Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Tuesday Trifles - Legally Bland Edition

 I shan't tax you too much today.  Just a couple of quick hits, then we can all get on with our days.

Monday Finish - With apologies to Dylan Dethier's column, that got crazy, didn't it?  So crazy that I couldn't even stay top the end watching it on tape later in the day:

LIV pro wins second-straight senior major, credits LIV for improved play

OK, though that LIV connection is slightly weird given that this is a round-belly event.... I mean, was Yasir business model to build the most prestigious Senior Tour in golf?  If not, it's hard to see how this is more damning than anything, LIV being where the Ranch House set goes to hone their games.

LIV pro Richard Bland may not be playing four-day tournaments all that often anymore, but that didn’t seem to hurt him in an event that extended to five days.

After weather forced the completion of the last eight holes of the final round at the U.S. Senior Open to Monday, Bland made up a three-stroke deficit to Hiroyuki Fujita in four holes at Newport (R.I.) Country Club. Bland then took the lead for the first time in the championship with a birdie at 15, gave it away on 18 and then prevailed on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, which was required after Bland and Fujita had tied in a two-hole aggregate playoff.

It’s Bland’s second straight senior major title in what was just his second PGA Tour Champions start. The Englishman, who was a founding member of a LIV Golf team, earned a spot in the Senior PGA Championship, in May, as a former DP World Tour winner and fired a final-round 63 to win at Harbor Shores. While Bland was denied status on the PGA Tour Champions due to his LIV affiliation, his win did earn him an exemption into this week’s U.S. Senior Open.

“Your first two senior tournaments to be majors, and to come out on top is — I was just hoping going into the PGA that I was good enough to contend,” Bland said afterward. “I hadn’t played against these guys.”

Careful, kid, or they'll do to you what they did to Bobby Locke back in the day.

Those scheduling issues won't subside any time soon:

Bland (and, presumably, his LIV employers) will now need to decide whether he will go for a third straight senior major at the Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie or play in LIV Golf’s UK event that same weekend. Bland win at Newport also earned him a spot in the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

I'm old enough to remember when golfers followed the sun.  Now, they follow $$$$$$.

But a wild back and forth kind of day:

Bland shot into contention with three birdies in a row to start his final round and added another one before play was halted due to severe storms Sunday afternoon.

He was still down three strokes to Fujita who had been playing steady golf all week before he restarted play Monday with three bogeys in five holes to drop from 16 under to 13 under.

At the same time, Bland pounced with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes to take a one-shot lead.

Things got interesting at Newport 18th hole.

Playing a group ahead of Fujita, Bland hit what he thought was a perfect drive on the long uphill par-4, but a strong hurting breeze downed the ball in a cross bunker. He could advance his ball only into the rough and then airmailed the green with his third shot. He did well to make an eight-foot putt for bogey to post 13 under.

Meanwhile, Fujita, one of the shortest drivers in the field, had found the 18th fairway but was more than 235 yards away on the uphill, into-the-wind par-4. The 466-yard finisher at Newport was playing beastly with two-thirds of the field who played it in regulation Monday making bogey.

From an upslope just left of the bunker, Fujita put everything he had into a 5-wood and flew it onto the green, much to the broadcast crew’s amazement. He two-putted for par to force a two-hole aggregate playoff, his birdie-try tracking most of the way before just coming up short.

This I believe was the first use of the USGA's two-hole aggregate playoff (a ridiculous half measure, though that argument is for another time), which went four holes and culminated with this: 

Good stuff, though we're left to conclude that the weather determined the outcome because, absent Sunday's suspension of play, one assumes Fujita would have coasted home.

I enjoyed this event greatly, though mostly for a rare peak at Newport Country Club.  Alas, it might be my last....

Detroit Doings - Just a couple of minor leavings, first about that guy that unfortunately three-jacked on No. 18 to finish one shot out of a playoff with Cam Davis.  No question he's been playing well, but this golf writer gives him high marks on the human side as well:

So, in other words, he pulled a "Rory" but then, as far as the media is concerned, avoided pulling a "Rory."   Well played, young man, except for the three-jack, of course.

Then there's Cam Young, whose club "modification" we had yesterday, and whose game seemed superficially to be on the rebound, admittedly contradictory data points.  In his Monday Finish column, Dylan Dethier had this:

NOT-WINNERS

Cameron Young, guys.

Sometimes it seems like coming up short helps golfers find another gear their next time out, like when Xander Schauffele finished second at Quail Hollow and then won the PGA Championship the following week.

But with Cameron Young it feels like the burden of not winning has gotten heavier and heavier. The tension has grown thicker. And Sunday looked especially not fun. I mean, who breaks their driver in contention on the back nine on Sunday?! And still, even after the snap-hook on 14 and the snapped driver that followed, he could have made it into a playoff had he done the following:

-Made a four-footer at 16

-Two-putted 17

-Parred 18

Throw in a made seven-footer at 14 and you could pencil in Young as the outright winner. Instead? None of the above. The drought continues. The frustration continues to build.

Dylan's got the key bit, that he was still in the hunt when he went off on his driver.  They're human for sure, but that's not always a positive.

Reality Bites -  I got there before Dylan, but always happy to have company:

ONE BIG QUESTION

Where will Spieth’s season go next?

Jordan Spieth is reporting to this week’s John Deere Classic for the first time since 2015 — but he’s not even one of the top favorites. Spieth enters having finished T29 or worse in nine consecutive starts. He’s at risk of falling outside the PGA Tour’s coveted top 50 and he’s just 24th in U.S. Presidents Cup standings. But could there be some Spieth magic lurking in the Quad Cities?

The irony, she burns!  This blog dates to 2014, but Jordan and the Deere were heavily blogged in 2015.  Spieth had won the Masters and U.S. Open, creating calendar year Grand Slam discussions.  Notwithstanding that the Open was at the Old Course, where local knowledge is elusive, Jordan decided the best prep the week before the Open would be in the Quad Cities.  Predictably, he finished a shot out of the playoff, and I assume is still on Zach Johnson's Christmas card list.

He went in 2015 out of misguided loyalty for the sponsor's exemption that led to his first win, but hasn't been bothered to go back since?  Just bizarre, but now this:

John Deere Classic odds 2024: The cold hard facts against Jordan Spieth

This is a tout sheet, so pay it no mind, but folks are noticing Jordan's desultory play.  And I also liked this bit that shows the life of a Non-Signature Event sponsor:

It has been a wild Monday on the odds board for the John Deere Classic. When the field of 156 players was posted on Friday, there was one name we all didn’t expect: Patrick Cantlay. Odds dropped on Monday morning with Cantlay as the betting favorite, despite Cantlay never competing in the John Deere during his 13-year professional career.

Just a few hours into odds being available Monday morning, Cantlay withdrew. It was a race to bet on the rest of the field whose original odds on Monday showed some significant value. Losing the betting favorite always cuts the remainder of the field from an odds perspective.

I'm sorry, but Patrick doesn't do Quad Cities.....  But no doubt tickets were sold based upon Cantlay's name, although the appeal eludes me.

Darbon Dating - Lots of turmoil at the top of our game, Geoff with the latest from St. Andrews:

Mark Darbon has been appointed Chief Executive of The R&A and Secretary of The Royal and
Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

The 45-year-old CEO of Premiership Rugby’s Northampton Saints will take over for the retiring Martin Slumbers in November.

Darbon’s other past roles in sports business suggests a broad range of experience outweighing a noticeable lack of golf world ties. He has held senior roles with the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, Olympic Park Operations, and staging of large-scale events for two American-based firms. Most recently Darbon oversaw a sports organization that captured its first title since 2014.

“We were greatly impressed with Mark’s knowledge and experience of the global sport industry and his ability to develop successful teams and deliver fantastic events,” said Niall Farquharson, Chairman of The R&A. “We believe he will be an excellent leader for The R&A and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and will play a key role in helping us to achieve our goal of ensuring a prosperous and sustainable future for golf.”

 Mostly I just hate to have to part with all those Golden Slumbers headers....

Geoff adds a list of pending issues for the organization:

  • Pressures real and imagined to keep pace with worldwide purse growth as the R&A sees benefits for golf after increasing investment in research and development causes.
  • Expiring media contracts in 2027 and 2028 with NBC and Sky Sports.
  • Official World Golf Ranking politics as part of the R&A’s board seat.
  • Managing the impact and ramifications of Saudi Arabia’s golf investment.
  • Working with the USGA on 2028’s initial implementation of new distance testing rules in the face of hostile and often inconsistent stances from the PGA Tour, PGA of America and manufacturer industrial complex.
  • Protecting The Open’s stature and continuing fan experience improvements while balancing affordability and access for a broad range of fans.
  • Continuing the AIG Women’s Open momentum as the season’s final major.
  • Maintaining the revenues necessary to fund successful outreach efforts that could include taking over failing or closed courses.

No shortage of fluff in there, but can he help the bride and me with our Daily Ballot entries?  

That'll be it for today.  Catch y'all later in the week.

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