Tuesday Tidbits

I have at least forty-two browser tabs open, so you might think about putting on a fresh pot of coffee...

A Convert To The Cause - Randall Mell is the first mainstream golf writer to take a knee with this header:

Rant: Backstopping needs to be stopped

Do tell.

For those who missed it, Finau was two shots off the lead when he hit into a greenside bunker at the 12th hole at Silverado Resort’s North Course. After Jason Kokrak chipped

up to about a foot behind the hole, Finau didn’t wait for Kokrak to mark his ball. He blasted a bunker shot that Finau estimated was going to race 25 feet or more past the hole. Instead, Finau’s ball collided with Kokrak’s, stopping 2 feet from the hole. 

Finau saved par, and he eventually caught the leader before fading to finish solo second behind Brendan Steele. 

If Finau won Sunday, he would have been left to answer questions about his intent playing out of that bunker at the 12th. He would have found himself answering the kind of questions that could have unfairly clouded his second PGA Tour title. 

“I used the rules to my advantage, I guess, not knowing,” Finau said afterward.

Well, we can agree that you used something to your advantage...  But did you forget that you told us that you had forgotten that Jason had played?

To be perfectly clear, and fair to Finau, he did not violate the Rules of Golf. Nobody can impugn him that way based on how this unfolded.

That sort of depends on the meaning of the rule, no?  Those rules being specifically these:

Rule 22-1 frames potential violations in these situations. 

The rule states that if a player believes a ball may assist any other player, he may mark the ball, if it is his ball, or he may direct the ball to be marked, if it’s not his ball. 

There’s also Decision 22/6. 

That decision states that if players agree not to mark a ball so that it can be used as a backstop, those players should be disqualified.

What the rules don't provide is the standard of proof, relying instead on the intentions of the players involved.  I would argue that the case is, in fact, provable by the fact that had the ball been in the players line it would have been marked.  It may not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, but it does to a lower standard of evidence...

But the good news is that I don't have to argue the case, because Justin Thomas gives away the game with this:

“It MAYBE happens five times a year,” Thomas tweeted after Finau won. “It’s part of the game, if I want to rush and hit a shot for that reason, it’s my right . . .”

Nothing to see here, but if I want to rush and hit the shot, I'm allowed to use my playing partner's ball as a backstop.  It's easy to prove intent when players are kind enough to confirm it on the record, no?

Randall comes to the correct conclusion, which is that the Tour needs to guide the players to the correct conclusion.  Though I do think there's a deeper issue here in the reliance of the rules on the intent of the player.  But perhaps we'll leave that for another day...

Well argued, Randall.  Take another $5 out of petty cash.

Glad The Finished on Sunday - I joke, but this is surely no joke:

More than a dozen wildfires ripped through California's wine country on early Monday

morning, causing Governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma, and Yuba counties. 

The fire came in the immediate aftermath of the Safeway Open, which concluded Sunday evening at the Silverado Resort in Napa. Several images captured Monday morning by AP photographer Josh Edelson showed greenside tents that had gone up in flames, and the entire resort was evacuated.

More pics at the link.  A seriously close call...

The Loop -  Having seen the lads at The Old Course on Sunday, this strikes me as quite timely:

"A man. A plan. A canal. Panama." A more talented wordsmith than myself might be able to come up with a similarly memorable palindrome for The Loop, Tom Doak's "reversible" 18-hole golf courses that opened last year at Forest Dunes in Roscommon, Mich. Although, on second thought, the palindrome comparison isn't quite right, as the courses—Black, played clockwise one day, and Red, played counterclockwise the next day, both on the same piece of ground—aren't meant to mirror each other. In fact, the whole point was to have to two distinct, outstanding courses sharing the same turf. Neither does playing the course backward produce Satanic messages, nor word that Paul McCartney has died. 

Maybe the struggle to come up with an apt correlation for The Loop is itself the most appropriate compliment one can pay it. This is about as high-concept as high-concept gets, and brilliant, too. No wonder Doak stewed over the idea for more than two decades, inspired by the long-bygone days of the Old Course at St. Andrews being played backward during the winter to help the course properly heal. Non-golfers immediately understand the benefits for both the owner (two layouts for the price of one) and the environment (two layouts for the land usage and maintenance of one); golfers are immediately intrigued by the question of how the conceit works in practice. Can it really be done such that the result isn't just two flat, boring designs?

Think about the design challenges involved, the placement of bunkers and the like.  Give the whole thing a read as it's a great concept, and Tom Doak doesn't do boring....

Divorce, Spanish Style - We've had quite the run of golf divorces this year, Phil & Bones, JD and Colin, Rory and Goober, just to name a few.  This might be just as surprising:

Sergio Garcia, the reigning Masters champion, and TaylorMade Golf have parted ways. The equipment company on Monday released a one-paragraph statement that 

Sergio with a Mack Daddy wedge.

acknowledged their association had ended. 

“Today, after a memorable 15-year partnership with Sergio Garcia, we have mutually agreed to a release from the remaining years of his TaylorMade contract,” the statement read. “It has been an honor to play a role in his performance throughout his career, including The Players Championship, 19 worldwide wins, Ryder Cup heroics and his 2017 Masters win. We congratulate Sergio on a career year and wish him all the best for the future.”

While TaylorMade always had a huge stable of players, the two that defined the brand to me were Sergio and DJ.  The former because of the purity of his ball-striking, the latter for even more obvious reasons.

The gist of the coverage is to the effect that Sergio wanted out, though I'm wondering if TM's new private equity owners are just as happy to reduce their commitments to Tour players.  That said, Sergio is still Sergio, so this honeymoon with Callaway seems quite perfect:

It is highly unlikely that Garcia, 37, one of the best ballstrikers of his generation, would walk away from his relationship with TaylorMade unless he has another endorsement deal waiting. Garcia might have provided a clue about his plans in September at the Dell Technologies Championship. Garcia slammed his putter in frustration on a sprinkler head, damaging it and forcing him to putt with other clubs. That putter was a prototype by Toulon Design, which is part of Callaway Golf – the episode might indicate that Garcia and the Carlsbad, Calif. clubmaker have quietly developed a relationship.

Looking for a new putter to smash on a sprinkler head?  The ads just write themselves....

A Different Loop -  You'll want to read this pseudonymous account of an Old Course caddie fishing for a bag for the Dunhill Links:

He pulled out eight degrees of brand-new driver, price tag still on the shaft. I looked

skyward and note that roughly 35 miles per hour of wind was howling from an easterly direction, over our right shoulders. 

“You won’t need that,” I told him. 

“I want to hit it—it’s new.”

He addressed the ball awkwardly, confirming my doubts.

“Keep this left side,” I told him. 

The ball knifed away in a low, hard hook, going left—farther left than I meant.

“How’s that looking?” he asked, still holding the finish. 

“Well, it’s not stationary yet. I’ll tell you shortly.”

You'll have to read it to find out where the ball achieved stationarity.....

Alan, Asked -  I somehow missed Alan Shipnuck's mailbag feature last weekend.  As always, much of interest:

"Ryder Cup next year, what is the final score? #AskAlan" -Andrew (@a_h_davies) 

16-12, to the Yanks, making it the first American victory in Europe in a quarter- century. The margin would be bigger but Le National is basically TPC Paris, and its target-golf

design will not allow the U.S. team to fully exploit its power advantage. Europe will certainly fight hard, in part because it will be the last stand for its aging core: Lee Westwood, if he makes the team, will be 45; Henrik Stenson, 42; Ian Poulter, 42; Sergio Garcia, 38; Justin Rose, 38. Poulter didn't even make the team in 2015, Westy was abysmal at Hazeltine, and Stenson/Rose/Garcia buckled under the heavy burden they were asked to carry. (Rory McIlroy was electric for two days but he, too, ran out of gas in singles.) After his Masters breakthrough Danny Willett was expected to be a European stalwart but turned out to be a disappointment, to say the least, and right now seems highly doubtful to even make future European teams. Thomas Pieters was a revelation at the 2016 Cup but has been quite mediocre since. No doubt Jon Rahm will be a handful, but it's asking a lot for a rookie to be a savior. This applies to Alex Noren, too.

On the one hand, who knows?  But the U.S. does seem to have that deep reservoir of young talent, and Europe seems to be in a bit of a trough.

It's this that amuses me, though:

The 2016 Ryder Cup was the first of the Task Force era, and the improved communication, collaboration and game-planning was obvious amongst the U.S. leadership. This Presidents Cup offered the chance to test out new pairings – JT/Rickie! – and fine-tune other details, while grooming future captains. (In the Task Force era, future Ryder Cup shot-callers are made Presidents vice-captains.)

Stop!  They're winning because they have better players playing better....  It ain't the pods!

“#AskAlan: Furyk announces today that the Prez Cup team is next year's Ryder Cup team. Who says no?" -Amol (@amolyanjnik) 

Young studs like Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Ollie Schniederjans, Grayson Murray, Wesley Bryan and Maverick McNealy, all of whom will be grinding to make their first team, a testament to the depth of twentysomething American talent.

The point is that it will only get better in the next year, so what's the hurry?

This one will have all the right heads exploding:

“Could the best women's golfers (Lexi/Lydia) keep their card on the Web.com tour? Heated argument this weekend, haha. -Joe (@FIGJAM83)

I love Lydia Ko, and watching her around the greens is a pleasure, but she hits it too short to have a realistic chance to keep her card on a steady diet of 7,200-yard courses. Lexi is a different case – she drives it long enough to be of average or slightly below average length on the Web. Her iron game is good enough to compete out there but her putting comes and goes, which can be said of a lot of guys on that tour. Lexi grew up competing against her brothers Nicolas (a PGA Tour journeyman) and Curtis (who is making he way on the Web). They always made her play the back tees so big golf courses don't intimidate her, nor do guys who hit the ball past her. Lexi has guts and loves a challenge – I'm gonna say she keeps her card.

I beg to differ, as I think John McEnroe had it about right.  Lexi is about the only one long enough, and she's a butcher on and around the greens.

The Donald in Distress - The Guardian is not a paper favorably disposed to our POTUS, so take the following with a grain of salt:

The latest accounts for his network of Scottish companies show he had to plough another 

£1.3m into his debt-ridden resort in Aberdeenshire to keep it afloat after the North Sea crisis saw its popularity slump among local golfers. 

Trump International Golf Links Scotland lost nearly £1.2m in 2016, forcing Trump to increase his interest-free loans to the resort to nearly £41m ($54m) while he was campaigning for the presidency last year.

Trump’s much larger and better known golfing resort and hotel at Turnberry in Ayrshire, which he bought in 2014, has also suffered heavy losses, largely because of its partial closure for refurbishment and building works. 

Trump increased his funding of the resort by £49m last year. In all, Trump Turnberry owes Trump £112m ($146m), the accounts for its parent company Golf Recreation Scotland show, nearly double the £63m it owed him the previous year. In all, his interest-free loans to both resorts reached £153m ($200m) by the end of last year.

A loss of a million-plus at Aberdeen doesn't seem so bad, though the effect of oil prices seems a stretch.  I don't think a lot of Scots have the money or inclination to play there, so he's probably dependent upon the traveling golfers....  Forgive me for not taking the time to find my post from when the bride and I visited in 2015,  but I noted then that with the building of a resort on hold, there din't seem to be a viable business model for the project.

In contrast, the numbers for Turnberry are simply meaningless, given the dramatic and favorably reviewed changes to the Ailsa.  The resort was closed for part of the year, so we'll need to see what happens in 2017 and beyond.

Ian Poulter, Constitutional Scholar - When you're a guest in a foreign country, it might be polite to avoid telling the natives that they're doing it all wrong:

After Sunday night’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, many people have again called for gun law reform in the U.S. 

An emotional Ian Poulter went a step further. 

On Wednesday via Twitter, the 41-year-old Poulter called for the Second Amendment to be repealed and for all guns to be made illegal. Poulter, who was born in England but also lives in Orlando, Fla., directly called out President Donald Trump, Congress and “brainwashed” America. 

“Buying guns must become illegal,” Poulter said. “How many more people need to die? It’s pathetic.”

Hmmmmm...so why exactly do you live here?  And since we're accusing people of being "brainwashed", do you have any similar thoughts on this little tale from your homeland?