Weekend Wrap

A great weekend at this end, both in terms of golf and the social calendar.  Hope yours was good as well...

Live Down Under Par - We're gonna be milking that new Tour slogan for a while, so deal with it.  An entertaining final round from Quail Hollow, at least to this observer:

CHARLOTTE – Nothing was coming easy for Jason Day at the Wells Fargo Championship. 

Happy non-golf news as well for this beautiful family. 

Walking up the 16th fairway to begin Quail Hollow’s infamous Green Mile closing stretch, he’d made more bogeys in his last 15 holes (four) than he had the first 54 (three). To make matters worse, across the lake, a scoreboard confirmed what Day had feared since his bogey two holes earlier – 21-year-old Aaron Wise had caught him at 10-under par for a share of the lead. 

That’s when Day, staring down the course’s two most intimidating holes, made back-to-back birdies to earn his 12th career PGA Tour victory in a way befitting of a former World No. 1.

He was all over the yard for sure...  My question is when did he become the best putter on the planet?  Wow, very impressive... as was this:

The most stunning shot of the tournament came at its toughest (playing more than half a stroke above par Sunday): the par-3 17th. Following his birdie at 16 to pull one ahead of Wise, Day opted for 7-iron staring down at a green he said looks “real tiny” from 231 yards away with water short, left and long. The plan was to fly the ball into an upslope on the green, killing the momentum and letting it settle near the pin. 

In Day’s words, here’s what happened next: 

“When I hit it, it was on a cracking line, it was beautiful,” he said. “And then it just had this massive bounce, hit on the downslope and fortunately hit the pin, which was nice, and went to about two or three feet. Things like that are what you need to win golf tournaments.”

Well, yeah!  Notwithstanding that the ball had taken about a half dozen little bounces before reaching the pin, it was still at warp speed.  But did you catch those greens?  As firm as I can remember seeing, two moments of note:

1. Aaron Wise playing his second into one of the Par-5's saw his shot bounce like a superball.  Forget the technology providing ball speed, carry and apex on tee shots, I want to know the apex of that bounce;
2. There was one shot that landed near a CBS microphone and the bounce sounded like it was landing on the hood of a Pontiac.  Happens every week I hear you saying, but did I mention that this was the second bounce?

The USGA and R&A told us recently that driving distances are up three yards on average in the last year, though I'm guessing they were up ten yards after this week.  You might have notice that Day's shot that rattled the pin was a 231-yard was a seven iron.... and was quite obviously too much club.  In the final pairing, Nick Watney his his drive on No. 16 a mere 376 yards, and was away....  Nothing to see here....

The Tour Confidential panel took on the issue of whether Day could reclaim that No. 1 ranking:

Alan Shipnuck: His short game has been sensational during this run but the scary thing

is that Day has not been totally happy with his ball-striking. He hit a bunch of clutch shots coming down the stretch today, so lookout.

John Wood, caddie for Matt Kuchar: Absolutely. The key word is "healthy." Watching a bit of the telecast Saturday and watching his putting (which is wonderfully aggressive; he literally looks like he is trying to make every single putt, like that's the only thought in his head) and his ability to fly the ball 313 right down the middle while one-arming his follow through was startling. A healthy Day can be as good or better than anyone.

With two wins this year on tough tracks, who could argue that he can't?  Staying healthy is a concern for sure, as he's one of those guys that seems far too ripped...  I've also always been concerned that he's one of those players with only one gear, seemingly unable to swing at 85%....

I thought it was an attractive leaderboard as well, serving as Aaron Wise's coming out party, but also featuring Nick Watney's return from six years in the desert.... Cameos from Bryson Dechambeau and Patrick Reed (I guess pink is the new red?) made for a good day, and then there was this guy:

Mickelson's approach to the 18th green during the final round of the Wells Fargo

Championship on Sunday went dangerously close to falling into the creek to the left of the green, but Mickelson found a way to play it. He got up and down for par to shoot 69 and tie for fifth. 

But we found out later the ball was leaning against a rock, and that Mickelson used the rock to his advantage. 

"It was touching a rock, but somehow I was able to get way underneath the ball," he said. "It was kind of on such a severe lie, I was able to hit it vertically. So I hit it off the toe, and the toe of my wedge is all banged up — not the sole, but the far end of the toe. I semi-played it into the rock to kick it to the right over the pin. So I went up vertically and used the side of the rock to kind of get it to go to the right."

Ironically, he had maybe four pars all day.... This one was pure Phil.

Tiger Scat -  I know, but people seem to care....  The Tiger Tracker is on the case:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – I walked 18 holes with Tiger Woods on Sunday – you know, like I do – and I saw zero birdies. Let’s talk about it.

Mr. Tracker, it's not all about you.... The no-birdies seems related-to and far less significant than this:

• No surprise, the putting was poor again on Sunday. Everybody has their weeks where things just go sideways, but Tiger Woods – arguably the best clutch putter in the history

of golf – did not break 30 putts in a round this week. He went 31-33-31-31 and headed to the parking lot -5.810 in strokes gained: putting. He talked all week about how he struggled to adjust to slower-than-anticipated putting surfaces, but to be honest these greens weren’t that slow. And they’re basically flawless. And he ran a number of putts by the hole today. And plenty of others guys managed to figure it out. I don’t know. Just one of those weeks.

As ugly as it was statistically, I think it looked even worse than that....  The consensus seems to be that his putting was so poor that his ball-striking had to be much-improved, which seems confirmed by these stats:

He was inside the top 20 in stokes gained: putting at Torrey Pines, PGA National and Bay Hill. He was 39th while playing Innisbrook for the first time as a professional at the Valspar Championship, but he pulled off a runner-up finish due to his superior iron play.

Woods set season highs in strokes gained: off-the-tee (2.997) and strokes gained: approach-the-green (4.530) at the Wells Fargo, which illustrates just how uncomfortable he was around the greens while finishing T-55.

Subjectively I didn't see that improvement, but admittedly it wa shard to get past his horrible work on the greens.   Back to the TC gang:

2. In Tiger Woods's first start since the Masters, he battled a cold putter at the Wells Fargo Championship and finished T55. Next up is the Players Championship, a tournament he's won twice. Are you more or less bullish about Tiger's chances of winning the Players than you were regarding his chances at Augusta, where he was a favorite but finished T32?

Sens: I never liked his chances much at Augusta, so I guess I like them slightly more at the Players, but only slightly. Tiger's comeback has been amazing to watch. But this field is just too stout and the course too trouble-filled for a guy still on a quest to find his (warning: Tigerism approaching) A-game. 

Shipnuck: He has a much better chance at the Players, if only because ANGC demands so many drivers and Sawgrass so few. Notwithstanding his cold putter in Charlotte, the driver remains the weakest part of Tiger's game. But as fun as it has been to watch him grinding, as the sample size becomes larger it becomes more clear that Tiger has a looong way to go before he's ready to win anything, let alone against the deepest field of the year on a treacherous course.

I can't imagine that he'll hit too many drivers, so that should be a benefit to him...  But his misses are still of the XXXL variety, and this is a quirky, maddening track if you're not in full control.  

You might have heard about his pairing for Thursday and Friday:

3. Woods and Phil Mickelson are grouped for the first two rounds of the Players(Rickie Fowler is also joining the star-studded threesome), making it the first time the duo has been paired together since the 2014 PGA. Who will derive more motivation from this grouping: Tiger or Phil?

Sens: Tiger. Phil has spoken at length about how fired up he gets playing with Tiger. But is there any fiercer competitor on the planet than Woods? I know that this is the kinder, gentler Tiger, but I still think of him as being like one of those characters from a movie who wants to rip the other guy's heart out and show it to him while it's still beating. Maybe Phil feels the same and is just hiding it behind the aw-shucks smile. Whatever the case, this should be fun.

Shipnuck: Jim Furyk. Throw in the practice round at Augusta and perhaps all of this is laying the groundwork for a Tiger-Phil pairing at the Ryder Cup. Don't forget, it's supposed to be a goodwill exhibition; what could possibly generate more buzz than pairing Woods and Mickelson together on an international stage?

I'm not sure they've done either guy a favor, but they're looking for and will no doubt be rewarded with many eyeballs.  This guy goes to the videotape looking for an edge:

It will mark the first time Woods and Mickelson have been grouped together in a Tour

event since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla. (We're not counting their much-ballyhooed practice round together at the Masters in April.) 

While they aren't playing against each other in a match-play format, there's still some noteworthy nuggets when comparing their head-to-head stroke-play battles over the years. 

The main takeaway? The scoring battle is closer than you might think. 

According to the PGA Tour's statistical database, in the 32 times Woods and Mickelson have played together, whether in a pairing or threesome, Mickelson holds the all-time edge over Woods 15-14-3. But Woods has the better scoring average; his 69.41 edges Mickelson's 69.66. In relation to par, Woods's average is 1.75 under compared to Mickelson's 1.50 under.

Ancient history is irrelevant, the pressing issue is the effect of the bromance.... As for Shipnuck's suggestion of a Tiger-Phil pairing in Paris, by all means pair them in foursomes.... Make them play each others' foul balls and we can blissfully return to the pre-task force status quo ante when the hated each other.... You'll no doubt agree that was much more fun.

Golf Sixes, An Appreciation - Shack watched the Euro Tour's second installment of the wacky format so we didn't have to, and files a gem of a review.  Amusingly, he ledes with a barb aimed at Ponte Vedra Beach that scores:

On the golf desperation scale from 1 to Live Under Par, the second UK playing of GolfSixes registered a solid 8.

C'mon, Geoff, tell us what you really thought of it.  Not to worry, he will:

Year two of this innovation all added up to a well-intentioned but at-times embarrassing effort to reach new audiences.

As with most of these attempts to show the advertisers that golf has shed the dreaded rich old demographic for the one that either can’t or won’t pay for anything, GolfSixes 

Didn't realize that Patrick Reed was in the event.

empties the bucket of "fun" ideas. The ”greensomes” team format seeks to replicate Twenty20 from cricket and make golf cool, fun and watchable. In other words, it’s another well-intentioned effort to speed up a game that has become a slog, with telecasts that can’t do much about the pace and often all-day sensibility of our sport. 

But the combination of unheard-ofs, the excess of forcing elements for the sake of doing something different and the gratuitous attempt to have kids hit shots to let the precious little ones know they are part of the proceedings, added up to some of the worst professional golf “product” imaginable.

Simply unveiling the event's fresh format would have been enough innovation. But it’s all the other nonsense added on that announces to the world: golf is not comfortable enough in its skin. Oh, and the sport has not done much about the swollen scale of the sport so this is how we remedy that issue.

Yeah, well I've been reliably informed that our game can't possible appeal to Millennials, so we might as well alienate our core fans in attempting to appeal to those with the attention span of a mollusk.  

He does find one positive:

Alistair Tait of Golfweek did find one positive in all of this: the quarterfinal appearances by the teams of Charley Hull and Georgia Hall and Mel Reid and Carlota Ciganda may inch closer to a legitimate format that combines men’s and women’s combined team play in a professional event.

Hey, we're all about living under par, no matter how embarrassing it gets.

Cash Is King - WaPo is going to keep throwing mud at the walls until something sticks.  They file an interesting analysis of Trump's recent acquisitions, though to me the undertone translates to, this has to be an impeachable offense, right?

Why did the “King of Debt,” as he has called himself in interviews, turn away from that

strategy, defying the real estate wisdom that it’s unwise to risk so much of one’s own money in a few projects?

And how did Trump — who had money tied up in golf courses and buildings — raise enough liquid assets to go on this cash buying spree? 

From the outside, it is difficult to assess how much cash the Trump Organization has on hand. 

Eric Trump, a son of the president who helps manage the company, told The Washington Post that none of the cash used to purchase the 14 properties came from outside investors or from selling off major Trump Organization assets.

I feel quite certain that it must be the Russians.... It must be true, because they have a graph:

Eric Trump actually provides them the answer, but they don't really pick up on it:

Instead, Eric Trump said, the firm’s existing businesses — commercial buildings in New York, licensing deals for Trump-branded hotels and clothes — produced so much cash that the Trumps could tap that flow for spending money.

“He had incredible cash flow and built incredible wealth,” Eric Trump said. “He didn’t need to think about borrowing for every transaction. We invested in ourselves.”

So many of his recent visible projects have been licensing deals, which is really just another way of using other people's money.

To me the bigger issue is the long-terms prospects for his Scottish and Irish projects.  I don't see a path to profitability in Aberdeen, since they've backed off on building the resort.  The local economy can't support a high-end daily fee golf course, and it's a bit off the beaten track for the visiting golfers.  Turnberry, on the other hand, is a big investment in the refurbishment of the resort, not to mention the restoration of both golf courses, but can he draw enough traffic to make it work?

Rejected -  I am not now nor have I ever been an environmentalist, but this seems an awfully bad idea:

JERSEY CITY — Luxury golf course Liberty National's bid to expand onto the Caven Point area of Liberty State Park has been rejected by state environmental officials. 

The golf course's owner, Paul Fireman, wanted to lease the roughly 20-acre section of the park and move three of its holes there, but New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection official George Chidley said in a letter sent Thursday to Liberty National that the DEP will not pursue the project "at this time." The agency oversees the 1,200-acre state park. 

The state's decision is a major victory for park advocates who slammed the expansion plan as a privatization scheme. The Caven Point area is a peninsula at the southernmost end of Liberty State Park that includes a sandy beach and a bird sanctuary. 

"It's wonderful news that the DEP has preserved this priceless natural area behind Lady Liberty for wildlife, environmental education and nature explorers of all ages," said Sam Pesin, president of Friends of Liberty State Park, which opposed the golf course expansion plan.

Don't they know that it's for the children?

It's not clear whether Liberty National will make a second attempt to lease the land. A request for comment from the golf course's spokesman was not returned. Fireman has said he wanted to move the three holes to make way for a Hudson County chapter of First Tee, a golf and mentoring program for young people.

Just to ruin your day, we're schedule to return there in both 2019 and 2022 for the Barclay's Northern Trust. 

Tomorrow is the Met. Golf Writer's annual trip to Bethpage Black.  This year it's in conjunction with the PGA of America's boondoggle to celebrate being one year out from the first May PGA Championship.  I'm not sure whether there will be time available to blog but, if not, I'll make it up to you on Wednesday.