Thursday Themes - Microblogging Edition

 That header is a bit of a tell, assuring you that I won't keep you long....

But at the end I'll give you a heads up on our scheduling issues.  Spoiler alert:  You may have to get along without me for a while.

Rising From The Ashes - It's that week on the calendar once more, when all of America turns it's eyes to The Wasted™, though we're being assured that it won't be quite as wasted as last year:

Coming off perfect storm for chaos, WM Phoenix Open makes changes in effort to restore order

Restore?  That implies a fact not in evidence....

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Matt Mooney might need to upload a new version of the Weather.com app to his phone shortly. He has been wearing it out for the past month, anxiously checking this

week’s forecast. Such is life as tournament chairman for the 2025 WM Phoenix Open, a year after some rain-soaked days at TPC Scottsdale resulted in overcrowding issues and a muddy mess, most notably on Saturday when both the main entrance and alcohol sales were temporarily closed.

That experience inspired multiple changes being implemented this year by The Thunderbirds, organizers of the infamously raucous tournament. “I think you can’t control the weather was the biggest lesson from last year,” Mooney said. “I think that we definitely have made a concerted effort to evaluate the way people flow through the golf course during those really high traffic times, on midday Friday and Saturday. The biggest challenge we had last year was this is a Stadium-built golf course. It’s made for fans to be able to sit on these big hillsides. It was designed that way. When that all turns to mud, and people are jammed into cart paths, nobody wins.”

Last year, rain on Thursday and Saturday turned those usually grassy hillsides into slippery quagmires, forcing spectators to crowd onto the carts paths. That created logjams of dangerous proportions in numerous areas, including packed walkways leading to the first tee, behind the second green, and in between the 10th and 16th greens. At one point Saturday afternoon, organizers briefly closed down the main entrance (much to the dismay of ticket holders trying to enter at the time) and suspended alcohol sales for the rest of that day, all in an effort to rein in the chaotic crowd and alleviate the congested atmosphere.

Yeah, it was just the war and that lying son of a bitch.....  Yeah, the weather was bad last year, but perhaps the business model that depends on widespread public drunkenness was also a factor.... Just spitballin' here.

So, this is the big change:

That led directly to what Mooney called one of the most impactful changes this year: a new

entrance/exit located just south of the main entrance area on Hayden Road adjoining the course.

“The ability to have all the people that are coming out of 16, 17 and 18 to be able to go straight out of 18 tee and be right on Hayden is, I think, huge,” he said. “The area at the main entrance coming through the main entrance behind 18 green has always gotten so congested. Even though we know we’re going to have a little bit better syncing of our crowd numbers, I think that probably gives me the most comfort. Fans just have a lot of options.”

Sounds prudent, though you'll quickly note that they're bitterly clinging to their circus:

The infamous race to the 16th hole on Saturday morning—fans start lining up the night before for the half-mile run to snag one of the coveted 3,700 General Admission seats at the par-3 16th—will still commence from the main entrance at 7 a.m., followed by the new entrance opening 30 minutes later.

I'm sure it'll all be fine....What could go wrong?

Regression Is A Bitch - So, are you consumed by the TGL?  Are you distraught over Boston Commons' two-match losing streak?  This guy seems completely in the tank:

TGL Week 5 Superlatives: Invalid readings, Keegan's frustrations and a TGL frontrunner emerges

Well, "worst" is a superlative..... But he must have seen something I missed:

Best Performance: Justin Rose

Though Collin Morikawa, one of the best iron players on earth, delivered the highlight reel shots on Tuesday, Rosey asserted himself as the beating heart of the best team in TGL so far. The 2013

U.S. Open winner, 2018 FedEx Cup champ and four-time Ryder Cup victor has taken on unofficial captain status for LAGC, handling the crowd, sinking clutch putts and generally leading from the front. This simulator stuff might be a young man’s game, but Rose is out to prove it’s an old man’s sport.

Worst Performance: Adam Scott

It was a tough night for Adam Scott at the dish, who began by leaving his routine approach on the par-4 first well short. His tee shots on the 2nd and 5th found the penalty area and bunker, respectively, and he didn’t even scare the hole on a 5-foot birdie putt that would have gotten Boston Common back in the match on the 7th. Needless to say, Scott should sit for a match or two and give Hideki Matsuyama a chance to show his TGL mettle. Speaking of which …

Hideki Matswhoama?: Hideki Matsuyama

OK, we just wanted to make the pun, but BCG have started their maiden TGL campaign with back-to-back losses and we have still yet to see Hideki Matsuyama. Big Green need something, or perhaps someone, to give them a spark, and the record breaking 2025 Sentry winner might be just the guy to keep the WBZ-FM callers at bay for another week.

But, was any of it entertaining?  Or even watchable?

Watchable may be a value judgment, though it does appear to be less watched:

The fifth match of the TGL season was its least-watched yet, though there are some silver linings for the simulator golf league.

Tuesday’s match between Los Angeles Golf Club and Boston Common Golf averaged just 544,000 viewers in the 9 p.m. ET window on ESPN, down 37% from last week’s overtime thriller featuring Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club (864,000 viewers). It was the third time in three weeks that TGL has aired in a different time slot.

These would be their silver linings:

TGL has regularly been able to compete with college basketball from a viewership perspective through its first several weeks, though the tides might be turning some as we approach March. Last week, a North Carolina-Pittsburgh men’s college basketball game averaged 826,000 viewers in the same Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET time slot on ESPN

Through five weeks, TGL has been averaging 810,000 viewers per match, with 42% of its audience coming from the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic, which is on par with what the NBA draws in that demo.

Fair enough, but there's no reason to think it can't go lower... They've benefitted from the curiosity factor, but what is the sustainable level of the audience?  And perhaps, based upon these latest viewership number, we can give up any illusions that folks will tune in to watch Rory?  Just spitballin' again.

Today's Dose of Common Sense - I've always had mixed feelings about Charley Hoffman, likeable enough but he's shared some howlers over the years.  Like JT, he decided to share some thoughts with the Tour's membership, which will quite obvious be aggressively rejected:

Charley Hoffman didn’t pull any punches when he sent a letter to PGA Tour members on Sunday

night to address the rampant slow-play issues, criticize the Aon Swing 5 pathway into Signature Events, and take top players to task for how they are managing their schedules.

“Here’s something else to think about,” Hoffman wrote. “If we truly care about strengthening our Tour, we should be supporting as many PGA Tour events as we can. Many of you keep saying you want to play fewer events, yet you still find time for TGL, Race to Dubai, and other non-PGA Tour events, and that’s going to continue regardless of field size.

“The best competition happens when the best players go head-to-head in a deep, competitive field — not in small, limited-entry events that leave deserving players on the outside looking in. This Tour was built on open competition, where anyone with the game to compete has a chance to prove it against the best. That’s what has made our Tour special for generations, and we need to keep pushing for that.”

Are you taking notes?   In case you're unclear as to my emphasis, that bolding above might help focus.  Deep, competitive fields?  Not exactly capturing the zeitgeist, is he?

Charley apparently didn't get the memo that the game can only grow is Patrick Cantlay gets paid....

Shockingly, Patrick hasn't reached out to Charley:

“It has been positive,” Hoffman said. “Now, I haven’t heard from the top players. I did sort of call out the top players about playing other venues and other things. I’m not saying don’t do that. But there’s a lot of great PGA Tour events and great sponsors that run events that would love to have the top players play on a more regular basis. Everybody gets tired out here, but it’s our job to sort of support the brand, support our product and just play as many tournaments as we can. Also, obviously, the more competition, more storylines, more players in the field, the better.”

Careful Charley, you're threatening their rice bowls....

Rory took his comments personally, and responds by accusing him of looking out for himself:

After his TGL match on Tuesday night, McIlroy addressed Hoffman’s letter and the critiques that were seemingly directed at him.

“I think the thing he forgot to mention is the PGA Tour owns 20 percent of TGL, so he’s criticizing his own product,” McIlroy said. “They also own a good chunk of European Tour Productions, so again — I thought some of the elements of the letter were fine, addressed some issues. He was criticizing the Aon Swing 5. He was sixth in that.

“He talks about having it be for the good of the Tour, but he’s also talking about himself, as well,” McIlroy continued. “I thought a couple of [his thoughts] were pointed at me a little bit because TGL, Race to Dubai, non-PGA Tour events like the Showdown that Scottie and I did in December, I’ve been vocal about not wanting to play quite as much so it seemed like it was pointed at me. Look, what every player has to do is look out for themselves. We have to do what’s best for our own individual careers, and yes, at the back of our mind try to do whatever we can to help the Tour, but I think the best way for any of us to help the Tour is to tee it up and play as best we can.”

Ain't that rich.  the Tour's elite perpetrated a coup that puts the Italian Job to shame, then accused Charley of looking out for No. 1.  He is, but unlike Rory and Tiger, he doesn't have to leverage to bend the Tour to his will.  I find it all quite shameful, so Rory should anticipate more incoming...

More importantly, the Tour has been putting on a dreadful show, and the ratings are reflective of that, in some cases even failing to draw a larger audience than the TGL  Maybe you goys want to think through how it's all working out.

Schedule - I leave Saturday on an epic road trip with my brother and nephew, from Idaho up to British Columbia.  The main objective is three days of heli-skiing, but with stops at places you may never have heard of such as Revelstoke and Schweitzer (in Sand Point, ID).  I have not yet packed, but it will be quite the undertaking just to get on the road.  In December I bought a new video camera that nephew Zack has been learning to use, and I'd of course love to blog our adventure.  The problem is that I just don't know at this point whether I can jam my laptop in for the trip.

Worst case, assuming the laptop stays in Park City, it'll be a full two weeks before I would blog again.  If the laptop does make the trip, then we'll be dependent on Zack to provide short videos or stills to share.  I just don't know at this point, but I'm skeptical that I'll have the luxury of bring the laptop.

The other issue is the lack of snow in BC.  Revelstoke is at this point forecasting all of 1" in the next ten days.  Not sure what that means for our heli outing, but fingers crossed.  Keep the faith and I'll blog as I'm able.