Weekend Wrap

Wow, do we have a lot to cover...  Put on another cup of coffee, clear your calendar and instruct your secretary to hold all calls....

JT in Full - It turns out that he's more than Jordan's Spring Break buddy:

For most of the front nine, it seemed as though this was destined to be Spieth's day. 

When the world No. 2 got off to a preposterous birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie start, he

actually found himself in possession of the outright lead, two shots clear of his longtime buddy Thomas. 

Then it seemed like the event was Leishman's to win. The affable Aussie effortlessly birdied four of the first five holes and made a neat up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 7th to take the lead back from Spieth. When a nine-footer for birdie caught the edge on the 9th, he turned in six-under 30 and two shots clear of Spieth and Thomas, who had shot four-under 32. 

"I got off to a pretty good start and it was like I wasn't even there," said Thomas, who had gone from the hunted to the hunter. 

But Leishman stumbled with bogeys on the first three holes of the back nine, and Spieth made two bogeys of his own to leave the door open.

So are the days of Jordan as a great frontrunner over?  He's seeming a little hinky in the lead the last couple of weeks, no?

The Tour Confidential panel takes on the weighty issue of ranking his season:

1. Justin Thomas picked up his fifth victory of the season by winning the Dell Technologies Championship on Monday at TPC Boston. So, with five wins — including a major — and a 59 and 63 to boot, where does JT's season rank among the best of the post-Tiger era?

Silly question for sure, as those five wins cover what most would consider at least two seasons.... 

Jeff Ritter: Does Tiger's five-win season in 2013 count as the post-Tiger era? Either

way, since ‘09, when TW won six times but also got Yang'd, I'd slot JT third behind Spieth's five-win, two-major 2015 season and Rory from 2012, when he won a major and the money title on both the PGA and European tours.

Sean Zak: I really don't get as worked up about the 59 and 63 as everyone else seems to, but I do get excited about not just the wins but also the near-wins JT has had: T5 in Mexico, T4 at Jack's event, T9 at the U.S. Open and another top-10 finish at the first playoff event. Dude has played big-time golf in just about every big-time event this year. That being said, he'd probably need another win to vault over the aforementioned Day, Spieth, Rory (x2) seasons.

Let's remember that those early wins include Malaysia and the Hawaiian sweep.   Wins are important and there's no doubt that he's made a huge step forward this year, but even his major had the feel of being second rate...  For a major, I mean.

A couple of fave moments you might have missed....  First, a cameraman who maintains situational awareness at all times.  Next, remember Sergio and his new Era of Good Feeling....  Yeah, no longer operative, it seems, as he's now trying to channel his inner Robert Streb:

Sergio Garcia had to do things the hard way for the majority of his third round at the Dell Technologies Championship. 

Garcia was just off the green and putting for eagle on the short par-4 4th hole Sunday, but after an underwhelming eagle roll he slammed his putter and broke it. But the Masters champ wasn't stumped. At least not on that hole. Since he could no longer use the broken club — he didn't damage it during the course of play, therefor was not allowed to replace it — Garcia took out his 3-wood and calmly rolled in a 14-foot putt for birdie.

There's video at the link and the rest of the day went about as you'd expect...  Ironically, I played yesterday with a guy that's the spitting image of Robert Streb.

Karma Kamelion -  Who knew this was all she needed to do to get that elusive next "W"?

Stacy Lewis made a big promise, and she delivered in a major way. 

Lewis closed with a three-under 69 to win the Cambia Portland Classic on Sunday,

meaning her entire first-place check of $195,000 will be donated to Houston relief efforts as the area recovers from Hurricane Harvey damage. 

The 32-year-old Lewis grew up in The Woodlands, just outside of Houston, and still lives in the area with her husband, Gerrod Chadwell, who is the University of Houston women's golf coach. On Wednesday Lewis tweeted that she would donate her entire check from this week's event toward Houston's recovery—and then she went out and ended a long slump, winning for the first time since June 2014. It's her 12th LPGA victory overall.

It's a really nice story and all credit to Stacey for her generous spirit, though we'll all agree that that first prize purse is embarrassingly low.

Ron Sirak tweeted out a link to his item on Stacey from the lead-in to the KPMG-Lpga event:

Lewis is a shining example to all players of how to give back to the game. Since 2014, she has been one of the tour’s player ambassadors for LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, the grow-the-game program that now has more than 60,000 girls across the globe. And Lewis, a proud grad of the University of Arkansas, has been an outspoken advocate of staying in school, championing both the value of an education and the experience gained from women’s college game.

Lewis was also instrumental in creating the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational, a unique American Junior Golf Association event in which boys and girls compete at the same venue. It was held last week in Fayetteville, Ark., the week of the LPGA Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

All good stuff.  As long as she steers clear of the "We're just as good as the men" whining we saw a few months ago, I'm a fan.

Better yet, her sponsor KPMG matched her contribution, and Marathon Oil kicked in a cool mil as well... As for KPMG, it's the least they could do for making us watch this repeatedly:

Wally's Kid, Finally - It turns out that he's more than just Brooks' buddy:

Peter Uihlein won the Web.com Tour Finals-opening Nationwide Children's Hospital

Championship on Sunday to earn a PGA Tour card. 

Uihlein closed with a 6-under 65 on Ohio State's Scarlet Course to beat former Buckeyes player Ryan Armour by a stroke. 

Uihlein earned $180,000 to wrap up a PGA Tour card as a top-25 finisher in the four-event series. The 28-year-old former Oklahoma State player from Massachusetts has played four seasons on the European Tour, winning the 2013 Madeira Islands Open. He entered the week 12th in the European Tour's Race to Dubai.

It's taken him longer than expected, but I suspect that he's enjoyed the ride more than most.

Prez Cup Permutations - I know, it's hard to contain our excitement....  So, this guy exhibited steely nerves in laying his way onto the team:

Kevin Chappell had done all he could on Monday in his last-ditch effort to qualify for the Presidents Cup. An even-par 71, with a bogey-6 on the final hole, during the final round

at TPC Boston left him in a tie for for 35th in the Dell Technologies Championship. It dropped the 31-year-old roughly five spots down the leader board from the start of the round, but the question was whether it had cost him enough points to keep him from leaping from 11th to 10th on the qualifying list and grabbing the last of the 10 automatic spot on the squad. 

Winner at the Valero Texas Open in May, Chappell decided there was no need to stick around to find out; he’d learn the answer soon enough. So it was that he was heading to the airport when PGA Tour officials reached him to let him know the good news, that he had squeaked inside the bubble by .23 points and will be playing for the American side at Liberty National later this month.

Yeah, that's one way to look at it....  I'm guessing that needing a par on the easiest hole on the golf course to get it done, he got out of Dodge as quickly as possible after that rather queasy bogey....

As for the current state of play:

Chappell’s good fortune proved Charley Hoffman’s undoing, as he fell from 10th to 11th after finishing T-47 at TPC Boston. He’ll now have to rely on the kindness of U.S. captain Steve Stricker using one of his two wildcard picks on him when he rounds out the 12-man lineup on Wednesday night. Working in Hoffman’s favor is the fact he has had two runner-up finishes and seven top-10 performances in 2017, seemingly finding himself in the hunt every week this summer despite not actually winning a title.

That's what Charley does, and Chappell as well.... We have Charley, Brian Harman and that Phil guy in the hunt for two available Captain's picks....  Brian Wacker goes all-in on Phil:

Quick, name two players not named Phil Mickelson who you would take as captain’s

picks for this year’s Presidents Cup team? 

Better yet, name two players not named Mickelson you’d rather watch in the biennial matches this September at Liberty National? 

I’ll wait. 

OK, good. That didn’t take long, did it? 

Yes, Mickelson hasn’t won since the 2013 British Open, a drought longer than Tiger Woods’. Yes, he has just three top-10 finishes in his last 24 starts. Yes, he’s 46. 

Do I care? No. 

Should you care? Also no.

Silly me, I thought the objective was to win....  The TC panel tackles this one, and it's not quite the Phil-phest you'd expect:

Ritter: I loved the guts Harman showed at the U.S. Open. Pair him with Phil to round out the squad. 

Passov: Phil did exactly what he needed to do in Boston this week to convince captain Stricker that he was rounding into form. Given the experience and locker room lift Mickelson brings, let's go with him—and with Charley Hoffman. Eleventh is more deserving than 12th for that final spot, and while both Hoffman and Harman might be deserving for various reasons, it just seemed like Hoffman was in the hunt early and often at every major. He's due for a spot on a U.S. team. 

Sens: Maybe I'm getting jaded in middle age, but I'm having a hard time getting too worked up about this decision. If we're going with TV ratings and gallery interest, you've got to go with Phil. But I'm hoping Stricker abides strictly by the numbers and picks Hoffman and Harman. It appeals to my sense of fairness, and my interest in seeing a couple of fresh faces in the format. 

Zak: I'm not into handouts and I'm also not into one-tournament overreactions. (Sorry, Uncle Phil.) Hoffman has been sooo solid! Just one missed cut in his last 19 events, so he's earned it in my book. As for the last slot, give me the much-less volatile Jason Dufner, who has plenty of experience, as if that's even necessary to beat the little brother Internationals.

The Duf abides!  There's zero chance that Strick will leave Uncle Phil off the roster, so it's either of the "H" boys.   Harman is the better putter, so I'd go that direction....But, surprisingly, Strick hasn't called to solicit my thoughts....

Finally, a Name For It - I've been telling anyone who'll listen about the next scandal to break on Tour, but have struggled to find a catchy name for it.  Finally, via Shack, we have it:

Backstopgate

It's grow on you.... trust me.  Geoff actually calls it backstopping/sideborading at one point, but we can agree that's a little awkward to drop into a conversation.

Are you wondering at this point what the heck I'm ranting about?  Then take a look at this screen shot from the Euro Tour:

By all means follow the link and watch the video, but for now focus on the location of the playing partners' golf balls.  All players are obligated to protect the field, but leaving these balls unmarked can only provide benefit to this player in the bunker.

At the risk of losing all readers, it's time to quote the rules:

So, what is their rationale for leaving such balls on the green to assist their playing partners?  Make sure there are no liquids nearby, because it's a howler....  Yup, pace of play.  These guys are so determined to stay on their time-par, that they can't be bothered marking their balls.  I know, Ben Crane could not be reached for comment....

Brandel Chamblee had an interesting back-and-forth on Twitter, but gets it right:

More than a little, I'd say.

Shack, who has owned this issue, predicts where this ends, in tears of course:

Here's the bad news: as this strange, buddy-buddy, backscratching practice picks up steam, someone will stand fifteen feet from his ball, watch his ball get hit by another player who then makes par instead of bogey. That player will ends up winning a tournament by a shot or costing someone his card and will be publicly shamed. His reputation might even be ruined. And all for just doing what everyone does every day on the tour because that's how they play the game out there. 

And play will still be slow. This practice might be cutting 20-30 seconds a round. 

Yet guys will still mark 18 inchers to not step in a through line, but they'll leave their ball down 18 inches from the hole to help out a buddy who might help them later in the round.

This is an issue worthy of Jay Monahan's attention, because it really does shine an unpleasant light on the lads....  Better to head it off before it affects the outcome of a big-time event.

You Spelled Only Incorrectly -  Shack with the silly header:

PGA Tour Makes The Right Call To Stick With The Current Network TV Deal Through 2021

Silly because there were no other options available to the Tour.  The rights fee bubble has burst, and CBS and NBC were not going to be bluffed into paying more to get out of bad contracts.

Header aside, Shack does a fine job of summarizing the media landscape, including this:

—Our Future Is Not Quite Here Yet. Many believe streaming is the future and cord cutting will collapse the cable model, but has any major sports property said goodbye to

guaranteed network or cable money to take their chances with disruptive mediums? Golf should be about the last sport to do so because…

—The Audience Is Not Ready. While many younger fans are prepared to watch golf via streaming, a majority of golf’s demographic still watches via cable. That demographic hurdle is not changing fast enough to justify taking a tour event away from a network and putting it on Amazon or YouTube or Twitter. Unless the tour is in the business of setting precedent over making money for its players.

I'm not sure it ever will be....  The logic is that because golf tournaments take place spread out over the entire canvas of the course, it provides great opportunities for specialized streaming content.   That's true, sort of.... It's more true on Thursdays and Fridays, but who really cares?  I know, feature group coverage will draw some eyeballs at the majors, but a.) the Tour contract doesn't cover these, and ; b.) Will anyone pay for that?

Perhaps this is the most telling point:

—Alignment Possibilities. There is a lingering bitterness over the sense that the PGA

Tour left money on the table by locking into Golf Channel through 2021—a deal many saw as just as big of a risk for Golf Channel at the time. This rage clouds the thinking of many who disregard how simple it is for fans, bartenders and anyone with a cable package to find PGA Tour golf on a Thursday, Friday or weekend morning. But as the media world changes, not opting out allows the PGA Tour to gain a few more years of perspective and data. In two years they can better align possible weekday partners with weekend partners in a new deal or spend hundreds of millions starting their own channel. Or, pursue different terms with Golf Channel that can serve as an anger-management soother for Ponte Vedra’s disillusioned Vice Presidential core. Win-win!

Just the fact that they think they got taken is madness.... I just don't know who besides Golf Channel would even want it, much less write a big check for it.  I think Geoff makes a really important point about knowing where to find it, especially given the USGA's Fox disaster.  So many golf nerds, pro shops and bars have the TV set to Golf Channel, and there's gold in that....

My guess is that Jay Monahan is too smart too fall into this trap, but no doubt 2021 will be an interesting year.

I've got more, notably our Walker Cup previews, but we'll hold those over until tomorrow.