I'm sure at the time it seemed a good idea to line the three FedEx Cup events up and down the East Coast.... What could go wrong?
I was going to attribute Serena's meltdown to global warming, but.... You know this ultimate N.Y. Times header:
World to End, Women and Minorities hardest Hit
Perhaps it's not such a parody after all:
Maybe, though I've been reliably informed that it was The Russians.
First Prize, A Week in Philly - I hope none of those guys checked out of their hotels on Sunday:
NEWTON SQUARE, Pa. – Overnight rain rendered Aronimink Golf Club unplayable Sunday morning, when the PGA Tour had hoped to squeeze in the final round of the BMW Championship in order to avoid a Monday finish.
Play was officially called off at 2 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon, with a full 18 holes remaining.
Justin Rose is the outright leader at 17 under and one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele, all of whom knew today’s washout was a strong possibility. It’s expected to rain through Monday as well and it will be a real challenge to finish this thing.
PGA Tour Vice President of Rules and Competitions Slugger White said the course has taken on about three inches of rain this week, including another half inch overnight. Greens and bunkers were in decent shape, but several tees and fairways were unplayable.The Tour can’t push play back to Tuesday unless at least half of the final round is completed on Monday.
With no event the next week, that seems like a strange rule..... Especially since, they keep telling us, it's the playoffs. Win or go home, so by all means send everyone home.
It has left this guy in an awkward spot, though one I'd argue is entirely of his own making:
We may soon be calling it The Jordan Spieth Rule.
 |
| Really, I'm this close to turning it around. |
But it already has an official name.
It’s the PGA Tour’s Strength of Field Regulation, and it made headlines this weekend when it became apparent that Spieth may run afoul of it. If current results hold at the rain-delayed BMW Championship, Spieth will fail to qualify for next week’s Tour Championship, putting him in violation of a season-minimum for tournament appearances.
Word of that violation, which carries a potential $20,000 fine or three-tournament suspension, came as a surprise to many golf fans.
But it shouldn’t have been a shock to Spieth.
We have perhaps the least interesting Tour Confidential panel ever, not a criticism given the absence of any golf to discuss, in which they tackle the issue of whether the rule is sensible:
Sens: The reasoning behind it is. The idea is to bolster the strength of fields across the season. That’s good for the Tour as a whole. If Spieth gets dinged, it’s not because he didn’t have plenty of opportunities to meet the minimum requirements this season.
Shipnuck: It’s a very sensible rule and the penalties should be much steeper. Steph Curry and LeBron go to every NBA city, no matter how bad the home team is. It badly hurts the Tour product that the stars skip half the tournaments each year. The Tour would be much better off with only 25 tournaments a year instead of 40+.
Of far greater interest are related questions of, first, what the Tour will do about it and, second, whether they will share said decision with the great unwashed masses.
Let The Good Times Roll - Golf Magazine is out with their annual list of compensation for golf executives, and it's a bit shocking how hand-to-mouth their existence has become:
I realize that may be a tad difficult to make out, but a full-size version can be seen at the link. John Paul Newport has this in terms of perspective:
If Davis and his colleagues in golf's top nonprofit jobs deserve what they earn, why the big jump in pay for PGA Tour executives? Primarily because, practically speaking, the tour functions more like an entertainment business than a trade association.
PGA Tour Inc. qualifies as a nonprofit because it exists not to make money for itself or for owners and shareholders, of which there are none, but primarily to organize, support and create opportunities for its members, independent contractors that we commonly refer to as tour pros.
There are cheap shot opportunities galore, but it's little wonder that so much effort is focused on the charitable side of tournament golf. You all know my issues with Nurse Ratched, but the pay level at the very top is hard to argue against given the level of purses available, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we'd all be shocked at the number of folks earning in six figures throughout the organization.
There is no modern artist quite like Thomas Pieters when it comes to breaking clubs. The power, the clarity of purpose...breathtaking in its global golf singularity.
While today's Omega European Masters effort featured no disposal into gorse, the speed and efficiency is admirable. Unless you expect to run into Pieters in a dark alley.
I think this is a fine effort, although far from Thomas' best work in genre. As Shack notes, the tone is set by the casualness of the three-footer for quad, obviously method acting at its best. But the camera lovingly lingers on our protagonist as he calmly walks off the green, with not the slightest betrayal in his innermost turmoil... Then, as we anticipate a quick cut to actual golf action, the offending putter gets its just desserts.
At that first link, Kevin Casey helpfully compiles the Belgian's impressive body of work, first this driver abuse from The French Open in 2017, perhaps helping Thomas Bjorn decide that Thomas was not the horse for this particular course:
This has a Cinéma Vérité feel to me, since we don't actually see the act of vengeance, but Thomas is the picture of calm at the end, helpfully removing the clubhead from the shaft shards.
This one I'm unable to embed, but the toss of the club into a gorse bush is quite the dramatic turn, one I could watch on loop all day. Though I think we can all agree that this use of his shoulders to effortlessly snap an XS shaft captures the sine qua non of the artform:
If only this nickname wasn't already in use....
Alan, Asked, Mostly About Bryson - For some reason, Alan Shipnuck's weekly mailbag feature didn't show up last week until after my Friday post was published. I'll get it it in a sec, but first this completely Bryson moment:
Leave it to Bryson DeChambeau to enter a new phrase into the golf lexicon that wehadn't really considered before. In the aftermath of his even-par 70 in the second round of the BMW Championship, the winner of the first two FedEx Cup events says he won't spend his off week relaxing, but rather in Colorado working on his "oxygen depletion."
What exactly that means is subject to interpretation, but it's fair to assume that the golfer will spend the days in high altitude engaging in what's known as "hypoxia training." But unlike Kenyan marathoners who log miles in the thin mountain air to strengthen their lung capacity at sea level, the direct benefits for a golfer are less obvious. DeChambeau, for one, has already discussed "brain training" that allows him to slow his breathing and subsequently his heart rate, which presumably will allow him to execute better under pressure.
This kid is so much fun.... Yeah, it's howling-at-the-moon-crazy, but is it any crazier than, say, a golfer training with Navy Seals?
Now to Alan:
Will Bryson’s recent success have a knock-on effect for the next generation or even some of the current ones? He’s proved that orthodox mechanics and aesthetics mean jack sh*t surely. #AskAlan -Danny (@ShiteInABucket)
This is such an interesting moment in golf, as all the old orthodoxy is crumbling. Look at the equipment of the players who won majors this year — all had mixed bags. Look at new-school swing instructors like George Gankas and Trackman Maestro, who are using science and unconventional ideas to teach a modern, more efficient swing. And now we have Bryson, exploding every golf cliché with his beautiful mind. Even if the masses don’t embrace the Golf Machine or his quirky clubs, he has certainly emboldened golfers everywhere to do things their own way and drown out the annoying opinions of stodgy traditionalists. For that reason alone he is the most refreshing figure to come along in ages.
What's funny is that we're so focused on the equipment and other issues, that we tend to neglect the oddity of his actual swing.
Do you think more golfers will give single-length irons a chance with Bryson’s success? I know I ordered me a set this week! -@BrentWalker52
Well, you’re a year late – I’ve been playing my single-length Edels since last fall and I loooooove them. I can confidently say I’ve never hit so many good 4- and 5-irons in mylife, and am more consistent from 100-150 yards, too. (My only concession to tradition is that I dropped the Edel sand wedge and have kept my standard-length one, because on touch shots from 30-90 yards I prefer the shortie.) Because I have a bunch of kids and travel a lot for work, I almost never hit balls. So with my old set I would step on a golf course and every club felt different, since it was: the 9-iron shaft being shorter and the head heavy and chunky, while the 4-iron felt as long as a fishing pole with a tiny, light head. Every club forced me to stand a tiny bit differently, and every swing arc was of a varying length. Now, every club is an identical length and weight – all I have to do is make the same swing over and over and over. So many variables have been eliminated it’s impossible not to be a more consistent ballstriker. And if I do run to the range I only need to take one club, since they all look and feel the same. I can’t imagine any scenario where I ever go back to a traditional set.
It's interesting for sure, though I wish somebody would explain the gapping of a single-length set of irons.
Who will get to No. 1 first: Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau or Jon Rahm? #AskAlan -Brentley (@GolfWeekBRomine)
Rahm got off to a strong start in 2018 but missed cuts at both Opens is indicative of a good-but-not-great year. Given his mathematical edge at the moment, it’s hard not to pick Koepka. But who will spend more time at number one over their careers? I’ll go with Bryson. Brooks has clearly become golf’s big-game hunter, but the World Ranking rewards week-in-and-week-out consistency and DeChambeau has found the magic formula. And while Koepka clearly thrives on competition, I don’t think anybody in the game today loves golf the way Bryson does. He’s chasing the game’s secrets harder than anybody this side of Ben Hogan and I don’t see that passion/obsessiveness waning any time soon.
We're in that part of the cycle where No. 1 might bounce around a bit, making it easy to be dismissive. But we kinda of know how good the Koepka's and Rahm's of the world can be, as distinguished from how good they will actually be. I'm plenty intrigued to see how good Bryson can be, as well as the effect that might have on our understanding of our game.
In non-Bryson questions, more of amusement and/or interest from Alan:
The playoff venues are boring re-treads (Ridgewood, TPC Boston, Aronimink, East Lake). Where does Commissioner Schnazzy Hair think the Tour should go? A traveling road show, east to west coast, could be appealing. -@KevinBarton11
Hahah, I’m gonna get that printed on my business card. I don’t entirely agree with your assessment. Yes, East Lake is the dregs, and TPC Boston is a bit played out, but I like Ridgewood and *love* Aronimink. But the overall geography is indeed a major problem; obviously one of the “playoff” events should be played on the Best Coast. I’m really not sure why the Tour is married to East Lake, which is a boring course that always has zero energy outside the ropes. If the Tour Championship purports to be golf’s Super Bowl then it needs to follow football’s example and move to a new part of the country every year, which would generate a lot more buzz.
The geography is strange, especially as we're now calling the BMW the heir to the Western Open. But, as Alan notes, we'll not do better on venues anytime soon. Tillie, Hanse and Ross is a pretty special lineup, though East Lake remains a buzzkill.
Let's segue now to Shack going off the rails on this subject:
Let's establish three very simple facts:
--Rain rarely occurs in California from May through October.--When a golf tournament is played in California, it finishes in prime time for more than half the country and garners a much bigger rating, no matter who is contending--Golf is played outdoors. It is much better when rain does not interfere with the proceedings.
Ok, technically I've presented four simple facts.
OK, kids, but late August/early September is usually a good time back East, so maybe it's just a bad year? So, wait for it, here comes his Big idea:
But if you are a dreamer, consider Golden State National.It's an as-yet unbuilt (or not-yet-remodeled) facility somewhere south of San Francisco and featuring 36-holes of golf, enough hotel rooms within 45 minutes to support the traveling golf circus, a luxury hotel on property for not-important VIP's, a G5-friendly landing strip, and of course, at least 8,500 yards of golf to deal with the distance explosion.
More vitally, Golden State National can host major events from March to November, deliver ratings and finish on Sundays. The ground will be firm. Fans will enjoy themselves. Television executives won't have digestive issues.
But here's the catch: to build or remodel an existing facility into GSN, it costs money. A lot of money when you have to build a course for the modern game where 250 acres is the new 150, meaning we need 500 acres potentially.
Just shoot me now! Really, why not put it all under a dome?
Back to Alan:
A better Pay Per View idea: Tiger vs Phil, or DJ vs Brooks on a 9,500 yard course? #AskAlan -Brian (@bmlynn1)
Given the lack of on-course personality by Brooks and DJ I’m afraid that would make for dreadful television, though it would be delightful to watch them have to hit a few long-irons into the par-4s.
True on both counts...
And while this is a bit of the reservation, Alan handles it quite well:
If I’m on a date with a guy who plays golf, what are some good questions I can ask him? (Preferably, ones that make me sound informed and won’t result with me putting my foot in my mouth. Thank you in advance.) -@ROIChristie
Honestly, it’s about time we merge Ask Alan with Dear Abby. The mind reels at the possibilities. But to the question at hand, golf is endlessly fascinating but nothing is more boring than a golfer talking about their own game. Now, if you’re a passionate golfer yourself, it’s always fun to compare favorite courses, which is as revealing as looking at someone’s Netflix queue. But if you’re looking to plumb the emotional depths of the dude sitting across from you, ask him how he learned the game. Chances are it was his dad or grandfather who taught him and you might get a moving response. A generic question that can lead to a fascinating answer is,”Why do you love golf?” Nature, male-bonding, self-improvement, competition – there’s a lot to unpack here. But if he says,”Cart girls” I suggest you crawl through the bathroom window and Uber home.
Not sure how the week will play out blogging-wise, but I'll fill you in over the next couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment