Thursday Threads - Phoning It In Edition

OK, having trouble summoning enthusiasm.... You've been warned.

Arnie Smiles - The brilliance of the format for the NCAA Golf Championships is that it's two tourneys in one.  We had the first bit on Tuesday when Rose Zhang defended her individual championship, but match play is a different animal entirely:

Wake Forest has a renowned golf pedigree, its foundation provided by the inimitable Arnold Palmer and reinforced through the years by Lanny Wadkins and Curtis Strange, among others, as well as

three NCAA men’s team championships. This time, the Demon Deacon women made their own remarkable contribution to Wake’s golf legacy.

The Wake Forest women’s team won its first NCAA Championship on Wednesday, defeating the University of Southern California, 3-1, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“It’s easy when you have a team like this,” a euphoric Wake coach Kim Lewellen said. “They get along so well. They practice so hard and they’re veterans. They’ve been in this type of position before and they pulled it off. It was unbelievable to watch how they kept their grit and kept their foot on the pedal and got it done.

Since we're talking about the girls, I'd have added Jennifer Kupcho to that list.... Good fun and now they turn Grayhawk over to the men, though with an interesting twist.  You'll have grasped that this event has been scheduled to maximize its exposure, meaning providing weekday content for Golf Channel on Monday through Wednesday, when the professional game goes quiet.

Accordingly, the 72-hole stroke play event is conducted from Friday through Monday, hopefully coming to a rousing conclusion in that Monday evening TV window.  But one team will begin play on Thursday by playing their third round before they or anyone else play the first round.  Got it?  Does it help if I add that the team in question is BYU?

It’s fairly simple. For the fourth time since they first did it in 2018 in central Oklahoma, the Cougars will begin play on Thursday, a day ahead of the other 29 teams.

That’s because the third round of the stroke-play portion of the event is on Sunday, and the school sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not compete on Sundays, for religious reasons.

After the other teams conclude their third rounds on Sunday at Grayhawk Golf Club, while BYU is relaxing at the hotel, attending church, etc., the Cougars’ Thursday score will be added in. The field will then be cut to 15 teams for Monday’s final round of stroke play, after which an individual champion will be crowned.

Would they do the same if a team from the Yeshiva qualified?

It's a bit of a set-up nightmare, as I assume they'll need to have the course in similar condition and use the same pins as planned for that third round.  I'd be out there scouting if I were in the event, assuming that would be allowed.  I further assume that they've made arrangements to have similar weather....  Get's a little dicey there, doesn't it?

But team match play rocks, so give it a watch if you're so inclined.

Who Are You And What Have You Done With Sergio? - There are few professional golfers that have made greater contributions to this blog than Sergio Garcia.  Whether it's spitting into the cup ("Nothing but net"), defacing greens in Saudi Arabia or melting down in bunkers, he's the gift that keeps on giving....

I will just remind of this exchange, which could be the perfect synecdoche for LIV:

A week ago, it was widley reported that the Spaniard had told his Northern Irish friend that they were now “finally getting paid what we deserve,” a comment that received the reply, “Sergio. We’re golfers. We don’t deserve to be paid anything.”

That's the entitled brat that we've come to know.  But what's the antithesis of entitlement?  There could be any number of answers, but I would posit that U.S. Open qualifying, with it's brutal 36-hole sectionals, is as good an answer as any.  So, imagine my surprise:

Sergio Garcia, who didn’t qualify for last week’s PGA Championship, assured himself of a spot

in the next major on the 2023 calendar after advancing through a final qualifying stage Monday in Dallas.

There were 120 golfers vying for eight spots at Northwood Club and Bent Tree Country Club. Garcia finished the 36-hole qualifier at 9 under, tie for fourth, capping his day with a birdie on his final hole.

Garcia was among close to 20 LIV golfers entered in qualifiers aiming to make the 156-man field at Los Angeles Country Club.

Leopard, spots!

Apparently, he was even grinding:

From Scott Harrington, who played with Sergio yesterday when he grinded through the 36-hole sectional qualifier to make the U.S. Open. Pretty cool to see a pro who’s been around so long so impressed by one of his peers. pic.twitter.com/0o2UIqNHXZ

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) May 23, 2023

 Fist pumps and everything.....  Good for him, now about that expectoration....

Harmon v. Chamblee - Claude Harmon has seemingly been sufficiently successful on his own to have dealt with his Daddy issues, though his epic rant after Brooksie's win is quite the piece of work.  Shall we sample?

First he tells us where he stands on the threshold issue of the day:

“I want LIV to succeed and I want LIV to work because I am pro-professional athlete,” he said. “I don’t think Rory McIlroy should go anywhere in the world without somebody paying him, including Memphis and Memorial. That’s how good he is. Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, if you’re in that category, you shouldn’t be going anywhere without being paid because it’s how good you are.”

Did all these straw men have to die, Claude?  Was Rory not paid previously?   He and Sergio would probably see eye-to-eye on this, no?

What they intentionally ignore is golf's bifurcated compensation structure.  He brings up Lamar Jackson later in the piece, ignoring that Lamar is not allowed to sell his uniform and be paid for the football he tosses.  This whole debate is over the smaller portion of their compensation, and apparently believing that they should actually earn their riches is beyond the pale.

But then Claude gets personal, and does so in the context of a pretty transparent case of whataboutism:

Harmon saved some of his spiciest takes for the media — of which he also is a member having worked over the years for Sky Sports and as well as hosting his own podcast, “Son of a Butch,” including this on Brandel Chamblee and Golfweek’s own Eamon Lynch.

“Brandel is a paid actor by NBC and Golf Channel. All he’s trying to do is get his lines and shows for the Golf Channel. He’s just trying to get lines for Brandel … And I mean, I love him, I think Eamon is a fantastic writer, but for Eamon Lynch and Brandel Chamblee, who worked for NBC Golf Channel to utter the words ‘sports washing’ when the company they work for televised the last two Winter Olympics in Russia and China with the same leaders that they’ve had. It’s not like they were good leaders back then. It’s not like Putin was a good guy, right?”

We had a similar example of this from Alan Shipnuck, whereby any alleged sin of any country becomes a pretext for nullifying criticism of Saudi Arabia.  Of course, that Saudi citizen that opposes his government will have a Sunday date with the public executioner.

But the other aspect he elides is, like the Euro Tour holding an event in the Kingdom, it's whole other deal to cede control of the game to the Wahabis..... 

He's certainly got some ammunition in this fight:

“You guys all think LIVs, maybe you’ve changed your tune, but initially, it was all just bullshit, a bunch of guys playing who didn’t care, who got the money, who got the bag, and it’s 54 holes and there’s no competition and all that. So it was easy for you guys to just pretend like these guys just weren’t good players anymore. And I think you guys largely did that because you drank the Kool-Aid of everybody else. But how you guys all thought that these guys just weren’t going to show up and be great players is beyond me. I think it is an interesting Jedi mind trick that they played on you guys and you guys fell for it. Because you guys were all, ‘These guys were all washed up. They took the bag. They’re insignificant. They play against no competition.’ And that’s just not the case.

Fair enough, Claude, but did you happen to watch Full Swing?  All of your strong points are undermined by your client, who only took the money because his knee was so beat up he didn't think he could back to this kind of level.

You read this and scratch your head:

“In 2023, we still want golf to be this bullshit Truman Show. We want this Deane Beman-Tim Finchem we’re not the NBA or NFL for our sponsors. There’s no transparency, nobody has any issues, nobody has any problems and if they do, we’re not going to talk about it, we’re going to pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s the Truman Show. It’s Leave it to Beaver. And that’s not the reality.

“There couldn’t be anyone that got more grief for doing the LIV thing than Brooks. He got a big dose of the anti-LIV hate. And he got a big dose of ‘he’s a bum, he’s washed up.’

See above.  The guy that thought Brooks was washed up was Brooks himself... Deal with it.

But the shark has been jumped:

“The good thing I think all of this is showing is, it’s just golf. You can be a racecar driver for NASCAR or you can be a racecar driver for F1. You’re still a race car driver. Nobody in NASCAR, nobody in F1 is asking you to choose between the two. For some reason, Jay and the guys in Ponte Vedra and a segment of you guys in media want the fans to choose between LIV and the PGA Tour, and you don’t have to. Because everywhere Phil goes, fans want his autograph. The Golf Channel tried to make out like he was literally Josef Mengele. In London, fans couldn’t wait to watch him and get his autograph. Here, they can’t wait to get his autograph. He’s a golfer. That’s all this is. I know Denny Hamlin, and he’s a NASCAR driver and I’ve helped him with his golf. And I’ve been to a race, I’ve been in his bus and everything. And I’ve helped Carlos Sainz with his golf and I’m an F1 guy. I don’t watch NASCAR, it doesn’t mean that it’s not cool. I just don’t watch it.

Dear readers, are you familiar with Godwin's Law?  This is known in the trade as a reductio ad Hitlerum, also known as playing the Nazi card.  

But, Claude, you know who else trashed LIV?  

“They’ll get their guys. Somebody will sell out and go to it.”

Who was that ogre classifying anyone that went to LIV as a sell-out?  Yes, that would be the same Brooks Koepka.... Isn't it funny what happens when the check clears?  All we can assume is that Claude got his....

Given that these folks wanted to go away, is it to much to ask that they actually do just go away?

I shall leave you there for today.  I will probably not be able to blog tomorrow morning, so prepare yourself for the eventuality that we might not see each other until Tuesday.  I know, it will be hard on me as well, but enjoy your holiday weekend.