Snow Day Blues

Your humble blogger likes to awaken to snow covering the ground.... It's just that I prefer it to be when I'm in Utah, where snow is desperately needed.

McIlroy v. Horizon - This one could be fun before it's over, as Brian Keough of the Irish Golf Desk reports:

It took four hours of court time to get through Day One of the business at hand and one

thing emerged quite clearly — a 6-8 week trial with gentlemen such as these asking the questions will be no picnic for anyone concerned. 

Just in outlining the background to the case, Mr Sreenan's opening brought home the intricacy of it all by explaining, for instance, how Donal Casey went from being a consultant employed by Horizon to help put in place new contracts for McIlroy following the Chubby Chandler split — Nike was the big one — to CEO of Rory McIlroy Inc last year.

I was previously unaware of this aspect of the case, specifically that an Horizon consultant came over to Rory's side.   Keough kontinues:

What happened in the months between Mr Casey leaving Horizon on bad terms with Conor Ridge in December 2012 over his commission on the Nike deal and his official re-emergece as the CEO of Rory McIlroy Inc. some nine months later is the subject of much interest on the part of Horizon's lawyers.

Hmmmm...all these rich folk really like to fight over money, don't they?  But the aspect of the case generating the most buzz is Rory's rather unusual use of cell phones, as summed up by Shack:

In attempting to gather information in their defense, Horizon says McIlroy wiped clean up to eight mobile phones. He apparently keeps so many phones because, try not to laugh, he's fearful of calls from journalists?

Sheesh!  At least now we know why he hasn't taken my calls... Here's Keough's coda:

Compared to the benign "it is what it is" press conference pronouncements of Tiger et al, the risk of severe and prolonged periods of utter boredom may be worth the promise of fireworks when the case itself goes to trial. The potential parade of the main characters and the bit part actors in a real world drama is sure to keep the Fourth Estate occupied for some time to come.

Yeah, sitting through it would be drudgery, but I'm sure we'll have some fun with said fireworks.  The only issue is that the timing of the trial coincides with the West Coast and Florida Tour swings, when a certain litigant should be honing his game for a moderately important event in Georgia.  Stay tuned.

Tiger Beat - Gary Van Sickle had this quite reasonable assessment of Tiger's week:

Even though Tiger Woods was sick as a dog during the Hero World Challenge, he appeared to be swinging and walking pain-free. So forget the awful chip shots. He’s going to be fine. He’ll contend and probably win in 2015. I’m not surprised his short game was ragged -- ugly, even -- when he’s surely been focusing on some new swing thoughts. His putting stroke would be my biggest long-term concern. Tiger will go as far as his putting takes him. And give him credit for not withdrawing when he was sick even when he clearly would’ve been entitled to do so…

I tend to agree with that, albeit with a minor nagging thought that once the chipping yips appear, darkness ensues.

In other Tigerstuff, Bill Moretti makes the case that Tiger's mid-life swing adjustments are similar to those made by the guy he's chasing:

Tiger Woods returned to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge looking reenergized and healthy. He also employed a new swing that was eerily similar to the one Jack Nicklaus employed later in his Tour career. 

The basic alteration involved “body motion:” keeping the tilt or levels of their torso and hips established at address. Nicklaus said he accomplished this by switching from his head as his axis to his spine. This new move kept his torso and hips level and gave him a weight transfer back and forth.

I certainly don't see much in common here, but the reader can judge for himself.

And in another "Fire Up the Flux Capacitor" moment, Tiger will be designing a course in Dubai for the first time....again.

Tiger Woods will design an 18-hole championship golf course to be built by Damac Properties in Dubai almost four years after another planned course was canceled in the

wake of the city’s property-market collapse. 

The course will be operated by the Trump Organization and will include a clubhouse, restaurant and pro shop, Damac said today in a statement. It’s due to open by the end of 2017 as part of the Akoya Oxygen residential project. 

Plans for a Tiger Woods course were dropped by Dubai Properties Group in January 2011 after a real estate market crash brought the Persian Gulf Emirate to the brink of bankruptcy. The hospitality and tourism industries helped lead a revival in Dubai, sparking new projects.

I'm just glad that the lad is finding work so that he can support his family.  And I'll go way out on a limb and speculate that The Donald will proclaim it to be the greatest golf course in the world....nah, who would be that presumptuous?

Up-and-Comers Corner -  Some new names for you to watch for.  First, Adam Schupak files this feature on long-hitting Tony Finau:

Callaway executive Nick Raffaele has not forgotten a 2007 phone call from Lee Trevino

nor the sequence of events that followed. 

“He said, ‘I just saw a couple of kids play golf this week, and you ought to get on a plane and go see them,’ ” said Raffaele, Callaway’s vice president of sports marketing. “ ‘When you play with them, you’ll know what I’m talking about.’ ” 

Trevino raved about two Tongan-Samoan-American teenage brothers from Utah who could smash a golf ball. He had seen them in Las Vegas while doing commentary for “The Ultimate Game,” a $2 million made-for-TV event in which the Finau brothers – Tony, then 17, and Gipper, 11 months younger – had turned pro. 

“Tony drove it on the edge of the green, nearly 400 yards,” Trevino said. “Power and speed. You can’t teach that.”

At this point "long-hitting" has virtually become his first name.  he gets my vote for the breakthrough player of 2015, though to be fair I think he's getting everyone's vote.  But get this:

Next, the Finau (FEE-now) brothers flew to Carlsbad, Calif., and performed for Callaway executives. Tony broke 200-mph ball speed. Jaws dropped. When their agent demanded a seven-figure endorsement deal, Raffaele passed.

Wow, 200 m.p.h. and he was all of seventeen at the time.  In other new golfer news, an Englishman named Jason Palmer has earned his Euro Tour card.  I know only one thing about the guy, and that's that he chips one-handed:

Hard to imagine, but there you have it.

 Dubious Indeed - Jason Sobel presents his 2014 Dubious Achievement Awards, and all your favorites are recognized.  This was one that I missed:

That’s what you call taking relief

On the verge of sealing the BMW Championship victory, Billy Horschel sprinted down the 18th hole in search of a porta-potty.

Actually, I think that's what you call TMI. But any excuse to revisit that great Stewart Cink photo must be seized upon.

Photo Phun - Alex Myers write a weekly feature at The Loop called The Grind, and has some pics worth sharing.  First up, meet Jonas Blixt's caddie Zak Williamson:

The second hat is a nice touch, but no sunscreen on the arms?  And I'm sure that you, like your humble blogger, have been wondering whether Natalie Gulbis has kept up with her yoga:

You're welcome, Maggot.  I've never found Natalie all that visually appealing, as she has quite the strange mouth, though from the neck down I've no quibbles.

Great Scott (But I Repeat Myself) - Adam Scott throws out an idea so crazy it might actually work:

Adam Scott will likely be representing Australia at golf's Olympic debut in Rio in 2016, but if it were up to him, he would happily give up his place to the amateurs. 

In an interview during the official Australian PGA kickoff dinner Dec. 11, Scott echoed comments by American Boo Weekley, saying that a better way to grow the game of golf would be to invite only amateurs to compete at the Olympics, instead of the current format of 64 top professionals. 

"People watch us (as pros) play 45 weeks a year,” Scott said. "If you really wanted to grow the game you’d have the Olympics for amateurs.”

Not to worry, Adam, we're not going to be watching.  But at least we have that exciting format.....not!.