Sunday, Boring Sunday

It's as quiet a day in the golf world since I kicked off this journey, the only saving grace is the we have Kevin Na to kick around again.

• Caddus Interruptus - Before we get to Sha Na Na, I'll share this Tom Watson gem from this week's round-belly event:

Obviously the chip was moving at warp speed and hit the pin, otherwise it might not have stayed on the green.  Of course the caddy blocking us didn't know he was doing so, but couldn't they have cut back (even if only on a replay) to the camera behind Watson that caught the shot?

• Na Na Na Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye -  Is Kevin Na the slowest, most-annoying golfer on Tour?  With Glen "All" Day in career remission, I can't think of too many serious contenders, excluding Ben Crane, and at least he's funny.

Robert Garrigus had the misfortune to find himself in the last group yesterday and had to endure the inevitable Na-nsense.  Jeff Rude with the story:

An animated voice near the Valspar Championship scoring trailer pierced the quiet air and at least one pair of ears Saturday night. 

“It ain’t fair playing with Kevin Na,” said the voice, belonging to Robert Garrigus’ caddie, Brent Henley. “It ain’t fair.”

The veteran caddie would go on to say he thought Na’s slow pace got Garrigus out of his rhythm to the point “we felt like we were running.” Before that, Garrigus was running away on the scoreboard, having birdied three of his first five holes and getting to 10 under par for a four-stroke lead.

Garrigus was more gracious than his luggage-toter, as per this exchange: 

A few minutes later, after Garrigus did a television interview by the scoring trailer, Na asked the leader, “Did you rip me a new one?”

“No, man,” Garrigus said. “I gave you props. You’re way better now.”

A while later, in the interview room, Garrigus echoed that sentiment, saying Na is a “lot faster now,” never mind that he flinched and made a whiff-like swing over the ball before resetting a couple of times. Garrigus also downplayed the flow issue raised by his caddie, saying, “I got a little out of my rhythm, but it didn’t bother me that much.”

Let's see...."You're way better now" and "It didn't bother me that much."  I think there's an expression to cover such circumstances.

I don't pretend to know whether Na was actually a problem yesterday, as they played in 3 hours and 54 minutes, which doesn't sound horrible by Tour standards, and there were issues with groups ahead of them.  But here's the gist of the slow play issue:

Na also worried because another bad time in the round would have brought a one-stroke penalty. But lunar eclipses are more common. No PGA Tour player has received two bad times in a round and received the stroke penalty.

As an astute observer of human behavior, I can assure you that the players have drawn the logical conclusions from this draconian enforcement regime.  The two will be paired again in today's final round, but one would expect that Garrigus, not amongst the Tour's better closers, will be better prepared.

And for anyone that happened to be in a coma in May 2012, here's a short video of Na's antics on the tee, including his "whiffs," at the Players Championship.

 Shackelford's post from May 13, 2012 was updated to include the following excerpts:

Gene Wojciechowski's review:

The man who leads the so-called Fifth Major is harder to watch than a circumcision. At an IMAX theater. 

Kevin Na plays slow. He plays so slow that his five o'clock shadow doesn't show up until midnight. Glaciers ask him for his autograph. 

Did you see him Saturday during the third round of The Players Championship? He shot a 4-under-par 68, was one of only three players who didn't record a bogey and ended his day with a walk-in birdie on No. 18. 

It was an amazing performance, mostly because I never thought I'd see Charles Barkley Jr. take a one-shot lead into the final day of this tournament. 

Robert Lusetich's review: 

To put it mildly, it’s painful watching Na play golf.

Fingernails-down-a-chalkboard annoying.