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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