Thursday, June 27, 2024

Thursday Themes - Departure Day Edition

The heat may finally have broken here in NY, but we'll still have the usual compliment of hot takes for y'all....

Waugh, Nelly - Might just be the worst pun in this blog's ten years, but here's the news:

Seth Waugh is stepping down from the PGA of America after electing not to renew his contract, which expires on June 30.

A national search for a new CEO, which will include internal and external candidates, is underway. During the transition, Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh will serve as interim CEO. Haigh will not be part of the candidate pool for the new CEO position.

“The goal from the start was to leave the room better than we found it and I believe that together we have done just that,” Waugh said. “Golf has never been younger or a better reflection of the greater population. It’s never been more forward leaning, more popular or considered cooler than it is today. I have often said that golf is one of the great engines of good on earth. I am perhaps the biggest all-time beneficiary of that good.”

Waugh, 66, joined the PGA as CEO in September 2018. He was on the verge of completing a three-year term as an independent director on the PGA’s board when his predecessor Pete Bevacqua left to become NBC Sports Group President – he’s currently serving as athletic director at Notre Dame – and Waugh was hired to take over.

Sorry, Blogger is still effed up as far as hot links are concerned.  More importantly, have we lost the best head of hair in the game?  At least among non-players?

His take on his tenure:

“I may have gotten the job because of what I’ve done, my business stuff, but I took the job so that I could make a difference,” Waugh said shortly after starting as the head of an association that exceeded 30,000 club professionals for the first time during his tenure. “The opportunity to do that is what is fulfilling to me. That will be my legacy, not whether we win a Ryder Cup or have the biggest TV deal ever. It will be whether the members are better off.”

During his tenure, the PGA relocated its headquarters from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to a fancy, new campus complete with championship golf courses in Frisco, Texas, and committed to bringing 26 future PGA America championships – the PGA Professional Championship in April being the first of them – to the two courses built in its backyard. In his role, he also signed a lucrative 11-year TV deal with CBS and ESPN beginning in 2020.

I seem to sense a couple of off-key notes in this news, as does our old friend Geoff, beginning with the timing:

The timing of Waugh’s departure is curious given how he appeared to be more engaged with issues at May’s PGA than at any point in his tenure. Reeling off numbers about the sport’s growth in his trademark laid-back style, Waugh trumpeted gains golf has made in attracting more women and children while highlighting the many creative ways newcomers are finding the game as a result of various initiatives. Waugh has also set a high bar for any CEO replacement thanks to a tone and gravitas built on years of dealing with far more difficult matters and people during his time as as a bank CEO.

Insiders say the PGA of America would like to name a member of its organization as its CEO.

The announcement came just days before Waugh’s contract’s expiration and the odd timing likely can be explained by not wanting to interfere with the KPMG Women’s PGA. In the increasingly corporatized game of optically-sculpted departures and seemingly seamless transitions, any willful departure for the 65-year-old should have started months ago with a swan song farewell at the PGA Championship. Instead, the odd announcement suggests Waugh and the PGA Board no longer were on the same page.

Apparently, he remains on call for the PGA of America, but announcing Kerry Haigh as interim majordomo seems to be the tell here.  

Waugh will forever be the Frisco Kid, and this is Geoff's take on that initiative:

To be determined: the success of a Frisco venture that will bring an excessive number of championships to an unproven and immature venue sharing similarities to past unsuccessful PGA of America forays into real estate, resorts, and championship golf.

Those 31,000 members seem like little more than props.

But Shack indulges in some crazy speculation, so remember where you heard this first:

The timing looks especially precarious given rumored possibilities surrounding the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship. Both events have long been envied by the PGA Tour, a cultish black hole of imagination that has failed while trying to create events of comparable stature. But the PGA Tour’s two boards are now armed with spending money while driven by player-first thinking and resentment at only getting 20% of Ryder Cup profits.

I haven't been privy to those rumors, but that's a Wow!  Still I can't imagine future PGA of America management willingly ceding their involvement in elite professional golf.  The one common thread has always been their indifference to actual PGA teaching professionals.

Geoff also correctly notes the link to this pending story:

Tiger Woods, the legend and PGA Tour Policy Board member emeritus who has delayed a decision on captaining the 2025 squad at Bethpage Black, has long been close with Waugh. He has been holding off on taking the keys to the Captain’s four-seater due to his Tour board commitment and, according to insiders, the uncertainty surrounding Waugh’s status. The two men played as partners in the Seminole Pro-Member earlier this year and Waugh was more amenable than the traditional me-first PGA of America board types to prospects of Woods making select captaincy appearances on his preferred schedule.

No worries, I hear that Hal Sutton is able to clear his schedule....

Happy Trails, Seth!

Motown Musings - I don't have anything much to say about a desultory Tour stop, even one that's played on a first-rate Donald Ross layout.  But this header has me nodding my head:

Rickie Fowler’s return to form already feels like distant memory

Even in the moment it seemed more smoke than fire, and who could see that coming with Rickie?

This week the Tour returns to Detroit Golf Club for the 2024 edition of the Rocket Mortgage. As
defending champion, Fowler should be among the favorites, but the sportsbooks know what Fowler knows: At least some of his struggles have returned, and even his +5,000 odds are probably generous. In 17 starts this calendar year, Fowler is without a top-10 finish, and virtually every part of his game has contributed to the slide. In each of the six primary Strokes Gained categories — from driving to iron play to putting — he ranks outside the top 100. “You’re seeing it throughout the bag where things haven’t been as good,” Fowler said Wednesday. His world rank, which had climbed back to 21 in the middle of last year, has dropped to 50, but Data Golf, which puts greater weight on recent performance, has him at 98.

Form, as any golfer at any level knows well, comes and goes, and it can be difficult to pinpoint the moment it leaves you. But in Fowler’s case, his play has been unremarkable since his win a year ago. From mid-July of last year through the FedEx Cup Playoffs, he had just one top-20 finish — at the 30-player Tour Championship. As a captain’s pick at the Ryder Cup, Fowler played only two matches and won no points. He opened the 2024 season by missing two cuts in his first four tournaments.

He's handled it graciously, but it's getting harder and harder to maintain the illusion.  And as he loses access to majors and Signature Events, the fall accelerates.

You Can't Make Me Care - Olympic golf is simply lame.  Sorry, kids, that's just a fact of life, if they wanted us to care, they'd have ensured there was something about which we could care.

You'll not be shocked that this is my favorite story of the day:

It's my experience that certain folks are easily baffled.

But golf is different. The Olympics knows that, too.

Golf is different on every course in every country on any day all over the globe. Over four days, one of the 30 best golfers in the world tends to win. But sometimes — quite often, really — they scrape and claw to be just one stroke better than a player you weren’t expecting would contend.

Which makes it such a shame that the Netherlands Olympic Committee misunderstands that. Thanks to an initial report from Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, it has become clear that only one Dutch golfer will represent the country in the Paris Olympics — Anne van Dam — eve though four qualified. Joost Luiten (ranked 148th), Darius van Driel (242nd) and Dewi Weber (302nd) were all informed that, despite meeting the marks set by the International Olympic Committee, their own national committee is declining to send them to France as representatives of the Dutch Olympic team.

Since golf rejoined the Olympics in 2016, the National Olympic Committee of the Netherlands Sports Federation has — unlike other NOCs — blanketed its approach with an extra set of qualifying rules. Being the best golfer from the Netherlands is not enough — you have to either be ranked in the top 100 in the world, or prove it by earning a high finish in a sanctioned tournament in the run up to the Games. Without that, the Netherlands Olympic Committee believes a player doesn’t display a realistic chance of finishing in the top 8 and contending for a medal. Van Dam was the only one of the four Dutch qualifiers to make that happen, when she finished second late last season on the Ladies European Tour.

Joost Luiten hardest hit.

This is so unintentionally hilarious, a classic of the genre.  It makes the cogent argument that golf is different, arguing that even such low-ranked players can occasionally "shoot the score", which is quite the cogent insight.  The players are correct that they could possibly be competitive, for the simple reason that 100 higher-ranked Americans have been excluded from the field.  If you wanted to create the weakest field possible, what would you do differently?

I think we can agree that in any ranking of Olympic Golf deficiencies, the absence of these Dutch golfers is way down the list.  Cantlay, Harmon and Homa aren't there, so I'll not worry about Joost having the week off.

Wishful Thinking - I'm blogging this for a second-tier purpose:

Maybe, but color me skeptical that the guy gives an actual damn....

But the lede reveals my priorities:

The U.S. Senior Open is being held at a fantastic venue this week at Newport Country Club in Rhose
Island, but two years from now it will take on an entirely different profile at the Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.

At the course that shaped Jack Nicklaus into an 18-time major winner, Tiger Woods will be eligible for the field for the first time, and he’s strongly hinted that he’d like to win the title and fancies the chance to break a tie of nine USGA national championships with Bobby Jones. Winning at Scioto would make Woods the first player to achieve a Grand Slam of sorts: the U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Junior (3), U.S. Amateur (3) and U.S. Open (3).

“He’d love to win that Grand Slam and get some of the other senior majors on his CV,” Padraig Harrington said. “I saw him at the course (during the PNC Championship) and we were just crossing paths and he laughed at me. I won’t say exactly what he said but the gist of it was he can’t wait to get out and beat me.”

Yeah, that Grand Slam could well be of interest, but I just wanted an opportunity to remind folks that the Senior Open is at Newport, which should be fascinating.  Here's the background on the delay.

There's also a Tiger link, as he won his second Amateur at Newport.  

I just hope the Tour isn't expecting Tiger to play on its round belly tour, because I can't imagine him being that helpful, unless there's an incentive to do so.  After all, he won't even commit to being a Ryder Cup captain.

That'll have to get you through the day.  have a great weekend and we'll wrap Detroit, Newport and anything else on Monday.

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Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Tuesday Tastings - Motown Edition

Thank God hockey season is behind us, so I can focus my sports viewing on.....well, upon further review, what's on Netflix these days?  I mean, have you seen the Yankee's lineup lately?

The Biggest Loser - This is the moment, having completed the last of their super-special money grabs, when it becomes clear that the remainder of the Tour's schedule belongs in the, well, remainder bin.  Their attempts at hype will seem kinds futile:

Serious firepower, no?  At least Rickie bears mentioning as the defender, though that will only serve to underline how weak the last year had been.  As for Cam, a 59 will never hurt you, but when that 59 isn't even the course record, it tells us something useful.

From the same source:

Only 20 percent of top 50 making way to 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic

There wasn't supposed to be any math....But I'm sure they've got plenty of big names to tout:

The tournament, returning to Detroit Golf Club for the sixth time, will be held from June 25-30, with the 
first round teeing off Thursday. Among the top ranked golfers coming to town are Cameron Young (No. 23 in the world), Tom Kim (No. 26), Chris Kirk (No. 30) and, of course, Rickie Fowler, ranked No. 49 and the defending Rocket Mortgage Classic champ after last year’s epic three-way playoff victory. (Young on Saturday at the Travelers Championship became the 12th player all-time to shoot 59 or better on the PGA Tour.)

Other previous winners returning to Detroit are Cam Davis, who took the trophy in a 2021 playoff, and Nate Lashley, who won it as the third alternate in 2019, leading wire-to-wire.

 This is a good move, though won't move the needle:

The tournament, returning to Detroit Golf Club for the sixth time, will be held from June 25-30, with the first round teeing off Thursday. Among the top ranked golfers coming to town are Cameron Young (No. 23 in the world), Tom Kim (No. 26), Chris Kirk (No. 30) and, of course, Rickie Fowler, ranked No. 49 and the defending Rocket Mortgage Classic champ after last year’s epic three-way playoff victory. (Young on Saturday at the Travelers Championship became the 12th player all-time to shoot 59 or better on the PGA Tour.)

Other previous winners returning to Detroit are Cam Davis, who took the trophy in a 2021 playoff, and Nate Lashley, who won it as the third alternate in 2019, leading wire-to-wire.

Maybe they'll get some studs coming through Monday qualifying?  Yeah, just kidding, but it does tee up the header of the week:

Golf Galaxy employee qualifies for Rocket Mortgage via playoff after downing three beers

Only three?  It's actually a fun story as the guy was just nervous as could be.  

And how about this bizarre scene?

At least Tom Kim wasn't in the group ahead of them....

Not sure this will happen, but perhaps a practice round?

Whatever he was drinking I'd have as the logo on his cap this week.  I mean, is it the Drink of Champions or what?

Rory, A Deep Dive -  Are you sure this is a good idea?

The confusing case of Rory McIlroy's golf swing, explained

Blogger is still quite the hot mess for hot links, so you'll have to find this one on your own at Golf Digest.  It's by Luke Kerr-Dineen, who immediately undermines his credibility with this:

The gutting loss that will forever haunt Rory McIlroy has nothing to do with those missed putts.

Rory is a good putter who runs hot and cold, and the two short putts he missed on the 70th and 72nd holes of the U.S. Open are indicative of a small glitch McIlroy himself says he fights under pressure.

Do good putters run that hot and cold?  But Luke's interest here is in Rory's full swing, and he has some hot takes:

But it's not the most important question facing McIlroy now. The more interesting, and frankly, confusing one is about his golf swing.

Whether it's better or worse is subjective, but what is a fact is that Rory's golf swing is different now. Different from the last time he was winning majors. Different, even, than a year ago.

Swing-watchers know it. People close to Rory's world know it. Rory, himself, even knows it.

"My technique is nowhere near as good as it used to be," an exasperated Rory said after his T-7 finish at last year's PGA Championship, caught by Netflix cameras as part of Season Two of Full Swing. "I almost feel like I wanna do a complete reboot. I do, I do. Because I feel like it's the only way I'm going to break through. It feels so far away."

Well, if it felt far away a year ago, I can't imagine things feel any better after Pinehurst....

Luke has a lot to say and a plethora of side-by-side photos, but even he admits he's not sure any of this matters.  I would just not that those two short misses are getting all the attention, but that flying the 15th and 17th greens might have been even more in character for Rory.

LIVing Their Best Lives -  Apparently Nashville was a hit:

LIV Golf’s Nashville tournament set the attendance record among the league’s United States events to
date, according to LIV.

More than 40,000 spectators attended the tournament at The Grove over three days, according to LIV communications. That included sellout crowds of 14,454 people on Saturday and Sunday.

LIV Golf’s Washington D.C. tournament at Trump National Golf Club in May had owned the high attendance mark. No official figure was released, but estimations had close to 40,000 fans attending.

LIV Nashville was on pace to break the record, a league spokesman said, before Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. But interest increased with DeChambeau playing in Nashville just days after his dramatic victory over Rory McIlroy. On-site merchandise sales for the first two days alone surpassed any three days of sales for a U.S. event, per LIV.

Perhaps complicating ongoing negotiations, but I wonder about cause and effect:

Seeing red: The LIV Golf ‘curse’ strikes again

Amusingly, the author uses the rap music industry as his framing device, even including a photo of Eminem.  Not exactly the How To Guide I'd recommend for golf....

The so-called “hot mics” at LIV Golf events have offered a myriad of wonderful insights into the minds of the Saudi-funded league’s players. It also seems they are collectively trying to break the record for the number of F-bombs in a single sporting event. And, in the last few days in Nashville, that has been taken up a notch.

A couple of weeks ago, Ian Poulter was filmed telling a fan to “f**k off”, and the same player was caught in the broadcast this week referring to himself as a “f**king prick” not once but twice in the
space of seven seconds after a particularly poor approach shot.

And, of course, taking a lead role in this foul-mouthed charade are Legion XIII team-mates Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.

Now, we know both are famed for their questionable temperaments. Even in their PGA Tour days, either player looked like they were about to explode at any given time. But it was somewhat diluted – bottled, even – and almost always came across as funny rather than aggressive. Think Hatton’s regular middle-finger salutes to the golf course, for example.

This time it was the weather feeling the wrath of Englishman’s tongue.

“F**k you, wind!” he said, before uttering another expletive which is drowned out by a quip from analyst David Feherty. “Two in a row it’s absolutely f**ked me.”

It's reached the point where the author is considering its intentionality:

Largely because it seems like it’s almost deliberate.

Players on other tours are fined if they breach the rules regarding conduct – including swearing – and Hatton himself recently said he’d been stumped for “a lot of money” for his outbursts on the DP World and PGA Tours.

So, have they been told to do it? Or, more specifically, have they not been told not to do it? If you catch my drift.

The subject of Rahm’s ire in Nashville was a drone hovering near him as he lined up a shot.

“Every tournament,” he bellowed after double-crossing one into the drink. “It’s f**king incredible. Right on my backswing. These f**king drones every time.”

But Jon, this is “Golf, But Louder”, remember? Or, as my colleague Bryce Ritchie put it: “Annoyed by drones but not by Drake.”

You need to get over it, Jon. And I can think of 450 million reasons why.

Almost?  But it's LIV, so who really cares?

Cup Fever -  Control your excitement, kids, as it's a Prez Cup year and we know that emotions can therefore get out of hand.  Have you spent any time wondering about the composition of the U.S. team?  Of course, not, you have a life.

It's amusing in the context of that famous 2018 Alan Shipnuck Ryder Cup prediction, the one that visualized a recurring U.S. juggernaut, to see how things have actually played out.  Alan was focused on those fading Euro stalwarts, but this was his take on U.S. prospects a mere six years ago:

Meanwhile, just look at the big steps taken by the U.S. players since the last Ryder: Jordan Spieth, 24, won another major and reasserted himself as golf’s alpha male; Dustin Johnson, 33, spent almost all of 2017 at number one; Brooks Koepka, 27, won the U.S. Open. You know who has never even played in a Ryder Cup? Justin Thomas, 24, merely the reigning player of the year. Throw in Rickie Fowler, 28, and Patrick Reed, 27, and you have a rock-star core for the next decade or more — not to mention the fact that these guys will be augmented by wily vets (Phil! Kuch! Zach! Bubba! Sneds! Duf!) and some spicy young comers (Daniel Berger, Kevin Kisner).

Ironically, it's possible that not a single player mentioned in that graph will be on the U.S. team in Montreal.  Perhaps the only one with a chance is Koepka, and how strange is that?

Golfweek has update the current qualification standings, although not in a manner that makes for an easy copy and paste, so we'll grab it from ESPN instead::


For months I've been suggesting that the U.S. team might go to Canada without either JT or Spieth, which seems quite possible.  Thomas only climbed into the top 15 by virtue of actually making a cut in Hartford, but has looked lost for most of the year.

For the Jordan dead-ender, here are the next ten guys that could in theory play their way onto the team:

16. Keegan Bradley
17. J.T. Poston
18. Cameron Young
19. Eric Cole
20. Denny McCarthy
21. Harris English
22. Taylor Moore
23. Lucas Glover
24. Jordan Spieth
25. Adam Schenk

All this only serves as a distraction from that which matters most, our hopes that Patrick Cantlay can find a hat that fits properly.  But the Internationals are due to win one of these at some point, and a weaker U.S. roster leads me to wonder whether the stars are aligned....  The other reason that Shipnuck comes to mind is that 2018 Ryder Cup, specifically the many egregious errors of that U.S. captain.....  Based upon Love and Furyk, it appears that the primary qualification to be U.S. Prez Cup captain is to have made a mess of a Ryder Cup.  Thank God we have a Task Force to handle such important matters.

That's all for today, folks.  I shall see you later in the week.

 

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Monday, June 24, 2024

Weekend Wrap - Spoiled Children Edition

The problem with the youth of today is the absence of respect for golf's traditions.  For instance, the attempted destruction of the 18th green yesterday at TPC River Highlands ignores the fact that destroying greens is Sergio's thing, so perhaps they didn't get that memo on cultural appropriation?

Have the protestors had the charges dropped yet?  If not, it'll happen as soon as the Hartford DA gets into the office this morning.  Probably including a reference letter to support their applications to Columbia.

Scottie, Unfazed - Neither rain nor sleet nor, well you know the rest.  Quite the scene:

In what already has been a bizarre year for golf news — especially news involving the World No. 1 and police intervention — things got even weirder Sunday at the conclusion of the Travelers Championship.

As the final group of Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim and Akshay Bhatia approached the 18th green during the final round at TPC River Highlands, with Scheffler leading Kim by a stroke, five environmental activists emerged from the crowd and stormed the green, spraying a colored powder or paint substance on the putting surface.

Play was suspended for several minutes as authorities apprehended the protesters, who represented the climate activism group, Extinction Rebellion.

Reports are that the protest created a groundswell of support, at least as relates to the protestors' extinction.  Somehow the rest of us avoid moral guidance from those being cuffed....

The Cromwell Police Department quickly apprehended the five protesters, of whom four were wearing shirts that read “No golf on a dead planet.” They were led away in handcuffs as the crowd in the amphitheater-like setting around the 18th green started chanting obscenities, forcing CBS to briefly cut the audio feed.

Extinction Rebellion claimed responsibility for the protest in a press release sent after the tournament had concluded. The same group had protested outside the gates of the DP World Tour’s KLM Open Sunday in the Netherlands, delaying the final round there by two hours.

I'm so confused.  I had been reliably informed that we had saved the planet by defacing the Mona Lisa, but now this!  I guess, better safe than sorry.  Although, if the planet is already dead, what's the harm in a little golf?

That audio cut-out was funny, as I guess these fine folks aren't so awfully good at reading the room.  There were also a bunch of USA chants which I understand, but still seems odd with Tom Kim in that final group.  Personally, I don't take a protest seriously unless they're gluing themselves to something.....

As you know, regardless of the circumstances, we here at Unplayable Lies seek out the global subject matter experts.  In this case, said expert pulls a Max Homa, critiquing the form of an amateur:

Yes, but as we learned at that recent reunion in Canada, you were the beneficiary of a "soft takedown". 


It’d been a scene, though, on the 18th hole at TPC River Highlands, after Scheffer had worked his way into a one-shot advantage during Sunday’s Travelers Championship final round. On the closing hole,
Scheffler hit just off the green’s right side with his second shot, before Tom Kim, his closest pursuer, dropped to 10 feet. But then play stopped. A small group of protesters stormed the green.

They released a power-looking substance. They were stopped and led off by security. Watching were Scheffler, Kim and playing partner Akshay Bhatia, who later said he was scared for his life. Play was paused. The grounds crew cleaned up debris, though some stains remained. They played on.

And Scheffler missed. And Kim made. Playoff.

There, back on 18 — where a new hole was dug after the interruption — Scheffler shined, as he has all year long. He hit his second shot to 12 feet, while Kim dumped his into a greenside bunker, and on a par, the win was Scheffler’s. It’s his sixth victory before July 1, a feat not accomplished since Arnold Palmer last did so in 1962. In March, Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer and the Players. In April, Scheffler won the Masters and the RBC Heritage. This month, he won the Memorial. There was an incident at last month’s PGA Championship, and a blip at last week’s U.S. Open. But now he’s a winner again, following a five-under 65 in regulation play and a 22-under total he shared with Kim.

One by one by one, quite a few in all, his foes fell short.

Crazy good season, although most of us are still trying to explain his week at Pinehurst....

The Tour Confidential panel might be a bit ahead of facts on the ground:

1. Scottie Scheffler beat Tom Kim on the first playoff hole to win the Travelers Championship to secure his sixth win of the season — the most since Tiger Woods won six in 2009 and the most before July since Arnold Palmer in 1962. With roughly five starts remaining in the 2024 season, how many more wins do you think Scheffler can realistically get?

Josh Sens: Five. Not being cheeky here. Could happen. Odds suggest otherwise, as he has only won a
little more than ⅓ of his starts so far this year. So maybe he will just grab two or three. But Scheffler running the slate would not shock me.

Jack Hirsh: Sens, I mean this in the most respectful way possible, but you are off your rocker here! There’s only nine more tournaments plus the Olympics! I say two. My guess is that he won’t even play the Scottish Open so he’s only going to make four more starts. I say he wins the Open and grabs the Tour Championship with his two-shot headstart. Seems a little unfair that he has the most FedEx Cup points ever under this format and he’ll only be start in that staggered start format (of which I am a fan of) two ahead, but I guess they can’t just hand him $25 million.

James Colgan: Ooo, love a good, old-fashioned debate. I’ll take a middle-man answer of 3.5 wins, but if Scottie proves his high-ball game can mesh well with links golf, Sens could be looking real good in a month.

Sens: Well, if he only had four starts then of course he can’t win five. The question was whether it’s realistic, defined as being within the bounds of reason. Doesn’t mean it will happen. But it certainly could. Let’s make it a friendly wager, Jack. If he wins more than two, you apologize publicly for disrespecting your elders. If he doesn’t, i’ll buy you a new lunchbox.

Hirsh: Wow, wow, wow, you say he is going to each of his next four-five starts, yet you win if he wins three? I’ll take that bet, but only if it’s he wins all of his starts vs. two or fewer. Three is a push! Also, I’m assuming we’re talking a Cypress Point logo’d lunch box, yes?

Sens: I was thinking Thomas the Tank Engine.

I'm sure it sounded much funnier as they were hacking away at their keyboards.  But I don't even know if they're including the three playoff events, but their second Q&A raises the bar further on their cluelessness:

2. Five of Scheffler’s six wins have come in non-majors, which means there were no LIV Golf members competing. Years from now, when the PGA Tour/LIV dust (presumably) settles, will not having those full fields with the best players in the world do anything to devalue what’s been a historic season?

Sens: Scheffler has been astounding. But because this is sports, where all topics get picked over and argued about in granular detail, I think there will have to be an asterisk included. Bryson DeChambeau beat Scheffler the last two times they went head to head. How could there not be? But it will be a very small asterisk, mentioned by only the most irritable of cranks. And as with most sports-related debates of that kind, anyone who gets too worked up about it should probably find better things to do with their life.

Hirsh: I think an asterisk is a little strong. Maybe a little, but he did beat everyone* at the Masters and if he beats everyone again at Troon it won’t matter. What he’s doing is absurd no matter who he’s playing against.

*Talor Gooch did not play in the Masters.

Colgan: You guys are nuts. Scottie is playing at the highest level of any player alive right now. Period. End of story. It’d add some luster if he’d won all of these events against LIV players, but six wins in a year is six wins in a year. It’s damn impressive, and it’s NOT earning an asterisk any time soon.

Hirsh: Don’t lump me in with Sens! I said just a little, but agree with you that it does not detract from what he’s doing and would only add if LIV players were in the PGA Tour fields he’s beaten.

It does deserve an asterisk, but these writers are too lame to actually understand why.  It's not Talor Gooch missing from the fields of 4-5 of Scottie's wins, it's the 70 players excluded to keep Patrick Cantlay happy.  To be fair, if we're comparing Scottie to Tiger, in many of the latter's multi-win seasons he racked up wins at the WGC's, whose fields weren't large either.

That's a wrap on Signature Evets for the season, and we can now cue the Tour's frantic efforts to make us care about the FedEx Cup.  

Chasing Amy - Don't fret is that obscure movie reference went over your head, but this is an especially popular win:

The KPMG Women's PGA Championship turned, in a moment, from a neck-and-neck race to the makings of a runaway. On the par-4 eighth at Sahalee Country Club, the hardest hole on the course,
veteran Amy Yang stuck her approach to seven feet, closest of anyone in the field Sunday. Yang, holding a one-shot lead in her 75th major appearance, then watched her inexperienced groupmates buckle.

World No. 276 Lauren Hartlage, in her first major of 2024, chunked her chip from the front of the green and made double bogey. Miyu Yamashita, who plays on the Japan LPGA Tour, had to lay up with her approach from an awkward lie, then hit her third into the greenside bunker. She two-putted for a double bogey.

Yang's birdie turned her one-stroke lead into four, a three-shot swing that started the march to a three-stroke victory, made only close by late self-inflicted wobbling, for her first career major title.

I had quite the afternoon of sports viewing teed up, which didn't exactly pan out.  My Yankees are currently unwatchable, and moving up the tee times in Hartford had me watching that event as Yang's lead went from one to five quite suddenly.

This is one of the more popular ladies on the LPGA, having been there for seventeen years with only some modest success.  It's a fitting tribute to perseverance, though that TC panel went elsewhere with their questions.

I agree that the venue is notable.  In our little world we can't grow grass with a single tree on our golf course, but did you get a load of Sahalee?

4. Amy Yang had 21 top 10s in 74 career majors played before she finally won her first, when she pulled away from the field at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club outside of Seattle, Wash. Where does the tree-lined and tight Sahalee rank among your favorite (or least favorite) major venues?

Hirsh: Golf in the Pacific Northwest just rules. Why? Because it’s different. Where else are you going to see trees that big and that narrow, but the key that makes Sahalee fair is that the limbs aren’t overhanging. It’s mostly evergreen trees where it’s clear where you need to hit it. I love the challenge Sahalee presented because it asked you to narrow your margin for error. Aim small, miss small as they say. The last two women’s major hosts have been home runs in the same year they get to play St. Andrews.

Sens: Aesthetically, I’m with Jack. It’s a different look, and a beautiful one. From a strategy standpoint, it’s not as interesting as some other major venues. The ‘angles’ crowd have a point when they gripe about Sahalee. But it’s a course with a cool sense of place, and it made for a nice change of pace.

Hirsh: Sure, it doesn’t present the options to hit all different kinds of shots like Pinehurst does. But it does force you to be precise and hit it in the right spot. Is it not worth something from a strategic standpoint?

Colgan: Sorry to our readers in the PNW, but I’d be okay if major championship golf never returned to Sahalee. We should demand our major hosts test all factors of a player’s game: from precision and shot-making to temerity and strategic intelligence. Sahalee got half the way there, but it fell short where it mattered.

Technically, each fairway is wide enough to fit a golf ball on, so they've got that going for them.  Not only do the trees choke every fairway and green, but many of them are more than 100' tall, so you-re not escaping over them.

But maybe the oddest note is that Golf Magazine's Dylan Dethier usually partakes in these festivities, and he actually lives in Seattle.  If we're trashing PNW golf, wouldn't you want him involved to offer a rebuttal?

They also touch on this girl, who admittedly had a bi-polar week.  Ironically, the player dominating both tours crashed and burned at their respective U.S. Opens, but Golf Digest might have jumped the gun with this Thursday evening header:

After starting poorly in her last 2 events, Nelly Korda jumps out quickly in search of second major this year

Well, that header went south quickly:

Nelly Korda misses third straight cut by matching highest score as a pro

She went rather quickly from winning every time she pegged it to having her weekends off.... Almost like it's a tough game or something.

5. After winning five straight starts — and six in a seven-tournament span — Nelly Korda has now missed the cut in her last three starts, with two of those six rounds in the 80s. Have you seen something different from her this past month? What’s going on?

Hirsh: Could just be more exhaustion than she is letting on. Winning is hard. Heck, golf is hard. You
never own it, you can only rent it. You find something for a couple months and then you lose it. She could get it back next week. She may never get it back. That’s just the reality of the fickle game we love.

Sens: Just before her recent torrid run, she took a self-imposed break to recharge. My best guess is she could use another one of those, golf being 90 percent mental and 10 percent mental.

Colgan: I have seen something different. Nelly has withstood some withering critiques of her public image, witnessed her game fail her at two major championship tests, and has still spoken honestly and eloquently after each of those failures. Competitively, she’s in a rut. But after so much talk about her standing as the face of the sport juxtaposed against her introverted personality, it’s pretty awesome to see her putting her money where her mouth is.

I saw some of that Friday round, and it would be hard to overestimate how out of sorts she looked.  

Be Careful What You Wish For -  This is what you sign up for:


Yet this is how you react to it:

Look on the bright side, Jon.  At least you don't have any of those pesky spectators to distract you....

The ironic bit is that the idiots protesting the use of oil targeted the PGA and DP World Tours, but couldn't be bothered doing this to the tour owned by the Saudis..... Hmmm, how to explain that?  Is it the absence of spectators and television viewers?  Could be, or maybe they've heard about the bonecutters....

Of course I'm terribly saddened that it's not working out for Jon.

Today In Memes -   Golfweek has helpfully compiled social media reactions to Hartford, providing your humble blogger with an elegant exit strategy.  Obviously watching police surround Scottie Scheffler had a Deja Vu all over again feel to it:

I was quite relieved to see that no one was wearing $80 pants....

Yeah, Kim is an engaging personality, but there is this dark side:

While we're young, Tom.

Quite a few along these lines: 

This one I should have paired with the Hadwin bit above:

But this is my fave:

Most folks instinctively assume that the cops are there to protect us from the criminals.  The reality, in fact, is that they're there to protect the criminals from us.   

I'll leave you on that last happy note.  Have a great week.

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Thursday, June 20, 2024

Thursday Themes - Signature Upgrade Edition

Hey, Rory's not the only one that has little appetite for Hartford in June.  But don't be too depressed at the thought of this being the final Signature Event of 2024.

Jaywalking - It's always notable when the Commish deigns to walk among the great unwashed masses..... What, oh yeah, thanks to Patrick the unwashed aren't welcome in Harford.  Funny how Jay comes out in public but only among those that have been properly bought off.  He didn't make last year's mistake of showing up in Canada which had an actual full field.

No doubt you've sensed the rumor mill heating up:

There were reports during last week’s U.S. Open that the tour and PIF had come to an agreement of sorts which would be announced this Tuesday at the Travelers Championship. Those claims turned out to have little truth to them. Monahan was at TPC River Highlands Tuesday for the latest meeting between tour and player membership, which focused on updating players of the league’s current discussions with PIF along with future changes to signature events, but multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told Golf Digest an agreement has not been reached.

How does he know there was little truth?  Kind of angels on pinheads stuff, there seems little doubt that the negotiations have heated up, though it's hard to know how close they might be and, more importantly, on what terms.

 But see if you're buying anything that he's selling:

Monahan was asked if there are any misconceptions about the discussions that need to be addressed.

“I don't think so,” Monahan replied. "I mean, there are a lot of people [who] seem to think that there are things that are happening that aren't happening, but ultimately we're the arbiters of that. Listen, I understand there's a lot of attention and there's going be a lot of, there's gonna be a lot of opinions and they're probably gonna be a lot of rumors. And it's part of the position I and all of us find ourselves in is we're just going to, we're focused on trying to get to the right outcome. The right outcome for players, for our fans, for the game of golf. That's where our focus is.”

No misconceptions except that it's all wrong?  Sure, because you've never lied to us previously....

But the best outcome for players?  Kinda depends upon which players we're speaking of, no?  

As for the game?  If 2023-24 is any indication, any more great successes might just you might kill off the professional game.  For instance, Jay, your effed up schedule, as per Geoff's Points-Missers:

PGA Tour Scheduling. The make-it-up as they go Global Home is somehow allowed to dictate global scheduling around its morbidly dull FedExCup. This time the revolving army of EVP’s and SVP’s put a pair of “signature” events around the U.S. Open. Brilliant. It is little wonder that the Tour’s top player and overwhelming pre-tournament favorite turned up gassed after playing in U.S. Open-like conditions in the Memorial. At what point do players step back and realize the organization’s disdain for majors and anything five minutes into the future is causing problems?

Got that?  The only events that matter in the world of golf these days are the four that Jay doesn't control, so of course his schedule will damage those to the maximum extent possible.

Jay also announced changes to the Signature Events, which no doubt will rock your world:

The signature events are The Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship.

The first change is an increase in the minimum field size for these tournaments to 72. With massive purses, players who qualify for the signature events nearly always play in them, but starting next season, there will be an alternate list, so if a player withdraws before the event begins, his spot will be given to the highest-ranked player on the Aon Next 10 list who is not already in the field.

Wow, 72 players?  I don't know if I'm comfortable with an exhibition involving that many players.... Has Patrick been consulted?

I keep feeling that I don't hate these people enough.  Not only did they concentrate purses into exclusive money grabs, but if a guy dropped out (Rory, call your office), he wasn't even replaced in the field.  

Shockingly, it's the second change that has me even more outraged:

The second modification is a special tribute to the legendary Tiger Woods — a sponsor exemption for lifetime achievement into all the signature events. This is a significant recognition of his 82 PGA Tour wins, including eight victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and five at the Memorial Tournament, both of which are signature events.

Isn't that a nice tribute?  But is it as simple as that?  Because, well, their lips are moving....

Let's muse on this one for a bit, because sponsors' exemptions into Signature Events has been on our radar this summer.  For these eight events, each sponsor has, I believe, four exemptions to dole out, and for one of those Tiger is the decision maker.  So, riddle me this Batman, is there any chance that Tiger wouldn't get an exemption to any event he actually wanted to play?  Are you done laughing yet at the idea of Tiger actually playing in Hartford?

So, why gift Tiger something for which he has no need?  Because, just maybe, it isn't for Tiger, but rather....  Well, how about we just call it the Webb Simpson Full Employment Act?  Webber is the luckiest guy on the planet, no longer an elite player but holding a vote that the cool kids need.  They tell us it's all about the game, but their actions are all about taking care of themselves.

Wither Rory - Well, we can rule out Hartford, but be careful of spit takes with this piece:


A crushing loss doesn't need to be fatal if McIlroy responds the right way

This is from Jaime Diaz, whose long-form pieces have gone missing since he moved exclusively to Golf Channel a few years back.  That said, it strikes me as wishful thinking, at least mostly:

Which leads to a novel idea. Is it possible what happened to McIlroy will be a net positive? After
all, for major championship winners, hard losses are just part of the cost of doing business. McIlroy definitely leaned that way in his day-after social media post. While conceding that what happened on No. 2 was the toughest loss of his 17-year professional career, he also wrote, “The one word I would describe my career as is resilient.” And added, “I feel closer to winning my next major championship than I ever have.”

The argument that McIlroy is actually on an upward curve may seem absurd at the moment, but the fact is the Northern Irishman did a great many things superbly at Pinehurst, where he played his best U.S. Open since winning by eight strokes so seemingly long ago in 2011.

Yeah, I'll believe that when Rory believes it.  And nothing says resiliency quite like stiffing the media....

Jaime makes many strong points, most notably that Rory played well in conditions that don't suit his game:

On fast and firm No. 2, he played solid golf so steady it almost bordered on boring. He would finish the championship ranked first in strokes gained off the tee, achieved by ranking second in driving distance his 335.6 yards, only two yards behind DeChambeau, and a remarkable third in driving accuracy, hitting 48 of 56 fairways. He was also fourth in greens in regulation with 48 out of 72.

Indeed, over four rounds McIlroy statistically outplayed DeChambeau tee to green, including strokes gained/around the green, surprising considering how well the winner chipped and got up and down. But just as he was by Cameron Smith at St. Andrews in 2022, and Wyndham Clark last at the LACC, McIlroy got outputted. DeChambeau finished 12th in putting for the championship, to McIlroy’s 27th, picking up better than four and a half on the field, about two strokes better than McIlroy.

Although ironically, on Sunday it was McIlroy who statistically outputted DeChambeau, making four birdie putts of at least 18 feet. It was the main reason, along with hitting 10 of the first 11 fairways, that he had had a two-stroke lead with five to play.

That's all true and worth noting, but may well be consigned to the "Necessary, but not sufficient" category.

You'll sense there's a "But" coming:

But this is where McIlroy fell down. Not for the first time, his answer to the question Tom Watson used to searchingly wonder about his competitors when championship tension peaked—“Can you handle it?”, was “No.” On full shots, McIlroy would miss two of the last three fairways, as well as the par three 15th and 17th greens. It was the kind of lapse in focus at the key moment that former European Ryder Cup captain and current commentator Paul McGinley maintains have too often thrust McIlroy into pressurized situations that would be avoided with better concentration.

To McGinley, the fateful short putt on the 70th hole—the shortest putt McIlroy has missed this year on the PGA Tour and coming after a seemingly solid birdie attempt from 27 feet—was a result of the shakiness McIlroy began to exhibit after a starting low pull hook with a driver off the 14th tee.

But more glaring, and harder to watch, were the missed short putts. The inability to effectively execute the smallest of motions at the biggest of moments always engenders extra judgment, by critics and the competitor in question, as mental fortitude and character get doubted. It’s the way that the humbling game humiliates best, haunts the longest, hurts the most.

We're all focused on those short misses, but flying the greens on Nos. 15 and 17 is Rory's M.O.  As is playing his poorest when he wants it the most, so good luck at Troon.

But while Jaime is relentlessly upbeat about Rory, it's unclear that Rory shares his take:

Which makes McIlroy’s statement last week that Harrington “probably loves the game of golf more than I do, in some ways” ring true. Not that McIlroy isn’t capable putting disappointment behind him. He pointed out that after last year’s disappointing loss to Clark, he won the next time he played, at the very Scottish Open where he will is scheduled to reemerge. “I’ve played enough golf tournaments in my career, that once it's done, it’s done,” he said. “You leave it in the past, try to learn from whatever happened that given week … There’s always the opportunity to get back up on the horse and try again.”

But the years have taken their toll. At the moment, McIlroy’s biggest challenge might be accessing the joy that he exhibited growing up with golf in Northern Ireland. The quality was wryly captured by his instructor Michael Bannon, who has known McIlroy since he began teaching him as an 8-year-old at Holywood Golf Club outside Belfast, in an offhand remark a few years ago while watching old films of his beaming charge on the practice tee: “Always a happy man, Rory.”

When McIlroy very noticeably exhibited joy while he and good friend and countryman Shane Lowry were teaming to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans in April, the difference in his on-course demeanor him was striking. Afterward he said, “The reason that Shane and I both started to play golf is because we thought it was fun at some stage of our life.”

Combined with the bizarrely public marriage mulligan, I don't get the sense that Rory is enjoying much of anything these days.  Of course, the Scottish isn't exactly the U.S. Open, is it?

Maybe Jaime should read this reposted Shane Ryan piece from 2022:

Rory, I think it's time for me to see other golfers

 It's not you, Rory, it's Shane....

Now that the sun has set on another major, I have to ask a hard question: what changed? What's different about this week than Southern Hills and the PGA, where you led outright after the first round? Or the Masters, where you made one of your patented Sunday charges when it was too late to win? And that was just this year. How long have we been doing this? How long have you persisted in giving me false hope, only to yank it away repeatedly, like when my so-called friend in high school would offer me a ride home, then pull ahead a few feet the minute I reached the passenger door, over and over until I would start to chase him in a blind rage, only to learn a lesson that many a dog learned long ago, which is that you cannot catch a car on foot, and even if you do, it's basically impregnable?

How many years have I made excuses? How many times have I told everyone, "yeah, he hasn't won a major in a while, but look at all those yellow top-10 finishes on Wikipedia? You just don't understand him like I do."

This piece was written after the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club.  Since then, we've had St. Andrews, LACC and now Pinehurst.  This is Nostradamus-worthy....

Open Closure -  Shall we start with the coverage?  You may have seen headers indicating strong ratings, but Geoff informs that it's a muddier picture:

Ratings. NBC set a golf streaming record and had its best East Coast U.S. Open since 2013 at Merion. The final round earned a 2.8 Nielsen rating and 5.9 million average viewership, of which
350,000 were streaming according to Adobe Analytics. The final round was up 5% from 2022’s edition at The Country Club. Viewership was down 6% over last year’s West Coast edition in Los Angeles. According to Sports Media Watch, the audience peaked with a combined linear and streaming audience of 11.4 million, 600,000 of those bravely navigating the NBC Sports app or the more user-friendly Peacock. Hitting 11.4 million was the best peak since 2015’s wild West Coast finish at Chambers Bay. However, the household rating was the lowest on record, excluding 2020’s September edition played against NFL action. Third round action on Saturday drew a 2.0 and 3.56 million, down 14% and 11% from last year.

Interestingly, I haven't found anyone commenting on NBC's performance, including their Cast of Thousands 18th hole tower.   I thought there were way too many voices and especially found Brandel grating, as I continue to believe his persona works far better in a studio setting.

But there's one last bit about which I have an ally, a guy that was supposed to be on the other side of the camera:

So back to Sunday. When Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy were battling down the stretch,
Rahm was watching on TV. So, what did he think of being a fan?

For starters, he said he usually watches broadcasts on mute. But he also echoed a common frustration many golf fans share — it’s sometimes extremely difficult to find out where to watch the action, with tournament rounds going from one network to the other and with streaming options — which are sometimes the only option — in between.

“To go from ABC to NBC to Peacock, then back to the next thing, yeah, they should make it a little bit easier,” he said, speaking at this week’s LIV Golf event in Nashville, which Rahm plans to play. “It is an Open after all. Just turn on one channel and hopefully be able to watch the whole broadcast.”

Ya think?   I still don't get all of it, why they gave us BBC-=style all-day coverage on Thursday but bupkis on Friday.  And, while I understand why NBC would want to use the Open prop up their moribund streaming service, why does the USGA allow it?

But at least we've found one guy that looks more miserable than Rory....

Did you catch any of DJ's play?  He hasn't sniffed a major cut in a while, but Alan Shipnuck explains:

Sure, Alan, that's the ticket!  Yu take a nine-figure guaranteed check and predictably lose your edge, but it's the schedule to blame....   Because we know that DJ has maintained that legendary work ethic.

Shack has put up his Cut-Makers and Point-Missers, so shall we sample?  I think you'll agree that he's grading on the curve here:

Cutmakers

Patrick Cantlay. He was in the mix and a birdie combined with a DeChambeau bogey would have put Cantlay in a playoff. The T3 finish ties his best major finish and was impressive given that it seemed like Cantlay held it together without his A game.

Scottie Scheffler. A made cut on the number turned out to be the Masters champion’s highlight for the week. He did not post an under-par round, made just four birdies, and recorded the first birdie-free round of his pro career. A tired Scheffler acknowledged that the previous week’s win under almost-U.S. Open conditions may permanently change his pre-major approach. “I think going into the major championships, especially the ones we know are going to be really challenging, it may be in my best interest not to play the week before.”

I thought that final round pairing had the potential to help Cantlay more than Rory, but I guess it's a None of the Above scenario.... Anyone taking bets on whether the Memorial will be the week before Oakmont next year?  I actually don't know why Jack didn't say, "Hell No!"

But obviously the fun is to be had in Geoff's last category:

(Point) Missers

Drivers. USGA CEO Mike Whan left the door open to revisiting a squashed proposal that would reward more center strikes. Dropping this after five years of study, comments, whining and politicking looks even more silly to have abandoned after multiple players have said they can hit it anywhere on the face and get away with a huge drive. And in a world where we’ve been assured for over 20 years that performance limits have been reached, it’s all kind of silly at this point. Among the players admitting he can hit it anywhere on the driver face was U.S. Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau. That was a couple of months before he hit just 32 of 56 fairways (T66) and led the field with an all-drive average of 318.9. Following the win, DeChambeau told the Live From crew how he intends to keep mining technology to get better. Over twenty years ago the USGA and R&A said they were going to draw the line on technology circumventing human skill. Does the sport really need to wait five years and suffer through more groveling from companies merely looking to protect profit margins? Clubmaers who have zero interest in creating stuff to help the hack or beginner on a budget?

I found that an odd note as well, assuming Whan threw that out as a lingering threat as they deal with the ball proposals.

Brooks Koepka. The two-time U.S. Open champion declined to do in-person interviews but acknowledged the reason behind the silent protest. In a text exchange with Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch Koepka cited a lack of press creativity. “Same questions every week,” he said. “The lack of creativity with questions is kinda boring. I know I’m not a media favorite either, so it’s not like anyone will notice. LOL.” Yahoo’s Jay Busbee listed some fun ones here in case Brooks should be so inclined. I have a few questions: Why do you always opt out of the Olympics before blood testing begins? Is it, like, a trypanophobia thing where you have a fear of needles? Also, does Claude Harmon know he’s not listed on your team page while Chef Noel is?

Are you done laughing yet?  How different does that Brooksie-Bryson cage match look right now?

Some serious thoughts on the golf course, specifically those greens:

Greens Donald Ross Would Not Recognize. Here’s one way to appraise whether a Pinehurst No. 2 green reflects the great designer’s philosophy: if there is no option or ability to run a ball up onto the green, it’s morphed into something he would not recognize. As we saw last week, green rebuilds since the Prime Minister of Pinehurst’s passing have stuck around too long. There are four greens blatantly unreceptive to a run-up. And all of the greens at Pinehurst must be kept soft enough to hold a long iron under tournament green speeds starting at 14 feet after mowings. But four are obviously silly: the 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 15th. They need deflating. They’ll still play tough. In the case of the sixth, someone must eliminate an unnatural left-side tie-in that would induce hissy fits from an artist like Donald Ross. And if all these artsy-fartsy observations fail to convince, the raw numbers should:
  • 2nd green: 28.48% Green In Regulation cumulative total last week after 66% of the tee shots hitting the fairway with an average approach of 191 yards. 🧐
  • 6th green: 40% GIR rate on a 228-yard par 3.
  • 8th green: 44% GIR hit rate off a 72% fairway hit number and 176-yard average approach. 😬
  • 15th green: 50% cumulative GIR rate on a 197-yard par 3.
With anchor site status meaning many more USGA events over the coming years—including the 2029 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open—there is time to bring back the consulting architects who know what the greens should look like. It’s time to let Coore and Crenshaw do one last bit of restoration to ensure Pinehurst shines for years to come.

2029 will be here before we know it....

Didn't see this story anywhere else:

Agents. The latest to forget his place is Brent Falkoff, twenty-percenter and salty ball tester to Bryson DeChambeau, who decided to get chippy with NBC’s interviewer for the week, Damon Hack. Speaking to a special level of the military-grade level of obtuseness as his client was making all the right PR moves without managerial assistance, multiple witnesses confirmed Saturday’s ugly exchange, first reported on by No Laying Up’s Kevin Van Valkenburg. Apparently, the agent's rage had to do with past statements about LIV and his client made on Golf Channel’s Golf Today. So Falkoff threatened to take his toys home and not make the tournament leader available for a live post-third-round interview in front of millions watching a national prime-time finish. Talk about not reading the room.

Sounds pretty much like Bryson himself chewing out that cameraman a few years back.  Doesn't Golf Channel know that it's their job to protect Bryson's brand?

Olympic Golf. What should be a quaint subplot to the U.S. Open every four years has become cringey thanks a qualification system relying solely on the Official World Golf Rankings. Having the PGA runner-up and U.S. Open champion miss out is costing the Olympic golf movement’s credibility and what little juice it had left. Even tennis has ways of making sure major winners get to the Games. It’s wild to think there are golf executives running the International Golf Federation who could not foresee such stuff. Oh, right, President Sorenstam is busy on the pro-am circuit.

He's not wrong, but the problem with Olympic Golf isn't the reliance on the OWGR.  No,. the problem with Olympic Golf is, checking notes, Olympic Golf.  

That will be all for today and likely this week.  Have a great weekend and we'll wrap the weekend on Monday.

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