This will be an experiment in low-impact blogging. I happen to have a couple of bits tat got left on the cutting room floor, and didn't want to make you nice folks wait until the end of the week (the Wednesday Game rendering our typical Midweek Musings impractical).
Democracy Dies in Darkness - How do you feel about golf journalism? Most folks would agree that those last two words shouldn't be used in the same sentence, though at this juncture we could probably say the same thing about political journalism....Hence the header.
At Morning Read, Mike Purkey takes on the state of our golf press, and is less than impressed:
David Feherty’s immense talents are being ignored and wasted. His interview show on Golf Channel was canceled, and he appears to be lying low and trying to stay out of trouble until heretires.
If you’ve noticed, it should concern you. If you haven’t noticed, you should. No one ever accused television commentators of being journalists. But there was a time when they at least made an effort to appear objective. No players are critically analyzed. Anything negative is on the penalty side of the white stakes.
What’s wrong with being positive? Nothing, unless that’s all you get.
This is slightly difficult to blog, if only because expectations are so low. Though Purkey also has examples that cast a more favorable light on the industry:
Dottie Pepper of CBS had to practically bite her tongue during the final round of the RBC Heritage and speak in code to say (or not say) that Stewart Cink’s extensive discussions with caddie/son Reagan – or maybe it was the other way around – were taking way too much time and gumming up the works where pace of play was concerned. Cink was put on the clock at least once over the weekend. Instead, all we heard from the announcers was how beautiful these father-son moments were while in contention to win a big championship.
No one can deny it was, in fact, heartwarming and a great narrative. But any veteran PGA Tour caddie would tell you – in private – that the performance was over the top, and if Reagan were a regular looper, Cink would insist that he hold the conversation to a minimum. That’s not being negative; it’s telling the whole story.
Isn't that pretty much the best we can expect? I read that to say that Dottie did her job, and did it in a reasonably effective manner. You say you want a revolution, but do we really?
Which, apparently, the PGA Tour doesn’t want you to know. In late 2019, the Tour renewed its rights for live programming with CBS, NBC/Golf Channel and ESPN for about $700 million, according to Variety. It was a 70 percent increase from the previous TV deal. Golf Channel was forced to take a big chunk to be the Tour’s cable partner because it had no choice.
But it meant two important things: About half of Golf Channel’s 800 employees were let go, according to The Athletic. And, more importantly, the PGA Tour now controls the content.
Chatter is always bubbling near the surface about the possibility of a PGA Tour Network, in the same vein as Major League Baseball and the NFL. Such a venture would cost a fortune, which the Tour has, and there’s already a template in place.
But to keep CBS, NBC and Golf Channel at arm’s length, the Tour has taken over production of the telecasts, which is to say, the pictures. In that sense, the Tour controls what you see and, more importantly, what you don’t see. And now the Tour overwhelmingly appears to be in control of what the announcers say and, more importantly, what they don’t say. See no evil, etc.
It's their event that being broadcast, so it seems a bit unrealistic to expect that they'll not control it pretty closely.... That said, the Tour continues to flex its muscles in the content control arena, and the double-secret slush fund PIP program is a bookend to this instinct.
This policy of omertà dates back to the reign of Nurse Ratched, and also involves the non-disclosure of injuries and disciplinary actions and the aggressive policing of social media. It's all quite the bad look and, I think, counter-productive over the long run. I'm actually naïve enough to think most of the players are good guys, but when you show zero deviation from the norm, I'm forced to conclude that the issues run far deeper than we thought.
The Refuseniks - Geoff seems personally offended by players refusing to make the trip to Tokyo, though he's trying to frame it amusingly:
The best men’s 2021 Olympic competition this year may be found in the build-up to the Tokyo Games.
Best excuse by a player definitely eligible? And worst.
Best pretzel logic to justify passing?
Best use of family over country?
Best use of a virus or disease to not go?
You get the idea.
What has him so despondent?
Adam Scott has become the second golfer to opt out of this summer’s Olympic Games.
According to the Australian’s manager, Johan Elliot with Sportyard International, the timing of the Games doesn’t fit into Scott’s schedule. Scott also opted out of the 2016 Games in Brazil citing the busy PGA Tour schedule and the Zika virus outbreak.
“With the world being the way it is, Adam is gone 4-5 weeks at a time this year during his playing blocks,” Elliot said in a statement to GolfChannel.com. “With three young children at home, this time in the schedule will be devoted to family. It is pretty much the only time up until October when he has a chance to see them for a stretch of time and not only a few days/a week.”
Boo-friggin'-hoo. The Zika references are pretty amusing, an obvious case of deflection masking the fundamental weakness of the Olympic event. The Tour Confidential panel did have some thoughts on this:
5. A month after world No. 1 Dustin Johnson said he is passing on the 2021 Olympics, Australian star Adam Scott said he, too, will sit out the Games. Scott’s manager told Golf Channel that “it is pretty much the only time up until October when he has a chance to see [his family] for a stretch of time.” Do you think we’ll see more top players step back as the Olympics near, as we did in 2016? Or will DJ and Scott be outliers?
Zak: Yes we will. Whereas Zika seemed like a family-man play back in 2016, staying home during the Olympics might seem like even more of a family-man play. Adam Scott sees no other holes in his schedule? He’ll take a break and be in full dad mode. It’ll be healthy for him, I’m sure. And his family, too. Even if I hate the field weakening.
Well, cause and effect can be a tricky thing. Sean seems not to have considered that the field was already so absurdly weak, that it doesn't make sense for a guy like Adam to upend his schedule over it.
Sens: No doubt. Though the number of WD’s is going to depend on a certain other number on the ground in Japan. A lot could change pandemic-wise between now and late July in Tokyo.
Bamberger: It’s the year, and the place. Tokyo in the summer of 2021 does not sound like something most people would go out of their way to do. We’ll see more withdrawals and most guys will be too polite to say why in a truthful way. Just bad luck.
No. A thousand times no. It's not bad luck, it's bad leadership.
Dethier: I love the Olympics, so I wish more top pros were going to play. But I’m also not interested in pressuring them to do so if they don’t love the Olympics. These guys can play a 72-hole stroke play golf tournament nearly 50 weeks out of the year if they want to, so it’s hardly surprising they’ll skip the one that doesn’t have a prize pool. (Winning a gold medal might help with their PIP, though …)
Yanno, Dylan, the money thing is a pretty cheap shot. If I loved the Olympics, I'd be pretty unhappy that they've degraded it with an inane mini-golf event.
I do like the PIP slam, though the degree of difficulty is so low as to make it impossible to post a decent score. Shack had his own version thereof:
Short version: he’s wants to be with his kids.
Much more fun would have been: he needs to rest after The Open before he makes a 2021 Playoff and Meltwater Mentions push.
Hold that thought, as there will likely be more.
Proof of Life - Of course you've seen the picture by now:
Yeah, he's really embracing that Meltwater Mentions thing...
Dylan Dethier, in his Monday Finish feature, goes full Zapruder on this photo, drawing all sorts of conclusions most of us missed:
1. He’s upright.
Remember the dramatic photos from Woods’ crash? Remember just how dire things felt in that moment? The 24/7 cable news coverage? The red-and-black tribute on Tour that weekend? Let’s not take for granted the simple fact that Woods is alive and well, because it hardly felt like a guarantee.
2. His left leg looks good.
It looks skinny, but Woods has always taken grief for his skinny legs, even when he wasn’t confined to a hospital bed. But one of those original rumors was the fear that Woods had broken both of his legs. That’s clearly not the case.
3. There’s no PR agency involved here.
At least, not a particularly uptight one. I think it’s a good sign that this photo looks like it was taken with a potato phone. It suggests that whoever took it wasn’t overly concerned with how Woods looked, which suggests they were comfortable with how Woods actually did look, which suggests Woods is in fact doing fairly well! Lots of suggesting, but it’s encouraging.
Dylan, you might want to see someone about this obsession...It's just a photo.
But who says the golfing press doesn't dig deep:
4. Bugs is keeping him company.
That’s Woods’ dog Bugs, a Border Collie-Springer Spaniel mix, who has been around since at least Christmas Eve of 2015, when he was introduced to the world:
We would like to welcome a new member to our family/pack:), Bugs!!!! pic.twitter.com/MjtiZudTL2
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) December 24, 2015
Bugs is, apparently, a well-trained dog by now. And Tiger’s rehab partner. (Sidenote: The Woods fam has a thing for dogs with cartoon names. He and now ex-wife Elin Nordegren initially got dogs named Taz and Yogi. More recently Woods got Bugs and Lola. Anyway, back to the list.)
Take that, Mike Purkey! Digging deep on story and reporting it without fear or favor...
Actually, the funniest part of this is imaging the mole hunt being conducted by Steiny within the Tiger camp. "How could they have known about Yogi?
Scenes From the Golf World - I've blogged a little on the profoundly silly Covid protocols in Scotland, where they used the pandemic to keep people from driving in their own cars to golf courses. Now comes word of further craziness from The Great White North:
A surge of COVID-19 cases in Canada has left Ontario golfers in the cold. And some are fighting back.In mid-April a new pandemic lockdown by the provincial government was announced, giving police temporary power to stop individuals to ask where they’re going and where they live. “The Stay-at-Home order currently in effect requires everyone to remain at home except for specified purposes, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services [including getting vaccinated], for outdoor exercise, or for work that cannot be done remotely,” a government statement says.The Ontario government proceeded to close all outdoor recreational amenities including basketball courts, soccer fields, playgrounds and, yes, golf courses. The closing is schedule to be in place through at least May 20.
So, outdoor exercise is an exclusion from house arrest, but just to be safe we'll shutter all outdoor exercise facilities...
Note this bit from a letter protesting the over-reaction:
“Across North America, at this moment, Ontario is the only province, state or territory not allowing the sport to be played,” Young wrote. “This despite more than 26 million recorded rounds by approximately 1.8 million of your constituents with next to zero reports of COVID-19 transmission last season or this season.”
It's actually far crazier than that, because the lockdowns themselves have proven completely ineffective in reducing infection or death rates. But doubling down on stupid is what we do these days... Plus, Vitamin D.
Problem is, once they get a taste for the whip.... It's like Chinese food, though that analogy has to be racist, of course.
In other parts of the Anglosphere, Ireland is reopening golf ever so slowly:
Club members in Ireland were able to play golf again Monday as the Republic began to easeCOVID-19 restrictions that have shuttered courses for more than 200 days in the past year.
This follows in the wake of Ireland’s neighbors reopening golf in recent weeks. England reopened the sport March 29, and Northern Ireland resumed golf April 1. The sport is also open in Scotland and Wales.
But the game isn’t open to everyone in Ireland, home to many of the best links golf courses in the world. In this first phase of reopening, players must be registered members of the club at which they are playing. General daily-fee tee times are not yet available, and golf tourism is still shut down.
But still with the nonsense:
For players who are members of clubs, they would need to live fairly close. Golfers are allowed to travel only within their home county or 20 kilometers from home to play, as travel restrictions will remain in place for an undetermined time.
Why? What is the risk of a private automobile? In many parts of these countries folks travel 20K just for a quart of milk, so this is needlessly restrictive. But, as experience has long shown, dictators gonna dictate....
Wither Thunderbear - Is it too early to talk him up for the Ryder Cup? An actual sighting:
Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen, who still has a sexual assault charge pending, shot a course-record 61 on Friday during the second round of the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open and leads the Euro Tour event.
Olesen had yet to make a start in 2021 after a positive COVID test and a wrist injury, but he followed Thursday’s 65 with a scintillating 61 that included an eagle on the fourth hole.
Do you remember the story?
Olesen was charged with sexual assault, common assault and being drunk on an aircraft during a flight from Nashville to London following his participation in the 2019 WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
According to multiple reports, Olesen allegedly assaulted a woman and urinated in the aisle of a plane while drunk on the flight. The Sun reported that Ian Poulter had to calm Olesen down after he was allegedly abusive toward passengers and crew in first class. Olesen allegedly assaulted the woman while Poulter slept.
“He started abusing some of the passengers and crew and then made a pass at one of the female passengers before taking a leak in the aisle,” one passenger on the flight told The Sun. “It was shocking behavior.”
The Meltwater Mentions on this will be epic.... At the very least, though, Golfweek doesn't seem to be pulling any punches.
Leaving Out The Good Stuff - Kinda frustrating when I have a killer riposte set up, and then space out and completely forget it. OK, killer is very much in the mind of the beholder...
You'll remember yesterday's item on the struggles of Matthew Wolff. You did read it, right? In any event, I had intended to end the bit by suggesting that Matt give this podcast a listen:
What exactly happens when golfers lose their game? Our latest podcast explores the mystery of the slump
That piece leads with the perfect photo:
Reminds of your humble blogger on Saturday... or, yanno, tomorrow.
That'll be a wrap for today's experiment in Low Carbon Footprint Blogging. Look for me later in the week, though definitely not tomorrow.
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