Tuesday Tastings

Where to begin?  How about with two stalwarts of this blog, Lydia and Shackelford?  

Lydia, The Aftershocks - They're still talking about our little Kiwi, first in this Beth Ann Nichols follow-up:

DALY CITY, Calif. – Lydia Ko has a tattoo on her right wrist with the dates from her first LPGA victory as a professional – April 27, 2014 – in Roman Numerals. That 

Celebrating with new swing coach Ted Oh.

memorable victory came at Lake Merced Golf Club, where she has now amassed three LPGA titles. After Ko heroically stuffed a 3-wood from 231 yards to 2 ½ feet for eagle, defeating Australia’s Minjee Lee on the first playoff hole at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship to end a 22-month victory drought, it begs the question: Is there room on the leftwrist? 

“I don’t think I cried at the other 14 (LPGA victories) and I cried like four times in the span of two minutes, which is kind of embarrassing,” said Ko. “Every time I’d see my sister I cried; every time I saw my mom I cried; and then Ted (Oh), my coach, was crying so I cried again … God get ahold of yourself. I think it was emotional because they’ve been through it with me.”

Our girl just turned 21, so from here on in it'll be sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.... Or not.  A nice piece, perhaps worthy of a second excerpt:

And after that, well, Jessica Korda gave her a bottle of vodka for her birthday. Ko thought she might open that now that’s she’s 21. On Tuesday, Ko forgot to bring her ID to her birthday party and couldn’t get served, despite Sura’s suggestion that the bartender Google everyone at the table. 

As for a new tattoo, Ko said this victory definitely deserves something, though it might be of the Sharpie variety. 

“I could be (part of) the New Zealand Mafia if I had more tattoos,” she said, laughing.

I think she just violated the first rule of Fight Club.... 

Of perhaps greater import, Geoff provides a lengthy analysis of the rather simple finishing hole at Lake Merced:

--The 18th hole for this particular event will never be confused with Augusta National's 13th, yet there was enough strategic interest to create intrigue: drive down the right side and get a better view of the green, drive left and perhaps shorten the approach, but also lose the better angle. 

--In the playoff, Minjee Lee outdrove Ko by 30 yards, but as Golf Channel's Karen Stupples noted almost immediately, Ko would have the better angle due to an overhanging cypress tree and the shape of the alleyway approach. Check out this screen grab of Ko's angle, with Lee's ball down the left, just above Ko's waistline:

--Since LPGA driving distances are of sane proportions for a majority of the golf courses on earth, even very simple architectural elements provided options, risks and nuanced reward in positioning. The execution by Ko was ultimately masterful, but she was given a canvas thanks to the firm ground conditions, immaculate turf and LMCC design to execute something special. 

--Watching the way Ko's ball hit the ground and release toward the hole only added to the drama and beauty of the shot. If this were a 6-iron, as we see all too often hit into a par-5 by today's male players, the shot loses appeal. It's not something we talk about nor is it a shot that leaves us in awe of the players. Or, in modern parlance, we don't feel like we're living under par. 

--The game is far more interesting to watch and play when angles have meaning and the ground can be used. Even a novice golf watcher can get a thrill from a shot like Ko's and appreciate that they saw something few humans could accomplish.

--When the game is compelling because of the aforementioned elements, more people will tune in on those merits over, say, watching forty-year-olds playing air guitar to music that hasn't been relevant in decades, if ever.

You just have to love how in the explanation of a rather simple design feature Geoff deploys his shiv not once, but twice.... But it can't be said enough, watching a ball release off the turf is like golf porn.

And while we're on the ladies, The Forecaddie has news to share:

The guys can’t have all the fun. The Forecaddie hears the LPGA plans to follow the PGA 

Tour’s lead with a new team competition, à la the Zurich Classic. The Man Out Front already can hear the walk-up music. Perhaps another Justin Bieber tune for the likely pairing of Michelle Wie and Danielle Kang. (Players choose walk-up music at the both the International Crown and Solheim Cup.) 

A new blue-chip sponsor will host the full-field event, which likely will have a similar format to the Zurich, featuring both best-ball and alternate-shot. 

Sister acts should be among the favorites next summer in Michigan. The Jutanugarns – Ariya and Moriya – are ranked Nos. 6 and 11, respectively, and have previously partnered at the International Crown. 

“I think it’s automatic,” Nelly Korda said. Not that she’d want anyone other than big sister Jessica, one of the hottest players on tour. Nelly said friend Ryan Ruffels, who paired with Jason Day at the Zurich, raved about his experience in New Orleans.

Why wouldn't they?

Before leaving the gals, I'd also like to note the unusual support of KPMG for the knocked-up Stacy Lewis...  If they ever find the guy that did that to her....  What?  I guess it's OK then....

A Golfer's Life - John Huggan has a long sitdown with New Zealand's favorite son, their best golfer post-Bob Charles but pre-Lydia.  There's much to interest you, though you'll not be shocked by where I choose to focus:

We have equipment that is really designed for the recreational player, but which produces unhealthy distance for the elite players. I remember playing in pro-ams and occasionally

being out-driven by an amateur. Now that never happens. Now the pros hit their 5-irons past the amateur’s drives. 

The professional game has never been more divorced from the amateur game. I think that is extremely dangerous. I’m not one for bifurcation though. One of the beauties of the game should be that everyone can play. But if we went to different equipment we would lose that. The game wouldn’t be what it is supposed to be.

Interesting and provocative, though I'm not entirely sure that I agree.  The general trend of the equipment advances has been to make the game easier, to eliminate to wild foul ball.  Doesn't that narrow the gap?

The guys are for sure hitting 5-irons 240, which will easily cover the drives of their amateur partners in most cases....

When they started messing with the Old Course at St. Andrews and adding yardage, the R&A lost me. Can you imagine if the All England Club did that to Wimbledon and made the centre court smaller so that the game would be more difficult? In tennis they slowed the ball down. I think we need to do the same in golf.

Don't forget what they're doing with the greens, Frank, speeds at which balls won't stay at rest.  

John never elicits his exact prescription, which presumably involves some kind of roll-back for everyone....  which seems like a non-starter to this observer, but if Frank wants to assume the guise of a Kiwi Utopian, that's his right.

Van Cynical, Accounted For - Gary Van Sickle hadn't crossed my radar in some time, presumably a victim of the sale of Golf Magazine.  Fortunately there's been a sighting at Morning Read, wherein he discusses the half-life of a PGA Tour stop.  Don't cry for Argentina, he tells us, nor for Firestone and Houston:

Tournaments come, and tournaments go. That’s how it is on the PGA Tour. Golf goes

where the money is. This is a business first.

History is nice, but our memories often are nearly as short as our modern gnat-sized attention spans. Remember the Western Open? It was a cornerstone of the PGA Tour lineup for decades. Butler National Golf Club, the tournament’s long-time Chicago-area home, was considered a beast by Tour players. The event was seen as being just a notch below a major championship during the 1980s.

Today, the Western Open is long gone, having hit a low point – in my eyes, anyway – when Cialis, an erectile-dysfunction drug, became the title sponsor for a few embarrassing years. Imagine being a female tournament volunteer and having to wear a big Cialis logo on your shirt.

Glad that we can now take Gary's face off the milk cartons, but in other respects it's a disappointing offering.  First and foremost, forget thinking of the Western as just below a major, for a long time it WAS a major....  Just ask Walter Hagen:

Walter Hagen could have related to Jack's comment when "they," in the late 1930s, ordained the Masters (aka the Augusta National Invitation) as the new top-shelf golf title, with the British and U.S. Opens and the American PGA Championship. At the same time, the Western Open, the third-oldest open championship, first played in 1899, was dropped a notch. And though the term "major" didn't really take hold until Arnold Palmer, thanks largely to the promotional efforts of his agent, Mark McCormack, traveled to St. Andrews in 1960 for the British Open, the various record books continued counting U.S. and British Amateur titles as majors. But "they" concluded that Hagen's five Western Opens didn't quite match his two U.S. Opens, four British Opens and five American PGAs in terms of prestige and importance.

We all get that golf is a business, and that events will come and go.  I'll not mourn either Houston or Firestone, and few will.  But The Western Open, the second oldest U.S. professional tournament was special, with a rich history that we should celebrate. 

That Commissioner Ratched was willing to sacrifice it for the dreary FedEx Cup tells us all we need to know about him..... Cialis jokes are all well and good, but where was Van Cynical as this going down?

Men In Plaid - Bradley Klein pens a love letter to the American Society of Golf Course Architects:

In previous decades, the society acted more like a protective guild than an inclusive 

Looks like the Champions' Dinner from Colonial.

professional association. Some designers used the society to create a kind of regional exclusion that prevented competition from potential rivals. Lately that has all changed, and while members directly compete against one another for jobs they also are talking to each other for tips, advice and suggestions on everything from bunker liners and new turf grasses to irrigation budgets and greens mix. 

Incoming ASGCA President Jeff Blume spoke powerfully about the collegiality that lies at the core of the group. As he pointed out, the industry has seen a major downsizing and decentralization, the last decade, thanks largely to the industry-wide downturn from the 2008 recession and the subsequent shift in the golf marketplace from big-scale new projects to small-scale renovations. 

"We used to have collaboration and collegiality focused inside the office," said Blume. "Now they are taking place outside, through external networking and informal cooperation."

I can't speak to the bad old days, but it does seem like the current generation all get along reasonably well.  Since the majority of these guys cut their teeth with Pete Dye, I'm guessing that he's at least partially responsible.

But this seems..... I don't know, troubling?

The honorary membership status that came with the award qualified me for a share of the red tartan cloth, which they thoughtfully presented in the form of a Ross-plaid yarmulke.

Yeah, I get that his name is Klein, but wouldn't a pocket square have been less... you know, ethnic?

Kooch, Unplugged -  A fun interview with Kooch, in which he comes across exactly as expected:

We've heard you're a guy who likes to needle other Tour pros. You might even be the biggest ballbuster on Tour. Is that a fair assessment? 

[Laughs] I am probably quick to throw out a jab, but I think self-deprecating humor is the best and funniest kind. And I'm okay to make a jab right back at myself if the situation calls for it. It's all in good fun. If you're not okay laughing at yourself, I'm probably not gonna be friends with you. 

Who are your favorite targets? 

Phil Mickelson is fantastic. He's one of the all-time great trash-talkers, and it's fun to, every now and then, get the upper hand with him.

If you remember the Zach Johnson locker story involving Michael Phelps, you'll know that he has a talent for the long con.

Goose, Gander - How can they possibly help themselves?

Chamblee’s critics will persist nonetheless, and the 55-year-old is going to risk empowering them by reviving his dormant competitive career, at least on a trial basis. He will enter a Senior British Open qualifier this summer and is considering entering some

PGA Tour Champions qualifiers and possibly its Q school. 

“I get a chuckle out of people who try to denigrate my career,” Chamblee told Golf World. “I was an extraordinary golfer. I say that with all humility. There are 25 million who play this game, and I was 58th in the world. I was a decent tour player. I played at the highest level for the better part of 15 years. At times I got damn close to being really good. 

“I don’t at all look back on my career with any regret. I gave it my all. I burned the candle on both ends, practicing sunup to sundown and thinking about it until I decided to do something else. I didn’t quit because I was playing bad or was hurt. I quit because of life matters, family matters and a goal of wanting to do something else in my life and see if I could be any good at it. That was it.”

Frequently wrong, but never in doubt.  I like having Brandel where he is, he's a one-man content machine for a blogger.  His over-the-top certainty can be a little tiring, witness his assertion that that DJ drive at Kapalua was the best significant golf shot ever.  I'll concede that it was a golf shot, though the "best" and "significant' parts don't withstand a lot of scrutiny.....

But golf remains difficult, and there's no reason to be mean-spirited....  Right guys?

Broadcast Bifurcation - The Forecaddie again, with the skinny on what to expect at Shinny (hope you don't tired of that one):

Fox Sports will offer viewers a fresh look and a new, if very familiar, face on its

broadcasts this year. 

The 18th tower has been home to anchor Joe Buck and analysts Paul Azinger and Brad Faxon for two years, ever since Fox dumped Greg Norman after its first season airing USGA championships. In 2018, Fox Sports is splitting into two booths: Azinger with Buck, and Faxon alongside rising star Shane Bacon. 

The Forecaddie recently caught up with Mark Loomis, Fox Sports’ coordinating producer for golf, who says he began thinking about bifurcating the booth at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, when Juli Inkster joined an already crowded anchor desk.

Mark Loomis with the specifics:

Loomis explained what viewers can expect to see at Shinnecock Hills in June: “On Thursday and Friday at the U.S. Open there will be hours when it’s just Shane and Brad, and hours where it’s just Joe and Paul. On the weekend, there will be times where Joe and Paul will get two holes, Nos. 1 and 2, and Brad and Shane will get two holes, Nos. 3 and 4. It adds up to 10 holes for Joe and Paul, eight for Brad and Shane. Because people don’t see us all year, it allowed us to be a little simpler in figuring out who’s talking for the viewer.” 

The Man Out Front asked Loomis if he fears a perception that Faxon is being ousted from the 18th tower. 

“That’s so far from the truth. The perception is that he’s not sitting in that 18th booth with the other two. The reality is that he’s going to be used more,” Loomis insisted. “When it’s just Brad and Shane, he becomes the voice.”

Makes perfect sense for Thursday and Friday, where the TV window is quite extensive.  My sense is that Fox has upped their game and isn't any worse than the other two, with the exception of Joe Buck.  His voice is simply at a volume and frequency that's jarring to our game....  But there's no hope of him going anywhere, so we'll all have to suck it up.

Cheap Shots - You know the drill:

  

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Pat Perez expletive heard on CBS broadcast of Zurich Classic

Hey, if he finished 18 and posted, that's progress: Tony Romo fails to advance in U.S. Open local qualifying

Chips and Burgers, Perfect Together - VIDEO: Kid expertly chips burgers onto grill ... from a roof

My shaft wasn't picked randomly, it was chosen by color: Our study proves that randomly choosing a shaft costs you big yards off the tee

Well, it is  men's event: Meet Tripod: Official 3-legged alligator of the Zurich Classic

Please tell me it was after Jordan's awful hooked iron into the water: VIDEO: Ryan Palmer tells Jordan Spieth, 'Go get that!' in mocking homage to British Open