Thursday Threads

I'm not sure how long we have, but if I disappear suddenly it's likely because a certain precious nine-month old gazes at me longingly....a fellow's got to do what a fellow's got to do.

Rio Loco, An Endless Series - It's T-Minus 100 days and everything seems to be going swimmingly... Or not.  In a non-golf specific CNN item, it turns out there's a couple of loose ends they're focused upon.  But first the big picture:

With 100 days until the Games begin, Brazil is unraveling fast -- largely overshadowing

the impending arrival of sport's greatest showpiece. 

Who needs the staple pre-Olympic media diet of venue delays and security fears when you have a leader facing impeachment, a gigantic corruption scandal and a global public health emergency?

These days a functioning government is more of a luxury than a necessity...  So, about the actual games, there are a few punchlist items: 

Completion of the subway link has long been in mild jeopardy. Should it fail to

materialize, travel during the Olympics may become daunting. In a cost-cutting drive, organizers slashed the number of Games-time transportation vehicles from 5,000 to 4,000 (losing 20,000 of the initial 70,000 volunteers in the process — fewer ways to get there, fewer people to give you directions). 

An International Olympic Committee (IOC) team says the venues are “98% complete” but test events in gymnastics and swimming have been hit by power outages and a number of other minor gripes. 

The issue of water quality in Rio’s Guanabara Bay, home to sailing events and polluted by raw sewage, has been without a clear solution — so to speak — for so long that athletes accept they must come armed with precautions against illness. 

“What we see now is that 60% of the surface is clean,” IOC president Thomas Bach said last week, trying to look at the bay and find a bright side. “Without the Games it would be zero.” 

More seriously still, a newly-built elevated bike path, one of the mayor’s projects aimed transforming the city ahead of the Games, partly collapsed last week, killing two people — on the same day as performers lit the Olympic torch in Greece.

OK, let's see if we can sum up.... the transportation link is only in mild jeopardy, so they're saying there's a chance.  The Athenians put on an Olympics centuries without electricity, so these modern folks seem unnecessarily fussy.  

And as long as the yachting competition only requires 60% of the Bay, and the right 60%, where's the problem?   Though we'll have to hope we don't have a man overboard situation during the Games, as they're eerily silent on what might be under the surface.  But I read "without the games" to be synonymous with "after the games."  And please note, we've not even touched on the "Z" word...

But the more serious point is that our golf majordomos have thrown their lot in with the IOC, a hopelessly corrupt oligarchy for whom golf is a third-tier meal ticket.  While 2020 will be in a functioning city located in a golf-mad country, this adventure still seems to inevitably end in tears....

On the bright side, our golfers don't need to go near Guanabara Bay.

In an unrelated item, you might need a scorecard to pick out a certain Ulsterman:

A Swoosh-Free Zone.

That's the view of Olympic Council of Ireland boss Pat Hickey, who revealed that the US firm was offered the chance to back the Irish Olympic team this year and see the Co Down golf star sport the Nike swoosh in Rio.

Instead the deal went to Boston-based New Balance for what Hickey described as "peanuts" - believed to be less than €2m - compared to the $20m a year that Nike are paying the four-time major champion. 

"Before Rory decided whether he'd declare for Team GB or Ireland we put our team gear out to contract," Hickey said at the '100 days to Rio' presentation in Dublin.

Kind of funny, no?  But I do believe that those "peanuts" reflect how private actors view the promotional opportunity.  They can of course be wrong, but they're putting actual sheckels on the line, so they're less inclined to drink the Kool-Aid.

Golfweek's Jeff Babineau had this colorful way of expressing his frustration:

Are Scott, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel – major champions ranked No. 7, No. 13 and No. 20, respectively, in the world – obligated to show up in Rio and compete? No, not at all. Would it be good for the game if they did? You bet. There are only 60 prized invitations to participate among the men (same number as the women), and you’d think the invitation would be treated as if it came from Buckingham Palace, that all 60 would check the RSVP box that reads, “Yes, with bells on.”

The bells seem optional, but those that go had best have this on. 

Trump Love - I know, it's really depressing on the political front, but on a different front The Donald gave our Shack a bit of a woody....  I'll let Geoff explain:

Some of you may know I find the links golf move toward immaculately manicured jacuzzi bunkers to be a depressing evolution of seaside bunkering. Especially given what the old photographs show and the vitality of naturalness in links golf.

So imagine my shock and joy in seeing the first photos emerging from Trump Turnberryshowing off the finished product. No more bathtub bunkers. Architects Mackenzie and Ebertdeserve most of the credit, especially since they convinced The Donald to go this route. 

Exciting stuff from Turnberry, which reopens soon and will be getting a full inspection from yours truly this July:

The lucky stiff...( Heh, see what I did there?).  Here's what caused the tumescence:

Despite my having fun at Geoff's expense, I quite agree that they look great.  I'd love to find a picture of the new bunker on the second hole of The Old Course to show you the contrast involved, but don't want to get bogged down.

Geoff has additional picks at the link above, including this new image of what I call the Hawaiian Par-3:

As previously discussed, this is a concept about which I have reservations...  Counter-intuitively, links golf seldom involves carries over water, despite being by definition seaside golf.  The combination of high winds and rock-hard turf makes forced carries extremely problematic...  No doubt this will be a spectacularly beautiful golf hole, after all, Trump only hires the best people and we're going to start winning for a change.....sorry, wrong blog.  But I fear for the playability of the hole for resort guests.

We'll have lots to talk about in July, I'm sure.

True That - Alan Shipnuck, straight off his play in The Swallows (I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too), spends a delightful few days with the distaff pros:

Last week I did something we all need to do more often: hang out at an LPGA event. In 

Why shouldn't the gals have groupies?

this case it was the Swinging Skirts, played at Lake Merced Golf Club on the outskirts of San Francisco. The general vibe was summed up by the four dudes in Danielle Kang’s gallery who wore head-to-toe cow onesies, a tribute to the sleepwear their heroine has made semi-famous on social media. Or maybe it was the moment during the second round when reigning U.S. Women’s Open champ In Gee Chun was walking off the 6th tee and an older gent blurted out, “In Gee, you’re so pretty.” Instead of ignoring him—which might have been prudent—she smiled beatifically and said, “Thank you!”

On Sunday there was the rousing rendition of Happy Birthday that Lydia Ko received from the gallery lining the 1st tee, and the hilariously dorky San Francisco Giants ski cap Christina Kim wore…with ear flaps. Afterward, when a pixie in elaborate face-paint asked Kim for her autograph, the player insisted on taking a picture of the fan. “Ohmygawd, I love your face paint so much!” Kim said, and it looked as if it might have been one of the happiest moments of this little girl’s life. Not to be outdone, Kang signed autographs in her socks, because she had given her spikes away to a 10–year-old who asked for them as a souvenir. “On Sundays I give away pretty much everything,” says Kang. “Shoes, jackets, gloves, balls…all they have to do is ask.” During the pro-am, Kang pulled a girl out of the gallery and let her walk with her on the back nine. She even let her putt. If this pipsqueak holed any, did Kang count it toward her team’s pro-am score? “Heck, yeah!” she said.

Well, Duh!  As a wise man once said, necessity is the mother of invention, quite the apt adage in this case.  And their games are. of course, much closer to ours....

You might recall Stacey Lewis' recent nonsense about the ladies being as good as the men, which is nonsense on stilts.  The unfortunate part is that in the same interview she made the case for the better fan experience at LPGA  events, but those common sense points got lost amid her babbling....  

Euro's 1, U. S. Nil - Bob Harig has a good item on the scheduling conflict between Commissioner Ratched and the Euro Tour, that seems to be tilting in the Euros favor:

The PGA Tour showed who is boss when, against the European Tour's wishes, it scheduled the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational two weeks prior to The Open this year -- during a window of actual golf on European soil that includes the 100th playing of the French Open. 

In a rare public display of defiance, the European Tour elected to not sanction the WGC event this year -- it won't count toward the tour minimum, nor will money or Ryder Cup points be accrued. And to show just how much the tour wants its members to play in France, it decreed that the event would count as two toward the five-tournament minimum in 2016. 

There were bound to be repercussions, and sure enough Rory McIlroyannounced this week he'd be in France rather than Akron, Ohio. McIlroy won the Bridgestone tournament two years ago, couldn't defend last year due to injury and would undoubtedly love to play a no-cut, big-money event.

Good for Rory and especially for Keith Pelley for protecting their own interests.  But it's just a perfect example of how the Ponte Vedra suits speak of joint cooperation when it fits their needs, but sacrifices come from other parties.  The Bridgestone captures most of what can be bad about big time golf, combining a senseless money grab for the top fifty players in the world without even a cut, played out on one of the most dreadfully boring golf courses created by the hand of man.

Quick Hits - 

But That Muscle Has Atrophied - Leadbetter: With Michelle Wie, It's 'More Mental Game Than Anything'

As Well as Beer and Cigarettes - Colorful John Daly, 50, will bring jolt of enthusiasm to PGA Tour Champions

Only 50?  That's not even enough for a greatest hits album... - The Definitive Ranking of John Daly's 50 Greatest, Gaudiest and Grisliest Moments

Bug or Feature?  You Make the Call - Greg Norman says he's no longer with China's Olympic golf team.  Alternative Title: Chinese Olympic Team Jumps the Shark.