Bonus Friday Content - Zurich Zaniness

A delightful morning at the new place, where it finally seems like Spring.  Tomorrow is out opening day event, so it's all real...

All of a sudden everyone's on the band wagon, but where were they when it was wall-to-wall 72-hole stroke play?

NEW ORLEANS — The first round of the Zurich Classic marked a dramatic break from tradition on the PGA Tour, and thank goodness. Instead of just another boring 72-hole

stroke play event we were treated to team play for the first time on Tour since the Walt Disney World National Team Championship in 1981. Even juicier was that, rather than the best-ball format that will be used on Friday and Sunday, the first round (as will the third) featured the quirky, uncomfortable and rarely used alternate-shot format, which demands both teamwork and empathy. Noting how bad it feels to let down your partner, Geoff Ogilvy called alternate shot "a four-hour guilt-trip." No wonder it hasn't made an appearance on Tour since the 1934 Pinehurst Pro-Pro.

Anyone know what's in the water at Golf Magazine these days, as that "break with tradition" is pretty rich.  There's a long history of team events on Tour, in fact one of the events in Byron Nelson's epic 1945 win streak was a team event and, at my first Met. Golf Writers event, Dave Anderson told us that the first golf event he covered was the Miami Fourball at Wykagyl.  

Here's some good stuff on how they paired up and team unis:

This shotgun marriage was atypical in a field that is defined by relationships. Among the 80 teams are those who have enjoyed Ryder Cup success (Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson), Presidents Cup success (Louis Oosthuizen/Branden Grace), sprang from the same lions (Brooks & Chase Koepka), have the same mental coach (Kevin Streelman/Russell Knox), were roommates at a long-ago European tour Q school (Daniel Berger/Thomas Pieters), and share alma maters (too many to list, but LSU boys John Peterson and Andrew Loupe are the local favorites.) Jordan Spieth is here only because his participation in the Zurich was the stakes in a match he lost to Ryan Palmer's caddie James Edmondson, a renowned shark who played college golf at Houston. The team spirit was on display across TPC Louisiana. Keegan Bradely and Brendan Steele both wore all-gray ensembles with black hats, Blixt and Smith were visions in red and white and Spieth and Palmer went with gray and blue. Oosthuizen and Grace matched perfectly in white pants and baby-blue shirts. "It looks good, right?" King Louis asked, desperately seeking validation. "We're here as a team so we want to look that way."

It looks fine, Louis.  Although there are always dissenters:

So does that mean Billy Horschel will be pressing octopi on his partner Matt Every as the tournament wears on? 

"No way," Horschel said. "That is so…well, I can't say the word." 

"Clown stuff," said Jason Dufner, helpfully. He has been mentoring his partner Patton Kizzire ever since he was an undergrad at Auburn, Duf's beloved alma mater. But clearly they won't be breaking out any War Eagle attire in the coming rounds.

I think we can all agree that Billy should never offer his opinion on any other player's outfit.

There's more strategy in alternate shot, but it doesn't happen in front of the camera:

Of more pressing concern was how each team mixed and matched their golf ball. Jason Day plays a high-spin Nike and, given the occasionally breezy conditions, felt it was prudent to play all 18 holes with Rickie Fowler's lower-spinning Titleist. "For him to change to my ball," said Day,"would have been a pretty drastic move, especially trying to keep it down." 

Other teams swapped out their balls on every hole; whichever player was hitting the tee shot would use his own ball and their partner would have to adjust to it on the ensuing shot. Thus Russell Knox employed his Srixon and Kevin Streelman his Titleist. "It wasn't as great as my Srixon golf ball," Knox said, pumping a fist at the plug for his sponsor,"but you can't blame that [for a 73]." Luke Donald plays a Pro V1x while his partner Jamie Lovemark uses a higher-spinning Pro V1, and Donald noted that his playing partner felt his wedge game was off "by a few yards" because of the difference.

And this underrated decision:

Another interesting bit of strategy was choosing which player would tee off on the odd holes and which would take the evens. Brooks Koepka felt his towering irons would be more of an asset on the odd-numbered holes, which featured three brawny par-3s. Since they began on the back nine, that meant his baby brother had to hit the opening tee shot in his PGA Tour debut. Chase, a 23 year-old who has been toiling on the Challenge tour in Europe, smoked a good one, and the Koepka bros went on to shoot 69. "I don't know if people thought I was brining some random dude," said Brooks,"but he's a really good player."

And perhaps word will go out that there's a new sheriff in town:

It didn't come out until Friday that the PGA Tour handed out its first slow-play penalty in 

Campbell

more than two decades during the first round at TPC Louisiana. And in the spirit of the tour's first official team event since 1981, it was a true team effort. 

The Miguel Angel Carballo/Brian Campbell pairing were penalized a shot in their opening round. As alternates, Campbell, a rookie, and Carballo were paired together for the event and were the final group to tee off on Thursday morning, with PGA section pros Kyle Ramey and Phil Schmitt. The group was first put on the clock on the 10th hole, with one of the section pros receiving a bad time on No. 11 at TPC Louisiana. One hole later, Carballo took more than the allotted 40 seconds to play his shot and received a bad time, with Carballo and Campbell being warned that another bad time would result in a penalty. Campbell then got a bad time on the 14th hole.

What, they couldn't find a 14-year old?  It is harsh and one can't help but wish it landed on Ben Crane, but penalty strokes are the only remedy that will change behavior.

Before I move on, Mike Bamberger has an interesting and, highly ironic, take on Tiger.  Here's Mike's nut graph:

The PGA Tour would benefit from more departures from 72-hole stroke-play events.

That’s not just my opinion. Tiger Woods makes the case for new types of events on pages 207 and 208 of his new book about his 12-shot win in the 1997 Masters. He writes, “I would love it if we played a tournament every year where we had to use half a set. Or play with persimmon and balata on a 6,400-yard course. It would be fun for us to do a couple times a year. Low score would still win. The best player would still win.”

And let me add this:

I asked Tiger how he would feel about a regular-season event in which players from the PGA Tour and the LPGA would compete as two-person teams. Woods said, “I think a mixed-team event would be good. I played in the old JCPenney Classic in 1996 with Kelli Kuehne, and we finished, I think, tied for second. We had a lot of fun. [I support] anything to draw positive interest in golf, [anything] that would be good for the game.”

I'm not buying what Mike is peddlin'...  Tiger never had any interest in anything other than 72 holes, low score wins.  And he never looked especially comfortable with his partners in the Ryder and Presidents Cup either.  

He didn't like the Stableford used at Castle Pines, and he never evinced any particular openness to being taken out of his safe space out there,  My Golf Fact Checks rates this claim as Mostly BS.

Thursday Threads

A few quickies for you today, then I'm off to our first Met. Golf Writers meeting of the nascent season.  What?  Oh, sorry, we're playing here.

It Depends What She's Cooking - That was the best gag from the Zurich lie detector commercials, and Zurich has another winner on their hands.  Even the Bubbameister is jiggy with the program:

“You're going to see a lot of smiles, a lot of laughing and a lot of enjoyment of the game of golf,” said Bubba Watson, who is playing with former Presidents Cup partner J.B. Holmes.

“Zurich and the PGA Tour, you take your hats off. How would you not want to be here for this event? For them to step out of the box and do something creative like this is pretty amazing.”

Is that prudent?  I mean, this way lies madness... Josh Berhow answers a question of mine regarding the Koepka brothers:

"We could either kill each other or it could be an awesome week," said Brooks.

Not long after the announcement that this year's Zurich Classic would be changed to a two-person team event, Brooks Koepka, 26, inquired about his younger brother, 23-year-old Chase, joining his team. He was granted an exemption and will make his first PGA Tour start this week in New Orleans. He previously played at the University of South Florida and has played on the European and Challenge tours since.

"It will be fun," Brooks Koepka said. "The whole family is here, so it will be neat for them."

Maybe next year we can do the same for George Bryan?

The Tour, through PGATour.com, seems to get it with this feature on how various teams came to be, including this unlikely May-December pairing:

Jordan Spieth, Ryan Palmer and their caddies Michael Greller and James Edmondson were having a friendly round at Trinity Forest in Dallas last November when an

interesting wager was thrown up by Edmondson. 

The former college golfer and now four-time club champion from Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth issued a challenge to the 2015 FedExCup champion Spieth: If I beat you, you have to partner up with Palmer at Zurich. 

The rest – as they say – is history. 

With all due respect to Palmer, Spieth could have likely taken his pick of anyone in the tournament -- including his Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teammate Patrick Reed, or good mate Justin Thomas. But he stuck with his Texan buddy. The two Texans – Palmer is 17 years older than Spieth -- are one of the favored teams this week. 

“I’ve gotten to know Jordan and we’ve become good friends. We have played a lot of practice rounds together, we all get along, caddies and players, and there are some things in our games that can help each other out,” Palmer says.

This Newlywed Game rip-off was, I suppose inevitable.   Though, to be fair, the LPGA got there first, with a player-caddie version a couple of years ago...  Not with Lydia, it goes without saying.

All Hail Keiser - I'm gonna guess that this guy has trouble with the moving on thing:

TOWN OF ROME — The Laurentide Ice Sheet did quite a number on Wisconsin. 

As it advanced from the north, it created Glacial Lake Wisconsin, at 550,000 acres about

four times the size of modern-day Lake Winnebago. As the Green Bay lobe of the glacier melted, a massive crack formed that rapidly drained the lake to the south, creating the dramatic rock formations of the Wisconsin Dells and the towering bluffs along the Lower Wisconsin River. 

The old lake bed remains, along with piles of sand and a spectacular opportunity — hiding in plain sight for the past 14,000 years — that could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy.

OK, I don't have time to Google it, but I'm pretty sure that's the first mention of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on the blog....  What's it all about, Alfie?

Mike Keiser, one of the country’s most accomplished golf course developers, wants to build up to five golf courses on 1,700 acres of land between Wisconsin Rapids and Adams-Friendship. In addition, he plans to restore an adjacent 7,200 acres for public use and bring it back to its natural state with jack pine, hill oak and prickly pear cactus that would improve the habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly and Kirtland’s warbler.

Read the whole thing, as the local communities are under the gun to provide the necessary infrastructure.  This seems like a good move, though maybe they just want to see it on the public's dime:

That’s why a contingent of local elected, administrative and economic development

officials from the region are spending most of this week in Bandon, Oregon. 

The seaside community of just over 3,000 people, 140 miles southwest of Eugene, Oregon, and 90 miles north of the California border, is home to Bandon Dunes. Like Sand Valley, the golf mecca is fairly isolated, was developed by Keiser and includes courses designed by McLay Kidd and Crenshaw and Coore. The first of five courses at Bandon Dunes opened in 1999. By 2009, three of its courses were among Golf Magazine’s 50 best-built courses of the past 50 years, and its Pacific Dunes course has been ranked the country’s No. 2 course overall.

Bold prediction:  This will be spectacular.

 Deja Vus All Over Again - Missed it by that much:

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Costco's Kirkland Signature golf balls -- which received five stars in performance, innovation and feel in the 2017 Golf Digest Hot List -

- returned to the online market. And within hours, they were gone. 

For the third time since entering the golf equipment realm, the membership-only warehouse club has run out of stock of its popular golf ball. Following a small disappearance in the winter months, the Kirkland Signature was witnessed on shelves in Costco stores during the Masters. But until this week, the ball was not available for online purchase. Yet the chain released a quiet rollout of the product Tuesday, giving the hungry masses another shot at the sought-after four-piece ball.

Were they still at $15/DZ?  Oh well, there's always Vice or Snell...

Promising Header, No ROI - This header seemed like it might offer some insight:

Tiger Woods: Getting return on investment

Alas, not:

Bridgestone and TaylorMade won’t release monetary details of the signings, but it’s safe

to assume there are at least seven figures at stake for each company. Woods doesn’t lead Forbes’ all-time list of best-paid athletes by doing things on the cheap. 

The benefits of each signing, of course, is that Woods creates buzz. But that initial excitement is certainly gone now. Tiger has played 54 holes of professional golf in 2017 and might not play another. That leads to questions about the return Bridgestone and TaylorMade will get on their investment in Woods.

Remember when the Tiger signing caused analysts to suggest that perhaps Adidas would hold onto TaylorMade?  Good times...

But this is where it jumps the shark:

Several people who are well-versed in endorsements deals echoed an interesting concept last week: They no longer see Woods as a golfer. He is now a brand. 

“Tiger Woods was a golfer until his car hit that fire hydrant,” said one industry insider who did not wish to be identified. “He was a golfer again in 2012 and 2013 when he won some tournaments, but in the last two or three years since then, I think Tiger Woods has become a brand again.”

Egads!  From "Hello, World!" onward he was always a brand...  what they're trying to say is that he's a lesser brand since he can no longer play.  Or, as Ian Faith would have it, his appeal has become increasingly selective....

As If... - There was this Zurich-themed question for Alan Shipnuck in his weekly feature, that touches a few bases:

If Tiger heals up and returns in 2018, how awesome would a Woods/Mickelson team for the Zurich be? #AskAlan -Justin (@jafowler85)

So awesome my face would melt, then my brain would liquify and leak out of my ears. Funny thing is, Phil would absolutely do it. Whatever their history, he knows what a blockbuster moment this pairing would be, and he'd relish the spotlight—not to mention the chance to carry Tiger for two days and then talk junk about it on every Tuesday night of Masters week in perpetuity. The old Tiger would never have entertained such a notion, but if he ever makes it back to the Tour – which I doubt – it will be in a ceremonial role. Why not give the people what they want? Otherwise, what are Bridgestone, et al paying him for?

That sound you hear is Hal Sutton grinding his teeth, screaming at his computer monitor, "I told you so!:.  

As for Alan's final query, I'm guessing that very question is making the rounds at Bridgestone....

 Not sure about tomorrow's availability, as I've an early game...  You know the rules, never allow the blogging of the golf to interfere with the playing thereof...

Midweek Musings

Just a reminder that the decision of the judges is final...except when it isn't.

Salvation, Perhaps - The USGA and R&A have descended the mount with two tablets....one, amusingly enough, creating yet another task force.  Sheesh, this explains the forty years in the wilderness....

Ready for some legalese?

New Rules of Golf Decision Limits Use of Video Review

USGA and The R&A Prioritize Working Group to Assess Role of Video 
in Applying Golf’s Rules 

FAR HILLS, N.J., USA AND ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (April 25, 2017) - The USGA and The R&A have issued a new Decision on the Rules of Golf to limit the use of video evidence in the game, effective immediately.

OK, hit me with your best stuff:

New Decision 34-3/10 implements two standards for Rules committees to limit the use of video: 1) when video reveals evidence that could not reasonably be seen with the “naked eye,” and 2) when players use their “reasonable judgment” to determine a specific location when applying the Rules. The full language of the Decision can be found here.

OK, I assume the English translation will be available shortly....  So, a couple of quick questions:

1.  Could Lexi's "sloppy" mark of her golf ball be discerned with the naked eye?
2. Did Lexi use her "reasonable judgement" in marking and replacing her ball?

Thomas Pagel attempts to clarify:

“We are trying to make sure that players that are on television are not held to a higher

Think she'll ever wear this color again?

standard than others playing the game,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of rules.

“Television evidence can reveal facts that as a human being you could not reasonably have known in the playing of the game. A player could do everything he or she could to get it right, but video evidence could still show that they got it a little wrong. And the only reason we can know they got it a little wrong is because we’ve been able to slow down, pause, rewind, replay, all the things that the player on the golf course doesn’t have the advantage of doing.”

OK, I'm reasonably certain that the marble is under the shell on the left, but the misdirection is having some effect on my choice....   

Pagel goes on:

The “naked eye” standard is a response in large part to Anna Nordqvist being penalized two strokes during her three-hole aggregate playoff with Brittany Lang at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open after high-definition, slow-motion video showed her to have brushed sand during her backswing in a fairway bunker on the second hole of the playoff. Nordqvist said she had been unaware of touching the sand. The new decision states that if a committee concludes that such an act “could not reasonably have been seen with the naked eye and the player was not otherwise aware of the potential breach, the player will be deemed not to have breached the Rules, even when video technology shows otherwise.”

A foundational subtext for the new decision was the one-stroke penalty that Dustin Johnson was assessed in the final round of last year’s U.S. Open after video evidence was used to determine that he had caused his ball to move while preparing to stroke a short putt on the fifth green. Johnson contended that his actions had not caused the ball to move. Unlike Thompson and Nordqvist, Johnson went on to win, but the outcry about the ruling led the USGA and R&A to enact within six months a Local Rule that states a ball at rest on the green that is accidentally moved by the player can be replaced without penalty.

I'm really perplexed....  I don't see where the DJ incident is at all relevant to Lexi's, as the USGA had previously attempted to clarify that rule and made quite the mess of it.  The were locked into a silly concept of the player being deemed to have caused the ball to move if he "addressed" it, and no one knowing whether DJ's placing his putter to the side of, as opposed to behind, constituting an address.  

As for the unfortunate Anna, again it's entirely unclear if this applies.  The language about judgement make sit seem that we're speaking of actions by a player, the location of drops seeming the most likely.  If you don't want Anna penalized for brushing the sand on her take-away, and the vast majority of us will be fine with that, how about we change THAT rule.  Easy enough, no?

But this will no doubt furnish your morning laugh:

Pagel emphasized that the decision did not result from any single incident or set of incidents but rather from the governing bodies’ ongoing effort to keep the Rules apace with modern times.

Nothing to see here, folks... Would you please exit through the gift shop.

There's no spike in traffic, but I get the sense that folks are coming around to my way of thinking.  First, on the clarity thing:

“There’s more gray area than clear definition,” two-time major champion Stacy Lewis said. “It didn’t really clarify anything.”

“I don’t think it changes Lexi’s ruling at all,” Lewis said. “It probably changes Anna’s.”

Probably, maybe, whatevah.....

Like Lewis, Matthew sees the new decision creating a gray area that’s going to land in the laps of local rules committees. 

“I think it muddies the water even more,” Matthew said. “That puts the rules officials in a much harder position. What do they call a judgment call?” 

If Matthew had her way, viewers wouldn’t be able to call in violations, which would have spared Thompson the penalties.

“I don’t think you should be able to phone in after the fact,” Matthew said.

Ron Sirak, a strong supporter of the ladies' game, is the first to go after this issue:

Now the tour has a chance to make its marketing mantra resonate in a very special way.

The LPGA should unilaterally change three rules that are hated by both fans and players. Stop allowing TV viewers to email or call in penalties; stop assessing penalties a day after a round is played; stop punishing players for not recording a penalty they didn't know they had been assessed. 

The LPGA can act unilaterally to change these rules. The pro tours, for example, play lift, clean and place as a local rule when the course is wet. The USGA never allows lift, clean and place at competitions like the U.S. Women's Open. It always plays the ball as it lies. The LPGA can make the rules change a condition of competition. However, the USGA could see such an action as a slight.

Check's in the mail, Ron.... he goes even further with these suggestions for putting these issues to bed:

(1.) Have a rules official watch TV and if they see something, say something. Otherwise, no harm, no foul. No phone calls, emails, text messages, carrier pigeons or mental telepathy from viewers allowed. Those folks will just have to validate their significance some other way. 

(2.) Make every day Sunday. When the final scorecards are signed on Sunday, the tournament is officially over. A penalty learned about on Monday cannot be assessed. Let's treat every round that way. The Saturday round is over when all the cards are signed Saturday. No more penalties issued a day later. 

(3.) What you don't know can't hurt you. How can you be penalized for signing a wrong scorecard if you didn't know it was wrong? Even if you penalized Thompson for not returning her ball to the same place -- and she did not replace it correctly -- how can she be penalized two additional strokes for not recording a penalty she didn't know she had? Of course, before last year she would have been disqualified for the infraction. That's a step in the right direction. Now it has to go all the way.

Ron, you win our first prize, an all-expenses paid week-of-your-dreams in Far Hills, NJ.

Before we go, I have an outstanding IOU to my dear readers....  I promised you a task force, and a task force ye shall have:

The two organizations have also established a working group of LPGA, PGA Tour, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and PGA of America representatives to immediately begin a comprehensive review of broader video issues, including viewer call-ins, which arise in televised competitions.

I'm sorry, a working group....Shack has the first order of business for the task force working group:

But first, we have to decide if we are meeting at Sea Island, Pinehurst, Pebble or Bandon to hash this call-in stuff? Maybe Sand Valley? It's on the way to Erin Hills! Sort of.

Peace In Our Time -  Now that Phil and Tiger are bromantically involved, where should Cupid next look?  If you've been reading this site lately, you'll know who's do for a rapprochement:

Harrington had described Garcia as a sore loser, but speaking at an R&A event yesterday 

afternoon to promote the upcoming Open Championship, the three-time Major champion revealed they cleared the air at McIlroy's wedding in Co Mayo at the weekend. 

"Sergio and I are on a much better footing," Harrington said in quotes reported by the BBC. "We've had a chat, because obviously there was a bit of an elephant in the room about what I said.

"I've got to say, Sergio made it very easy. He was exceptionally good about it. He already was well informed, which was nice. 

"We have decided that we will look, going forward, at our similarities and the good in each of us rather than any other way."

Well informed?  Any guesses?  Appropriately enough, this took place at Rory's wedding, though I'm guessing the photo is from the files...

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat - One simply wishes that this survey of Golf in Scotland had included other categories and questions, but we take what we can.

Let me first express my shock at this result:

BEST HOLE – TOM MORRIS, 18TH AT THE OLD COURSE, ST ANDREWS

The closing hole at St Andrews’ Old Course has been voted the Best Golf Hole in Scotland with a 27% share of the vote. 

St Andrews is often regarded as “the home of golf” and performed strongly across the poll. The 18th hole is named after the former open champion Tom Morris who lived in St Andrews. It is easy to see why this iconic golf hole was voted the best; it’s the most photographed golf hole in the world!

Most photographed, sure:

Best?  Not so much, though I do like the hole very much.  The utter simplicity of it, how it finishes in town and, of course, that Valley thing.  The back story on the Valley of Sin is that they were digging out to build a bunker there and encountered a burial ground.  Old Tom told them to leave it as it was at that moment, one of the most inadvertent incidents of shaping ever.

And this:

BEST PAR 4 – ROAD, 17TH AT THE OLD COURSE, ST ANDREWS

The Old Course at St Andrews also won the Best Par 4 in Scotland for the 17th, Road hole. The Road received over a third of the votes in this category. 

If you have played this hole you will know that shots that veer to the right are liable to end up on the road. Other pitfalls include the devilish ‘Sands of Nakajima’ bunker nicknamed after Japanese golfer Tsuneyuki Nakajima, who took four shots to get out while leading in the third round of the 1978 Open. Other contenders in this category included Royal Dornoch (8th) and Carnoustie (18th).

I've no problem here, except for the bit about it being a Par-4....  Don't confuse me with logic, though about how the 18th at St. Andrews is the best hole in Scotland but not the best Par-4.

But just when you think we're surveying the most famous holes, comes this:

BEST VIEW – 9TH AT CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE, CRUDEN BAY GOLF CLUB

The 9th hole at Cruden Bay Golf Club on the Aberdeenshire coast claimed the award for best view. 

The course, which has stirring views across the Bay of Cruden and Slains Castle, triumphed against competition from the Castle Course at St Andrews, Machrihanish Dunes and Gullane Golf Club, with 20% of the vote. This category included nominations for more than 300 individual holes, which was a real testament to the wealth of beautiful views across Scotland’s courses.

This is a lesser known course and a very new tee box, so well-played, all.

My good friend Nathan Assor (a former golf buddy that has me back to Willow Ridge on Sunday), has just planned his first trip to Scotland, and I'm kvelling with pride.  It's not a full-Monty golf trip, with only four round of golf.  But it's the courses he chose:  Dornoch, Cruden Bay, The Old and North Berwick.  As I told his bride Marcia later, setting aside some geographic issues, could one have chosen four better examples of links golf?  I mean anywhere?

Don't Ask - While I don't advise asking such a question, the answer is quite the thing:

What's your best John Daly story? -Ryan (@therealsneek1)

Is this wise?  OK, buckle in:

The most time I ever spent around Daly was at the 1997 PGA Championship, when I shadowed him for an SI feature. The preceding months had been wild, even by Daly's standards:

He withdrew after the first round of the Players following a late-night drinking binge so

excessive it landed him in a hospital; two days later he checked into the Betty Ford Clinic; a few days after that his third wife, Paulette, filed for divorce; on Daly's birthday, three weeks later, he got dumped by his primary sponsor, Wilson; two months after that, at the U.S. Open, he walked off of Congressional midway through the second round due to the shakes that came with his newfound sobriety. When I caught up with Daly he was still trying to piece his life back together, but the fans had never left him. Following the second round he parked next to Tiger on the driving range. The sun was getting low but the bleachers were packed; Tiger was playing his first major since his game-changing blowout at Augusta. Daly started smashing drivers and the thousand or so fans lining the range started whooping and hollering. At some point he glanced up at Woods, who had stopped hitting balls and was leaning on his driver, hand on hip, enjoying the show. Daly woofed at him. Woods then turned to the crowd, flashed a smile and teed up a ball. The fans roared. Woods brought the club back majestically and … did a little half swing, bunting the ball 100 yards. Then his practice session resumed in earnest. "I can learn a lot from him," Daly told me. "He handles himself so well..

We sat and talked in the locker room at Winged Foot. He pulled from his pockets a dozen sobriety medals that had been pressed on him by fans; AA members receive them to mark various milestones of their journey. Daly was using the medals as ball markers and sources of inspiration. 

I couldn't help but be struck by how Daly seemed like a wounded puppy dog, or maybe a world weary little boy. For all of his screw-ups there was an undeniable sweetness there. I finally understood why so many people still cared about him. He told me he had just written a song, and I had him jot down the lyrics in my notebook: 

"I'm living one day at a time/

Yes I'm doing just fine/

This is my life, let it be known/

This is my life, through the years I have grown/

Please God don't give up on me/This is my life"

I remember thinking after our long chat that Daly had finally found himself, and that he had finally conquered his demons. The next day, while playing the 12th hole, he hit a wild tee ball and chucked his Big Bertha driver into the woods.

 Yeah, how'd that work out?  At least the sponsors' exemptions seem to have finally dried up...

Tuesday Rules

Big day in our little world, so let's get to it....

Lexi Gets Results - Apparently all of the street marching with the "Free Lexi signs has had effect:

SOUTHPORT, England – The R&A and USGA will announce a change to the Rules of Golf on Tuesday that is expected to ensure a Lexi Thompson situation does not crop up

in the future. 

The governing bodies met at Augusta National during the Masters, where Lexi Thompson’s controversial four-shot penalty during the ANA Inspiration was discussed at great length.

R&A officials refused to comment on the upcoming announcement at a media day at Royal Birkdale ahead of this year’s Open Championship. However, Golfweek understands the governing bodies will implement a decision Tuesday with immediate effect to make sure no player goes through the same experience as Thompson. 

The governing bodies could rule that TV viewers cannot call in rules infractions. Alternatively, they could decree that no retrospective penalties can be added once a scorecard has been signed.

That's not a particularly good summation of the options, so let's let Ryan Herrington will out the menu:

The changes also might include an early implementation of a proposed Rules change where “the player’s reasonable judgement would be upheld even if later shown to be wrong by other information [such as video technology].” This proposal was part of a larger rules modernization plan that the USGA and R&A had announced in March that would potentially got into effect in 2019. 

Another issue potentially to be addressed on Tuesday is whether certain penalties can be assessed after a player’s scorecard has been signed and/or a stipulated round has been finished.

OK, and you might want to read Shack's take here.  Give the direction they were headed, it seems that "reasonable judgement" bit should be the odds on favorite, requiring them only to accelerate that which they had proposed.  You're no doubt tired of hearing me say this, but does that let Lexi off the hook?  There's judgment involved in deciding one's nearest point of relief, but in marking and replacing the ball?

And Ryan's second part is really a two-parter, no?  There's the issue of whether there is a finite conclusion to a round, but also the issue of whether we'll penalize for the inaccurate scorecard.... It seems obvious to this observer that if we're relying on the player's judgement, then there shouldn't be a pile-on for the John Hancock....

But as I continue to think about these issues, I'm also quite surprised by the passivity of the Tours.  They remain free to define the rules of competition as they see fit, and yet Mike Whan would tell you that his officials had no choice in the matter....  I think they've been wise to adhere to USGA rules, something that was discussed quite a bit in the lead-up to the anchoring ban, but televised golf is an area that affects them quite directly.  Not only do they act as sheep, but they've been quite negligent in using the technology to administer the rules themselves.

Credit to the two rules-making organizations, who at least are now showing some responsiveness, in this and the DJ ball-moving issue from Oakmont.  Late for sure to the party, but at least no longer a permanent immovable obstruction....

My vote for stupidest silliest article on this subject goes to Randall Mell, who thinks Lexi herself has some 'splainin' to do:

Lexi Thompson’s agent asked the LPGA in strong terms for a “true and transparent

accounting” of the details of the viewer’s intervention that impacted the outcome of the ANA Inspiration three weeks ago. 

That goes both ways. 

When Thompson meets the media for the first time since a four-shot penalty derailed her chance at winning a second major championship, there will be an accounting due there, too. She’s scheduled for a pretournament news conference in suburban Dallas on Wednesday at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout. 

It will be the first time Thompson gets to fully explain what she was seeing and thinking as she marked her ball in the infraction in question at the 17th hole of Saturday’s third round.

Really?  Because I'm thinking she's about the least interesting player in the drama, as the victim often is.  So whatcha got that she needs to answer?

After seeing replays, does she agree she committed an infraction?  Or does she think there may be some optical illusion created in the nature of the camerawork?

OK, fair enough, but it's all Tiger's fault.  If you'll recall, Tiger's 2015 season included three major rules dust-ups, the last of which happened at the BMW, when he moved a twig and caused his ball to move.  Admittedly, you couldn't see the ball move except in slow-mo replays, but move it did.  Tiger churlishly refused to concede the point, maintaining that it was an optical illusion.... Like Lexigate, that shed no light on the underlying facts, though it was an interesting insight into his mind set.

To be clear, it was a horrible marking of her ball and it was worthy of the penalty, setting aside the issue of it being assessed twenty-four hours later and the two stroke pile-on for the scorecard.

And why did she come in from the side of the ball to mark it?

It's pretty obvious that she stepped in from the side intending to hole out, and then awkwardly marked her ball.  She may not even be aware of why, but Mell goes down the briar patch of intent, which seems unnecessary to this observer....  There's no reason to consider it anything but sloppy but, as Phil reminded, the issue has importance above and beyond Lexi.  

Nobody thinks what happened to Lexi was fair, but there's a whole range of opinions within that catchall category....  We'll just have to wait and see what our betters decide.

Shouldn't They Understand Golf - It's been a really strange few weeks at Golf.com, but see if you spot the issue with this come-on?

No stroke play? No problem! Here's everything you need to know about the new Zurich Classic format

Ummm guys, it's a stroke-play event....  There's only two types of golf, stroke and match play, and this week is very much the former...  Yes, it's a team event, but I really shouldn't need to explain this to Golf Magazine, should I?

Here they double down:

The 2017 edition of the tournament will be a two-man team event, with two rounds each of foursome and four-ball play. This is the first time the Zurich Classic won't be a stroke-play event.

Really?  I'm going to say this very slowly so I hope you can follow, it's the first time it's not an i-n-d-i-v-i-d-u-a-l stroke play event....

They do at least answer one question I had:

4. WHAT'S AT STAKE

In addition to divvying up the $7.2 million purse, both teammates will earn a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and be eligible for invitational events like the Players Championship and the Tournament of Champions. 

Each player will also receive FedEx Cup points by combining every two positions from the official FedEx Cup point list and splitting them evenly. For example, the winner of the event would receive 500 points and the runner-up 300, so each player on the winning team will receive 400 points (half of the total 800 from first and second; the prize money will be split the same way).

All Things Rory - Sorry Erica, but you're definitely the warm-up act at this wedding.... In terms of the Coldplay v. Van the Man debate, Rory and Erica opted for None of the Above:

According to E! News, some music royalty (both old and young) performed on the special day. Stevie Wonder is believed to have played during the couple's ceremony,

while Ed Sheeran put on a show during the reception. Not a bad one-two punch.

Other celebrities at Ireland's Ashford Castle on Saturday included musician Niall Horan, actor Jamie Dornan, and Coldplay's Chris Martin. 

And yes, there were golfers there as well. Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Paul McGinley were in attendance, reports The Belfast Telegraph, which also has a few pictures of guests leaving the wedding.

I do hope they danced to For Once in My Life....  But can anyone clue me in as to who this Ed Sheeran might be?  I've never heard the name, though this link might suggest we'd get on:

RELATED: Why Ed Sheeran once smashed Justin Bieber in the face with a golf club

I don't need an explanation, just video....

 The there's this:

Rory McIlroy, Erica Stoll honeymoon at $14,000-a-night Caribbean resort

Don't worry about the extravagance, he's got a good job....

Golf and the Real World -  Only very occasionally does the real world intrude upon our pleasant pastime, but this one is uglier than most...  The round-belly tour with the silly name held their annual event in Boca Raton recently, and controversy ensued:

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Holocaust survivors on Monday celebrated the end of German

insurance giant Allianz's sponsorship of a Florida pro golf tournament, saying it may boost efforts to collect some $2.5 billion in World War II-era policies issued to Jews that they say have gone unpaid. 

Survivors, their heirs and Jewish groups for seven years have protested the company's sponsorship of the PGA senior tour's Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, saying it failed to pay off policies of tens of thousands of Holocaust victims and other Jews who died under Nazi rule. 

They say the company has demanded death certificates, which the Nazis didn't issue to concentration camp victims, and copies of policies lost during wartime upheaval. 

Monday was Holocaust Remembrance Day.

One feels horribly for the folks involved, and we all know how horribly the insurance companies and banks acted in the aftermath.  I can't say that I see how this helps their cause, but I'm somewhat relieved to have our ties to this institution ended.

Why Not The Best?  - Lydia gets her man, and I'm sure all will be right with the world:

Rolex world No. 1 Lydia Ko has found her next caddie. 

Ko plans to tee it up at this week’s Volunteers of America Texas Shootout with Peter Godfrey as her caddie, GolfChannel.com has learned. 

Godfrey was voted the 2017 Caddie of the Year by his LPGA peers at the HSBC Women’s Champions back in March. He was on Ha Na Jang’s bag at the time.

Is anyone else amused that such an award exists?  Everyone seems obsessed with the number of loopers she's run through, though of course they're including those that had week-to-week arrangements.  To me there's actually two more interesting nuggets:

Ko is crossing paths with Ariya Jutanugarn yet again with this hire. Godfrey was on Jutanugarn’s bag when she won the Ricoh Women’s British Open last summer. This offseason, Ko named Gary Gilchrist her coach. Gilchrist has been working with Jutanugarn for more than a year. 

Ko and Jutanugarn have a lot of common ties. They also share an agent, IMG’s Michael Yim.

In order of importance, the intertwining of Lydia's team with that of Ariya's is most curious, given that one expects the two youngsters to be competing against each other for years to come.

Secondly, the LPGA's Caddie of the Year seems to get fired quite often, no?  I count two and, if recent history is guide, it'll be three fairly soon.

Half-Hearted Weekend Wrap

It's not you, it's me...  Just didn't feel the need to watch any golf this weekend, though much enjoyed being out there myself.

If At First... - The hard-luck kid finally breaks through:

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Kevin Chappell made an 8-foot putt on the final hole to win the Valero Texas Open by one stroke on Sunday. 

Chappell had a 4-under 68 in the final round to finish at 12 under for the tournament, edging Brooks Koepka at TPC San Antonio to earn his first PGA Tour victory in his 180th career start. 

Koepka, a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year, was looking for his second PGA Tour win. He had the best round of the day at 7-under 65. Before Chappell came down the 18th hole, Koepka had birdied the hole with a 3-foot putt to tie him.

Chappell had a fine amateur resume in in his prior 180 starts had no shortage of opportunities to break through, it just never happened.  He always seemed like DJ's Mini-Me to me, but perhaps I'm being a tad harsh...

The Tour Confidential panel took a shot at the subject and, well, sometimes the predictable answers are the right ones:

Ritter: Because it's tough to win on the PGA Tour! Also, his putting tended to crack on Sundays. It was fitting that it came down to an eight-footer, and it was great to see him jar it. That was also one of my favorite 72nd-hole celebrations of the season.

Shipnuck: Let's not give Chappell a full pass here—he made plenty of mistakes in crunch time when he was in position to win in the past. But kudos to him for learning from them and finally getting it done.

In other strange doings, Dominic Bozelli almost made a most unusual ace:

The rookie almost pulled off the trick on TPC San Antonio's 318-yard 17th hole, hitting his tee shot to one INCH. Unfortunately, there wasn't video of Bozzelli's incredible close call, but here's what it looked like on PGA Tour Shot Tracker:

But alas, neither could quite pull off an unlikely hole-in-one on Saturday, meaning Andrew Magee remains the only player in PGA Tour history to record an albatross on a par 4. Magee made his ace at the 2001 FBR Open on the 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale, banking in his tee shot off the putter of Steve Pate, who was on the green in the group ahead.

As you might have guessed, your humble correspondent's brain is stocked full of useless information, including the fact that Magee's ace actually caromed off the putter of Tom Byrum, seemingly confirmed here.

 In other curious news, I had no idea that T.C. Chen was in the field...

The Tiger in Winter - Hank Haney took time out from offering you free tips in adding distance to opine on a certain former student of his...  whether he should or not might be the most interesting question.

“I don’t buy a lot of these theories that people have," Haney said. "I don’t buy that...this

is the end all be all for him, coming back and beating Nicklaus’ record. That’s never gonna happen. I mean, come on people, get real." 

Haney went on to explain that he does believe Woods is capable of winning again, if he can return to the game for an extended period of time. "I'll never give up on that part," he said. The problem? "I don’t believe Tiger is that enthralled by this whole comeback idea. [The media] believe that he's got this burning desire to come back and play. I don't think he does."

I guess, per Hank, he hears the siren call of Call of Duty....

I'm guessing it's more complicated than that...  Shall we let the so-called experts have a go at this one before I settle the debate?

Ritter: It all depends on how badly Tiger wants to go through another lengthy rehab to get back out there. My sense is that he's more at peace with his life off the course and doesn't burn to compete like he once did. I do think we'll see him in PGA Tour fields from time to time, starting in 2018, but his days as a threat to win are over.

Bamberger: His what-if is up to him. He can have more impact on the game in the next 40 years than he did in the last 20.

Wood: I hope not, but it's more and more concerning. If it is, I hope everyone who got to witness this guy play golf when he was the real Tiger Woods knows how lucky we've all been. Did you get to see Babe Ruth hit home runs? Cy Young pitch? Jim Brown play football? Shakespeare write a play? Mozart compose a symphony? Well, no, but we got to see Tiger Woods take golf to a level it's never been before. Jack may finish with more majors, but the golf Tiger Woods played when he was THAT Tiger Woods was the finest golf ever played—the highest level ever attained in this sport. So I'll keep hoping for one more run until he says goodbye to the game himself.

Tiger has never let us in, even in his book, so we should probably all stop pretending that we understand his psyche.  Tiger has essentially been a professional golfer since he was about 12 years old, and that takes a toll...

I think he has little choice but to rehab as if he can make it back, because that will be necessary to have any kind of normal life.  But I've always guessed that the hardest part of the comebacks has been the sucking at golf part...  Most golfers as they age lose their edge at the margins, a three-footer here and there...  Tiger has gone out and stunk up the joint in front of cameras, struggling to break 80.  Everyone on site knew he would withdraw in Dubai because the wind kicked up and he would have looked foolish out there, whether or not he could have physically played.

That's why Josh's prediction of him showing up in Tour fields from time to time seems like a very unlikely scenario to me....  He might well push for one more go, but he's less likely than jack to take to being a ceremonial golfer.

But Bams is seeing something there that I don't....  Tiger didn't exactly grow the game when he was Tiger, what is Mike expecting from him in those forty years?  I'll concede that he's showing a little more as a golf architect than I expected, embracing playability and short courses, and he played well with others at the Ryder Cup.  But he's not Jack or Arnie by temperament, and I have a good deal of trouble seeing him as the game's global ambassador.  he'll do what he needs, I suppose, to stay relevant, but that seems about all....  Am I missing something?

As for this Joel Beall column, it's not that he's wrong, just quite a bit late:

Willie Mays' remarkable 22-year-career cannot be encapsulated without mention of his final two seasons, especially as the indelible image of Mays falling down in the World Series has become the go-to comparison for any athlete that's stayed past their prime. (One that was conjured after Woods hit three balls into the water at Congressional last summer.) Evander Holyfield, at 42 years old, was banned in 2006 from boxing in New York due to diminishing skills; his nine bouts following the decision did little to refute that stance, slowly but surely deteriorating his standing in the sport. Brett Favre's annual retirement waffling -- coupled with a nightmarish final season and allegations of workplace misconduct -- turned one of the NFL most popular personalities into a punchline.

But I think the answer to his question is no, he's not tarnishing his reputation.... There's always a generational aspect to these things, but the difference here is we've got a video record of his greatness, and not the Arnie record of him walking up to the green or throwing his visor in black-and-white.  But 18-hole high def coverage, and guys like Feherty and Phil talking about the amazing things he did out there that no one else could....

And with the exception of that strange interlude of chipping yips, this is his body deserting him....  the comebacks are virtually all upside, the fourteen majors don't go away.

Sky, Still Not Falling - No doubt you read this recent post, a continuing series, of gold is dying nonsense, which admittedly was far more noteworthy for it's lapses in logic and profound misunderstanding of the game it was pronouncing dead.  The National Golf Foundation is the source of most data on participation rates, and it's recently published data of a more nuanced nature.  For instance, this seems encouraging:

While the latest research indicates a modest 1.2% decline in on-course participation –

dipping to 23.8 million (age 6+ who played at least once) in 2016 from 24.1 million in 2015, commitment to the sport in many respects is more evident than ever before. The number of committed golfers – a group that accounts for approximately 95% of all rounds-played and overall spending – rose for the first time in five years, from 19.5 million to 20.1 million.

It's those committed golfers that keep courses and retailers solvent...  Now, of course these folks are "literally dying", so the beast needs to be fed:

The number of people who say they are “very interested” in taking up golf has doubled over the past five years, growing at an annual rate of nearly 15%. In addition to the 12.8 million non-golfers who said they’re very interested in playing golf, there are another 27.8 million who responded they’re “somewhat interested” in taking up the game. That increase has driven growth in the number of beginning golfers, with those who played on a golf course for the first time jumping to 2.5 million in 2016 from 1.5 million in 2011.

Now they also measure off-course participation, which seems to be mostly TopGolf, leading to this rather curious analysis:

Driven primarily by the popularity and growth of Topgolf, a non-traditional form of golf entertainment, there were an estimated 20 million off-course participants in 2016. Of those, 8.2 million didn’t play on a golf course.

I've never believed that TopGolf would convert many into golfers, though I also can't see any downside....  People having fun with a golf club in their hand can't be bad, can it?

We're a niche sport with stable participation rates....  Do we have challenges attracting new players?   believe me, every time I pay my club bill it becomes blindingly apparent to me the nature of those challenges....

Zurich Ahead - Just promise there will be no lie detector tests....  The question answers itself, in the sense that we're talking about an event that was mostly a black hole on the calendar.  Back to the TC guys:

Sens: I like the shake-up, especially the addition of alternate shot, which add the kind of playing-for-your-partner pressure that we don't see enough of. I was hoping Billy Mayfair and Aaron Baddeley would team up, just so I could say, "Those guys may fare badly." But terrible puns aside, for sure purity of ball-striking, I'll have my eye on Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. 

Ritter: I'm excited about the new format with or without awful puns, and am hopeful the Zurich will inspire more events to shake it up. (How about a coed tournament?) For pairings, I think Bubba-J.B. Holmes could be dangerous.

Billy Mayfair?  I'm all for bad puns, but the statute of limitations has expired on that name....  

But I didn't realize these guys were gonna team up:

Wood: I don't know if they qualify as a "sleeper" pick, but the Branden Grace/Louis Oosthuizen pairing is intriguing to me. They were absolutely unbeatable as a team at the last Presidents Cup in Korea, and I think they'll relish another shot at competing together. As far as pure excitement it would be hard to ignore Stenson/Rose or Day/Fowler. I'm personally disappointed we won't be playing. I think the format change is fantastic and a breath of fresh air for the Tour. We were originally scheduled to play, but our partner fell on some stairs in Augusta and won't be back until the following week. I wonder if I can sue for lost wages—just kidding, DJ! Get well and we'll see you soon.

I think you should sue the lessor of the property..... I think it makes it an interesting week, so mission accomplished.

I Lied - My absolute favorite moment from the Texas Valero Open:

Charlie being Charlie....

Friday Frisson

Another week, another successful back surgery....

Tiger's Back - Yeah, that can be taken one of two ways... From TigerWoods.com:

Tiger Woods announced today that he has undergone successful back surgery to alleviate ongoing pain in his back and leg. 

His choice of pic, folks, not mine.

"The surgery went well, and I'm optimistic this will relieve my back spasms and pain," Woods said. "When healed, I look forward to getting back to a normal life, playing with my kids, competing in professional golf and living without the pain I have been battling so long."

Due to previous herniations and three surgeries, Woods' bottom lower-back disc severely narrowed, causing sciatica and severe back and leg pain. Conservative therapy, which included rehabilitation, medications, limiting activities and injections, failed as a permanent solution, and Woods 

This seems more on point.

opted to have surgery. The procedure was a minimally invasive Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (MIS ALIF) at L5/S1. The surgery entailed removing the damaged disc and re-elevating the collapsed disc space to normal levels. This allows the one vertebrae to heal to the other. The goal is to relieve the pressure on the nerve and to give the nerve the best chance of healing.

The operation was performed by Dr. Richard Guyer of the Center for Disc Replacement at the Texas Back Institute.

OK, Jack holds the record for most majors and Sam Snead has the most Tour wins, but who holds the record for most successful back surgeries? 

A reminder that just two days previously he was out and about pimping his new course in Branson, MO, and had this in response to a question about the status of his back:

“The back is progressing,” Woods said in Missouri. “I have good days and bad days. I’ve had three back operations and that’s just kind of the nature of the business unfortunately. That’s all I can say.”

Can?  Will?  Whatevah....

The nugget of actual news contained in this story is that didn't return to the surgeon that performed the first three successful surgeries, in my adopted winter home of Park City, UT.

 You're on your own with this bit:

"If you are going to have single-level fusion, the bottom level is the best place for it to occur. Some individuals are born with one less vertebrae, which would be similar to someone who had a single-level fusion," Guyer added.

So, you're saying there's a chance?

Doug Feruson has a summary of the various surgeries.... correction, successful surgeries, and captures some quottage from the ever-elusive Steiny:

“You see him in the Bahamas, and he looked pretty good,” said Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports Management. “And then you see him in Dubai. It can happen any time. You heard him say two days ago, ‘I have good days and bad days.’ This surgery, we hope, eliminates the bad days.”

But you assured us it was only spasms....and this:

“He had consulted with a number of top people that had recommended this was the way to go if he wanted a clear and final path,” Steinberg said. “Everything he had done in the past was a temporary fix, so to speak. At that point, they thought there were other alternatives than fusion.” 

Steinberg said they were advised fusion surgery was the best option if Woods wanted an active lifestyle and was willing to sit out the rest of the season. 

“He should be better than he’s been in the past five years,” Steinberg said. “He’s pretty encouraged.”

That's setting the bar pretty damn low!  We'll get back to our Steiny in a minute...  First, the long-term outlook?  I'm gonna go with blindingly obvious....  Jeff Babineau (linked above) has this:

But the stark reality is this: Woods knows that every day he is not competing on the PGA Tour is one more milepost farther away. And now he sits six more months away from just starting up again. It’s a brutal cycle. These kids today taking his place at the big events are good, very good, and they’re fearless, mostly because they learned from the best. 

But time waits for no one, and will make no exception for a 41-year-old whose star continues to fade to a point where it is barely visible in golf’s sky. If this indeed is it, it was one heck of a run.

 Sean Zak is still in the denial stage:

Tiger Woods has undergone yet another back surgery, and the rest of his 2017 season has been placed in question. 

Woods announced on his website Thursday that another back surgery—his fourth since September, 2014—was necessary to "alleviate ongoing pain in his back and leg." 

According to the release, which did not specify the exact date of the surgery, Woods' procedure will require him to rest for several weeks before more therapy and treatments. It added that patients recovering from similar surgeries typically return to full activity in about six months.

In question?  Wait'll Sean hears about Santa Claus...

I'm sometimes accused of hating Tiger, which is a bum rap....  What I do hate is being lied to, and there's been way too much of that from Team Tiger.  As a secondary issue, I don't see what Tiger gains by being so guarded....  Backs are notoriously fickle and most of us have had enough incidental back pain to feel sympathy for a professional athlete enduring it.

But it was less than a month ago that Brian Wacker wrote in an article that Tiger hadn't been seen practicing and would no doubt miss the Masters.  The great Steiny saw fit to publicly excoriate Wacker's journalistic ethics while maintaining the fiction that Tiger might well play.  Who ya gonna believe, Steiny or your lyin' eyes?

Pay No Attention.... - Richard Deitsch, writing in Sports Illustrated, provides a fun look behind the curtain at CBS' coverage of Sergio's winning putt last week:

Milton said during the live coverage of Garcia’s winning putt, he went through a familiar sequence for a golf director: First, you go wide, then you go tight. The goal is to capture

every reaction you can from the scene.

“I was lucky in the sense that Sergio gave those primal yells after the putt went in,” said Milton, who also serves as the lead director for SEC football on CBS. “Then he composed himself and we went wide, so you could see all the crowd celebrating. Then he composed himself to shake Justin Rose’s hand. We stayed on Sergio for quite awhile because I did not want to miss any emotion coming from him after trying to win this thing for 20 years.”

Milton said the CBS production compound at the Masters (which sits next to the Par-3 course) had roughly 12 staffers in the main control room working the final holes. There was also an adjacent room with 12 people working on graphics. As the final shot was made, Barrow and Rikhoff were filtering the best replays. Rikhoff watches all the isolation shots directed by Milton and notes what will work for replay; Barrow decides in what order the replays will sequence to create narrative.

CBS has always been great with the visuals....  it's the commentary and the lack of actual golf on the broadcasts that draws the venom...

Shack assigns a higher degree of difficulty than I in his commentary:

It's easy to forget the role television production plays when a moment like Sergio's comes off so seamlessly, particularly given the difficulty of covering golf courses.

Add in Augusta National's 18th hole limitations--no crane, blimps, helpful topography--and covering the moment becomes a huge challenge. Oddly, the best shot may have been the view from down the fairway with Sergio and putting surface just a blip amidst the patrons (screen captured).

Yes, covering a golf course is a huge undertaking, but covering the 18th green at Augusta, with more buried cables than the White House Situation Room, is far less so....  My point:

​CBS had 12 cameras available for replays at Hole No. 18 and Milton said the scarcity of other golfers on the course meant they could stack cameras and get all the angles needed. Levitt was able to freelance during the final holes with only Rose and Garcia in contention to get the great wide shots you saw. Will Baker, an on-course camera operator, was on the green when Garcia won. He got the great shots of Garcia embracing Akins. There was also a camera available on the ninth hole that was tall enough so CBS could get an additional wide shot at No. 18.

But this is equally true:

“Of course, you still need Sergio to make the initial putt because that provides the bigger moment of exhilaration,” Milton said. “It was good for us that the putt went in because of everything that happened after that. He could have just two-putted and we would not have had the same reactions from the crowd.

Though a three-foooter coming back might have been, shall we say interesting, in the Doug Sanders-Scott Hoch meaning of that word.

And, just because it's a whole lot more fun than ranting about Tiger, Shack posts this highlight video:

 To which he adds these reactions:

The last minute or so of this CBS highlight reel captures the incredible coverage work described in Deitsch's story. Also, seeing these clips again makes you realize (A) how much of a slope the 16th hole cup is on (B) how long Rose's putt was on 17 for par, (C) how close Rose's in-regulation putt on 18 was to going in, and (D) how great Sergio's final putt was both in execution and in ending the Masters on a high note.

Mine is consistent with my thought above, how far would Sergio's putt have run out trundled by if it hadn't caught the cup?  Oh, and Rose's putt wasn't that close, though I agree it likely influenced his par putt twenty minutes later.

420 Day? - I never knew that was a thing, did you?  Forgive the digression, but CNN has an amusing history of the alternative explanations for how it came to be Weed Day, including this:

The legend of the Dylan song 

This one is a nod to Bob Dylan's song, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and its lyric, "Everybody must get stoned." 

Multiply 12 by 35 and you get 420. 

Seems a bit of a stretch. And Dylan himself has never confirmed any link.The story that appears to hold the most water is ...

Hmmmm... stoners and math doesn't seem like the best fit...  here's their most likely explanation:

The legend of the Waldos 

According to Chris Conrad, curator of the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum in Oakland, California, 420 started as a secret code among high schoolers in the early 1970s. 

A group of friends at San Rafael High School in Marin County, California, who called themselves "the Waldos," would often meet at 4:20 p.m. to get high. 

For them, it was an ideal time: They were out of school but their parents still weren't home, giving them a window of unsupervised freedom. They met at that time every day near a statue of Louis Pasteur, the scientist who pioneered pasteurization.

The Pasteur touch is priceless....To celebrate, Golf Digest has reposted their 2014 article on pot and golf, including graphics such as this:

This was shortly after Colorado had legalized recreational use, and doesn't do anything more than ensure a couple of clicks.  But the one subject I still find unbelievable is the allegations of use among Tour pros:

No doubt there are some players who light up, though. In 2010, Matt Every served a three-month suspension from the tour after he was arrested on a misdemeanor possession charge—a charge that was later dropped. "Honestly, man, I know more people who smoke marijuana than who don't smoke marijuana," Every told reporters. "I know that's probably not the politically correct thing to say, but it's the truth. It's not a big deal to me." 

Robert Garrigus told Golf World he'd smoked pot while competing on the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour. "There were plenty of guys" who did, he said in a 2011 interview. Former tour caddie Michael Collins suggested in a Golf Channel interview that it's happened on the PGA Tour as well.

OK, I'm not surprised that pros kick back with a doobie at night, but there was also a player a few years ago that said you couldn't use a Porta-Potty on the Web.com Tour without it reeking of Mary Jane....  Guys smoking while they're competing and in front of galleries, that's amazing to me....

What's His Handicap? - British Pathe has an amazing archive of golf newsreel footage of Open Championships and the like, but you'll agree that today's offering is inspirational, yet a bit weird:

OK, I'm going to hate myself for this, but who will volunteer to inform him that the R&A has outlawed the anchored putter?