Tuesday Trifles

It's a big day in our little game...

He's Baaaack - Polish up those Big Cat Bingo boards, because that guy is back.  Not back like at The Safeway we hope, but you get the drift:

The wait is over. 

Tiger Woods is playing the Hero World Challenge. 

Woods tweeted at 5 p.m. ET Monday that he'll make his return to competitive golf at next month's Hero World Challenge, which will be his first start since February. 

"I am excited to return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge," Woods said on his website. "Albany is the perfect setting and it will be great to join this outstanding field. I want to thank Pawan Munjal and Hero MotoCorp for their continued support of this tournament and my foundation. I would also like to thank the fans for their unwavering support during my injury."

We're in a generous mood, so we'll add bonus points for displaying actual humor in the announcement:

No word on the length of the deliberations of the Committee of 1, but that Berger guy was a no-brainer....

Will Gray was of a like mind:

To his credit, Woods appears to have used his time away from the game to turn over a

new, self-deprecating leaf. He grinned his way around Liberty National as an assistant captain and displayed a level of self-awareness with his “return of the stinger” tweet last week that would have seemed out of place a decade ago. 

Even Monday’s announcement included a reference to the “committee of 1” which granted Woods, the tournament host, an exemption specifically reserved for the tournament host. 

The thought of a largely healthy Woods returning to action is tantalizing enough, but for that same player to be willing to have a little fun while trying to keep up with players half his age? The internet has combusted over less.

Oh heck, I've got the Internet combusting over far less below.... 

But Will also makes this important point:

Don’t discount the allure of making his much-anticipated return in the highly-controlled environment of Albany. With an 18-man field, unofficial stakes, sparse crowds, limited media and a forgiving course with which he’s familiar, there are plenty of reasons to circle this particular week, even if he seems to be progressing ahead of any discernible schedule.

Methinks it's that small field that's the key, because it eliminates the early morning tee times.  If you've ever had a cranky back, you'll know what a 7:30 tee time in January can feel like.

Shack is buying, and I never realized what a cheap date he is:

That’s why I’m buying stock in Woods this time around. He’s not posting video of his swing on social media because he wants to sign a new endorsement contract. He appears to legitimately feel good about his body and place in the game. Woods is acting like someone excited to be getting back on the course.

I’m also buying because golf desperately needs to rekindle a longtime tradition of the game: older champions competing against new blood. We’ve been deprived of a generational showdown a la 1960 at Cherry Hills, where young gun Jack Nicklaus, superstar Arnold Palmer and legend Ben Hogan converged in a final-round showdown. Woods the historian knows that no matter how far the kids hit the ball today, the list of major venues in the next five years will still reward a wise and clever player.

OK, but I'm guessing that the Vegas odds won't be to anyone's liking...  And all those folks that bought this time last year got burned.

And to his credit, Shack posts these Jason Sobel cautionary words on his blog:

Woods made a similar return from injury at this same event last year, finishing in a share of last place among those who completed four rounds, but in a tie for the tournament lead in birdies with eventual champion Hideki Matsuyama. 

A month later, Woods missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, which was followed by the withdrawal in Dubai a week later.

The enduring mystery of the last cycle remains that the guy we saw at Albany wasn't the same guy that showed up at Torrey.  If I wasn't clear above, the concern is that the Hero is such a soft landing that he might be rushing things....

He's Baack, Part II - Not the big Him, of course, but significant all the same:

Europe’s chances of regaining the Ryder Cup have been given a major boost by Paul Casey’s decision to rejoin the European Tour. 

Casey has confirmed he will take up his European Tour membership at the start of next year after a three-year absence. He will make his first start in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, a tournament he has won twice (2007 and 2009). It will be his first European Tour start since the 2015 BMW Masters. 

“As hard as it was trying to make it work three years ago – struggling with my game, dropping out of the top 50 – I have missed it (the European Tour) too much,” Casey said. “I have missed my contribution to English golf, British golf, my contribution to Europe.”

His contribution to Europe?  I guess he's a Remain dead-ender....  Joshing aside, he belongs on the Euro Ryder Cup team, despite the acrimony remaining from not being a Captain's pick by Colin Montgomerie in 2010 despite being in the Top Ten in the OWGR.

Millennials Heart Agrihoods - This story has me oh so confused:

Millennials are saying "so long" to the country club and "hello" to the farm. 

Many so-called agrihoods — short for "agricultural neighborhoods" — are cropping up around the US, and they're aimed at farm-to-table-loving millennials. 

Loosely defined by the Urban Land Institute as master-planned housing communities with working farms as their focus, agrihoods have ample green space, barns, and outdoor community kitchens. Some boast greenhouses and rows and rows of fruit trees. The homes are typically built to high environmental standards — think solar panels and composting. 

Agrihoods are designed to appeal to young, active families who love to eat healthy and spend time outdoors — and they're not off the grid.

It appears that agrihoods are, in fact, a thing, and there are some 150 of them already....

The confusion is that this only applies to those millennials that have, in fact, moved out of their parents' basement....  So that 150 might be the high-water mark.

Golf, Explained to the Internet -  As noted above, the Internet melts down about every five minutes over nonsense, more often than not Trump-related.

Sam Weinman with just the latest version:

Sorry, Internet, but Donald Trump might not be cheating at golf in this video

 As if you need to know more, but here' the skinny:

Here's the clip in question of Trump playing golf over the weekend in Virginia, as captured by NBC's Kelly O'Donnell. It shows Trump missing a putt, then trotting after his ball to pick it up before it stops.

Could this be the most overt display of golf cheating ever captured of a sitting president? At the risk of disappointing hot takers and conspiracy theorists everywhere, probably not. 

Although it's possible that Trump's warped version of golf scorekeeping allows him to take a free run at every putt with universal assurance that the next one is good -- it's his golf course, dammit! -- the more likely scenario is less dramatic. Instead, it's very possible that Trump was in a match where he needed to make the first putt for him to factor into the hole at all. And when he missed, as is customary, he just decided to get out of the way by picking up his ball.

If only Kelly O'Donnell worked at a network that had some familiarity with our game.... Video is at the link, but I think we can safely move on.

Golf is Cool - So says an acknowledged arbiter of cool, per the completely cool Jaime Diaz:

Haskins' skill set and connections would have served him well in any number of endeavors. Improbably—some might say quixotically—and definitely idealistically, for

the past two decades he has focused on the world of golf. 

As the founder of a tournament and former PGA of America senior director of diversity and multicultural initiatives, Haskins has put himself on the forefront of the struggle to increase the presence and prominence of African-Americans in golf. 

"I love the game and its history, and I love black people," says Haskins, 49. "I know all three of those entities become valuable to the world the more they intersect. And that's what I try to do."

I love all people, but that's not important now....

But this is why the golf is dead meme is so silly:

The golf landscape seemed more promising in 2000, when Haskins began his tournament. He had begun playing only two years before, after his curiosity had been piqued by NBA players' conversations. "So often, it was all about golf, where they had played or were going to play next, some idea about the golf swing," he says. "I was surprised—they were clearly doing it all the time."

Everything seemed more promising in 2000, at least until that butterfly ballot and the like.  But cool people love our game....  others will follow.  Give it a read....

When Ryan Met Tiger -  A great piece that ties together two of this week's storylines:

The pair squared off in the final at the 1993 U.S. Junior Amateur, played at Waverley

Country Club in Portland, Ore., with Woods looking to capture his third straight junior title. Armour came in determined not to fall prey to what had happened the year before.

Then 17 years old, Armour was all square in the final match with Woods with four to play. The Ohio kid proceeded to drain a 40-footer for birdie at the 15th to take a 1-up lead, and when Woods shockingly missed a 4-footer for par at the next, Armour was dormie-2. 

As Sports Illustrated reported at the time, Armour had a plan to finish things out: “I thought, ‘Two pars and the national title is yours.’ ” 

If you’re sensing this is where the tale might’ve turned … good instincts.

No spoiler alert required, as you know how it turned out....  The only thing missing is a photo of the lads from the Wabac Machine.

'Tis the Season -  For regrettable costumes, that is:

That's Peter Uihlein and girlfriend Chelsea Gates doing the Teenage Mutant Ninja thing.....  The dogs look appropriately puzzled.

Weekend Wrap

I'm guessing that you didn't even notice that I wasn't here on Friday....

Shanghai Surprise - We've discussed recently how strange Golf in the Middle Kingdom can be, but this is really too much:

Dustin Johnson struggled from the 1st tee on Sunday in Shanghai, opening with a bogey, and several hours later his six-shot lead had disappeared. 

Justin Rose started the day eight shots off the lead and with a slim chance to knock off the leader, but he closed with a five-under 67 to win the WGC-HSBC Champions after Johnson failed to make a birdie and shot 77. During the entire 2016-17 season, Johnson shot that score or worse just twice on Tour. 

"I felt fine all day," Johnson said. "I just could never get anything going and didn't hole any putts. It was pretty simple." 

It was a rough day for the World No. 1. The six-shot lead he squandered tied the PGA Tour record for the largest lead lost entering a final round. It's the first time it happened since Sergio Garcia lost the 2005 Wells Fargo Championship in a playoff to Vijay Singh, and it's the second time it's happened to a World No. 1.

Well, don't keep us in suspense....

The other? Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters.

The Tour Confidential panel was asked which was the more surprising, DJ's collapse vs. Rose's charge:

John Wood: I would definitely say DJ's stumble. Rose is a world-class player and his great back nine to win a tournament shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Although conditions were by far the most difficult of the week on Sunday, I don't think anyone could foresee DJ shooting 77.

Jeff Ritter: I certainly didn't expect the World No. 1 to cough up a six-shot lead. It wasn't a shock to see Rose make a Sunday charge, but the surprise of the weekend was his new goatee.

Do I have this right, you're shocked by DJ doing something stupid?  

As for the follow-up question, no need to copy-and-paste any of the responses:

2. Will this Sunday swoon scar DJ, or has he already forgotten about it?

Well, maybe just this one:

Sens: Without delving into too deep of a psychological study, let's just say that DJ does not seem like the type to dwell.

I'm so old that I remember when the conventional wisdom was that DJ is too stupid to feel pressure...

And lest you worry that this old dog dropping the bone, Shack has an epic backstopping tale from the event.  It's epic because we mostly focus on the need to protect the field, whereas in this case Henrik Stenson  can't be bothered to protect himself....  Wow, talk about your Stockholm Syndrome.  Boy these guys really do care about pace of play....  Give Geoff's post a read to understand my little bon mot...

Oh, and one last note for anyone taking any of the above seriously... are you familiar with Shugo Imahara?  

Shugo Imahira missed his tee time yet still cashed a nice check at this week's WGC-

HSBC Champions in Shanghai. 

Imahira didn't show up for his 10:35 a.m. starting time for Saturday's third round, so he was disqualified for the event. According to Golf Channel's Will Gray, Imahira missed his tee time because he had mistakenly seen the wrong starting time. 

So after rounds of 72 and 79, Imahira, the 98th-ranked player in the world, was done for the week. However, he still got a nice check, thanks to the lucrative — and no-cut — World Golf Championships events. He's walking away with last-place money, $43,000.

Heck, forget the proverbial alarm clock, that'll cover his new iPhone X.  But his caddie has some 'splainin' to do as well.... 

There Is Such a Thing - As bad publicity, that is....  This unfortunately is the only kind of story that gets golf wide exposure:

A high school girl topped the field in the Central Massachusetts Division 3 boys’ golf tournament earlier this week but was denied the victory because she's a girl, according to 

the Telegram. 

Emily Nash, a Lunenburg High School junior carded a 3-over 75 at at Blissful Meadows Golf Club on Tuesday, four shots better than anyone else, but she didn't get the first-place trophy and wasn't invited to next week’s state tournament because according to official MIAA rules, “Girls playing on a fall boys’ team cannot be entered in the Boys Fall Individual Tournament. They can only play in the Boys Team Tournament. If qualified, they can play in the spring Girls Sectional and State Championships.”

Blissful Meadows?  Not so much, as it turns out....Let's add this clarification from Emily's Dad posted on Facebook:

My first takeaway is to note how likable everyone involved seems....Especially that young man that offered Emily the trophy.  It's not like he won't hear about it from his peeps, but you'd almost get the sense that our game attracts (creates?) good folks.

My inclination was to tread lightly, until I read this from the organization involved:

The MIAA and its member schools congratulate all golfers on their performance at the recent fall sectional team golf tournament. In particular, the skill of the female golfer from Lunenburg was on display as she represented her personal ability and effort on behalf of the Lunenburg High School Boys Golf Team. The MIAA is proud to have her and her teammates participate and represent the 230,000+ student-athletes in our schools. 

The MIAA Golf Committee, with a membership of school representatives from each district in the state, has worked over the years to establish and manage both a boys and girls golf tournament. In the case of golf, these tournaments exist in two different seasons. The boys team and individual tournament has taken place in the fall and the girls team and individual tournament has taken place in the spring. During a sectional tournament round of golf, a golfer’s score is submitted for both an individual and team competition at each location. 

To offer an opportunity for team play to all MIAA member school students, female golfers have been welcomed to participate on a boys team in the fall if their school did not sponsor a girls golf team in the spring. Approximately 26 female golfers participated in 2017 fall boys golf tournaments. This opportunity has been met positively by many student-athletes and school programs. Given this team opportunity during the fall tournament season, it has been clear to participants that female golfers playing in the fall boys team tournament are not participating in an individual capacity. The individual tournament opportunity for female golfers takes place during the spring season. As stated in the official MIAA 2017 Fall Golf format, “Girls playing on a fall boys team cannot be entered in the boys fall individual tournament. They can only play in the boys team tournament. If qualified, they can play in the spring Girls Sectional and State Championships.” 

We congratulate Lunenburg’s female golfer on her performance and wish her continued success as she participates once again in the MIAA Girls Individual Golf Tournament in the spring of 2018.

Yowser, can you say tone deaf?  Bill Speros with the tip-in:

Well, that clears it up. 

Not so much. 

For one, her name is “Emily Nash” and not “Lunenburg’s female golfer.” 

But this sort of thing is typical for the MIAA, which carries a notorious reputation in the Bay State for an lacking common sense on multiple occasions.

Man, now I know where the term Masshole came from....

Tiger, The Plea -  Am I sick of this story.... forgive me if I just mail it in:

Tiger Woods pleaded guilty Friday to reckless driving in a deal that will keep him out of

jail as long as he stays out of trouble, resolving charges from an arrest last spring in which he was found passed out in his Mercedes with prescription drugs and marijuana in his system. 

Woods spoke only briefly during a hearing at a Palm Beach County courthouse, answering questions from a judge about his plea agreement. Prosecutors dropped a driving under the influence charge for the superstar golfer, and the judge warned him to behave. 

"This particular plea agreement has no jail time on it. However, if you violate your probation in any significant way, I could revoke your probation and then I could sentence you to jail for 90 days with a fine of up to $500, is that understood?" Judge Sandra Bosso-Pardo said.

I'm sure that potential fine is weighing heavily on his mind, but am I the only one surprised to see him show up in court in a friggin' T-shirt?  That alone should get him ninety days....

The TC panel was asked about any hangover (yeah, it was phrased more appropriately for them):

Ritter: I think Tiger is a prideful and private person. The DUI is another embarrassment, though not as devastating to his reputation as the sex scandal (but it's more dangerous to his health, and the health of other drivers). I think the DUI may distract slightly, but more than anything it could serve as fuel for this comeback attempt. That mugshot isn't how he wants the public to remember him.

Passov: Tiger is prideful and private, yes, and also smart. He'll learn exactly what he should from this, and move on, with a minimum of fuss. This won't affect his golf game and that's his focus now. We're so distracted and ADD-addled as a society that I don't even know if this reckless driving issue will ever come up in casual conversation among fans or among sponsors or clients who hire him to design courses.

Joe, passive-aggressive much?  I'm not quite as sure as you that Tiger will take away the right lessons from this, but I certainly hope that's the case.  But that last bit seems to lay the blame on us for Tiger being found behind the wheel with a cocktail of sixteen drugs in his system.... on us?  And "casual conversations" aside, would you offer Tiger much guaranteed money right now?

I don't know when he's coming back and neither does anyone else, or even if....  The only significance that I attach to the swing videos on social media is that he seems to be enjoying having a golf club in his hands again....Other than that, can we please give it a rest until ha actually enters a tournament?

My Kind of Story - This is why I invariably root for the old guy:

Ryan Armour isn’t the No. 1 ranked player in the world, nor does he have 16 PGA Tour titles to his name. So when the 41-year-old journeyman pro saw that Dustin Johnson, the

man who does carry those accolades, couldn’t hold on to a six-stroke lead at the WGC-HSBC Championsearlier in the day, he knew he couldn’t take anything for granted as he carried a five-shot edge over the field entering the final round of the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship on Sunday. 

Eighteen nerve-wracking—but career-affirming—holes later, Armour closed with a four-under 68 at the Country Club of Jackson (Miss.) to claim his first career PGA Tour triumph in his 105th start. And finally he could breath easier. 

“I’m tearing up. I’m not going to lie,” said Armour after posting a 19-under 269 to win by the same five-stroke margin. “There were some lean times. I thought about quitting, but my wife wouldn’t let me. Thank god. I love her. It goes back to have faith in what you do. You know if you believe in something, go do it, work hard at it and have fun doing it.” 

After a solid college career at Ohio State, Armour turned pro in 1999. He finally earned a PGA Tour card in 2007, but ever since the Ohio native has bounced back and forth between the big tour and Web.com Tour, a victory at the 2016 Web.com Tour’s Panama Claro Championship his lone triumph.

Face-timing while his son opened birthday presents at home, you have to love it....  But the DJ story was a great caution for him as well.  One moment in the sun for a gut that's been trying for ages.....

The Buck Stops Here - Joe Buck is an interesting guy and an avid golfer, though he does suffer from tone deafness occasionally.  Most notably his opening comments at that 2015 Open (which I haven't been able to find via Google) when he piled on NBC and then found out how difficult golf is to cover.  

This Q&A is mostly the engaging Joe:

You guys didn't necessarily dip your toes in the water. You had to dive right in with 

Memories....

the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. What were the biggest challenges? 

It was tough. But I'm not gonna sit here and make excuses. I'm really proud of what we did. I was working with a lot of people, not just Greg Norman, but a lot of people who were getting used to doing TV. And then this great [event] basically ended on a three-putt. And oh my God, Jordan Spieth just won the U.S. Open. So it was a lot to handle. I think if we were to do it now, as opposed to two years ago, we'd do it better.

Which everyone but you understood going in....  

From a broadcast perspective, what's the toughest part about calling golf? Because there are golfers out there, and if you're not saying it right, you're not gonna fool them. 

That's the big, scary monster in the closet: the really hardcore golf fan. So I find myself really taking my time and making sure that what comes out of my mouth is factually correct. Things happen way faster than you might think. I walk out of the tower at the end of the day ready to keel over. Compared to the other sports I cover, golf is way faster, way more intricate, and way more mentally taxing.

Remember, the Fox contract was supposed to bring football fans to golf.... Which would have been great, since they're not watching football any longer....

But this was the funniest bit to me, because Joe can't stop talking about all the great places that he gets to play..... or, in this case, places he's been told are great:

You were very close to your dad, legendary broadcaster Jack Buck. How much was golf a part of his life? 

My dad was an awful golfer, but he loved it. And I saw from a very young age what a release golf was for him. So once I started covering baseball and was on that tour, well, if you're in Houston for three days, you play River Oaks. If you're in Chicago, you go play Medinah. In San Francisco, you play Olympic. We set up a golf tour that Tim Finchem himself couldn't have set up. It was awesome.

Medinah?  Ever hear of Chicago Golf Club Joe?  Probably not.... 

An Unwoke Golf Club - The patrimony rears its ugly head:

Many golf courses have plaques on their property, commemorating holes-in-one, donations, or the passing of a regular at the club. (And, in some cases, events that never

happened.) Saddleback G.C. in Firestone, Colo. took this ritual to another level. 

The course, about 30 miles outside of Denver, installed a marker to pay tribute to quite the rarity: a man winning a marital dispute. According to 9 News, Josh Clay, the facilities manages at Saddleback, said a wife recently joined her husband for his usual game during "Old Turd Tuesday." Despite his objections, she decided to hop in the driver's seat and tried to maneuver past some other golf carts. One issue, according to Clay: “When she went to hit the brake, she accidentally hit the gas and confirmed her husband’s suspicions that she was not a very good driver." 

The woman proceeded to put the golf cart into a pond.

This outrageous display of male privilege will not stand...   I just pray that the offender, in addition to his toxic masculinity, did not commit the additional offense of being, you know, white....

Can you please direct me to the safe space at this club?

The Foot, Restored - Via himself, a wondreful video on the restoration of Winged Foot's greens:

Great stuff.  They certainly hired the right architect, as Gil Hanse has done some of the best restoration projects because his ego doesn't get in the way.

I especially loved the reference in the last segment to Clifford Wendehack and the concept of tying course architecture into the clubhouse.  This is timely for me, because this summer I've been to Mountain Ridge, hackensack and North Jersey, all featuring  clubhouses built by the guy that literally wrote the book.

Thursday Threads

Time is short, so just a few bits for y'all to gnaw upon....

Tanned, Rested & Ready - Yesterday I had this silly bit on golf mementos, and decided to go with Tiger and AK over a certain Aussie's Honolulu bar tab.  I know, but we all make foolish decisions in the heat of the moment.

But prayers are occasionally answered by our Great and Merciful God:

One month out from the Australian Open, Robert Allenby says he's on the cusp of a career renaissance after fending off legitimate intentions of retiring from golf this year.

His lines remain perfect.

The 46-year-old tees it up at this week's Sanderson Farms event on the US PGA Tour for his first tournament in almost two months. 

But the Victorian says he's glad to be playing at all after his most serious thoughts of quitting the regular men's tours. 

"I've been contemplating retiring a little bit. Slowing it down, maybe," Allenby said.

"I was thinking I'd take a couple years off (and) get ready for the Champions Tour at (age) 50. 

"But when golf has been your whole life, it's hard to stop."

Run, Forest, run!

It's certainly not his fault that he was abducted by aliens and left battered and bruised on that Honolulu street corner....  That kind of thing can happen to anyone.

That's a Thing Now? - We built a few too many golf courses, so I get that they have to be repurposed.  But who knew?

Agri-hoods are a hot trend. There are about 150 so-called farm-to-fork neighborhoods

around the U.S., says Ed McMahon, a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute. They’re as close as Rancho Mission Viejo in Orange County and The Cannery in Davis near Sacramento, and as far-flung as Serenbe in Chattahoochee Hills, Ga.; Willowsford in the rolling hills of Loudoun County, Va., and Kukui’ula in Hawaii, where Kaua’i residents can harvest guava, papaya and pineapples. 

“It’s a concept whose time has come,” said Paul Habibi, professor of real estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. “We’re increasingly looking to sustainability as an important objective in real estate development.”

Agri-hoods?   But this may be my favorite bit:

The Olive Oil Times, which touts itself as “the world’s No. 1 source for the latest olive oil news,” recently devoted a spread to the planned olive oasis. “Golf courses require a lot of water to stay lush and playable,” the story noted.

The Olive Oil Times?  That's some serious targeting..... Though amusingly we have good frineds in that very business.  They import oil made from their family property in Greece, and it's awfully good.

We'll Need Names - DJ was asked about the shot clock to be used on the Euro Tour, and he's in favor:

The European tour will debut the Shot Clock Masters in Austria next year in hopes of speeding up the pace of play, but will a shot clock come to the PGA Tour anytime soon? 

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is all for it. 

"Yeah, absolutely," he said on Wednesday, prior to the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, when asked if he would like to see a shot clock on the PGA Tour. "I think it would be very interesting. You'd see a lot of guys getting penalties on our Tour. Yeah, that would be quite fun, actually. I'd have plenty of time but there's a lot of guys that wouldn't. They would be getting a penalty on every hole."

 Every hole?  Even though they're leaving their balls unmarked because that would slow down play?

I'm more confident than DJ in mankind's ability to continue to adapt....  And if I'm wrong, Ben Crane's career is a small price to pay...

Alan, Asked - Mostly about Tiger, unfortunately.  From this week's mailbag:

"Over/under that 80% of the questions here will be Big Cat related? #askalan” -Jackson (@BiggieSchmahlz) 

Take the under, but just.

See what I mean? 

"How many times have you watched Tiger hit the stinger?" -Steve (@_SMisner) 

Five or six. That's about average, right? It's an intriguing swing, but what made the post so epic was how out-of-character it was. Tiger has no game on social media so to drop it in slo-mo, with a jaunty hashtag, well, no wonder the Internet melted.

OK, he's got a point about the jauntiness and slow-mo, but perhaps he's just toying with our emotions?

"In Dec '15 a buddy bet me $1K that Tiger would win on Tour in the next two years. I took the bet. After his latest video am I safe ? #AskAlan” -Rob (@robsausa) 

Put it this way: If I were you, I would proceed directly to the nearest champagne room.

That sound you hear is the fat lady warming her pipes....

"You get to pick Tiger's pre-Masters schedule. Assuming he's healthy enough, what events do you tell him to play?” -@Tildaddy 

That's a massive assumption, but I'll play along. If he can piece together a workable swing, the biggest challenge for Tiger is going to be scraping together some confidence, given the on-course horrors he's lived through over the last three years. So I'd go heavy on places where he has good memories: Torrey, Pebble, Riv. He needs another start ahead of Bay Hill, so why not a goodwill journey to Puerto Rico, if, in fact, that tournament goes forward. And I'd like to see him play Houston the week before the Masters—tournament reps are the most important thing right now.

OK, here's where our paths part.  I think Torrey and the West Coast swing (perhaps excluding Phoenix) are bad news because of the cold mornings.   But I like his PR thought, though I'd also like it if he dropped in on a warm weather Web.com event as well.

This guy needs to get a life for sure:

"Would Sergio putting the green jacket on Tiger be the greatest "trophy” ceremony of all time? -Matt (@M_Sand09) 

Well, given their twisted history, I'm actually thinking it might be a little awkward. But, were Tiger to win the Masters, it would be the greatest achievement in sports history. I mean, think how far he's fallen—all the surgeries, the public humiliations, the awful golf he's played since 2013…if he were to win the Puerto Rico Open at 41 it would be a crowning achievement. To win the Masters a decade removed from his last major championship triumph and do it as an average-length hitter with a deteriorating putting stroke and the chip yips lurking, well, that would be absolutely mind-boggling.

A little awkward?  But Tiger had to put the jacket on Phil in '06, and he survived.  sergio will put the jacket on somebody, but it's madness to think Tiger will be the one.

More Tiger:

"If Tiger never really makes any sort of comeback what role could he play going forward for the greatest benefit of the game? #askalan” -@wordofmouth_tv 

For the game, or humanity? I recently read that opioid overdoses have now surpassed car accidents as a cause of death in this country. The victims are mostly nameless and faceless. What if Tiger made this his signature cause, and used his considerable influence and energy and charisma to advocate for change? He's been to the precipice and stared into the void. He knows what havoc can be wrought by painkillers and prescription meds. Who better to talk honestly and openly about it? Obviously this would take Tiger out of his comfort zone, but that's how you know it's a good idea. Otherwise, he's just gonna keep building fancy golf courses and hanging out at Cups, which is of marginal help to the sport.

That's a good thought from Alan, but as I hinted at above, on a smaller scale I'd like to see him use his comeback to spread some goodwill within the game.  In that manner, if his play disappoints it'll be less....well, disappointing.  I know, you may call me a dreamer....

Will Tiger play in the Hero?” -Todd (@scottbrown198) 

Gawd, you people won't quit. My answer is, I hope not. A few weeks ago he was practically on bedrest. Why rush back to play, and potentially shatter what little confidence he has left? Of course, judging by this #AskAlan, there remains an insane amount of interest in the guy. So, selfishly, maybe Tiger should play, because that will certainly liven up the holiday season.

I assume Alan's reaction is to the timing, because it's actually not a bad set-up for him....  No early morning tee times and easy to make a bunch of birdies, as we saw a year ago.  

On non-Big Cat queries, there was this:

"As a fan, not a writer, do you care about the Fall Series?” -@tildaddy

I care more as a fan than a writer. It's nice to have some golf to watch whilst plopped on my couch, and I enjoy the live night-time action from Asia. But the tournaments are largely meaningless, and this lack of dramatic tension means they hold no appeal to write about.

I think he missed the correct answer, which is that the old Fall Finish was of greater interest.  Lesser names for sure, but playing for their careers and status, and that's far more compelling.

And lastly, this curiosity:

"Besides your published books, what is required reading for golf fiction? Top 5?” -Todd (@Titleist_TB) 

Solid brown-nosing! My five: 

1. Dead Solid Perfect, by Dan Jenkins

2. Golf in the Kingdom, by Michael Murphy

3. The Match, by Mark Frost

4. Missing Links, by Rick Reilly

5. Tommy's Honor, by Kevin Cook

Alan, what part of fiction do you not get?

Sorry folks, but gotta get on with my day.... 

Midweek Musings

It's a slow week.... In fact, it's gonna be on the slow side until mid-April.  But we'll do the best we can for you.

Venue Stuff - The USGA is on a classic kick, which continues with this news:

After visiting two new sites in the last three years, the men’s U.S. Open will continue visiting, for the foreseeable future, only its most classic sites. 

That much is clear as the USGA announced Tuesday the 2027 host for the event will be Pebble Beach Golf Links. That will mark the seventh time the Northern California course has hosted the event. The USGA also announced that Pebble will host the Women’s U.S. Open for the first time in 2023. 

"The USGA is committed to bringing our championships to golf’s greatest venues and the opportunity to have the best players in the world, female and male, compete at this iconic course will provide a fantastic showcase of the game," said USGA president Diana Murphy.

Can we bring Diana back in 2023 to award the trophy to Bethany Lang?  The biggest surprise here is that it took so long to get the ladies to Pebble...

Shack provide these takeaways from the announcement:

--This marks a 8-year turnaround to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open after most recently

going 10-years (2000-2010) and 9-years (2010-2019) between men's Opens.

--2027 will be year-one of the USGA's next television contract.

--This certainly rules out Olympic Club as a U.S. Open venue for 2027 and could suggest the Lake Course may have a PGA and Ryder Cup in its future.

--The USGA has cooled on new and unproven venues.

--If this is the makings of a rota with a few fun ones thrown in from time to time, it's quite a good rota!

That rota would be Oakmont, Shinny, Winged Foot and Pebble.  Not sure whether Torrey deserves rota status... Let me rephrase, it doesn't deserve it for anything other than the views, but whether it fits or not is an open issue (pun intended).

But the mots intriguing factoid is that we're already looking towards the post-Fox era in golf, perhaps.  Even though the Chambers Bay fiasco is fresh in our minds, I suspect the bigger issue in that being the first year of the new TV contract is that it's a prime-time broadcast.

On this very same subject, you might also be interested in Shack and Matt Adams picking a venue that is long overdue for a women's U.S. Open.  I was an advocate of Mike Davis taking the big boys there, but by the close of business it was obvious that they won't be returning anytime soon.  But they're correct, it's time.

And while not a major, Joe Passov has a piece on the Tour's newest venue:

Native Texan Ben Crenshaw captured the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in 1983. Thirty-five years later, a course he co-designed will host the event for the first time. Gentle Ben 

The Par-5 seventh.

and his design partner, Bill Coore, have rolled out a remarkable private spread called Trinity Forest on a sandcapped former landfill just 10 minutes south of downtown Dallas. The 400-acre track is treeless, but it's surrounded by the 6,000-acre Great Trinity Forest, creating an almost arena-like effect for golf. The quality of the architecture, the terrain and the infrastructure prompted sponsor AT&T and the PGA Tour to move the venerable Byron Nelson event there starting in May 2018, a shift that takes it from the cushy, suburban TPC Dallas Las Colinas (and the onsite Four Seasons hotel) to a somewhat grittier urban area. Opened to preview play in the fall of 2016, Trinity Forest's heaving canvas, ever-present winds, close-cropped, fast Zoysia fairways and firm, quick Champion Ultradwarf Bermuda greens will present pros with the most links-like test this side of the British Isles. And test them it will.

Not a moment too soon for this event, which faces an existential crisis with contraction on the horizon.  There are four events in Texas, two that are currently without sponsors.  One would think that one of those will be left without a chair when the music abruptly stops....

Instructor Stuff - An interesting addition to the Golf Channel announcing crew:

ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 24, 2017) - Cameron McCormick, 2015 PGA Teacher of the Year and long-time swing coach of three-time Major Champion Jordan Spieth, will become an official member of the team of expert instructors featured on Revolution Golf and Golf Channel. The announcement was made today during McCormick’s guest appearance on Morning Drive. 

Watch a clip from McCormick's appearance on Morning Drive here.

As part of the new multi-year relationship, McCormick will host his own instructional series – featured on both Revolution Golf and Golf Channel – where he will share with golfers the knowledge he has cultivated over a 20-year coaching career, along with his creative approach to incorporating a wider perspective on what it takes to improve golf performance. 

McCormick also will join Martin Hall, Sean Foley, Martin Chuck and Andrew Rice as featured faculty members on Revolution Golf, the largest direct-to-consumer digital platform in golf, which was added to NBC Sports Group’s portfolio in August. By connecting golfers of all skill levels to world-class instruction, Revolution Golf will feature the first series of instructional videos hosted by McCormick on the website before the end of the year. An accompanying DVD series is scheduled to be released in November.

Interesting mostly because of how quiet he and Spieth have been.  But time to monetize that reputation....

Golf Digest Editor Jerry Tarde submits a candidate for the Hall of Fame:

I couldn't find Butch Harmon in the World Golf Hall of Fame, so I went looking for

him. 

The last time I saw Butch, he was ranked No. 1 by his peers as the game's best teacher (view our latest ranking: 50 Best Teachers In America). The distance between him and the next best has grown like Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes. A better comparison might be Tiger Woods in the 2000 U.S. Open—he won by 15; Butch was coaching him at the time. Harmon, age 74, has been at the top of the biennial teacher ranking for the past 18 years. His run exceeds even Greg Norman's and Tiger's No. 1 World Golf Ranking stretch, so I'll stop right there in defending why he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Shack had this reax:

While I fully support his place in the Hall--after some early figures in the instruction and game development world get their due to ensure no recency bias--a Butch induction might force the players whose careers he made to show for the World Golf Hall of Fame ceremony! Maybe.

You're such a tease, Geoff.  You couldn't be bothered giving us a short list of names?

Butch is certainly a significant figure in our game, I'm just not sure about instructors in the Hall....  Though given how the bar has been lowered in recent cycles, why not?

Tarde has a fun Q&A with the always-interesting Butch at that link, and you'll want to read it.  Here's a tease:

WHAT ELSE WOULD WE LEARN FROM YOUR WIFE?

Christy is the only person in the world who calls me by my real name, Claude. She always says, "I can't call a grown man Butch." She doesn't go to golf tournaments because she says I have to be Butch Harmon at golf tournaments. She says, "You all know Butch Harmon, but when he comes home, he's Claude, and you wouldn't know him if you saw him." I'm a big softy. I cry watching movies. At home, I'm the complete opposite of my image.

Good stuff on Tiger, Phil, Hogan, Rory and DJ..... Oh, and dogs.

Tiger Stuff - I know, you're still over the moon at the return of the stinger....  Alex Myers is as well, and thinks it's time to play Big-Cat Bingo:

No Reps or Feels?  Hmmm....plus shouldn't the WD cover about half the board?  Just sayin'....

If you can't get your fill of The Striped One, this guy ranks the top 14 Tiger-Tweets of all time... I'm sure that 14 was just a coincidence, no?

But, spoiler alert, Mack Daddy Santa comes in at No. 2, making me question the integrity of the voting:

 C'mon, it had to have been the Russians!

Oh, and this matter is on it's path towards resolution:

UPDATE: The hearing where Tiger Woods is expected to enter a diversion program for intoxicated drivers has been postponed. 

The hearing has been moved to Friday instead of Wednesday as originally scheduled. No reason was given for the change. 

The 41-year-old superstar golfer is scheduled to plead guilty to reckless driving in Palm Beach County, Florida. 

In the diversion program, Woods will spend a year on probation, pay a $250 fine and attend DUI school along with other conditions.

The traditional Friday afternoon news dump?   

HSBC Stuff - There's something in the water over there, as this kick-off promo clearly demonstrates:

I do hope that's more than a nine-iron....  Just ask Elin, it's not enough club.And Henrik was chewing the scenery as well:

Don't miss this Golf Channel slideshow of previous crazy photo shoots, involving everyone who's anybody in our game.  Including this of Phil exploiting his white privilege:

I have it on good authority that chess is racist... Give it a scroll, as there's swords, kettle drums and even Paula as a Bavarian milkmaid.

Silly Stuff - Jeff Ritter has this promising header:

Mind games: 18 ways to fluster, frustrate and infuriate your opponent

You'll be shocked to know I have a quibble, as these two suggestions have no place on the same list:

3. CROWD THE TEE BOX

When your opponent tees off, stand a little closer than normal. It might make 'em sweat a little, and it's within the rules. 

4. PULL OFF A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE SHOT

A hooked 4-iron under tree limbs that runs through a bunker and across the green before settling four feet from the hole? Soul-crushing.

The latter is golf, the former is gamesmanship, i.e., cheating by other means....  And Y.E. Yang is proof that it doesn't always work, even if you're wearing a red shirt....

It's just a fun item, and his last suggestion is pitch perfect....  

Christopher Powers, a new Golf Digest hand (one of the items above is his as well), uses Spieth's gift of that 3-iron to Royal Birkdale to identify thirteen other golf mementos that deserve preservation.  Oh, the memories....

For instance:

Anthony Kim's 'AK' belt

Given how things played out, isn't AK himself the more important memento?

Jordan Spieth's divot from the 12th hole at the 2016 Masters

Which one?

And this deserves its own Hall of Fame:

The fire hydrant Tiger Woods' crashed into

As opposed to other hydrants that have significance in our game?  But please tell me that's the actual hydrant, otherwise I'll lose respect for the man.

Undercover Stuff - Some interesting bits in this from Golf Diget's Undercover Pro:

The smartest move I made last season was dropping my clothing deal. I was getting paid 15 grand a year to wear a particular brand, and it wasn't worth the aggravation. I've never 

been picky about clothes, but this stuff I genuinely didn't care for. The colors were a bit electric for my taste, and something about the fit of the sleeves was off—tight in the armpits. I'd receive a new box of 20 shirts and a dozen pairs of pants every few months, and with almost every other shipment there was an issue. A logo would be mis-stitched or in the wrong spot, or some of the clothes were the wrong size. They'd promise to fix it and deliver a new batch to my hotel right away. Two tournaments later, the box arrives ... on a Friday. 

A clothing deal for a very top player could be a million or more, but unless your name is Jason Day or Sergio Garcia, most of the clothing-only deals are worth about the same, which is low five figures. And unlike deals for clubs and balls, where you can unlock bonuses with high finishes and wins, the marketing budgets of most smaller clothing lines are fixed. Still, they're not shy about asking for multiple days of your time, either to shoot advertisements or do promotional events with their clients. I get that it's a tough business, but the objectives of these companies are sometimes hard to discern. Each is looking for a player whose image tells their brand's "story," whatever that means. Understandably, I guess, a lot of clothing companies would rather have their guy look good and play bad than the other way around.

Admittedly the very definition of a first world problem, but I'm still shocked at how little they get paid.  

More shocking still is that  he's happier wearing it for free.  

Tuesday Tastings

It's been a while since I've blogged for two consecutive days... Just think of me as the Chad Green of the blogosphere.  Too soon, Yankee fans?

Take Your Time - Evin Priest tells us that October is the month of introspection for Aussie golfers....  Shoot, I had guessed never....  And they have some mostly sensible things to say about our game's Number One Problem.  First, Geoff Ogilvy:

“There are probably eight parts to the answer of that question. But it’s clearly got to be focused on kids and I think it has to become more accessible to kids. Make it really,

really, really cheap for juniors. You should always give golf to kids for free. Range buckets should be cheap, too.

“The thing they do very well in the US is, if the dad is a member of a golf club, quite often the kids can go play – they’re members, too. That’s a pretty good deal. And going to watch pro golf tournaments? Anyone under the age of 18 should get a free ticket. That will encourage parents to let their kids play golf because that’d be a pretty cost-effective thing to do.

“I was so addicted when I was a kid because I had access. And is there a better place to drop your kids off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, considering the alternatives? Rather than the local shopping mall, terrorising the place. If they’re at the course, they’re hanging around generally respectable people learning how to behave around adults.”

I've always believed that caddying is a great job for the young 'uns, having to provide a service to a successful adult, and it doesn't hurt that it pays fairly well.

 This from Adam Scott is also a no-brainer:

“I think growing up on a par-3 course was really beneficial. When you’re 5 or 6 years old and the holes are 80 or 100 yards, you can actually play them. It’s very hard to get a young kid, even 10 or 11, to play a 420-yard par 4 – it just seems like an unattainable goal to get it into a tiny hole at the end of that.

Scott also talks about getting girls involved in the game, though one of the photos chosen seems more an inducement to young boys:

When signing isn't a mind-numbing chore....

 This is also good, if you can get past the source:

“Golf’s biggest challenge in the modern day is it just takes too long; young families with little kids don’t want to spend four, five or six hours on the golf course. They’d rather play a few holes and an hour is all they can possibly give up. Maybe if there were three-hole and four-hole loops on courses where they can go out for an hour and come back, they’d get on board. That’s how you can get introduced and fall in love with the game. And those who like it will transition into the 18-hole side."

That's of course none other than Jason Day, the man whose progress around the golf course can only be discerned through the use of time lapse photography.   But they mean well for sure....

All kidding aside, Aussie golf is a different animal, and I highly recommend this Shack piece from a few years back for those trapped at home by the biblical storms today.  Some of the course maintenance practices are truly interesting, especially the bunkers and greens.  Good stuff for a bad day....

A Solution at Hand - The Euro Tour will seemingly try anything, and God Bless them for that....  We had previously noted their intention to use a shot clock at their Austrian event, but Alistair Tait has more details for us:

Every player will be timed on every shot in Austria. The other big difference from

GolfSixes is that the event will use the Tour’s official timing policy. Each player in the 120-man field will have 50 seconds for the first player in a group, with 40 seconds for subsequent players. A one-shot penalty will be handed out to players going over the time limit, and a red card will appear beside their name on the leaderboard. 

The Tour is hoping to cut three-ball timings down to four hours, and two balls down to three hours and 15 minutes. 

“The 2018 Shot Clock Masters will be a fascinating addition to our schedule next year,” European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said. “Not only will it help us combat slow play and reduce round times, it is also further evidence of our desire to embrace innovation.”

They've actually named it the Shot Clock Masters....  Who's the sponsor, Casio?  And who do we write to get Ben Crane a sponsor's exemption?

Read of the Day - Guy Yocum with a fascinating deep dive into the green reading technology that has piqued the USGA's interest.  Spoiler alert:  If you think this is helpful to pace of play, think again....

First a primer on the technology:

To start, green maps are modern technology at its most advanced, on a par with launch monitors, swing-analysis tools and club and ball technology. The process begins by

placing an optical scanning laser directly on or close to the green. Some scanners cost about $120,000 and are used to take impressions of oil rigs, industrial spaces and even car-accident scenes. The unit shoots a laser beam at a mirror that is spinning rapidly within the housing of the device. Millions of beams, reflected by the mirror, are projected onto the landscape of the green, scanning as the device rotates to encompass the entire surface. As each beam is redirected at the green, it is measured precisely. Very precisely. Minute differences in height are measured and fed into storage. Typically, three million to four million bits of data are collected, all in the 10 minutes it takes to scan a green. 

"The lasers can easily pick up a small coin from 100 feet away," says Michael Mayerle, president of JMS Geomatics, the company that measures courses for the PGA Tour's ShotLink program. "Discerning green height is well within its capacity. But when we shoot at an area that is on a plane similar to the scanner perched atop a tripod—a sharp falloff at the front of a green, say—we'll move the device and shoot the green from an additional angle." 

Once the data is collected, it is placed on an electronic template, or outline of the green. Mark Long, for many years the caddie for Fred Funk, is a green-mapping pioneer who has provided maps for the majority of PGA Tour players through his company, Tour Sherpa Inc. (examples are at longyardage.com). Long carefully measures the dimensions of the green using a GPS device, creates the outline, then uses special software to express the laser-scan data as the arrows, contours and sometimes numbers you see on a green map.

Shockingly, when the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith codified the original rules of golf in 1744, they failed to anticipate this eventuality.... No foresight!

The use of these books may also surprise:

That leads to the next aspect, which is how players and their caddies actually use the 

Name the green if you can...It's a Sunday pin.

books. There is great variation here. The presumption, born out by what we see on TV, is that players and/or their caddies use them strictly on the greens. But Dustin Johnson points out that he uses them primarily from the fairway. "When you see us checking our yardage book, we're usually looking at the green [map] just as hard," he says. "I want to know where the straight putts are. And I really want to know how the ball is going to kick after it lands." 

Jordan Spieth is largely in the fairway-use camp, too. "He's looking not only at the slope where the ball will land and bounce, but sometimes even the grain so he knows how the ball will run out," says his teacher, Cameron McCormick, as Spieth hit balls on the range at TPC Boston. But Spieth and his caddie, Michael Greller, clearly use them on the greens. There was an instance earlier this year where Spieth, who frequently thinks out loud, was overheard saying as he approached a putt, "Trust the book . . . trust the book!" Zach Johnson also is a green-map reader from the fairway. "Putting is one of my strengths, and I want to leave myself as straight a putt as I can," he says.

 Stewart Cink, one of the more thoughtful guys out there, covers the PoP issue:

Ah, the pace-of-play issue. We referenced earlier how Dustin Johnson spent an additional 20 seconds consulting his green-map book on the 18th green at the Northern Trust. That decisive putt notwithstanding, tour players have not routinely surpassed the 40 seconds allowed on a putt per tour guidelines. "As I've gotten used to the books and what to look for, I'm referencing them much more quickly," Cink says. "I rarely look at a map for more than a few seconds, but it's a legitimate concern. Those small time blocks can add up." He adds, with a laugh, "If you see us going to the book on our third putt, it's time to call us out." 

Long and Charleston say that everyday amateurs having green information immediately makes the maps a timesaver. "You're going to see less walking up to the hole and back on 60-footers, less plumb-bobbing and pacing around in general," Charleston says. Adds Long: "There are presentations coming in map designs in the very near future that unequivocally will speed up play."

Color me skeptical on that last bit, but it's an existential issue for the 21st century.  We've always drawn a distinction between factual information and advice, and this seems more the former....  Yet, there's this:

Among players on the PGA Tour, Adam Scott, Ian Poulter, Lucas Glover and Luke Donald have gone on record as disliking them. Scott and Poulter have said they should be banned. The art of putting has been lost, Poulter tweeted in March. If you can't read a green, that's your fault. He also said they slow down play. But Duplantis says that each of those players—or at least their caddies—use or have used them. And it can be noted that Poulter, after winning the WGC-Match Play in 2010, later tweeted about how "useful" the green books had been.

I must confess that I feel strongly both ways.... I do think green-reading is a skill that should yield a benefit to the player, yet this is just factual information, no?

Golf in the Middle Kingdom - We're back with another installment of this evergreen feature, first with this story that broke a week or so ago:

Gabriel Wildau reports for the Financial Times on the Chinese government has declared "illegal" two golf courses owned by the powerful Dalian Wanda Group. 

The FT storys says this is part of "a campaign against luxury and waste ahead of a Communist party gathering that begins in Beijing this week" and continues the trend of high profile attacks on golf in China. Given the Wanda Group's international standing, even if the move is targeting the group for non-golf reasons, it appears to be yet another blow for the game in China.

It's certainly a disincentive to invest in course construction.... But today's news cycle has this:

Jingwulu Primary School, in Jinan, in the eastern Shandong province, introduced the sport to “foster children's strong determination, self-discipline and manners,”

headmistress Ji Yankun said. 

“I don’t think I am being over dramatic in calling it a gentleman’s sport, as there is so much good etiquette involved,” she told The Telegraph.

The school has installed practice nets in its grounds and drafted in coaches from Shandong Gold Golf Club to provide compulsory training to nine-year-old pupils.

The golf club is also consulting with four other schools to roll out the training across the province.

“Many children have fallen in love with the sport, which has been called 'the green opium',” said Shandong Gold's Jiang Chunqiu, using a phrase which is often used in China to portray golf as highly enjoyable, but a dangerous foreign import.

Green Opium?  That's so good I may have to work it into the masthead of the blog....

As I always note when running these items, China cannot be the savior of our game until this schizophrenia is resolved.  Even then the country seems far too poor, but the game remains technically illegal, never a helpful sign.

More Technology -  From Marty Kaufmann's TV blog:

While most of this column’s attention is focused on the networks and Golf Channel, some of the most interesting production ideas are originating with the PGA Tour. Some see that as evidence that the Tour is preparing to bring production of its tournaments in-house. We’ll leave that for another day. 

One of the recent innovations brought to our attention was livestreaming using HatCam, an ActionStreamer camera that, as the name suggests, attaches to the brim of a hat. The Tour tested it during practice rounds at the Web.com Tour Championship. It also was worn by fans following Sam Saunders when he shot a first-round 59. 

HatCam weighs just 65 grams, and Greg Roberts of ActionStreamer said a smaller version “about the size of a money clip” is in the final stages of development. HatCam has a self-contained battery, is controlled remotely and has MEMS gyroscopes that minimize the bouncing effect in point-of-view transmissions.

Shack had this video as well:

First thought, it's likely more interesting if they're used on the caddie's hats.

Though the bigger issue might be in that first 'graph.... This would be a big mistake on the part of the Tour.  There's nothing wrong with cashing checks, guys.

Return of the Stinger - Everyone is getting a woody over this...I just want to know why he stopped hitting it...  Was he bored hitting so many fairways?

Header Confusion - This header seems inconsistent with the underlying story:

LPGA's rigid Q-school rules cause No. 1 ranked women's amateur to forgo final stage in order to finish college career

Here's the underlying story:

Leona Maguire wants to play on the LPGA Tour some day. But first things first. The No.

1 ranked amateur in the world is a senior at Duke who is on track to graduate this spring, a priority that supersedes her professional aspirations. So much so that the 22-year-old native of Ireland is turning down a spot in next month’s final stage of LPGA Qualifying School 

Indeed, Maguire competed in last week’s second stage of LPGA Q school, knowing full well that even if she finished high enough to advance to the final stage, she wouldn’t play. Sure enough, she finished T-9 at Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venace, Fla., and then, for the second straight year, told LPGA officials she won’t be around next month. 

So why bother competing at all at second stage? Despite turning down the invite to the final stage, Maguire’s performances earned her a playing privilege on the Symetra Tour for 2018, something she’ll take advantage of after graduation. Unlike with the LPGA Tour cards that will be earned at the final stage, Symetra Tour membership can be deferred until later in the year, allowing current college players to remain in school through the spring semester and then play in the summer.

As I understand things, Leona wanted to finish college with her teammates, but is using Q-School for experience that will help her down the road.  I fail to see where the LPGA's rules are overly rigid....

In fact, it seems a simple path to the Tour that allows players to finish their amateur careers if they want, as distinct from a  certain men's tour that requires a period of indentured servitude.

Or perhaps I'm just advertising my well-known weakness for Irish girls?