Sawgrass And Other Stuff

If you give today's players perfect conditions and not a hint of wind, they're gonna make almost any track look like a putt-putt course:

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Jason Day created a far better memory Thursday

than his last round at the TPC Sawgrass. Not only was he 18 shots better, the world's No. 1 player tied the course record with a 9-under 63 that gave him a two-shot lead in The Players Championship. 

In a game that can defy logic, and on a course that can be perplexing, Day had a simple explanation for bouncing back from last year's 81. 

"I'm playing a lot better than I was last year," he said. 

The 28-year-old Australian was in such control that he putted for birdie on every hole. He made half of them, and his longest par putt was 30 inches. 

"Tee to green was pretty decent - was actually really good - and then once I got on the green, I felt like I could hole everything," he said. 

It helped that there was hardly any wind on a steaming morning that made Sawgrass more vulnerable than usual.

He looked dialed in, though in all fairness guys tend to look sharp when they're posting 63's...

Joel Beall had this in his Five Takeaways column:

2. Driving accuracy is overrated

At least compared to driving distance. Day found just eight fairways on Thursday, well below the field's average in the round. Day was able to negate erraticism thanks to routine bombs off the tee. This isn't a new concept -- Columbia professor Mark Broadie has long been a champion of the "power over precision" theory -- but, historically, Sawgrass has put an emphasis on accuracy. Day's feats provided a counter Thursday.

And yet, all day long Sir Nick prattled on about the need to hit fairways...  I get that HE needed to hit fairways, but he's supposed to be an expert on the modern game.  Now if the course firms up as expected, hitting fairways will increase in importance....

Day's 63 is probably less surprising than Steven Bowditch's 80 playing in the same soft morning conditions...  Other notable happenings include this:

Shane Lowry became the first player to shoot 29 on the back nine. He was in the group at 65 that included Justin Rose and Bill Haas. Ernie Els, who just last month started the Masters with a six-putt quintuple bogey, ran off six birdies and an eagle to lead the group at 66. 

Not everyone took advantage of the morning, including Jordan Spieth. 

Spieth, in his first tournament since he lost a five-shot lead on the back nine at Augusta National, played alongside Day and labored his way to a 72. Spieth says he has put the Masters behind him. Now he has to get rid of the poor finishes.

Spieth notably told us that he had nothing to prove, and then proceeded to prove that he had nothing.... He closed with one of those ugly doubles on the Par-5 ninth after being in the bunker just over the green with his second.  These guys are good, except when they're not....

Not much good came from the high-octane Rory-Bubba-DJ pairing, as they all predictably hate this golf course.  Though there was this 372-yard drive by DJ on the ninth.... This just in, DJ remains DJ and walked off the green with a par...

Brian Wacker fills in some detail on why McIlroy seems to be struggling:

Many have pointed to McIlroy’s putting as a problem. His wedge play, though, has been a far bigger culprit. He ranks 170th on the PGA Tour from 100-125 yards and is 165th from 125-150 yards. 

Thursday's results weren't any different. Of McIlroy's 10 approach shots from 150 yards or closer, only two landed inside of 15 feet and most settled a lot farther from the flag. He made birdie on one of the two, rolling in a six-footer on the par-3 17th. 

“Distance control's been off,” McIlroy said. “I've been hitting some short, hitting some long. I feel like there's quite a bit of disparity between a three-quarter shot and a full shot and, yeah, probably something I need to work on a little bit.”

He's not exactly vouching for Rory's putting, but per the above-mentioned Mark Broadie, nothing correlates closer with scoring than proximity.

When Nike forked over the big bucks, they no doubt expected Rory to be around fro most weekends.  Not only will he need to play some actual golf to accomplish that, but he's distracting folks from his new Nike shoes with this:

Rory McIlroy used Round 1 of the Players to sport “joggers” similar to those Rickie

Fowler has brought to prominence. McIlroy coupled the athletic pants with slick new Nike Air Max 90s, which Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura explained are the third shoe style he’s unveiled this year. 

The social-media reaction to McIlroy’s joggers could be gently characterized as love/hate, with the hate outweighing the affinity expressed. The negative reaction to the narrow-bottomed pants overshadowed McIlroy’s willingness to sport Nike’s re-imagining of the golf shirt, this time with a collar blade featuring a vertical button that eschews a bold 21st-century vibe.

Sorry, I'm not digging that bold 21st-century vibe, though at least I'll be spared seeing it on the weekend.

Also not garnering the love?  That would be the absence of carnage at No. 17...  Here's the data:

• Actual yardage: 123 yards
• Scoring average: 2.861 (14th hardest hole on the course)
• 37 birdies, 96 pars, 5 bogeys and 6 doubles
• Green in regulation: 129/144
• Average distance to the pin: 18 ft, 4 in
• Closest to the pin: 2 ft, 4 in by Byeong-Hun An
• Water balls: 6
• Longest putt: 28 ft, 4 in by Retief Goosen
• One putts: 46
• Three putts: 4

  Without a lick of wind and an easy front hole location, playahs gonna play.

Top This - The PGA Tour-LPGA alliance yielded its first tangible results, though I'm being a bit loose with the use of that "T" word.  The alliance was announced, it was just a tad loosey-goosey on what might be involved...

Shack is there though with five suggestions of how it might work, doing the job that American Tour Commissioners won't do.  I should note that Geoff is more of a fan of TopGolf than I am...  It's not that I have a problem with them, it's just that I keep hearing their CEO reminding us that they're not, you know, in the golf business.  They run saloons, and there's nothing wrong with that...

Geoff has some good thoughts for sure:

Instead of only pro-ams at the course, have one at Topgolf.

Let's cut down on those awkward first-tee shots or pro golfers pretending to be excited about five hours of golf with hacks! Instead of the secondary Monday pro-am populated by third-tier tour players, play Tuesday night pro-ams at Topgolf. The players will have more fun, the high-paying types will get to see world-class golfers let their guards down and, did I mention pro-ams take forever?

They sure do, but the ability to provide that experience for customers is about the only possible rationalization of the excessive cost of tournament sponsorship.

Late To The Party - Dave Dusek is the equipment guy at Golfweek and scored a short interview with TaylorMade CEO David Abeles.  See if you have the same reaction that I did to his opening query:

People remember where they were when major events happen. Where were you when you learned that Adidas was going to seek a buyer for TaylorMade, Adams and Ashworth?

He's the CEO, so I'm gonna go way out on a limb and guess that he already knew....  But I can see where this is just like the Kennedy assassination or the first moonwalk.  Sheesh!

Dusek does finally get to the heart of the matter (though his asking out social media reactions first is equally strange) with this:

TaylorMade has been called out by some consumers for releasing too many products too quickly, leading to complaints that clubs become obsolete too fast or

discounted shortly after purchase. How do you address that? 

Fair point, and I think that if you look at our company’s product management over the last two years, you will see less and less of that. In 2015, R15 was in-market for 12 months; AeroBurner was in-market for 12 months. More importantly, when we shifted gears and launched under the new technical platform with M technology, we launched the M1 driver in October, and there have been no major changes to that product. The M2 launched at the PGA Show, and there have been no major changes.

We have a credo here: We will not bring a new product to market unless it is measurably better than what is already in-market. . . . We are going to be more thoughtful in ensuring we retain the value in our products throughout a longer life cycle than we have in the past.

Ah, the righteous zeal of the freshly converted.   To be fair, it didn't happen on his watch, but they've made quite the mess of this market.

Self-Centered Much? - My feelings about the Olympics are well-known to you by now, but this item jumped out at me as a great moment in self-absorption.  

But at least one Olympic golf hopeful -- Alena Sharp, who is safely penciled in as one of Canada's representatives -- will not be deterred from making the trip to Brazil because of the Zika virus.

“I don’t plan on having any kids,” Sharp told Yahoo! Canada. “That’s not part of my life plan. I’m not too concerned about it. If I did get bit by a mosquito that had it, I would think, we will have the medicine to treat it.”

I've not heard of Sharp previously, but I think we can safely conclude that the surname is a misnomer.

First, might there be other women golfers for whom kids are in the life plan?  And, I don't know, might there be spectators?  I'm on a roll here... And, any thoughts on how this is transmitted?  Might you be a vehicle for the disease reaching your homeland?

Now, as for your confidence in their being medicine for it:

Although Zika's implications to pregnant women and their babies has received the most coverage, Zika has also been linked to adult health conditions like brain damage, Guillain-Barré syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which are debilitating and sometimes fatal. 

Worse, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika virus. The CDC only offers the recommendation to drink fluids to prevent dehydration, and to take medicine such as acetaminophen or paracetamol to reduce fever and pain.

Nothing to worry your pretty little head over, Alena, and I'm sure the Canadian health care system will be there when you need them.  But I for one applaud your decision to not extend your gene pool.

Thanks, Maggot -  This would have been more appropriately paired with yesterday's Sawgrass ProTracer item, but you'll get a nice chuckle from this "If Average Golfers Had ProTracer" item.  

But Mags, don't you have a wedding to prepare for?