Back In The Saddle

My heart isn't completely in this, but let's see if we can get back to this blogging thing....

A Last Look Back... - At least I hope these things are winding down.  Shack gets a little misty-eyed with this ode to the year just ended:

When the wild antics of the fall season finally wore off after those zany PGA Tour Playoffs(C)--okay, that's all a gigantic leap--2017 turned out to be a very special golf

season. So good, that I think you'll agree Ryan Herrington's list of things we've already forgotten endorses the strength of 2017 (hint: a 62 in a major, Steph Curry played respectably in a Web.com Tour event, etc...).

Oh sure, we had another embarrassing rules-related brouhaha, more expansion of the golf course footprint, longer rounds, faster greens and more awareness that we have serious overall product oversaturation. But given these issues and two potentially so-so major venues in Erin Hills andQuail Hollow, the year might not have turned out as well as it did. Instead, it will go down as a very special year in the game, especially when coupled with stellar stuff from the women's and amateur game, along with continued momentum for Golden Age design values. 

The defining moment they'll show 20 years from now remains Jordan Spieth's eagle putt at Birkdale's 15th and on the heels of his 13th hole mess. Doug Ferguson included a bit more on that eagle and other notes that help put a bow on 2017, as does Michael Bamberger'sGolf.com top 10 list.

When golf historians exhume the 2017 time capsule, I think we can agree that how an NBA baller did in missing the cut at a Web.com event will be at the top of their list.... I'm also pretty sure that there was more than a single rules fiasco, though they all do seem to blur together at this point.

That Ryan Herrington contribution includes mostly oddities, and they come much odder than this:

The PGA Tour handed out its first slow-play penalty in 22 years.

At the revamped Zurich Classic of New Orleans, teammates Brian Campbell and Miguel Angel Carballo were assessed a one-stroke penalty during the first round. Their group was put on the clock on the back nine, then Carballo received a bad time on the 11th hole at TPC Louisiana. When Campbell then got a bad time on the 14th, the pair became the first golfers since Glen Day at the 1995 Honda Classic to be docked a stroke by PGA Tour officials. (More recently, 14-year-old Tianlang Guan was penalized for taking too long at the 2013 Masters, but that event is run by Augusta National Golf Club and not the PGA Tour.)

That tinge of sadness in my voice comes from having to let go of one of the great nicknames, great in the sense of appropriate and obvious, because that last guy to be penalized was forever known as Glen All-Day.

Mike Bamberger gives his personal Top-Ten list, including the inevitable revisiting of the rules changes.... You can read that by your lonesome, as I'll excerpt this one:

4. The Masters

There's no scientific way to quantify this, but over the course of the last 20 years, since

Tiger Woods won at Augusta for the first time in 1997 at age 20, by 12 shots, the Masters has been in a period of ascendency. It has become the most watched major and the most coveted major. But for the Masters to retain its status, it needs drama and compelling leading men on Sunday. It needs to produce talking points and memories. Bubba Watson won by three in 2014, Jordan Spieth by four in 2015, Danny Willett (?) by three in 2016. What comes to mind? Then came this year's event, two Ryder Cup stalwarts and close friends, doing old-fashioned mano-a-mano battle. They were tied for first through 54 holes, they played together on Sunday, they both did miraculous and zany things in the finale. Sergio made an eagle on the par-5 15th, and that tied the game up. Naturally, it went to a playoff, Garcia making a birdie to Rose's bogey on 18, the first hole of the playoff. Good for Sergio. (He's headed to the Hall of Fame now, for sure.) It was the Masters the Masters needed.

His case for the ascendancy of The Masters is fine, though there are more clunkers than he admits to....  Trevor Immelman, anyone?  But the question to me is which will look the more significant in twenty years, Sergio's Masters or Jordan's Open Championship?

Doug Ferguson has a an even more personal take on 2017 in anecdotes.  You'll want to read them all, though it's hard to beat this one:

Padraig Harrington was holding court in the clubhouse at Riviera, talking about his ailing shoulder and options for surgery. He stopped in the middle of a sentence, pointed to a

reporter and then motioned to the wall.

There was a framed photograph of Katherine Hepburn, wearing a skirt past her knees and a smile that made her one of Hollywood's most revered stars.

"This is the difference," Harrington said. "He's looked at that and said, 'Lovely, isn't she?' And I've looked at that and said, 'She can play golf.'"

The photo showed Hepburn with her wrists cocked as she began to rehearse the swing. That's what got Harrington's attention.

"If you can waggle like that, you can play golf," Harrington said. "She's able to hit the golf ball. That's how you tell. That's old-school. That's what Hogan used to do."

Does every PGA Tour player see the same thing?

Apparently not.

Sergio Garcia came through an hour later. He was asked to study the picture and share the first thing that came to mind.

"Her skirt is too long," Garcia said with a smile.

Have those two every agreed on anything?

The Road Ahead -  The Tour Confidentialistas put down their champagne flutes to brazenly predict the course of 2018, first with this:

1. Which major-less player will nab his or her first major title in the coming year, and at which tournament? (Congrats to Mr. Shipnuck, who correctly predicted Brooks Koepka to win a major in '17.) 

Alan Shipnuck: Brandt Snedeker will win the Masters.

Hmmm....despite his 2017 Koepka call, this one seems odd.  Last Sneds appeared on this page, he was jetting across the globe to try to sneak into the OWGR in order to qualify for...wait for it... The Masters.  Since he withdrew with an injury, Alan has picked a man to win an event for which he is not qualified....   Seems curious, but of course he could still qualify, most likely though he'd need to win.

The other picks are all pretty conventional:

Josh Sens: Xander Schauffele wins the PGA. 

Michael Bamberger: Patrick Reed, British Open. 

Sean Zak: Hideki Matsuyama's putter is just-good-enough for him to win the PGA. 

Jeff Ritter: I’ll take a shot on Kuchar at Augusta. 

Dylan Dethier: Dethier: Okay fine, you left him to me? I'll take the bait: Fowler wins the British.

Probably the biggest surprise is that they all left Rickie for the new guy, though I'm guessing they were looking for degree of difficulty points.

They take the inevitable swipe at Tiger's year:

Shipnuck: "...continue to be the most interesting and enigmatic athlete on the planet." 

Sens: "...play without injuring himself but also without winning." 

Bamberger: "...announce that he is taking over the Arnold hosting role at the Arnold Palmer Invitational." 

Zak: "…walk off the 18th hole at Bellerive having made the cut in three of the four majors." 

Dethier: “...show enough life to be selected as a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.” 

Ritter: “play a dozen events, win none, but stay healthy enough to set himself up for multiple titles in ‘19.”

Mike, how many events do you see him hosting?   That will make three, though I guess you're assuming that D.C. goes bye-bye.

They're also asked about the event to which they look forward the most, and for Shipnuck it's personal:

Shipnuck: Shinnecock and Carnoustie have always been considered among the toughest tests in championship golf but both are now way too short for the modern game. It will be fascinating to see how they are set up and how the players attack them. But for me personally, it has to be the Ryder Cup. Europe's old guard will be making a last stand against the young powerhouse American team at a really cool venue. I'm already on record predicting a U.S. victory and a continent of trolls will be up in my business all week. It’s gonna be a blast.

This one is also the most interesting to me:

Bamberger: Agree with all of the above, but this U.S. Open is so important for the USGA. This is one the organization needs and should get right. I mean, it's Shinnecock Hills. Let them play the course and shoot what they shoot and the world will be fine.

No sooner had Coore & Cren shaw widened the place, than Brroks Koepka went low at Erin Hills and the USGA started planting fescue....  I can still here my caddie from The National screming in my ear about how they're ruining the place.  

I think they have to ignore the lessons of 2004 and 2017, and just set the place up with the expectation of wind.  If it doesn't blow, they'll go very low, but the world will be more forgiving because it's Shinny.

 Here's Geoff on the coming year:

I'm pretty sure that in 2018 two historic and lively venues--straight fire, as the kids today would say--suggests we are in for another above average, maybe even historic season. Throw in a possible Tiger return, the solid state of most player's games and some potential big off-course changes to the PGA Tour schedule, and we have a lot to follow. If everything comes together, we could have a generational crossroads clash for the ages.

Straight fire?  He must be alluding to the weather at Bellerive....

Joel Beall and Christopher Powers offer thirteen brazen predictions for the coming year, including this oddity (I know, but it's that kind of day):

Phil Mickelson finishes in the top 10 in all four majors

This will be a tall task for a guy turning 48 this June, but given the way he performed in the majors a season ago (T-22 at the Masters, DNP at U.S. Open, MCs at the Open Championship and the PGA), one would think he’s going to be as motivated as ever. I’d love to say he’s going to win at Shinnecock, but none of us are ready for that eventual heartbreak. —Chris Powers

People are strange, no?  Phil has never been a consistent golfer, and I guess him being so in the late stages of his career is, in a sense, a brazen prediction.  But the only thing we care about is whether he has any wins left in him, majors especially and a certain one in June most notably.  Do we even care about top tens?  Does he?

Bob Harig previews the four major venues, and this is the one whose name Shack can't bring himself to say out loud:

PGA Championship, Bellerive, St. Louis, Aug. 12-15

This will be the last PGA Championship played in August, and the PGA of America picked another steamy climate to conduct its championship. That will likely change when the event moves to May starting in 2019, but it might preclude the tournament returning to a place like Bellerive, which is still evolving in the spring.

On the contrary, Bellerive stopped evolving long ago....  But if Bellerive isn't out of the rota with the move to May, that seems a small price to pay.

For something a little more off the beaten track, Kevin Casey nominates five players to watch for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.   

Thursday is a travel day, so I'll try to check in with you tomorrow.