament since its debut in 1960, will return in 2022.”

AMEX had previously sponsored bigtime Tour events, including a WGC, so I never quite understood their interest in perhaps the weakest event on the calendar.  The pro-am hasn't really worked in ages, and, competing for audience with the NFL playoffs, that seems unlikely to change.

Brain Wacker wants to resolve your lingering questions, including this about 2020's underperformers

Rory and Brooks: Will they bounce back?

McIlroy was ranked No. 1 in the world and had four top-10 finishes before golf shut down for three months. Once it returned, sans fans, he admitted the (lack of) atmosphere was a struggle. Plus, his wife gave birth to the couple’s first child in August. All of which is to say McIlroy’s play should be much improved in 2021. Koepka, meanwhile, was plagued by a knee injury, missed five cuts and dipped to 12th in the OWGR after starting the year at No. 1. As goes his health, goes his golf.

 

My interest in the former has waned considerably.  As for the latter, hard to consider without knowing the state of that knee.  But isn't the more compelling question the state of the Brooksie-DJ bromance

And this evergreen: 

When will we see fans on tour again?

It won’t be in Hawaii or during the West Coast swing, save for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, which is currently planning for about 8,000 a day. Beyond that, it’s hard to say. The tour says it will take a conservative approach, and their decision-making is dictated by what local regulations allow. Another tournament to keep an eye on: The Masters, which is said to be discussing how many patrons, if any, they might allow in April. If tournament officials have to limit entry to only a handful, you almost wonder if they might consider moving the event to November again if that gave them a chance at a full crowd in 2021?

No, they're not moving to November, or anywhere.  Again, these guys are supposed to know something about our game...  this is the club that aired its tourney without commercials, so what's your point

The economic ecosystem is worth considering, and as the Covid protocols continue it would be interesting to consider where we might see fallout.  But that fallout does not and will not affect the Masters, a lesson most of us learned back in the Martha Burke era, if not before.

As I eye the exit, the Golfweek writers were polled for their 2021 wishlist, and some of them indicate an alarming consumption of peyote.  Take Steve DiMeglio, for instance:

Sure, I’d like to see Tiger Woods make a spirited run at a sixth green jacket in 2021, or at the very least, have a smooth run-up to the Masters.

I’d love to see Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth become Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth again. And Brooks Koepka to regain his imposing swagger, Rory McIlroy to win another major.

I know what it means to wish for Jordan to be Jordan again.  But Rickie?  You want him to be that guy that never wins anything?  I've got good news for you...

Though he did redeem himself with this one:

But what I’d really like to see again, something that was taken away by COVID-19, is a standard

bearer. Yes, the kids and adults who haul around a mobile scorecard in their journeys through the golf courses ’round the world.

Standard bearers inside the ropes again would be a clear signal that a return to normalcy is at hand, another step in the right direction we’re all longing for. And when the wireless isn’t working or you can’t figure out who is in the group, standard bearers provide fans a solid source of information.

So if I see a standard bearer, I’ll likely see fans – even if it’s a limited number. And if there are fans, the end of the tunnel will be in sight.

 That's a good way of putting it.  But even better would be the return of this certain standard bearer:

Does anyone have a clue as to why Titleist/FootJoy discontinued the best golf commercials ever?  Come back, Sign Boy, all is forgiven.

Have a great weekend and we'll wrap Kapalua and all else on Monday.