Weekend Wrap

Lots to talk about today, and since my legs are fried we just might go long.  We'll start with what is the least interesting of our items...

Going Low - Fabian Gomez wasn't in the picture on Sunday at the Sony, until he was:

HONOLULU (AP) -- Fabian Gomez of Argentina closed with two birdies for an 8-under

62, and then made his 11th birdie of the day on the second playoff hole to beat Brandt Snedeker on Sunday in the Sony Open. 

Gomez won for the second time on the PGA Tour, and this one was much tougher.

Starting the final round four shots behind, the 37-year-old Gomez ran off seven straight birdies in the middle his round, let Snedeker back in the game with a pair of bogeys, and then holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and a 20-foot birdie from just off the 18th green to finish at 20-under 260.

Not sure I agree with that "tougher" assessment, as I think it's far more difficult to play with the lead.  But 62's rarely hurt a player, especially on Sunday and, as the commentators told us ad nauseum, this ensures that Gomez will represent Argentina in the Olympics...I know, contain your excitement.

Sharknado -  Word broke on Twitter last night and was confirmed this morning that our long national nightmare is over.  From the official press release:

FOX Sports announces that they will be making a change to their commentary team, and Greg Norman will not return to the network’s USGA Championships coverage in 2016. The announcement was made today by John Entz, President of Production & Executive Producer, FOX Sports. 

Both parties have agreed to an amicable separation and will continue to work together to broadcast the Franklin Templeton Shootout, which remains an important part of FOX Sports’ golf platform. 

“After careful consideration, we have decided to make this change to our USGA Championships coverage,” said John Entz. “We want to thank Greg for his contributions last year, and wish him success in all his current and future endeavors.”

Careful consideration should be read as scathing reviews...  I should also note that the photo above did not run with the press release, it was Shack's editorial comment.   When reached for comment, Norman added "I'm sorry to leave Fox, but I wanted to spend more time with my family bronze busts.

OK, I made that last bit up....Here's Geoff's comments from last night, including a preview of The Shark's replacement:

That source could not confirm, however, that Paul Azinger will be announced asGreg

Norman's after just a year as Foxgolf's lead analyst. However, Azinger has gone very quiet of late on Twitter and has been widely rumored in recent days to be talking to Fox. 

Furthermore, Azinger worked with Fox golf producer Mark Loomis when the trio of Mike Tirico-Nick Faldo and Azinger was widely revered for their fresh, fun and smart approach. 

Azinger has most recently been lead analyst on ESPN's golf telecasts, but with the network down to just The Masters, his much-needed smart approach to players, championships, courses and the golf swing would be a great addition to Fox. Azinger will be an enormous upgrade over Norman, whose first year was marked largely by sounding unprepared, appearing unaware of players who were born outside Australia, and most of all, seeming very impressed with former World No. 1 Greg Norman.

Martin Kaufmann makes it clear that this was not a mutual break-up:

During the final round of the Franklin Templeton Shootout in December, Fox put a third announcer, Brad Faxon, in the 18th tower with Norman and anchor Joe Buck. The hope, according to sources, was that Faxon’s presence would force Norman to become more engaged in the broadcast. Fox, however, apparently didn’t see a way forward with Norman.

And this little vignette sums up the unsuccessful experiment:

That was most notable at last summer’s U.S. Open. After Dustin Johnson three-putted on the final hole, Norman was at a loss for words, despite having endured many painful defeats in his playing career.

You mean like the time he three-putted  at Inverness in the playoff to gift a PGA Championship to 'Zinger?  Just like he's now gifted his analyst chair to the same gent...

Gary Van Sickle piles on with this:

Norman was paired in the booth with veteran sportscaster Joe Buck, who hadn’t done

golf before. 

The source, who asked not to be identified, said Norman wasn't very good on the air because "he didn’t do his homework and he didn’t know any players who weren’t Australian." Norman just wasn’t engaged in any of the FOX telecasts the way the network had hoped, the source said. 

"It was tough for the whole staff because he wasn’t involved in the shows like a lead analyst should be," the source said. "Maybe he thought just being Greg Norman was enough. He's been successful in everything he's done in business but he wasn’t good at TV. He was a team player but when the cameras turned on, he just went silent."

Like your humble correspondent, I'm sure you'tr confused as to how he was team player while not doing his homework... did he give Holly Sonders unsolicited back rubs?  Van Sickle also had this anecdote"

The U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club was another awkward wrinkle for the FOX team. Brad Faxon, a former PGA Tour player stationed at the 17th hole, wound up providing an unusual share of the analysis and commentary because Norman wasn't chiming in.

Announcing is its own art form, and it's no embarrassment if it's not in your wheelhouse.  On the other hand, Norman, d/b/a The Living Brand,  is so famously self-obsessed that the bit above about assuming that being The Shark was sufficient rings so very true...  But kudos to FOX for taking aggressive steps to improve their product...  Now, can we talk about Joe Buck?

The Big Short - My ski buddy Lee is a shareholder in his beloved Green Bay Packers...I know, Saturday night was tough on the lad.  But now comes news of another way to invest in the sports world:

When Fantex Holdings first announced its intention to offer athlete "tracking stocks" the concept was met with a lot of skepticism in the business press. That was in 2013, and in April 2014, the brokerage brought its first athlete stock public: Vernon Davis, then a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers. The skepticism hasn't entirely faded, but in the 18 months since, the company has brought five more football player stocks to market. And in September it signed a contract with Los Angeles Angels pitcher Andrew Heaney, its first athlete outside of football.

Who knew?  Now of course football and baseball players are under contract, so I really can't see this happening in our game.

Now it's getting into golf. Fantex has signed a deal with 26-year-old golfer Scott Langley, Yahoo Finance is first to report. 

Langley is best known for finishing 16th at the 2010 U.S. Open, where he tied for the best amateur score. He is also the first alum of The First Tee, a youth golf program started by the World Golf Foundation in 1997, to actually make it to the PGA Tour.

If you're best known for finishing 16th in en event six years ago, then you're really unknown.  Except, of course, to geeks like your humble correspondent.  Here's how it works:

How does Fantex actually work? The company pays every athlete it signs a one-time, upfront lump sum in return for a percentage of the athlete's future brand income—all future income tied to the athlete's brand, whether it's from the sport or from business outside of it. (That includes, for example, money from endorsement deals, fast-food franchising, speaking engagements, TV appearances and more.) In Langley's case, Fantex is paying Langley $3.06 million in return for 15% of his future brand income. Fantex raises that fee from the IPO process; if it fails to sell enough shares of the athlete in the offering, it can't pay him. It has successly brought all six of its attempted offerings public, but it had to cancel the offering of Arian Foster, who was planned to be its first stock. Foster is a bigger star than any of the athletes Fantex has brought public, but he was sidelined by a back injury shortly after Fantex announced the deal.

This is pretty interesting stuff, though Langley doesn't seem like he has a sufficiently high ceiling to place such a bet.  But you can see where this can only work with young players, those willing to trade off a piece of their upside for the security of a large upfront payment.

He can't possibly fit their profile, but I'd love to see them take DJ public, as that's a puppy I'd like to short.

The Hard Sell - Cam Cole has quite the head-scratcher in The National Post about celebrity endorsements, Using Spieth's Coca Cola deal as his tent pole. Here's the first bit of cognitive dissonance:

Which brings us to this week’s faux-controversy in the world of professional sports and the roles athletes play for money: Jordan Spieth, pitchman for Coca-Cola.
The ink hadn’t even dried on an endorsement deal some say rivals those signed by LeBron James and Taylor Swift for promoting soda-pop brands — tens of millions of dollars — before the first cries of protest from health watchdogs.

How could Spieth, golf’s new Golden Child, the No. 1 player in the world with his All-American Boy reputation and a natural grace and politeness and appealing personality, sell his soul to an evil purveyor of sugary death? Shame on him. 

Well, no doubt they have a point.

OK, so it's both a faux-controversy yet two graphs later he concedes that those objecting have a point.
And compare this from the middle of the piece:

We’re smarter than that now. But guess what? They’re still selling, and we’re still buying but it’s not as though we are, or ever have been, powerless in the equation. 

Professional sports would be lost without beer advertising. Does it work? Maybe, on some.

With this rousing coda:

So perhaps Spieth, when he inevitably is overcome with guilt, will sign a contract endorsing broccoli, or brussels sprouts, or something gluten-free or made from soy, and the children of North America will no longer be slaves to the Coca-Cola conspiracy, lured there by a golfer’s magnetism. 

Until then, we are only pawns in game of life.

Shack in his post takes Cole's piece to argue about the efficacy of such endorsements, whereas I read it to question, admittedly to the limited extent of its coherence, the moral case for endorsing such a sugar-laden product.  Both are interesting questions, though of course I'd like to see them in the hands of a better thinker or writer.

He's got all the usual overwrought suspects thrown in, of course, including accusing luxury car manufacturers of causing global warming that's going to kill us all.  And taking Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle to task for endorsing cigarettes, providing no context for the era or the economics involved.  To the extent that you vies Jordan's Coca Cola contract negatively, one of the obvious arguments is that he can't possibly need the money. You can readily see what a mess this piece is...

But nothing in it is stranger than his lede, where he rests his premise on the role of Mongo in Blazing Saddles:

“Mongo only pawn in game of life.” 

Possibly Alex Karras’s most famous line from his post-football acting career was nothing more profound than a bit of dialogue from a comic role in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, the role of a massive, supposedly villainous enforcer with a sensitive side that required a size-XXXL actor to deliver one coherent thought of sufficient surprise to be funny. 

No one asked Karras, may he rest in peace, if he thought it was doing the reputation of football players a disservice by portraying a big, monosyllabic oaf in the movies.

Seriously?  Don't break it to Cole that it was just a movie....  but who knew football players were a protected class?  But there's good news that Karras redeemed himself in the eyes of our arbiter of social mores:

Even Karras later made up for his Mongo offences by playing a gay bodyguard in the gender-bender Victor/Victoria, so he was redeemed. Blazing Saddles likely could never be made today, making fun of Jews, African-Americans (definitely not called that in the movie), Irish, Chinese, women, politicians, drunks — it would be shouted down as an affront to modern sensibilities.

Now, the fact that redemption lies in portraying a gay character is laugh-out loud-funny, but I've one last question for Mr. Cole.  The fact that Blazing Saddles couldn't be made in this ultra-PC environment: Good thing or bad?

Loose Ends

Just a few items for you before we head pout to make some turns.

Portrush '19 - I've been flailing about for quite a while now, in a vain attempt to embed this video, so you'll just have to click through to view it.  It's a first visual look at the changes proposed for the 2019 Open Championship, most notably two new holes to be created to replace the existing 17th and 18th.  

I did, however, capture a screenshot of the new Par 5 seventh hole, with the recreation of the Big Nellie bunker at the bottom:

Longtime readers know of my excitement about an Open at Portrush, which is simply one of the best and most dramatic links found anywhere.  The holes that are being abandoned are built furthest inland from the dunes, and while a stern test are simply less interesting than what comes before.

Take a minute to enjoy the spectacular property, paying particular attention to the most interesting holes, White Rocks, Skerries and Calamity Corner (the narrator, like many, makes the mistake of calling it only Calamity).

Cause, Effect - Remember way back in June when Trump was floating the story that his Aberdeen links was going to host three Scottish Opens?  I know, seems like it was back when they played the gutta percha....  Not so fast it seems:

Dundonald Links in Ayrshire is the strong front-runner to host the 2017 Scottish

Open, bunkered.co.uk has learned. 

The course, which successfully staged the Ladies’ Scottish Open last year, is expected to fill the much anticipated south west void on the so-called Scottish Open links rota.

With Castle Stuart, Royal Aberdeen and Gullane having welcomed the event to the Highlands, North East and Lothians since it visited Loch Lomond Golf Club for the last time in 2010, speculation has been mounting over a possible home in Ayrshire or the south west of Scotland for the tournament.

And what of The Donald?

This pours cold water on reports last year that the tournament would go to Trump International Golf Links Scotland near Aberdeen. It had been suggested that the Scottish Open would be staged there in 2017, 2019 and again in 2020. 

Indeed, at the official opening of the clubhouse at his Balmedie development in June last year, Trump himself said: “The Scottish Open is coming. The Scottish Open wants to be here forever, they think this is the best course they’ve ever seen.”

He's had a pretty steady diet of cold water recently. at least from the golf world.  Though he seems to be doing far better in other areas... But in honor of himself, I do think we should refer to this substitute venue as The Dundonald.  Just because...

Trending Disastrous - We're all aware that Robert Allenby's last trip to Hawaii ended, shall we say, poorly...  But it's a new day and we all wish the best for our hero, right?  Well, I've always thought God had a nasty sense of humor, and here's how Robert started his Oahu Redemption Tour:

For those new to Shot Tracker, those yellow lines perpendicular to the direction of play are never helpful, nor are triples.  

In his defense, he settled down and played even par for the remainder of his round.  One minor issue, though, is that even par sucks at this event, and he finds himself T128.  Since he'd need a course record to make the cut, I'll just offer a helpful reminder that Amuse Wine Bar is still taking Friday dinner reservations.

Further Clues... - As to the identity of the Secret Tour Pro, that is.  Turns out he was able to watch the Eurasian Cup and posted a rules question/infraction:

That's Shingo Katayama and I simply don't have the time to go back and research this.  Anyone know the answer?

But we've been remiss at following up with the former anchorers, and this guy was the poster child:

One of the most ardent members of the anchoring method, Clark has known for quite a while that his favored “broomstick” method of putting would be ruled non-conforming come Jan. 1, when it became against the rules to hold a putter against the torso. So Clark toyed with dozens of putters and a handful of grip styles, and he will try the Acculock Ace this week at the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club.

The AccuLock Ace ($279.99 atwww.biomechsports.com) has a long and wide face, and the shaft connects to the back of the sculpted mallet. The putter is built with considerable forward shaft lean, which the company says helps a player secure the grip against the players’ lead arm during the stroke — aka the “Matt Kuchar style.” Clark will use a belly-length model and employ just such an arm-lock stroke.

It seems to have worked yesterday, as Clark posted a 4-under 66.  Of course, one round means exactly nothing...

Click Bait -  Who among us could resist this header?

Is Boo Weekley's beard the most intense facial hair in PGA Tour history?

Well, what do you think?

I think we can all agree that it's a heck of a beard, but Boo seems the antithesis of intense...The author does offer a couple of alternatives, first Graham DeLaet:

And also this guy, though technically I'm pretty sure he never teed it up on the PGA Tour:

That'll have to do you for today, Dear Readers.

'Dis and 'Dat

The plan is to take today off from skiing to ensure fresh legs for the coming wave of storms...so, what would you like to talk about?

Sony Preview - Waialae Country Club has always puzzled me, presented as a Seth Raynor masterpiece but not evidencing any of the interesting design features typical to a Raynor design.  The land itself is pancake flat, though that's above Seth's pay grade.  Shack fills us in on what's happening there:

As we discussed on Golf Central today, Waialae arrives in sharp contrast to last week's

venue. But going forward, the Honolulu course will begin to look different this year and beyond. This is good news for those who have scratched their heads wondering how the course could be a Seth Raynor design. 

The PGA Tour's on-site advance man for the last eight years, John Lillivis, reports already seeing an improvement from the removal of 230 trees by architect Tom Doak. The removal has allowed for more sunlight and turf growth, leading the club to introduce tight mow around many of the greens according to Lillivas.

New hole locations have been restored on the 4th and 6th greens but probably won't be introduced this year to let the areas mature. Doak is reportedly planning many more changes to greens with Raynor's style in mind. The outcome will be fun to watch as its pretty clear Raynor's bold style was not incorporated at Waialae because of his lack of on-site time. Therefore, Doak will have to balance keeping the course fun, playable and enjoyable for members, while keeping it relevant in today's game. One that expects a challenge along with a certain bunker depth and style if a course wants to call itself a Raynor.

Doak is a good choice for that task.  Hopefully they can turn it into a venue that justifies carrying Raynor's name.

This Week in Endorsements - A couple of quasi-interesting developments there....this first no doubt the odder of the two:

Under Armour announced a new deal with Yale Athletics Monday, and while the terms were not officially disclosed, a person with knowledge of them said the Baltimore-based apparel company will pay $16.5 million to outfit the Bulldogs for the next 10 years. 

That’s more per year than Nike Inc. pays to outfit Rutgers or Illinois, according to the Portland Business Journal’s contract database, and dwarfs the $460,000 Nike pays Iowa State -- all major-conference programs whose basketball and football teams regularly appear on national TV, giving their sponsors’ logos valuable visibility across the U.S.

Yale?  Why would you do that?  Here's what passes for the business rationale:

So what’s in it for Under Armour? The Yale brand, said Under Armour Vice President of Sports Marketing Ryan Kuehl, who cited the powerful alumni network, its global footprint and its elite student body. 

"The number of young people around the world who aspire to attend Yale University is mind-boggling. That aspirational positioning made the deal worth it," Kuehl said.

The Yale brand?  But I see no reference to Halloween costumes in the description of contract terms.... And this seems like wishful thinking:

Under Armour may be particularly interested in Yale’s golfers, who are likely to keep playing long after they graduate. Yale’s golf course was recently rated the best university course in the country by GolfWeek magazine; Under Armour sponsors Masters champion Jordan Spieth and is building its golf business.

Yes, they have quite the interesting Macdonald golf course with what might be the most famous Biarritz greens, but does that make Yale golfers more likely to keep playing?  Interesting theory...

Best of all is the built-in segue to our next item, which Shack's header notes is an opening for the competition:

An Opening? Competition Can Only Hope Jordan Spieth Will Be Injesting Copious Amounts Of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Incurring the wrath of Michael Bloomberg, here's the actual story:

As if the sports marketing world needed another sign that the 22-year-old is "the real

thing," the golfer has signed a deal with Coca-Cola. Neither the company nor his agent, Jay Danzi, would confirm the financials of the partnership other than to suggest the multiyear deal will be one of the biggest the company has made with an athlete. 

Spieth will appear on everything from television commercials to digital and social media as well as point-of-sale and on packaging for Coca-Cola products as well as its water brand Dasani.

Coke posted this video for us:

I only posted that video for the opportunity to share some first-class Shack snark:

They also posted this video-- a 5 on Awkward Scale, with a 10 being "kidnapped by El Chapo"--where Spieth discusses his love of post-golf Coca-Cola drinking in Texas (take that,Dr. Pepper!).

I would have gone with the Iranian Navy, as he comes dangerously close to comparing Jordan to Sean Penn.  Stevie maybe, but not our Jordan....

All Things DeChambeau - Remember when our biggest complaint about our game was that the players were all produced from a cookie-cutter, and were indistinguishable from each other.  That hasn't been a problem for a while, and in this Era of Jordan, Jason, Rory, Rickie and Bubba, we have been blessed with an abundance of appealing personalities and styles of play.

But the biggest shock to our system may be paused on the horizon, in the figure of reigning NCAA and U.S. Amateur Champion Bryson DeChambeau.  Even the name feels like it's from a different era...

Tim Rosaforte is back on solid ground (really, there's a reason Suzann Pettersen chose him to whom to bear her soul) with an update on the interesting young man currently in golf-limbo:

As part of the internship—which will end April 11 if DeChambeau sticks to his current thinking about turning pro—he has made one exploratory trip to Augusta and has plans for four more visits before the Masters. We’ve been texting through the winter months, and Bryson described his two rounds at Augusta National in December as the greatest experience he’s ever had. “Bobby Jones’ spirit is alive and well there,” he said. 

The highly educated Jones, who earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and another in English literature from Harvard, would have been intrigued by the artist and the scientist in the young man from Clovis, Calif. According to DeChambeau’s coach, Mike Schy, Jones won the Grand Slam using a set of same-length irons, a distinctive characteristic of Bryson’s David Edel-made clubs, which he expects to stay with as a pro.

The limbo was caused by the senseless death penalty to the SMU golf program, preventing DeChambeau from defending his NCAA individual title.  In the interim, Bryson is making some new friends:

Other than Australia, DeChambeau filled his playing schedule at the end of 2015 with better-ball events in California like the Straight Down Fall Classic in San Luis Obispo and the Plantation Pro-Am in Indio, the latter providing him an opportunity to exchange ideas with Phil Mickelson. 

“We were just loving the time spent together, one golf geek to another, talking about fun stuff and trying to figure out a couple things on my end from the wedging aspect,” DeChambeau said of his conversation with Mickelson. “He was talking away, and I was listening. It was a lot of fun.”

Of course that trip Down Under ended with a second place finish in the Australian Masters, which certainly took this observer by surprise.  He'll be playing in all three Euro Tour stops in the desert, so that will give us a good sense of whether his game is ready for the heightened level of competition.

Click here to see his unusual balance training...

I don't have a clue as to whether he has the talent to succeed, but it will be fun to have him around.

Is That All You Got? - Golf Magazine updates its annual Most Beautiful Women in Golf, and color me disappointed.  I'll await expert commentary from Maggot, but I can't help but be underwhelmed.

There's the obligatory Holly Sonders sighting, but since she moved to Fox is she still considered to be "In golf"?

And who is Bailey Mosier?

She looks like she should be the spinster sister on Downton Abbey.  And Anna Cladakis?

And yet, no room for Paige Spirinac:

C'mon guys, I know she's not much of a player, but she reads comic books in red lingerie....that's gotta count for something.

A Trip to the Dark Side

The best read in golf today is Alan Shipnuck's long journey into the tortured mind of Kevin Na.  I know, but bear with me here, as it's the perfect storm, a game with a unique ability to torture it's practitioners taken up by an obsessive individual with many dark places into which he retreats.

Here's Alan's table-setter:

The nightmares were the first sign that golf was not going to be kind to Kevin Na.

Sometimes he missed a putt on the last green, or he hit a ball in the water on the 72nd hole, or maybe another player produced a heroic shot to beat him, but the result was always the same: Na would lose the tournament and then awaken in a panic, his heart jumping out of his chest. He would be haunted for a decade, even when he was playing his best golf. On the eve of the final round of the 2011 PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas, Na went to sleep tied for the lead. He was in his own bed, in his adopted hometown. His mom was staying with him for the week, cooking his favorite meals. And yet the nightmare returned. "I woke up that morning, and I was so pissed," recalls Na. "Why then?"

Surprisingly, since Na's career is noted for his squandered chances, that's the one time he got it done.  But in a moment of cosmic irony, the win qualified him for a trip to Kapalua, where some of the severe shots he faced cause him to start balking, unable to even take the club back, ultimately leading to that tortured weekend at Sawgrass that will always define his career.

Of course the other moment that defines him was his play on the ninth hole in the first round of the Texas Open:

The 9th hole of the Oaks course is a straightaway 474-yard par-4 with a relatively narrow fairway. Na's drive was a wild slice deep into the forest. He hit a provisional ball, yanking it far to the left. After an extensive search Na found his first ball, but it was in an unplayable lie. Since there was no decent spot within one club's length to take a drop, he made the walk of shame back to the tee. Standing there, stewing, was the man who for so long haunted his nightmares, Ogilvy, along with Adam Scott and his caddie, Steve Williams, as well as Angel Cabrera, the brooding two-time major champion who is among the most intimidating men in golf.

Shipnuck devotes another four full 'graphs to his blow-by-blow account of the hole, which resulted in a sixteen, better known as a duodecuple bogey.  Stevie shows up later in all his typical Stevieness:

Na sees a double standard in that when other players struggle and play slower, it is

excused as a bad day, but he is never shown the same courtesy. In September 2014, at the Deutsche Bank Championship, he and playing partners Adam Scott and Chris Kirk combined to make four bogeys and two doubles in the first five holes of their opening round. All of this bad golf took a long time, and they were out of position for much of the rest of the round. Na could sense that Steve Williams was stewing. The following day, as Na labored to a 74, he believed Williams was giving him the stink eye and says that at round's end, the caddie avoided shaking his hand. 

"In the scoring tent," Na says, "as I was about to leave, Stevie looks at me and goes, 'Do you ever watch a bad movie again and again?' I didn't really know what he was talking about, so I just said, 'Uh, no.' He goes, 'That's what you are, Kevin, a bad movie. I never want to see you play again.' And I looked at him, and I said, 'Stevie, you're out of line. If Adam has a problem with my play, he has every right to say whatever he wants. You're in no position to tell me what you just said to me.' He got real close to me and was saying basically that he could say whatever he wanted. It was getting pretty heated, but one of the Tour officials stepped in and said, 'Guys, not in here.' And that ended it." (Williams declined to comment.)

The famed Stevie stink eye...  And don't worry, Kevin's also got a Tiger story for us:

At last year's PGA Championship, Na approached Tiger Woods on the practice putting green and asked him to autograph a hat for Nam. Tiger knows Nam from junior golf and is well aware that he is a fixture in Korean tabloids for having romanced a well-known actress and a former Miss Korea, among others. 

"Is Nam still getting a lot of ass?" Na recalls Woods asking.

Na replied that the hat was for Nam's latest girlfriend. 

That was an acceptable answer for Woods: "If it will help him get laid, I'll do it." The two cracked up, leaving the hundreds of fans surrounding the green to wonder what was so funny.

Errrr...perhaps you shouldn't go there, Tiger?   

Allenby, The Presser

I'm still completely disillusioned over the best story of 2015, as the police confirming that our hero was not at La Femme Nu on that Friday night undermines the entire narrative.... what's a lonely blogger to cling to in this crazy, mixed-up world?

Doug Ferguson provides some of the highlights from the Tuesday presser, most importantly his strategy for the coming week:

''I've got so many great memories here that I wasn't going to let one bad one interrupt it,''

he said Sunday night after checking into the Kahala Hotel at Waialae Country Club. ''I also thought for my own well-being that maybe I could come here and face it and put some closure on what happened last year.'' 

He had dinner at the hotel with friends and already has his dining plans laid out for the week. 

''Room service and (hotel) restaurant,'' he said.

Fair enough, but I assume he's still take that drink to the men's room with him, just to be safe.  I started with this piece because of its succinct summary of the man's career:

Through it all, his reputation didn't help. 

He is renowned for a fierce temper on the golf course. Allenby once claimed Anthony Kim was out all night before the final day of the Presidents Cup - after Kim had beaten him badly in singles. He mixed it up with Geoff Ogilvy over who was to blame for a team loss in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne two years later. And he has gone through more than a dozen caddies.

How do you mix it up with Geoff Ogilvy?   Is there a nicer or more easy-going guy than that?

John Strege had this from Allenby's comments:

“There’s been a lot of thoughts about it over the last year. A lot of good things, a lot negative things about this. There has been more negative than anything. That really was the whole piece to the puzzle of coming here is to dilute all the negative stuff. Hawaii is such a beautiful place. I didn’t want people to think I wasn’t going to come back here because of what happened. I enjoy being here. The weather is perfect. The golf course is always perfect. People here are always so awesome and so friendly. Sony is a great sponsor. Why not support a great tournament?

I think that was the bit that caused Shack to refer to him as the Rosa Parks of the PGA Tour...yanno, it's a "We shall overcome" moment.  And of course it's completely self-absorbed, as the last thing the locals and Sony want is for us all to be rehashing this incident.  

This seems to be about all that we know for sure:

A month after the incident, police arrested a Hawaii man for using Allenby's credit cards. Owen Harbison was sentenced in August to five years.

Assuming the police are correct, then we're left with Allenby being over-served at the Amuse Wine Bar and collapsing as the most logical scenario... but how about this for irony?

Whatever happened that night - Allenby says he still doesn't remember anything during a 2 1/2-hour window - it might have gone unnoticed except that Allenby posted a photo his private Facebook page of a bloody scrape on his head and a swollen eye.

And lest you feel sorry for the man, he comes out with this:

“I lost a lot of confidence in my myself from last year with what happened here. I didn’t want to be out in public but I had to be because I had to do my job. The media definitely humiliated me and it was a very hard thing to overcome. 

“My life itself probably hasn’t changed but maybe my reputation has changed. It’s been tarnished though false reporting.”

OK, maybe the Golf Channel report is fair to criticize, but for the rest he can just look in the mirror. 

Tuesday Tastings

I'm not sure that I've got enough time to do this justice, so let's skip the preliminaries...

Forward Press, Buried Lede Edition - It takes Shack more time than expected to get to the issue du jour, about which he has this to say:

Allenby Returns To The Scene Of The Crime!

Something tells me we won’t be seeing much dwelling on Robert Allenby’s Taken 4 international news spectacle from last year. After all, a tourism-based economy doesn’t want to hear stories of kidnapping, bloodied faces and homeless encampments when there is the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club.

Hey, who cares about an island economy when I have readers to amuse....  But back on his own blog, Shack had this from Doug Ferguson:

A Hawaii man was arrested a month later for using Allenby's credit cards to buy gift cards, jewelry and clothing. Owen Harbison was sentenced in August to five years. 

Allenby stood by his story, saying the media blamed him when he was the victim. He says he suspects someone slipped a drug in his drink because he had total memory loss during a 2½-hour window from leaving the Amuse Wine Bar and being woken in the park. 

Golf Channel cited unidentified sources in a strip club that Allenby was at Club Femme Nu and ran up a tab of $3,400. Honolulu Police Det. John McCarthy said the report was not true, and the police investigation showed Allenby was never in the strip club. 

Allenby made only six cuts on the PGA Tour the rest of the year.

As much as I enjoy that last bit, it's the third 'graph that's completely new to me.  I'm sad to admit that at this point II don't know who to believe.... if the police have actually concluded that Allenby was never in Club Femme Nu, then I really don't know what happened and why he, pace Shack, tried to sell the screenplay for Taken 4, This Time It's Personal.

But our Robert has been moving forward with his life:

In Australia last month during charity work for children's cancer Allenby said he had sought psychological help. "It's been traumatic and it's been very tough, but no one ever really actually came out with the truth. That's been tough to take as well," Allenby said.

Well, you could have...or, in the alternative, something at least remotely believable.  But he does have some good advice for us all....or at least for cantankerous Tour pros that are prone to getting tanked after missing cuts:

"I'm very cautious, there's no question about it. Most important thing is you never leave a glass of wine or any drink unattached anywhere. And that's probably the best advice I could give anyone in the world because it's not a pleasant experience – especially the outcome of what could happen."

I'll take that under advisement...

DVR Alert -  Shack uses the prime real estate in his Forward Press feature to talk with Sean McDonough about this:

This week the 53-year-old tackles one of the toughest tasks in broadcasting: a golf

tournament consisting of relative unknowns. 

Actually, they’re completely, all, 100% totally unknowns. No offense lads. 

Not that McDonough is complaining about his first ever trip to the Dominican Republic for ESPN’s coverage of the second annual Latin America Amateur Championship.

But there's one awfully good reason to consider tuning in, and that would be this:

Here's Pete reading some of his own writings on Teeth of the Dog, focusing on the difficulty construction process:

And here's some spectacular drone footage:

Thing is, except for a 1994 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf match (Floyd v. Couples), it's never been on the tube previously.  

The Blind Leading the... I though that Rickie channeling his inner Michelle Wie was a curious choice, but how about this source for a much needed chipping lesson?

It was a difficult 2015 for Michelle Wie, who didn't earn a single top 10 all season as she wasbeset by illness and injury. Instead of a long-awaited breakout, expected possibly more than ever following her 2014 U.S. Women's Open triumph, Wie regressed in 2015. 

What's one to do to try to rebound in 2016? Well, ensure better health as much as possible, for one. Also, maybe get some pointers from a fellow Stanford product. 

The latter is exactly what Wie did, and the former Cardinal instructing her? Tiger Woods:

Here's her Instagram post:

Love the sepia tone.... But Tiger's not THAT old.

Give the Man a Break - Sometimes we can just let folks suffer in private, no?  With no video available, was this really newsworthy?

The dreaded yips that plagued Ernie Els on a couple of occasions last year apparently have carried over into the new year. Els’ par putt from 18 inches missed the hole entirely on his last hole in the first round of the BMW South African Open, the Irish Times reported.

Well, they never go away, and of course he can no longer "cheat like the rest of the guys".

 Abraham Zapruder could not be reached for comment.

Luke's Plan B - We had James Corrigan's item yesterday on Luke Donald, in which Luke displayed renewed enthusiasm for the game and his prospects.

As always, it's good to have a fallback plan, and here's Luke's:

I'd say the odds are comparable to him hitting enough fairways to be competitive.

Thank God He Didn't Do the Full Henrik - The shot of the week, courtesy of David Howell:

I know, he could have left the manzierre on...  In a GMTA moment, Alex Myers had the same thought as your humble correspondent, saving me all that time working the Wabac machine:

It never gets old, does it?

Weekend Wrap

I'm sure you had trouble finding time for golf this weekend, as the Wild Card weekend was quite compelling....unless, of course, you have the misfortune to be a Bengals fan.  Do they do IQ testing at the scouting combines?  Evidence would suggest not...

Kapalua Nail-biter - It was close....at least for most of Thursday morning....http://www.tampabay.com/sports/golf/spieth-wins-tournament-of-champions-at-30-under/2260770Doug Ferguson with the game story:

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jordan Spieth brought his old form to the new year and had no

trouble winning the Tournament of Champions on Sunday.

Staked to a five-shot lead, Spieth made two straight birdies around the turn at Kapalua to restore his margin, and he spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the views of surf and sun on Maui. 

Spieth made an 8-foot birdie putt to reach his target, even though he didn't need it. He closed with 6-under 67 for an eight-shot victory over Patrick Reed at 30-under 262. He joins Ernie Els as the only players in PGA Tour history to finish a 72-hole event at 30 under or lower.

Now, none of the press seems to have covered the important issue, isn't that the same shirt he wore on Sunday at Chambers Bay?  Didn't think the sponsors went for that... Of course folks can't help themselves with the Tiger comparisons:

Spieth won his seventh title in his 77th start as a pro. Woods won his seventh PGA Tour event in his 38th start, and he had 18 wins in his first 77 tournaments. 

"Nowhere near," Spieth said on how his record stacks up with Woods. "I don't think there's any reason to compare. It's awfully early. We're excited about where we're at to start our career. What Tiger has done, I can't imagine ever being done."

John Strege also bristles at the inevitable comparisons:

Woods, at the same stage, was on the cusp of a dominant decade that seemingly rendered 

his eclipsing Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors a formality. A tough act to follow. 

A more appropriate question: Wouldn’t it be better simply to enjoy Spieth for what he is, fresh air in an often fetid sporting world (to wit, the Bengals-Steelers game Saturday night) and a reason to look forward to watching how the story unfolds in a sport too frequently capable of curing insomnia?

They're very different players, but the comparisons are not without interest.  Tiger was physically dominant and, coming off that historic amateur career, took about an hour and a half to learn to win in the professional game.  Jordan went through some public growing pains, but is an obvious quick-learner.... But without the ability to physically intimidate the opposition.

To me Jordan is the hare in this comparison, and one has to assume that he can't keep up with Tiger's early career accomplishments.  But slow-and-steady can work well in our game, so it will be fun to watch.

The Tour Confidential panel took a shot at this issue, and Josh Sens caught my eye with his historical analogies:

2. GOLF.com's Cameron Morfit hypothesized that players are pressing too hard when paired with Spieth, in the same way that players did when paired with Tiger Woods. Have you seen much evidence of that? 

SENS: I don't disagree, but Spieth dominates in such an affable way, and without overwhelming power, so any effect he has comes off far more subtly. In Tiger's heyday, guys playing with him largely had the doomed look of Paris going up against Achilles. Glaze-eyed, stricken. Defeat seemed certain. With Spieth, the trouncing doesn't look inevitable. And then, suddenly, it does.

Go for the heel, Paris!  You mean like the way Jason Day pressed at Whistling Straits?  

See, I beg to differ, as I think one of the big differences is the level of competition.  When Tiger burst on the scene he was battling players 10-15 years older, and physically dominating those confrontations.

Jordan is awfully good, but look at the names behind him in the World Rankings.  Who was the Rory when Tiger broke in, Monty?  Davis Love?  Man, it's gonna be a fun year, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Spieth doesn't win a major this year...

The Other Donald -  Our  house curmudgeon spent some time with Luke Donald, and Spieth would be wise to consider this a cautionary tale.  First the depths of the depression:

This was May last year. The previous month had seen him fall out of the all-important

world top 50 for the first time in more than a decade. For all but the first few years of his career, the Englishman had been a member of the elite, but now he was on the outside looking in.

Without a win on a major golf tour since he ruled the rankings in 2012, and having been overlooked for the 2014 Ryder Cup team by Paul McGinley, it was a foreboding sight; particularly as he was struggling to rediscover his golf swing after an ill-fated switch of coaches.

“My confidence had taken a big knock and I asked myself if I wanted to continue doing this,” Donald said.

That "rule the rankings" way overstates the case, but he was ranked No. 1 for a brief moment in time.  The entire piece is well worth your time, especially the discussion of Luke turning to a sports psychologist.

Here's his rousing conclusion:

It was not too long ago that Donald was Spieth, bringing his rivals to their knees with that wand he waved on the greens. “Yeah, it’s a good feeling, thinking that you’re going to hole everything you look at. And you don’t think it’s ever going to end,” Donald said. “But for a good year there, as I focused on getting my swing back to what it was before I started working with Chuck Cook, my short game was not very good at all. 

“I need to be one of the best in the world with my short game if I’m going to be successful out here with the way I play golf. But it’s improving and coming back. I’ll get there.”

Conventional wisdom is that Luke screwed up his short game in an attempt to get longer....like all CV, that's probably only about half-true.  While I think this has some aplicability for current World No. 1, there are also some very significant differences.

Donald suffered from what I cleverly dubbed "Luke Donald Disease" (I stay up nights thinking of this stuff for your amusement), the most obvious symptom of which is hitting the ball short and crooked.  That's an ectremely precarious way to play our game, and one can see the difficulty over time and the stress it puts on one's short game.

Jordan, on the other hand, fits into that large category of long enough.... and also straight enough.  And from his public comments he seems to be using some gym work to add just a little length, but not changing anything in his actual swing.  Good call, at least until that game proves insufficient to the task...

PXG, The Morning After - Obviously we'll draw no major conclusions from Zach Johnson's T21, but those Confidentialistas had some amusing takes on the newcomer:

5. Parsons Xtreme Golf, or PXG, raised eyebrows when it signed eight new players for 2016, including Billy Horschel and Zach Johnson. Johnson had won 12 times including two majors ― most recently the 2015 British Open ― with Titleist. Were you surprised to see so many top pros jump ship from established brands to join an untested upstart?

VAN SICKLE: Pros are pretty confident that as long as they've got their shafts, they can hit just about anything that's on the end of them. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't. In golf, money talks. Check back in two years to see who's playing PXG. It could be a bust or it could be the next Callaway or TaylorMade.

I've seen no discussion of shafts, which I agree is the more important component.  But obviously Parsons will never be Cally or TM at his current price points.  The real question is whether folks will gravitate towards him and pay those prices if they perceive improved performance.  But given the combined R&D budgets of the industry, can these clubs really be any better?

MORFIT: Horschel's switch might be the most surprising, since he was such a rah-rah Ping guy, but there's been a lot of movement from Ping to PXG, not just him. There's also been a lot of misinformation about how much PXG is paying guys to come over. PXG's Bob Parsons told me, "In every case, they've come to us, and they're making less than their prior spouse wanted to pay them.”

That's hard to believe for quite a few reasons...first and foremost, they're professional golfers.  They don't have breakfast for less....

Secondly, the poaching is from Titleist and Ping, who are widely reputed to be the tightest with a dollar in the industry.  The former is noted for letting it's top talent walk, see Woods, Tiger and McIlroy, Rory, and the latter pays only for results.