Monday, March 10, 2025

Weekend Wrap - You Had One Job Edition

I dubbed the 2024 Tour Schedule the Faceplant Tour™, falling into that blogger's dilemma of using the good bits too early.... I could go with the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight™, though the field sizes are so small that they might not meet the minimum to be considered, yanno, a gang....

I did watch it, it's just that like NBC's entire audience, I wasn't permitted to see the one shot that mattered....

Not TGL - I'm guilty og belaboring the bit for sure, but perhaps NBC thought we were playing only fifteen holes, like that Monday-night craze sweeping the country.  Anyway, to the actual golf:

He best be careful, this is Florida where theft is still a crime....

As I'm sure you'll have noted, the chip came in hot:

“I knew it was probably going to be, I don’t know, 5, 6 feet by, but I don’t know that you can stop it with any pace right there,” Henley said. “I think Collin hit his a couple feet by. That’s just kind of golf. I mean, sometimes you get a good break like that and it hits the pin and goes in.”

The Tour Confidential panel take a different tack, eschewing the theft angle entirely:

2. Russell Henley chipped in for eagle on the 16th hole to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, beating playing partner Collin Morikawa by one. Did Henley win it, or did Morikawa lose it?

Colgan: Henley won it, but man, Morikawa’s gonna be replaying some of those putts down the stretch in his mind on the trip to Jacksonville. I feel for Collin — he’s been one of the three best golfers alive over the last 16 months, and he’s got no wins to show for it.

Berhow: It might be a little bit of both. Morikawa was one over on the back nine and that’s not how you close golf tournaments, especially when you lead by three at the turn. You could argue Henley got lucky with his eagle chip in on 16 (which would have cruised well past the hole if it didn’t hit the flag) but he also had to be aggressive. Plus, after a bogey on 10, he had birdies on 12 and 14 before that eagle. Three under on the back which included two textbook, smart two-putt pars on 17 and 18? Hat tip to Henley.

Sens: Henley won it with some help from the golf gods. No doubt Morikawa could play the woulda-coulda-shoulda game, but I don’t think he’ll dwell for long on that and he’ll go right back to striping it at Sawgrass. Talk about a good candidate to spoil Scheffler’s attempt at a three-peat.

Not the most illuminating of questions, as it takes 72 holes to separate them by a mere shot.  That chip, which could well have saved Henley two shots by clattering in is the obvious hinge point.  Good thing NBC was all over it, eh?

Still, is there a lack of clarity at NBC as to the nature of their job?  Because...well, in addition to the merits of an NBC eff-up, we have a new contender for the header Hall of Shame:

Cause and effect can challenge many, but NBC's assclownery didn't actually affect the tournament outcome.  They just televise it, though just because it's happening doesn't mean we actually get to see it...

In the end, only one shot mattered at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

And in the end, most of the golf world failed to see it.

The moment arrived on the 16th hole on Sunday afternoon, as Russell Henley stared down the short-sided eagle chip that would change the fortunes of his PGA Tour career. The 16th, a short
par-5 by PGA Tour standards, has long played as the easiest hole relative to par at Bay Hill, so much so that The King himself had it shortened to a par-4 for several years. Sunday was no different. Trailing Collin Morikawa by one, Henley needed a birdie to bring things back to even, which meant he needed to keep his chip close to the flagstick.

The ensuing high, spinning chip Henley popped out of the greenside rough was the kind you might have seen on NBC’s telecast live, had the network been showing golf. But in the moment Henley made contact NBC was not showing golf. It was showing a minute-long Rolex commercial.

Had the Rolex advertisement run for 59 seconds, the golf world might have seen the entirety of the shot that altered Henley’s career and the shape of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in real-time. But it ran for 61, and the golf world saw only Henley’s ball after it skittered across the green and into the cup for an eagle three, veering the telecast from synthy commercial notes into the tournament’s biggest moment like a five-lane sweep into the exit ramp.

In the end, only one thing matters, and that's the commercial load....  The golf is obviously secondary....

The author goes full Zapruder with a timeline, but also has some deeper background:

So, what happened?

It’s easy to point the finger at NBC’s production team for failing to navigate seamlessly in and out of the break, but after rewatching the sequence, there’s not much fat left to trim. From Morikawa’s approach to Henley’s chip is a gap of one minute and 48 seconds. Perhaps NBC could have gotten into the commercial a second sooner after Conners’ missed tee shot on the 17th, when the network went to Brad Faxon for 5 seconds of analysis. But in that moment, Conners was as close to leading the golf tournament as Henley. The decision is hard to second-guess.

Of course, some amount of blame belongs to the whims of live golf, where there are 18 playing fields and as many as 72 balls in play at any moment. Unlike other sports, golf does not stop when its networks go to commercial, which means there is always the chance, however small, that a big moment will be missed entirely. It is largely the responsibility of the professionals employed by networks — an army of producers and directors — to ensure that those commercials are aired judiciously to avoid these slip-ups whenever possible. Often these professionals are good enough that audiences miss only fodder. But sometimes they bet on Russell Henley taking 120 seconds to hit a consequential chip shot and he only takes 108, meaning half the chip doesn’t air. “That’s golf,” as former CBS Golf lead producer Lance Barrow used to say.

No, the bigger issue seems to be the commercial itself. Did Rolex pay for this advertisement to run specifically during this section of the telecast, or was it merely a one-minute spot that needed to run sometime in the final hour or half-hour? If it’s the former, then it seems remarkably short-sighted of the NBC and PGA Tour sales teams to have agreed to these terms, given what we know about the 16th hole and its penchant for providing low scores and tournament-defining moments. If it’s the latter, it’s still short-sighted, because it places a commercial interruption during a stretch of play when the “winning moment” could be anywhere (and arrive at anytime).

All of this raises a larger, more existential question: Is the entertainment value of a thrilling finish not more vital to golf’s continued financial success than another commercial break? Said differently: Don’t be mad at NBC for missing Henley’s chip-in — ask why NBC needed to air a 61-second commercial in a moment of significance in the first place.

On that last bit, everything in golf is currently driven by one simple overriding necessity, to wit, that Patrick Cantlay needs to get paid.

The bigger issue is no doubt that, in funding the current rights contracts, the commercial load renders the broadcasts unwatchable.   That's our current reality, which even makes watching on tape a marginal experience.

That said, while everything said here is true enough, doesn't it miss the larger point?

Golf’s business people will argue that you can have your cake (great golf) and eat it too (advertising dollars), but as golf grows richer, that vision grows more opaque. The margin of error for the NBC production team in navigating three golf shots and a one-minute commercial break was five seconds of analysis and one second of black. Meanwhile, the obligation facing the NBC production team was to feather 61 seconds of advertising between three contending golfers on two holes separated by a single shot. For those in the business of missing nothing, those are not particularly favorable numbers.

Nobody — not fans, NBC’s editorial team or the PGA Tour — is happy with the televised outcome of Henley’s chip, but it’s worth remembering why the possibility of this outcome exists. Golf on TV is ultimately a money-making entity, and for PGA Tour golf that costs upward of $700 million per year, commercial interruptions are how the money is made. The more of them, the larger the profit.

In other words, the real problem here isn’t an inept production but one overburdened by its commercial obligations. Real golf moments will continue to get squeezed from viewers in an environment where NBC is routinely expected to air 18 minutes per hour of commercials to satisfy its profit margins, and in turn pay the PGA Tour its chunk of the $700 million annual rights fee. Whether they’re tournament-deciding moments is anyone’s guess, including those employed to make the hard marriage of timing and obligation.

I think we all understand that not every shot can be covered live, but they can be covered plausibly live.  What I can't understand is why an experienced NBC producer comes out of an extended commercial break showing a ball in motion.... WTF!  Just set up the damn shot on tape, tell us it happened second ago if you must, but show the whole damned shot from start to finish.  What is so hard about that?

Lastly on this event, Eamon Lynch does the hard work that American bloggers are happy not to have to do (at least this morning):

 They're using Arnie much the way Stalin used Lenin....

Elitism is the idea that a select group — let’s say, the uppermost tier of golfers — is entitled to
special privileges and power. Exclusivity, on the other hand, would insist that a certain contingent — let’s say, everyone not deemed part of that uppermost tier — is undeserving of access to those advantages. It’s a fine distinction, one muddied by PGA Tour mandarins, whose Signature events masquerade as promoting the former while actually practicing the latter.

Arnold Palmer was elitist only in the administration of his craft, as both golfer and businessman. And he was anything but exclusive. His career was built on being a consummate Everyman, the guy from working-class Pennsylvania stock who earned what he had. Which makes it all the more lamentable that Palmer’s eponymous tournament has become everything he was not.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational remains one of the Tour’s premier tournaments, but it has clearly been diminished, and not because its founder passed more than eight years ago. Decisions, not death, diluted the API.

The field at Bay Hill used to be 120 strong, with morning and afternoon waves of three-man tee times. Spectators filled bleachers erected behind the practice range and pressed against the fence overlooking the putting green. For the past couple of years, those bleachers have seen about as much use as an ashtray on a Harley-Davidson and space has been easy to find along the fence. With just 72 men in the starting field this week, there was usually no more than a handful of them warming up for fans to watch. The buzz of activity that once characterized this event is gone because the activity is gone, not because Arnold is gone.

Hey, at least they went through the motions of a Friday cut, though I can't imagine the number of players cut was even in double figures.

 But in one sentence Eamon provides the essence of the scam that Rory and Tiger have perpetrated on the Tour's members:

Go back a few years to 2021 B.Y. (Before Yasir) and 120 guys competed for $9.3 million. A decade ago the pot was $6.3 million. This week, 72 played for $20 million.

Forget the purse, it's all about the denominator.  Amusingly, above we spoke of Russell Henley stealing the event, whereas the actual theft is to be found in that field size.

 Eamon again using plain English:

A cash grab has disfigured professional golf and the API bears the scars because that’s how the PGA Tour had to buy the loyalty of a disloyal cohort: its own members. Or at least its elite members, who wanted the rank and file to be excluded from the deepest troughs.

A couple of years on from meeting that ransom demand, the Tour should recalibrate Signatures. There’s a sweet spot for field sizes that’s probably closer to 100, certainly a couple dozen more than the current norm. That would give fans more to watch, broadcasters more to show, and media more storylines to cover. It would permit the inclusion of stars who are commercially relevant (Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler are both absent this week) while not denying spots to rising stars and others deserving. And if top players don’t want to share the purse, pay the lowest finishers less or nothing. (That cuts to the heart of it: top players still want to be paid when they underperform inside the ropes).

Which explains why, in the midst of the PGA Tour-LIV enmity, the format of the LIV events was never criticized.  Why?  because those that stayed were jealous.... They expect to be paid for merely showing up, and seem to be getting their way.  The only chink in the armor is that they're not doing at all well at getting us to watch.

So now the PGA Tour's most important events have all the excitement of a LIV event (or, if you're a retro kind of guy, a WGC event).  And they're waiting for us the thank them.

The Players - I hope you've secured any open containers, because you're about to be shocked:

The 144-player field features 48 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, and representation from 24 countries.

Just a reminder that Scottie Scheffler's 2024 season included only one win against a full field, the Players Championship being that lone example.  That's where the TC panel opted to begin:

1. It’s officially Players Championship week, with Scottie Scheffler headlining the field at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course. He’s won the last two years, how bullish are you on a Scottie three-peat?

James Colgan: Bullish!!! The game hasn’t quite been there for Scottie thus far in ‘25, but it looked closer at Bay Hill than at any point since Pebble Beach. The ball-striking is still there, the relentlessness is still there. Now he’s had a month to shake off the rust of the famed Christmas Day Ravioli injury. Call him Spaghetti Scottie in Ponte Vedra — I think he’s hitting it long and straight enough to lock up three-in-a-row.

Josh Berhow: Few people you can say this about but he’s kinda due, isn’t he? (He last won in December.) He’s been solid this year just hasn’t quite had everything clicking at once. I hope he contends because it’s a great storyline to see unfold next week.

Josh Sens:  He’ll rightfully be the favorite – and I expect him to be in the mix–but three in a row is too outlandish to bet on, even for Scheffler, especially on a course that has historically allowed for so many different styles of play.

I didn't see much at Bay Hill to justify the bullishness, though of course he's such a stud that he'll get back on track at some point.  Though I tend to focus more on that event the second weekend in April...

What’s one storyline you are monitoring at the Players?

Colgan: We have a LIV Golf return!!! Laurie Canter played his way back into major professional golf after leaving for LIV, and played well enough to earn a late invite into the field. As far as I can tell, this is the first time a current or former LIV player will have returned to the fold at a PGA Tour event. I’m intrigued by his performance.

Berhow: Jay Monahan’s annual state of the union presser. Part of me thinks there won’t be much of an update on the state of pro golf’s merger, but another part of me thinks the people deserve some candid answers. This has dragged on long enough. Oh, and the par-5 16th is a hole I like a lot, but it gets overlooked because it precedes the par-3 17th. So I guess I’m excited to watch that and the golf.

Sens: Xander Schauffele does not have a great track record at the Players–not by his standards anyway. He’s just coming off an injury and working on the longest-running cuts-made streak on Tour. I’m curious to see if he keeps that streak alive, and what kind of shape his game is in as we work toward the Masters and the meat of the season.

Hey, I'm just happy to have a full field....  Just remember, the next important full-field PGA Tour event after this one will be....checking notes, the 2026 Players Championship.

Is That What He Said? - This is interesting, though not how I remember Keegan's comments:

Also at Bay Hill, Keegan Bradley has his best finish of the season with a tie for fifth. While he’s not yet near Ryder Cup auto-qualifier status, he has said before that as captain, he would give up that gig if he qualified for the team. We still have lots of time left to sort this all out, but if Bradley keeps it up, who would you pick to replace him?

Colgan: Will clear out the obvious selection first: Rick Pitino. In all seriousness, seems clear that
Furyk would get first crack at it given his leadership experience, but I sorta love the idea of calling Tiger off the bench to rile up the boys. If not, I’m sure Phil is available.

Berhow: Furyk is already one of the vice captains and seems like the obvious answer due to his experience, especially since whomever might replace Keegan will have less time at the helm. James is right, Tiger would be an awesome fill-in, but he declined this originally because he couldn’t commit as much time as he wanted. So unlikely he’d take on the gig with even less time to plan. Bummer.

Sens: Do the rules allow Bradley to make himself a captain’s pick? That would be entertaining. Furyk would be the natural substitute, and they could make it official at a press conference where Bradley, doing his best Bugs Bunny, tells Furyk, “I’m captain, and I say YOU’RE captain.”

I thought what he said, back when we were all shocked at his selection, that he would only be a playing captain is he automatically qualified.  I remember it being along the lines of, "I can't imagine using a Captain's pick on myself."  I don't remember him talking about giving up that captaincy, but I've seen quite enough of "Alas, Poor Furyk" to last a lifetime.

But since we're talking Tiger, anyone notice his absence from this week's field?  He was well enough to enter the Genesis before his Mom passed, and there may not be an easier course to walk than Sawgrass.... Can we dispense with any pretense that he is still an active professional golfer?

I shall release you all here to get on with your week.  I'll see you down the road....

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