Tuesday Tastings

Have those big crocodile tears at the ready, because life just isn't fair....

Services Terminated - Rory has found a Diamond in the rough to tote his bag, and we'll get to that in a sec....  But apparently many folks thought that J.P. Fitzgerald had a lifetime personal services contract:

Another one of golf's most well-known player/caddie duos is splitting up. 

According to a report from Reuters, Rory McIlroy has fired longtime caddie J.P.

Fitzgerald and will have a new looper on his bag for this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Reuters cited a source familiar with the situation. McIlroy's management team has yet to make any announcement and has not immediately responded to GOLF.com's request for comment. 

Fitzgerald and McIlroy have been together for nine years and for all of McIlroy's four major championships, including his ascent to No. 1 in the world in 2012. Fitzgerald was thrust into the spotlight at the British Open last week. McIlroy bogeyed five of his first six holes in his opening round but rebounded to shoot 71. He praised Fitzgerald for helping him turn the tide, as McIlroy finished tied for fourth.

I'm just relieved that they didn't try to peddle that mutual break-up nonsense, which everyone knows has never happened.... 

This Golf Digest piece has covered the history, including the heat J.P. took for Rory's 2011 Master's meltdown, which prompted this stirring defense:

“I’ve got to stand up for my caddie. JP is one of my closest friends, and I’ve had to deal

with it for three years and not really say anything and he’s just kept at him and at him. I just had to say something," McIlroy said at the time. "You know, it’s unfortunate that some people are so opinionated. It started in Switzerland back in 2008. JP has taken me from 200th in the world to major champion and now fourth in the world. I don’t know what it is about Jay or if he has something against JP but some of the criticism that JP takes from him is very unfair." 

Although Fitzgerald, who previously caddied for Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke, has been on the bag for all four of McIlroy's major wins, he continued to contend with speculation that the player could do better.

The artist known as Tweeter Alliss has his own take on this article:

The Tweeter is one of the great old men of our game, but his gripes in this instance seem passing strange...  Failing to detail J.P.'s full C.V. is a rather minor gotcha, and the possibility that I have better sources than he is comical...

In fact, I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to try to find some old comments about the pair, and that very Golf Digest article so loathed by the Tweeter saves me the bother:

That sentiment was echoed by players and insiders quoted for a Golf Digest story in this year's Masters preview. When assessing McIlroy's chances of contending at Augusta National and completing the career Grand Slam, an underlying theme was that McIlroy needed a stronger voice by his side. 

"How often do you see him and [caddie J.P. Fitzgerald] looking at each other in shock after his ball has finished 20 yards over the back?," the story quotes an observer saying. "If you listen to them on the course, you often hear Rory asking, 'What happened there?' More than once I've heard J.P. saying something like, 'OK, hit a soft draw with a 6-iron off that tree.' And I've immediately thought, This ball is going over the green. And sure enough, it does. So you have to wonder. I see Rory up close only occasionally, and I know he's going to hit the ball over the green when his caddie clearly doesn't. It makes no sense.

And this:

"Rory needs someone to tell him what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear." . . . "Why he doesn't employ Billy Foster is a mystery. Rory would have 10 majors by now if he did." 

"Of course, we know what Rory is like. He's as stubborn as anyone on tour. The more people tell him that J.P. is not the right caddie for him, the more he'll keep him on."

So, yeah, I'm thinking that we shoulda seen it coming.... Curmudgeonly James Corrigan supports my premise:

However, two days later, McIlroy’s charge for a second Claret Jug was derailed when he

took a double bogey on the 10th, courtesy of the wrong club selection off the tee. Again, the spotlight picked out Fitzgerald. 

In the caddyshack, the development was not greeted with too much surprise. And do not expect an overload of sympathy either, and not just because Fitzgerald is estimated to have earned more than £8m in his employment with McIlroy. 

“It was coming,” one caddie told Telegraph Sport. Fitzgerald’s meticulousness has been called into question by his peers, some of who believe the mistake at Birkdale was merely the latest error.

So, yes, it was coming...  Alas, the prospects for Rory hiring the kind of looper he needs seem remote:

Rory McIlroy has turned to his best friend to undertake emergency caddying duties for the final major of the year after the shock dismissal of JP Fitzgerald. 

McIlroy is playing in this week’s WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, where Harry Diamond will take the bag. He will also be on the world No 4’s shoulder at next week’s USPGA Championship.

Oy!  Maybe Erica will organize an intervention?

Diamond could even prove the permanent solution. A childhood friend who grew up in the same Belfast suburb of Holywood, Diamond is a fine player in his own right, having played with McIlroy in the Ulster youth team and going on to represent the Irish senior team. 

And he has caddied for McIlroy before. When the then 16-year-old prodigy was invited to play in the Irish Open in 2005, it was Diamond who was on his bag and again at the start of his rookie season on Tour. The pair are extremely close, with Diamond reportedly acting as best man at McIlroy’s wedding to Erica Stoll in April.

What, Niall Horan wasn't available?  

A couple of notes and then we'll move on....  First and foremost, there's little reason to believe that Rory has made this move from an honest understanding of his strengths and weaknesses.  There's no malice towards J.P. from this quarter, I just have long believed that Rory needed a stronger hand on the rudder.

Secondly, all the discussion of club selection leaves out his dreadful putting, partially caused I believe from poor reading of the greens.  

I do agree that the timing is suboptimal.  He's had success at Quail Hollow with J.P., though perhaps a different voice is what he needs at this point.

Lastly, there's been a fun back-and-forth on twitter about caddies firing players and the like, in which Brandel Chamblee reminds me of the quintessentially perfect reason for firing a caddie:

Of all the reasons I've heard plyr give a caddie for dismissal, Ed Fiori's, "I'm just tired of looking at you" sums up the job's insecurity

Tweeter Alliss would call that Majestic!

You Go, Girls! -  From that sordid mess, we transition seamlessly to a story that affirms our love for the folks that toil at our game....  First, Shack's take:

Longtime readers know I have a soft spot for grizzled vets who enter qualifyings and an

even softer spot for the ones who don't WD.

So it was great to see 53-year-old Laura Davies keeping her 37-straight Open Championship streak alive and Paula Creamer making it through for this week's Ricoh Women's British Open, reports GolfChannel.com's Randall Mell.

From that report:

They were among 22 players coming through the field of 111. 

Creamer posted a 4-under-par 68, tying for second behind Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom, a Ladies European Tour player who shot 67. 

Davies, 53, put in overtime to keep her record Women’s British Open streak going. She will extend her streak to 37 consecutive starts with her first tee shot on Thursday at Kingsbarns. 

“I’ve played in the last 36 Opens and have never had to qualify,” Davies said. “So, this is a new experience. I don’t like it very much.” 

Davies had to put in some overtime to keep her streak going. She shot 70, then joined 14 players in a playoff, competing for the final 11 spots. Davies advanced with a par at the first playoff hole.

No one likes it, Laura, but we love you for sucking it up and not whining....  However, this constitutes the shocking part of the report:

After tying for 13th Sunday at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open, Creamer drove almost three hours to the Castle Course to cram some homework in before her early Monday morning round. 

“It was a beautiful golf course,” Creamer said. “My caddie and I worked really hard, because it was the first time I had ever seen it. I teed off at 7:22, so I couldn’t do much preparation. After I played yesterday, I came out and hit some putts and walked the last three or four holes. It’s an awesome little gem.”

First human on record with a kind word for The Castle Course....  Doak famously gave it a Zero in his updated Confidential Guide, though David Kidd says he's been smoothing the rough edges....

Jaime For The Defense -  The great Jaime Diaz is apparently on retainer for Bernie:

Why is Bernhard Langer guilty until proven innocent?

Because he's German, of course.... I don't really agree with the premise in his header, though.  I think there are many that are uncomfortable with the situation, but trying to be fair to the players involved.  Anyway, let's let Jaime make his case:

It’s not that a game that so values honor and integrity is being plagued by public lies and blatant spinning to the same extent as the general culture. But there has been a noticeable 

eroding of the once almost unquestioned presumption that players are telling the truth. It seems as if—from charges of PED use, to taking drops in the right place, to correctly marking balls, to anchoring—golfers don’t quite believe each other like they used to. 

Ensnared in this evolving perception are Langer and Scott McCarron, who have continued to use a long putter despite the USGA and R&A’s 2016 ban on using an anchored stroke. Each golfer vehemently maintains that by holding their top hand away their body and keeping it away during the stroke, they have legally adjusted to the new rule.

The game continued to honor integrity, though that's different from assuming it....  As Jaime notes, we've seen a bunch of Golfers Behaving Badly videos lately (Charley Hoffman to the red courtesy phone), and even more damning testimony from the likes of Phil on the subject of ball-marking.

Combine that with a nebulously-worded rule, and perhaps we shouldn't be surprised about the concern.  I also think that many folks can't see how Langer and others can control the broomstick without an anchor, so there we are.

Or maybe we're all just jealous?

That's Not Bad - When asked whether a putt is good, the stock response at Willow Ridge used to be that it's not bad....  But really, we shouldn't be begging now, should we?  Joel Beall offers a how-to guide for concessions, though it's not clear who needs such guidance:

DON'T: Give any birdie putt 

You want that red number on the scorecard, you got to earn it. 

DON'T: Endlessly fumble change in your pocket praying your opponent will cave and give it to you. 

It's unbecoming. It's shameless. It's pathetic. 

DO: Be liberal with gimmes on the front, conservative on the back 

Not only does this set an affable tone for the round, it has a hint of Machiavellianism sprinkled in: when your opponent needs to make a short putt down the stretch, the lack of reps puts extra pressure on the shot.

Any surprises there?  But then there's this:

DON'T: Have a win-at-all-costs mentality 

Chances are you're playing against a friend or acquaintance. There's a big difference between competitive spirit and being a ****. If you want to go all Suzann Pettersen over $5, that's your prerogative. Just know you might be playing alone your next time out.

Grrrrrrrrr!  Nobody understood that story, and that likely includes Suzann herself.  

Trumped Again -  Plans to build a second course in Aberdeenshire have run into opposition:

Donald Trump's Scottish golf empire is facing roadblocks from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish National Heritage, a conservation agency, according to a

report by Mother Jones. 

Both organizations claim they will object to Trump's plans to build a second course in Aberdeen, where Trump International Golf Links opened in 2012 to generally positive reviews, because the plans for the new course do not adequately address guidelines on sewage, environmental protection and groundwater conservation. 

According to Mother Jones, Trump's original development plan included "two world-class golf courses, a luxury hotel with hundreds of rooms, and 1,450 homes"—all told, an investment of over $1 billion.

Mother Jones has always been my go-to source on all things Trump....  Given how little play there is on the first course, I'm not sure where he goes with this site.

Bet With Your Head -  All sorts of prop bets, first on this guy's weekend:

Will Steph Curry make the cut at the 2017 Ellie Mae Classic?
Yes +900
No -2500

Steph Curry highest score in any round at the 2017 Ellie Mae Classic
Over 79.5
Under 79.5

For those advocates of Steph's participation, Justin Ray of Golf Channel provides some cold water:

That's being kind, though he can't possibly be worse than Jerry Rice.  At least I hope not...