Midweek Musings

Another dispiriting day on Black.....  And as for that park employee that told me the rough was down?  There's a circle in hell set aside for him.

Players Gonna Play - I wasn't over the moon when I first heard of the Tiger-Phil pairing at Sawgrass.  But I'm open to persuasion, as Phil throws down the gauntlet:

Will Phil be business casual on Thursday?

“As I look at the cover of the newspaper and the pairing is on there, and the excitement that’s been going on around here, it gets me thinking: Why don’t we just bypass all the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go head-to-head and just have kind of a high-stake, winner-take-all match,” Mickelson said. “Now, I don’t know if he wants a piece of me, but I just think it would be something that would be really fun for us to do, and I think there would be a lot of interest in it if we just went straight to the final

round.”

Now, you really did need to see the s***-eating grin with which this was delivered....   

But Woods wasn't going to go quietly into the night, and when he was asked about Mickelson's comments during his press conference on Tuesday afternoon, the 14-time major champion hilariously fired back:

"Well, first of all, big picture," Woods said. 

After a long pause, the same reporter followed up, telling Woods he's only one up on Mickelson "head-to-head." As Woods began to respond, the reporter said they had faced off head-to-head 32 times, but that's not what Tiger was talking about.

"How many times have we both -- No, no, have we won on tour?" 

Sorry Phil, but 79-43 is a literal mic drop. Once Woods got in his body blow, he was able to put this hyped-up, long-time coming pairing in perspective.

Literal?  Not so much, but good to see the lads enjoying the pairing.  And while that's a stock retort from Tiger, sometimes the stock seven-iron is all one needs.

I did notice something that had escaped me previously, that on "Better-than-Most" Saturday, Phil had a front-row seat. Who knew?  Perhaps more noteworthy, is that it's only time they've played together at this event, per Bob Harig.

Phil also had this nomination for GOAT:

"I don't think anybody today who wasn't there to witness it, and I don't think anybody before, will ever see that level of play again,'' Mickelson said Tuesday at TPC-Sawgrass, where the Players Championship begins on Thursday. 

"It was the most remarkable golf in the history of the game, and I think unrepeatable. I think it was that good. I look at 2000 as being kind of the benchmark at the U.S. Open and being the greatest golf I've ever witnessed and I believe has ever been played. 

"And it sucked to have to play against him. It really did. You look at it and say, 'How am I going to beat this?' There was a stretch there for a numbers of years that it was so impressive that it was hard to imagine that it was actually happening, that he was hitting some of the shots that he was hitting and playing that well. 

"The guys today look back and they say, 'Come on, how much better could he have been?' and so forth. And it goes to show you that they weren't there to witness it.''

Though from the unique perspective of a blogger, it was more fun when they hated each other.

The Twelfth of Never - Anyone catch that reference?  Anyone?  Bueller?

You might recall that a new twelfth hole at Sawgrass was unveiled last year, to decidedly mixed reviews.  Now, your standard issue PGA Tour professional doesn't like change....  Nope, wouldn't be prudent.  He wants everything as it's always been... Shack at Golfweek explains:

To put it another way, if TPC Sawgrass were an 18-song set list, the PGA Tour replaced that bathroom-break, meandering piano ballad B-side with a soaring, up-tempo rocker that no one wants to miss.

To recap, Dye’s original 12th hole featured a forced layup to a well bunkered and green. A large mound essentially prevented players from driving the green.

Most importantly, Shack introduces Taco Lu's, a food truck he manages to mention twice in his item.  I'm assuming he'll eat free all week.... 

There are three changes to the hole that should serve to induce more players to give it a go, though apparently a good 40% did last year:

Meh.  It was, as Geoff notes, not much of a hole for these guys, though it worked well enough for the paying customers.  It just seems like a hole we see way too much of, think 17th at Scottsdale.  

For any Millennials reading along, that was Johnny Mathis homage in the header.  I know, but you can Google him.

Fifth of Four, A Recurring Theme - I know, but there is a little twist this year that I'll get to in a bit.  The Golf Channel crew has had way too much airtime to fill, and we'll let Shack take it from here:

Poking around Google News, I found one story from the last four years wondering about possible major status for The Players Championship. Or, as we knew it many years ago before seemingly disappearing from all known radar screens: the fifth major debate.

Today's resurfacing was the first I've seen or heard outside of Monday's Live From segment devoted to whether golf's Grand Slam should expand by one. Both Brandel Chamblee and David Duval declared the event a major (already), while Frank Nobilo was the dissenting vote over the course of nine minutes.

This debate seemingly died several years ago from fatigue and almost no demand for major status. The tournament has never actively campaigned for the status and in recent years, millions have been poured into improving the fan experience and course.

Furthermore, when The Players moved to May it gained an enhanced, stand-alone identity that will carry over to a new, one-week earlier March date. 

Perks were added for the winner, including a huge purse. 

The World Golf Hall of Fame now gives Players wins special recognition. It is one of the most prestigious titles in golf. And as the LPGA's Evian event has learned the hard way, forcing major status can actually do damage.

The whole subject of majors is kind of fun, because when you poke around at the history there's quite a few surprises (Impregnable Quadrilateral, anyone?).  The whole concept is younger than people realize, and I always add that I'm so old that I remember when Jack had twenty majors.  In fact, it was reportedly drummed up on a flight to the UK by Arnold Palmer and writer Bob Drum (pun intended), though in many years it was impossible to even play in all four events.

Let's get to the part that I find ironic.  Even in the midst of trashing Nurse Ratched, I always try to acknowledge that the Tour has a problem unique in the sports world, that despite its lofty status it doesn't control any of the most important events in the game.  Accordingly, one understand their desire to promote this event and elevate its stature in the game, an effort at which they've been quite successful.

But then came The FedEx Cup, that Bataan Death March of faux playoffs that concludes the season.  The argument for The Players as a major strengthened with the change of dates from March to May.... Really, the Florida Swing is good fun, to paraphrase Shack, it's a piano ballad prelude to something more significant.

So, what's in store next year?  The Players returns to its March date to accommodate a higher imperative, completing the Tour's endless season by Labor Day.  Why should we consider the event a major, when the folks that run it don't seem to?

Nothing To See Here -  Someday I'll find that elusive teenager that can teach me how to embed these videos, but just go watch this.  Proof positive that it's just because they're spending so much time in the gym....

The Generation Gap - We live in a strange world, one in which old-timers such as Dan Jenkins and Peter Alliss have taken to Twitter with great success.  But Mike Bamberger put the "Old" in old school, and has an amusing feature on things he'd have tweeted were he, you know, on Twitter:

2. I’m stealing this from a friend: If you can’t see your ball in the rough from 20 yards away, your rough is too long.​

You mean, like yesterday?  really, I'm not bitter...

1. Did you see Phil’s whole sequence on 18 on Sunday? The up-and-down off the rocks, the horizontal drop of the putter into his brother’s hands like he was Method Man on Tour, the gifting of his game ball to his playing partner, Johnson Wagner. He’s the Tour’s last showman.

Rickie's not a showman?  

​4. I did some looking around at Shinnecock Hills recently. It was a construction site. The USGA, going for U.S. Open perfection, has done all manner of work to the Shinnecock Hills rough, some of it through sodding. I’m nervous. Shinnecock Hills is about as good as a course can get. Just because you can do things to it doesn’t mean you should. The Brits have it right. Let ‘em play. Merion in 2013 was almost unrecognizable. I bought the hype of all the changes, and one over won. I’d rather have seen 10 under win and Merion play like Merion.

We're all nervous, Mike.

Ford Tough -  I don't imagine that I'd enjoy the life of a teaching professional, making work of my greatest passion.  But if one is to take that on, I'd recommend that you sign up for the Bob Ford program.  Ford is one of the elder statesmen of the game, Head Professional at Oakmont and Seminole...Via Geoff, an interesting interview with the man:

GC: Speaking of Jack, Tiger has come out for scaling back the distance of the golf ball for the pros. The head of Bridgestone Golf said the same thing yesterday. 

BF: For the elite game? I would tell you that in the last three months, I’ve never heard more comments about it and more people are getting on the bandwagon to do it. Mike Davis is a member here. He’s like, “My goal [by the end of] my career here is to get the ball rolled back.” So I would be very surprised if it doesn’t roll back.

Yes, but.... It may be that Bridgestone is more significant to this effort than Davis is, but the forces in opposition are deeply entrenched.  

GC: Do you think anyone understands what “bifurcation” means?

(laughter) 

BF: I hope so. It’s been a bad word. I don’t quite know how they’re gonna do it. You and I don’t want our ball to go shorter, we know that. Believe it or not, they have developed a golf ball that at our speed, it doesn’t change. At the speed of 108 or more miles an hour, it starts to go down.

Oh, I think everyone knows what it means, which is different than knowing where to draw the line...  

But left unsaid is that Davis, in his pubic comments, made clear that the distance problem is not limited to the men's elite game.  

Give it a read, as he's lived a great life in our game.

Speaking Truth To Power -  Damon Hack used National Teacher Day to get some renowned teachers to talk about their prized pupils, with surprising results.  I was always taught that, if you want to send a message, go to Western Union:

The Forecaddie was surprised to hear Pete Cowen wonder about Henrik Stenson’s

mental state heading into Players Championship week.

“Hopefully, with the right attitude and the right mental attitude,” Cowen said during a “Morning Drive” interview with Damon Hack. Cowen then suggested Stenson is in an odd place.

“He’s a stunning player at his best as we saw at 2016 at Troon,” Cowen said.

Pressed on whether it was a motivation issue, the instructor said he and his star pupil worked for 5 1/2 hours straight Sunday, without a break. 

So Hack pressed on, asking about Stenson’s focus level right now. 

“We could be better,” Cowen said.

At least he used the first-person plural....

Butch as well, who says some unsurprising things about the best player on the planet:

Harmon then returned to the question at hand. 

“How do we get him back? I think he’s got to work a little harder,” Harmon said. “He’s

got to go back to the things he was doing then. D.J.’s kind of a laid back guy as you know Damon. He enjoys his life. He enjoys his time off. But I think he’s got to put in a little more work and a little more time.” 

Harmon did note that the slight slide is not all Johnson’s fault.

“The other thing is these kids have gotten a little better,” Harmon said. “Some of them we’ve never heard of. You look at the young man last week, [Aaron] Wise, look how good he played.”

Let me clarify... I find it highly surprising that he'd say this out loud to a reporter, not that he'd think it.  But at least he's moved on from the coke benders.... Right?