Damn those Saudis! We all instinctively recoil in horror at the event, then it's won in dramatic fashion by that guy everyone loves.... In fact, I find the event obnoxious, which seems to have become the word of the week.
Though we'll opt for Stillwater Cove over the Red Sea as our lede.
The Eleven Year Itch - I've shared with you many times that, watching professional golf, I invariably root for the guy that needs it more. So, let's see, once Andre Putnam and Joel Dahmen had played themselves out of contention, that left:
'I’ve waited 11 years for this:' Tom Hoge outlasts Jordan Spieth for first PGA Tour win at 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
On the grand stage named Pebble Beach, in the final-round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with fan favorite Jordan Spieth owning the spotlight since his high-wire act on a cliff’s edge the day before and his pace-setting ways on the back-nine on Sunday, Hoge broke through for his first PGATour title.With three birdies in his final five holes, Hoge overcame Spieth with a final-round 4-under-par 68 to finish at 19 under to win by two shots.Hoge, who played in the final group in last year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with Spieth before fading to a tie for 12th, joked shortly after winning that he hadn’t won anything in so long that he forgot how to celebrate.“It’s incredible,” Hoge said. “I’ve waited 11 years for this. It was a tough grind out there. The wind was really tricky today. But I hung in there really well.”
What wind? Asking for a friend named Tom Kite....
Golf.com puts it down to Spieth "Sputtering", but does this approach Xander territory:
The most clinical version of Jordan Spieth was on full display all weekend long, as he ball-strikedhis way around the iconic cliffside design. Through 70 holes, he held a one-shot lead over Tom Hoge, a 32-year-old pro who has never won in 200-plus starts on the PGA Tour. With one swing from Spieth and one swing from Hoge, mere minutes apart, the Pro-Am was upended from Spieth’s 13th-career Tour win to Hoge’s first.
Spieth “flushed” his approach into the par-3 17th, coming up one yard short of clearing the bunker — according to broadcaster Colt Knost — leaving a tricky up and down. Hoge, one shot and one hole back, nearly holed his approach into the 16th, leaving a tap-in for the tie. Spieth missed his par putt on 17. Nine minutes later Hoge made his birdie putt on 17.
For those with short memories, the X-man is still insisting that he "flushed" his tee shot at No. 16 at The Masters, the one that easily got within 25-yards of carrying the water...
But this always amuses me because, as you may have noticed, Messrs.. Spieth and Greller are a tad deliberative in pulling clubs. So, you discuss the curvature of the earth and sun-spot activity and their effects on relative humidity, then pull the wrong damn club. Unlike Xander, though, Jordan at least seems to have gotten within one of the correct club.
I'm no doubt in the minority on this one, as I actually think watching Tour rabbits seizing their first wins is good TV. And we've now had two straight of this ilk, with 37-year old Luke List winning his first tourney last week at Torrey, and the 32-year old Hoge gettin' it done at Pebble. The C-Suite hates it, but that just makes it win-win, baby! This is golf, which I encourage you to bear in mind as those other stories ebb and flow. At the risk of agreeing with Brooksie, golf isn't just about 48 guys.
That said, golf is about three guys to our friends on the Tour Confidential panel, as can be confirmed by this week's questions, not least this one:
4. Back on the PGA Tour, Tom Hoge birdied three of the last five holes to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by two. Coming up just short was Jordan Spieth, whose solo-runner-up finish was his first top 10 on the PGA Tour since the 2021 Open Championship. Time to hop back on the Spieth train?Sens: He’s fresh off another swing change. That’s tough. But the pieces sure appeared to be holding together this weekend. I’m aboard. Especially at certain venues. Silly not to have him in your pool anytime he plays at Pebble. Or Augusta. I think you can bank on him being in the mix at the Old Course this summer, too.Zak: From now until he quits, Spieth will be a ball-striker who needs to get hot with the putter. When it happens, he’ll contend! But he’s still a bit too close to that last place finish in the Bahamas and a pretty poor showing in Hawaii for me to think he’s made some gigantic leap.Colgan: Hard to hop on the Spieth train when you never hopped off it! Faith — in the parlance of my beloved Syracuse football coach Dino Babers — is belief without evidence. I have a ton of faith in Spieth right now. I’m not sure I have a ton of evidence to support that belief. But hey! This week was a start.Bamberger: I was never off it.Piastowski: As long as the train doesn’t fall off a 70-foot cliff, I’m aboard. His Saturday 63 was real, real good.
5. In one of the wilder shots you’ll ever see, Jordan Spieth’s drive on Pebble’s par-4 8th hole in the third round came to rest just inches from a cliff edge, setting up an approach that required every ounce of Spieth’s sure-footedness. (Spieth survived the shot, missed the green, but still saved par.) Can you think of a more dangerous/angst-inducing shot that you’ve witnessed from a Tour pro?Sens: Sergio has had a couple. That time he climbed the tree to hit a shot at Bay Hill. That time he hit around a tree at Medinah. But John Daly hitting a ball that teed up in David Feherty’s mouth has to be the diciest one I’ve seen.Zak: Patrick Reed’s greenside pitch Saturday at Torrey gave me a lot of angst last year. But in all seriousness, nothing feels as dangerous as what Spieth pulled off. Jim Furyk made me nervous with his heels hanging over the hazard on Sawgrass’ 18th a couple years ago.Colgan: Like, perhaps the time Jordan Spieth nearly ran off a cliff and into Lake Michigan at the Ryder Cup like, three months ago?Bamberger: He was a slip away from death. The ground was downhill, toward the cliff. Even great athletes can lose their balance. Vertigo is a real thing. It was reckless. No, can’t think of anything like it.Piastowski: Nope, that was it. Spieth wins. Craziest shot I can remember. Runner-up, Spieth at the Ryder Cup. Something about cliffs and that dude.
He is and has always been quite the drama queen. I do think it a good call to not use the Gary Player step-through on that one, though. I don't get Sean Zak's PReed reference, but it would be fun to see the reactions, not to mention the PointsBets odds, were Mr. Reed staring down that 70-foot cliff.
One thing I di like was the use of the reclaimed tee on the tenth hole:
Pebble Beach officials were rebuilding the ninth green last year when they discovered from photos of the 1929 U.S. Amateur a tiny sliver of land just to the right of the green. It was a tee box of the par-4 10th hole along the ocean. The tee box never went away, rather it was buried beneath high grass.R.J. Harper, the executive vice president of golf and retail, figured it was the perfect time to put it back.The 10th hole goes out to the farthest point at Pebble Beach, a par 4 that is 448 yards for PGA Tour competition, and 495 yards for the most recent U.S. Open. With this tiny tee box directly to the right of the ninth green, Harper said the hole measures 349 yards.Since it was restored, the tee has been used only for a couple of special occasions. It's a traffic issue. To use that tee, players could only exit to the left in front or behind the ninth green, which would hold up play on the ninth hole.But it's a cool shot – directly over the ocean, with players able to take on as much as they want. And with the U.S. Amateur coming in 2018 and the U.S. Open the next year, one thought is for the tee to be used for one round. With a helping wind in summer months, big hitters might be tempted to go for the green.
I had thought that Chandler Egan had added that tee in preparation for the famous 1929 U.S. Amateur, although James Colgan says it was part of the original Neville0Grant routing. Oddly, neither of these pieces includes the actual 1929 photo, nor can I find it with a Google image search.
As long as I'd done the search, while we've had these photos before, this was the 17th green in 1929:
I don't have time to get into it now, but it would be hard to find a more significant event in golf history than that '29 Amateur, in which Bobby Jones shockingly loses in the first round of match play to the unknown Johnny Goodman. (Goodman wasn't a hack, he later won a U.S. Open, but no one knew him in 1929 when he was only twenty), then filled in his free time with Cypress Point, Pasatiempo, MacKenzie and Marion Hollins. Think I heard talk that Jones and MacKenzie collaborated on a golf course somewhere...
This doesn't seem to go anywhere useful, either:
6. The little-employed (but fun!) alternate tee on Pebble Beach’s 10th hole was put into play on Sunday. Put on your design cap and suggest another alternate tee you’d like to see added to a PGA Tour/major venue.Sens: Have them hit from the grandstands on the 16th at the Waste Management Open. What could possibly go wrong?Zak: I’m all in favor of Boss Level tee boxes. Let’s have the 1st tee at Riviera moved back even further and put that sucker on top of the clubhouse. Bombs away.Colgan: Put a tee box on the other island on the 17th at Sawgrass. Then make ‘em row a boat from tee-to-green. Would be AWFUL for pace of play, but terrific content.Bamberger: On 18 on Sunday at Augusta National: Play it as a drivable par-4, like 310, up the hill. Make a 2, win from the house. Too many winners come from the day’s last twosome anyhow. It would be a nod to 18 on the Old Course, Jones’s ANGC inspiration in the first place. Maybe Friday and Sunday up, Thursday and Saturday back. Tell the players ahead of time of the plan in year one. They’ll know forever more. Chances of this happening? Zero point zero.Piastowski: Have any final-round leader pick their tee boxes and pins among five or so choices. Big driver? Fourteen drivable par-4s! Good putter? Put the pins in diabolical spots knowing that you can make ’em from anywhere. I will say Michael’s idea of 18 at Augusta as a drivable par-4 would be fantastic.
Funny that Mike would come up with that when recent news indicates that the Lords of Augusta are going the other direction, pushing the tees further back on a hole that already seems plenty tough.
Desert Drama - The actual golf tournament was the least interesting aspect to the week in the Kingdom, or at least it was until this:
The dramatic eagle putt that sealed the victory for Harold Varner III ⛳😍@SaudiIntlGolf @HV3_Golf #SaudiIntlGolf #whereitsAT pic.twitter.com/1RIAI4jIaW
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) February 6, 2022
Varner is on a short list of guys I like, including Joel Dahmen, Peter Malnati and the like, where the sad reality is that they're just not as good as I hope them to be.
It was also one of those great golfy scenes at the end:
Judging the pace and line perfectly, Varner made what is surely the unlikeliest winning putt of his life to reach 13 under par, claim the title and the $1 million first prize. Bubba Watson, who ranfrom the scorer’s hut to congratulate his close friend with a warm hug, was the unlucky victim of the new champion’s brilliance. But the two-time Masters winner has no need to berate himself. Like Varner, Watson finished birdie-eagle, posting a six-under 64 to seeming pull out an unlikely Sunday win. Really, he could do no more.Typically, Watson was also effusive in his praise for Varner, the 31-year-old North Carolina native’s biggest win before this coming at the 2016 Australian PGA Championship. The pair had eaten every lunch and dinner together over the course of the week, as well as pairing up for a Tuesday practice round and the opening 36 holes.“Harold is a dear friend of mine,” Watson said. “He's a guy I truly love. He’s a guy that I want to help. It took me five years to win my first [tournament]. So this is a guy that's just starting to play better and better each year. We see his name a little bit more. He's getting comfortable. This is the best field in the world this week, the highest points. For me to pull out the shots that I pulled out under pressure and then for him to do it, too? This is what you want. This is what golf's all about. I'm not mad at him for beating me. I'm happy for him. I applaud him. I cheer for him.”
Some great reaction shots from Varner.... How can you not be happy for the guy?
On the broader issues, what did we learn this week? Let's see if that TC panel can make any sense of it:
1. This week, the Saudi International, sponsored by the group that is expected to back a proposed new Tour, was played, and let’s begin with the off-the-course news. On the eve ofthe Saudi International, Phil Mickelson, in a scathing interview with Golf Digest’s John Huggan, ripped the PGA Tour’s media rights policy, saying the Tour’s “greed” is “beyond obnoxious.” Mickelson said: “It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on. But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the Tour wanted to end any threat [from rival leagues], they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control … There are many issues, but that is one of the biggest.” Fair point from Mickelson? And do you suppose he speaks for many of the top players?Josh Sens: It wasn’t clear to me where Mickelson was getting the $20 billion figure from. But that aside, as someone who freelanced for more than 25 years, I would simply say, Welcome to life as an independent contractor. You don’t like the terms. Don’t sign the contract. (I would also say, I don’t know any other freelance gigs that come with such a sweet retirement package). I’m sure the media rights issue frustrates other top players, too. It’s hard to feel too sorry for any of them.Sean Zak: I think Sens presents some very fair points! The term independent contractor cuts both ways, both in players’ favor when they’d like to skip an event and not in their favor when they don’t have a lot of control over the true value of their play. Phil’s surprising victory at the PGA has certainly proven to be monetarily valuable to him — and not just from the purse — so him doubling down now makes sense. Just feels a bit greedy himself.James Colgan: Rights are generated by players, but the value of those rights is nothing without an apparatus advancing their brands, personalities and financial interests (as Phil seems to miss). If the Tour ‘handed back the rights’ to players, the onus would then fall upon those same players to negotiate the same media deal … and then they’d subsequently have to fund near-everything else that comes with it (social media, marketing, video, licensing, etc.) What Phil should have said is that the Tour needs to be more flexible with its constituents about the terms of its deals, and that it needs to do more work to meet players where they are. He missed the mark with his comments, and even if he (and many others) are very right in some parts of their criticism, ‘obnoxious greed’ wasn’t quite the right tune.Nick Piastowski: It’s a fair point from Phil — why wouldn’t he seek more money for his brand? But James sums it quite well. (And you should read his weekly media piece, Hot Mic!) I would wonder about the fallout with the current Tour-wide deal when every player is negotiating their own and keeping the return. (Though, the content available for our site to report on would explode.) But, if what Phil is saying is true, there should be more flexibility as media evolves. If a player is operating a YouTube channel — i.e., Bryson — they should reap the rewards.Michael Bamberger: Phil has all the best words. But a fact-checker is needed here.
Where did he get that $20 billion number? From the same place he got all his other nonsense, from his need to show us how smart he is. But he's now declared war on the third of the five families, so I'm thinking he and the Saudis deserve each other.
I'm open to a sober discussion of digital rights from just about anyone besides this guy....
2. More generally, what do you read into the pointedness of Mickelson’s remarks?Sens: I don’t think it’s a secret that the Tour is out to squeeze every potential dollar out of its players and its products. But, as Mickelson showed before with his whining-from-the-yachtcomplaints about taxes some years ago, he has a special knack for making his points in a uniquely tone-deaf way. That the comments came as he was collecting a paycheck in Saudi Arabia only sharpened the self-parody. I don’t believe he was there to attend a Bernie Sanders-led forum on wealth redistribution.Zak: It feels like Phil is stepping up to the podium that so many other players seem afraid to do. In the all-talk battle between rumored startup leagues and the PGA Tour, no other players have actually derided the Tour. They have offered extremely soft arguments for changes. Phil has had enough of that, it seems. My popcorn is popping.Colgan: Sure seemed to me like the kinda fight you picked with your teenage girlfriend so you had a reason to break up with her the next week. No?Bamberger: Phil wanted to blow-up the PGA of America’s strangle-hold on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and he did. Now it’s player-driven. He wants to blow-up the balance-of-power on the PGA Tour away from its worker-bees in favor of its stars. He might be successful again. But he is of course long past his peak as a player. That doesn’t mean he can’t make more money in his 50s and 60s than he did in his 30s and 40.Piastowski: I’ll say this: It’s better than the parade of comments of “I’m growing the game” and “I’m not a politician.” If he’s going to join the new league, he just laid out why in black and white — or green? — terms.
Remind me, who owns the Tour? Isn't that kind of lost in the shuffle here.... It wouldn't be the first organization captures by those antithetical to the members' interests, but isn't this just a governance issue? Shouldn't he really be angry with...well, himself?
Eamon Lynch can't resist the tip-in, and who can blame him?
It’s difficult to ascertain exactly which character trait—Hubris? Hypocrisy? Indecency?—motivates someone to furiously demand the freedom to exercise his rights while being applauded by benefactors from a regime that dismembers its critics for doing just that. Or to pause his guzzling from the teat of Middle Eastern royalty only long enough to denounce the “obnoxious greed” of an organization that made him an enormous sum of money (which is not to presume he still has it).For all the moments that have defined Phil Mickelson’s estimable career—the emotional first major victory at Augusta National, the improbable last one at Kiawah Island, even the fumbled finish at Winged Foot—it’s his intemperate comments in Saudi Arabia this week that risk defining his enduring reputation. At best, his words suggest that what he possesses in self-regard, he lacks in self-awareness. And at worst? That he’s a willing dissembler for a government bent on using golf to sportswash its human-rights depredations and war crimes.Mickelson’s next moves will determine the extent to which one of the sport’s great legacies will be indelibly stained.
And this surprises you, why? No, it doesn't surprise Eamon, he's just reminding folks:
Mickelson’s greatest liability is a burning need to be the smartest guy in the room, hence the provenance of his “Figjam” nickname. But the smartest guy in the room doesn’t get soaked for $500,000 by a mobbed-up Michigan bookie. The smartest guy in the room doesn’t have to repay the government more than $1 million in ill-gotten gains because he was winged in an insider-trading prosecution. Heck, the smartest guy in the room doesn’t even stoop to slapping a moving ball in competition then brazen it out by insisting (incorrectly) that it was a clever use of the rules.Now the smartest guy in the room is cozying up to a repressive regime to gain “leverage”—a word he used repeatedly—over the PGA Tour to settle his personal grievances, which he shamelessly casts as a good faith bid to prevent rampant profiteering off the back of his fellow players.
Now Eamon, all good shots, but any chance I could get you interested in the fact that Phil doesn't like to actually pay of his gambling losses? That remains for this observer the most interesting aspect of our Phil.
Phil has, however, done the impossible. He has me nodding my head at Brooks Koepka...
A couple more bits and then we'll get on with our days...
Tree In The Forest - I don't quite understand the media blackout, but this might be the most significant tournament of the week:
Inevitability finally gave way to reality for Leona Maguire of Ireland on Saturday, when she won the LPGA Drive On Championship for the first victory of her LPGA career and likely not her last.Maguire, for whom professional stardom was expected following a remarkable college career at Duke, entered the final round at Crown Colony G&CC in Fort Myers, Fla., tied for the lead, then pulled away from the field on the back nine, leading by five at one point, before winning by three. It was not only her maiden victory, it was also the first LPGA victory by an Irish player.“Relief is one of the big emotions right now.”She posted a five-under par 67 to complete 54 holes in 18-under par 198. Lexi Thompson, who closed with a seven-under 65, finished second, while Sarah Schmelzel, with an eight-under 64, was third, the best finish of her brief career.
After Mike Whan's fetish about network coverage, it's passing strange to see an LPGA event with no TV coverage. But, as she showed at the Solheim Cup, she's a monster talent and might even be good enough to challenge that Korda-Ko duopoly.
Bryson's Owie - So, we had Bryson's WD last week, after his appearance fee check had presumably cleared. the man himself tells us it's not how it seems:
“Everyone needs to chill. Yes I hurt myself but not from hitting it far. I slipped and fell this week on Tuesday unfortunately. I know people probably won’t believe me, but that is the truth. I will be back stronger and better than ever in a few weeks. Thank you for the hospitality @saudiintgolf. Thank you for your concerns and keep hitting bombs!! I will be back …”
Daniel Rappaport has some thoughts that are similar to your humble blogger's:
The irony hits you like a clubhead traveling at 135 miles per hour: While he is reportedly mulling a $135 million offer to front the Saudi-backed golf league, Bryson DeChambeau withdrew from the Saudi International with multiple injuries. The two clauses could well be related. DeChambeau’s bulk-up has keyed his emergence as perhaps the biggest story in golf this side of Tiger Woods. It is the reason he’s been featured in made-for-TV matches, the reason his list of sponsors stretches a full paragraph, the reason he perturbed so many Winged Foot members, the reason an upstart golf league would target him as a potential needle-mover. It also could be the reason he couldn’t hold onto the club at the Farmers Insurance Open, the reason he limped onto a private jet in the Saudi desert after shooting three-over 73 last Thursday.On Saturday, DeChambeau took to Instagram to say the injury was the result of an early week fall, not anything to do with his training. It is, however, curious that last month he also withdrew from the Sony Open in Hawaii before the tournament started and looked visibly hobbled at the Farmers before missing the cut by a shot. He cited his wrist as the problem at Sony, but he also seemed to be grabbing at his back at Torrey Pines. And as Woods often reminds us, the body is connected in a kinetic chain. It can only handle so much force. Just ask Tiger. Or Jason Day. We don’t know if this is that moment for DeChambeau, but we also don’t know for sure that this isn’t that moment.“It’s almost like an experiment, because you don’t know how the body will react,” says Dr. Ara Suppiah, founder of the Functional Sports Medicine Institute and a Golf Digest contributor. “You do all the calculations, and you make all the assumptions about where you want to go, what swing you want to create. He thought about it the right way in terms of nutrition and training and working at overspeed and building strength. But this is the nature of testing the boundaries. Sometimes when you want to push the boundaries, the boundaries will push back.”
We've seen a series of stress injuries from the guys that have bulked up, so color me skeptical. Of course, since he refuses to speak to the media, it's a bit hard to ask him about it.
Why does Jay enable him by allowing him to stiff the media, which to me is a core obligation of the job? Well, have you heard about these competitive leagues? These guys make me root for the Saudis...
Have a great week. I seem to be back to a M-W-F schedule, which works in the early days of the year. We'll pick up the pace when we're into the glide path into Augusta, but this seems good for now.
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