Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Midweek Musings

It's an unusually busy week for your humble blogger, but we'll make sure to cover the gamut today, as the next couple of days feature early obligations.

An Ode to Old Tom - Even Geoff admits he was too distracted to pay proper homage:

2021 was supposed to celebrate Old Tom Morris’s 200th birthday and then get followed by an Open in St Andrews. Well, it didn’t work out that way but he did turn 200 and there were some enjoyable efforts to commemorate the great man. Then he had the audacity to be born the week of the U.S. Open!

So belatedly because some of us were distracted by a major, some of the Old Tom coverage that caught my eye.

Geoff helpfully links to this R&A tribute, which has contributions from all the right folks:

With input from leading golf historian and celebrated author, Roger McStravick, words from Learning & Access Curator at the British Golf Museum, Hannah Fleming, and passages taken from The Colossus of Golf by David Malcolm and Peter E. Crabtree, enjoy this account of Old Tom Morris’ life, and the legacy he has left today in golf’s original major, and the very game itself.

I strongly recommend that you read the whole thing, which seems a wiser strategy than venturing out into today's 100 degree sauna.  There's many surprises to be found within, including the fact that the fortunes of St. Andrews were waning, due to the declining fortunes of the weaving industry, as he arrived on the scene:

“St Andrews went through a revolution,” Roger McStravick said. “The town went through a revolution and the links went through an evolution. The town was through Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair, he came back from West India in 1830, and he had a vision of St Andrews being the metropolis of golf. And people thought it was absurd, because this is a fallen city, the grandeur of the medieval city that was the centre of ecclesiastical Scotland had gone since the summer of 1559, and the town had fallen into decay.

“So by the time we get to the 1800s this place is a ruin. North Street was a dirt path, people were putting their dung on the streets, cows and sheep were meandering across the streets. Playfair called it decrepit, and it was that.

“It was a ghost of itself. So that’s where Playfair came back and said this could be the metropolis of golf with beautiful housing, beautiful golf courses, beautiful places for people to stay, and they did think he was crackers, you know, and he was promptly laughed at. But he was a very determined man and he put his own money into things to get things done.

That will surprise most, as the Old Grey Toon evinces not a hint of the hard times or abject poverty of the mid-1800's.  As always when I consider Old Tom, the figure that seizes my attention is Alan Robertson:

Allan Robertson is considered widely to be the first true golf professional. The son of a ball-maker, the Robertson family business was involved in making golf balls for over 200 years, and Allan himself continued this trade throughout his life.

But it was Allan’s golfing ability that drew him true repute. On more than one occasion, punters and spectators declared him the best golfer in all of the world, let alone the land. His death later in 1859 would indeed spark the formation of The Open, as it was determined that a new Champion Golfer ought to be found.

Robertson was just five years the senior of Morris, and they worked together closely in the 1840s. It is widely accepted that Allan taught Tom a huge amount in regards to being a golf professional, and it is doubtless Tom improved his own golf from playing with Allan too.

 

Alan Robertson is in front, Old Tom is third on the right behind him.

It was Robertson's unexpected death in 1859 at age 44 that triggered the creation of the Open Championship.  With the death of the "Champion Golfer", a competition to select his replacement seemed to be the ticket, and hence was born the felicitous moniker, "Champion Golfer of the Year".

The wisest course of action for my dear readers would be to read Tommy's Honour to soak up this inflection point in golf history.  Failing that, reading this tribute will fill in the broad brushes.  Don't miss Tom's falling out with Alan Robertson over the gutta percha ball, his banishment to Prestwick and his rivalry with the Parks of Musselburgh.

Geoff also had news of this lovely tribute at Prestwick:

Tom famously built the 12-hole Prestwick links on which the early Opens were contested.  The first hole of that links was 575 yards, a length that seems inconceivable for the times.   It played as a Par- ... well, I'm just effing with you, because the term "Par" wasn't memorialized until 1911 as a golf term.  Before that, it's meaning was inconsistent:

The word "par," officially entered the golf lexicon in 1911 when the USGA put it in play. But the word itself was around long before that.

Generally, "par" was used when talking about stocks, as in, "a stock may be above or below its normal or par figure," according to the USGA.

For golf purposes, the USGA defined "par" as, "the score that an expert player would be expected to make for a given hole. Par means expert play under ordinary weather conditions, allowing two strokes on the putting green."

Prior to the 1900s, "par" was actually a term used interchangeably with "bogey," but "bogey" was the term more universally used.

Eventually, it was decided that "par" should be used to identify the "ideal score" on a given hole, while "bogey" would be the term used to describe a score that recreational golfers would be happy with.

I'll just leave you with this last photo, the field of the world's first major championship:

Yeah, it was a rough crowd.  

A Day Late... - Monday's typical Weekend Wrap post was missing one typical ingredient, Golf.com's Tour Confidential feature, which posted later that morning, perhaps because the Hartford playoff went deep into the night.  Before I get to it, those CBS ratings were boffo:

The telecast, which peaked with 6.66 million viewers from 8 PM ET to the conclusion, delivered the sixth-largest golf audience of the year and the third-largest with majors excluded. Only the final rounds of the Players (4.59M) and at Pebble Beach (4.19M) rank higher outside of the majors.

So, what did the TC gang have to say?  Well, they seem to have been impressed by Nelly? 

Nelly Korda won her first major Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, cruising to a four-shot victory at Atlanta Athletic Club. With the title — her third of 2021 — Korda will supplant Jin Young Ko as world No. 1. In your mind, is Korda the world’s best player?

Josh Sens: She is playing like it right now. And that combination of power and touch makes it no fluke. Scary thing for the competition is, she might not have peaked yet.

Dylan Dethier: Yes. Power, touch, and what she calls “blacking out” which I take to mean whatever allows her to reel off eight birdies in a row. That’s a special X-factor that the rest of the world is jealous of. I also can only imagine the relief she feels to actually win a major rather than descend any further into best-player-without-one land. That pressure seems like no fun.

Alan Bastable: Meh, she’s only 22! How do you think Phil Mickelson felt carrying that mantle for a decade-plus?! What a magical run for Korda, though — in her last two starts alone she’s a cumulative 44 under par. I remain in awe that two sisters could be so exceptional at a single discipline. This week did nothing to temper that awe.

Well, if you mean for the last two weeks, for sure.  If you want to go back a couple of years, probably not, although it's been a strange two years and those top Asian players haven't played all that much...But if you're asking about, say, the next two years, I can't see anyone whose prospects look better.

How much impact do you suppose Korda — who is the first U.S. major winner in the women’s game since Angela Stanford at the 2018 Evian Championship — can have in terms of driving more American fans to the game?

Sens: It can’t hurt. But the women’s game is always going to fall short in that kind of comparison with the men’s game, which is a shame because, as has been noted many times, their games are more relatable and the players are so much more approachable. Go to an LPGA event just once and it’s hard not to get hooked.

Dethier: She’s a terrific American superstar for the LPGA. What’s unbelievable is that Korda is just 22 years old, which means she has her entire career ahead of her — but she’s already a seasoned vet, too. She also seems remarkably well-adjusted to the competitive spotlight, perhaps because she stayed (relatively) low-profile when compared to someone like Michelle Wie or Lexi Thompson. We’ll get to know her better as she sticks around the top of the game for years to come.

Bastable: Nelly’s fan impact to a large degree will be up to Nelly. As Dylan notes, she has a chill demeanor — which no doubt is a huge plus on the course — and doesn’t appear hungry for attention. Her game, in particular her length, is wildly appealing but she’ll never be the LPGA’s version of Bryson. It’s not in her DNA.

I have two thoughts here, which are unfortunately in conflict with each other.  The first is that a break-out American star is exactly what the LPGA needs.  The second is, along the lines of Josh Sens' take above, is that you're asking way too much of the girl.  It's still women's golf.

Now, I've a tad duplicitous with you all, because I had an ulterior motive in posting that Q&A.  Outgoing LPGA Commish/Incoming USGA Majordomo Mike Whan sat for an interview with Al Lunsford of Links Magazine, and doubled down on his entitlement nonsense:

What has been the biggest obstacle to the popularity of the LPGA?

It’s hard to identify one. I’ve always struggled with, “You just don’t deliver the viewership of the others.” Well, they’re paid to be on network TV 35 weeks a year; we write a check six times a year to be on network TV. If you asked me to run a 100-yard dash but I have to start 170 yards back, I don’t expect to win many races. We’ve closed the gap—virtually 12 years of viewership increases in the U.S. and around the world—but we’ve still never been given an equal playing field. It’s hard to engage with athletes you don’t see very much.

Given?  The essence of the game of golf is that nothing is given, everything must be earned.  yet this is the man now in charge of our governing organization....Shack had a couple of reactions, first this trite belief in equity:

His comment about the LPGA having to pay to get on networks has been made before, but it’s still fascinating to hear given the recent gender equity talk.

Except for the niggling detail that there is no equity... TV contracts are awarded based upon viewership and other economic factors...  You can tell us that they're equal, but you can't actually force people to watch the women's game.  I expect Whan will equalize the purses of the two U.S. Opens, but then wait for the cries of outrage from the seniors.... why shouldn't they get the same purses.

 But Geoff also caught this slight to one of Mike's new partners:

Also noteworthy: Whan essentially says being on the Golf Channel means the tour is not seen very much. Psst…Mike, they host all of your new job’s events. Be nice!

Well, I hear that FS1 needs content....

Olympic Fever, Distaff Edition - When last we met, we were discussing the women's realtively greater embrace of the Olympics which, while largely true, is not universally true.  The headline is that last weekend brought down the curtain on qualification for the ladies:

Team USA will match South Korea for the first time by sending four players to the 2021 Olympics, with Jessica Korda taking the fourth and final spot, joining newly-minted No. 1 Nelly
Korda, Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang.

Inbee Park, the 2016 gold medal winner, will return for South Korea along with Jin Young Ko, Sei Young Kim and Hyo-Joo Kim.

The stars will be out in force in Aug. 4-7 for the Summer Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
“I’ve achieved a lot in golf,” said Park, “won a lot of majors, won a lot of tournaments, but winning the gold medal was something really different. I wish a lot of the players think the same and treat Olympics the same. I think it’s definitely something that you should experience.”

And, yes, they do seem to take it seriously:

Some players, like Shanshan Feng and Hannah Green, won’t play again until the Olympics, heading back to their native countries, China and Australia, respectively, to quarantine and prepare.

“It’s interesting to see how the men and women have changed their schedule for it,” said Green who, like Feng, will miss the LPGA’s next major. “It’s a tournament that I am prioritizing.”

Well, they're skipping the Evian.... maybe we can agree to disagree, and call that a small-m major?  because their season-ending nonsense comes later on the calendar, they don't have near the schedule congestion of the men.  Notwithstanding that, they're not all excited about the trip to Tokyo:

One name missing from the field list is Charley Hull, who announced on Instagram on Tuesday that she had chosen to sit out of the Games.

“I’ve been thinking long and hard over the past few months about this year’s Olympics and whether or not I’d be able to give my best performance given all the scheduling and travel challenges involved,” Hull wrote.

Hull is No. 41 in the Rolex Ranking. Georgia Hall would have been the next player in for Great Britain but she made a similar decision not to compete. Jodi Shadoff will join Reid instead.

It's almost like they don't think it's a serious competition....

Since we're all about equity here at Unplayable Lies, it seems that we should treat the women's field in the same manner that we dealt with the men's field.  Accordingly, here is the bottom half of their field:

30. Emily Kristine Pedersen, DEN
31. Madelene Sagstrom, SWE
32. Matilda Castren, FIN
33. Ashleigh Buhai, RSA
34. Wei-Ling Hsu, TPE
35. Azahara Munoz, ESP
36. Giulia Molinaro, ITA
37. Perrine Delacour, FRA
38. Stephanie Meadow, IRL
39. Min Lee, TPE
40. Anne van Dam, NED
41. Alena Sharp, CAN
42. Kelly Tan, MAS
43. Albane Valenzuela, SUI
44. Bianca Pagdanganan, PHI
45. Aditi Ashok, IND
46. Maria Fassi, MEX
47. Maria Fernanda Torres, PUR
48. Tiffany Chan, HKG
49. Sanna Nuutinen, FIN
50. Marianne Skarpnord, NOR
51. Klara Spilkova, CZE
52. Manon De Roey, BEL
53. Christine Wolf, AUT
54. Pia Babnik, SLO
55. Mariajo Uribe, COL
56. Daniela Darquea, ECU
57. Morgane Metraux, SUI
58. Magdalena Simmermacher, ARG
59. Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso, ITA
60. Maha Haddioui, MAR

OK, a few familiar names, including the formerly good (Munoz and Sagstrom), as well as some notable big boppers (van Dam and Bianca Pagdanganam, notably) but not exactly appointment TV.  The problem is that you could field a roster of Korean non-qualifiers that would trounce the best of this list.  But we're growing the game, right? 

The Irony, She Burns - No doubt you've absorbed that the word of the day is equity.  If there was a world capital of equity, it would have to be Portland, OR, no?  They believe so strongly in equity that they're even willing to destroy their city over it, which one can only admire, right?  

So, the obvious conclusion is that Portland and the LPGA are made for each other:

The Cambia Portland Classic debuted in 1972. Kathy Whitworth won the first two editions,
followed by JoAnne Carner and a who’s who of legends over the past five decades.

Columbia Edgewater Country Club has been the event’s home for the majority of that time. This year, the LPGA’s longest-running non-major event is set to celebrate 50 years in mid-September. Only it won’t be at Columbia Edgewater.

A large homeless encampment now surrounds the parking lot that nearly everyone who comes to the event utilizes, and tournament organizers felt it necessary to move the event for health and safety reasons.

A story in The Oregonian described the area near the club down Northeast 33rd Drive as “dotted with run-down RVs, trailers, tents, makeshift housing structures and mounds of rubble and garbage.” For a time, gunshots were heard almost nightly, Lisa Larson, who serves as vice chair at nearby Dignity Village, told The Oregonian.

Maletis said he worked with the Port of Portland and the City of Portland for months, hoping to get word that conditions would improve in time for the event.

“We couldn’t get any guarantees that the situation would be cleaned up,” he said.

The kind of story to which one can only shrug one's shoulders.... and, of course, quote Mencken:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

H. L. Mencken

The people of Portland are getting it good and hard these days, though it seems to be what they want. 

Shot of the Year - No doubt you've long believed that we're remiss in not covering disc golf more extensively.... I'll cop to that plea, but this might rival that Sarazen 4-wood:

He quite obviously likes to play the fade....

 I shall leave you there.  The next two days include early obligations, so we'll have to play it by ear.

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