Weekend Wrap

Did anybody enjoy yesterday's golf?

Unfortunately I have a family obligation this morning of unknown duration.  That means that not only do I have limited time for blogging, but that even watching the tape of today's final round is problematic....but let's get to it, shall we?

Moving Day, Indeed - Nae wind, nae rain at the Old, nae par.... Marc Leishman led the charge with a 64 that really should have been a 62, and the lads killed every damn fish in the barrel...It was a day that demanded a mid-sixties score to remain relevant, and they were plentiful.

Lots to read this morning about the newcomer tied for the lead, Irishman Paul Dunne:

Paul Dunne strode along the 18th fairway Sunday afternoon, soaking in the cheers,

waving to the crowd, acting like the Old Course was his own personal playground. 

And for a day, at least, it was. 

His 66 tied him atop The Open leaderboard, in some heady company, with a different kind of history within his grasp. No amateur has won The Open since Bobby Jones in 1930. No amateur has led The Open through 54 holes since Jones in 1927.

When the last guy to do something is Bobby Jones, you know it's just an oddball quirk....and yet pretty cool.  But does Paul Dunne even know who Bobby Jones was?  Brian Keough has a nice feature on Dunne and Padraig Harrington as well.

On the range before yesterday's round, I suggested a wee pool to guess how DJ would drop-kick this major away.  My guess was that he would come to the 72nd hole one-shot behind needing eagle to win and blow his drive into Hamilton Hall.  OK, the Mendoza line remains safe, and yet I'll take credit for getting the big picture correct.  

My record preceeds me, but though the leaderboard resembles a rugby scrum, I'm gonna go with either King Louis or Jason Day, and if you limited me to one I'd go with the latter.  It's calm in the Auld Grey Toon as the early groups tee off, but they do expect some weather later.  I'm guessing that Jordan comes up agonizingly short and is left with the realization that he could have, you know, been a bit better prepared for the event.  And while we all know that Paul Dunne will not hoist the Claret Jug, I do hope he acquits himself well stays in it....

Local Color - We've been all over the Ginger Beer angle at this Open, and Shack informs that the R&A has gotten into the spirit of things:

The R&A is paying homage to the drink and man that inspired the 4th hole's branding as Ginger Beer. 

The "Gunner" comes in a bottle decorated by a label featuring an image of Auld Da Anderson selling his Ginger Beer and food items (historian David Hamilton theorizes that the round objects are poached eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried). I came across it at the British Golf Museum's new cafe with sensational views of the courses here. 

Anderson was a caddie, ballmaker and clubmaker, and keeper of the green at St. Andrews before transitioning to his role selling beverages and food on the course. Many believe he served at the 9th hole, but the most consistent location of his Ginger Beer Cart was most likely the 4th.

Shack's got more in that linked post, including a display in the spectator village of items from Emory University's Bobby Jones collection that relate to St. Andrews.

Earlier in the week, Geoff did his typical merchandise tent thing here.

Fox, Forgotten - Despite being put in the uncomfortable position of being a two-year lame duck, ESPN is doing quite the good job I think.  Almost makes a fellow wish they weren't distracted by those other silly games....

They earn extra credit from this viewer for adding a broadcast window to capture the completion of the second round early Saturday morning, no doubt bumping essential infomercials.  And they pulled few punches in covering windgate, with Dottie Pepper in particular distinguishing herself...

The announcing team is mostly pleasant and competent.  Mike Tirico has taken his hits over the years as not being a real golf guy but, after experiencing Joe Buck, I think we've been a bit unfair,  Their weakest link is Tom Rinaldi's syrupy interviews, but those are always a bit awkward...

And they've come up with some new bells and whistles used well in the service of the broadcast.  First, superimposing landing area graphics over hole photos:

And this to show green contours:

And they've really upped the Protracer game, first with this quite amazing vantage point on the 17th hole landing area:

And did you notice them using Protracer on approach shots?  This is from a company press release:

“We employ multiple Protracer systems which allows us to track shots throughout the golf course and from varying camera angles, including rail mounted robotic cameras, mobile units and camera towers. It all works very well and integrates smoothly into the production.” says Berntsen.

All the more amazing given that after Troon 2016 they'll be out of the golf business....

State of the Game -  Events this week highlight the perilous state of our game... I have to admit that I didn't see it coming in this context.  We all well remember the seventh green at Shinnecock and the unnatural acts committed to host a U.S. Open at Merion in the 21st century, but who knew the weakest link would be....errr...the links.

First, since it all happened while we here were sleeping, let's briefly review the fisco of Saturday morning.  Here's a long excerpt from Jim McCabe on how it played out:

When at 7 a.m. R&A officials deemed the conditions playable to resume the second

round, which had spilled over from Friday because of havoc created by a 3-hour, 14-minute rain delay, they didn’t appear to have a substantial understanding of the issues at the 11th green. There, Brooks Koepka insisted the ferocity of the wind made it unplayable, and at first he refused to resume play. 

“I argued for five minutes. (But) I was told I needed to play on, and you’ve got to do what they tell you to do or you’re disqualified,” Koepka said. 

From 5 feet, Koepka’s putt for par rolled wide, then got swept up by a gust of wind. “It finished at 4 feet, but by the time (it stopped), it’s now 5 feet,” he said. He also stared at the official. “I was trying to show them the course is unplayable.”

The rules official apparently got the gist of the situation. Now, Koepka and his group were told they didn’t have to play. Koepka said playing competitor John Senden “didn’t want to putt, either.” 

While play was halted on the 11th green, it continued around them. Therein lies the philosophical quandary that we’ll let Ian Poulter describe: 

“The difficult situation that arose from this morning was that only two putts were made on the 11th green while 32 minutes of play happened everywhere else. Guys like myself played a hole-and-a-half, and other guys didn’t hit a shot (Game 47’s Stewart Cink, Ben Curtis, and David Duval spent the entire time on the tee waiting for the Kopeka group).

“Is that right or wrong?” Poulter said. "Most people would say that’s wrong.”

When Ian Poulter is the voice of reason, we've got a situation with a capital "S".  And. as an aside, I thought the decision on Thursday to send out the first three groups as the Swilican Burn was escaping its historical contours was perhaps even worse... Dottie also garners credit for noting that this is the third consecutive major (including a Women's Open) at St. Andrews in which play was stopped due to high winds.

As noted above, Dottie Pepper distinguished herself by noting that golf has been played in this specific location under these conditions for hundreds of years.... so what's changed?  There's a simple answer:  Green Speeds.  

Shack has a most excellent Golf World piece here, that is unfortunately in e-mag format.  But put this in your pipe and light it up.  The R&A has been maintain Stimp readings in the 10-10.5 foot range....when Arnold Palmer came over in 1960 to create the modern professional Grand Slam, speeds were half that.  Wow!

Shack also makes the invaluable point that play was not suspended for civilians Saturday at The Castle Course (on an even more exposed piece of land), as well as at placed lie Kingsbarns and Crail.  And Geoff goes into CIS-St. Andrews mode to show us Chief Inspector Dawson's nose growing ever larger.

Earlier in the week we linked to John Huggan's discussion of the changes to the Old Course, the most significan tof which was to the 11th green.  I can't overstate to you all how revered this hole is, the place where Bobby Jones quit in 1921 and the model for the Macdonald/Raynor/Banks Eden holes on so many of their creations.

Here's how Dawson explained the rationale for the change to this green:

“This is the only change we have made in order to get more pin positions. Some might say we could just have slowed the green – you for example – but I am of the philosophy that if the players are enjoying the course we will have a good Open and if they are not, we don’t. This green would have to run at six or seven on the Stimpmeter to make it work as it was before. I think that might have attracted some hostile reaction from players and media. 

“What we have now is a green that will still be puttable in a high wind, which it wasn’t before."

Well, I'm certainly glad that they were proactive so that this green can be kept at a consistent speed to the rest of the course....errr, never mind, as here's Dawson on green speeds:

Q. What is the stimpmetre reading for the Old Course for The Open Championship? 

PETER DAWSON: Well, we've been targeting between 10 and 10-foot-6, and we were achieving that every day, but we have kept the 11th green about six inches slower than those readings, and we've been consistently able to achieve that each morning.

As Shack rants here and here, the failure to control equipment by the governing bodies has painted us into a corner, requiring excessive green speeds to control scoring.  While 10-10.5 might not sound excessive to American readers, the combination of the contours and the prevalence of wind makes those speeds unsustainable.  

In the U.S. we've seen the USGA and the PGA Tour use a combination of obscene length, deep rough and lightning quick greens to control scoring.  On a links such as the Old Course they're about at the limits of how long they can make the course play, with several tee boxes already outside the contours of the golf course.  We've seen the R&A uses excessive rough in previous years, especially 2010, but I give them credit for backing of this year as it's a really bad fit on a links.  Far better to allow the lads to advance the ball, as they'll often get themselves in far worse trouble.

But where does this go?  Here's a final excerpt from Joe Posnanski:

Companies fully understand that there are too many people out there willing to pay for longer golf balls. They will find ways to cut drag, to enhance lift, to defy gravity — or whatever else they can do to get a little bit more golf ball air. 

And it will be up to the R&A and USGA to act and not just talk. Conditions are expected to be pretty mild on Sunday, which could mean it will be a shootout. Dustin Johnson and Jason Day and other long hitters will be hitting little wedges into holes. Guys will be driving par 4s. We could watch player after player overwhelm a defenseless St. Andrews. 

And it comes back to Jack Nicklaus again. He has been warning about this possibility for years. Maybe St. Andrews can hold up now, but what about in five years? What about in 10? Everyone wants to see the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Everyone also wants to hit their drives farther. And, for the people who run golf, a choice will have to be made.

Like a second marriage, expecting the governing bodies to act is the triumph of hope over experience.  But it seems to me that bifurcation is the only possible solution at this point...

We were cheated by the suspension of play on Saturday, was watching the best players in the world control their balls in high winds is the essence of an Open Championship.  And if they can't play on those conditions you might as well take the event to Loch Lomond...

The Old Course and all of the great classic venues of the world are still relevant to the recreational golfer, even the low-handicapper.  But unless we want the Open to move on from the Old Course or winning scores to approach 30-under, we're left with few choices.  The issue is mostly the golf ball, not only the distance they propel it bat also the reduction of spin on the ball, of great import playing in wind.

I'm out of time at this point, so discuss among yourselves...oh, and enjoy the finish.