Tuesday Tidbits

I do hope that J.B. isn't on Twitter.....

That Didn't Take Long - Somehow this header doesn't seem quite right:

Jason Day beats Alex Noren on first hole of Monday playoff to win Farmers Insurance Open

Well, it was a Monday playoff if you've the misfortune to be an Xfinity subscriber...  and the lede isn't much better than the header:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jason Day sank an 18-inch birdie putt on the sixth playoff hole to beat Alex Noren and win the Farmers Insurance Open in front of empty grandstands on

No. 18 at Torrey Pines on Monday morning.

Oh yeah, that was the shot that was being replayed in an endless loop on Golf Channel.... 

Noren tried an aggressive second shot from the first cut, but his ball landed short of the green and rolled into Devlin’s Billabong, a pond that protects the hole.

Never knew that the pond had a name.  Noren played the right shot, trying to win the thing....  Let's hope that J.B. was taking notes.

Per Shack, boffo ratings for the event:

According to CBS Sports, Sunday's final round coverage of the 2018 Farmers Insurance

Open earned a 2.9 overnight rating/6 share, up 38% from last year's Jon Rahm win and the highest-rated Sunday for this event in five years. 

Saturday’s third round coverage earns highest rating for the Farmers in seven years with 2.3/5, up 53% from last year. 

And when coverage shifted to Golf Channel during the Jason Day-Alex Noren playoff, a record audience for the cable network tuned in.

Well, we know they weren't watching this.   

Gotta be Awkward in the Locker Room - The players are not fans of J.B.'s icing his playing partners, at least those taking to Twitter:

Didn't you guys hear, he was trying to win....errr something.  Steve Flesch also said they were a hole behind, which begs the question of whether a tour official was warning them.  The round was approaching six hours in any event, and one should eb able to get to the clubhouse in that window.  

And Golf Channel was all over it as well:

Let's see, J.B.'s a Kentucky guy, so that second one should hit home.  Again, 4:10 to wuss out and lay up.....

He'll no doubt be pegging it this week...  Think the drunks at No. 16 will have anything to say?

Is There No One Else? - I like Juli Inkster as much as the next guy, and I was very impressed by her demeanor two cups ago.  Most notably, when the Yanks were getting their tails kicked, and especially during Suzanngate....  But still?

If it worked not just once, but twice, then why not try a third time? That's the clear

message driving the American Solheim Cup team, as Juli Inkster has been announced as the team captain for a third consecutive edition of the biennial event. 

Inkster was the winning captain in each of the last two Cups, the first coming in Germany in 2015 and the second coming this past summer in Iowa. The announcement came live on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive Tuesday. 

Inkster was a member of nine Solheim Cup teams, racking up 18.5 points across 34 total matches. As a captain — and get ready for this to be referenced constantly in the run-up to the 2019 event — she is undefeated, and beloved by many of the American players expected to take part.

Where are they playing it?

The 2019 Solheim Cup will take place in mid-September at Gleneagles’ PGA Centenary Course in Perthshire, Scotland.

What, was Celtic Manor unavailable?

A Torrey Mulligan -  The U.S. Open is on its way, so that means another Rees Redo or perhaps not.  

It was 16 years ago that the Torrey Pines South Course was renovated in a successful effort to attract the 2008 U.S. Open. 

Another U.S. Open is scheduled for San Diego in 2021, and in preparation for it, some significant work is expected to happen again over the next couple of years. 

On Thursday, the city will ask the California Coastal Commission to approve its plan to go forward with a project to replace the entire watering system on the South Course, rehabilitate all 84 sand bunkers, add as many as 10 new bunkers, regrade and add some tees and make grading adjustments to several holes. 

The cost of the project will be at least $12 million, according to San Diego Golf Operations Manager Mark Marney, and the money will come from the golf enterprise fund.

Pending approvals, Marney said the construction would be accomplished in two phases, with the watering system likely going after the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open, followed by the bunker phase following the 2019 Farmers.

That was from last October, and things didn't go off as planned, per Geoff: 

The good news? The bids to update irrigation, install completely unnecessary bunker liners and to tweak many of the holes Jones didn't get them right the first time, came in too high. Work planned for 2018 will not happen until contractors come back with better pricing, which means the work will be a rush job, more disruptive to play and do little to enhance the course for daily fee golfers. 

This work should not happen until the City of San Diego catches up with the rest of the world and earmarks this money to creating more sustainable architecture that takes turf out of play. And more importantly, takes one of the great sites for golf on the planet and finds a design that accentuates this beautiful place.

Helpful as ever, Geoff offers these alternative allocations of the $12 million large:

Option 1: replace the maintenance yard tent erected for the 2008 U.S. Open (logo still emblazened on the side, see photo). I can't think of a more absurd sight than the 2021 U.S. Open returning with the same lousy makeshift facility for story expensive equipment. If nothing else, the taxpayers of San Diego deserve not having to drive Torrey Pines Road and looking at a tent. 

Option 2: Invest in a mutual fund, Apple or a penny stock to buy time and reconsider how to remedy the misuse of this magnificent site after the U.S. Open. 

Option 3: Pay Rees Jones and friends $1 million to take three-year vacation, then give $11 million to spend on other rundown city courses and leave Torrey Pines alone. 

Option 4: Put all of the money into saving the Torrey Pine, which, based on the bark beetles efforts at Torrey Pines Golf Course visible this year, is in serious trouble of existing as the primary tree by 2021. 

Option 5: Donate to the Century Club in hopes they can buy another grandstand for Farmers Insurance Open fans who paid $55 to (stand) and watch golf. Two would be better than one! 

Option 6: Cash out the $12 million, tease the briefcase full of green in front of Rees Jones, then ask a paraglider to dispense all of it over citizens sunbathing at Black's Beach. At least in that scenario you'd be giving back to the people.

I'm sure he fells better after venting his spleen, but it doesn't do all that much for me.  At this point, I'm not sure there's much to be done.

I've never been a fan of the Open Doctor, but this effort was more palatable than many.  The old routing made zero use of the cliffs and canyons, and at the very least he moved greens such as the third and fourth closer thereto.

I could embrace a complete re-routing, but San Diego doesn't have the money or the stomach for that.  With that impossible, I'd love to hear from Geoff what could be accomplished by a good architect, say his friend Gil, but I'd challenge him for some specifics.  Other than that, adding bunkers is what Rees does....  flat, non-penal bunkers that look out of place with the existing architecture.

I'm going to leave you all there...See you tomorrow.