Thursday, May 21, 2015

Thursday Threads

Spanning the globe, to bring you the wide world of golf...

Dateline: Fort Worth - The great Dan Jenkins is never gonna get that sitdown with Tiger after comments like this from an interview with Mac Engel:
Is Jordan Spieth the next big thing on the Tour, or are we kidding ourselves that, because of the depth of talent at the top, anybody will ever replicate Tiger’s run a decade ago?
Jordan Spieth is the real deal. As I tweeted from Augusta, he appears to be the perfect
Texas pro. He has the will and the focus of Ben Hogan, the likability of Byron Nelson and the putting stroke of Ben Crenshaw. I’m delighted that we now have a youthful Top Three — Rory McIlroy, Jordan and Rickie Fowler. Rickie doesn’t have the physique or the size and strength of Rory and Jordan, but he’s a fierce competitor, a fighter who has to get everything out of himself, somewhat on the order of a Gary Player. Incidentally, there’s much more talent at the top (and the bottom) than there was during Tiger’s peak years. Tiger beat a lot of nobodies to win most of his majors. 
Yeah, there was Phil [Mickelson] and [Ernie] Els around, in and out, but go back and look who was second to him in those majors and tell me where they are now.
Ya gotta chuckle at the fact that the Tiger-trashing comes in answer to a question about....homeboy Jordan Spieth.   Not that he's bitter or anything... Much as wwe love the old curmudgeon, the homer in him comes through loud and clear with this:
After the majors, do you think Colonial is among that second tier of tournaments or does such a thing even exist?

Colonial is still in the second tier of tournaments, despite the fact that the layout has eased up from a very difficult 280 U.S. Open test to a layout where journeymen pros can shoot 61. Age carries it forward, plus a great array of past champions. My current list of important second-tier events would include what I still call the Crosby, the LA Open, The Players, Jack’s Memorial and the Tour Championship.
We could have a serious argument about those Left Bank venues, but Colonial?  The Frys is drawing a stronger field these days...

Dateline: Virginia Water, England -  An AP story reminds us that this week's Euro Tour flagship event is where Rory started last summer's torrid run:
Rory McIlroy is back at the tournament that ''kick-started'' his amazing run over the past 12 months. 
McIlroy defends his title this week at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the flagship event of the European Tour. He won here in 2014 after failing to make the cut the previous two years. 
''This is what kick-started everything,'' McIlroy said Wednesday. ''This win, it gave me a lot of confidence to go on into the summer and do what I did. It was a real catalyst.''
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article21330333.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article21330333.html#storylink=cpy
Ahhhh, the memories....that was of course mere days after Rory channeled his inner Emily Litella and said "Never Mind" to those posted wedding invites.  Alas, this event is played over the desecrated Harry S. Colt course at Wentworth, so I'd suggest you keep your powder dry this week and set your DVR for the Irish Open next week at Royal County Down.

Dateline: Washington, D.C. - We linked yesterday to this item on FCC complaints about Tiger's potty mouth, but in an act of blogging malpractice I failed to make it to the bottom of the article.  There was comedy gold to be found and I left it on the cutting room floor, such as this:
Woods hasn't been the only source of golf fans’ ire. In the wake of the 2014 Arnold Palmer Invitational, a San Jacinto, Calif., viewer lambasted Matt Every’s caddie, Derek Mason, for dropping the f-bomb “several times while discussing a golf shot Every was about to make.”
Multiple F-bombs over one shot?  Well played, Derek...
In 2013, a Spring, Tex., resident took issue with two-time PGA Tour winner D.A. Points using the term “d---ing around” on a segment that ran on the nightly news on the local NBC affiliate. (“This expression is objectionable to me,” the viewer demurred.) CBS Sports announcers David Feherty and Gary McCord were criticized in 2012 by a Brooklyn, N.Y., viewer for appearing in a commercial that made “a mockery of the Roman Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation.”
I'm not now nor have I ever been a Roman Catholic, but does anyone have a clue as to what commercial is involved?  And, of course, this ever-present issue in golf broadcasts:

Two viewers asserted that commercial breaks during golf telecasts are an inappropriate forum for promoting erectile dysfunction medications. (You know the spots -- sunsets, bathtubs, knowing glances.) “Children and young people may be watching,” wrote a viewer from Alexandria, Va.
Well, according to Nielson, there are no kids watching... but I think these folks are bitter that their walls don't magically open to reveal side-by-side bathtubs in the sunset.  How sad for them...

Dateline: Utah - I thought I had my arms around the damage that lightning can do to a golf course, but I stand corrected:
By now everyone’s probably seen a tree or two that’s been hit by lightning: branches severed off, strips of bark missing. What happens, though, when lightning hits a smaller target on the golf course?

This photo from a Reddit user shows what happened to the green at a course in Utah when a flagstick got hit:

 Wow!  I guess that's a good reason to make flagsticks out of non-metallic materials....

Dateline: Cape Breton Island, Canada - Cabot Links has been wowing them since it opened, and now Cabot Cliffs will open for preview play in July.  We've got spectacular pics and a video to wet our whistle:



If that voice sounds familiar, it's none other than Jack Bauer.  If Employee No. 2 is so inclined, I'm thinking next summer...

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