Weekend blogging is problematic, so let's catch up on some items we missed...
Rickie Remainders - There was far too much to cram into the earlier post, including this Helen Ross item on the two playoff losers:
But Garcia and Kevin Kisner -- among others -- then responded, making birdies at the16th and 17th holes to pull even and force the first aggregate playoff in the history of THE PLAYERS Championship. Kisner even had a 10-footer for birdie on the 18th hole that would have given him the win outright.
"I think we all three did some amazing things coming in," Garcia said. "I thought it was a well-played championship."
Garcia, who won THE PLAYERS in 2008 in a sudden-death playoff, was eliminated first after he shot even par in the aggregate affair while Kisner and Fowler finished 1 under after matching birdies at No. 17. The two then went back to the island oasis for sudden death and Fowler emerged victorious when he converted from 5 feet and Kisner missed from 12.
There was just so much, including Garcia's shot on No. 14 in his stocking feet (picture above)....and his forty-footer on No. 17 might have been the single most improbable shot.
This piece by Ross and Sean Martin praises the three-hole playoff format:
"Coming down the stretch there, around 16, 17, 18 was a super cool atmosphere," Kisner said. "Hitting those shots into 17 all three times was really good shots, and birdieing it twice is super cool, with all those people watching."
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee probably spoke for most fans when he marveled at how the playoff got progressively more dramatic on three of the most distinctive holes on the PGA TOUR. The 16th is a risk-reward par 5, the island 17th a gut-check of a par 3 and the 18th a brutal par 4.
"Nobody blinked, right down to the very end," Chamblee said.
Yeah, the only surprise is that it took them so damn long to implement it. That's been a natural since the day they opened the joint, and it sure works.
Bob Harig tells us about one of the few darker sides of the day:
But one of the game's best attributes -- proximity to the players and the action -- can also be one of its cruelest when a long day in the sun coupled with alcohol-aided machismo turns ugly.
Sergio Garcia can be his own worst enemy at times, but he didn't deserve the profanity and vitriol he endured for a good bit of the back nine on Sunday and at times during the week of the Players Championship.
Someone once said that he loves humanity, it's just the people he can't stand.... it got a little ugly out there and they really need to be visibly removing the perps from the place. They won't get all the jerks, but at least it might send a signal.
But we need to preserve a separate ring of hell for the guy that shouted mashed potatoes into the open mike during the playoff. That guy is just too stupid to let live...
And I do love that during a TNT NBA broadcast Charles Barkley admitted that he was watching the golf. We all were, Chuck...
Did anyone see Tiger on the weekend broadcasts? That may be a first, but it was forgettable week for the 2013 champion per John Strege:
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| I don't get it, his positions look perfect. |
Tiger Woods’ performance at the Players Championship was an assault on the senses — odorous at times, painful to watch. And hear.Criticisms cut deep. “I think he is entirely lost,” David Duval said on Golf Channel following Woods’ first round. “Never seen such a brilliant player playing ‘golf swing’ so much like he is. It looks like he is thinking about every position through the entire golf swing. That has handcuffed him both physically and between the ears.”
Well, he did beat four guys...he tied for 72nd in driving accuracy on a golf course where these guys hit precious few drivers. Oh, did I mention that there were only 75 guys there for all four days?
And he had another memorable moment at No. 14:
For those that don't remember the referenced 2013 incident, Alex Myers offered this background:
If Tiger struggling on the 14th hole sounds familiar, you're right. In 2013, Woods also hit his tee shot in the water, but got the benefit of a controversial drop in the rough about 250 yards away where playing partner Casey Wittenberg agreed his ball had crossed in. Woods made double bogey and went on to win the tournament.
On Sunday, however, with a tee shot that wasn't hooking as much, Woods could only take his drop about 50 yards ahead on the next tee box.
Yeah, well that 2013 tee shot wasn't hooking that much either, and the drop couldn't have been legal, I mean unless the laws of physics had been repealed. Funny thing is that my buddy Warren Light and I had this discussion on the range Sunday before this even took place. I couldn't remember that it was Casey, but we were joking about Tiger glaring at a journeyman and saying, "That ball crossed land up there, didn't it?", an we expect said journeyman to do what exactly? Because in the real world, the answer will always be, "Whatever you say, Tiger."
The Tour Confidential gang kicked around the implications of Rickie's win, and Josh Sens had this optimistic take on the young man's future:
Put it this way, I doubt we'll be seeing many more anonymous player polls calling him the most overrated guy on Tour. Huge win, for sure. Who knows, maybe now he'll finally get some fan support and a nice sponsorship deal from an apparel company.
Hard to see that ever happening...
From the They Never Learn Files - This was my biggest laugh of the weekend:
In an interview with Golf Channel at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass,Bradley reflected on the heated argument he, Jimenez and Bradley’s caddie, Steven “Pepsi” Hale, got into at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play last week.
“To be honest with you I got schooled by a great gamer,” Bradley said. “I let him get under my skin…”
In terms of match play, Bradley said that the argument was “genius” gamesmanship on Jimenez’s part.
He added that he knew what he did wrong and will use it as a learning experience.
Yeah, Keegan, that's the ticket... Miggy chose a meaningless match to dig deep into his darkest kit bag of medieval sorcery. Or, it could be that you're just a little too tightly wound and lost it in embarrassing fashion...
And almost as good as that one is news that Ted Bishop is pimping Ian Poulter again on Twitter. I can't possibly see what could go wrong:
Oh Ted, it's really hard to miss you if you won't go away....
The Greatest Torrey Ever Told - The North Course at Torrey Pines is far below Tour standards and the same anonymous poll referenced above had it as the worst course on Tour, though let's all bear in mind that the guys play only one round on it per year. It's long been noted that it's preferable not to see either sausage or laws being made, but I think we should add public sector contract awards to the mix, as the City of San Diego has asked contractors to decide what $14.2 million can buy:
Kevin Oliver, the city’s lead engineer on the project, cited the “base” priorities for the renovation as: replacing the irrigation system, adding a water pump station for the South Course, building new cart paths, replacing all 18 greens, moving and rebuilding all bunkers, and leveling tee boxes while adding a new set of forward tees.
While those elements are part of the vision that pro golfer and native San Diegan Phil Mickelson and his design team presented in 2012, they do not include other parts of Mickelson’s plans – namely, the re-contouring of some fairways, the change in location of several greens and tee boxes, and the removal of 20 acres of turf to change the aesthetic and give the North a more coastal-desert feel.
And this:
In the new process for the North, the city will accept “best value” bids in which the fixed price is $14.2 million, with construction companies establishing what they can deliver for that amount.
The concern expressed by some committee members is that the decision-making for the priorities of the project will be made by the contractor and not the city.
Ya think? I'd expect to see Phil quickly disassociate himself from this effort.
The Weekend Games - I haven't been playing especially well, but that hasn't hindered my enjoyment of matches and camaraderie one bit it seems...On Saturday, the balls dropped such that Steve Fox was again my partner, this time against Nathan Assor and Ted Rosenzweig, kind of a mirror image of our match against Bruce and Kunta Kente, this time with us as overdogs.
Of course nothing in golf happens as its supposed to, and your humble correspondent three jacks on
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| Warren and Nathan in a photo from last season. |
We win our first hole of the day on the fifth (our fourteenth hole of the morning), I put one to 4-feet on No. 6 and my 3 for 2 beats Teddy's 4 for 3, and we decide we like winning holes so much that we win them all on the way to the clubhouse, taking the match 1-up. Funniest part is that Teddy tells me the next day that he and Nathan made a conscious decision to keep the trash talk to a minimum, as they didn't want to risk waking us up... A lesson for us all, as we might as well take our best shots when opportunity presents...
Sunday there was no match, as we had only a three-ball and I imposed upon my friends (Teddy and the above-noted Warren) to allow Employee No. 2 to play nine holes with us. They were good sports about it as such things aren't done...
Well, the bride had herself a day, making par on the difficult opening hole and then making an unlikely birdie on the brutal Par-3 4th (featured here as one of the tougher holes in the County). She drove it beautifully all day, and her short game was really precise. Most notable was a bunker shot on No. 7 that featured a goodly amount of juice, but she was controlling her ball the entire day. In fact, Teddy has the unpleasant task of informing Nathan, his decades-long team event partner, that he's being dumped for Theresa in the upcoming Governors Cup.
This of course bodes ill for our August Scotland trip...wait, let me rephrase. It bodes ill for ME on our Scotland trip, but great to see her playing so well. Theresa painted herself into a bit of a corner with a few of those scores, as the ladies have a season-long ringers competition that requires 18-hole scorecards to be submitted. She had a number of good holes that might prove useful, but the birdie on the fourth is pure money... I'd wager that there won't be another birdie in those ringer scorecards, and likely fewer pars than we'd imagine. The best news was that I got my bride's company for twice as long as promised, a win-win proposition to be sure.
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