Thursday Threads

Off to Snowbasin with a couple of FOGs this morning, so time is of the essence.....

Our Hero's Moment of Fame - I've introduced you to David Pastore previously, the official struggling tour professional of Unplayable Lies.  David had previously qualified for Torrey Pines, and now had an epic Monday worthy of Golf Digest's attention:

But like all aspiring tour pros looking for a shot on the PGA Tour, Pastore keeps coming back for more. Last week at TPC Dorado Beach he fired an even-par 71, tying for 40th in the Monday qualifier for the Puerto Rico Open. This week, he was back at it again, looking to get in the Honda Classic field via the Monday qualifier at Banyan Cay. 

Pastore shot a six-under 66, a score you’d think would be enough to earn one of the four spots at PGA National. But because Erik Compton and Drew Nesbitt edged him by one stroke, Pastore found himself in a 7-for-2 playoff that began on Tuesday morning.

On the first playoff hole, Pastore appeared to lock up one of the two remaining spots when he hit his second shot on the par-5 10th to three feet. In the threesome ahead, one player made birdie while the other two made bogeys. That meant Pastore’s kick-in eagle would earn him one of the remaining spots no matter what. Until …

What. A. Dagger. "I was just shocked, in disbelief that I missed the putt," Pastore told Golf Digest over the phone on Tuesday night. "It was a tap-in basically, so when I missed it and it lipped out, I basically had the same length putt [for birdie], and when I went to go tap it in like I normally would, again I was just kind of shocked."

All of this is captured in embedded videos at the link.

It has a happy ending:

He'll tee off on the 10th hole at PGA National on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. ET alongside Australia's Cameron Davis and Canada's Roger Sloan.

No word as to whether brother Paul will be on the bag.  David has had enough golf heartache for one lifetime, so the Fairview membership will be holding its collective breath this week... hopefully into the weekend.

Golden Slumbers -  R&A Majordomo Martin Slumbers was available to the press, and only had to walk back some of that which he said.

In somewhat chronological order, the big guy was out among the people in conjunction with this announcement:

THE 151ST OPEN TO BE PLAYED AT ROYAL LIVERPOOL IN 2022 

26 February 2019, St Andrews, Scotland: The 151st Open will be played at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) from 10-17 July 2022. 

The occasion will mark the 13th time that golf’s original championship has been played over the famous links where many of the greatest names in the sport have lifted the iconic Claret Jug. 

The Open was last played at Hoylake in 2014 when Rory McIlroy famously completed a wire-to-wire victory by two strokes over Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia to become the third golfer from Northern Ireland, after Fred Daly (Hoylake,1947) and Darren Clarke (Royal St George’s, 2011), to win the Championship.

Meh.  Which only serves to remind of the approaching five-year anniversary of Rory's last major.....  and yes, I know it was a month after that July 2014 Open.

Perhaps the most interesting side note to this, is this speculation from our Shack as to the status of another iconic Open venue:

It’s hard not to see a return to Royal Liverpool in 2022 as a sign that Royal Lytham and St Anne’s days in the rota are numbered given space issues and a lack of length. Hoylake last hosted in 2014 while Lytham last welcomed the world’s best in 2012. 

With The Open at St. Andrews in 2021 there was only a chance of back-to-back playings in Scotland, albeit it a slim one, meaning Trump Turnberry remains waiting for its first Open since 2009 and first R&A event since 2012’s Senior Open.

That 2012 Open didn't exactly excite the masses, featuring an epic Adam Scott collapse and an accidental champion in Ernie Els.  But Lytham's ties to Bobby Jones, Bobby Locke, Peter Thompson and, of course, Seve, render it profoundly sad should they not return.

It's 2019, so all this rota-watching is fueled by La Resistance, the hope that a certain Ayrshire resort owned by Orange Man is not awarded an Open.  Mr. Slumbers, a political beast for sure, is keeping his options open:

"We have 10 courses that we look to stage the Open Championship on, of which Turnberry is one of them," Slumbers said. 

Turnberry went 15 years in between its two most recent Opens (1994 and 2009), and now looks to be facing a similar wait to get the tournament again. But the other Open venues have not faced similar gaps: including this year's return to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, each of the other nine host courses will have held at least one Open between 2011 and 2019. Royal St. George's, which has gone the longest since its last Open (2011) outside of Turnberry, will host again in 2020. 

But with the R&A expected to choose a Scottish host course for 2023, Slumbers reiterated that Turnberry is still a possibility moving forward.

I had assumed that Muirfield would be in line for that one, have dutifully changed their membership policies.  But if they return to England in '24, then Turnberry in July 2025 would safely put them past the conclusion of his second term....  Don't panic, I'm just kidding.

But then Martin said something strange:

"Turnberry will be in consideration for 2023, but it's not a rota," Slumbers said. "We look at all the issues in the round, but Turnberry remains as one of the 10 courses where we could stage the Open Championship."

 Isn't it?

Is he hanging his hat on the fact that it's not a fixed order?  Because if it were fixed, then Orange Man would be next up?  If it looks like a rota and quacks like a rota, I'm gonna insist on calling it same.

But our Martin is not finished, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong:

“Like every business, and I think about The Open as a business, we have a lack of certainty about the rules,” Slumbers said. “The law which we are operating under

post‑March 29 has caused us significant concern. In hindsight, would I be wanting to do Portrush in the year that we are potentially leaving the European Union without a deal? 

No. We as a management team have spent a lot of time looking at contingencies.” 

A no-deal Brexit could potentially see the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland, something Slumbers could do without. 

“The future of the border is our number one concern. We’ve got over 2,000 containers to get across the Irish Sea. 

“The problem is we don’t know whether to reschedule to bring all our containers in through Dublin, whether to move them through Belfast, whether to ship them out of the UK now. That’s the biggest concern, and there are other aspects that make Brexit potentially very complex.”

Oh, cry me a friggin' river..... Can you imagine the disaster if some of that R&A signage got held in port?  Of course this is total bollocks, given that the event is in Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK come hell or high water...

It so happens that talking down one's marquee event isn't good for business, so here comes the inevitable walkback:

"There is no doubt in my mind that it is going be an historic occasion," said Slumbers of the 18-21 July event. 

"We are determined to deliver an outstanding Championship at Royal Portrush and stage the biggest ever sporting event ever to be held on the island of Ireland. 

"It is a privilege to be bringing The Open back to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951 and we are all looking forward to it very much. 

"We are working with our partners and the local agencies in Northern Ireland to stage a fantastic Championship of which everyone will be proud."

Can't anybody here play this game?

The Kindness of Others - With the clock ticking, I'm going to milk Alan Shipnuck's mailbag in order to provide y'all some low-impact content:

How many more majors does DJ need to get the underachiever tag off of him? Right now, he has DLIII’s career. #AskAlan -@AmolYajnik

I'm gonna say, when he stops underachieving.... See how easy this is?

Dustin is such a tantalizing talent that however many majors he wins it will never be

enough. But clearly his current haul of one is absurdly low, especially given his many, many opportunities over the last decade. Two is not enough; there are plenty of very-good-but-not-great players who won two major championships (Daly, Janzen, O’Meara, Fuzzy, Andy North, etc.). Three majors is more rarified air, but Johnson has at least as much game as Padraig or Spieth or Koepka, though DJ clearly hasn’t figured out the winning the formula like this accomplished trio. The contemporary players with four majors is a short, macho list: Raymundo, Ernie, Rory. Five is getting into all-time legend status: Seve, Lord Byron, Phil, Peter Thomson. So, taking all of this into account, it will be a damn shame if Dustin doesn’t get to at least three majors. Four feels about right, but five might be a bridge too far.

See how much easier mine was?  Of course, Shippy gets paid by the word....

Some fun stuff on Rors:

#AskAlan Why do you think Rory is not winning as much as DJ? -Col. Mohan Sharma (@mls01) 

The answer was on graphic display in Mexico. When they were paired together for the final round Rory was consistently bombing it past Dustin, and by considerable yardage. But Johnson was vastly superior at everything else: more efficient course management, more accurate wedges, much better putting. McIlroy is playing at a very high level – he leads the Tour in total strokes gained – but when a tournament is on the line his scoring touch seems to vanish. It’s hard not to conclude that at this point the problem is entirely mental, given how sharp his game is otherwise.

Rory's wedge game and putting remain far below Tour standards, and he seems unable or unwilling to rectify that.  But now it gets oh so interesting:

Was Rory cheating when he told the official he would play away from the fairway to try and get relief and then did a different shot when denied? #AskAlan -@Whitwam 

No, he was being a Tour pro. A maxim among these guys is that the rules can help you as often as they hurt you, and pro golfers habitually push the rules right up to the breaking point. No harm in Rory exploring every angle and every possible interpretation.

Oh Alan, we've must get you away from the Kool-Aid.

The simple answer here is yes, it's cheating to tell a rules official that you'll play a shot in a manner one never would, and bless the soul of that rules official who failed to buy.  Add in a dollop of irony, as Rory also whined like his bête noire Patrick Reed, essentially telling the rules official, "I guess you need to be named Jordan Speith DJ".

Remember a couple of days ago when I cited the Best. Question. Ever?  OK, I might have been premature there:

Tiger Woods, unusually, ducked the media after the 3rd/4th rounds in Mexico, assumed to be due to frustration over his putting. But with the big prostitution scandal in Jupiter, should we be worried? -Mark (@mocycling)

Take a minute if you need it.... I'll wait.

It was telling how many folks immediately went there with Tiger – his sex scandal was a decade ago but clearly still resonates. I’m assuming that if he, or any pro golfers, were mixed up in that sordid business the news would have already leaked, so hopefully the golf world is in the clear (beyond Jessica Korda’s boyfriend). Anyway, no doubt Tiger hates poa annua greens; it’s one of the reasons that a long time ago he cut back on his West Coast schedule. But throughout his long career he has always spoken after his rounds, in good times and bad. There are are more nefarious things at work here, namely his deal with GOLFTV to provide “content.” In Mexico it was obviously calculated for Tiger to snub all the hard-working scribes and speak only to his employers. Throw in Rory’s recent deal with Golf Channel and the monetizing of players’ musings is an ominous trend. When you cut out real reporters in favor of sycophantic leg-humpers on the same payroll, fans are only going to get bland, sterilized b.s.

Real reporters?  Oh Alan, you ignorant slut....  The media has spent the last three years beclowning itself on the bigger stage of politics, but sports journalism has always been compromised by its need for access.  It almost makes me want to tell you to learn to code....Though I do mostly like your work.

#AskAlan What is the over/under on Spieth wins this year, 1? -@eugesounds 

Sounds about right, and Jordan is so woebegone right now that only the under makes sense. But I can’t quit him yet. I still believe that at some point this year Spieth will find a magic elixir, and when he gets hot he tends to turn molten. Jordan is so confounding he’ll probably put it all together the week of a major.

He is confounding, though lately it all runs in one direction..... 

This is interesting given the one above:

Vijay never lived down his alleged rules infraction many decades ago. Now we have a Sergio meltdown, Kooch fubar, DeChambeau apologizing for getting caught, LPGA ball- collision scandal and it seems all is quickly forgiven. Has the age of honor and integrity disappeared for good? -@JoelBShaw 

Well, altering your scorecard by one shot so you make the cut on the number – as Vijay did – is pretty much golf’s original sin. It compromises the very sanctity of the competition. All of the controversies you mention here, while ranging from daft to embarrassing, do not meet that threshold. And, yes, the culture now moves on at warp speed, but misdeeds are also exposed to far more people. Clearly you haven’t forgiven/forgotten about what Kuchar and Sergio did, nor have many/most golf fans. I think golf still has a strong moral code, and the backlash to the incidents you cite proves that there remains strong policing of the game’s honor.

I agree with his assessment of original sin, but how does one move on when the sinner displays no contrition?  But apparently golf's moral code makes allowances for lying to rules officials, so I have to wonder if Alan might want to revisit his answer above.

Catch you tomorrow?  Unless, you know, powder....

Tuesday Tastings

We're on the clock, as the bride and I are on our way to see the Sundance Kid....  OK, maybe we won't actually see him, but he'll be our host.  Might as well, as we're in a frustrating cycle where massive snow storms are hitting North and South of us...  I kid you not.

Your feel Good Story of the Day - How can you not root for this guy?

Making it through the Monday qualifier at the Honda Classic is even tougher. It typically has the strongest field of any Monday event, thanks to the tournament being held in

South Florida, where many of these young players live. 

None of that seemed to faze Erik Compton. He’s handled more pressure than merely playing in a golf tournament. The 39-year-old Miami native is the only known professional athlete who is a two-time heart-transplant recipient.

Translating for my golf-centric readership, in heart transplants Compton is the leader in the clubhouse.

Compton proved he was up to the golf challenge on Monday, shooting a seven-under 65 to share medalist honors with Drew Nesbitt at Banyan Cay Resort & Golf in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, and earning the right to play in his first PGA Tour event since 2016.

John Feinstein has a profile of Compton that's well worth your time, in which he tells us that the man is far from through with golf.  Golf should be pleased with that....  In a news cycle in which we debate the relative boorishness of Sergio, Kooch and The Professor, the antidote is more Erik Compton.

The Good.... - Mike Bamberger is a relentless optimist, which can easily become cloying.  In his weekly feature on the seven best things in golf, he pays homage to Tiger's crazy-good fairway bunker shot last weekend:

4. Tiger’s Trap Shot 

The slicing, spinning 9-iron shot Tiger Woods played to 12 feet from a bunker on Friday in Mexico City brought to mind Jim Thorpe, for the club-down hold finish, and Tiger Woods his own self, for the audacious talent and forethought it took. It needed only one more thing to elevate it: for the ensuing birdie putt to drop. As another touring pro with a finger in Buddhist teachings, Peter Teravainen, used to say, “Good shots must come in groups of two.”

Quite the shot, and we amusingly got to see Patrick Reed soil himself from the very same spot the next day....

For those that don't know the name, Peter Teravainen is an American who plied his trade on the Euro Tour back in the day.  A newly married Mike Bamberger looped for him, memorably captured here.  Well worth a read...

More surprising was this cri de Coeur from Mike:

3. Bring back Ted! 

Ted Bishop, the outspoken former PGA of American president, came rushing back to mind last week when he wrote an insightful GOLF.com piece about Steve Stricker as the Ryder Cup captain. Bishop’s bio blurb noted that he was the 38th president of the PGA of America. As it happens, the Honda event this week is played at a course owned by the PGA of America, PGA National. The 41st and current PGA president, Suzy Whaley, is the first female president of the organization. Bishop’s two-year term has been all but wiped clean from PGA history and he enjoys none of the privileges that come from being a former president, like an invitation-for-life to the Ryder Cup! You might recall his offense: In a post Ryder Cup tweet in 2014, Bishop called Ian Poulter a “Lil girl.”Yes, it was an inane thing to write. But our language, via Twitter and otherwise, has been so debased since then if Bishop or anybody else wrote that today it would be a pebble in an ocean. The point here is this: isn’t it time for Bishop to be brought back into the fold, where he can have his place of honor among former PGA Presidents including George Sargent, Ed Dudley and Max Elbin? Suzy Whaley, an accomplished player and a bright leader in golf, would be the ideal person to do it, or at least initiate it. #rehabilitation.

OK, Mike falls into a typical trap here....  Yeah, they told us that Ted was beyond the pale because of that "Lil girl" comment, but we all know better....  ted was fired for the sin of hiring Tom Watson as Ryder Cup captain, setting in motion a series of events that solved all of our difficulties in that event.  Yeah, just kidding with that last bit, but still....

Shack could not let this pass, noting that Mike hasn't paid sufficient attention to Suzy's career:

Given that Whaley couldn’t wait to condemn former prez Bishop while standing by DUI-arrestee Paul Levy the last two years, don’t get your hopes up.

Yup!  On the more positive side, she'll learn from their mistakes, and I'm pretty sure she won't call anyone a Lil Girl or hire Tom Watson to helm the Ryder Cup team....  So we've got that going for us.

The Bad... And Some Ugly -  This could have been much better, but it's all we've got at the moment.  E. Michael Johnson lists things that we should copy from our heroes and, more interestingly, those we shouldn't.  Such as:

Putting your name on your bag

Our position on this one is pretty clear: If you’re not playing for prize money, then it’s better to remain anonymous. If you have your name on your bag there’s an expectation you’re a pretty good player and on some kind of tour. Save yourself the embarrassment when someone says, “Oh, what tour do you play on?” Added bonus advice: If you have your name on a big ol’ staff bag, then every caddie worldwide just thinks you’re a clown.

But what do you do if your name is Sun Mountain?

And the inevitable:

Taking forever over every shot

Tour players aren’t the only ones that take five-plus hours to play 18 holes and J.B. Holmes and Kevin Na aren’t the only slowpoke players. We all know that guy (or gal). In fact, you might see them simply by looking in the mirror. Simply put, there is zero reason to not be ready to play when it’s your turn. You likely play the same course almost all the time so you know your yardages, where the danger is, etc., etc. So stop throwing grass in the air like it’s actually going to matter. Grab a club and go. Not only will you play faster, but your score is likely to be lower.

And there's a dedicated ring in hell for those that plumb-bob two-footers....

News From USGA-World -  I'll try to channel my inner Mike Bamberger and stay positive, but I'm only one man.  

There is mostly good news from the U.S. governing body, as they announced a gaggle of venues for their marque amateur event:

U.S. Amateur Returns to Oakmont, Ridgewood, Cherry Hills,

Hazeltine National, The Olympic Club and Merion

Not a bad list, though Olympic and Hazeltine surprise, given that they seemed to have gone over to the dark side.... The next two are at Pinehurst and Bandon Dunes, so let's give them props for that at least.

Word also came down that some sort of reconsideration of amateur status is under consideration.  Lucy Li and Tony Romo were unavailable for comment....

But most attention was paid to Mike Davis' comments on the revised rules of our game:

“From my perspective, I would say by and large they’ve been a huge success,” Davis said. “They did exactly what we wanted them to do, which was really simplify the understanding and make them easier to apply.”

It just makes me wonder what failure might look like....

That doesn’t mean the process hasn’t come with some angst. Hearing tour pros rail against the USGA is nothing new. But USGA officials have tried to address the issues

quickly and provide players background for the changes in hopes that a better understanding of the thought process will assuage their concerns. 

“When you actually take them through ‘this is why’, it’s always a light-bulb moment,” Davis said. “‘Oh, I didn’t realize that.’ And I think that’s the frustration that there is. You know it would have been nice if you actually asked the why … but listen, it’s the world we live in.”

I'm sorry, Mike, but did you not catch the Tour trying to implement your rule about caddies aligning their players?  And perhaps Rickie Fowler needs to sign up for Amazon Prime, but his light bulb still hasn't arrived.

But by all means continue with the condescension.....

Leftovers - For reasons that remain unclear, I missed a couple of Shipnuck mailbag bits.  It was an especially good week for questions, including this gem:

On a scale of 1 to Steve Blass, how concerned are you about the state of Jordan Spieth’s mind? -Garrett (@gfordgolf) 

Deeply. Also his putting stroke. And swing. Clearly Spieth is accumulating massive amounts of scar tissue with his weekend blowups. But the guy has always been resilient. Even his greatest triumphs have been fraught – think of the 71st hole double bogey at Chambers Bay or the epic recovery at Birkdale. Spieth is too tough and too talented to simply go away at the tender age of 25. But it’s a long way back to where he was. I’m looking forward to watching him battle through this.

For those unfamiliar with Steve Blass Syndrome,  we've got you covered....That is exactly where Jordan seemed headed, no?

But this might be the Best. Question. Ever.

If the CBS telecast were a person would they have dinner at 4:00 pm in a Bob Evans? Would they also wear a sweater in July in Boca Raton? -@HouseSacco 

It’s true that the CBS telecast retains the sensibilities of Ken Venturi, who would now be pushing 90. I dare say that, except for slow play, nothing unites Golf Twitter like protestations about the CBS telecasts. The presentation and metabolism simply isn’t working with the modern golf fan. What’s interesting is that the PGA Tour knows it, because minions from the communications dept. have pushed back against some of the fiercest on-line critics. Perhaps all of this energy would be better spent helping CBS improve its product.

An interesting answer as well...  Of course I mean about the Tour pushing back on Twitter.  At least now we know what all those Vice Presidents actually do, I mean besides detailing Jay's Porsche.

Also inevitable:

How many weeks of this before Adam Scott starts taking the flag out from 3 feet and in? Obviously helping him on long putts but he’s been brutal on shorties. -Andrew (@Kitzmania) 

Through the years Scott has actually been a pretty okay putter from mid- and long-range. It’s the short putts that have always been his bugaboo. It’s not the flagstick that is hurting him, we’re just all paying closer attention to him because the pin is in. But he’s awful from short-range with or without the flagstick.

It's not the flagstick that's ever been an issue, but the guy holding the flat stick.  He's the poster child for outlawing anchored putting.  While we wish him well on a personal level, because he's an awfully nice guy, he confirms the wisdom of the rule change.

See you Thursday, probably.

Weekend Wrap

DJ had reached the 16th hole when the TV was forcibly turned to the Academy Awards.....  Yeah, it's great having Employee No. 2 here.... well, mostly.

DJ In Full - Fortunately Golf.com is there with their 30-second summary:

Who won: Dustin Johnson (five-under 66, 21 under overall) 

How it happened: This one was never in doubt. Johnson led Rory McIlroy by four after 54 holes and made the turn on Sunday leading McIlroy and Paul Casey by five. The back nine was nothing more than a victory parade to the clubhouse. Johnson, 34, made birdies on 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16 to sign for a 66. McIlroy, who made six back-nine birdies, was second at 16 under, five back of Johnson. The three players who tied for third were five back of McIlroy.

Don't know about that "never in doubt" bit.   Rory took all of three holes to shave the lead down to two, though admittedly he did quickly revert to type.  But this was a key bit:

Key hole: The lead was still four when McIlroy and Johnson reached the par-5 6th. They both found tree trouble, although Johnson was awarded a free drop while McIlroy wasn’t. Johnson made birdie and McIlroy made bogey, which increased the lead to six.

Can I just say how much I loved the rules official that Rory drew.  This video needs to be kept handy for those instances when we're told that these guys are all gentlemen....  Rory outright lied about how he would play the shot, the rules official simply didn't buy it, then Rory proceeded to hit the shot left-handed.   Remember that anonymous poll of players?  I'm quite sure that Rory was one of the many that had seen quite a bit of cheating from others, but never from himself.

Dave Shedloski uses this curious lede to argue for DJ's dominance:

Chronicling the exploits of Dustin Johnson is starting to become as challenging as writing about the many achievements of Tiger Woods. That might seem like a stretch,

but bear with us. When Johnson assembles all of the facets of his magnificent game, he, like Tiger, stretches credulity until it whimpers. 

And granted, with his 20th career PGA Tour title Sunday at the WGC-Mexico Championship and second win this year following a breathtaking performance in Saudi Arabia, Johnson isn’t yet in the same stratosphere as the Big Cat, who has those 80 tour wins, 14 majors and a competitive veneer that has been burning holes in other mortal men for two decades. Conversely, Johnson appears as intense as saltwater taffy. And has a body as flexible. 

Tiger stalks the golf course. Johnson ambles along it. Tiger runs hot, like his Sunday red shirts. Johnson is cooler than, well, a cat.

He's only thirteen majors behind, so I can see the comparison....  The talent is so profound that twenty wins seems....well, disappointing.

They NBC gang were certainly hyping the twenty win mark, so I got curious as to how impressive that list might really be.  Props to Wikipedia for the quick update:

That was a complicated copy-and-paste, and Gene Litler, Paul Runyan, Lee Trevino and Henry Picard got lost in the shuffle.  An impressive list, though I'll bet that few of you had Bill Mehlhorn in your fantasy lineups...

Shack makes quite the obvious point:

Now, there are popularity issues that only the committees know how to work out behind closed doors, and we know there are many players who have been overlooked either because they were forgotten or they ruffled someone’s feathers. 

But setting all of that aside, it appears with with No. 20, a U.S. Open, a strong major record and many years of good health and golf ahead, Dustin Johnson has carved out a Hall of Fame career. Assuming such things matter to players today, it’s still worth highlighting.

Well, duh!  Once Monty and Freddie were enshrined, DJ was a mortal lock....   Shack had this on his performance in majors:

Again one feels that there should be more trophies on the mantel...

The Tour Confidential folks are way too early with this:

6. Dustin Johnson cruised in Mexico City, Rory McIlroy logged his fourth straight top five and big-time players like Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler have all won in the past month. And, oh yeah, Tiger Woods is playing well, too. Whose early season form has you believing that he’s most primed to make a run at Augusta?

Egads....that's like months away.  I'm not sure that DJ can keep it in his pants that long....

Today In Backstopping -  The girls have brought this issue to the fore, and Shack makes the moral argument:

Golf has an integrity problem and doesn’t even know it.

Well, some of us know it.  OK, Geoff, you were saying: 

As past backstopping incidents have all made clear, pro golfers are rarely in a hurry except when one of their peers leaves a shiny white ball somewhere around the hole.

Then they turn into Lanny Wadkins. After all, they’re just trying to grow the game by playing faster. When it suits their needs.

The incident is a breach of rule 15.3/1, where beefed up language in golf’s new rules addressed backstopping with a two-stroke penalty option which, so far, has not been called in the Olson-Jutanugarn case.

Geoff interestingly identifies Ground Zero for this trend:

Backstopping started many years ago at Riviera Country Club’s par-4 10th hole. The tiny green had its fringes lowered and players found themselves playing from greenside bunker to bunker. Out of empathy or time concerns, PGA Tour players started leaving balls in the vicinity of, but never in front of the hole. 

The practice eventually started happening on other holes with a few high-profile examples, most notably Tony Finau rushing to hit a buried lie bunker shot that successfully hit a ball, stopped closer to the hole and saved him a stroke that cost Chesson Hadley and Phil Mickelson six figures in the 2017 Safeway Open. The practice should have come to an end in June, 2018 when 2017 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker admitted to leaving his ball down as a backstop for players he likes and thinking nothing was untoward about that.

Oh, Geoff, what Jimmy admitted to was so much worse than your description.  He admitted to asking other players, "Would you like me to leave that there?"  Now hold that thought for a second, as we circle back to the Confidentialistas:

1. Pro golf’s latest backstopping controversy took place at the Honda LPGA Thailand on Friday, when top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn didn’t mark her ball before American Amy Olson chipped on. (As Jutanugarn was preparing to mark, it appeared that Olson waved her off.) Olson’s chip proceeded to hit Jutanugarn’s ball and nestled close to the hole. The women fist-bumped before knocking in their birdie putts. In a statement, the LPGA said no breach had occurred. “Rule 15.3a clearly states that for a breach to occur, that two or more players must agree to leave a ball in place to help any player on her next stroke. This was not the case between Olson and Jutanugarn.” Olson later said they were just trying to speed up play and wasn’t even aware of “backstopping.” Did LPGA officials get this one right?

Dylan Dethier: At this point, the tours need to make a collective announcement that they’re going to start enforcing this rule, because calling a penalty here would have broken with precedent, if not the letter of the law. Players simply do this all the time. I’m fine with a stricter enforcement — it’s probably the right move at this point — but I think the pitchforks came out a bit too fast on this one. 

Josh Sens: I buy Olson’s claim that she was unaware of the rule and that there was no conspiracy at work. But as Michael notes below, not knowing the rule is not an excuse. I thought it was a violation and should have been treated as one. No precedent? True. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Establish a precedent, and incidents of that kind will become a lot more scarce. Agreed on the overheated online pitchfork wielding, though. Those social media mobs sure do form fast.

It's very hard to prove a conspiracy, unless you get your hands on the minutes of the meeting....  Though I keep coming back to Jimmy's comments.  

The Tours need to proactively tell their players to cut the crap, then bring down the wrath of Khan when they don't.  Otherwise we'll have a major tournament or, worse, a Major, decided by this.  And that's not a good look....

Schedule Stuff - Compression kills...  The Forecaddies apparently has the same instincts as your humble blogger, looking for the bodies:

With so many playing options in so little time, The Forecaddie wondered what

tournaments would get squeezed this year. The PGA Tour player jury has returned its first verdict of 2018-19’s schedule change: the Honda Classic. 

At least, as far as star power goes. 

The Man Out Front used to receive press releases touting the amazing Honda fields but this year only got a rudimentary player list. Upon crunching the numbers, The Forecaddie counted three of the world top 10, six of the top 25 and just 13 of the top 50. 

The 2017 Honda Classic drew 12 of the top 25, while the 2016 event lured four of the top 10 and 11 of the top 20. Just four years ago, the Honda touted the best field “in the modern day history of the tournament” when 16 of the top 25 players in the world teed up just a year after 13 of the top 25 were entered.

I was initially surprised to see Tiger give a pass to the home game, but with Bay Hill and The Players following immediately thereafter.....  I expect that Arnie's event will have troubles over the long haul, especially given that it's the weakest of the Florida courses.

It would be quite telling if a certain Monday event drew a stronger field:

With Honda’s deal only extended to 2021, expect conversations in the coming week about the role of World Golf Championships in Mexico City and Austin have played in undermining the strength of such a stalwart event. 

Expect even more if next Monday’s annual Seminole Pro-Member draws more top-25 players than the once-vaunted Honda.

During my hiatus, Shack had these thoughts on a certain football announcer being granted a sponsor's exemption:

Many sent the news of Tony Romo’s sponsor’s invite to the AT&T Byron Nelson expecting me to join the outrage, and while I still think it’s bizarre an amateur golfer can have his own golf shoe commercial and Under Armour deal with the USGA’s blessing, I

get why he’s been given a spot this year. 

Romo, after Jordan Spieth, may be the AT&T Byron Nelson’s biggest draw.

It’s the right move.

Placed in a new schedule spot the week before the first May PGA Championship, it may be the worst possible tune-up for Bethpage Black. Which is sad, given that Trinity Forest is a fantastic, architecturally brilliant piece of work on otherwise average ground. But it’s the perfect tune-up for The Open, not the PGA and players are likely to pass the Nelson in droves.

Oh, to be a coffee cup on the dark cherry wood conference room table when AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson brings up the new schedule at a future PGA Tour Policy Board meeting.

As you know, I'm not usually a fan of such things.  These are two events that have solved many problems in recent years, only to be thrown to the wolves by the suits in Ponte Vedra Beach.  Though I suspect that Tony Romo won't be a silver bullet......

I have been informed that I have to go...  Sorry, but perhaps we can meet again soon.

Back In The Saddle

I'm back at Unplayable Lies Western HQ, but missing Stella and Lucy:

We did, however, arrive to find said HQ at 91 degrees, despite a thermostat set at 62 degrees....  Not much sleep was had, so see if you can see the falloff in blogging acuity.  I'm just going to hit a few items that arose during my hiatus, and we'll get back on a regular schedule next week.

Captain Strick - The formal announcement seems to have been delayed, but all is well in Cheeseland:

Steve Stricker, who oversaw one of the most lopsided U.S. victories in Presidents Cup history two years ago outside of New York, is hoping to reprise that success after the

PGA of America officially introduced him as captain of the 2020 U.S. Ryder Cup team on Wednesday in Milwaukee. 

Stricker, who turns 52 on Saturday, will be the first American captain without a major championship on his résumé. Nevertheless, his selection had been widely anticipated for months with the 43rd Ryder Cup slated for Whistling Straits in Stricker’s home state of Wisconsin. The Madison, Wis., resident also is the first man to serve as Presidents Cup captain before leading Team USA in the Ryder Cup. 

The lack of a major was no hindrance to Thomas Bjorn or Paul McGinley, the last two European Ryder Cup captains. Last year at Le Golf National in France, Bjorn captained Europe to a 17½-10½ victory, while in 2014 McGinley’s squad pasted the Americans, 16½-11½, at Gleneagles in Scotland—two of America’s worst defeats in history. Stricker was an assistant captain on both of those U.S. teams as well as under Davis Love III in 2016 at Hazeltine National, where the U.S. posted its only win in the last five meetings.

More on point would be that a major championship did little to help the captaincies of Hal Sutton, Corey Pavin and Davis Love, at least the first time.  As for Alas, Poor Furyk, npot much can help a guy that thinks Phil was put on this planet to play foursomes....

Substantively, Strick has made one change that is likely for the better:

Steve Stricker is getting rid of the 11th-hour captain’s pick. 

During his introductory news conference Wednesday, Stricker said that all four captain’s picks will be announced at the same time – on Sept. 1, 2020, two days after the conclusion of the Tour Championship. 

“I think it’s a good move,” Stricker said. “We’ve experienced when we waited on a pick last year, and that too provides a few issues along the way. Now I think we’ve formalized a really good system here.”

Everyone kept touting the Horschel amendment, seemingly unaware of the fact that it would have led to Billy Horschel being on the team.... But it became a circus, and it's unnecessary given the change in the Tour schedule.

But fear not, brave souls, all is well in the U.S, Ryder Cup orbit:

Steve Stricker had officially been on the job for just a few hours and he was already fielding what promised to be tough questions about Patrick Reed. 

Stricker, who was named the 2020 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, said he’s already spoken with Patrick Reed about last year’s matches and that he doesn’t expect the American’s inflammatory comments following last year’s matches to be an issue in 2020. 

“As far as he's concerned, and I am, too, it's been handled,” Stricker said. “He's apologized and spoke to the players. He spoke to me and I kind of asked him what to expect from him. He's like, ‘You know what, I've got your guys' back. I'm there for the team.’”

C'mon, when has Patrick Reed ever had issues with teammates?  But perhaps of greater interest, does that cover Justine as well?

The Long and Short of It - Here's yet another story I got wrong:

Let the jokes begin as we’re about to see more shorts-wearing players during pro-am and practice rounds. 

The PGA Tour announced a change to its player appearance guidelines Monday, which would allow shorts for pro-am and practice rounds in the tournaments operated on the six tours that fall under its umbrella. The change goes into effect immediately for this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship and Puerto Rico Open. 

Ian Poulter was among the first to react. “My 43 year old varicose legs will be on full show,” he joked in an Instagram post. 

Phil Mickelson tweeted: “Word is they saw my Insta-structionals in shorts and felt this move needed to happen.”

I'm comfortably into the "get off my lawn" stage of life, but this seems an unforced error.  The rationale doesn't make it seem any smarter as well:

“It makes total sense,” Kevin Kisner said. “The Tour went about it in the correct way. They asked our sponsors and they said anything that makes us more relatable and makes pro-am groups feel more comfortable on Wednesday it’s a positive for them.” 

According to Horschel it was input from various sponsors that ultimately convinced the Tour to allow shorts. 

“[Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] was against it. He will tell you he wasn’t really for the shorts. But when the PGA of America did what they did and it was successful and people loved it he took notice,” Horschel said. “What pushed Jay over the edge was when he talked to the sponsors and they said they loved the shorts. They told him it brings the Tour player closer to us. That’s what Jay told me pushed him over the edge when it allowed the Tour players to become more relatable.”

Were I to play in one, I have no interest in my Pro-Am partner looking like he showed up for a member-guest.  I want to be awed by these guys....

Today In Backstopping -  Justin Thomas tells us it happens "like once a year", so I assume we're good until February 2020.  It happened in the dead of night and on the LPGA, so approximately six people saw it:

A big thanks to Duncan French for capturing the following video from the Honda LPGA Thailand. Although, if backstopping really bothers you, then you might not want to watch what happened between World No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn and Amy Olson on the 18th hole during the second round. 

Faced with similar-length pitches for their third shots on the closing par 5, Jutanugarn plays first and hits a beautiful shot to about two feet. After grabbing her putter from her caddie, she starts to walk toward the green, presumably to mark her ball, while motioning to Olson. But Jutanugarn stops dead in her tracks and backs up, having either been told by Olson not to mark her ball or deciding not to because Olson was about to play her shot. Either way, it's a player's option—and responsibility—to mark their ball, provided it doesn't cause an undue delay in play. 

According to Rule 15.3a, "If you reasonably believe that a ball on the putting green might help anyone’s play (such as by serving as a possible backstop near the hole), you may mark and lift the ball if it is your own, or if the ball belongs to another player, require the other player to mark and lift the ball." 

The rule also states, "If you and another player agree to leave a ball in place to help one of you, and that player then makes a stroke with the helping ball left in place, each player who made the agreement gets the general penalty (two penalty strokes)."

Remember, it was Jimmy Walker who gave the game away, telling us that if he likes his playing partner he'll ask, "Do you want me to leave that there?"  

As usual, I may be an unreliable narrator, because Amy tells us it was all about pace of play:

UPDATE: Contacted by Golfweek via text, Olson insisted there was no intent to gain any advantage by having Jutanugarn not mark her ball, but rather that she was trying to help with pace of play after the third member of their group, Michelle Wie, had been waiting to speak with a rules official. According to multiple reports, LPGA officials reached out to both Olson and Jutanugarn and told them there would be no penalties over the matter. 

Here’s what Olson told Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols: “We had waited on 18th tee, for 10 minutes in 18th fairway and Michelle (Wie) was waiting for a ruling. To help pace of play, Ariya and I went before Michelle even though she was out. Ariya’s ball was not in my intended line and to help move things along, I told her it was fine. I had never even heard of the back-stopping issue as I don’t really watch PGA golf that much and it hasn’t been an issue on the LPGA. My intention was to help pace of play. Obviously with everything that has gone down I think we all [especially me] will be more conscious of it and I will have EVERYONE mark anything remotely close to the hole now.”

OK, we'll be watching....

Golfers Behaving Badly -  Just a couple of loose ends on our poster buy for slow play, J. B. Holmes.  Alan Shipnuck had this great question in his weekly mailbag feature:

Is J.B. Holmes the guy who asks the waitress to list all 45 beers and then orders the Bud Light? -@1159shadyave 

So many excellent J.B. barbs this week, and this was my favorite. Yes, it was torturous watching Holmes bog down the telecast, but I, for one, am thankful for his, uh, deliberateness. In fact, I hope he contends every time he tees it up, because Holmes’s presence on the leaderboard may finally lead to a tipping point in the battle against slow play. J.B.’s plum-bobbing on two-footers is the golf equivalent of baby seals being clubbed to death; that is, a powerful image that unifies public sentiment against a grave injustice. Thank you J.B. for your invaluable service.

Heh!  It's so rude, but I'm nowhere near as optimistic as Alan, principally because we still don't have a viable enforcement protocol, likely because we don't have the will to take this on.

#AskAlan Do we all owe Rory Sabbatini a big apology for jumping down his throat after he left his slow-playing partner behind? Did he really have it right all those years ago? -@1beardedgolfer 

Yes, Rory was clearly a man ahead of his time. When we write a revisionist history of the Tour he will surely be hailed as the hero we didn’t deserve. In fact, Sabbatini’s civil disobedience offers a valuable template for battling slow play. Golf fans and scribes can complain every Sunday on Twitter, but that is clearly not going to spark a revolution. Jay Monahan and his castrated rules officials have proven they don’t have the balls to deal with this issue. The corporate sponsors and TV networks want to pretend everything is hunky-dory. It is going to take vigilante justice from the players to affect change. We need alpha males like Tiger, Phil, Brooks, and R. McIlroy to start calling out and confronting the slow pokes in a very public fashion, and that may finally start to reshape the culture on Tour.

As always, one should be profoundly uncomfortable anytime one is on the same side of an issue as the Great Slovakian Hope.

But Alan, why would your alpha males take on these guys, when Jay Monahan won't?

Shack poses an interesting question, one I've grappled with on occasion:

Is A Player Entitled To Wait Out Wind As Long As He Wants?

Tough question, no?  I'm not quite sure I agree with this, but it is an interesting take:

Of course not! 

J.B. Holmes epitomizes the same weird entitlement Matt Kuchar and Sergio Garcia exhibited in recent weeks after years of the PGA Tour coddling players.

Which leads to another of those effortless segues back to Shippy's mailbag:

#AskAlan Regarding Sergio and Kuch: A: whose apology was more sincere? B: whose apology was more effective? Bonus round: whose original sin was more egregious? -Oskar (@tallboy199) 

A). Sergio’s felt like real contrition, while it appeared to take a team of crisis management experts to convince Kuchar to sort of say and do something like the right thing. Advantage Garcia. 

B). Sergio has always been petulant and he long ago lost the benefit of the doubt; the whole golf world will be watching for his next slip-up. I think Kuchar finally put an end to his sordid saga, so I’ll give him the edge. Barely. 

Bonus round: What Sergio did was ridiculous, but I don’t think it had any real effect on the players behind him, other than irritating them. Grass grows, greens recover. But Kuchar revealed himself to be a scrooge and point-misser of epic proportions. Screwing over the little guy – and repeatedly blowing opportunities to make it right – is worse than losing your cool on the golf course.

But what I think Alan misses with Sergio is that he didn't just damage the one green....  the petulance played out over ninety minutes or more.  And hold the presses, we have another worthy contender.  Think he's wound a little too tight?

LA Confidential - You no doubt heard the news that the Riviera event will be receiving enhanced status, on a par with Jack and Arnie's event.  Shack has a proprietary interest, both as an LA boy and as George Thomas' biographer.

He offer suggestions for maintaining it as a premier event:

Maintain The Open Status

Last week when the new “invitational format was announced, I was a bit surprised to watch PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan unable to answer a straightforward

question about whether the 94-year-old Los Anglees “Open” would retain components of its original status in the form of Monday qualifying, a spot given to the local PGA section and an amateur spot of some kind. After the new invitational format was announced, I heard from many Angelenos wondering if it meant the end of Monday qualifying. The answer we got: TBD. And the name? Genesis Open is out, to be replaced by something clunky like Genesis Invitational, Genesis Classic or The Genesis.

The narrative for Tiger is a simple one if he agrees to maintain elements of this tournament’s past: “I love Jack and Arnold’s events but this has always been an ‘open’ event, and as long as I can remember I dreamed of qualifying before I got an invitation in 1992 to play that was vital to my career. So even as we go from 144 to 120 players, my foundation will use sponsors invitations to maintain the open nature of this tournament: two Monday qualifying spots, an exemption to the Collegiate Showcase winner, an exemption to the local PGA of America sectional qualifier, and of course, the Charlie Sifford Exemption. Those five spots will maintain ties to this tournament’s past while also not prevent any worthy players from participating. Tiger would be a hero to golf geeks in SoCal and even PGA Tour pros would have to tip their cap at him maintaining the tournament spirit and name.”

You're down to only 120 slots.... I don't see how you continue to make those available to college kids and the like.  But well worth reading.

I'll probably see you next on Monday morning.

Weekend Wrap

I've got some bad news to drop on you folks, so let's make this weekend wrappage special.

Arriverderci Riviera - Wow, that was hard to watch.  It's been a while since I've watched golf and wanted them all to lose....  J.B., especially.  From the invaluable 30-second summary, which is some twenty-five more than appropriate:

Who won: J.B. Holmes (one-under 70, 14 under overall) 

How it happened: Lots of golf was played on Sunday. Thursday’s rain delay pushed the entire tournament back and players returned to the course early on Sunday to finish their

third rounds before teeing off for their final round. Thomas was two holes into his third round and led by one when play was called on Saturday, and when the third round was complete he was at 17 under and leading by four. But a lot changed Sunday afternoon. Thomas bogeyed three of the first five and Holmes took his first solo lead with a birdie on 10 when Thomas made bogey. Thomas birdied 11 to Holmes’s bogey to retake a one-shot lead, but Thomas needed seven putts on the 13th and 14th and made double bogey and bogey to fall two behind Holmes. Thomas birdied 16 to cut the lead to one, but couldn’t make a final birdie to catch Holmes. Thomas signed for a 75.

For the second, I'd have gone with a one-word answer, painfully.

The guys in the booth noticed:

“Here is J.B. Holmes, going through all the maps and scales and typography data that he can find,” said Jim Nantz, setting the stage. 

“The issue I have with that is not that he’s doing that, it’s that he had plenty of time to do that while Justin was getting ready for his shot or Adam was getting ready for his shot,” said on-course reporter Peter Kostis. “And he waited until it was his turn to play to go through his whole routine.”

The irony is priceless....  He just happened to be playing with Adam Scott, the guy that's so frustrated by slow-play that he wants a penalty called on himself, just to get the ball rolling.

 To their credit, the press gang actually asked J.B. about it:

Q. The conditions made things really tough, but there was a lot of discussion on the broadcast and social media about the pace of play today. What were your thoughts about the pace and is that something you were thinking about or working on? 

J.B. HOLMES: Well, you play in 25 mile an hour gusty winds and see how fast you

play when you're playing for the kind of money and the points and everything that we're playing for. The greens are fast, the ball Adam had a putt, he kept setting the ball down and it was rolling.

You can't just get up there and whack it when it's blowing that hard. You've got to read wind and there's a lot of slope on these greens. It's not an easy golf course and you throw in winds like that. On 13 or 14, the par 3, I hit a 5iron and it stays pretty good. He hits a 5iron really good and a gust of wind comes up and he comes up like 15 yards short, and I think he hit it better than I hit mine. It's very tough. Then when you get putting like that, it's just not going to be fast anywhere.

I have a little sympathy for him here, as we all need to understand that in challenging conditions it's gonna take a bit longer.  I'd ask the networks to keep a camera on him as his playing partners are hitting, because I'm pretty sure he isn't doing any of his prep....

Q. Adam Scott said just before that we know J.B.'s a slow player and there was some discussion on the broadcast. Do you think that's a fair assessment? 

J.B. HOLMES: I've been slow in the past. I don't think as slow as I mean, I'm not the fastest player, but I mean, like I said, it was really windy today and we waited a lot early. At the end, I took a little bit longer at the end, but you're talking about getting down to the tournament, you're talking about the last nine holes of the tournament. I mean, I think correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a lot of times the last group of the tournament gets a little bit behind. 

So I was never even close to being on the clock all week. I mean, yeah, when I first got out here I was really slow, but I've sped up quite a bit. Like I said, the conditions made it tougher, too. Sometimes you're waiting for the wind to stop blowing 30 miles an hour. Like I said, I've gotten better. There's times when I'm probably too slow, but it is what it is. I was never on the clock. Nobody never even got a warning. TV wants everything to be real fast all the time.

You no doubt see the issue.... he plays at the pace he prefers because he knows there's no accountability.  It's so easy to say we want the Tour to clamp down, but the enforcement mechanism, which is triggered by the position of the group, not individual players, is pretty terrible.

Shack is the preeminent Rivieratenthologist on the planet, and is back with multiple scatter diagrams:

His basic premise is that no one lays up anymore....  If you watched any of the week's golf, you figured that out for yourself.  The green has become so hard to hold, that the more logical play is to get it as close as possible from the tee.

This is a great venue and event, but the week's installment should be sent down the memory hole ASAP.

Want a proxy for how bad it was?  This event, now to be given elevated status commiserate with Jack and Arnie's events, didn't warrant even a mention in this week's Tour Confidential.  

The Walkback - This is destined to be a case study in Public Relations classes, no?  While we were away, the inevitable capitulation occurred.  It took longer than you'd expect, but that's because our hero was doubling down on stupidity.

Jeff Ritter tried to help, but some guys just won't listen:

Attention, PGA Tour professional: Are you in a media sh*t-storm of your own making? Has your loose tongue, tone deafness or complete lack of understanding of the world

outside the top .0001% tax bracket finally caught up to you? Is the press circling you like buzzards over a wounded antelope, demanding retribution? You’re out of options. There’s only one move left to make: The Apology. Fortunately, we’re here to guide you through this challenging time. Here’s how to do it.

I think Matt's apology successfully met this condition:

3. Take full blame. Do NOT use the phrase, “I’m sorry if I offended anyone.” That will send you right back to the beginning. You do not want to repeat the cycle all over again.

Josh Sens takes a stroll down memory lane with this:

I’m really, really sorry: A definitive ranking of golf’s 13 most memorable apologies

Anybody care to guess what took top honors?  Anyone?  Bueller?

It wasn't even close:

 Good times.

But don't get me started on Suzann Pettersen, who thanks to Tim Rosaforte thinks her sin was not conceding the putt.  Not important now, but still...

You'll no doubt have guessed that the Golf Mag writers have much to say on this juicy topic, appropriate given Mike Bamberger's role in furthering the story:

1. GOLF.com’s Michael Bamberger reported that after Matt Kuchar paid his fill-in caddie at the Mayakoba $5,000 for a victory in November, his looper, David “El Tucan” Ortiz, reached out to Kuchar’s agent, Mark Steinberg, for an additional $50k; Steinberg countered with $15,000, which Ortiz declined. Kuchar addressed the situation at the Genesis Open, saying that, “For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really big week.” A day later — and after intense blowback on social media and beyond — Kuchar released a lengthy statement, apologizing for his “out of touch and insensitive” remarks. He also said Ortiz would receive the full total requested. The ever-smiling Kuchar has long been a fan favorite; how much will this fiasco damage his image and reputation? And would you expect it to have an impact on his sponsorship opportunities moving forward?

Dylan Dethier: The catcalls at Riviera this weekend confirmed what we already knew: this is, and will remain, a real thing. We move on fast (Remember what people were saying about Sergio Garcia last week? Or Phil Mickelson at last year’s U.S. Open?) but this will stick as a part of Kuchar’s reputation. No specific word on the Skechers relationship, though. 

Alan Shipnuck: First of all, let’s praise the golf world’s Robin Hood, our own Michael Bamberger, who cracked this thing wide open. Kuchar certainly destroyed a lot of goodwill but the American sports fan has a very short memory – to cite one easy example, Tiger Woods has done a helluva lot worse and he is more beloved than ever. Kuchar will survive this but it was and remains a very bad look.

It sure is...

Jeff Ritter, digital development editor (@Jeff_Ritter): It’ll leave a mark because his first opportunity to make things right was so woefully tone deaf and out of touch. Like Shipnuck mentions, people forgive and forget, but no matter what happens from here, Kooch will never be mentioned with Jack, Arnie, Phil and others who are known for their generosity along with their great playing careers. Instead, Kuchar’s name is stamped on the cheapskates list. Not a great place to be.

Bamberger: We know something about Kuchar we might not have known before: he has the “frugal” gene. In his mind he really did nothing wrong. He couldn’t see it as most people could.

How about a rebuttal from an occasional participant in that TC panel, Kooch's regular caddie John Wood:

“I don’t understand the need to tear down a guy who has spent his career trying to uphold the game and himself to some pretty high standards. Nobody’s perfect. All we can do when a mistake is made is reconsider, apologize and make amends. 

“Matt, his entire family and team have never been anything but generous, inclusive, respectful, and complimentary of me and the job I do for him,” Wood wrote on Twitter Friday night. “I wouldn’t work for someone I didn’t respect, or who didn’t value my opinion. To crucify for one mistake feels wrong.”

On the one hand, Woodie is absolutely right that we should judge his boss and everyone else by their lifetime body of work.  But my problem with this can be found in Matt's initial reaction to the story, specifically this quote:

It wasn't 10% and it wasn't $3,000.

But obviously it was far closer to one of those than the other?

Can you see why I think this is the tell?  Obviously this was early enough to alert him to the fact that it might not be swept under the rug so easily, but he's delighted to use the original mistake about the number to create a false impression that he had given his caddie a nice bonus for their shared success.

In many places that would be considered a lie....  So John, we're up to two mistakes and still counting....

The TC gang had this quasi-interesting follow-up:

2. According to emails shared by Ortiz, Steinberg, who also reps Tiger Woods, could have put an end to this situation by paying El Tucan when he first asked for an additional fee. But he felt that an extra $15,000 was sufficient. How much, if any, culpability should Kuchar’s management team shoulder in how this situation played out?

Dethier: Since they’re supposed to be the failsafe for situations exactly like this one, and 

since Kuchar ended up paying MORE money than they’d initially even been offered, I would say their shoulders should weigh rather heavy after this mess. 

Shipnuck: Almost all of it. Successful athletes live in a weird bubble and can be counted on to usually do the wrong thing when confronted with real-world stuff. The whole reason a guy like Steinberg exists is to navigate this kind of complicated situation. He failed utterly and miserably. 

Bamberger: Agree. Sean Foley likes to say, as others have, that class or whatever word you want to use is what you do for people who cannot do anything for you, not for those who can. His dismissive response to Ortiz’s emails show that he was lockstep with Kuchar, and tone-deaf. Blind to the man’s plight, and rude.

Oh Shippy, you ignorant slut.  Steiny did exactly that which Kooch wanted him to do, keep the riffraff away.....  Yes, he could have seen this coming and headed off Matt, though we'll never know to what extent he tried.

There was this item on comments from the Riviera caddie yard, including this:

“It says a lot about what he thinks of caddies,” said another looper, who caddied for a 2018 Tour winner.

There are caddies and there are Tour caddies, and Matt has shown what he thinks of the former...  I had opined earlier that making Ortiz deal with Steiny was his biggest sin in this, it just showed his contempt for the man.  

I'm not saying this should damn Kooch to his own ring of hell....  But this is entirely on him and he put his tone-deafness on display for us all to see.  It's always a trap when we think we know these guys....

Lucy In The Clear - That TC panel takes on the Lucy Li decision, and I can only suggest that they had extinguished their vitriol on Kooch and Steiny:

3. Lucy Li, 16, will not lose her amateur status for appearing in an Apple ad in January and will instead receive a one-time warning, the USGA announced Thursday. “Ms. Li has neither received, nor will receive in the future, any monetary or non-monetary (e.g., products) compensation for her appearance in the advertisement,” the statement read. Did Li deserve more than a gentle tap on the wrist? 

Dethier: I can’t summon the energy to shout from the rooftops that Li should be punished further — but there’s no doubt the rules surrounding “amateurism” have gotten very weird. Look no further than last week, when famous Tour pro-turned-am-turned pro Gary Nicklaus made his Champions tour debut. 

Shipnuck: I feel the same fatigue. Given all of golf’s ills, this isn’t a big deal. Though the Nicklaus thing bugs me. Amateur status should be like your virginity – once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. 

Bamberger: Yep — it’s a quaint little controversy. Back in the day, it would have been like Arnold taking Tiger out for lunch when he was at Stanford.

OK, I get the fatigue and all, and I'm not making the case for Defcon-5....  That said, I was struck by subterfuge in the USGA's press release...  The bit about Lucy answering a casting call and filming scenes in various recreational activities....  Man, everyone but the USGA took this seriously.

No question that the amateur game needs an overhaul, but a governing organization not enforcing its rules isn't a great look....  Or perhaps, selectively doing so would be more accurate...And I love the bit where they emphasize the absence of consideration....  Hmmm, again, they went to an awful lot of effort to make this work....  I'm guessing there's a wink and nod in here somewhere.

Up for one more from the boys?  Of course you are, silly question....

5. Could Phil Mickelson skip the Players? “It’s not a must-play for me because I’m 48 and I’ve played it 25 times and I’ve already won it,” he told Golf Channel. “If I were young and early in my career, I would say yes because I think it’s as close to a major as it can get. But it’s not the best course for me.” What sort of impact would Mickelson staying home have on the reputation of an event that has long positioned itself as the “fifth major”? 

Shipnuck: None, because I’ve devoted my life to debunking the Fifth Major nonsense and hardly need Phil to buttress the crusade. But I do appreciate his support. 

Dethier: I’m a newer recruit to Shippy’s cause but have thrown myself wholly behind it. There are FOUR MAJORS. FOUR. Stop this nonsense. 

Bamberger: Completely agree. It’s an important interesting event. March will be better for it. It is not remotely the “fifth” major and there are four majors and in a four-bedroom house nobody is bunking up here, as SI once tried to get me to do with John Garrity, in an Augusta rental. I found my own digs. Augusta is a major. The two Opens, Hagen’s PGA— majors. You gonna talk about TPC Sawgrass with THAT CROWD. See Dylan, above. 

Ritter: The Players is a fun event but the fifth major thing has always been overblown. If Phil skips it, it’ll be a big story all the way until Thursday morning of tournament week, but in the end, the story will always be about the competition. Hey, that’s one thing the Players has in common with the actual majors.

I think Shippy has to take the heat for driving that bus into a ditch....  Yes, The Players is most certainly The Fifth of Four™, so they've got that going for them.

But isn't the more interesting question what a guy like Phil, whose benefited greatly from the Tour, owes back?  Should he show up just to support the Tour?  I'm not sure where I come down and it's an issue we see more often as relates to The Euro Tour, but color me surprised that none of the writers wanted to take it on.  Must be that fatigue noted above...

Schedule Notes - Tomorrow is a travel day, but not in the ordinary seasonal meaning of that term.  The bride and I are heading to The People's Republic of Portland (Oregon, not Maine) to pay homage to Lucy Stadtler, our new grand-niece.  There will be no blogging from the PRP, and there are further complications when we arrive in Utah on Friday.

I know you'll get through the week with no issues, likely the larger concern is that I won't.  I'll make it all up to you on the other side.