Weekend Wrap

Do we have things to discuss....Hope you don't have much planned this morning....

Blame Canada - A bit of a bizarre week up north, as evidenced by this strange query to the Tour Confidential panel:

4. Bigger RBC Canadian Open story: Johnny Vegas shooting a seven-under 65 and winning a playoff for his second consecutive Canadian Open title; Ian Poulter posting a final-round eight-under 64 to finish one back; or Brent McLaughlin, the event's tattooed tournament director, being suspended halfway through the tourney?

Missed it by THAT much, guys, as the biggest story from the RBC was the relief Charley Hoffman was granted in a bunker on the 12th hole.  We'll get back to that in a sec...First, the requisite game story:

WINNER: Jhonattan Vegas probably wishes every event was the RBC Canadian Open. The Venezuelan entered the tournament having missed five straight cuts but no matter. He still managed to copy what he did last year at Glen Abbey. Vegas successfully

defended the Canadian Open on Sunday, opening in 5-under 30 in the final round on his way to a closing 7-under 65. That jumped Vegas from three behind to a tie at 21 under. 

Vegas actually had the outright lead when he made it to the clubhouse, but Charley Hoffman (the 54-hole leader by one) birdied Nos. 16 and 18 to force a playoff. Hoffman actually had a 23-footer for eagle to win it at 18, but the putt went over the right edge. He finished with birdie for 4-under 68. In the ensuing first playoff hole at No. 18, Vegas hit an incredible second shot on the par 5 from a fairway bunker. The ball nicked the lip on the way out but somehow not only cleared the water but ended up OVER the green. Vegas chipped back to a foot and tapped in for birdie. Hoffman laid up and airmailed the green with his third. He nearly holed his ensuing bunker shot for birdie to extend the playoff, but it just missed left. 

At that point Vegas was the champion. This is the 32-year-old’s third PGA Tour win.

Vegas is an appealing character, having escaped the madness of his home country....  The to-die for name is just a bonus.

The saga of the tourney director starts with this fawning N.Y. Times profile from earlier in the week:

OAKVILLE, Ontario — Brent McLaughlin is a tattooed, leather-clad, Harley Davidson-

driving, guitar-picking former roadie. 

He can also “golf it up” in collared shirts and khakis when he is serving as the serious, but not too serious, tournament director for Canada’s PGA and L.P.G.A. Tour events.

Those alter egos make McLaughlin, 46, one of golf’s most colorful tournament directors, if not the most unlikely. 

“He’s probably not what you would picture in personality and background,” said Dan Pino, the director of corporate communications for Golf Canada. “But he’s not wacky. He just has enthusiasm across different areas.”

I's cut the Times some slack, as the world has harshed their mellow in recent months....  Nah, let's pile on like they themselves would.  Do we think that on Eighth Avenue they're familiar with the concept of a trunk-slammer?

In a surprising, mid-tournament move, RBC Canadian Open tournament director Brent McLaughlin has been temporarily removed from his position. Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum confirmed the move but would not provide any details on the situation. 

“It’s a confidential employee matter,” he stated. “Brent will not be here for the weekend.” 

Applebaum did say that McLaughlin has not been terminated but did not give any indication as to the next steps. In addition to running the RBC Canadian Open, McLaughlin also heads up the CP Women’s Open slated for late August in Ottawa.

A/K/A an "Allenby."  No word yet on his crime against humanity.

Now to our Charley....  And I'm exposing myself to personal retribution, as He's among the favorites of Employee No. 2.  Here's Shack's take on how it all went down:

Here's the situation: final round, 2017 RBC Canadian Open, Charley Hoffman hits into a greenside bunker at the 12th and has a badly buried lie:

Credit Hoffman and caddie for recognizing the renovated Glen Abbey bunkers for having newly installed bunker floor lining that prevented him from digging enough to take a stance on his bunker shot. (You can see a demo at the 1:30 mark of how it is sprayed in). And even cred it them for asking to get a ruling even after Hoffman can be heard saying multiple times he did not believe there was any kind of artificial lining causing an issue (his caddie wasn't so sure and convinced him to get a second opinion). CBS's Peter Kostis said exactly the opposite: Hoffman was calling for a ruling because he could feel the liner. Maybe he had a producer yelling in his ear during the conversation, but it was still misleading.

Official Gary Young arrived and seemed very reluctant to give Hoffman relief, but the player soon could smell an opening, ultimately convincing Young that he could not take his stance because of the concrete lining.

These newfangled bunker linings  are new to me:

"That's so generous!" barked out playing partner Kevin Chappell, somewhat sarcastically. Young replied that it was consistent with other rulings related to the new age bunker liners designed to keep sand on faces and from being contaminated. Chappell then lightly pointed out Hoffman's smile upon getting relief:

OK... It seems to me that the bigger problem is typically too much sand in the face and what does it mean for sand to be contaminated?  At some point I'll watch that video, but too much ground to cover this morning.

We saw a similar incident at Wentworth with Branden Grace, and I'm guessing we can all agree that this is not a good look for our game.  To make matters worse, the PGA Tour is up to its old tricks:

The situation seems worse than it might appear given that the PGA Tour, which has signaled a desire to be in the news delivery business via the web and television, scrubbed videos of the drop after briefly posting them to official Facebook and Twitter accounts. 

Here is the PGA Tour Facebook post of the ruling, deleted (thanks reader Jeremy S).

Also not a good look, though it's the first I've seen this behavior in the Monahan era....

Social media was not kind to Charley, as per this example:

Point taken.

Porthcawl On My Mind -  In other news, the sun rose in the East this morning:

BRIDGEND, Wales (AP) -- Bernhard Langer won the Senior British Open on Sunday in

rain and wind at Royal Porthcawl for his record-extending 10th senior major title and fifth in the last 10. 

The 59-year-old German star closed with an even-par 72 to finish at 4-under 280 and beat American Corey Pavin by three strokes. Langer joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three senior majors in a season, and won the event for the third time to match the tournament record.

He's just way better than all the other guys, so it's just as well that nobody's watching.  But, about that putting, the TC panel had this:

3. Bernhard Langer won his 10th senior major title (and third major of the season) at the Senior Open Championship on Sunday. Langer is the first player since Jack Nicklaus to ring up three senior majors in a year, but is his accomplishment in any way tainted by his continued use of a long putter that — depending on your view — is either anchored or very close to anchored?

Ritter: I have mixed emotions. What Langer is doing is remarkable, and his stroke has been green-lit by the Tour, so, nothing to see then, right? I still find myself wishing he could find a stroke that pushes him away from the knife's edge he's currently riding.

Wood: It is a remarkable feat without a doubt. I just don't know how a rule can be written like it is. Even if he is using a completely legal method, the rule is poorly written. There is a get out of jail free card with the "intent" wording that I don't agree with. Apply it to other rules: "I didn't intend to use that wedge with square grooves, it just found its way into my bag." Doesn't matter, you get penalized. "I didn't intend to ground my club in the hazard." Doesn't matter, you get penalized. "I didn't intend to be five minutes late to the tee." Doesn't matter, you get penalized. The rule is horribly written and the word "intent" should be eliminated.

What he said, meaning John Wood.  As I've done previously, I'll just quote Yoda.  There's no intent, there's only doing or not doing....

I thought Porthcawl looked spectacular, and can't wait to see it in the Flesch.  But how about an odd note that no one else will have...

Billy Mayfair got a bunch of air time through the week...  He's a Titleist guy, with all the expected swag.  He had his wife, I believe her name is Tammy, on his bag, and I always think that's a great look for the Seniors.... But Tammy was in a Ping cap....  In this world of equipment deals, how is that possible?  Was she being paid by the Karstens, or did she just wear that cap because Wally Uhlein wouldn't ass her to the payroll?

Hey, we only deal with the most important issues here....

Girl Talk - Didja catch the Girls' Junior?  Another reason to bemoan the rules of our game... or not?

The issue at hand took place in the semi-finals:

This isn’t how any match is supposed to end, much less one to secure a spot in the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Erica Shepherd, the winner, said she felt like she wanted to cry when it was over.

Shepherd’s putt for par on the 19th hole had already been conceded by opponent Elizabeth Moon. Shepherd, a Duke commit who had come from 2 down with four to play to force a playoff, stood off to the side and closed her eyes as Moon putted for birdie from 3 1/2 feet away. When she didn’t hear the putt drop, Shepherd said she opened her eyes to see Moon raking back her par putt. She’d missed it by a few inches.

Shepherd said her caddie, University of Indianapolis coach Brent Nicoson, asked if she had conceded the putt.

“I didn’t say that was good,” Shepherd told Moon.

Juli Inkster, who was working for Fox Sports, stopped mid-sentence while making the call: “Just a little quick and Erica Shepherd lives …”

You can hear her on the video saying that she hadn't conceded the putt, but then later she indicates that, had she the time, she would have....

Here's Shack's take:

The episode is a good reminder that players who don't normally play match play need to remember some of the fundamentals, such as assuming no putt is good until conceded.

Hopefully, however, Shepherd and match play are not unfairly targeted for a simple innocent mistake.

Shack links to this hysterically ignorant take on the matter, which is the best part of a sad story:

Again, she had a tap-in for her par which she just assumed Shephard would automatically give her seeing as how it was a THREE-INCH PUTT but as soon as Moon dragged her putt back, Shephard decided to turn into a non-classy competitor and saying “I didn’t say that was good.” Shephard won the match in horrid fashion. 

For all of those that are going to come out and say ‘oh, well technically those are the rules’ no, you people suck. And the ruling the official gives that ‘you can’t concede after the fact’ is bogus. It’s called courtesy, sportsmanship, common knowledge; you know, the game of golf, but the USGA doesn’t care and never will. Shepherd clearly didn’t want to extend the match so she advanced to the final of one of the biggest amateur tournaments on the planet on this dumbass ruling. 

You simply don’t do this.

I find that "You people suck" is an effective debating tool, and I'm chastened by my suckage...

Two young women under incredible stress made instinctive errors in judgement, so naturally we want to rake them over the coals...  The nice part is that the girls both handled it better than this idiot.

But, back to the first linked item, this is also off the mark:

The scene was reminiscent of the 2015 Solheim Cup when Suzann Pettersen said Alison Lee picked up a putt that had not been conceded.

Only in the sense that that it relates to a short putt....  We'll hear much about this with the Solheim Cup upcoming, but the Europeans, Pettersen and Hull, were guilty of a breach of sportsmanship, though to this day they may not understand the underlying issue.

Erica Shephard is not to blame for Elizabeth Moon's impulsive raking of her ball...  It's a really unfortunate way for the great match to conclude, but that doesn't make Shephard a war criminal.

Interestingly, the TC panel linked above led with TWO questions on this subject.  Worth a read if you're so inclined....  I'm not sure how I feel about this:

Bamberger: If the match is serious, not casual, anything over eight inches should not be conceded, in my opinion. I'm not sure conceded putts improve the game at all.

Wow, an interesting subject for a later time.  We had this a while back, but this USGA item on the history of concessions may surprise a few folks.

Kooch In Full - Tim Rosaforte gives Matt Kuchar the credit he deserves for his work in Southport:

Rather than sulk about his near miss, Kuchar did what he always does. He moved on,

honoring his commitment to play in this week’s tour stop at Glen Abbey (he is sponsored by RBC). He shot an opening-round 71 on Thursday, though afterward, he said he felt dizzy during the day, even seeking medical help during the round. Unclear what caused the faintness, Kuchar was optimistic it was just temporary. He could have easily withdrawn from the tournament given the circumstances, but instead he followed it with a Friday 68, an impressive round in which he played the last six holes in five under, with an eagle and three closing birdies to make the cut. 

There will be more big events in the coming weeks, the PGA Championship on the horizon and the FedEx Cup playoffs again looming. Friends and family have reminded Kuchar there are plenty of positives to take from Birkdale. So it is that he is trying to look at it the way Superman would, the way a bronze medalist would. 

“There are such great lessons that come from golf,” he conceded. “You know, this was one of them.”

I just don't find this particularly necessary, as Kooch is one of the nicest and best-liked guys out there.   The questions I have are more along the lines of why he doesn't win more and how hungry he is....especially since he's an "assassin" at the ping-pong table.....

Shack, on the other hand, seems a tad over-the-top with this:

As the 146th Open moves to our rear view mirror, I'm still thinking about the incredible play of Matt Kuchar. Having watched him more than any player during the week, I was struck by his consistency, touch and shrewd handling of Royal Birkdale. He deserved to win. And nothing against his signature wins at The Players and Memorial or his Olympic medal in Rio, but this was the tournament of his life.

Incredible?  You see my point?  But why don't we see Kooch on more major leaderboards?

 We Get Results - Though apparently lead time is required:

Rory McIlroy has fired J.P. Fitzgerald, the caddie who has been on his bag for all four of his major titles, according to a Reuters report that cites a source familiar with the matter.

The source says McIlroy will have a new caddie on the bag for this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. The McIlroy camp has yet to comment. 

Fitzgerald had been with McIlroy since shortly after the player first turned professional in 2008. As recently as last week's Open Championship, in which McIlroy rallied from nearly missing the cut to finish T-4, the player credited Fitzgerald for helping him turn his week around. When McIlroy was struggling on Friday, Fitzgerald resorted to blunt talk to help kick him into gear.

The timing is curious, I'll concede, but this is long overdue.  Perhaps later I'll try to find that old piece of an undercover pro talking about watching Rory pull a club that the outside knew would fly the green, then watching the "How did that happen"" interchange between Rors and J.P. 

And I've long thought that, in addition to a firm hand, he needs a caddie that can help him read greens.

Why Now? - Jaime Diaz wit this curiously-timed piece:

What Now, Tiger? 

Six questions for a player who once had all the answers.

Really?  You guys know that I think the world of Jaime, but Tiger only ever answered with his clubs.  When his lips were moving, it wasn't a pretty picture...

OK, so what does Jaime think Tiger can tell us?

1. Is Tiger's back surgery cause for optimism, or is it another setback? 

As bad as the term anterior lumbar interbody fusion sounds, and as wince-inducing as imagining vertebrae being screwed and glued together can be, the fact is that the procedure often eliminates what is most debilitating for a golfer: nerve pain. 

Three major-championship winners who had similar procedures—Lanny Wadkins, Lee Trevino and Retief Goosen—all considered the surgeries last resorts, but all emerged immediately free of nerve pain and came back to the game with a new eagerness.

I have no problem with the question except that there's no answer....yet.  But he also doesn't make clear whether the answer is in the context of playing golf at the highest level, or just having a normal life....

2. If he was pain-free, why was he taking pain medication?

Woods maintained he incorrectly mixed prescription drugs, in this case Vicodin and Xanax—although only the toxicology report can definitively confirm what drugs were in his system. It recalled Thanksgiving 2009, when his then-wife, Elin, told police that Woods had active prescriptions for Vicodin and Ambien.

He also said he was pain-free.

Not only is this a silly question, given that we can assume he WAS in pain....  But I'm also at a point where I don't assume that which Tiger tells us to be true.  Sorry, too much water under that bridge....

Admittedly, this last one is an intriguing query:

6. Does he have a real support system among other players?

Much has been made in the past year of a new Tiger, more engaged socially. In his role as assistant captain at the Ryder Cup, he was praised for his generosity with knowledge. He is also on social media. But in more private conversations with several of his peers, some of whom Woods has called friends, what emerges is the isolated figure who is rarely seen—whether at Medalist Golf Club or his restaurant, The Woods Jupiter—and who shares little and trusts less. A particular Woods quirk is to text a player who is in contention to offer encouragement and good luck, followed by a few exchanges. And then ... nothing. 

Older players who have known him for years and feel a golf kinship confess that they have rarely if ever socialized with Woods off the course. Young players—some of whom say he was their inspiration growing up—and who relish the rare opportunities to still play with him, don't feel close to him like they do an older player like Phil Mickelson, who has been a much more gregarious mentor. What's left to other players is now a mostly sad glimpse of an icon who, beyond impersonal jock banter, prefers distance.

The only thing they know for sure about Tiger is that he added a zero to their net worth....  But that buys a lot of good will out there....

More tomorrow... 

Late-Week Lamentations

If I seem a bit distracted, I've got the Senior Open from Royal Porthcawl on the telly and the steady winds are about 30 m.p.h.  Just a wee breeze, lads, though I'm not sure that Sir Nick will be breaking 100.

Happy Birthday - A certain young man turned 24 yesterday, and Mom came up with a new use for the Claret Jug:

Mom, I assume the R&A informed you that it's not dishwasher safe?

Jeff Ritter has 24 amazing things Jordan accomplished before reaching 24, the most amazing being that Jeff could come up with 24.  Oh, you can tell he's stretching the material a bit at times:

12. Also in '15, he became just the sixth player in history to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year.

Hey, don't forget the John Deere....  Jordan told us that was just as important.

 And these:

19. He did not finish college, but … he's still attended two very successful spring breaks!

20. His conversations with his golf ball have been immortalized on YouTube.

Don't forget the #Grellerstowel parody Twitter account.

And while Jordan comes from an area rich in golf history, bad Photoshopping is never acceptable:

Don't you have a teenager that can help you with this stuff?

Happy Birthday, kid....  Just don't get cocky!

Hammer, Dropped - Phil's BFF will be away for a while....  Yeah, sort of a vacation, the kind where you get a cot and three hots:

A Las Vegas gambler linked to Phil Mickelson has been sentenced to five years in prison for his federal conviction on insider trading charges. 

William ”Billy” Walters was sentenced Thursday in New York by Judge P. Kevin Castel. Walters smiled after the sentencing, hugged his wife and friends but declined comment.

The 71-year-old owner of auto dealerships, car rental agencies and golf courses was convicted in April in Manhattan federal court of making more than $40 million illegally trading the stock of Dallas-based Dean Foods Co.

The government said Mickelson earned nearly $1 million after Walters told him to buy Dean Foods stock in 2012.

The great unanswered question remains why Phil's debt was unpaid?  Perhaps Robert Mueller might go that direction....

Europe Rising -  headers you don't expect to see for sure, but Alex Miceli informs that it's been the place to be seen recently:

SOUTHPORT, England – The focus of golf during the past 30 days shifted from the dominant PGA Tour to Europe.

Strength of fields, enhanced purses and exceptional golf courses made the summer stretch leading up to the British Open – the French, Irish and Scottish opens – the place to be in professional golf. 

For the first time in seven years, the Official World Golf Ranking points given to those European Tour events outpointed those available on the PGA Tour based on strength of field for the Quicken Loans, Greenbrier and John Deere events in the U.S.

Even Tiger couldn't be bothered showing up at The Quicken, so no surprise there.  As for the "why" of it, Alex offers this:

The Rolex Series, which consists of eight lucrative events offering purses of at least $7 million throughout the European Tour season, has allowed Keith Pelley, the tour’s chief executive officer, to create an environment in which European players want to return home to compete. 

“There's no question Rolex has come in and has allowed us to elevate the tournaments,” Pelley said of the Swiss watchmaker’s sponsorship. “As the title partner of the Rolex Series, they believed in the vision … but what we have invested in the infrastructure to make it a much stronger and a better tournament.”

 I'm not going to argue that increased purses isn't a factor, but they've also hit a home run with the scheduling and venues for the Irish and Scottish Opens.  There was no reason to come early to play Loch Lomond....  Oh, and the French Open just happens to be at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue.

But, well played, Mr. Pelley.

We've Moved On - Please tell me that Dan Rather isn't the narrator:

CBS Sports Network has announced a new four-part documentary seriescalled "Four Sides of the Story," focused on memorable sports moments.

The docuseries will give an in-depth view of Tiger Woods's debut at the Nissan Los Angeles Open in 1992, his first PGA Tour tournament. (Woods missed the 36-hole cut.) The episode will be called "Debut of a Tiger," and will feature Bob Friend, Nissan Los Angeles Open director Greg McLaughlin, sportscaster Jim Hill and Woods's high school coach and teammates.

Anyone know if it's the Bob Friend that pitched for the Pirates?  

In other Tiger news from a galaxy far, far away, watch Harold Varner, III recreate Tiger's fairway bunker shot from the 2000 Canadian Open.   

Travel Dispatches -  The first is a little inside baseball, as everyone who's anybody in the golf world knows Wilma:

Wilma Erskine, secretary/manager of Royal Portrush Golf Club, regularly meets with

R&A officials to discuss preparations for the 2019 British Open. Topics might include infrastructure plans or agronomics, or the design changes recently completed on the club’s Dunluce Links. 

One day last year, Erskine arrived at a meeting with the R&A to discuss monies owed the club. As Erskine tells the story, she walked into the room alone and feigned surprise at being outnumbered. 

“This is not very fair,” she recalls saying. “There are three of you.” 

“But we’re scared of you,” came the reply. 

“But I’m just a little old lady,” Erskine said. 

The irony, of course, is that nobody thinks Wilma Erskine is “just a little old lady” – and that includes Wilma Erskine. 

She acknowledges, somewhat grudgingly, that she’s known around Royal Portrush as “The Boss,” a moniker with which she’s not entirely comfortable.

She's a force of nature, so give it a read.  But the larger story is about Northern Ireland returning to civilized society.... and, also to the Open Rota.  It's a spectacular links, and No. 16 will be a fine finishing hole....  I can't wait until everyone can see it on TV.

We also have this companion piece from Martin Kaufmann, who usually covers the TV coverage....  But he opens with tale from La Resistance:

The sarcasm was evident even before the short visit to Scotland technically had begun.

The young immigration officer at Glasgow airport asked my destination. Turnberry, I replied. 

She eyed me askance. 

“Were you there before the takeover?” she asked. 

The takeover. 

“The Trump takeover,” I said in my most conspiratorial tone. “You make it sound so ominous.” 

“Well,” she said, rolling her eyes, “it kind of is.”

Well, it was a filing property tat he bought one step before Bankruptcy Court, but that's gone down the memory hole....

But this won't fit with the narrative:

Ebert, for example, said Donald Trump immersed himself in the redesign of the golf

courses, prior to and even during his presidential campaign. The two men would spend days on the courses, debating design changes. The Turnberry staff wasn’t used to such activist owners. 

“We knew who the (previous) owners were, but we didn’t get to see the owners, to understand them,” said Ricky Hall, the director of golf the past 16 years. “Nor were they golf people with an understanding of golf and what it takes to create something like that (motioning toward the courses), but then maintain it as well. (The Trumps) understand exactly what it takes and the demands on the quality and consistency.” 

The Ailsa Course reopened last year to widespread praise. Much of the talk has centered on the middle of the routing – holes nine through 11 – which surely rank among the most electrifying stretches of seaside golf ever created. And perhaps that was just a long time coming.

It was always the most beautiful of venues, though the course was a tad over-rated.... I always called it the Pebble Beach of Scotland, too many weak holes for the price tag, but also some of the most exhilarating golf to be found... And while weak finishing holes are endemic to links golf, they're problematic for Open Championships.

A Deep Dive on....Ball Markers - Can we talk?  Because I too caught this bit from Fax:

During the second round of the U.S. Women's Open earlier this month, Fox Sports analyst Brad Faxon brought up a fantastic point. Playing the par-4 5th hole at Trump Bedminster, So Yeon Ryu chipped onto the green and watched her ball slowly track

toward the cup and then ... stop. Her ball rolled into her playing partner's ball mark, hopped into the air and lost its momentum.

"You know what?" Faxon said. "Everybody out there, stop being selfish and marking with your big, favorite casino coin," he said. "Put a penny on the ground. … I can't stand it."

 Josh Berhow uses this in his definitive ranking of 21 ball-markers, including this slander:

11. Poker chip with club/tournament logo

These are slightly better than normal poker chips because they have a golfy flair. But some would argue that these are better suited as paper weights on your office desk. After all, as Fax noted, your partners would appreciate not having to putt around this behemoth. It's all good, though—just be conscious of your partners' lines and no one will get hurt.

I think my quals as an insufferable purist are beyond reproach, but I'd like to offer an alternative viewpoint on this important subject.   I carry both a poker chip and flat, plastic ball markers.  I use the chip when I'm away from anyone else's line, and the others when I'm in the way.

The reason for the poker chip is so that I can see my position from behind the pin without my ball down, which it shouldn't be until it's my turn.  If anyone is putting or chipping remotely closely to my line, I use the flat marker and also ask if they want it moved....

But I also reject the premise that any ball-marker that can be purchase on Amazon could be the second most....whatever.  Because, amusingly, it's billed as the definitive ranking of 21 ball markers, but the criteria isn't specified.

Dispatches From The Grassy Knoll - You know what golf can use?  That's right, more conspiracy theories:

This is certainly more in the realm of reality than the idea that aliens had to do with Jordan Spieth’s crushing quadruple bogey at the 2016 Masters, but nonetheless we’ve got people searching out bizarre scenarios for Rory McIlroy’s misfortune now. 

The British tabloid The Sun is alleging that the lost ball that ended any small hope for McIlroy to win last week’s Open Championship may have been picked up by an unwitting fan. 

Yes, we are in full conspiracy theory mode on McIlroy now.

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

A drive left at Royal Birkdale’s par-5 15th in Sunday’s final round led to a lost ball and a 

The crucial cel from the Zapruder video.

bogey just as McIlroy was making a late charge with an outside chance at victory with the way Jordan Spieth (the eventual champion) was struggling to that point. 

But as The Sun now alleges, that lost ball may not have been lost at all. The tabloid has obtained video it claims is of a fan picking up and pocketing a ball that could be McIlroy’s after his drive at the par-5 15th. 

During the video, you can see McIlroy walk into frame in the outfit he wore Sunday at the Open Championship, and those filming make comments during the video to the effect that this man had just picked up McIlroy’s ball: “That fella just found the golf ball!” and “He’s not told him (McIlroy)! Terrible!”

The lad looks far too young to have been the Lytham member that found Gray Player's ball....  and you thought Wilma was inside baseball! 

Virtual Meets Reality - A fun story from Mike Keiser's project in Wisconsin:

Virtual golf design met the real thing in mid-July at Sand Valley Golf Resort in central Wisconsin. Brian Silvernail, winner of Golf Digest's 2016 Armchair Architect contest,

spent a weekend consulting with golf architect David McLay Kidd on the site of the resort's second 18, Mammoth Dunes, now under construction. Silvernail's winning design, selected last fall by Kidd and resort owner Mike Keiser from among 532 entries, serves as the template for the downhill, drivable par-4 14th hole. 

Silvernail, a 47-year-old Melbourne, Fla. graphic designer who moonlights as a computer golf game architect, got a generous taste of the full experience of building an actual golf hole, from flagging the edges of fairway grassing lines to receiving a crash course in operating both a bulldozer, used to shape fairways and greens, and an excavator, used in carving out bunkers.

Way cool for the guy, and we get to go inside their process with this bit:

Kidd explained how that left-hand alternate fairway had to be considerably truncated in order to handle drainage. Rainwater rushing down the steep fairway has to be efficiently captured and drained, but Mammoth Dunes uses no drainage pipe. "The sand here is 300 feet deep," Kidd said. "If we can get water off the fairway and onto exposed sand, it will quickly drain away." 

So shaper Luis Valera created an enormous wrap-around bunker on the left to catch and absorb all water rushing down the hillside of grass, a bunker that high handicappers would have to carry from the tee in order to reach the lower left fairway. Not ideal, but unavoidable. To provide a more reasonable bailout option, Kidd had Polzerari flatten out the right-hand fairway above the bunker, some 125 yards short of the green. After examining the alterations, Silvernail was okay with them.

Just go read it if you have any interest in how golf courses are created....

Bernhard, Unplugged -  Apparently, the German isn't fond of being called a cheater....and I gte that:

While the USGA has come to Langer's defense, many prominent voices continue to cast

aspersions on Langer (and to a lesser extent, Scott McCarron). Speaking at Royal Porthcawl ahead of this week's Senior Open Championship, the two-time Masters champ sounds fed up with the matter. 

"I personally don't understand it because I'm a man of integrity and the last thing I want to do is break rules and be known as cheating or something," Langer said. "I mean, that's the very last thing I want. 

"What's even stranger is that I have conferred with the USGA rules officials, with the Champions Tour officials, on a regular basis...And then you have a few people that come up on whatever it is, Twitter or somewhere else, and questioning my integrity, which is really hurtful. "

OK, that's all well and good, if he had stopped there....

But Langer said he plans on continue to employ his current stroke, and offered his thoughts on why this vendetta is aimed his way. 

"It's human to be jealous," Langer said. "If I was No. 180 on the Money List, I don't think anybody would be talking about it. But I've been No. 1 the last few years on a regular basis, and now McCarron has a lot of success, as well. We're actually No. 1 and 2 on the Champions Tour. So you're going to have people, you know, being jealous or whatever you want to call it."

Thud!  That's the ticket, Bernie....  Just like the fact, as the old joke has it, that the Germans have never forgiven the Jews for Auschwitz.  

Or maybe, and I'm just spitballin' here, that people are upset that the USGA wrote a rule that's in practical terms unenforceable.

Have a good weekend, all. 

Midweek Musings

Early golf tomorrow, so you might want to save the second half of today's riveting post for then....

Time to Move On? - People just can't seem to let go of that Sunday madness....  First, Shack:

Namely, many are upset at the time Jordan Spieth's drop took and the impact on Matt Kuchar. Some are still upset that the driving range was not marked as out-of-bounds. And some are unhappy that Spieth could hit such a poor drive and use the rules to his

advantage. 

A few random rebuttals and reads that hopefully help shed a different light beyond what I wrote above: 

- Spieth's tee shot ended up on the side of a huge dune almost 100 yards from the fairway. The ball hit a spectator. The combination of visibility issues and simply maneuvering on a steep, wet hill made it hard for anyone to move quickly or figure out options.

- The range was too far out of play to be seen as a necessary boundary. Sure, the 10th fairway was declared out of bounds on Tuesday of tournament week to prevent 350 yard short cuts, so it certainly could have been declared OB in the same way. But I just don't think anyone could fathom the range being in play.

- As soon as Spieth saw how bad the lie was, he had the clarity to start looking at unplayable lie options, briefly at the base of the dune and then going as far back as he wanted, keeping the ball in line with the hole. He had to move back up the dune to sort out the line with the walking referee. That took a while.

- Spieth should not be blamed for the tour trucks having not left town. Nor is it his fault that the range was left unmarked as a boundary.

- Apparently not seen on the American broadcast was Spieth's drop between the tour trucks, which took a few minutes to sort out and was ultimately resolved by John Paramor, roving official and European Tour rules man. Once he was on the scene things moved along.

- In watching Spieth and Greller work, I actually sensed Jordan might have rushed the shot once he got his line of play and the crowd somewhat settled down. He did not strike it perfectly and from his vantage point, the shot seemed way right. But as Bones noted today on Morning Drive, Greller's yardage call was a great guess. Oh, and rangefinder advocates, a distance measuring device would not have sped things up much or looked very good.

I know, his post takes as long to read as Jordan taking relief, but he was actually there.  He's correct that NBC failed to show the original drop among the towering equipment company vans, though it was discussed.  As for that last bit, a GPS watch would have been the ticket....

But I'm always amused that people want a golf course, spread over hundreds of acres, to be as locked down as a basketball court...

Remember way back to yesterday?  That was when I speculated about how Rory might have handled the same situation:

Rory would have shrugged his shoulders, mumbled "Whatevah" and trundled back to the tee.

Apparently Karen Crouse of the NY Times reads the blog, as she tries tomake a similar comparison:

Each is riveting in his own way. Both have a strong stage presence, but neither pretends to be anything — starting with invulnerable — that he isn’t. 

“There’s a lot of roads to get there,” Spieth said Sunday night at the 146th British Open, regarding his success in majors. He was contrasting his low-stress final-round 70 at the 2015 Masters with his high-wire 69 on Sunday at Royal Birkdale, but he could have been talking about the approaches of the two players locked in perhaps the most compulsive contest in men’s golf. 

It would be easy to frame the rivalry between McIlroy and Spieth as the millennial version of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, with McIlroy cast in Palmer’s role as the swashbuckling feel player, a showman who sees the course as his stage, and Spieth as Nicklaus’s strait-laced technician, a statistician who treats the course like a spreadsheet.

Doesn't work a lick, does it?  But the saving grace is this bit from Rory:

“You look at Jack Nicklaus, he went through a stretch where he didn’t win a major in three years,” McIlroy said. “I’m not comparing myself to Jack. It’s hard to win them. It’s very hard. It’s the reason, especially in this generation, excluding Tiger, no one’s got above five.”

That's the ticket, Rors....  But, if I may, a couple of follow-ups:

1. How many cuts did Jack miss during his time in the wilderness, and;
2. How did Jack play on Thursdays?

On the one hand, we all understand that inconsistency is part of Rory's golf DNA....  On the other hand, 5-over after 6 holes in perfect scoring weather?  

Shockingly, Alan Shipnuck got a few queries on this subject in his weekly mailbag:

"Have you ever witnessed anything like Spieth's recovery from that drive on 13? If he'd missed that bogey putt it could have been different story." -Sean (@SeanT666)

If Jean Van de Velde had birdied every hole of the playoff at the 1999 Open then, yes, we would have witnessed something similar. For drama, nuttiness and sheer chaos, JVDV's folly on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie is the only thing I've seen that compares to Jordan's career-defining bogey. But of course Van de Velde couldn't rally after his cock-up, because he's merely human, unlike Spieth.

That was the only comparable that I could think of as well...  Just in terms of how time slowed down and it took an eternity to play out.  Jordan on the dune vs. JVDV in the water with his pants rolled up....

"Under the rules could Kuchar have completed the 13th hole while JS got his ruling, explored his options, etc.? If yes, wouldn't that have been advisable?" -Patrick (@Paddyf67) 

In stroke play, there is no penalty for playing out of turn. So yes, Kuchar could have 

Resting?  Or did he just want to be eye-to-eye with Woodie?

walked up to the green and tried his birdie putt rather than getting iced for the better part of half an hour. But it would have been awkward in the extreme – Spieth's ball could have materialized out of the ether to doink him on the head, the crowd would have been restless/distracted, and it would be been such a breach of protocol that Kuch would've had trouble pulling the putter back with all the juju swirling around. So, he made the right call, even though that meant having to stew on probably his most important putt of the day...which he missed, failing to apply extra pressure on Spieth when it could have been monumental.

Kooch handled it as well as he could, playing his second into the green and then taking a knee.

Reminds me of perhaps my most bizarre day on a golf course, a President's Cup match back at Willow Ridge.  A major cock-up, to use Alan's term, on the 8th hole leading to the other match going on ahead of my match.  Amusingly, the guy that lost that match could be heard muttering on the final hole that he shouldn't have to pay the caddie because he didn't get any help from him..  Well, yeah!

"Arnie at Cherry Hills in 1960: 3rd major victory, front nine 30 on Sunday was his defining moment as ARNIE. Birkdale 2017, Spieth's 3rd major, was this his MOMENT?" -David (@DStan58)

Unquestionably. Spieth didn't just secure a massive victory, he restored his brand in an audacious way. I said this on Twitter, but for all the Tiger comparisons that come with Spieth's precocious achievements, he reminds me more of Phil, in that there is a volatility to Jordan's game and at any moment he's capable of a big miss. But on Sunday at Birkdale, Spieth combined the best of both of them, scrambling like Phil and then closing ruthlessly like Tiger.

I do agree that after ANGC 2016, this was no doubt big for the young man...  But defing moments should only be defined after the defining is over....

A couple of interesting takes on Rory

"I found watching Rory painful - constantly making basic errors at the wrong time. Yet still he tied for 4th. Is this a sign of decline or promise?" -Mark (@mocycling) 

Both. It was another maddening performance in a long string of them. Hard to believe McIlroy has now gone three calendar years without a major championship victory in what should be the prime of his career. There have been injuries, lawsuits, equipment changes, marriage proposals, a lavish wedding, putting slumps and various other extenuating circumstances, but the bottom line is that since the start of 2015 he's down 3-0 to Spieth in major wins. Given this fitful year and his awful start at Birkdale, Rory's eventual finish has to be considered a positive, though I remember a similar spin after McIlroy's backdoor T7 at Augusta. He now has one tournament left on one of his favorite courses to salvage a lost year. Which brings us to… 

"How important is the PGA to Rory?" -Aaron (@atf8912) 

Well, it means everything. If he wins it's the ultimate clap back to Spieth. Given his track record at Quail Hollow, Rory has been the presumptive favorite for about five years. But it's asking a lot to suddenly find the old magic after scuffling for six months. It's a major gut-check for Rory and it will be fascinating to see how he responds. Nothing I've seen tells me Rory is ready to ball-out for a full 72 holes, but he has now become the game's ultimate enigma, and it's almost impossible to predict what he'll do next.

So now we're defining it as a defining moment before it even happens...  I'd just add that, in addition to being a venue that Rory likes, it also projects to be the conditions (North Carolina in August, anyone?) in which Rory thrives.

Shall we at long last see what else is going on in the world of golf?

Miss Congeniality -  The PGA Tour holds an off-field event the week of The Open Championship, something called The Barbasol Championship.  I know, but at least it isn't The Pure Silk Championship....   In any event, it was won by one of golf's recent bad boys:

Outspoken PGA Tour rookie Grayson Murray scored the first victory of his career

Sunday, shooting 3-under 68 to win the Barbasol Championship by one stroke at 21-under. 

Needing par at 18 to avoid a playoff, Murray hit the green from 165 yards out and two-putted to clinch the win at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Grand National. 

Murray made news several times this season with a series of scrutinized tweets and a split with caddie Mike Hicks, but he’s recently put together a solid stretch which has included 10 consecutive cuts made and a T-18 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June. He also recorded a T-8 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a T-12 at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January.

Outspoken?  You mean like Robert Allenby?

A while back we had a long-form piece on the young man, who's managed to create controversy and enmity at every stop of his career.  Now he certainly has shown the talent to compete out there, but it comes in a compromised package.  

We've called him out for his anti-social behavior, but there's no cause to hate on the young man.  My take was that if you have trouble fitting in, perhaps the bubbling cauldron of competitive golf isn't the perfect career choice....  At least not in conjunction with an active twitter account.

Turn The Paige - Another item that certain folks won't let go of is the LPGA's new dress code....But you don't need to be a widely-followed blogger to know that Paige Spirinac is not the perfect messenger...  So, shall we all enjoy some slut-shaming?  Amusing, writing at Fortune.com:

Earlier this month, the LPGA released a new dress code policy that greatly restricts

female athletes’ apparel choices on the golf course. Among the new rules: no leggings

My bad.  I 

now see how this promotes women's progress.

(unless worn under shorts or a skort), joggers, or anything with a plunging neckline. I respect and understand that golf is enveloped in tradition and that certain rules and regulations must be upheld. But as both an ambassador for golf and an advocate for the continued progress of women’s rights and equality in society, I fear that these new rules are stifling the growth of the women’s game.

Is that what you are?  Silly me, I just took you for another Internet babe....

In other professional sports, uniforms have evolved to contemporary cuts and materials designed to meet athletes’ elevated physical demands. Pole vaulters, for instance, often jump in sports bras and briefs to allow for maximum limb movement, while limiting the amount of clothing that could catch the bar. Tennis players wear sleeveless tops and skirts with spandex shorts so that they can hit, reach, and lunge for the ball effectively. Similarly, in order to perform at the optimal level, golfers need to be able to rotate, extend, crouch, and bend, often in extreme weather conditions for up to five or six hours at a time.

Slow down, girl, I'd like to hear more about the crouching and bending....  Do you bend like this?

And the crouching, I'm hoping it looks something like this:

So, we've done our share for the continued progress of women in society, and I feel much better for that effort.

But Paige assures us that my tone is inappropriate, because this is serious stuff:

Up to this point, there have been no incidences or photos of LPGA players dressed in a way that has cast the tour in a negative light. Because of this, it’s easy to assume that the new dress code is simply a formality and won’t have much impact on the game. But if the LPGA players themselves aren’t the problem, these new rules may have been put in place as an exclusionary measure to make sure that only players who echo golf’s more traditional, conservative norms are attracted to and excel at the sport. 

Furthermore, aside from singling out a certain style of dress, it also, perhaps unintentionally, singles out a certain body type, over which women have no control.

No control?  Yes, certain side-boobs, and thank you for that, Christina Kim, are larger, excuse me, proportioned differently, than others, but slutty is slutty.  More importantly, virtually every career has a dress code, and that code provides a benefit to the newbies, who might not be aware of how to present themselves professionally.  

Take the vague banning of “plunging necklines.” What constitutes a plunging neckline? Most likely, this edict was put into place to eliminate the presence of cleavage. In that case, a curvier, fuller-figured woman would be chided and fined far more often than a woman with a smaller bust. In a world where women are continually and unwantedly sexualized, this new rule serves as yet another reason for women to feel ashamed of their bodies, and a reminder that to be respected, they must alter their behavior because of outside perception.

Nobody better dare question my bona fides as relates to being pro-cleavage...  I think my record here speaks for itself.   And she just goes on and on:

If professionalism in golf equals athleticism, then athleticism should be promoted and showcased, and that means allowing the clothes that promote it. By labeling women as looking “unprofessional” when showing cleavage or shorts worn under a skirt, the LPGA is perpetrating the outdated stereotypes about the connection between what a woman wears and her morals, as well as insinuating that women do not have control over the perception of their bodies, but rather that they must bend to the every whim of the male gaze.

Exactly how the display of cleavage promotes athleticism remains a mystery... as does how the absence of cleavage-on-parade represents bending to the whim of the patriarchy.

And her rousing call to.... errr....arms...no, cleavage:

I may not go down in history as the best female golfer to ever play, however my intent is to do whatever I can to grow the game. In the age of millennials, women’s rights, and female empowerment, I hope my voice helps to encourage the next generation of great female athletes and golfers to possibly stop social injustices and prejudices from creeping into the game that I fell in love with at such a young age.

That "may not" is quite the howler, though I'd recommend a full-stop after the word "history."

Lexi at least had some fun with it:

Lest you think that she put an awful lot of effort into it, that was from a photo shoot a few years back.

Gear Notes - You've no doubt caught the Epic commercials featuring Jailbreak Technology.....Curious that, but it is catchy.  

If?  Are we sure it's not Phil, after all, who else would need more than one?

Whoever handles Seamus Golf's public relations is bringing it...  First, they got this podcast at Golf.com up, and with a catchy header to grab clicks:

From a beer bong to the British Open: the story of accessory enterprise Seamus Golf

What, no picture of Paige Spirinac bending over the beer bong?  No doubt you know thie headcovers...

Now comes Shack pitching their shows:

There are several interesting aspects to this, first that they think there's an opportunity in shoes.  I'm curious as to what kind of distribution is to be had, because it's a cluttered category in which you're taking on the big boys.  Yes, there's margin, as we've seen by Nike staying in it and Adidas hanging on to their shoe an apparel business in the sale of TaylorMade.

Secondly, the first Eye on Design piece he did was about golf course drainage, so I naturally assumed that he meant design as in design, a subject in which he's very qualified.  I don't mind him showing us new products at all, but I'd rather he focus on actual design.

Lastly, anybody know what's up with True Linkswear?  That's the only real comparable I can think of....

Funniest Tweet of the Day - It's really quite hard to believe this was published, but at least it doesn't involve Grayson Murray:

I'm guessing that Jim doesn't watch a lot of golf, despite living near Royal North Devon, which the bride and I will be playing in a couple of weeks.  Don't you like how I worked that in?

Crazy, Final Answer - This would be a good one for Geoff:

Is what the USGA is thinking about doing to Riviera's 18th at the U.S. Amateur crazy or brilliant?

Here's the background:

At famed Riviera Country Club, the 315-yard 10th hole is easily one of the more

intriguing drivable par 4s on the PGA Tour. But when the U.S. Amateur comes to the George Thomas course outside Los Angeles next month, there’s another more surprising hole where players might be asked to weigh the risk/reward of going for the green off the tee: the par-4 18th. 

No, that’s not a typo. 

Tournament director Ben Kimball told Fox Sports Radio earlier this week that classic dogleg-right finishing hole that’s listed at 475 yards at the tour’s Genesis Open might get a makeover, with a more forward tee used to play the hole. No doubt a drivable hole as the last in regulation during the match-play portion of the championship would bring a different level of drama to the event, but does it come at some cost in terms of changing the fundamental nature of the classic hole? 

“I don’t necessarily know,” Kimball said when posed the question, noting he’s 50-50 on going ahead with the idea. “But given that it’s match play, you have a little bit of flexibility to try and advance some things that you normally wouldn’t if it was the U.S. Open or Senior Open. Riviera provides a lot of flexibility in the setup. We’re excited about enhancing that flexibility throughout the course of the U.S. Amateur.”

This seems quite silly to me, as you've got the best of the genre earlier in the routing.  Two seems too gimmicky to me....

See you Friday.