I've moved on from my weekly feature of adding my thoughts to those of the Sports Illustrated/Golf.com roundtable, as I struggled to find a format that I liked. I'd be interested in knowing whether the regulars enjoyed and would like me to resurrect it in some to-be-determined format, but this week's had some items that amused and surprised me enough to use in a post.
Here's their first question:
1. Tiger Woods recently toured Bluejack National outside Houston, which will likely be his first U.S. course design when it opens next year. Many great champions have gone into the design business. Which former player’s courses do you like the best, and what do you expect from Tiger as a course designer?
Alas, that's two very different questions. Not many of the scribes bit at the latter, though Travellin' Joe had this tidbit:
Tiger has told me on several occasions that he favors family-friendly, walk-able courses
But did Tillie and Ross wear Mom jeans? with an emphasis on options, visibility and variety and a minimum of forced carries and lost balls. He's really fond of St. Andrews and Pinehurst No. 2 and the ground-game features.
That's actually quite a bit more thoughtful than I would have expected from Tiger, so let's hope that he wasn't just mouthing platitudes (at least he didn't sue the old chestnut, "I like it to be all in front of the player") and that he's able to get such concepts into play.
Here's Mike Bamberger's take, which is along my lines of thinking:
Tillinghast, Ross and MacDonald were all good players who played in national championships, but I'm going with C.B. McD., for National Golf Links. Among the kids, Crenshaw. As for Tiger Woods, I am ready to be pleasantly surprised. A good architect can put himself in the shoes of other people. I have never known Woods to have that ability, but I don't pretend to know him.
Sticking with the current gheneration, those that have been the most thoughtful about design and the game while playing, and I'd suggest Crenshaw, Weiskopf and Ogilvy here, have been the most interesting as course designers. But it's equally true that they've been smart enough to partner with truly talented people, Bill Coore, Jay Morish and Mike Clayton, respectively,
Tiger is using somebody to do the heavy lifting, we just don't know who that is.
2. The World Golf Hall of Fame announced its class of 2015: players David Graham, Mark O'Meara, and Laura Davies, and course designer A.W. Tillinghast. What did you think of the class and were any worthies snubbed?
Josh Sens makes the most, wait for it, Sens of this with this answer:
No glaring snubs come to mind, in part because the Hall had such lax criteria for so many years. By the current standards, these inductees all make sense, but I don't think anyone is going to walk by Mark O'Meara's plaque and feel as if they're stepping in the shadow of history. And that's the World Golf Hall of Fame’s problem in a nutshell.
But it's this from my old foil Travelin' Joe that had me shaking my head:
Also, with all due to respect to Mr. Tillinghast, if we're talking about the impact they had on golf through their designs, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Pete Dye are equally deserving candidates -- maybe even more so.
Oh Joe, Joe, Joe....what are we going to do with you? Pete Dye should absolutely be in the Hall at some point, though we should perhaps let him, you know, wrap up his career before we elect him as an historical figure (which is the only basis to elect a course designer). But Trent Jones? Sheesh... I'd love to ask Joe what it is that RTJ contributed to the game and which of his creations are Hall-worthy, because I think we're still digging out from that uninspired era (and, as an aside, I believe it's Dye with creations such as Harbor Town that showed us the path).
3. Tiger Woods turns 40 in December 2016, so he’ll be eligible for the HOF’s next class in 2017. Which PGA Tour players younger than Tiger Woods but older than Rory McIlroy will be eventual Hall of Famers?
Scott, Rose, Z. and D. Johnson, Bubba, Kaymer, Padraig and Sergio come in fro mentions, though all but Padraig perhaps are still creating their claims on a bust. But as I noted in a post a while back, it's jarring to recognize that based upon the standards set in allowing Freddie, Monty and Mark O'Meara, that Zach Johnson may have already amassed an Hall-of-Fame career.
Oh, and there was one more name that made me sit up in my chair in horror, that would be two-time major winner John Daly. Please, I don't want to live in such a world...
4. Billy Horschel added his voice to post-Ryder Cup criticism of the PGA of America, saying this week that while the PGA of America does “a heck of a job with the PGA professionals around the country,” when it comes to the PGA Tour “they don’t get it because they’re not out here on a regular basis.” Is the PGA of America too out of touch with the pro game for the Ryder Cup? Should the PGA Tour take a more active role in the process?
They're all over the place with this, but the question begs to be ignored. It's a huge cash cow for the PGA of America, and they ain't letting Commissioner Ratched anywhere near it. Strangely enough, the word "Pods" does not appear.
5. TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas had spectator swimming pools at the finishing holes for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Good idea? What else should the Tour's fall events do to boost attendance?
Mike Bamberger with the layup:
I am not a good person to ask. I like an off-season.
Though I also liked Josh Sens' suggestion of using those babes with the cards indicating the round in prize fights as scoreboard carriers.
6. Speaking of Vegas, Golf.com has picked the 13 Unluckiest Breaks in Golf History. What's the unluckiest break you ever saw on the golf course?
Don't you love the synergy, as I linked to that in last night's post. The ink-stained wretches mostly mentioned personal bad breaks, though two mentioned the famous Joe Daley putt that was included in the slideshow. I've previously discussed this and posted the video, as Daley needed a rather short putt on his final hole of Q-School to earn his Tour card:
Quite heartbreaking considering how it affected his future in the game. And also that he made the putt, as it's absolutely center-cut.
But this explanation of the cup liner I hadn't previously seen and had intended to include in the yesterday's post:
Journeyman Joe (“I’m not John”) Daley hoped to survive the grueling six-round Q-School and advance to the PGA Tour in 2001. He missed by one stroke, thanks to a four-foot putt on the 18th hole of round 4 that hit the back of the cup—but not the bottom. Due to a cup liner that had dislodged, the ball hit the top edge of the liner and bounced straight back to him. He never did qualify for the tour after that.
Just leaves me shaking my head, though the delayed reaction is somewhat amusing.
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