They really are tidbits, so bear with me... Please remember, I'm at the mercy of the news cycle.
On Tiger - Mike Bamberger scores an interview with the injured DLIII, and only wants to talk Tiger... See if you also find this lead....er...shall we say, interesting?
In my experience, there is a short list of people who have had genuine insight into Tiger Woods and his golf. In no particular order my top 10 is: Butch Harmon and his brother Billy; writer Jaime Diaz; Arnold Palmer; caddies Steve Williams and Mike (Fluff) Cowan; Hank Haney; Curtis Strange; Mike Donald; and Earl Woods. Hold it. I have to make room for one more. Davis Love III has to be on the list. In 1996, when Woods was turning pro and DL3 was one of the best players in the world, Davis told me, "He's already better than I am."
What, Stephen Ames was unavailable? I actually don't know how Tiger's relationship with Jaime Diaz is, but that exception aside, it would seem that the only ones on the list with whom he remains on speaking terms are no longer with us. As for Earl, they actually weren't on speaking terms, but I digress....
Here's Davis' conditional prognosis:
DL3: My theory is that if you give him a full season, and by that I mean 20 tournaments, he will knock all the rust off and play some good golf again.
MB: What's good golf for him these days?
DL3: Well, can he break Jack's record? Who knows? But he can win again. If I can win on Tour at 51, having been through all the injuries and surgeries I've had, he can absolutely win again. He's a heck of a lot stronger and better at 41 than I was at 51.
MB: If he can play 20 a year for each of the next five years, how often can he win?
DL3: At least one in 20. I know that's nothing compared to the three in 20 he is used to winning. But I can see one in 20, a win in each of the next five years. I'm not saying the sky is the limit for him. This is a different Tiger Woods. But he can win.
First and foremost, it's DL three-sticks, not DL3. Sheesh!
Tiger winning again is not an reasonable expectation, though I'm guessing that the comparison to Dru will leave Tiger cold. But one has to wonder to what extent Davis is blinded by his own experience, having been steamrolled by the young Tiger and his prodigious physical skills.
But this also shows how even the most analytical observers don't understand what matters:
DL3: His best chance is going to be the Masters, because he knows the course so well, because of everything he's done there. Then the Open, the British Open, because he can hit it low through the wind. The PGA and the U.S. Open especially would be the hardest of the majors for him to win because the rough is so punishing. Not a lot of fun. But the Masters is right in his comfort zone. He's not going to eat up the par-5s like he used to, but that doesn't mean he can't find another way to win.
He's absolutely correct, but for the wrong reason.... The Masters is his best chance because it's by far the weakest field in the majors. There's only +/- fifty world-class golfers to beat, and odds don't get any shorter than that. The hardest part of winning a Masters can often be getting into the field....
But we shouldn't expect too much from Davis, as he's a damn snowboarder, not exactly a peer group of rocket scientists.
And as long as we're on Tiger (and when aren't we?), Rory's comments were perhaps the kind that get you beaten 10&8:
Woods's lifestyle even if it meant enjoying Woods's success.
"I've seen what his life is like in Florida," McIlroy said. "I've played golf with him and said: 'What are you doing tonight? Do you want to come and have dinner with us?' And he can't. He just can't. And for me that's unfathomable. I could not live like that ... If someone was to say, 'You can have 14 majors and 70 wins but have to deal with that, or nine majors and 40 wins and stay somewhat the same as you are', I'd take the second option all day."
McIlroy cited Woods's insomnia, which he thinks is a byproduct of Woods's rigorous workout schedule, as just one way the 14-time major winner's competitive fires burn too hot.
Wow, is that 9/40 his downside? but I'm guessing that Tiger won't be happy with Rory discussing his sleep protocols....though as to the insomnia, he was overheard to say that he just needed to get more reps to get back his sleep feels...
Lydia Ko enters 2017 with a new caddie, coach and equipment. Appears the World No. 1 is adding another change to her arsenal. The 19 year old announced on Monday she has a
three-year partnership with McKayson, one that will launch her own golf fashion line. Ko will play an integral part in the design process, and is expected to flaunt her apparel at the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open next month.
"It's only been four years since I became a professional and to be able to have my own apparel line at this time in my career is a tremendous honor," Ko said in a statement. "I hope this relationship will last for a long time."
McKayson is a South Korean sportswear company. It's already dipped its toes in the golf world by sponsoring the LPGA's New Zealand Women's Open.
In other endorsement news, Ko also signed with Ecco Golf, agreeing earlier in the week to wear the company's shoes, as well as brandish the Ecco logo on her collar. Ko will likely wear the ECCO BIOM G2 model.
Apparrel? Geez, that's thinking small.... I'm eagerly awaiting the line of signature eyewear....
Sun, Still Rising In The East - As we noted at the time of the original vote, the ultimate outcome is not in doubt:
Almost eight months have passed since Henry Fairweather, captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, stood in front of the famous old clubhouse that sits
behind the 18th green at Muirfield and announced the result of the club’s vote on admitting women members for the first time. On that occasion, those in favor came up a mere 14 votes, or 3 percent, short of the two-thirds majority required by the club constitution. No matter, within minutes the R&A announced that the Open Championship—which has been held 16 times over the East Lothian links, most recently in 2013 when Phil Mickelson won—would not return until membership of the HCEG was available to golfers of both genders.
Now, however, a second vote—exact date still to be arranged—will take place within the next couple of months, with the result being announced before the end of March. In December, every member was sent a pamphlet setting out every aspect of the proposal in relation to a change in the long-established membership policy. The women will have the same rights as the men. There will be no separate rooms for men and women. They will have access to all facilities. And the process by which they will be admitted will be the same as for men.
Now you all know my reaction to these stories, of all; the gin joints in the world she had to walk into mine.... What? Oh, wrong speech. The world doesn't change when Lady Bonallack is admitted to the Honourable Company, but it's also true that it's simply not worth it to the club to fight the tide of history....
So the old-timers pushed back on the first vote and bitterly clung to their guns and religion, but the new vote won't happen until the outcome is better controlled. And they're doing it for the children....I'm sorry, for the greenskeeper?
“But what is most different this time is that the vote on women is being taken because it is simply the right thing to do. It doesn’t matter how late it is,” the source continued. “And we are not voting because of the Open. Financially, that is not too big a deal for the club. But there are longer-term implications in terms of visitors and the quality of our staff and members. In 10 years will working on Muirfield look as good on a greenkeeper’s CV as it does now? Plus, it must be acknowledged that many of the next generation will find it difficult to be a member of a club that excludes women. The world is changing.”
And so, it would appear, are the Honourable Gentlemen. At last.
Whatever.... I really just want Muirfield back in the rota....
Back to normal Monday blogging, with actual results to discuss... And due to the wonders of time zones and DVR's, I actually was able to watch both the football and golf.
Maui (Non) Wowie - The Tournament of Champions is Exhibit A for one of the important counts of our multi-count indictment of Former Commissioner Ratched... and let me just enjoy a moment, as that's the first I've referred to him using the F-word.
It should have it all.... the win requirement to garner an invite, the lead spot on the schedule, the drop-dead gorgeous locale and the prime time television slot. Demonstrating their ability to f-up a one-car funeral, the event has lost its raison d'être, and the softness of the course the last few years has denied us the primal pleasure of watching trundling golf balls.... all we had this year was Bubba's pink Volvik.
Enough of my grumbling, our first weekend wrappage of the 2017 season:
Justin Thomas had to sweat it out more than he wanted to enjoy that view down the 18th
hole at Kapalua on Sunday.
Thomas had a five-shot lead with five holes to play when he was caught in a battle with Hideki Matsuyama down the stretch in the SBS Tournament of Champions. Thomas responded with a defining shot in his young career, an 8-iron approach he ripped from 214 yards to 3 feet on the 17th.
Matsuyama, one shot behind and needing birdie to stay in the game, ran his 30-foot putt about 8 feet by the hole and three-putted for bogey. Thomas knocked in his short putt for a three-shot lead, and he went on to another birdie for a 4-under 69 and a three-shot victory.
This will incite a resumption of the speculation as to how good Justin Thomas can and/or will be.... It was all on display, the prodigious length, soaring irons and deft short game. But also on display was a certain hinkiness around the greens, misplayed short shots and, most alarmingly, two shots of the "long-and-wrong" ilk that almost cost him the event. On the first of these he got incredibly lucky, as explained:
Thomas really did not miss a shot until the ninth hole, and that's when he got a huge break.
With the wind stiff and in his face, he got quick with his driver and hit a snap-hook into the knee-high weeds left of the fairway. He hit a provisional for a lost ball and was about ready to abandon the search when a TV spotter was summoned to give an indication where it went. They found the ball, and it was sitting up a few inches above the roots, allowing Thomas to at least hack out into the fairway.
He followed with a 3-wood onto the green for a two-putt par after starting with a shot that made double bogey appear likely.
OK, so let's beat the Christmas rush, how good do we think Justin can be? This guy might be a tad biased, but he's a knowledgeable source:
“Yeah, I think it's potentially floodgates opening for him [Thomas],” said Spieth, who waited greenside at 18 to congratulate his friend when it was over. “The guy hits it forever. He's got a really, really nifty short game. He manages the course well. He used to hit more drivers, and he's dialing back a bit now and hitting like a trusty 2-iron out there that he can still hit 285 yards, you know, with a little bit of roll. So, really excited for him. It's awesome. It's awesome to see. He's going to be tough to beat next week, too.”
Since it's still Tiger's world, the Tour Confidential panel was asked why Thomas might become the first since you-know-who to win the TOC and a major in the same year:
Wood: Well, being around Justin, you can tell that winning is the most important thing to him. He is a confident player, and he has it in his head that he can do what his friend Jordan has done, and that's win major tournaments. I think Justin may in fact play with a little chip on his shoulder regarding Jordan, and he wants to climb out of that shadow. Justin wants to be a historic player, meaning wins and majors and Ryder Cups, and that mindset is what will propel him to those goals. He's certainly not afraid of those situations, and that's half the battle.
To remind, that's John Wood, Matt Kuchar's caddie, for whom this is becoming a regular gig....
Kind of an amusing concept, that without the motivation of seeing his friend's success, that he's be just another ball-beater.... But there's probably something to it.
Before we move on, what to do about this newly moribund event? New Commish Jay Monahan continues his Jekyll-Hyde persona, first as the good doctor:
The PGA Tour is exploring the possibility of spicing up its opening event of the new year with some help from the LPGA.
The Tour is considering sharing its Tournament of Champions stage in Hawaii with the women.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan tells Golf Channel that talks are in the works with LPGA commissioner Mike Whan to stage a similar women’s event jointly with the men’s in the future.
“You could see men and women here at the Tournament of Champions,” Monahan told Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner as part of a wide-ranging interview that will air Monday on Golf Central and Tuesday on Morning Drive. “That is something we are thinking about and talking to Mike and the LPGA about. We would like to see that happen. We have some interest from sponsors.”
Wow! There really is a new sheriff in town, as the old guy would never share the stage with anyone.
It's a very cool idea, though the execution could be challenging. My concern would be that the ladies game would look particularly inferior on this unique stage. But if the course is to be as soft as in recent years, perhaps that's no longer as much of an issue.
The Wild, Wild Web - For years I've been advocating that golf tournaments use Monday-Wednesday to avoid competing with the big Tour. Admittedly, I've been dispensing this advice mostly to the LPGA Tour, but still...
Proving that there really is something in the Ponte Vedra water supply, the Web.com's season-opening event began yesterday.... you might have seen the "Sunday is the new Thursday ads, which avoid the more important virtue, that being that Wednesday is the new Sunday. Quibbles aside, we like their newfound willingness to experiment, and we'll cut them some slack when such things don't work out as planned.
Now the event in question comes with a world class name:
The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay
I advise you all to hold out for the great exuma....none of that run-of-the-mill exuma for my readers. But they caught some extreme weather, and not everyone was happy:
The Web.com Tour going with a Sunday start for its opening event was an unorthodox move applauded by many. The players in the Bahamas this week, though, probably wish the tournament didn't start until Thursday.
To say conditions were difficult in the first round of the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic is an understatement. A colossal understatement. And this video will give you a pretty good idea of what players were dealing with:
You'll have to click through to see that video, and Shack has more here. How windy and nasty was it? Well, the forlorn Tommy Gainey wasn't the only guy wearing two gloves, and I got this screen grab of the pin headed towards horizontal:
Good times.....
Alas, Poor Us - It's passing strange that the first out with this news is Curmudgeonly James Corrigan, a fine golf writer but most certainly on the wrong side of the pond:
Jim Furyk is set to be announced as the US Ryder Cup captain in the next week, as the Stars and Stripes stick to the system which brought their second victory this century at
Hazeltine last year.
It is understood that the choice of the selection committee – which included Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and last year’s winning captain, Davis Love – had come down to either Furyk or Fred Couples for next year’s renewal at Le Golf National, just outside Paris.
It was Furyk’s involvement both as an assistant to Love and as a member of the famous “Task Force” set up after the 2014 defeat, America’s third in a row, that swayed the decision. The 46-year-old’s enthusiasm for the role is also likely to have been a factor.
OK, that "second victory" is a tad mean-spirited, as is the accompanying photo.... though pretty much any hat-less photo would be.
Furyk is no doubt a pleasant sort and clearly well-liked by the men against whom he competes. He has a reputation for grittiness, no doubt the result of a homemade golf swing and his comparative lack of length. Problem is, that the event into which he will lead the U.S. squad seems tailor-made for said grittiness, but it's been in short supply:
Some sceptics might look at Furyk’s playing record and wonder if this is a wise appointment. He has been in nine teams but only two winning ones and, together with Mickelson, holds the US record for most matches lost – 20.
However, there can be no denying his passion for the event and this has best been summed up by his reaction in defeat. Never was the pain more keenly felt than in Chicago five years ago, when he had been one of the principal villains in the infamous 'Meltdown at Medinah’, as the US conceded a 10-4 advantage to lose 14½-13½.
Then he sat together with his 11 team-mates and captain Love at the post-match press conference and stared out a journalist who had asked what had hurt more – his failure when leading in the US Open or his inability to see off Sergio García when one up with two to play? Half an hour earlier he had sunk to his haunches after watching a six- footer lip out for par. Two Furyk bogeys had suddenly given the Europe miracle substance.
Yes, some skeptics, sorry sceptics, might bring up this unpleasantness... One up with two to play and he couldn't find a par..... perhaps he's being awarded the captaincy simply to avoid the possibility that he'd qualify to play?
Rory, Explaining - Paul Kimmage, who has some history with him, scores an interview with Rory, and probes some interesting story lines. Of most interest, are these comments about the Olympics:
Well, I'd had nothing but questions about the Olympics - 'the Olympics, the Olympics,
the Olympics' - and it was just one question too far. I'd said what I needed to say. I'd got myself out of it, and it comes up again. And I could feel it. I could just feel myself go 'Poom!' and I thought: 'I'm going to let them have it.'
Yeah, but maybe I shouldn't have reacted in the way that I did. But Olympic golf to me doesn't mean that much - it really doesn't. I don't get excited about it. And people can disagree, and have a different opinion, and that's totally fine. Each to their own.
Yeah, I mean when it was announced (that golf was to be an Olympic sport) in 2009 or whatever, all of a sudden it put me in a position where I had to question who I am. Who am I? Where am I from? Where do my loyalties lie? Who am I going to play for? Who do I not want to piss off the most? I started to resent it. And I do. I resent the Olympic Games because of the position it put me in - that's my feeling towards it - and whether that's right or wrong, it's how I feel.
The source material is in Q&A format, so if it seems disjointed that's on me.
But as I noted way back when, being from Northern Ireland put Rory in an uncomfortable position for the Olympics, in a way that's hard for many to appreciate. Divided loyalties doesn't capture the unique sense of identity that the microscopic, six-county quasi-country imparts to its citizenry. You'll just have to take my word for the pressure the young man would have felt... over the decision of which team to play for?
I once asked our friend Lowell Courtney a naive question about this, and rather than answer me he wrote a blog post on the complicated subject. Rory also had this in response to one of his more contentious comments last year:
Okay, I went a bit far. But I hate that term 'growing the game'. Do you ever hear that in other sports? In tennis? Football? 'Let's grow the game'. I mean, golf was here long before we were, and it's going to be here long after we're gone. So I don't get that, but I probably went a bit overboard.
As for the tired "grow the game" phrase, it's wonderful to see a player single it out.
May I propose "sustain the game," which would allow McIlroy and others not look hypocritical when working to inspire kids to take up the game, something he clearly enjoys. Because we know the "grow" is merely a product of fear that the numbers have, gasp, flatlined.
Fair enough, but I do think that Rory's perspective needs reinforcement. As so often the panic-stricken calls to grow the game come with the sense that our stodgy, boring game couldn't possibly appeal to these sophisticated millennials..... if it doesn't, then it's their loss, because our game is timeless.
Jay, Explaining - Also spewing verbiage is new Commish Jay Monahan.... as noted above, it's a bit of a mixed bag... I've credited all of the initiatives on the schedule and competition formats, though no doubt he shares his predecessor's love of MBA-speak:
"As much progress as we've made with our platforms, we weren't moving fast enough. We're not producing enough video content," Monahan said. "Our players are their own networks and have their own profiles. We had - and I'll take full responsibility for this - a tendency to think about what we didn't want to have happen at our tournaments. ... We're taking away from our ability to grow."
He cited restrictions on players using smartphones during pro-ams as one example.
Sounds reasonable, but has Stephanie Wei reclaimed her credentials? The Tour has been overtly hostile to anyone else disseminating content related to their events...
This is profoundly disappointing, Mr. Hyde:
- The PGA Tour is the only sport that doesn't announce fines or other punishment. That doesn't sound as if it will change.
"I know that there is a desire to know everything that happened but ... we're a family. If there is an issue in your family, you deal with it, and you deal with it with your family member," he said. "That has worked really well for us. If it weren't, we'd be making changes.”
No, you're not a family and I don 't actually think it is working well for you. You're not leveling with the public, and at some point it will come back to bite you in the butt.
“I don’t think it’s just the performance he had at the Hero World Challenge,” Monahan said. “I think the way his energy, his countenances ... the joy that he had that week lends itself for all of us.
“It’s very exciting to think about what he could potentially accomplish in the coming weeks.”
Which is the stranger, his choice of noun or the plural?
Although maybe the plural is right, as Rory had these comments from that interview above:
I’m drawn to him, yeah. He’s an intriguing character because you could spend two hours in his company and see four different sides to him. When he’s comfortable and he trusts you — and his trust (sensitivity) is way (higher) than mine — he’s great. He’s thoughtful. He’s smart. He reads. He can’t sleep so that’s all he does — he reads stuff and educates himself on everything. But he struggles to sleep, which I think is an effect of overtraining, so I tell him to calm down sometimes. He’d be texting me at four o’clock in the morning: ‘Up lifting. What are you doing?’
OK, most will no doubt focus on the 4 a.m. lifting, and who can blame them... But for me the bombshell is that Tiger reads? because I have it on good authority that all he does is play Call of Duty.
Ireland On My Mind - Because it's never too early to think of summer travel to Ireland, enjoy this Golf Digest listing of the 100 best golf courses on the Emerald Island, including this spectacular photo of County Down:
Be still my foolish heart...
I'm heartened by the strong performance of beloved Ballyliffin, with their two tracks at Nos. 11 and 18.
Yesterday was as good as advertised, and our early start was rewarded. The body is a bit beaten up, but I play hurt, so let's dive in....
Daytime - This week's Tournament of Champions features the return of World No. 1 Jason Day, who shared his thoughts with the media earlier in the week. This header is quite the succinct summary:
Well, that Internet can be a harsh mistress.... Here are his actual comments:
“I think there were a couple things that I didn't do as well the second half in the season. I wasn't as deliberate going into a golf shot. Gathering the information, I wasn't as
deliberate,” Day said as he looks to make his 2017 FedExCup debut at the SBS Tournament of Champions.
“Obviously, everyone wants to speed up the game. Obviously, that's a big subject in golf, to speed up the game. But in my opinion, I don't care so much about speeding up my game. I've got to get back to what makes me good.”
The link above has a fine selection of snark, and our Shack had this contribution:
Yes, the world watched you and thought, he's rushing!
Geoff even goes so far as to call Day "Unlikable".... I simply have to dissent here, as I think, in the immortal words of our soon to be former prez, that the Aussie is likable enough.
It's a strange subject, a player bragging about playing slowly, but I'll agree with this from Joel Beall:
Day's pace of play has come up in the past, especially at the WGC-Match Play. But, as we illustrated at last year's U.S. Open, Day is not the only player guilty of this crime (cough cough, Jordan Spieth, cough cough). Moreover, he's right; with the heightened stakes of competitive golf, the 29-year-old should be calculated in his technique.
Well, he should play in a manner conducive to optimizing his performance, obviously as long as that is within the rules. But it is not in his portfolio to make or enforce the rules, for that we need to look elsewhere....
Geoff gets his hopes up in a follow-up post that Day's comments open the door to new commissioner Monahan addressing this issue..... here were Monahan's comments from his Q&A earlier in the week:
“I think that pace of play is complicated. But if you look back at the data, the data would
suggest that three PGA TOUR professionals playing in a round on Thursday and Friday are going to take four hours and 45 minutes. They would suggest that a player has and will continue to take 38 seconds to hit a shot. There are factors outside of I want to hit my shot, how quickly can I hit it, that influence pace of play, whether it's conditioning of the golf course, the sequencing of tee times, the layout of the golf course, the weather.
“What we're trying to do, like every other part of our business, is be as close to and intimate with the data so that in working with everybody, we're doing everything we can to address pace of play. But I would tell you that we feel like we've taken a lot of positive steps in the last couple of years
“You always have to look at the fact that everybody that's living today is trying to do what they did yesterday faster. And so it's no different for our game, and I think that's something we've got to continue to take very seriously. There's no easy solution, though.”
That's three long graphs that translate roughly as, "Next question, please."
And while that's grabbing the lion's share of the pixels, isn't this potentially the more significant story:
Day said his swing became longer last year, which meant more turn in his upper body and more swing. Not many others go at it as hard as Day with nearly every club in the bag, from a towering 5-iron, a 9-iron he gouges out of the rough or tee shots that rank him among the top power players in the game.
But it might have come at a cost.
"If you have a lot more turn, a lot more speed and then unwinding, it's a lot more balance through the ball, and that can obviously wreak havoc on your back, as well," he said. "I feel good. I'm not saying that I'm obviously clear and I'm out of the woods, but I'm definitely cautiously optimistic about how things are progressing."
The biggest issue attached to this marquee player is whether he can stay healthy....
Tigertime - Tiger has clarified his plans for the early part of the year, and here's the skinny:
After going 16 months without teeing it up in a tournament, Tiger Woods plans to play four times during an early five-week stretch in 2017. What a difference a year makes.
News of Woods’ early commitments to the Farmers Insurance Open and the Honda Classic broke on Wednesday. And on Thursday, the 14-time major champ kept filling up his schedule with the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic announcing a Woods appearance.
Sprinkle in Woods’ earlier commitment to play in the Genesis Open at Riviera and it all adds up to a busy span. Starting Jan. 26, Tiger will play at Torrey Pines and in Dubai the following week. After an off week, he’ll head back to California for the Genesis Open and then fly home to play in the Honda Classic. We take it his back is feeling pretty good.
The Euro Tour is happy to have him back as well:
The most interesting of these remains LA.... That retooled event now benefits his foundation and in a galaxy far, far away offered him his first taste of PGA Tour competition. But, and it's a big one, he always hated the golf course....
One assumes with these commitments that he's feeling healthy.... But this seems wildly out of touch with reality:
Woods’ odds of winning a fifth Masters title have dropped from 60-1 to 20-1 at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, where the number of tickets on him account for 8% of the total pool. The money wagered on Woods is an even bigger slice of the action so far, at 11% of Masters betting.
The most notable wager on Woods at the SuperBook has been a $1,000 bet when his odds were 50-1.
I get that at 50-1, but at 20-1 I need to inquire as to whether it's possible to short him....
Shack has transcripts from the Golf Channel Media Day questions about Tiger, including these of note, first from Mark Rolfing:
When he's got that kind of feel and knows where his shots are going and can be within a yard of the right distance, that says a lot to me.
Can he win? I think it'll be difficult, but I would say yes.
And Johnny had this about what he liked:
I was really impressed with his putting. I was impressed with his irons. I was impressed with his slower tempo.
When you swing slower, it's much easier to deliver the face where you want to at impact. The one thing he had, he had that blazing first move coming down when he was younger, but it was much easier to control with an iron than it was with his driver.
Johnny's been all over Tiger's tempo since about 1998, not that he's been alone in that....Tiger also blogged about 1,500 words at his own website, including this interesting nugget:
I'm still testing clubs and trying to find the best ball-wood combo. What people don't realize is that Bridgestone made the Nike golf ball for a number of years. It's a great ball and making the switch wasn't that hard. I'm really excited to join the Bridgestone team. For now, I'll probably stick with some of my old Nike equipment, and use my Scotty Cameron putter. I'm also proud to be working with Monster and look forward to the things we'll do together.
I am also excited about the opening of The Oasis Short Course, our new 12-hole par-3 design at Diamante Cabo San Lucas. With this design, I'm trying to go back to my roots.
I grew up playing Heartwell, a par-3 course in Long Beach, California. That's how I got introduced to golf.
Golf now is almost impossible to play in less than five hours, so why don't we open things up? We can play faster and have more fun in an entertaining environment -- like a short course -- where everyone can participate, practice and learn the game, and kids can play without being overwhelmed by a big golf course.
Of course, the reason we love Shack is that he had this historical perspective to add:
But more exciting than anything is his advocacy for short kids courses, something no great player in the history of the sport has ever done (Bobby Jones had mixed feelings about "kindergarten" courses).
Who knew? Lots of other interesting stuff (including The Donald) at both of those links.
Tommytime - Via Shack, this new trailer for the film adaptation of Tommy's Honour:
I'm so conflicted.... I agree with Geoff that the trailer looks great and, yes, my juices are in motion....
I just suspect that inevitably the movie will be a disappointment, because the story is an incredibly broad landscape.... If your relationship to the game of golf is sufficiently intimate that you read my drivel, please read this wonderful book before enjoying the movie. You'll learn so much about the origins and development of our game, and how it exposed the deep class distinctions in turn-of-the-century Great Britain.
You'll also learn what an extraordinary talent Young Tom was... and to me the biggest takeaway was the extraordinary life of Old Tom. On that former point, Geoff had this wonderful quote as the header on his site today:
Tommy was a dashing golfer, usually playing in the typical Glengarry bonnet of the Scotch, and which generally fell from his head as he swung, very like Harold Hilton's cap. His hands and wrists were exceedingly powerful and he had been known to break the shaft of his driver, under the grip as he waggled in address. But as a putter he knew no equal. He stroked his putt off his right leg with the ball so close to his right foot that it seemed that he must strike his toes. He half-topped his putts, which kept them rolling true to an astonishing extent. A.W. TILLINGHAST on Young Tom Morris
It's a bit hard for a modern audience to appreciate the nature of the greens that era of player experienced, the major takeaway from our journey to Askernish.
Misogynytime - Martha Burke, call your office, because Marina Hyde gives a Master Class on how to react to the membership polices of The Honourable Company:
Given it is the only notable event Muirfield Golf Club now stages, I increasingly look
Muirfield Captain Harry Fairweather
forward to its biannual row over whether to admit women members. Last played in May 2016, the contest returns this month and promises to put observers right inside the action of ye olden tymes as they enjoy breathtaking views uttered in front of a backdrop of breathtaking views. Think of it as a sort of Westworld for golf, shot on a cost of £80m to the local economy, which is what estimations reckon hosting the Open would be worth. I’m not saying the row is comically quaint but you wouldn’t rule out hearing that during its course, someone or other had furiously cast his periwig to the floor.
A personal highlights reel from last time around would include interventions from Peter Alliss, who appeared to regard the Muirfield facilities as so superlative that they were worth entering into a high-stakes bargain for. “If someone wants to join,” he mused, “well, you’d better get married to someone who’s a member.” I don’t know about you, but I think if I were to enter into a marriage of state, I’d require in return something like dibs on the Habsburg empire, as opposed to the chance of a silent G&T in the 19th with a man who switches channel when Cialis adverts come on.
That opener is simply brilliant in an understated kind of way, though the last bit leaves me perplexed. Is she recommending the man that pays rapt attention to the Cialis advert?
I'll provide one more little tasting, but do give it a read:
If anything, I think “miracles in modern day play” understates it – but we go on. “The risks for the club are that a major change will fundamentally change our way of doing things,” ran another argument, “and once that process develops it will be impossible to stop.” I love that line, mainly because I’m fascinated by where they imagine the unstoppable process would be headed. Pretty sure it ends in extrajudicial murder on the greens. One minute you’re letting in women members, the next there’s a Prius in the car park, and before you know it you’re being led to Madame Guillotine on the 18th by a man who says Zimbabwe instead of Rhodesia. It’s the thin end of the wedge, isn’t it?
As I've noted frequently, the admittance of a few well-connected women to such a club accomplishes nothing in the cosmic scheme of things, but if you choose this battle, then wage it using the full arsenal of weapons, of which shame is perhaps the most effective. Or, you can be shrill and entitled like Martha Burke, who only makes it clear that whatever is done, don't admit THAT woman....
Hogantime - The recreated Ben Hogan equipment company has hit the wall:
Sources tell MyGolfSpy that personnel reductions were discussed at a recent Board of Directors meeting, but nothing to this extent.
Other sources also tell MyGolfSpy that Hogan owes money to several media outlets and vendors, and has so for a while, which is always an indication of a struggling operation. Other sources report that Perry Ellis, the owner of the Hogan brand who licensed the name to the Ben Hogan Company, has had concerns over the current status of the golf equipment company.
It seemed a longshot at the time, though their Fort Worth irons looked awfully good. But the huge marketing budget of PXG had to have hurt their prospects terribly....
But this struck my funny bone:
Yeah, I hope someone shares with him the actual definition of "voluntarily"....
Mediatime - In yesterday's post on Jay Monahan and the Tour's schedule I neglected to post one item of interest to me. Before I get to that, a couple of new items, first this:
NBC/Golf Channel seeing substantional viewer increases thanks in part to adding The Open Championship and golf's Olympic return.
From the press release come these details:
While many major sports networks saw viewership declines in 2016 – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, NFL Network and MLB Network among them -- Golf Channel viewership rose 8% over a year ago while NBC Sports Network saw a 14% audience increase.
Given the context of significantly decreasing sports viewership numbers, this is significant.
Now, I'm not your best guide to evaluate this news, as I can barely spell Twitter, but here it is:
You can follow golfers Tiger Woods, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy on their Twitter accounts. Now you can watch them play there, too.
The PGA Tour has agreed to make Twitter Inc. the exclusive outlet for more than 70 hours of competition across 31 tournaments throughout the remainder of this season.
Twitter will begin free live streaming at the CareerBuilder Challenge on Jan. 19. The coverage will typically include the first 60 to 90 minutes from the early Thursday and Friday morning hours. It will include pre-round analysis, interviews and live coverage from the first two holes of each day’s marquee groups.
The first two holes? That sounds comically lame, but what do I know? Shack tells us this is about propping up PGA Tour Live, something I care little about but you can dive in here.
My interest is in these comments from earlier in the week when Jay Monahan was asked about a potential PGA Tour network:
“That’s not a core goal,” he said. “Could it happen?” He remained silent for several seconds, leaving the question unanswered.
At the very least, Monahan said it would make sense for the Tour to gain partial ownership of a network as part of its next broadcast rights agreements, rather than simply selling those rights for cash. “That would be a great result,” he said. Golf Channel is owned by NBCUniversal.
Color me skeptical that it is, in fact, a great result.... at least as compared to independent parties writing you large checks.
We've seen the Tour (and the USGA) salivate over other network contracts, and it never seems to work out well, at least for the golf fan. In this case, there's only one network that would make that deal, and it's of course The Golf Channel. But if you beleive as I do that there's a realignment (or worse) coming in sports rights fees, I'd rather be the payee...
The Tour has an opt-out approaching for its network contracts with CBS and NBC, but I don't see that as significant leverage. There's nowhere to take the contracts, especially since Fox now realizes the error of their ways as they continue to cut checks to The Shark. The place they have maximum leverage is with GC, but that contract isn't up until 2020 or '21 (operating from memory here).
But the leverage is of a MAD nature... It's not much of a golf channel if you don't have the PGA Tour, but who else will broadcast the Tour's Thursday and Friday play? ESPN might, but without the weekend they won't pay much or help you promote the broadcasts the way the folks in Orlando are motivated to.
If it's me, I just use the leverage to cash the largest checks possible and let them deal with whether its profitable. One thing I learned long ago in my consulting career is that every business looks better from the outside.
Happy Opening Day to all..... Balls will be in the air this afternoon on Maui and I eagerly await the first update on current FedEx Cup standings.... It's been way too long, man.
However, there's a situation requiring my attention.... Almost three feet of snow has hit Park City in the last 72 hours, so there are trees that I need to go narrowly miss. Let's discuss one significant issue and we'll catch up on the other stuff...excuse me, Udder Stuff, as time permits.
New Commish Jay Monahan has been making the rounds, and reinforced that major changes to the Tour schedule are under serious consideration, specifically the move of the PGA to May:
“That’s certainly something that we would like to see happen,” Monahan said. “Having big events every month, culminating in the FedEx Cup playoffs in August prior to the
NFL season, that would be a very powerful schedule.”
Such a change would require the cooperation of the PGA of America, a separate organization that runs the PGA Championship but also has a seat on the policy board that oversees the PGA Tour. Monahan said it is unlikely to happen in 2018.
While the concept is largely brilliant in concentrating golf to a tighter, more fan-friendly season, the central question remains: will the PGA of America take this risk that also could mean a smaller TV audience than they usually get in sports-light August, all so that the low-rated FedExCup playoffs can be finished prior to the NFL and college football seasons?
To put it another way, all of the risk taken here is taken on by the PGA of America to essentially save the FedExCup playoffs. What is their reward?
I'll take NYC in May over Atlanta in a heartbeat.... perhaps before I respond, let me share Geoff's later listing of pros and cons:
Pros
- Main PGA Tour season finishes prior to NFL and college football starting
- Clears a major out of the Olympic path every four years
- Strengthens PGA Tour playoffs by killing primary storylines of fatigue or whether will players skip a week
- Puts strongest possible tournament on the schedule two weeks prior to the Masters
- Creates new possibilities for PGA Championship venues in places like Texas, Arizona, Florida
- Ends "glory's last hope" sensibility that taints PGA Championship
Cons
- Agronomically eliminates Northernmost venues that have been PGA Championship venues (Hazeltine, Whistling Straits, Oak Hill)
- Places greater agronomic and infrastructure-construction pressure on northern venues still able to host
- Ends PGA of America's hold on sports-light August, weakening their position for next TV contract
- Likely ensures permanently smaller audience watching the PGA (sports-busy May vs. sports light August)
- Condensces majors schedule between second week of April to second week of July
- Introduces new weather issues for PGA Championship venues in places like Texas, Arizona, Florida
- Ends traditional Masters-U.S. Open start to major season
- Endorses the PGA Tour playoffs as a competition worthy of bumping a major to May
What else?
There is no question that moving the FedEx nonsense to August is a positive for the Tour and presumably the sponsor. Ratings for the events have been dismal, so I'm left wondering whether this is driven by renewal negotiations with a certain Memphis-based company.
I'm a tad skeptical of Geoff's August vs. May dichotomy.... May involves competing with NBA and NHL games, but most of those take place under cover of darkness....
In all of this I've seen no mention of any effects on the Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup or the Olympics.... Not sure when the Tokyo games are scheduled, but it's a long trip from the BMW to Japan....
Conceptually, this is a 4-5 week compression of the Tour's schedule, the ramifications of which might include:
No relief from the dreary and inconsequential wraparound season. In fact, this could drive a lengthening of that given sponsors that wouldn't have a chair when the music stops;
More scheduling battles between the Tours, especially for Euro players looking to maintain membership on both Tours.
On that first subject, here's Jay's response:
“I really don't hear that much about the wraparound schedule. I hear a lot of positives about the wraparound schedule, but I don't get a lot of questions about why or whether it's working. I think the reality is that, again, going back to demand, there's such demand for the PGA TOUR and for professional golf that obviously if you can put 47 events on the calendar, you're doing something right. And if you were to make changes, and I'm not suggesting what those changes would be, but if those changes resulted in fewer events, that creates openings on your schedule that the demand will fill.
“I think we're in a position now where we feel like we're doing the right thing for our membership and for our fans because they're clearly responding.”
Have you considered the possibility that you're not hearing anything because no one is watching?
Now I think these scheduling changes might conceivably have triggered the change to a team format at the Zurich. If you were an insider and knew that contraction was on its way, you'd want to make sure your event stood out from the competition, no?
Back to Jay on this subject:
“So you've got to look at formats. You've got to look at the way you present your product through the media. You've got to look at the way our players engage through their own social media platforms. You've really got to look at every facet of what you're doing and be intensely focused on trying to reach that audience, and I think we have.
“I know we all as an organization are giving a lot of thought to perhaps being far more aggressive in marketing to that audience to bring them in, and I think you'll see us be testing, innovating, and perhaps getting our message to audiences in areas that we haven't done in the past.”
Slow down there, cowboy! How about we just aim for entertaining golf fans, and see where that gets us.... Watching the interactions of two-man teams will be fun, a scarce natural resource on golf broadcasts. Oh, and given that one of the great recent improvements in broadcast technology has been audio capture, you can see where that oughta work.....I'm looking forward to the supercut of players apologizing to their partners....
One of the reasons that I'm optimistic about Jay Monahan is that he's an accomplished and avid golfer, presumably with an understanding of our game that was sorely lacking from Commissioner Ratched.
That said, he has a weakness for MBA-speak that makes clear how he could succeed behind the Ponte Vedra moat:
In June, several key TOUR executives and digital officers made a West Coast visit to companies such as Amazon, Google, YouTube, Facebook and Apple. With each visit, the TOUR team gained insight and knowledge as to how the TOUR was viewed through the prism of digital users. The visit to Facebook was especially eye-opening in terms of how much work the TOUR needed to do in order to increase its brand exposure, especially among millennial consumers.
Says Monahan: “The No. 1 takeaway that we all had and something we talked about as we were all coming back is as much video content as we're creating, we probably need to create somewhere in the magnitude of three to five times more as we go forward. We have a significant investment in our digital media across all of our platforms (but) I think you could expect that we're still fairly embryonic in the way we're approaching that in terms of investment level.
Ugh! That elicited this Shack-snark:
Embryonic. Someone's been spending too much time around Commissioner Coterminous!
Ratched...Coterminous....whatevah!
Unfortunately he goes on for quite a bit, including this about the use of streaming and social media:
“I strongly believe that the most valuable product is going to be our linear product, our television product, because that allows us to reach the masses and for the masses to experience the PGA TOUR and our players playing at the highest level.
“Social media, mobile, all of that augments what we're doing and improves the experience that the fan can have. So whether it's continuing to improve and enhance ShotLink, whether it's allowing players to shoot video earlier in the week from the tournament to create greater awareness of that tournament and help them build their profiles, that ability to be talking all the time is a great opportunity for us to grow our audience and grow interest in our tournaments and our players.
“But it has to augment and support what we're doing from a television standpoint, and we feel like we're doing a really good job on that front. But what we think of that world today, mobile and digital and now 80 percent of our fans are consuming their content via mobile, that will look very different in a year or two from now. Having the ability to adapt and being flexible about content and rights is something that is and will continue to be very important for us and our media partners.”
Jay, the Tour has been doing quite a horrible job at it. In fact, it's declared war on many social media fronts... Remember that cute Stephanie Wei that had her credentials pulled for posting a video from a practice round or pro-am? And I also remember a YouTube video of Henrik Stenson shanking pulled at the Tour's bequest, whereas he was laughing about it on his social media feed.
You would do well to call off the war and recognize where you create ill will by being so thin-skinned.
I have one last thought on the schedule to leave you with before I go skiing. which relates to this quote from PGA of America Prez Pete Bevaqua:
“We are huge proponents of the Olympics. We are all about the Olympics, but we also have to protect the PGA Championship and we can’t just bounce the PGA Championship around every four years,” Bevacqua said.
Why not?
Wouldn't that allow for the best of all worlds? Now there are a lot of constituencies that need to cooperate on this, but one way to break up the incredible boardom of Tour life is to mix up the schedule, and it allows a whole new set of venues to be accessible (or, given my snark above, it allows those venues to be played at a better time of year).
Talk it over among yourselves and I'll be back when I can. My quads will be shot, but they're not integral to the blogging process....
I'm going to work myself back into this gradually....Just dip my toe into it and see how it goes. Tomorrow is a travel day, so you're on your own then.... Oh, and thy're had two feet of unexpected snow over the last couple of days, so there might be some tree lines that need shredding....
Musical Chairs - With Nike out (of hard goods, that is) and PXG and Cally ascendant, it's crazy times in the golf world... In no particular order:
Jason Day plays millennial and uses Instagram to report he's now in the Cult of the Swoosh:
OK, but this is his announcement that he's with Nike and all anyone will notice is the hideously deformed grills on the new Lexuses (Lexi?)....
Menawhile, he's still with TaylorMade for sticks and balls... TaylorMade hasn't gone anywhere, much to the regret of Adidas.
Perhaps the most surprising news comes from Rory, and the surprise is that everyone gets to play:
After Nike exited the equipment business this season, Rory McIlroy mentioned that he had no intentions to sign a new deal. Rather, he planned on spending time experimenting
with different selections on the market, waiting to find the right comfort level. It appears the four-time major winner's search is over.
Though McIlroy has not agreed to new endorsements, he will flaunt new sticks in 2017. According to a report from NoLayingUp.com, McIlroy is switching to Callaway woods (the new GBB Epic Sub Zero) and irons (Apex MB), an Odyssey putter and Titleist ball (Pro V1x) and wedges (Titleist Vokey).
“I want to play the new ProV1x ball and I know the Callaway driver works the best with it," McIlroy told the site. "I also know my Nike irons don’t work as well with the Titleist ball because of the groove format. Too spinny, and a loss of distance."
Rumors that he was going to use the new Cally driver have been making the rounds, but the Odyssey putter was a surprise, as was the Titlist reunion. No word on who gets his 3-year stash of Nike balls with "Rors" embedded.
After a year in which it established itself as a legitimate equipment company, PXG made
an early push to continue its momentum in 2017 by announcing this morning it has signed a quartet of LPGA players, led by World No. 1 Lydia Ko along with reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang (who used PXG irons in her win but wasn’t on staff), three-time LPGA winner Christina Kim and former Solheim Cupper Ryann O’Toole. The foursome joins Cristie Kerr, Alison Lee, Sadena Parks, Gerina Piller and Beatriz Recari as LPGA players on PXG’s staff.
Just add it to the list.... She looks great in black and white, though in my heart I think that Cally is a better fit for her image-wise.
Bubba Waston already plays a pink driver. Now he’s likely adding a pink ball to the mix.
According to multiple sources, including Bubba Watson himself (at the Tournament of
Champions in Hawaii), the lefty bomber has signed an agreement to play Volvik golf balls on the PGA Tour in 2017.
Formerly a Titleist Pro V1x player, the two-time Masters Champion evidently first took notice of Volvik while watching the World Long Drive Championship where all the players were mashing colored golf balls made by the South Korean manufacturer. Never one to shy away from colorful gear, Watson reportedly experimented with some of the Volvik golf balls while in China and found that he liked the performance.
Prior to Watson's signing, Volvik golf balls have been used mostly on the LPGA Tour and Asian Tours, though Craig Stadler has played them on the Champions Tour.
Well, if it's good enough for Stads..... Can we pair Lydia and Bubba in a mixed event? And, it just occurred to me, what ball is Lydia going to play?
The Tour Confidential Panel had some interesting subjects, including about Rory's equipment tinkering. Rather than opine, Mike Bamberger shared a story from the Wabac machine:
Michael Bamberger: I agree, Jeff. I was with Rory when he was 19 and at the Titleist testing center for the first time. He and his father were hitting balls. Bob Vokey himself was handing wedges to the kid, and they were the most beautiful things you've ever seen. Nike made some very nice wedges, but I don't know anybody who wouldn't want to play Vokey wedges. I was also awed by Rory's ability to describe the flight characteristics of the different Titleist balls. At one point he asked his father what club he was hitting. Titleist, the father answered. "I wouldn't think you'd be playing TaylorMade," Rory said. There's a lot to be said for first love.
Most interesting about this week's panel is that John Wood, caddie for Matt Kuchar, sits in and shares a series of interesting perspectives:
John Wood (@johnwould): From a caddie's perspective, I'd want all this settled as soon as possible. There are three areas I would stress. I want to see him confident over his driver, looking for reasons to hit it as opposed to reasons to avoid it. I want to see distance control and consistent trajectory with his irons (which is the mostly the ball), and I want to see him comfortable over his putter, especially within five feet. Seeing how far Rory was hitting the TaylorMade in China, it would surprise me if he went away from that. The rest I think can be figured out fairly quickly. Rory is a smart guy. He can do the math and figure out there is no financial reason to play any club he doesn't think is the best in its field. In my mind he is most likely not chasing any of this equipment with an endorsement in mind, but narrowing his choices to find what his best options are to win golf tournaments. The contracts will be there in the end.
John, that's the kind of annoyingly sensible thought that will get you banished....
The Future Is Now - Some other items of note from the Confidentialistas:
3. Of the 2017 majors—Masters at Augusta, U.S. Open at Erin Hills, British Open at Birkdale and PGA Championship at Quail Hollow—which most intrigues you?
BAMBERGER: I am very nervous about Erin Hills. Not a flowing walking course, for one thing. Augusta is golf's ultimate spring flower, and this year, with that lineup, and Rory looking to go quad and Jordan looking to bury '16, I think it'll be the best of 'em.
SHIPNUCK: Quail Hollow does nothing for me since we're so familiar with it as an everyday Tour track. Erin Hills could be a disaster; at best, I think it will be O.K. Birkdale might be the best course in the Open rota, so that's a strong second choice in this discussion. But the buildup to this Masters is going to be intense, with Day, Rory, Dustin, Jordan and assorted others all peaking, or trying to. I think it'll be an epic Masters.
Mike, everyone is nervous about Erin Hills.... John Wood disses Birkdale, which is a perfectly fine Open Championship venue, probably the best of the four English sites.
Quail Hollow hard to get excited about, especially in August. I'm not a fan of taking majors to Tour sites, unless the time of year allows for significantly sterner conditions and it's Pebble Beach....
4. A year ago in this space we asked the panel which major-less player would nab his or her first major title in 2016. (Bonus points to Jeff Ritter and Alan Shipnuck for their respective Danny Willett and Dustin Johnson picks.) Looking ahead to 2017, which player is most likely to win his or her first major and at what venue?
RITTER: Thanks for mentioning what was just about the only prediction I got right last year. For '17, Hideki is the obvious answer, but I will pass on the layup and take a shot at Kevin Chappell, who has been trending the right direction for a couple years and has flashed in a few majors. I could see him breaking through at the PGA.
That's quite a bold pick, considering that Chappell has become famous mostly for managing to not win anything..... But Willett was quite a pick....
The other picks are more conventional:
BAMBERGER: Patrick Reed. Birkdale. In a playoff over Danny Willett and Dustin Johnson.
SHIPNUCK: Koepka was so impressive at the Ryder Cup, and a lot of guys have used that momentum for major career upgrades. I think this is his year.
GODICH: Well, nobody has more Ryder Cup momentum than Reed. He wins at Quail Hollow.
WOOD: Obviously, Matt Kuchar will win all 4.
Yeah, there's a reason I told you whose name is on every check he cashes....
6. If you were sketching out New Year's resolutions for the game, what would be on the top of your list?
RITTER: Golf's biggest problem is its declining number of players. Do whatever it takes regarding rules, access, affordability and fun to get more folks on the course.
BAMBERGER: I don't agree, Jeff. Golf has always been a fringe sport and most likely always will be. Paint the white stakes red, cut the rough, move the tees forward, get golf in more public schools. The game is fine. The game is great.
I'm gonna side with Mike here (I know, you're shocked), but I'd encourage him to use "niche" in lieu of "fringe".
This, however, gets an official Unplayable Lies "If Only":
SHIPNUCK: Have every private course in the U.S. follow the UK model and allow the public to play a couple of times a week. Why do only a few hundred people get to play Cypress Point or Pine Valley or Augusta National? They should be like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon: national treasures that should be enjoyed by all. Can you imagine the excitement that would tear through the golf world if all the great private courses cracked open the doors? Charge $300 a tee time, give half the money to junior golf and the world would be a much better place.
And I don't care if they keep my money....
Also, Brentley Romine lays out his wish list for 2017, and here are a few on which we find common ground:
We’d like to see kid talent Billy Jenkins interview Tiger Woods. We know Rory McIlroy will second that.
We’d like to see Ernie Els collect his 20th PGA Tour title.
We’d like to see Bubba Watson play a green ball at the Masters. He is rumored to be switching to a Volvik ball in 2017.
We’d like to see Andrew “Beef” Johnston at #SB2K17. Our money is on Beef winning any sort of drinking contest.
We’d like to see Michelle Wie win again. Obviously.
OK, I'm not staying up nights worried about SB2K17.....
As for these two related to the ladies, I'll just wish him good luck:
We’d like to see a tight contest down the stretch at the raucous Solheim Cup in Iowa, with a heavy dose of good sportsmanship. A singles showdown between Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen would be the icing.
We’d like to see politics stay out of the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National. Let the women have the stage.
I'll leave you nice folks there and see you on the other side.
