Tuesday Tastings

Still in catch-up mode, so without further ado....

Dateline: Milton Keynes - Sounds like a Jeopardy clue, no? One that combines Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes....Hey, maybe they could do a rap video or something.... OK, it was Hayek and it's way off our subject, but if you haven't seen this it's just brilliant:

You have to admit, you'll find the strangest stuff here at Unplayable Lies...

Milton Keynes is the home of Woburn Golf Club, site of this year's Women's British Open:

Ariya Jutanugarn won the Women's British Open on Sunday at Woburn for her first 

This is a nice tradition among the ladies.

major championship and fourth LPGA Tour victory of the year. 

The 20-year-old Thai player closed with an even-par 72 for a three-stroke victory over American Mo Martin and South Korea's Mirim Lee. Jutanugarn finished at 16-under 272 on the Marquess Course, the hilly, forest layout that is a big change from the usual seaside layouts in the tournament rotation. 

Martin, the 2014 winner at Royal Birkdale, shot a 70. Lee had a 73. 

Stacy Lewis was fourth at 11 under after her third straight 70.

 As we've been over previously, Ariya was a child prodigy from Thailand whose career was disrupted by injuries.  Earlier this year, she drop-kicked the Dinah Shore to our Lydia, but then reeled off three straight wins in May.

She's a big-time talent, so long that she frequently does not carry a driver, but also with a short game to match.  It's as if Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko had a child.... (that's a classical reference to a comment by Jason Day last year).  But I fell hard for Ariya in seeing how she responded to the disappointment at Mission Hills....  After smother-hooking her drive into the water on No. 18, she laid her head on her caddies shoulder and could be seen mouthing the words, "I'm sorry."

Shes' officially arrived with four wins, including the major, and she may well make us forget Inbee...

Dateline: Hayward, CA - There's an event called the Ellie Mae Classic, and count me among those surprise that there's a Web.com Tour event paying homage to the Clampetts of Beverly Hills....Who knew?

The event was won by German Stephan Jaeger:

Jaeger’s final-round 63 handed him a seven-shot win over Rhein Gibson as Jaeger finished with a 30-under 250. The 250 is 72-hole record on the Web.com Tour. 

Jaeger hit 84 percent of fairways and greens on his way to the 30 under, which matched a 72-hole record for the Web.com Tour. In 2004, Daniel Chopra shot 30 under at the Henrico County Open.

A 63 under Sunday pressure is pretty amazing, though it was only his second best round of the week.  He opened the evnt on Thursday with a tidy little 29-29-58.....  It's been my experience that a 58 will rarely hurt you...

The tour did a good job of hyping this on social media:

Shack has more, including video of his final putt, here.

Dateline: Mason Nome - Fooled you there, as Mason Nome is actually the name of a University of Texas Golfer, who matched a rare feat:

That's something that legendary basketball coach John Wooden did as well....

Dateline: Rio - Jeff Ritter tries awfully hard and the result is six alleged reasons to be excited about Olympic Golf:

1. Team USA is going to be a blast. Yes, Jordan Spieth is out, but Bubba is all in. So are Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed. On the women's side, Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Gerina Piller are threats to medal. And, as a reminder, in Reed's brief history in national team competitions, he has proven himself to be... memorable.

Is that the best you got, Jeff?  Have you considered the fact that the excitement at the Ryder Cup was generated by.....well, the Ryder Cup?

I'll stipulate to this one:

3. The Olympic golf course. Architect Gil Hanse spent four years carving it out of a patch of sand along a nature preserve, and it's gorgeous. Like most things about this Olympics, the course is not without controversy (more on that shortly) but it's an open, links-style track that could fit well in Australia's sand belt, and it will play spectacularly on hi-def TV.

But no sale on this one:

5. Brazilians care about golf. Not all Brazilians, but more than you might think. If you missed it last May, here's our debut edition of GOLF Films, which takes you on a tour of golf and life in this complicated city, and explores the controversy around the Olympic course. Not shown: our three-man crew ate about 14 pounds of steak while working on-site over the five-day shoot.

Errr, no they don't....and we'll see what happens to this first-rate golf course over time....  But I'm guessing they didn't wash their steak down with tap water....

While we're on the subject, shall we scan some recent headlines?

Expert to Rio Athletes: 'Don't Put Your Head Under Water'

Welcome To Rio: Olympic Village Catches Fire, Athletes Robbed, & Water "Teeming With Dangerous Viruses"

 Olympic Athletes at Risk of Becoming 'Violently Ill' from Rio Water ...

I can barely contain my excitement....

Dateline:  Augusta, GA and Chaska, MN - There's Tiger news, though we're playing a little carelessly with the concept of news....  First, please remember to bet with your head, not over it:

It's not so much the number itself. After all, Tiger Woods at 66-to-1 odds to win the 2017 Masters is a far cry from the days when he was essentially a straight up bet against the rest of the field. But when you compare the figure to the odds of other golfers, it seems absurd. 

According to Bovada Sportsbook, Woods has the same odds as Zach Johnson. He also has the same odds as Brooks Koepka and Branden Grace, both of whom just finished T-4 at the PGA Championship. Woods has better odds than Jimmy Walker, the guy who just WON the Wanamaker Trophy. Yeah, we think Tiger, despite the 14 major trophies of his own, is a tad overvalued.

Does Bovada accept shorts?  And since he has way too much time on his hands, he's apparently taking to stalking Davis Love:

Apparently, Tiger Woods is taking his role as Ryder Cup vice captain very seriously. In a video interview with Sky Sports, U.S. captain Davis Love III said the 14-time major winner has already texted him a list of names he believes should be picked for the American squad that goes to Hazeltine. 

"He's already picked his four," Love said in the interview. "I can't tell you who they are, but he knows who he wants to watch and who he wants to manage and who he'll get along with. I think Paul Azinger really showed us that breaking it down into small groups and having each group be responsible for themselves is kind of the way to go, and Tiger's all over that." 

And it hasn't stopped there.

Davis, give me a call and I can walk you through the steps to block that phone number...you'll thank me later.

And this was seen around Baltusrol, and I understand that Trump has his best people on it:

That may be too big an order even for The Donald....

Dateline: Springfield, NJ -  Just a little PGA detritus before I let you get on with your day....

First, this compilation of weather-related photos in case you feel the need to relive the dreary weekend:

Just to be on the safe side, let's round up two of each species....

Jason Sobel takes the PGA of America to the woodshed over their Saturday decisions:

This weather was always in the forecast, though it's debatable whether the radar showed

this much rain coming down for this long. Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America's chief championships officer, explained that the forecast was similar to those of the first two tournament days, which included just one short delay. But they knew the storms were coming. Everyone knew they were coming, in some shape or form. 

For an organizing body running a golf tournament with impending weather, there are two potential options: The first is to move up tee times and try to get as much golf played as possible before any suspension of play. The second is to try to get lucky. 

In Saturday's scenario, the PGA of America chose the second option.

This was written before Sunday's play, when the PGA's trifecta came in.... they got very lucky on Sunday to avoid both further weather delays and a playoff, which only means they'll keep making this mistake.  

Lastly, Shack's been ranting up a storm, though I've not yet blogged his dis of TNT, which he amusingly starts with an homage to everyone's favorite TV commercial:

Golf on TV could be the greatest, it could be the best, it could be King Kong banging on its chest! 

Standing in the Hall of Fame, and the world might even know golf is not lame!

On the bright side, at least Omega finally popped for a new advertisement.... I know, not as new as was hope.  This guy really nailed it though:

Yeah, that's the ticket.....

Martin Kaufmann has some thoughts as well:

My big concern each year with the PGA Championship is that it feels less like a major than an expanded version of a regular PGA Tour event. The frequency of commercial breaks on the early TNT coverage and through much of CBS’ coverage drags down the live shows. 

I don’t necessarily fault CBS for this. I’m not privy to CBS’ contract with the PGA of America, but I assume the PGA, as the rights holder, made a decision to accept a bigger fee in exchange for more commercial inventory. When I asked McManus about this, he said, “I don’t have a feeling that we really missed anything (because of commercial breaks).”

He later added, “That (the amount of commercial inventory) would be something that we certainly would talk to the PGA of America about. Our deal’s in place for three more years, but we have a regular, ongoing dialogue with the PGA, and that might be a subject that we talk about with the PGA, absolutely.”

That's hardly a serious response to the question... and I suspect that the conversation will be short one, ending right about when CBS asks the PGA if they'd be willing to take a little less....  here's Geoff's take:

Not being present at this year’s PGA Championship afforded an opportunity to be reunited with the early 2000s, a.k.a. a TNT broadcast at a major championship. But this is not to pick on any one network (well, maybe a little), as some of the same issues TNT exemplifies afflict all of the major broadcast presentations, though no major has the annual commercial and promo dump that is the PGA of America's dreadful presentation.

Geoff was also critical of TNT's use of technology, though Kaufmann gave them credit for this:

At the PGA Championship, CBS offered its own spin on an innovation we first saw from Fox Sports at the U.S. Open – the use of the ball tracer superimposed on a hole graphic, next to a live shot of the player on the tee. This has been one of the best innovations of the year. CBS’ twist was to show the tracer from the fairway looking back at the tee, rather than vice versa.

Am I the only one that found that last bit highly disorienting and really annoying?  They used a surprisingly wide frame, so there were all sort of features to sort through to figure where the player was.  More importantly, looking back to the tee provided no framework as to whether the shot was on a good or bad line.... much better in my mind to match the perspective of the live shot from behind the tee.

But this is the crux of his argument:

In golf, it's vital that television presentation be strong to "grow" participation in the game. More people watch golf on TV than avidly play it. That's an amazing notion suggesting how vital telecast presentation may be in motivating people to play.

True that.

 Great Minds Think Alike - The Martin Kaufmann close with this:

Foltz on Sunday describing Women’s British Open champion Ariya Jutanugarn: “She’s Laura Davies with a putter, Lydia Ko with length, and Michelle Wie without a swing thought. She’s the whole package.”

Hmmmmm...where have I heard thoughts like that before?  Though I had the good sense to leave Michelle Wie out of it, otherwise we're going to need a team of Viennese psychiatrists....