Friday Frisson

I'll save the tragic news for the bottom of this post, so let's dive into the good stuff...

El Tucan Weighs In - Allegedly, that is...  The original source of the story offers this clarification:

OK, I'm pretty sure there are way more than 75 people talking about this, but that's not important now....

At the risk of plagiarizing Shack, and why start worrying about that at this late date, Kooch is vindicated for his truthful reaction:

“It’s wasn’t 10 percent. It wasn’t $3,000.”

As Geoff notes, this is actually far more damning for Kooch, assuming of course that Gillis got it right on his second try:

Of course, $5000 could be viewed as a worse story because that is certainly more than the agreed-upon fee for a week involving a last-minute pickup. But it’s still painfully

The couple in happier times.

little as a fee plus-win-bonus amount.

Because as far as win bonuses go, it’s below the minimum, especially when you had not won in years.

Let’s just say if you’re a waiter and Matt Kuchar is in your section, don’t count a little extra something for the, you know, the effort. Or total consciousness.

I'm the first to tell you that we shouldn't think we know these guys, yet paradoxically there's a part of me that is just refusing to accept that our Kooch could be so miserly.  I also have reservations about the source, but....  For your first win in four years?  Shame on you, Matt*.

* - If true.  I guess this is one of those awkward asterisks of which Jordan spoke.

We also have some follow-ups for you.  The original item above hit on my travel day, and today Shack has this linkage:

Poor Matt Kuchar.

Just when you think the story of your substandard payment to your Tour-event winning

stand-in caddie was about to disappear from headlines, the good folks at the Masters, R&A and USGA had the gall to announce Mayakoba’s El Camaleon GC as the site of the 2020 Latin America Amateur. 

This is the same course where Kuchar won. The news dispelled one mythological view on why Kuchar might have severely underpaid El Tucan after winning last fall’s Mayakoba Classic: because the area is so dangerous that any looper getting a proper 10%-of-$1.3 million-check would be in imminent danger, as would his family.

Apparently, the Five Families don’t agree.

Excuse me, Geoff, that should be alleged substandard payment..... It's an amateur event, so the loopers' expectations should accordingly be lowered.

As a further aside, this event is being played this week at Casa de Campo.  Here's the TV schedule:

Since we didn't get much of a review from Employee No. 2, here's a video of the track:

Back to our Kooch, with this from Alan Shipnuck's mailbag feature:

As a journalist, do you accept, “That isn’t a story” as the final answer on the Kuchar thing? -@zzort8 

Of course not. It’s not the perogative of the athlete — or politician or any other newsworthy figure — to tell a reporter when and how to do his job. If I had been at the Sony I would have pushed Kuchar hard for all of the specifics. The problem with this particular controversy is that the sourcing was and remains shaky: a couple of tweets by a fringe professional golfer who didn’t specify exactly where the information came from quickly led to others passing on various innuendo and stuff they had “heard” through the years, and in the space of a couple of hours Kuchar was tried and convicted in abstentia on Twitter. Of course, he didn’t help himself by offering a non-denial denial when finally confronted by reporters. I hope Tucan will emerge and tell the world exactly what he was paid so we can render a verdict on the fairness of this electronic mob justice and give closure to the grad students who are surely now writing theses on this oddly compelling situation.

More amusingly, that in abstentia trial happened while Kooch was on the golf course...   As to whether Gillis' follow-up meets Shippy's standards of proof, I guess we'll have to await next week's mailbag, though there is this follow-up:

#AskAlan What would you pay an amateur caddie if you won a PGA event? -Paul @GolfFoodAddict 

So this Kuchar-Tucan controversy took on a life of its own. Over the weekend I texted Kooch and called a couple of different spots in Mexico trying to reach the principals but didn’t hear back from either the player or his allegedly aggrieved caddie. In the absence of hard information about this particular situation, I went another route, speaking with four PGA Tour regulars who have each won multiple tournaments. I granted them anonymity so they would speak candidly. All four said that they would not pay 10% of a winner’s check to a fill-in caddie; one of the players said that currently he only pays his full-time caddie 8% of a victory. All four Tour vets echoed a point that Brandel Chamblee tried to make on Twitter: players pay out so much on a victory – $130K or more for four days of work – partly to make whole their regular caddies for all of the missed cuts when they don’t earn a dime. The reasoning follows that since a fill-in caddie hasn’t endured all the suffering they don’t deserve the bloated spoils, either. So what’s a fair number in the Kuchar-Tucan scenario? The players I spoke to offered these bonus numbers: $10K, $25K, $40K and 5%, which would work out to $65K. But we waded into murkier waters when three of the four players mentioned the low cost of living in Mexico, seemingly as an excuse to be stingier. So does that mean they’d pay an American temporary caddie who lives in the U.S. more money for a victory? One of the players – who is top 100 all-time in Tour earnings – let out a hard little laugh and said,”Let’s not get carried away, okay?”

It was never going to be 10%, that was a silly concept...  My top-of-the-head number was $50,000, though I'm not offended by $25,000....  As for $5,000, if true, I'm offended.

Favorite Story of the Day - I am suddenly loving the new rules....  Why, because of the players' reactions.... specifically, this Euro specimen who goes by Gonzo:

Here's the backstory:

Fernandez-Castano opened with an even-par 72 in Abu Dhabi. His shot at Dyson referenced a 2013 incident at the BMW Masters in Shanghai. Dyson, the tournament co-leader, was caught on video using his ball to press down a spike mark on the green in direct line of his short par putt. After reviewing the footage, he was disqualified from the event, which Fernandez-Castano went on to win. 

Later, Dyson attended a hearing at which he was found guilty of a “serious breach” of the tour’s code of behavior. He was fined $49,000 and suspended for two months, though the suspension was deferred for an 18-month probationary period. Dyson released a statement denying that he was deliberately attempting to break the rules. In subsequent interviews, he called the fallout from the incident “the worst moment of my career.”

Hmmmmm, I think we can all agree that that's not a great look for our game, but at least Simon is taking the high road:

But Dyson didn’t take kindly to the slight. “He hasn’t got the f—– balls!!! Sad little man,” he wrote in a tweet that was later deleted. He followed up with several more, though he insisted he wasn’t going to get further involved.

I don't think a single instance of cheating should result in a player being permanently hounded from  polite society, but typically that presumes the offense was committed at a young age and the party shows genuine contrition.  Dyson would have been 35 at the time of the incident, and as for contrition?  Well, that seems in short supply...

Good times for sure.

Scenes From La Quinta - Golf Magazine seems to know that I was on an airplane yesterday:

Here’s what you missed from Round 1 of the Desert Classic

OK, so what did I miss?

1. Phil Mickelson went on a birdie barrage

Though he started the day with a tweet alluding to his rust, Mickelson looked as sharp as ever on Thursday, carding 10 birdies and one eagle en route to a perfectly clean scorecard totaling 60 — one shot shy of the coveted 59. Still, it was the lowest round of his career, and he currently leads his closest competitor, Adam Long, by three shots.

Obviously there's no such thing as a bad 60, though there is this context from Ryan Lavners' game story:

Mickelson again played down his chances in his 2019 debut, but it clicked so well at La Quinta Country Club – the easiest of the three courses in the rotation at the Desert

Classic – that he gave himself a chance to break 60 for the first time in his Tour career. He went out in 30. Then he birdied Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14. Then came the birdie on 16, and all of a sudden, he realized that he needed to birdie each of the last two holes to finally shoot golf’s magic number. On 17, he tried to hook a sand wedge into a tight pin and left himself 18 feet. He missed low, but still finished with a flourish: With a chance to card the third 60 in his career, he spun a wedge to 10 feet and buried the putt.

Makes perfect sense...  Geoff adds some helpful context to the context, though, with this from George Peper's 1986 book on the Golf Course of the PGA Tour:

At 6911 yards, La Quinta is the longest of the five Hope courses, and with lakes bordering seven of its fairways this tropical layout can be as difficult as it is beautiful.

The other rota courses: Indian Wells CC, Bermuda Dunes, Tamarisk and El Dorado. I swear doesn’t seem like that long ago!

That last bit is Geoff himself, though I can't seem to find Geoff's age via Google.  How old could he have been in 1986?

Now it wasn't all peaches and cream in the desert:

4. Not everyone had a great day 

While the Desert Classic has a history of low scoring, not everyone experienced red numbers. Plenty of players had a tough time on Thursday, most notably Jason Dufner, who suffered five bogeys and three doubles en route to a seven-over-par 79. There’s always tomorrow, Duf!

Dude Wipes hardest hit.

 A Tribute - The story of Celia BarquÍn Arozamena's murder retains its ability to shock, but to celebrate the young woman I highly recommend this Alan Shipnuck profile:

For all of Celia Barquín Arozamena’s spectacular accomplishments — a 3.38 GPA as a civil engineering major at Iowa State, the Big 12 Player of the Year award in 2018 — the 

most special thing about her was the way she made people feel. Nearly every day Celia set aside time from her crammed schedule to handwrite notes to those in need, whether it was a teammate who had missed a big putt or a friend who had whiffed a big test. She would stash the letters in their textbooks or backpacks, and these pick-me-ups were so treasured there are dorm rooms across Iowa State papered with her tidy script. Celia’s heartfelt testimonials at St. Thomas Aquinas church, in downtown Ames, Iowa, often moved fellow believers to tears. She was a nurturer who loved to cook for friends, her go-to dish a Spanish omelet with a recipe imported from her homeland. 

Among the Cyclonitas—Celia’s nickname for her Cyclone teammates at Iowa State, where she first enrolled in the fall of 2014—there is a favorite video of her showily flipping an omelet in the pan, only to splash oil on the stove and ignite a fireball. Displaying the composure of a champion, she slowly tiptoes backward while somehow saving the omelet. Gathered recently on a leather sofa in their lux training facility, the Cyclonitas watch the video yet again, and a couple of them laugh so hard they have to wipe away tears. 

“I have never known anyone who gave so much of themself to so many people,” says the team’s coach, Christie Martens, sitting among them. “It wasn’t just the kind gestures she always did but also the energy she put out into the world.”

What a loss!

More Shippy -  You didn't think we were done milking that mailbag, did you?  First, on that annoying kid:

Has another multiple major winner ever become more unlikable faster than Jordan Spieth? -@DavelLuceyJr 

Brooks? (Cough, cough.) It never fails to interest me how much interest there is in Spieth. He is certainly polarizing, but that’s a good thing – far better to have the golf populace love and hate you in equal measure than to arouse no feelings at all. I can certainly understand why fans are put-off by Jordan’s on-course demeanor, which can come across as whiny and sullen. But I love the fire he has inside and he can be an engaging interview – guarded, yes, but also very smart and analytical. I don’t think he’s unlikeable but can certainly understand where you’re coming from.

I'd like to nominate Vijay, though there's a body of thought that he was never likable to begin with....I'm gonna do something for the very first time, channel my inner Barrack Obama and declare Jordan "likable enough."

The yips have been known to derail careers. Is Jordan Spieth in trouble? #AskAlan -Clay (@FlintHaven) 

One so-so week in Hawaii is not much of a sample size. But I agree that Spieth’s putting will be a big focus of this season…which is not going to help his putting. It’s such a black art, and so mental, that having to dissect his yips or non-yips after every round is going to weigh heavily on Spieth.

 It already is....

How much are you looking forward to listening to Padraig over the next 18+ months ruminate on the psychology which underpins a Ryder Cup captain’s role?-@CianOCallaghan 

Immensely! He always been one of my favorite interviews. I’ll never forget the first time I encountered his beautiful mind, at, strangely, the 2000 Portugal Masters. He was brought into the press tent as one of the leaders and a random Portuguese reporter asked Paddy about a short putt he had missed on the back nine, noting that he seemed to take more time standing over the ball. Harrington gave a brief answer to the insightful question but after the presser he buttonholed the scribe and asked him questions for at least 10 minutes about what he had observed and any other impressions he had of Harrington’s game. It was fascinating theater. And of course in the two decades that have followed Padraig continues to plumb the depths of his psyche like no other golfer. His deep reflections about the exquisite torture of Ryder Cup pressure (and everything else) will be quite a treat in the coming months.

Agreed, though it'll all be on him, because Strick is mostly a blank slate.

Do you expect Augusta National to allow the pin to be left in while players are putting on the greens? Or will we have golf’s equivalent of a Constitutional Crisis between ANGC and the USGA? #AskAlan -@Michael_Feiler 

At this moment, the USGA has not allowed for a local rule regarding the pin situation. That could change, or Augusta could go outside the Rules of Golf and simply issue their own decree, which would be somewhat hokey but, hey, those good ol’ boys have long done whatever they please. But newish chairman Fred Ridley is a traditionalist who spent years as part of the USGA firmament and no doubt he doesn’t want his second tournament at the helm to be overshadowed by yet another rules kerfuffle. All this said, I think the pins will be in at the Masters, which could be a big help on some of those frighteningly fast downhill putts.

According to this, Alan nailed it.  Though I didn't realize that Alan was such a civil liberties freak

To speed play for non-tournament amateur rounds, all groups should agree on the 1st tee that, unless the wind is blowing them sideways, no flagsticks will be removed that day. No questioning everyone on every green. It’s staying in. Period. Thoughts? -Matt (@M_Sand09) 

What is this, North Korea? Our founding fathers (this includes Mike Davis) have granted us certain liberties, and this includes not having some jabroni tell me what to do with the flagstick on the first tee. Now, I agree that a little communication is necessary at times, but imposing your putt-related values on the entire group is going to create a lot of friction, to say nothing of the the coefficent of restitution.

 I'm interested to see how this will play out as well....

Were the USGA and R&A both drunk when they came up with the idea to drop from knee height? The disparity between, say, Mark Leishman and Brian Harman should be taken into consideration. -@DavidBEvan911 

But didn’t that same disparity exist at shoulder height, too? I agree it’s an awkward rule but I don’t think the difference between being 5’6” and 6’3” is a big deal when it comes to taking a drop.

Based upon my day at The Honourable Company, it's safe to assume that the R&A gang has been into the Kümmel, though it makes their judgement even worse if you assume that they were sober.  They just seem blissfully ignorant of the real world....

One more on the rules:

Played my first round of the year. New rules were entirely insignificant except… three minutes is not a very long time to look for a ball. Rather brutal, honestly. Playing a course with actual rough and no forecaddies – this feels almost unfair to amateurs. Thoughts? -@CHFounder 

Hard disagree. If you can’t find it in three minutes it’s either a really crappy shot or you’re massively unlucky. Either way, take your medicine and stop holding up the group behind you. I hate stomping around looking for wayward golf balls. It’s particularly dispiriting when it’s not your ball and you have to pretend to care about a playing partner. I’m all for shortening this torture.

I can see both sides of this, though the penalty is so severe that the additional two minutes seems warranted....  But so few will actually take the walk of shame back to the tee, that it's much ado about nothing.

 I do like this query:

Since its inception, you can pick any year to tee it up in the Clambake. What year do you choose? Anything other than 1956 is clearly the wrong answer. -@MichaelGraham 

Yes, it would have been fun to cruise down 17 Mile Drive and spectate at The Match back in ‘56. But the Hogan win in ’49 would’ve been tasty to witness, or how about 1972, when Jack beat Johnny in a playoff. But as for teeing it up myself, I’d take pretty much any year before 1990, when Cypress Point was still part of the rota and social media didn’t exist so I wouldn’t have to suffer any online hazing.

Seems to this observer that Cypress Point for Poppy Hills is right up there with Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi...  Sorry Wally, it was the first bad trade to come to mind.

We finish with some amusingly silly bits:

If you had no other choice, would you rather name your son “Injected Twist Face” or “Epic Flash”??? -BJ (@PowerFader769) 

Dude, I live on the California coast. My kids already go to school with boys named Ocean, Diesel, Skye, Briggadoon and various other exotica. I think Epic Flash Shipnuck sounds kinda dope! 

The Santa Ana and Kona winds are at the same party. Drinks are flowing, some intemperate remarks are made, things escalate and before you know it, they’re throwing. Who do you like, straight-up? -@Lou_TireWorld 

I’ll take Indio, because everything breaks toward his fists.

OK, so now there's no avoiding the bad news, which is that you'll be on your own for a bit.  The bride and I are schedule to make a quick surgical strike to Florida next week, a trip on which I will not be lugging the laptop (which is, at the present moment, relaxing in Utah).  I would expect that the next time I'll be at the keyboard to be a week from today, although with the weather forecast there's also a risk that we'll never leave Westchester County.  So do check in, but it may be a while before we speak again.

Midweek Musings

We have some actual fresh snow today....  Only three inches, but beggars and all that.  Tomorrow is a travel day, so I'd best get to it....

Pods "R" Us - Eamon Lynch has a fun piece chock full of juicy quotes on the relative merits of the U.S. vs. Euro Ryder Cup selection process.  He starts with some background:

The criteria for selecting U.S. Ryder Cup captains often has seemed to magnify qualities that are barely relevant to the task, emphasizing personal achievements of an individual over personality attributes that might galvanize a team. 

Twenty-eight men have led America into competition since Walter Hagen commanded the first team in Massachusetts in 1927. Every single one of those 28 captains won a major championship during his career. A winning record as a Ryder Cup player once mattered too, but that was when points were easier to come by for Americans. It’s not so important these days since the U.S. record over the last three decades has impoverished the résumés of most candidates for the captaincy. 

Yet Ryder Cup history suggests that teams rally around leaders, not legends. Europe learned that by necessity. Lacking many major winners from whom to choose (while still passing over Sandy Lyle and Paul Lawrie), it has had five Cup-winning captains since 1995 who never claimed a major title. But when led by its greatest-ever major winner, Nick Faldo, the old continent was spanked.

Now I do think there's less here than meets the eye, but there's fun to be had as well.  It's not like the Euro legends don't get their shots, Seve, Ollie, Monty and the aforementioned Sir Nick have all atken the helm.  As for overlooking Paul Lawrie, what were you guys thinking?

“We base our decisions on what the players who will be playing want, not on a circle of friendship,” he said dryly. 

But the European veteran insisted that captains aren’t the issue. 

“The problem is that many of their leaders don’t deliver on the course with points,” he said. “As a whole they weren’t prepared for the exam in France, or the dynamic of playing away and the course set up. They became complacent with their success in ’16 and the Presidents Cups.” 

He’s right, to a point. The captain doesn’t hit a shot, but he decides who does and who gets on the plane. Furyk reserved a seat to Paris for Mickelson, his task force buddy who was out of form and played poorly. Like his two immediate predecessors, Stricker will be crowdsourced into the captaincy from a select group of pals and invariably will face the same questions about whether his decisions are based on merit or loyalty, on sense or sentiment.

Yes, the triumphalism after 2016 was pretty insufferable...  But, as the wise man said, it all comes down to twelve players....

Waugh Is Me -  New PGA of America majordomo gave Adam Schupak a lengthy mind dump, and Shack is thinking he might have stepped in it.....Might have?  Egads, it's pretty silly....

Shack saves this for last, but I'm making an editorial decision to lead with it, because I can't even conceive of how it sounds to the 29,000 members:

AS: What is your current roster of golf memberships? 

SW: Seminole, Lost Tree and Old Marsh down here. I guess I'm a member at PGA National, too. Then there's Old Town in Winston-Salem [N.C., where his son played college golf, at Wake Forest]. I voluntarily gave up Pine Valley and Garden City because of the single-sex thing. I didn't think that would be fair to the clubs or the association if that came out. Deepdale, Westhampton, Quogue [Field Club], National [Golf Links], Shinnecock, Cypress Point and San Francisco Golf Club, Boston Golf Club, Lahinch in Ireland and Royal Aberdeen in Scotland. Too many.

Now, as Geoff astutely pints out, there are many senior folks in the golf world that have not given up their memberships at single-sex clubs, so there could well be feedback loop on this.

That said, I simply can't imagine the struggling assistant professional at the local muni feels that this man, with his 114 memberships at exclusive clubs, has his best interests at heart.

So, what does Seth have to say about his stewardship of the organization.  Well, he's all about big ideas and grand initiatives.  Perhaps one of you can explain this to me?

I think the PGA is in a unique position to be that United Nations of golf, if you will,

the Switzerland of golf. We're for the game at every level. We just want everyone to play and like and have as much impact as we can. Being that objective observer on things and uniter around the game and sort of thinking at the end of the day we just need to cook the biggest turkey so we can all eat the most meat, right, and that's what we're about rather than, do we get the breast or the thigh or the leg? That's certainly how I'm approaching it.

Can we agree that anyone whose ambitions are to replicate the United Nations should be banished from polite society?   Is there a more despicable organization in the world?  As for the turkey, you'll have to pry the leg from my cold, dead fingers....Sheesh!

Speaking of turkey, here's the bone he throws to the membership:

There's a natural cynicism of the members about HQ. There's this feeling that we get to drive our courtesy cars and we're sitting down there in Florida and all this money is rolling in and, What's in it for me? I've got three kids going off to school, and my lesson book is going down, and I don't have any health care and whatever. They're right.

We have to figure that out if we want this to work. We have an army of 29,000 people who are the best army in the game to make it better. We need to figure out how to make their lives better and incent them to do the things to make that all happen. The selfish thing is, if we figure it out, we'll have a more passionate group to get it done for us. That's what I'm hoping, and that's why I'm here.

I'm sure the membership will be happy with that....  In the interim, the valet has your courtesy car ready....

 Shack highlights the apparent hypocrisy in the treatment of Paul Levy's DUI vs. Ted Bishop's alleged misogyny, which is fair and Seth's responses will underwhelm.  But let's remember that Ted's real sin was to have chose Tom Watson as captain....  And just a reminder, the organization that runs our Ryder Cup effort wants to be Switzerland.  God help us all....

Golf is Dying, Volume LCVII - NPD Group, a market research firm, with some alarming news:

Golf sales in the mass/sporting goods retail space generated $2.6 billion and grew by 8 percent in the 12 months ending November 2018, after facing declines the year prior, according to The NPD Group.

"The macro environment for golf has been in a turbulent state, fueled by Golfsmith's bankruptcy, major brands cutting back on their golf business, and courses closing. But today, we're starting to see normalization in the market as those deep holes are now being filled," said Matt Powell, vice president and senior industry advisor, Sports, The NPD Group. "Major sports retailers are now investing in golf to pick up some of the business, and brands are also placing emphasis on the category to spur innovation."

All golf product categories grew in the last 12 months. Comprising around 50 percent of total market sales, golf clubs grew by +7 percent. Sales increases were also seen across balls (+6 percent), gloves (+7 percent), accessories (+21 percent), and training aids (+13 percent).

I just don't know what to say, as I'd been reliably informed that we're all gonna die.  

More Euro Trash - Care for a little more from that anonymous poll of Euro Tour pros?  Shack had this one:

WHICH AMERICAN PLAYER MOST IRRITATES YOU? 

Bryson DeChambeau: 16%

Bubba Watson: 11%

Several tied (including Mickelson): 5%

Declined to answer: 68% 

HOT TAKES

“Any of them that act like babies.”

“Wait, I can only pick one?”

As for babies, there are twelve I can think of off the top of my hat....  Of course, Bryson did throw that hissy fit during the summer at a Euro Tour event, though at least he showed up.

FUNNIEST EURO TOUR PLAYER? 

Henrik Stenson: 23%

Jamie Donaldson: 16%

Haotong Li, Andy Sullivan, Eddie Pepperell: 10%

Others/unsure: 51% 

HOT TAKES

“Eddie Pepperell’s Twitter game is tough to beat.”

“Pepperell speaks a special language.”

Unfamiliar with Eddie's game?

Definitely the latter.....

THE WHOLE “MOLIWOOD” THING… 

Timeless: 56%

Time to give it a rest: 44% 

HOT TAKES

“It’s a great bromance.”

“I prefer Fleet-Moli.”

“It’s brilliant.”

“The lifespan should be as long as they keep winning.”

They'll always have Paris....

These seem candid:

WOULD YOU RATHER WIN ONE MAJOR OR 10 EURO TOUR WINS? 

One major: 97%

10 Euro titles: 3% 

WHICH MAJOR TITLE DO YOU MOST COVET? 

The Masters: 59%

PGA Championship: 0%

U.S. Open: 3%

British Open: 38%

HOT TAKES 

“The British is the best.”

“I already know what I’d serve at the Champions dinner…but I’ll never tell.”

“The U.S. Open is the truest test of golf.”

Who are those 3%?  

I don't think these will make the Yanks feel any better about Paris:

TRUE OR FALSE: THE EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM USUALLY WINS BECAUSE IT HAS BETTER PLAYERS THAN THE U.S. 

True: 8%

False: 92% 

TRUE OR FALSE: THE EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM USUALLY WINS BECAUSE IT HAS BETTER TEAM CHEMISTRY THAN THE U.S. 

True: 92%

False: 8% 

TRUE OR FALSE: THE EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM USUALLY WINS BECAUSE IT HAS BETTER CAPTAINS/LEADERS/PREPARATION THAN THE U.S. 

True: 50%

False: 50% 

TRUE OR FALSE: AMERICAN PLAYERS DON’T CARE AS MUCH ABOUT THE RYDER CUP AS THE EUROPEANS 

True: 56%

False: 44% 

IF EUROPE’S RYDER CUP HOPES CAME DOWN TO AN EIGHT-FOOT PUTT, WHO WOULD YOU WANT TAKING THE PUTT? 

Ian Poulter: 39%

Alex Noren: 18%

Justin Rose: 11% 

HOT TAKES

“Not Rory.”

Hysterical.  I'm doing to know who had the "not Rory" quip, though the answer might well be all of them.

DESCRIBE PATRICK REED IN ONE WORD. 

Arrogant: 20%

Misunderstood: 12%

Interesting/Confident: 8% 

Also receiving votes:

Complicated, annoying, Patrick, passionate, selfish, different, self-centered, divisive, tough, fiery

 You want him?  He is, after all, an actual Euro Tour member....

WILL RORY WIN ANOTHER MAJOR? 

Yes: 97%

No: 3% 

HOT TAKES 

“If he gets out of his own way.”

“I wish I could caddie for him at Augusta.”

I wish anyone but childhood friend Harry Diamond was on his bag, though at Augusta I'd like to see Jeff Knox loop for him.

And finally:

WHICH CURRENT EURO PLAYER WOULD MAKE THE BEST COMMENTATOR? 

Matthew Southgate: 17%

Nicolas Colsaerts: 17%

Alvaro Quiros: 8% 

Also receiving votes: Andy Sullivan, Edoardo Molinari, Jamie Donaldson, Padraig Harrington, Robert Rock, Luke Donald, Lee Slattery 

HOT TAKES 

“Lee has the most pleasant voice. He’d make any shot sound nice.”

“Some players think they are the smartest person in the locker room; Edoardo is that guy.”

“Padraig would be brilliant if you could get him to stop playing.”

Hmmm....no love for Eddie Pepperill?  

Travel day tomorrow, as I warned above.  There's more bad news about my blogging schedule on the horizon, but that can keep for the moment. 

Tuesday Trifles

Not a ton going on in our little bubble, but we'll scrape a few things together and call it a post.  It's what we do....

Kooch The Mooch, Day Two - Joel Beall has an interesting take on the Kooch/El Tucan story, though one in which he gives the appearance of having resided in a bubble in recent years:

The past decade has shown that realities can come to life through social media. There are arguments for the virtues and vices of digital platforms, but there’s no debate over their

capability. Facebook and Twitter have helped overthrow tyrannical regimes, brought improper behavior to light, given the oppressed a voice. Tangible paragons of speaking truth to power. 

There’s an upshot, however. The mob mentality often found on Twitter and Facebook can go unchecked, taking on lives of their own. The forums are so emotionally driven that narratives can reach a fever pitch without consideration of context or facts, and the appetite for "owning" someone overtakes the crusade that's supposed to be fought. 

For Kuchar, this materialized at the hands of Tom Gillis of the PGA Tour Champions. In a series of tweets, the 50-year-old Gillis claimed that Kuchar had stiffed David “El Tucan” Ortiz—the local caddie Kuchar had on the bag for his victory in Mayakoba—something fierce.

Joel doesn't get out much, does he?  He'd probably be shocked to learn that Twitter has been waging war on conservatives for years now, shadow banning them routinely for unexplained reasons.

But in this case the allegation comes from a specific user, of course using the Twitter platform.  So this is obviously a completely new phenomenon, right?  If so, this famous quote with a convoluted attribution might be unknown to Mr. Beall:

A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.

Attributed to Mark twain, Winston Churchill and Cordell Hull, among others, we can safely conclude that it predates social media by close to a century.

Setting aside the effect of social media, which no doubt accelerates reactions, the source is a specific individual, and there are two known factors guiding an assessment of credibility, first:

That Gillis’ previous blast of Ben Crane over an unpaid bet to Daniel Berger proved accurate wasn’t helping, nor was Australian pro Cameron Percy’s reply of, “It’s not out of character if true.”

Alas, the second data point cuts in the opposite direction:

Kuchar was emphatic in denying the allegations (also worth noting when Gillis was asked how he got his information, he was light on specifics).

Fair enough, but then Joel trips over his you-know-what with this:

Kuchar's case, however, felt different, for it wasn’t a tip as it was wages owed. The optics alone—a veteran with $46 million in career earnings low-balling a man who makes less than $46,000 a year—were damning.

This is a target-rich environment, for sure, but mostly I want to quibble with his assertion that this is about wages.  It seems that the two principals may not have had an agreement on Ortiz' salary for the week, but logically that would be a certain number, certainly far below 10% of winnings.  But we would expect that, having won for the first time in 4 years, that Kooch would have thrown a nice little bonus at the local looper, no?  And what's another word for a bonus?  yeah, a tip... so, Joel, this is about a tip.

And here's Joel's rousing coda:

On Sunday the Golf Channel made a brief mention of Kuchar's Twitter drama. On social

media, some saw it as rubbish, the tour and its partner putting their heads in the sand to a story that had become bigger than the tournament. Conversely, as bad as Kuchar looks at the moment, we still don't have definitive proof that the story is legitimate. A mere one-off by the broadcast would have given Gillis' accusation more merit and steam. Once that train leaves the station, there's no turning around. 

So you give Kuchar the benefit of the doubt. Even if that doubt is raised. 

These are awkward times, where suspicion and truth are blurred. But it's the new reality.

There's absolutely nothing new under the sun, as my Twain/Churchill/Hull quotation above demonstrates.   But riddle me this, Joel, whose job is it to determine the truth or falsity behind the allegation?  So yes, Kooch gets my benefit of the doubt, unless and until a golf writer commits actual journalism to prove otherwise.

Prayers, Answered - Forgive me, but I can't remember whether I covered the online petition to get Hosung Choi a sponsor's exemption into the Phoenix Open.  Don't remember the name?  Perhaps this will remind you:

Yeah, THAT GUY!  While I acknowledge he's a perfect fit for Phoenix, Ron Kroichick of the S.F. Chronicle with the scoop about Carmel's scoop in landing the young man:

Golf’s wackiest, craziest, most unconventional swing is coming to Pebble Beach. 

South Korea’s Ho-sung Choi, who hits a golf ball unlike Tiger Woods ever did, has landed a sponsor exemption to play in next month’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Tournament officials made the announcement Monday. 

Choi’s unorthodox action — sometimes he practically hops out of his stance upon making contact with the ball, and other times he whips his right leg around like he’s dancing — has made him an internet sensation in the past year. Several PGA Tour pros, including Justin Thomas, posted tweets about Choi’s curious swing upon seeing it last summer.

It'll be good fun....  he's got style even just taking the putter from his caddie:

And, just because we can, here's video of his crazy action:

You're welcome.

Equipment Notes - I try to stay out of the deep weeds on equipment, but times are interesting in that regard.  This from the Sony is surprising:

The latest example is Titleist’s driver count win at the Sony Open, where the brand outpaced the field with 45 drivers in play, according to this week’s Darrell Survey

results, compared the nearest competitor with 32. Taking a closer look, 38 of those drivers were Titleist’s new TS Series, with 11 players switching to the driver for the first time in Hawaii. 

To be clear: Titleist’s recent driver count win is a small sample size. With the meat of the Tour schedule ahead, equipment usage can change rapidly. That being said, the driver win was significant for a number of reasons: It broke an 18-year drought for Titleist, which last won a driver count at the 2001 PGA Championship. And in terms of non-major driver wins, you have to go back to the 2000 Buick Open.  

Not only did Titleist win the driver count, but they also swept the board in every major club category at Waiʻalae — an impressive feat that almost never happens at the highest level of professional golf. But we’re not here to talk about across-the-board count wins.

This represents the confluence of multiple factors, including Titleist's success with their now offerings:

“We wanted to get rid of the slow, spinney label that had been placed on Titleist drivers in recent years,” said Talge. “We measured every little thing to get better results, with the 

goal of creating a club that’s considerably faster than anything we’ve created in the past.”

From a Tour standpoint, Titleist’s push for more speed appears to be paying off early in the year, based solely on the numbers that have switched to the driver, especially those available players (Kyle Stanley, Kevin Tway and Troy Merritt) who came over to the driver but didn’t sign full line deals. 

Titleist even shook things up with the TS driver launch on Tour, releasing it earlier than usual at the U.S. Open — a move that provided the club with some early visibility and saw Justin Thomas switch the first week it was available. 

“It’s a couple miles per hour faster,” Thomas said of the TS3 driver. “It’s anywhere from 176, 177 to low 180 miles per hour. It’s nothing monumental or something you guys will be watching me and noticing a difference, but it’s a little bit faster.”

Slow and spinny won't get you much these days, but this is as much about TaylorMade's new strategy under private equity ownership:

TaylorMade, which won every PGA Tour, World Golf Championship and major driver count during the 2017-18 season, is unlikely to repeat the feat this year due to the significantly reduced Tour-player staff the brand now employs — only five staffers are listed on its website. 

TaylorMade’s decision to partly back out of the driver arms race helped Callaway and Ping pick up one “win” apiece during the fall portion of the season; TaylorMade still logged six wins.

TM has notably parted ways with stalwarts Sergio and Justin Rose, and we also have an unusual number of guys out there without equipment contracts, including all 2018 major winners.  Interesting times....

Hot Takes -  That anonymous polling of Euro Tour players is out, and there's much with which to amuse ourselves.

There's a few items related to the U.S. vs. Euro Tours, including:

WHAT PERCENT OF EURO TOUR PLAYERS ASPIRE TO PLAY THE PGA TOUR? 

0-25%: 6%

26-50%: 6%

51-75%: 41%

76-100%: 47% 

HOT TAKES

“It should be 99% PGA Tour.”

“The PGA Tour is too far away from my home and family.” 

IF YOU HAD YOUR CHOICE TO PLAY THE EUROPEAN TOUR OR PGA TOUR BUT COULD ONLY PLAY ONE, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE 

PGA Tour: 70%

European Tour: 30% 

WHICH TOUR IS MORE FUN TO PLAY? 

European Tour: 88%

PGA Tour: 12% 

HOT TAKES

“[PGA Tour] You know what’s fun? Making three times the money.”

“[Euro Tour] It’s less serious. The PGA Tour is big business.”

You'll expect the perfunctory trashing of American golf fans, though it's actually less vicious than I'd have expected:

ARE U.S. FANS GENERALLY LESS KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN EUROPEAN FANS? 

Yes: 35%

No: 65% 

HOT TAKES 

“No, just louder.”

“No, we go to some places where the fans are clueless.”

“About golf or about beer?”

“Yes, Americans know less about Europeans than Euros know about American players.” 

ARE U.S. FANS GENERALLY LESS RESPECTFUL THAN EURO FANS? 

Yes: 52%

No: 48% 

HOT TAKES 

“American fans are just crazier.”

“The difference is American golf attracts more sports fans whereas Europe attracts more golf fans.”

That 52-48% might be surprising, though it also might depend on whether Sergio was polled.

I might circle back to this tomorrow, but one last item for your perusal.  This is damning, no?

WHO IS THE BEST EUROPEAN TOUR PLAYER RIGHT NOW? 

Justin Rose: 64%

Tommy Fleetwood: 24%

Francesco Molinari: 9%

Rory McIlroy: 3% 

HOT TAKES

“Justin Rose turns up at events expecting to win.”

OK, I lied, the above needs to be paired with this:

WHICH EUROPEAN-BORN PLAYER HAS THE MOST NATURAL TALENT? 

Rory McIlroy: 29%

Sergio Garcia: 21%

Tommy Fleetwood: 12%

Victor Dubuisson: 9%

Well played, Rors.  You've converted your great natural talent into a rounding error....

More tomorrow. 

Weekend Wrap

I did manage to find time to watch the conclusion from Oahu on tape yesterday, but only after watching the Pats and Saints....  Hey, my quads observe the Sabbath.  Well, I know it's not actually me Sabbath....

Kooch the Mooch - I miss the original Mooch.... seems he was only with us for a few days.  What?  OK, it was only a few days, but that's not important now.  Golf.com with their invaluable 30-second guide:

Who won: Matt Kuchar (four-under 66, 22 under overall) 

How it happened: Kuchar opened the day with a two-shot lead but struggled early, and Andrew Putnam jumped out ahead and took a one-shot lead at the turn. They were tied at 

19 under after 13, but Putnam made bogey on 14 and Kuchar didn’t look back. Kuchar made birdies on 15 and 16 to extend his lead and cruise to a four-shot win. 

What it matters: It’s Kuchar’s ninth career PGA Tour victory and second in the last three months. He also won the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November, and that came with a local, fill-in caddie. He won this week with regular looper John Wood on the bag. 

Best quote: “I think it might have been Jay-Z who said 40 is the new 20.” — 40-year-old Matt Kuchar

What it matters?  My kingdom for a proofreader.

There were a few interesting notes to the week, and we'll circle back to the winner and my header in a sec.  But first, The diminutive (I know, pot, kettle) Chex Reavie hung on the leaderboard all week, partially as a result of his Friday pyrotechnics:

Friday at Waialae Country Club, Reavie holed out for eagle three times, becoming the first player to do so on three par 4s in the same round since the PGA Tour started keeping 

track in 1983. 

“I was trying to think back to any round I even had more than one hole-out, and I couldn’t think of any,” the 37-year-old journeyman said. 

He didn’t take long to make the first one, jarring a sand wedge from 101 yards on the par-4 10th, his first hole of the day. Six holes later he made another, from 149 yards with a 9-iron. 

The momentum didn’t last long, though, with Reavie making bogey on the par-4 first and double at the par-3 fourth after missing the green left and blasting his sand shot across the green, prompting him to change balls. 

You can guess what happened next. Two holes later he holed a gap wedge from 135 yards, prompting two of the caddies in the group to throw their hats at him.

Only two?  

Did you catch any of Jordan's play?  Well, you needed to be quick, as trunks were slammed.....  Shall we see what the Tour Confidential panel thought?

1. Jordan Spieth made his first start in two months at the Sony Open but missed the cut to kick off his 2019 on a sour note. “For not playing well at all and being on the bad end of the draw, to miss the cut by one is reassuring,” he said afterward. Still, Spieth is coming off his first winless year as a pro, and this wasn’t exactly an

encouraging debut. Do you expect Spieth to rediscover his mojo this year? 

Jeff Ritter: Spieth definitely seems a little lost in the wilderness right now. I’d still bet that he wins an event sometime this year, but it’s a bet on his talent overcoming his current struggles. 

Sean Zak: “To miss the cut by one is reassuring.” Just wanted to repeat that for you guys. What the what? I’m confident that Spieth is a very good golfer, but he’s seemed a bit all over the place mentally the last six to 12 months. It’s an odd thing right now but of course we expect him to rediscover said mojo. That feels obvious.

It doesn't sound any better with repetition, does it?  I get that these guys need to stay positive, but there's nothing that compels us to go along for the ride....

Dylan Dethier: Call me an optimist, but there actually was something reassuring about the charge he put on Friday when he was trying to make the cut. He started playing golf rather than playing swing. “I just told myself, Just point, aim, and shoot and stop thinking,” he said. More of that would be good. 

Michael Bamberger: You can’t play world-class golf without being a great putter, and putting was/is more of Spieth’s game than others. He’s in a weird place. Without knowing how weird it’s impossible to say if he can come back.

I saw the stretch to which Dylan refers, and he has a point....  It's just that he only got there when he had nothing to lose, and next time he pegs it he'll of course have much on the line.

But if only that were it... Alas, we're forced to ponder whether Jordan has contracted a case of the.... well, we're not supposed to say that word out loud:

2. Before the Sony, Hank Haney said Spieth “visibly has the yips” on the greens. (Our instruction editor Luke Kerr-Dineen performed his own analysis on why Spieth misses so many short putts, theorizing that Spieth gets too rigid.) What say you? Does Spieth have the dreaded y-word?

Well, if that rigidity persists for four hours, he should call his doctor....  What?  Yeah, at his age four hours s a bad night, but perhaps I've milked every last bit of humor out of that bit.... 

Ritter: During his major-winning rise to No. 1, putting was Spieth’s strength, and it really is hard to believe we’re having this debate only a few years later. I don’t know if it’s yips, a mechanical thing or something else, but his game has flipped to the point where putting is now his weakness. 

Zak: I believe there are levels to the yips. I cannot understand it as a black or white disease where you’ve either got it or you don’t. It’s far more likely that there are yipping tendencies on display, or yippy moments, in Spieth’s game rather than a broad-brush version of that dreaded word. Luke clearly found something interesting in Spieth’s on-green routine, but I’m still hesitant to point to that as a clear reason why he’s struggling inside 15 feet.

Levels to the yips?  Is that akin to rings of hell?

Dethier: I was pretty convinced by LKD’s analysis and think Spieth would do well to read it. Spieth is in constant, frenetic motion over long putts. He excels over long putts. He appears to struggle when he freezes over short putts — it’s almost an anti-yip, a lack of motion. Too much time to think. 

Bamberger: I would completely agree with that. He’s the opposite of the modern, robotic golfer and putter, right through the bag, until he gets to the short putts. Circa 2015, he looked the same over 40-footer and four-footers. LKD is on to something.

Even during ski season, it just can't be good for any golfer to be reading about the yips.... 

Did you catch the bizzaro world backstopping incident?  The Golf Channel guys were all over it:

Another backstopping incident has emerged on the PGA Tour, and Frank Nobilo his fellow Golf Channel announcers took notice. 

Matt Kuchar was playing from the greenside bunker on the 9th hole during the final

round of the Sony Open on Sunday when Nobilo, Steve Sands and Jim “Bones” Mackay started discussing the controversial practice on the Golf Channel broadcast. 

One of Kuchar’s playing partners, Andrew Putnam, had left his ball just a couple of inches from the flag and didn’t put a mark down. Backstopping on Tour is when a player, directly or indirectly, fails to mark a ball near the hole and another player hits it. Kuchar would have received an advantage had he hit Putnam’s ball and it slowed Kuchar’s down or stopped it completely, because Kuchar would play it from where it lies. It wouldn’t harm Putnam, either, because if that were to happen he would be able to move his ball back to where it was for no penalty. 

To be clear, Putnam held a one-shot lead at the turn over Kuchar, so there’s no reason for him to want to help Kuchar out. In this case Kuchar could have played quickly or Putnam was just a little slow to get to his ball. 

Still, Mackay, the on-course reporter for the final group, pointed out how he was surprised Putnam didn’t mark. 

“That’s crazy,” Nobilo said. “It really is.”

Yeah, it really is!  My theory has been that this younger generation has somehow failed to absorb the obligation to protect the field...  But failing to protect yourself?  It's madness, I say.

Shall we get back to our Kooch, a guy about whom I've never heard a bad word.... Until now, perhaps.  When Kooch won in the Fall sat Mayakoba he had a local caddie on his bag, the flavorfully nicknamed El Tucan.

Over the weekend Tom Gillis indicated that Kooch failed to adhere to prevailing wage legislation:

Hmmmm... Kooch's first place purse was $1.3 million, so folks will be doing the match, though we don't actually know that it's true, as Kooch has kept it zipped.

Brandel Chamblee was among those defending Kooch, and the TC panel was less harsh than you might expect:

3. Caddie compensation was a hot topic on social media over the weekend after questions surfaced about what Matt Kuchar did or didn’t pay his fill-in local caddie during Kuchar’s winning week at the Mayakoba Golf Classic last year. In general terms, what is equitable in a situation like this? Assuming Tour pros typically pay their loopers 5% to 10% of their haul, do stand-in caddies deserve the same rate? 

Ritter: It’d be nice to see a stand-in get the same fee, but since they’re unlikely to do the job as well as the permanent looper, a Tour pro can justify a reduced rate. I think as long

as Kooch ultimately paid his caddie whatever they agreed upon at the start of the week, no harm no foul. (But a tip would’ve been nice!) 

Zak: It would be interesting to learn what Kuchar has paid local caddies in the past if and when he’s missed the cut…but let’s leave that aside for now. Kuchar hadn’t won in 4.5 years. He had one top-five finish all year. It’s remarkable that he won with with a stand-in looper. Here’s hoping that Kuchar is right, that this isn’t “a story,” and that there’s something missing in the allegations.

This where it gets amusing, and it would have been amusingly awkward to have regular looper John Wood on the panel this week.  Because those extra services that he provides seem at best trivial, given that Kooch won without them.

Dethier: For context, I walked several holes with Kuchar and his caddie, El Tucan, that week in Mayakoba. It was clear Kuchar wasn’t leaning on him the way he would a full-time looper. I think something in the neighborhood of 5% makes sense, but I don’t think there needs to be an ironclad rule on this — when in doubt, shell out, right? But in fairness to Kuchar, I think we’re still missing a key part of this story. 

Bamberger: I’m not pretending to know a thing about how Kuchar paid El Tucan, but in general: be frugal with yourself and generous with others, unless you’re flush. Then be generous with everybody. Give and get back.

Shack's got much more here, but this would seem to be an easy story for Kooch to swat away.....  Unless, you know, it's accurate.

Augusta On My Mind - We've all seen these invitations previously:

I'm beginning to think I might never receive one....

But there's a new one that the girls are swooning over:

That's Alexa Pano opening her cherished invite for Beth Ann Nichols....

This youngster receiving an invite is inevitably newsworthy:

We covered the back story of Lucy's participation in that Apple ad, and now we await a decision from the USGA.  The problem, of course, is that the USGA wants nothing to do with this one.....But, unfortunately for them, with great power comes great responsibility.... 

The TC panel takes on the bigger picture:

4. Invitations to the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which will be held the week before the Masters, began surfacing on the social feeds of a few excited invitees last week. Given the clout and prestige of ANGC, what kind of impact do you expect this event will have on the elite women’s amateur game? 

Ritter: It’s a fresh new way to inspire young girls to play golf and I can’t wait to see it. The event’s impact may be hard to initially quantify, but who knows, someday a U.S. Open winner may say she got serious about golf as a kid after watching this event. The tournament offers nothing but upside for the entire sport. 

Zak: It’s absolutely an historic event. I just hope it reaches its potential. I hope it expands to include more than just one day on the hallowed grounds of ANGC. I hope it can stand alone on the greater women’s golf schedule instead of taking place at the same time as a major. I’m stoked it’s getting started, and I totally trust Fred Ridley and his team to nail it. 

Bamberger: It can be one of the most positive developments in women’s amateur golf in years. What Augusta does it does well. This whole thing should be first-rate, fun and inspiring. 

Dethier: I can’t tell if Zak is being earnest with his last line there, but he hits on a key point: there’s an element of execution involved here that will determine whether it gets to the next level. Help the golf world get excited about it; I don’t think we need much encouragement.

I think it's a great thing the club is doing, and I especially like that it's an amateur event.  But that only me feel worse about my sense that watching the young girls play this golf course will ultimately disappoint....  Inevitably I think it will only serve to showcase the inferiority of the women's game as they all lay up on the Par-5's....

The Euro Beat - Golf.com is slow-rolling the results of an anonymous poll of Euro Tour players, first with this:

That was one of the questions we asked players on the European Tour in our recent survey. Sound familiar? That’s because we asked PGA Tour pros the same question in 2018. As it turned out, European Tour players have actually played hungover LESS than PGA Tour players. 

38% of the Euro Tour pros polled said yes, they’ve played a tournament round hungover before, which arrives a touch under the 46% of PGA Tour pros who admitted to some less-than-stellar feels during a round in their career. It’s worth remembering Englishman Eddie Pepperell, who fired a 67 during the final round of the 2018 British Open, all while being “a bit hungover.” For a long time that day, he remained in contention to advance into a playoff.

Glad we cleared that up.....Though "a bit" is open to interpretation, but I'm sure Keith Pelley is at work on the Hungover Open for next season....

The other question released served as the exit question for our Tour Confidentialistas:

6. In GOLF’s anonymous poll of European Tour players (we’ll publish all the results Tuesday), 79% of Euro Tour pros said they would rather have dinner with Tiger Woods than Phil Mickelson (9%) — 12% said they would rather eat alone. With whom would you rather dine, and why? 

Ritter: If it’s a working dinner, it’s Tiger because I’d like to be able to share every moment with readers. (You’re welcome, readers.) If it’s a casual, off the record meal, it’s Phil because I think he’d spill more gossip. 

Bamberger: I had a breakfast with Phil a few years ago and I’m still trying to process it. Mr. Ritter’s distinctions are salient. If Tiger’s going to actually talk, Tiger. 

Zak: If it’s dinner, that means we’re going deep in conversation, so it has to be Phil. He’s the one ready to go deep on golf physics, strategies, bad course architecture, etc. What a treat that would be. I imagine the experience with Tiger to be a bit formulaic. We just probably wouldn’t get very deep. I suppose Ritter said that in a much nicer way.

Hmmmm...its' that 12% that has me curious, because the original Table for One is a member of the European Tour.  

Gonna leave you here.