Other Stuff

There is other stuff going on you know, even an actual tournament in Phoenix.

She Was Just Seventeen - Fooled you there, didn't I?  Does my girlfriend rock, or what?

OCALA, Florida (AP) Lydia Ko is 18 holes from history.

Can somebody explain Aimpoint to me?

The 17-year-old New Zealander birdied five consecutive holes and shot a 7-under 65 in the third round of the Coates Golf Championship on Friday to take the outright lead in the LPGA Tour's season opener. 

If she hangs on Saturday, she would become the youngest golfer - male or female - to be ranked No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings.

I'm coming to grips with the no-glasses look, though I'll likely always miss them.  Just a couple of points that I want to make, none of them particularly deep.  The five birdie run was amazing in and of itself, but consider that she had just bogeyed Nos. 10 and 11 my missing very short par putts.  The 5-bird run is quite thhe bounce back, no?

Obviously everyone focuses on her age, or lack thereof.  But she's still a very short hitter, and she's beating these girls from thirty yards back in the fairway.  Wow!  Now she does need to perform in the majors before we consider her the best player on the planet, but she's got time to work that out.

Phoenix On My Mind - I loved yesterday's coverage, as watching the best players in the world (plus Phil, I know that was harsh) mange their games in difficult conditions is endlessly fascinating.  The choreography between player and caddie is modern dance at its best, and their ability to find the sweet spot while wearing more layers than I ski in is quite amazing.  Your leader right now is Martin Laird:

Once the rain stopped, Laird played his best golf and he doesn't think that was a coincidence. He ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch until making his first bogey of the tournament on his final hole for a second straight 5-under 66. 

That gave him a two-shot lead over Daniel Berger (69), with Justin Thomas (68) another shot behind. Both 21-year-old rookies received sponsor's exemptions. A trio of Masters champions - Bubba Watson (71), Zach Johnson (70) and Angel Cabrera (69) were in the group four shots behind.

The announcers of course noted Laird's Scottish pedigree as an explanation of his good play, but he's the Scottish Rory McIlroy with a sub-orbital ball flight.  We'll just note that he's playing well, and it should be a fun weekend even without the two headliners.

Did you catch Phil yesterday?  He looked lost out there, constantly changing putting grips, stubbing chips and popping up drives.  The rain gloves were on and off repeatedly, and the combination of two rain gloves with a visor provided comedy relief.  In fact, there were some unflattering blimp shots of a hairless line across the top of his head that was truly a regrettable image, mostly because a Google image search came up empty.  Not a good look, as I'm sure Amy has let him know.

Compare and Contrast - I awoke just in time to see the young lad get up-and-in to save par on the 18th:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Rory McIlroy extended his lead to four shots with

a 6-under 66 in the third round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Saturday. 

The top-ranked McIlroy, who led by a stroke overnight, made just one birdie on the back nine of Emirates Golf Club's Majlis course after five birdies in his first eight holes. 

With an overall 20-under 196, McIlroy can challenge the tournament winning record of 22 under, set by Stephen Gallacher in 2013 and Thomas Bjorn in 2001.

He seems to like the place, though the rest of us quite detest it due to the Omega commercial that's on endless loop.   The word of the day was effortless, which provided quite the contrast with the Tioger Woods impersonator in the other desert.

TV News - The BBC has long been the gold standard in golf broadcasting, and their all-day coverage of the Open Championship is, or shall we say was, the stuff of legend.  So certain folks are not happy about this:

Sky Sports will pay more than £10 million a year to snatch exclusive live rights for Open

Say goodnight, Alliss.

Championship golf from the BBC. 

The contract will be announced by the sport’s ruling body, the R&A, early next week and will end the BBC’s 59-year ownership of the rights after the next tournament at St Andrews in July. The BBC are likely to keep a highlights deal but that is a consolation prize. 

They have been resigned to losing The Open to Sky for some time and prioritised saving Match of the Day, for which they will pay £204m — a 13.5 per cent increase on their current deal. That was seen as better value for licence-fee payers than golf’s flagship event, which costs the BBC £7m a year.

That's a pity, but it's how things go these days.  Unlike the USGA's FOX deal, Sky has been covering golf for some time, including my new friend Gary Murphy.  Who knows, maybe we'll see more of Peter Alliss on ESPN now, which would be a good thing.

Do They Get Many Regrets? - This is in the things that amuse me category.... Met Golfer sent out their latest e-mag yesterday, including a small bit on Morgan Hoffman.  Included was his Masters invite, pictured below:

So what tickled my funny bone?  Of course it's the request for an RSVP... Have they ever been turned down?

RIP Kel Nagle - We lost a good player and better guy a few days ago.  Nagle is not widely known in the States because he didn't play here much, but his greatest accomplishment was quite noteworthy.  It was 1960 and Arnold Palmer came roaring back in the final round of the U.S. Open to win with a final-round 65.  Having previously won the Masters, thoughts of reviving or, more accurately, creating a modern Grand Slam came to mind, and that induced Palmer to journey to St. Andrews for the centennial Open Championship.  

He lost to Nagle by a single stroke, though returned in the following two years and won both at Birkdale and Troon.  Thus did the Open Championship return to its deserved prominence, with increasing number of American pros following the King's lead and making the journey.  From Martin Blake's tribute:

Kel Nagle, one of Australia's all-time great golfers, has died.

Nagle and Thompson.

Nagle, 94, winner of the centenary British Open Championship in 1960 and a record 61 tournaments at home, passed away in Sydney's Mona Vale Hospital after battling poor health.

It’s understood Peter Thomson, his lifelong friend and partner in two Australian victories at the Canada Cup (now known as the World Cup), made the trip to Sydney to pay Nagle a bedside visit last week. 

As much as his monumental collection of golfing feats, Nagle was known for his humble and gentlemanly ways. Thomson once said of Nagle: "Of all the people I have met in the world of golf, this fellow is the finest.''

 He was a good one and very well liked.  RIP.

Instructional Advice - I usually ignore the instructional columns in the golf mags and online, as I don't want to clutter my mind and look like Tiger.  But when a professional provides advice on an aspect of the game over which he has total control, attention must be paid.

The subject is looking cool in sunglasses and the author is none other than Adam Scott:

My advice: Save your Wayfarers for non-golf days. Go with a modern frame style that's both lightweight and wide enough to provide full protection. I wear several models from Oakley, mostly the Flak Jacket [left]. When trying on a pair, make sure the bottom edge of the frame or lens doesn't cut off your view of the ball when you look down at address. And ask if the lenses are polarized. Some lenses are so good they can actually increase depth perception, making it easier to read greens. 

Oh, and never rest your shades on the bill of your cap when you take them off. Wrap them around the back instead. That's the Tour way. It looks cool, and it avoids covering your cap's logo—critical for keeping sponsors happy.

No need to thank me, I'm just happy I could help.

 Drones Are Nothing - Adidas thinks they're cool in posting this video of jason Day hitting a golf shoe foam insert suspended from a drone:

Not bad...but friend and loyal reader Mark W. sent me this video, which is slightly more impressive:

Now Mark suggested that he couldn't verify the authenticity of the video, but we all know they couldn't post it on the Internet if it wasn't true. 

No Soup(er Bowl) For You

I'm just posting this so I won't get fined....

Hey, for the record, we were posting on the yips while the rest of these guys were still in onesies...  Who knew that Thursday's yipfest would be the high point of his week.  First up, Gary Van Sickle performs a public service by providing us some conversation starters:

The category is, Things You Say After Watching Tiger Woods Struggle (and Fail) to Break 80 While He Shoots His Worst Pro Round Ever on a Rainy Friday Morning at the Waste Management Phoenix Open

Well, there goes the Vardon Trophy… 

Aww, the Presidents Cup team can win without Tiger, anyway… 

Yippy ki-yay… 

Operator, get me the number for 9-1-1... 

Tiger may be related to Aaron Baddeley’s brother, Chip Baddeley… 

Do these new wedges make me look chunky?... 

How many more reps can you have in just one round?... 

Pardon the jokes, this is actually no laughing matter. Tiger Woods, as stated previously, appears to have caught the chipping yips.

Appears, Gary?  But contestants, please remember to phrase your answer in the form of a question.  Gary gets to the nub of the matter later in his piece:

The $64 million dollar question came next. Tiger, do you feel like the chipping is mental? That’s polite talk for the y-word. The questioner knew it, Tiger knew it. “It is mental to an extent because the physical pattern is different,” he answered. “So obviously, the trust is not quite there. Yeah, it’s mental to an extent but I need to physically get the club in a better spot.”

I'll refer at this point to noted biometric expert Yogi Berra, who famously noted that "Hitting Chipping is 90% mental, with the other 50% being physical.  To no one's surprise the talking heads are all over the place, contradicting themselves in the course of a single sentence (see, Oberholser, Aaron).

Matthew Ruddy's Anatomy of a Short-Game Collapse has some thoughts on the matter, none more trenchant than this at the end of the piece:

As the same teacher said, either Tiger doesn't know exactly why his chipping has

deserted him, a troublesome thought. Or he does, and it's happening anyway.

That has to be terrifying for the guy who has almost always been able to summon whatever shot he's needed.

John Strege also has some reactions, none of them sunny and upbeat:

Arron Oberholser flatly called them the yips. “I hate to say it, but I think the greatest

player that I’ve ever seen has the yips,” he said on Thursday. “Whether that’s because of a release pattern or whether it’s not enough reps, it’s flat out the disease. He’s got the yips.”

Brandel Chamblee called it “the worst I've ever seen a tour pro around the greens and it is a long way from there to playing competitive golf again.”

My Oberholser dig above relates to his appearance seated next to Tiger-pal Notah Begay, on Golf Central after the conclusion of the broadcast.  Aaron said that Tiger should fire Chris Como and a la Hogan find the answer in the dirt, and before employing a single period said he should go crawling back to Butch.  Notah tipped in the rebound in noting that he can't have it both ways....

I've got some more silly commentary to poke fun at below, but one more naysayer first.  Rocco Mediate appeared on David Feherty's live broadcast and didn't make any friends among Swing-guru-Americans:

Speaking on a live edition of David Feherty on Thursday night, Rocco posed the question: "For some reason the best short game that was ever alive in the entire history of the world is gone. Why is that?"

Rocco had a couple thoughts on how Tiger could get back to his best, but his main criticism involved Woods' newly installed swing coach, Chris Como, who Mediate suggested was ill-qualified for the job. Mediate instead thought Woods should enlist the help of somebody who played the game professionally, like Lee Trevino.

There's video at that link that's worth watching, as Rocco is quite the performer.  It's hard to find an optimist these days, but Darren Clarke took time out from his Ryder Cup captaincy campaign to share this:

"It would be wrong to read any more into how Tiger played in Phoenix other than to say that any time you make major swing changes in your game you are going to have to crawl before you walk," Clarke said in this Reuters story by Bernie McGuire. “He’ll be fine. He’s too good a player not to be.”

That's what we all think...errr...maybe thought.  I found this Shackelford take on it very interesting as he dissents from some of the prevailing wisdom:

I certainly do not want to pile on Woods, as a I've experienced yip syndromes in far less public fashion in two areas of my game. However, seeing one of golf's top five all time scramblers lose his scramble ability takes this case of the yips to a level that is far different. Rarely if ever has golf seen a player's strength become his nemesis. For whatever reason--most likely the bizarro demons that come with multiple injuries--the short game yips have infiltrated even a player of Tiger's immense scrambling ability. The weird wedge shots first happened (noticeably) at Torrey Pines last year, but few thought of this as a case of the yips because the rye rough was silly and by Sunday when it was happening regularly during a 79, Woods was out of the tournament, presumably bored as much as anything. Or so we thought. 

It's hard to see any upside in taking a yippy wedge game to Torrey Pines next week. You'll see in the roundup some suggestions that more "reps" is the answer, but we yippers know that experiencing even more more yip in front of peers or fans just makes things worse, not better. Tiger patted himself on the back for fighting through his 82 Friday and in a strange way anyone who has been inflicted knows what he means. But the big picture suggests entering high-profile tournaments while still haunted by injury-induced flinchy thoughts will not serve Tiger Woods well.

Egads, Geoff, two areas of your game?  And you're still a youngster...Good luck with that.

Geoff to me is saying two very interesting things, that the problem goes back longer than we think

Doesn't this say it all?

and that reps may not be the answer.  On the former, I find that mirrors my thoughts on Tiger's putting, which at best has been highly inconsistent (IMHO) for much longer than people realize.  His second point is truly scary for Tiger, especially if the source isn't his injuries.  

But clearly the stakes have been raised for next week at Torrey, and for golf fans it'll be Must see-TV.

So I'm watching Morning Drive yesterday after the coverage of the Euro event and as Tiger is warming up for his second round.  Mark Rolfing declares himself an expert on the yips, informing us that there are mental and physical yips, and that fortunately Tiger has the mental yips because they're easier to fix.  Ummm...Mark, you seem a pleasant fellow and you do good work for the Hawaiian Tourist Board, but WTF?  

My post on the yips linked above was related to this David Owen New Yorker article on the subject, which is now available in its entirety here.  It's well worth a read, especially for those snowbound in the Northeast, though each individual needs to assess the risk of contagion.  There's a reason many folks don't like the word spoken aloud...

But it's quite obvious from David's work that Rolfing is out of his depth.  here's a sample of how the condition has been described:

It was coined around the middle of the last century by the Scottish golfer Tommy Armour, a sufferer, who defined it as “a brain spasm that impairs the short game.”

What's fascinating is how little we understand it, as it seems somewhat related to pressure and is extremely task-specific.  But, contra-Rolfing, it obviously has both physical and mental manifestations and the linkages remain mysterious.  There's also a huge visual influence, as one of the fascinating factoids in Owen's long article is that no one has ever heard of a blind golfer yipping.  In fact, most of the yipsters discussed use some sort of visual focus to allow themselves to perform.

So we should acknowledge that we're not even sure that he has the yips, or what that might mean.  But he's quite the mess in every aspect of his game, and we've rarely seen an elite athlete lose it so stunningly (there was a Mike Tyson-Buster Douglass analogy made, but those guys actually get hit).  We don't know how this movie ends, but if I were Chris Como I'd have trouble concentrating over the loud ticking of the clock.

Dateline Scottsdale

Tiger Woods and Robert Allenby shared the stage on Tuesday, something I can'rt remember happening on an actual golf course.  Both presentations lefts the wags of the world scratching their chins mouthing profound existential questions such as "Huh?"  

But Tiger showed the world how it's done yesterday, at least in a PR sense, as no one cares about the damn tooth anymore.  All any one can say this morning is WTF... Gary Van Sickle fills us in:

While Tiger's long game was predictably erratic due to all the time off and the swing changes he's trying to effect, a Tour player's short game shouldn't be this bad. He was

flat-out chunking wedge shots just like he did at his own event, the Hero World Challenge, last year. Ok, he had the flu all week, so you could write that off as being sick. 

You can't write off what he did Thursday quite so easily.

Tiger spun his two-over-par 73 round as best he could. He did, after all, stiff a 5-iron shot close for an eagle at the 13th hole and birdied the 17th hole. He played the last six holes in three under par. The problem was, he was five over on the opening 12 holes, and a lot of those shots were lost around the greens.

But then he got to the stub of the matter:

It looks an awful lot like Tiger has the chipping yips. It's kind of verboten to use that y-word in golf but any golfer who's been there knows it when he sees it.

He wasn't the only one to use the "Y" word. Yipsville is a really dark place from which few return...Now Tiger had much to say on the subject, in and of itself not necessarily helpful.  First this:

I'm just having a hard time finding the bottom. Because of my old pattern, I was so steep on it, that I have a new grind on my wedge and sometimes it's hard to trust. This is a similar grind I used to use back in the early 2000s, but it's a different grind. Some of my shots were into the green with tight pins, and either I'll flop it or bump it, one of the two. I chose to bump it.

 And this:

Whenever difficult subjects arise, Woods resorts to the most painful mental gymnastics

to explain them away. 

"Because of my old pattern, I was so steep," Woods said of his chipping woes. 

He then went into a lengthy explanation of the grinds on his wedges. 

Blah. Blah. Blah. 

The thing about golf is that it's just about the numbers on the scorecard. There's no room for explanations. He knows that better than anyone. "All that matters is what you shot," he used to say.

What, you thought it was coincidental that analysis and paralysis rhyme?  It's a lot of thoughts to be going through one's mind on what should be the more instinctive side of the game.  But we saw all the typical manifestations of the "Y" word, most notably the choice of the putter or 4-iron in the hopes of avoiding further embarrassment.

Are you finding me relentlessly pessimistic and looking for some upside?  There was some for sure...First, John Strege:

By the numbers, Tiger hit five of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation. 

On the up side, he seems to have recovered some of the speed he had lost in recent years, as he said he had. At the 13th hole, his swing speed was clocked at 121.465 miles per hour. Last year, Bubba Watson led the tour with a swing speed of 123.7 mph. On the par-4 17th hole, Woods drove the green, 341 yards.

That would be his elusive "explosiveness?'  Glad we've got a positive ID.  Then Adam Schupak:

With his typical fierce resolve, Woods battled back. The highlight of his round was a 5-iron from 225 yards to the par-5 13th hole that rolled to a stop six inches from the hole for eagle. He tacked on a birdie when he drove the par-4 17th green. Woods could have been deflated, but he spoke with the experience of a man who has his eye on a bigger prize and knew this was just one round.

He also had a nice up-and-in from a bunker on No. 14, but really sprayed the ball all day.  As for the famerd No. 16, Tiger backed off twice due to crowd noise, including one idiot screaming "Tooth" as he set up over his ball.  I don't know if it was the gent at the left... It's a shame that the photo is so tightly cropped, as the WorG on his arm was fairly hot, I mean for a guy attending a golf tournament dressed as an impacted molar.

I don't have much more to say since I don't know any better than anyone else how this movie will end.  But he seems light years removed from being competitive, and it's virtually every aspect of his game (though he did seem to have a pretty good day with the putter (+.339 strokes gained), especially with some very well-judged long putts).  The one thing we'll all agree on is that he needs to play more, though he'll need to step it up just to earn a tee-time for the weekend.

So, let's move on, shall we?  Think the confluence of Tiger and the Super Bowl has created some buzz?  How about this?

The attendance was 118,461 -- more than the Super Bowl will get on Sunday -- and broke the Thursday record at the Phoenix Open by just over 30,000.

That's a Thursday, folks.  Unfortunately some bad weather today into Saturday morning might but a damper on the attendance numbers.  There were a few other guys in the field as well, with Ryan Palmer and Keegan Bradley on the top of the leaderboard.  Palmer likely has the Sun Devil frat boys in his back pocket due to this:

Palmer, who is one of the hottest golfers on the planet, says he loves coming to the Phoenix Open and he showed his affection for the fans by wrapping a $10 bill beneath a rubber band around a dozen golf balls with a note that said, “Have a beer on me.” He handed them to appreciative fans at the 16th hole.

They sell beer at Phoenix?  Who knew?

As for everyman Robert Allenby, he seems to have gotten off reasonably easy at No. 16:

Robert Allenby feared the worst Thursday at the Phoenix Open in his first round since his mysterious misadventure in Hawaii. 

Two days after saying he was preparing mentally for one of the toughest weeks of his life, Allenby drew only a few boos and comments on the rowdy par-3 16th stadium hole and the crowded 18th. He had mostly quiet, apathetic galleries in his round of 1-under 70.

The award for silliest prop at No. 16 goes to Morgan Hoffman in a walkover:

he put his tee ball in the right bunker, triggering the inevitable "All hat, no cattle".

Journalism, Not So Much

Karen Crouse beclowns herself in yesterday's Pravda, and it would be unrealistic to expect me to hld fire.  I've given no evidence of that level of self-discipline, as avert your gaze if you must.

Crouse writes the N.Y Times' On Golf column, her primary qualification for which appears to be the infallible ability to spell the word "golf" correctly.  Mind you, she doesn't get any help from her headline writer, which gets us off on the wrong foot:

On Tour, the Stories Keep Getting Weirder

Tiger Woods and Robert Allenby Draw Focus as PGA Tour Events Lack Top Players

So you don't consider Tiger or Phil to be Top players"?  Do go on...  

The piece seems to be structured around what passes on Eighth Avenue for clever wordplay, but would be far more appropriate, say, in a modest golf blog.  See if you agree, first with this about

Eldrick:

The gap in Woods’s mouth drew more coverage than any gap wedge he has hit. Photos of his jack-o-lantern mouth made the rounds online, and conspiracy theorists materialized out of the thin mountain air to question his explanation that he had lost it in a collision with a journalist’s video camera.

You see what she did there?  Who knew gap was also the name of a wedge...  But all joking aside, Tiger said a lot of things... for instance, he said that blood was everywhere.  has anyone seen a photo from the event indicating any  blood whatsoever?  

And conspiracy theorist Shackelford followed up his post with this from the Daily News:

"I was with him from the tent to the snowmobile that carried him away," Colli said. "There was no blood…If Tiger Woods said that, I don't really know what to say."

Colli said the same thing to The Associated Press last week. 

"I was among those who escorted him from the tent to the snowmobile and there was no such incident," Colli, told the AP in response to Steinberg's statement. "When he arrived he asked for more security, and we rounded up police to look after both him and Lindsey."

No doubt Ms. Crouse finds this a silly story to be occupying folks, so I'm pleased to report that we've found a small plot of common ground.  But it's passing strange for a reporter to be criticizing other reporters for, you know, reporting when facts seem to have gone missing.  I don't know why Tiger would tell a fib about the missing tooth or even for sure that it didn't happen as he says, I only know that no one saw the incident and that certain particulars seem amiss.

Crouse, likely in an attempt to heighten anticipation, makes us wait on the Allenby story by interjecting Dustin Johnson into the story.  Here's how she positions it:

Nongolfing news has rushed in to fill the vacuum created by PGA Tour fields missing most of the world’s top players, who are on hiatus or participating in events abroad. There is the curious case of Dustin Johnson, who decided to leave the tour with his game in full bloom and the calendar at high noon. He missed the last major tournament of the year, the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup for a leave that the tour has described as voluntary. Johnson’s return to competition is set for next week, after six months away, which happens to be the exact period covering a drug-related suspension.

OK, let's hold on for just a sec...is she making the case that the fields are unusually bereft of top-name players?  I know, I just needed to flag that red herring... the stories she's cited are stories that would be covered during U.S. Open week, but hey, she needed an angle.  And I'll bet she stayed up nights wordsmithing this little bit:

The abrupt disappearing act of Johnson has never been adequately explained, and the absence of transparency gave the tour a black eye. One of its members, Robert Allenby, ended up with worse than that after he missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first full-field event of 2015.

Get it?  Black eye....har, har har.  Before we leave our DJ, it's like she goes out of her way to obfuscate.  The absence has been explained, just not by the Tour.  I agree with her that it's a black eye for the Tour, but don't Times readers want to know why?  Or do they just take orders and believe as their told?

And here's her take on Allenby:

A little over an hour after Woods finished his news conference, Allenby stepped to the same microphone, appearing the picture of health save for a bloody scab on the bridge of his nose. With nine television cameras rolling, he gave a measured opening statement. 

“There has definitely been a lot of confusion,” Allenby said, “but I think the No. 1 thing that you should all remember is that my story stays exactly the same as the way I told it.” He added, “I was a victim, and all of a sudden you’re putting all the blame on me.”

Measured?  I'd like to see the Times style book on that adjective.  And she deliberately omits that the first thing Allenby said when he got to the mike was "This is not going to be a long thing," not exactly designed to warm up a crowd of reporters.

And nowhere does she mention that eyewitnesses directly contradict Allenby's original account.  Again, isn't that relevant?   We're done with her for the time being, but there were a couple of Allenby items that I missed in yesterday's rant.

First, I left this one on the cutting room floor:

“From that, obviously the media have decided that they’re the most amazing experts at investigations. There is a reason why detectives in Honolulu are some of the best in the world. I’d really appreciate it if we’d just let them do their job and maybe we could get to the bottom of it.”

Best in the world?  Ummm....care to share your sourcing on that?  Shack thinks he may be referring to these guys, and admittedly they closed every case they were given.  But the overreach is usually a tell, no?

And on this one, I just completely missed his clarification:

“I take full responsibility if I did do something wrong. I have no problem in the world in owning up to if I did do something wrong. … I realized that I don't have any friends in the media. Maybe one. That's it.”

Shack proposes a worldwide manhunt for the one, though I wouldn't subject the unfortunate soul to public humiliation.  Though it is a shame that OJ is in prison, because i have a gut feel that the real killer knows Allenby's imaginary media friend. 

Tuesday Trifles

We didn't get anywhere near the amount of snow forecast, though still more than Utah has seen this month.  But, like you no doubt, I'm just killing time until the Allenby presser...

Ladies Day - There's not much available oxygen to be had, but were you aware that the LPGA is kicking off their 2015 schedule this weekend?  I know, it's about the twelfth most important sports story out there, perhaps even behind the woeful Knicks.

It seems a curious weekend for the inaugural event, though obviously they couldn't have known that Tiger would show in Scottsdale or that Robert Allenby would go walkabout.  They at least had the good sense to begin on Wednesday and finish on Saturday, a strategy that I've long argued has merit any time they're competing with the two men's tours.

The event is being held at The Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club, famous for its painfully sill knock-off tribute holes.  Randall Mell catches up with Karrie Webb, who's excited to see how close the replicas are...Oh, c'mon, what was the poor girl going to say:

When Karrie Webb won her first tournament as a pro at Golden Ocala 20 years ago, she

was intrigued by the eight replica holes, or as they call them here, the “tribute holes.” 

Webb makes her return to Golden Ocala this week as part of a star-studded cast playing the new Coates Golf Championship, the LPGA’s season opener. With the Super Bowl on Sunday, the 72-hole event is scheduled to begin Wednesday and end Saturday. A field of 120 players will complete for a $1.5 million purse. 

“It’s pretty cool now to think the only course I haven’t played is Royal Troon,” Webb said of the replica holes. “It’s good to come back, and now having played those courses to play the replica holes again and see how close they are to the real deal.”

Awkward, that last bit is...because, yanno, they don't allow women members.  Meanwhile, Shack has fun with this photo from the gala event associated with the tourney:

A gala was held Sunday night in advance of the LPGA season-opener and actor John Travolta along with wife Kelly Preston served as an honorary co-chairs for the invitation-only event. A $50,000 donation was presented to Travolta and Morgan Pressel's foundations, but as Crook notes, the real significance came in Travolta's decision to roll out one of his first-team rugs for the gala. 

Granted, some may say it looks like a Pulp Fiction back-up toup that he found in the couch seams, but I'd say that's one of Travolta's finest toupees and a real compliment to the LPGA.

Toup?  Is that a typo or is that what we're now calling rugs?  I have so much trouble keeping up...

In other ladies' golf news, the USGA is about to announce a new championship:

Will Nancy Lopez have one more legitimate shot at winning her first USGA title since

the 1974 U.S. Girls’ Junior? Golfweek has learned that the U.S. Golf Association soon will announce a new national championship, the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. 

Multiple sources, who requested anonymity because they are not permitted to speak on behalf of the association, said that only some of the details need to be ironed out and it is believed that USGA president Tom O’Toole will speak to the subject during his address at the association’s annual meeting Feb. 6-7 in New York.

No word on whether Greg Norman and Joe Buck engaged in a celebratory fist bump.

Rio On my Mind -  Thanks to Shack for the link to this Bloomberg piece on the Olympic golf course, of which the mayor turns out to not be such a fan:

Rio de Janeiro will look for a private company to run its recently-completed Olympic golf course to avoid using taxpayer money for the venue, which has become the target of protests, Mayor Eduardo Paes said. 

“I’m not going to spend city money cutting that grass,” Paes said Jan. 23. “If it depends on me, that grass is going to grow high after the Olympics. I would never spend city money taking care of a golf course.”

 He's not wrong, though of course it's a straw man argument because there's never such a choice to be made.  And even if there were, corruption would siphon off the bulk of the available funds before anything meaningful was accomplished.  The golf is just another venue that will go to seed after the games, and it's quite tragic.  

But as long as we're focusing on the course, one of Shack's readers posted some amazing, wide-angle photos in the comments to an older post.  I'll post one but you can go here and scroll down to the comment by RJ with the links:

I like this one because it shows where the course sits in the city.

Back9 on the Back Nine - Have you been glued to the Back9 network, golf's new lifestyle network?  Funny story... the network is only carried on DirectTV, which happens to be my provider in Utah.  I watched a few minutes of Ahmad Rashad's show as well as their Clubhouse gabfest, and while it sucked it didn't suck any worse than some of what Golf Channel throws up.

But that said, how's it going up there in Hartford?  See what you think about this:

The Back9Network, the new golf lifestyle channel that made its debut Aug. 29 on

DirecTV, is eliminating 35 full-time positions, the Hartford Business Journal reported.

CEO Charles Cox called it "a thoughtful strategy that will allow the network to remain competitive and produce engaging content while growing the golf lifestyle," in a statement provided the Hartford Business Journal.

Well, as long as it was done thoughtfully... this seems to be the business plan going forward:

Meanwhile, the network is suing its former CEO Jamie Bosworth, according to the Hartford Courant, which reported that he "expressed doubts about the company's ability to succeed to investors and potential investors while he was leading the company -- and continued doing so after he left, the company says in a Superior Court lawsuit against him."

Do I have any bidders for Channel 262 on DirectTV?

Musical Chairs, Broadcast Version -  Shack had the news a few days ago that longtime CBS golf announcer Peter Oosterhuis is retiring.  Geoff had this to say:

A twenty-year presence on CBS and Golf Channel, Peter Oosterhuis will be best remembered for providing a steady presence during his Masters coverage of hole 17. Considering the number of pivotal moments taking place there, his retirement leaves a huge hole in CBS's coverage. 

Oosterhuis has been a major presence in golf telecasting over the last two decades who knew when to lend drama to a situation. He never oversold the magnitude of a moment and provided a former player's perspective that will be missed. Best of luck, Peter!

I agree with that...Oosty knew (mostly) when to let the picture talk, and had a pleasant voice and persona.  So, does that mean a bigger role for, God Help us, McCord?  Probably not as CBS moved quickly:

Frank Nobilo, veteran broadcaster and winner of 14 tournaments worldwide, joins CBS Sports as an

analyst for the Network’s golf coverage beginning in 2015. He will work select tournaments, including the Masters® and PGA Championship. The announcement was made today by Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports.

“Frank Nobilo is one of the most intelligent and engaging analysts in golf,” said McManus. “His knowledge of the game and insight as a worldwide champion make him a perfect fit for CBS Sports’ golf coverage. We are proud to showcase the strongest ensemble of voices in golf.”

Frank is going to retain his role on Golf Channel, so we'll be seeing and hearing lots of him. 

Buyer Beware - Writing in the Wall Street Journal, David Englander touts Callaway's stock (NYSE:ELY), though for a surprising reason:

Since CEO Chip Brewer joined in 2012, the Carlsbad, Calif., maker of golf clubs and balls has been turning its fortunes around. 

When Callaway (ELY) reports its 2014 earnings in a few weeks, the company is expected to post its first annual profit since 2008, of $14 million, or 17 cents a share. This year, earnings could nearly double to 30 cents a share, with more gains expected in 2016.

Now selling for less than $8, Callaway’s shares were down about 10% in 2014, as industry weakness masked company improvements. Those issues look temporary, while the turnaround appears to have legs. In the next two years, the stock could rise 50% or more.

That sounds promising, especially since golf-wise the sky is falling.  But that $8 stock is trading at 47X trailing earnings, a little rich for my blood.  But wait, there's more:

Callaway owns valuable assets, including a nearly 20% stake in TopGolf, a golf-themed entertainment venue in Dallas, Texas, started in 2000. According to Boyar Research, Callaway’s stake could be worth about $2 a share. 

Not including TopGolf, Boyar puts Callaway’s intrinsic value at $12 a share.

That is interesting... Might be a way to participate in the Top Golf phenomenon, which the kids seem to love.   

Bizarro World - The Press Conferences

It was the perfect storm of pressers....first Tiger then Allenby.  We'll take them in reverse order, though I must first lament the absence of transcripts.as the Aussie's is a cry for help fully warranting a line-by-line Fisking.  Oh well, what might have been...

From John Strege's account at The Loop:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Robert Allenby defiantly stuck to his story on Tuesday while blaming the media for creating and sustaining a controversy from his night on the town

in Honolulu on Jan. 16.

“There has definitely been a lot of confusion,” he said, while still showing signs of the cuts and bruises he suffered on the night in question. “But I think the number one thing that you should remember is that my story stays exactly the same as the way I told it. I told you what I knew and what someone told me. That’s the bottom line. 

“From that, obviously the media have decided that they’re the most amazing experts at investigations. There is a reason why detectives in Honolulu are some of the best in the world. I’d really appreciate it if we’d just let them do their job and maybe we could get to the bottom of it.”

All righty then....basically there were three points that Allenby wanted to make (after a cold open in which he told the press that it would be a short availability - were I his press flack I might have suggested opening with a joke):

1. It's all the media's fault;
2. There's an ongoing investigation; and
3. I have kids, you know.

Shockingly these didn't carry the day with his audience.  Oh, and he called himself a victim about a billion times...yanno, in case someone in the back missed it.

Allergens story included a drugging, kidnapping, beating and robbery and that he was left at a park six miles from the wine bar at which he had been drinking. He also has said that he has no recollection of what happened between “about 11:06 [p.m.] to about 1:27 a.m., no memory in my brain. Nothing.” 

The story doesn't jibe with that has been told by others who have claimed to have witnessed some of it.

If you'll recall, the initial reports of the abduction and coming back to consciousness 6 1/2 miles from the wine bar, the sourcing of those details to Charade (pronounced Sha-ROD per Rex Hoggard) was never made clear.  That in itself is not troubling as initial accounts of traumatic events are often inaccurate, especially when the source is, what's that word, oh yes, the victim.

But what is definitively troubling is that Charade denies telling our hero that wonderful tale, because she saw something completely different.  And upon being contradicted, you'll no doubt also remember that Bobby's instinctive reaction was that someone must have paid her off.  It was only when that didn't fly that he made up with her and paid her off himself.

Strege omits the single best sound bite of the day, probably trying to cut the guy a break.  When asked what he's learned from the event, he responded "That I don't have a single friend in the media."  Well, boo-friggin'-hoo Robby, as the old saying goes, if you want a friend, get a dog.  The reality is that he likely doesn't have a friend in the golf media, but I wonder why that might be... I'm just spitballin' here, but could it maybe....er perhaps, be because you're about the biggest dick on Tour?  Just askin'?

Theresa watched the start of the presser with me, but got up to leave a few minutes before it ended.  I asked her to stay and when it ended asked her opinion.  Her succinct summary: "He's hiding something."  

The Tiger presser was optically far better, as Tiger seemed relaxed and even smiled a few times.  Alas, as Shack and others make clear, the tooth story is still way off in never-neverland.  

Bob Harig has the story from Tiger:

"That didn't feel very good," said Woods, who had traveled unannounced to watch Vonn set a record for victories. "I was looking down, and all the camera guys are below me on their knees or moving all around, trying to get a picture because she's hugging people, saying congratulations to the other racers as they are coming down. Some already finished, some are there already in the changing area. 

"Dude with a video camera on his shoulder, right in front of me, kneeling, stood up and turned and caught me square on the mouth. He chipped that one, cracked the other one. 

"And so then, you know, I'm trying to keep this thing so the blood is not all over the place, and luckily he hit the one I had the root canal on. That's the one that chipped. But the other one had to be fixed, as well, because it had cracks all through it."

OK, but there wasn't any blood and no one saw or heard anything.  But lots of good puns...such as this from Charles Curtis:

"Tiger Woods says he's telling the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but ... okay, you get it."

Bet he's been saving that one up for a week...Wondering about the choice of facemask?  Turns out that Tiger has surprisingly highbrow tastes for his X-Box.

Hmmmm...they make a separate edition for blacks?  That's gotta be racist, no?  The Daily News summed it up thusly:

But witnesses to the awards ceremony noted that Woods was not present for the ceremony, spending the interlude in a tent near the finish line of the course, secluded from the photographers who had already noted his presence. So far no videographer has stepped forward to shed light on the alleged incident, and photographs of Woods taken at the event don't appear to show any swelling, bleeding or even discomfort on the face of the 39-year-old golfer.

Who ya gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes?  Most of the reporting passed on the storytelling Tiger, and he was in fine form.  As relates to the boulder loose impediment moved by gallery members, Tiger indicated that they pushed it in the wrong direction.  Of course he's far too nice a guy to correct them, and because of that he had to start his shot to the right and it ended in the right bunker.

He also showed a heightened level of tact.  When asked about the Allenby story he wisely begged off with the excuse that he hadn't followed it.  We're not buying, but we do acknowledge the wisdom in not taking that bait.

Lastly he indicated that part of his frustration was that the story should have been Lindsey setting the record....  Kick save and a beauty!.

Weekend Wrap - Snowmaggedon Edition

We awoke to 6-7" of fresh white stuff on Saturday, whereas 1-3" had been expected.  But tonight we're going to get whacked hard, with 12-24" depending upon the track of the storm.  Which would be great were I writing this from Utah.  Alas, I'm intemperate New York and out in Utah they're making up words like Juneuary...What's wrong with this picture?

As ski-buddy Mitch recently reminded me, this guy knows where to find the good white stuff:

The only good news to report is that Employee No. 2 is whipping up a batch of her wonderful chicken soup for your humble correspondent.

He Haas Game - The rugby scrum in the desert yielded a repeat winner:

Bill Haas joined a select group of golfers Sunday when he won the Humana Challenge in partnership the Clinton Foundation for the second time. 

Haas fired a 5-under 67 on the Palmer Course at PGA West in La Quinta to score a one-shot win over five other players in a wild day that saw plenty of birdies and lead changes. Haas, a co-leader entering the day, finished at 22-under 266.

This will dispel any thought that a close result is necessarily exciting, as the only part within shouting distance of memorable was this second shot by the winner after an errant drive on the home hole:

Golf Channel did a fine job of positioning a boom microphone, as we were able to hear the entire exchange between Haas and his looper (exchange is somewhat misleading, as Haas seemed mostly to be taking orders).  They're so good that even hitting a ball teed up at belt level he pured it...

This is about as inconsequential as events on Tour get, despite the bloviating of a certain ex-POTUS during the final round broadcast.  The tournament will be substantially different next year, as it will feature both a new title sponsor as well as a new host course.  Larry Bohanna, writing in the aptly-named Desert Sun, fills us in on the latter and some of the history on the Palmer Private Course:

The Palmer Private Course at PGA West was first played in the tournament known as the

Bob Hope Classic in 1988. And with the exception of a three-year absence in the 1990s, the Palmer Course has been played each year since its debut. 

However, the Palmer Course will leave the tournament after this week's Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, ending a run that has seen history made on the course several times by some of the PGA Tour's brightest stars.

Larry's playing a little loose with the concept, as the only entry that really warrants the "H" word was David Duval's final round 59 in 1999 to win the event.  But this one gets a pass because it's The King:

Player: Arnold Palmer 

The story: Palmer was not playing close to his best golf by the 2000s, but he was still playing in the Hope tournament and on the course he designed at PGA West. On Saturday that year, Palmer was already assured of missing the cut, but he put together a magical round in which the 71-year-old golfer matched his age with a 1-under 71. Palmer needed to make a birdie and a par on the final two holes to reach his age. He rolled in a 15-footer for a birdie at 17, then tapped in for a par-5 at the 18th to complete the round.

Now it's by no means a great or even a very good course, but it is a scenic course tucked in against the Santa Rosa Mountains.  And it's the only time of year we got to see craziness like this:

And this:

Here's a photo Theresa took on the LaQuinta Resort range back when your humble blogger was a much younger man:

I could have been happy there all day, watching the flight of my shots against the pink mountains, the colors changing with the movement of the sun.  My only point is that it's not much of a tourney, but perhaps it's all that's possible at this time of year.  We're all anxious for some golf that matters, but it's still early for that...

While My Qatar Gently Weeps - South African Branden Grace won the Euro Tour event in Qatar this week, and Jason Sobel seizes the opportunity to talk up the 26-year old.  Fair enough, as it seems the young man has won a hundred events in South Africa alone, though he's also done little on the bigger stages of the game.  But he's now in the Top 50, and if he can stay there he'll have his chances...

All I can say is that he hit some memorable golf shots in Qatar, most notably this drive on the 16th hole that led to an eagle:

And Kyle Porter has a Vine of an insane recovery shot Grace hit earlier in the week.  Good stuff.

While I Was Sleeping - Theresa and I turned in early last night, with Mark O'Meara holding a seemingly secure three-shot lead at the Round Bellies event on the Big Island.  I should have known better since he was being chased by The Most Interesting Man in Golf:

Miguel Angel Jimenez rallied to win the Champions Tour's season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship, birdieing six of the final nine holes Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Mark O'Meara.

 

The Spaniard closed with a 6-under 66 for his second victory in three career starts on the 50-and-over tour. He won the Greater Gwinnett Championship last year, a week after finishing fourth in the Masters. In May, he won the Spanish Open at 50 years, 133 days to break his own record as the oldest European Tour champion.

I played that course during our Honeymoon and it's a completely forgettable Nicklaus design, except for the lava, of which it has far more than any other course we played on the islands.  The event is entirely forgettable except for this, which one doesn't get to see every day:

We live in crazy times...first Martin Kaymer coughs up a 10-shot lead with fourteen holes to play and now Langer makes a ten.  What's become of that vaunted German engineering?

It's somewhat reminiscent of the 13 Kevin Na took in Texas a few years ago.  Sometimes when you hit a ball very crooked you just have to take your medicine and go back to the tee.  The problem is that once you make the first attempt to extricate yourself and fail, you leave yourself nowhere to take relief.

Olympic Notes - It seems that a victory lap is being run as relates to the Olympic course in Rio, as Bradley Klein reports:

If urban politics, mass protest and legal wrangling between a landowner and the courts

don’t dampen the humor of a major golf-course designer, then he’s already a step ahead of the game. 

So when Gil Hanse was asked Wednesday at a PGA Merchandise Show press conference – in front of an audience of more than 300 people and while sharing the stage with leading golf officials and professionals – if his new course in Rio de Janeiro had a logo yet, the self-effacing golf course designer just had to laugh. 

“We’re just happy to have a golf course.”

Hanse and co-designer Amy Alcott (with Suzanne Pettersen and Graeme McDowell in the photo) made these photos available:

Klein, a knowledgeable observer, has this to say about the track:

What counts is that the layout – at 7,350 yards, a par 71 – has a wide-open, linksy feel to it. It’s built on sand, brings no trees into play and offers several paths and avenues for greenside recovery from the side and behind. It also features lots of what Hanse calls “half-par” holes – short and long par 3s and par 4s and reachable, risk-reward par 5s. Amy Alcott, an LPGA Hall of Famer and design consultant to Hanse on the project, is especially proud of the finishing stretch. Those present opportunities for birdies if players take the risk – as they well might at the reachable par-4 16th hole.

With Hanse involved, the golf course always figured to be the only interesting aspect to the competition, assuming it actually got built.  Now all it needs is name...and a logo, of course.

In other Olympic Golf news, you may have heard that Boston has been chosen to carry our hopes and dreams to land the 2024 Olympic Games.  I know, I can barely breathe what with the tension..

Per Shackelford, if Boston is awarded the games and if golf is still an Olympic event after the 2016 and 2020 games, the golf competition will be held at The Country Club.  The Boston 2024 IOC Submission document can be found here, for anyone having trouble sleeping.  I'm slightly surprised due to TCC being thoroughly private, as I might have thought they'd prefer the optics of a publicly-accessible venue.  But it's early days...

Donald Trump, Call Your Office - I guess the USGA officials stayed out of those dangerous wine bars during their fortnight in Pinehurst, as Matt Ginella informs us that they'll be paying return visits:

The U.S. Amateur is coming back to Pinehurst No. 2 in 2019, according to multiple sources. Off the success of a historic restoration and back-to-back men’s and women’s U.S. Opens last year, Pinehurst and the USGA are ready for the ultimate amateur trophy to return to the “Cradle of American Golf.”

That's nice, but the real buzz relates to rumors that the U.S. Open will be returning there in 2024.  Shack lets his imagination go wild with this projection of the U.S. Open rota:

This also sets up a potential murderer's row of courses. Okay, Following Shinnecock

Hills, Pebble Beach and Winged Foot in 2020 comes a brief respite to replenish the coffers and enjoy some SoCal marine layer at Torrey Pines in 2021. The 2022 date is open. Los Angeles Country Club is in line to host in 2023 and as Ginella reports, 2024 seems destined for Pinehurst ten years after its last U.S. Open. With Boston putting The Country Club down as its 2024 Olympic course on the slim chance the city does not botch its bid, the 2022 date continues to look perfect for a long-rumored return to Boston for the U.S. Open. And what a run that would be.

Now our Geoff is far too modest to note that LACC's North Course is in line for the 2023 Open due to a restoration of the course by none other than Gil Hanse and Geoff Shackelford (which has received great press).  I'll note that the schedule he lays out is exclusively East and West Coast venues for some seven years, longer even than the Democratic Party in paying lip service to flyover country.

More substantively, when the USGA gave The Country Club the 2013 Amateur, in lieu of the more appropriate Open to mark the 100th anniversary of Ouimet's unlikely win over Vardon and Ray, the only logical conclusion was that TCC's Open-hosting days were behind it.  They went back to Merion so anything's possible, but I wonder what Shack bases this speculation upon...