Thursday Thoughts

For the first time this year I feel completely golfed out, so today's monsoon comes as something of a relief....

Sun Devils Rule - I certainly enjoyed watching the young ladies play, several of whom will be LPGA-bound:

SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – The Arizona State Sun Devils won the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship on Wednesday, defeating Northwestern in the final. 

The Wildcats put up a fight, but the Sun Devils were in control from the start. Arizona State finished out a 3-1-1 victory Wednesday on the 15th green at Rich Harvest Farms when Linnea Strom drained a 6-footer for birdie to defeat Stephanie Lau, 5 and 3. 

With that, the Sun Devils had finished off their eighth national title – two more than any other program in Division I women’s college golf – and their first since 2009.

The finals were admittedly a tad anticlimactic, as the Sun Devils controlled for most of the day.  The best drama was to be found with the resumption of semi-final play in the morning.  Remember my note about individual champ Monica Vaughn electing to stop play in the 18th fairway?  It worked like a charm:

Heading into Wednesday, the Sun Devils’ hopes to even reach the final were hanging by a thread. A weather delay Tuesday forced semifinal action to be suspended due to darkness. When play concluded for the day, Arizona State was down 2-1 to Stanford in finished matches, with Monica Vaughn (the individual national champion) 1 down on the 18th fairway to the Cardinal’s Albane Valenzuela.

Arizona State won two playoffs to advance.

That's the golf equivalent of drawing to an inside straight, not to diminish the skill involved.  Vaughn in particular evidences an ability to raise her game as needed, which she did again in the finals, though there was no need for her to play out that match to a conclusion. 

I love everything about the event, the format is merely perfect...  But it's just an event that feels good, with the girls carrying their bags and tending the pin for each other.  The men go to work on Friday, with TV coverage starting on Monday.

Tiger Jam - The artist formerly known as Tiger Woods took to his own website to update us on the all-important Tiger Jam....  Apparently Kate Upton "crushed it."  Good to know, right?

So, how's the striped one feeling?

It has been just over a month since I underwent fusion surgery on my back, and it is hard

to express how much better I feel. It was instant nerve relief. I haven’t felt this good in years.

I could no longer live with the pain I had. We tried every possible non-surgical route and nothing worked. I had good days and bad days, but the pain was usually there, and I couldn’t do much. Even lying down hurt. I had nerve pain with anything I did and was at the end of my rope. The process leading up to my decision to have surgery was exhaustive. I consulted with a specialist, and after weighing my options, that’s when I decided to go to Texas to have surgery.

That's good news indeed, though it's not like we haven't heard that before.  But as frustrated as the lack of candor from team Tiger has been, it's not like any of us want him to be in pain.

Several folks familiar with back injuries have told me that fusion surgery is likely the end of the line, though Tiger cites precedents:

You mention the word ‘fusion,’ and it’s scary. Other guys who have had fusions or disc replacements like Davis Love III, Retief Goosen, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins and Dudley Hart … they have all come back and played. But more than anything, it made their lives better. That’s the most important thing … that I can have a life again with my kids.

Dudley Hart?  Color me surprised that Tiger even know who Dudley Hart is....

Perhaps most amazing, ifs that Tiger actually seems cognizant of and responds to that which has been written and said about him:

As for returning to competitive golf, the long-term prognosis is positive. My surgeon and physiotherapist say the operation was successful. It’s just a matter of not screwing up and letting it fuse. I’m walking and doing my exercises, and taking my kids to and from school. All I can do is take it day by day. There’s no hurry. 

But, I want to say unequivocally, I want to play professional golf again.

That'll at least make the sponsors happy.... He's right that there's no hurry, because this makes clear that 2017 is done for him:

Presently, I’m not looking ahead. I can’t twist for another two and a half to three months. Right now, my sole focus is rehab and doing what the doctors tell me. I am concentrating on short-term goals.

I'll be moderately interested to see how he schedules himself in 2018.  I'd speculate that Torrey Pines, with its cold, early-morning tee times might be a place that he doesn't need to go.  

There's one more intriguing subject of concern for Mr. Woods, that being playing privileges.  I know, how crazy is it that he might not have a tee time.  He's fine with the Masters, Open Championship and PGA due to his past champion status.  But for the Tour and U.S. Open, he's only exempt through 2018 (by virtue of his 2008 U.S. Open and oh so timely 2013 Players Championship).  For the Tour, there are also major medical, past champion and lifetime earnings exemptions of which he may be able to avail himself, and of course sponsors exemptions will be forthcoming....  But he's going to need to perform when he gets back out there, with a touch of urgency perhaps.

Thrust and Pelley - Euro Tour chief Keith Pelley faced the press in Wentworth, and provided one little bit that might be news:

Pelley is at Wentworth this week for the European Tour's flagship event, and he realizes that a date shift for the PGA could have a significant impact on the field for the BMW

PGA Championship if it remains in its mid-May slot. Pelley plans to keep his circuit's schedule relatively the same next year, but he told the BBC that changes could come based on what the PGA of America decides to do with its marquee event. 

It's also a decision that Pelley expects to be made by the end of this summer.

This is a real headache for Mr. Pelley, as the U.S. Tour may not leave him many goop options.  That's why in yesterday's post I found Ken Schofield's suggestion about co-sanctioning The Players and Wentworth event so hopelessly naive.  

"It will depend on what they do in 2019," Pelley said. "The PGA of America says they're going to determine whether the PGA Championship is moved to May by the end of August this year. If that's the case, we are going to have to look at everything. We have plans right now, but there is no doubt that if those changes happen, the 2019 and 2020 schedule will be considerably different to 2018." 

The 2019 PGA Championship will be held at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., while the 2020 PGA is slated for TPC Harding Park in San Francisco when the golf calendar will again be complicated by the inclusion of the Olympics in Japan.

Harding Park was specifically chosen because of the scheduling flexibility it provides, equally viable, if boring, in May or August.

Now it just so happens that your humble correspondent was at Bethpage on Monday, and we had a representative of the PGA of America discussing their planning for the 2019 PGA, as well as the 2024 Ryder Cup.  I asked whether the expected that PGA to be played in May or August, and whether they felt that Bethpage was suitable for a May date.  The first was answered by a synchronized shrugging of the shoulders, but the second received a positive response.

Could the have played the PGA at Bethpage this May?  For sure....  Should they is a much harder question, because this May would have resembled the 2002 and 2009 Opens, which were pretty miserable for players and spectators like.  

My cynical nature leads me to conclude that this move will unfortunately happen, but that the size of the check from the Tour to the PGA of America remains the subject of intense negotiation.

One last note, the 2023 PGA has been awarded to Oak Hill in Rochester, NY.  That one would need to be moved for sure....

The Summer of Trump - Ted Bishop, the defrocked former Prez of the PGA of America, is back discussing this week's Senior PGA Championship at POTUS' Washington, DC club.  Ted provides some quasi-relevant background on how the even came to this site, but his main concern isn't of interest to me:

So, this week will be the first of the scheduled major championships delivered by the

PGA and Trump properties. Three years ago, it was a given that Donald Trump would be highly visible at these events and his fingerprints would be all over them. However, President Trump embarked on his first foreign trip May 19. He is scheduled to be on the Italian island of Sicily on Friday and Saturday for meetings with the Group of 7 major industrial democracies and visit U.S. troops stationed at Sigonella Naval Air Station. 

Any chance that President Trump might make a last-minute visit to the Senior PGA on Sunday? Trump, an avid golfer whose business empire includes ownership of 16 courses, no doubt would love to make an appearance. Would it be deemed a conflict of interest, given his role as the nation’s chief executive and his detachment from his businesses, if he were to do so?

 Really?  Who cares, except to note that it's obviously better for all parties if he stays clear.

With the women's Open headed to Bedminster, this might be a sneak preview of how insufferable the protesters might be.  I was amused when the SJW's picketed the LPGA event earlier this year, seemingly unaware that the Open isn't an LPGA event.  Of course they were trying to pressure the players into not playing there, but good luck with that.  Especially since Trump himself is popular with LPGA players for his support of their tour.

Colonial History - Alex Myers captures some fun Colonial history, specifically Phil's 2008 win.  He makes a rather Phil-like recovery shot to birdie No. 18 and win by one.  Pro-tip, don't mist the guy doing the cannon ball as he sinks the putt:

And then has a great reaction to a strange member of the local media:

Here's Alex's take on the exchange:

"Why are you yelling? You're a foot from me," Mickelson responds after being asked about using his "Billy Baroo" to win the tournament. Well, it turns out "Scoops Callahan" is actually Tom Gribble, a then sports radio producer turned broadcaster for ESPN Dallas. And although he doesn't dress the part of a 1920s reporter with a fedora and a cigar hanging out of his mouth, his shtick involves that loud, old-timey radio voice and him addressing his subjects as "Champ."

Phil's deadpan is pretty funny....