Your Friday Frisson

And it's frissonier than ever, thanks to an unlikely contributor...

Vulture Capital - Peter Kaufman is an experienced turnaround investor, and he's identified the ultimate distressed asset, the U.S. Ryder Cup team.  He applies that discipline to the U.S. Team, and in so doing coins a priceless term:

1. End crony captain-ism. Let’s stop the parade of old PGA Tour players as captains. No more, Whose turn is it? Or, Which of my buddies do I want to hang around with in

Paris? I hate to pick on U.S. captain Jim Furyk – he seems like a nice-enough fellow – but he is the most recent glaring example of what needs to change. 

Furyk chose his pals Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as captain’s choices, and it’s clear that they had huge influences on everything Furyk did, or did not do. They are a combined 90 years old (really). They also are ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the category of Most Ryder Cup Points Lost in History.

Followed closely by Alas, Poor Furyk at 10-20-4.  But I do hope he trademarked that "Crony Captainism", because it's priceless.... Though he seems to stop short of noting that the Captain had something less than free will over his picks, as there was no way to avoid choosing the guys that got him the gig.  Also, to be fair, while there was talk about Phil being off-form, there is no scenario under which Tiger would have been left off the team.

Not that it leads us anywhere remotely useful, as this makes clear:

Furyk recently said that Mickelson is still an asset to the team, even when he's not playing. “You've got him in your team room," Furyk said. "He's funny, he's sarcastic, witty, likes to poke fun at people, and he's a great guy to have in the team room. I think the younger players had fun having a go at him as well this week, which was fun to see. He provides a lot more than just play.” 

That does sound like a good time. But unfortunately, winning the Ryder Cup requires points, which Mickelson does not provide. Ditto with Woods. 

The U.S. needs a head man (or woman) with real-world turnaround skills who will create a winning roster and formula, and won’t care whose feathers are ruffled. Or who is a lot of fun in the locker room.

Hmmm....won't care about ruffling feathers and not a ton of yucks in the locker room, why that sounds exactly like....

Yes, Tom Watson was an autocrat, but he lacked the problem-solving skills that are needed for this task and was saddled with our silly team-selection process (more below). Paul Azinger, on the other hand, was brilliant with his pod system, and figured out how to push buttons successfully without creating a mutiny. 

We need a leader who actually will look at statistics. How could Mickelson and others who are erratic drivers play in foursomes, a.k.a. alternate shot? He is a genius at getting himself out of trouble. Others, not so much. And if it’s a narrow course, such as Le Golf National, perhaps we could stock our pool with some straight drivers of the ball.

I got it, not him.  But the obvious problem with problem-solvers is that it's unclear if the problems have actually been solved until it's too late.

When we get to Peter's actual solutions, the air quickly escapes from the balloon....Azinger as Captain-for-Life has been proffered previously, and the man has no interest in an encore, perhaps sensing that the magic would be hard to recreate.

As for this...

4. No one qualifies automatically. From a real-world problem-solving perspective, if your system of creating a Ryder Cup roster provides for the possibility of Bubba Watson showing up, it is fundamentally flawed (no offense). We want total accountability, which to me means the captain should pick all 12 players, not just the current four, using whatever criteria he thinks will give America the best chance at winning. But there will be those who argue, Shouldn’t this be the ultimate meritocracy where people earn their way onto the team? Er, no. The goal is not to have a meritocracy. Rather, the goal is to create a winning team.

Don’t we want 12 players who really want to be there? Did Watson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson look as if they were glad to be there? The guy who most looked happy was Justin Thomas, and he happened to be the sole American Ryder Cupper who played the French Open this summer at Le Golf National. What kind of team attitude is that when but one of the eight automatics took the trouble to play Le Golf National under tournament conditions? A real captain would take note of that and make decisions accordingly.

Sure, leave DJ, Brooks and Bubba at home and take... Brian Gay!  Ignoring the in feasibility, you end up with mostly the same roster.  And here he loses me....

If it were me, I would be focused on Thomas, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson and Tony Finau as my core. Plus Spieth, if he decides to put team above himself. These guys thirst to win on the Ryder Cup stage, bless them. They’re tough match-play competitors, too.

Like many, he attaches way too much significance to JT's trip to Paris, but Webb Simpson as the cornerstone of our Ryder Cup program?  Though, to be fair, Patrick himself might be the biggest guffaw there...

Peter seems to be saying that Jordan should have sucked it up and played with Patrick, but somehow lets Patrick off the hook for not, you know sucking it up and playing with Tiger.

At the end of the day, one is left with two directions forward.  There's the Jack Nicklaus theory, as quoted a few days ago:

"I believe the Ryder Cup is an exhibition by some of the best golfers in the world, great entertainment and an exercise in sportsmanship, camaraderie and goodwill. The individual performances, good or bad, don't determine who the best players in the world are. Nor does the side that happens to win determine on what side of the Atlantic the best golf is played. Too many people believe otherwise, and that helps make the matches too contentious among the teams and their fans."

Or the Tom Watson theory:

"You know, it takes 12 players to win. It’s not pods. It’s 12 players."

But just in case you're not sufficiently roused, the Euros are into the rub it in phase of their win.  There's this from the site of this week's British Masters:

But this might be the cruelest cut:

Francesco Molinari admitted to suffering from a back injury during the Ryder Cup at Le

Golf National in France last month. 

“I started to feel it on the Saturday morning at the Ryder Cup,” Molinari told ESPN at the British Masters this week. “It’s because of having a really long summer and not having much rest between Atlanta [the Tour Championship] and the start of the Ryder Cup, and it was just getting tired.” 

Molinari, who finished with a record-breaking performance at the Ryder Cup, did not inform European captain Thomas Bjorn about the injury. 

“I didn’t tell Thomas,” Molinari said. “At that stage it wasn’t enough to really compromise my golf. So I just started taking some anti-inflammatories. It’s a week that you’re sort of pumped up with adrenaline, anyway, that you could probably play on one leg.”

Got that?  Our guys lost badly to a bunch of cripples....  But actually, these things are self-correcting... They'll play better when they get tired of losing, I'm just unclear as to how much losing will be required.

Strange Daze - I think this is going to lay a massive egg:

According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, there will not be any tickets made available to the public for the $9 million match between the two legends held Nov. 23 at Shadow Creek. The event will be broadcast via pay-per-view, and the report adds

that only a "small gathering of sponsors and VIPs" will have access to the exclusive course, which is owned by MGM Resorts International. 

And while Mickelson told reporters in August that the duel would include primetime golf, the report indicates that it will be played during the day and that "no parts of the match will be played under the lights" - although, with an estimated 4:28 p.m. PT sunset, there is a chance that play could extend beyond 7 p.m. ET without turning on the lights. 

Organizers have yet to make an official announcement on the timing of the event, which will be held the day after Thanksgiving, nor have they confirmed the pay-per-view price.

We'll see how bored I am by Black Friday, but at this point I think I'm as likely to order this as Justin Thomas....  I think there will be quite a bit of backlash if these guys don't put on a good show.

Driver vs. Whatever - A new driver broke the Internet this week, but it had nothing to do with Golf Channel or Wilson:

Nike bowed out of the equipment game in 2016. That didn't stop a Swoosh club from

taking the Internet by storm this week. 

An Instagram post from someone who identified themselves as an "ex-Nike employee" surfaced showing photos of a "VPR Strike" driver, a product that allegedly was going to hit the market in 2017.

The former employee, who goes by the handle of oli_wilson13, told Golfwrx.com that the driver, which featured a massive speed slot and deviated from the previous year's blue-and-neon color scheme, was actually illegal in certain parts of the face. "Was going to be marketed potentially as ‘The legal, illegal driver,'" Wilson told Golfwrx.com. Wilson also shared that the VPR Strike gained eight mph of ball speed versus the 2016 Vapor Fly Pro, and that Rory McIlroy loved the driver so much he begged to put it in play at the 2016 Open Championship. (Nike announced it was discounting its club and ball business just three weeks after the Open.)

 Presumably not this Oli Wilson, because he wasn't a Nike guy.

Master Class - Not all aces are created equal, as this from Eddie Pepperell at The British Masters demonstrates:

That's some serious action on the ball...

Jason, Unplugged - Golf Digest has a fun interview with Jason Day, tackling the weighty issues of the day:

SPEAKING OF THE ONE-NAME CLUB, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO LEBRON LEAVING CLEVELAND AGAIN? 

It's not as bad as the first time he left. The way they did it in 2010 with "The Decision," the whole production and "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach," it cut a lot of

people deep, especially diehard Cavs fans. People were burning jerseys. It was nuts. But he won them a title when he came back, so I think that lessened it. I'm a Cavs fan, but I'm an adopted Cavs fan. I live here and have a buddy who has seats on the floor. So at the end of the day, as long as LeBron's happy and his family is happy, that's all that matters.

Forget The Decision, let's talk about The Collision:

HAVE YOU TRIED TO GET LEBRON INTO GOLF? 

No. I've seen him swing, and it looks terrible. Just awful. To be honest, I don't really know him that well. When it comes to celebrities, I try to stay away... 

... UNLESS THEY CRASH INTO YOUR WIFE. [ELLIE DAY SUFFERED A CONCUSSION IN DECEMBER 2015 WHEN JAMES COLLIDED WITH HER WHILE ATTEMPTING TO REACH A BALL AT COURTSIDE.]

Exactly! If they reach out to me, I'm happy to respond and maybe spend time with them or get to know them, but when it's someone as big as LeBron, he's always got people clawing at him. I remember what it was like for me when I got to No. 1, so I can't imagine what his life is like.

This will take you by surprise: 

YOU AND DASH DID A GOLF DIGEST FATHER-SON COVER STORY A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. IS HE PLAYING ANY GOLF THESE DAYS? 

He does, but he's really into boxing. My uncle was a Golden Gloves boxer, and my dad taught us how to box. When we got bullied at school, he got us a boxing bag and told us, "Go punch that every day." He taught us—and this is so bad, but it's that old-school mentality—that when you get bullied, the first thing you do is knock that person out. That was his mentality. I was more scared of my dad than whoever was bullying me. I remember telling my sister, too, the first thing you do is walk right up to that girl and punch her in the face.

For Dash's birthday, he got a little speed bag. Mama doesn't want him to box, but I want him to—it creates good hand-eye coordination, and if you can do it properly, you can work on power and take that back into golf. In golf, you use the ground to create the forces to hit it far, and it's the same thing in boxing with throwing a punch. You have to start with your feet. I'm trying to work on a few technical things with him, like how to get back off the ropes when you're covering up. He loves it.

Maybe they wouldn't bully him if he had a normal first name?  Just sayin'.... 

I'm gonna leave you here and see you on Monday.