Thursday Threads

Lots to cover, so no time for pleasantries....

Less a Playoff Than a Rugby Scrum - What would you guess as the over/under for numbe rof holes required for a 24-man playoff?  All day, right?  Nope, take the under:

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – You could say Jacob Bergeron has a love-hate relationship with his 4-iron. But on Wednesday morning at Pebble Beach, that club helped him keep

his U.S. Amateur title hopes alive. 

As he warmed up for Wednesday morning’s 24-for-1 playoff for the final match-play spot, Bergeron hit a “solid bucket” of 4-irons to prepare for the 220-yard shot he’d face on the first playoff hole, Pebble’s difficult par-3 17th. 

The practice paid off. Playing in the third of six foursomes, Bergeron stuck his tee shot to about 5 feet and made the first birdie of the playoff, eliminating 11 players with one stroke of his putter, including Vanderbilt’s Patrick Martin, Oklahoma’s Garett Reband and Illinois’ Michael Feagles.

Six foursomes in a playoff?  Hard to get wackier than that...  But No. 17 was perfect for the task, eliminating twenty-two of the competitors. 

“It was pretty quiet (on the tee),” Bergeron said. “You almost had the sense that everybody was kind of holding their breath a little bit. They didn’t really know what to expect. Twenty-four guys for one spot. Who’s ever heard of that?”

We all have.... at least now.  

But good luck finding any coverage of the first round of match play....  All you get from Golf.com and Golf Digest are crickets.  Golfweek did have this, though it's not terribly exhaustive:

Morikawa wasn’t the only highly-ranked player to bow out on Wednesday. No. 1-ranked

Braden Thornberry lost to Jesus Montenegro, 3 and 1, and No. 2 Justin Suh fell on the final hole to Augenstein’s Vanderbilt teammate Harrison Ott. 

“Just played terrible and got beat,” Thornberry said. “Didn’t do one part of the game well, and when you do that you can’t expect to win.”

Said Suh: “So many dumb bogeys that I made, but Harrison, he was consistent. He didn’t give up really any holes.” 

Yes, match play can be cruel – 2016 U.S. Amateur runner-up Brad Dalke, reigning U.S. Junior winner Michael Thorbjornsen also lost Wednesday, and LSU’s Trey Winstead went 23 holes before falling short.

Bergeron won his madcap playoff only to fall to the No. 1 seed Daniel Hillier later in the day, 3&2.  Cole Hammer, the other co-medalist, also won.  

Early week coverage focused on that old guy in the crowd that happened to have won both an Amateur and an Open on this very course....  Now The Forecaddie with an amusing follow-up:

Erick Morales, a 35-year-old from Puerto Rico, was scrambling to find a practice-round tee time at Pebble Beach last weekend before tournament officials sent him out to join the last foursome of the wave. There wasn’t any time for proper introductions, so

Morales didn’t know at first that he had linked up with Gary Nicklaus’ group. 

He also didn’t realize that Gary’s 18-time major-winning father, Jack, was walking with the group. 

“I get up to the first green and see this older gentleman,” Morales told The Man Out Front. “I thought it was somebody’s grandfather. I walk up and say, ‘Good morning, sir,’ and keep walking. My caddie later comes up to me on the green and says, ‘Did you know who that was?’” 

Morales quickly went back to apologize. 

“I told him I was so sorry and that I didn’t know,” Morales said. “He had sunglasses on and his hat. He was cracking up. It was hilarious.”

Sheesh!  I'd expect that of an 18-year old, but this kids was a full 3-years old in '86....  OK, never mind.  But that's not even the best part:

But wait, there’s more. Later on in the round, Morales found the rough off the tee at the par-4 16th hole. He then missed his approach shot right of the green, only some trees blocked his vision so he couldn’t see where the ball landed. 

As he neared his ball, Morales’ jaw dropped. 

“You almost killed me there, buddy,” Jack told him. 

Morales’ ball had landed about 5 yards from the legendary golfer. 

“First, I don’t recognize him, then I almost hit him with a golf ball,” Morales said. “Imagine that, I could’ve been on Wikipedia as the guy who hit Jack.”

 So, today's kids dream about making it to Wikipedia?  

Wither Tiger - Jaime Diaz turns his acute mind to Tiger and his Bellerive finish, first with the caveats:

Then on the back nine, Woods figured out his swing and homed in on the flags,

immersed in a fierce focus that amid the thick humidity revived memories of his four previous PGA victories. 

Revived, but reprised. For all of the brilliance Woods exhibited down the stretch, he made two crucial errors. On the par-4 14th, a pushed iron off the tee and an indifferent chip led to a bogey. And, most fatally, the pushed drive into the hazard on the reachable par-5 17th, when he had to have birdie to answer a resurgent Koepka.

But....  Jaime's premise is that it's all about the driver, but the first of those two critical mistakes was with a driving iron....But the more interesting nuggets are historical in nature:

But those numbers started to decline, in part because Woods never really quite felt as comfortable with oversized titanium heads and lightweight shafts as he had with a smaller metal head and heavier steel shaft. 

Butch Harmon, as well as the instructor who followed him, Hank Haney, have said that Woods was always preoccupied with distance, ultimately to the detriment of his technique. The goal of producing more speed and having more power from the rough (along with ostensibly preventing injury) is why Woods began intensifying his work in the weight room. Tellingly, both Harmon and Haney both wanted Woods to swing with less force and more control, sacrificing a bit of distance for increased accuracy. But they couldn’t convince Woods. 

With age and injury, Tiger gradually lost some distance in his 30s. But while he became a better iron player, he did not get straighter with the driver. Still, even through his embattled last 10 years, he continued to play a power game. At the moment, he ranks 34th in distance on the PGA Tour with an average of 304.7 yards, and an impressive 16th in clubhead speed with an average of 120.46 mph. But he’s 176th in driving accuracy, 120th in total driving, and 127th in strokes gained: off the tee. In the obscure but telling category of consecutive fairways hit, Woods ranks 305th with a best of only nine fairways in a row.

So, I guess Stephen Ames was correct?  I'm sure that will be of great comfort to him....

The evidence from Carnoustie and Bellerive is too stark (along with his rank of fourth on Tour in strokes gained: approach the green). Woods is now at his best when he plays to his greatest strength – iron play. And though he is still strong enough to make things happen from the rough, there’s a good argument that he is the best in the game with an iron from the fairway. The only thing holding him back are untimely drives like the one on 17 at Bellerive. 

Ergo, to use a term Woods favored when he was fresh out of Stanford, put the driver in the fairway. Not the 3-wood or driving iron, which will cost Woods even more distance against the Johnsons and Koepkas of the world. But a slightly dialed down driver. One that he can hit with less psychic “all or nothing” stress that comes from the small margin of error he leaves himself with a hard driver swing. Accepting that he can no longer be among the biggest hitters and adjusting accordingly gives him his greatest chance of still being the best player. In short, take the advice offered by Harmon and Haney.

This has been the case for quite a long time....  In fact, remember the famous 2004 Ryder Cup when the genius Hal Sutton paired Tiger and Phil?  I argued at the time that Tiger should be paired with.....wait for it, Fred Funk.  That venue, Oakland Hills, offered a unique opportunity in foursomes, because all four Par-3's were either even or odd-numbered, allowing for the Funkmeister, who never missed  a fairway, to position Tiger to approach nine greens from the short stuff.

Shack thinks Tiger is ahead of the curve on this:

Diaz argues that Woods should commit to a stronger pursuit of accuracy over distance in the face of a Brooks Koepka world, but I'd gently disagree that in the last few months the decline in clubhead and ball speed suggests he's already transitioned to an emphasis on rhythm and shot-shaping over yardage.

I thought the slower clubhead speed was because Tiger was tired....  This is where Tiger is most relatable to mere mortals, as his inability to control his tempo with the driver reminds of his Pro-Am partners.

Bomb & Gouge, Quantified - Another of those seemingly effortless segues, as Mark Braodie calls Jaime Diaz an ignorant slut....  OK, I'm paraphrasing, but stats guru Mark Broadie explains the logic of B&G:

The top ten straightest drivers on Tour gain an average of 0.7 strokes per round versus the field. This gain comes from hitting more fairways and from hitting fewer shots into recovery and penalty situations. By comparison, the Tour’s top ten longest drivers gain

an average of 1.1 strokes per round versus the field. The gain from longer drives outweighs the gain from straighter drives by almost a half stroke. Distance contributes 60 to 65 percent and accuracy about 30 to 35 percent when measuring strokes gained driving. 

It’s no wonder the world top ten is packed with players well above average in driving distance and only slightly below average in driving accuracy. They average 11 yards longer per drive than the Tour average, with Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm averaging almost 20 yards longer.

This makes perfect sense, as long as Broadie's underlying assumptions of the cost of rough are accurate.  We should assume that they are, because we see the guys willfully bombing it...

But it makes sense that the calculus for an individual player could be different.  First, Tiger has clearly been missing more fairways than the average bear....  Secondly, Tiger's schedule leans heavily on the more difficult tracks on Tour (as well as the majors), where the cost of a missed fairway is logically higher.

A Captain's Dilemma - As if the two Ryder Cup captains don't have enough to worry about, Mr. Bjorn needs to account for British Airways in his deliberations:

It’s hard enough trying to make it at the highest levels of pro golf. It’s pretty much

impossible to do so without golf clubs. 

Thorbjorn Olesen, who has won five times on the European tour, has endured a tough 10 days. He claims that his primary golf clubs were lost by British Airways last week, presumably before the PGA Championship at Bellerive. 

Olesen still made the cut and finished T56 at the year’s final major. That’s when Olesen’s story goes from unlucky to unbelievable.

On Tuesday Olesen hauled what he called “his only backup set of clubs” onto another British Airways flight, this one bound for the Euro tour’s Nordea Masters. Incredibly, the airline lost Olesen’s backup set, too, along with “5 suitcases.”

Do we assume he'll be reunited with his clubs before decision day?  More vexing, does Bjorn factor the missing clubs into his assessment of Olessen's play?  I think we need another Task Force to sort this out....

Lightning Strikes.... - Well, you'll have read the excerpt to quantify it:

Golf Digest's "Miracles Issue" hit newsstands last September. Too bad, because we didn't get to include the tale of English amateur golfer Ali Gibb.

On Tuesday, the 51-year-old Gibb pulled off a miracle of her own by making three holes-in-one during the 36-hole club championship at Croham Hurst Golf Club in Surrey, according to BBC Sport. You read that right: THREE holes-in-one in a 36-hole competition. More accurately, the three aces came in a 25-hole span, only eight of which were par 3s. Remarkable.

How'd you have liked to be her opponent?

Her club pro summed it up nicely:

"Our pro, Adam, came up to me and said, 'I've had one hole-in-one in 42 years, you've just had three in five hours,'" Gibb said.

Dog Bites Man - Brittany Romano has a photo-filled item that will shock you.  It turns out that Brooks Koepka and other chiseled, young Tour pros look better than we do in shorts.  I know, who saw that coming?

Shack calls it a member-guest vibe, which seems about right....  Just compare to this look:

Of far greater importance, there were definitely images of players early in the week that didn't work out as well....  I'm perfectly happy to sort through the fashion hits, but how do you present that without the misses?  It's journalistic malpractice or, dare I, fake news....

Lexi, Explained - It was more than a little curious when she skipped a major, but let's let her explain:

At the age of 23, the prodigious Lexi Thompson needed a break.

It just so happens that it’s difficult for the game’s top American to take an extended break during summer golf without the world noticing. Too many majors to juggle and titles to defend. She’d have to explain herself, which she did on social media, saying that she needed to recharge and focus on herself away from golf. 

Thompson, who skipped the Ricoh Women’s British Open during her month-long hiatus, returns to competition this week in Indianapolis, where she’s the defending champion. It’s the start of a three-week stretch for Thompson, who has yet to win this season.

You might expect that I'll jump on the young lady and tell her to grow a pair, but she's dealing with some terribly cruel issues:

The decision to skip a major was not due to a physical injury. It was about all that had transpired in the past 18 months – the ANA Inspiration fiasco, her mother’s fight with cancer, her grandmother’s death. She had dealt with it all on a worldwide stage, and the culmination had taken a toll.

Not sure about that order, though...  The ANA thing was quite cruel, but that's only golf, as opposed to the life-and-death issues with which she's dealing.

But perhaps I'm inclined to over-interpret this:

It wasn’t long after Thompson competed in the Marathon Classic in Toledo last month that she knew she didn’t have what it takes mentally and emotionally to do battle at the British Open. She felt pain in her hand in Ohio, but said it left as quickly as it came.

Pain in her hand, you say?   For a player who takes divots the depth of the Mariana Trench?  Perhaps avoiding the rock-hard links turf was a good call?

There will likely be no blogging tomorrow, as I've an early game.  But I'm thinking that The Wyndham will keep until Monday....