Loose Threads

How I've missed you all....  yesterday was a travel back to Utah, where there is still exactly no snow....  One ski buddy described the trails as "White ribbons of death."  We'll see about that later this morning.....

Fill Out Your Dance Card - Joel Beall files a long item on what the schedule might look like in 2019.  I'll try to grab those bits that might be new to the reader:

Speaking of FedEx, which re-upped its sponsorship of the Playoffs through 2027, reports are that the company, in leveraging its strengthened partnership with the tour, wants a

WGC competition in its Memphis backyard. The idea would be dropping the St. Jude Classic, which often attracts only a handful of marquee names because of its spot the week prior to the U.S. Open, in favor of the Bridgestone Invitational’s WGC halo. Firestone C.C. has a rich history and is considered a favorite by the players, but potentially it could fall victim to corporate synergy.

I shan't mourn for the soporific Firestone, but Memphis?  Other stuff:

Although Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth is a celebrated venue, sponsorship issueshave cast a cloud over its future. Accusations that the tour is OK letting the Colonial fade away may well be exaggerated, but one could understand—against the backdrop of 2019’s change—why securing long-term financial backing could be problematic. Throw in the buzz surrounding the AT&T Byron Nelson’s arrival at trendy Trinity Forest in Dallas in 2018, the folks at Colonial find themselves in a pickle. (For what it's worth, the Nelson is expected to move before the PGA. But the idea that a major would separate the Texas stops does little to alleviate Colonial worries.)

They're hardly the only Texas venue without a sponsor, but it's Hogan's Alley for Chrissakes!

We've discussed this one previously:

Meanwhile, some industry insiders wonder about the status of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With its namesake gone, the tournament struggled somewhat to draw big names in 2017, and Bay Hill's layout is one that some tour pros aren’t fond of. The tour isn’t expected to pull the plug on the API, but the tournament needs to show signs of life this year to ensure its future.

It's the worst venue in Florida, but it's The King.

Also in the spring fog: the Houston Open. Shell dropped out as sponsor, and the event, which has settled into a spot the week prior to the Masters, does not have a title holder for 2018. Redstone G.C., which sustained damage during Hurricane Harvey last summer but should be OK come spring, is a course that some players like because it is set-up to resemble the conditions they'll see at Augusta National. That said, if it returns in 2019, it looks likely to lose its pre-Augusta setting, with the Valero Texas Open moving to the first week in April.

Houston only works in that week before Augusta....

But this one might be the wackiest:

There’s also rumblings that Quail Hollow, set to host the 2021 Presidents Cup, might be willing to forgo hosting the Wells Fargo Championship on an annual basis in favor of being one of a handful of rotating courses that holds the FedEx Cup’s BMW Championship.

It was only a very few years ago that the Wells Fargo was the hot event....all it took was a bad date and a worse restoration of the golf course.  But for those of you who remember my outrage as the BMW has tried to claim lineage to the Western Open, enjoy watching my head explode as that venerable event is held in North Carolina.

There's much more, including speculation that the Innisbrook event, the best course they play in Florida, could move to the Fall...  Oh, and the Fall will still wrap around, but we all know what happens when a tree falls in the forest.

Shack opens with this non sequitur in his post on the item:

In reading Joel Beall's Golf World look at a potential version of the PGA Tour's forthcoming 2019 schedule revamp, it's hard to look past the huge name, foundational events in danger. The likes of Colonial, Bay Hill and Houston, each important and steady presences on the PGA Tour schedule, all face uncertainty going forward.

Oh sure, Colonial and Bay Hill are just the same..... His conclusion is better, though still a bit curious:

Market forces certainly dictate the status of some of these events, but knowing that World Golf Championship events have taken sponsor possibilities away and weakened fields for non-WGC events, it's hard to pin any blame on these longtime PGA Tour stalwarts for struggling.

I have no doubt the PGA Tour brass is working to save all events. However, the potential demise of events that build the Tour could undermine any sense of connection to the distance or even recent past. You just can't put a dollar figure on those connections, but the legacy of the Finchem era is that no one's place in line matters. Whether that's the legacy of the Monahan era remains to be seen.

The slam at Finchem is well-deserved, and Jay is being well-paid to clean up the mess.  But the Tour brass can't be working to save all the events, because they need about four of them to go away.  It does seem that two are in the bank, those being the best of the playoff events (Boston) and Tiger's D.C. event.

Logically one needs to come from Texas, and Florida seems ripe to make a contribution as well.  

The Year in Review - The Tour Confidentialistas are asked for the most significant story or development in 2017.... well, you be the judge:

Michael Bamberger: I think Spieth's winning of the Open, giving him three legs of the

career Grand Slam. Rory and Phil of course have done the same. To win all four is an immense achievement, done by Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player and Woods. That's really a timeless list of greatness. For some years to come, we can enjoy the prospect of watching Spieth try to win a PGA Championship, Phil try to win a U.S. Open and Rory try to win a Masters. Spieth's win in the British Open makes the golfing landscape just more interesting.

How about the fact that he went over a week early, something he was too stubborn to do in 2015 when he was gunning for the calendar-year slam.  Not that I'm bitter....

I'd argue that given the relative stages of their careers that Sergio's breakthrough was the more significant, but the Spaniard got no love....  Most of the guys went this direction:

Josh Sens: That's a great call, Michael. I hate to go the obvious Tiger route, but it's hard to ignore the continuation of a narrative that pulls in two directions: the game's ongoing attempts to move beyond Tiger and Tiger's continued attempts to get back in the mix.

God, no!  Will this be a big 2018 story, sure....  

This query gets a little more interesting:

2. Please also anoint the most underrated and overrated stories from the past year.

Bamberger: The most overrated story was any that claimed Donald Trump was going to be good or bad for golf. The game prospered long before his Oval Office arrival and will continue to do so when a new person sits there. The most underrated story was Spieth's Open win. In a lifetime of watching golf, I never saw anything like it, and the aftermath — how he and Kuchar handled it — was every bit as good.

Trump was certainly the most tedious.... I think we can find common ground with this one:

Sens: I don't know if it was overrated but it got more play than warranted. Four young Tour pros go on a spring break trip together and film themselves yucking it up in the tropics. Sorry, but I couldn't have been more bored.

Clearly Josh has entered the "Get off my lawn" stage of his career, though my head is involuntarily nodding....

In this vein, Golf.com awards its prestigious Golfies.... remember, it's an honor just to be nominated:

THE STUART SMALLEY AWARD FOR BEING GOOD ENOUGH, SMART ENOUGH AND GOSH DARN IT FINALLY WINNING A MAJOR 

Winner: Sergio Garcia 

For gutting it out down the stretch at Augusta to claim just the kind of victory that he once said he didn't think he could win.

Speaking of Stuart Smalley, has he actually resigned yet?

As for this?

THE MAYBE THAT SHOULD BE AN OLYMPIC SPORT AWARD FOR ATHLETIC INNOVATION 

Winners: Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller 

For their synchronized wedge-and-rake toss-cum-leaping chest-bump celebration of Spieth's hole-out from the greenside bunker in a sudden-death playoff at the Travelers Championship.

Excuse me?  This is the event in question:

Pulleaze!  Spieth's lines are all wrong and Greller is hopelessly back on his heels.... How our standards have been debased.....

Cry Me a River - The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein brings us up to date on developments related to the Tiger Woods-designed course planned for Chicago's South Side in conjunction with the Obama Presidential library:

One year ago Saturday, the Tribune broke the news that Tiger Woods, at the request of former President Barack Obama, would be the lead designer of a South Side project that

has the blessing of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. 

Woods. Obama. Emanuel. That’s a pretty impressive triumvirate culled by Mark Rolfing, the NBC/Golf Channel analyst and DeKalb native who is spearheading the plan via his group, the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance. 

But one year later, there has been little tangible progress.

Mike Kesier, a Chicago guy, is involved, and the difficulty is explained in four bullet points, the first of which is to me the most significant:

•This isn’t merely adding a course. Golfers loyal to the Jackson Park and South Shore courses fear something will be taken from them. Or made more expensive.

Gee, what would make them think that?

Friends of Obama’s say the former president has tremendous enthusiasm for the golf project, peppering associates with questions about the course design. Woods’ TGR Design team envisions a 7,354-yard, par-70 course that has views of the Chicago skyline and will be playable for both major champions and major hacks.

Major hacks?  That'll help placate the locals, who see their two local tracks being combined into one gargantuan championship course....  No doubt they'll be given some green fee concession, but for how long?  Sure Obama is enthusiastic, but he still lives in D.C.

Isn't this exactly the type of project that has come into disrepute in recent years?  The only difference here is the involvement of Obama and Tiger, neither of whom seems terribly concerned about those affected.

Udder Stuff - A few items I've missed during our brief hiatus.  First, one last fun item from the Tour Confidential above:

6. One of golf's feel-good tournaments, the PNC Father-Son Challenge, wrapped Sunday with Angel Cabrera and Angel Cabrera Jr. raising the trophy. Commissioner Monahan taps you to create another out-of-the-box event for 2018. What's your pitch?

Bamberger: An oldie but goodie: a mixed-team event. PGA Tour players with LPGA players. 

Ritter: Bamberger nails it. And let's make it a coed match play.

Good one, though match play would require quite the small field size....

Sens: The one-club challenge. Play it with the same equipment Faldo and Seve used when they went head to head using only a five-iron. So many golf arguments these days revolve around whether modern players are as good as past generations. Let's put their ball-striking to a classic test.

How great would that be?  Good stuff all around....

In a prior version of his weekly mailbag feature, Alan Shipnuck was asked a series of question about you-know-who:

Given that his Ryder Cup record during his prime was average, would Tiger weaken or strengthen the 2018 team? #askalan -@TigerPencil

Doesn't it kind of depend on how he's playing?  Alan has a rather lengthy take on this:

A similar question was asked by Nick Blauw (@NickBlauw2), who wondered if Tiger is a better asset as an assistant captain. It's true that even when Woods was playing the most 

dominant golf of all time he struggled at the Ryder Cup, a big reason why those U.S. teams usually lost. This goes back to the Tida/Earl influence – Tiger was taught to separate himself from the competition in every way. His inner-self was a well-guarded fortress. No chance was he going to give away secrets, or a chunk of his aura, in the team room to guys he would be trying to beat for the next 103 weeks.

But ever since Thanksgiving 2009 the team events have taken on a different meaning for Tiger. The players and leadership of the U.S. teams offered him camaraderie and brotherhood and acceptance, all of which he desperately needed. This allowed Tiger to let down his guard and fully integrate himself into the teams, whether as a player or assistant captain. This is a huge part of his transition into a beloved elder statesman. So, if Tiger can piece together enough game he will be a powerful asset at the Ryder Cup. His younger teammates grew up idolizing him and any of them will play their ass off if paired with Tiger. And, having now realized that he needs the Ryder Cup more than it needs him, a humbled Tiger would be able to bro up in a different, more generous way. If Tiger's health or poor form keeps him off the squad as a player he will certainly be an impactful vice captain, commanding respect in the team room and offering a wealth of knowledge and experience, which he now liberally shares.

That's way too long and greatly overstates things, but there's certainly an interesting point there.  Tiger's Ryder Cup record during his peak years remains an enigma....  My experience is that guys that hate losing hate losing anywhere...  Think about the LaCava story about their games of H-O-R-S-E.

Of course, this was the prior query:

Is Tiger going to win the Masters in 2018? -@JimmyLobus 

No.

That sounds right to me...

Tiger was dissed by a guy named Jack as well....  It wasn't really a diss, but was played as such:

The Golden Bear, in Orlando competing with grandson Gary Nicklaus Jr. at the PNC

Father/Son Challenge, was quite clear Friday when asked if he was interested in watching Woods’ attempt to reclaim his stake in the game. 

“I’m not interested at all,” Nicklaus said. 

Tell us how you really feel, Jack.

Turns out that Jack isn't watching much golf these days.... He must be as sick of Sir Nick as I am.  Though I assume there's a carve-out for The Memorial....