This and That

Some lose threads over the last few days to catch up on, as we count down the hours to when Jack, Arnie and Gary kick off the Masters on the 10th of April.

• Valero Ugly - I watched a good bit of the final round of the Texas Open, and will be kind and say that the tournament is a good dancer and makes all its own clothes.  Wow, I thought these guys were supposed to be good...

Ryan Lavner tells us that Steven Bowditch's 76 was the highest final round score by a winner since Freddie Couples won the Kemper Open in a playoff in 1983 after shooting 77.  Others who won with high final round scores included Lon Hinckle at Pebble.. no reason to mention that but I just love saying Lon Hinckle (and remembering that in the first PGA Tour computer golf game they humiliatingly included him  as Lou Hinckle).  And yes, his tree still thrives in Toledo...

But again the major issue is slow play, as it took the lads a good three hours to play the front nine.  Zach Johnson has an interesting take on here in a Golf Channel video, followed by a spirited back and forth amongst the GC crew.  Zach mentions field sizes, which is a factor on Thursday and Friday, but as Shack astutely notes there were all of 71 players on the course on Sunday.

But Commissioner Ratched has made it clear that while slow play is a problem, it's not a problem about which it's necessary to, you know, do anything. 

• Kia Rekap - Big-boned swede Anna Nordqvist shot a final round 67 to win the LPGA's Kia

  

  Vanna, I'd like to buy a vowel.

  Classic, her second win this season.  It's something of a career resurgence for Nordqvist, who is a notoriously short hitter for such a big girl, but should provide sufficient prize money that she can purchase the "u" that's missing from her last name.

But the bigger news from the event was furnished by 38-year old Laura Diaz, who had aces on both Saturday and Sunday:

Diaz aced the par-3 third hole Saturday in the third round, then holed out on the par-3 sixth on Sunday -- a shot she followed with an eagle on the par-4 seventh. She also had an eagle Saturday on the par-5 fifth.

That's just greedy...

The ladies now head to the desert for their first major of the year at Mission Hills.  And it'll be better viewing than whatever goes down in Houston.

• Punk'd Again -  I just got punk'd by golf.com, about the last place you'd expect to have that kind of sense of humor.  They sucked me in with a simple test to determine which golf legend I most resemble, flattering me with pics of Hogan, Tiger, Arnie Jack and Norman.  After several questions touching on such threshold issues of the day such as cart girls, the vast army of data crunchers analyzed my answers and concluded that the golf legend I most resembled was.....Jean Van de Velde.

OK, that did have me laughing and I can take a joke as well as the next guy.  But at the risk of giving way too much credence to the silliness, this is one of the questions:

You are playing in your club match play championship. You've got a lead and are about to tee off on No. 18, a tough par 4 that requires a precise tee shot. What do you do?

A.  I hit driver. I don't care where it goes. If it's in the woods, I'll invent a shot to escape.

B.  I choose a driver and try to hit a fade. 

C.  Driver, of course. I'll hit it far enough to give myself an advantage.

D.  I won't lie, I'm nervous. I choose an iron and hope to find the fairway so I don't blow the match.

I answered "D" to this one, which would seem to be the antithesis of Van de Velde.  Chip Beck  I could see, but Van de Velde?

• Trash Talking Anonymously - You're all familiar with the Tour Confidential feature of Sports Illustrated/Golf Magazine, as that's the basis for our weekly Q&A feature.  An occasional participant is an Anonymous Pro, who is featured in this slideshow of young tour talent, separating them into Contenders and Pretenders.  Most are predictable, though it's worth scanning through for his take down of Patrick Reed.

• Slow Play, legal Edition - I was a tad excited about the headline of the Rex Hoggard piece, "Judge puts PGA Tour on the clock in Singh lawsuit," but I'm not sure it really delivers the goods.  See if you agree:

Judge Eileen Bransten issued an order on Wednesday that her original “case management” schedule in the lawsuit between Vijay Singh and the Tour had not been complied with, and set a schedule for the case that seemed to leave little room for further delays although a conclusion doesn’t seem forthcoming. 

“All dates with the exception of the final conference date are final and may not be adjourned without a court order,” Bransten wrote.

OK, seems the judge is trying to move the process and manage her calendar, so we'll see them in court soon.  Errr, not so much:

The “note of issue,” which is used to have the court’s clerk enter a case into the calendar for trial, is due by Aug. 31, 2015. That means the lawsuit, which stemmed from Singh’s run in with the Tour’s anti-doping program last year, will not likely go to trail until the end of next year or the beginning of 2016.

 It's just cruel to make me wait that long.

• Money Putts -  A website called therichest.com has a silly slideshow on the most expensive missed putts in PGA Tour history.  Now there's everything in the world wrong with it, including the fact that they don't know the difference between the PGA Tour and the majors, nor have they adjusted for the dramatic increase in prize money.  The list goes from Monty missing his putt in the playoff against Elkington at Riviera ($144,000) to an unsatisfying tie between King Louis and Angel Cabrera, losers of playoffs at the last two Masters, worth $576,000.  They also don't seem to understand the difference between a win and a tie.

But that got me thinking about the worst missed putts in golf history... and a little googling led me to this slideshow of the Ten Most Humiliating Missed Putts in Golf History.  Ah humiliation, that's really more my style...

They're all there...Scott Hoch (as in Choke) at the 1989 Masters, Doug Sanders at the 1970 Open Championship (I still can't watch that video...might be contagious) and I.K. Kim at the Kraft Nabisco.  Surprisingly, legends such as Hogan and Snead also make appearances.

But I'll leave you with this little gem that is less humiliating than just cruel.  Joe Daley in 2000 needs this wee two-footer to secure his Tour card, hits what seems to be a perfect putt and....

So, why are we so anxious for the golf season to begin, when things like this await us?

R&A Redux

Over the weekend Shackelford asked a seemingly simple question vis-à-vis the R&A's abrupt change of heart, what changed?  Via a U.K. blog called Unofficial Partner (subtitled "More Questins than Answers" - hey bub, you're treading on my turf) he provides this from the not-so-wayback machine:

Single-sex clubs are in a very small minority in the UK. Half of them are women only, half of

They have restrooms, what more do these gals want?

them are men only. They're perfectly legal. In our view they don't do anyone any harm. And we think the right of freedom of association is important. And we've explained our view that we think they have no material adverse affect on participation. On the other hand, the media are, with seemingly boundless energy, I think, and enthusiasm, giving out the message that this is an issue, and that such clubs should be condemned to extinction, and we shouldn't be using one to stage The Open Championship. And we understand that view, too. We've got, as you mentioned, politicians posturing, we've got interest groups attacking the R & A, attacking The Open, and attacking Muirfield. As you can see, I've made a few notes about it (laughter). To be honest, our natural reaction is to resist these pressures, because we actually don't think they have very much substance.

If you've not guessed, those were Peter Dawson's comments at his presser before the 2013 Open Championship held at single-sex host club Muirfield.  And just by chance it was at a men-only club, though per Peter that was likely the result of a coin flip.

For those with us since the start, I posted here on this subject, giving all due credit to Dawson was a PR savant, allowing the world to focus its death rays on the Honourable Company, with no discussion of the R&A's own membership.  Do reread that post for a brief overview of the 2004 spin-off of the organization that runs the Open Championship (and is the rule-making organization for the game in all but the U.S. and Canada), presumably to avoid such media firestorms.

Since news broke that the R&A would seek a vote of its membership this Fall to admit women as members, it's been my operative assumption that Peter Dawson had the skids greased.  From where I'm sitting, the only thing worse from a public relations perspective than not having women members, would be to have the members vote such a motion down. 

But it's come to my attention that there is a fair amount of grumbling from the membership, folks who aren't used to being railroaded in any context.  Dawson's announcement indicated that only members attending the Autumn General Meeting would vote on this obviously significant proposal, and my cynicism led me to think that this was perhaps the mechanism by which Dawson could control the outcome.  As of now, no fewer than six letters to Dawson are circulating petitioning for the right to vote in absentia, as in a given year only an estimated 10% of the members could be expected to attend the Autumn General Meeting (though with such an important measure on the ballot we would expect that to increase).
I've also been led to believe that any changes to the rules of the club must garner the vote of a majority of the members, present or not, but a super-majority of those present and voting.  I'm attempting to clarify what the convoluted wording might actually mean and on what basis Dawson could limit the vote to those members in attendance

Stay tuned to this station, as this could turn out to be far more contentious than I originally anticipated.

Sunday, Rainy Sunday - Masters Edition

It's as ugly as can be in Park City as I write, raining heavily and very windy.  In fact, the howling wind woke me up and as I lay in bed I had the radical thought of taking a day off.  I've now skied nine straight days, Friday especially hard, and the body (especially the quads) is sending an SOS.  Of course, FNBF* Bob will call imminently and ask what time we're going up, so we'll see how this plays out.

So, why no blogging until mid-morning, I hear you ask accusingly... because I spent much of this morning listening to this State of the Game podcast, about which I blogged yesterday.   It's quite long, specifically 1 hour and 23 minutes, but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed.  They discussed everything and anything related to the Masters, not just the 1975 version, and I learned so much.

Just a reminder that their guest, Gil Capps has just published The Magnificent Masters: Jack Nicklaus,

Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf, and the 1975 Cliffhanger at Augusta, which is now on my must read list.  Capps also works for NBC's golf telecasts, and is the guy feeding Johnny and Dan Hicks all those data points and stats you know they can't really have at their command.

 As for 1975, Capps has many interesting insights into the three main protagonists, Jack, Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf, the latter of whom might be the most interesting of the three.  But I also had no memory that the '75 Masters was the year in which Lee Elder became the first black golfer to play in the event.  In fact Elder was the only participant not to speak with Capps in the preparation of the book.

There were a few tangents that were immensely entertaining and informative.  For instance, I was vaguely aware that in the early years there was a Masters parade, but had no clue there was also a beauty pageant and that after Friday's round there was a long-drive competition.  Capps opines at one point that it was Arnie that ruined the Masters, though I'm pretty sure his tongue was deep into his cheek by then.

Capps also makes a convincing case that the '75 Masters was pivotal to the careers of the three leads, particularly that the two that came up short might well have had  different career arcs had they prevailed.  But it's quite the rarity that the three best players of the era all summoned their best golf at the same time and waged the first dramatic televised Masters finish.

And while we're on the subject of our favorite golf event, David Owen has posted another installment of his Masters countdown series, this one covering the 11th hole, the great flood and the Colonel.  I know, it's what he does but the three threads all involve the 11th hole.

First, the 11th might be the hole that is most changed from the hole played at the first Augusta Invitational in 1933.  But perhaps I should let David tell it:

The Masters tee on the eleventh hole was originally positioned above and to the right of the tenth green, not far from the seventeenth green. The hole ran downhill and played considerably shorter than its measured distance, which was a little over four hundred yards. In fact, until about a decade ago the green was at least theoretically drivable from the members’ tee, which was on the old line, although the shot was blind and called for a powerful fade.

The 11th green with the 12th tee and green in the early 1930's.

David's caption:  Alister MacKenzie’s original routing, showing the location of the eleventh tee, between the seventeenth green and the old tenth green. The modern tee is somewhere back near the red X in the upper right hand corner of the image.

Back to David:

The hole was first changed in 1950, when the club built a new tournament tee, below and to the left of the tenth green. The change was suggested by Clifford Roberts, the club’s chairman and co-founder, and endorsed by Bobby Jones. The change was made both to lengthen the hole and to eliminate a gallery bottleneck between the tenth green and the eleventh tee. “Under the new arrangement,” Jones wrote at the time, “the spectators will have ample room on the high ground to the right of the fairway to observe play, all the way from tee to green, without going on to the fairway at all. It will be substantially the same arrangement as is provided at number 13, where everyone can get a clear view of all shots played without following the contestants down the fairway.” The Masters tee is even farther back today, and the fairway has been reshaped. The hole measures a little more than five hundred yards for the tournament, and when you stand on the tee it looks like a thousand.

And as it looks today, below:

And the flood?

In mid-October 1990, Augusta got more than a foot of rain in just thirty-six hours. Rae’s Creek flooded, and took the eleventh green and much of the rest of Amen Corner with it:

Hord Hardin, the club’s chairman at the time, said they were lucky the flood hadn’t occurred right before the Masters. “We probably would have had to play four sixteen-hole rounds,” he said. The green was rebuilt using data from a 1982 survey, and the bunker and the pond were recreated from photographs. The hole was back in play not just for the Masters but for the Thanksgiving member party, six weeks later.

And The Colonel?  That would be Bobby Jones' father, seen here:

A strong personality, it affords David the opportunity to tell this famous story:

In the early years, there was a small pot bunker in the center of the fairway at roughly the distance of a reasonable drive, invisible from the tee. The bunker was Jones’s idea. He wanted the course to have a hazard that could be avoided only with good luck or local knowledge—the sort of seemingly arbitrary booby trap that is plentiful on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Jones’s father, Colonel Bob Jones (photo above), drove into it during his first round on the course, in 1932, and when he found his ball in the sand he shouted, “What goddamned fool put a goddamned bunker right in the goddamned center of the goddamned fairway?” or words to that effect. His son, who was playing with him (along with Roberts), had to answer, “I did.” The bunker was eventually filled in, though not till many years later.

Eleven days and counting... 

* Former New Best Friend

Augusta on My Mind

I'm struggling to control my excitement at what's sure to be a rousing finish to the Texas Valero Open, but gazing longingly at the dates circled on my calendar the second week of April.

Shackelford has been on a roll, so we'll lean heavily on his work:

• Mitch Laurance - Mitch, with whom I'm not familiar, has a podcast called Golf Connections, and you can find his interview with Shack here, talking all things Augusta.  Lots of interesting discussions of how the course has changed over time, and there's a twinge of schadenfreude in learning that Shack hasn't ever played the course.

The opening and closing bump music is Billy Mac's Augusta, Sweet Augusta, which we first noted in conjunction with Shack's Augusta-themed playlist.  It's worth a listen, and I'm pretty sure it's the only song lyric that mentions Alister MacKenzie.  

Laurance mentions this interactive map of Augusta, featuring side-by-side images of each of the holes, guaranteed to have golf architecture geeks holed up in dark rooms for weeks:   

Shack did throw out one little barb about trying to further raise the IQ of Golf Channel commentary, which might make his next Morning Drive appearance a tad awkward.

• State of the Game -  I've been remiss in not mentioning this previously, but Shack participates in a regular podcast called State of the Game, typically moderated by Rod Morri and including Mike Clayton, who is best known as Geoff Ogilvy's design partner.  Be forewarned, stay away if you're averse to Australian accents.  The real reason I've not mentioned it previously is that I'm three episodes behind, including one with Mark Broadie as their guest.  In any event, feel free to listen to their Augusta preview podcast at Shack's site, or they can be downloaded from iTunes.  Their guest is Gil Capps, author of the newly -released The Magnificent Masters: Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf, and the 1975 Cliffhanger at Augusta, which your humble blogger considers the greatest Masters ever.  Give them a listen, though I've yet to.

• All Things Scott - Imagine my disappointment to learn he was talking about Adam.... In this Local Knowledge post, Shackelford links to all sorts of writings on the defending champion.  Dive into as much as you want, as Scott remains a very appealing personality, though still something of an underachiever.

• Shredded, Not Shredded - Justin Rose set off alarms when, in a Golf Magazine interview, he said this:

Justin Rose said he’s been hearing reports of “shredded” and dead-looking trees at Augusta National, which will host the Masters in two weeks.

“Peter Hanson went a couple days ago,” said Rose, who was scheduled for a wheels-up time of 8:15 a.m. Thursday for an early look at the course. ”He said you won’t recognize it. He said the ice storm has shredded all the leaves from all the trees. He said from the eleventh hole you could see all the way to the clubhouse. Apparently all the trees look dead. It’s a bit of a shame.”

Fortunately, after his own visit, he had this more positive reaction: 

After playing a round at Augusta National with Matthew Fitzpatrick on Thursday, Justin Rose said that rumors that the course would be unrecognizable were greatly exaggerated: ”I didn't see any of that myself,” he said. “It was playing up to tournament speed. The only thing I noticed was that the azaleas hadn't popped yet, but they have ways of controlling those things around here, and I’m sure they will do that during tournament week.”

OK, I guess I'll watch after all.  And yes, Justin, the azaleas are timed to the hour. 

Morning Mishegoss

An abbreviated smorgasbord for you all this morning, as there's 7" of new white stuff on the ground.  Standards have been degraded to such an extent that this now qualifies as a powder day.  Let's see how much I can shovel before I need to scurry to meet Mitch:

• The Domino Theory - As noted in the R&A post yesterday, the move to open R&A membership to those burdened by the absence of a Y chromosome inevitably means that those single gender clubs on the Open Rota (Muirfield, Royal St. Georges and Royal Troon) will soon follow suit.  That sound you hear is dominoes falling throughout the U.K.  First, Alistair Tait at Golfweek informs us:

Twenty-four hours after the Royal & Ancient Golf Club decided to hold a vote on allowing female members, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Muirfield looks set to do the same. 

The Muirfield club is one of three all-male golf clubs on the Open Championship rota, with Royal St. George’s and Royal Troon. The club responsible for drafting golf’s original 13 rules has been in existence since 1774. For its entire history it has been a male-only enclave. That may be about to change. 

The club is to review its membership.

Hmmm..twenty-four hours, that was quick.  You'd almost think they knew it was coming... One of the points I made yesterday was that these are all the same individuals, so it was never going to devolve into an R&A vs. clubs food fight.  

Next, James Corrigan in The Telegraph:

It is the same story in Kent. Tim Checketts, the secretary of Royal St George’s, said: “For a while now, the Royal St George’s Golf Club has been considering its position as a single sex private members golf club and when deliberations are concluded, the committee will make a recommendation to the membership in the normal way.” 

Even Royal Troon, the other male-only club on the nine-strong Open roster, was prepared to state its case for gender fairness. David Brown, the Troon secretary, told The Telegraph “we have no plans to change the membership structure at this time”, but pointed out that “although we are a single gender club, some 370 members of the Ladies Golf Club Troon do, in fact, share our on-course facilities”.

And then there were none... Mind you, the powers that be are doing this in a way that it remains controllable.  A few very connected women will be admitted, then the world will move on to other grave injustices.

Lastly on this thread, good friend and R&A member Mark W., who assured me this would never happen in our lifetimes, has e-mailed me to remind him of the Scottish courses from a David Own post.  Strangely enough, he neglected to tell me how he plans to vote on this membership initiative at the Fall Meeting of the R&A.  I'd hate to have to dub him Misogynist Mark, an delightfully alluringly alliterative moniker you'll no doubt agree.  

• Skink, Skank, Skunk -  I've made many mistakes in my short blogging career, but the biggest one might be failing to use tags in my posts.  This time-consuming step enables a reader or me to readily find old posts by keywords.  Thus I couldn't readily put my hands on my post for Mark, and took the easy way out and sent him a link to the original David Own post.  

In that post, we discussed the expression "hitting into the skink," and I solicited the Scottish Housewife's help with a definition.  A few days ago, good friend and proofreader to the stars Al Z. emailed with this:

From the Dictionary of the Scots Language:

Skink, Skynk, n. A soup made from boiled shin of beef.

As I told Elsie in an e-mail, I think she got it right with her reference to Cullen skink.  I assume they were playing in some fog, such as the notorious Haar that plagues the East coast of Scotland. Glad we cleared that up...

•  Tricksters - Everyone on the East Coast has cabin fever by now, but at least these guys are being productive (h/t Shackelford):

Though it doesn't look particularly cold where they are.

• Clothes Make the Man -  John Daly is far from the only guy that needs to revisit some regrettable wardrobe choices.  

Murray is a son of the Midwest, hence the Pabst Blue Ribbon pants.

• The Spore Repore - Ashley Mayo posts the Hulu video of Stephen Colbert's Sports Report from a couple of nights ago (alas another that I can't embed)  Give it a look, as it's Colbert and therefore quite amusing.  

One of his targets is the absurd Hack Golf initiative, which he skewers quite unmercifully and appropriately.  I know few things with absolute certainty, but one of them is that playing soccer will not create new golfers.

• Mid-What? - Alan Shipnuck gives out mid-season awards in a golf.com piece, causing whiplash amongst those of us with a more traditional view of a season.  Best one was this, but give it a read:

MOST NOTABLE BODY PART

Tie: Tiger Woods’s back, Patrick Reed’s mouth

• Masters Drama - Still a couple of weeks away, but Doug Ferguson asks a good question in this AP piece.  The Masters invite the top fifty in the OWGR after this week's Tour event, but also the top fifty at year-end.  Doug asks why the latter, and I think he's onto something.    

But imagine what would happen if there was only one cutoff for the top 50 in the world, and it followed the Florida swing.

Matteo Manassero (51), Branden Grace (57), David Lynn (65) and Peter Hanson (70) all were in the top 50 in December. They would have spent the Florida swing trying to stay in the top 50 or move back in. That change might be something for Augusta National to consider if it feels the field is getting too close to 100 players.

As it is, the Masters virtually is assured of having fewer than 100 players for the 48th straight year. But just barely.

I like the cut of that man's jib, as it could create a reason to actually care about the Texas Valero Open.  Nah, we can't have that kind of drama in our sport, can we?

• Last Writes - Shackelford links to this depressing Derek Lawrenson item from Golf Today (note, the piece is from last August).  Here's the gist of it:

Now? The tournaments are down to two which, funnily enough, mirrors exactly the number of full-time golf correspondents presently employed by newspapers in these isles. 

There’s me, now working for the Daily Mail; and James Corrigan, who works for the Daily Telegraph. Perhaps the last of us standing – probably him, since he’s ten years younger – will come up with a book and call it Last Writes.

Two golf writers in all of Fleet Street?  That's just staggering... 

R & A Follies

All the cool kids are having fun at the R&A's expense, and I see no reason not to pile on.  But to be serious for just a sec, there's this about the membership vote:

On Sept. 18 -- the same day on which Scotland holds its referendum on independence from

the United Kingdom -- the 2,400-strong membership of the game's ruling body outside the United States and Mexico will be given the opportunity to vote on whether or not to admit women. To do so, members will have to attend the R&A's annual Autumn Meeting. In other words, no postal or proxy votes will be allowed.

That's quite the coincidence, and I've no clue as to how that might affect the vote.  I've also no profound insights into the Scottish independence vote, though I'm reluctant to see anything happen that changes Scotland.  But that's a tourist perspective, and I'd be happy to have Elsie add her thoughts.

As an aside, that's from a John Huggan piece at Local Knowledge, the first time I've noticed his byline there.  He's written over the years for Golf Digest, but I do hope he still has his desk at The Scotsman.  

Also from Huggan's piece are these comments from Peter Dawson:

To pass, the proposal will need a two-thirds majority. Early indications from the members, according to Dawson, have been very positive. "But it is not for me to say what the result will be," he noted. "We've been talking about this for a while. And it is our governance role within the game that is the driving force behind making this happen. Society is changing. Sport is changing. Golf is changing. And I think it is appropriate for a governing body to take this step." 

What Dawson was not saying, however, is that a "yes" vote in September would automatically lead to an end to the British Open being held at all-male clubs. As things stand, three clubs whose courses are on the nine-strong rota -- The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (Muirfield), Royal St. Georges and Royal Troon -- do not have female members.

Yes, but he doesn't need to say it now, does he?  It's obvious that he couldn't press the individual clubs terribly hard, because they could cast the public light back on the R&A's membership.  And let's not forget that these are in many cases the same individuals, i.e., the most influential members at these old line clubs are themselves likely to be R&A members.

Now to the fun part.  Shackelford leads by quoting PaddyPower odds that have Queen Elizabeth as a 3-1 favorite to be the R&A's first female member.  Shack clearly agrees, though he doesn't tell us if he's laid a bob or two on it:

The Queen certainly fits the Royal and Ancient membership profile: really old, really rich, really British and really likes gin. 

I still have my fingers crossed for Condoleezza Rice.

Well, Condi would be a twofer, if you get my drift, and therefore might be a bridge too far.  More importantly, can the Queen also hold her Kümmel.

Derek Lawrenson, writing for the Daily Mail, goes into the deep grass with this:

Remarkably, on that very day at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, another vote of seismic importance will also take place. One that will see an expected gathering of 350 or so male members who will decide whether or not to end their own independence and allow women to join. 

'The reason for holding it that day is that it is enshrined in our constitution that the business meeting takes place the day before the last day of Autumn Medal week. So you see our dilemma,' said Peter Dawson, R&A chief executive.

A good day to bury bad news should the members, who are predominantly past retirement age, remain set in their ways? Dawson is confident that will not be the case and there will be the requisite two-thirds majority, thus ending 260 years of men-only rule.

The independence vote as bad news dump opportunity?  I love it.  But back to planet Earth, where one assumes that Dawson has the votes or wouldn't have broached this radioactive subject.  He likely could keep his head in the sand for a few years more, but if the membership votes this down there'll be hell to pay, perhaps in the form of a U.K.-wide Lysistrata strategy.

Back to Huggan speculating on who might be first in the door:

Another likely to be considered is Lady Angela Bonallack, a past Curtis Cup player and wife of Sir Michael Bonallack, the only man to have been both R&A secretary and captain. But, as one prominent R&A member pointed out, the Bonallack residence may be a little too close to St. Andrews for comfort.

"Angela ticks many of the boxes," he said. "But she would inevitably be in and around the clubhouse far too often." 

We presume he was joking.

Funny, I presume just the opposite. 

Q & A, A Day Delayed

Having dug out from a lengthy blogging To-Do list, shall we join the Sports Illustrated gang for our weekly Q & A feature?  Ummm...that was a rhetorical question....

Joining the usual suspects this week is Mark Broadie, whom we've met at length here, here and here.  Broadie, as I'm sure you'll recall, is the Columbia Business school professor and author of Every Shot Counts Using the Revolutionary Strokes Gained Approach to Improve Your Golf Performance and Strategy.

1. Adam Scott looked like he was cruising to a win at Bay Hill this week until he stumbled in the final round and lost to Matt Every. How do you feel about Scott’s chances at the Masters after watching him this week?

The Pros:  Not much linkage is seen between coughing one up at Bay Hill and what happens at Augusta.  Only Mike Bamberger thought it would spill over to Adam's detriment.

Best Line:  From Travelin' Joe, who stll needs to be working on his resume, "He went ugly early in Round 4, and the meltdown continued pretty much unabated, but it wasn't because of nerves. He just stunk up the joint, and it has happened to every great player, except to a healthy Tiger Woods in his prime. Scott is still the pick for Augusta. He's just the prohibitive favorite now, rather than an overwhelming one."

My Take:  Joe, I don't think the words overwhelming and prohibitive mean what you think they mean, and if you're sure of that I'll take the field even up.  There's a profound tendency to over-interpret what happens week to week, and I'll agree with the majority that your view of Scott's chances at ANGC shouldn't be affected by Bay Hill, though I'm probably not quite as high on Adam as some of these gents.

2. Tiger Woods was unable to play at Bay Hill due to back spasms and is unlikely to play again before the Masters. Will Woods’ lack of competitive rounds so far this year hurt him at the year's first major or does he have so much experience at Augusta National that it doesn’t matter?

The Pros:  The lads are all over the lot, bemoaning his lack of form and "reps," though many also noted his T4 in 2010 after hydrant-gate.

Best Line:  From Gary Van Sickle, "I am not assuming that Tiger will definitely be able to play the Masters. We all hope so. What will hurt him is the endurance factor and whether his body and his back are up to walking and swinging through a spasm-less 72 holes."

My Take: Nobody has a clue, which is why we'll all be glued to the telly.  I do believe that Tiger gets far too much credit for his play at the Masters, as he's been far less consistently competitive since the course was substantially lengthened in the early aughts.  At least he won't be hitting from deep rough, which can take a toll on a hurtin' back.

3. What did you think of Bubba Watson withdrawing because of allergies after shooting 83 at Bay Hill on Thursday? Is Watson's WD all that different from Rory McIlroy’s much-criticized withdrawal from the Honda Classic last year with a toothache?

The Pros:  Lots of criticism for both, though only Alan Shipnuck mentions the damning video of Bubba and Rickie Fowler clowning around after the WD and the fact that Rory's was mid-round.

Best Line:  From Eamon Lynch, "The biggest surprise was that Bubba didn't blame the 83 on his caddie's allergies."

My Take:  There's really no justification for either, though Rory's was worse both because it was mid-round and he was the defending champion at the event.  How much mitigation is warranted due to his tender years, I'll leave for the reader to decide.

4. Jack Fleck passed away on Friday. Is his victory over Ben Hogan at the 1955 U.S. Open still the greatest upset in golf history?

The Pros:  Most agree with the premise, with only Josh Sense making the case for Frances Ouimet.  Joe Passov goes off on a tangent of huge upsets in sudden death playoffs, an oxymoron if I've ever seen one, and Y.E. Yang comes up a surprising amount.

Best Line:  From Mike Bamberger, "It must be. When I met John Updike 40 years after the fact, he was still talking about it."

My Take:  The greatest upset has to be Frances Ouimet taking down the two Brits and putting American golf on the map.  Vardon's stature was easily that of Hogan's, and Fleck was at least a professional.  But Fleck is a solid No. 2, and for many other reasons it's a great tale on its own merits.  As for Y.E. Yang, that can't be such a great upset, because yours truly called it over Sunday lunch.  

5. The World Golf Hall of Fame finally announced its new criteria for Hall of Fame admission, changing the categories and imposing a 15-wins or two-majors requirement, A 16-person panel will vote, comprised of mostly administrators, plus three golf writers, and some other folks, and 75 percent of the vote is required for admission. Is this an improvement, a step back, or a yawn?

The Pros:  Most see it as an improvement, though there's not a ton of passion in the answers.  Do click through for an epic Van Sickle rant on Ponte Vedra seizing control of the voting, a concern I has as well in this post.

Best Line:  From Josh Sens, "An improvement. Glad to see them raise the bar. Used to be almost anyone with a pulse and a private jet could get in. But please don't wake me for any additional Hall questions."

My Take:  I wrote at length on this in the above-linked post, so let me just note one other thought.  I continue to believe that it's quite weird to have players eligible at age 40, still in the midst of their careers.  I don't see what's gained by not waiting until careers end, as with all other major sports.  Oh, and I'd like to second Mark Godich's nomination of Eddie Lowery.

6. Of all the stats compiled for PGA Tour players, what's the one that best corresponds to year-end success?

The Pros:  They know a trick question when they see it, though a couple are astute enough to cite proximity to the hole on approach shots.

Best Line:  Who else?  Mr. Broadie, the floor is yours, "Perhaps this question was a softball for me? It's clearly strokes gained in the approach shots which best explains year-end success. This season after Bay Hill, Matt Every is ranked 8th on the PGA Tour with his approach shots."

My Take:  What, I'm going to take on Broadie in an away game?  They even let him insert a table, which I find highly unusual.

Flotsam and Jetsam

I feel that I've been a bit of a blogging slacker in recent days, as I'm staring at a long list of accumulated items of some interest.  Shall we dive in and see how far we get?

• Naming Names - Slow play has been in the news, as it inevitably will whenever Kevin Na makes an appearance on a leader board.  I was not pleased to see him heckled at Bay Hill, for which there is certainly no call.  But John Strege captures this Golf Central exchange between Aaron Oberholser and Brandel Chamblee:

Oberholser did not say who he thinks is the slowest player, only that Na "is not the slowest player out here...He is unfairly scrutinized for his slow play."

Chamblee, meanwhile, said that that honor of slowest player probably goes to Jim Furyk.

Now, to be fair (Ed. Why start now?), you can't determine anything meaningful about pace of play from television, as you can't tell how quickly they get to their ball and you're at the mercy of how much of their routines are shown.  But I will say that every time I see Furyk's itchy, scratchy putting routine, my immediate reaction is to yell at his, Yanno, Fluff's not getting any younger."

But you have to laugh at this:

Least-Promising  Masters Post - I rolled my eyes at this initially, but it's actually pretty interesting.  Shackelford, posting at Local Knowledge, provides a pre-Masters playlists.  Fortunately he has the good sense to warn us off the treacly Masters promo music (to ensure the appropriate level of tingles in April 10th, of course).  here's his proposed opening track:

For starters, you must own a copy of the tune that inspired Herbert Warren Wind's branding of holes 11 through 13 as Amen Corner. Mildred Bailey's rendition of Shouting at Amen Corner makes for a perfect playlist opener.

Mildred Bailey and Billy Mac.

I'm a big fan of anyone who throws in a mention of Alister MacKenzie, so run to your favorite online store and download Billy Mac's Augusta Sweet Augusta. This lovely piano ballad is from Mac's 2010 LP, Tee It Up where he also croons with just enough sentimentality without getting carried away. Other tracks include beautifully written tunes about the Old Course and Pebble Beach.

And who knew that James Brown was an Augusta native?

• Huh? -  I'm a bit late to this, but like Shackelford I fail to see the value of the new NBC/Golf Channel graphic:

What am I missing?  How do the numbers on the left add to our information?  And how would they have accommodated Daly's 12 or Kevin Na's 16?  Wouldn't it be better just to add the hole's par, though that is intuitively obvious from the yardage.  

• Spring, Perhaps - David Owen takes us golfing on the Vernal Equinox.  conditions might not be precisely where we want them, but with a couple of photos he shows us the dramatice improvement since New year's Eve:

David's pushcart on December 31, 2013

What a difference an equinox makes - David's cart on March 20, 2014.

Yes, I can certainly see where the golf course is much more playable....but I'm happy for the time being in Park City.

• A Dispatch from Tiger-World -  Tiger made an actual public appearance with news about his D.C. tournament.  Per Ryan Lavner, Tiger confirmed that Quicken Loans would be the new sponsor, and that the event would remain D.C.-centric.  He hopes to play it at Congressional every other year, and rotate to other D.C. courses (TPC Avenel and Robert Trent Jones Club are mentioned).  Feh, the best of this tourney was when they took it to Aronimink, a Donald Ross gem, while prepping Congressional for the U.S. Open.

In other Tiger news, he says it's too early to tell whether the back will improve enough to allow him to play in the Masters.  It's not sounding good, is it?

Speaking of the Masters, is this gonna be wide open or what?  Taking a gander at this post with Masters odds, I'm struck by how all the top players have huge question marks after their names, either injury (Woods, Day), alarmming late collapses (McIlroy, Scott), or desultory play (Stenson, Phil, Rose, Schwartzel).  Should be great fun.

•  Stay Tuned to this Station - Way back in January (I think, I can't put my finger on the post at this time) I rattled some cages with a discussion of how the R&A manages to keep the discussion of exclusionary membership policies on their host clubs, when their own should logically be at issue.  Now comes this Daily Mail (h/t Shackelford) thunderbolt:

Women look set to be welcomed into the world’s most exclusive golf club, ending its men-only status after 260 years.

The hugely powerful Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which also serves as the sport’s governing body, has written to all 2,500 of its current members recommending they agree to allow women to join.

St Andrews has repeatedly resisted mounting political and commercial pressure to overhaul the admissions policy at its clubhouse, which overlooks the 18th green of the Old Course – the spiritual home of golf.

This will be presented to members at the Spring Meeting, and voted on at the R&A's Fall Meeting, which I believe good friend Mark W. will be attending.  After my earlier post Mark assured me that the membership would never approve the admission of women, so I'll look forward to a lively discussion about Mark's vote over lunch.

• These Guys are Good -  My fantasy golf record is fairly dismal, though my choice of Matt Every as one of my low-point picks last week yielded my best finish yet, No. 97 out of 1,159 entries.  Fantasy tour rabbit status admittedly, but a fellow has to start somewhere.

RIP Redux

Fortunately no more losses in the golf world, but some wonderful remembrances to make you aware of:

Frank Hannigan:

Geoff Shackelford has promised to post more materials on Frank, and is as good as his word.  First with this David Eger remembrance, which includes this:

When I started work for the USGA in 1992, Frank's too infrequent visits to Golf House always

included his faithful black lab, Sparky & an invigorating conversation in my office (which was P. J. Boatwright's during Frank's tenure). He persuaded me to bring a putter and golf balls from home so he could practice putt while we solved golf's problems. 

My first round of golf with Frank was where we both belonged--Somerset Hills. I complained that some of the tees were in poor condition. His response was that because I could tee up my ball and had a perfect lie, there was no reason to bitch. 

When Frank was working for ABC Sports, I stopped in the broadcast booth early one Sunday morning. He was always interested in the European Tour and told me that Padraig Harrington had just won that week's event. I then reminded him that I'd beaten Padraig in the second day singles at the '91 Walker Cup Match at Portmarnock. Frank's response--"He's a much better player now!"

Love the image of them rolling putts on the USGA carpet.

Good video tributes by David Fay and John Feinstein can be found at those links, unfortunately unembeddable with my current state of technical prowess.  Both Fay and Guy Yocum in this post in Shack's comments call Hannigan the H.L. Mencken of golf, praise indeed.

Shack also posts a link to Hannigan's 1974 Golf Journal essay on Tillinghast, which in Shack's comments Michael Bamberger calls:

...the gold standard for what golf writing and scholarship should be. He got inside the man's life and after reading it your appreciation of golf was enriched forever. He did that in his spare time. Frank was an inspiration and I will always be grateful to him.

It's a long piece that I've only scanned as of now, but I must say that the Redan hole from Somerset Hills looks tasty, though who knew that Tilley did Redans?

Jack Fleck:

A couple of videos you might enjoy.  First, jack recounting the '55 Open:



And with Kay Cockerill on the 18th green:



George Bahto:

The A Position, a website of golf writers, republishes Tom Bedell's profile of George Bahto that originally appeared in New York Golf in 2002, shortly after Stonebridge Golf Club, a Seth Raynor tribute course on Long Island, opened for play.  More significantly, it precedes the publication of Bahto's Macdonald biography, The Evangelist of Golf, which was originally intended to cover Raynor and Charles Banks as well.  Bahto subsequently saw fit to split it into two volumes, but the second covering Raynor was never written.

No big excerpts here, as you need to read the whole thing, which is an efficient summary of the background of these three great talents.  Here's just a taste of how it all started:

C.B. Macdonald

Bahto has since found out enough that he is largely considered the reigning Raynor expert. His original book idea was to write about Banks and Raynor. “But you can’t write about them without writing about Macdonald.”

Indeed. The lineage of this triumvirate of golf architecture royalty goes directly from Macdonald to Raynor to Banks, and Bahto is refreshingly without cant while summarizing the succession: 

“In the 1870s Macdonald comes back to Chicago after studying in St. Andrews University–where he came under the sway of Old Tom Morris–and basically doesn’t play golf for 17 years. There was nowhere to play! 

In 1895, then almost 40, he builds the Chicago Golf Club, which started to turn the world of golf around and set the 18-hole standard. The same year he wins the first national amateur championship, and helps found the USGA.

For those with short attention spans, the piece comes with some great photos, including this one of The Lido:

I always learn something new from these items.  For instance, I knew that both Raynor and Banks had died relatively young, but never realized that Macdonald outlived them both:

In January, 1926, Raynor was on a job in Florida when he dropped dead at age 51. Banks, who had been with him barely a year, now had about 25 courses to complete all over the country. And he pretty much did, before he himself died at age 48 in 1931. Macdonald outlived them both, expiring in 1939 at the ripe old age of 83.

Seth Raynor

Charles Banks

The fun doesn't stop with the end of the article, though, as Tom Bedell has an interesting bio, that includes this bit:

as far as he knows he remains the only member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the North American Guild of Beer Writers.

Obviously a bit of a Renaissance Man.  

Everyman

Matt Every's breakthrough win at Bay Hill makes him the man of the hour, justifying his very own Unplayable Lies post.  If his career ended tomorrow, that'd be something to tell the grandchildren about, no?.

It turns out that Matt Every was Patrick Reed before there was a Patrick Reed.  Per John Strege:

Matt Every once was so cocky that he would have had to spot Patrick Reed two aside in a

Matt Every finally has something for the mantle.

boast-off.When he was 21 and vying for low amateur in the U.S. Open, Every declared himself just as good as anyone else in the field and "probably better." 

When he turned pro a year later, he complained that the dearth of sponsor exemptions was not commensurate to his resume, which included the Ben Hogan Award as college's top player. When detours kept him from his destination, the PGA Tour, he grumbled that he belonged there, that he was a better player than many of those who got there ahead of him.

There's usually nothing wrong with the brash confidence of the young, but in this game it's simply not wise to challenge the golf gods. It can also be interpreted as disrespectful of those with more experience, and there's a certain unavoidable schadenfreude at it taking so long for Every to break through. I'll let Johnny Miller take us out on this cautionary tale:

"When you come right out and say that, when you're really just making a name for yourself, you're putting a little bit of pressure on your back," NBC's Johnny Miller said on Sunday. "You can wait until you win eight or 10 times and then you can say it a little easier. He does believe it, but he doesn't have to go say it out loud. He could have kept that one between his family and his caddie."

While I missed virtually all of the television coverage, apparently there was a bit of a kerfuffle about  Every's caddies using something that looked like a distance measuring device.  Turns out per Missy Jones that it was, in fact a compass, which is thoroughly legal:

I got lots of emails, texts and tweets asking about the device that Matt Every’s caddie had with him out there. I just asked Matt and he told me it is a compass which was made legal with the Amendments to the 2012-2013 edition of the Decision book. Decision 14-3/4 says:

Use of Compass During Round 

Q.A player uses a compass during a stipulated round to help determine the direction of the wind or the direction of the grain in the greens. Is the player in breach of Rule 14-3?

A.No. A compass only provides directional information and does not gauge or measure variable conditions or assist the player in his play. (Revised) 

Just wanted to ease everybody’s mind and give you the text of the Decision in case you don’t have it. Bravo to his caddie for knowing the rules! Cheers and congrats on your first win Matt!

OK, I'll sleep better at night knowing that.  Not sure why he needed the compass, but at least it's kosher.

Lastly, apparently Matt Every was born with a genetic abnormality that precludes him from laying up on a Par 5, even with a substantial lead.  Emily Kay provides the description of Every's ill-fated attempt to salvage his Tour winless streak:

With a three-shot lead and standing on the tee of what was formerly one of the PGA Tour’s most difficult holes but is now one of the most accessible, Every knocked his drive into a clearing in the woods and ricocheted an errant second shot backwards off a tree in his line to the fairway.

With the ball in the rough and stymied behind the tree, Every eventually laid up in front of the water hazard and settled for a bogey. But not before his caddie colorfully convinced him of the need to play it safe and forced NBC broadcasters to apologize for Derek Mason’s animated, persuasive approach.

And for those of you who like salty language (and who amongst us doesn't?), here's Every's caddie utilizing a couple of f-bombs to save the day:

Of course the PGA has tried to remove these videos, so don't dawdle.

Lastly, and of greatest interest to me, was this from Stephanie Wei that hearkens back to my Moneyball post with this:

The key to Every’s victory might have been a tip he received from stats guru Mark Horton, who primarily works with Brandt Snedeker. Earlier in the week, Horton and Every sat down together to discuss why he wasn’t winning when he was in contention. After all, Every had four top-10s — and six top-25s — in 10 starts in the 2013-14 season. 

“He goes, let me tell you something, ‘If I was a betting man, every time you get in contention I would bet against you,’” recalled Every. ”And I was like, what? It kind of took me by surprise a little bit. 

“Then he gave me a couple of tips and it was kind of nice to hear something like that, because a lot of people out here just pump your tires. And depending on who it’s coming from, it doesn’t even mean anything. 

“But when he said that it kind of it hit me pretty good. And I was like, part of me was, like, screw him, I’ll show him. And part of me was like, he’s right, you know? One of the reasons he said was I am way too aggressive on Sundays. That was the main thing.

Good stuff, and as Shackelford notes here, it'll be interesting to see how Every handles the Par 5's at Augusta.  

Fame, Redefined

As long rumored, the World Golf Hall of Fame has announced revised eligibility criteria.  The headline is that the Hall will now induct new players on a biannual basis instead of annually.  The changes come on the heels of the induction last year of Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie.  Per this Ron Sirak post, to be elected candidates will need to garner 75% of the votes of a 16-person Selection Committee with the following eligibility requirements:

To be considered in the Competitor category, a male needs 15 wins (up from 10)in

His Montyness

International Federation of PGA Tours events OR two victories in majors or Players Championship.

A woman needs 15 wins on tours that receive Rolex Rankings points OR two victories in the five LPGA majors. The 27-point rule will remain in effect for the LPGA Hall of Fame. It is highly unlikely a woman would earn 27 points and not make the WGHOF. 

Majors or The Players Championship? Well played, Commissioner Ratched, the fifth of four majors gets a place at the table.

Who will be entrusted to handle such a important undertaking?

The Selection Commission for the 2015 class will be chaired by four WGHOF members: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. In addition to that four and the three writers, and a representative from the PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA, Masters, PGA of America, USGA, R&A and, for the 2015 class, the Japan LPGA and Sunshine Tour.

The logic of moving to an every other year process is to ensure a sufficient number of appropriate candidates each cycle, but it's the 75% vote threshold that is likely to accomplish that (Couples and Monty were both elected with slightly more than 50% of a larger electoral pool),

Just for the record, I've never thought there was a shooter on the grassy knoll or that the U.S. or Israel planned 9/11, but my Commissioner Ratched cronyism radar was past the red zone on this. Hmmm...only 5 votes needed to block a nominee, and those 5 votes can readily be found in the Star Wars bar, where the aforementioned Commish, Peter Dawson and Ted Bishop regularly drink. Rex Hoggard is thinking along the same lines:

Hall of Fame chief operating officer Jack Peter called the old way “unwieldy.” Player went a step further, “When you have hundreds of people voting I don’t think you can come to the right conclusion.” 

So, that would mean Cooperstown – the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame which is considered by some the benchmark hall in sports – has it all wrong. For Peter & Co., 300 votes are too much, but somehow baseball’s hall managed to tally 571 ballots last year.

But the real problem is that there's an inevitable trend towards loosened standards, that is mirrored in all sports Halls of Fame. The standards are necessarily vague, but one player is appropriately voted in with marginal credentials because of other attributes or contributions, then those lesser credentials become the standard. Couples and Mrs. Doubtfire attracted the critics because of their paltry total of majors. But Monty's seven consecutive Orders of Merit ain't chopped liver, and combined with his stellar Ryder Cup record (and the fact that while he didn't win one, he made it to two major playoffs) and I think he's got a credible case.

Shackelford has much to say on the subject in a Morning Drive appearance embedded in this post (someday I'll figure out why the embed code doesn't work for me).

In reaction to this news, Jeff Rude proposes a Hall of the Very Good, with the following inaugural induction class:

Women’s pro wing (10): Lorena Ochoa (27 LPGA victories, 2 majors), Laura Davies (20-4),Meg Mallon (18-4), Susie Maxwell Berning (11-4), Jane Blalock (27-0), Sandra Palmer (19-2), Jan Stephenson (16-3), Dottie Pepper (17-2), Beverly Hanson (17-3), Sally Little (15-2).

Amateur wing (6): Harvie Ward, Charlie Coe, Catherine Lacoste, Frank Stranahan, Jay Sigel,Vinny Giles.

Men’s old-timer wing (9): Johnny Farrell (22 PGA Tour victories, 1 major), Willie Macfarlane (21-1), Johnny Revolta and Jim Ferrier (18-1), Macdonald Smith (24-0), Bill Melhorn (20-0), Harold “Jug” McSpaden and Bobby Cruickshank (17-0), E.J. “Dutch” Harrison (18-0).

Modern era men’s wing (26): Davis Love III (20-1), Tony Lema (12-1), Ian Woosnam (29 European and 2 PGA Tour wins, 1 major), Mark O’Meara (16-2), Corey Pavin (15-1), David Graham (8-2), Fuzzy Zoeller (10-2), Tom Weiskopf (16-1), Dave Stockton (10-2), Doug Sanders (20-0), Hal Sutton and Art Wall Jr. (14-1), Mark Calcavecchia, George Archer and Craig Stadler (13-1), Paul Azinger and Bobby Nichols (12-1), Steve Elkington (10-1), Bob Goalby, Dow Finsterwald and Al Geiberger (11-1), Don January and John Mahaffey (10-1), Bruce Crampton (14-0), Jerry Pate (8-1), Tom Lehman (5-1)

Some great old names buried in there, Harvie Ward especially.