Odds And Ends

Waiting out the biblical rains that are upon us, means I've got nothing but time on my hands.  I'm imagining that you, Dear Reader, are in the same boat (pun intended), and have nothing better to read.  So, let's dive in (I'm good with this pun thing, no?):

It's Called Saw-GRASS - We previously discussed the improved greens at Quail Hollow, this week's Tour venue.  Alas, the news from the following week's venue, TPC Sawgrass, Home of the Fifth of Four Majors™, isn't as good.  Rex Hoggard visited the site and filed this:

A little more than a week before the PGA Tour’s flagship event, at least five of the greens at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass are less than championship ready. 

Nos. 4, 9, 11, 12 and 14 were “negatively impacted by (a) misapplication of a product to help manage density and root development during the colder, winter period,” according to a memo that was posted on a Tour-players only website on March 27.

Must have been the fault of one of the 42 $500,000 per year VP's.  Back to Rex:

Nearly two weeks of warm, dry conditions have helped the greens recover, but the putting surfaces at Nos. 4, 9, 11 and 12 continue to show damage and the grass plugs used to replace turf.

Hoggard's photo of the 12th green with grass plugs clearly evident.

 Begay Recovering - Per Golf Channel:

NBC Sports and Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III suffered a heart attack last week in Dallas. 

Begay, 41, has a family history of heart disease and was taken to Methodist Hospital where cardiologist Dr. Mark Jenkins inserted a stent to unblock his right coronary artery. Because the procedure was performed quickly, Begay is expected to make a full recovery. He plans to resume his NBC and Golf Channel duties within a few weeks.

He would have covered all four days at The Players Championship, but it seems that that might be a bit too soon to see him back.

The entire staff here at Unplayable Lies wishes him a speedy recovery.

Anthony Kim, MIA - The Tour's return to Quail Hollow gets John Hawkins thinking about Anthony Kim in the current Hawk's Nest:

SIX YEARS HAVE now passed since Anthony Kim roared to the center of the universe as

golf’s Next Big Thing. A five-stroke victory over a premium field at Quail Hollow in May 2008 was as loud as arrivals get, and when Kim won the AT&T National nine weeks later, you couldn’t help but think America’s best player might be a 23-year-old kid of Asian descent and immense ability. 

Tiger Woods had just undergone knee surgery. Phil Mickelson hadn’t won a major title in 27 months, and besides, the game’s populace almost seemed desperate for a splash of fresh young blood. Kim made more big noise at the Ryder Cup that fall, partnering successfully with Mickelson before destroying Sergio Garcia in the first match of the Sunday singles. 

This week’s gathering at Quail Hollow also marks another anniversary – Kim hasn’t played a hole on the PGA Tour in precisely two years. He withdrew from the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship after a first-round 74, announced he was taking five months off because of tendinitis in his left arm, and then tore his Achilles while working out in San Diego about six weeks later. 

We haven’t seen him since.

Hawkins deals with the primary issue with AK, that he seems to have lived life a little too fully to hold up his end as a professional, i.e., he's John Daly with slightly more tasteful pants.  Hawkins speaks with Kim's agent and there isn't much to report, though he strongly rebuts that Kim was ever suspended from the Tour (again with the opaque Tour disciplinary policy).  But this close leaves little hope that AK will be back:

In search of something resembling context, I asked Jones if Kim was playing any golf, even recreationally. 

“No.”

Doesn’t sound like much of a comeback, if you ask me. “He’s not living under a bridge, he’s not living in a box,” Jones added. “I’m going to go see him [in Texas] in a few weeks, and at that point, I’ll get a better definition of where he stands.”

Sad, as I still vividly remember how he dusted Sergio in the first singles match on the course.

Dough For Ko - The International Olympic Committee is an international crime family masquerading as a sports organization.  In addition to the fact that the format will make it dreadfully boring and the quality of the field will render it insignificant, golf will end up sullied from its contact with these clowns.  That may sound strong, but think of the uncomfortable, no-win situation that Rory finds himself in, where either team he chooses to represent (Ireland or the U.K.) will offend half the population on his home island.

Now, here's another one for this category, as Lydia Ko has experienced incoming fire as John Strege explains at The Loop:

High Performance Sport New Zealand doles out government subsidies to elite athletes’ with

Olympic ambitions to help fund their Olympic pursuits. Last year, Ko, while still an amateur, reportedly received nearly $160,000 to support her golf pursuit, which included vast international travel. 

Now, Ko is a professional and already is earning substantial sums of money, including $505,212 on the LPGA this year, and another $166,000 in two tournaments she played after turning professional late in 2013. Endorsement income no doubt has pushed her earnings beyond $1 million in six months. 

New Zealand Golf, meanwhile, has applied to High Performance Sport NZ for another subsidy on behalf of Ko, one worth nearly $180,000, and it apparently has the organization’s blessing.

This is obviously ridiculous, but they shouldn't be subsidizing Olympic athletes in the first place, or at least not in sports where there's so much money available.

Stuff, a popular news website in New Zealand, has written that Ko is embarrassed by the entanglement, and a recent column by Tony Smith on the website carried the headline, “No need for more dough for Lydia Ko.”

I'm sure she is embarrassed, and her people should have turned off the spigot once she turned pro, but we'll see more of these stories in the next two years.

Athens Bad - And how are those Rio Olympic preparations coming along?  Well, Australia's ABC News shockingly reports of trouble in paradise, per these comments from John Coates, Australia' International Olympic Committee Vice President:

"In Athens, we were dealing with one government and some city responsibilities. Here, there's three. 

"There is little coordination between the federal, the state government and the city, which is responsible for a lot of the construction. 

"And this is against a city that's got social issues that also have to be addressed, a country that's also trying to deal with the FIFA World Cup coming up in a few months. 

"It's the worst that I've experienced."

 By all means, the future of our sport will be helped by these people.

Clever As A... - I've been critical of the awarding of the USGA television contract to Fox Sports, a network that has never televised golf.  One of the second order issues raised by both Joe Buck and your humble blogger was that the 2015 U.S. Open would be their first effort, what buck himself referred to as playing the Super Bowl as your first game.  But worry no more, as Ron Sirak fills us in:

Fox Sports said Wednesday it will air this year's Franklin Templeton Shootout, a 25-year-old unofficial stop hosted by Norman in December at Tiburon G.C. in Naples, Fla. 

Earlier this month, Fox said Norman would work as its lead analyst along side play-by-play man Joe Buck at four of the 15 USGA championships next year when the 12-year, $1.1 billion contract kicks in. Now it has one of the oldest and most prestigious Challenge Season events on its broadcast roster.

I'll wait until you've finished laughing at that last sentence...  In other news, I'm the tallest member of my family, but that doesn't make me, you know, tall.

This actually makes sense, though Norman of course usually plays in the event.  But this piece is basically a copy-and-paste of the Fox press release, and in no way is a major get for Fox.

LPGA Rising - Folks are picking up on the fact that the LPGA has finally had a few good weeks, and we still have Pinuhurst ahead of us.  Alex Myers, in his weekly feature The Grind, has the LPGA on his buy list:

Speaking of young, promising winners, how about this run by the LPGA? First, Lexi Thompson wins the year's first major, then Michelle Wie ends a long winless drought and now Ko wins again. That's three wins in a row by three potential superstars who are a combined age of 60. No wonder LPGA commissioner Mike Whan looks so happy -- even when he's wearing a skirt.

That last sentence refers to this:

Forget the kilt, what's that around her neck?

I'm proposing WiKiLex for the last three winners?  You got anything else?

The guys at my afvorite acronym, SIG+D have also woken up to the LPGA roll, with a nice feature that can be found here.  The cover is in the screen grab below:

In other LPGA news, we had some fun with Lexi Thompson's first pitch at a baseball game a few eeks ago, though I'll remind you that the best part was that Lexi herself had fun with it.  A couple of the gals headed to Candlestick from Lake Merced last week, and had a new spin on the traditional first pitch:

Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer with the traditional first chips.

As I've previously admitted, I have a soft spot for the LPGA and keep hoping that they'll get their act together.  This feels much like the time before Carolyn Bivens almost destroyed their tour, when suddenly Wie, Creamer, Pressel and other young talent suddenly burst on the scene.  It will be interesting to see how they grab defeat from the jaws of victory this time.

Don't Try This At Home, Folks - This was the highlight video from New Orleans, though it appeared for a bit that the Tour bigwigs didn't want us to see it.  It's John Peterson helping out playing partner James Driscoll in a most unusual manner:

If it makes you feel any better, Peterson is from Louisiana so perhaps he knows how to handle such critters.  But he failed to make the cut, proving once again the absence of a benevolent creator.

Weekly Q & A

The Sports Illustrated gang is back at it, the "it" being their Tour Confidential thing.  Let's drop in and make sure they give Lydia her due...

1. Zurich Classic winner Seung-Yul Noh wowed golf fans with his beautiful swing this week in New Orleans. Who has your favorite swing among under-age-30 players right now?

Michael Bamberger: Oh, it's not even a debate: Rory. One of the most dynamic swings ever. Could watch

it all day.

Mike Walker: McIlroy’s swing is my favorite because it’s so expressive. Nobody else could swing like him. 

Jeff Ritter: I'll go with the only swing in that age group that holds multiple majors: Rory McIlroy's.

Joe Passov: How old is Adam Scott? OK, if we're talking young folks, I'll still take Rory McIlroy -- effortless power, like Sam Snead's. Two years ago, I thought Korea's Sang-Moon Bae was the next big thing, with a similarly graceful, yet thunderous move, but he's not there yet.

MY TAKE: It's hard to believe, but Joe's man-crush on Adam Scott might be more embarrassing than my inappropriate feelings towards Lydia Ko.  This is our first unanimous verdict since we've been doing this Q&A thing, and the amazing thing is they're all wrong.  Pretty swings are overrated... what matters is if they repeat and hold up under pressure.  And except for McIlroy, where the evidence is mixed, the other young guns are essentially untested.

2. With Keegan Bradley and oft-injured Paul Casey in the hunt at Zurich last week, it brings to mind the question, who is the biggest underachiever on Tour?

BAMBEGER: Is Fred still considered on Tour? Couples certainly had the talent to win 25 or more times. Why he didn't I don't know, but he didn't.

GARY VAN SICKLE: I wouldn't call him an underachiever, perhaps, but I sure thought Ian Poulter would have piled up a lot more wins by now and maybe a major or two. He still may.

RITTER: I'd probably look at the tried-and-true "Best Without a Major" list for the guys who haven't delivered on their potential. Westwood and Donald are former No 1s, so they're off the board as underachievers. I'd probably take Sergio, who had (and still has) top-10 talent but never really arrived as an elite player.

PASSOV: After the star power Keegan Bradley showed in '11 and '12, I'm pretty shocked how his results have plummeted. Great emotions, great for the game -- not sure what's happened. I could say Bubba Watson. Only six wins with that talent? That said, I'm not going there with Bubba. Two Masters is two Masters. My pick? Dustin Johnson. I know he's won his share, but he brings so much game, he ought to be a favorite every time he tees it up.

WALKER: Hard to call a major champion an underachiever, but Louis Oosthuizen’s talent has not translated into as many wins as you would think by now.

MY TAKE: Joe Passov is the Donald Trump of this feature, the gift that keeps on giving.  Bubba?  Two weeks after he wins his second Masters in three years and he's underachieved?  Even before reading his answer my first thought was the very object of his bromance, Adam Scott.  Only one major with that swing?

3. Tiger Woods plans to return to the Tour sometime this summer, according to his agent Mark Steinberg, which will leave him little time to accumulate Ryder Cup qualifying points. Is a healthy Tiger Woods an automatic captain's pick for the 2014 Ryder Cup team, regardless of qualifying points? Should he be?

CAMERON MORFIT: If I'm the captain I tell him not to worry about it, because it's way better for golf if

he just writes this year off and then comes back strong in 2015.

WALKER: Of course he will and should get the nod for Gleneagles. The Ryder Cup is an exhibition -- a spirited one -- but it’s an exhibition.

BAMBERGER: If Woods is healthy, he should be an automatic pick if TV ratings are your highest priority. If you are interested in winning, which I assume Watson is, I would consider Woods right alongside other players who are winning this year, playing well when they are not and making a high percentage of short putts in pressure situations. In other words, there are potentially players who can help you more than Tiger Woods.

VAN SICKLE: There are a million variables, but it would hardly be fair to Tiger to throw him into the Ryder Cup if he's healthy and has played in only, say, one or two events. Unless, of course, he were to win those events. I'd tell Tiger it's his call -- if he feels ready, he's on the team. If not, that's OK, too.

PASSOV: Unless he's on crutches, Tiger should be a Ryder Cup pick, period.

MY TAKE: This is indeed the proverbial sticky wicket for Tom Watson, but there's really not much any of us can add to this right now.  Even with his poor track record in the event, you'd obviously take him over No. 13 on the list in a heartbeat, assuming he's healthy and reasonably on form.  But those last two assumptions are the crux of the matter...  What's interesting to me is that Watson has called out Woods on his deportment, and they are not terribly fond of each other as a result.  One thing I know for sure, you don't want Tiger if Tiger doesn't want to be there.  On the other hand, if the U.S. somehow pulled it out without him for the second time, that would undoubtedly piss Tiger off royally.  

4. A familiar name was near the top of the Zurich Classic leaderboard on Thursday: former No. 1 player in the world David Duval. A few years ago, Men’s Journal published a profile titled “What the Hell Happened to David Duval?” So, what happened?
PASSOV: He's guilty of being a deep thinker -- too deep. He worked his butt off, reached the summit and said, "Is that all there is?" A few injuries, body changes (workout regime) and attitude took their toll. Happens in every sport. Some guys come back stronger than ever, some never get it back.

BAMBERGER: He was playing golf with a body-type that was not his natural physique. That can't last for too long. He had some unusual fundamentals. But more than anything, being the best in the world didn't seem to do anything for him. It didn't seem to make him a happier or more satisfied person. And if that's correct, what would be the motivation in continuing to work so hard when Nike is paying you millions?

WALKER: Tiger Woods happened. Duval had to deal with injuries, and he was never able to get his game back mentally to challenge Woods at the height of his powers. That was a tall order even for Ernie Els and Vijay Singh.

VAN SICKLE: I think a back injury happened to Duval. His swing and his game, and therefore his interest level, was never the same. Also, life happened to him. He's got a family, kids -- he's had a very good last decade.

MORFIT: He won a major, the 2001 British Open, and realized it wasn't the end all, be all of human existence, like he'd been led to believe. He lost too much weight too quickly. He blew out his back. He got diagnosed with vertigo. He grooved a two-way miss with the driver. He got married and realized he actually kind of enjoyed having a life. Other than that, nothing much.

MY TAKE: Joe, you're just slaying me here.  Duval a deep thinker?  That's rich...  One of the things that makes our game so interesting, but maddening, is that the line between greatness and mediocrity is so blurred.  I always found Duval's grip excessively strong and his ball flight a tad low for the modern game, so I'm not completely shocked.  But the freefall from best in the world to has-been is always shocking.

5. Lydia Ko had a great week. She won the LPGA’s Swinging Skirts event and was named to TIME's 100 Most Influential list along with such heady company as Pope Francis, Hillary Clinton and Beyonce. Whom do you think will have the most influence on the game in the next 10 years?

RITTER: Rory and Spieth are tempting, but instead I'll borrow what TIME Magazine did for their Person of the Year in 2006 and say the most influential will be You. Will you still play this game? Will you watch it? Talk about it? Read about it? It's the collective power of the consumers, fans and recreational players who have the most power to determine what the game looks like in 10 years.

MORFIT: I might not have said this a month ago, but Rickie Fowler might sneak in there and have a big impact. He's showed me something with this new Butch Harmon swing of his, contending at the Masters before finishing T5. And Fowler is doing a lot to make golf look cool by doing all this extreme stuff with the Red Bull people. Just watching him in that aerial acrobatics plane almost made me sick.

BAMBERGER: Some kid in China whose name we don't know yet.

WALKER: I don’t know if he’ll have the most influence, but I think President Obama will be an effective ambassador for the game after he leaves office. Sounds like a great bipartisan project for him and George W. Bush.

PASSOV: It won't be Lydia Ko, though congrats to her for this honor. Big crop of candidates out there, but unless he's on crutches for the next 10 years, the most influential person in golf will still be Tiger Woods.

VAN SICKLE: Yeah, Lydia Ko belongs with the Pope and Hillary on a list of most influential people. Are you kidding me?

MY TAKE: This is your Lydia question?  Geez, I agree with Van Sickle that the Time Magazine thing was so ridiculous as to be insulting, like they were trying to check boxes.  But it's not her fault, and I'm guessing she's as puzzled by it as we are...  Obviously women's golf struggles for attention against the men's game (as well as other sports), but the girl is barely 17 and is simply amazing.  Doesn't her win deserve one question that lets the writers fawn over her?

6. Zurich draws an OK field on an OK golf course, but the host city, New Orleans, is one fun spot. What is the best destination on Tour for restaurants, nightlife and other distractions?

VAN SICKLE: Scottsdale. You don't have to leave the tournament to party -- you can go to the 16th hole or to the after-party there at the Bird's Nests. If you do leave, Scottsdale has plenty of lively hot spots. And there's always the Tilted Kilt right by the TPC Scottsdale.

PASSOV: Phoenix/Scottsdale is the best Tour destination for the fun off-course stuff, but since I live there, maybe I'm biased. Let's go with Las Vegas, New York and N'awlins, in that order.

MORFIT: My sleeper pick here is the McGladrey. Southern Soul BBQ is one of the absolute can't-miss restaurants on Tour, and there's a pretty mellow vibe at St. Simons Island, plus great beaches.

RITTER: Depends on what you look for in your "distractions." My favorites are found in Kapalua.

WALKER: Riviera is my favorite tournament to attend. Incredible course in a very cool area of Los Angeles.

BAMBERGER: I think the players have very little interest in restaurants, nightlife and distractions, but I would put New Orleans high on the list.  Also Honolulu, Chicago and Los Angeles, with Ponte Vedra bringing up the rear.

MY TAKE: I don't have any contribution to make here, but will second Mike's assessment of Ponte Vedra.

The Quail Deal

Anyone remember the condition of Quail Hollow last year at this time?  Bueller?  It was so bad we were treated to this installment of "These Guys Are Good™:

And they really are...Jeff Shain files this report on the state of Quail Hollow at PGATour.com:

As fate would have it, an unseasonably cool summer greeted Quail Hollow Club’s conversion to bermudagrass greens. 

“It was a great bentgrass summer,” superintendent Chris Deariso deadpanned. 

Bentgrass, you’ll recall, was the old strain taken out after weather extremes left the greens on life support at last year’s Wells Fargo Championship. Who says Mother Nature doesn’t have a sense of humor? 

Alas, the new MiniVerde Ultradwarf putting surfaces aren’t quite as mature as officials would have hoped for this week’s event. But it’s a dilemma Deariso and his staff are better equipped to handle as the PGA TOUR makes its annual stop.

I once dated a MiniVerde Ultradwarf in college, but that's not important now.

It's not only the greens that are new, as Steve DiMeglio reports:

But the biggest difference can be seen at the lengthened and toughened Green Mile, the three closing holes that got its nickname from the 1999 prison movie starring Tom Hanks. While there is no last walk death-row inmates take, the 1,222-yard stretch from the 16th tee through the 18th green is an exacting march that will test the players' mettle. 

"I can't think of three holes in golf, including majors, where there are tougher finishing holes than these," local resident, Quail member and former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson said.

Well, they are as tough as they have ever been – and longer than they have ever been. Last year, the par-4 16th, par-3 17th and par-4 18th played out to 1,175 yards. This year, the 16th can be stretched to 508 yards, the 17th to 221 yards and the 18th to 493 yards, making the stretch 1,222 yards of nasty.

When did they pass the law requiring every golf course to have a finishing stretch of backbreaking holes with a cutesy nickname?  Enough already, no?

I understand why a golf course in Charlotte needs to have bermuda greens and also why the PGA Tour has an event in Charlotte.  What escapes me is why you'd take a PGA Championship there.

Here's Webb Simpson's (a member at Quail Hollow) assessment of the new 17th:

At the 17th, with the new tee, the angle of the tee shot has been changed. In the past, the angles came from the right and the left; now it's a straightforward shot to the green that slopes toward the water. 

"No. 17 is extremely long," Simpson said. "I've been hitting 4‑iron or hybrid it seems like every day. … If we play it back, the tournament's going to need to hire someone permanently to stand on the tee and every time somebody hits just yell, 'Fore,' because people will go right of the green. I just think that (back) tee is so long for such a hard hole that you just have to have the right conditions to put the tees all the way back there. So it definitely favors the guys who hit it longer and higher."

This is in addition to the greens being much firmer, sounds like a bit much.  Simpson predicted a score in single-digits under par, but then we've heard that before, haven't we? 

Trump Top-Up

For a fledgling blogger such as my own self, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving...  It's just too much damn fun to be legal.

His purchase of Turnberry keeps generating new story lines, and offends all the right people.  Let's dive in, shall we?  First up is this Scotsman article (h/t Shackelford) on the purchase of Turnberry, raising an issue as to the thoroughness of The Donald's due diligence efforts:

However it emerged earlier today that a Marine Scotland report has identified a potential site on the seabed close to the prestigious course where offshore turbines could be installed.

The document details the potential wind farm, a 116-square mile area, just 3.5 miles from the shoreline at Turnberry.

Uh uh, here we go again.  Back to the Scotsman:

Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s energy minister, last night said proposals for a wind farm off Turnberry had been “removed” from current planning guidance – but refused to rule out the prospect of such a development in the future. 

Murdo Fraser MSP, chair of Holyrood’s energy committee, last night suggested that news of a potential wind farm could put Trump off. 

Mr. Fraser said: “Given Mr Trump’s aggressive opposition to the project off his Menie resort, it’s hard to imagine him pursuing this while the possibility of offshore wind remains.

“It’s another example of the Scottish Government’s gung-ho approach to turbines potentially costing jobs and investment.”

Murdo?  Wasn't he the Corleone brother gunned down at the toll plaza?   But I digress...  I don't particularly blame Trump for hating the turbines, they're quite an eyesore, louder than people realize and the energy produced is far more expensive that from conventional sources.  But he's put himself in the position of being an easy target, hasn't he?

James Corrigan broke the news of Trump's purchase of Turnberry, and follows up with this provocative piece (h/t Maggot) comparing Trump to the horror that is all-male clubs:

The horror which greeted Telegraph Sport’s exclusive revelation that Donald Trump is in the process of buying Turnberry was akin to the reaction which would be inspired by a Peter Stringfellow purchase of the Sistine Chapel or Simon Cowell wresting control of the London Philharmonic.

I don't have a clue who this Stringfellow guy is, but is the Sistine Chapel on the market?  Corrigan continues:

Trump is not waving £35m in front of a down-at-heel Scottish clan who have for centuries owned that piece of land overlooking the Firth of Clyde. He is not waving his wad in front of the Turnberry members. Trump is not even securing the resort off some greedy local council, in the manner of a property developer sending their bulldozers on to school playing fields.

Trump is buying it off Dubai.

As far as I can deduce, Trump has yet to imprison a woman for reporting a rape. Yet he does have a funny comb-over.

James, it's probably better for all concerned if you don't get me started on the combover...

Which brings us on to the thought of Trump lording it over an Open Championship at

Turnberry, probably some time in the next eight years. 

No, it is not the most desirable of images, Trump arriving in his helicopter, “The Donald”, as the world’s best do battle on the iconic links. But I’d take that over the sight of snooty members at male-only membership venues such as Muirfield continuing to ruin the game’s image.

I'm not quite as offended by James by the all-male clubs, but are these really our only two choices?

Do read the Corrigan piece because he gives Trump appropriate props for sprucing up places like Doral, and for hiring well-respected architects (Gil Hanse, Martin Hawtree).  No doubt Doral is the better for Trump's investment, but at a price tag beyond the reach of most mere mortals.  

My gripe with the gripes about membership policies, is that the solution tends to not be remarkably different than the status quo ante.  Take Augusta National as an example.  Two remarkably well-connected women, Condi Rice and Darla Moore, who had no issues being invited to play, now have green jackets in their lockers and the ANGC grand poo-bahs are suddenly accepted in polite society.  How that increases access to golf for women or improves their lot in life is lost on me.  

The second item in Corrigan's piece is actually the more devastating than the lede.  Royal Troon has justified it's all-male membership with this:

The latter sought to distance itself from the debate by pointing 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”.

For those shocked to find that there's gambling  in Casablanca, you'll be thoroughly disillusioned to learn that the ladies' access to the Postage Stamp is quite limited, as per this highly-ranked young amateur:

Jaffrey told the Scotsman: “They’re quite tight on the rules so I only get to play it a couple of times a year. I don’t even get to use the practice putting green, which is unfortunate.”

Yes, you could be polite like Ms Jaffrey and call it “unfortunate”. Or you could call it an utter disgrace and hold it up as everything that is wrong about golf in this country.

But let's focus on what's really important here.  Every time Trump is in the news, it provides the opportunity for me to post this picture:

 Not to mention this one:

The Trump Tempest

My morning started with this depressing post from Shackelford at The Loop, speculating on The Donald hosting all three rotating majors over a short period.  Obviously he's conceding an Open Championship on Turnberry's Ailsa, but what about the others?

Meanwhile, the United States Golf Association is taking the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open to

Driving towards major dominance?

Trump Bedminster, 36-holes of private golf only six miles from USGA headquarters in Far Hills, New Jersey. This is also an audition for the U.S. Open, an event the USGA would enjoy bringing to its neighborhood and to a course where some of their higher-ups have lockers. The first available U.S. Open date comes in 2022 (Torrey Pines hosts the prior year). Penciling in Trump Bedminster as a legitimate option for 2023.

Then there’s the PGA of America. In 2020 they have a major scheduling conflict with the Summer Olympic Games, a nightmare scenario we’ll see play out in 2016 when the calendar is stuffed full of major events and the lesser-known baggage arriving with golf in the Olympics (sponsor blackout periods for players, to begin with). Ideally the PGA of America will use this as an opportunity to take the event abroad in early spring after the NFL season and to a golf-loving country like Australia. But should that scenario seem too daunting, a PGA Championship in early March opens up the possibility of Florida. Only one course has the design, location, cache and space to handle a spring PGA: Trump National Doral.

OK, I feel a little better since that's all he's got.  Let's unpack each of these, shall we?

As for our Open, Bedminster is a fine club, though of course with all the expected Trump excesses, from the Trump-branded bottled water to the plaques and trophies everywhere bearing the name of Baron Trump.  Yes, he named a son Baron.  But probably the most over-the top feature is that Bedminster's club features an Old and New Course, the Old dating all the way back to circa 2004.

The Old is a fine Tom Fazio track, though not one that immediately screamed U.S. Open to me.   But if holding home game U.S. Opens was a high priority, wouldn't they have exerted more effort to keep Baltusrol in their rota?  The Women's Open is a hard sell for the USGA, so it typically involves a wink and a nod about a U.S. Open, though the Amateur is a better fit for seeing how the course will really play for the big sticks.  And the issue, as always, is whether the USGA wants to share the stage with Trump... my guess remains that having pocketed the Fox television contract dollars, this is one indignity they can avoid.

As for Shack's thinking on Glory's Last Chance™, there goes that brilliant marketing campaign.  The thing about the PGA of America is that, well, Ted Bishop does a lot of talking, but it is The PGA of AMERICA, and I'm really skeptical of plans to take their premiere event overseas.  And, by the way, does that include the 20 club pros?  

Turnberry's iconic lighthouse, with a portion of Ailsa Craig on right.

Shack is spot on about the scheduling issues, as it's quite difficult to fit the PGA, Bridgestone WGC, four weeks of the FedEx playoffs and the Olympics into the allotted time frame.  The problem was solved for 2016 by moving the PGA, to be held at Baltusrol, into late July, barely two weeks after the Open Championship.  The sad part of all this is that we're jerking around the schedule for events that matter, to allow maybe thirty world-class players to participate in an event that will be a pebble so small and insignificant we won't notice the ripples in the water.

But even the major that he has, he doesn't have as of now, as Turnberry has not been awarded a future Open Championship.  Joe Passov confirms in a conversation with Trump that the deal for Turnberry Resort is real, for consideration of £35 million ($59 million).  The Donald had this to say to Passov about the opportunity:

“Some of the greatest championships in the history of golf have taken place at Turnberry,” Trump said. “And the golf course itself is considered one of the greatest in the world. Some rate it as the best in the world. I’m not going to touch a thing unless the Royal and Ancient ask for it or approve it. I have the greatest respect for the R&A and for Peter Dawson. I won’t do anything to the golf course at all without their full stamp of approval.”

Not the usual bluster from the Mouth that Roared, wouldn't you agree?  Though it is as factually challenged as is typical, exactly one of the greatest championships can be remotely attributed to Turnberry (the 1977 Duel in the Sun between Jack and Tom Watson), and I'll venture that Turnberry has never topped a greatest golf course list, at least one admissible in polite society.  The other Opens there have been middling affairs at best, and the R&A stayed away for 16 years between the most recent Turnberry Opens.

I'm not in position to know the status of any discussions between the R&A and the resort, and at the very least there's no membership policy issues to deal with.  But the resort is quite isolated, some thirty-five miles down the coast from Troon, and its typically the Open venue with the lowest attendance.  It's not a stretch to call it the most vulnerable of the nine courses in the rota (excluding membership policy issues), and the R&A could logically find it not worth the bother.  And I suspect that the unusually solicitous language from Trump indicates his agreement with that premise.

Knickerbocker Knews

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending my first meeting of The Metropolitan Golf Writers Association, and by meeting I of course mean golf outing.  My thanks to former Willow Ridge member Yale Stogel, who was kind enough to sponsor me for membership.

Yesterday's event was at Knieckerbocker Country Club in Tenafly, NJ, the MGA's Club of the Year in honor of their centennial.  The club was founded in 1914 with a nine-hole Donald Ross layout, however the club history gets a little vague thereafter.  The club's scorecard lists only Ross, though Herbert Strong was at one point credited with their third nine.  Strong is best known for his Engineer's Country Club on Long Island, and the similarity in the greens was notable to this observer.  But Geoffrey Cornish "repositioned" the course in the early 1970's, and since I've little clue as to what that term means we'll leave the architectural timeline as uncertain.

Dave Anderson addressing the MGWU.  The Post's Mark Cannizzaro is on the left.

Long-time New York Times sportswriter Dave Anderson, a Knickerbocker member, was the featured speaker and provided the history of the club.  Anderson seems like a man you could happily spend hours with listening to his stories, a warm and inviting presence.  In fact my favorite moment might have been watching Anderson rolling his eyes as if to say "Must you?" as the emcee recited his writing credits, which include one of only two Pulitzers awarded to sportswriters.

Anderson told several engaging stories, including the first golf event he covered, the old Palm Beach Round Robin at Wykagyl Country Club in 1950, held the week after Hogan's historic win in the U.S. Open at Merion.  It was won that year by Lloyd Mangrum (who Anderson tells us called everyone "Pro"), who had lost to Hogan in the Merion playoff after being assessed a two-shot penalty on the 16th green for cleaning his ball.

Anderson also told how the Masters was his least favorite golf event to cover, as it's the one event that didn't provide credentials allowing reporters inside the ropes.  But perhaps the most affecting story he told was about his wife, who took up golf at some late date and accordingly wasn't especially skilled.  He described her game as being 3-wood-centric, a club she would use from tee to within twenty yards of the green.  When he asked her how she could use a 3-wood from twenty yards, she admitted that "She took a little off it."  Very sweet.

Bridgestone Mission Control

Bridgestone helped sponsor the event, and conducted a ball fitting by the range.  Your humble blogger was fitted into their B330RX, which allegedly gave me a couple of extra yards despite slightly slower club head speed.  

Most disappointing was that fact that they were all business, as they turned down my whispered offer of an extra $10 if they'd spec Yale into their Lady Precept.

Bridgestone's Director of Marketing Corey Consuegra also gave a presentation on their golf ball technology and marketing, both more interesting than one might guess.  They've grabbed about 12% of the market which puts them in second place ahead of TaylorMade, Callaway and Srixon.

The twelfth hole at KCC.  

But the highlight of the day was the golf course, a delightful track that you'd be delighted to play every week.  Like most courses from that era it's not long, 6,700 yards from the tips, but it's the greens that had everyone muttering to themselves.  They were running just under 12 on the stimpmeter, with no shortage of contours to keep you on your game.  And they were simply perfect!  Not a blemish on them, firm and fast beyond belief for so early in the season.  The greens weren't large by any stretch, but each seemed well-designed to offer a variety of interesting pin locations, such as would change the strategy for the approach shots if not the drives.

Next up for those drawing the tough duty of the MGWA is Bethpage Black in late May.

Noh And Ko

Things work out in strange ways sometimes...

On Sunday, we had theater tickets with Al Z., proofreader to the stars, and his wife Leslie.  We were to see The Velocity of Autumn, featuring Estelle Parsons and Steven Spinella.  The former is a longtime fave of Theresa, and the latter Theresa studied and worked with back in her artistic days.  When we arrived we discovered that Parsons would not be performing, took that as an opportunity to recoup our cost for a show that had been poorly received, and had dinner at 3:00, early even by my standards.

The significance of the above is that we arrive home by about 5:15 p.m., allowing me to see the entire Golf Channel coverage of the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, featuring an anticipated final round shootout between Stacy Lewis and girlfriend Lydia Ko, for whom my inappropriate affection was previously shared here.  

Actually we arrived home in time to see the end of the men's event from New Orleans.  While the event held little drama, I would have liked to see a bit more of Seung-Yul Noh's shotmaking.  From Matthew Ruddy's post at The Loop:

Blustery winds and a final-group pairing with a major champion conspired to take away 22-

year-old Seung-Yul Noh's chance to win his first PGA Tour title.

"He really showed his shotmaking ability there," says Top 50 teacher Brian Manzella, whose academy is based at nearby English Turn G. & C.C.

"That's a tricky, short par-4 with a pin cut close to all the water and the alligators that live there. He played a low, boring tee shot with a long iron well away from the fairway bunker, and it rolled out for miles. Then he picked the perfect shot for the wind, knocking down a short iron and going right at it."

You know it's a second tier event when the shower  is Bud-Lite.

From the little I saw, he seemed to hit those stingers with every club in the bag.  He might be a worthy fantasy pick for Hoylake, but more importantly if you can play in the wind, you can play, full stop.

But my real pleasure was in watching the action from the ladies' event, from beautiful Lake Merced.  That's a club that's a bit below the radar as compared to its more famous neighbors, but proved to be a wonderful choice of venues.  The West Coast location also provided for evening television coverage, which has to be a good fit for the LPGA.  

Lewis and Lydia put on quite the show, and Jenny Shin  got her self into the act as well.  As I've noted before, Lydia seems possessed of an almost unnatural calm, and we'd be hard-pressed to identify a more important asset for a professional golfer.  Well, there's soft hands and an uncanny short game, but then she's got that as well. doesn't she.

Lewis and Ko played together all four days, and they clearly both benefited from the pairing.  And we all benefited from the pairing as well, as the mutual respect and appreciation came through, from the mini-fist bumps to the smiles, and at least for the first three days they conducted their post-round pressers together.  

What was perhaps most interesting about the final round was watching them both struggle with their games.  Ko had the worst of it early, but had time to regroup, and salvaged her round with some dramatic short-game wizardry.  

It all culminated with a great exchange on the finishing hole, after Lewis stuck her third shot within about four feet.  Ko had made an unfortunate mistake on her lay-up, running it through the fairway into what looked like a thick lie.  But she calmly (there's that word again) stuck her wedge six feet under the hole, and drilled her putt into the exact center of the cup.

Much has been made of Lydia's caddie tryouts, such as here and here.  

Along the way, while showing impressive poise, she quickly developed a habit for changing

Ko with looper-du jour Jojola.

caddies as often as most people change clothes. She started 2014 with Scott Lubin, then switched to Mark Wallington, then hired Steve Kay. For the final round of last week’s tournament in Hawaii, Ko’s dad, Hong, replaced Kay. 

This week, she hired a local caddie in Domingo Jojola. He’s a former USF golfer and longtime junior member at Lake Merced, so he knows the course well. Jojola and Ko worked together two years ago, when she played in the U.S. Girls Junior at the club.

This was obviously a situation in which, especially in the absence of a permanent caddie on her bag, Lydia was well-served by a caddie with great familiarity with a new venue.  But I wonder if this concern about parental control (can you say B.J. Wie?) has any basis in fact, as Lydia's family ahs not seemed to have  particularly strong on Tour:

It’s a slippery slope Ko is traversing here, especially amid chatter about heavy parental involvement in the revolving door of caddies. 

“I never really hired a caddie saying I wanted to go with that person for a whole year,” Ko said. “I don’t know what it’s like out here and I don’t know the majority of the courses. … I think it’ll take time to find somebody who will suit me.”

 I don't mind her swapping caddies every week, I'll get concerned only when I see her changing to more stylish eyeglasses.

You've Been Trumped, Again

You've Been Trumped, the award-winning British documentary that chronicled Trumps purchase and

building of the "Greatest Golf Course in the World," is due for a sequel.  How's that for ruining your breakfast?

James Corrigan has the story in the Telegraph:

The Open Championship will not have seen anything quite like it. Donald Trump, the controversial billionaire property developer, is set to buy himself a piece of golf’s most historic tournament with a £35 million deal for Turnberry expected to be finalised soon.

The revered South Ayrshire course, which is almost guaranteed to host its fifth Open in the next decade, is currently owned by Leisurecorp, a subsidiary of the Dubai government, and has been unofficially up for sale since the global financial downturn hit the emirate so hard.

Dubai bought the resort – which includes two other courses as well as a golf academy, a five-star hotel and lodge and cottage accommodations – for £52 million and when Tom Watson almost won the following year’s Open there, bringing yet more exposure to the layout on the rugged coastline overlooking the Firth of Clyde, it seemed good business.

Yet Trump is ready to increase his ever-expanding golfing empire – which currently stands at 16 resorts – by paying almost £17 million less than the Sheikhs at the same time as earning himself a place at the heart of the game’s establishment. “The deal is not done yet, but it should be soon,” a source said on Sunday.

The jokes write themselves.  Just to review some very recent history, Trump completed the aforementioned "Greatest Golf Course in the the World," a/k/a/ The Trump International Links, on the Aberdeenshire Coast.  Per Corrigan:

The flamboyant 67-year-old, with his trademark quiff and outspoken opinions, will doubtless flaunt his acquisition in front of the Scottish parliament, particularly the First Minister, Alex Salmond. Since building the Trump International Links on the Menie Estate perched on the Aberdeenshire coast, he has waged a public battle against the building of offshore wind turbines which he claims are a blight on the views from his, and other courses. 

Although that particular links, which Trump claims to be the “best course in the world”, has opened, the turbine row has seen him suspend the construction of a proposed 450-bedroom hotel, conference facilities and residential developments. Trump considered taking legal action when You’ve Been Trumped, a British-made documentary which focused on some of the disgruntled long-term residents by that beach in Balmedie, was released in 2011.

Wikipedia defines a quiff as a hairstyle that combines the 1950s pompadour hairstyle, the 50s flattop, and sometimes a mohawk. The etymology of the word is uncertain but may derive from the French word "coiffe" which can mean either a hairstyle or, going further back, the mail knights wore over their heads and under their helmets. The hairstyle was a staple in the British 'Teddy Boy' movement, but became popular again in Europe in the early 1980s and is currently facing a resurgence in popularity.

I'm not sure what this is, though we can likely rule out a Mohawk.

Maybe I've lost the plot, but I thought it was Trump's purchase of Donnbeg, a resort that's, you know, in another country, that was his "Up Yours" to First Minister Salmond.  There was this threat:

In an interview with the Telegraph last month, Trump vowed not to make any more investments in Scotland until the turbine project is shelved.

 Isn't he just asking fir a wind turbine project on the West Coast?  

Shackelford files his post on the subject from atop the grassy knoll, tying this item to Peter Dawson's surprise retirement notice as well the recent rumors of taking the Open Championship to Royal Portrush.  The jokes do write themselves, as we know The Donald lusts after an Open Championship for his Aberdeen links, though we can be equally assured that the R&A recoils in horror at sharing the stage with him.

But, as Shack notes, Turnberry has not as of now been awarded another Open Championship.  In fact, The R&A has not awarded any Opens past 2016 (Royal Troon), and Turnberry is the most logistically-challenging location for the Open and, as wonderful as the middle stretch of holes are, the openign and closing holes are quite pedestrian.  It could be that we've seen our last Open there.

He comes in peace.  It's just that he has to kiss and make up with many folks in Scotland.

This and That

Just a few miscellaneous items to throw at you today.

British Pathé - As if bloggers had any more time to waste, British Pathé has put its archive of 85,000 newsreels up on YouTube, and there's many devoted to golf.  Shackelford went for the highbrow stuff, the golfer with no arms and the like.

Their main channel page is here, including most watched videos such as the Hindenburg disaster and the ten-stone baby teased with chocolate.  The golf search listing is here, heavy on Open Championships and British Amateurs.

Picking virtually at random, here's a newsreel from the 1927 Open Championship at the Old Course.   Lots of brolleys sold that week, as you can readily see.  Bobby Jones was the big draw that week, winning his second Open by six shots:

And her's a longer one from the 1952 Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne, featuring Henry Cotton and Bobby Locke:



Good stuff.

Non-Schedule Update - He's now apparently ahead of schedule, though of course there's still no schedule.

Tiger in happier times, with the last of his Claret Jugs.

 But Matt Newman informs us that Golf Channel is now pointing for Tiger to return in time for the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, more familiarly known as Hoylake, in mid-July.  No doubt Tiger has great memories of the place, winning his last Open there in 2006.  But he's most unlikely to recognize the place, as it was as hard-baked as you'll ever find it that summer, so much so that Tiger hit one driver in 72 holes (and that was a mistake).

Open Championship weather being what it is, I've thought a return there would be unlikely and perhaps ill-advised.

And since we're sort of talking Hoylake, Allister Tait filed this report on the Open venue:

The world’s elite will find very little change when they turn up for the 143rd running of the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. The R&A has added just 54 yards to the course Tiger Woods tamed in 2006.

The biggest change comes at the par-4 seventh hole. It measures 480 yards, 27 yards longer than it played in 2006. “It will be a formidable par four,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said

So, no Peter Dawson "Treatment" for this venerable club, hosting it's elenth Open Championship.  The only substantial change, as previously reported here, is this:

The only other significant course change comes at the par-4 first hole. The green has been reshaped and rebunkered. 

“It’s the hardest opening hole on the Open rota,” Dawson said.

Not necessarily the most competitive category, though I would think that the first at Royal St. Georges would be the holder of that dubious honor.

 Hard To Conclude It's Helping Him- Sometimes good ideas don't get their due when conveyed by imperfect messengers.  And if the subject is golf, it's hard to think of a less perfect messenger than David Duval, a man whose pact with the devil lapses when he was still a young man.  John Strege reports on Duval's unique practice routine:

He walks his rounds at home, carrying a nine-club set specially made that doesn't necessarily coincide with the complete set he uses in competition.

“I’m carrying a limited set of clubs,” he said, “so I have the challenge of having to hit golf shots.”

Strege consults Jason Guss, who in 2013 was named Michigan Golf Instructor of the year, who had this to say:

Guss said further that there’s a lesson there for the recreational golfer, too. Think having to hit a shot calling for an 8-iron when your options are a 7 or 9-iron. He cited a drill he often uses “especially with a high school kid who’s not a great bunker player,” he said. “I take the sand wedge away from them and hand them a 5-iron and say figure out how to do it with a 5-iron. Once you put the sand wedge back in their hands, it’s like cheating.”

I think that's a great idea, as well as playing from different tees occasionally.   Also try playing without a driver for a change, just to work on the long game.

Do You Know Me? - Anyone remember this guy?

That's Matt Griesser, of course, but you all knew that.  Still not sure who the dude is...see if this helps.

Those commercials were just brilliant, and I thought FootJoy discontinued them far too early.  Griesser had some interesting comments in this interview:

What was the audition for Sign Boy like?

There were 300 guys up for the part. I just came in and started riffing on [David] Duval and making fun of how he wasn't looking at the ball. They told me later they knew when I started breaking apart guys' swings and their quirks that I was right for the part.

Which players were the best actors?

Justin Leonard, Jesper Parnevik, Ernie Els, Lumpy [Tim Herron] and Peter Jacobsen, of course, were all great. Adam Scott got it as well as anybody because he figured out, like a lot of guys, that the ads could show a side of their personality they might not show on the course. (See video below.) We heard it got to the point that when they signed their deals, some players had it written in the contract to be in a Sign Boy ad.

Sign Boy and Lumpy?  It doesn't get any better than that.

Drive Here Often? -  Golf Digest has a Luke Kerr-Dineen feature story on TopGolf, a driving range that's...well, as the title makes clear, not your father's driving range:

It's 4 p.m. on a typical Thursday in February, and the TopGolf Austin driving range is packed.

All of its more than 100 hitting bays are full. If you want to hit balls today, put your name on the nearly two-hour wait list and head to the bar. 

Most people aren't used to waiting to hit balls on a range, but for the people of Austin, a few hours spent in line for one of the city's hottest social spots is expected. 

Here golfers don't simply bash balls into the distance. They aim at various targets around the range. Hit into one and you're automatically assigned points that appear on the television screen at your bay. The farther the target and the closer you hit to its center, the more points you get. Think darts. 

Add loud Top-40 music, a menu that wouldn't seem out of place in a New York City gastropub, a sleek design, and out pops TopGolf—a self-styled "sports-entertainment facility" that's ascending through the golf industry unlike anything in recent history.

 Jerry Tarde has a sidebar titled Better Than a Therapist, in which he describes it as follows:

No. 1 on Golf Digest's Hot List this year is not a counterbalanced putter or even an adjustable driver. It's a nightclub-meets-bowling-alley masquerading as a driving range called TopGolf and coming to a metro area near you. So far there are 10 of them worldwide with 2.2 million visitors in 2013, averaging up to 70,000 hits a day at some locations and 2½ hours for the average time spent. That's a lot of Coors Light. And by the way, 52 percent of customers don't call themselves golfers, but there they are in the flesh, beating balls with embedded microchips at lighted targets and having their results recorded on computer screens at each hitting bay, sometimes with live music playing in the background.

TopGolf is reportedly the most popular bar in Austin.  It's actually somewhat encouraging to see folks figuring out how to make golf fun, especially for non-golfers.  I don't imagine we'll see too many converts, but there's certainly no harm done.

Swan Song - I blogged briefly about Rick Reilly a while ago, whose retiring from ESPN.  Shackelford links to his most recent column, a nostalgic look back with several golf references:

Charles Barkley was the best quote. Howard Cosell was the biggest jerk. Mark Grace was the most approachable. Barry Bonds the least. Dale Murphy was the kindest soul. Allen Iverson had the largest heart. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the most brains. John Daly the least.

And this:

Enjoy your heroes, but don't envy them.

The exceptions: Jack Nicklaus, the Williams sisters, Derek Jeter.

And in non-golf notes there's this:

You'd never dream you can get bored with swimsuit models until you have to sit through dinner with them.

Hope you're paying attention, Maggot.