Note To Readers

This has been the trip that refuses to conform to the narrative.... Don't get me wrong, we wake up every morning in bucolic Pittenweem, so I'm not exactly complaining....

But it so happens that it's not only my golf game refusing to cooperate.  It's early Monday morning in the East Neuk, Sunday having been a scheduled off-day from the gawf.  It being an off-day, I had planned an extensive catch-up post, including a wealth of pics taken the last few days.  Well, you might have noticed that no post appeared, as I spend Sunday morning in technological hell.

I had previously mentioned that it was an iPhone-camera-only trip, and the early results were fine.  Yesterday, suddenly the Microsoft photo app that I had used to transfer the photos off the phone decided to not recognize the iPhone file extensions, and refused to import said photos.  And among those imported were quite a few that refused to open.... My Plan B was the old-school Explorer, but my most recent photos weren't to be found that way either.

The above represented approximately ninety minutes of frustration, after which I started to draft a post using what I had available.  That led to an even more vexing problem, as Blogger refused to import said photos into a post.  It was a bit random, as some would embed but most wouldn't.  My first subject was to be the crazy driveway at Eider House, including a couple of videos Theresa took.  Oddly, the videos would embed, but not the photos.

I just went through that loop again, importing yesterday's photos of the Old Course (don't get exited, it was Sunday) and certain graves at the old cathedral.  I did better with the import, but Blogger still refuses to embed the photos.  We can all agree that these posts from Fife are not much without the visuals....

I don't know what the long-term fix is, as your troglodyte blogger isn't exactly up to date with his soft and hardware.  But I am sure that this problem won't be resolved in situ, so this will serve as a warning that I don't expect to be blogging again until we get home.  Perhaps things will function more smoothly at home, and a best of my pictures post might be the best I can do.

We're out of options for the Old Course, having come up empty in all attempts.  While our trips are very much Groundhog's Day, this one comes with a slight twist at the end, which precludes further ballot entries.  On Thursday, we'll be playing with another Overseas member.  In general, the Overseas Membership provides tee times and, well, that's about it.  This year is slightly different, in that we are in country for the Haggis Cup, the one event for Overseas members.  It's an afternoon event on our last day in country, so not entirely optimal, but we'll be out there with the folks.  We have been sent the pairings, and it's quite the international mix, with several European countries represented, as well as South Africa, the UAE and Australia.  One player lists Hong Kong as his country, I think that's been overtaken by events on the ground, but at least he's not paired with the Chinese gentleman in the sraw.

Ever more unusual is our Thursday.  We had received an e-mail from the Membership Director at the club asking if another Overseas member could join us in our Thursday game, which we wish would happen more often.  We'll actually meet a few folks including the club's Captain, I do hope they've been forewarned.

I'll just leave you with my one photographic and golf success.  on the Balcomie on Saturday, I decided to play the back tees, which are all of 5,900 yards, which to me play easier than the shorter tees (mostly because of two holes that offer an extra stroke of par).  Didn't think I could get in trouble off the ninth tee, but we had a wind out the North that had it playing straight downwind, so I reached the rather intimidating front bunker.  Theresa got this great shot, and using the Live Phot feature I was able to grab this exposure:

The shot didn't end up anywhere near the pin, but this was easily better than most.  And it's a photo that Blogger will allow me to embed, so we've got that going for us.

That will likely conclude our broadcast from the Kingdom of Fife.  Sorry for the technological issues, but we'll soldier on and I'll check in from home early next week.

East Neuk Perambulations

It's early Friday morning here in the Kingdom of Fife, and I have an hour or so to share with you.  The Met Office indicates that it should be raining (not that I see it here in the 'weem), but clear on a timely basis for out 10:10 on the Craighead.

Elsie and John have come, seen and conquered..... Well, by Elsie and John I really mean Elsie, who swept both days of competition, though the only actual competitive threat came from Theresa.... More, though not much more, on that in a bit....

First, picking up on where we left off, the Monday evening sky from our aerie bedroom:

That is essentially the view from your humble blogger's pillow. It faces Westward, so it's quite different each evening in how the waning sun plays off the clouds.

Don't think I posted this photo, but this is Eider House from up on the High Street, the house with the blue door:

Those three dormer windows at the top being our bed and bath, the far right being the vantage for all those evening photos I post.  We love it up there, but it does create a couple of issues, the first being the long-term affect of all those stairs on our elderly bodies.  I know, two flights sounds like it should be insignificant, which it is the first couple of trips up and down...

The second, more pressing issue, is temperature.  We travel with a top sheet for such times, because they only provide an insulated comforter for cover.  Air conditioning doesn't exist and, despite Eider House's new windows, and the houses are designed to keep heat in.  In our aerie it can be uncomfortable to sleep even when the temps are in the 70's, and this year we've added a small fan to our arsenal.  The Met Office forecast would indicate that heat shouldn't be too much of an issue going forward.

As we segue into a brief discussion of the golf, a note about the photography used herein.  In the past, I've traveled with an actual camera, mostly because the 10 fps burst mode is perfect for golf photos.  But, deep into my dotage, I've decided to dispense with the extra piece of equipment, which made it to Scotland but will likely remain in the knapsack.  One less thing to jam into my golf bag....

The plan is to use only iPhone photos, specifically the Live Photo feature.  I actually took an iPhone photography course last winter and learned several quite useful tricks, the issue being that they require much time devoted to each photo, and that effort is on a phone screen too small for these ancient eyes to make out detail.  At some point I'll figure out how to do the editing on the iPad instead, which at least might allow me to actually see that which I'm editing.

Elsie and John rolled in Monday afternoon, with enough food and drink to serve the Yangtze Division, if necessary.  Our pattern is that they come towards the end of our stay, but in this case they have a family wedding in Manchester, so the best few days of our stay are now behind us.  

Given the paucity of funny bits herein, we overuse anything remotely amusing.  In one of our hot spells a couple or more years back, I posted a photo from the Balcomie of players using the umbrella holder on their trolleys as protection from the sun.  I amused myself (Yes, an awfully low bar) with a pharmaceutical reference, calling it an "off-label" use.  As we arrived Tuesday morning, I caught a familiar member of the golf shop staff in a similar off-label use:

In a perfect world I'd have cropped it but, in case it's hard to make out, she's using a trolley to move cases of bottled water...

Tuesday we tackled the Craighead Links, and things started off well enough, but the regression to the mean started after a mere three holes.  Elsie played beautifully, amassing 36 points on the difficult Craighead, and Theresa as well, with 32 points.  John and I ended with 24 points, a mere twelve shots off our handicaps, which wouldn't have been quite as depressing if it hadn't been the high-water mark of your humble blogger's two days.

I'll just share some early iPhone action shots, mostly unedited:

Theresa has taken it on herself to be Stableford compliant before our competitive debut at Crail next week, so this was on our many scorecard review sessions.  The results as announced seemed to indicate some imprecision in the scorekeeping, though John and I weren't close enough competitively to surmount the margin of fraud.

Everyone looking happy enough before the carnage began....  Elsie again prevailed on the Balcomie, though Theresa finished within a point of her.  The men again were rubbish, though I did easily break into double figures in our Stableford.  Talk about your low bars.... I'll just add that it's not only the U.S. Armed Forces currently dealing with inadequate ammunition supplies....

Two lovely days of weather, great company and sausage rolls at the turn.  Only the golf itself was lacking, so a lovely time indeed.  

Wednesday evening featured dinner at the Dory, with a side order of a complete solar eclipse.  No photos, as Elsie informed us of a warning that taking photos of the eclipse could damage our phone cameras.  It also happened that the restaurant faced the wrong direction, therefore we had to walk out and across the street to see anything, and cloud cover obscured much of it.  However, we had a hoot, as we had brought eclipse glasses and loaned them to many of the other restaurant patrons.  

A fun evening for sure, just not in exactly the expected way.

I have more bits for you, I'm just without the time to add them.  They'll be in the queue for next time.  Have a great day and please pray for a reduction in lost balls.

Weekend Wrap - East Neuk Edition

Greetings from the East Neuk of the Kingdom of Fife.  We are comfortably ensconced in our beloved Eider House, with the Firth of Forth a mere few steps out our front door.

That said, the trip if off to a bit of a strange start, though still glorious to be here.  Unlike prior years, we did not come via the Highlands.  Elsie and John are en route to Pittenweem as I type, as they're off to a family wedding shortly after their visit.  After landing Saturday morning, we made the drive from Edinburgh to Pittenweem and got ourselves sorted once allowed entry to the house.

We were actually lucky to get out of JFK, as for the second straight year violent thunderstorms hit on the evening of our departure.  Last year we spent three hours taxiing, barely getting aloft before a dreaded return to the terminal.  This year it delayed us an hour, the key being that the storms hit just as we arrived at JFK, leaving time for Delta to recover.  The only after-the-fact tell was that our golf bags arrived soaking wet, undoubtedly left on the tarmac when the storm hit.....  

All week from home I was watching the weather forecast on the Met Office, and Sunday always looked dicey.... It was wall-to-wall 40% chances of rain (with 25 mph winds thrown in for good measure), little did I know I should have accepted their opening offer.  Sunday in actuality presented even worse, raining when I awoke and 80-90% chances through at least the first two hours of our round, a mere 60% thereafter.  With temps topping out at 15 degrees and those winds mentioned above, the value of the Crail membership and those "free" tee times is apparent.

With golf planned for Tuesday and Wednesday with our dear friends, Monday was always going to be an off-day, leaving us golf-free for our first two days in country.  Odd and slightly frustrating for sure, especially with the sun currently out, but we find ourselves in beloved Pittenweem, so we shall soldier on.

We actually arrived the last day of the Pittenweem Arts Festival, long time readers might recall that our first stay in Eider House was one of my worst moments of tradecraft, as we endured the festival's rampaging hordes for a full week.  Some Saturday shots of the harbor:

They had some local seafood on the grill and live music for their farewell:

A lovely dinner at the Dory Bistro:

We love the place and it's a 5-minute walk from our house along the harbor, and we've also gotten to know the wait staff at times (although no familiar faces last night).  The only frustration is that, behind each of those windows is a lovely table, but I haven't unlocked the secret to getting reliably seated there (when it's just the two of us, there's almost no chance).  We'll be there Wednesday with Elsie and John, and the stakes are higher than usual, as per this AI response:

Yes, a deep partial solar eclipse will be visible from Pittenweem this Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Over 90% of the Sun will be obscured by the moon, making it the most significant solar eclipse visible in the UK since 1999.

Hmmmm...and at what time?

Eclipse Timings for Wednesday, August 12

Starts: Around 6:17 PM BST

Maximum Peak: Around 7:13 PM BST (when peak coverage occurs)

Ends: Around 8:06 PM BST

Our res is at 6:15.

We were beat, but I pushed to take a walk over to the tidal pool, which I did on my own.  Upon returning, I found that the French Lieutenant's Woman was in residence:

Quiet at the tidal pool, only a couple of kids walking at the far end:

Yesterday, having dispensed with that pesky tee time, we were completely at liberty, though admittedly without energy.  

No expectation that anyone might remember, but there's a facility nearby called the Bowhouse Market, which one weekend a month hosts a Farmers' Market.  Last year (or maybe 2024) we went over there expecting said Framers' Market and instead found an art installation, but I checked online and saw that this was the week, so we headed over (but a bit late and had to battle the crowds).  Some shots from there:

They've added some food trucks and live music:

Once the rain cleared out, we did some exploring, catching this pretty view of Eider House and its blue front door::

A fishing boat headed out to see, with the Isle of May off to the right:

And, potentially scandalous, I caught a change in a certain sign:

Notice the top line on the chalk board.  In past years they have proclaimed their goods to be from Janetta's, the favored ice cream vendor in St. Andrews.  Luvian's is a competing ice cream shop in St. Andrews.  There's a post from prior years in which I express skepticism about the provenance of the Janetta's claim, and I remain similarly skeptical about this new citation.   Not to say I didn't sample it last evening, though the goods seemed surprisingly similar to prior years.

You can see how pretty the light was last evening:

On the way back we had one of those wonderful encounters, but let me first show you this:

This is a walkway I've shown in prior years, it leads from one of the wynds the run down from the Hight Street to the harbor.  We take it to get up to the village center, and you see the brambles that have encroached.  I told Theresa that the path needed to be "gladed out:, a skiing term for when they clear the scrub out of tree runs.

A bit later we're on the Fife Coastal Path returning home from the tidal pool and Theresa notices a woman taking cutting, and asks what she's doing:

Meet our newest friend Vanessa, who was using those shears to do exactly that which is needed, to cut the brambles back and allow passage along the path .  We had a lovely visit with Vanessa, who spends summers here and winters in Edinburgh, but my favorite moment was when she showed us her craft.  As she was cutting back a bramble, she looked up with a borderline malevolent glee and said, "It had to go!".  Yes, Vanessa, it did and thank you for doing God's work.

Of course, Theresa was inspired and, on our walk home, started tying back the brambles shown above:

I'll leave you with the view from our bedroom window at day's end:

We are delighted to be here, especially with our dear friends inbound.  The next few days will be delightful, if somewhat cooler than that to which we've become accustomed.  After that, however, it's a bit more, how shall I put it characteristically Scottish.  And that has to be a good thing, right?

Have a great week and I'll post as I can, though the next few days will be somewhat busy.  Cheers.

Weekend Wrap - Pre-Departure Edition

It's officially the dog days of August, and the weather has certainly been, well, doggin' it lately.  Though that presumable just acclimates your humble blogger in advance of our typical summer sojourn.  More on that below.

You Can't Make Me Care - I think I'm being intellectually consistent, but, if I could never bring myself to care about the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the fact that this is the Final Rocket Mortgage Classic fails to depress me.

Admittedly a tough week for the city of Detroit, losing Rickie and Tarik on the same day.  But at least the winner might be someone of note:

Michael Thorbjornsen said this would happen.

He did so back in February at the WM Phoenix Open, where he tied for third after leading late.

“You put yourself in those positions more and more,” Thorbjornsen said, “you get more comfortable, you learn every single time whether you do well or — I mean, whether the result is good or bad necessarily, if you’re talking about wins or losses.

“I don’t think I failed out there. I’m just learning. So, yeah, I put myself in that position. I was leading after what, 70 holes, 69 holes, whatever it was. I mean, we’re inching our way closer and closer. It’ll happen at some point.”

About a month later, he then said this at the Players Championship, where he entered the final round in second.

“Yeah, just keep trying your best,” Thorbjornsen said. “If you keep putting yourself in that position, it’s going to happen at some point. So I think that’s really the main goal of all of us players out here is to have a chance or be in contention on the back nine on Sunday, and however the cards may fall, that’s just how it is.”

And it did:

And Thorbjornsen? To make it happen, he made things happen. Birdie on the par-4 1st at Detroit Golf Club, on a 12-foot putt. Birdie on the par-5 4th after hitting his third shot to 4 feet. Then came his closing nine, which was sensational. He birdied the par-4 10th, after hitting his approach to 6 feet. He birdied the par-4 12th after pitching in from right of the green. He birdied the par-5 14th after pitching to 2 feet, and that gave him a lead that he wouldn’t release. A hole later, on the par-3 15th, Thorbjornsen birdied again, after dropping his tee shot to 6 feet. He then locked up the title with a birdie on the par-4 18th, the three coming on a 25-foot putt. All of that, coupled with no bogeys, equaled a five-under 30 over his final nine holes.

In the end, Thorbjornsen shot seven-under 63, and no one was better on Sunday. He won by two, and the title was the first on the PGA Tour for the 24-year-old.

Of course, he told us it was en route.

All of which has seemed inevitable since he burst onto our radar during his days in Palo Alto.

The Tour Confidential gang only indirectly acknowledged the existence of this event with this Q&A:

3. The FedEx Cup Playoffs are just around the corner, and this week’s Wyndham Championship is the last chance for pros to play their way into the top 70. Rocket Classic winner Michael Thorbjornsen made a massive jump Sunday (69th to 38th) and others will look to do the same in North Carolina. Which bubble-boy player is most intriguing to you?

Piastowski: I’m going right to Mr. 70 at the moment — Jackson Koivun. Don’t you get the feeling he’ll make a run in the playoffs? Then get a call to the Presidents Cup team? Then get one to next year’s Ryder Cup team? Just having some fun here.

Schrock: It’s Brooks Koepka. Withdrew from the Rocket with an injury so his playoffs are in doubt. Needs a big week, if he plays, to not see his season end next week. Honorable mention to Tony Finau, who has been fighting it this year and needs something special to keep his playoff streak alive.

Sens: I’d add Keegan Bradley to that list. Currently at 72, just outside the bubble. He may never get over the Ryder Cup, but nabbing a spot in the playoffs wouldn’t hurt his mood.

It's a yawn-inducing question, though at least Jackson Koivun on next year's losing Ryder Cup team is a respectable hot take.

Brooks and Tony?  Not so much.... America's breath related to those two is stubbornly unbated.... And Keegs?  The reader can come to his own conclusions there, I'll just refer all back to my header.

This Ends Our Links Programming Season -  It was good fun and we watched a decent amount of it, but fortunately Geoff goes deep with his coverage:

It’s fitting that Shiho Kuwaki survived the AIG Women’s Open occasionally ugly Sunday war of attrition.

After posting a final round 70 over a baked-out Royal Lytham & St Annes, the 23-year-old

Japanese golfer took a seat in scoring while the engraver prepared to etch her name into history. Two groups later, Esther Henseleit sank a 40-footer to force a playoff, leaving a surprised-looking Kuwaki little time to refocus.

In her first time through the 18th during sudden-death, Kuwaki missed a fairway for one of the few times all week and had to hack out from one of the last stands of rough yet to keel over during the unusually warm summer. But a brilliant pitch to five feet and par-saving putt set Kuwaki to win it her way: old-fashioned fairway-and-green steadiness offset by some brutal (maybe) luck for Henseleit.

Even with idyllic conditions during Sunday’s final round, the field collapsed under the weight of pressure, the demands of a fire-dangerous links, and a five-major season played over 101 days, only to culminate in a 166-bunker-laden test of patience. Kuwaki hit 58 greens-in-regulation and 79% of the brown runways to overcome mediocre putting (T57th/1.76). Even more impressively, she outlasted a diverse and far more accomplished cast that’ll be muttering all the way to Manchester International.

Put aside the event for a moment, and just let your gaze settle on those magnificently burnt out fairways.  If that doesn't get your blood flowing, then you're amongst the lucky folks that haven't caught the links virus.

I always call the LPGA the Tour That Can't Shoot Straight, and this is just another week with a regrettably sub-optimal leaderboard.  Beneath the surface there has been quite a resurgence in Japanese women's golf, to the extent that they've grabbed market share from the South Koreans.  Why is it sub-optimal?  The LPGA needs stars to register with audiences, and one young lad from the Land of the Rising Sun winning six majors would be preferable to six previously-unknown ladies grabbing one each.

It was wonderful in its own way, three relative newcomers with short resumes from three different countries battling down the stretch, but the frustrating part is having Nelly and Jeeno just off that first page.  It was a good week and a worthy event, it just doesn't move the ball quite as they require.

More from Geoff on the winner and Miss Congeniality:

She’s been playing golf since age four and, after attending Kurashiki University, has five overall

wins in Japan and has become known for her brash style via Loudmouth gear, bold eyelashes and other displays of color. (When she won the Japan LPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup, Kuwaki wore red lobster-adorned pants.)

The only player to catch her on Sunday provided the day’s best drama after way too many pile-ups over the links. The 5’10” Henseleit arrived at the 392-yard 18th needing birdie, but a poor approach left the 40-footer to force a playoff.

“It was a very confusing putt to be honest, and it was going right to left and everything,” Henseleit said. “The last three feet it was tracking and I was, oh, okay it might actually go in. Yeah, it was a great moment when that putt dropped in.”

Husband and longtime caddie Reece Phillips, whom she married last December in Italy, could be seen in a wide-shot replay celebrating before attempting to bottle his excitement.

“I saw the second half of his celebration and that was still pretty fun to watch. Yeah, very happy with how I gave myself the opportunity to win today and how I handled myself. Just got a bit unlucky on the second playoff hole there.”

Look, she got a horrible break on that second playoff hole:

Regarding the unfortunate break on the second playoff hole: it’s clear Henseleit’s tee shot hit a volunteer marshal in the leg before bounding backward to the gorse, but it’s also unclear if he (unintentionally) stopped the ball from reaching more of Old Tom’s nemesis lining the 18th.

Either way, the bad lie and need to hack back to the fairway left the 2024 Olympic silver-medalist ambivalent about her luck.

“I thought it was further left to be honest,” she said of her tee shot. “Must have gotten some kind of bad bounce. At least I still had a shot I guess, and could kind of get a good angle going into the green and didn’t have to take an unplayable or something.

“But, yeah, probably a bit unlucky there. That’s just links golf.”

 

Her drive was now worse than her opponent's on the first playoff hole, but it all came down to which girls could get it up-and-in to save par.  And I'll just add that Kuwaki pretty clearly pushed her third shot on that first replay of No. 18, just fortunately got a kick off the bunker mounding.  A few inches further right and it's a very different post this morning.

And just a quick shoutout to that third girl in the mix:

American Yealimi Noh opened the day with a three-stroke lead that continued with a birdie at the second hole. But five bogeys over the next 10 holes began her undoing, only to still have a shot at the 18th via a 25-foot birdie putt that came up short. Still, the San Francisco-born 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion who bypassed college golf enjoyed a remarkable week after jetting home following a missed cut in the Amundi Evian, where she’d recorded her best finish in a major prior to Sunday (3rd, 2021).

Noh had not broken par in an LPGA event since April before opening with three straight rounds under par at Royal Lytham & St Annes. In a touching post-round interview with NBC’s Cara Banks, Noh revealed that she’s been having second thoughts about her career until this week.

“Obviously it stings coming up one short and having a not great round, but I’m still very happy to have been in this position,” the 25-year-old said. “Coming down 18 in front of the big crowds and playing at The Open, it was really special. Reminded me why I love this game and why I’m here.”

I found her post-round interview quite touching, most of all that she made herself available.  I'd feel better if I knew that Rory was watching and taking notes....

Napa In The Rearview Mirror -  This was the subject of greatest interest to our Tour Confidentialista:

1. The 2028 schedule dominoes are starting to fall, and in the past week we learned the first batch of Championship Series events will be the Travelers Championship, the newly minted Sompo Championship — which takes over the current Napa stop with a 2028 location TBD — the Sentry and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Any learnings from this?

Nick Piastowski: We expected the Travelers, the Sentry and the Arnold Palmer to be among the top tier. It’s the newly announced Sompo Championship that’s intriguing here, though. Securing a new sponsor following a format shakeup should be considered a big win for the PGA Tour. Where the event will be played in two years will also be of interest. Stay tuned.

Josh Schrock: The Tour’s ability to get a new sponsor to buy in for a Championship Series event with a $20 million purse is noteworthy. We’ve heard the demand from sponsors is higher than initially thought and this might prove that case. The rumored move of the Sompo to Seattle in 2028 would be a big win if it comes to pass.

Josh Sens: We’ve heard that the demand from sponsors is higher than expected, but who’s been telling us that? The Tour. Time will tell if that’s really the case. Meantime, it is an interesting change in status for what used to be the Procore, an event with such a low-wattage field that it had morphed into a kind of wine country version of the Waste Management, with live bands and food and other non-golf attractions aimed at ramping up interest. The rumored move to Seattle makes sense. A major market that doesn’t see a lot of pro golf. I’ve heard Sahalee tossed around as a potential site, but why not Chambers Bay? More interesting course. And public access, too.

God, these guys are funny!  

You've heard me rant for years about the treatment of sponsors and events.  I've always been amused about hos, when a new sponsor comes in, up to fifty years of history gest airbrushed (can you say "Honda").  But at least there they're at the same venue....

But now we segue into existentialism.  What are the constituent components of a PGA Tour event?  It seems to me there's the sponsor and, more importantly, the venue or location, and perhaps the calendar spot.  So, in the present instance, we have an event that will assume anew sponsor, a new venue in a different city and, presumably a more appealing spot on the schedule.  And yet, it seems weirdly important to them that this retains it's connective tissue with an event for which none of us could even name the current sponsor.  Why?

And continuing on the "who cares' line of thought:

2. Does a surprise Championship Series event (the Sompo) mean there could be more unpredictability than we anticipated?

Piastowski: Maybe. Let’s try to figure this out. We’re gonna get 23 to 24 events in the Championship Series, the Tour says — and that includes the Players, the four majors, the Tour Championship, an international team event (Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup) and, once every four years, the Olympics. So that’s seven or eight events. Let’s add two playoff events. That’s nine to 10 events. We know of the four above. That’s 13 to 14. The final 10? Likely candidates are the WM Phoenix Open, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Genesis Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Cadillac Championship, the Truist Championship and the Memorial. So … the final three could be interesting.

Schrock: I don’t know how unpredictable it could get. With the Heritage, Pebble, Cadillac, Memorial, Genesis, WMPO and Truist presumably filling Championship slots, we don’t have a lot of room for shock. I feel like the winds are blowing toward the 3M getting a spot, which would be a surprise of sorts.

Sens: There’s not a lot of room left for wild surprises. What’s less obvious is which sponsors will step up. In that sense, it seems likely to be a tail-wagging-the-dog type scenario. Which event becomes part of the Championship Series will depend more on the interests of the sponsor than on the merits of the tournament itself.

They always have found sponsors willing to pony up, notwithstanding their treatment after the ink dries.  You'd think each CEO considering that kind of cash outlay would drop a dime and call the nice folks at Honda, but I'm sure it will work out for them.

I fond myself also wondering whether this new great awakening can accommodate anything other then the dreary week-to-week sameness of the Tour.  For instance, Pebble is on everyone's list, but what will the event look like.  They already limited the amateurs the Thursday-Friday for the most recent Great Awakening that is no longer so great.  But Pebble is more of that connective tissue to the Tour's history, specifically the Crosby Clambake and The Match.  Do we care about our history or is it disposable?

Pittenweem on Our Minds -  It's on.  We leave Friday night and will, weather permitting, be on the Balcomie Links on Sunday morning.

As always, the laptop is in the knapsack and I'll be blogging therefrom, though I have no idea what that means.  We're taking the same trip as the last four times, and will be playing the same two tracks.  I'm not even sure at this point that I'll bother to take the proper camera, may just depend upon our phonews.

The current issue of Links Magazine had this feature:

First Courses Designed by Notable Modern Golf Architects

You'll know where I'm headed:

Gil Hanse

Crail Golfing Society (Craighead Links)—Crail, Scotland

Gil Hanse was beaming with pride when he learned that he’d been selected to design Craighead Links, the second course at the Crail Golfing Society. After all, this was in the late 1990s, which meant Hanse was only getting started in his career, but it also positioned him as just the third American to design a new course in Scotland. As for the work itself, Hanse remembers an archeologist monitoring their work at every turn, sifting through the spoils from the excavations made for bunkers and green complexes. “He was looking for artifacts associated with a Viking landing spot,” Hanse explains. “He never found much, but it was nerve-wracking for sure.”

Today, as Hanse looks at the finished product, he takes pride in the routing he and his team created and how they “navigated the terrain to create an interesting set of holes that wander the property in such a natural and thoughtful way.” But what he’s most proud of is how the course has matured, which is largely due to the vegetation that has grown in across the property. “This is often an overlooked part of the course design,” he says, “and takes many years to come to fruition.”

A couple of reactions.  First, a little surprise that he doesn't mention the defining challenge in his design, the small size of the site.  As for that vegetation, Oy Vey!   These are essentially gorse bushes, scattered throughout a very tight routing.  The issue isn't that there's a hazard to catch your errant shot, but that "hazard" is a lost ball with a rather severe stroke-and-distance penalty that seems overly harsh.

Of course, I've just reread The Spirit of St. Andrews and the Good Doctor has assured me that the perfect spot for a hazard is always where it happens to be.  They included this video with Gil's comments:

If that doesn't play, you can watch it at that link above.

I also found this amusing Golf Club Atlas comment thread on the Balcomie vs. the Craighead, which includes some name-brand participants.

All of which is to say that we are quite excited about our impending return to beloved Pittenweem.

Have a great week and I'll be in touch from the Kingdom of Fife.

Weekend Wrap - Browser Tab Purge Edition

It's the dog days of summer and we had a house full of visitors, so no televised golf was consumed.... The best I can offer is a cursory scan of the headers, then a brutal putsch of lingering browser tabs.  Hope that works for you.

3M - What the heck was Scottie doing there?  From the Tour Confidential panel:

Jackson Koivun outlasted a handful of major champions — including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler — to win the 3M Open on Sunday in Minnesota in what was the rising star’s 13th

career start. What did you think of Koivun’s maiden victory on the PGA Tour, and are you surprised he held off Scheffler?

Josh Berhow: It was extremely impressive, and then he also made it somewhat relatable with a clunky par down the stretch. Still, we can call that a good par. He made the big putts when he needed to and rarely showed emotion until his winning putt dropped in on 18. It was cool to see his reaction after. I would not have been surprised if he dropped a shot or two down the stretch to let Scheffler in, but he hit fairways and greens and lag-putted well and played like someone who knew exactly how to close out a tournament.

Josh Schrock: The poise was what impressed me. Even with a sizable lead entering Sunday, I expected Koivun to look his age at some point, especially with Scheffler rising up behind him. But he never faltered, never gave anyone in the field an opening and cruised to the first of what I assume will be many wins. Am I surprised he held off Scheffler? Because of the gap he had to start the day, no, but I am surprised it was never in doubt on Sunday.

Josh Sens: I was struck by how unflinching he was. This was not a young player just trying to hang out for the win. A birdie right out of the gate and no let-up from there. There are tons of precocious talents in golf, of course. But not all of them show such veteran poise.

On the one hand, it doesn't sound like I missed anything.... On the other hand, though, this kid's first win might just be something one will have wanted to see.... For instance, I asked Googel's AI bot to sum up Koivun's  amateur career and got this:

Jackson Koivun put together one of the most dominant amateur and collegiate golf careers in history at Auburn University, rising to World No. 1 in the Amateur Rankings, winning two national team titles, and sweeping nearly every major individual award before turning pro in June 2026

In fact, Golf Digest probably jinxed the kid with this header:

Hello, world! With Scottie Scheffler in hot pursuit, Jackson Koivun calmly wins his first tour title in only his third pro start

I guess they see him becoming a pain medication addled cripple asleep on the side of the road....

That Schedule - The Golf Magazine crew then segues into this rumination of things to come:

A surprise Scheffler start at the 3M Open led to soaring ticket sales and was the Minnesota event’s biggest draw in its young history. However, when the Tour introduces its new two-track system in 2028, players on the Championship Series will not be able to drop down and play events on the Challenger Series. While it’s unclear what track the 3M Open will land on in two years, this sort of star-player splash we saw this week might be a thing of the past. Is that a disservice to tournaments and communities? Or simply the price of doing business with the Tour’s new structure?

Berhow: It can be both. As the Minnesota resident who covers this tournament every year — I bought a great mug from the merch tent this time — I’ve never seen crowds like this. Usually attendance is solid, but one group has rarely drawn the entire course as Scottie did from Thursday to Sunday. It was fun to see. But the Tour schedule was also due for a makeover, and I understand why this rule had to be put in place. It seems too difficult to allow one-off starts here or there for certain guys and could get messy.

Schrock: The answer is both. We saw talk of this at the John Deere as well about former champions not being able to play and those who win a Track 2 event being unable to defend their title the following year. It sucks for good golf communities like Minnesota and the Quad Cities that they won’t get to see stars like Scottie or Jordan Spieth, but the Tour couldn’t keep going the way that it was. It needed a facelift to make the schedule and stakes easier to understand so that everything leads to somewhere and we don’t just have 40 one-off events that head to a confusing postseason.

Sens: No doubt that the schedule had to change. The question is whether these changes actually solve the root problem, which is that there are only so many golfers people really want to watch. Without big names in the field and the eyeballs they draw, how much longer will the lower-wattage event survive? Are we just postponing the inevitable when the schedule has to be pared down even further?

Funny they should talk about doing business with the Tour's new structure and not recognize how the Tour continually screws its sponsors by changing the rules after the ink on their contract dries.

In the present case, I will concede the need for change from the current structure, though change is needed because they screwed it up the last time they assured us that it needed changing.  Got it, guys!  You'll get it perfect this go around...

I'll respond by asking a question.  What was wrong with what we had pre-Covid and pre-LIV?  One of my frustrations and one of the things I think they get wrong is the advantage of ambiguity.  They want to define each and everry event as being either an "a" or a "B", but forget the importance of the events making themselves worthy of a visit from Scottie or Rory.  They forget how the significance of events could ebb and flow, and why that's actually a good thing.

But, if Scottie can electrify the community in Minneapolis, one can readily see why that can't be allowed.  Wouldn't be prudent.

Brendan Porath of The Fried Egg recently mused about its effect on the rest of the golf world:

Seth Waugh put up a few warning flags early last year in an interview with Golfweek after he had just left his post leading the PGA of America. Waugh, an accomplished businessman, was reticent to critique any specific moves but simply outlined that things may be about to change.

“People underestimate what putting a for-profit entity into the game is going to mean over time,” he said, speaking of the recently formed PGA Tour Enterprises and Strategic Sports Group getting their hooks into the Tour. He’d later add, as a veteran of the “for-profit” world as well as a PGA Tour event sponsor, that “every entity in the game has to look at its situation now in a different light because it's no longer five families acting in the best interest of the game.” That sounds harsher than probably intended, but it was a notice.

This notice has been on my mind lately as the table gets crowded at the golf ecosystem summer BBQ. Everyone can have a seat, it’s just that some are getting filets while others scrap for hot dogs or crisped hockey pucks. There are men’s majors, senior majors, women’s majors, fake majors, amateur titles, international attractions, and all manner of championships from different organizations looking to eat.

Unfortunately, Porath doesn't take this important point any further. but I do think the need to provide an ROI to the private equity world will hit folks down the road.  Though this concern of Brendan's seems a tad naive:

This came to the fore last week when I pondered if the PGA Tour should have an interest in the success and promotion of the LPGA. The two jostled for TV time between the last signature event of the year (Travelers) and the last U.S.-based major (KPMG Women’s PGA). Weather threw some curveballs at both, but the women were planned to go off early in threes to finish on NBC and get out of the way for the Travelers finish, also on that network. The usual wails came about a major taking a backseat to a “regular” weekly PGA Tour event. The annual requests were made: Shouldn’t the PGA Tour be helping, getting out of the way, and promoting the women’s major stage?

I thought about Waugh’s quote and the new Tour leadership, which had just unveiled its big overhaul for the future, and posed that the opposite is probably closer to the truth. The PGA Tour might come for more, not acceding. They’re two different leagues with their own goals and motives — the fact that it’s the same sport does not necessarily mean their interest is shared, similar perhaps to conferences in college football. Aren’t the PGA Tour and LPGA more competitors than collaborators? The correct answer is somewhere in between, but shading more toward competitors. If the most popular golfer in the world played on the LPGA, and that became a powerhouse with rights negotiation leverage and a bigger seat next to the PGA Tour, that would be bad news at the Global Home, no? The fantasy of these organizations working together and relative stasis from the PGA Tour will likely change now that it has 1) leadership from outside the golf bubble that seems more aggressive and competent, and 2) a for-profit element.

The ladies putting their trust in Jay Monahan to arrange their TV coverage is pretty hard to watch.  It's obviously their worst alternative except, yanno, for all the others.  

That's one browser tab that's been dealt with, and I'll exit this subject on this tab needing similar treatment:

New Schedule, New Venues: PGA Tour Host Course Wish List

When the PGA Tour announced Tuesday that it was restructuring its schedule, introducing match play to the Tour Championship and hoping to bring Tour events to iconic venues it had not previously been to, one part of the report caught our eye. ESPN stated that the Tour will be leaving East Lake and bringing its season-ending Tour Championship to places “such as” Pine Valley, Cypress Point, and Seminole Golf Club.

A lot of work is being done in that sentence by the clause “such as.” As our own Garrett Morrison put it on X:

I will believe "Tour Championship at Pine Valley/Cypress Point" when I see it on the schedule, and not a moment sooner.

It gets predictably depressing as he goes market-by-market:

New York

Where they should go: Ridgewood, Plainfield, Bethpage Black, Westchester CC

Where they’ll likely end up: Liberty National

Per Kander & Ebb, give them the old razzle-dazzle....

Those Majors -  Not to be a downer, but the next important golf event is in, checks watch, nine months.....

Now that you’ve had a few days to digest the 2026 men’s major season, let’s reflect. What was your biggest takeaway from the four majors?

Berhow: That it was … a weird year? Stars like Rory and Scottie and Bryson and Xander and Brooks were winners the previous three years, but this year Ryan Fox and Aaron Rai snuck in as surprises. And then there’s Wyndham Clark, who had won a major before, but let’s be honest — how crazy is it that the guy who busted up lockers at a U.S. Open won that same tournament one year later? Oh, and that even as an American, he was heckled by American fans the entire final round? Another takeaway: With two Masters wins already and playing with house money, Rory could be a legit threat at Augusta for another decade. And lastly, this is more of a fun fact I found amusing, but Scottie has finished outside the top 10 at a major just twice in the last three years. It’s so hard to win these; I’d like to say, of course, he gets one next year, but he still played very good major golf in 2026 and didn’t add to his major-title tally.

Schrock: That after several years of big names dominating the big tournaments, we got three straight surprises after Rory repeating at Augusta. Heading into the PGA, eight of the last nine majors had been won by either Rory, Scottie, Bryson or Xander. The only real outliers we’ve had since 2021 have been J.J. Spaun and Brian Harman. Then we got three straight outlier winners with Aaron Rai, Ryan Fox and Wyndham Clark, the latter winning his second U.S. Open after being in the wilderness and presumed lost. What I’ll think about going forward outside of how fast we’ve gone from “Can Rory win at Augusta?” to “How many green jackets will he win?” is which of the big names finally gets off the schneid in 2027? Collin Morikawa has been stuck on two majors for five years, Jon Rahm for three, Justin Thomas for four. Xander and Bryson have now gone two years without majors and are both still at two. Jordan Spieth has been on three for nine years. Who in the non-Rory/Scottie star division adds to their resume next year, if anyone?

Sens: That a good deal of the drama came from factors not directly related to the competitions themselves. Rory seeking a repeat. Fan abuse of Clark. Bryson’s penalty histrionics. When it came down to the action itself, only the Open Championship had a truly dramatic final hole.

Yeah, not a great year by any measure.  I take some ironic pleasure in the game asserting its unique characteristics to put the lie to the elite players' power grab.  No, the game isn't only about those ten guys, though you can see the strategic brilliance in keeping guys like Rai and Fox away from the money grabs.

Which means the most memorable major moment was?

Berhow: Garrick Higgo’s late tee time arrival, penalty and explanation at the PGA Championship is up there, and so was how the fans treated Clark at Shinnecock Hills, but beyond Rory’s second green jacket, in 10 years what we’ll still probably remember is Bryson’s bizarre Friday night at Royal Birkdale.

Schrock: I think it’s Bryson’s penalty and the scene that unfolded, from him taking the officials back out to the scene to threatening to withdraw to reportedly asking to call Trump to try and get the penalty removed; it was an insane moment that will be what the 2026 Open is remembered for. Honorable mentions to Scottie finishing second at Augusta and then semi-detonating the course for not having equal conditions in the first two rounds and Haotong Li’s final-round 80 where he spent 30 minutes in the bushes at No. 13.

Sens: Bryson’s penalty saga for sure. My barometer for big moments in golf is when friends who don’t follow the game start texting me to chat about the news. The hubbub around that ruling was the one moment this year that nearly blew up my phone.

I agree with the Bryson call, though I see broader implications.  First and foremost being a reexamination of how each and every one of these guys behaves around their golf balls, starting with a Mr. Scheffler.  But also because of the threat to WD and how that should be perceived as we consider Bryson's path back to respectability.  Yes, he has YouTube followers, but are we sure we need him?

Whose major stock are you buying for 2027?

Berhow: Sam Burns was one stroke off the 54-hole lead at the Masters, finished a shot behind Clark at the U.S. Open and was the 54-hole leader at the Open Championship. He’s close. But more than anything, I like the way he’s handled himself in these situations. Sometimes you need to maneuver a few close calls before you can really cash in.

Schrock: Cam Young held the lead on Sunday at the Masters and then put together a blistering Sunday to almost steal the Open at Royal Birkdale. He has taken a leap over the last calendar year. He won at Wyndham, nabbed a Players and rolled over the field at Doral. The major(s) are coming.

Sens: Good calls above but I’ll go with Scheffler. Not that I was ever shorting his stock to begin with. But more reason than ever now to buy. Hard to imagine him getting blanked again next year.

Young is blindingly obvious, as was Scheffler (though thanks for the reminder, Josh).   I just think Burns is a hard one to figure.  In his follow ups, Shack had him as a winner:

Sam Burns. Another major, another heartbreaker. And that’s just in June through July, 2026.

What a brilliant week for someone who hadn’t planned to be in Birkdale before wife Caroline kicked him overseas instead of sitting on the couch and watching commercials occasionally interrupted by golf. “Just didn’t have my best stuff,” he said. “Didn’t have things go my way. I hit a great tee shot on 17 to end up in an awful lie. Sometimes that’s the way it goes.” The Golf Gods will eventually send Burns one of their ITSYOURTURN coupon codes. If nothing else, for the lovely show of sportsmanship at the last and the inevitable appreciation he’ll develop for links golf after openly admitting last week that it’s not his thing.

Someone referenced him as the next Tom Watson, but I'm just slightly more skeptical.  And perhaps this man's skepticism is worth noting as well:

Scottie Scheffler recently used Theodore Roosevelt's famous "man in the arena" quote to describe the intense pressure of elite competition. He noted that not everyone is built to stand tall and fight in that kind of high-stakes environment, reflecting on heavy fan atmospheres and close peers like Sam Burns.

Geoff has his usual tripartite follow-up, but for some reason I'm headed straight to the third (the Cut-Missers) for that certain someone:

Bryson DeChambeau. Made his first major cut in 2026 and finally finished on the plus side with his approach play (+0.93 SG/60th). But making it to this edition after the fourth straight major means “BAD” became the first golfer to ever hit The Quadrilateral’s (Point) Missers Impregnable Quadrilateral. Bryson’s Birkdale week was an unmitigated career disaster. His army of flunkies, toadies, and general groupies seems unable to tell the boss to cut back on the aggrievement and conspiratorial tendencies following his strangest major championship fiasco yet. And his continuing refusal to speak, much less acknowledge reckless and highly suspicious lie improvement effort with a cameraman feet away, will not increase his chances of earning MENSA status. Barring a public apology, DeChambeau’s excessive and desperate attempts to make the case against a two-stroke penalty will forever stain his career. As fellow players realize how long of a leash he received to make his case and at the expense of others being able to go about their business, it’s the details of his behind-the-scenes antics with rules officials that he should be most embarrassed about. DeChambeau is also on thin ice in our brave new governing body world, one where Codes of Conduct policies will get codified and give organizations the right to withhold invitations (Augusta’s already does this). DeChambeau needs someone to remind him that, just like the Rules of Golf, majors are a privilege and totally optional. Including the invitation to play in one.

No longer staring at a $500 million payday from His Excellency (if he ever was), DeChambeau’s post-LIV future on the PGA Tour has become more complicated. Drama and antics are good for business. To a point. But after the 32-going-on-12 “Crusher” revealed a bonkers-level puerility unimaginable not long ago, players and Ponte Vedra brass should be less excited about welcoming him back with one of their makeshift Returning Members Program clauses. In stomping down grass around his ball too many times and demanding a crime scene to hysterically plead his case, it’s the threat of a third-round boycott that will linger with leading organizations and potential investors in whatever he’s pitching. He badgered R&A officials, refused to sign his card, and demanded the leader of the free world’s time while holding up the last few groups from signing their cards. Those antics should have wiped out what respect his peers had left for him. (Max Homa and Michael Kim came to his defense and hardly made Cal proud defending an obvious violation.) Setting aside the lack of self-awareness to realize a wartime President should not be bothered with his petty golf problems—Tiger made such a call but he could at least blame the pills—the whole episode encapsulates the sad culmination of what happens when someone’s surrounded by sycophants. Or in Bryson’s case, simply doesn’t listen to anyone. That talented, charismatic and fun-loving DeChambeau who once had the potential to transcend the sport seems to be gone. But at least his iron play is on the upswing.

Thanks, Geoff, you saved me a lot of typing.  because of his leadership of that class action suit, he already had issues with a return to the PGA Tour.  But that threat to WD should not be forgotten....  It's pretty much the sine qua non of this overly-entitled generation of players.

That will have to be it for today.  Have a great week.