Monday, June 10, 2024

Weekend Wrap - Open Week Edition

 Hope everyone had a great weekend, as we have received clearance to land at Pinehurst....

Scottie, Still Good At Golf - For those thinking that fatherhood might derail SchefflerFor those thinking that fatherhood might derail Scheffler, you might want to work through your longshot picks for this week:

When Scottie Scheffler arrived at the 72nd green at the Memorial Tournament Sunday, he didn’t just have the game’s most prolific major champion watching him.

He also had his wife and son, watching him finish up a victory together for the first time.

Coming to the final hole up by just one shot over Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler completed the par save on 18 by drilling a five-foot par putt before Morikawa even had a chance to make his to post eight under and win the Memorial Tournament with host Jack Nicklaus looking on.

It’s Scheffler’s fifth win of the season, but first since the birth of his first child, Bennett, last month. After missing his last two victories at the Masters and RBC Heritage, Meredith was right on the 18th green with Bennett in hand to watch the win.

And it's the first instance in some time in which the noted hothead got through an entire tournament week without a mug shot...

We'll see if they got any eyeballs when the ratings are released, but in this case they should have no complaints about the names on the leaderboard, though they still didn't put on the kind of show they need.  It did work as a U.S. Open warm-up, as there was much grinding involved, but kind of a desultory feel to the final round, at least in my opinion.

Normally, winning the week before a major makes me less inclined towards a guy's chances, but it's a different calculus when the guy wins every time he pegs it.

You'd have to have a heart of stone to not enjoy a scene like this: 

Given that CBS gets just about everything wrong, that extraneous quotation mark makes perfect sense.

Scheffler with a bi of an explainer as to why the course played so difficult:

“I think the wind was up and it was from a direction where the downwind holes, it almost doesn’t really help,” Scheffler said. “The firmness of this greens make this golf course so difficult because the areas are already so small, and then when you get the wind up and the greens firm, it’s almost impossible sometimes to hit the ball in the right area.”

Thanks for confirming what I've always known, that downwind can play harder than into the wind, certainly with wedges and shorter clubs.  For us, it's because if we mishit even slightly, the added spin on the ball will cause the wind to knock it out of the air.   Of course, the buried lede is that Scottie wouldn't know about imperfect contact....

The Tour Confidential panelTour Confidential panel had thoughts on the Texan (who was actually born in New Jersey):

1. Scottie Scheffler won the Memorial on Sunday, his fifth win of 2024, the first to do that by this point of the season since 1980. Now he heads to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 once again as the heavy betting favorite. Despite his success, should there be any hesitation in picking him since he’s never won a major outside of Augusta National?

Jessica Marksbury: It feels impossible to bet against Scottie Scheffler these days. I’m struggling
to find any metric that would deter me from picking him as a favorite. Golf is fickle, anyone can have a bad day at any given time, but Scheffler’s consistency is one of his most impressive stats. He hasn’t missed a cut in nearly two years. He hasn’t finished outside the top 17 since last August. Prior to the Memorial, his last seven tournaments included four wins, two runner-ups and a T8 at the PGA — after he was arrested. Is there any stopping this guy? I think not!

Josh Sens: The horses for courses thing does not apply to Scheffler. His game is so complete, it can travel anywhere. It’s just a matter of time before he wins a major other than the Masters. The oddsmakers have it right to have him the runaway favorite here.

Jonathan Wall: Anyone who hesitates to select Scottie to win a major on any course should be admitted to a psychiatric ward. As Josh said, his game travels. I hate picking the chalk at a major, but I can’t see anyone chasing him down at Pinehurst.

As many have noted, this heater (though that could be a serious misnomer) can be compared only to one man, that Tiger guy.  He'll have to keep it up for a decade or so, but he has separated himself from the chase pack to an extent we haven't see since the aughts.

As a companion piece to Scheffler's young family above, this is pretty sweet as well:

'First lady of golf' Barbara Nicklaus named 2025 Memorial Tournament honoree

The first lady of golf has been named the 2025 Memorial Tournament honoree for the 50th playing of the event at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Barbara Nicklaus, wife of Jack Nicklaus, will be honored with the annual Captains Club award at next year’s tournament. She is the first non-golfer among 84 prior recipients.

“This honor is so incredibly special to me, and I can’t thank the Captains Club enough for thinking of me,” Barbara said in a statement, adding that she was overcome with emotion when receiving the news.

“The Memorial Tournament has held such a special place in our family’s life,” she said. “It’s been wonderful to walk side-by-side with Jack and to watch his dream become our reality over the years. Looking back at the list of those who have been honored since 1976, I can’t express how humbled I am to join this elite group that I have looked up to and respected for so long.”

 Now, Barbara, any chance you could work on getting us a full field in '25?

Pinehurst On Our Minds - Alas, I don't have as much time as I'd like, but Geoff has this from on site:

The 124th U.S. Open is here and Pinehurst No. 2 looks incredible.

More mature and lush than in 2014 when the sandy native areas were still maturing, the course has benefitted from time, brilliant care, no play in almost a month and some recent rains. Leading
into the last U.S. Open, Pinehurst experienced only one torrential storm in early May dropping 3.75 inches that served as more of a washout than a nourishing rinse. This led to a firm, fast but inconsistent course. Aesthetically, there is no comparison to what you’ll see this week.

While the course might be a touch softer going into the week than last time, Sunday showed how No. 2 only needs some sun and breeze to dry things. Forecasted rain for Sunday evening—and looking ominous on the radar as I sent The Quad to the printing press—could change things a bit depending on how much rain drops on No. 2.

Your first look since 2014 at the ubiquitous wire plants throughout the waste areas.... 

Back to the TC gang:

2. Pinehurst No. 2 will play a major role in U.S. Opens going forward, as it was the first official “anchor site” of golf’s national championship. We haven’t seen it host the top pros since 2014. For the uninformed, how different is the Donald Ross design compared to more recent major stops, and what kind of player/game bodes well here?

Marksbury: One thing that struck me when I had the chance to play Pinehurst was how difficult
it was to lose a ball. You can find — and play! — a ball from just about anywhere. (A great boon for us recreational players!) But even at the pro level, I think that will be helpful for the longer guys who tend to spray it a bit, because the penalty is minimal compared to other courses. The green complexes are where the course really shows its teeth, so I’m betting on the guys with serious short-game prowess to rise to the top.

Sens: Green complexes are tough at most US Open venues. But the turtlebacks at Pinehurst are especially demanding. There’s a reason they joke that at Pinehurst, they don’t track greens in regulation They track greens visited in regulation. They’re not just hard to hit. They’re hard to hold. Miss your spot and bye bye. There’s no rough on No. 2, so that’s another huge difference. But there are tons of sandy wastes with clumps of native grass that can cause all kinds of misery, so you can’t just hit it anywhere off the tee.. A sharp short game is crucial in any major. But distance control is going to be crucial on approaches, so if I were crunching stats for office pool purposes, I’d be looking closely at the iron game.

My caddie referred to it as a "Pitch mark in regulation", but the effective size of these greens is maybe a quarter of their nominal size due to the contours and run-offs.

I don't know about tagging short-game prowess, though, because my recollection of 2014 is that they putted everything within twenty yards of the greens.  So, Hovland?

And this obligatory question:

3. What about Tiger Woods? Do you see his first U.S. Open appearance in four years going any better than his other major starts this year (60th Masters, missed cut PGA)?

Marksbury: Tiger’s recent performances have shown us that he still has all the shots. What he’s lacking is four-round stamina, and reps. Pinehurst is a gentle walk, and I think that bodes well for Tiger. I expect him to make the cut, and improve upon his Masters finish too, though I doubt he will actually contend.

Sens. I’m with you, Jess. As at Augusta, he will be able to rely on his guts and guile but without the painfully hilly walk. I could see his short game–and his mental game– keeping him around for the weekend. And maybe even in the mix.

Wall: Making it 72 holes would be an accomplishment. We’ve seen Tiger grind for the weekend at majors, but he tends to run out of gas before the final round. I don’t see things changing this week unless he wants to increase the pre-major tournament reps.

Might be time to move on, folks.

4. Bryson DeChambeau has been LIV’s best major performer this year, tying for sixth at the Masters and taking runner-up honors at the PGA Championship. Do you see that trend continuing at Pinehurst?

Marksbury: Pinehurst seems like a great fit for Bryson. It’s also been fun to observe what seems like a renewed lightness of spirit in him. He looks like he’s thoroughly enjoying his role as an entertainer, which is probably making his golf better too.

Sens: Bryson does seem in a great place both mentally and physically. My guess is that Pinehurst is not the kind of course that he will be able to bend as easily to his will with his power, at least not as he did at Valhalla. But we already know he’s got US Open-winning game. Hard not to rank him among the top 5 prospects heading into the week.

Wall: I can’t name another LIV pro I’d take over Bryson. Brooks Koepka has the major championship pedigree and knows how to deal with the ups and downs of a U.S. Open, but it’s difficult to predict which Koepka will show up. Recency bias makes Bryson the obvious choice.

Bryson seems have regained his confidence, but there's another LIVster of greater interest these days, at least to your humble blogger.  One answer concurs:

5. What’s the U.S. Open storyline that should be on everyone’s radar?

Marksbury: I’m looking forward to seeing some potential next-gen rivalries in action. In addition to Scottie’s dominance, we have players like newly-minted major champ Xander Schauffele and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa seemingly peaking all at the same time. This should be a barn-burner of a major, and hopefully, a glimpse of golf’s future.

Sens: Which Jon Rahm will we see. The world beater of years past? Or the sullen underperformer of 2024? He just pulled out of a LIV event this week, citing an injury. But physical issues aside, he has seemed to be in a battle with himself since joining LIV. An interesting case study in psychology, as golf so often is.

Wall: Can Xander keep his incredible run at the majors alive? As stats guru Justin Ray mentioned recently on social media, X is the first pro to begin his U.S. Open career with 7 straight top-15 finishes since Bobby Jones (11 straight, 1920-30). It’s an absurd stat highlighting his incredible consistency at golf’s most grueling major test. We knew he had the game to contend, but his breakthrough at Valhalla proves he can close the deal. Now it’s time to see if he has what it takes to become a multi-time major winner. If anyone will knock Scottie off the throne, it’s Xander.

As for the Spaniard, you might have heard:

Five days before the start of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Jon Rahm had to withdraw fro
m the LIV Golf event in Houston with a foot injury. Limping slightly during his first-round 69 on Friday at the Golf Club of Houston, Rahm played six holes on Saturday before deciding to withdraw. LIV Golf posted a video on X confirming the WD and showing Rahm shaking hands with his group before leaving the course.

The withdrawal may very well have been precautionary for Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion at Torrey Pines. The 29-year-old reportedly was dealing with a cut or cuts between his toes.

Doesn't sound like anything that will keep him out of the Open, though he looks miserable and is playing like he looks....

This guy actually got in to extend his streak of appearances, though there's a weird aspect to it all:

Six years later, Scott was left in limbo when he was beaten in a sudden-death playoff at U.S. Open qualifying last week by fellow Australian, Cam Davis. After three extra holes, Davis bagged the last of four spots given to the Springfield, Ohio, site. That meant Scott, who was not in this week’s signature event at the Memorial Tournament and couldn’t improve his world ranking, had to wait to see if his number projected high enough to scrape through on the OWGR deadline of June 10, or rely on the USGA to select him as first alternate from the Springfield site.

At World No. 61, Scott narrowly secured his Pinehurst start when the USGA said it was prepared to remove Grayson Murray, who passed away last month, from its ranking criteria if it were to affect any player who might have qualified via the top 60 category.

That means 43-year-old Scott, who will tee up in his 92nd consecutive major, will keep alive golf’s longest active streak in the majors, having played every championship since the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham. Scott, after traveling to New York last week for a meeting between representatives of the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, headed to North Carolina to begin preparations for the U.S. Open. He has already played two practice rounds at Pinehurst No. 2.

Creepy, but life goes on....  Maybe the funniest bit is that Scott wasn't in the field at Jack's place, which perhaps might affect his opinion on optimal field size?  Nah, who am I kidding, he'll do whatever Cantlay needs him to do to keep his seat at the cool kids table.

But, please do remember, that the most important events on the PGA Tour don't have room for the 61st best player in the world....  So, really, how important can they be?

Wither Professional Golf - It seems there's a bit of a change in the background music, as if there might be some kind of deal after all.  That Friday meeting referenced above led to this:

Progress was made Friday in New York when representatives of the PGA Tour and the Public
Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia met for three hours in their first face-to-face negotiations in nearly three months. At least that was claimed in a statement released Saturday morning on behalf of the PGA Tour Enterprises transaction subcommittee.

How much progress and on which terms was not divulged in a carefully worded and vague update. The meeting took place one day after the one-year anniversary of the framework agreement announced by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. It followed up reports on the issuance of term sheets the sides exchanged some time last month.

The other interesting aspect that I saw elsewhere is that apparently term sheets were exchanged in advance of last year's June 6th bombshell, but that in a rush to announcer they were abandoned and the Framework Agreement included precious few specifics.

But while Jon Rahm might end up happy, the PGA's rank and file are, shall we say, not over the moon wit things:

Not everyone is fond of the signature event structure that was implemented this season on the PGA Tour. Just ask veteran pro Nate Lashley, who pointed the blame directly at Commissioner Jay Monahan.

“Our No. 1 event is the Players and it’s a 144-man field. If that’s the best field all year, then why are these signature events that are supposed to be so good 70 (man fields)? It makes no sense,” Lashley said at the RBC Canadian Open last Saturday after making the cut. “Look at how good the Players was this year. When you have more competition, things stay tighter, more compact. When you’ve got fields with no cuts it spreads things out.

“But we have a commissioner who is a chicken shit and won’t stand up to a handful of guys, that’s what happens. You can’t tell me finishing top 10 in a limited field is similar to a 144- or 156-man field. It’s not even close. There’s no comparison. This is way harder.”

Nate, you ignorant slut.  You just don't understand that we can't grow the game unless Patrick gets paid....

And not just Nate:

Count Mark Hubbard among the pros frustrated with the way the signature events are set up.

“It’s obviously set up to let in as few people as possible,” he argued. “They made the AON 10 and Swing 5 categories seem so dreamy but they didn’t tell us that the winner’s category was behind it and the world top 30 category was behind it. I think eight of the 10 (into the Memorial) would otherwise be exempt.” Lashley said he thought he should’ve been in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first signature event that the lists were used for, off of his good play but was surprised to find that Matthieu Pavon, the winner of the Farmers Insurance Open, was counted in the Aon 5 and bounced him out of the field.

As I've noted since that Delaware meeting, it's a coup by the elite players, whose objective is clearly to not share any of the spoils.  Of course, they had to head off the criticism of the exclusivity, so they created these qualification metrics that would dribble in a guy or two.

Even this guy agrees. but don't be impressed by his title, he has no actual vote (or influence)

Kevin Streelman, a member of the Player Advisory Council, didn’t disagree with Hubbard and Lashley’s assessment of the field size for the signature events needing to be revisited.

“It’s the stupidest thing we’ve ever done,” said Streelman of 70-man fields with no cut or a limited one at three of the events. He’s of the belief that 120-man fields are the right size for these elevated events.

“I’d say we’re diligently working to try to appease the top players, our marketing partners, our fans and the integrity of the Tour and their competitions to deliver the greatest product and highlight the best players week after week. I don’t love the way it looks right now but that doesn’t mean much anyway since I’m not an elected board member. If our fans love 70-player signature events 8-10 times a year, then have at it,” he said.

Except that they suck.  Oh, and the historical precedent, the WGC's, also sucked so badly that they no longer exist.  But by all means tell us what we want, as you're repelling your audience.

There's way more in there, including a hot take on those sponsors' exemptions.... The kids aren't happy, tough they've nowhere to turn.

That's it for today, kids.  It should be a great week, though I've a small piece of bad news.  A golf invite for tomorrow will prewclude blogging, and with the Wednesday Game™, I will likely not see you until Thursday.  have a great week.

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Thursday, June 6, 2024

Thursday Themes - Jack's Week Edition

Pacing myself pre-Pinehurst, so thanks for bearing with me.... Oh, and it's June 6th, so Happy Anniversary, although I forgot to get you anything.  But no, I'm not referring to that 80th anniversary, which has aged far better than the event celebrating its first.

Memorial Daze - The boys are at Jack's place this week to kick off an insane three-week stretch of golf.  The Memorial has long been one of the Tour's premiere events, so naturally it needs to be destroyed.  How best to accomplish thatHow best to accomplish that?

The PGA Tour model of $20 million signature events with short fields — 72 players at Muirfield Village, but at least this tournament has a cut — required them to be bunched together to give a dozen or so players a chance to qualify.

The Memorial was named that for a reason — it's typically around Memorial Day — and it traditionally falls two weeks before the U.S. Open. Now it's the week before, with another signature event on the other side of a major.

Nicklaus would like to see it moved back. Asked if there could be a conversation with the PGA Tour after this week, Nicklaus replied, “The discussion is in progress.”

Ya got that?  They tell us that only these eight events matter, then they can't even space them out logically on the schedule.  What I don't understand is why Jack didn't tell Jay where he could stick his pre-Open date....

Geoff succinctly explainssuccinctly explains how it's all gone pear-shaped:

Meanwhile, what should be one of the biggest non-majors of the year arrives with The Memorial essentially serving as a limited-field U.S. Open tune-up. Worse, America’s national championship is again arriving too soon after May’s PGA Championship only to serve the needs of two lightly-watched inconveniences called the FedExCup and Olympic golf.

 Hard to understand why no one is watching....

Jack had a couple of other interesting comments, first about Pinehurst:

Jack Nicklaus on Pinehurst No. 2. “It's a tree-lined golf course without a tree in play. It's the epitome of repelling golf. Donald Ross liked repelling golf, that's quite obvious, because everything there, if you miss it, it, off it goes. I love Pinehurst. I think what -- the pictures I've seen of it lately look better. I think it looked terrible the last time they played there because they just started planting that rough and it was all big clumpy, ugly plants. Basically it looks to me like they got it back down into the wire grasses.”

OK, Jack, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a golf course that repels more than Dove Mountain, so maybe your architectural criticisms should be limited to the dinner table.  As I recall from 2014, they removed all the hideous rough and replaced it with waster areas featuring wire plants, so is he thinking back to 2005?

The only man to speak fondly of those dreadful Open set-ups:

Nicklaus on U.S. Open setups. “I used to like the course setups the way the USGA did, where you had 25-yard fairways or whatever you had, and you had, you know, three, four inches of rough, and then you had high rough. But, by gosh, there was no mistake, you either hit it in the fairway or you hit it -- or you struggled. I liked that. I like greens just like this [indicating table firmness], where you got to send the ball up in the air and bring it down like as they say, a butterfly with sore feet, you know, you got to be able to play that way. That's what I enjoyed. But you know why I enjoyed it? Because I could do it. And when you could do something that somebody else couldn't do, then you enjoy competing on that type of a situation. That's competition.”

So, competition involves doing something only you can do?  Noted.

It still beats our current crew, for whom competition involves endorsing checks....

And just for amusement, this header:

Memorial Tournament 2024 picks: Jordan Spieth's 'concerning' range session has our PGA pro betting against him

Had you actually seen Jordan Spieth playing real golf, a range session would be the least of your worries....  There's still some time, but I've been speculating that we could see a Prez Cup in September without either Jordan or JT.

Is Anyone There? - Shack does a deep dive on the U.S. Women's Open ratings, and it's not for the faint of heart:

With last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach airing in prime time, ratings were expected to drop. And they did.
  • This mirrored the RBC Canadian Open’s drop on CBS that aired at the same time as the women. SMW reports that the final round drew “2.02 million on CBS, down 37% and 39% respectively from last year (2.0, 3.30M) and the lowest rated and least-watched final round of the tournament in at least a decade.” Last year the Canadian was played a week later than 2024’s edition won by Robert MacIntyre.
  • Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Women’s Open drew 151,000 on USA, down 59% from last year when it averaged 364,000 at Pebble Beach. The Canadian Open first round drew an equally paltry 209k average in a three-hour time window compared to six for the women.

Perhaps they weren't competing with the PGA on Saturday, but mostly because they came on the air earlier than anyone knew to look for them.

It was obviously going to be tough sledding for the ladies, with all their mononyms wiped out on Thursday, but those ratings for the men aren't any better.

Sometimes the dogs just won't eat the food, no matter how often they're told it's good for them....

Criminals On Tour - Still hard to believe this actually happened, Scottie is moving forward:

Scottie Scheffler isn’t perfect, at least not outside the ropes. He makes mistakes just like the rest of us. A speeding ticket here, a parking violation there. But 19 days after his shocking arrest
outside the gates of the PGA Championship, the world’s top-ranked male golfer is still trying to come to terms with how he ended up in handcuffs in the back of a police cruiser and later taken to a Louisville jail where he was booked with four charges, including assault of a police officer.

“I think that’s part of the recovery process from the whole scenario, is your brain tries to figure out how this happened,” Scheffler said Tuesday from the Memorial Tournament, in his first extensive remarks about his arrest since PGA Championship week. “I will probably never figure out why or how this happened.”

Indeed, even two-plus weeks later, that gloomy Friday morning still feels so surreal: the shackles; the plea for help as he was led to a police car; the jail-cell stretching routine; the return to Valhalla, where, with a felony charge hanging over him, he carded a second-round four-under 66. Aaron Sorkin couldn’t have conjured such a script.

Still can't quite believe they threw him in handcuffs....

Scheffler seems a genuine guy, but if only we3 could say the same about the Louisville Police Department:

“When the charges are dropped, that’s kind of only the beginning of kind of getting past it, if that makes sense,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “So kind of operating through that now. It was definitely a bit of a relief, but not total relief because that’s something that will always, I think, kind of stick with me. That mug shot, I’m sure is not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Scheffler described the arrest as “fairly traumatic” and “not something that I love reliving.” Given the mental and emotional anguish, he was asked, had he considered suing the Louisville Metro Police Department? “For me personally, no,” Scheffler said. “That was something that if we needed to use it, I think Steve was more than ready to use that, just because, like I said, there was a ton of evidence in our favor. There [were] eyewitnesses on the scene that corroborated my story and the video evidence, the police officer talking to me after. All the evidence pointed to exactly what my side of the story was, and so if we needed to, if it — if I kind of became, like — I don’t really know how to describe it, but basically, if I had to show up in court, I think Steve was more than prepared to pursue legal action.”

Scheffler added that given reparations would in effect be paid by way of tax dollars, he didn’t want the people of Louisville to have foot the bill “for the mistakes of their police department.”

“That just doesn’t seem right,” he said.

Yes, but that Police Department doubled down and wouldn't stop the waste of public resources on a silly prosecution.  So, Scottie, perhaps you're mistaken.  perhaps the good citizens of Louisville needed to see a dramatic demonstration of their self-centered and misguided public servants?  

Although I remain pretty torn up over those $80 pants....

Bobby Mac -  The travails of last-week's winner on Tour point out that insanity I referenced above:

Robert MacIntyre has defended his decision not to play in the Memorial Tournament, insisting that it was the right decision to prepare for next week’s US Open.

The 27-year-old won his maiden PGA Tour title on Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open, earning himself a spot in the field for this week’s $20million hosted by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus.

However, he decided to pass on that opportunity, preferring instead to travel home to Oban, on the west coast of Scotland.

Whilst many have endorsed that decision, others have not, some even going so far as to suggest skipping the tournament demonstrates a lack of ambition.

I'll admit to a level of surprise, but note the similarity to the decision Nick Dunlap faced earlier in the year.  They've made it so much harder to qualify for the big money events, that is you get access you can't pass on it.

Or maybe you can:

MacIntyre, though, disagrees, insisting that he needed a week off after a long stretch of tournaments running back-to-back, particularly with another major looming large on the horizon.

“I actually miscounted the tournaments that I’d played when I did a press conference last week,” he said. “That was actually week six. And it’s been a good six weeks.

“The mental aspect of that six-week stretch was high and then obviously winning last week was an even bigger high, so if I played Memorial, the US Open and the Travelers, that would have been nine weeks in a row.

“Not many players would play nine weeks in a row, except probably me, the madman.”

 Is it any wonder that no one is watching?

Scenes From The Kingdom of Fife - I've spared you any teases thus far for our traditional Scottish sojourn, but it's coming in late July.  Shack had this update from the Links Trust:

Operators of the Old Course and six other venues, the St Andrews Links Trust, announced a record year in 2023.

  • 283,082 rounds played last year, a 11% increase from 2022.
  • An £11.5m operating profit.
  • Course occupancy across the seven links was a record 78%. Imagine if what it would be if the Castle Course weren’t weighing them down!
  • Golf income rose from £18.1m in 2022 to £24.2m.
  • £3.5 million was spent by the Trust to complete an acquisition of 70 acres adjoining the Strathtyrum course in February.

We've taken the bagel in 2022 and 2023 on our Daily Ballot entries, so here's hoping that our luck takes a turn for the better in 2024.

We are headed back to Pittenweem, although we will make a move in the middle of our trip and spend a week in St. Andrews as well.  Last Fall Pittenweem was hit by a massive storm, resulting in substantial damage to homes near the water, such as this:

This is mere footsteps from our rental house, the same in which we stayed in 2023.

Anniversary Thoughts - It hasn't exactly played out as presented that morning on CNBC, and no one seems to know where we're headed.  Joe Ogilvie was interviewed by Eamon Lynch and had quite a few interesting comments as to the state of play.  Shall we sample some?

We have the Policy Board of the non-profit PGA Tour, Inc. And now also the board of the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises. Is it clear which board has ultimate authority on major decisions?

Enterprises is where the cash flow is going to go through, but Inc. is a huge part because they own about 88%, 88.4% of the business. Something like that. The way it happens is the money waterfalls down, 88.4% or whatever Inc. owns, they get that amount of the cash flow and that’s paid out as purses. The Enterprise board will have an outsized influence over the business. And I think Inc. has been somewhat, well, I guess a kind word would be dysfunctional. The Enterprise board is the one that’s making a lot of the decisions for the business.

Isn't that interesting?  We've long been focused on those six Player Directors of Inc., but Joe is telling us to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain....

Not sure what t make of this:

You say the Policy Board has been dysfunctional. There's a perception that it’s very divided. Fair?

Yeah, that is a fair statement. In retrospect, if you had a big mulligan you’d certainly handle the
Framework Agreement differently. I think everybody involved would say they bungled the rollout of that. If you’d have had a kind of mea culpa and all got in a room and said we botched this, if everyone had humility. It’s really unfortunate because the independent directors — I mean, I’ve seen stories about how much they’re making, things like that. It’s the only board where I guarantee you it’s costing them a quarter of a million dollars a year to serve. They don’t get paid. A lot of them fly privately. They’re paying that cost. The PGA Tour doesn’t pay that cost. These are great businessmen and women that love the game and they’re lending their expertise to the PGA Tour. It was basically a very closed decision-making process on doing the Framework Agreement. It was almost unrecoverable from there. Something had to give once there wasn’t a two-week therapy session between the board. I don’t know if that’s the right way to term it, but it never happened. Humility goes a long way and I don’t think there was a whole lot of humility. That’s my take. I wasn’t involved in those discussions, but it did get divided. There were massive trust issues and once you lose trust, it’s incredibly hard to earn back.

OK, so you can't recover from the bungled Framework Agreement roll-out, but you want us to accept that the bungler still has his job?  How about a mulligan on the choice of Commissioner?

I guess Jimmy is taking the fall for Jay?

Two independent directors have resigned recently, Jimmy Dunne and Mark Flaherty. Jimmy was involved in the Framework Agreement. Was his departure necessary in your mind?

Unfortunately, I think long-term it probably helps. Jimmy’s a force of nature and a highly-regarded figure in golf and investment banking. A legend. I think it was handled very poorly to not bring other board members in. The fact that he broke through that wall and actually started discussions will probably be looked at very kindly. But him going off the board was I think very helpful.

 So, where are we?

When Dunne left, he bemoaned a lack of progress on the Framework Agreement. Around the same time, Jordan Spieth, a player-director, said there has been progress. How do you see it?

When the PGA Tour negotiated investment from Strategic Sports Group, there was a lot of heavy

lifting that went into that agreement. That would probably be the basis for any other investor to come in now, whether they have to pay more or whatever. The basic structure is more or less the same. Keep in mind, in the year since the Framework Agreement the Department of Justice has come down on companies that have board representation with a conflict, where they had ownership stakes in companies that could be perceived as a competitor. You have that situation if the [Saudi Arabian} Public Investment Fund invested in the PGA Tour. Clearly with LIV, they’re a competitor. So there’s some nuances to it, but I think with that SSG deal a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done.

Will the judge please instruct the witness to answer the question....  

Might get fun here:

There’s a perception that among the player-directors Patrick Cantlay wields a great deal of influence over the board. Is that accurate?

Patrick’s obviously a voice. When he speaks, and he doesn’t speak very often, he carries a lot of weight. But I’ve only been on the board since March 9. Patrick is incredibly detail-oriented. I joked with him one time that if he wasn’t a professional golfer he could be a distressed debt investor and probably make more money. He remembers facts and he’s a bulldog. He has strong opinions. I’ve read what’s been said, about he’s controlling the board and all that kind of stuff. I don’t want to say it’s wildly inaccurate, but I would say it’s very inaccurate.

That's some epic parsing....  As I take his comment, the perception that Patrick is a major arsehole isn't wildly inaccurate.... Noted.

Rory McIlroy recently signaled a desire to return to the board to replace Webb Simpson, who wanted to quit. Rory quickly stepped back and said some people were uncomfortable with the idea. Were you uncomfortable with him returning to the board under those circumstances?

Under those circumstances, it was difficult. I realize Tiger Woods went on the board without a process, but the governance documents hadn’t been done yet. When Webb said he was going to resign and he was going to name his successor, there’s not a corporation in the world that would allow that to happen. Unless Webb was a 90% owner in the business. When you’ve been trying to fight for governance, under those circumstances, I think it was tough, no matter how important Rory McIlroy is. Rory’s opinion matters as much as any director in that room. I hope he eventually comes on the board.

You'll be shocked to know that they break their own rules when it suits them, and they rigidly adhere to them at other times.  I just can't see why folks don't take these clowns seriously....

But at least they're focusing on the important stuff:

You were in the room when the player-directors first met Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, in the Bahamas. How would you characterize how the meeting went?

It was a perfect first meeting. When we were going into the room, one of the big things was how do we address him? If we’re gonna address him as His Excellency, that’s just kind of weird. He comes in the room, shakes everyone’s hand, and looks you right in the eye and says, ‘My name is Yasir. Please call me Yasir.’ I had heard that he’s a nice man and that he loves the game of golf, and nothing told me otherwise after meeting him. It would be naive to think that we’re going to come out of that meeting with a handshake deal and say, ‘We’re done here.’ It was a very good meeting and you could see that there was a mutual respect between he and Jay, which is also good.

Anyone willing to call him Your Excellency shouldn't have been in the room.  But Ogilvie seems like a fan boy talking about NSync, no?

I can't decide if this question is silly or illuminating:

Did anyone in the room raise human rights abuses by the Saudi Arabian government?

That was not raised.

If you gave a thought to their human rights record, you wouldn't be able to be in a room with him.  But, Eamon, you yourself connected the dots long ago.  After 6/6/23 it was apparent that the source of the money was never an issue, only its end destination.

See if this last bit encourages you:

'You have to break the ice': Adam Scott says PGA Tour-PIF negotiations to heat up 'very soon'

 So, it's like a prom date?

The problem? He said he was still waiting to hear PIF’s end game.

“I think the PGA Tour has a vision of what it wants to look like 12, 18 (months) and then going
forward, five, 10 and 20, you know, or at least 10 years down the line, let’s say, and what it should evolve into,” he said. “But at the moment there’s another party that they’re negotiating with that has to believe in that vision as well, and I don’t know exactly what their vision is.”

Speaking to Golfweek at the RBC Canadian Open, Scott said he was confident he will learn that vision soon.

“I think we are getting there, for sure,” Scott said. “Eventually someone is going to have to put it out exactly what it is, and I think that will happen very soon. I think so. You have to break the ice, kind of, and someone has to show a hand. It’s got to happen soon. It’s moving along as quickly as it can.”

Your vision for the Tour sucks big time, and you're telling us that in a year since the Framework Agreement you still don't know what they want?   But at least you've worked through what to call the man, so all is good.

But there's a good reason for the stasis:

When Scott was pushed on if he really believed that the negotiations – which technically began nearly a year ago with the signing of the Framework Agreement on June 6 – were moving fast enough, he said, “It’s not all up to us on our schedule. The head of the PIF sits on 125 boards or something. He’s busy, too. Some would say the buck stops with him and he has to make some decisions on what he’s investing in.”

OK, did the dog eat his homework as well?

Does any of this inspire confidence?

A source for Golfweek said that “very soon” could be as early as next week. The Memorial, the next stop on the PGA Tour and hosted by Jack Nicklaus at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, is typically a gathering spot of leaders of the golf world, and talks could accelerate at Jack’s Place.

A source told Golfweek that the question is how much will the players on the board be willing to compromise? And how much money is PIF prepared to lose?

“It’s who blinks first,” a source said. “It’s not rosy in either camp, so empower Jay (Monahan), put him in a room with Yasir and do a deal.”

So, just empower the guy that Ogilvie admits effed up the Framework Agreement?

Can you say clown show?  I thought you could.

That's it for today and likely for the week.  Have a great weekend. 

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Monday, June 3, 2024

Weekend Wrap - Bobby Mac Edition

Not our lead story, but still quite the proud day for Scotland.... Wonder if he'll still have the bag at Pinehurst, where it will be literally Father's Day.

Yuka Redux - Playing the role of Andy North, the girl from The Philippines Japan:

Yuka Saso four-putted. Then she won the U.S. Women’s Open

Big deal, I've done half of that....

It’s not often major championship winners four-putt during their winning weeks. It’s even rarer that soon-to-be champions do it in the final round.

Yuka Saso nearly did it twice on Sunday — at the U.S. Women’s Open, arguably the most sought-after title in women’s golf.

Yet Sunday night, the USGA awarded its Harton S. Semple Trophy to Saso for the second time in four years.

The U.S. Open winner is often the player who makes the fewest mistakes, but on a course as tough as the William Flynn design at Lancaster Country Club — the hardest U.S. Women’s Open setup in 10 years — gaffes are inevitable. The trick is quickly recovering from them.

I didn't see any of the weekend coverage, but I did catch some Thursday-Friday action, and the course was playing awfully tough, not just for Nelly and not just that 12th hole.

 From the headlines I caught, there were three ladies tied for the 54-hole lead, none name Yuka:

Minjee Lee, Wichanee Meechai and Andrea Lee faded so badly that they were surpassed by 2019 AIG Women’s British Open champion Hinako Shibuno and Ally Ewing. At least third-round co-leader Andrea Lee salvaged a tie for third.

Those three leaders shot 75, 77 and 78, which I didn't see coming (nor did Shack):

Through 63 holes the championship appeared to be Minjee Lee’s to lose. The 2022 champion at Pine Needles opened her day with birdie before showing signs of stress and little of the acumen she’d displayed after a back nine 33 on Saturday. The 28-year-old Australian and two-time major champ struggled before a full unraveling at Lancaster’s graveyard of champions, a.k.a. the par 3 12th. That’s where an Amen Corner-esque moment unfolded as Lee played at the pin, lost her tee shot a bit right playing at a green situated at an angle, and saw her ball roll back into the creek (more below).

Geoff does a deep dive into this hole, including these great screengrabs of the NBC Coverage:


 And this of the Aussie in which her ball is seen trickling back into the drink:

Lots on this pivotal hole at the link, including these stats:

Official Yardage: 181

Scoring Average (Rank): 3.484 (1st)Aces: 0

Birdies: 41

Pars: 253

Bogeys: 94

Double Bogeys: 55

Others: 17

Field Score: +223

Green in regulation: 268/461 (58.31% (8th))

Proximity: 32’0” (8th)

Sand saves: 11/40 (27.5% (5th))

Scrambling: 53/193 (27.46% (1st))]

Average putts: 1.948 (10th)

Three putts: 36 (6th)

The only other bit I'll add is about that country swap, though Geoff explains that she has legitimate claims for each:

But the player who now represents Japan after hailing from the Philippines in her first victory, quietly warmed up to a difficult test. One which, despite being about as far from Lombard Street and Olympic Club as possible, shares a key similarity to where Saso first broke through: old school golf sporting hilly, uneven stances. Throw in her otherworldly swing, a bizarre early week display of putting mastery before giving way to a clutch Sunday of fairways-and-greens, and it all adds up to history: Saso became the first player in USGA history to win the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally on multiple occasions for two different countries.

While her county of choice is a nice tribute to her parents—mom is from the Philippines and dad is from Japan—the semantics only matter in the context of the Olympic Games. In terms of winning the biggest and most lucrative event in women’s golf, Saso’s parental homage means little compared to the remarkable final round 68 posted as a trio of third-round leaders fizzled under U.S. Women’s Open pressure.

Is that a wise move, given the greater talent level in Japan?  Though, as Geoff notes, it doesn't affect anything important in golf....

The Tour Confidential panel is in session:

Yuka Saso burst onto the scene with an unexpected U.S. Women’s Open victory in 2021, but after a couple of winless seasons she picked up her second career LPGA victory at this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club. Was this an unexpected winner?

James Colgan: I’m not sure I’d call a player who finished 2nd and T3 at the KPMG and Evian
last year an ‘unexpected’ winner. Some players have a gift for playing well when the conditions get tough. A 68 on Sunday — when only 13 players in the entire field played under par — would seem to be proof.

Zephyr Melton: It’s not as if Saso disappeared the last couple of years — she just didn’t win. As James noted above, she finished inside the top 3 twice in majors last summer. It was only a matter of time before she broke through and won on the biggest stage again. I’d be surprised if this is the last time we see Saso hoist the trophy on major Sunday.

Josh Sens: I’d love to have a so-so year like Saso had in 2023. Winning’s hard. So many things have to go right (like, for instance, Nelly Korda missing the cut). And then you have to be ready when they do. Saso was. Great combination of power and poise. I second Zephyr. I’d be surprised if she doesn’t repeat the feat before long.

Alan Bastable: Surprising: Nelly Korda missing a cut. Not surprising: A player who already has proven she can win a U.S. Women’s Open doing it again. And Yuka did it by dropping the hammer. Four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine as the other contenders were struggling to make pars? That is seriously stout stuff. Also cool: that Yuka has now won U.S. Opens for two countries that never had one (Philippines in ’21 and Japan this year).

When you look "golf" up in the dictionary, this is what you get, Yuka from nowhere and Nelly slamming the old trunk.  That said, quite the devastating week for the ladies, as pretty much all their mononyms (Nelly, Lexi and Rose) had their weekends free to catch up on chores.  Unfortunately, my predication is that the weekend will not register a discernable TV audience.

Those TCers talked a little Lexi, as well:

One player who didn’t make the weekend at Lancaster was 29-year-old Lexi Thompson, who stole the headlines earlier in the week when she announced that after this season she’ll no longer play a full-time LPGA schedule. Surprised? Not surprised?

Colgan: The timing was unexpected, but the news wasn’t. Lexi has long appeared from afar to be one of golf’s most tortured players. No amount of money or fame is enough to overcome plain
disenchantment with the life of a pro golfer. Good on her for making a decision for her happiness.

Melton: I’m not shocked by the news. Lexi has cut back on her playing schedule considerably over the last few years and hasn’t played exceptionally well when she has teed it up. And considering she turned pro at 15(!) she’s been playing pro golf for almost half her life. That’s a long time to be on the grind.I hope she can find happiness in the next stage of her journey.

Sens: Not surprised at all. It’s a big world out there, and Thompson had long seemed ready to break from the small corner of it she’s been living in. It’s no secret that the tunnel vision required to compete at that level requires a ton of personal sacrifice. She’s over it. For now, anyway. Good for her for recognizing that. Even better, she’s young enough that she can always return to it if she has a change of heart.

Bastable: ​​OK, I’ll bite. Color me surprised! Yes, Thompson has had a rollercoaster couple of years, but she found her form again in the back half of 2023 and looked to be reasserting her position among the LPGA’s alphas. She even had a new ball deal for this year! I did not see her pulling the plug. Then again, I get it. She’s only 29 but has been under the spotlight at least since she played in a USWO at 12 and, on a more local level, long before that. Sooner or later the grind gets to you.

The girl has looked miserable out there for an eternity, so color me unsurprised.  Not least because I have a feeling we might see more of her than she's letting on.  Yanno, just when you think you're out...

Even when she wasn’t playing well, Thompson had long been a fan favorite and someone the women’s game was strongly marketed behind. How big of a blow will her full-time absence be to the LPGA Tour?

Colgan: Well, it’s obviously a considerable blow to the LPGA, but it mainly means the burden falls to the rest of the game’s stars. I was impressed with how Nelly Korda handled a disastrous week, and I thought the timing was telling where the attention will shift.

Melton: It will certainly be felt, but luckily the Tour has Nelly’s starpower to market now. If someone like Rose Zhang or Lilia Vu can rise up to challenge her, the LPGA will be just fine.

Sens: James and Zephyr have said it well. I would just add that this hardly feels like an abrupt departure. More like a gradual phasing out, as she’d already been cutting back and not putting herself in contention in many big events when she did. This is not a sudden gut punch.

Bastable: Big loss for sure. Not just because she brings to the women’s game (and, last fall, the PGA Tour) a brand of grip-it-and-rip-it golf that is so much fun watch but also because she understands the importance of her star power (several players last week mentioned Thompson’s dedication to waving the LPGA flag at pro-am parties). I witnessed this myself just a few weeks ago at the Founders Cup pro-am pairings party in northern New Jersey. Lexi wasn’t just there to check a box. She was smiling, shaking hands and present.

I've been plenty hard on the girl over the years, as I find her game less enticing than Alan Bastable.  In fact, the only golf swing I know of that I'd less like to watch belongs to her brother....

That said, she has been a loyal soldier and comments like Bastable's are common, so yes it's a big loss for a tour that can ill afford it.  Nelly's ascendancy will mitigate that, but the eggs are all in just the single basket....

Did you catch the Charley Hull moment?

Charley Hull was asked for an autograph on her way down to the driving range on Tuesday at the U.S. Women’s Open Championship. Nothing unordinary about that, except that the Englishwoman happened to be smoking a cigarette at the time. With her hands full, Hull kept the cigarette in her mouth as she scribbled away. Golf.com’s Zephyr Melton was there to document the moment with his cell phone, and it quickly went viral.

“I find it quite funny, because I actually do go to the gym and I’m a very healthy person,” Hull told the media after a closing 3-under 67 at Lancaster Country Club. “I only smoke. I hardly drink. I don’t need to drink because, actually, I can have a fun time without it.

“Yeah, listen, my dad smokes 40 a day since he was 12 years old and now he’s 75, and my nephew smokes who is like 25. My whole family smokes, so it’s not something that I’ve noticed being odd. I hate smoking. I used to curse at my dad when I was younger for smoking, but I think it’s to do a little bit when I’m stressed.”

Right, wrong or indifferent, it's just a shock to the system because we just don't see cigs any more:


 Kinda gangsta, no? Or is it more regal?

One last TC bit on the ladies:

What event from the past week was more surprising? Nelly Korda recording a 10 and missing the cut, or Charley Hull going viral (and gaining a ton of publicity and social media followers) for, well, a cigarette?

Colgan: Nelly was the best player on the planet, male or female, over the last six months. Her dumping three in the water on the third hole at the national championship isn’t just the most surprising development of the week, it’s the most surprising non-jail-related development in pro golf during this major season.

Melton: Gotta be Nelly. Seeing her make a 10 was downright shocking. The only thing more shocking would’ve been waking up to her mugshot, a la Scottie Scheffler.

Sens: Based on what we know about social media by now, does anything that happens on it ever count as surprising anymore? Nelly’s 10 all the way.

Bastable: Tough to compare the two, but I was fascinated by the reaction to the Hull video. Feel like the virality of the moment could easily have gone two ways for her: Gasp! A pro golfer tugging on a ciggy in front of young fans! Or…Amazing! A pro golfer with vices and weaknesses just like the rest of us! Clearly the public embraced Hull’s everywoman appeal, and the balance tipped toward praising her. Really interesting to watch this sociology experiment play out in real time. If the LPGA had a PIP ranking, Hull might be in poll (pull?) position.

Just another moment to make us feel old....  And realize how young these golf writers re to not see the obvious Arnie linkage.

Dougie To The Rescue - There's no shortage of things to love about this story (not that I saw a lick of it):

Of course he's named Dougie....

Dougie MacIntyre was sitting on his couch at home in Oban, Scotland. It was 8 o’clock on a
Saturday night when “Bob” popped up on his phone for a FaceTime.

His son, the professional golf Robert MacIntyre, was in Dallas and had missed the cut the day before at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Having parted ways with his fourth caddie in the last 18 months, he asked, “How would you like to come to Canada and caddie for me at the RBC Canadian Open?”

Dougie was busy at home, where he is the greenkeeper at Glencruitten Golf Club. But his wife, Carol, gave him a look and said he needed to go be there for his son. Robert admitted he had asked a few others to be on the bag but no one wanted a one-week gig.

“If in doubt, phone dad,” MacIntyre said.

Are we sure it's just the one-week gig?  FWIW, Oban is in the middle of nowhere (the same can be said about most of Scotland):

Oban is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William.

I've never even heard of Helensburgh, but it's situated on the West Coast and has a year-round population of just over 8,000 souls.  If you're headed for the Isle of Mull, you'll transit through Oban.

But my favorite bit is that his emergency caddie obviously didn't come from the Hogan School of Looping:

MacIntyre of course followed that up by making his first bogey of the week on the 1st hole in the third round, all while the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tom Kim and others chase after them, with
plenty of golf remaining. He’d make two more bogeys on that front nine, too, dropping to as many as four shots off the lead. But something switched halfway through his third round, and he has his caddie to thank for it.

“He was having a wee go at me when I was walking from the 10th tee down to the fairway,” MacIntyre said. “Look, he was a sporting guy, he knows how to win, knows how to lose, he’s been through it all. He could see my head going a little bit and he’s like, ‘What have you been working on for the last eight weeks, 10 weeks’ — whatever I’ve been doing when I realized what was the problem. I kind of flipped into that mode and tried to find the positive in everything.”

A shame he has a day job....

This guy also needed a fill-in caddie:

Pan actually went through four caddies that day, but my point is a familiar one, to wit, that putting a staff bag on Fluff's shoulder is elder abuse.

Now did you notice the dog that didn't bark this week?  They actually held a Canadian Open and not a single player got tackled.  Wassup with that?

But there were a couple of walks down memory lane, this popping up first:

In what was arguably the most viral golf moment of 2023, Adam Hadwin was flattened by a security guard as he tried to rush the 18th green in the aftermath of Nick Taylor's dramatic win at the RBC Canadian Open. Now a year later, the man behind that famous tackle is finally talking. And he characterized the hit as a "soft takedown."

Well, he would, though we might need a second opinion on his softness claim, specifically Hadwin's:

The funniest part of this is that the security guard is operating under a nom de guerre:

But this guy still doesn't want any attention so he went by the name "Mr. X" for the story. According to TSN, the man does security at a bunch of big sporting events and concerts in Canada and, "His superiors laud his work ethic, and he often gets the toughest jobs, such as on the 18th hole at last year’s tournament."

That 18th hole erupted like few events in the country's history as Taylor sunk a 72-hole eagle putt to end the Canadians' 69-year drought in their national open.

“I was on the other side of Nick and his caddie,” Mr. X told TSN, “which meant I had to come around him. There were a lot of people moving and I saw this person heading directly towards Nick. I saw it as if it was in slow motion, this guy coming towards Nick with a bottle and no credentials.”

Hey, the man was just doing his job. With vigor.

“It was a soft takedown,” Mr. X added with a laugh. “His feet never left the ground.”

Will Mr. X be at Royal Montreal?  At least we have a definition of a soft takedown....

I'm pleased to report a happy ending, a warm reunion between the litigants:

Better yet, it was apparently a teachable moment:

And Hadwin is staying true to his word. In an interview earlier this year he said, "I've learned my lesson, I'll be wearing my credential from now on." And as you can see he's displaying that credential.

Smart move. Especially if you plan on rushing a crowded green holding a bottle of champagne. And even if you are one of your country's most famous golfers.

Being one of Canada's most famous golfer is what the kids call a humble brag.

I am going to leave you folks here.  Blogging will be on the light side this week, as we'll want a full reserve of energy before heading to Carolina.  Have a great week.

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