A Cautionary Tale

No doubt the phones are ringing off the hook at Adidas HQ, with non-disclosure agreements being executed and a spiffy virtual data room available for the lucky few pre-qualified parties.  This Micheal Johnson article could serve as the Risk Factors section of the offering memorandum, covering those long-forgotten prior golf equipment transactions such as this personal favorite:

Spalding/Evenflo to KKR In 1996 noted private investment firm Kohlberg Kravis

Roberts acquired a majority interest in Spalding and Evenflo, renaming the company Spalding Holdings Corp. Wall Street estimates pegged the amount between $900 million and $1 billion. Although Spalding was a massive sporting-goods company with strength in golf, including the Top-Flite and Etonic brands, the company floundered to service its monumental debt load as an increasingly competitive marketplace in golf along with some business missteps put the company in a precarious position. Eventually the company sold off all its non-golf businesses (to Russell Athletic) as well as Etonic, renaming the remaining the entity Top-Flite.

It's my fave because the Evenflo brand is now so wonderfully obscure... and also because we all love a good train wreck.

It's a great trip down memory lane, and reminds those of us of a certain age of some brands that seemed important at the time.  For instance, I love those Strata balls..... for an hour-and-a-half.  But you'll quickly note that most of these deals weren't big winners, and the same names turn over time and again.

This one, for instance, is probably considered a success story:

Odyssey to Callaway In July 1997, Callaway Golf purchased putter maker Odyssey for $130 million, or nearly four times the company’s annual sales of $35 million at the time. “[We] decided that by the end of 1997 we wanted to provide the golfing public with the best-performing putter in the market and we believe with this acquisition we have accomplished that goal,” said Don Dye, Callaway’s president and CEO at the time. Since the acquisition Odyssey has continued to be among the leaders in the category, with introductions such as its iconic 2-Ball. In 2015 Callaway’s annual report noted that putter sales accounted for $86.3 million in revenue.

You don't need my finely-tuned  Spidey-sense to tell you that that's a loser in a strict financial sense.  Now this is the transaction that most closely matches what's on offer here:

Titleist to Fila Korea

The largest-ever purchase of a golf-equipment company occurred when Fila Korea Ltd. and Mirae Asset Private Equity purchased the Acushnet Company (comprised of the Titleist, FootJoy and Pinnacle brands) for $1.225 billion in 2011. Acushnet remained a standalone operation in Fairhaven, Mass., while also expanding in Asia where golf was growing and even greater potential was possible. Acushnet chairman and CEO Wally Uihlein helped engineer the deal that kept intact the company and brands he nurtured for 20-plus years and allowed him to remain in charge. “If I could have achieved anything when I started here, it would be to get the company in a position where it can sustain the brands, and today that is dictated by the globalization of golf,” said Uihlein at the time of the sale. “Companies that are U.S. centric will be roadkill on tomorrow’s scorecard.”

That deal certainly worked out well, at least for Wally.  But given how few buyers there will be for such a grouping of assets, the smartest thing Forune Brands might have done was to beat Adidas to the exit door.

Tony Covey, d/b/a MyGolfSpy, fills in some background and also offers up a name worth thinking about.  First, they've apparently been trying to sell the company on the QT for a while now:

As you may recall from the last time we discussed the potential sale of TaylorMade, adidas Group had entertained a round (I'm told two, actually) of offers for the company before announcing that a final decision would be made after Q1 and following a strategic review.

Tony adds this about potential buyers:

Potential Buyers

We reported earlier that Bridgestone was a potential buyer. We're told the company had dropped out after the first round of bidding, and we're not sure they'll jump back in now that things are a bit more official. 

Despite persistent rumors, and I suppose wishful thinking, we don't believe Under Armour is potential buyer as it's unlikely adidas would sell to a major competitor. 

The most likely buyer will emerge from the private equity world. That was the case with 5 of the original 6 bidders we heard about.

I agree with him about Under Armour, but for different reasons entirely.  But Bridgestone is interesting speculation...  Obviously they're big enough to do anything they damn  well please.  and they're already in the golf business in a big way.  They're attempt to penetrate the equipment market hasn't made much progress in the U.S., so this could "solve" that problem rather quickly....

On the other hand, it's a really difficult, low-margin business in a flat industry...So we'll pull up a comfortable chair and have a bowl of popcorn at the ready, and enjoy the show...

Thursday Thoughts

The sun'll come out....next week, at the earliest.

Pebble's Fourteenth - The dissemination of information can be a curious thing... For instance, since the 2000 U.S. Open the plans to rebuild the 17th green have been common knowledge, but word on their plans vis-à-vis the arguably more necessary 14th green were clouded in secrecy.

The 14th is a stern Par-5, proof that that term is not an oxymoron for today's best players, but the green has long been a major problem for course set-up, especially for the Open.  People tend to forget that for the Crosby AT&T they only need two pin positions, and the greens are not nearly as firm or fast.

My dear friend Glenn Emanuel has long defended this and the 17th green, and our conversations typically go like this:

Glenn: What's wrong with the hole being Hard?

Me: Hard is fine, it's unfair that's the issue....

What's Unfair About It?: Well, the green won't hold a wedge.

Glenn: yeah, so it's hard....What of it?

Me: It won't hold a well-struck wedge from the best players in the world...

Glenn: So, let them get up and down....

Two things have happened over time to make this green unplayable, first it has shrunk significantly and, second, green speeds have increased alarmingly.  As a result, the entire front half of the green has become a false front, rendering the "pinnable" locations to ....well, one.  Specifically, the back left.

Per John Strege:

"We’re in day three,” Harper said, “and after probably three years of discussions on when we’re going to do this and how we’re going to do this, and looking through 80, 90 years of history and photos, working with Arnold (Palmer) and making sure we do this the right way, we decided to pull the trigger. 

"Through a collection of all the photos, we landed on something we think is the right way. We’re increasing it to the original size and we’re going to keep the general shape to the green. The big cavernous bunker remains, but we’re lowering the top lip that if your ball came down there it would shoot it to the back of the green. We're leveling off the upper part of the green, increasing square footing by going back, and recreateing the pin location back right that no longer had been available to us. "

The green had shrunk from 4,000 square feet to only 3,200, not what we mean when we speak of minimalist architecture.  But as noted above, under U.S. Open conditions there was simply not enough room, as per this noted authority:

And getting the ball to stop on the upper left quadrant has been exceedingly difficult. “The way that little green, at least the left side of it, sits almost up on a pencil, there's maybe like 1,600, 1,700 square feet there,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said in 2010. “And if you miss it, I don’t care if you’re long, short, left, right, it’s no good. You’re going to have issues.” 

Davis has called Pebble’s 14th hole and the 12th hole at Oakmont Country Club, site of this year’s U.S. Open, “the two toughest par 5s that we use in the U.S. Open rota.”

I've long called Pebble the most over-rated golf course in the world.  Of course I do that in part to see peoples reactions, but also because I think the course has too many mediocre holes for it's lofty status.  But it's good to see them addressing the problems that have developed over time, though we won't really see the results of this until 1919....

Now, about that 16th green...

If We All Throw in a Few Bucks... - If anyone has an urge to get into the golf equipment business, here's your chance:

In announcing its otherwise positive first quarter earnings on Wednesday, Adidas revealed that it had decided "to enter into concrete negotiations with interested parties" toward a sale of parts of the company’s golf division. 

Sale talks of Adidas golf brands were formally announced in August, but TaylorMade adidas Golf CEO David Abeles explained that TaylorMade had not been sold in an internal company email in January, according to Internet reports. In April, he also maintained that TaylorMade had the unconditional support of Adidas. But in a change from previous statements, Adidas' potential sale now definitely will include TaylorMade, the perennial industry leader in metalwood sales. 

Adidas currently owns the TaylorMade, Adams, Ashworth and Adidas golf brands. In the announcement, the company said it would retain the Adidas Golf brand, which deals primarily in shoes and apparel. Hainer said the move was part of a shift in focus for Adidas. "The planned divestiture will allow us to reduce complexity and focus our efforts on those areas of our business that offer the highest return," he said.

OK, this is big in our little fishbowl.... No doubt there's an opportunity for schadenfreude, as TM has made a mess of the equipment business, as a cursory glance at the remainder bin at Dick's will confirm.

They were forced to but Adams to resolve a nasty intellectual property case, but then never seemed to know what to do with it.  And I'll go to my grave without understanding their acquisition of Ashworth, but now they want to make it someone else's problem.

Shack devotes some pixels to thinking through who the buyer will be, and this Bloomberg piece frames some of the issues:

Outgoing Chief Executive Officer Herbert Hainer is cleaning up Adidas’s operations as he sets the table for Kasper Rorsted, who takes the reins in October. Adidas got into golf when it bought French ski and skate company Salomon in 1997, but younger consumers are staying away from the game, and it isn’t popular in emerging markets like China and India. Sales plummeted 13 percent last year as the industry has been beset by discounting. 

‘‘The golf market is not growing at the moment but it’s also not falling further,” Hainer said during a call with reporters. The portion Adidas plans to keep is producing solid returns and the company is cutting labor and manufacturing costs, the CEO said.

I find it interesting that they're holding on to the Adidas golf division, the shoes and schmata side of things, meaning that they intend to compete with their buyer.  Here's Shack's take:

I was thinking of a poll on who the possible buyers might be, but it would seem more likely that it'll be a Chinese company like Wanda Group or private equity firm with a name like Majestic or Majestic Elm or Thoroughbred Capital, instead of something sexier, like Under Armour. Thoughts?

My guess is that Under Armour will not be the buyer, but without access to the offering materials that's just a guess.  They don't need the Ashworth brand, and hard goods are a reach for them as well.

I'm a bit surprised by the timing, but see what you think about this:

At the same time, the planned divestiture will allow us to reduce complexity and focus our efforts on those areas of our business that offer the highest return and where we can have the biggest impact in reaching our consumers and winning their loyalty for the adidas and Reebok brands.”

When you're moving resources from TaylorMade to...Reebok, that's quite the vote of confidence for the golf business.

The Olympics, The Yin and the Yang - Which do you want first?  OK, let's go with the modified, limited good news.... 

Luckily, many of the world's top players like Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlory 

remain committed to the Rio games. On Wednesday, McIlroy spoke of his desire for golf's permanent residence in the Olympics. 

"It's obviously being played in Rio this year and it's being played in Tokyo in 2020. I'm not sure if we're going to have another opportunity to win a gold medal after that depending on what happens,” McIlroy said Wednesday at Quail Hollow Club. "I'm not sure if golf is going to have another opportunity to win a gold medal after that."

So you're really excited, eh?  And the more he goes on, the more apparent it is that he's just trying to be a good soldier:

McIlroy later told reporters that, "If we don’t somehow change the narrative of getting people more excited about it...I’m worried." 

McIlroy admitted that Ireland captain Paul McGinley is more excited about the event than he is. But since he considers McGinley a close friend, McIlroy is going down to Brazil to give it his best. 

"It's a week," McIlroy said. "You know, go play four rounds really competitively and try and win a gold medal. And if you do, I don't know how that will stack up against the other things that I've done in my career now, but maybe I might look back in 20 years’ time and a gold medal might be one of my crowning achievements in the game, you never know. So it's an opportunity to do something that you've never done before."

Olympic Golf:  It's a Week....  Not a great rallying cry, is it?  And we have another defection, though no one will criticize this guy:

Marc Leishman has reluctantly withdrawn his candidacy for Olympic selection.

In a heartfelt statement, Australia’s No.3 ranked male golfer said his decision was based purely on the health of his wife Audrey, who’s still in recovery mode after a brush with death in 2015. 

“It is with deep regret that I have informed Golf Australia that I will be unable to represent my country in the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil,” Leishman said. 

“Many of you may know that last April my children and I almost lost my wife, Audrey, to toxic shock syndrome. 

“Since then Audrey has been prone to infection and is far removed from 100 per cent recovery of her immune system.

Extraordinary circumstances for sure, but that leaves the Aussie delegation as Jason Day and ...anyone know?  Bueller?  That's household name and ratings magnet Marcus Frazier, and you can all see where this is heading....

This Is My Shocked Face -  We're all dealing with the current state of the race for the Presidency in our own ways... For me, it's an accomplishment that I'm no longer curled up the corner in the fetal position.... 

We've been seeing some fairly strange endorsements of the presumptive Republican nominee, probably none more so than convicted rapist Mike Tyson.  Hey, that rapist demo has been long ignored...  This one, however, while having some currency, has a logic all its own:

Anyway, former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz seems to think golf course and hotel development is a key asset for any presidential candidate, and said so in his endorsement of Trump, which Trump naturally put on his Twitter feed.

“The main reason I’m endorsing him: I’ve played his golf course [and] I’ve stayed in his hotel,” Holtz said. “He does nothing but go first class in everything, he wants this country to be first class as well.”

My hope had been that we hit the high-water mark of tackiness during the first Clinton administration, but I've hit a bad stretch on all things political.

But you know that "Golf reveals character" meme?  We shouldn't need golf to reveal the character of a man that thinks père Cruz assisted Oswald, but you'll enjoy this Oscar de la Hoya account of The Donald's adherence to the rules of our ancient game:

“I played at his golf course two years ago in Palos Verdes,” De La Hoya told reporters. “I was teeing on the first hole and next thing I know here comes a golf cart. It’s Donald Trump: ‘Oscar, can I play with you?’

“Of course, this is your golf course,” De La Hoya said he responded.

“First ball, [Trump] hits off to the water, gets another ball from his pocket. Hits it off to the left, out of bounds,” De La Hoya said.

Trump said, “Oh, I got another one, just warming up,” De La Hoya recounted.

“Another one to the water. Then the fourth ball he hits -- I know it went to the bushes. But Donald, what he does, he tees off first so he can take off right away. I pipe mine down the middle. So we go off to our ball, and who do we see? Donald Trump, right in the middle of the fairway,” De La Hoya said.

Wow....that so....what's the word?  Clintonian....  The irony, she burns.

Wednesday Woes

On the bright side, at least the weather suits my mood...  After yesterday's results, I'm feeling the Bern.  It's no doubt heartburn or something more serious, but still...

Don't They Have Medal Detectors? - A heartwarming Olympic Golf story... I know, I'm as shocked as you:

Thanks to a remarkable discovery in a farmhouse in northeast Ohio, golf suddenly has

obtained a more tangible link to its Olympic past just in time for its return to the Summer Games after a 112-year hiatus. 

Until a year ago historians believed that none of the individual medals from the golf competition in the 1904 Olympics at Glen Echo Country Club in St. Louis still existed. That changed when the silver medal of H. Chandler Egan, former U.S. Amateur champion, was discovered (along with his team gold medal) in the bottom of a bookcase in the former home of Egan’s daughter in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, about 25 miles southeast of Cleveland. 

“The fact of the matter is that there just aren’t a lot of Olympic golf artifacts out there,” said Brodie Waters, Senior Director, Institutional Advancement, at the World Golf Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Augustine, Fla. “Uncovering these medals is incredibly special and important. These are showpiece items that far and away exceed anything we’ve seen before.”

Though this news of course comes with a smidgen of remorse for that which could have been.  I refer, of course, to that team golf medal.... A century of further enlightenment and our governing bodies saddle us with a dreary stroke play competition... 

And Shack also shares with us this brief bit about Chandler Egan, as in everything you think you know is wrong:

Longtime readers know about Egan, the actual architect of Pebble Beach as we know it who, for mysterious reasons, is ignored by historians who apparently aren't as enchanted with his story as they are with the Neville/Grant/amateurs-make-good story. But Egan's life in golf was pretty impressive: Harvard man,Olympic medalist, U.S. Amateur champion, NCAA individual champion (and three time team winner), golf architect, beloved friend of Bobby Jones, etc.

To the extent that the Olympics provides a day in the sun for Chandler Egan, it will have provided a small service.

In other Olympic threads, Shack links to this Doug Ferguson piece about NBC/Golf Channel's busy summer.... Johnny might actually have to sleep in a hotel bed, the inhumanity of it all.  But this is noteworthy:

The Olympic viewing schedule was released and if you were worried about missing anyone in the 60-player fields, do not worry: 8 1/2 hours of coverage each day with 9 hour broadcasts set for the final rounds of both men's and women's competitions.

While those viewing windows will lead to lower Nielsen numbers, they shoud accumulate nice total audiences and more importantly, give golf fans nothing to complain about in the witholding/tape delay department. At least, that's my working theory.

Egads, haven't we suffered enough?  Please tell me that the Rory Omega commercial is no longer in the rota....

Wither Jordan -  I might not have particularly enjoyed Jordan's bare-chested look in The Bahamas, but he certainly did.... and it turns out that he's getting lots of support from unexpected quarters:

"The 2016 Masters will always come back up," Spieth said in a press conference at FedEx Ground Headquarters in Memphis, where the company donated $1 million to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in his name. "It will keep coming back up, even if I were to go onto next week and win and to go onto Oakmont and produce clutch shots and win. It's still going to come up when I get back to Augusta. I understand that." 

"I'm not taking it very hard. I've got ladies at the grocery stores putting their hand on me and going, 'Really praying for you; how are you doing?' I'm like, my dog didn't die. I'll be OK. I'll survive. It happens. It was, again, unfortunate timing."

And this:

"I laugh about it now,” Spieth said. “I really do.”

I believe you, Jordan, because right now I'm laughing about Hillary v. Trump.  really, I am....

Survey Smiles -  SI is back with their anonymous survey of Tour Players (all three major Tours), and the questions might actually be more fun this go around.  A reminder that last year's version included Rickie as most overrated (technically tied with Poults), and we know how that one turned out...

So, let's dip our toe in and see what we find:

Will Tiger Woods win another PGA Tour event?

PGA TOUR

Yes 42%

No 27%

Don't know 31%

Loose Lips: "I'm optimistic, but running out of reasons."

Aren't we all, LL?

This one remind sme of the old "Now, we're just haggling over the price" joke:

Does the caddie deserve 10% of a winner's check? 

PGA TOUR

Yes 67%

No 33%

Loose Lips: "Maybe more like 8%."

This one is mean-spirited, so of course I love it:

Would you rather be paired with Bubba Watson or Kevin Na? 

Watson 62%

Na 16%

Neither 22%

Loose Lips: "At least Kevin will be quiet."

This one is far closer than I would have expected: 

Who would make a better Ryder Cup captain, Tiger or Phil? 

Phil 49%

Tiger 44%

Neither 7%

Loose Lips: "I want to play for Tiger. Phil, not so much."

Fun stuff for sure.... For this one, I'll go to Geoff's post:

The other shocking result that speaks to the vitality of the almighty dollar: players would rather win The Players than an Olympic medal.

The Players or a gold medal?

The Players 62%


Gold 38% 

The Texas Open or a gold medal?

Gold Medal 76%


Texas 24%

C'mon, Geoff, that's way too easy and not remotely fair... In fact, I'd argue that they mostly get it right.  They favor an established event with a ten-year exemption and the guarantee of playing privileges over the speculative value of an Olympic Gold.  I know you want the Olympics to be special, but that's extremely hypothetical at this juncture...

Lastly, this question is just good fun:

If you were to be in a bar fight, who would you want to have your back?

PGA TOUR

Ernie Els 15%

Keegan Bradley 9%

Ángel Cabrera 7%

Pat Perez 5%

Brooks Koepka 4%

No one out here 18%

Others 42%

Loose Lips: "I've heard some bar stories about Ernie."

That's just great, but the Big Easy?  I may need to have a beer with LL....No surprise, but there's smiles to be found in the comment thread:

Vikings?  Good thinking... Not surprisingly, John Daly gets lots of love, as does Ray Floyd, but only back in the day.

But this misogynist needs to undergo some sensitivity training:

Quick Hits -

Prayers Please - Stewart Cink steps away from PGA Tour after wife’s breast-cancer diagnosis

Just Because You Can Do Something Doesn't Mean You Should - Watch this stop-motion, LEGO-constructed video of Graham DeLaet playing golf

Tuesday Tidbits

Biblical rains have cancelled just about everything.....But neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night... eh, what am I thinking, those things increase the frequency of blogging cause they keep me indoors.

Zurich Zeitgeist - I didn't see a minute of the golf this week, though I'm guessing that 300 million Americans could say the same.  But they did finish (54 holes, so that's a loose definition of the word) and gave the lads a chance to move on:

AVONDALE, La. (AP) Brian Stuard made steady golf pay off on a waterlogged course

in the haunting cypress swamps outside New Orleans. 

The 33-year-old Stuard birdied the final hole of a largely unspectacular final round to sneak into a three-way playoff on Monday, then beat Jamie Lovemark on the second extra hole to capture his maiden PGA Tour triumph at the Zurich Classic. 

Stuard never bogeyed a hole throughout the tournament on the long (7,425-yard), par-72 TPC Louisiana course, which was drenched with more than 4 1/2 inches of rain during the tournament. Weather delays on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday not only forced a Monday finish but also led officials to shorten the tournament to 54 holes.

Wow!  Makes a fellow wish he hadn't gone with the Biblical descriptor in the lede....  Shoulda kept my powder dry, in a manner of speaking.   But that's a lot of rain in a place the buries their dead above ground because...well, water table.

If you've hot heard the name, I'll let the man himself explain:

Stuard's best previous PGA Tour finishes were a pair of second places in Mexico, one in 2010 and the other in 2014. He arrived in New Orleans with conditional status on the PGA Tour, meaning he could only play in tournaments that had room for him when enough higher-ranked players skipped the event. His victory not only earned him $1.26 million, it also gives him a two-year exemption allowing him to play in majors and any other Tour event he wants. 

''I've always been, I guess, a journeyman kind of player, just always grinded it out,'' said Stuard, who became the seventh first-time winner in New Orleans in the past 11 years. ''You just had to have the confidence to say, `One day, it's going to be your time.'''

Nailed it in his first try.  I might have gone with rabbit, but journeyman works.... But I always enjoy these stories because this game is just brutal.

How brutal?  Watch this video of Cody Gribble's demise in this weekend web.com event.  Did you see where he landed that ball?

And I'm so old, I remember when one of the playoff losers was tagged with the dreaded Can't-Miss label:

Long past the expiration date on the can’t-miss label he wore at the outset of his professional career, Jamie Lovemark is still demonstrating that he can miss. 

Lovemark, 28, missed a 10-foot birdie putt to win, left it short, on the last hole of regulation in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Monday. He missed another 10-footer there to win on the first hole of a playoff with Brian Stuard and Byeong-Hun An.

He's showing up on some leaderboards, so I'll be rooting for him to revive his career.

The Ultimate Mulligan - Jaime Diaz is a far nicer man than I, but no doubt you'll need a moment to recover from that shock.  He demonstrates his humanity in discussing John Daly's Senior Tour Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (h/t Shack for the strikeouts - how stupid is that name?) debut this week:

But when a professional athlete has prodigious physical talent, with the captivating

power and larger-than-life qualities of a potential folk hero (mixed with a fragility and self-effacement that makes him sympathetic no matter how badly he screws up), he gets chances. 

Golf wise, this might be John Daly’s last chance. The PGA Tour Champions is a small stage that doesn’t have room for many sideshows. Except in the case of Arnold Palmer, for whom the then-Senior Tour was basically created in 1980, galleries for the 50-and-older league don’t follow non-contenders. If the legend of Long John is to add a happy chapter, he’s going to have be on the leader board come Sundays. 

That won’t be easy. Daly hasn’t played well in a while, especially since losing his PGA Tour card in 2007. There have been injuries and money problems and erratic scheduling. He can still hit it long and true; Daly led the tour in driving distance 11 of 12 years starting in 1991, and beginning in 1999 he averaged at least 300 yards off the tee for almost a decade while no other player passed 300 until 2003. But Daly’s wedge play has lost its sharpness, and his putting has become problematic. 

“It’s not good,” Daly told PGATour.com about the state of his game. “So I’m going to really work my butt off to get it back.”

There's little question that the round-belly tour needs something good to happen, as it's disappeared entirely from golf's radar screen.  Could it be that the market has been flooded with far too much product?  Nah, what was I thinking?

Jaime is too good a journalist to omit what he calls the "messiness", and he adds his own anecdotes to it.  But his tone is wistful and hopeful, and I'm more inclined to make you remove a grudge from my cold dead hands.

Bob Harig  also sees the upside, but only after quantifying that messiness:

But as he has turned 50 last week, many of the numbers associated with Big John were not typically so flattering, such as the numerous warnings, fines and suspensions that have littered his path over the years. 

Seven times the PGA Tour ordered him to undergo counseling or enter alcohol rehab, according to a personnel file that was only made public because of a lawsuit. 

Eleven times he was cited for conduct "unbecoming a professional," 21 times for "failure to give best effort." The missed cuts and withdrawals were only outdone by the sponsor exemptions that tournaments continued to give him, his drawing power still that great.

It's that Blackjack that really irks me, understanding that each time he phoned it in he was taking up a precious spot in the field that someone more worthy, that might actually try, could have used.  To take today's example, he could have kept Brian Stuard from having a tee time...

 I'm man enough to admit that I didn't know this story:

That is the thing about Daly: He has a soft, generous side that is often overshadowed by all the dubious decisions. He often partakes in clinics and makes himself available for tournaments' charities. It is often forgotten, but during that 1991 PGA Championship, a spectator was struck by lightning and killed; Daly set up a college fund for the victim's two daughters by donating $30,000 of his winnings. Nobody knew that story for nearly 15 years.

But think how generous he could be if he weren't broke?  If he applied himself and took his craft seriously, he could do a world of good...  I don't exactly wish him ill, but when he says above that he's going to "work his butt off", I'm inclined to be just a wee bit skeptical.

And this won't increase the chances of my tuning in:

How great is that? If there was even more reason to go see Daly tee it up on the PGA Tour Champions, a Daly bobblehead seals the deal. 

The event also has a Loudmouth pants day, in which it's encouraging fans to wear the brand of pants Daly does to give away prizes. 

Call it the JD effect.

It certainly does seal the deal for me, just not perhaps as the writer envisions.

A Different Kind of Mulligan - If I have to pick stories from the Senior Tour Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions, I'll go with this impromptu nuptial one over Long John any day of the week.  It takes place at Bass Pro Shop event and involves Scott McCarron and his longtime squeeze, Jenny Klein:

During dinner that night, Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris, who also owns the Big

Cedar Lodge, stopped by the couple’s table and confirmed that the chapel was available for a Saturday evening wedding. While McCarron played his Saturday round, Klein went into Branson and found a gown and bought two rings at Kohl’s. 

Faxon had a friend who lived in Branson and knew a harpist. Morris provided the resort’s bagpipe player. The resort also supplied a wedding cake and hors d’oeuvres. The Stadlers pitched in with champagne and the Frosts with the wine. “Pretty soon we had a party,” McCarron said. “By the time I was on the ninth hole, the wedding was planned. It was how to plan a wedding in 24 hours.”

Now that's what I call a happy ending...

Shipnuck Fatigue -  I'm getting a little tired of this Alan Shipnuck fellow, first he gets to play in The Swallows and now gets a sneak preview of Monterrey Peninsula CC's restored Dunes Course.  Yanno, at some point you've played enough great golf courses and you didn't build that.... What?  Sorry, wrong blog...

But he does seem to be a lucky bastard, you'll agree:

America's next great golf course is here: the reimagined and reborn Dunes Course at

Monterey Peninsula Country Club. The name will be familiar to enthusiasts of the old Crosby Clambake, as from 1947-64 the Dunes was one of the tournament's host venues. In recent years MPCC has developed a national profile as its other course, the Shore, has joined the Pebble Beach Pro-Am rota and become one of the favorite tracks among PGA Tour pros because of its artistic holes and endless views. It was the success of the Shore renovation -- overseen by the late architect-poet Mike Strantz at the turn of the century -- that helped convince MPCC it was time to polish its other jewel. 

The Dunes dates to 1925 and has a strong pedigree. The course was drawn up by Seth Raynor but he died in the early phases of construction. Fortuitously, Dr. Alister MacKenzie was working on Cypress Point, just a few bends down 17 Mile Drive, and his collaborator Robert Hunter oversaw the completion of the Dunes, which like Cypress winds its way through the forest and down to the sea. But unlike Cypress Point’s sandy soil, the Dunes was built largely on clay. Back when it used to rain in California, drainage could be a problem. In the late 1990’s MPCC retained Rees Jones to help avoid the winter quagmires.

At least that last bit cheers me up, another Reestrocity has been removed from the face of the planet.  There's a slideshow here, and the place looks to die for.  

Think I'm being a tad rough on the Open Doctor?  My first attempts at writing about golf history and architecture were published on Larry Gavrich's website a few years back.  Included was this review of Sleepy Hollow after playing in the Met Open Pro-Am with Big Break Anthony.

Admittedly I'm taking you down this path with an ulterior motive, as two of our Willow Ridge professionals are currently playing in a match-play event at Sleepy Hollow, and I mentioned the desecration of Sleepy's most memorable hole, the Par-3 16th, a classic C.B. Macdonald "Short" hole.  Here's what it looked like initially:

 

And it looks much like this today, fortunately:



It's in the middle where things went awry, as both the great Tillinghast and the dreadful Rees turned a classic into...well, you decide:

Tilly's on the left isn't great, but Rees had to add those strange saucer-like bunkers of which he is so oddly enamored, creating the first known golf course emoji.  

Sorry for the detour, but you have to admit it was worth the trip, no?

Weekend Wrap

Not the kind of weekend that needs to be tied up with a bow for my sophisticated readers, but we'll pick at corpse just a bit...

The Big Squeezy - It turns out that when you play golf in a locale below sea level and they have heavy rains, well who knew?

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans will have a 54-hole finish on Monday. 

On Sunday, play was yet again delayed due to inclement weather, this time in the middle of the morning after a 7:30 a.m. local (central) re-start. Action would be suspended the remainder of the day, with no player getting through his third round, and the leaders only moving through five holes. 

Third-round (i.e. final-round) action will resume Monday at 7 a.m., with the shortened tournament expected to be completed late in the morning.

It's hard not to root for Jhonny Vegas, both because of the too-good-to-be-true name, as well as in-your-face, Hugo Chavez, rise from poverty.  Other than that, who really cares?

Jenny From the Hood - It was supposed to be Gerina from the hood, but the collar got a tad bit tight:

IRVING, Texas (AP) Jenny Shin won the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour victory, pulling away for a two-stroke victory at Las Colinas. 

Making her 135th tour start, Shin closed with a 4-under 67 to finish at 14-under 270. The 23-year-old South Korean player went to high school in Torrance, California, and won the 2006 U.S. Girls' Junior.

''Still in awe. Nothing has registered yet,'' Shin said. ''I wanted to talk to my mum, but I was on the verge of tears, so I hung up without really her answering the phone. I think it will hit me as soon as I talk to my mum.''

For those who care about such things, the headline is the continuing inability of Gerina Piller to get to the clubhouse.  That crucial putt she made in the Solheim Cup was supposed to propel her to the next step on the career ladder, but she was clearly uncomfortable in trying to close things out yestersay, as well as the prior week.

McGinley, Unplugged -  Irish Olympic Golf Cheerleader Paul McGinley shared his thoughts with Dermott Gilleece, including this predictable bit:

"As a realist and in the knowledge that I'm not going to change people's views, I'm still

sad that some players have decided not to go," said McGinley yesterday. "But I'm very confident Rory will play, because he has told me so. There wasn't the hint of indecision when we talked recently, prior to the Masters. 

"Rory acknowledges the Olympics as the biggest sporting event in the world and he wants to be part of it. He wants to represent Ireland and he wants to represent the sport of golf. It will be great to be involved in the Olympics and it will be a tremendous achievement if we come away with any colour of a medal."

That bit about representing Ireland is far more complicated than most might imagine, but we don't fault the young man for choosing the logical path.  Though he might be more excited were he entered in the Dead Lift or anything that might actually draw eyeballs....  But the piece had some other notes of interest.  Folks don't seem to really have picked up on how weak the fields will be, so this snippet might illuminate things:

For men, a country with four players or more in the top 15 in the Official World Rankings may enter four competitors. As it happens, this applies only to the US which, on current rankings, would have Jordan Spieth (2), Bubba Watson (4), Rickie Fowler (5) and Dustin Johnson (8) competing. Above that, nations are capped at two, and they could be down to one, depending on ranking. 

If the teams were to be finalised this morning, there would be no place for Patrick Reed, the current 12th-ranked player. But the field would include Adilson da Silva, ranked 335, from the host country, Brazil. Several other countries, including Netherlands, Italy and Zimbabwe, would also have only one representative.

Cry For Me, Zimbabwe, but does that put things in better perspective?  And yet, we're told that the players should take this seriously... then there was this:

Geographically, the women's scene couldn't be more different, with the US among the rank and file compared with the dominant South Koreans, who have currently no fewer than seven players in the world's top 15. Which means they will have four representatives in Rio while the US will have two. 

Female concerns about the Zika virus prompted current world No 2 Inbee Park to question if the Olympics "are being held in the right place."

The ladies field is even weaker due to the South Korean dominance, but the ladies are more enthusiastic for obvious reasons.  The men don't really need this but the ladies will try anything to promote their game...

And while this acknowledges the issue, I think the logic is back-assward:

"So it's crucial that we get through this comeback effort satisfactorily, with a tried and trusted format everybody is familiar with. When that's done and dusted, you can then contemplate a little bit of variation in the future, but only after you've got it back on the agenda and on a solid footing. 

"But if more players decide to pull out, we cannot look to further golf in the Olympics as a foregone conclusion. The International Olympic Committee might question whether it should continue to be an Olympic sport if the top players don't want to play. 

"On the other hand, if all goes well in Rio, I'll be very surprised if the organisers are not more creative down the line. Either way, we have to look on this as a glorious opportunity to grow the game."

And if Jason Day wins by 12 over Adilson da Silva?  Or, heaven forfend, Lydia contracts the Zika virus?

I believe that the decision for 2024 will be made before the 2020 Olympics, meaning that this summer's event will be all that can be assessed.  It may well be that the benevolent dictators of our game guessed wrong, and don't ever get the chance to get "more creative" because there is no "down the line."

Tour Confidential Bits - Some fun musings from the gang this week, including a remarkably cogent set of thoughts from one of our favorite piñatas, for instance:

1. John Daly will start a new chapter in his career this week when he makes his Champions tour debut at the Insperity Invitational outside of Houston. Looking back at what Daly has accomplished—two major wins and an Everyman, rip-it-and-grip-it appeal that has brought untold new fans to the game—does JD deserve consideration for a bust in the World Golf Hall of Fame?

Joe Passov.: If the World Golf Hall of Fame creates a Novelty Wing, sort of a sideshow attraction, John Daly is a slam dunk. Otherwise, forget it. I loved watching JD gripping it and ripping it, both in his heyday and beyond. However, the same issues that kept him from making a single Ryder Cup team, despite two majors, will keep him out of the hall.

Who are you and what have you done with Travelin' Joe?  That answer is far too sensible and, dare I say it, funny, to be the bearded one...  The carnival sideshow metaphor is spot-on, though as the other writers note the standards have been so lowered (Freddie, call your office) that the question can't be considered absurd.

 What's especially fun is that the other lads start riffing on Joe's suggestion to great effect:

Sens: Ok. I'll start, Joe. Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. Word has it he plays with two gloves. Or maybe Eamonn Darcy for a swing that makes Furyk's look conventional.

Passov: Josh, I'll give you 10-time Tour winner Ky Laffoon (once took a pistol from his trunk and shot his putter three times) and Johnny Bulla (thrice a runner-up in majors, he played with a golf ball sold at Walgreens) and raise you a Moe Norman, the eccentric Canadian. When once told the hole was a "Drive and an 8-iron," he hit 8-iron from the tee, then smoked a driver onto the green.

Joe, you're da' man!  Where has this been all these years?  Then there was this:

2. Davis Love III told our Ryan Asselta last week that he would consider making Tiger Woods a playing-captain at the Ryder Cup in September if Woods returns this season and is "playing well." If you’re in Love's shoes, how well would Woods need to be playing for you to use one of your four picks on him?

Passov: No matter how unlikely it might appear right now that Tiger will be in that kind of form by August, it can't hurt to dangle that carrot. Having said that, the exhausting amount of speculating and second-guessing about captain's picks should be extinguished as soon as possible. Yes, it gives us all something to talk about, but those picks have had zero positive effect on U.S. outcomes over the past decade. We'd be better off picking out of a hat.

This is more the Joe we know and love, utilizing both sides of his mouth to great effect.  To be fair to Davis he was asked a specific question, but it was an unforced error (though not one of any significance).  Given the rampant speculation about Captain's picks, it would have been far better to not feed that beast anything.... 

Then the inevitable Tiger query:

3. Whispers that Tiger Woods might return to the Tour at the Wells Fargo Championship next week proved to be just that. From what you've seen and heard from Woods over the past couple of weeks, when do you think we will see him back in action.

Passov: I watched him up close at the Bluejack National opening this past Monday, playing his first holes since August. It was fun to see him swinging away, walking without a limp. Yet, he admitted to David Feherty that he was rusty, and that his speed and power needed to come back. He's just about there, but a month sounds about right. I'll go with Mark's pick of Memorial, the first week of June.

Well, Joe actually saw the guy play and walk, but that gives him one event before the beastly Oakmont.   We've seen Tiger attempt this before, but that's just a really difficult path, especially if he doesn't get in four rounds at Muirfield Village.

And this follow-up to one of our bonus threads from yesterday:

4. Kevin Kisner was suspended from his home club, Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, S.C., for filming a Vice Sports video that showed him and his buddies racing golf carts and guzzling beers at the club. Did the punishment fit the crime?

Passov: I'm completely confused as to how this "video" was greenlighted in the first place. I mean, the club had to know about it, right? After watching the video, I wasn't appalled with anything, even as I'll defend any club's rights to enforce its rules. Sure, it was boys acting like boys, but they didn’t do anything that isn't done at any other club I know of. Maybe the cart race at the beginning was foolish, as somebody really could get hurt, or property damaged ... but drinking beer? Gambling? At Bushwood? In Casablanca? I’m shocked, shocked!

Sens: As John Daly once said, "I hate them rules and crap." But the club has every right to have them and to enforce them. Kisner being a Tour pro gives him no special exemption. Guys in his salary bracket already get enough of them around tax time.

Of all the gin joints in the world... A combined Caddyshack-Casablanca daily double, well played, Joe.  

5. Golf stats whiz Mark Broadie computed the win probability for a hypothetical golfer with a fixed skill at most of the PGA Tour stroke-play events from 2011-15. His conclusion: The PGA Championship is the toughest tournament to win. Do you agree?

Van Sickle: I could not disagree more with Mr. Broadie. Due to the usual summer heat, the PGA's greens are usually watered to keep them alive. Thus the greens are receptive. You saw Jason Day get to 20 under par last summer at Whistling Straits, a record score, and he needed it to beat Jordan Spieth. I don't know how you define toughest to win but since the PGA often has the easiest scoring conditions, it's definitely not the toughest. The U.S. Open is more difficult, the Masters has more pressure and risky holes and the British Open carries the weight of history. I don't get it.

Read Broadie's piece for yourself if you have similar qualms, as I certainly do...  though I think Gary has been distracted by a shiny object above, as easier scoring conditions doesn't necessarily make an event easier to win.  

The biggest surprise to me is that Masters is No. 7, with a field that rivals the Olympics for depth.... of course, the difficulty there is garnering that precious invite.

It's Different Out Here - If you watch any of the Golf Channel's LPGA coverage, you've seen their ubiquitous ad campaign featuring some of their most visible players.

I caught this one yesterday:

Now this campaign is well targeted to the more personal appeal of the ladies, with one huge caveat.  They need to be a little quicker to rotate new spots in though, because I vividly remember them endlessly running these featuring Yani Tseng long after she had gone to her dark place.  And the above spot makes me wonder whether Michelle is, in fact, still on tour....

Bonus Sunday Content

Rain has derailed the Willow Ridge Opening Day festivities, allowing us to spend some unscheduled time together....I know, but you can thank me later.  But a warning, I'm in an unusually existential mode, so reader beware...

A Dissenting View - Unsurprisingly, this headline got a click from your humble correspondent:

Olympic golf growth ‘bullshit’, says Wilkie

I had naturally assumed that Wendell Wilkie was long dead, but let's read on to see who this guy might be...

Olympic legend David Wilkie has dismissed the suggestion that the Games will grow golf globally, describing it as ‘absolute bullshit’.

OK, it seems they're using "legend" in the loosest possible sense, 'cause I've never heard of the dude...

Speaking to bunkered.co.uk, the 62-year-old Scot – a winner of Olympic gold in the 200m breaststroke at Montreal in 1976 – said professional golf should not be in the Games, and called out Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. Player recently said golf’s inclusion in Rio de Janeiro would ‘undoubtedly’ grow the game, while Nicklaus referenced the boost the sport could have in nations like China, India, Russia and Brazil.

He's a Scot so one assumes he's not intractably hostile to our sport, so what's his beef?  He leads with this:

Tempting to snark about the porn, 'stache, but in
all fairness it was the 70's.

“I think it’s wrong for those players to say there aren’t enough Indians or Africans playing the game without realising the impact and environmental damage a golf course would do in those countries,” said Wilkie. “You just have to go to those underdeveloped countries in terms of golf and look at the amount of money it would take to build a golf course and the destruction it would cause of forests. It’s utter rubbish to pretend that, by making golf part of the Olympic Games, you’re going to attract a poor guy in India to play. They just can’t afford it.

OK, he's gonna go with the environmental and poverty angles, is he?  I'll engage his issues in a sec, but let's dispense with some other nonsense first, specifically this about Gary and Jack's motives:

“I think they’re just looking after their own psyche in the sense that they want to build more golf courses because of the money they’ll get paid for designing them.”

Geez, do you really need to go after our Golf Gods?  I'm as cynical as the next guy, but even when I disagree with the elder statesmen, there's no need to call them money'grubbers, is there?  Player and Nicklaus were lucky enough to create unbelievable lies for themselves in our game, and it's the most natural thing in the world that they'd want to expand such opportunities for others.  To me it's a poker tell that he needs to buttress his arguments with personal invective about their motives....

So, let's engage those arguments.... first, on the environment.  Golf courses use chemical fertilizers and may use clean water that's in scarce supply in certain areas of the world.  That said, environmentalism is the ultimate luxury good, and the countries he cites are very poor and, not coincidentally, environmental nightmares.  Golf will not despoil the Chinese environment, because the Communist Party got there first... And if you're concerned about the effects of the Rio golf course, may I suggest that you watch five minutes of the yachting competition.  Golf is the least of anyone's concern...

And this seems to be the gist of his economic argument:

“Golf doesn’t need any stimulation, it doesn’t need a wider audience, and if people in these countries are going to play golf, it’ll never, ever filter down to the poorer people so I think what they’re saying is absolute bullshit.

Hmmmmmm..... obviously there's some truth there, but to what end?  Golf is inevitably an expensive game, after all it requires a rather sizable parcel of land for its play.  And yet, we've always seen the emergence of players from poor countries, think Roberto De Vincenzo to Jhonattan Vegas.  And not all of these world class players are from their respective elites, but rather the mere existence of a golf club exposes a wide range of people to the game.

Golf is not responsible for the ills of society, and it's a bit rich (pun intended) to hold it responsible for fixing such ills.  When we promote our game in third-world countries we hope that it will enrich that society over time, but it can't change conditions on the ground in any immediate sense.  But that's an unrealistic ask...

Wilkie also has a rather idiosyncratic definition of an Olympian as one that will stay the full two weeks... Odd that, given that the field size for golf is so constrained because of the absence of available rooms in the Olympic Village.  It may be that the Games have changed some since his idealized involvement, but let's also remember that the good citizens of Canada are still paying the bill for that boondoggle.

It's nonsensical to criticize the powers-that-be for trying to grow their game.  That's their mandate, and while I have many criticisms of their methods, the objective seems beyond reproach.

Millennial Mishegoss - We've got Shack in full rant mode for you, but first we need to backfill the story line for you. It starts with this seemingly innocuous Vice Sports video:

 Apparently, shooting that video led to Kisner and his posse being suspended:

The crime?  As best anyone seems aware, it was the cart racing....  the original story didn't much interest me, for reasons that seem obvious.  Clubs have rules and, while the enforcement thereof is their private matter.  And quite frankly, while the punishment may not seem to fit the crime, the fact that they would enforce it against a PGA Tour professional is kinda cool.

Along come Mike Buteau to over-interpret this incident in the context of golf's alleged problem with millennials:

Then somebody like Kisner goes out and makes a cool video, hanging out with his boys

at the club, drinking some beer and having some fun. That leads the non-golfing public to think that maybe golf isn’t such a fuddy-duddy sport after all. Then he gets suspended for having a little fun and that fuddy-duddy image of the sport among non-traditional golfers gets validated. Yes, it’s clear that Kisner and his buddies were being a bit reckless and could have damaged club property. Everybody understands that he broke the club’s rules and there’s a price to pay for that. 

To Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation, Kisner’s suspension serves as the perfect example of golf’s “old guard” clashing with the emerging “new guard.” 

“That’s a really good example of the balancing we’re trying to adapt to,” Mona said. “On one side, when you join a club you know what the rules are. I can see why they took the action they did. On the other side, when you’re talking about the need to bring this new generation into the game, that is exactly an incident where you might say ‘hey, if we’re going to be more welcoming to that generation and we’re going to change our image from a stodgy game played by upper, middle-class white males, to more of a cool game played by everyday people, then you could argue about something like that being fine.’ That’s exactly the conundrum.”

Got a little whiplash there, as it was quite an abrupt transition from "There's a price" to whatever...  And he doesn't touch on the fact that there's breaking the rules and then there's breaking the rules on video to be disseminated to a wide audience....

Then there was this from a millennial lover:

He said he’d even welcome a backwards-hat-wearing-headphone-listening 20-something onto the very same fairways he plays. 

“As long as they’re not slowing us up or interfering with our game in some fashion, let them do what they want to do,” he said. “I tell my friends that, too. What difference does it make if the group ahead of us is drinking beer, listening to music and having a good time as long as they’re not interfering with us. You have to be adaptable.”

OK, but what I find amusing in items of this ilk is ignoring that one of those is not like the other.... I refer of course to the music.  That's exactly where they will interfere with the others on the golf course, unless they've got the earbuds in, which creates it's own issues.... 

Here's part of the Shack rant in response to the above excerpt:

I'd ask though, does that private club have an adaptable membership program for someone under 35 who is not the child of a wealthy parent, but who loves the game? In most major cities, such programs are rare and even at clubs in trouble, the desperation to protect existing member "value" indicates that affordable access to halfway-decent continues to be far more problematic for golf's future than suspending someone for having a cart race. 

Golf's millennials have developed very much of an Us vs. Them attitude, though I'd argue the rise of Bernie Sanders' message suggests this attitude clash is an economic matter separate of golf. Though certainly some of the generational tension stems from a divide created by the dated atmosphere they find at golf facilities or or how antiquated some rules appear. But one of my favorite millennials, GolfDigest.com's Alex Myers, starts the Golf Digest podcast by noting the show originates from One World Trade Center, "overlooking dozens of courses that would never have us as members." 

Oh they'll take you Alex, if you're willing to pony up $200,000 and $15,000 a year in dues. But golf now faces a generation that is eschewing the ownership society in part because of more economical ways of doing things (i.e. Uber), and in part because they simply can't afford the price tag attached to contagiously fun, satisfying golf access. 

And that, I believe, is golf's real millennial conundrum.

Where to begin?  

Strangely, I agree with Geoff's conclusion while taking exception to everything above cited in support thereof.  There are serious economic issues underlying our game, and they inevitably do affect participation rates.  As noted in the item above, this can hardly be otherwise, given the nature of our expansive venues combined with sluggish economic growth.

Geoff no doubt would disagree with me on the subject of labor costs and real estate values being driven higher by restrictive land use regulations, most notably in his coastal California locale.  As for the economic issues, the irot of the appeal of Bernie Sanders seems lost on him as well.  I'm sure that Socialism would work this time, because it has such a good track record.

But his criticism of the clubs seems especially misguided and really quire naive.  Clubs are notoriously poorly managed, and it's no doubt fair to ask whether there aren't additional options.  But he's awfully dismissive of these intractable issues, as if it's just a bunch of old white men with their heads in the sand.

Clubs are facing a hostile environment, but are acutely aware of the challenges in replenishing the membership.  Most clubs do have associate membership policies for the children of members, and while those would be castigated as the kids of wealthy parents, they're far more likely to remain in the club for the long-term.  I can see the appeal of finding those under 35 that passionately love the game and might in the future become full members, but there are a lot of "buts" that follow.  How do you find such folks and vet their future prospects adequately, and how much of a subsidy are we talking about?  

A few grand a year?  That might be worth it I suppose, but at the same time I'm guessing that's woefully inadequate to make a difference....  Any more than that and you'll inevitably piss off your core membership.  Clubs have been experimenting with all sorts of initiatives, and if a silver bullet had been found word would have gotten out.  Criticizing the clubs for being unable to solve intractable economic issues is just off the mark.  And if the 's continue to Feel the Bern, then we have far greater problems with which to cope.

Straight Down The Middle - I'll leave you with this from Der Bingle (h/t Guy Yocum) to cheer you up on this raw Sunday:

The YouTube page includes this background on the tune:

Bing Crosby's enjoyable recording of "Straight Down The Middle" from 31/12/1957. The song was written for a short 1948 film called "Honor Caddy" with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. It's thought that this was the first ever song written about golf.