Tuesday Tastings

Got a few things for you that slipped through the cracks over the weekend...

A Decade of Rors - The Daily Mail's Derek Lawrenson looks back in admiration:

There are landmarks in any working life that offer a moment to pause and reflect and 10 years at the coalface is certainly one of those. For Rory McIlroy, it was exactly 10 years

ago on Monday that he signed the forms that made him a professional golfer. 

What a decade it was, filled with highs that represented a new standard for British and Irish golf and an injection of colour that meant he was rarely out of the headlines. 

Along the way McIlroy, with his easy manner and candid approach, has captured the public imagination to such an extent that sponsors have enriched him to the point where his accumulated wealth is now well into nine figures. 

In the game's history, perhaps only Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros achieved more during their first decade. Is it reasonable to expect a similar return over the next?

That's a non-contiguous excerpt, picking those bits that support the last premise, which might be a hair over the top.  But four majors isn't chopped liver, and yet eh astute reader senses where we're headed:

We're now in one of those fallow periods, at the end of perhaps the most disappointing of

his 10 seasons as a pro. His year on the PGA Tour ended on Sunday with him failing to qualify for the final FedEx Cup event, which he won in such glorious fashion last season.

Yet he will begin his second decade at something of a crossroads. Of the five golfers ranked ahead of him, no fewer than four are younger, so the competition will be fierce. 

McIlroy has certainly got some serious issues to address, beginning with his health. We're told the persistent rib injury that has prevented him from practising properly for much of this season will be put right with two months of rest and we can only hope this proves the case.

Does that rest included time away from the gym?  Because the difference in his body in those two photos above is rather dramatic, and one can't help but wonder in the face of stress injuries such as he's experienced.

And Derek tells us there's more that should be on the young man's mind:

While he's doing that in October and November McIlroy will begin the search for a new caddie, and you only have to look at the contribution Michael Greller makes to Spieth's success to illustrate the importance of the right choice. 

On the course, McIlroy might have few peers when it comes to his work off the tee but it's not much use when it's accompanied by stats showing his wedge game and putting are way below a level to allow him to take advantage. The plan is to spend much of December working on a solution.

To me it starts with his desire....  Not only has he appeared disinterested in his work, but his stubbornness led him to hold onto a second-rate caddie when questioned.... In short, does sucking drive him to address his obvious weakness, or was Elkington essentially correct?

As you'll recall, I was surprised he was even out there, as disinterested as he seemed?  This Will Gray item has me shaking my head:

While he explained that playing the last three events hasn’t made any further impact on his existing injury, he also hinted that the decision to tackle the playoffs was not entirely his. 

“Some decisions aren’t completely up to the individual,” McIlroy said. “There was outside expectation from elsewhere. I played these events for two reasons: thinking that I still had a chance, but for trying to fulfill obligations elsewhere. So there was two parts of it.”

Really?  He's sleep-walking through events when injured to meet appearance minimums to TaylorMade or Nike?  A pox on all their houses!

And just when we're done wringing our hands of the man, he posts this:

A kickabout.....  Yeah, that's the ticket!

For those for whom the glass is half-full, Joel Beall assembles the high points of Rory's first decade, including this for anyone that needs an explanation of my snark above:

Good times.

Congressional Vacancy - We speculated about this a while back, but it  seems to have locked up the first victim of contraction slot:

I think he's a tad behind facts on the ground, as Tiger couldn't even be bother to show up this year, focused as he is more on the LA event.

The members of Congressional were informed of this by letter, though Steiny insists that there's nothing to see here:

The termination of the contract was announced to members at Congressional via a letter on Monday and first reported by CSN Mid-Atlantic’s J.P. Finlay. 

“The Tiger Woods Foundation currently has no title sponsor for their PGA Tour golf tournament. Because of that circumstance, the PGA Tour has exercised its right to terminate our facilities agreement with them for 2018 and 2020, while they seek a title sponsor for The National,” the letter from club president Richard Sullivan Jr. read.

No sponsor, no venue.... no problem, per the mouthpiece:

“This is one of our highest priorities,” Wood’s agent Mark Steinberg told the Post. “The event, at this point, is not going away. I want to be clear about that. We are looking for a title sponsor in the D.C. area. Where that event would be played is still up in the air. We don’t know the answer to that. We have to work on the economics and finances. But we’re actively looking, and we have a number of good leads and sponsors and are talking to them daily.”

The problem for all involved is that they just need to get through the 2018 event, so which sponsor wants to take another one for the team?

In Praise of....Liberty National - Ron Whitten, the architecture editor at Golf Digest, makes the case for the President's Cup venue, though first acknowledging it's tarnished rep:

Liberty National Golf Club is inspirational, going from Federal Superfund cesspool to

Presidents Cup showcase, but it has been sadly shackled to a poor national debut. As host of The Barclays in 2009, the Jersey City, N.J., layout got trashed by pros and the press. Its architecture, by Bob Cupp and Tom Kite, is subtle and stylish, intended to be thought-provoking, not easily absorbed. One hole rewards length, another accuracy. One puts a premium on the recovery game, another on approach putting. But in 2009, most simply saw a 7,400-yard course with small greens and gusty winds off New York Harbor, so thumbs went down after a single round. 

Some participants launched into comedy routines. "Maybe Tom did this course before his eye surgery," said Tiger Woods. 

"They ruined a perfectly good landfill," said one unidentified caddie, channeling Dave Hill's critique of Hazeltine National at the 1970 U.S. Open. 

The nadir was reached a few years later, when our sister publication, Golf World, released the results of a survey of anonymous tour pros, ranking the courses they'd played that year. Liberty National was the consensus pick for Least Favorite, a position relabeled as Worst Course on Tour.

Wow, that's about the funniest crack ever attributed to Tiger....  Like me, you might have heard that after 2009 they tore up the course...  Not so much, according to Ron:

Kite and Cupp were proud of their concept. Holes close to the harbor are links-like, with tall, wavy fescue grasses edging twisting bentgrass fairways. Away from the shoreline,

the motif changes to that of Central Park, with lush, manicured rough and 5,000 fully grown transplanted oaks, maples and evergreens. One par-3 green they'd fashioned in the manner of the tricky third green at Augusta National; another after a Donald Ross green at Pinehurst. They directed the longest holes into the wind, to keep them playing long. Two holes were deliberately aligned with the Statue of Liberty, just offshore. It can also be seen from several other holes. 

They were not pleased when Golf World anointed it Worst Course on Tour. Nor was the owner, Paul Fireman (of Reebok fame and fortune), or the PGA Tour, which had contracted for another Barclays in 2013. So in 2010, the course was remodeled by a PGA Tour Design Services team headed by architect Steve Wenzloff.

The media took that as affirmation of their previous condemnations and gleefully reported that 74 changes had been made to Liberty National's design. This was technically true, but most of the changes were insignificant: a greenside knob lessened, a cartpath moved, a fairway mowing line re-contoured. Three greens were totally rebuilt to lessen severity of slopes, and nine others had some contours softened. Two new fairway bunkers were added and six eliminated; hardly the stuff of wholesale redesign.

I do think those greens were a bit over the top initially, but I'd have liked him to make more of a case for the place architecturally....  It's also worth reading his description of the change to the routing to accommodate match play, completely unnecessary and unnecessarily confusing in my book.  

I really take issue with the logic that you want ensure that all matches reach a certain stretch of holes....  Assuming that the finishing holes are worthy (whatever that means), don't you want those holes to determine the outcome of the best, closest matches.  As for the 5&4 routs, does it matter what holes they do or don't play?

Swatton Flies - A nice profile of axed looper Colin Swatton by Tim Rosaforte:

There was nobody happier to see Jason Day shoot 64 in the opening round of the BMW

Seems like an eternity ago, no?

Championship than Colin Swatton, and not because it made the swing coach look good. It made Jason Day look good, and that’s what their relationship has always been about. 

“I am thrilled,” was Swatton’s response after only the second tournament he wasn’t on Day’s bag in 11-plus years. How did Swatton handle it? What did he do? He watched the telecast and followed along on Shot Tracker. He helped neighbors clean their property on Hilton Head Island that in parts were completely underwater. And he texted back and forth with Jason after his round: “Will do the same after today’s round,” he responded Friday morning in a text. 

So much has changed, yet so much has remained the same. Swatton will remain part of the Day camp, which is a rarity for displaced caddies in tour golf. He will still be Day’s instructor, and that is a unique relationship, just as their relationship has always been unique.

It's a nice read about two good people, but it's also exactly what each of us expected of the two.

The iShank Shuffle -  Josh Sens has some fun on a slow golf/Apple product release day in melding the two, creating Apple products targeted at golfers:

3. THE ISUCK7

Golfers are notorious for self-flagellation. This handheld, lithium powered 4G device does the job for you, gleefully reminding you how bad you are. 

4. THE MACBOOK O’GRADY AIR

An ultra-thin, lightweight laptop with an operating system so whacky no one can figure out how it functions.

11. SE-RI

Not to be confused with Siri, these space-age talking head covers in the likeness of South Korean great Se-Ri Pak dole out concise, often witty, game-improvement advice.

Of course, I'm a sucker for any Mac O'Grady references.... 

Integrity, Why Start Now? - Shack performs an old-school Fisking of this PGA Tour press release:

PGA TOUR implementing new Integrity Program in 2018 

Genius Sports to monitor global betting markets, provide educational services

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (September 18, 2017) – The PGA TOUR has announced that it will implement a new Integrity Program effective January 1, 2018, to protect its competitions from potential outside influences related to gambling. 

While the TOUR has a longstanding policy prohibiting players from betting or related activities at TOUR-related events, the new Integrity Program is more comprehensive. It will cover all facets of competition and operations on the six Tours overseen by the PGA TOUR, including players and their support teams, all tournament staff and volunteers, the entire PGA TOUR staff and the PGA TOUR Policy Board.

But Commissioner Ratched had informed me that ours is a game played by gentlemen and that there's nothing to see here....

Ryan Rodenberg explains:

The PGA Tour's move is similar to other U.S.-based sports leagues who have increasingly entered into related arrangements in the gaming sector. Such moves are widely seen as helping sports governing bodies be better positioned for potential widespread legalization of sports gambling domestically. 

"Protecting the integrity of sport has never been of greater importance and it requires forward-thinking organizations such as the PGA Tour to proactively invest in both proven technology and education," said Genius Sports executive Mark Locke in the same release.

As long as it doesn't affect the Tuesday money games....