Weekend, Wrapped

Well that was entertaining, unless of course you're a Rory fan...

Nightmare Scenarios, Avoided - Doug Ferguson captures the Yin and the Yang of Bubba's week among the glitterati:

Bubba Watson packed plenty of memories from his week in LA. He has a kidney stone

as a keepsake. He had a cameo in "Girl Meets World." He received a text Sunday morning from Steph Curry offering shooting tips to Watson's son. And he capped it all with the best memento of all. 

"Hold on a second, my trophy is coming," Watson said, interrupting his press conference as the shiny prize was placed on the table next to him. 

It wasn't clear if passing the kidney stone or winning the Northern Trust Open was more difficult.

Well, he did spend Saturday night at the Warriors-Clippers game, but no mention of Justin Bieber giving Caleb drumming lessons?   

And Doug also caught this moment, which I enjoyed from the comfort of my couch:

All week long, Watson spoke of the importance of making putts at Riviera, and he needed all of them — the 10-footer for par on No. 10 to stay in the game, and a pair of birdies to twice tie for the lead, from 30 feet on No. 11 and from 5 feet on the par-3 16th. 

And then he took the lead with a birdie that was pure Bubba. 

Both feet came off the ground as he hammered a drive 334 yards on the 582-yard 17th hole, and then he hit 2-iron to the back of the green that led to a two-putt birdie. He closed with a 3-under 68 for a one-shot victory over Kokrak and Scott.

That swing was the essence of our Bubba, though I wish CBS would have shown it from the blimp, since he seemed in low Earth orbit when he made contact.

And proving that he's not just a pretty face, Shack caught this great photo of our here:

That's a pretty great photo, though there's a mandatory deduction for his feet maintaining contact with the ground.

The Tour Confidentialistas kick around whether Bubba gets due credit for his accomplishments...here's a sample:

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated (@AlanShipnuck): Not even close. His record is tremendous but often overshadowed by his personality quirks. Hopefully he'll just shut up and play so the golf world can better appreciate his unusual genius.

Mark Godich, senior editor, Sports Illustrated (@MarkGodich): Sadly, the possibility that he just shut up and play golf has come and gone. How many times have we been down this road. Regardless, it's a treat to watch him think his way around the golf course, especially on a track like Riviera.

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, GOLF Magazine (@CameronMorfit): I never expected Bubba to be doing what he's doing. He didn't win in college, didn't win on the Web.com, and is one of the more temperamental talents I've ever seen. I thought his psyche was far too delicate to hold up under late-Sunday pressure. And yet here he is, having turned into a prolific winner on the PGA Tour. Say what you want about Bubba the person, but you've got to respect his ability to close.

You might not remember, but in that poll of his peers last year of most overrated players, Bubba finished right behind Rickie and Poults.  The guys got two ugly green jackets in his closet and he's an underachiever?  I don't think so...

But while there's room for improvement in his spoken thoughts, I most certainly don't want him to stop sharing with us.  I love that he was critical of TPC Scottsdale, though of course I wish he could have explained his thoughts a little more clearly.  And it's not just because in this case I agree with him... but these are the conversations we should be having, and Bubba sees the world differently than the rest of us.

Adam Schupak covers the up and down day of Adam Scott:

Scott, 35, stormed out of the gate holing a 35-foot eagle putt at the first, a 16-foot par

putt at the second, a 32-foot birdie putt at the third, and a 20-foot birdie putt at the fourth. So much for all the concern that he would struggle without an anchored putter. Scott birdied five of the first six holes to erase a two-stroke deficit and assume a 2-stroke lead at 15 under. 

“Everything went to plan,” Scott said. “Walking off the 7th hole, I thought, this is feeling pretty good.” 

That’s when Scott made what he called “an error in judgment.” The 11-time Tour winner drove into the barranca that splits the eighth fairway and from the native grass his approach sailed over the green. Scott tried to take his medicine and accept bogey, but a 3-putt from 35 feet cost him two strokes to par and dropped him from the lead.

He made over 100-feet of putts on the first four holes, and you're gonna look good when that happens...I'm not suggesting he give up the game, but he'll need to show me that that stroke will hold up down the stretch a few more times.  Remember, it's not like he was even a Tour average putter with the broomstick....

Think I'm harshing the mellow?  Here's his stat line from the week:

I know the font is small for all you alter kockers, but he gave up three-quarters of a stroke to the field each day on the greens.  And finished second, so the man can still golf his ball...

And what to make of that McIlroy kid?  Jason Sobel takes a shot at explaining the inexplicable:

LOS ANGELES -- When Rory McIlroy opened with an eagle to grab a share of the lead during Sunday's final round of the Northern Trust Open, it felt like he was going to make a serious run at a 12th career PGA Tour title. 

Seventeen holes later, he was trudging off Riviera Country Club's final hole after a sloppy 4-over 75 and share of 20th place. 

"There are encouraging signs," McIlroy said. "But I turned a chance to win into a top-20 at the end of the day, so it wasn't too good." 

McIlroy bookended that opening eagle with a birdie on the last hole, but in between he failed to post any other red numbers, instead carding seven bogeys -- tied for the most he's ever had in a non-major round. 

When asked which part of his game he was most disappointed with, McIlroy pointed to his putter.

Ya think?  Rory's stat line is even worse than Adam's:

 That's a full shot given to the field on the greens, and really his whole game tanked yesterday as the course firmed up.  I don't want to say that I told you so.... actually I do.

Rory is going to play a ton of golf between now and The Masters, though I would think he'd see the need to spend some quality time with Dave Stockton.  He wasn't just missing too many four-footers, he was missing them badly.  

Based up Thomas Pieters, shouldn't the Ponte Vedra mafia be giving Rors a trim in that headshot?  Maybe even Adam as well...

Did you see RyMo's ace?  A good bounce out of the Kikuyu:

And just a quick word of praise for K.J....  He's one of Employee No. 2's faves (I don't ask questions), so it was a pity that she wasn't here to see him laying so well.  But how many hybrids did he hit?  And on shots of around 200 yards....  Really, it was like watching the Senior Club Championship, but the guy finished T5 in a Tour event.  Good stuff....

As for the telecast, Shack captures his thoughts Sunday morning:

Enjoy the Golf Channel telecast from 10 am to 11:30, followed by the half hour re-entry from outer space circa 1967, followed by CBS showing some college basketball and eventually, the noon(ish) telecast that will mark the last time this 90-year-old tournament is called the Northern Trust Open!

Wassup with that?  Which is more annoying, that half-hour between coverage (anyone know the why of it?) or the NCAA hoops games that always go long.  No biggie yesterday, but when they go into OT it's quite the annoyance.

Off to Florida, where it's lions and tigers and snakes and bears and way too much water.

Lydia, Denied - AP's game story from Down Under:

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) Honolulu-based Haru Nomura of Japan won her first LPGA tournament in her 72nd start, shooting a closing 7-under 65 on Sunday to win the Women's Australian Open by three strokes.

Nomura, who was tied for the lead with two others going into the final round at The Grange's West course, finished with a 16-under total of 272.

Top-ranked and defending champion Lydia Ko, who trailed by a stroke after three rounds, finished second after a 67.

Here's my take away from that scene in the photo above, though I'm slightly discomfited by being in agreement with Charlie Rymer, who gave Lydia a Monday Morning Drive Game Ball for her enthusiastic participation in dousing the first-time winner.  Maybe it really is different out there...

Peter Burkowski and Joel Beall respond to Stacy's (and Kenny's) plaintive cry for help, and the results aren't always pretty.  Here's Peter:

Why do female professional golfers make pennies on the dollar compared to their male

counterparts, and not the usual, if still troubling, $.78 on the dollar that women earn across other professions?

Fair question but it’s also the wrong question.

We can agree it's the wrong question because the $.78 on the dollar stat has been soundly and repeatedly debunked, relating more to lifestyle decisions than, as Hillary would have us believe, systemic misogyny.

But Peter descends further into the abyss:

The bigger, better question to ask: Why is there less interest in the women’s game? And better yet, how do we change that?

Female athletes are widely perceived to be inferior: less athletic, less skilled, less entertaining. That perception—the very definition of gender discrimination and inequality—is regularly stated as fact, in the media, on social media and beyond: Women’s athletics are simply less “watchable.” 

The critics don't even go out of their way to veil the gender bias.

 Peter, would you care to take this outside?

What a hot mess of nonsense... let's set aside the issues of entertaining and watchable, which are in the eye of the beholder.  But as for less athletic and less skilled, deal with it.  Because they are, and if you try to argue the contrary you seem a fool.

So here's his attempt to obscure the obvious:

“We’re probably actually hitting more fairways than the guys and more greens than the guys,” Lewis said. “There are certain parts of the game that we actually do better.”

Check the stats. Lewis has hit 97 of 112 fairways this year. That’s a staggering 87% success rate, which doesn’t even place her among the top five players in that category on the LPGA tour. On the men’s side, Thomas Aiken leads the category. His hit rate: 77.26%. 

On the LPGA tour, five players have a greens-in-regulation percentage north of 80%, led by Ha Na Jang, who hits 86% of her greens—eight-six percent! On the PGA Tour this season, not a single player has a GIR rate of better than 80%.

Peter, you ignorant slut.  You're aware that they play different golf courses, aren't you?  And, while I wanted to make this point in reaction to Stacy's original whine, is there a less important stat than fairways hit?  Here's Joel's reality check on this subject:

Unfortunately, Lewis forgets to add context. The PGA Tour layouts reward distance and aggressiveness. It's not that accuracy is unimportant; merely, there's mounting evidence showing it's better to be long than straight. Additionally, in terms of set-up, PGA Tour courses are a tad tougher in difficulty, explaining the statistical variance. 

In short, while men and women are playing the same sport, they're playing different games.

Skip Peter's nonsense but Joel's is worth a read if it's a subject of interest.  I'm a big fan and supporter of the women's games, but arguments that assert that the women are just as good leave me cold.

By the way, Stacy made some good points in her original comments, including this:

“Fans get closer to us than they do to the guys. They really get to know us. Once you get someone to a tournament, you have a fan for life.”

There are many charms and enjoyments to watching the gals, but sports are the ultimate meritocracy.  You have to earn viewers, and complaining about their sexism isn't, you know, helpful. 

Scenes From the Riv

We take time from your regularly scheduled weekend for bonus Sunday content.  Hope you don't mind....

At a certain moment in yesterday's third round we had a three-way tie between these players:

• Dustin Johnson
• Bubba Watson
• Chez Reavie

My thought was that one of these is not like the other two.... But how much fun was that, watching the little-known Tour rabbit competing while giving up 50-60 yards off the tee.  It's not that Reavie is that short, it's just that the other two...well, you know.  Here's how they ended the day:

Bubba Watson               66-68-67--201 (-12)

Jason Kokrak                 68-64-70--202 (-11)

Chez Reavie                   66-67-69--202 (-11)

Dustin Johnson              68-66-68--202 (-11) 

Kevin Chappell              68-69-66--203 (-10)

K.J. Choi                        69-67-67--203 (-10)

Rory McIlroy                  67-69-67--203 (-10)

Adam Scott                   68-68-67--203 (-10)

Mark Leishman              68-67-68--203 (-10) 

Hideki Matsuyama         69-67-68--204 (-9)

Troy Merritt                    68-66-70--204 (-9)

Any reason to tune in?  Because he tapped in first, Kokak grabbed that spot in the final threesome from DJ, but he's not a whole lot shorter...

At this point Reavie, Leishman and Merritt remain the "nightmare scenarios" for our Shack, though I think you could make out his tongue pressing against his cheek as he typed that...  As with Vaughn Taylor last week, if reavie somehow prevails against the 101st Airborne, he'll have earned it.

Helen Ross caught up with Rory, who had this to say:

"I think quality courses produce a quality leaderboard, and you just have to look at the names up there at the minute, Bubba, Dustin, myself, Adam, all very, very good players," McIlroy said, reeling off the names of four players ranked in the world's top 10. 

"It's going to be a bit of a shootout tomorrow. I'm happy that I stayed at 10 under and didn't drop to nine, because ... I don't really want to be too far back with so many guys in with a chance tomorrow."

Yes, all good players though one of those four isn't, you know, actually in the Top Ten.  As for the young Ulsterman, his SG-Putting is -1, and that's with a better Saturday with the flat-stick.  So watch him inside of five feet today, especially since the course has to firm up at last....at least I think it does.

 But these were the words of greatest interest:

The 10th hole, both JP and I were sort of looking at a couple of different ways to play it. Where the pin is tomorrow, you can try to go straight at that pin and leave it in that bunker, but that's a pretty risky play, or you take it left. 

But it's a very -- this is probably one of the only courses that I look at the pin position before I even hit my tee shot, you know, because I really want to know where the pin is and where is a good anal and before is the best leave of my second shot. 

There's only a few -- there's only a few courses like that we play each year that I do that. It's enjoyable. It's great to be able to do that and be so strategic, but at the same time, know to be aggressive to your spots and maybe lay back a bit here and there it. It's a really well-designed golf course.

By all means go straight at that pin, Rors.... Unless you want to, you know, win.

The weather forecast couldn't be better, so these comments from the big boys don't exactly come as a surprise:

“Somebody’s going to shoot low tomorrow,” Johnson said. “I would guess 17 under, 16

under, somewhere around there would get it done.”

But when asked if he had a number in mind for tomorrow, Watson demurred. “One better than – I don’t care if it’s an 80. It’s about lifting the trophy,” he said. “To win, there’s going to have to be a lot of things go your way, like getting up-and-down on 18, something crazy like that. Chip-in; you’re going to have to do something because it’s on bounce one way or the other to win.”

The fashion police have been out and about, even without Rickie in the field.... First from the leader:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Bubba Watson leads the Northern Trust Open through 54 holes after wearing a new line of golf glove Saturday en route to shooting a 4-under 67 at Riviera Country Club. 

Watson signed an endorsement deal this week with G/Fore, a golf-lifestyle brand that specializes in high-end golf gloves, shoes, and apparel that are sold exclusively at green-grass shops. 

Watson’s deal with G/Fore doesn’t officially begin until the Masters in April, but he is so fond of the product that he chose a purple glove from a half-dozen or so left for him in his locker and immediately put it into play during the third round of the Northern Trust Open. (He wore a Ping glove made by his clubmaker during the opening two rounds, but said he is not contractually obligated to do so).

As we found out at The Wasted, Bubba loves his sponsors.... And have you heard Padraig Harringron being compared to a mad scientist?  Turns out he also dresses the part:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – We all know the expression “if the shoe fits.” Well, in Friday’s second round at the Northern Trust Open, Padraig Harrington realized he was wearing two different shoes on his feet – same style, same color – except one belonged to someone else with a slightly different size and preference for spikes. 

“They look the same except for having a 9 medium width and an 8 ½ wide width,” Harrington said. “I couldn’t tell until I took them off and checked.” 

The 8 ½ wide shoe on his right foot was Harrington's, with the 9 medium on the left being the unfamiliar one to the Irishman. The shoes were both white FootJoy DryJoys.

“You give your shoes to the locker room attendant and they come back with the same white DryJoy shoes,” said Harrington. “I realized halfway through (my round) when I was cleaning my spikes and I said, ‘These ain’t my spikes.’ ”

Don't blame the locker room guy, Paddy.....that's punching down.

Clothes aren't the only way these guys show their individuality, as golf.com demonstrates in a slideshow of custom stamped and mixed bags.  Here's one that caught my eye:

In his defense, his name is Pat Perez and he's something of a large specimen... But granting that, would you want to be known as The Big PP?

You know who else had an interesting week with a custom wedge?  That would be Brandon De Jonge.... Here's the full explanation:

First the good news... He played so poorly that the four strokes was a drop in the bucket.  But I can't help but wonder how it was discovered.

And only here do we bring you Justin Leonard channeling his inner Boo Weekly:

The 2008 Stanford St. Jude Classic was the last time Justin Leonard won on the PGA Tour. It also might be the last time he shaved. Or got a haircut. 

Leonard is sporting a mountain-man appearance this week in the Hollywood hills. It's one we're not used to seeing from the 1997 British Open champ, but so far, it's working.

Well, it'll take a few more months to go full-Boo....

I think I'll get on with my Sunday, but check back in the morning for the weekend wrappage.

Friday Frisson

I didn't see that much golf yesterday, but with Madam heading out of town for a few days I don't expect to miss much for the next three days...

The Soft and Cuddly Riviera - The key number is .6.... that's how much rain they received overnight, which softened up the course considerably.  Here's the lede from Doug Ferguson's game piece composed, I assume, from those stands behind the 10th green:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Camilo Villegas hasn't make a cut all year and has only broken 70 one time in four previous trips to Riviera, so it was mildly surprising to see him with an 8-under 63 to build a three-shot lead Thursday in the Northern Trust Open.

Mildly?  You're more likely to see him on a milk carton than a leaderboard... Shall we let Doug continue?

That wasn't the biggest surprise.

One spot from the bottom of the leaderboard was Jordan Spieth, the world's No. 1 player who shot an 8-over 79 on one of his favorite courses. It was his worst start ever as a pro, and his highest score since an 80 in the third round of the 2014 Tour Championship. 

"In the course of a career, I imagine it's going to happen," Spieth said. "Just unfortunate when it actually does."

Jordan did his usual nice job of handling the press after the frustrating day, and it's somewhat amusing that his 79 might not hold up:

After posting his worst score since the 2014 Tour Championship, Jordan Spieth still could add another stroke to a shocking start in the Northern Trust Open. 

The 79 leaves him currently T142 and 16 strokes behind first-round leader Camilo Villegas. 

As if the battle with his swing and stroke (34 putts) wasn’t enough, Spieth followed a three-putt double bogey at the famous 18th by calling for a rules official prior to signing his scorecard. The reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion was concerned his ball moved after commencing the third shot on the ninth hole. Officials can review the tape overnight and add on to the signed scorecard if they determine Spieth’s ball moved.

Since we're relentlessly upbeat here, let's focus on the positives.  First, he beat Steven Bowditch by a shot....well, unless they determine that his ball moved on No. 9.  Secondly, no sooner does Gary Player call him the best putter of all time (you'd think Player might have heard of Bobby Locke), than Jordan posts a Strokes Gained-Putting stat of -5.025.  Think about that for a sec, the BPOAT gave up more than five strokes to the field on the greens.  Yanno, they were putting on poa as well...

It might be slightly premature to declare the Jordan Spieth era over, but he looked quite the mess yesterday.  Folks took encouragement from his Sunday 66 at Pebble last week and he spoke gamely of making the cut here, but he seemed to have the dreaded two-way miss going... even with the flat stick.

Brave words aside, he was the last guy on the range Thursday night, so I'd expect a bounce-back today.  But I'm not surprised by the struggles because, you know, golf.  It's a great leaderboard and an even better weather forecast, so anything short of a great weekend would constitute a surprise.  The course should firm up day-by-day, 

Ferguson had this on Rory's opening 67 (all sorts of video here):

McIlroy started birdie-birdie, and his lone mistake was a tee shot into a deep bunker on No. 15, leaving him no chance at reaching the green. Even so, he was happy to take advantage of the conditions.

"Put myself out of position a couple of times, but with the way the conditions of the golf course were, it didn't punish you as bad as if it would have been as firm as it was the last couple of days," McIlroy said.

It looked pretty stress-free and kudos to Rory for making it there....  but if there's a concern about Rory's game, it's his ability on hard and fast tracks.  So as The Riv firms up, watch how the younfg lad handles it.

But this gets my vote for the round of the day:

This time of year, most college seniors are planning spring break trips or attending basketball games. Charlie Danielson is spending February in a slightly different fashion: 

Hanging around the leader board at the Northern Trust Open. 

Danielson, a product of the University of Illinois, logged seven birdies on Thursday to shoot a four-under 67 at Riviera Country Club. 

He's the lad that won the College Showcase on Monday with a 68, which got him his tee time.  However today plays out, it's quite the experience for the young man.

Some Cheese With That Whine - Why is everyone so cranky?  I'm cranky because Employee No. 2 is going away fro a few days... you can't blame me there.  But these folks should really be counting their blessings...

Exhibit A:  Stacy Lewis

How can the LPGA grow the women's game and come out of the PGA Tour’s

shadow?

It’s pretty frustrating to still see the huge gaps that we have in what the guys are paid and what we are paid, when really, we’re doing the same thing and the only difference is the TV numbers and the TV ratings. That’s really it.

Ummmm Stacy, you're not helping yourself here.  Saying the only difference is the TV ratings is equivalent to noting that the only difference between Usain Bolt and your humble blogger is that he runs faster than I....  Isn't that the whole point?

Stacy goes on to violate the first rule of holes:

We’re probably actually hitting more fairways than the guys and more greens than the guys, you know? There are certain parts of the game that we actually do better. When I play with the guys a lot, ‘Do you ever miss a fairway?’ is usually what they say to me. Our games are pretty comparable, it’s just the exposure.

Stace, I'm going to type slowly so you can follow me clearly.  There is not a single aspect of the game in which your skills are remotely comparable to a similarly-ranked male professional.  Now by all means go curl up in the corner in the fetal position if that ruins your day, but it's a pretty clear fact of life.

And I say that as a fan and supporter of the ladies' game.  There's a good case to be made for the women (and she actually touches on it later), but that case is not that they're just as good.

Also, Stacy, the pay is better when you actually win.  Just a helpful suggestion....

Exhibit B:  Kenny Perry

See if this plaint tugs at your heart strings:

“I don’t think anything on the Champions tour means anything to anybody, to tell you the truth. The media, golf fans, they look at us as a freak show. We don’t get any publicity. None of our tournaments mean anything. I think it is sad because the golf out here is tremendous.”

Oh the inhumanity!  He's playing for six-figure purses in his mid-50's, but we should feel sorry for him...  I'm a bit unclear as to what exactly he's done in this game that should make me yearn to see him play in his dotage....

By the way, the freak show plays 26 events for total prize money of $55.7 million...  I don't think carnival sideshows are quite that disrespected.

Foursome, Complete - I know, I couldn't sleep either awaiting word on who will tee it up with Rory and Rickie:

Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler won't be the only stars facing off in primetime in June.

Make room for Justin Timberlake and Mark Wahlberg.

WXYZ Detroit is reporting through sources that Timberlake and Wahlberg will join Fowler and McIlroy for their upcoming match and TV special at Detroit Golf Club the week before the U.S. Open. The Associated Press reported on Monday night that Quicken Loans was finalizing a match centered around Fowler and McIlroy for June 7 in Detroit and that it would include a celebrity component, which the AP said was still to be determined at the time.

Here's my thought.... Let's have Marky Mark and JT tee it up the next day with Stacy and Kenny at Oakmont, from the U.S. Open tees.  There's not a doubt in my mind that Perry would post the lowest score, but any thoughts on whether Stacy could beat either of these two?  I hear she never missed a fairway....

No, Next Question -  Jessica Marksbury, Are Golfers in Tights Coming to a Tour Stop Near You?

I do so hate to be judgmental, but I'm not expecting any push-back on this:

That's an actual PGA Tour player, Scott Pickney, in a picture he'll no doubt have to explain to his kids in a few years.  

I'm full of helpful suggestions today, but I'd warn Mr. Pickney that when Nike puts you in an outfit that Rickie rejected, it's cause for concern.

The Olympics Ara A Sewer - No, literally!  I almost skipped this story for reasons of overkill, but surprisingly CTR:F "Zika" returns no results.  But do hold off on reading this until you've finished your breakfast:

In December we posted a story on Brazil's rampant pollution in the country's waterways and its possible effect on the upcoming Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. For context, according to the AP, the areas in question had disease-causing viruses directly linked to human sewage at levels up to 1.7 million times what would be considered highly alarming in the U.S. or Europe.

However, there was slight hope that this situation could be cleaned up before the games' arrival. 

Not anymore.

As the man says, hope is not a strategy....Unless, of course, you're the U.S. Olympic Committee:

"It's not going to happen because there was not enough commitment, funds and energy," said Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada. Worse, Outside the Lines obtained documents from the United States Olympic Committee stating "The USOC has ongoing concerns over possible existing viral and bacterial contaminants in the water. ... The USOC remains hopeful, but we do not expect to anticipate major reductions in bacterial or viral pathogen levels at the competition venues."

 Well, as long as you're still hopeful.  Denial, not just a contaminated waterway in Egypt...

Thursday Things

No time for pleasantries, so let's dive in...

Scenes From The Riv - The weather forecast is good, but Karen Crouse takes her employer's style book to the extreme and informs that women and minorities are hardest hit:

When the Northern Trust Open field was finalized last week, it looked as if Riviera

Country Club in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood here would be the stage for the latest high-profile duel, between Spieth, the world’s No. 1 golfer, and Rory McIlroy. But a funny thing happened on their way to becoming two more interlocking threads in the brilliant fabric of the Southern California sports scene. With his tie for 11th at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday, Jason Day supplanted an idle McIlroy at No. 2. So McIlroy makes his Riviera and 2016 PGA Tour debut as the world No. 3.

Well then, what's the point?  If it can't live up to O.J. Simpson vs. Gary Beban, and unfortunately most of us are old enough to remember that.  I know she's on deadline and all, but to me that just raises the issue of which of these guys she's calling Gary Beban.

Her point seems to be that World Nos. One and Two don't often play in the same event, seemingly ignoring that they did just last week.... I don't get it, but the Times has prety much been a parody of itself for decades now...

Rory is the pregame story this week, simply because he's making his Tour debut, though purists will also note its his first time teeing it up on the West Coast swing.  That's unfortunate, but a fact of life for a Euro maintaining membership in both Tours (a necessity in a Ryder Cup year).  He has to fit those Euro events in somewhere, but now thoughts inevitably turn to the glide path to Augusta.  Perhaps someone should explain these facts of life to Ms. Crouse.

Rory's presser was quite interesting... we'll get to the gym work presently, but I (and pretty much everyone else) found this quote interesting:

"Sometimes I still get those feelings of -- I don't want to say I have guilt, but sometimes I feel like I haven't had to work as hard to get to where I am as some other people. I don't know if that's guilt or if that's questioning, 'Why is that me? Why am I the one that feels this way?' But I feel now that I definitely have got a ruthlessness on the course that I maybe didn't have a few years ago." 

In the demure world of golf, that's as boastful as a player will ever get.

 Ruthless enough to practice those three-footers?  Just askin'...

As for Rory's response to Chamblee, I asked for a substantive discussion and the lad delivered... You can sort through the long-form transcript, but here was the headline:

Q. You talked about golf being such a thinking game, you take such an analytical approach. In your discovery of yourself in exercise, where did nutrition and exercise become such a foundation of who you are? 

RORY McILROY: It probably started at the -- probably end of 2010 is when it started because I had back problems and as a 19-, 20-year-old having back problems isn't really the -- really you're just at the start of your career, and you don't want to have to keep managing that for the rest of your career.

So it was really the middle of 2010, end of 2010 where I realized that this isn't going to get any better unless I start to take care of myself better. So getting in the gym, eating better, and I think from the start of 2011, the direct correlation between leading a healthier lifestyle and my performance on the course was the same. I won my first major in 2011. I got to the best World Ranking I had ever been in 2011, and then it just continued from there.

So I definitely feel like the more I got into exercise and fitness and everything, the better my game became. And that correlation has sort of -- they have become parallel to me.

Remember, this was our Rory as as recently as 2007:

Anyone know who sourpuss is?  Never mind... But we can all agree that's a lot of wattle for a youngster, and good on him for fixing the problem.

Rory joked about doing squats with Brandel on his back and the latter responded in kind here, going the self-deprecating route.  Best part is the story about Jack handing jars to Barbara because he wasn't strong enough to open them...

This was Shack's take:

McIlroy did eventually speak eloquently on the topic and made his case, but it was with an edge that suggests he is annoyed at having to explain the rationale. Given what has happened to Tiger Woods, he evidently doesn't see why the question comes up.

Wassup with that?

They did a cool thing Tuesday at Riv:

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – It was throwback Tuesday at Riviera Country Club. 

An 8x11 piece of white paper taped to a card table at the tee of the 315-yard, 10th hole explained that “to honor the 90th playing of the Northern Trust Open, please feel free to hit a shot off the 10th tee with any of the historic clubs displayed from the 1920s, 1950s and 1990s.” 

There was one more caveat: “Soft balls are provided to protect these authentic historic clubs.”

Well, it is the 90th anniversary of what Shack calls the Glen Campbell Nissan Los Angeles Nissan Northern Trust Los Angeles Open, though surely he's missing a few sponsor names... But I think this sums up the effects of all those squats:

As if we needed any further proof that golf equipment has evolved, according to TrackMan data, McIlroy’s carry distance with hickory was 226.1 yards; he stepped it up to 269.9 with persimmon; and 270.6 yards with the original Callaway Big Bertha. When the tournament begins on Thursday, McIlroy likely will use his Nike Vapor 3-wood to avoid driving over the green.

Here's video of the fun:

Shack earns his keep with this history of the event:

While we're acknowledging this anniversary, how about a shout-out to the folks who started the event with its eye-catching $10,000 purse, post-Rose Bowl date to attract media before they headed back to Union Station, and the inaugural winner at Los Angeles Country Club, Harry "Lighthorse" Cooper.

And treat yourself to this 1991 profile of Lighthorse, longtime teaching pro at Westchester Country Club.

Tone Deaf Much? - You might envision me as the ultimate cynic, but I really can't believe this... or, more accurately, I really don't want to believe it.

Former Chief Inspector Dawson (that's a Shackism that will have to do until I come up with my own) has mercifully found gainful employment since losing his R & A gig:

Peter Dawson, former chief executive of the R&A and the president of the International Golf Federation, has been appointed as a consultant to explore opportunities that will continue to build on Dubai’s reputation as one of the world’s leading golf destinations. 

Dawson is highly regarded in the industry as a thought leader. He was, and continues to be, in the forefront of golf’s re-entry into the Olympic Games after a gap of 112 years.

Of course, 3.2 seconds of Googling reveals that it's also a leading destination for this:

There are reports of forced disappearances in the UAE, many foreign nationals and

Emirati citizens have been abducted by the UAE government and illegally detained in undisclosed locations.[1][2] In numerous instances, the UAE government has tortured people in custody and has denied their citizens the right to a speedy trial and access to counsel during official investigations.

Flogging and stoning are legal forms of judicial punishment in the UAE due to Sharia courts.[3] The government restricts freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the local media is censored to avoid criticizing the government, government officials or royal families. Freedom of association and freedom of religion are also curtailed.

Seems fair since our Peter is flogging their golf courses... And what, pray tell, comprises Peter's scope of services:

Dawson’s brief is to use his expertise to come up with ideas on how to build on golf’s solid footing in the emirate. “I’ve started by talking to all sorts of stakeholders, clubs, managers there, Government departments, making sure that golf being offered in Dubai is as excellent as Dubai’s 
general reputation,” he said. 

“It’s just making sure that everything that can be improved is improved, and I’ll be making some recommendations in due course. But I have to say that we have the luxury of operating from a very strong base, which is great. There’s 
a lot of good brains, a lot of hard-working people.”

Because, you know, he's a thought leader.  We don't know the magnitude of the quid, but one can't help wondering what the Sheikh considers the quo in this arrangement.  No doubt you're on your seat's edge to hear his latest thoughts on Olympic Golf:

“There is an increasing buzz among the players, men and women, about the prospect of competing,” added Dawson. “Golf needs to put up a good show at the Olympics and secure its position in the Games. Not only have we in golf worked hard on the event and the facilities, but we’ve also worked very hard about being a good member of the Olympic team. That’s very important, too.”

How do you interpret that last bit?  I take it to mean that all the right pockets got lined....

No, Next Question - Poll And Question: "Is the time right for non-conforming clubs?"  OK, maybe I was a little hasty.....Mike Stachura, Golf Digest's Equipment Editor, takes on this question:

But no major U.S. company is looking at the nonconforming market and getting intrigued. Several major manufacturers contacted by Golf Digest said they would not be pursuing nonconforming equipment; others had no specific comment on the issue. Typical was this response from Callaway: “We think there is a lot of runway to give distance and performance while still playing by the rules.” 

Even proudly renegade upstart Parsons Xtreme Golf defended golf’s rules. Said PXG and GoDaddy.com founder Bob Parson, “PXG believes that the USGA upholds the integrity of the game. As such, PXG’s clubs comply with all USGA regulations and we have no intention of introducing nonconforming equipment.”

Shack launches into a rant about the inevitability of bifurcation, which is ground well-covered.  But my interest is in whether this is an unexploited avenue for teaching newcomers our game.

We all understand that there's nothing natural about the golf swing and many folks find our game far too frustrating to see the lifetime of enjoyment to be found.  The trick is to give them that indescribable feeling of a well-struck shot as early in the process as possible...

I haven't put any appreciable thought into this, but I could easily see non-conforming equipment and balls as a pathway into the game.  It's a heck of a lot easier than building short courses, and it's not actually illegal for the game to be fun.  Unlike Geoff, I don't see that there's much money to be made by the equipment manufacturers, but please discuss among yourselves....

Midweek Musings

There's bills to be paid and Madam has suggested that we consider an afternoon movie, so let's do this...

The Tenth - Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, so you'll be well sick of hearing about one silly little golf hole by Sunday.  Shack tells us in his Forward Press that finally the revolution will be televised:

Apparently some business is best conducted in private. 

Like Supreme Court hearings. Or, the antics at Riviera’s short par-4 10th. At least the latter will now be televised. 

After years of golf fans hearing rumblings about how fascinating Riviera’s 315-yard 10th plays during the Northern Trust Open, they can finally watch it all from the comfort of their home or office. The PGA Tour’s LIVE app, which debuted last year, will be streaming all of the antics via its app and a new Yahoo partnership.

Here's Geoff's take on how the hole plays in the here and now, similar to comments he made on Morning Drive on Monday:

You'll find Geoff in this grandstand with Doug Ferguson.

In a nutshell, the 10th at Riviera strips players down to their core and puts them in their place. It dangles a reward of easy birdie for the perfect play, and a nice par with a smart lay up. But the slightest miscue or boneheaded choice off the tee can lead to the fastest double bogey on the PGA Tour. 

With recent warm weather sand some maintenance ploys to keep the hole relevant in modern times—lowering and rolling fringes, greens rolling 12 on the Stimpmeter—the tenth has bordered on silly in recent years. The PGA Tour rules staff always has the best interests of all in mind so the antics should remain sane, but if you’re watching the LIVE coverage, don’t be surprised if things push the boundaries of sensible. Which will only make the Featured Hole coverage that much more fun to watch.

It's rather a simple conceit... you simply have to stay left of the green.  And yet they don't...  And they're pretty good.

Last year Scott Piercy was the poster child for how this wee hole can crush a man's will to live:

All in all, it was a pretty good six.

Golfweek compiles players' comments about the hole, and it's obvious that it hasn't gotten into their heads one little bit.  

Jeff Sluman: “The layup should be the easiest shot in the world, and yet what makes the hole great to me is there is no out-of-bounds, no man-made lakes. I would love to design a hole like that some time in my life that people would say the same sort of things about it. It’s just a hard little hole.”

Layups are never the easiest shots in the world, just look at the tape of Phil and Jonas Blixt playing No. 14 at Pebble Sunday.

Scott Verplank: “I’ve done everything. I’ve knocked it on the green and made 2, and I’ve gone back and forth from the bunkers and made 8 (in 2014). Yeah, that was unreal. But I’m not the only who has done that, I can promise you.”

Must be something in the name...it's a relief that I'll never be invited.

Kenny Perry: “That green is diabolical. It seems like it shrunk. It doesn’t matter if you can spin it or not spin it; it just seems to go in that back bunker. It’s almost impossible to hold it now. You think a hole you can drive you wouldn’t be making bogey so often, but it ate me up.”

Greens absolutely do shrink over time, especially with all those guys named Scott van pelting them (heh, that amused me, not sure of your mileage) with sand.  That's why they had to rebuild the 17th at Pebble (as well as its 14th).

Brad Faxon: “The green these days looks more like a cigar. When it’s firm, it is a really challenging shot. Every par 4 would wish to have the options off the tee there. How many options do you see off the tee there? Driver, 3-wood, hybrid, long iron, mid-iron. That’s what I love about it.”

Yanno, Brad, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

Twitter Spat of the Day -  The TSOTD began with these relatively sober words from Brandel Chamblee:

"The only thing that gives me concern with regard to Rory going forward I say it with a

lot of trepidation, because it's a different era for sure. And I don't know the full extent of what he's doing, but when I see the things he's doing in the gym, I think of what happened to Tiger Woods and I think more than anything as much as what Tiger Woods did early in his career with his game was just an example of how good a human being can be, what he did towards the middle and end of his career is an example to be wary of. That's just my opinion. And it does give me a little concern when I see the extensive weightlifting that Rory is doing in the gym."

Me too, if we're being honest.   Rory's response included this tweet as well as a short video that can be seen at the above link:

I'll anxiously await the English translation of Rory's response, but what's a civilian to think?

I certainly blame Tiger's golf swing for his knee and Achilles issues....  His back?  That's where it gets interesting...

But I'd enjoy a more substantive debate on this issue from fitness experts.  Obviously there's a benefit to strength, but also to flexibility....

Though when all is said and done, if Rory doesn't stop missing three-footers it will all be moot.

Irony Alert - Changes are afoot, as per Doug Ferguson:

LOS ANGELES - Tiger Woods got caught in the rain without an umbrella, shot a 74 and made the cut on the number at Riviera. He withdrew the next day with the flu and hasn't been back. That was 10 years ago. 

That's not to suggest Riviera has seen the last of Woods. 

This will be the last year Northern Trust is the title sponsor at Riviera. Northern Trust will take over the first FedEx Cup playoff event in the New York area (formerly The Barclays), and Hyundai is leaving Kapalua to become title sponsor at Riviera.

It's all seemingly a game of musical chairs, as northern Trust is leaving the LA market, where it has no presence, to take over sponsorship of what has heretofore been The Barclays, in the NY marker where it has no presence.

But this is the thread:

There have been discussions in recent months for the Tiger Woods Foundation to have a

significant charitable component of the Riviera event. It would be the perfect fit for Woods, mainly because the first Tiger Woods Learning Center is located down the road in Anaheim, and the foundation headquarters also is in Southern California. 

The foundation is the designated charity for the Quicken Loans National, and the Hero World Challenge in The Bahamas. The World Challenge was held at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks from 2001 until 2013, giving the foundation a local presence. 

Woods' foundation also is primary charity of the Deutsche Bank Championship, though Deutsche Bank is not expected to renew its sponsorship after this year.

Hmmmm......the irony of course comes from the fact that there isn't a course played on Tour that Tiger hates more than Riviera.  If his foundation becomes  a major beneficiary, he'd have to play the event, right?  I mean to the extent he's playing anywhere.

But isn't the Tour placing a lot of eggs in this particular basket?  I don't have the information to assess the work of his foundation, but there are other worthy causes.  I found it moderately off-putting that hew was given sponsorship of the D.C. event so early in his career, and the treatment of his December money-grab is downright unseemly (world ranking points for an 18-player field?).  But if you're going to be in bed with the man, shouldn't it be limited to one event to which he would devote his entire efforts?

Other Changes - Here's one that Shack characterizes as "Noble but pointless"... He may have to explain the noble part to me...

East Lake Golf Club front, back nines to be reversed for TOUR Championship by

Coca-Cola 

ATLANTA, Ga. – With an eye on creating even more excitement around the finishing stretch of not only the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, but the entire 2015-16 PGA TOUR season, officials today announced that the front and back nine holes at East Lake Golf Club will be reversed, providing a more dramatic finishing stretch with more risk/reward opportunities as the 10th year of the FedExCup culminates on September 21-25, 2016.
With the new routing, the final five holes now have more potential for lead changes. The finishing stretch on the back nine begins with the par-4, 500-plus-yard 14th hole that has statistically been the most difficult hole on the course dating back to 2007. From there, players will be faced with a peninsula green at the par-3 15th that has traditionally resulted in a wide range of scores from birdie to double bogey.

My bad.  That should have come with a warning about open beverage containers...

Seriously, does anyone care?  It's not a very interesting golf course, and about the only thing I can visualize of it is the Par-3 finisher, so by all means bury that on the front side.

I Beg To Differ - At least for now....  He may be the luckiest creature on the planet, but these guys have drunk the Kool-Aid:

Dustin Johnson has yet to win a major, but that didn't stop NBC golf analyst Brandel Chamblee from annointing Johnson a future Hall of Fame player.

"I think he's on a Hall of Fame trajectory," Chamblee said on a conference call Tuesday.

"I've said that, I think, a year or two after he came out, he's going nowhere but straight to the Hall of Fame. I think it is very easy with the early success of a Tiger Woods or Rory even to expect much, much more from players than is reasonable."

OK, perhaps we expected too much too soon from the young man....  But, Brandel, is there nothing that causes you to reassess that initial verdict?  I don't know, the three failed drug tests, the missed tee times, the mindless penalties and, most importantly, however you want to characterize to events that unfolded on the 18th green at Chambers Bay?

The question, and it's an interesting one, is whether DJ can begin to achieve that which was projected for him.  Mindlessly repeating it as if there haven't been unexpected detours seems to me not terribly helpful.  I'd be happy to hear the logic for why it's still in his grasp, the Gretzky effect and all....

David Feherty, also on the conference call, compared Johnson's game to Tom Weiskopf.

"I think Dustin Johnson is magnificent. As a player, he's Weiskopf‑like in a lot of ways and he's been unlucky a couple of times, too, especially at the PGA Championship, Whistling Straits. I think that was one of the worst decisions in the history of major championship golf was penalizing him there," Feherty told reporters.

David was there and it was a horrible set-up, this concept of kids playing in sand traps outside the ropes, but DJ also put his willful blindness on display.  There's a reason they gave you that list of local rules when you arrived at Whistling Straits, but I'd have a whole lot more sympathy if you could be bothered to read the damn thing.

Perils of the Internet - I venture into the dark morass of the Internet so you don't have to.  You can thank me later, but one of the greatest dangers lurking out there for the unaware is clickbait.  Yanno, the unwitting blogger is lured into a click that will inspire regret.

Here's such an example....

Tiger Woods' and Rory McIlroy's Exes Star in 2016 SI Swimsuit Issue

Now who among you could pass on that hypertext?  OK, besides you, Employee No. 2?  I know, but this what the link reveals:

And you call yourself a respectable publication.... Maggot, we all feel your pain.