Thursday Threads

Time is a bit short this morning, so just a few notes for y'all...

Masters Bits - A week from now, balls will be in the air....It seems a tad early to panic over this:

We are nine days away from the first round of the 2018 Masters. And we are five days from the official start of Masters week, Sunday’s Drive, Chip and Putt Finals at Augusta

National. 

As of now, the early-week weather forecast calls for some clouds and maximum temperatures in the high 70s. However, rain and thunderstorms are expected once the competition begins, with the worst day projected to be Friday when there is an 80-percent chance of rain and thunderstorms are expected.

It seems like ages since we've seen the place firm and fast....  But everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything.

Do we get results, or what?  Finally the Masters broadcast enters the 20th century:

Golf’s biggest annual television event, the Masters, will have a slightly different look this year. 

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus announced that U.S. audiences will see shot-tracing technology on five holes – Nos. 9, 10, 13, 15 and 18. CBS has promoted the expanded use of shot-tracing technology in its regular PGA Tour coverage, but until this year, it had been used only in digital coverage of the Masters. Now U.S. viewers will see it during the nine hours of weekend coverage on CBS. 

“We’re trying to blend in the technology with our traditional coverage,” McManus said during a media conference call. “We’ve had good success with this on our digital platforms, and we think the time is right to introduce it into our regular coverage on Saturday and Sunday.”

Shot-tracing on No. 13?  I just got a Chris Matthews thrill up my leg.... As the man said, progress is slow.

And who doesn't love these items:

2018 Masters: 10 golfers to watch at Augusta

You could no doubt list the first ten names that come to mind, and have a second career as a golf writer.  

So, enough with the Masters for now?

Tiger Scat -  That book continues to make the rounds, but Steiny and his minions have a word of caution:

Two of Tiger Woods's top representatives have challenged the reporting in a much-

buzzed-about new Woods biography, alleging that the book is "littered with egregious errors" and the authors "can't even manage basic truth and accuracy." 

In a sharply-worded 648-word statement released Wednesday, Woods's manager, Mark Steinberg, and chief spokesperson, Glenn Greenspan, claim the book, Tiger Woods, is a "re-hash" of previous Woods biographies and that the authors, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, "did zero fact checking with us of any kind."

What did you expect them to say, "It's Twue!  It's Twue!"?

The authors of course have their own re-rebuttal:

"Between January 2016 and February 2018, we made repeated attempts to interview Tiger himself through his representatives, Glenn Greenspan and Mark Steinberg. As we write in our book, they imposed conditions for Tiger’s cooperation that no serious journalist would accept. 

"As for our sourcing and research, as responsible biographers we are very open in our book about the use of Tiger’s own extensive written and public statements as a crucial source of insights, facts, and reflections. We credit these and other previously written books and articles about Tiger Woods for providing valuable reference and verification for our narrative.

 A former Clinton hack had this on one of the more controversial accounts in the book:

In a piece on Golfdigest.com (which last week published the excerpt in question), former Clinton counselor Doug Band vehemently disputes how the Woods-Clinton round is portrayed by the authors, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian. The authors' account describes a rude and at times disrespectful Woods in respect to his interactions with Clinton, alleging that the two didn't get along and the round was little more than a forced photo-op.

"The whole notion that Tiger was disrespectful toward the President is completely false," Band writes. "The way the authors describe the round of golf (and the events surrounding it) is not only inaccurate, it's mean-spirited." 

Band claims the outing was collegial and "they came to the game with respect for each other and left it with more."

All parties should keep those statements handy, as it appears they'll need to deny everything yet again:

Tiger Woods's recent on-course renaissance has not only helped him reclaim his place as the most-talked about person in the golf world. It's also seen him break back into the spotlight of the greater sports world and beyond. 

More proof of that came Tuesday, when Variety reported that documentary director and producer Alex Gibney is developing a new documentary series about Tiger's life and career. The new biography 'Tiger Woods' written by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian will be the foundation of the series. Both authors have signed on as executive producers.

What a shame, but I need to wash my hair the day it airs...

 The Schedule - Doug Ferguson takes a deep dive into the 2019 scheule, which confirms the report from The Forecaddie on the schedule leading up to The Masters.  We'll let Doug take it from there:

The PGA Championship will be May 16-19 at Bethpage Black in 2019, which is certain to disrupt the Texas swing. 

The AT&T Byron Nelson is likely to precede the PGA Championship and Colonial would be on the other side of the PGA. Houston would get another pre-major spot on the calendar, this time before the U.S. Open. The week before the U.S. Open had belonged to the St. Jude Classic since 2007, but next year it becomes a World Golf Championship and is likely to be played the first weekend in August.

Many ledes buried... First, both Colonial and The nelson appear to have survived, that's news.  Equally of note, the former we presume to have done so without having an actual sponsor.

But it's last bit that is noteworthy, at least to me.  If we're done with Firestone, I'll shed no crocodile tears.  But Memphis in August?  Haven't these kids suffered enough?

And here's some craziness:

According to three people involved in the discussions, sponsorship is coming together for a new event in Detroit, while the 3M Championship at the TPC Twin Cities (currently a PGA Tour Champions event) wants a spot on the PGA Tour schedule. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the proposals are not finalized. 

There’s one other potential wrinkle to the end. The FedEx Cup playoffs will be three tournaments instead of four, and while this is the final year of the playoff event at the TPC Boston (previously Deutsche Bank, currently Dell Technologies Championship), it might not be the end of Boston. 

One possibility the tour is exploring is for The Northern Trust to alternate between the New York area (such as Liberty National) and Boston.

Two new events?  I only count two that are disappearing, D.C. and the one playoff week.  Any other volunteers?

Alan, Asked - His mailbag feature is always good fun, but there are some discordant notes this week.  Shall we bundle those items related to the Ryder Cup?

Is his horrible Ryder Cup record and failed visit to the 2011 French Open (comments about the people, Paris and whatnot) enough reason to keep Bubba

home in September? -@JJ_Slice 

It's true that Bubba stunk it up at his last Ryder Cup, going 0-3 in 2014, but in '10 and '12 he was highly effective in fourballs, winning three out of four matches. His game is so quirky it doesn't translate to alternate shot, and he has looked overwhelmed in losing all three of his singles matches, but Bubba has reminded all of us this year that he still has a ton of game and he should be dangerous in better-ball at the Ryder. And not only is he older/wiser but the vice captaincy in 2016 was, I think, the first time Bubba ever felt accepted by his peers. It had a profound impact on him. He'll definitely be in Paris and I think will turn out to be an asset. As for his long-ago comments about the City of Light, well, they'll get exhumed but Bubba doesn't make a good heel because of his palpable awkwardness and need to be liked. He'll be fine.

I come from the Al Davis school of golf... Just win, Baby!

He's never left Bagdad, Fl and you're surprised that he's uncomfortable in a foreign country?  But how can you not like him in a fourball?  And one assumes, per Alan, that he's grown some and will be more comfortable....  If he's one of your top 12, he's in.

Is Poulter back in the picture? -Pipe (@FelipeLanus)

He has to be. Europe's four hottest players so far this year have been (arguably) Fleetwood, Noren, Hatton and Rahm. One glaring problem: they've played in a combined zero Ryder Cups. Poulter is more than experienced; he's a Ryder Cup legend. A universal reaction to Poulter's run at the Match Play seemed to be, 'How the heck is this guy in the field?!' But starting in November he had a nice run on the Euro tour, including a T6 in Dubai. If he can keep finding his form, I don't see any scenario where Poulter isn't a captain's pick.

He'll be awfully tempting to Mr. Bjorn, though there was that big honkin' egg he laid at Gleneagles...

At this stage, it is doubtful that there will be a French player on the European team at the next Ryder Cup. If so and if I am correct, it will be a first: not a single player from the nation hosting the event. And a captain from Denmark. A factor or not? #askalan -Yannick (@Ycochen) 

Europe has always enjoyed a robust homefield advantage in golf-mad places like Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It's a little bit of a risk to visit France, a country with much less of a golf culture, but presumably all the hooligans from the UK and beyond will roadtrip to Le Golf National. And while it will be a slight buzzkill if the host country doesn’t have a homegrown hero I'm pretty sure the singing on the first tee will be as loud as ever!

You really gonna make me check their points list to see where Alexander Levy currently sits?  Sorry, no time, but this couldn't matter less.

Alan, does @TweeterAlliss get on your nerves? -@IanOPhotography 

Nah, I enjoy the sparring, and he's far wittier than most trolls. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that Tweeter and I have been chatting about me journeying to the linksland and us engaging a good-versus-evil, Ryder Cup style grudge match. Could be the golf event of the century.

Need a 4th?  How about a referee?

This is sort of related: 

Why can't we all just accept that match play is great for the Ryder Cup and our local member-guest, but doesn't work for the Tour? You have a fix? -@MikeMcCarten 

Yeah, the championship match was a snooze, and that seems to happen with a depressing regularity. In my games with pals we do automatic 2-down presses, and that offers a chance at salvation. Short of introducing betting game gimmicks, the best fix for the Match Play would be to drastically reduce the size of the field, to 32 or even 16. That way you're guaranteed that the biggest names will play deeper into the draw. But I don't think Monahan has the stones to do this. Or, if you keep the field at 64, throw out the World Ranking as a basis of seeding and let a committee stack the brackets for maximum drama. Spieth vs. Reed was delicious — who wouldn't want a bunch more pairings with built-in intrigue?

I guess he didn't actually see the Spieth v. Reed match, which was surpassingly strange...   But the issue I think with field size is that there are simply too many matches...  One or more of the guys are gonna be running on fumes, it just happened to be Kisner this year.

Since length/defending par isn't as important for match play, which classic course(s) would be he most fun as WGC-Match Play venue? #AskAlan -Steve (@_SMisner) 

So many choices here. Pretty much any course that has different options and angles of attack: National Golf Links. Pine Valley. Chicago. CPC. Fishers Island. Crystal Downs. Peachtree…

Kind of silly, in that the Tour actually found a good venue for this event.  Yeah, we can dream about Pine Valley or Cypress Point, but it's still a big event with a massive footprint that those places can't possibly accommodate.

But this one is peak silliness:

We've seen NBA, NFL, & NFL players chime in about social issues, but there hasn't been anything from the PGA or the LPGA. Why is that? -Karl (@TheKarltopia)

Well, don't sell Peter Malnati short – he had some very eloquent things to say last fall on a number of political topics.

Paul Goydos gave me some searing quotes about the sitting President. And let us not forget Grayson Murray's intellectually nuanced tweets about police shootings or the brave civil disobedience of the 1993 U.S. Ryder Cup team, members of which made noise about not visiting the White House because they objected to President Clinton's tax plan. (I'm not making this up; they eventually went.) But I see your larger point. Right now it's just not part of the culture of the sport. Note that when the players from the leagues you cited have chosen to protest — by kneeling, wearing t-shirts emblazoned with a message, etc. — they have pretty much always had teammates alongside them to offer support. Golfers don't have that luxury, which makes the protests riskier, and lonelier. And of course many golfers have conservative country club values and don't feel there is much to protest. The same can be said of the CEOs that sign them to endorsement deals and many of their fans, so I don't see things changing any time soon.

Karl, you ask that as if it's a good thing?  Have you seen the NFL's ratings?  As the kids say, Get Woke, Go Broke.

Here's a novel concept.... how about leaving sports to be about the games.  I know, an idea so crazy it just might work....Any time you make a political point, you're likely alienating half of your audience.  So, how about we continue to respect said audience enough to not impose our silly little feelings on them?

Of course, like anyone else, I'm dying to know how Bubba feels about those steel tariffs....I Kid!