Friday, March 19, 2021

Late-Week Logorrhea

The weather turns warmer after today, so your humble blogger has actually scheduled a lesson in the Fairview Swing Room for this afternoon.  After all, Bobby D. has announced an intention to add twenty yards off the tee, and I'm not the kind to sit out an arms race.

Honda Happenings - It wasn't long ago that the Honda was the "It" event of the Florida swing, with a deep field and the toughest Monday qualifying on Tour.  Now we've come to this:

Honda Classic has Mickelson, Fowler and Westwood but timing, bad luck have whittled the field

You're going with bad luck?  Yeah, that's the ticket...

PGA Tour events, like South Florida real estate, rely on the same thing.

Location, location, location.

In golf, it’s not where the course is situated. It’s where the tournament is placed on the PGA Tour’s schedule.

But with the Honda now sandwiched between the Players, the Tour’s flagship tournament with a $15 million purse, and next week’s World Golf Championship Match Play event, the field doesn’t have any of the players ranked in the top 14 in the world.

Previously this event was before the Players, but that changed in order to avoid that Mexico City sidetrip in the middle of the Florida Swing.  Of course, Mexico City itself was inserted to avoid the Orange Man, so those suits in PVB are basically ruining every strong event on the calendar, and we haven't even mentioned Tampa.

And to the extent you're waiting to hear about that alleged bad luck, this would be it:

There’s also bad luck: Hometown favorite Daniel Berger, at No. 15 the highest-ranked player in the field, withdrew Wednesday with a rib injury, following four-time major champion Brooks Koepka (No. 12) having to WD last week after injuring his right knee. Or 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and two others, who had to withdraw Monday because of COVID-19 positive tests.

Wow, I'm surprised they'd even hold the event without Gary Woodland, not to mention those two Covid Positives to be named later.... For the record, that would be Scott Piercy and Doc Redman, who collectively have no actual Butterfly Effect.

What do we think of the place?  Well, I've managed to become a bit of a fan of Sawgrass, but this place just leaves me cold.  Josh Berhow was, however, able to find some actual Tour players to speak well not trash the joint:

The Bear Trap — the 15th, 16th and 17th — might be a high-handicapper’s worst nightmare. The
15th is a 179-yard par-3, the 16th is a 434-yard par-4, and the 17th is a 175-yard par-3. The 15th green has water short and right and a bunker that gobbles up most shots that go long and forces players to hit a nervy shot back toward the water if they get into the sand. Sixteen plays to a tight fairway where iron is usually needed off the tee, and 17 is another par-3 with water lurking short and right.

“I think it gets the name for a reason; you know, none of it’s easy out here,” said Adam Scott. “Fifteen and 17 for sure require commitment and precision to the shot. That’s it. You’ve got the green to hit, and that’s all you’ve got. There’s no real bail-out. And 16 becomes very demanding if you miss the fairway. That’s all about the tee shot. There’s plenty of green up there, but once you get in the rough or you get in a fairway bunker, the variables change and a long shot across water, we haven’t seen any horror shows, but a quick trip to the water and a double is very possible. It’s really a matter of survival, and I think it’s probably more so than even last week at TPC [Sawgrass].

You've got the green to hit and that's all?  It's a little low on subtlety, but the difference between the two could be a Master Class in architecture.

The holes are difficult, for sure, but not podium-level difficult:

According to the PGA Tour, The Bear Trap rank as the fourth-toughest stretch among regular Tour stops, playing at an average of +0.644 shots over par since 2007. Only Quail Hollow (Nos. 16-18), Pebble Beach (Nos. 8-10) and Muirfield Village (Nos. 16-18) have been more difficult.

It's just boring and one-dimensional...  The only real interest is if they get some crazy winds, but that doesn't seem in the cards this week.

The field may be diminished, but this would have the lead with a Players Championship-quality field:

Matt Jones ties course record

Don’t bother asking Jones how many course records he owns. The 40-year-old Aussie hasn’t a clue.

“I’ve never kept track, and I wouldn't know,” he said. “It's like asking me if I have a hole-in-one. I couldn't tell you how many I've had. I've never kept track.”

Must be nice.

So, too, was his bogey-free nine-under 61 on a breezy but verdant day at PGA National, where he tied the course record of Brian Harman in 2012. Even more impressive was how Jones did it—by making birdie on each of the last three holes, a notoriously difficult stretch that includes a long par 3 over water and a par 5 with more agua hugging the right side of the hole.

None of it was a problem for Jones, who is used to playing in the wind and had a terrific day with his irons.

“It was probably one of the better ball-striking days with my irons that I've had for a long, long time,” he said. “Made a few putts, and to make a putt from off the green on 17 was good.”

Now, we were headed to a Henrik Stenson reference in any event, but it's getting pretty ugly for the Swede:

What in the world is wrong with Henrik Stenson?

Five years ago, Henrik Stenson won the Open Championship in a spectacular duel with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon. Less than a month later, he captured a silver medal at the Rio
Olympics.

How times have changed.

While Stenson has just one victory since 2017—at the limited-field Hero World Challenge—far more alarming is his play of late.

A week ago, the Swede opened with an 85 at the Players Championship, where he missed the cut following a 74 the next day. On Thursday, he finds himself near the bottom of the leader board after scoring an eight-over 78 that included four bogeys and three doubles. Stenson somewhat salvaged the round by making birdie on his last two holes.

Though he hasn’t disclosed any sort of injury, one has to wonder if there’s not something ailing the 44-year-old. He’s had his share of injuries before.

But the former world No. 1’s struggles also go beyond just the past couple of weeks.

In his nine rounds this year, the 11-time European Tour and six-time PGA Tour winner has yet to break par. He has missed the cut in all four starts and is well on his way to another at PGA National.

The end of last year wasn’t much better, either. In his final 11 starts of 2020, he missed the cut five times and withdrew once. His best finish was a T-21 at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.

So, what’s wrong with Stenson? Good question.

Some gaudy scores for sure.   But I was pretty sure that Henrik never was ranked No. 1 in OWGR, and this brief search confirms that:

Layers and layers of fact checkers...

Henrik is one the funnier and more likeable guys out there, so we'd prefer to think of him in happier times.  Yanno, back in the good old days with Fanny... Which is exactly what this brought to mind:

Getting all wet

Last year's Honda Classic featured the most water balls of any course on tour with 339 for the week. Whether that number is eclipsed this year remains to be seen, but so far things are off to a wet start.

With water in play off the tee and on on approaches on several holes at PGA National, there were already 68 balls in the drink before play was even finished for the day.

Some players were able to play from the wet stuff—Adam Scott ditched his socks and shoes, Sebastian Cappelen his shirt and Vijay Singh just left everything on including his shoes.

Most notable, however, was Brian Stuard. He became the second player in as many weeks to make an 11 on a hole, doing so on the par-3 17th, where his tee shot came up short in the water before he deposited two more into the hazard from around the green.

Of course, this young man didn't commit to the process quite the the extent that a grizzled veteran did: 

Do we think that's all natural, or was Kleenex involved?  You make the call...

Adam Scott also played from the water, which has become something of a Honda Classic tradition.  Old folks taking off their clothes?  Is this The Honda, or do we find ourselves at The Villages?

Just one last Honda bit.  Haven't seen much of this guy lately, but we can't help but wish to see him more:

Monday qualifying is the purest rendition of golf meritocracy. That is the diplomatic explanation, at least. At its core, stripped of refinement and nuance, it’s cannibalistic. Absolutely and unequivocally merciless.

But out of this cauldron often comes inspiring tales and feel-good stories, and perhaps none fit that billing like Erik Compton.

Compton, you may recall, is a former 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, yet is more well-known for surviving two heart transplants on his way to reaching the apex of golf’s professional ranks. Unfortunately Compton, now 41, hasn’t played full-time on the PGA Tour since 2016, and became so frustrated with the game he once told Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski, “I’m thinking about packing it in. I just can’t get it done anymore.”

But Compton has continued through the struggle, and though he currently resides outside the top 100 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, Monday brought good tidings. Compton earned himself an invite to this week’s Honda Classic thanks to shooting 65 in the event’s qualifier at Banyan Cay in West Palm Beach.

Compton shot an even par 70 yesterday, leaving him T43.  Would love to see him hang around for the weekend.

Short Subjects -   We're living in a second Golden Age of Golf Architecture, which would be a far greater thing were they actually building new golf courses.  The few that we do get, think Sheep Ranch and the like, are great, but we do get a wide range of important restorations of classic course.

The other outlet for architects are short courses and other non-traditional routings, and we have a mélange of stories on this theme.  We'll start with this preview item:

Top Short Course Openings for 2021

This one comes with good genes:

9-Hole Course at Inness Mountain Resort (Accord, N.Y.)

An air of intrigue surrounds this follow-up from Rob Collins and Tad King, the visionaries

behind Sweetens Cove, the 9-hole Tennessee course that has developed a cult-like following in golf design circles. While the two continue to work on the highly anticipated Landmand in northeast Nebraska, that massive project isn’t expected to open until 2022. In the meantime, this standalone 9-holer has strong Sweetens similarities in that it was created atop a decrepit course out of business for several years. Part of a larger resort with other outdoor activities, the new course will open around Memorial Day and be fully public with yearly pass membership opportunities.

Hmmmm..One-hour and 34 minutes from Unplayable Lies World HQ.   Long drive for nine holes, but perhaps that just argues for a second loop.  That photo is from their Nebraska site, however.

This one looks pretty spectacular, though it'll take more like one month and thirty-four days to get there:

Barnbougle Short Course (Barnbougle, Tasmania)

It was only a couple decades ago that Barnbougle Dunes was just a strip of land alongside a potato farm on Tasmania’s northeast coast. Today, it’s one of the most celebrated destinations in golf, not just Australia. In 2010, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw opened the 20-hole Lost Farm course to complement the original layout and their team, along with Winter Park 9 visionary Riley Johns, is putting the finishing touches on a 14-hole short course built into a ridge of sand dunes near Lost Farm that will have mostly par threes along with a couple of drivable par fours.

Damned if I can figure out how to center these social media posts....  Anyone got a teenager I can borrow?

Getting in on the fun, and how topical it is, happens to be this week's Tour event venue:

Andy Staples, founder of the Arizona-based Staples Golf Design, is putting the finishing touches on two courses that are being constructed over what was The Squire, an 18-hole, 6,750-yard design by George and Tom Fazio that opened in 1983. One of Staples’ works will be a nine-hole par-3 course that utilizes the space that was The Squire’s first and 18th holes. The remaining 16 holes are being transformed into a shorter 5,744-yard 18-hole course. Staples calls the dual project a “reimagining” rather than a renovation.

 This would appear to make an alarming amount of sense:

“I had said, ‘You’ve got the difficult golf.’ You can get your brains beat out in playing The Champion, then come out here (to the nearby new courses) and actually like golf,” Staples said.
“The greens (on the new courses) will be challenging, but they’ll be a completely different offering than the tough golf you get on the other courses.”

The par-3 course will have no set tee markers. One hole is designed to be played with a putter or with a rescue club chip. The real eye-catcher, though, will be the designated No. 5 hole. Players will be encouraged to tee off out of a bunker, and their 50-yard shot to the green is partially over water.

Greens will be regulation size with lots of pin positions available. Some of the pin locations will have a funnel effect.

The tournament course is brutally difficult, especially in the wind I hear they sometimes get.  

This next one is quite interesting, but requires some background.  The golf course involved once held an actual major, though before that term became an obsession:

To get a better picture of what Belmont has become, it helps to have a sense of what Belmont
Snead in that 1945 PGA.
used to be. Its roots reach back to 1917, when the course was born as Hermitage Country Club, a private redoubt designed by A.W. Tillinghast. Four years later, Donald Ross consulted on course improvements, which included upgrading the greens from sand to grass. Ross also fine-tuned other aspects of a layout that was destined for a healthy measure of prestige.

If you judge the quality of a course by the quality of tournament winners it produces, Hermitage acquitted itself quite nicely. In 1945, the club hosted the Richmond Invitational, a Tour event captured by Ben Hogan. In 1949, when Hermitage staged the PGA Championship, native Virginian Sam Snead claimed the title in what remains today the only men’s major ever held in Snead’s home state.

It's how they're restoring it that gets interesting:

Putting their heads together with Scot Sherman of Love Golf Design, Schneider and his First Tee colleagues pitched the county with this proposal: they would transform Belmont into a multi-faceted facility, turning the 18-hole course into a 12-hole routing while converting the remaining ground into a community-focused hybrid, composed of a driving range and short-game area, an 18-hole putting course and a six-hole par-3 course. Inspiration for this blueprint came, in part, from other unconventional success stories around the country, including Sweetens Cove, in Tennessee, a nine-hole underdog-cum-architectural darling; Goat Hill Park, a come-one, come-all muni in Southern California; and Bobby Jones Golf Course, in Atlanta, where an 18-hole layout had been modified into a wildly entertaining, reversible nine-hole track.

 Wildly entertaining?  Is that wise?  Seriously, golf usually draws an older crowd...

These are all interesting endeavors undertaken by entrepreneurs and golf-lovers, a Venn diagram that would have much over-lap in the data sets.  But it didn't take the USGA or R&A to dictate, just folks on the front lines taking their best shots at what people want and need.

One last bit to throw in, that doesn't belong here.  So, shoot me...  On our 2008 trip mostly to Northern Ireland, we started at the Rosapenna Resort, in far Northwest County Donegal.  Rosapenna is in the middle of bloody nowhere, but even then featured 36 holes of golf.  They have a first-rate links called Sandy Hills, a Pat Ruddy design that you'd have seen Irish Opens played on if you get there from here.  It also had nine original Old Tom Morris holes that are a delight, back the paired with nine indifferent inland holes, though now paired with another nine new Pat Ruddy holes.

If you don't know Pat Ruddy, he's Ireland's preeminent course designer, whom we met at his European Club a few years later:

At Rosapenna there were these 36 holes of abandoned links off in the distance that looked like a spectacular piece of property.  Now comes this welcome news:

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

To mark the occasion, we’re bringing you exclusive photography of something as rare as a four-leaf clover: a new links course in Ireland — and the first design on the Emerald Isle by the noted architect Tom Doak.

Built as an amenity to Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort in County Donegal, aptly named St. Patrick’s Links, which is slated to open this summer, spills through rollicking dunes on a seaside swatch that was home to 36 dormant holes. Rather than try to revive two courses, Doak instead opted to rework the land into the finest 18 holes that he could muster.

I only mention it because it looks like this:


 I mean, if you like that sort of thing...Or this:

Which is why losing two years of travel is such a kick in the teeth.

About Those Olympics - Australian Rod Morri has a post on this subject which is really little more than a cry for help:

Dollar signs, it seems, are valued more highly than Olympic rings in the upper echelons of men’s golf with Johnson citing the need to get from Tokyo to Tennessee for the following week’s WGC as his main reason for opting out.

For Johnson and most golfers his era and older the Olympics has never been part of the game’s landscape.

The putting green games of youngsters in the 80’s and 90’s was holing out to win The Open or Masters, not Olympic gold.

But should golf remain part of the Olympic fold that attitude will change over time. A gold medal might never replace a green jacket but it will eventually take its place alongside that revered garment in the dreams of the game’s future stars.

I find this argument perplexing, given the fact that the Olympics themselves are so diminished in the absence of a Cold War rivalry.  Golf has hitched its future to a declining brand, which strikes your humble observer as not so brilliant.  Of course Morri hasn't a word to spare for the actual quality of the competition that's been created.

John Feinstein has a far better offering, because he at least acknowledges some of the myriad issues.  I agree with most of this:

There are many (myself included) who don’t believe a sport should be part of the Olympics unless winning a gold medal represents the ultimate achievement in that sport. Track and field,
swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, skiing, speed-skating and figure-skating all fit that bill—as do many other largely unnoticed sports. How break-dancing got into the Olympics, I have no idea, but that’s a different issue.

For golfers and tennis players, the four majors are the top of the mountain. As much as I love basketball, I’m not sure it belongs either. Most American NBA players are dragged kicking and screaming by their agents to play because not playing can hurt their endorsement profile. Europeans—in both basketball and hockey—DO think of the Olympics as at least as important as an NBA title or a Stanley Cup.

What would be even better would be if Morri and Feinstein would remind their readers that the event is limited to a sixty-player field and, that because competitors are chosen by country, only approximately thirty of those will be world-class players.  Why is that?  Because there simply aren't enough hotel rooms to house more players....  So the leaders of our game think we should stake the game's future on an event whose organizers can't give us accommodations?  What's wrong with these people?

In both pieces the PGA Tour is credited with encouraging participations, which is quite the howler.  In 2016 the Tour actually ran their Quad Cities event in competition to the men's Olympic tournament, and Kubla Jay certainly expects his minions to show in Memphis.  More importantly, Jay won't vacate a single summer weekend to leave the field to the Olympics, so in what sense is he actually encouraging it?

To me, Rod Morri actually hits on something in his post's linking of the Olympics to the Players' Jones for major status, which only highlights the fact that golf doesn't exactly need any more big-time events, since the ones we have seem to only fight among themselves.

That said, Feinstein makes a point worth keeping in mind, to wit, that the next two cycles will be far less geographically challenging:

Johnson may be the first star to announce he isn’t going to Tokyo, but he surely won’t be the last. The schedule’s a problem. So is the fact that the Olympics just aren’t that big a deal to golfers. That may change in the future. The next Olympics are in Paris and many players will be at Troon shortly before that for the Open Championship. The 2028 Olympics are in Los Angeles, meaning most players won’t have to travel internationally to get there since the tour will be back in the U.S. by then.

 That will make it easier.  Now, about that format?

This last bit from John isn't integral to the story, but who doesn't love a good Brandel Chamblee story.  What's the old line, Frequently Wrong but Never in Doubt?  Anyway, he recounts the recent bit of Brandel chiding DJ over the Saudi appearance fee, but this one from 2016 is even richer:

Chamblee, it should be noted, works for Golf Channel/NBC. Guess who televises Olympic golf? During that same Troon press conference, McIlroy was asked if he would watch the Olympics on television. “I’ll probably watch the sports that matter, like swimming and track and field,” he answered.

As soon as McIlroy was finished, on orders from his bosses, Chamblee attacked McIlroy saying, “When Rory McIlroy retires someday, I think he’ll regret that press conference more than anything in his career.”

Chamblee is a friend and a former colleague. I texted him right away and said, “Do you honestly think he’ll regret that press conference more than blowing a four-shot Sunday lead at the Masters?”

Brandel’s answer was instantaneous: “Touche.”

Or, yanno, Caroline? 

Tributes - A coupe of nice ones, honoring two of the nice guys in our game.  First, from this week's Tour venue:

HONDA CLASSIC RENAMES MEDIA CENTER FOR LONGTIME GOLF WRITER/BROADCASTER TIM ROSAFORTE

Tournament creates Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Writers' Award to honor golf journalists

Tim Rosaforte has been covering The Honda Classic for more than three decades, first as a newspaper writer for the Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post, then as a writer for Sports Illustrated and Golf World and lastly as a broadcaster for NBC and the Golf Channel.

The Honda Classic announced Monday that it will honor Rosaforte, now retired in Jupiter, for his amazing career in golf journalism by renaming the tournament media center "The Tim Rosaforte Media Center."

In addition, The Honda Classic is creating a perpetual award in Rosaforte's honor - The Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Writers' Award. Rosaforte has been named the first recipient of the award by the tournament.

"Tim has been such a vital part of the history of The Honda Classic from his work as a writer and broadcaster to the emcee of so many of our pro-am dinners and sponsor events," Honda Classic Executive Director Kenneth R. Kennerly said. "It is only fitting now that he has retired from broadcasting that we find ways to honor him for his years of service to the game and to the community."

Sad.

This nice one comes via Geoff:

Danny Vohden explains the partnership between Crooked Stick and the USGA to preserve various artifacts and ephemera from the life and times of Pete and Alice Dye. The items will be housed at the USGA Golf Museum and Library.

The United States Golf Association (USGA), at the invitation of Crooked Stick Golf Club members Joe and Marcia Luigs, along with Tony Pancake, the club’s director of golf, has
acquired a selection of artifacts and ephemera from the estate of Pete and Alice Dye.

The collection, which is to be preserved at the USGA Golf Museum and Library, includes more than 50 items from the Dyes’ life and career together and was obtained from their home on the grounds of Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind., which served as their summer residence for many years. Pete and Alice Dye designed Crooked Stick, which was founded in 1964 and has gone on to host six USGA championships, most recently the 2009 U.S. Senior Open.

 Pete and Alice might have been golf's greatest love story...

A New Venture - Alan Shipnuck has been a go-to guy for this blog since its inception in 2014, so I'm a bit sad that he's leaving Golf Magazine for a new venture, in conjunction with Matt Ginella:

The Evolution of The Fire Pit Collective

A new golf media company 25 years in the making

Damn you, Alan.  I don't need you evolving, I need you there every Friday with a mailbag for me to plagiarize... It's not all about you.

Last year Matt finally took control of his own destiny, leaving Golf Channel to build a lively podcast, a sophisticated website and partnering with a talented group of technicians who make
everything look and sound crispy. In all of this he was aided by Alex Upegui, whose mastery with machines is matched by his organizational skills. Alex has spent 15 years working the production side for a variety of sports and networks and he became Matt’s trusted wingman, handling all the details on more than 100 roadtrips they took together for Golf Channel. The refined aesthetic of their videos owes much to Alex’s sensibilities. I watched from the sidelines with respect and more than a little envy at what they were building. They called this new enterprise the Fire Pit Collective. I am thrilled to announce that as of today I’m a part of it, too, having signed on as a co-partner in the Collective. At long last, we are going to build our own golf media company, doing it our way.

TheFirePitCollective.com will be the home for my original long-form features, weekly columns and event coverage. For my entire career you, the loyal digital reader, has been forced to endure a relentless assault of pop-up videos, embedded links, garish ads and other clutter that destroyed the reading experience, which is supposed to be transporting. That ends today. For the first time, I am in a position to personally promise that all of my stories will be presented in a clean, beautiful format that maximizes your enjoyment, not a corporate suit’s Christmas bonus. In addition to all of the typing, I’m excited to finally immerse myself in long-form video storytelling and get back to podcasting. (More on that soon!) I am going to oversee Fire Pit Presents, which will give aspiring writers a platform to share their work. Matt and I have ambitious plans for a travel series and to host experiential events at great golf courses, featuring thought-provoking guests. Over time we will add more talent, with an eye on diverse, unexpected contributors. We don’t yet know exactly how the Fire Pit Collective is going to evolve but we’re excited to figure that out, together. The goal is simple: to build a community of folks who love golf and appreciate a good story.

Long-form, eh  At a time when my attention span has contracted to that of a bi-valve mollusk?  Well, I'm really happy for you...

 This is off-topic, but it's part of what I like about Alan:

Quick Hits -  Apparently this is the new trend in golf bags:

Umm, is that bag waterproof?  here's the story behind it:

The line between genius and huh?! is a slim one — and Czech golfer Ondrej Lieser is pushing up against it at this week’s European Tour event.

Lieser, who is the 186th-ranked player in the world, is in the field at the Magical Kenya Open, in Nairobi, a second-year event on the European circuit with a $1.1 million purse. But it is not his appearance in the tournament that has generated buzz — it’s his golf bag.

The 29-year-old showed up at Karen Country Club with a bizarre, inside-out bag, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.

On a related note, that's an actual professional golfer in an actual Euro Tour event, which is actually played at something called Karen Country Club.  Stop the presses, I think we just hit peak 2021:

I like the cut of ANTIFAldo's jib, though that shouldn't come as a surprise.

On that note I shall release you to your weekend.  See you on Monday. 

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