Friday Fragments

I had an epic golf day yesterday, about which I had intended to blog this morning.  But two things have happened to scuttle those plans....  First, my camera and computer refuse to recognize each other, rendering my photos temporarily inaccessible.  Secondly, there's actual golf news....  So we'll do some normal blogging and I'll figure out the camera thing at some point.

East Lake Excitement - Well, not on the golf course for sure....  I watched a good five minutes of the replay on Golf Channel, and saw Kyle Stanley atop the leaderboard with a green number one next to his name, meaning that if the board stayed unchanged he'd be your FedEx Champ.  It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

The excitement comes from Doug Ferguson, who informs that there might be an end to our long national nightmare:

The PGA Tour is contemplating a change to the end of the FedEx Cup. One concept

being explored is staging the Tour Championship, handing out a trophy, and then the top FedEx Cup finishers playing the next day over 18 holes to determine the winner. 

That's a long way off from becoming a reality, and it includes feedback from the players. One area of dissent is that the current system works fine. There certainly has been no shortage of highlights since it shifted to the current model in 2009.

What are these highlights of which you speak?

Haas delivered the signature moment when he saved par from the lake on the second playoff hole against Hunter Mahan, and then got up-and-down from a bunker on the next hole to win both titles.

OK, that was a cool shot that's not even possible most years...   And we had Jim Furyk pissing off his sponsor by turning his cap backwards in the rain....  What?

Jim Furyk had his hat on backward when he saved par from a bunker in the rain. Furyk joined Tiger Woods as the only FedEx Cup champions who didn't play the opening playoff event - Woods skipped The Barclays on purpose in 2007, Furyk missed it in 2010 when his phone (and alarm) died overnight and he missed his pro-am, which back then meant he was ineligible to play.

Ummmm Doug, I was kidding there...  That's the best he can come up with to prove it's working fine, so I don't need to say anything more...

Props to Jay Monahan who seems to understand that the current system has no energy or drama...  Jay is an actual golfer, which I'm hoping proves to be an asset in matters such as this.  Shack had some thoughts on format in his ShackHouse podcast, but I'm unlikely to make the time to listen to that in full.

As I've touched on numerous times, the issue seems to be attempting to serve two irreconcilable masters.... The FedEx Cup can't have both a worthy season-long winner and drama at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, our game just doesn't fit that profile.  And Ponte Vedra is a bit too worried about the name brands departing early, not that anyone has been watching regardless.

But I've always advocated for dishing the season-long component and creating a high-stakes shootout for the $10 mil large...

We'll jam some other Tour-related news into this catchall.... Michael Collins has always seemed like the kind of guy worth having a beer with, and he's on to something with his Caddie Confidential feature, though this latest version seems in need of a mission statement:

Collins: Let's talk money. Not only is the last place money good this week, the FedEx Cup bonus money can be big time too. Do caddies get a taste of the bonus money? 

Caddie: I don't know that to be honest with you. It's funny, that's one thing you don't really ask guys. Even though we're close buddies, how much money did you get?

Ummm, Mikey. do you not get how this is supposed to work?  This "confidential" bit is great if the caddie actually has information to share...  If he shrugs his shoulders and says, "That's a good question", that's about as exciting as Juim Furyk wearing his hat backwards...

It does get a little better:

Collins: And with Phil, Rory, and Jason (Day) still uncommitted to a caddie next year, it must be strange in the caddie rooms wondering, "Is that guy going to call and try for that bag?" It's almost like high school!

Caddie: It is like high school. But you know what? If you want to get in the mix and start asking around, that's fine, but nowadays guys are professional. Rory's not going to start talking. I don't know what his deal is, he's probably got a few guys in mind. He had 150 guys reach out to him.

A little....

While we have newfound hope for the end of the season, Commissioner Jay offers little hope to rationalize the schedule:

"You go back to 1967, there were 47 events on our schedule; the schedule started the first 

week in January, ended the second week in December," he explained during a Tuesday news conference. "You go back 60 years ago, there were 48 events on our schedule. So this schedule's been pretty consistent for a long period of time, and I expect it to be that way going forward." 

That's not to suggest Monahan is averse to change, but he also isn't inclined to change just for the sake of changing.

But Jason Sobel makes an important point, or at least part of the important point:

Fans of the PGA Tour might want to cover their eyes for the rest of this paragraph. That's because they aren't the No. 1 priority in the organization's mission statement. Nor are the sponsors or even charities. No, the biggest priority is the players -- specifically, offering up enough playing opportunities for all of them to get a fair shake on the sport's most lucrative circuit.

For the season that will conclude with this week's Tour Championship, the number of players with PGA Tour status totals more than 200. For every Jordan Spieth or Dustin Johnson, guys who can play wherever, whenever they choose, there are a half-dozen rookies or journeymen or past champions, types who need every potential opportunity they can get.

This is important to get our arms around...  Playing privileges are a huge issue, and one where the Tour has in the past failed to deliver that which it had promised.  But they actually had the right format a few years ago with their Fall Finish, events that allowed players to enhance their status but that were not part of the full schedule for elite players.  

But he sounds alarmingly Ratchedesque here:

"The fact of the matter is if you create an offseason, you create openings, and there's so much demand from fans. You see it in Malaysia, you see it in Korea, you see it in China, you see it in new events that we're adding. That gap will be filled, and we think it's our job to maximize playing and financial opportunities. We're going to continue to focus on that and do it in the interest of the fan, but at the same time I think you have to listen to what players are saying. We don't have an answer or solution, but we understand that this is going to be part of the discussion for some time to come."

So?  He's scared that if they leave a week free on the calendar that some other Tour will stage an event....Exactly, let them.  If you work with them cooperatively, they become your feeder system for players....

Alan, Asked - It remains lively, a perfect combination of frivolity and thoughtful commentary.  Examples of the former from this week's installment:

"How many hybrids in the bag before you lose your man card? Asking for a friend. #AskAlan" - John (@jkellegrew) 

Two has become standard in many/most bags. Three hybrids is an admission of weakness but still socially acceptable. Barely. Four is definitely a man card violation.

Probably need to go with age groups here...And this:

"What's up with all of the golf pros wearing white after Labor Day ??" - Ted (@twswdfish)

Honestly, it should be a two-shot penalty to show up on the first tee in white shoes, white pants, white belt, and a white hat.

But here he's deadly serious:

"When the FedEx Cup finale moves to August, do you anticipate the Tour Championship remaining at East Lake?" - @TheBrianEvenson

Gawd, I hope not.

Don't we all.....

He channels his inner Mark Broadie here:

"What's *really* up with Rory? Is there a possibility that this is it and he ends up not adding any more to his current total of 4 majors? #AskAlan" - Tristan (@TrisRosen) 

It's not that hard to diagnose what ails McIlroy: while he is 3rd in strokes gained driving this season, he's an abysmal 141st in putting. His short-iron play has been even worse:

from 100-125 yards he's 145th in proximity to the hole and from 125-150 he checks in at 194th. Given that these are typical distances McIlroy has left on par-4s, this is quite problematic. Driving it like a god and then repeatedly squandering the scoring opportunities saps a player's will to live; no wonder Sergio Garcia looked like a dead man walking for the better part of the last decade. Rory has been candid that his rib injury has affected his ability to practice and prepare, so his untidiness with the scoring clubs can be largely excused in the short-term. Unfortunately, this is part of a larger trend. During his blockbuster 2014 season he was a solid 41st in strokes gained putting and ranked 24th from 100-125 yards and 11th from 125-50. The numbers slipped in 2015 but he didn't play enough rounds in to qualify for the strokes gained stats. But in 2016, Rory plummeted to 135th in putting and was 99th from 100-125 yards and 63rd from 125-150.

Perhaps the wedge play can be cleaned up with a lot of hard work; that has been Dustin's recipe for success. But very few players become better putters after a decade on Tour. It's also fair to wonder where Rory's head and heart is, given that he has looked frustrated/miserable for the better part of the last two seasons. When you've got a couple hundred million dollars in the bank and a lovely new bride, it's human nature to not want to grind so hard anymore. The problem is that there are a lot of younger, hungrier players who are balls-to-the-wall right now. It would be preposterous to suggest McIlroy will never win another major, but to get back to where he was he needs to stay healthy, get refocused and address some serious weaknesses in his game.

Attitude and health.....

Prez Cup Permutations -  No Bubba to rile 'em up, but this first tee seems alarmingly intimate:

Egads!  Barely wide enough for a golf ball....

But this is the big news... Ladies and gents, Phil will play well because we have PODS:

ATLANTA – The blueprint that Paul Azinger used so well at the 2008 Ryder Cup lives

on for another U.S. team as the home side prepares for next week’s Presidents Cup in New Jersey. 

According to numerous sources, U.S. captain Steve Stricker will use a pods system similar to the one Azinger made famous at Valhalla that allows for flexibility and familiarity in the team portion of the competition. 

Each pod includes two rookies and two veterans, which is not surprising given the relative inexperience of Stricker’s team.

OK, I may need a ruling here...  At Gleneagles, Phil told us he can only play well if he's in a pod, but perhaps that only related to the Ryder Cup because there were no such problems in this event....

Calamity Jane, A History -  Via Shack, my favorite item of the day, Jonathan Wall's history of the famed Bobby Jones putter.  This was my favorite bit:

Jones went on to win his first three major championships with the original Calamity Jane before clubmaker J. Victor East pointed out in 1924 that the club was defective due to

years of maintenance. East noticed the Emery cloth caddies used to buff the head had put a twist in the sweet spot, effectively wearing out the face of Jones' putter. 

To prove it was the arrow and not the Indian, East took Jones to a billiard room where they used a swinging pendulum device and a new putter, on a slate Snooker table, to produce a perfectly straight putt. However, when Calamity Jane was put in the same situation, the ball went to the right pocket.

The visual proof reinforced the belief that it was time for a new putter. East would go on to make six copies of Calamity Jane — called Calamity Jane II — with one of the putters going into Jones' bag. He would win 10 of his remaining 13 major championships, including the Grand Slam in 1930, with the second version.

"When Victor made the copy of Calamity Jane, he put a special script, Robert T. Jones, Jr., on the back of the head," Matthew said, "and that is the key to identifying the six copies that are out there."

 More good stuff:

The goose-necked blade had 8 degrees of loft and a lie angle of 66 degrees. For comparison's sake, Jordan Spieth's Scotty Cameron 009, maybe the closest thing you'll find to Jones' Calamity Jane in terms of history and success with a particular putter, has four degrees of loft and a lie angle of 71 degrees. 

Jones' putter was also outfitted with a hickory shaft that cracked at one point when the club connected with the ground in a moment of frustration.

You might get a snese of why they needed so much loft from this picture of Jones at Hoylake in 1921:

But while Shack excerpted this 'graph, he missed the unforced error contained within:

Jones eventually walked away from competition at 28, on the heels of his historic victory at the 1930 U.S. Open that completed the then-Grand Slam that also included wins that year at the U.S. and British Amateurs and the Open Championship. In the years that followed, Calamity Jane would fade into the distance, but from time to time, Jones would reunite with his old friend and the sparks would fly.

Ummmm.... Guys, there's this thing called Google.  Jones completed the slam at Merion in the U.S. Amateur, not the Open.