Fractured Friday

I need to be careful to stay hydrated when blogging in such heat....  A cart might be a good idea, as well.

Oh, The Drama! - Who says Thursdays on Tour are soporific?

Woods kept every one guessing until shortly before his tee time whether he would actually make a putter change. He spent 90 minutes after his Wednesday pro-am round

playing musical chairs with multiple putters before he committed to the change. Late in the session, before making his final decision, he returned to stroking some putts with his trusty Newport 2.

"It just didn't feel right, wasn't looking right," he said. "So time for it to sit on the bench a little bit. I'm sure it will come back eventually, just one of those things."

I get it completely.  No matter how trusty a putter, it occasionally needs a time out to remind it that its gamer status is always at risk.

 Shall we put it under the microscope, as we do with his new girlfriends?

Enter TaylorMade's TP Black Copper Ardmore 3 mallet ($220), which Woods used on

the practice green on Tuesday as he prepares for the Quicken Loans National in D.C. The putter has a similar plumber neck hosel as Tiger's normal gamer but features a mallet-style, fang-like design that's become popular on Tour in recent years (Justin Thomas, Henrik Stenson and others use similar designs from different manufacturers).

Other features of Woods's potentially new putter include TaylorMade's Pure Roll polymer insert with 45-degree grooves for a smoother roll, a single sightline and adjustable sole weights. Whether or not Woods's new flatstick stays in the bag remains to be seen, but the fact that he's not only considering a move away from his beloved Scotty Cameron blade but that he's open to a completely different design indicates a pretty clear lack of overall confidence on the greens.

The funny thing is that this happens in parallel to my own consideration of a move from a blade to a mallet, and this one looks pretty damn good.  

How are you feeling about the change, Tiger? 

For the time being, he's "very committed" to his new mallet.

In the instant case, the scare quotes seem appropriate.  So, what could go wrong?

Lee Trevino, the six-time major winner, was never shy about changing putters and at the Greenbrier Classic media day in 2016, he may have given the most colorful explanation of why golfers change putters and the spark they are seeking. 

"When you get a new putter in the pro shop it is like a kitten. They are born with their eyes closed and you get on the putting green and you make everything,"Trevino said. "Then, in about four days, the kitten opens its eyes. It recognizes you and you putt just as bad with that one as you did with the old one."

That Trevino fellow has a way with words.... So, how did it go?

The putter switch worked in the opening round of the Quicken Loans National — just not for Tiger Woods. 

Andrew Landry stuck a Ping Dale Anser putter in his bag this week and made seven birdies en route to a bogey-free 7-under 63, tied with J.J. Spaun for the lead at TPC Potomac. Spaun, as a matter of fact, switched putters too, back to his old faithful — a Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport 2 knock-off of the model made famous by Woods, his golfing idol. 

"It's like the same look, the same stampings, but my name," Spaun said.

Billy Horschel's 64 was nearly as spectacular. He hit 17 greens and made nearly 155 feet of putts after cutting his PXG putter down to 33 1/2 inches.

So, Tiger's putter swap helped J.J. Spaun and Billy Horschel... It really is a new Tiger, happy to take one for the team.

Rocco And The Rockies - The round bellies struggled in the opening round of their Senior U.S. Open:

Jerry Kelly’s renowned body language was in sync with the twists and turns of the East Course at The Broadmoor, or so it seemed by how he separated himself slightly from the 

The Kelly Lean.

field in the first round of the U.S. Senior Open on Thursday. 

Kelly, 51, posted a four-under-par 66 on a hot, windy day in Colorado Springs, Colo., to open a two-stroke lead over Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Kevin Sutherland, Rocco Mediate and Deane Pappas of South Africa. 

The Broadmoor is located at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, contributing to the difficulty of the course by the havoc it creates on the greens. Putts are said to break away from the mountain, except when they don’t, and the contours shrink the size of the targets.

But the bigger headlines are for the comments of this guy:

It turns out the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up is not a fan of the complaints about the third-round setup at this year's U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

When Mediate was asked after his first round of the U.S. Senior Open about the fact that

course setup is a hot topic, Mediate did not hold back. 

"Truthfully, it's all been a bunch of bulls--, what I've heard, complete horse s---. I'll say it again if you want me to," he said. 

"Here's the deal, two weeks ago: If you don't like how it was set up, A, hit better shots; B, don't come. Don't come. Someone will take your place. It's real, real simple. Now you're getting me mad. They're talking about, well, you just shot 10 feet right of the pin, rolled into the bunker. Hit it left of the pin, then, okay? Because everybody's got to play the golf course." 

"Let me ask you this question, too," Mediate continued. "Remember the one about the golf course changed from the morning — have you ever played one that didn't? Of course it's going to change. That's what it's supposed to do. Sometimes it can get softer in the afternoon. Sometimes it gets firmer. What I heard that week made me want to throw up, basically. Just shut up, play. Because I guarantee you that trophy, that beautiful trophy they give away, this week and two weeks ago, is way worth the crap you have to go through to win it. It is. I haven't done that yet, but it is. I had this much on it. It was worth the try."

Perhaps Rocco didn't hear that Phil was angry and frustrated.  I'm sure he would acknowledge that that trumps all else....

Our favorite guy in the field had a predictably tough day:

John Smoltz strikes out in U.S. Senior Open first round

I'm OK with that punny header, but only because he was a National League pitcher.

He had this to say about making it there:

“It's probably the No. 1 thing that I've ever accomplished,” said Smoltz on Tuesday. “I'm proud of all my accomplishments from a team aspect, but as an individual, I haven't had anything anywhere close to this.”

As Shack notes at that link above, he got in a practice round with Fred Couples, so it'll be a good week for the guy, even if it ends later today.

We'll Always Have Paris -  The Euro Tour is at Le Golf National this week for the French Open, a venue we'll see for a little exhibition match in September.  The U.S. sent a small reconnaissance party, the key word being "small":

If the U.S. Ryder Cup team was looking for an in-depth report on this year’s Ryder Cup layout from Justin Thomas, it’s in for a surprise. 

Thomas will probably just say: “What you see is what you get.” 

The World No. 2 is the only potential U.S. Ryder Cup player in this week’s $7 million HNA French Open at Le Golf National, the 2018 Ryder Cup venue. There’s nothing he really needs to tell his teammates. 

“It’s a great test of golf,” Thomas said. “It’s all right in front of you. It’s not like there’s any hidden tricks or anything like that.” 

Thomas’s main insight on Le Golf National could be said of most courses. 

“Hit the fairways,” Thomas said. “It’s a very big premium out here. It’s a lot of 3-woods, a lot of 5-woods off tees, just trying to find the fairway. It’s not rock hard out there, but it’s firm enough to where you kind of get some balls chasing. I could see this golf course if it’s a lot softer, it could play very long, so you have to hit some drivers and a lot of 3-woods. 

“Get the ball in the fairway. Once you’re there, you’re able to attack on some holes.”

Of course, it could be much firmer in September, if a certain Dane thinks that's to their advantage.  Though the referenced Dane says not to worry:

“If I tricked it up from where it is now we would end up having no event because no one

would want to play,” Bjorn said. “It’s tough. It’s as tough as it gets for a regular tour event golf course. To try and trick it up for the Ryder Cup is not really my job. 

“It’s a great golf course. Does it favor us or favor them? I’m not a strong a believer in that kind of scenario.” 

There’s been talk Bjorn would narrow the fairways to try to take driver out of the hands of the U.S. players, who in general are longer off the tee. The veteran Dane says Le Golf National will be no narrower this week than it will be for the Ryder Cup. 

“It’s not particularly much narrower than it’s ever been,” Bjorn said. “It’s pretty much where it’s always been. Once you have great golf courses like this one, you’ve got to be careful you don’t overthink it and overdo it too much in the sense of that’s the golf course that’s there, that’s the course they’ve got to go out and play.

The high water mark for set-up trickery was Seve ending the fairway on the 17th hole at Valderama in 1997.  It wasn't pretty, but it worked.  You'd think that Bjorn would want it firm, though that's in no way trickery or unfair.  Pace Rocco, hit better shots.

You might recall that taking the Ryder Cup to France had absolutely nothing to do with the size of the check being cashed...  Non, Non, Monsieur, how could you suggest such a thing?  Any thoughts that this will help grow golf in France are quite silly, as noted in this Pravda interview with French golfer Michael Lorenzo-Vera:

What is the general French perception of golf?

If you say to people in France that you play golf, they will say: “No, but really. What’s your real job?” Golf is not a good thing here. It’s for rich people and spoiled kids. That’s

the image we have. Actually, we are trying to work on that. People like Alex Lévy are trying to make the game look more fun. But it’s a lot of work. I am just trying to be really nice to everyone. 

What do the French think about hosting the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National?

People don’t care about the Ryder Cup. Honestly, nobody knows there’s going to be a Ryder Cup in France. Only the golfers know. That’s it. There won’t be many French there. There will be so many more from England or Spain. Golf is a very private thing for people in France. Private courses for only rich families or rich people — that’s it.

So, how big was that check?

Before we leave, JT had this as well:

“Obviously I have never played a Ryder Cup yet so it is a little difficult to say what the atmosphere should be,” Thomas said. “But from the sounds of it, every one is great. You could say it is kind of a three-day hatred thing, or even a week-long hatred. 

“We (the Americans) have a lot of great relationships with players on the European team, and the media as well, and vice versa. But I am friends with a lot of Europeans that for that tournament they will hate me, and that is just how it is. 

“It is nothing personal. It’s just we take a lot of pride in our country and what we’re doing, just like the Europeans do. The fans need to be respectful, but there is nothing wrong with being passionate and getting into it. We only get one every two years so may as well make it count.”

Fortunately, that's actually not the case any longer.  Back in the day there was actual hatred, think Seve and Azinger.  Or, really, anyone and Zinger....

We're actually in a far better place, where we've retained the intensity without the underlying hatred....  Really, if the hatred persisted, I'd be even more worried about Bethpage in '24.

Please Phrase Your Answer In the Form of a Question -  I missed it because of my Engineers' outing, but our little game played The Palace this week:

OMG, we got Final Jeopardy!  I assume they can edit this out in post-production for the French market release....

Spot On - We're all over them when they eff-up, so let's take a moment to appreciate this simply perfect tribute:

Thomson, a World Golf Hall of Famer, died last week at 88 after a four-year battle with

Parkinson’s disease. 

In a fitting tribute, Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland, flew to Melbourne for yesterday's service and brought with him the fabled claret jug to display out front of the service.

"It was something we least expected and, frankly, left us stunned with awe," Thomson’s wife, Mary, said. "Peter would say it was his greatest honour ever."

Thank you for making the trip, Mr. Slumbers.

RIP, Phil Rodgers - Another of the real characters of the game, a man whose fortunes intertwined with Jack Nicklaus' for the entire arc of their lives.  From Jerry Tarde's remembrance:

His death this week hit me harder than you’d think—I haven’t seen Philamon Webster Rodgers in 10 years—because I always connected him to Jack Nicklaus, flip sides of the 

At the '64 Open Championship.

same vinyl record. He was yin to Jack’s yang. 

Back in 1983, I spent a week with Phil while he was an outpatient at La Costa’s fat farm on a 600-calorie-a-day diet, sort of. We ate and drank and played golf. He gave me a lesson and a sand wedge he designed, still in my garage. We hung out at SeaWorld in San Diego, where he told me he wanted to come back as a sea otter. “They only do two things—eat abalone and play. I’m one of the great players in the world,” he said. 

Even further back, Nicklaus and Rodgers were the dominant rookies on the tour: chubby, cocky and supernaturally talented with brilliant amateur careers. Jack always had that Teutonic discipline born of an Ohio pharmacist. Phil was Bohemian, the loudest guy in the grillroom, sandaled and Southern Californian. 

“Jack was like me,” Rodgers said. “Very similar to me. Our personalities are not that far off.” 

Nicklaus demurred when I asked: “As kids in amateur golf, we were both very competitive and after each other’s throats all the time. Through this we became friends,” he said.

 This might be the biggest surprise in the piece:

“Phil claims that the big break of my career was when he put a ball into a tree on the 17th hole at Oakmont in the 1962 U.S. Open,” Nicklaus told me. “Phil could have won that Open; he took an 8 on the hole.” Rodgers added that he four-putted another hole and still finished only two strokes out of the fateful playoff between Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Nicklaus won, made the cover of Time Magazine, and yang edged past yin forever. 

“Jack hit the ball at least 35 yards farther than I did,” Rodgers would recall. “On the 13th hole at Augusta, I hit a good drive down the right and had a 3-wood to the green. Jack hit one of his towering draws over the corner and had a [expletive] 9-iron left! We didn’t play in the same world. Maybe I got to respect his ability too much and admired him to the point that I didn’t think I could beat him.”

Towering, I get.  But a draw?  Jack?  Who knew?

Good Luck With That, Sir - Max Adler and the Undercover Pro have quite another take on this #liveunderpar nonsense:

Most rounds I don't play with security. You only get a police escort if you're paired with a big-name player or in the last few groups on Sunday. Not that a couple badges with

guns is a guaranteed deterrent. Earlier this year, I was playing with Jason Day when three guys in their early 20s stepped across the rope and started walking with us. Our caddies moved to the middle, and the two patrolmen behind us quickened their pace. These punks didn't yell, but you could tell they were lit. They start mouthing hateful things to Day, mentioning his wife. Now, I'm not sure why anyone would target Jason, who's one of the nicest guys you'll meet out here, but I guess some people feel the price of their ticket entitles them to that most special experience of getting hammered and harassing a pro golfer. Day keeps his cool, just says to the patrolmen, "I think it's time for these fellas to go home," and that was that. The world saw Justin Thomas get a fan tossed coming down the stretch when he won at Palm Beach this spring. But the truth is, it happens every week.

Our security on tour does a fantastic job—they handle tons of problems and threats we never even see or hear about—but one stupid fan can still rattle you. You make three birdies in a row, then a drink gets poured on you as you're walking through a grandstand. Rhythm gone. It definitely took me a few seasons to learn to not let it affect my game. At least not too much.

I believe that it was Jean-Paul Sartre that put it best, when he noted at the climax of No Exit that, "Hell is Other People".   Of course, we're going to need another word to describe other people with alcohol....

Have a good weekend, but please be careful in the heat.

Thursday Threads

Apologies for the absence of a warning about yesterday's....you know, absence.

I was at the Engineer's Member-Guest, an all-day event that always delivers.  For a few years now they've had an after-lunch Par-3 contest that's always been fun.  This year they upped their game, combining eight holes of Par-3 golf with one hole of cross country golf.  They sent us back out to play an eight-person scramble, but compensated by making the one-shotters really hard and the cross-country hole was an 850-yard par-7.  Good fun...

Tiger Scat - This has sent shock waves through the golf community:

POTOMAC, Md. — Joe LaCava showed up for work on Tuesday afternoon and found something different in the bag of his boss, Tiger Woods — a TaylorMade TP Black

Copper Ardmore 3 mallet putter.

"That was a surprise to me," LaCava said after Woods finished playing his pro-am round on the eve of the Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac. "Whatever putter works I'm all for. I don't care what it is. If he wants to switch it up, we'll switch it up." 

Woods remains non-committal, saying, "I'm going to figure that out later," but for the past two days his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS, the putter he's used in all previous 10 starts of this latest comeback and for 13 of his 14 major championship, has been benched, locked away for safe-keeping in the trunk of his rental car, LaCava said.

 Granted, it's strange to see the guy with anything other than a blade, though selective amnesia rules:

This isn't just any putter. Woods played in the pro-am with David Falk, the longtime agent for Michael Jordan, and this putter change felt like the equivalent of MJ playing hoops in tennis shoes rather than his signature high-tops. Aided by a sense of the moment that always seemed to allow him to will the ball into the hole, Woods's putter has been his sword and his shield throughout his illustrious career. How many times have we seen him strike a putt and the ball die just at the right moment and curl in? The answer is too many times to count.

Of course Tiger was a great putter, especially early in his run.  But by the mid-aughts he had become, at best, a wildly inconsistent putter.  I can remember a number of events, Baltusrol '05, Oakmont and a couple of Masters, where he was easily the best in the field tee-to-green but lost the event due to the flatstick.

But let me also suggest that this mat be a factor:

Woods, who spent last week practicing in the Bahamas, said he began experimenting with different styles and shapes of putters early last week after missing the cut at the U.S. Open. He also confirmed that this week's tournament is scheduled to be his only start before the Open Championship at Carnoustie. That makes the Quicken Loans, where Woods has won in 2009 and 2012, the perfect time to experiment with a mallet putter that he described as "not quite a heel‑shafted and not quite a plumber's neck, so kind of right in between."

His putting nosedived when he moved from Florida's Bermuda to the bent greens up North.  Perhaps he should be working on his putting in that other Albany or its equivalent.

Pot, Kettle -  John Daly is really mad at the USGA, and has gone straight to Defcon-5:

Two days after butting heads with the organization over a golf cart, John Daly is still fed

up with the USGA. But now he's suggesting it's a rift that may never end. 

On Tuesday, the two-time major champion said he would never play in another golf tournament run by the USGA, telling a reporter from USA Today Sports it was "just not worth it to me."

Daly made headlines earlier this week when he withdrew in anger from the U.S. Senior Open after being denied a medical exemption to use a golf cart during the tournament.

I don't know, that seems a bit overwrought, are you sure there isn't something else bothering you, John?

The back-and-forth seems to have angered Daly even more. He claimed Tuesday that "no 'additional information'" had been requested by the USGA. 

Daly didn't restrict his criticism to this specific incident. He also criticized their handling of Shinnecock Hills during the U.S. Open, saying, "It just seems like something happens every year they host an event that looks bad on them. They just never seem to learn from their mistakes," according to USA Today Sports' report.

Fair enough, John.  But you know when else something always happens?  Yeah, when you're in the field... 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)  John Daly has been suspended five times and cited 21 times for not giving his best effort, according to a 456-page rap sheet kept by the PGA Tour that is now public record because of libel lawsuit Daly failed to win. 

The Florida Times-Union reported Tuesday on Daly's disciplinary file, which the tour had to give Morris Publishing Co. during Daly's libel lawsuit against a columnist who once worked for the newspaper. The Times-Union is part of the Morris group. 

The lawsuit was dismissed in March 29. 

The disciplinary file grew to 456 pages over 18 years of Daly's career, starting in April 1991 when the tour said Daly cursed a playing partner and ending in the fall of 2008, when Daly was suspended for six months. 

The two-time major champion was placed on probation six times, ordered to go to counseling or alcohol rehab seven times, cited for conduct unbecoming a professional 11 times and fined nearly $100,000, according to the file. 

Most of the incidents have been widely reported, such as Daly trashing a hotel room in 1997 during The Players Championship or getting into a scuffle at Firestone with a 62-year-old man whose son, Jeff Roth, said Daly had hit into him at the World Series of Golf. Even so, the PGA Tour does not disclose its discipline, and Daly usually makes for good reading.

 We all remain so terribly interested in John's view of the failures of others....

No Respect - Bookmaker odds on golf are always, well, odd, but this is at least also humorous:

John Smoltz told us in a recent Golf Digest Podcast that the nerves he experienced during this year's U.S. Senior Open qualifier were unlike anything he ever had to deal

with during his Hall-of-Fame career as a pitcher. So we're pretty sure he'll be feeling a lot of pressure come Thursday when he competes in his first major (golf) championship. But Smoltz should relax, because unlike when he used to take the mound, no one is expecting much when he arrives at the Broadmoor's first tee. 

Las Vegas Westgate Superbook golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman released a few betting lines ahead of the U.S. Senior Open and to say Smoltz is a long shot would be an insult to long shots. Smoltz has been listed at 5,000-to-1 odds to win the event. Smoltz is 10/1 to make the cut, and -2000 (Risk $2,000 to win $100) to miss the weekend. Finally, his over/under for first-round score has been set at 82.5.

What if I want to short him?  His qualifying is a great story, so let's hope he arranged some fun practice rounds and enjoys his week.  

Feherty in Full -  John Feinstein has a long feature on the Ulsterman that's well worth your time, though you might want to have a supply of Kleenex nearby.  I'm going to elide the pathos and instead excerpt some of the fun stuff, including this bit on how the CBS marraige was brokered:

Then, Anita and CBS came into his life—specifically, in the case of CBS, Gary McCord. The two men had never met, but McCord was in the locker room during an opening-

round rain delay at The International in 1995. He was there to find players who would come on-camera and kill time for USA, which had the Thursday-Friday cable rights. 

"I was there for a while," says McCord, now one of Feherty's closest friends. "David was in there telling stories. I knew who he was but didn't know him. People were falling over laughing while he talked. When we went off-air I said to him, 'You ever do any TV?' He said no. I said, 'Would you like to?' He said, "I don't know.' I said, 'Well, if you want to, I'll be in the tower at 15 tomorrow from 2-5, and if you want to, come on up there.' I did it as much to keep myself from getting bored because I figured if I had someone to listen to, I'd have to pay attention." 

The next day, when he got to the tower, McCord told longtime CBS golf producer Frank Chirkinian that he'd invited Feherty. 

"What?" Chirkinian screamed into McCord's headset. "No way. No way you two f------ guys are going to be together on-air." 

Chirkinian knew Feherty's reputation for blunt humor. 

McCord didn't blink. "First, it was cable, not the network," he says. "It was Friday afternoon, small audience. Frank liked to yell and grumble; that's what he did. Plus, I didn't even know if David would show." 

Feherty showed. And he blew McCord away. "He just went to places with his answers to questions I never imagined anyone could go," McCord says. "As we walked down the steps from the tower, I said to him, 'This is what you're going to be doing next.' I knew he wasn't playing well and was going to need something soon. So, I said, 'When the time comes, please call us.' As in CBS, not me."

Oh, and John opens his piece with this Tiger anecdote:

It's a rainy night in Georgia, and David Feherty is on fire. 

He has been on stage at Atlanta Symphony Hall for almost two hours, and those in the audience of about 1,200 have only stopped laughing when one of his stories brings them to tears of hysteria. 

"Tiger Woods is funnier than people know," Feherty says at one point. "When I was walking with him for CBS, he used to pull the brim of his hat down low so the cameras couldn't pick up what he was saying—he was convinced everyone watching could read lips. 

"One day he says to me, 'Hey, Farty,'—that's what he called me—'do you know what you call a black guy flying an airplane?' 

"I said, 'No, what?' 

"And he said, 'A pilot, you f------ racist.' "

How about a Cabelasian flying an airplane?

Oxymoron Alert -  Shane Ryan puts in a lot of effort on this:

Introducing: The Nondescript PGA Tour Excellence Award

There was a time when Tour players seemed indistinguishable from each other, though hasn't that moment passed?

The criteria are suitably exacting:

1. He must be very good during that season, finishing near the top of the FedEx Cup list, missing very few cuts and threatening to win on numerous occasions.

The poster child.

2. He must not actually win, or if he does, it must be a fall event or a really, really minor regular event. Should he win a marquee PGA Tour event, a WGC or, god forbid, a major, that’s instant disqualification.

3. He must be only moderately familiar to a casual golf follower, and essentially unknown to dip-in, “majors and Players Championship only” fans. He can’t be one of the longest hitters, or noticeably daring around the greens, and nobody must have ever called him a “risk-taker.”

4. He must have no attendant hype—this award is for journeymen, not future stars or college wunderkinds.

5. He must not have any personality traits that would allow him to be considered “larger-than-life” or even “quirky” or “noticeable.” So, for example, someone like Bryson DeChambeau would fail to qualify because he’s a bona fide eccentric who uses protractors and quotes Enrico Fermi if you ask him about his swing.

6. He must have no dominant on-course emotion, at least to the naked eye. This award isn’t fit for someone who is angry, or funny, or obviously competitive. Don’t get me wrong: These qualities can be attributed to him by other players, but that attribution has to come in sentences like, “people don’t understand how competitive _______ really is. He may look pretty calm, but he’s a silent killer.” In other words, if you took someone like Jon Rahm or Patrick Reed and removed all their wins, they’d be eliminated from contention by virtue of the fact that they have murder in their eyes.

7. When the media presses him for personal information, the piece of trivia he offers has to be something along the lines of “I love to boat.”

Shane retroactively awards the prestigious title for recent years, and then presents the 2018 nominees:

Really, it's an honor just to be nominated....

Yeah, it's mildly amusing, but all of those guys are really good.  It's just become so damn difficult to win out there...

See y'all tomorrow.

Tuesday Tastings

In case you're reluctant to dive in, I promise today's post will not feature any Greg Norman photos....

I Got The Horse Right Here - John Feinstein has today's must read, the story of how this week's D.C. Tour stop went from sure thing to DOA.  He starts, well, at the start, when life was easy:

It started out in 2007 as a slam dunk for the PGA Tour and for Tiger Woods. It will end this coming Sunday as an embarrassment for both. 

The host with H.W. at that 2007 inaugural event.

When the PGA Tour awarded what was then known as the AT&T National to the nation’s capital area, tour officials clearly expected the tournament to become one of their signature events. It would take its place alongside Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament and Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Invitational as an annual tribute to one of the game’s greatest players—in this case, Woods, who at 31, had already won 12 major titles and become an iconic figure worldwide. 

Congressional Country Club, which had shied away from hosting the tour’s previous D.C. area tournament (which had run from 1980 to 2006 under several corporate flags), willingly signed up to host an event that Woods would be tied to and that his charitable foundation would run. 

Like the Memorial and Bay Hill, the tour gave it “invitational” status, meaning only 120 players would take part and a spot in the field would be coveted. And that first year, top players indeed flocked to Washington, D.C. The premier event had 19 major champions—15 players with at least one major already to his credit and four others who would go on to win one in the near future. K.J. Choi was the inaugural champion, with Woods finishing T-6. Phil Mickelson, Woods’ longtime antagonist, played but missed the cut. 

The crowds were massive. 

It was all good.

It was all good until it wasn't....  You know the sequence, the fire hydrant, the nine-iron to the Escalade, and suddenly lots of elite players see it as a good week to get some rest.

In his blogging of the item, Shack implies that Feinstein is unnecessarily tough on our Tiger.... See what you think.  First this:

With that, tournament officials were now in the challenging spot of looking for a new

sponsor and a new course. Quicken Loans agreed to a four-year deal just prior to the 2014 event, counting on a healthy Woods (he had won five times in 2013) to anchor the field. But injuries prevented Woods from playing in three of the next four years. 

Yet that was only part of the problem: Without Congressional as a draw, and with Woods no longer king of the golf world, the number of stars in the field dwindled. What’s more, it became apparent that Woods was losing interest, too. In 2016, when Woods couldn’t play after back surgery, he made two appearances during the week, showing up for the opening and closing ceremony but flying home to Florida in between. In 2017, after his DUI arrest in May, he didn’t show up at all.

Wouldn't you perhaps be a bit miffed is you threw all that money at the guy's event, and he couldn't be bothered showing up?

And this:

Nicklaus and Palmer worked very hard to make their events difficult for players to say no to. They went out of their way (Nicklaus still does) to engage players throughout the week, whether they were playing or not. Woods never showed that kind of enthusiasm in Washington. He did the absolute minimum, thinking—correctly to some degree—that as long as he could play, the tournament would stay afloat. 

In 2015, after he had shot 66 in the second round at the Robert Trent Jones course, he sat in the back of the players dining area by himself at the height of the post-morning-wave lunch hour. The room was packed. When Woods finished eating, he walked the length of the room, looking straight ahead and didn’t pause to greet anyone.

“Our congenial host,” said one veteran player as Woods walked past the table where he was seated.

Ironically, he did the same to the folks in LA last year, when he was unable to play.  I actually thought it way too early for Tiger to host an event back in '07, when he seemed in the middle of his career.  But I do hope those folks in LA are taking notes, because he'll be your friend for only as long as it remains in his interests....

Did Someone Mention D.C.? - Is this a coincidence?  Because I don't really believe in coincidences:

The PGA Tour currently enjoys tax-exempt status in the eyes of the federal government, 

Senator Ernst.

saving them millions of dollars a year. But the free ride may come to end sooner rather than later. 

Last week, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Angus King (I-ME) announced new legislation, the Properly Reducing Overexemptions for Sports Act (or the PRO Sports Act). If passed, the bill would strip professional sports leagues like the PGA Tour of their tax-exempt status, resulting in $100 million in savings for the federal government over 10 years. 

In a press release about the bill, Ernst used a golf term to underscore the importance of the legislation. "Professional sports leagues – which are raking in millions of dollars from television rights and membership dues – shouldn't also be scoring a hole-in-one with their taxes. The PRO Sports Act amends the tax code to revoke this unnecessary exemption."

Senator Ernst famously rode her credentials at....errr... cutting pork to a seat in the U.S. Senate.  That's not especially relevant, though it is funny....

This is a far more complicated topic than we can deal with here, especially in the absence of underlying data.  I'm highly skeptical of that $100 million tax revenue estimate, as it implies something on the order of $400 million of profitability that's going untaxed, which is not remotely possible.

It might be easier to focus on the NFL or MLB to explain this.  It's only the leagues that have tax exempt status, not the underlying franchises.   The leagues award the national TV and radio broadcast contracts, but most of that revenue is then shared with the franchises.  It simply doesn't make sense that the league itself is wildly profitable, because its shareholders (the teams) wouldn't presumably allow it.

That said, the leagues and the PGA Tour take their 501(c)(6) status very seriously, and we saw the Tour aggressively fight the prior attempt to change their tax status in last year's tax bill.  Perhaps an enterprising reporter can supply us more information on which to base our analysis?

The USGA's Moment - Not the best of times for our governing body, and the hits keep on coming.  First up is a little mini-dispute, one in which the relative credibility of the parties need be carefully judged, as summed up in this tweet:

To further buttress their point, the USGA informs us that Scott Verplank went through the same process, provided the follow-up information, and was granted a waiver to use a cart.  This seems rather black and white, though in then absence of publicly disclosing the submissions we're unable to adjudicate the matter.....  But after his Phil-like incident at Pinehurst in 1999, Mr. Daly should assume he has no friends in Far Hills, NJ.

Next, we revisit the DeChambeau contretemps, in which your humble correspondent was last seen deriding the PGA Tour for reviewing the situation for an extended period of time.  Perhaps that wasn't completely fair, then again this blog wouldn't be much fun if we treated people fairly.  Once you start with that precedent...

It turns out that the Tour has referred the matter to the USGA and, I hope you're sitting down kids, because the underlying rule is not a model of clarity:

In case you missed it, DeChambeau has been employing a handheld elementary school-

By the way, guys, this is not a compass.

style compass to help him more accurately map hole locations. Can we get a ruling? Um...no, actually. Not even two days after DeChambeau's charting technique came to light. 

"There is no clear precedent," the PGA Tour said in a statement to reporters Monday evening. "The USGA is reviewing the matter, with our feedback, and is expected to make a ruling on its conformity with the Rules soon."

When reached by GOLF.com Monday, USGA officials declined to comment specifically on DeChambeau's case. But Thomas Pagel, the USGA's senior director for the Rules of Golf and Amateur Status, did say in an e-mail that this type of situation is covered under Rule 14-3, which says that a player may not "use any artificial device or unusual equipment, or use any equipment in an abnormal manner."

Egads!  Normal normal or normal to golf?  It only gets worse when they provide an example:

The key word in DeChambeau's case is "abnormal," as in was he using the compass in an abnormal manner that might give him an unfair advantage? 

Said Pagel, "A good example is a bottle of water; by itself, no problem, but a player could not use the bottle of water as a level."

Not to mention as an alignment aid....

I really don't care in this case, but that could be a as result of the fact that I have no clue as to the purpose a compass serves.  That said, if the deem it illegal, it would seem to taint the young man's strong play in the last year.

The Mask Slips - This could have been included above, but we had a public siting of Phil Mickelson, and he even took some questions.  Here's the part that's of interest:

Mickelson intimated his intentionally hitting a moving ball wasn’t really about saving

strokes. 

“At the time, I didn’t really care about the stroke difference,” he said.

Yeah, Phil, we knew....  It's just a little insulting that you thought we'd buy it.  So Phil, Todd Lewis is way too polite to ask, but what exactly were you thinking?

And as long as we're speaking of Phil...

Hal Sutton, Call Your Office - Jim Furyk throws cold water on a recent meme:

Jim Furyk will lead the United States Ryder Cup team later this year in Paris. and based

on his comments on Monday, Furyk doesn't want his team to resemble anything close to the squad that was routed in 2004. 

That year, the U.S. team was throttled 18.5-9.5 on home soil. American captain Hal Sutton famously paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson together in the early matches. They were easily the best two players in the world at that time, but they lost both of their matches, and didn't seem to enjoy themselves in the process. 

Speaking on Golf Channel's Morning Drive Monday morning, Furyk made it clear that he does not plan to make the same mistake this year. 

"I hope they're both watching, because they just fell off the couch laughing. I wouldn't guess that would be a good idea as a captain, I'm just saying."

C'mon, Jim, pair them in foursomes....  The over-under for fairways hit is like two....

We were all over this yesterday:

The rivalry between Tiger and Phil has calmed in recent years as both players have become elder statesmen on Tour. Woods will be wearing red, white and blue in Paris this fall no matter what, as Furyk has chosen him to be one of his vice captains. Despite his poor Ryder Cup ranking (currently 39th), it's hard to imagine Furyk not choosing Tiger to play on the team as long as he's healthy. 

Mickelson is currently ranked 10th (the top eight players earn automatic spots on the team), but his solid play of late and team-event experience mean he's also likely to make the squad.

Last I heard, the Ryder Cup is not being contested in Florida.  So, unless Tiger starts putting better, I have no difficulty imagining Tiger not being chosen.  

Introducing The Barn Rat - Sometimes the best part of a feature is the tease....

That's pretty good, as is his lede, featuring the modern Tour player's spin on an old Lee Trevino bit:

"Pressure," Kiradech Aphibarnrat says, hammering the gas pedal of his orange Lamborghini Aventador, "is when you book a $150,000 car but you only have $15,000in 

the bank." We are roaring around the boulevards of Bangkok, where the rules of the road are treated as mere suggestions. Riding with Aphibarnrat is like living in a slightly terrifying video game, as he weaves in and out of traffic and, whenever open road presents itself, races to 110 miles per hour — enough force to pin his utterly helpless passenger to the seat. 

The Lambo cost considerably more than a buck-fifty; over the howl of the 12-cylinder engine, Aphibarnrat, 28, was reflecting on the first flashy car he ever bought, a Mercedes coupe, back when he was 19 years old and just embarking on a pro career. Thailand is a matriarchal society, and Aphibarnrat is a little bit of a mama's boy, so his mother, Supunnikar, has always been heavily involved in his finances. She was not pleased with the teenager's extravagant purchase and gave him 90 days to make $150,000 on the golf course, otherwise the Benz was getting sold off.

You'll of course want to read the whole darn thing. 

I'll let you get on with your day.  Though, if you have just a bit more time, feel free to enjoy this greatest hits compilation of the irreplaceable Hosung Choi.

Weekend Wrap

Wrappage-Lite this week, methinks, as I'm still recovering from last week's flood-the-zone Phil-Phest.

The Bubbameister - Didn't even know he was in the field, though it's not as though I much cared.  But let's first give props to Jason Sobel and/or his headline writer, who posted this Saturday night when a certain Englishman had a four-shot lead:

Sobel: 5 Reasons Paul Casey Isn’t a Lock to Win the Travelers

That's easy...it's Paul Casey.  A good player who won from behind earlier in the year, but is known to spit the bit when leading.... 

Brian Wacker will have heads exploding with this header:

Bubba Watson adds another impressive win to what's evolving into a Hall of Fame career

If you thought Freddie belonged, it's hard to argue that Bubba doesn't.   

Last year, Watson made a dubious change in golf balls, going from Titleist to Volvik, and battled undisclosed health issues, losing 20 pounds in the process. His results suffered,

too. Watson registered just three top-10 finishes and missed more cuts (seven) than he had in nearly a decade. His World Ranking plummeted as he dropped outside the top 50 and eventually to 117th earlier this year. 

Then came the Genesis Open in Feburary. Healthy and back to playing his previous golf ball, Watson ended a two-year winless drought and joined Ben Hogan as the only players to have won three times at Riviera and twice at Augusta National.

Got an e-mail from friend of the blog and  Professor of Entrepreneurship Glenn Emanuel yesterday asking about the ball change, which I strongly discount.  I think the health issues are more likely to blame, or just the random arc of careers.  

The weekly Tour Confidential panel dealt with this query:

Ritter: A little of both, but you have to tip your hat to a Sunday 63, capped by a stuffed

wedge on 18 when Bubba knew he needed it. It was the type of close you'd expect from a future Hall of Famer, which Watson looks like from here. 

Bamberger: Of, for sure Bubba won. Because if you look at the list of finishers, Bubba's name is first. Plus, leads are hard to manage. 

Passov: Hats off to Bubba — simply phenomenal golf from a phenomenal talent — but Casey lost this one. With all of those low scores coming in, from Cink's 62 to Bubba's 63 to a smattering of 64s and 65s, Casey's two-over-par 72 looks terrible by comparison. All he would have needed was a 68 to get the W.

Unsaid is that if you're coming to the course on Sunday with a four-shot deficit to make up, your attitude will undoubtedly be affected by whose name tops the board.   Casey is a name you want to see, as are Hoffman, Howell and a few others whose careers have been defined by not winning.

Say this for Bubba...  He's a wildly inconsistent golfer, no surprise when you look at how he plays the game.  But when he's in the mix he has a better-than-most record of closing.

Weird Item of the Week - Bryson DeChambeau marches to a drummer whose siren song I can't hear, so we'll just add this to the list:

CROMWELL, Conn. – Bryson DeChambeau’s reliance on science to craft his play on the course is well known, but he took things to a new level this week at the Travelers 

Not just a compass, but also a protractor...where's the pocket protector?

Championship when television cameras caught him wielding a compass while looking at his yardage book during the third round. 

According to DeChambeau, it’s old news. He’s been using a compass regularly to aid in his preparation for nearly two years, dating back to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October 2016. 

“I’m figuring out the true pin locations,” DeChambeau said. “The pin locations are just a little bit off every once in a while, and so I’m making sure they’re in the exact right spot. And that’s it.”

I am absolutely clueless as to how a compass helps one determine that, but rock on, Bryson.  Perhaps if he were in the desert it might tell him which way lies Indio, but otherwise it seems, well, merely eccentric.

Bamberger: I'm surprised to learn you can use a compass in competition. I'd prohibit them. Are anemometers (devices that measure wind direction and speed)? I think they are not, and they shouldn't be. I'd say the same for the compass.

Dethier: This is impossibly, comically on-brand. I knew a couple of guys on the Canadian tour who would pace off the pin locations while we were playing the hole just to have something extra to grouse about after the round if the locations were a yard or two off (I was hitting the greens with such rarity that this wasn't much of an issue for me). Follow the rules, I guess — I cannot bring myself to care about this any further.

I had the same thought as Mike about the anemometer, but wasn't sure they're like-kind devices.  Shack had this tying together loose threads from the last couple of weeks:

Jimmy Walker announced (in writing) that he leaves a ball down as a backstop to help someone he likes or someone he feels sorry for, then Phil Mickelson hit a moving ball and said he'd been waiting to do it in competition for a long time. He was not, as far as we know, punished. 

But a pro golfer employs a compass and protractor--a device at least 50% of the players could not identify by name, much less use--and Ponte Vedra is investigating. Strange times indeed.

I think by far the most amusing aspect is that Bryson has been doing this for almost two tears and the Tour is "investigating".  Perhaps their 125 suits can convene and render a verdict by Christmas?  No hurry, guys....

We Have a Winner - Somebody named Matt Wallace won the BMW event on the Euro Tour, but who really cares?  But submitted for your approval is the craziest swing ever seen from a guy with his name on his golf bag.... Introducing Hosung Choi:

But wait, there's more...  How about this arty B&W still of him nailing the dismount:

And, per the video here, he uses that signature move when he puts as well....  Only a poor Sunday kept him from qualifying for the Open Championship....  How do we think that swing holds up in a wee breeze?

I'm not the only one to notice, see this nice homage from the web.tom tour.

Ryder Cup Update - That TC panel needs to move on...from Tiger, that is.  I think we can all agree that this lead question is far from a pressing concern:

1. The last two times we saw Tiger Woods play he struggled with his putter, the second of those starts resulting in a missed cut at the U.S. Open. He's back in action this week at The National (a tournament he's won twice), where Rickie Fowler is the only top 10 player in the field. This will be his 11th start of the season, but will it also be his best chance to win.

Jeff Ritter: Well, his best chance to win so far in this comeback was in Tampa, where he 

tied for second and missed a playoff by one. Given the soft field and two-week break, I absolutely expect Woods to show better than he did at Shinnecock. Win? Not yet. But if his health holds up I think he'll get there eventually — maybe even at season's end, at the Hero World Challenge in December.

Michael Bamberger: Agree with Ritter. Tampa was there for him. Tiger putts Florida greens better than other surfaces. He can of course contend. What he has to show himself is that he can close. Nobody can help him with that. A reminder of how lonely the game can be, even when everybody is screaming your name. 

Joe Passov: I'm not quite as worried about Tiger's prospects, given how close he has already come on several occasions this year. Some weeks his putting has let him down, in others, especially early on, it was his driving. Yet, he came THAT close at Valspar, was one yanked drive away from a similar finish at Bay Hill, was solid at the Honda and hit the ball as well as ever at the Players. Heckuva Florida swing. But he did play well at the Memorial, too. Yes, he has to put it all together and relearn how to close, but he isn't far off. I'm not sure it's this week, but I like his chances at straightforward Bellerive at the PGA Championship in August.

Silly.  The underlying issue right now is how to interpret his declining play since Florida.  Secondarily, this is apparently the only event in which he plans to play before Carnoustie....  I guess he doesn't need more reps to get back his golf feelz, though we can all agree that it is what it is....

But, let's go another direction, shall we?  How are those Ryder Cup rosters looking?  First, for the good guys:

The information below is from the official Ryder Cup website, and while they give us the rankings down to No. 162, some bloke named Tom Whitney, they can't be bothered providing actual dates.  Accordingly, this obviously reflects the U.S. Open though I suspect it also includes Hartford:

A few surprises for sure, including:

1. Bryson has been playing well, but shocked to see him in that last qualifying slot.  He'll need to hold onto that for sure, as he's not likely to get much love from Cap'n Furyk.
2. Despite his win in Mexico, Phil is on the outside looking in as well, though far more likely to be selected.
3. Wither Rickie?  You'd have had him as a mortal lock at the start of the season, though he seems to be going the wrong direction.
4. Ditto Jordan!  Is it remotely conceivable that Jordan isn't on the team in Paris?

Tiger has been called a "mortal lock" by some, but currently resides in 39th place.  Yes, there's still quite a bit of golf to be played.  But right now you'd have to think that Phil and Kooch would be the obvious picks.... Does Furyk make two legacy picks, and Kooch might make it three.....

It obviously profiles as a strong roster, though there's nothing that screams unbeatable to me...Strong at the top for sure, as the U.S. roster always seems to be....

So, how do the other guys look?  Their qualification process has become even more complicated with the addition of the Rolex Series (and other changes), but the Euro Tour list looks like this:

The next four come from the World Points List, which I don't have readily on hand.  But if I substitute the next four in the official World Golf Rankings, we get the non-controversial names as follows:

Rahm

McIlroy

Casey, and

Stenson.

To which, we can add the following likely picks:

Noren

Garcia

Cabrero-Belo, and

Poulter.

Anyone thinking this sets up as a walkover is kidding themselves.....  Should be a fun week in Paris.

Loose Ends - Just a couple of quickies....  Rory had a so-so week in Hartford, the opening 64 proving unsustainable.....  But he certainly didn't deserve this level of disrespect.  But, upon further review, even the squirrels are #livingunderpar these days.

Are you one of those that can't get enough of The Living Brand's ESPN The Body Issue photo shoot?  I hate to disillusion you, but apparently there was a body double involved:

It's like they were separated at birth or something....  I might have been tempted to add a white golf glove to the photo on the left, because that's my favorite little detail.

Catch ya down the road....