Stuff

What does everyone want to talk about this morning?  Oh that's right, you guys don't get a vote....

These Guys Are Good - You've no doubt heard that before, but this week's scoring is quite wild...First, let's deal with the lads on Oahu:

HONOLULU (AP) Webb Simpson made his debut with a conventional putter Thursday

Gotta love the Jordnesque toungue action.

at the Sony Open and might have wished he had used one sooner. 

One year away from the new rule that outlaws anchored strokes, Simpson ditched his belly putter for a regular one for his 2015 debut and ran off eight birdies over his last 10 holes for an 8-under 62 that gave him a share of the lead with Paul Casey.

Webb didn't just go to a non-abchored putter, he went to a very short (34") one.  But what was most notable about his round was that he shot a very pedestrian one-under on the back nine (his first nine), but then shot a blistering 28 on the front nine.  It's been my experience that 28's rarely hurt a player, and you can trust me on that because I couldn't post it on the Internet if it weren't true.

And before we move on, I caught this amazing shot from the previously-unknown-to-me Jonathan Randolph:

Boy, you just don't see guys shaping shots like this in the modern game.

I woke up at zero dark thirty here in Park City, and as annoying as that was it did allow me to catch the conclusion of the Golf Channel broadcast from Abu Dhabi.  I tuned in just as Rory missed a couple of short putts on the 13th and 14th holes.  He avoided that problem on the Par-3 15th by jarring his tee shot, surprisingly his first ace in competition.

It actually reminded me of a semi-final match in last year's Willow Ridge Presidents Cup between my friends Bruce Berman and Steve Fox.  Bruce is easily the best player at our club, and Steve logically felt that he's need some help and modestly irked Bruce by not conceding a couple of shortish downhill putts on the early holes.  Bruce had no issue ramming the putts in and on the seventh hole took matters into his own hands by acing it.  I told Steve on the walk to the 8th tee that there was nothing wrong with his strategy, but that Bruce was unfortunately good enough to come up with a work-around.

This Golfweek header seems more than a tad hyperbolic:

Kaymer threatens to run away with Abu Dhabi title

Kaymer is playing great, but you've got Thomas Piters a shot behind and the best player on the planet two off the lead, so no reason not to expect a sizzling weekend.

The Gentleman Is A Doper - The PGA Tour had this interesting announcement for us:

The PGA Tour has suspended Bhavik Patel, a 24-year-old Web.com Tour pro from Bakersfield, Calif., for one year for violating the PGA Tour’s Anti-Doping Policy on performance-enhancing drugs. 

According to a statement issued from Commissioner Tim Finchem’s office, Patel’s suspension began on Oct. 7, 2014, so he will be eligible to play again on Oct. 7, 2015.

“In an effort to overcome an injury, I made a lapse of judgment,” said Patel in the Tour’s statement. “I regret my decision but have learned from the experience and look forward to returning to competition.”

Notice anything missing?  Like me, you're probably a little curious as to what kind of PED might be involved... but Commissioner Ratched doesn't think we have a sufficiently lofty security clearance to have access to that closely-guarded secret.

Rex Hoggard dives into the fine print and attempts to sort through this lack of transparency:

Whatever it is Patel did to warrant his one-year suspension remains unknown. Although the Tour’s original PED manual in 2008 stated, "... the PGA Tour will, at a minimum, publish the name of the player, the anti-doping rule violation, and the sanction imposed,” for a performance-enhancing violation, that policy was amended in January 2009 when “the anti-doping violation” wording was removed from the policy. 

However subtle the reworded policy may seem, it only serves to further extend a cloak of secrecy that has defined the anti-doping program since its inception.

The problem, of course, is that the Tour's anti-doping policy has only caught two players using PED's, both players being of the disposable variety.  The first, you may recall, was the unfortunate Doug Barron who was taking medication under a legitimate prescription to deal with a low testosterone condition.  So those of a cynical predisposition might question whether the Tour's policy is intended to capture actual miscreants or rather to manage perceptions.  Just askin'...

Loyal readers are aware of my hope that Vijay Singh's lawsuit against the Tour might result in some sunlight being applied to this morass, but there's also another possibility.  Rex linked to this Reuters piece on the effect that golf's inclusion in the Olympics may have:

Golfers who are policed by an anti-doping code on the PGA Tour that is viewed by

critics as too opaque will have to adapt to a much more transparent program if they qualify to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games. 

Unlike the International Golf Federation (IGF), which will administer golf's reappearance as an Olympic sport after an absence of more than a century, the PGA Tour is not a signatory to the code implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Consequently, players who hope to represent their countries at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games will have to be educated on the significant differences between the PGA Tour's policy and its prohibited list of substances versus that promulgated by WADA.

Interesting... and I'm guessing that they'll be less concerned with the players' privacy.

And I loved this from designated-suit Ty Votaw:

Asked how the PGA Tour responded to suggestions that it fall in line with the other major professional sports leagues and become fully transparent, executive vice-president Ty Votaw told Reuters: "These 'suggestions' are nothing new and our responses to those suggestions have been consistent.

Yes, you've been quite consistent in telling folks to move along as there's nothing to see here...

Extreme Golf - Here's a thought...how about we blow off the Olympics and try to get golf into the X-games?  No doubt it would be way more fun and I'm guessing it would have more folks watching, but take a gander at this video from the Shetland Islands:

I don't see what the big deal is, it's just a wee breeze.

Replicate This - Commissioner Mike Whan has seemed to me a good steward of the LPGA tour, but I'll differ with him on this one.  First, some background:

The Coates Golf Championship is gearing up for a big-bang start to 2015 with a stellar field expected for the LPGA’s new season opener in two weeks. 

Forty-nine of the top 50 players in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings are expected at Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club, according to Andy Bush, senior vice president of business development for Octagon, the company running tournament operations for the LPGA’s newest event. Bush was emcee on media day Wednesday for the Coates Golf Championship.

OK so far, new event and new sponsor, and that's Job No. 1 for commissioners.  But it's the venue that seems to be poorly considered:

Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club is a course designed by Ron Garl that features

The faux-ANGC thirteenth.

eight “tribute” holes, replica holes modeled after iconic holes at Augusta National, St. Andrews, Royal Troon, Baltusrol and Muirfield. The replicas include Augusta National’s 12th, 13th and 16th holes, Royal Troon’s postage stamp hole and the Road Hole at St. Andrews. 

“I can’t wait for fans to see the Tribute holes,” Lincicome said. “They really look like famous holes all around the world.”

Egads, no they don't.  Tribute courses are a joke, and the ladies should have been smart enough to steer clear.  

Of Green Jackets and the LAAC - Kudos to Shack for his coverage of the Latin America Amateur Championship, in which a Masters berth is at stake.  He provided background and the television schedule here, including this:

The field consists of 109 players from South and Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. The World Amateur Golf Rankings were used to fill the field, but every country in the region is represented by at least two players, including places such as the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and Barbados. And all of it is funded through the efforts of the Masters, the R&A and the USGA (and their corporate sponsors), which is taking part in this grow-the-game initiative for the first time.

That funding is actually quite substantial, as Bob Harig explains:

Putting on such an event is no small financial undertaking. Specific figures are not disclosed, but it is no stretch to say that the costs run significantly past the seven-figure mark. 

Each of the players in the field is given airfare, accommodations and food. Even the caddies are provided. With more than half the players coming from U.S. colleges, flights to Buenos Aires add up. A price tag of near $500,000 would seem reasonable just for that aspect of the tournament alone. 

Then there are all the other elements that go into running an event. Undoubtedly the Masters, the R&A and the USGA have leaned on their corporate partners such as Rolex, AT&T, Mercedes and others to help defray the costs. But it is a significant commitment nonetheless. 

"We have the time, we have the resources, and we believe it to be completely consistent with what our founders believe," Payne said.

 Wow, I'm quite impressed.  Shack went off on a bit of a tangent about Billy Payne wearing his green jacket at the event, which Harig covers thusly:

Augusta National members only wear their green jackets at the club, so this week in Argentina marks a significant departure from protocol. And it speaks to the importance of the Latin America Amateur Championship to the powers that be at the Masters, who helped launch the event that began Thursday as a way of growing the game in this part of the world.

Masters and Augusta National chairman Billy Payne was made available for an interview Wednesday and again at a news conference Thursday in which he was sporting his green jacket. So were several other Augusta National members in attendance. For a place steeped in history and tradition, this is no small thing.

it's a pretty small thing to the rest of us, but I shouldn't be churlish when they're doing something really good with their riches.  This is far more important in terms of the over-used concept than Olympic golf, so kudos to all involved.

Shack also helpfully informs us that while they had hoped to take the 2016 edition of the event to the Olympic golf course in Rio, construction delays have rendered that plan inoperable.  Therefore the event will be held on Pete Dye's Teeth of the Dog course at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic.  How about we put whoever made that call in charge of picking Ryder Cup and PGA Championship venues?