Midweek Musings - Soporific Par-3 Edition

Yeah, I tipped my hand on that Wednesday tradition, but the rest of the week is still pretty good...

Dinner Disappointment - I've checked the Augusta, GA police blotter, and it seems that everyone got along.... ort at least kept things in house.

Strangely, while we have an account, I'll lede with Mike Bamberger's preview of the dinner, in which he says some interesting things about those larger issues facing us.  It's a bit late in the game, for sure, but I found his take on things clarifying:

I see this whole LIV thing as a litmus test for your value system. That is your value system. Joaquin Niemann, a 24-year-old Chilean golfer who turned pro as a teenager after being unable to gain entry

to an American university, has no natural attachment to the PGA Tour and its traditions. (No guaranteed payday, big fields, four rounds with mid-tournament cut.) And I really do understand some (not all) of Mickelson’s frustration, that the PGA Tour operates as tax-exempt non-profit but surely doesn’t look like one. He wanted a bigger piece of the pie.

But how much is enough? How about working within the system that made you in the first place, no matter how long it might take? How about a sense of loyalty to the players—and sponsors and fans and volunteers—who were there before you collected your first check, who are there now and who will be there long after you’ve played your last shot?

I assume those questions in the middle 'graph to be rhetorical, because it's Phil he's speaking of.... But he took upon himself the right to go outside the system, and for that the penalty has to be lifetime exclusion.  Are we clear on that, Jay?

Although I'm disappointed that Mike didn't much deliver on his subhead:

A Seat At The Table

Expect civility to reign at the Champions Dinner, but the winners in the room are a reminder of the hunger it takes to be great

This is as far as he went, and he seems to have gone out of his way to acknowledge the irony:

LIV Golf, to me, is entertainment. Forty-eight players, three rounds, shotgun start and what-just-happened finishes? A nice exhibition. What drew me to the PGA Tour is the athletic competition. LIV Golf seems like more-more-more. I don’t know. Hogs get fat and pigs get slaughtered. Tiger Woods, for a while there, was actually hanging on every driving-range word Bryson DeChambeau said in his admirable quest to solve golf’s riddles. Now Tiger doesn’t even respond to Bryson’s texts. 

Yes, but don't you find it strange that the PGA Tour hasn't been calling them exhibitions?  That's because they're seizing the day by turning their own events into exhibitions....

What did happen at dinner?  Not much if you're looking for broken dinnerware, though still kind of interesting:

The elephant in the room went unaddressed Tuesday evening at the Champions Dinner.

According to multiple past champions, the topic of Masters winners leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf was not mentioned during the annual get-together.

“We’re just 33 past champions in a room, all trying to get along,” said 1979 winner Fuzzy Zoeller. “Nobody said a word about it. Phil sat near the end of the table and kept to himself. He didn’t speak at all.”

As for Fred Couples?

“Couples spoke a lot but didn’t mention LIV at all,” 1973 winner Tommy Aaron said. “I sat next to Freddie, and he and Ray Floyd kept trying to figure out how many champions had come out of the final group.”

And Ben struck a nice note as well:

Ben Crenshaw, who’s been the emcee of the dinner since 2005, welcomed the table by reading a 1954 letter that Ben Hogan had scribed to Masters co-founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. The letter shared the significance of being a member of the Masters Club.

“Dear Bob and Cliff,” wrote Hogan, as thirty-three sets of eyes latched to Crenshaw. “Today I received my invitation to the 1954 Masters Tournament and I am delighted to see this familiar invitation again. It brings back memories of the time I received my first invitation, back in 1938. Prior to that year, I remember hoping and praying that my game and record would qualify me for this much-prized invitation.”

Crenshaw paused to ensure all remained engaged. It wasn’t the first two paragraphs that stood out, but rather Hogan’s final words.

“Surely this has to be the most exclusive club of all. Not only do a fortunate few of us have the tournament to look forward to, but the annual meeting of our club as well. Here, long after serious competition for some of us comes to an end, we can still get together and reminisce,” Hogan wrote.

There were some concerns addressed, but mostly about the soup:

When asked how the food was, Aaron said, “The ribeye was fantastic, but the tortilla soup was spicy as hell.”

Added Fuzzy: “That soup was pretty damn spicy, but I enjoyed everything else.”

And that lonely guy in the corner?  Well, he seems to have found his milieu, though we'd wish he'd have employed this strategy last year:

As for Aaron’s thoughts on Mickelson, “I wished him good luck, but I couldn’t believe how quiet he was. Phil took a very low profile. He didn’t say a word.”

A penny for your thoughts, pretty boy.  At what point does the magnitude of that which he has squandered set in?

Super Tuesday - Alan Shipnuck signs up doer the triathlon of sportswriting:

Forget the back nine on Sunday, the Masters really begins in the press building on Tuesday morning, when a procession of the game’s biggest stars take their turns pontificating, prognosticating and chewing the fat with the global golf press. Nine months removed from the most recent major championship, Masters Tuesday serves as professional golf’s unofficial state of the union. The green jackets subtly made their feelings known, excluding any LIV golfers from the slate of nine interviews. (Champion Golfer of the Year Cam Smith was one of three pros to journey into the media center on Monday.) Rory McIlroy was the first man in the arena, at 9:30 a.m. sharp. Leading off with the game’s preeminent spokesman represented cagey scheduling, guaranteeing a packed house even though the assembled scribes were bleary-eyed from late nights and bloated on press room breakfasts. (The vanilla pancakes are particularly scrumptious.)

I'll give you a moment to absorb that telling factoid.  This righteous band of brothers are unwilling to take time from their relentless efforts to grow the game to answer a few softball questions.... The very same questions they've been ducking since "scary mofos" entered the vernacular...

This is kind of news:

McIlroy addressed the elephant in the room, saying, “I think the more face time you get with [LIV golfers], the more comfortable you become in some way. I’m going to go play nine holes here with Brooks [Koepka] in a little bit. And look, it’s a very nuanced situation and there’s different dynamics. You know, it’s OK to get on with Brooks and DJ [Dustin Johnson] and maybe not get on with some other guys that went to LIV, right? It’s interpersonal relationships, that’s just how it goes.”

Rory, no need to explain, even they hate Patrick.

Alan next tackles a huge issue at these pressers, though not sure the Spaniard will appreciate it:

Jon Rahm arrived hard on McIlroy’s heels; the press conferences were scheduled rat-a-tat every

30 minutes…with the exception of a long lull after Tiger Woods’s, allowing reporters to file their semi-mandatory Eldrick stories (and cram in lunch in the media center’s sit-down restaurant; the grilled caprese sandwich with pesto and balsamic vinegar pairs nicely with the Southern fried chicken). Per the prevailing custom, Rahm did not wear a hat, a nod to Augusta National’s strictly enforced gentility. Hat-head is always a thing on Masters Tuesday, and Rahm’s was particularly unfortunate. “I keep my hat on as often as I can,” said Justin Thomas, a nod to both the logo that helps butter his bread and his rapidly expanding forehead, “but I respect the rules if places want me to take it off. I have no problem with it.” In regards to Rahm, one Twitter wag referred to his ghostly white forehead as evoking Uncle Fester from The Addams Family.

If Uncle Fester was the best player in the world....

I didn't blog that nine-hole practice round, but he'll make a lot of folks jealous:

Masters rookie Tom Kim was up next. He radiated ebullience, which makes sense given that the day before he had played a practice round with the Hall of Fame trio of Woods, McIlroy and Fred Couples. “I did not put the group together,” he said. “That’s impossible, probably, for me.” He admitted that, internally, he feels much older than 20, alluding to “Clooney years,” presumably a reference to the silver-haired actor. Easy, grasshopper.

They tried to pull off the simultaneous ball-skipping on No. 16:

It's surprising that the green jackets allow anything that playful....

Of course he'll get to the Big Cat:

When Woods strolled in, the temperature in a big, soulless room went up. He remains both a superstar and an enigma, and the Masters will always define his legend, including his unlikely

made-cut last year returning to the course after a horrific car accident nearly led to the amputation of his right leg. After a lifetime of grinding, Woods spoke movingly of his newly enlarged perspective. “The joy is different now,” he said. “I’ve been able to spend more time with my son, and we’ve been able to create our own memories out there. And to share some of the things that I experienced with my dad, the late-night putting or practice sessions that we did at the Navy Golf Course, I’m doing with my son. It’s incredible, the bonding and the moments that come because of this sport.”

The Masters announced earlier in the week that its tees are mowed to 5/16”, fairways 3/8” and collars 1/4”. A hatless Woods appeared to have all of these different heights in the sparse rough atop his head. Father Time remains undefeated, and Woods, playing in his 25th Masters, sounded uncharacteristically reflective, saying, “I don’t know how many more [Masters] I have in me. So just [want] to appreciate the time that I have here and cherish the memories.” He did have one note of optimism for those who fear he can no longer contend with so few tournament reps. “I know the golf course,” said the five-time Masters champ. “So I’ve been able to recreate a lot of the chip shots at home in my backyard or I’m at Medalist hitting balls off sidehill lies, trying to simulate shots and rehearsing again and again each and every flag location, each and every shot I would possibly hit. I’ve gone through so many different scenarios in my head. You know I don’t sleep very well, so going through it and rummaging through the data bank and how to hit shots from each and every place and rehearsing it; that’s the only way that I can compete here. I don’t have the physical tournaments under my belt. I haven’t played that much, no. But if there’s any one golf course that I can come back on, it’s here, just because I know the golf course.”

But no issues with hat hair....

JT, Scottie and Fitzpatrick come off well, you should click through for those.  But if you thought they'd tee up a strong curtain-closer, well you'll be disappointed:

At last, the final press conference of the day. In a sadistic twist, the lords of Augusta scheduled

Patrick Cantlay, whose anodyne, monotone, life-sucking, content-free interviews have led many reporters to consider a more exciting profession, like proctology. Only seven brave souls turned out for Cantlay, who on six occasions answered questions with “I’m not sure.” For good measure, he also threw in an “I don’t think much about it.” At 3:47 p.m. the press conference mercifully ended, with the moderator’s closing words: “Thank you for your time, Patrick.”

Patrick?! He’s not the one who sat through more than six hours of press conferences! Honestly, it was pretty fun. Come Sunday, there will be only one champion, but everyone feels like a winner on Masters Tuesday. In the words of Homa, “Yeah, it’s definitely a different world when you get to see your name on a press sheet at Augusta National.”

Seven, you say?  The over-under was three...

Alan mentioned that Cam had spoken to the press on Monday, and was relatively candid in spots:

Perhaps it was the location that brought some toned-down realism to the rhetoric, or just Smith’s nature, but he acknowledged the importance of the week for the upstart league. “I think it's just important for LIV guys to be up there because … there's a lot of chatter about ‘These guys don't play real golf; these guys don't play real golf courses.’ For sure, I'll be the first one to say, the fields aren't as strong.” This was a pretty point-blank admission from a LIV player that he’s thinking the same thing as much of the golf world: the LIV guys have a lot to gain, and a lot to lose, depending on how they perform this week.

 As for his own game?

The highest-ranked LIV player did not sound enthused about the state of his game. (“I think I'm just not playing really good golf at the moment.”) That assessment of his own game brought a perhaps unintended shot at the venues and challenges he’s faced so far this year. “I'm just working on kind of getting a little bit more creative, hitting some different shots into the greens. I feel like I've been maybe a little bit…too one-dimensional for a lot of the time this year…this place for me is—I feel like I have to be creative. To get to some of those pins, you have to hit the big high cut. You have to hit the low sweeping draw into a back pin.” Despite one questioner’s amusing attempt to get Kevin Na to compare the Crooked Cat to Augusta National, there are almost no similarities between the two. ANGC is a place that allows Cam to shine and show off his creativity as he did at the Old Course in July. (To be clear, choosing one-dimensional host sites is not just a LIV problem. Many PGA Tour venues also don’t promote the most creative golf.)

That's fair enough, though the level of competition is the greater concern to me.... He's spot on that their performance this week will be way over-interpreted, but does anyone think that we're looking at more than Cam, DJ and maybe Joaquin?  I guess Koepka should be added since he seems healthy, but the other fourteen seem destined for canon fodder.

Pairings -  Geoff has discerned just a wee bias against LIV in these featured groups:

Hmmm, seems like Geoff himself has a wee bias against a certain Ulsterman....

Full pairings here, just not sure you'll be able to read it (you can enlarge it from the link above)

If, like you're humble blogger, you're interested in how they've buried the LIV bodies, here they are:

8:00 a.m. -- Mike Weir, Kevin Na
8:24 a.m. -- Sandy Lyle, Jason Kokrak, Talor Gooch
8:48 a.m. -- Adrian Meronk, Kevin Kisner, Louis Oosthuizen
9:12 a.m. -- Sergio Garcia, Kazuki Higa, Keith Mitchell
9:24 a.m. -- Patrick Reed, Adam Svensson, Sahith Theegala
9:36 a.m. -- Shane Lowry, Mackenzie Hughes, Thomas Pieters
9:48 a.m. -- Bubba Watson, Seamus Power, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira
10:06 a.m. -- Abraham Ancer, Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley
10:54 a.m. -- Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith, Sungjae Im
11:30 a.m. -- J.T. Poston, Francesco Molinari, Bryson DeChambeau
11:42 a.m. -- Bernhard Langer, Mito Pereira, Ben Carr
11:54 a.m. -- Danny Willett, Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka
12:12 p.m. -- Sepp Straka, Harold Varner III, K.H. Lee
12:24 p.m. -- Phil Mickelson, Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim
1:00 p.m. -- Brian Harman, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton
1:12 p.m. -- Dustin Johnson, Corey Conners, Justin Rose

By my own count that's 17 of the 18, but I've no clue as to who I missed.  But they seem quite tame, as I don't expect Mito to cause any trouble with Bernhard....

Who Ya Got? - I've got a pool to enter, but don't plan on diving too deep into picks.  It's just that I look at this weather forecast via Geoff:

That's on top of the absurd amounts of rain that have fallen in the last week+, which focuses my attention on the one guy:

Rory McIlroy keeps facing the same Masters question. Will he find the answer?

Shockingly, Dylan Dethier frames it around that Sunday collapse in 2011 (I know, who coulda seen that coming?):

One thing is clear: That final round feels like a very long time ago. And another thing: It’s impossible to know its ripple effect. Losing builds scar tissue, but it builds determination too. Maybe it was that failure that propelled McIlroy over the top at the very next major, the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, where he set a slew of scoring records and won by eight. He was hungry enough to earn another eight-shot major win at the PGA Championship the following year and then, in 2014, the Open Championship and a second PGA. But a third thing became clear: As his résumé grew, the Masters-sized gap in his trophy case began to feel chasmic.

Yes, but Dylan elides one significant difference, to wit, that Congressional and Kiawah were played under extremely soft conditions, in which balls stuck where they landed.  Hence my focus on the weather forecast as relates to Rory.

Here's the arguments... He's suffered in recent years from distance-control issues with his wedges and from wildly inconsistent putting.  There's anecdotal evidence that he's improved the former, though will need a good week with that new blade putter.  The putter change itself was somewhat amusing, because he credited it with making himself more athletic as well as more creative with the Anser-like blade, both of which claims had eyes rolling.... 

I don't know yet that I'm prepared to actually select Rory in my pool but, as I've mentioned in prior posts, it has a strong "Now or never" feel to it, based upon his strong recent play and conditions specifically curated for his benefit.  Or, yanno, he can do what he invariably does, and shoot a Thursday 74 to put him too far back to make up the ground.

He's in the penultimate group on Thursday, going at 1:48 p.m. with Tom Kim and Sam Burns, so his Thursday struggles will be on full display in the ESPN window.  

Which I assume will be Topic A on Friday, the next time we'll see each other (my Thursday morning schedule does not allow for any Par-3 blogging).  Enjoy!