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...