Midweek Musings

It was a little hot for my taste yesterday, so glad to be back at my indoor job....

Schedule Stuff - "There be dragons" wasn't how I thought this would play out, but it's a thing per Shack:

If you’re the PGA Tour, beware of dragons. And SEC football. 

That’s one of several surprising conclusions from the PGA Tour’s new schedule release. 

Long thought to have a natural ending spot on Labor Day Monday for the Tour Championship, the Tour is bypassing Atlanta that weekend, opting to finish the season one week before, Aug. 19-25, 2019. 

This can almost certainly be blamed on the odd confluence of DragonCon and an SEC kickoff game during Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, along with the PGA Tour’s desire to get out of football’s way. Even though college football, where the opening-weekend matchups made years in advance can vary in quality, particularly on Monday of Labor Day weekend when sports viewing is relegated to Major League Baseball and U.S. Open tennis. 

Also of note in the schedule release: there will be no Greenbrier or Houston stops in 2018-19 before resurfacing a year from now on the next schedule.

Seriously?  DragonCon?  These are not the droids you're looking for...

And this:

The biggest victim in the schedule remake? Big Northeast markets. 

The Boston stop is ending with the playoffs moving to three events. The consolation prize of becoming an every-other-year-component of the Northern Trust Open rota is a sound move. But the Tour’s original concept of playoff events in big markets has effectively taken New York and Boston and split up healthy events and big-money stops into one. Then again, the New York area is oversaturated with big-time golf tournaments over the next decade, so maybe a biennial structure will be a positive.

The Boston stop seemed the best of the playoff venues, but we can't have that, can we?

Josh Berhow does his best to recap the changes, though this is kind of silly:

3. It will be interesting to see what happens to PGA Championship host courses going forward. The move from August to May seemingly brings more southern courses into play (which could be considered too hot in August) while at the same time might hurt courses in the upper Midwest or northeast from being in top form to host a May major. The PGA has a heavy presence in the northeast going forward. After the 101st PGA at Bethpage Black next year, Trump National in Bedminster, N.J., is scheduled for 2022 and Oak Hill in Pittsford, N.Y., is in 2023. As for weather effects on the Players? On average, the move from May to March should drop the temp by about 10 degrees to the mid-60s. Historically, March also brings slightly more rain than May does to the area.

Josh might have noted that while Kiawah, Atlanta and Charlotte, just to name three, might be considered too hot in August, that didn't deter the PGA from making us suffer through them.  And Bellerive, in equatorial St. Louis, will be the perfect swan song.

Joel Beall applies far more critical thinking and notes some issues with the plan:

The Florida Swing is back

Historically serving as the run up to the Masters, golf's stroll through the Sunshine State

lost some luster when the Players moved to Mother's Day in 2007. The WGC-Mexico Championship subbing in for Doral also threw a wrench into the swing's cohesiveness. The Players' return to its March confines constructs a month-long Florida stretch, helping recapture some much-welcomed nostalgia. 

Unfortunately... 

The Valspar Championship appears to be the big causality

Despite the myriad of moving parts, the tour, somewhat miraculously, managed to keep most parties happy, or at least satisfied. There is an upshot to this utilitarianism, however, with the Valspar coming out on the business end. 

The Innisbrook event has slowly raised its profile in recent years, transforming from a rank-and-file fall event to a tournament that boasts a handful of marquee attractions (evidenced in Tiger Woods' near-win this spring). Alas, sandwiched between the Players and WGC-Match Play, don't be surprised if big names opt for rest after Sawgrass, especially with the Masters looming in the distance.

Shack makes the case that player enjoyment of Innisbrook's Copperhead Course and fatigue with Bay Hill and PGA National would benefit Valspar, but that seems to be wishful thinking.  I don't see a lot of players signing up for the Players, Valspar and the Match-Play, especially given that the last of those could entail seven high-stress rounds.

Rex Hoggard focuses on the inevitable traffic congestion:

Essentially, the Tour had to shed four weeks off the season to move out of football’s shadow. Losing the Boston playoff event and the post-season “bye” week was half the bill. The Houston Open was relocated to the fall portion of the schedule, and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was replaced by an existing event in Memphis. 

If that all sounds clean and easy, consider that the run up to the post-season will now feature a major (The Open), a World Golf Championship (Memphis) and the Wyndham Championship. Including the three playoff stops, that’s five must-play events in a six-week window. 

There’s also a question of how the 2020 Olympics, which will be played in Tokyo from July 24 to Aug. 9, will fit into what currently is an already hectic portion of the schedule.

Memphis in August?  This will be an interesting test for the lads... A no-cut money grab is hard to pass up, but a dreary TPC with 100% humidity?  Perhaps it's an opportunity to spend more time with the family.

The Event of the Week - Sean Zak is all in on this wonderful viewing opportunity:

Scottish Open and John Deere Classic be damned; this week's most intriguing golf event is the U.S. Senior Women's Open in Wheaton, Illinois. 

Famed Chicago Golf Club will play host to the inaugural event, and if that doesn't sell you on its own, the fact that you can watch some of the best players in the world take it on should certainly help. Without leaning on hyperbole too much, watching these women playing this course will make for golf like you've never really seen before. Here's why that, and a few other things, have me hyped for the event this weekend.

Not to be unduly harsh, but that "Some of the bets players in the world" is a bit of a stretch.  Not only are the gals a bit long in the tooth, but I'd guess most haven't competed much lately.  Don't get me wrong, I like them as much as the nest guy, and am quite pleased to see them have a week in the sun.

But the appeal here is first and foremost the venue:

Chicago Golf Club

The host course has occasionally been referred to as the Augusta National of the Midwest. In terms of exclusivity, that's spot on. Chicago GC has less than 150 members (and doesn't really want any more) and, like Augusta, resisted admitting African-

American and female members until the last few decades. This seems to mark a new era for the club, so kudos to them for stepping up as host for this long-overdue event. 

In terms of dodging publicity, Chicago GC is much more like Pine Valley. It's a golf-focused (essentially golf-only) club, so much that you can’t really visit any corner of it without seeing golf history…and not much else. The member I played with put it plainly: "I've heard there's a swimming pool at the club, but I haven't seen it." In the men's locker room, there's a copy of the patent for James Foulis' Niblick. Just outside that locker room is a copy of the original rules of golf. This is one of the five founding members of the USGA and the host of the third U.S. Open in 1897. History is a BIG part of the story. 

If viewers are lucky, the USGA/Fox will play to that course history, blowing out many club-related videos just like they did for Shinnecock and providing the viewer with plenty of info about the original C.B. Macdonald design and Seth Raynor redesign. That will (hopefully) showcase the phenomenal current-day work of superintendent Scott Bordner, who reached Chicago GC seven years ago after an extended stint working under Jon Jennings at Merion. (He has a great Golf Course Dog named Wrigley. Just an FYI if you're ever on site.)

Gullane v. CGC?  What's a fellow to do with his limited viewing hours?

 Let's also give the USGA credit where due.  They've had some misfires with the bigger events, but they've also created opportunities to go to The National, Cypress Point, Seminole, Quaker Ridge and here.  Credit also to those clubs for making themselves available.

Today's Linksy Goodness - Speaking of that storied East Lothian venue, here's the club's flyover video:

It's a great place, with three courses.  Amusingly, at Gullane they refer to The Honourable Comapny as Gullane No. 4....

Also courtesy of Shack, ole Pathe Kinescopes of Carnoustie Opens, first The Silver Scot from 1931:

And this:

No audio in that last one...

And Henry Cotton from 1937, though Walter Hagen and the weather also play starring roles:

Which allows us to segue into Alan Shipnuck's mailbag via this query:

All reports from the U.K. say The Open is going to be a baked-out festival like Hoylake in 2006. Does that favor any particular type of player? #AskAlan -Amol (@amolyajnik) 

Firm greens demand talent shots: shaping the ball both ways, employing various trajectories and spins, playing the ball on the ground at times. Strong winds ask the same questions, while also testing course management. And Carnoustie is already a demanding, tactical track. So, in short, it’s going to take a helluva player to survive this test.

Excuse me?  I think the gentleman was expecting some names.....The issue for me is that such logic leads one towards the best ball-strikers, which inevitably leads to Justin Rose.  And how did that work out for me at Augusta and Shinny?

#AskAlan Have you ever played Carnoustie? If so, what did you shoot? Bonus question: who wins the (British) Open? - @ViniciusAlvarez

Only once, a few years ago. I bombed over to Scotland on a kamikaze, 48 hour trip to hang out with Tom Watson ahead of his last Open. It was such a short journey I didn't bring my clubs, but I managed to sneak out to Carnoustie with a rental set. In this week's Tour Confidential I gave Graeme McDowell a hard time for W/D'ing from Open qualifying because his clubs were lost by the airlines, and the Carnoustie experience informed that view — I had one of my greatest ballstrking rounds ever with an old set of TaylorMade rentals. I think I shot 81 in high winds and was quite happy with that. I expect the champ this year will better that score. I'm going with Justin Rose.

See what I mean?  In case you're interested, I had one miserable day at Carnoustie with the nastiest caddie ever....  Now, why would a caddie get nasty?  Because he probably bet on me, but I think that was an important life lesson for the guy.

Alan, Continued -  More mailbag stuff, including a couple of questions about his personal relationships:

Name five of the "good guys" on Tour who you root for when checking scores. -Steve @simglass 

This was in response to my tweet celebrating Na's victory and calling him "one of the good guys." You know how Alfred Hitchcock used to always fall in love with his leading lady? In a non-weird way, feature writing can be the same way, where you become invested in the story and success of your subject. The superstars don't need my quiet cheers in the press box. I'm partial to random underdogs whom I've spent a good chunk of time with and gotten to tell their tale: Na, Brian Gay, Pat Perez, Chad Campbell, J. Vegas, Aaron Baddeley, Tom Lovelady…guys like that.

And on the other side of the aisle:

Why do LPGA professionals all love you so much? Is it the hair? -Tim (@tjstaffing)

Like hitting a driver long and straight, a headful of thick, luscious hair is an advantage in all conditions. But if LPGA players enjoy my presence I think it's entirely because for more than two decades I’ve covered the tour not as a minor league curiosity but as one of the most important tours in the world, bursting with good stories. I went to Australia to profile Karrie Webb, Mexico City to write about Lorena, hung out with Michelle Wie in her dorm room in Stanford, rode in a sagging Econovan with Christina Kim and her family, bopped around New York City photo shoots with a 16 year-old Lexi Thompson, took a boat to Alcatraz with Lydia Ko. I've covered Solheim Cups as far away as Scotland and all of the LPGA majors, including the defunct du Maurier, and played in pro-ams. Now, in this podcast era, I've tried to give LPGA players a voice that isn't heard in many other places. So, I think if you treat LPGA players with the respect they deserve they will return the favor.

Now he's just showing off.... As if hanging out in a Stanford women's dorm warrants hazard pay.  

This one is amusing for sure:

Who would you want as your Ryder Cup partner, Tiger or Phil? -@MarkTownsendNCG

Tiger is like a stern father who you're desperate not to disappoint and cuts you with one bit of side-eye. Phil is a goofy bro pumping you up with smack talk and corny motivational aphorisms. I'll take Mickelson every time.

Not to mentione how much you'd learn about the rules from Phil.  Yeah, go ahead and tamp down that fescue in your line of play, we can ask about it later....

How do you think the rest of the players on Tour feel about a Tiger vs. Phil event? -@GregSchwem

Mildly nauseated, but who cares? Without Tiger, none of those schmoes would have third homes in Bakers Bay. And when they've won 43 tournaments, including five majors, they can whinge about Phil all they want. But Woods and Mickelson are far and away the most popular, controversial and needle-moving players of the last quarter-century. They've earned the right to do as they please.

Perhaps the better question is how many will watch?  But his "who cares" attitude is spot on....

But see what you think about this one:

Who is more tedious: third major titular scold or "MISTER Hogan" conspicuous honorific weasel? -@Lou_TireWorld 

Man, this is tough. Hogan happens to be dead, so I don't think it matters either way to him. But all these young players who insist on calling Big Jack “Mr. Nicklaus” are doing a disservice to the man himself, who is as low-key and casual as a living legend can be. Same was true of Arnie, who never seemed to enjoy being addressed as Mr. Palmer – at Bay Hill in the '90s I heard him gently chide one suck-up employee by saying, "Mr. Palmer was my father." The Open Championship/British Open thing is nettlesome, too. A Google search of "British Open" returns nearly a billion results, so clearly that is common useage. At the same time, I appreciate that the proper name is the Open Championship…except when persnickity Brits are shoving it down the rest of the world's throat. Basically, this is a question with no right answer — both archetypes are obnoxious.

I really don't agree with him on the Jack and Arnie examples.  Young players should address such legends with their honorific as a means of demonstrating their respect.  If Jack and Arnie prefer to be addressed by their first names, that's also great....   Alan, you might be reveling in your thick, luscious hair, but at core you're still just a young punk.

We'll exit with this timely query:

What is the difference between a detailed topographic map of a green and using a compass to make sure the pin is as advertised on the pin sheet? Besides the fact the USGA thinks the latter is cheating, that is. #AskAlan -@CountDownDave 

This is almost as mystifying as the USGA addressing out-of-control distance gains by banning square grooves on wedges. The compass doesn't tell you anything about the course itself; what's next, is the USGA gonna ban Indio during the Bob Hope? The contradictions are astounding. Reading greens is an art and a science and yet those infernal books have largely destroyed this mysterious skill. Meanwhile, the USGA precludes the use of rangefinders, which merely give you a number but doesn't tell you how the ball will be affected by the wind or lie or stance or myriad other factors. It's getting harder and harder to look at the USGA as stewards of the game when the blue coats repeatedly make the wrong call.

The Indio jab is a good one...  In fact, in my struggle to understand how a compass could help Bryson, the only thing I could come up with was "That way, Indio". 

The irony is that with all the modern technology to assess, the USGA is banning old school tech such as compasses and protractors....  

Why are you still here?  Don't you have anything better to do with your day?