Weekend Wrap

I'm a bit peaked from the weekend exertions, so let's do this:

The Valspar Variations - Much as I admire the Copperhead course, one has to admit that it was mostly a "meh" kind of week.  I guess we're supposed to start with the winner:

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Charl Schwartzel is a silent assassin. In 2011, he became the

first player to birdie the final four holes to win the Masters. That victory brought the South African native fame and fortune and a five-year ticket to play the PGA Tour. But there was another side to the coin: expectations soared, and when Schwartzel failed to deliver on his promise, his confidence took a hit. 

“You start thinking, ‘Am I actually going to win again out here?’ ” he said. 

Schwartzel waited nearly five years, but the wait is over after he shot the lowest final-round score, a 4-under 67, at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort, and rallied from five strokes back to steal the Valspar Championship in a playoff over Bill Haas.

Silent assassin?   Look I was as shocked as the next guy to realize that he hadn't won on Tour except that once when he caught lightning in a bottle, but most paide killers don't go fiver years between assignments.

The Tour Confidentialistas were asked about Charl, and Cam Morfitt had this:

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, GOLF Magazine: I've seen a lot of frowns from Charl since he donned the green jacket, and he admitted after winning the Valspar that the drought was mental.

Well, if you had made the mistake of going to Stephen Ames' dentist, I'm guessing you'd be loathe to smile as well....

But I do think the Mike and Mark show are onto something:

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I don't know--I have never had the idea that he likes golf that much. But he's good at it.

Mark Godich, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Maybe it's a South African thing, Michael. Golf doesn't seem to be a priority for King Louie; it sounds like he would just as soon be driving his tractor on the farm. In his prime, Ernie Els made it look so easy.

Yes, he's good at it, but not as good at it as he looked while birdieing those final four holes...

But enough of Charlmania, let's get to the two guys you want to hear about.  First our World No. 1, no sooner had he clawed his way back into the mix than it all went pear-shaped.  Let's go right to the comments that had the press corp screaming WTF in unison:

Spieth also blamed a few strategic errors during his final round. His day got off to an inauspicious start, when he pulled driver on the second hole, found the bushes down the right and took an unplayable, leading to a bogey. He also made double on the par-3 eighth when his tee shot with a long iron hooked left and into the shrubs.

“Our decisions cost us a few shots early and all the momentum,” Spieth said. “We both get the credit when things are going good, and we’re going to take the fall today.”

In the unlikely event that the issue went over your head, Shack helpfully dug out the famous Lee Trevino quote that frames the issue for us all:

Caddies are a breed of their own. If you shoot 66, they say, "Man, we shot sixty-six!" But go out and shoot 77 and they say, "Hell, he shot seventy-seven."

LEE TREVINO

To be fair, Jordan has been very consistent in using the first-person plural for the successes, so I'm not sure it's fair to criticize him or see this as calling out Michael Greller.

The TC panel took on The State of the Jordan as well, beginning with his social media faux pas, but this is the bit that had my head nodding:

Bamberger: I don't think, Cam, that this even rises to the level of "fighting back." This was nothing. Jordan seems tired. They say you can't catch-up on lost sleep. I think it's going to be a hard year for him.

Van Sickle: Agree with The Bamberger. Spieth needs a month off and there's no room on the schedule for that now. Maybe if he skipped the Match Play and had three weeks off before Augusta … but I don't think he'll consider that. You can't take off in May, either, with The Players. He scheduled poorly and needs to cut back where he can. Social media is a joke. We put our names on our stories but anonymous idiots can take cheap shots. You should have to put your name and address on your dopey tweets and have the guts to stand behind them. That would solve a lot of problems.

Yes, Jordan.  If you're going to criticize "our decisions", you can start with your (plural) scheduling decisions...  Was Singapore really a good idea?  

We're always told that Jordan is a sponge that sops up copious information from his environment, so I'm sure he's built in some down time.....right?  Per Shack:

Spieth turns up on Monday in New York for a round of media appearances to promote the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship. Spieth has appearances (with Lexi Thompson) on CBS This Morning, ESPN’s SportsCenter, and Golf Channel. There will also be coverage (but I'm not sure of Spieth's involvement) on the Today Show, “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business, Live! with Kelly and Michael, Sprout’s “Sunny Side Up” and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He will also be attending a ceremony to light the Empire State Building in the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship colors.

With both The Olympics and a Ryder Cup shoehorned into the 2016 calendar, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to adjust accordingly...  But while Jordan is a genuinely nice young man, he exhibits a stubborn streak that might prove to be his Achilles heel.

Enough Jordan for now, did you catch the Real McCoy yesterday?

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) - Georgia senior Lee McCoy grew up at Innisbrook and lost track of the number of times he has played the Copperhead course. 

Sunday was an experience right out of his dreams at the Valspar Championship.

He walked up the 18th fairway with Jordan Spieth at his side and thousands of people lining both sides of the fairway and packed onto the terraces of the corporate tents. They were cheering for him. And so was Spieth. 

McCoy had the best showing by an amateur in nearly two decades at a PGA Tour event of top players, closing with a 2-under 69 to finish fourth at the Valspar Championship. When he tapped in for par on the 18th hole, he politely waved to the crowd as Spieth, who stumbled to a 73, approached him with applause.

The youngster played great, then headed back to school for a 36 hole event today.  Spieth had these typically gracious remarks:

"Really special; it was really cool to watch,'' Spieth said. "We played together three, four years go in an event and we were talking about that, but I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, especially on a day like today in his hometown and it was really impressive stuff. 

"You would have thought he was out here for years, working the ball both ways. The way he was talking, couldn't sense any nerves or anything on his putting stroke, either. He's certainly really ready to be out here. It was really fun to watch.''

We don't want for good young players, do we?

Forward Press -  Not to steal Shack's thunder, but I saved this from last week.  It's always hard to see the great ones getting older, but it's an unavoidable part of life:

PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Arnold Palmer's visibility at his own eponymous PGA Tour

event will likely be lessened next week from what it's been in recent years. 

"It's a very busy week; there's a lot of stuff going on," said his grandson Sam Saunders, who is also a PGA Tour member. "It's tiring for me and I'm 28 years old. At 86, he's doing OK, but I think his availability to get out and be on the course and be seen as much will be limited. But I know he'll still have a huge role." 

For years, Palmer has hosted a Wednesday pre-tournament news conference with the assembled media at Bay Hill, site of his Arnold Palmer Invitational. That won't happen next week, replaced instead by a private question-and-answer session that won't be in front of any cameras. 

He will, though, still be on site throughout the tournament.

The King is 86....WOW!  But probably smart to have Sam prepare everyone...

A Comeuppance -  Like you, I just can't get enough of those guys that scream "mashed potatoes" or "in the hole" for a shot that's 40-yards off line (or a tee shot on a Par-5)...  They're great Americans for sure, so let's give Poults some props for this.  First, he gets heckled, as per this tweet:

Yeah, not only is the boorish behavior, but did he not watch the 2014 Ryder Cup?  Personally, I hope Poults is on their team.  But I digress....

But here's the thing, if you're going to be an a******e in public, you might want to get yourself a private Twitter account.  

Heh!  Couldn't happen to a nicer guy....

Wentworth Jumps The Shark - The row over storied Wentworth has long descended into farce, and who doesn't enjoy further opportunity to copy-and-paste the name Dr. Chanchai Ruayrungruang?  be still my foolish heart, for it turns out that the good Doctor has a daughter:

Posing with Donald Trump or else behind the wheel of a £1.8 million Bugatti supercar, this is the 25-year-old heiress who along with her father now controls Wentworth golf club.

Woraphanit Ruayrungruang was installed on the board of Wentworth when the club was sold to her father’s Beijing-based company in September 2014. 

The club’s members are now embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with the Chinese owners over plans to make them all re-apply for membership while charging them a fee of £100,000 to do so.

My spellcheck has just retired....Here's said daughter and the all-important Bugatti:

Shack links to a couple of Financial Times articles that are behind it's paywall, but used this in his own header:

Paxman On Wentworth: "The members’ predicament is hardly up there with the fate of Aleppo."

I don't think anyone thought it did....  But it's peoples' home and they get territotial about changes thereto, which is pretty much a human reaction.

But I hardly think that British-Chinese relations hand in the balance.... otherwise, it's good fun from a safe remove.

Your Fill of Phil - When last we saw our hero, he was creating a PM grind on his spatula.... Good times for sure.  But since Shacl posted the video of the full Callaway Live episode, thought I might as well share it with you good folks:

I'm violating the Ten commandments of vloging in posting something I've not watched myself, but, and this is just between the two of us, it's not exactly the first time...