A Blogger's Existential Crisis

I've been battling Blogger's Burnout, a devastating condition deserving of its own Me4dicaid billing code.  Add in the run of technical issues, and it's been very frustrating.  Monday especially so, as I first attempted a notebook dump, then ad-libbed the start of a normal Weekend Wrap post that also ran into technical issues.

There are some fun stories for your humble blogger to dissect, from the LIV death rattles to Wyndham Clark, well it's whispering my name.  So, let's ty6ry again, shall we?

LIV, A Most Unfortunate Name - The gift that keeps on giving.  It's name was schadenfreudalicious form inception, as it locked them into their 54-hole format that was always problematic.  Now LIV is awkward for being an homonym of the word "live", yanno, a thing it's unlikely to continue doing.... 

The Tour Confidential folks have some thoughts, not that they run very deep:

1. LIV Golf ended its 2026 on Sunday with Michael La Sasso winning the season finale at LIV Indianapolis, which became the league’s final event of the season after its team championship in Michigan was canceled. There’s been much rumored and reported about

LIV’s future over the past couple of months, including this past week from reporters on-site. Based on the latest developments, what do you think is next for LIV Golf now? And do you think we’ll see it next year in some fashion?

Josh Sens: I’d wager that it exists in some ghostly form, or, to borrow a phrase from our colleague Sean Zak, that it stumbles on as a kind of zombie league, with moving parts but no real life at its center.

Nick Piastowski: Talks. Talks with players. Talks with those around the teams. Talks with those within the league. Talks with tournaments cities. Talks with the investor. Talks with other investors. There’s maybe a deadline for some. Maybe a soft deadline for others. Then LIV takes stock of who’s all in and who’s all out. My guess is it returns next year. But that prediction could change tomorrow. And maybe change back the next day.

Josh Berhow: I think it plays on next year, but the next couple of months will be really important to see which (star) players are there. I know there are contracts involved here and it’s not like some guys can just get up and leave, but we’re entering a weird period where it’s hard to predict anything right now. It’s difficult to rule anything out. The biggest thing is the league needs investors, but the investors need stars in the league. So, what are the stars — Bryson and Rahm — thinking right now? For what LIV has gotten wrong, it’s actually done a great job establishing itself in some international markets (like Australia) so it’ll be interesting to see how much that blueprint continues to develop.

I simply can't stop laughing over the outcome of what might be the last LIV-branded golf tournament ever.  There's only two players on LIV that affect the golf ecosystem (and, even there, not actually to any great extent), and one of those made a horrible final-hole bogey to make La Sasso a trivia-night answer.

As for the actual query, on what basis would anyone care?  Maybe the real question is whether there's any scenario in which the two guys are playing something called LIV next year?  I can't imagine anyone funding this hot mess, although I have to concede that I was skeptical of outside PE investment in the PGA Tour, as well.

2. What was the most interesting nugget or bit of information you learned from LIV Golf Indianapolis?

Sens: Just how much denial remains at the heart of the enterprise, at least in the way LIV reps discuss the league in public. Lots of talk of potential investors and player equity stakes and a rejiggered calendar, etc. Zero acknowledgement of the fact that they don’t have a compelling product — at least not a product with anywhere near the appeal to justify the crazy sums of money its players want and expect to be paid. This is a challenge across professional golf, but the PGA Tour has a better chance of addressing it because it has a product it can actually sell.

Piastowski: I was interested that LIV CEO Scott O’Neil said he hasn’t talked with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp in recent months. I was also interested in that O’Neil says the LIV Goal is to “complete, not compete.”

Berhow: O’Neil was not happy with the DP World Tour. I think he felt somewhat betrayed there. The league is already in trouble and that was an important lifeline for his guys. It was like more walls just continuing to close in.

I'm sorry, Nick, what exactly would Rolapp discuss with O'Neil? I've little doubt that there's been Tour contact with reps for Bryson and Rahm, but Rolapp can merely ensure the adequacy of his popcorn supply, just like the rest of us.

The interaction with the Euros is more interesting, though it does amuse to think of certain guys, cough** Sergio**cough, expecting lifelines.....I'm sure a lot of tweets were deleted, but it's not like we're going to forget.

But now we get to the amusing part, so perhaps a good time to top up your coffee.  You, Dear Reader, have apparently been misinformed.  It's not that the Public Investment Fund has hit the wall over its funding of NEOM or discovered that sportswashing provides no benefit,  it's that the players have failed to meet the Saudi's exacting standards of decorum:

On LIV’s way out of minds and memories, backers at the PIF handed a beauty to the Financial Times to distract the world from horrendous decisions made primarily by Al-Rumayyan. It’s the type of fun anecdote that enough idiots will gobble up and, in the PIF’s mind, briefly forget that a sovereign wealth fund is supposed to be good with money. The PIF will be doing everything possible to make the business world forget they spent $6 billion with zero return on investment.

So they blame Sergio!

In case you didn't pick up on it, this is from Shack and we'll certainly hear him out.  It's a dilemma, though, because I've been trained to never trust content from LIV.  Although, to the extent they're blaming Sergio, I might have to keep an open mind....

The anecdote given to the FT would be believable if the PIF had not already been signaling a major overhaul of its spending on the ridiculous NEOM development or other professional sports.

We also knew early on that Al-Rumayyan’s LIV goals included gaining access to American money interests and their control of memberships to places like Augusta National. But as the Saudis are prone, His Excellency had a funny way of showing his affinity for the clubs he apparently craved memberships at. Wanting to see Masters Chairman Fred Ridley deposed is really not the way to get a Green Jacket (so I hear).

Al-Rumayyan’s attorney, Amanda Staley, even reportedly demanded such a membership of the PGA Tour in negotiations, further highlighting how little the PIF folks understood the basics of golf.

In last week’s FT story by Sujeet Indap and Samuel Agini, they reported that LIV was ultimately done in by Sergio Garcia’s embarrassing second tee tirade at the 2026 Masters.

“People familiar with the matter say Rumayyan’s embarrassment at the sequence of events helped lead to his decision to pull the plug on PIF’s financing of the rival tour, as the fund focuses more on its huge domestic commitments in the kingdom.”

I'll give you a second to finish laughing.  Of course you'll be thinking that no one could possibly be surprised at this guy acting the spoiled brat, though it might even be funnier than you recall.   I'll just share the last of Geoff's ranting (at least the last before the paywall):

It should be noted that the FT tracks PIF closely and has been the first to report on the wealth fund’s thinking about several huge stories. And the idea that Al-Rumayyan was embarrassed and saw his non-existent Green Jacket membership dreams vanishing might be true. But as reflected in the golf world’s reaction to the Garcia revelation, no one is buying that (A) the Augusta folks thought, “oh Sergio’s acting out in the final round of the Masters and he never did anything like that before he went to LIV, so it’s all Yasir’s fault, and (B) the PIF had $6 billion reasons to pull the plug.

And I can’t believe I’m defending Sergio.

There are so many chapters to the PIF-LIF fiasco already documented. The league’s demise will be studied and lamented now that the sovereign wealth fund is doing what Saudi Arabia does when it pulls the plug on one of its many failed projects: stiffing the little guy. Not paying bills to bit players will tarnish the PIF far more than some cranky manbrat breaking his driver and denting some tee box turf in Georgia.

Do you remember my blogging of the McKinsey feasibility study?   That you could spend $6 billion based upon such comically inept due diligence is quite the shock, but do we think they as much as did a Google search of the players they were about to sign?  I'm gonna go with "No", per this 2019 story:

Sergio Garcia was disqualified from the Saudi International because of “serious misconduct” on Saturday.

Garcia was accused by fellow players of purposefully hitting his clubs into the surface of the greens causing damage. Garcia posted a 1-over 71 in the third round, but was ultimately disqualified by the European Tour via Rule 1.2a.

Garcia issued a statement following his disqualification, saying, “I respect the decision of my disqualification. In frustration, I damaged a couple of greens, for which I apologize for, and I have informed my fellow players it will never happen again.”

According to The Scotsman, it wasn’t just “a couple” of greens which Garcia damaged, but five.

“It is believed that Garcia damaged five greens during his third circuit, with players in the four groups immediately behind him all complaining to rules officials about the state he’d left them,” the paper reported.

He didn't just damage greens, he damaged Saudi greens.  You'd think they'd remember a thing like that, no?

And this just in:

LIV Golf to lay off majority of staff

Does that include that Garcia fellow?

A Game For Gentlemen - Good news, kids, I have permission:

‘People can think what they want’: Wyndham Clark responds to rules ‘scrutiny’

Given Wyndham's multiple storylines, he might want to not be so free with his permission structure.   We can avoid any discussion of locker and tee marker abuse, and this bit is way bigger than just the one guy.

Here's how Golf.com describes it:

– Clark grabbed an iron from his bag, placed it behind his ball, then took a practice swing just to the left of the ball. Twice more, he placed his iron behind the ball and took practice swings,

before going back to his bag for a different iron. At the time, Clark was tied for the lead with Rory McIlroy.

– CBS cut away to Gary Woodland on the 15th hole.

– When it returned, Clark was placing an iron behind his ball. He then took another practice swing to the left of it before his caddie, David Pelekoudas, moved between Clark and the camera, though another practice swing could be seen. Clark then went back to his bag for a different iron. Three times, he placed that iron behind his ball and took practice swings. At about this point, CBS analysts said the following:

Trevor Immelman: “He’s taking a long look at this. This is like the third club that he’s placed down behind the ball there.”

Frank Nobilo: “So the lie might be better.”

From there, Clark placed his 9-iron behind the ball and hit, finished the hole with a par and went on to win by three. But Nobilo’s comment, along with several similar remarks on social media, is interesting. Did Clark improve his lie? 

I'm going to go with "Yes."  I have never understood what knowledge the placement of a club behind the ball is supposed to impart, but am conversant with elementary physics.   You simply cannot place the clubhead in the position seen in the photo above, without pushing down grass and improving the lie.  This is our hero:

On Tuesday, Clark was asked the following question:

Wyndham, your drive on 14 Sunday went into the right rough, and there was a lot of scrutiny on social media but also even the TV announcers. Curious about you changing clubs and tapping down the rough multiple times. Just curious what you were thinking there, and there was a similar situation possibly at the U.S. Open, and if you’ve been hearing about this at all.

“I didn’t really hear much about it,” Clark said. “I know the shot that you’re talking about. I think any player, when they’re trying to judge a lie, takes out different clubs to see what it feels like.

“I never fully put the club down behind it. I don’t think anything of it.”

I'll refer to the very same photo above.  Is there any place further "down" for that club to go?

You've been reading these pages for a long time, do you think Geoff might have some thoughts on this matter?  Again, rhetorical, but that's not important now:

I can offer two solid reasons to watch this week’s Tour Championship.

A) To fill the gap in your undying thirst to witness meaningful competition after Tuesday’s crushing one-week postponement of Big Break x Good Good presented by Golf Galaxy, caused by the retailer backing out of its sponsorship.

B) To say you witnessed golf history by seeing how many times Wyndham Clark breaks the Rules of Golf and gets away with it.

If you listened to Commissioner Brian Rolapp’s Tuesday Tour Championship press conference, you’d also assume the Rules of Golf matter to Rolapp and the board.

“Rules only matter if they’re enforced,” he said at East Lake. “So accountability and discipline are essential to any organization, and certainly for the integrity of the Tour and for the game, especially in a game that prides itself on rules and integrity.”

Yeah, is that the same organization that refuses to disclose disciplinary actions to protect the miscreants?  

Clark’s antics at this year’s U.S. Open included pressing behind his ball in dicey lies and automatically smoothing his line on the green whether damage was evident or not. Since he received no warning or penalty for those actions, no wonder he hasn’t changed since his dual-wielding wedge nonsense caused his ball to move en route to winning the 2023 U.S. Open.

Various social media accounts highlighted Clark’s 14th hole shenanigans during the BMW final round. He went on so long and mashed so blatantly that CBS broadcasters and Frank Nobilo and Trevor Immelman had to point out the absurdity of his actions.

Of course, they're reactions were rather muted as compared to this golden oldie:

That's a truncated version that doesn't have all of Kostis and McCord losing their minds....Back to Geoff:

Clark claims he was just “judging” the lie and that “by no means did I take a bad lie and make it really good.”

But if you made a bad lie slightly less terrible, that’s still a violation.

But here is the killer point to this observer.  Clark is an unsympathetic protagonist with all of his other issues, but it's not just Wyndham.  I've discussed this at length with all sorts of folks, including our golf  professional staff, and there's typically a slack-jawed facial response when I mention the name of a certain repeat offender.  Gratifyingly, Shack names the same party:

It’s easy to pick on Clark because this keeps happening, but he’s hardly alone in the mashing work around a ball or on the greens. Scottie Scheffler is largely responsible for most players now approaching the ball in any type of lie and repeatedly placing the club to test the lie. And when the lie is especially dicey, we now have multiple practitioners of the patent-pending, Jumbo Ozaki-approved, Dual-Wielding artistry. This is where the combatant alternates clubs to give the impression they are utterly flummoxed by the circumstances even after hitting nine million golf shots over their lifetimes. Therefore, they just have to see how a 7-iron sits behind the ball versus the 6-iron. And maybe repeat the test a few more times to be totally accountable to their Teams.

Shack has the video of the BMW incident, watch it if you can.  I'll just add this longer video that is more Clark-specific.  He is for sure one of the worst offenders, but it's far more widespread than just the one guy.

It's really a simple question for Mr. Rolapp.  Does the PGA Tour compete using the Rules of Golf?  If so, why aren't they enforced?  Without answers there, it feels like they run exhibition events.

DVR Alert - As dreadful as Ryder and Presidents Cup venues are, the Walker and Curtis Cup venues have been uniformly beautiful and interesting.  I know, who saw that coming?

I'll just use Geoff's reporting:

The R&A announced that tickets for the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch have sold out in advance of

the match between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America.

Attendance has been capped at 8,000 fans each day of matches. Over 1,700 young people will be attending through The R&A’s successful ‘Kids Go Free’ initiative (free entry for under-16s when accompanied by a paying adult).

This is the first time the match will be staged at Lahinch.

The R&A is advising fans without tickets not to travel to the venue. However, the Walker Cup Opening Ceremony will take place on the 1st tee at Lahinch at 5pm on Friday, September 4th and fans can attend free of charge.

The matches will be televised by Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and Golf Channel in the US.

So, the real news is simply, Holy Bat Guano, Kids, they're taking a Walker Cup to Lahinch.  Crack the bubbly!

It's one of my favorite places in golf, both the links and the town, which combines the worship of our game with an appealing suffer dude vibe.   It will be on Labor Day weekend, specifically Saturday and Sunday, the 5th and 6th.

I may dig out some of my old photos, but do you know who designed Lahinch?  It may well be my favorite design credit in the world (excepting the Old Course, because it's hard to top the hand of God):

The Old Course at Lahinch Golf Club was originally designed by Old Tom Morris in 1894 and later redesigned by Dr. Alister MacKenzie in 1927

What I love first and foremost, is that those two iconic names simply don't belong together, as the dates will imply (as it could only happen before the Good Doctor headed to the New World).

What I love most is that the golf course Dr. Mackenzie found was quite rudimentary and needed his considerable efforts, which resulted in a first-class links indeed.  I'd have it in my Top Ten, the only issue being whether I'd be able to limit said list to a mere ten entries.

While turning Lahinch into a proper links, Dr. Mackenzie found two of the most unique and perplexing holes in golf, on a par with the Road Hole.  While making Lahinch his Own, the Good Doctor did us all a great service and drew a line in the sand, saying effectively that these two holes needed to be saved for posterity.  God Bless him fr that.

I'll talk about those holes and all things Lahinch before the Walker Cup kicks off.

I know that no one will be looking for this post, as my readers will rightfully feel that they've been abandoned.  It's not quite so, as there's been much of the spinning of the wheels, without any useable output.  Have a great weekend and I will expect to be here on Monday.

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.