Weekend Wrap

Yesterday was quite the day for your humble blogger.  A mere 5" of fresh snow was reported, yet in certain spots deep pillows of powder were to be found and enjoyed.  As a result, every part of my body is hurting, with the exception of my fingers with which I hunt and peck.

I also got sucked back into investment banker mode this morning, so hence the delayed start to blogging.  This might be a tad brief therefore, but we'll eventually get to everything of importance.

Honda Happenings - From Brian Wacker's game story:

A season after winning five times and being named the PGA Tour player of the year, Justin Thomas might end up with an encore that’s even better. 

Time will tell. 

So far, he’s off to a pretty good start. 

Sunday at the Honda Classic, Thomas made two birdies over his final six holes, including one on the 18th, to force a playoff with Luke List. He then went on to claim the title with another birdie on the first hole of sudden death. The victory was his second of the 2017-’18 season, seventh in his last 31 starts and eighth of his pro career. It also moved Thomas to a career-best third on the Official World Golf Ranking and just ahead of good friend Jordan Spieth.

The kid's good, but I couldn't help but root for Luke List.  List has been wandering the desert for what must feel like forty years, and could have really used this to jump-start his career.

JT also had to fend off an all-too typical fan patron:

While walking up to the 16th tee, tied for the lead, Thomas heard a fan yell in his

direction: “I hope you hit it in the water!” 

Thomas looked back at the spectator but didn’t say anything. 

After Thomas ripped a long iron into the fairway, the same fan began shouting for the shot to get into the bunker. 

“I was like, OK, I’ve had enough,” Thomas said afterward. “I just turned around and asked who it was, and he didn’t want to say anything, now that I had actually acknowledged him. So he got to leave a couple holes early.

This is getting really old....  Of course, I'm old enough to remember when drunks would quietly cry in their beer.

Let;'s acknowledge that ejection isn't much oa a penalty here.  The lout was at the 16th tee as the last group went through, so he wasn't going to see any more golf played in any event.  All JT accomplished was to ensure that the guy beat the traffic out of PGA National.

It's a subject for another day, but the Tour needs to figure how how to impose some penalty on these Mashed Potato guys..... 

Tiger Scat - What to think after a most curious of weeks for the Big Cat?   

Tiger Woods bombing drives, living pin high, playing meaningful golf on a Sunday.

This is what progressing nicely looks like. 

Woods led the field at the Honda Classic in driving distance and was first in proximity to the hole. He even sniffed the periphery of contention in the final round, climbing to within three of the lead after making his fourth birdie of the day, an 18-footer he holed on the 14th at PGA National. 

His undoing, like a lot of players in the field this week, came on Nos. 15 through 17, arguably the toughest three-hole stretch on the PGA Tour. Woods played those holes in a combined nine over this week, including three over on Sunday when he rinsed his tee shot en route to making double-bogey 5 at 15. He followed with a three-putt bogey on the par-4 16th, and that was that. A even-par 70 at day's end left him with an even-par 280 for the week and a 12th-place showing.

He made several of the worst swings I've seen at No. 15, but he showed lots of good stuff as well.

 At these kinds of odds, we can all agree it's a short.  Shall we see what the knowledgeable folks on the Tour Confidential panel saw?  

1. Tiger Woods now has three PGA Tour starts under his belt in 2018: a T-23 at Torrey Pines (72-71-70-72), a MC at Riviera (72-76) and a 12th-place finish at PGA National (70-71-69-70). From what you've seen from him so far in the early stages of this comeback, are you more or less convinced today than you were six weeks ago that Woods will win again on Tour?

Kind of a silly framing of the question, as if he can finish 12th it's hard to say he can't win....

John Wood, caddie for Matt Kuchar: I was convinced before, and I'm more convinced now. He seems completely healthy. His short game looks vintage Tiger, his putting looks very good, and he is bombing it.

All true, though the misses are alarmingly big.

Dylan Dethier: More! What else could we have gotten from Tiger? Sure, he didn't win, but he showed he can grind, contend, and swing out of his shoes. The fire is there, and much of the game seems to be, too. Excited to see where Tiger goes from here.

Michael Bamberger: Until this week, I didn't know what golf meant to him, and I didn't know how good he could still be. I believe he can win on Tour again. And if he can do that, he can win a major.

More importantly, he believes he can win again.  Will he?  Isn't that why we'll be watching?

Be Still My Foolish Heart -  We've all debated the USGA's choice of U.S. Open venues, but they've been hitting it of the park on the Walker Cup.  Now comes word that our friends in the GB&I are on the same page:

THE 49TH WALKER CUP TO BE PLAYED AT ST ANDREWS IN 2023 

26 February 2018, St Andrews, Scotland: A historic milestone in the rich heritage of the Walker Cup will be reached at the Home of Golf in 2023 when the international match between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States is played at St Andrews.

The occasion will mark exactly 101 years since the biennial encounter was first contested at the National Golf Links of America in 1922 and will be the ninth time that the Walker Cup has been played at St Andrews; more than any other venue in its history.

Now we just need to expand the TV window. 

Distance, A Dissent - I think Geoff is a little overly harsh on a James Hahn tweet, though I'm in basic agreement with him.

Here's Geoff's header:

Distance Debate Reminder: Golf Pros Are Not Paid To Think

Here's just a minor portion of Geoff's rant:

There is also concern from some elite players on the skill front, namely a view that great ballstrikers may no longer be enjoying rewards commensurate with their skill or physical strength. But there will also be reactions reminiscent of gun owners any time a common sense piece of legislation is suggested: don’t you dare take my guns away under any circumstances!

So even when it’s in a player’s interest to perhaps see some minor tweak to the rules to restore skill (a ball that spins more, a driver head size restriction), we are likely to hear mostly shallow, incoherent or financially-driven declarations that the governing bodies are evil people out to ruin lives.

 Here's the offending tweet:

I actually took it to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but also credited Hahn with making a case that there are many factors driving the increased distance, and that some of those are obviously outside the USGA's ability to control.

There are additional tweets which I like far less, and I do believe that we need to address this issue.  I just think that Hahn is making arguments that need to and can be addressed, and that calling him stupid, as the header does, isn't especially helpful.  I also say that recognizing that I'm usually the one calling the guy stupid.....

I'll leave you here and promise to be back tomorrow.  Unless, you know, freshies....