Prez Cup Remainders

Hey, they don't call it the Silly Season for nothing...

About Those Ratings... - Shack tries to cover this angle here, but he leaves this reader puzzled.  His

header says the ratings are "way down", but an addendum calls 720,000 viewers in the Saturday overnight "respectable."  From my perspective, well under a million viewers for a major sports event seems paltry, but those television windows were, shall we say, quite extreme....

But let's stipulate that holding the Prez Cup in Asia entails a huge hit in U.S. television ratings.  Is it worth it?

As I noted Monday, there was little talk about the event on the golf course or over lunch.  But what little did occur was along the lines of, how nuts is it that we can't watch it?  As a side note, I consider far more sensible than starting a Mets-Dodgers playoff game at 9:45 NY Time.  Hey, who needs that pesky NY viewing audience when we've got the game in in prime time in Okinawa?  But I digress...

My answer to the comments above got a bit existential, but stay with me regardless.  Loyal readers know that I find team match play to be a great format.  I love individual match play as well, but the reasons it's anathema to networks are obvious, but largely solved in the team context.  But the predicate is, quite obviously, the concept of a team....

In this case Commissioner Ratched made up a team from whole cloth.... He would tell you that it was out of shear compassion for Greg Norman, whose exclusion form the Ryder Cup made his eyes all misty.  A more cynical reading of the circumstances is that the PGA Tour was outraged at the cash cow called the Ryder Cup, and wanted a piece of the action.  Regardless, we can all agree that the International Team in this event is an artificial construct, as membership is defined as a negative, one qualifies by not being European.  

So having created an arbitrary team, don't they get to play "home games"?  It's not an easy question, especially as these guys all live in Orlando or Scottsdale just like the Yanks... But here I'm willing to give Finchie a little rope, as the crowds seemed enthusiastic and these are very much golf-centric countries.  But, it's also more than a smidgen ironic that, finally blessed with a rivetting spectacle that should sell the event, and absolutely nobody saw it.

Venue, Future - Word broke during the event that the 2019 edition will return to the Australian sandbelt, bringing good cheer to lovers of classic architecture.  Now it's a tad strange that the actual venue has not been locked down, as isn't that more than just an incidental detail?  Here's Shack's take:

Royal Melbourne is the presumed course, but a Kingston Heath or Victoria Golf Clubwould be nice too. As Ben Everill notes, the sandbelt is still home to the only International win (perhaps until 2015?).

I like this very much, especially as it may induce some Americans to stick around and play in the great December schedule in Australia.  So, the Tour seems to be selflessly promoting the game with this event, no?

Errr...not so much.  It turns out that our Nurse Ratched was playing to type:

You'll be shocked...shocked..to learn that it was all about the money for the Finchem administration. 

Rosaforte says the PGA Tour asking price was $29 million to hold the cup, South Africa balked, and Australia will be ponying up $25 million to host the Cup as well as next year's World Cup.

Shack is responding to this Tim Rosaforte GolfWorld piece in which he makes the case that a South African venue in 2019 would be a perfect fit with an Ernie Els captaincy.... It's all about the Benjamins, and we err when we lose sight of that simple fact.

Venue, Past - Shack tried to make sense of The Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea and, well, you decide:

We were given little reason to want to watch Jack Nicklaus Golf Club heading into the 2015 Presidents Cup. Whether it was the lack of information or the quality of the imagery shared prior to the event, there was little indication that the venue would be a key and welcome protaganist in the drama.

But as I wrote in Golf World, for those who stayed up late or watched the replays, it was hard to take your eyes off the place. Yes, it was overshaped and there were faux rocks, but the natural areas looked natural, the bunkers eye-catching and the number of risk-reward holes plentiful. Bunker placement looked different than the stock Nicklaus signature design, meaning that even with soft conditions, players were still asked to make decisions.

Folks who say the golf course doesn't matter in Cup events have great evidence with Jack Nicklaus Golf Club that design can add to the viewing pleaser.

It also helped that the crowds were so vocal in an endearing way. Then there was the cool juxtaposition of balls flying against high-rises, and even the clubhouse exuding a stylish vibe.

Yeah, we're all struggling a bit with this, but I think he's stretching the point with his ode to those natural areas, as land reclaimed from the Yellow Sea will have nothing natural about it.  I think this was indeed less awful than many Nicklaus designs, but I'd credit the setup more than the design for the risk-reward holes.

And those fake rocks....wow!

This is the kind of golf course that purists like Geoff (and your humble correspondent) will never warm up to, but a cow pasture will sometimes allow great drama when you bring in 24 of the best player sin the world.  My reaction is still closer to "Ick" than Geoff's begrudging respect, but he's also forgotten more about course design than I've ever know.  

Shack also spends some time on the clubhouse design, and there I'll admit to some begrudging respect:

Cart-Drivers, Prospective - Firs word broke that His Tigerness phoned Freddy and Davis over in Korea:

During the second day of four-ball matches Friday in the Presidents Cup at Jack

Nicklaus GC, as the U.S. team was struggling to scrounge up points against a rejuvenated International squad, Woods dialed up Fred Couples, who was serving as an assistant to Jay Haas after being the captain for winning U.S. teams in 2009, '11 and '13. They talked for a few minutes, and then he asked to speak to Davis Love III, another Haas assistant and the U.S. captain for next year's Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minn.

I'm sorry, he called Freddy during play?  Really?  How lonely and needy is that?

"He [Woods] was watching at home and he just had to call," Love said. "He was talking about all the things he thought we needed to do, and he had a lot of ideas. We're already doing a lot of planning for next year, and it's great. It's part of the whole process that started after Gleneagles. Everybody is thinking about it, which is great."

Like getting better players?  Seriously, what are all these great ideas?

 But the story got fun when Brandel Chamblee jumped in with this money quote:

“I don’t really think it’s appropriate to give players a leadership role in an event that they didn’t show interest or passion for when they were competitors.”

I get the Tiger bit, but Phil?  Here's his justification for that:

With Mickelson, Chamblee points to two controversial episodes in the player's Ryder Cup career: in 2004, when he switched equipment prior to the event and practiced on his own before the opening session; and in 2014 at Gleneagles, when Mickelson arrived separately from his teammates, and then turned against U.S. captain Tom Watson in a post-round press conference. 

"I think he corrupted the team from the inside out," Chamblee said. "These are not leadership qualities. I get it. Everyone looks up to him and respects his record. But really should give it to people who have passion for it."

I don't think he's well-served by focusing on passion, as I think Phil was more than sufficiently passionate as the shiv pierced Tom Watson's skin.... I think Phil was a complete a*****e at that Gleneagles presser, but the world loves him and that seems unlikely to change.  

I think there's virtually no chance that both won't be Ryder Cup captains, but the best punishment might well be when they realize what a thankless gig it is.  Yanno, be careful what you wish for...