Friday Frustrations

Mostly concerning an air conditioner compressor that's gone walkabout on us..... I often tell you how I sweat for my craft...today it's literal.

Hair Jordan - Everyone wants a piece of our hero....or has a suggestion to turn around his game.  Meanwhile he's three shots off the pace after the first round at Colonial, so the obituaries might be just a tad premature.  Certainly the man himself knows where his game's at:

"Last year, I was, I think, making a few more mid-range putts than I have this year, but overall I feel like I'm still stroking it the same. I feel like the way I'm striking the ball has been the same," Spieth said before playing a pro-am round Wednesday with Bill Murray. "Recently, I've been trying to get back to the consistency my swing was at last year, so I'd say maybe that's it. Just a little bit in the fine-tuning of the ball-striking, but it's coming around now."

OK, not so much.... I only saw his highlight package on Golf Central, in which he hit some quite wonderful approach shots.  Thing is, not one came from the fairway....

Brandel Chamblee is always reluctant to share his thoughts, so see what you think of this insight:

Chamblee: “Lot of conversation about his golf swing last week. In general he stands over the ball a lot longer this year than last year. When you’re doing that you’re usually thinking golf swing, not golf shot. The longer you stand over the ball the more apt you’re going to take the club away quick. The more apt you are going to have a quick change of direction, which means you’re going to get in front of it, and you’re going to miss your lines. And that is it. That’s all that’s going on with this kid right now, is that he’s got just a little too much in his head.”

But when he's not spending quality time over his ball, he's causing folks to create fake twitter accounts such as @grellerstowel...But I think Craig Perks speaks for us all with this comment:

Perks: “What’s a little concerning is the body language, berating himself. I think the mental attitude and the makeup is most important. He’s been exasperated a lot, maybe too demonstrative at times.”

 I predicted a season of struggle for the young man, because golf didn't suddenly become that easy....  And while it's hard to go from Master of the Universe to Middle of the Pack, he doesn't seem like he's having much fun out there.  But there's always more failure than success in our game, so he'll need to cope with it in ways that don't cause his head to explode, as dramatic as that might be on Protracer...

When Bad Marriages Go Worse - The post-fire hydrant endorsement market was challenging for Tiger and Steiny, but a deal that was always embarrassing is no more:

With the aim of cutting expenses, struggling sports nutrition firm MusclePharm (OTCQB:MSLP) terminates its endorsement deal with golfer Tiger Woods. The chronically cash-poor company is mired in lawsuits as it attempts to stabilize its business. Supplier Capstone Nutrition filed a $65M breach of contract suit a few days ago.

The company agreed to pay $2.5M to terminate the contract with Mr. Woods and eliminate all future costs and obligations, a good deal considering it owed $7M.

What's worse than a sleezy sponsor dealing in dubious products?  You in the back row....that's right, one that's cash-starved.  Props to Shack for his deft use of the Wabac machine to exhume this delightful bit of hucksterism in announcing this very deal:

“Our goal is to take the stigma out of supplements,” said Woods’s agent, Mark Steinberg. “Tiger Woods, maybe the most fit golfer that we’ve had, let’s show that it’s O.K. to align yourself with supplements. Just be safe when you do it. That’s the message we collectively want to spread.” 

Dietary supplements are a billion-dollar industry, and Brad Pyatt, the chairman and chief executive of MusclePharm, argues that Woods can help the company become the industry’s gold standard. 

“Tiger Woods is kind of the stamp of approval we were looking for,” Pyatt said in a telephone interview. “He’s the biggest figure in athletics we can get other than LeBron James.”

I agree that aligning yourself with supplements is OK, it's taking them that's crazy...

So, if and when he returns to the fray, what should go on Tiger's bag?

Cialis?  Too soon for that?

What?  He Went On A Bender? - Well, how would you react to this header?

John Daly just had his first real John Daly moment on the PGA Tour Champions

Here's the gist of it, a dog-bites-man story for sure:

In just his eighth career round on the PGA Tour Champions, John Daly had his first

blowup hole. Playing No. 16 at Harbor Shores in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship, Daly found the water with his tee shot. Then found a dry part of the hazard with his third. He hacked another ball into the water on his fifth shot and wound up taking a nine on the par 4.

That capped a wild five-hole stretch in which Daly went birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-quintuple bogey to tumble down near the bottom of the leader board on Day 1. Daly is paired with Bernhard Langer, who is attempting to become the first player to win all five PGA Tour Champions majors

Boy, bad things keep happening to this guy.... I'm just sorry that Bernhard Langer had to watch it, as someone needed to keep track of the strokes.  It's going to be difficult for Long John to save that Tour when he's not there for the weekend.

Rules, Schmools -  Joel Beall provides a public service in this piece:

18 golf rules you definitely need to know when playing in a tournament

I'm of many minds on this subject, but it's undeniable how clueless most folks are about the very basics of the rules.  My personal favorite is the drop from a cartpath, which comes up pretty much every round.  For some reason people just can't or won't get a grip on the concept of identifying one's nearest point of relief and only then measuring the one club length.

But one has to concede the futility of expecting club players to know the rules, when those that earn their living at the game can't be bothered... and yes, I'm talking about you, Rory.

But I'm more interested in another type of rules at the moment:

Beach rules

The two biggest infractions in the sand are grounding your club and moving impediments from the bunker. This pains me to bring up, but my high school coach made me call both infractions on a competitor in a match: He chunked his first bunker shot, causing him to slam his club in disgust. He then threw out a few rocks around his ball before attempting his next shot, both violations. If you thought he was mad then, you should have saw his face after I sheepishly told him about said offenses.

You should have saw?  Have they done away with all editors at Golf Digest?  That sound you hear in the background is my mother spinning in her grave....

So Very Monty - Colin Montgomerie is as reticent to share his opinions as Brandell Chamblee, but the latter has the better argument in that he is paid to do so.  Alex Miceli makes the error of asking Monty his thoughts, and Monty's Christams card list keeps shrinking.  First there was this:

Now that golf will be returning to the Olympics after a 112-year hiatus, the 52-year-old Scotsman said in a press conference he cannot understand why any eligible player would not make the trip to Rio de Janeiro in August. 

“I’m staggered by the fact that some have decided that it’s not for them,’” said Montgomerie, in the aftermath of major champions such as Australia’s Adam Scott, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel opting not to go. “You might be world champion or you might be PGA champion or you might be the Masters champion or whatever, but Olympic champion, you’re Olympic champion for life.”

But Colin, you're an Open Champion for life....Oh that's right, no you're not.  But he's making essentially the same argument that an Olympic Golf gold medal is the same as the golf medal for the 100 metres, and that's at best a speculative argument.  Plus, with Monty's ever-presnet baby bump, I'd think he'd be more sensitive to those with concerns about Zika...

And because those prior comments left a few folks on speaking terms with the man, he added this:

Montgomerie also criticized players who skipped this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, including World No. 3 Rory McIlroy. Montgomerie claimed three victories – 1998-2000 – on the tour’s flagship event among his 31 European Tour victories. 

“I’m surprised that a number of top Europeans aren’t playing,” Montgomerie said. “Not many, if any, don’t compete at the TPC at Sawgrass (site of the recent Players Championship). And I really, for the life of me, I don’t understand why top Europeans – probable possible Ryder Cup players, whatever, this year especially – aren’t competing at Wentworth. I don’t understand that.”

There seems no shortage of thing he doesn't understand, including that that says more about him than those he's calling out.