Midweek Musings

The Silly Season seems to have arrived ahead of schedule.  Not much of substance, so let's do what we can to amuse...

A First-World Problem - They're frantically trying to get us to care about the BMW, but it's a big ask.  First, this OMG moment:

Rory McIlroy is up against it. 

The sixth-ranked player in the world needs a strong performance at this week's BMW

Championship in order to advance to the following week's Tour Championship. McIlroy will likely need at least a fourth-place finish at Conway Farms to earn enough FedEx Cup points to crack the top 30 and advance to the finale at East Lake. 

McIlroy's up-and-down season has earned him 881 FedEx Cup points, his smallest tally at this point in a season since 2009, when he wasn't even a PGA Tour member. 

In order for him to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship, a top-five finish would earn him enough points to make it interesting, while a top-four finish would make it much more likely and a third-place finish almost a sure thing.

I've consulted Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and a tee time at East Lake is nowhere on the pyramid.... But given that pesky stress fracture in his rib, why is he even out there?

Then there's this:

One of the toughest days of Jordan Spieth's childhood came when he picked golf over

baseball at 13 years old. On the Tuesday before the BMW Championship, golf fans got yet another glimpse of just how tough that decision might've been for the three-time major champion. 

With the PGA Tour's FedExCup Playoffs coming to Conway Farms outside Chicago this week, the Chicago Cubs welcomed Spieth as their ceremonial first-pitch tosser before their game against the New York Mets. It's not the first time Spieth has filled in these duties -- the 24-year-old had a stellar showing for his hometown Texas Rangers in 2015, then followed it with a not-so-stellar showing a couple weeks later at Fenway Park.

 And yes, he's a southpaw.  

Dave Shedloski goes for the strategery angle:

Likewise, Phil Mickelson, at No. 36, doesn’t have to win to advance. The Hall of Famer just has to build on the T-6 finish he submitted at the Dell Technologies Championship

that ended on Labor Day. Feeling refreshed after making dietary changes to address a testosterone deficiency, the left-hander is determined to make it to Atlanta so he can play his way into the Presidents Cup after being named one of Steve Stricker's captain's picks last week.

Not that winni 

ng isn’t on his mind. “I really feel like I can win again now that I have things figured out,” said Mickelson, who also thinks he has solved his frustrations on the greens by adjusting the loft on his putter.

I've never seen bad things happen after a guy says he's got it all figured out, have you?  

I can barely contain my excitement....

It's War - In a particularly apt 21st century moment, we offer this tweet:

If they follow Parsons on Twitter, does that constitute personal service?

While companies sue each other all the time, the stakes here seem quite high.  MyGolfSpy.com, a great source for all things related to equipment, lays out the battle lines, first for the upstart challenger:

Through the proverbial grapevine, MGS has learned that PXG anticipated this day would come, but it would have been impossible to foresee which OEM would step far enough over the line to prompt this response from Parson and PXG.

Some knee-jerk pundits and keyboard jockeys will (and already have) falsely label Parsons a “jerk” or “bully” based on the limited information shared in his tweet. Not that the Twittersphere is a place where people ever cast false aspersions, but let’s be clear - Bob Parsons had to do this, if for no other reason than to make it abundantly clear, he’s not going to be pushed around by any company, big or small. His entire golf business is built on this technology, if somebody else can use it, it’s a problem. 

Failure to protect the defining technology upon which PXG clubs are based would invariably open up the floodgates; leaving the technology free for any OEM to mimic or copy without fear of recourse.

OK, and from the establishment perspective?

Moreover, it’s a proxy statement within the industry of David defending himself against Goliath. Often smaller (by market-share) OEM’s can’t swallow the massive legal costs necessary to engage in what could be a prolonged, and costly, legal process. Financial resources don’t pose the same issue for Parsons. Should PXG prevail, it would be a massive blow (and more than a little embarrassing) to TaylorMade’s efforts to regain momentum after losing its position atop the industry this year to rival, Callaway. 

That said, it’s reasonable to think a drawn out legal battle is exactly what TaylorMade’s new owner (private equity firm KPS Capital purchased TaylorMade for $425 Million in May) wants to avoid – and should it want this matter to disappear quickly, that would likely work in PXG’s favor. If the irons go away, I suspect the lawsuit does too.

The upside for TaylorMade, and indeed the risk for PXG is that consumers may link the two technologies. If PXG is viewed as the same as TaylorMade, its perceived performance advantage would be significantly and perhaps irreparably diminished. 

There’s also a possibility PXG could bring suit against retailers distributing TaylorMade’s irons, a maneuver which could put both entities (TaylorMade and retailers) in a difficult and unenviable situation – and because PXG isn’t sold via the same channels, it’s a less complicated move for Parsons. Regardless of the legal path Parson’s takes, it would be a mistake to underestimate his business acumen or passion for his company.

Combined with Costco v. Acushnet, the legal beat might be the most interesting side of golf coverage in the near term.

Per GolfWRX, Parsons should have no trouble getting to court on time:

Walker Cup Leftovers -  Shack, who was on-site as well as on Gil Hanse's design team, files a late wrap-up for the event, though his explanation is more than a tad curious:

Sorry for the delayed roundup, but a combination of wanting to be respectful to our friends in Florida and those remembering 9/11, it just felt like a good day to pay respects elsewhere.

I didn't even know he had a dog.  But really, no need to apologize for a day off, just hope he teed it up. preferably at LACC North.  he's got as many links as you care to avail yourselves of, but this was the item that I liked most (it's not copy-and-pastable, so I only have Geoff's reaction for you):

Cart drivers take note: Captain Miller had his foursomes players not "caucusing" too much, meaning they played proper foursomes with the player due to hit the next shot moving down play. This, and other match notes from Global Golf Post.

Proper foursomes has the guys not hitting walking down the fairway, not kibbutzing.  Though I doubt that Spider used that exact, highly technical term.

This was also interesting:

Even as the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club is widely regarded as a testament to George Thomas’ architectural genius, the club’s exclusivity largely deprived it of a historical reference point by which to gauge it as a competitive entity. 

Hence the intense scrutiny the 2023 U.S. Open site received at the Walker Cup last week, when Mike Davis, the CEO and executive director of the United States Golf Association, availed himself of the opportunity to see how it stood up to elite golfers. 

“This was a big week just to watch how every single hole played,” Davis said during a break in play on Sunday. “This was a big week to look at green speeds. Really, what’s the ideal green speed, not only for this event? It will help so much at the U.S. Open.

That's really the point, isn't it?  Mike gets very specific about his concerns....

Today in Cancellations -  This one we could have seen coming:

USGA Postpones 31st U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, Fla.

FAR HILLS, N.J. (Sept. 12, 2017) – The USGA today announced that the 31st U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, scheduled to be played Oct. 7-12 at Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, Fla., will be postponed due to the impact of Hurricane Irma. 

“After assessing the storm’s impact on the course, we have determined with Quail Creek that the championship cannot be successfully conducted on the scheduled dates next month,” said U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship Director Rachel Sadowski. “Our thoughts are with our good friends at Quail Creek, and with everyone in the Southeast affected by the storm.” 

The USGA will continue to work closely with Quail Creek to determine when the championship will be played, and more details will be announced at a later date.

I would have just moved it to Citi Field....

Add this to our recurring Golf in the Middle Kingdom feature:

LPGA officials announced on Tuesday that the Alisports LPGA tournament, scheduled to be played in Shanghai from Oct. 5-8, has been canceled. According to LPGA commissioner Mike Whan, the tournament was unable to successful obtain permit approval from the local district government to hold the event. 

“The hardest part about this news is that we have a title sponsor, a tournament operator, a TV production group and a host venue all set to go,” What said in a statement. “However, in China, sporting events of this nature cannot take place without approvals at multiple levels—and the local approval was denied.” 

Whan did not go on to detail exactly why the event was denied approval by the local government.

That's what happens when a certain official doesn't get the thick envelope he was expecting.... 

Did Someone Mention China? - The scandal du jour:

One of President Donald Trump's promises upon entering the Oval Office was that, to avoid conflicts of interest, his company would not work with overseas businesses. But a contract signed while building a golf course in Dubai may have broken that pledge. 

According to a report from McClatchy DC, DAMAC Properties, which has partnered with the Trump organization to build a new Dubai golf course, hired a subsidiary of a Chinese construction firm called China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to build roads and infrastructure around the new course. CSCEC, which Fortune ranked as the seventh-largest company in China and has been blacklisted by the World Bank for corruption, reportedly received $32 million in the deal. Tiger Woods designed the course itself at Trump World Golf Club, which is scheduled to open in Dubai in 2018. 

Statements by the two companies confirm the agreement was reached in 2017. If the deal was struck after Trump's inauguration, it could violate the Emoluments Clause in the U.S. Constitution, which says officials may not accept gifts, titles of nobility or emoluments from foreign governments with respect to their office, and that no benefit should be derived by holding office. A federal lawsuit that accuses Trump of violating this clause begins October 18. It was not immediately known if the Dubai golf project would be part of the suit.

It appears that neither Trump nor his organization was involved in awarding this contract, but how is hiring a third-party to perform services on contractually reasonable terms an emolument?  Because, shut up!

Infuriation - Josh Sens puts in way too much effort to describe the 18 most infuriating shots in golf, when the simple answer is "Most of them".

 He starts with one that's very much in my bag:

18. THE DOUBLE CROSS

You've got all the shots: the butter fade, the power draw. If only you knew which one was coming when.

I call my fade the "second Marriage"...  You know, the triumph of hope over experience.

16. BANANA BALL INTO THE DRIVING RANGE

After smacking a full bucket on the practice range, you deposit your opening tee shot into the very same place. Maybe at some point you'll find your swing. But we know you're never going to find that ball.

A/k/a The Spieth. 

But see if you can spot the issue here:

7. SKULLING ONE INTO THE CLUBHOUSE

As you trudge up the 18th fairway, you're keenly aware of the crowd watching you from the veranda, just as they're keenly aware of the hozzle-rocket that you just sizzled above their heads. You're not frustrated. You're humiliated. Which is a lot worse.

Well, trick question, because there's more than one.....  The most obvious is the confusion of the skull with the shank.  Very different dieases with widely divergent symptoms...... The crowd on the veranda causes you to speed up, causing the skull with an apex one-inch above the railing on the veranda....

The shank, on the other hand, sends the ball knuckling off to the right....

Oh, and it's hosel, not hozzle....which, according to the Urban Dictionary, is something entirely different:

Good thing Josh doesn't work for a golf magazine.....