Midweek Missegoss

Sorry for the delayed onset of blogging, but muscles were stressed at the gym and business was transacted... but now you have my full attention.

Forward Press - Shack uses his weekly feature to note the world tours heading to places they're not especially welcome:

In a nutshell: PGA Tour golfers going to Malaysia have been warned to not drink the water and or breathe too deep. European Tour players in the Turkish Airlines Open are in the same country raising the ire of a U.S-led coalition battling radicals in Syria, adding more tension to what was already the nerve center of world strife. And for good measure, the LPGA’s finest may have it best in China, where the Communist Party banned golf memberships last week and pretty much implies it’s a crime to play.

It's certainly a crime the way some people play, but that of course is not applicable to my readers...  This would have been enough for me to take the week off:

The PGA Tour issued a warning to its players heading to the co-sanctioned CIMB Classic, advising those with pulmonary or cardiac issues and an aversion to typhoid that it may be a long week at the 78-player event. Only bottled or boiled water and while you’re at it, just cooked food. 

The health concerns are not stopping Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Adam Scott from headlining a field also featuring a resurgent Patrick Reed and Kevin Na, runner-up the last two weeks on tour. The event is played on Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club’s West Course, which dates to 1991 but was “completely redesigned by renowned international golf course architects E&G Parslow" in 2008.

Well, you can mark me down as being consistently anti-typhoid.  Click through for Geopff's comments on the other two venues... And for that one low subscription fee, Geoff also keeps us currnet on the Golf Channel air times for Tin Cup reruns... I hope they pay him well...

'Tis the Season - I know that if I were in the target demo, I'd be going as Michael Greller for Halloween:

C'mon, you telling me that Greller's parents wouldn't pop for the beard?

Euro-Trash Update - Keith Pelley, who recently took over the top job on the Euro Tour hasn't had much of a honeymoon in his new gig:

The Canadian, who made his name as president of a huge media corporation back home, 

Who knew that Elton John played golf?

made the contentious call to allow Rory McIlroy to participate in the Race to Dubai, despite not fulfilling the minimum number of events.

He has seen Paul Casey basically rule himself out of playing in the 2016 Ryder Cup — unless he does a U-turn and rejoins the tour — while Ian Poulter had to rely on the generosity of American Rich Beem in giving up an invitation to play in Hong Kong last week to preserve his eligibility. 

Only last week Wentworth, where the tour is based, declared its intention to become a haven for the extremely wealthy, thereby creating a potentially difficult PR situation for a tour charged with growing the game. 

All this while overseeing the schedule for next year and now the Final Series, the lucrative quartet of events to close the season, will begin in Turkey against the backdrop of the turmoil taking place in that part of the world.

We'll skip the crocodile tears here at Unplayable Lies, as none of the above seem to be above his pay grade.  I was not a fan of the McIlroy decision, as I operate under a quaint, though admittedly antiquated, ethos that the rules should be enforced as written.

But we've previously noted that this was likely:

A good time, then, to get Pelley’s thoughts, with perhaps his most eye-catching remark being an admission that he is looking into the possibility of reducing the minimum number of 13 events to become a member.

This would go down well with American-based players such as McIlroy, Poulter, and Justin Rose, could see other high-profile stars like Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler join and persuade Casey to return. But it would prove a hard sell to many tour loyalists.

Whoa, cowboy, don't get ahead of yourself, as we don't know what his deals with sponsors will allow.  And there's no real benefit to top American players taking Euro tour membership,  as Commissioner Ratched has covered the calendar.

But for the Euro players making their home in the U.S., he'll have their attention.  I've previously predicted that there would be some kind of accommodation granted for 2016, given the insanely compressed schedule.  And of course those players mentioned, with the obvious exception of Poults about whom we have more, will be headed to Rio in August.

Now here's one guy he's apparently lost:

Brooks Koepka isn’t defending his title this week at the Turkish Airlines Open and has decided to focus next year on the PGA Tour. 

Koepka was the 2014 European Tour Rookie of the Year and played 11 events this season, two fewer than the tour minimum. He told tour officials Monday that he has relinquished his membership.

There's just no reason for Koepka to complicate his life to hold onto Euro Tour membership after his win in Phoenix earlier this year.  But he made Ben Evans' year...who's Ben Evans?  Exactly:

Koepka’s decision had a significant impact on Ben Evans of England, who was No. 111 in the Race to Dubai standings, one spot from keeping his card for next season.

 As for the aforementioned Poulter, he might have to actually earn his way back onto the gravy train:

ANTALYA, Turkey – Ian Poulter has not been outside of the Official World Golf

Ranking's top 50 for a long time. 

The last time the 39-year-old Englishman finished the year outside the top 50 was in 2005, when he was ranked 59th. 

Since then, Poulter has found a way to make keeping PGA Tour and European Tour memberships much more manageable, with four World Golf Championships and four major appearances guaranteed because of his high ranking. That leaves him just a handful of European Tour appearances to get to the minimum 13 and keep his card and remain eligible for the European Ryder Cup team.

The surprise to me is that he was ever in the Top 50, the playing of the golf seemingly a secondary skill for him.  But it's the scheduling that's interesting, as those four WGC moneygrabs become key because they're co-sanctioned by the Euro Tour.  Lose your tee time in those, and thirteen events is a bridge too far...

But our Poultergesit has a strategy, he's going to take the game less seriously and hope that works out for him....No, seriously.

Amateur Governance - The USGA has long had difficulty dealing with issues surrounding the concept of an amateur.  In its history it has revoked the amateur status of Frances Ouimet and Harvie Ward, just to name the most prominent examples, and maintains rules that are unnecessarily strict.

For instance, for decades the lucky winner of a car or Rolex for a Member-Guest hole-in-one would be precluded from the President's Cup C-Flight for the next two years as punishment.  That one has been mercifully changed, but last I looked, anyone playing Mini-Golf for prize money was deemed a golf professional.  Because, you know, the games are so similar...or at least they share a word.

So any progress on this front is to be applauded:

Charities will have Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama to thank if they receive future donations thanks to the exploits of amateur golfers. 

Beginning Jan. 1, the R&A and USGA have amended the rules of amateur status to allow amateurs to accept cash prizes from professional tournaments if such prize money is to be donated to charity. Currently amateurs cannot accept any prize money from professional events. 

“New Rule 3-1b enables an amateur golfer to participate in an event where prize money or its equivalent is donated to a recognized charity, provided the approval of the governing body is first obtained in advance by the organizer,” according to a joint R&A/USGA release.

You're no doubt wondering why Hideki gets the credit, so here's that back story:

David Rickman, the R&A’s executive director of rules and equipment standards, said the change was proposed four years ago. 

“That particular idea really dates back to 2011 when after the disastrous tsunami in Japan, Hideki Matsuyama was invited to take part in an event and for his prize money to be donated to that very worthy disaster-relief fund," Rickman said. "At the time we were not able to accommodate that request, but that prompted our review.”

Yeah, so it took four years to realize you were horses arses?  I coulda helped you out there and saved us all some time.

Shhhh...Don't Jinx It -  Alex Perry catches up with Rory and discusses his goals for the coming year....it's nothing we haven't heard before, notably the familiar bit about writing his goals down on his boarding pass as he flies to Dubai, crdeible only if you're the kind of guy that thinks he still flies commercial.

But this is the best part, teasing us with an image of an epic confrontation on hallowed ground:

With fans across the world licking their lips at the prospect of golf's new so-called "Big

3" going shot-for-shot at next year's biggest tournaments, McIlroy -- currently ranked third behind No.1 Spieth, the Masters and U.S. Open champion, and No.2 Day, who succeeded McIlroy in lifting the Wanamaker Trophy -- admits the prospect is whetting his appetite too. 

"I'd really enjoy the challenge of us all being there on the Sunday at Augusta, or any tournament for that matter," he says. "Jordan and Jason are both extremely strong mentally, so it would be difficult to separate them.

Yanno, unless I had to wash my hair or something, I'd probably tune in for that.

Carne, Ready For It's Close-Up - Golf.com posts a delightful John Garrity video about Carne Golf Links, which can be found at the end of the rainbow.  You'll have to exercise your second amendment rights and click through to see it, as it's not in a format your humble technologist knows how to embed.

Like John, we know of County Mayo, as it's where Employee No. 2's mother grew up.  In fact, when the map is shown in the video, you'll notice the town of Castlebar southeast of Belmullet, from whence she came to America.  She actually lived in a townland called Errew out side of Castlebar, which in the ancient Gaellic probably means, "Don't even think about indoor plumbing."

John doesn't mention that Mayo is the poorest county in Ireland, where you'll no doubt understand that that's an extremely competitive category.  In fact, the bride and her mother can't say the words "County Mayo" without instinctively adding, "God bless us all."  So the development of such a golf club there is quite the thing, though it's off the beaten track for the typical golf tourist.

I'll also confess that I didn't love the golf course to the extent that John does, though I was there before the third nine was built.  The dunes are spectacular for sure, but big dunes creates issues in routing a golf course, and the original back nine was quite penal as a result.  But I understand that the new nine is quite good, and it wouldn't take more than a modest nip and tuck to make that orignal incoming nine play a bit softer for the masses.

Do give the video a look, as it's quite the beautiful spot.... but again, Thersa and her Mom would instinctively add that you can't eat the scenery.