We've arrived safely to Jackson, WY, and despite the awkward arranged of my work area, we'll have at a couple of items just so y'all don't forget about me.
Rickie Don't Lose That Number - One could almost feel sorry for the lad, as he needed this one quite badly:
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) -- Rickie Fowler didn't care about pretty. He cared about winning.
Staked to a four-shot lead, Fowler hit one putt into a sprinkler hole and a tee shot into the water. But when his lead was cut to one shot, Fowler answered with two big birdie putts to regain control and finished off a four-shot victory in the Honda Classic.
The bogey-bogey finish kept him from setting the 72-hole record at PGA National.
That wasn't important.
First and foremost, I didn't see a lick of it, as we were on the road for te better part of the day. I gather from Shack that Johnny was harshing the mellow:
Still, it was an undeniably bizarre 2017 Honda Classic final round with several players hitting loose shots, including Fowler. Johnny Miller voiced his concern at Fowler's inability to close things out and, along with his NBC cohorts, expressed his surprise at the "poor" quality of many misses.
Cue the millennial police!
I'll just say that the hardest thing to do sometimes is to get it to the clubhouse when you're in control. And that PGA National would be a tougher-than-most place on which to do it, water being everywhere...
with room to spare despite a number of front-nine errors and a pair of closing bogeys. The victory is his first on the PGA Tour in more than a year, but it still left Golf Channel and NBC analyst Johnny Miller questioning Fowler’s ability to close.
“Obviously a win is a win, but you’ve got to learn to finish out Sundays like a true champion,” Miller said during the telecast. “He hasn’t learned how to do that yet.”
Meh! Johnny has said far worse... There are supportive tweets from Rory and Luke, but this from the man himself says it all:
As for Fowler, he took Miller’s comments in stride while addressing the media with the winner’s trophy at his feet.
“Well, I started with a four-shot lead and I still won by four,” Fowler said. “I didn’t play great. It wasn’t a pretty round. But we got the job done. A win’s a win.”
What would have happened had someone taken a real run at him, who knows?
The Tour Confidentialistas took on the question of whether he has what it takes to be elite, and here's a couple of sample reactions:
Josh Sens: Elite player or occasional trip to the winner's circle? Not sure those two are mutually exclusive. So many guys can now win on any given week, the occasional trip to the winner's circle is dang good. Fowler has the ability to win any tournament, anytime. But if by elite we mean DJ, Rory, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day production, then no. I don't see him as a fixture in the top five.
Pete Madden: I don’t think Fowler is a future World No. 1, but if he musters a major title, what’s the difference between his resume and Adam Scott’s, Justin Rose’s or Henrik Stenson’s?
It just seems like we're in a portion of the cycle where majors are going to be very difficult to win, given the depth of fields. You'd think he'd win one, but he'll likely need a week like this one, where he didn't miss inside seven feet, to do it.
As for that sprinkler head reference above, you can see it here... Tells all we need to know about Florida golf.
Walkin' It Back - Bryson tries to make amends with this mea culpa:
I'm not sure about this "family" he speaks but one presumes there are not secret handshakes, just USGA championships which bond the winners with the USGA family.
Geoff, you feeling OK? For years he's had a running "Five families" bit referring to the major golf organizations, including numerous "Omerta" riffs. Bryson serves a softball to his forehand, and he just let's it pass?
Who's Being Political? - Just a really silly back and forth in that TC Panel.... This is the query:
2. Donald Trump was back in the golf news this week. In a story by SI senior writer Michael Bamberger, PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua said the President met with him after the election and talked to him by phone after the inauguration. They have played golf together about 20 times over the years. Bevacqua also defended the PGA's decision to keep a pair of major championships at Trump courses. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy became the latest professional to play a round with Trump. McIlroy defended his decision, saying he often plays with people who don't share his views. Who is making the bigger political statement: power brokers of the sport who maintain business relationships with Trump or Tour players who tee it up with the President?
I feel bad for the scribes because it's obviously a God-awful question with no obvious way to answer it. That said, some answers are worse than others:
Ritter: And it's not "just golf" to the vast majority of fans and casual observers who read these stories about Bevacqua and Rory. It comes off as an endorsement of the Trump agenda.
As Freud famously said, sometimes a banana is just a banana....
Your right, Jeff, that it's not just golf.... It's also respect for the office as opposed to the incumbent.... I would submit that none of will like a world n which every action is considered an endorsement, so how do put that Genie back in the bottle?
Just a heads up to readers about the next week. Tomorrow I leave on a road trip with one of my ski buddies, in which we'll hit Jackson Hole and Sun Valley. As of now I'm planning to lug the laptop and I suspect I'll find time to blog, especially as the ski buddy in question is not exactly a morning person....
But if it's a choice between powder and blogging, a guy's gotta do what he's got to do.
Speaking of which, honorary FOG Les Gingell is in town with his camera, and the man has skills.... From yesterday's powfest, here's your humble correspondent amusing himself in the deep stuff on a line called Trance:
And Mitch shredding as only he can:
Of course, there's much that only he can do, as here he is nailing one of his signature face plants:
The good news is that the the landings were quite soft....
OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Hugging It Out - I'm not sure it's quite "Peace in Our Time", but Pat Perez is sparing no effort to get that "pudding" off the soles of his shoes. First there was this:
Pat Perez went on the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show “Katrek & Maginnes on Tap” to clarify his previous comments criticizing Tiger Woods. Here’s the full interview on Brian
Katrek’s and John Maginnes’ show.
The gist was that Perez wanted to note he has major respect for Woods and is still in awe of what he’s accomplished. In fact, Perez, said “it sucks” to see Woods like this and he actually thought the 41-year-old might be done with golf by this time because he had already accomplished too much.
Perez reiterated, though, that at this moment, Woods looks nowhere near ready to play.
Of course he said words to that effect in his preamble, but then stepped squarely in it.... Then there was this:
“I’ve never badmouthed Tiger. I don’t badmouth him,” Perez said. “I stick up for him, even though he would never know that. I argue with people about him.”
Toward the end of the chat Perez possibly quipped(?) “maybe I’ll just cancel my show and all my other stuff so I don’t have to worry about saying something that is just a friendly opinion.”
Can't you people see that's it's Pat that's the victim here.... That "friendly opinion" is a bit of a howler, though, after accusing Tiger of showing up to make the cash register go ka-ching and of fabricating an injury....
Perez sent a text message to Woods on Thursday expressing that same sentiment to the 14-time major winner, and the two exchanged multiple texts about the comments.
Woods was not pleased, according to Perez, but in essence told him he understood and that Perez is entitled to his opinion.
Shack's got the full exchange of texts here, and Tiger is every bit as loquacious as you'd expect. Though Geoff might have earned himself a spot on the updated enemies list...
I'll just add this Will Gray item to your required reading, though it's a bit overwrought:
“When you say certain things, I think you’ve got to figure out if you’re saying something to create controversy, or are you saying something that is actually a great point that no one’s ever made before,” said Billy Horschel. “I think you run the risk sometimes of saying something just to be heard. I think people don’t like that, and they criticize you for that.”
Horschel is not one to shy away from sharing an opinion, and he faced his own barrage of scrutiny for his critique of course conditions during the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. Horschel said he knew at the time that his comments would create some blowback, and he prepared accordingly.
On the one hand, social media has no doubt created a feedback loop of trolls that don't deal well with nuance.... But the other reality is that perez accused Tiger of two things that just aren't done, and there's gonna be blowback for that.
Brendan Steele, among others, seems to get it:
It all creates a unique dynamic where players will critique course setup or organizational decisions, but will rarely step out and discuss a peer like Perez did earlier in the week.
“I definitely don’t share any opinions or thoughts about other players. I don’t think that’s ever really a smart thing to do other than just really positive things,” Steele said. “The USGA I will smash anytime I want, because I feel that’s my right. But that’s really the only time you can get a true, true opinion out of me.”
They haven't repealed the laws governing human nature, though Pat seems blissfully unaware, so let me briefly explain. When you call out another guy, he's gonna defend himself, either directly or thorough proxies. And if it's gonna be Perez v. Woods, we know who's got the bigger megaphone...
Also, not to get too territorial here, but criticizing Tiger is why I'm here.
Today's Sob Story - Hope yu have a box of Kleenex at the ready, because this one will tug at your heartstrings:
That's also the least of his worries at the moment. Poulter, so emotionally charged during
a Ryder Cup, managed a small dose of self-deprecation about his world ranking. Of a more serious nature is that he is running out of time to keep his full status on the PGA Tour.
When he returned in the fall, he had 10 events on a major medical extension to keep his card. He played four times on the PGA Tour and missed two cuts. Going into the Honda Classic, he has six tournaments remaining to earn either $220,301 or 154 FedEx Cup points.
That's in the neighborhood of a fifth-place finish.
"I'm on borrowed time," Poulter said. "Yeah, I need to perform well. ... A win would be nice. I have to think that I've got a chance, I really do. The situation I'm in, I have to be aggressive, but I've got to be careful. I can't make many mistakes."
Like me, you might be shocked to hear that he once rose as high as No. 5 in the OWGR. That seems like a galaxy far, far away...Of course, Poults being Poults, there was this:
Poulter reached as high as No. 5 in the world after the 2010 Masters, where he shared the 36-hole lead. The joke was that he got to No. 2 when he once said in a British magazine interview that when he reaches his full potential, it will be just him and Tiger Woods.
How'd that work out for him? Making $200K in six events should be doable if he's on form, though I don't expect him to be a factor any longer... even in the Ryder Cup.
To his credit, though, he did have this amusing story earlier in the week:
Then there was the time Palmer autographed a $100 bill for Poulter, who intended to frame it -- Poulter had gotten the idea after seeing a famous picture of Palmer and Jack Nicklaus exchanging money.
There was only one problem: Poulter's wife spent it.
“She didn't realize it was actually signed by Arnie,” Poulter said Wednesday from the Honda Classic. “So it's out there somewhere.
“But it was shock [and] horror when I actually did go in [my office] to put it in the frame. You can imagine what I said: ‘Where has the $100 bill gone?’ ‘What hundred?’ So I go in there, and it's not in there. She says, ‘I don't know. I must have spent it.’”
Submitted For Your Approval - This Skratch Video with cameos of folks you might know is fun, especially since they had the good sense to keep it short. Who knew Kooch had those kind of moves, but Davis takes the Oscar...
And if you missed it in yesterday's telecast, you'll want to catch the video of Shawn Stefani going Full-Stenson.... Though the purist in me has to note that it's just not the same without Fanny being there....
Golf and DFS, An Odd Marriage - As a fan of irony, one can't help but watch the awkward dance between the PGA Tour and Daily Fantasy Sports, i.e., legalized betting. The first irony is that the Tour has tried it's best in the Ratched era to discourage betting on its events, whereas we all bet to some degree when we play our weekend fourballs.... Golf is so perfect for betting, but it also has its challenges...
“Is it something we look at? Absolutely, we always look at something that other sports
are doing, having success with, trends in the industry. It’s something we’ve spent a lot of time on up to this point in time. You look at DraftKings and FanDuel, you look at gaming in the international markets, there’s a lot of opportunity there.”
“There’s some complexity, and that complexity has held us back from moving forward. But we will look at it and have an open mind towards it.”
The prior attitude has always been that gamblers are somewhere between icky and not our kind.... and there's no shortage of truth to that, see for instance Walters, Billy.
And there's a technical issue, one that will have your eyes glazing over:
Some experts believe DFS golf contests, in particular, may constitute illegal gambling. Why? A single PGA Tour tournament arguably would not qualify as “containing multiple events,” a condition of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which DFS companies initially argued contained an implied carve out that made DFS okay.
You'll have to go elsewhere to dive deeper into the long grass, but my guess is they'll work something out. Why?
While the laws on whether or not golf is legal as a daily fantasy sports game of skill may still be in question, it is quite clear that there is a market for it and the PGA Tour could benefit from joining and becoming less rigid to younger viewers.
People who bet on sports tend to watch them with greater interest. More viewership would not be a bad thing for golf.
Ya think?
The Blame Game - I simply can't figure out what's going on with the Professor, can you? That's of course the ever-interesting Bryson DeChambeau, who has forsaken his side-saddle putting style:
“It [was] a long conversation,” DeChambeau said after a 71 to miss the cut by four shots. “But the USGA essentially doesn’t like me doing it.
“I’m pretty much done with it. They’re not a good organization, and you can quote me on that. I’m part of their family and as family it’s very frustrating to see them stunt the growth of the game.”
But a couple of 'graphs later there's this:
“We talked to Bryson in mid-January to discuss both his putter and his method of stroke,” USGA spokesperson Janeen Driscoll said via email. “In that conversation we confirmed that his method of stroke (side-saddle) was fully compliant within the Rules of Golf, and he could feel confident in continuing to employ that method.”
With respect to the stroke, Rule 14-1a states that “the ball must be fairly struck at with the head of club and must not be pushed, scraped or spooned.”
DeChambeau first employed the method -- also used by Sam Snead late in his career -- at the Franklin Templeton Shootout in December. He said at the time he was eager to give it a try in competition and see how it went. He also said then that short putts felt like “cheating.”
Complicating matters was the fact that one putter submitted to the USGA was deemed non-compliant, but several others were approved.
I don't understand his issue at this point, and he's not helping himself, appearing to blame his poor play on others....
Cheap Shots - You know the drill, trenchant commentary on the biggest issues of the day:
Only 6" of fresh snow, though that's not important right now... It's just hard to be upbeat when the name on everyone's mind is...Pat Perez?
Enemies, A Love Story - Smart people, foolish choices.... though as to the former, I recommend a second opinion.... We live in a world where Pat Perez has a radio show.... Just let that sink in for a while... OK, it's on Sirius/XM, but still... It's called Out of Bounds, so you can readily guess what they're going for...
Let's just dispense with the money quotes:
“He knows he can’t beat anybody. He’s got this new corporation he started so he has to keep his name relevant to keep the corporation going. So he’s going to show up to a few
events, he’s going to try to play, he’s going to show the Monster bag, he’s going to show the TaylorMade driver, he’s gonna get on TV. He’s got the Nike clothes, he’s gotta keep that stuff relevant.
“But the bottom line is he knows he can’t beat anybody. He knows it. He shot 77! That guy can’t shoot 77. What does he do the next day? ‘Aw my backs gone.’ He knows he can’t beat anybody!”
“Personally, I don’t think you’ll see him again this year. The guy can’t show up to an interview!"
OK, you see the issue.... but let's also cover a little background. First, Tiger and Pat go all the way back to SoCal junior days. and he probably had some personal uquity with Tiger to spend. Whether that's because Tiger liked him, or that he simply wasn't a threat I'll leave to the reader to intuit.
Secondly, if you listen to the audio, he does start with some Jacksonian (Reggie, not Andrew) rhetoric along the lines of, "He's still the straw that stirs the drink." None of the print accounts I've seen captured that bit, which seems designed to inflame you-know-who.
Tiger might normally have tolerated this as Pat being Pat except for the suggestion that Woods has been playing just to give sponsors some appearances.
That's not even the worst of the implication, as we now know that Tiger's endorsement deals pay per start... Showing up to benefit his sponsors would be exculpatory, showing up to trigger payments to his fine self has a distinctly darker hue.... But there was also the bit about faking an injury in Dubai to avoid any further embarrassment. Since when has Tiger required a doctor's note to stay horizontal?
But here's Geoff's conclusion:
While that may be somewhat true, I'm fairly certainly suggesting that the tone Perez chose will move him to some place between Stevie and Brandel on the GolfDigest.com Tiger Enemy list.
Is that above or below Hank? What about Dan Jenkins? Or Sergio for Chrissakes....In addition to the linked Dolf Digest piece, there was also this Golf.com list. The former dug deeper, but the latter had this amusing photoshop:
What's now apparent is that this is very much a moving target and, like the OWGR, we need a weekly update.
But I've omitted the funniest part of the Perez interview.... Not only do neither Pat nor co-host Michael Collins know where the Open Championship is being played this year, they don't even seem to consider that something of which they should be informed. Before reacting, Tiger, perhaps you should consider the source....
More Is Better - Rex Hoggard, who certainly should know better, reports on a players' meeting that sounds like quite the food fight. It turns out that the players want more money, go figure:
Now consider the USGA’s reported 12-year, $1.1 billion deal with Fox Sports that began
in 2015. Two weeks ago, the association announced a purse increase to $12 million for this year’s U.S. Open, making it the game’s most lucrative event.
Even with that bump, however, the men’s cut of the Fox Sports deal is about 13 percent annually. Remember, there were many who weren’t pleased that the players’ portion of the new NBA deal remained at roughly 50 percent but accepted it because of the massive increase in TV rights.
With this backdrop, the topic was brought up at the PGA Tour’s first player meeting of 2017 last month at the Farmers Insurance Open. According to numerous players who attended the meeting, the idea of purse equity was simply a talking point, not some sort of line in the sand or action item, and the focus wasn’t just on the USGA. The association’s recent deal with Fox simply made for an easy starting point considering that under the USGA’s old TV deal with NBC (parent company of Golf Channel) and ESPN – which was reportedly around $37 million annually – about 24 percent of that income went to the U.S. Open purse. This doesn’t include revenue from the foreign TV rights.
But this isn’t about a $24 million purse, because that’s not going to happen anytime soon. The concern among some Tour types is simply on the percentages, which saw the player’s take nearly cut in half from 24 to 12 percent under the new deal.
In case you got confused, Rex was comparing the U.S. Open to the recently concluded NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement... So yeah, apples, oranges and maybe a few rutabagas as well. Of course if you're following these kinds of news item, you'll know that the USGA did just increase the U.S. Open purse substantially to $12 million, making it the most lucrative tournament in the world.
Rex has all sorts of data about the revenues and operating costs of the USGA events that you're welcome to partake of, but the bottom line is that only one of their events makes money. There was this from the players making clear that this isn't going anywhere:
One player who spoke at the meeting and requested anonymity because of the potential for future negotiations said the concern goes deeper than simply a fair share of the TV rights, and that players want a say in future venues and how the championship is run, pointing out last year’s rules snafus at both the U.S. Open and Women’s Open.
It’s unclear how far the players would be willing to take a potential negotiation with the USGA or any of the game’s other ruling bodies.
“Let’s be honest, we’re not going to boycott a major,” one player said.
We know. perhaps I could suggest Pat Perez to represent you interests in deciding on future venues? But this is the 'graph that had me scratching my head:
Instead, the players at the meeting focused on how the additional revenue could possibly be used, from additional funding for Web.com Tour purses, to rookie stipends or even a caddie retirement plan, which is currently a hot-button topic because of an ongoing lawsuit between the circuit and a group of caddies.
Guys, I hope you didn't spend too much time on this, because you're barking mad. The subject is the USGA contract with Fox, an organization that has exactly nothing to do with your laundry list of worthy causes.... You touring pros play exactly one USGA event per year, so I don't think they care about your caddies....
But surely Rex Hoggard knows better, know? Look at how he drops "circuit" into that last sentence above, where the whole article is about whacking up USGA revenues.... Weird.
Not Just a Pretty Face - Wesley Bryan has himself on yet another leaderboard, and we might be forced to admit that he's got game. Tim Rosaforte details the transition from trick-shot artist to Tour player:
It turns out there’s a real connection between Wesley’s trick shot past and touring pro present. In fact, the trick shots are rooted in all the fairways he missed as a junior golfer.
“I’ve always been able to shape the ball,” Bryan told me at the Safeway Open last fall, his first event as a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour. “I drove it so bad for so many years in high school and college that I had to learn a way to play it out of the trees. That’s where the creativity started.”
Bryan finally figured out how to trick his mind after he began hitting balls out of the air as part of his show. “Half the time I’m thinking, 'if I could throw the ball up and hit it out of midair, I should have no problem hitting the fairway,'” he said, adding with a smile, “There’s something a little off about that.”
That's certainly why I miss fairways.....This Pete Madden interview with the young man is also worth your time, including this answer to the question on everyone's mind:
Your brother has been with you every step of the way. Are you expecting him to join you on Tour soon?
He's been a great friend and supporter of mine, but he's got the game, so he's good enough to make it out on Tour as well. I'll just keep supporting him until he makes it.
Now, there was also this:
One thing I know for sure: A trick shot is all about the celebration.
The majority of the shots my brother George and I pulled off came on the first five attempts. You have to make people think you've done something really difficult. That's partly why Tiger got so popular—he was winning and pulling off crazy shots, but he was also yelling, fist-pumping and celebrating. He sold it.
Oh son, that's so wrong... Tiger didn't have to sell it, he was beating the other guys by fifteen shots.
But that won't stop me from rooting for the man, and here's one of their greatest hits videos:
Sell - There's a recurring phenomenon in the business world where CEO's lose perspective on the nature of their business.... Sometimes it's falling in with the social justice warrior crowd, other times it's more serious...
So first the fun part of the story from Seattle:
With baseball season still six weeks away, 6,000 people cycled through Safeco Field over
Presidents Day weekend to experience Topgolf — a global sports entertainment community that puts a different spin on golf and breathes fresh air into the sport.
It’s a fusion of bowling and darts at the driving range. Six targets are scattered across the field. The longest target is 140 yards away, the shortest is 40. The goal is simple: Hit the ball as close as you can to the center of the target. Players trade off with three swings apiece, as a screen behind them displays where the ball lands and how many points are earned.
This is all well and good, and Topgolf is on something of a roll, limited mostly by the incredible capital investment required for each new facility. No word on what such a pop-up location costs, though I expect we'll se more of these, even perhaps at Tour events.
This quote, though, has me concerned:
“We are the place where millennials hit golf balls,” said Erik Anderson, Topgolf’s Co-Chairman and CEO. “You get to play the game, you can compete and trash talk with your friends, flirt with your girlfriend.”
You may be playing a game, but you're most certainly not playing the game....
Interestingly, in all previous Topgolf stories we've had, their people have made it extremely clear that they are not in the golf business.... they run bars and restaurants.
Perhaps I'm over-interpreting this, especially given the hipster-friendly location, but he seems to be veering dangerously close to thinking this is golf. Plus, any business targeting millennials, well good luck getting them out of their patents' basement.
Masters Stuff - It's coming for sure... just a bit of a tease today.
Alex Myers has the ESPN previews, and hopefully you on't be put off by what appears to be the voice of Tom Rinaldi.... This ties into a larger subject, the use of off-putting language in golf contexts... In this case, that last promo talks of The Bear Rising..... Bears rising? It just doesn't work, does it?
But there's also darkness ahead, as John Strege informs:
The flowery imagery often used to heighten anticipation in the run-up to the Masters best be tabled this year. The azaleas in Augusta and surrounding areas already have started to
bloom.
Spring has arrived as much as three weeks early in the southeastern United States, according to the USA National Phenology Network and its Spring Leaf Index Map.
“It’s just been so warm,” Tom Rapp, horticulturist for the neighboring city of Aiken, S.C., said on Wednesday. “And warm at night.”
What does that mean for Augusta National? “They’re not going to have any color for the Masters,” he said.
Like you I'm sure, I only watch for the azaleas... Seriously, though, I thought these guys keep them on ice as required to ensure visual perfection, and I'm not actually joking.
These Guys Are Good - Except, you know, when they're not.... Brooks Koepka was playing poorly and running hot, and you can see the ISIS decapitation video here.
But I like this photo as well:
I'm not quite sure of the meaning of those bizarre emojis, but a slong as he picked up his tee it seems all is well....
Don't Go There - Colt Knost breaks the first rule of Fight Club:
As the story goes, Knost wasn't planning on playing when he ran into Phil at Madison
Club in La Quinta one day, but was egged on by Mickelson. "I don't even have my golf shoes," Knost told Phil, who replied, "I don’t care. Grab your clubs. Me and you, nine holes for $1,000."
Knost said he was 22 at the time and didn't want to look scared in front of him so he played. And predictably, he lost. Badly. But that's when the story took an unpredictable turn.
"I hear you like to play cards," Mickelson said. "Alright, well, let’s go, I’ll give you a chance to win it back."
According to Knost, he proceeded to win about $1,400 in 25 minutes playing gin against Mickelson, who then asked him to stick around for dinner and more cards.
Ummmm Colt, I have it on good authority, from Phil no less, that you're not supposed to talk about what you guys play for out there.... Or is that just to keep the kids in their place?
But if I'm going to take advice on how to win in gambling with Phil, I think Billy Walters is the go-to source.
I love you, I really do... with a love as pure as the driven snow. Hence, the dilemma, as there's 9" of fresh stuff out there, and with winter temps back it might even be dry and fluffy. Picture a warm knife through butter.... OK, let's get done with this.
The Bromance, Further Thoughts - It's rare that I beat Shack to a major item, but I got him by a day on the Bambi profile of Pete Bevaqua. His header tells where he's headed:
It goes unsaid because he's Trump, it's in his nature. But here's Geoff's take on that which he might covet, using this excerpt:
The PGA of America has two of its events scheduled for Trump courses, the Senior PGA Championship in May and the PGA Championship in 2022. Trump and the Trump
Organization would gladly welcome more PGA of America events. A great golf prize for the Trump family would be a Ryder Cup on one of its courses on either side of the Atlantic. (Venues have been selected through 2024. The '26 Ryder Cup appears to be headed to Ireland. Trump has two Scottish courses, in Turnberry and Aberdeen.) Eric Trump—now in charge of running his family's golf business in conjunction with Larry Glick, a Trump Organization executive—would naturally love a U.S. Open, a British Open or a PGA Tour event at any course bearing the Trump name. Long before Trump was elected, the USGA awarded Trump National Bedminster with the 2017 U.S. Women's Open. But given some of the extreme language used by Trump as a candidate and some of the positions he has taken as president, it seems unlikely that the PGA Tour, the USGA or the R&A, administrators of the British Open, will be eager to choose another Trump venue anytime soon.
Here's Geoff's take:
I disagree. Should the PGA Championship move to May, Trump Doral is a no-brainer as either a future venue or replacement for one of the northern venues currently on the PGA Championship schedule.
Perhaps, especially since that venue just lost its annual Tour event. But one of those northern venues to be abandoned is Bedminster, so isn't that pretty much a push.
The Ryder Cup speculation is interesting, but only barely. The thought of one of Trump's GB&I venues getting a Ryder Cup is laugh-out-loud funny....Yeah, they go to the highest bidder (and there's trouble with the Italian venue in 2022), but that's the one check they won't cash.... Funny that Bambi notes that the '26 RC is rumored to be going to Ireland, but doesn't mention Trump has real estate there).
As for home games, they're already going to New York in '24, so it's not likely to return there anytime soon... Trump likes his prizes YUUUUGE, and in golf that means majors.... there's only three organizations that have those to award, so why whould be surprised to see him schmoozing the head of one of those groups? Especially one that's already given him a big one...
But no one expected him to win, and the political terrain is risky looking forward. Even a flatworm is smart enough to turn away from pain, so a bold projection... Risk averse administrators will award nothing to Trump in the near future. I'm not exactly sure of the definition of near future, but they'll keep him in the game but not sign anything....
Mike Hargrove, Call Your Office - I'll get to that in a second.... The news comes from the R&A, who has a new initiative on offer to combat the scourge of slow play:
“Ready golf” is to be implemented at this year’s Amateur Championship as the R&A steps up its attempt to improve pace of play in golf, with chief executive Martin Slumbers insisting that players like Jason Day have a responsibility in that respect as “role models”.
Don't ask me what those icons are in the excerpt, call The Scotsman instead.... Now, there's nothing wrong with this, and a couple of things might surprise you. First, they actually have Ready Golf Manual available for review... OK, it's not actually a page-turner, not least because it's only one page....
A strategy used by the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) to improve pace of play in August’s AIG Irish Close Championship staged on the Glashedy Links at Ballyliffin proved a hit among players and tournament administrators.
Windy conditions meant that the average round time for Round 1 of the Championship was 5 hours 15 minutes, over 50 minutes longer than the time par of 4 hours 25 minutes for the links course.
After identifying the challenges facing the players, the GUI implemented a directive to play ‘Ready Golf’ during the next round in order to improve the pace of play.
Anyone here familiar with Ballyliffin? Excuse me, beloved Ballyliffin, that is.... For newcomers to this blog, that's where I cut my teeth on this blogging thing...
I can imagine that event on the Glashedy in a strong wind....the fairways are not excessively wide there, but if you miss the fairway by a yard your ball is in long marram grass that folds over on itself and, should the ball dive, good luck stepping on it, because that's about the only way to find it.
But what has me amused is the R&A promoting ready golf....wait for it, at a match play event. Which, of course, is the one time you can't play ready golf. They're using it for the 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, but isn't this a tad confusing for folks?
Oh, and Slumbers has some other odd things to say:
Slumbers also called on the top professionals to respect the game’s etiquette at all times after American Pat Perez sparked anger by not even attempting to shout “fore” on more than once occasion during the Geneis Open in Los Angeles on Sunday, hitting a spectator on the head with one wayward drive.
“The safety of spectators is a key part of the etiquette of our game,” insisted the R&A supremo. “I wouldn’t think twice about shouting “fore” if any ball was heading towards another player, and I think that’s a standard that should be adopted at all levels of the game.”
Asked if he thought that culprits like Perez should be fined or even banned, he added: “A lot of that is up to the tours in terms of how they want to work with their players. But there’s something about the integrity and the values of of this game that is different to pretty much every other sport. I think the etiquette of the game is as important a matter as the individual 34 rules. I don’t see any reason why any player at any level should not follow that etiquette.”
OK, so if it's up to the Tour, why are you sticking your nose in? FWIW, Geoff tells us that the spectators at that hole can't see or hear anything from the tee box....
OK, that header....I thought of Hargrove because Shack started his post with this news from baseball:
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, in collaboration with his quisling associates in the players’ union, is apparently ready to do away with the normal and basic baseball act of four balls leading to a walk. He and they have agreed to a scheme by which the intentional walk doesn’t physically occur, but is simply motioned for from the dugout.
This is revolting, not just because Manfred is a dope who doesn’t understand the first thing about why people enjoy the sport he’s in charge of, but because the intentional walk is good baseball. By its nature, the traditional intentional walk call sets up a comic situation and then, once in a while, delivers.
To bring things full circle, Mike Hargrove was the Ben Crane of baseball:
But with a better nickname... He is forever known as The Human Rain Delay.
My Eyes Didn't Pop - But your mileage may vary.... Alex Myers files this hiomage to DJ's ascension to No. 1 in the world, with all sorts of fun numbers about the ranking. A small selection:
683: The number of weeks Tiger Woods has held the top spot. That comes out to more
than 13 years.
598: The number of weeks all 18 golfers other than Woods and Greg Norman (331) have held the top spot combined.
281: The number of weeks in a row Woods held the top spot from June 12, 2005 to Oct. 30, 2010. Woods owns the second-longest streak also at 264 weeks. The third-longest stretch is Greg Norman's 96-week run from June 18, 1995 to April 19, 1997.
8: The number of full calendar years Woods spent in the top spot. Nick Faldo (1993) and Greg Norman (1996) are the only two other golfers to do it.
Tiger's dominance was other-worldly for sure. Let me offer up my favorite factoid as well. There was a time during Peak Tiger that he was so far ahead of No. 2 (who happened to be Phil), that if you had any world ranking points you were closer to Phil than Phil was to Tiger.... Think about that!
Doing The Jobs Americans Won't Do - Like this blog, for instance.... Alan Shipnuck's mailbag feature is making my life very easy. Like this:
"Will Phil Mickelson win a tournament ever again?" -- S. Dunne (@warmheart_88)
The cruel thing about golf is that you never know when you’ve had your last victory. Phil has been playing at such a high level for the last 31/2 years, and yet he hasn’t been able to get it done. Think about some of the guys who have won on Tour in that stretch; Mickelson has way more game than many of them. But winning is a delicate, ephemeral thing. Arnold Palmer perfectly expressed the capriciousness in a 2011 interview with Charlie Rose: "Once you vary, and you lose that thing … What is it? Sometimes it’s hard to put in place. What is it? I’m not sure I know. I’m not sure Jack knows. … Can you get it back, can you get that thing you can’t put your finger on and get hold of it and choke it and keep it? Boy, that’s a tough deal. … It could be a psychological thing. You say, ‘Well, I’ve done it.’ Then you say, ‘I want to do it again.’ But it isn’t there. You can’t find it. You can’t grasp it. You can’t hold on to it."
It’s hard to image Phil will never win again. He’s done it. He wants to do it again. But can he find it and grasp it and hold on to the magic that has carried him to 42 Tour wins? I’m not so sure.
I'm gonna put you down as a "Maybe".... But choke it? Not only does that veer dangerously close to you-know-what, but we try to stay away from the "C-word" in general.
All I'll say is that while I think he'll catch lightning in a bottle again, he'd best do it soon.
Now this answer is Passovian:
"What is your favorite hole at Augusta and why?" -- Ryan (@Therealsneek1)
I love standing behind the 3rd green, because you get to see a lot of fun, funky approach shots and can also peep the tee shot on 4. I’m a big fan of No. 5, because it’s a tough drive and a crazy green and that hole is never crowded. Laying in the grass on the hill below the tee at the par-3 6th used to be one of my fave spots, but it’s become too jammed up with seats and assorted jabronis. Still, it’s fun to watch the shots into that green as well as the putts on 16, which is adjacent. Standing behind the 7th green used to be more fun before the hole was stretched out because guys were hitting shorter clubs and could more effectively feed the ball down the slope; still, it’s a great vantage point, and now there are more chips and pitches, all of which require a sound understanding of gravity and geometry. Few fans make the trek to the 11th tee, and it’s a heckuva view from back there—the tee shot is so scary, and it’s a nice intimate spot. The amphitheater behind the 12th tee is quite grand, but the players are so far away while putting it’s tough spectating. I love the 13th hole, but it’s become too short for most of the pros, taking some of the excitement away. No, my favorite hole at Augusta National is the 15th. The second at the par-5 is the ultimate do-or-die shot; it seems like the ball is in the air forever, and the suspense is agonizing. Those who bail out long face one of the toughest pitches on the planet. I spend much of Masters week in the back row of the grandstand left of the green, which allows me to turn around and look down on the tee shots at the par-3 16th. Golf heaven.
OK, I'm gonna put you down for "All of them". What I do like about the answer is the focus on the front nine, which remains a blur to most of the golf public. You know, the nine they wouldn't let us see for decades...
Is this because it's, you know, in English?
"What are odds that DJ is actually the one tweeting from his own Twitter account?" -- Anna (@AnnaH247)
Very close to zero.
Alan seems to be advocating for a CBS intervention:
"If you were commissioner for a day, how would you improve the telecast? My kids love golf but can’t watch it for one minute." -- Chad (@KennyDaGambler)
1. All players and caddies must wear microphones, and their dialogue supersedes that of any paid commentator.
2. Tap-ins shall never be shown…unless they’re missed.
3. If the CEO of the title sponsor is interviewed in the 18th hole tower, we all get a free car.
4. ProTracer is mandatory for every tee shot.
5. Any fan who yells “Mashed potato” or other such nonsense will be taken to a guillotine behind the 18th green, and their execution will be shown live and then replayed with the Konika Minolta BizHub SwingVision.
6. Players are hooked up with heart monitors on Sundays.
7. Mandatory on-course interviews for the leaders, particularly after they’ve made bogey.
8. No question in said interview may begin with, “Talk about…”
9. Kelly Rohrbach shall be given a sponsor’s exemption to every tournament.
No. 2 seems curious, no? Alan seems to have not considered the possibility that they might show a golf shot live and not know the outcome.... As for No. 4, The Masters seems to keep us interested, with no ProTracer at all..... Just sayin'....
And he goes out on a high with this:
"Best 18 holes across Pebble, Spyglass, and Cypress? #AskAlan" -- Kevin (@vedderkj)
Oooooh, I like this one. To make it more interesting, I decided the holes have to keep their actual number, so of the three opening holes, clearly I’m taking No. 1 at Spyglass. I also wanted to bring it home in a total par close to 72. Let the disagreements begin:
No. 1 Spyglass, par-5
No. 2 Cypress Point, par-5
No. 3 Spyglass, par-3
No. 4 Spyglass, par-4
No. 5 Pebble Beach, par-3
No. 6 Pebble Beach, par-5
No. 7 Pebble Beach, par-3
No. 8 Pebble Beach, par-4
No. 9 Pebble Beach, par-4
No. 10 Pebble Beach, par-4
No. 11 Cypress Point, par-4
No. 12 Cypress Point, par-4
No. 13 Cypress Point, par-4
No. 14 Spyglass Hill, par-5
No. 15 Cypress Point, par-3
No. 16 Cypress Point, par-3
No. 17 Cypress Point, par-4
No. 18 Pebble Beach, par-5
Total par: 72
Joy this course would bring you: infinite
This is fun, at least for golf nerds.... It's funny how this works, because Spyglass peaks early, Pebble in the middle of the round and Cypress, well, except for the first and last holes, it's perfection. The 9th and 10th at Cypress are pretty special as well, though very short....
Spyglass is the underrated one of the old Clambake rota, but back in the day it was really a hrad track. The most famous quote about the three comes from Jack, who opined that Cypress Point and Pebble mad him want to play golf, but that Spyglass made him want to go fishing....
I've safely arrived in Utah and am raring to catch up..... One minor complication is 16" of new stuff, so we're on the clock.... Which tees up another of those world-class segues for which I am famed...
Sorry, I Nodded Off There - Karen Crouse uses her Pravda byline to take on slow play, specifically an Aussie that's announced his intention to revert to 33 1/3 r.p.m. I don't think there's much that's new here, but as always let the protagonist make his case:
Last season, when Day won three times and posted top-10 finishes in three of the four
majors, he was put on the clock twice but never penalized. At his news conference ahead of this week’s Genesis Open, he said: “I would like to think that everyone in this room would take just a little bit longer if they had a million dollars on their mind. You just can’t get out there and just hit it just because that’s what everyone thinks.”
There's a saying in the legal world that bad cases make bad law, which fits here. We all understand that on the back nine of a major things might display increasing viscosity.... The other issue that's never addressed is the conditions.... If the wind is swirling, you understand why guys are gonna take a bit more time to pull a club, and why that club pulled might also go back into the bag.
Shack tries to separate these issues, and names names here:
2. Consistently slow golfers who disregard the 45 second rule and fail to play ready golf. There are some--like Ben Crane--who has spent over a decade taking too long to play even a basic shot. Because they're "nice guys" or they make light of their pace in lame videos, they get a pass. When their play is so disproportionately slow compared to their peers, the behavior is unbecoming of a professional golfer. From an in-person spectator view, such play will make people stay at home instead of coming to pro golf tournaments. And its rude to a player's peers.
Lame videos? That's funny, but we all understand Geoff's point...... And of course we're always conflating the Tour and recreational golf, as per this:
The movement to speed up the game is driven by the fear that it will not appeal to today’s youth with their increasingly short attention spans or older golfers with limited free time for recreational pursuits. “Is there a way to take 25 minutes off the average round, and is that necessarily going to make for a better product or presentation?” Monahan asked. “It’s not apparent.”
Admit it, you might be grinding your teeth at the subject, but picking up those 25 minutes isn't the cause... It's the flow of play. If you're conscious of the group in front, you won't be a happy camper....If not, que sera...
Two more points....First, that Shack link has video of John Feinstein and Geoff arguing the subject of fines vs. penalty strokes, and it's Feinstein in a first round TKO. Sorry, Geoff, but I'm a fan of name and shame, but on a Tour filled with DJ ski-jet accidents, isn't that a tad unrealistic? And that doesn't even deal with the issue of the size of fine necessary to get their attention....
But, there's another issue not dealt with... As much as we hate to admit it, the mechanism for identifying slow play is God-awful, and the thought of affecting results using it is really troubling. The concept is that it's a group that come onto the radar, not individual players, with no allowance for how that group got out of position... Then each member is timed... Yes, they're allowed one bad time, but how sure are we that this protocol identifies Ben Crane?
L.A. In The Rear-view Mirror - Geoff has a wistful post under this provocative header:
Horizontally speaking, the Genesis Open feels like it is headed for a bright future even
after the host withdrew from the field and could not fulfill the same duties he has admirably carried out at other tournaments benefiting The Tiger Woods Foundation.
Unlike when he crashed his car in 2009 and cast a pall over his Foundation’s World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club, the Genesis Open went on with no shortage of intrigue. While a brutal storm halted play Friday and led to a discombobulated weekend, 72-holes were completed and a new lower-maintenance superstar ascended to World No. 1 status. The 91-year-old tournament played on a masterful design maintained its place as an elite PGA Tour stop without Tiger's presence.
It was about as good a week as it could have been, given the weather disruption and the lack of drama in the outcome. But is there a superstar requiring higher maintenance than Tiger?
Tiger’s dented psyche and strained back certainly would have benefited from a few minutes around the infectious joy of Kevin Hall, the 34-year-old former Big 10
Fond memories from Tiger's famous L.A. Open debut twenty-five years ago might have been conjured up watching the impressive PGA Tour debut of Pepperdine’s Shahith Theegala, who qualified in Monday’s Collegiate Showcase and rewarded the tournament by attracting a boisterous local following. Making the cut made for an ever better story, as Mike Jamesnoted in the LA Times. Tiger might have even observed that the Showcase needs to get more attention going forward. Maybe he'll read the press accounts.
The young man from Geoff's alma mater making the cut was quite nice, but I'm still not sure of the over-arching point. This is a better-than-most Tour stop, and draws a decent field because of that... Probably as good a filed as could be conceived, given it's place on the schedule.
It didn't play like The Riv this week, because monsoon.... He has more, though mostly of local interest to those attending the event.
Golf Digest also gets wistful with its slideshow of the best and worst of the West Coast swing:
Most Disappointing Comeback: Tiger Woods
Woods set an ambitious schedule of four events in five weeks starting with the Farmers
Insurance Open. He wound up playing just three rounds. After missing the cut at Torrey Pines, Woods shot an opening 77 in Dubai before withdrawing with back spasms. He then pulled out of his next two events and didn't even attend his scheduled press conference at Riviera because of his doctor's recommendation. Not surprisingly, his odds of winning the Masters have been slashed from 20/1 to 100/1 -- And at this point, even that higher number seems ridiculous.
Ya think?
POTUS Potpourri - That Trump guys has been n the headlines a bit, hasn't he? Mike Bamberger has this about the budding bromance between Trump and the PGA's Pete Bevaqua. Although this seems a bit of a stretch:
Bevacqua, the son of a dentist and a caddie in his suburban New York boyhood, has been the CEO of the organization for a little more than four years now. It's amazing what can
happen over the course of four years. The PGA has never enjoyed a higher profile, at least not since the Walter Hagen-Gene Sarazen era of the 1920s.
Through a series of bold decisions and with relentless energy, Bevacqua, 45, has become one of golf's most influential figures. He is a voice, and an occasional soloist, in the massive, cacophonous golf-in-the-Olympics choir. He oversaw the process by which the PGA of America wisely turned over the golf-and-competition reins of the U.S. Ryder Cup operation to the team captain and his players. Under Bevacqua, the historic LPGA Championship has enjoyed a higher profile after being relaunched in 2015 as the Women's PGA Championship. Bevacqua, with his staff and board, is considering moving the PGA Championship from its customary August date to May, which would give the golf calendar a different rhythm. Oh, and Donald Trump has Bevacqua on his contact list, as he has for some years—and he's been in touch.
Really? That's certainly not what my Spidy-sense is telling me.... Isn't that listing of "accomplishments" in the second 'graph a little short on actual, you know, accomplishments. Lots of giving up control and considering for sure....
OK, there's a cute story of "Please hold for President Trump" and I agree that they're relationship could become interesting, with two events scheduled for Trump venues, though the one that matters isn't until 2022, well into his second term. That sould you hear is liberal heads exploding at that thought....
In other POTUS-related news, the R&A made news during the week, unfortunately for this:
THE 149TH OPEN TO BE PLAYED AT ROYAL ST GEORGE’S IN 2020
20 February 2017, St Andrews, Scotland: One of the world’s great sporting events will return to the south east of England in 2020 when The 149th Open is played at Royal St George’s.
The Open will return to the historic Kent links for the 15th time. It was last played at Royal St George’s in 2011 when Darren Clarke showed his mastery of links golf in challenging weather conditions to hold off Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson to become Champion Golfer of the Year.
This is everyone's least favorite Open Championship venue, and the only one I've not played. Jack Nicklaus once famously said that Open venues worsen as one proceeds from North to South.... no doubt this, the furthest South by some margin, is what he had foremost in mind...
There's also little doubt that the 2021 Open will return to The Old Course, it being the 150th installment. Let that rattle around your brain for a bit... So that leaves us thinking beyond 2021, and here's the money quote from the R&A's Martin Slumbers:
Where the 2022 championship will be played has still to be decided, but Slumbers was at pains to suggest that the refurbished Ailsa Course at Turnberry -- owned by US president Donald Trump -- is still very much a part of the rota of Open venues.
“We are focused on Turnberry as a golf course,” he said. “There has been nothing that has happened in the last year to change its status on the rota. It remains absolutely as one of our nine courses. Turnberry wasn’t involved in the discussions for 2020 and 2021 and we won’t be thinking about 2022 for at least another year. It is very important that we are clear about what out business is, which is making sure the Open is one of the world’s greatest sporting events and that it should stay out of politics.”
And we're also awaiting the results of the Muirfield vote on admitting women members.... In theory, Slumbers has one more arrow in his quiver with the addition of Royal Portrush to the rota....
The changes to the Ailsa have been universally well received, though there are economic issues in returning to the relatively remote Turnberry.... as well as political. Stay tuned....
Lastly on our POUTUS thread, you've heard that Rory teed it up with the man I'm sure. My interest is this bit:
McIlroy expedited his return to play a week early for the Trump International round that also included ISM agent Nick Mullen and Trump friend Rich Levine. More intriguing than the President is the golf with Mullen, who works for the agency that first represented McIlroy (photo on right is not the full foursome).
Let's see, you're getting ready for the majors and that career Grand Slam thingee.... and violating doctors' orders? Was that wise?
And while this is getting tiresome, others think he should have declined for different reasons:
Sigh. It's going to be a long eight years for you folks, but it's your own damn fault. Though this tweet surprised:
Guys, here's a pro tip free of charge.... When Piers Morgan is the voice of reason, reassessment is wise.....nay, required.
I've been summoned.... powder (albeit, wet, heavy powder) beckons... See ya soon.
