Thursday Threads

Actual Tour golf will be played this afternoon, at least under the loosest possible definition....

Another Bromance Dies - No one saw this coming:

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Jason Day became the latest high-profile golfer to make a caddie change, saying that Colin Swatton will no longer be carrying his bag but will remain as

his swing coach. 

Day, who has 10 PGA Tour victories, has suffered through a trying season and hasn't won since the 2016 Players Championship. The former No. 1 golfer in the world who has slipped to ninth at times was emotional Wednesday at the BMW Championship explaining the situation that led to Swatton taking a seat.

"Sometimes the chemistry just doesn't work,'' said Day, 29, who has referred to Swatton as a father figure. "He's been my coach since I'm 12. Obviously this is a very hard time for both of us with regards to we had a relationship for so long, my caddie for 11 years. 

"My attitude is not good coming to the golf course because of things he can't control, obviously. It's not a good formula for success out here.''

I assume that last bit is that Colin can't control that you suck?  But really, who could?

As Bob Harig details, this has always been far more than a transactional relationship, and you'd think that Day needs that steadying hand now more than ever....

In this item Day talks a bit more and explains what's happened between the two:

Day said the chemistry between the two as player and caddie started to sour as Day has struggled this season, notching just four top 10s through the Dell Technologies

Championship with no wins, all while dropping from first to ninth in the world rankings. 

They were butting heads on the course, and Day found himself blaming Swatton for things Swatton couldn’t control. As Day and Swatton started to not talk to each other outside of tournaments, Day knew he had to make a move or risk ruining their relationship off the course. 

“Everything is great when you win, but when you’re playing poorly, that’s when a true test of a relationship actually happens between a player and a caddie,” Day said. “… It’s more my fault, really, because he’s out there trying to do the best job he can and, unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn’t work out no matter how hard he works. The positive vibes and the positives he’s trying to put out and all the numbers that he can get and information he can get sometimes just doesn’t work out.”

I'd argue that this is when you need him the most.... Day was clear that Colin remains his coach, though Colin wasn't available for comment.  Naturally at such a critical juncture you'd expect Jason to turn to a grizzled veteran caddie to help right the ship....If only:

Day will have friend Luke Reardon on his bag for this week’s FedEx Cup playoff event at Conway Farms, and next week’s Tour Championship should Day qualify. (Day is 28th in the FedEx Cup standings, and the top 30 after the BMW will move on to East Lake.) Day and Reardon were roommates in college and grew up playing golf together in Australia. 

Reardon, however, won’t caddie in the Presidents Cup because his visa expires before the event at Liberty National. David Lutterus, a pro golfer ranked No. 1,103 in the world, will loop for Day there.

Strange time for him to be copying Rory, no?

PXG v. TM -  Michael McMann of Golf Magazine dives a little deeper into this heavyweight match-up:

The lawsuit referenced by Parsons was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and is embodied in a 277-page complaint authored by attorneys from the law

firms Loeb & Loeb and Jennings, Strouss & Salmon. The complaint asserts that TaylorMade has infringed upon multiple patents related to PXG's "revolutionary iron," which purportedly contains "an expanded sweet spot, having an ultra-thin club face, and an elastic polymer material injected in the hollowbodied club head."

PXG contends that the design of TaylorMade's P790 irons copies patent-protected designs for PXG's clubs. For example, according to PXG, TaylorMade fills an interior cavity with an elastic polymer material known as "Speedfoam." PXG argues this material mimics the elastic polymer material it uses. The alleged infringement therefore concerns substances added to the clubs as well as the accompanying technological processes.

The more I think about it, the more this seems teed up to be an epic battle...  In some respects, it's a conventional battle of upstart market disruptor vs, industry Goliath.  But in this case David has pockets far deeper than most, and a stronger market niche to protect than most new companies would have...

And Goliath isn't what he used to be...  Callaway has usurped TM in many respects, and private equity owners just love post-acquisition litigation....  But it's hard to see a way for them to make this go away.

This bit isn't well explained:

If PXG ultimately prevails, it will be awarded monetary damages, including lost profits from sales of PXG clubs that would have occurred but for TaylorMade's alleged infringement. PXG also demands an injunction that would stop TaylorMade from continuing to produce the P790 irons and other (allegedly) infringing clubs.

But this item says that they've requested a TRO:

The filing also includes a request for a temporary restraining order calling for TaylorMade to cease production and sale of its recently released P790 irons, which are scheduled to be available in stores this Friday. 

According to the request for the temporary restraining order, “PXG will experience loss of exclusivity and damage to reputation as an innovator in the golf club industry …,” “will experience lost business opportunities instead of fully benefiting from its investment in the patented invention …,” and “PXG will suffer loss of sales and market share because TaylorMade is spoiling the market.” 

This wouldn't seem to be a case where injunctive relief is appropriate, since PXG can be compensated through money damages if they prevail.  But it means that the meter will be ticking and likely include subsequent generations of product releases as the lawsuit winds its way through the courts, assuming TM is ultimately deemed to have violated PXG's patents.

I'm also a little surprised that none of the commentary has included the history that resulted in the acquisition of Adams Golf.  TM pretty clearly violated the Adams' patents, then found it more palatable to acquire the company than to deal with the ramifications of that infringement.  It's hard to imagine that exit strategy being available in this case....

Stay tuned.

Alan, Asked - Shipnuck's weekly mailbag has become Must-vet Internet....Always good stuff:

"In honor of BMW week, what's a Tuesday money match among this week's field you'd pay to watch/cover at Chicago GC or Shoreacres? #AskAlan" -

@TimRagones 

After a quarter-century on the beat I’m pretty sure the only way I’m gonna pay to watch golf is if Bobby Jones comes back from the dead. But any memorable Tuesday game has to involve Phil, because of his outsized personality, starpower and penchant for talking trash. He and Dustin have a long-standing practice- round rivalry so I’m putting DJ on the other team. It’s tempting to pair him with Rory, just because it’d be fun to watch them bash the ball, but McIlroy is all business on Tuesdays and rarely partakes in the fun. So I’m putting Spieth with Johnson. Jordan is a solid woofer and in his own way as much of an alpha as Mickelson. Phil’s partner has to be Rickie. He’s always at the center of the action and is already a legend in casual games, having set a bunch of course records in South Florida and taken a lot of cash on various Tuesdays.

I'm just relieved to hear that Rory is ever all business.... 'cause it's hard to see.  But this is the buzz-worthy query:

"When are the golf brands going to do a team event? Titleist vs TaylorMade vs Ping vs PXG Callaway vs Cobra…" -@AlexDunlopGolf 

This is so craven it’s genius. The companies would surely flood the event with hype and build in huge bonuses for the players. I mean, the Tavistock Cup was a pretty fun event and those teams are based on an absurd idea: real estate subdivisions! Tour players have a deep and personal relationship with their equipment and the technicians who help them maximize their games — to say nothing of the huge checks that pay for their Porsches — so this event would definitely have some juice.

I don't know when the question was written, but I'd have gone with PXG v. TaylorMade because...well you know why.

Shack has peddled this in the past, and it's an idea so perfect that it'll never happen.  The only way I could see it happening is during the Silly Season without the Ponte Vedra suits involved....

This question has great personal salience:

"Most underrated course on Long Island?" -@PalmerTheGolfer 

I probably woulda said Glen Oaks but the secret is now out. So I’ll go with Sands Point, an ultra-exclusive joint that has only 100 or so members. It is absolutely astonishing how much good golf there is on Long Island. With next year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock I just pitched to my bosses a story in which I play my way across the island, serving as a kind of anthropologist. The tentative itinerary: Glen Oaks, Sands Point, Bethpage, Garden City, Deepdale, Piping Rock, the Bridge, Sebonack, Friars Head, Maidstone, National, Shinnecock. The mind reels.

I'm not going to say much at this juncture, so as to not risk an opportunity that has just presneted itself.  But if things come off as planned, I will be crossing off the course at the top of my bucket list next week, one that just happens to be on Alan's list.

This one was tad curious:

"On scale of 1-10 how excited are you to see Phil (and all pros) play Los Angeles Country Club's 15th hole as an 80-yard pitch-and-putt in the 2023 US Open? #AskAlan" -@EthanZimman 

10. Whether it’s the Postage Stamp, the 7th at Pebble, the 11th at Shinnecock or 13th at Merion, a short, very dangerous par-3 is always a blast. And L.A. North’s tiny terror is clearly ready to be part of the pantheon.

Phil being in the 2023 Open is already a stretch, but is the questioner not still emotionally scarred from Phil's play at Merion's 13th?  

Scam Exposed - This photo of Sawgrass' island green has been making the rounds:

Just a few little quibbles:

One slight problem: it isn't real. 

We thought something was amiss, as Golf Digest's Alex Myers remembered a similar photo made the rounds after Hurricane Matthew. Moreover, the photo shows a clear sky in Ponte Vedra Beach; it hasn't been sunny in the area for a week. Also, the photo's original origin? A "SawgrassTPC" Twitter handle, which is decidedly not "TPCSawgrass." 

For proper verification, we reached out to the good folks at TPC Sawgrass, who assured us that, at this time, no images of the damage have been taken.

As noted historian Emily Litella was wont to say, never mind.

Cheap Shots - A little snark then I'll let you get on with your day...

Sounds like TMI - Jason Day gets personal about why he had to drop Colin Swatton as his caddie

Adding Insult to Injury... - Justin Thomas stashed the Wanamaker in Rickie Fowler's safe before evacuating for Irma

Play Better, Final Answer - What Rory, Phil and others have to do at BMW to make Tour Championship