Thursday Threads

We'll get back to the distance stuff, as folks are playing their assigned roles perfectly.  But I need a break from it, and I'm guessing you might as well.

Time Passages - New-to-me Golf Digest writer Derek Duncan takes a look at how two iconic golf courses have changed over the years:

THE EVOLUTION OF PEBBLE BEACH AND RIVIERA: A FASCINATING LOOK AT HOW TWO CLASSICS HAVE CHANGED

Which, of course, just happen to be hosting the PGA gang the next two weekends.  If you can take your eyes off the XFL, that is...

First, The Riv:

The Riviera that George Thomas and William “Billy” Bell built was distinguished by openness, comparatively shallow bunkers with fingered and scalloped matted-grass edges and a rugged dry-wash barranca that slashed through the east and southeastern sections of the site. Decades of sand-splashing and modern remodel work have created steep, flashed bunker faces with crisp lines that now, in most cases, can only be entered and exited on the low side, and the once ominous looking barranca, and the property in general, feels more like a garden than the austere, arid West.

Which looked like this:

The 18th green as seen in 1951's Hogan biopic, Follow the Sun.

And the current 18th:

Of course, you'll scan those two photos and be hard-pressed to identify anything that's different.... Though the 18th is one of those holes that the TV viewer would be unrecognizable with the grandstands and spectators on the hill above the green.

With Pebble there's no need to explain, the photos tell the story.  First, the 7th green Of Chandler Egan for that 1929 U.S. Amateur:

Versus the modern iteration:

 But I'm inclined to call BS on this:

Recreating Pebble Beach’s exotic coastal dunescape of the late 1920s might be visually spectacular but it’s hardly practical, and that look only existed for a few years before being altered again during the Great Depression. And no amount of architectural tinkering can make Pebble Beach more popular than it already is. People travel there for the course’s history, to play golf along the cliffs and for the overall emotional experience, so much so that perpetually full tee sheets have encouraged the resort to raise green fees to $575.

Hardly practical, why?  Have you been to Pinehurst lately?  And I can't resist this bit:

Pebble Beach morphed several times in its early years and achieved an artistic apotheosis when Chandler Egan lengthened the course, shifted greens and made other significant alterations prior to the 1929 U.S. Amateur. These included the creation of “imitation dunes,” swaths of unkempt sand surrounding a number of oceanside holes like the fourth, sixth, seventh, 10th and 17th. Photos from this time period are powerful reminders of how much the course is now defined by thick rough and small greens.

A seaside golf course choked with deep rough.... Yanno, it doesn't have to be that way.  

In The Eye of The Beholder - Bob Harig has this primer on the Premier Golf League that my sophisticated readers will not need for its intended purpose.  But this 'graph intrigued me:

Said an agent who wished not to be identified: "How can an organization negotiate hundreds of millions of dollars of TV contracts and someone like Tiger or Rory goes out and has the same chance of making the same money as some guy who has come off the Korn Ferry Tour? There is no arbitration panel. And no judge would say that is a fair economic model."

Distilled to its essence, this makes the case that Tiger is underpaid.  To which I can only respond, No s**t, Sherlock.  How could it possibly be otherwise?

But that agent's statement needs to be rebutted as well, because it elides the nature of the modern Tour, which protects its own ( perhaps too much at times).  Yes, in a full field event, Tiger isn't guaranteed more than that Tour rabbit that Monday qualified.  But Tiger will get Thursday-Friday tee times in the middle of the morning and afternoon waves, while Mr. Rabbit will be sweeping the dew...

More importantly, the WGCs and playoffs are all structured to reward those in the highest echelons of the game.  In fact, this was Bob Harig's prior graph:

Then take Jordan Spieth, who had an off year but still is considered a headliner. He won just over $2.1 million. Compare that to the 90th player on the money list, Adam Schenk. This is in no way meant to pick on Schenk, but most golf fans likely do not know who he is. He's anonymous, mostly. An excellent golfer, obviously. But he probably doesn't sell any tickets and had nothing to do with the television contract. He made $1.25 million.

How was Jordan able to make $2.1 million large playing so poorly?  Because his prior level of play exempted him into the WGCs and Invitationals, easy money grabs.  In fact, we just happen to have this item on the former Golden Boy:

But mediocre can only keep you afloat for so long, and now that his results from 2017 have disappeared from the algorithm, he’s slipped to No. 55. That’s a big deal—“50”

might be just a number, but it’s significant because of everything you lose. Put simply, being outside the top 50 means you miss out on some of the biggest tournaments on the calendar, and that makes the journey back to the top 50 that much harder. 

It’s a big deal primarily because of the World Golf Championship events and their reduced fields. At the Dell Match Play, of course, the simple equation is that the top 64 make the field, but at the other WGCs, only the top 50 are guaranteed a place before different criteria set in. I have defended the OWGR vociferously in the past, but if there’s an area of slight imbalance, it’s at the WGCs. Compare a tournament like the WGC-Mexico from 2019 to this year’s Farmers Insurance Open, and you can see that the points available for the same finishing position are higher at the WGC by a factor of 1.5 to 2, roughly, depending on the spot. That’s due to the adjustment for the strength of field—specifically how many top 50 are competing. I’m not even saying that adjustment is wrong or unfair, but it’s also a fact that there were just 72 people in the Mexico field, and the usual 156 at the Farmers. By the sheer volume of players competing, it would seem harder to win (or finish 10th, or 25th) at the Farmers, but the points are higher at the WGC.

Of course Tiger feels he's underpaid....  First, I've yet to meet a man that thought he was overpaid.  But also, no compensation system could possibly capture his unique place in the game.... and yes, that obviously creates an opening for these PGL guys.  

But, as Harig Notes, it's not really that big an opening:

The Tiger factor 

Getting Woods, of course, would seem to be the holy grail for the Premier Golf League. But is it? Woods is 44. When this league begins -- in two years at the earliest -- he will be 46. Is he going to play 18 tournaments in addition to the major championships? No chance. He played 14 last year and might play a total of 18 in 2020. 

Sure, the Premier Golf League could lower its number of tournaments. And Woods could be given equity stake in one of the franchises and be guaranteed huge sums of money at a time in his career when official prize money would be waning. And after he gets PGA Tour victory No. 83 to break Sam Snead's record, is there a reason for him to stick around?

Tiger seems more and more a potential poison pill for these guys.  And Phil as well.... Their relevance as players has a very short shelf life, but any initiative that doesn't include them will seem superficially unrealistic.

We Are The World - The Euros are playing their mixed event this week, so its an apt time for this to be floated:

Female golfers could be the biggest beneficiaries of an ambitious scheme to

revolutionise the sport’s World Cup, with plans afoot to boost prize money and introduce mixed-gender teams. Detailed talks about the World Cup, a biennial event that does not resonate deeply within the sport, have been ongoing for several months. The plan would boost the competition’s purse from $7m to upwards of $10m, with female golfers entering the fold seen as commercially beneficial. 

A bigger prize fund would, of course, be welcomed by male participants, but it would make a more significant impact on the women’s game as players look to close the pay gap to members of the PGA Tour in particular.

It's a zombie event, that I'm not sure I even knew was still alive, so go for it....

Phil In Phull - Shall we at last get to the reactions to the Distance Insights report?  Of course, you'll have guessed from my header who will be prominently featured.  First, he had these comments:

Phil Mickelson read the USGA and R&A’s distance report that was released Tuesday and took his share of jabs at golf’s governing bodies during his pre-tournament press conference on the eve of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 

Mickelson’s biggest beef with the report, which expressed concern for distance gains becoming “unsustainable,“ was his opposition to what he perceives as punishing athletes for getting better. 

“I don’t think that we have had massive equipment changes. We have just had athletes that have been able to take advantage of the equipment more so than in the past. And I hate to see that discouraged,” Mickelson said. “You look at what Bryson (DeChambeau) has done getting in the gym, getting after it, lifting weights, and hitting bombs, and now he’s – now you’re talking about trying to roll it back because he’s made himself a better athlete. So, I don’t know if I agree with that. But I also don’t really understand the whole scope of how it affects the game and how it affects agronomy and golf courses and so forth, so I’m not sure I’m the best one to really comment on it. I just know from the small little bubble of the PGA Tour, I hate seeing the athletes be punished or discouraged from continuing to work and get better.”

Does it matter the source of the distance increases?  I think he's wrong, not that conditioning and launch monitors aren't factors, but don't we have to accommodate the changes in distance regardless of the cause?

But his campaign to make friends and influence people continues:

“I struggle with some of our governing bodies,” Mickelson said. “I struggle with it because we’re the only sport, we’re the only professional sport in the world that is governed by a group of amateurs, and that leads to some questionable directions that we go down. I wish that we had people that are involved in the sport professionally to be in charge a little bit more.”

Say what?  I'm sorry Phil, I'm unfamiliar with Roger Goodell's NFL career... Perhaps you could phil me in.  

And if we're playing stupid games, perhaps you could identify another professional sport where the players bring their own balls?  

On a related subject:

Pressed on why he wouldn’t accept the exemption, which the USGA has granted throughout the years to the likes of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, “I just won’t,” Mickelson responded. 

“They have never been an organization that likes to give out exemptions, special exemptions,” said Mickelson, who turns 50 on June 16, Tuesday of U.S. Open week. “I don’t want a special exemption. I think I’ll get in the tournament. If I get in, I deserve to be there. If I don’t, I don’t. I don’t want a sympathy spot. If I am good enough to make it and qualify, then I need to earn my spot there.”

OK, we can interpret this in one of two diametrically opposed ways.  On the surface, it seems to be a proud athlete expressing confidence in his capabilities, wanting to earn his way in.

But this is Phil, and he always reminds us that he's the smartest guy in the room.  So, perhaps after his antics at Shinny and comments above, he knows an exemption isn't in the cards.  Better to break up with the girl before she breaks up with you.

It's not like there aren't others that think as Phil does, I'm just put off by his nonsense and baggage.  Remember, in the aftermath of that Shinny incident, he hid behind Amy's skirt....  We remember, Phil.

You know who thinks like Phil on this subject?  After initially releasing an anodyne non-statement statement, the PGA Tour has this:

However, asked specifically if the Tour considers increasing distance gains a “problem,” a spokesman for the circuit offered a slightly less sanitized version: “The PGA Tour will

continue to work with the USGA and the R&A in monitoring trends. At this point, we feel today’s game is more exciting than ever for our fans and the integrity of the competitions are intact – we still see a diverse set of winners on the PGA Tour and our examination of the data reveals that the skills involved in winning a PGA Tour event remain largely unchanged. But we are carefully reviewing the findings in the Distance Insights Report and we will collaborate with all of our industry partners, including the USGA and the R&A, on the next steps in the process.” 

It's worth unpacking the second statement. Where the report sees longer drives as the “wrong direction” for the game, the Tour continues to see a direct correlation between 300-plus-yard drives and a “more exciting” game.

Well, once a fellow has Lived Under Par™...

And nowhere do they live further under par than Phoenix:

Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour Phoenix Open averaged a 1.75 rating and 2.87 million viewers on CBS, marking the tournament’s smallest final round audience since 2011 (2.70M). Webb Simpson’s playoff win, which ended shortly before the Super Bowl began, declined 30% in ratings and viewership from both last year and 2018 (2.5, 4.08M). 

Third round action on Saturday averaged a 1.45 and 2.19 million, down 16% in both measures from last year (1.7, 2.60M) and down 30% and 34% respectively from 2018 (2.1, 3.30M).

Let's see, ratings in the tank and a rival league trying to steal your top players.  Yup, must be a more exciting game....

The two organizations seem on a collision course, no?  The Distance Insights Report didn't completely ignore the effects on the amateur game, but it mostly focused on the "Unsustainable" status of the elite game.  Nowhere is golf more elite than on Jay Monahan's Tour, and they just said, "Thanks, we're good."

I'll also remind you that there' no reason that the PGA Tour has to adhere to USGA rules, it's just been convenient for the Tour to have them to blame.  Forget the Premier League, this seems to be the battle for the soul of our game.  As the kids like to say, Developing....

Midweek Musings - Distance Insight Edition

Your humble blogger got it only half-right...  And therein lies the rub, the coming battle for the soul of our game.

So, what did the nice folks in Far Hills Liberty Corner/St. Andrews say?

Not everybody loves the long ball. 

On Tuesday, the United States Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club took their firmest stance to date in regard to distance by declaring their conclusions from their long-awaited Distance Insights Project. 

At 13 pages, the sharply worded report distills oceans of data into a summary of what the governing bodies perceive to be golf’s distance problem, assessing where the game has been, where it is and where it’s headed, as well as where it ought to go for its own good.

Exactly how to get there is another matter. 

The report does not present solutions, but it hints at possibilities — including potential of new conformance tests for clubs and balls, and the adoption of a local rule that would allow courses to require limited-flight equipment — while laying out a blueprint for finding answers.

I've been reliably informed that chicks still dig the long ball....  we're just all old enough now that chicks aren't much of a factor in our lives.

Shack has a number of posts up on this topic, likely the most exhaustive commentary to be found at this early moment.  He includes a number of excerpts from the report's summary, which saves me the trouble of reading it myself.  Yeah, that's lazy, but life remains too short.  This might be the money 'graph:

In summary, we believe that golf will best thrive over the next decades and beyond if this continuing cycle of ever-increasing hitting distances and golf course lengths is brought to an end. Longer distances, longer courses, playing from longer tees and longer times to play are taking golf in the wrong direction and are not necessary to make golf challenging, enjoyable or sustainable in the future.

So, remind me, who was in charge of the game during that continuing cycle?  

But wait, Mike and Martin actually address this passivity:

For all the reasons stated above, we believe that it is time to break the cycle of increasingly longer hitting distances and golf courses and to work to build a long-term future that reinforces golf’s essential challenge and enhances the viability of both existing courses and courses yet to be built. In reaching this conclusion, we recognize that some have the view that the governing bodies might have done more in addressing the implications of the continuing increases in hitting distances and course lengths.

Have they considered a career in journalism?  Because the "Some people say" trope is a bit over-used these days...

There are always uncertainties about the future, and an inherent part of our role is to incorporate the lessons of experience, continue to monitor and assess ongoing developments, and develop consensus on issues that should be addressed.

Our views have evolved as events have unfolded and new information has become available, just as they may evolve in the future, and we believe that it is never too late to do the right thing for the future of the game. By stepping back to take this long-term view in the Distance Insights Project, we believe that we are in position to address this set of issues from all perspectives and to search for effective long-term solutions.

OK, let's acknowledge that this is a difficult area, one in which any regulatory action might have all sorts of unintended consequences, not to mention interminable litigation.  But this is basically the timeline:

2002 - Joint Statement of Principals released, indicating any further distance increases would be to the detriment of the game.

2002-2020 - 

 

2020 - We're all gonna die!

And even that middle entry lets them off the hook, because the body of reports released undertook active measures to disguise that which we all saw with our eyes.

Of great note to me is that suddenly the USGA and R&A are expressing interest in the entire history of our game, for instance:

You might not know it from watching your weekend foursome, but distances in golf have long been on the rise. 

According to the distance report, the data trail traces to the late 1800s, when elite players typically hit drives of 160-200 yards, maybe 220 if they flushed one. Between 1900 and 1930, as the gutta percha gave way to the rubber-core ball, the average for big hitters swelled into the neighborhood of 220 to 260 yards, with the Cameron Champs of the era topping out around 290. Subsequent decades brought more of the same, as advances in equipment, agronomy and training, coupled with the growing athleticism of golfers, stretched distances ever farther, sometimes gradually, other times dramatically. By the end of 2019, the average drive of the 20 longest hitters on the European and PGA tours was 310 yards.

This actually represents progress of a sort.  Because their recent reports all insisted that golf began circa 2002, which incorporates the distance gains of the solid core ball into the baseline.  

Shack has this excerpt of their discussion of the ball:

The performance of golf balls has changed significantly over the last 25 years, with many of those changes contributing directly to hitting distance increases. The most significant change in golf balls in this period has been the replacement of the wound-core golf balls used since the early 1900s with the multi-layer, solid-core balls that are ubiquitous today. Multi-layer solid construction golf balls is not a new innovation, but many golfers continued to use wound golf balls until as late as the beginning of the 2000s. Typically, multi-layer, solid-core balls spin considerably less than wound-core balls at typical driver impact angles (R20 - Effect of Equipment on Distance - Golf Balls). This is an important factor for driver shot distance because decreases in spin can directly contribute to increases in distance. For example, referring to Figure 27, a decrease of spin of around 250 rpm can lead to an increase in distance of as much as five yards at a swing speed of 120 miles per hour. 

A comparison of a popular, older, wound-core golf ball and a popular, modern, solid-core golf ball suggests that the latter has both improved aerodynamics and is optimized for a lower spin rate. It can be seen in Figure 27 that for the impact speed typical of elite male golfers, at a spin rate of 3000 rpm, the aerodynamic improvement of a modern solid-core ball was calculated to be worth approximately ten yards over a traditional wound-core ball.

Ya think?  We noticed, Mike, you're the one that's been burying this... Also, there's a tendency to focus simply on distance, but the reduced spin of the modern ball is also a huge factor.

So, what comes next?  This will shock you:

This paper provides notice to equipment manufacturers of this overall area of interest under the Equipment Rulemaking Procedures. This means that we are identifying research topics that have the potential to lead to an Equipment Rule change but that no proposals are being made today. We invite input from manufacturers and other stakeholders in the golf community concerning potential equipment-based options to help achieve the objectives identified above. To facilitate that input, within 45 days we will publish a more specific set of research topics. It is anticipated that this important step of gathering input will take at least 9-12 months. After the research is completed and comments are evaluated, if we then decide to propose any rule changes, manufacturers will receive notice of these proposed changes (including a proposed implementation plan) and an opportunity to comment under the Equipment Rulemaking Procedures. The time allotted for this step in the process leading up to a final decision on any proposed rule change would depend on the nature of the proposal.

On the one hand, your humble blogger nailed that one.  Alas, the Degree of Difficulty was so low that one can't post much of a score.

This aspect will get the most ink pixels, as the report can be read as an initial salvo pointing us towards bifurcation:

1. We will assess the potential use of a Local Rule option that would specify use of clubs and/or balls intended to result in shorter hitting distances. The concept is that equipment meeting a particular set of reduced-distance specifications – for example, a ball that does not travel as far or a club that will not hit a ball as far – might be a defined subset of the overall category of conforming equipment. This could allow committees that conduct golf competitions or oversee individual courses to choose, by Local Rule authorized under the Rules of Golf, whether and when to require that such equipment be used. Such a Local Rule option could be available for use at all levels of play, and golfers playing outside of a competition could also have the option to make this choice for themselves.

But heaven forfend our regulators actually take a position, there's language that undercuts that:

“One of the great qualifies of golf is that we play under a single set of rules,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior managing director of governance. “It’s one of the strengths and virtues of the game and something we are steadfast in retaining.”

It seems clear they can't have it both ways... Alas, it's equally clear that they're in no hurry to get to that day of reckoning, seemingly unaware that these problems don't get any easier to resolve.

Let me close with a few reactions of varying relevance.  First, in any matter relating to the USGA, I'm reminded of the late, great Frank Hannigan's warning to Geoff of the USGA's need to be liked.  I'm not finding it on the Google Waybac machine, but one always wonders about their conflict avoidance tendencies....

Also this Mike Bamberger item on Nick Price.  Why Nick?

Nick Price is the best golfer of the 15 members of the USGA executive committee. By a

lot. He is newly 63 (a score he once shot in a Masters) and he’s been chipping away at the game for a half-century now, as a player and as a thinker. The 13-page summary of the USGA’s long-awaited Distance Insights Project? Child’s play, for Price. He’s been through the actual report, 90-plus pages, highlighter in hand, again and again. A good read, he says. 

“You really should read it,” Price said the other day. 

Price’s you is you. It’s you, me, my bosses, Tour players, resort operators. It’s ball manufacturers and club manufacturers. (In analyzing distance gains, this distance report does not discriminate between the two.) It’s caddies, course architects, superintendents. Price’s you is anybody and everybody who cares about golf, whether it’s your livelihood or your hobby or some combination thereof.

Mike does exhume this old and dated bit from Nick:

Whatever worries Price should worry us. If the subject is golf, he’s often the smartest person in the room, or right up there with Lee Trevino and Johann Rupert, a South African businessman. When the term Tiger-proofing became a thing in 1997, Price said, “If you want to Tiger-proof a course, make it shorter, not longer.” Golf did not listen.

It all depends on what you mean by Tiger-proofing, as it's the date that's the giveaway...   When it was only Tiger hitting it that far, this made good sense.  But we're at a point of worrying how far Webb Simpson hits it, 

OK, so what's Nickie's point:

“It’s a first step in an education process,” Price said recently, during a long lunch that at a South Florida club he founded with others, McArthur Golf Club. “It’s an attempt to get everybody, no matter how you come to the game, to understand where we are and where we’re going, what might happen if we do nothing and what we could do. But the first step is to get everybody on the same page.”

Price, a Hall of Fame golfer with three major titles, is the best sort of company man the USGA could have. He of course has his own opinions. He’s not sharing them. He knows it’s critical for the USGA, working in conjunction with the R&A, to speak as one voice. “People really don’t understand that the USGA has only the best interests of the game at heart,” he said.

Now you see why I bothered to bring up Frank Hannigan?  

“I was once one of the players in U.S. Opens, grumbling about how the USGA sets up their courses and what they do with all the money they make,” Price said. He had a handful of good U.S. Opens, but he was never, surprisingly, right there at the end. 

“But then when you get into it and start to really understand what the USGA does, you learn that the U.S. Open is the only USGA event that makes any real money, and that all that money is going back into the game.”

Price doesn’t say this next part quite so pointedly but he knows what all clear-minded people in the game know: touring pros of every stripe, manufacturers, Tour executives with incentive clauses, course owners, network executives and various others from various other constituencies have an almost innate desire to make more money every year. It’s human nature. The USGA wants to make more money, too, but only so it can put more money back in the game with the goal of improving the game. Those last three words are make-or-break.

Relevance, please?  Do so many straw men really need to be sacrificed?

A tuna melt plays far too big a role in Mike's narrative, though I'm concerned with the Kool-Aid apparently used to wash it down.... though the continued sensitivity to that Fox contract is really quite amusing.  

“If the USGA did this long, thorough study of the role of distance in the game, and the first statement out it was, `We have to roll back the ball by 10 percent,’ we’d lose people even before we got started,” Price said. 

The distance summary does discuss the prospect of the use of a local rule that “that would specify use of clubs and/or balls intended to result in shorter hitting distances.” Do not say you’ve heard about tournaments like this already called the World Hickory Championship! Keep an open mind, people. That’s Nick Price’s suggestion, for all of us.

Nick is a good guy, but this is totally unconvincing.  We all get that there all sorts of stake-holders that need to have input, and that the manufacturers will seek to protect their own interests.   

I'm happy that the governing bodies have drawn a line in the sand, but we've seen this movie before.  They drew and equally bold line in the sand in 2002, and have stuck their heads in the sand since then.  I eagerly await Mike Davis' request for a mulligan for those eighteen years....

No need to torture you more on this subject, as the only thing certain is that nothing will happen for at least a year.  We can catch up on other news tomorrow.

Tuesday Tidbits

Wow, that was a nail-biter!  No, not the Wasted, the Iowa Democratic Caucuses.  Where's that #youhadonejob hashtag when we need it?

Of course, this nice lady is still bitterly clinging to the past, though one must admit that she has a point.

Shall we segue to a little golf?  Not that there's all that much to discuss...

If You Build It... - By all evidence, Martin Dempster maintained his poker face while attending that Saudi Golf Summit:

The ambitious plan was revealed by Majed Al Sorour, CEO of the Saudi Golf Federation and Golf Saudi, as he spoke to reporters on the opening day of the inaugural Golf Saudi Summit. 

Graeme McDowell won the second staging of the $3.5 million Saudi International on the European Tour event on Sunday at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

That is also where a new Ladies European Tour event is being staged next month, when the prize fund will be $1 million. 

"We’re not going to stop with one (event)," said Al Sorour. "We’re in communication with the Asian Tour, we’re in communication with the [European] Tour to have a second event.

"We have the Ladies European Tour and they merged together with the LPGA, so hopefully we get to the point where we have an LPGA event. 

"And, of course, we’d love to have a PGA Tour event. One and a half years ago, I sat with Ty [Votaw, the PGA Tour's chief marketing officer) and had a great conversation on having an idea of putting a PGA Tour event in Saudi Arabia. 

"One of the things that we also want to discuss with him is a World Cup and how we’re going to do that in Saudi Arabia, if that’s possible."

Now the men have taken a little heat for cashing Al Sorour's checks, but an LPGA event?  That's gotta trigger a nuclear arms race in the woke Olympics, no?  I'm not even clear how it would work, as the ladies aren't allowed in public unless escorted by a male relative....

Al Sorour was asked about support for the new Premier League:

“We can address it in multiple ways," he said. "Is it good for the game or not? This is what we’re thinking. If something is good for the game, we should just listen to the people who are leading it, sit down with the PGA Tour if the time permits.

"We’re just here to listen. We love the game and our love for the game will do whatever it takes to make the game great."

For the good of the game, and to think I had questioned his motives.

But, of course, not everyone is on the same page when it comes to the good of the game.  My immediate reaction to this was a killer riposte, but Geoff got there first:

You may recall it was just last week that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan emailed players about the hostile Tour siphoning players away and highlighted that funding was coming from Saudi Arabia, home to public beheadings, among other human rights violations. A more cynical person than I might suspect he was suggesting the money was, uh, not clean.

So, it's OK for your players to take dirty Saudi money on a one-off basis, just not when it directly threatens the Ponte Vedra Beach feedlot.  Got it.

A couple more items on the PGL, including a provocative Joel Beall's thesis:

“If the Team Golf Concept [one of the other names used by the PGL] or another iteration of this structure becomes a reality in 2022 or at any time before or after, our members will have to decide whether they want to continue to be a member of the PGA Tour or play on a new series,” Monahan wrote. That kind of brimstone isn’t wasted on a half-baked pitch. 

Despite its vague framework, or perhaps because of it, the PGL concept (more on this in a moment) has generated interest and curiosity. Naturally, its overall viability is a large part of the discussion right now, and a recurring theme with multiple players, agents and league liaisons Golf Digest spoke to on the subject. But equally compelling is identifying just what kind of threat it really is to golf’s current institutions. 

Because while rogue leagues have proven disruptive, history shows they can also be beneficial to the incumbent.

I'm far from convinced, but Joel makes his case based on innovation:

The ABA beget the three-point line, early draft eligibility, the slam dunk contest and a general flair that was painfully absent in the NBA of the 1970s. The AFL showed the power of television and high-powered offenses in the 1960s while the USFL, in just three seasons in the 1980s, brought the two-point conversion, replay review and bigger salaries to the NFL, with both building markets for future teams. Baseball’s independent and minor leagues broke the color barrier years before MLB, and shepherded the between-inning and in-game entertainment that is now standard at any ballpark. The WHA showed the NHL that hockey’s best didn’t have to come from Canada alone. 

Not all “innovations” stick. Sadly, the XFL’s nickname-on-jersey novelty stayed just that. Still, competing leagues have a real ability to force the establishment to evolve. Which brings us to the Premier Golf League.

That nickname thing came back during MLBs Players' Weekend....

But his point is a good one, that large entities that don't face competition calcify...  If you've spoken to your cable company recently, you'll know what of I speak.

But I would argue that the PGA Tour already has competition, to wit, the European Tour with ts shot clocks and the like is the most obvious example.  Additionally, Tour events compete with each other, and while that's usually by pampering the players, there are more tangible benefits such as the Zurich team event.

Obviously I'm the first to complain about the mind-numbing dreariness of each weekly event, but one also has to acknowledge that we got to this juncture for some very good reasons.  For instance, most insufferable purists love match play, considering it the purest, most primal form of golf.  But, that said, one has to acknowledge that it doesn't work in the modern, TV-driven world.  There's a reason the PGA Championship gave it up decades ago.

It seems to me that the PGL is making its case based upon two factors, the second being their team concept.  But it's not terribly fleshed out, and seems an afterthought merely to provide something to discuss besides the filthy lucre. 

A Cautionary Tale - As a golf fan and blogger, the linkage seems at best speculative.  As  a Yankee fan, however, where do I sign on?

A fantasy baseball contestant filed a federal class action Thursday against Major League

Baseball, the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros, claiming that they cheated fans of an honest fantasy baseball competition. 

“While actively inducing their fans to enter into fantasy baseball wagers based on the individual statistical performance of MLB players, MLB’s member teams secretly engaged in corrupt and fraudulent conduct, in knowing and intentional violation of MLB’s Official Rules and regulations, that produced player statistics distorted by cheating and deprived their fans,” the complaint states. 

Kristopher Olson, who filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, alleges that the MLB consistently promoted and engaged in fantasy baseball wagering contests through DraftKings that were “corrupt and dishonest.” Olson cited the league’s equity stake in the betting website, as well as additional agreements made with the teams.

And this certainly sounds similar to the path carted by the PGA Tour:

Despite maintaining a stern anti-gambling stance throughout much of the previous several decades, the lawsuit claims that the MLB came out in full support of baseball wagering in 2015, aware of the kind of opportunities such activities could open up for the business. 

As the MLB began its support for wagering, it became co-owner of the betting site, a partnership that would ultimately give DraftKings exclusive sponsorship agreements with Major League Baseball teams.

Here's Shack's thoughts on the linkage to our little game:

Thanks to reader F.X. for seeing the below story and recalling back when Patrick Reed was knocking away sand last December that some saw such a cheating effort as pretty terrible.

And it will be exponentially worse when America legalizes betting. As the opportunities arise to gamble on golf—with the PGA Tour actively encouraging the action—gamblers will not be comforted that Reed took a 2-sroke penalty like a gentleman when he goes on to keep contending in an event he should have been disqualified from.

(Reed’s case is just one example of the potential issues arising from controversial rulings by a tournament staff.)

OK, I'm still trying to figure out why folks think Patrick should have been DQ'd.   

I've got a better example, though.  Remember the mayhem early last season at the incredibly botched rewrite of the rules relating to caddies aligning their players.  One guy had a penalty imposed, and rescinded the following day.  How do we think the gambling community will like that?  

And, if you insist on a Patrick incident, how about his comment to the rules official that Jordan Spieth would have received a different ruling?  

Oh, and how do we think they'll react if a backstopping incident effects results?

It has to get ugly, no?

Happy Distance Insights Day - Yup, today is the day...  If only I had this dropping before we had Iowa results in my pool....

Shack will not be making any friends in Far Hills Liberty Corner or St. Andrews by linking to and excerpting this from the 2002 Joint Statement of Principles:

The R&A and the USGA believe, however, that any further significant increases in hitting distances at the highest level are undesirable. Whether these increases in distance emanate from advancing equipment technology, greater athleticism of players, improved player coaching, golf course conditioning or a combination of these or other factors, they will have the impact of seriously reducing the challenge of the game. The consequential lengthening or toughening of courses would be costly or impossible and would have a negative effect on increasingly important environmental and ecological issues. Pace of play would be slowed and playing costs would increase. 

The R&A and the USGA will consider all of these factors contributing to distance on a regular basis. Should such a situation of meaningful increases in distances arise, the R&A and the USGA would feel it immediately necessary to seek ways of protecting the game.

Who ya gonna believe?  The USGA and R&A, or your lyin' eyes?

A reminder of the significance of that 2002 date.  The solid core ball appeared in 2000, though it took some time for the vast majority of players to adopt it.  The use of a 2002 date as a baseline is quite disingenuous,  ignoring the dramatic distance increase form that technological change.  Michael Mann would be very proud of these guys.  

I assume this report will document further marginal changes and recommend further study....  Unable or unwilling to control the game they regulate, the USGA and R&A instead decided to change the term "All Square" to "Tied", so at least we've got that going for us....

Analyze This - Joel Beall Ponders the defining question of our generation:

Does Tony Finau choke on Sundays, or is he the victim of bad luck? An analysis

I would just note that the two are not mutually exclusive.

Since the 2017-'18 season, Finau has 13 top-six finishes on Tour. Surprisingly, despite the stats above, there were zero instances of Finau free-falling while in contention. That said, the numbers aren't particularly kind.

Granted, the lack of backdoor finishes has to break Matt Kuchar's heart, but alluded above, the results are damning. Finau has been within three shots of the lead seven times heading into Sunday, three of which he held or shared the lead. Finau worsened his position from Saturday to Sunday, either in strokes or standing, in a whopping eight of the 13 events. 

Worse, there's a jarring absence of inspiring charges. The scoring average in those bids is 70 on the dot, which would have ranked outside the top 60 in final-round scoring last year. It's also 1.7 strokes higher than the winners' final-round score (68.30).

Given Tony's game, I'd be awfully interested in seeing his final round putting numbers.  No doubt there'd be a sample size issue, but the man's Achilles Heel is the flat stick.

Ask and ye shall receive:

As to how it's happening, the general consensus is that Finau's putter goes cold, and there is some statistical evidence to support that. Last year he was 73rd in putts per round but 170th come Sunday, and 108th in fourth-round putts in 2018 against a 78th overall rank. But that's more of an overall projection than a week-by-week dissection. For what it's worth, Finau posted a 1.192 stroked gained/putting figure Sunday in Phoenix and finished fifth in the field in that category.

Interesting.  It's been the putter, just not this week.  

Rock My World -  I'll do my best to not nod off:

Rory McIlroy will ascend to the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking when it gets 

updated next Monday, despite not playing this week. 

It will also happen regardless of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 

McIlroy is currently just .2 points back of Brooks Koepka, who is not playing this week either. Nor is World No. 3 Jon Rahm, leaving the door open for McIlroy to make the move to No. 1.

Algorithms can be so exciting....  especially when you ascend to No. while on the beach.  

Rory gave a wide-ranging interview to The Irish Times, and the man is always engaging.  It's really one of his best traits, for instance this on the ill-fated Thursday at Portrush:

“Yeah, I’m always nervous, but on the range I felt good, had a good warm-up, then started feeling it on the putting green before going to the first tee. Michael was there. I hit my final putt and shook his hand, ‘See you’. Then you go up and over the bridge, and the way they do it at the Open almost feels like a ring walk for a boxer. People are cheering. You come down the steps and through a tunnel and onto the tee box, and there’s this massive ovation. And I’m like, ‘Woah!’ That was the first time I felt it, ‘Jesus, this is huge!’ And I hadn’t prepared myself for it. I had prepared for the golf, and the golf course, but I hadn’t prepared for that feeling. And I don’t know if I could have prepared for that feeling.

McIlroy said he had felt nerves before, but Portrush was different, because it was home. 

“Yeah, home. It comes back to that. There’s a connection there I don’t think you get with anywhere else — even talking about it now I’m getting goose bumps,” he said. “But that was the mo­ment. You walk onto the tee and get this ovation and you’re like, ‘Wow!'”

Yeah, but home is something that's very relatable.   Not relatable is when home is Northern Ireland, and, like Rory, I don't know how he could have been prepared for that.  

And on East Lake:

Only person disappointed at East Lake 

McIlroy had a front-row seat for Tiger Woods’ win at the 2018 Tour Championship. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever have the opportunity to be paired with Woods in a final round, and his performance was one to be forgotten. McIlroy wanted Woods to earn his comeback win, he wanted to “take the fight to him.” 

“And I never made him earn it. That’s what bothered me,” McIlroy said. “And what bothered me even more was I came away (thinking), ‘I know I can play better than that. I know I can beat him.’ But I’d made it too much about him, and not enough about me.”

If it helps, it bothered the rest of us as well....  though not just at East Lake.

There's much more, so give it a read.  

Headline of the Day - Perhaps they're no longer having public sex under the grandstands, but this header confirms that the Wasted can still deliver the goods:

Man accused of stealing alcohol, fleeing Phoenix Open rescued from canal before arrest

Florida Man better not rest in his laurels....

Tune in tomorrow, when I've been reliably informed we'll resolve the distance issue.  Or, you know, not....

Weekend Wrap

I did watch some of the golf, just not yesterday...  Football and a ribeye took precedence, I'm sure you'll understand.

Phoenix Rising - This was one of Golf.com's Saturday headers:

Tony Finau on verge of his biggest win yet at Phoenix Open

Of course, it depends on what you mean by "verge".... He had a one-shot lead after 54 holes, which doesn't seem all that vergy to me.  Of course, the real howler is that "Biggest win yet" bit, because Tony's brand is defined by his inability to win anything....  Oh, there was that off-field win in Puerto Rico in 2016, but that's setting the bar awfully low.  

So, no surprise that he didn't get to the finish line:

Who won: Webb Simpson (two-under 69, 17 under overall; Won with birdie on 1st playoff hole) 

How it happened: Tony Finau, who just recently moved to the Phoenix area, held the 54-hole lead at TPC Scottsdale, ahead of Webb Simpson by one and Hudson Swafford

and J.B. Holmes by two. Finau, Simpson and Swafford were in the final group on Sunday, yet there were few fireworks on the front nine. Simpson and Finau combined for just one birdie on the front (from Simpson) and made the turn tied for the lead at 15 under. Simpson birdied 10 to get to 16 under and lead by one, but Finau made his first two birdies of the day on 12 and 13 to re-gain the lead. After Simpson bogeyed the 15th, Finau led by two with three to play. They both parred 16, but Simpson picked up a stroke when he drove the par-4 17th and two-putted for birdie. Both players had birdie putts on 18, and Simpson went first, rolling his in from 18 feet to put the pressure on Finau. Finau had just nine feet to win, but he missed it on the low side, setting up the playoff.

I don't mean to dump on Tony, but this is becoming a thing:

Another close call: Finau’s lone PGA Tour victory remains the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, an alternate event to the WGC Match Play. In the time since, few golfers have contended as often. Finau now has 29 top 10s since that victory — as well as six runner-up finishes.

He just stays relentlessly on-brand....

The Golf.com Tour Confidential panel takes on this popular winner, but in a back-handed manner:

1. Webb Simpson birdied the final two holes of regulation and then birdied the first playoff hole to come from behind and beat Tony Finau at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Sunday. Simpson, 34, now has six PGA Tour wins (tying him with the likes of Padraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson and Stewart Cink), including a U.S. Open title, and also has made three Presidents Cup teams. Yet his game has never drawn much buzz. Is Simpson, ranked 7th in the world, the most underrated player on Tour? If not, who is? 

Luke Kerr-Dineen: Underrated? I’m not so sure. Under the radar? Definitely. It’s a subtle but important distinction. Webb Simpson has been hanging around for a while, and golf fans know he’s a solid player. Webb’s record — six wins, including one (and a half) majors and now in the top 10 in the world — does sneak up on you, but ultimately it’s a pretty fair reflection of his ability. Someone like Paul Casey comes to mind as someone who’s classically underrated. He’s had 31 top 25s in his last 45 PGA Tour starts, with two wins, two 2nds and finished 5th in the FedEx Cup last season! He probably deserves more attention. 

Alan Shipnuck: He used to be underrated but that became such a thing he might now be overrated! But it’s remarkable what a short-hitter like Webb has been able to do in this era of bomb/gouge. From 150 yards in he has to be the best player in golf. 

I can't speak to how others perceive the man, but I love the guy.  I wish I could remember the source, but some clever guy once noted that Webby leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Attitude, a great little quip.  I just love that he's managed to come back and have quite a strong second act after the profoundly unfair (to Webb and others) banning of anchored putting.  I can't not root for him, especially as you'll never hear the man complain.

Of course, this would be my favorite answer:

Michael Bamberger: I would say he is underrated in the sense that I have NEVER heard ANYBODY who has EVER brought up his name in a general golf conversation. Steve Jones, Scott Simpson and Michael Campbell are in the conversational mix far more than Webb Simpson.

OK, that's funny, not least for the names he dredges up.  I think even Mike would admit that the two Simpsons are/were quite a cut above those other two guys.

Josh Berhow: After much consideration, yes. You could go a step further and say he’s also the most underappreciated player on Tour. He’s not flashy and he’s not stirring the pot on Twitter and he’s not leading the Tour in driving distance (far from it) or even showing much emotion. But he gets the job done. He’s off to an outstanding start to the 2019-20 season, too. Could be a big year for him.

 Alas, their next question is no more successful:

2. Finau has had a steady career, ascending to as high as 9th in the World Ranking, but despite several close calls — he has had 29 top 10s and six runner-up finishes since his first victory — he still is in search of career win No. 2. If it’s not Finau, which PGA Tour winner is most overdue for another victory? 

Kerr-Dineen: It’s too easy — lazy, even — to do the whole Tony-Finau-doesn’t-win-because-he’s-too-nice thing. Finau is an incredible player who time after time puts himself in the conversation. He should’ve won on Sunday; he didn’t through no fault of his own. Sometimes, you’re just unlucky and get beat. He’s overdue for win No. 2, but I have no doubt it’ll come for Tony very soon — maybe even in the form of a green jacket. 

Egads, Luke, easy with these predictions.  W have the Internet and can fact check your ass, yanno...  I think he's on solid ground in expecting Tony to break through, but it's hard for me to understand amping it up to 11 and expecting him to do it at Augusta of all places... 

Shipnuck: Adam Scott. (He did win in Australia in December but that ain’t the PGA Tour.) 

Wow!  I don't feel for Adam the way I do for Webb, because he came up putting conventionally.  But he's a guy that hasn't figured it out since the anchoring ban, and did you catch his dispirited act at the Prez Cup?  I can't imagine what Alan thinks he sees there...

Bamberger: King Louie. Who swings like he should win every third week.

Why not?  After all, we're about to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his lone win... And another guy that looked clueless in Melbourne...

But Josh Berhow goes the other direction: 

Berhow: The obligatory Jordan Spieth answer fell right to me, hu? These are all good picks as well, but the fact that Spieth hasn’t won since July 2017 is still just astonishing. It continues to be one of the most compelling stories in the sport. I’m also waiting for Tommy Fleetwood to check off his first win on the PGA Tour. He’s 0 for 62 thus far but has four runner-up finishes.

They're having a lot of troubling letting go of Jordan....  It's not good, guys, and it's not getting any better.

One last bit on their rather famous 16th hole...  I'm basically a fan of it all, on a guarded basis.  It's mostly good fun, and the guys self-select for those able to embrace it, so no harm done.  My biggest concern is copycats, but thus far this remains a diverting one-off, so we're good.  

Brian Wacker takes us behind the scenes at the "Coliseum", and I think we'll all agree that we didn't need to know this:

There is a lot to see, especially on the famed par-3 16th hole. A man in a Big Bird

costume. Two guys in wedding dresses, neither of them named Dennis Rodman. A woman, topless for longer than a moment. 

There was the streaker of 2018 on the 17th hole—during the pro-am. And every year someone manages to find their way into the lake along the 18th. 

That’s nothing. According to one source, during the 2014 tournament there were 19 arrests for public sex underneath the bleachers at 16. 

“You mix a lot of booze, good weather and good-looking people, and it’s intoxicating,” one member of the Scottsdale Police Department said. “In more ways than one.”

Nineteen?  Seems odd that it would be, you know, an odd number....  But perhaps those snowbirds are a little kinkier than we expect.

Saudi Stuff - Always fun to see the old guys win, especially with whom the bride and I have ties dating back to 2008:

Back in the winner’s circle again. 

That trophy makes me think someone is compensating for something...

Graeme McDowell shot a final-round even-par 70 to finish 12 under and win the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers on Sunday in Saudi Arabia. It is his 11th European Tour title. 

He’s now won in three different decades, has 16 professional wins across 13 different countries and finds himself back inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. 

The 40-year-old McDowell finished two shots clear of defending champion Dustin Johnson, whose 3-under 67 (which included an eagle on the final hole) just wasn’t enough.

For those wondering about that reference above, there was woman's rainsuit involved...

Another reason to root for the guy?  The Euro Tour is so busy tricking up their events, that it's inevitable that hilarity ensues:

Graeme McDowell was furious after a mid-round TV chat led to a frustrating slow play "yellow card" in the Saudi International. 

He shot a two-under 68 to go into the weekend just two shots behind French star Victor Perez on eight-under-par. 

But he was hugely irritated to get a "bad time" after falling victim to the tour's stringent new slow play rules. 

Referee Mark Litton put McDowell's group in the clock before giving him a bad time a few holes later. 

The 2010 US Open champion agreed to speak to Sky Sports as he walked off the sixth tee (his 15th hole), but his two-minute walk-and-talk with reporter Tim Barter left him 50 yards behind playing partners Phil Mickelson and Rafa Cabrera Bello. 

"I got up there, I was first to go and had 215 yards into the wind, and it was a difficult shot," said McDowell, who faces an automatic one-stroke penalty if he gets another bad time this weekend.

This is a new pace-of-play policy, so perhaps these kinks will be worked out.  McDowell played the weekend with that hanging over him, yet another reason to applaud his win.   Pretty obvious, Mr. Pelley, that you can't have this both ways.  

This guy doesn't play Mr. Pelley's tour on a regular basis, but I wouldn't be shoving a microphone in his face:

“To be honest with you, I don’t know any other sport that does interviews in the middle of play,” said Koepka, inset, a four-time major winner, in offering his view after catapulting himself into the top ten in the $3.5 million event on the Red Sea coast with a five-under-par 65. 

“I know in football you’re not doing it, unless it’s in the Pro Bowl basketball you’re not doing it unless it’s half-time. This is the only sport where you’re talking to people while they are playing. I won’t do it. I’m not interested in talking about what just happened or the difficulty of the holes ahead. I’m just focussed on one shot at a time, where my ball’s at. I understand why it might be beneficial for the fans, but I don’t get it.”

I don't believe they're required to do in-round interviews, but obviously they're encouraged to do so.  But this is win-win, because Brooks doesn't have all that much of interest to share.

Premier Stuff - I still don't think this ever gets off the ground, but it's exposing some interesting fault lines in our game.  I'm not exactly sure in what order to blog the latest, but in our game one never gets called out for leading with Tiger, specifically this TC panel bit:

3. As more details about the proposed Premier Golf League surfaced last week (including plans for a feeder tour, as reported by Geoff Shackelford), AP golf writer Doug Ferguson asserted that without Tiger Woods on board, the league “doesn’t stand a chance.” Agree? 

Kerr-Dineen: Eh, I don’t think so. Tiger is obviously a huge shot of adrenaline, but are you telling me that if Rory, Brooks, DJ, Day, Hideki, Rahm, JT, Phil and Rose all signed up, the tour would be dead on arrival? Doubtful. 

Shipnuck: Woods is 44 with a reconstituted spinal cord. The game has to start planning for life after Tiger. If every other top player signs up for the PGL it still has legs. But obviously it would add a ton of buzz and credibility to the launch to have Tiger on board. 

Bamberger: I can’t imagine Tiger signing on for this, because his highest life priority seems to be his two children, and this series of events, scattered all over the world, would make home time even more of a challenge. If Rory, Brooks, DJ, Day, Hideki, Rahm, JT, Phil and Rose all signed up you would not have a league. The unspoken appeal of any real tour event is having a HUNDRED or so players who could breakthrough in any given week. I do imagine the pay structure getting reworked as a result of this threat to the Tour, by which wins and top-five finishes start to get more of the purse than they do at present. 

Berhow: Tiger is obviously a big get but for this league to be successful it has to be thinking 10, 20 and 30 years down the road, not just right now (and I’m sure it is). After Tiger, I think Rory McIlroy would be the guy they want to target. He’d be a draw no matter what country he’s playing in and when he speaks players (and media) listen. He’s also got a lot of game left.

You see the issue, no?  Before I comment, let me add this lengthy post from Shack, who has largely owned this story, on why Tiger might be tempted:

—After win number 83, he only needs PGA Tour events as major champioship prep. Woods has reached the Hogan post-accident stage where another huge piece of history is around the corner with his 83rd win. That victory will set the new mark for most PGA Tour titles. But once secured, PGA Tour appearances are nothing but tune-ups for the major championships.

—The money could be insane. When news of a $15 million Players purse broke last week, the thinking in Ponte Vedre clearly was a show that money is flowing back into player coffers. But given the Premier Golf League’s plan, the value of their financial offerings could make even the Players purse look average. The PGL is floating of $10 million weekly purses split among 48 players instead of 65 or so making a PGA Tour cut. On top of the purse, a season long pool for individual and team competitions will be in play. Then there is a structured appearance fee concept based on world ranking just for the players to show up. And reportedly huge travel perks such as private jet flights

covered by the league. Even then, should Tiger care about purses when… 

—The money could be really insane for him. Holding all of the cards, Woods is expected to be offered substantial incentive to join the tour as a franchise founder. A lump sum payment north of $100,000,000 million seems like a good starting place, though I’d bet he gets more. His franchise will immediately be the most valuable should he ever decide to sell to a billionaire owner some day. 

—Deal packaging could make him look insane if he says no. Major backers of this league can put together other elements to entice Woods: golf course design opportunities, expansion of his Foundation, hiring his TGR Live to run events, etc, etc... He may be looking at solidifying his post-career business in ways that only Michael Jordan and a few others can relate to. 

—He could be convinced at ten events. While my reporting said the concept had been knocked down to ten events before the season ending championship, the PGL insists they are shooting for their original concept of 18. Woods will never play that many along with the majors. Maybe he negotiates a legend’s clause to only play a select number. However, common sense says he’s not alone. Ten events, the majors and two or three PGA Tour events (Genesis, Memorial, Bay Hill?) will be the maximum for Woods, with other elites wanting a similar schedule. And remember, there will be no more pleas to play the FedExCup playoffs, WGC’s in Memphis in July, and other cumbersome obligations at this stage of his career. 

—The Hero World Challenge would be an ideal PGL stop. One other guaranteed Woods appearance each year: the 18-player Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. While sanctioned by the PGA Tour, this could become a stop on the PGL circuit depending on various out clauses and other components to the event’s PGA Tour arrangement.

—A PR hit can be overcome. If Tiger were to flee for another tour, he can bank on a few things happening. Haters will say he’s bailing on the Tour that gave him an opportunity for a big check and they won’t be wrong. He can point out that Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were key players in of overthrowing the PGA of America in the early sixties and they suffered no long term image damage. Fans will accept if Tiger makes such a move as long as they can still see him finish off his career in majors, in the Genesis and occasional Memorial, or when he plays the Premier Golf League. As long as their media platform does not overcharge for the privilege.

—The PGA Tour Brand Is Strong But… Within short time, if enough players defect, “The League” or the “PGL” could become synonymous with golf. A solid 99.5% of the sports viewing public cannot tell you the difference between the PGA Tour and the PGA of America. Or who runs what major events. While Woods could be seen as a deserter and the man who left the PGA Tour in the dust, memories fade faster than ever and as strong as the PGA Tour is, as profound as their charitable efforts are ($3 billion mark passed recently) and as beloved as many tournaments have become in their community, it’s not a dealkiller for Woods, and possibly Mickelson. Other players? Maybe.

I know, that was unnecessarily long....  But as Mark Twain famously said, I wrote you a long letter because I didn't have enough time to write a short one.   

First and foremost, I remember a time back in the early aughts when someone made a convincing case that Tiger had no need to be a PGA Tour member.  The case was convincing, because he could easily made a schedule that worked based upon a precious few sponsors exemptions.  But he didn't, presumably because he didn't want to be that guy that deserted the Tour...  

Mostly I see this as an unresolveable dillemma for the PGL organizers.... They need Tiger in the short-term, but he obviously can't be the future of such an undertaking.  Who else has been approached?  Rory, quite obviously, and that makes complete sense.  But we had Phil and his business meeting Pro-Am pairing, and also this guy.  Which forces them to face an obvious dilemma, that those players that stir the drink (in Reggie's famous phraseology) don't necessarily have much left in the tank.

Geoff is right that insane amounts of money are being bandied about, but where is the value proposition?  A cursory look at golf's TV ratings should have a caution light flashing for us all, as I assume current sponsors are wasting their shareholders' money.  At these higher amounts being bandied about?  I just don't think the game creates that kind of value, but we obviously get to be spectators on this one.

But wait, things get curiouser and curiouser, as one of the game's elder statesmen comments:

“These players have signed an obligation [with the PGA Tour]. If you start talking to

another tour when you've done that, you're looking for trouble. 

"I find a lot of greed in the sport now,” Player added. “When someone comes along like this, what do you do? Do you discard the PGA Tour where you've played all your life? Are you just going to say ‘to hell with you now?’ I don't like that. It is crazy to say you don't like money, but it's not as though they are struggling. 

"I think Rory McIlroy made $23 million last year without even taking in his contracts. How much money do you want? Loyalty to me is very big."

 So, I guess Gary is that guy who's pure of heart, the one destined to cast the first stone?  Not exactly, as Geoff points out, these comments were made during his participation in the Saudi Golf Summit:

Not that there's anything wrong with that, just accusing others of greed while cashing checks from the Wahhabis seems a bad look.

Of course, Gary doesn't travel without baggage.... There's his lack of fidelity to the rules, and there was this from Alan Shipnuck's most recent mailbag:

If Jack is MJ and Tiger is LeBron, who is golf’s Kobe? -@GrantLeigh3 

A transcendent player who in his prime was revered but not beloved, a highly specific personality peddling his own myth who rubbed some people the wrong way but inspired others, a tireless and even obsessive worker burning to be great? Gary Player.

I don't follow...has Kobe been in the news lately?

Drafting On Alan -  I don't like that his mailbag is now being published over the weekend, but I can't resist the siren song of low-impact blogging:

A lot of “experts” are saying that Tiger is the best player in the world right now. Yet he is sixth in the OWGR. What exactly is the point of the rankings if we’re just going to ignore them? -@linksplayers 

The OWGR algorithm is not a prisoner of the moment. It takes into account a significant body of work while Golf Twitter especially tends to overreact to what just happened. At Royal Melbourne, Tiger proved beyond a doubt that on a firm, fast course that demands precision and shotmaking and discipline ⁠— basically, the ultimate test ⁠— he is still by far the best player in the game. 

But that is a highly specific criteria. On a long, narrow setup with thick rough, like Bethpage or Winged Foot, there are two or three dozen players who are more proficient than Woods. On the pressure-packed back nine of a major, when everyone is losing their mind and clear thinking and mental fortitude are paramount, Tiger can still get it done, as he proved at the Masters while the rest of a stellar leaderboard imploded. 

But his reconstituted spinal cord doesn’t allow him to prepare the same way as the young bucks, and he has to limit his starts, so Tiger is unlikely to ever again be the most dominant player on Tour, and he may never again summit the World Ranking. But is he the best player in the game right now? Mostly.

Alan is more civil than I, treating a truly stupid question with respect.

We don't "ignore" the OWGR any more than we blindly follow it.  Right now, literally right now, the best player in the world is Webb Simpson.  No other answer is acceptable based upon the questioners premise, but that answer might not have much of a shelf life.  

There's many reasons to distrust the algorithms of the OWGR, but it's purpose has much more to do with those ranked far lower (the magic numbers are 64, 125 and 156), and the use thereof for qualification into majors and WGCs.  In terms of who has that top slot, I think we can all agree that any system that has Luke Donald or Lee Westwood as the top-ranked player in the world, is fair game for criticism.

⁠Is Bryson really that lacking in self awareness? He picks a fight with Koepka he can’t win, then plays a Euro tour event when officials there are looking for a dawdling target for publicity. It’s like he needs a full time numbskull prevention advisor. -@HampRogers 

I think you answered your own question.

Poking Bryson is good fun, but doesn't he get a little credit for not being deterred by the Euro Tour's focus on pace-of-play?   

What is your favorite tournament on the West coast swing and why? It’s my favorite part of the schedule with Torrey Pines, the rowdy gathering in Scottsdale, Pebble Beach and Riviera. -@SteveThomsonMN 

The Clambake is so fun if you avoid the “celebrity” rotation and watch pro’s pros take on Spyglass and the Shore when there is almost no one else out there. And Sunday at Pebble is a blast when the focus is on real golf and the course. But overall I think the answer is the L.A. Open (now known as the Genesis Invitational, hosted by Tiger Woods). The field is stacked, the course is so pure, and there is a rich history and a little stardust sprinkled over the whole thing.

I think that's right...  Phoenix is fun and Pebble is beautiful, though trust me and make othe rplans for Saturday.

Supporting golf in the “Saudi Arabian region” makes no sense. Give me a good reason to play there this week, minus the appearance fee. -@JustShake 

Well, Phil wangled a pro-am pairing with the would-be founders of the Premier Golf League, so he’s also finding time to subvert the PGA Tour. And with Saudi Arabia determined to pour more and more money into the game I have no doubt other players (and their handlers) are discussing course design projects, teaching academies and other ways to, ahem, grow the game.

There is no other reason, except for Sergio....  Poor boy had to travel to Saudi without an appearance fee, which seems to me the civil rights issue of our era.

 Is this really an issue?

When will PGA do the right thing and start penalizing players shots for refusing to shout fore as wayward drives clatter into their adoring fans? For whatever reason the majority of these privileged stars couldn’t be bothered with this basis courtesy. Rant over. -@bcunningham0 

I feel ya. It is bad form and does speak to a certain entitlement. The penalty should be that any fan who is doinked by the ball gets to throw it into the trees or a bunker, with no relief given.

I don't even think the fans can hear them 350 yards out, but maybe the pointing helps them assume the position?

Does this guy watch much sports?

What is it about winning, Alan? Both Ashun Wu and Ryan Palmer melted into the distance after catching the scent of silver. So what is the marker for those that can win and those that cannot? -@SportaSmile 

This is the defining question in all of sports — what separates the closers from the journeymen? You can’t spot it on the range. You can’t even spot it between the ropes on Thursday or Friday or Saturday. Winning is a black art, an MRI of the soul. Even the best winners have trouble articulating how they do it. It’s this very mystery that makes tournament golf such compelling theater.

And the thing about our game is that the player has way too much time to think about such things, which is an unappreciated aspect of it all.

And a strong closing Q&A:

Have you ever answered a question from your own burner account on #askalan, and does your burner have any aces? -@GolfingBrock 

Hahaha, I’m not cool enough to have a burner. Also, if I did I would inevitably blow up my spot with comments that would be too easily traced back to me. Furthermore, I barely have time for one Twitter account! Wait, it sounds like I doth protest too much…

 He's tweaking Alan on multiple fronts, so kudos for sure.  I just wish he could have worked in a reference to the current era of U.S. Ryder Cup dominance....

But Alan, just a quick piece of advice....  When you set up the Twitter burner account, the handle Pierre Delecto is already taken.

See you tomorrow.