Match Play Friday - Trunks Will be Slammed

I was able to watch much of yesterday's golf, of course after watching the great Luke Voit take care of business....  

I remain the '62 Mets of Fantasy Golf, but even I know better than this:

I'll speak slowly so Ryan can follow, but they were merely paired together in a stroke play event.... they weren't playing against each other.

And it would have been worse had Tiger not pulled this sick shot off:

There's video at the link if you were in a bubble, and it was crazy good....  Best part was Sned's reaction.

Jessica Marksbury, who's a far btter player than analyst, offers up five upsets from Day 2, leading with Sneds over Tiger.  Jess, one thing I've learned is that there really aren't any upsets in coin flips..

But what else you got?

Dustin Johnson lost to Branden Grace

Dustin Johnson, the Match Play’s No. 1 seed, fell to Branden Grace on the 18th hole.

It was a close match all the way through, as neither player ever led by more than 1-up and both carded five birdies, but two of Grace’s birdies were on the four closing holes.

Grace is now the group leader with two full points. If DJ can manage to win tomorrow and Grace loses, DJ will move on, but a win or a tie on Friday will seal the deal for Grace.

OK, I get it, the No. 1 player in the world and all.... Still Jess, if DJ wins and Grace loses they'll both have 2-1-0 records, so kindly explain how DJ would advance.... Hey, she's blonde and math remains hard.

Billy Horschel beat Bubba Watson 

Considering his unfortunate demise on the final hole of Wednesday’s match, it’s fair to say that defending champ Bubba Watson may not be in the right head space this week.

But it’s still surprising to see a player of his caliber go down in this format.

I acknowledge that in watching Billy Ho and Bubba on Wednesday, it was difficult to imagine either winning a match.  

Jon Rahm lost to J.B. Holmes 

Rahm, the No. 8 seed, made headlines on Wednesday for his margin of victory against Si Woo Kim, whom he defeated 7&5. Thursday was different, however, and Rahm fell to Holmes 2&1 in what was a more lopsided victory than the match result indicates. 

Rahm won only one hole on the front side, and Holmes had Rahm 6-down on the 11th tee. Rahm then rallied mightily, winning four holes in a row to get back to 2-down on the 15th tee, but unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Holmes held on to win 2-up on No. 17. 

Holmes and Rahm have one point each, and their group is currently topped by Matt Kuchar, with two points.

I'm not as sold on the Spaniard as many others, but how do you get 6-down to JB?

Jim Furyk beat Phil Mickelson 

What more can we say about the ageless Jim Furyk? The 48-year-old veteran has three top-10 finishes this season — including a runner-up finish at the Players Championship — and seems as on-form as ever. 

Still, he beat Jason Day 2-up on Wednesday, and that was surprising. On Thursday, he battled Phil Mickelson to the 18th hole, where they both made birdie, and Furyk prevailed again, 1-up.

Jess, have you seen Phil lately?  Like, say, Wednesday?  And you're still surprised by this?

You want one that surprised me?  The articles is by Shack, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and guess that he's not responsible for this header:

Jordan Spieth advances to Round 3 at WGC-Match Play

Nobody has advanced anywhere yet, we're still in pool play.... 

 With the Masters starting in two weeks, Spieth is understandably focused on finding a

game that has left him 186th on the FedExCup points list and without a top-5 finish since last year’s third-place finish in Augusta.The Longhorn is showing signs of regaining his game playing in front of admiring Austin galleries and on a course he played regularly in his two years playing under Texas coach John Fields.

“Really solid golf,” Spieth said on a day he took a 6-up lead before a sloppy shot at the short par-4 13th. “I kind of shot myself in the foot to not just go ahead and close it out on 13, just trying to kind of over-trust a few things and kind of see where they’re at and all of a sudden it’s it was like, wow, this is the match now. So that wasn’t good.” 

While a weekend appearance and strong play here would be a bonus, Spieth says he’s not focused on results.

He said he was close.... he wouldn't like to us (or himself), would he?

Here are today's matches:

Matches, tee times 

9:20 a.m.Eddie Pepperell (34) 0-1-1 vs. Emiliano Grillo (53) 0-2-0 (Group 2) 

9:31 a.m.Jason Day (12) 0-2-0 vs. Phil Mickelson (20) 0-2-0 (Group 12) 

9:42 a.m.Henrik Stenson (37) 2-0-0 vs. Jim Furyk (52) 2-0-0 (Group 12) 

9:53 a.m.Justin Thomas (5) 1-1-0 vs. Keegan Bradley (31) 0-1-1 (Group 5)

10:04 a.m.Matt Wallace (33) 1-1-0 vs. Lucas Bjerregaard (50) 1-0-1 (Group 5)

10:15 a.m.Tiger Woods (13) 1-1-0 vs. Patrick Cantlay (18) 1-0-1 (Group 13)

10:26 a.m.Brandt Snedeker (44) 1-0-1 vs. Aaron Wise (61) 0-2-0 (Group 13)

10:37 a.m.Rory McIlroy (4) 2-0-0 vs. Matthew Fitzpatrick (32) 0-2-0 (Group 4)

10:48 a.m.Justin Harding (47) 1-1-0 vs. Luke List (64) 1-1-0 (Group 4)

10:59 a.m.Xander Schauffele (9) 1-0-1 vs. Rafa Cabrera Bello (29) 0-1-1 (Group 9)

11:10 a.m.Tyrrell Hatton (35) 1-0-1 vs. Lee Westwood (62) 0-1-1 (Group 9)

11:21 a.m.Jon Rahm (8) 1-1-0 vs. Matt Kuchar (23) 2-0-0 (Group 8)

11:32 a.m.J.B. Holmes (43) 1-1-0 vs. Si Woo Kim (54) 0-2-0 (Group 8)

11:43 a.m.Patrick Reed (16) 0-1-1 vs. Sergio Garcia (26) 2-0-0 (Group 16)

11:54 a.m.Shane Lowry (46) 0-1-1 vs. Andrew Putnam (51) 1-1-0 (Group 16)

12:05 p.m.Dustin Johnson (1) 1-1-0 vs. Hideki Matsuyama (24) 0-1-1 (Group 1)

12:16 p.m.Branden Grace (40) 2-0-0 vs. Chez Reavie (55) 0-1-1 (Group 1)

12:27 p.m.Tommy Fleetwood (11) 1-0-1 vs. Louis Oosthuizen (19) 1-1-0 (Group 11)

12:38 p.m.Kyle Stanley (41) 1-0-1 vs. Byeong Hun An (49) 0-2-0 (Group 11)

12:49 p.m.Bryson DeChambeau (6) 1-1-0 vs. Marc Leishman (17) 2-0-0 (Group 6)

1 p.m.Kiradech Aphibarnrat (39) 1-1-0 vs. Russell Knox (59) 0-2-0 (Group 6)

1:11 p.m.Tony Finau (14) 1-1-0 vs. Ian Poulter (30) 1-1-0 (Group 14)

1:22 p.m.Kevin Kisner (48) 1-1-0 vs. Keith Mitchell (56) 1-1-0 (Group 14)

1:33 p.m.Brooks Koepka (3) 0-1-1 vs. Alex Noren (27) 1-1-0 (Group 3)

1:44 p.m.HaoTong Li (36) 2-0-0 vs. Tom Lewis (60) 0-1-1 (Group 3)

1:55 p.m.Paul Casey (10) 1-0-1 vs. Cameron Smith (25) 0-2-0 (Group 10)

2:06 p.m.Charles Howell III (42) 1-0-1 vs. Abraham Ancer (58) 1-1-0 (Group 10)

2:17 p.m.Francesco Molinari (7) 2-0-0 vs. Webb Simpson (21) 0-1-1 (Group 7)

2:28 p.m.Thorbjørn Olesen (45) 1-1-0 vs. Satoshi Kodaira (63) 0-1-1 (Group 7)

2:39 p.m.Bubba Watson (15) 0-2-0 vs. Jordan Spieth (28) 1-0-1 (Group 15)

2:50 p.m.Billy Horschel (38) 1-0-1 vs. Kevin Na (57) 1-1-0 (Group 15)

3:01 p.m.Justin Rose (2) 1-0-1 vs. Gary Woodland (22) 2-0-0 (Group 2)

The formatting has gone a bit haywire, so apologies for that.  Unless I missed one, that bolded Furyk-Stenson match is the only one featuring two players who have won both prior matches.  The last match, thanks to JR's miracle halve tie, is the moral equivalent of the same.

Lastly, I'll just call your attention to the volatile Keegan Bradley playing in a meaningless match.  He's older and presumably wiser and my gues sis that JT isn't as triggering as Miggy was, and it would be folly t predict fireworks....  But just the same, I'd keep tabs on him if I were running the GC broadcast.

The Forecaddie must have read my rant on the changing terminology imposed by our betters, and had this:

The Forecaddie has heard your complaints and is here to settle scores over the Halve vs. Tie debate. Viewers of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play have been livid about

Golf Channel’s use of the word “tie” to describe the state of a match or a concluded one. Adding to the first world outrage: the PGA Tour system feeding apps and on-site scoreboards is still using “AS” for matches All Square and “Halve” to describe matches tied after 18 holes. 

Under the new rules of golf, television technically is using the proper lingo while the PGA Tour is using the old descriptions. But the explanation in the new rules says “previous terms halved and all square are still part of the rule book and acceptable, if necessary.” 

As part of the rules simplification, the USGA and R&A changed the words in an effort to employ “more accessible and commonly used language.” 

The Man Out Front asked the top-notch team at the PGA Tour’s ShotLink why it did not adopt the new lingo for this week’s event in Austin. The answer was understandable given all of the confusion over new rules: the team didn’t find out about the preferred new words until Tuesday. For now, they are sticking with the old standbys Halve and All Square, with plans to reevaluate before the next big match play stop when the Presidents Cup heads to Melbourne in December.

So, the language I've been using since 1744 is still acceptable, "if necessary." But if the PGA Tour didn't hear about this until Tuesday, I feel a little better about it sneaking up on me.

As for the "D-word", well that's of far more recent origin:

While Golfweek told you about these changes on Monday, The Forecaddie has since learned of another casualty of the simplified language: dormie. A word floating around the sport since the days of Mary Queen of Scots and first seen in an 1847 dictionary, dormie has been used to describe an insurmountable lead and was often misunderstood by broadcasters if an event was going extra holes to settle matches. 

Sadly, “dormie” has been dropped from the rules of golf, perhaps less due to its lack of accessibility and more to its relative uselessness. But as this week has shown, it’s still acceptable to use the word, if necessary.

Again with the "if necessary"...  Who decides?   

I'm going to try to pretend that the USGA doesn't exist for the remainder of the weekend, although I don't know how much golf I'll be in a position to watch.  But to me that's the very definition of necessary.

Peace In Our Time - The damage has been done, and this does little to change anything we've learned:

Not only has he been paid, Ortiz and Kuchar met in a clubhouse dining room in late February, when the Tour went to Mexico City for a World Golf Championship event.

Over a 40-minute glass of morning orange juice on Feb. 23, the Saturday of the tournament, each apologized to the other, Ortiz said in a recent phone interview and through an interpreter. 

“Matt said, ‘Hey, David, how are you?’” Ortiz said. “I apologized for the [difficulty] the situation created. I told him it was never my intention to embarrass him, but I felt eventually I had to tell the truth. Matt also offered an apology. He said it was all a misunderstanding. He asked me how my family was. He showed me a picture of his family and a video of a hole-in-one made by one of his sons.” 

Ortiz said there were four people at the breakfast table, including a sports psychologist “who is very close to Matt.” The fourth person was Roberto Molina, the manager of corporate partnerships for the Mayakoba tournament. Molina served as an interpreter, when needed. Ortiz said that all through the meeting he was excited to be in close proximity to other star golfers, including Rory McIlroy.

Kooch shouldn't be banned from polite society for one mistake, although this was really more than the one.  He demonstrated that his instincts were all wrong, and we can't unlearn that....  But glad they cleared the air and hop to see Matt be a little more generous going forward.  Also, perhaps, a little more truthful....

Ladies Day - Some news about the girls and their forthcoming day at Augusta National:

Augusta National has invited LPGA legend Nancy Lopez as well as fellow World Golf Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak to next week’s inaugural August National Women’s Amateur event at the invitation of Fred Ridley, chairman of

the golf club. 

All four iconic players will be on hand for a player-only evening function on Friday, April 5 and take part in the first-tee ceremony on Saturday, April 6 to kick off the final round. 

“The young players competing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur have grown up inspired by the contributions and accomplishments of Annika Sorenstam, Nancy Lopez, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak,” said Ridley. “I cannot think of a better way to encourage this year’s inaugural field and mark this important moment in the sport than to have the support and presence of these four legends.”

That's very nice and for sure they've picked the ladies most deserving of the honor, but can we let these girls play 18?  Nobody remembers but in the days of the original honorary starters, they were allowed to play a few holes.   

And the girls will be playing for this:

No issues, though I kinda expected crystal.  Exit question:  Will Lucy wear her Apple watch?

Living Under Par... To Living Under an Overpass - The PGA Tour is all in on legalized sports betting, but am I the only that's apprehensive?  Ron Green, Jr. is out with the first of a two-parter on the subject for the Global Golf Post, and let's see where we think this is going:

Soon, though, it will become a marriage of sorts, wagering on professional golf having

been sanctified by a Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down a federal law prohibiting legalized sports gambling. Each state can now pass its own legislation to allow sports gambling and a handful have already begun the process with many more expected to follow. 

Within five years, legalized sports betting is expected to be a familiar piece of the national landscape and the PGA Tour will be a part of it. 

Perhaps more to the point, the PGA Tour wants to be part of it.

It's their eagerness that I find troubling, although I understand that their hand has been forced by that Supreme Court decision.  Although the eagerness is also likely due to this:

Of that estimated $150 billion wagered, approximately 2 percent – $3 billion – is bet on golf. 

Monahan said making money off legalized sports betting is not the main reason the PGA Tour is invested in what will be a new world order. The hope is to get one-quarter of 1 percent of the money wagered on the PGA Tour. That’s approximately $7.5 million annually if the estimates of what’s being bet are accurate.

The suits in Ponte Vedra Beach don't return phone calls fro a measly $7.5 million, so I'm guessing that we're being low-balled here.  It's of course all about engagement and what's that phrase?  Oh yeah, Living Under Par™:

“We’ve had people betting on PGA Tour competitions that have been on our property and at our tournaments for a long period of time. It’s legal in certain markets, it’s illegal in others,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said. 

“People still bet. They find a way. As we got into it and really studied it and looked at fan behavior at our tournaments and what people are doing, it’s very clear that some people are here for that purpose. They have been for a long period of time.”

Some are undoubtedly there for that purpose, but that doesn't mean you have to be their bookmaker....

 They are at least paying lip service to some obvious concerns:

The tour understands that the integrity of the competition must be protected at all costs and it is working with various agencies and other leagues to make sure that is its top priority. 

“The utmost concern is the integrity of our sport and our game and our Tour,” said Kevin Streelman, a member of the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council, which helps set tour policy. 

“We’re trying to stay ahead of it as much as possible which is why we developed the Integrity Program. I think it will be a small, step by step process where we take things as they come and tread lightly.”

So, what do they envision?

It can be as simple as trying to pick the winner of each week’s tournament or as complex as wagering on each shot a player hits. It can be as simple or as complex as a bettor chooses to make it. 

Recently, the tour announced a partnership with IMG that will allow for the distribution of ShotLink data for the purposes of sports betting. The focus is on international markets where betting is already legal but it will quickly move to the U.S. 

The information will not be available before 2020 but it will allow bettors to get more detailed with their wagers. 

“What that’s going to do is give fans the ability to not only bet on the winner and the low score of the day but you’re going to be able to bet much more granularly,” Levinson said.

“You’re going to be able to bet shot by shot. You’re going to have a situation where fans are going to be locked in and engaged throughout the competition. It’s going to be a fun way to bet. 

“Our sport is unique in that we have 72 balls in the air at any given moment as opposed to one. For people who like to engage in sports betting and may not be interested in the PGA Tour golf, this is going to be a really fun sport to get engaged with.”

There's other things that make golf unique, including the fact that it's one of the few sports that can only be played during daylight.  Meaning that down-on-hi-luck addicted gambler desperately seeking action on a Thursday morning....

 All of the happy talk about fan engagement and living in relation to par mask the ugly reality, that sports books exist for the sole purpose of separating their customers from their money.  You lose, every single one of you, over the long-term....  It's so much like state lotteries, which serve as an incredibly regressive tax on those least fortunate....  and then the kids never see the money as promised bu the politicians.

Like alcohol and other vices, there's no issue with small wagering for fun but, inevitably for a small percentage of the population, this becomes an addiction that can destroy lives.  And the PGA Tour wants a piece of this action....

I remain hopeful that betting on golf will remain a sideshow, as I don't really the game lends itself third-party wagering, but that seems to be a minority opinion.  

Shack has this skepticism, most of which I share:

Levinson is one of the tour’s sharpest minds, so I trust that he’s seeing things to make them believe shot-by-shot betting will be fun and functional. 

Our first glimpse into the merging of a match and stats came at last fall’s match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. As slow as golf is, the match did not seem to move slowly enough to assess a shot and the player’s stats before placing a bet in time. But that may change with better-designed apps that react by crafting a wager immediately after a shot has come to rest, sending us a phone notification of the

”opportunity” and making the bet option fun and fast.

You probably will be able to bet on that granular basis, just why would you want to?

Have a great weekend. 

Match Play Thursday - The Collar Tightens

For the guys that lost yesterday, for sure:

Wednesday match play results 

Tommy Fleetwood defeats Byeong Hun An 3&2 (Group 11)

Kyle Stanley defeats Louis Oosthuizen 3&2 (Group 11)

Bryson DeChambeau defeats Russell Knox 3&1 (Group 6)

Marc Leishman defeats Kiradech Aphibarnrat 2-up (Group 6)

Tony Finau defeats Keith Mitchell 2&1 (Group 14)

Ian Poulter defeats Kevin Kisner 2-up (Group 14)

Brooks Koepka ties Tom Lewis (Group 3)

HaoTong Li defeats Alex Noren 5&4 (Group 3)

Paul Casey defeats Abraham Ancer 5&3 (Group 10)

Charles Howell III defeats Cameron Smith 2&1 (Group 10)

Francesco Molinari defeats Satoshi Kodaira 5&4 (Group 7)

Thorbjørn Olesen defeats Webb Simpson 2&1 (Group 7)

Kevin Na defeats Bubba Watson 1-up (Group 15)

Jordan Spieth ties Billy Horschel (Group 15)

Justin Rose defeats Emiliano Grillo 2&1 (Group 2)

Gary Woodland defeats Eddie Pepperell 2&1 (Group 2)

Jim Furyk defeats Jason Day 2-up (Group 12)

Henrik Stenson defeats Phil Mickelson 2&1 (Group 12)

Lucas Bjerregaard defeats Justin Thomas 3&2 (Group 5)

Matt Wallace defeats Keegan Bradley 1-up (Group 5)

Tiger Woods defeats Aaron Wise 3&1 (Group 13)

Patrick Cantlay ties Brandt Snedeker (Group 13)

Rory McIlroy defeats Luke List 5&4 (Group 4)

Justin Harding defeats Matthew Fitzpatrick 1-up (Group 4)

Xander Schauffele defeats Lee Westwood 1-up (Group 9)

Tyrrell Hatton defeats Rafa Cabrera Bello 4&3 (Group 9)

Jon Rahm defeats Si Woo Kim 7&5 (Group 8)

Matt Kuchar defeats J.B. Holmes 3&1 (Group 8)

Andrew Putnam defeats Patrick Reed 3&2 (Group 16)

Sergio Garcia defeats Shane Lowry 4&2 (Group 16)

Dustin Johnson defeats Chez Reavie 4&3 (Group 1)

Branden Grace defeats Hideki Matsuyama 4&3 (Group 1)

I got to watch about ninety minutes of the golf, though that didn't include the denouement of most of the matches.

In general, I found the quality of play to be shockingly bad.  Is it me, or does that seem the trend on Tour these days.... Let me just cite a couple of examples:

1.  Aaron Wise did a spot-on Stephen Ames impression, allowing Tiger to win the opening hole with a bad bogey.  And then, having taken the lead shortly after the turn, reverted to C-Flight quality of play.
2. One match I did catch the finish of was the Billy Ho - Jordan Spieth affair, which I would desperately want to unwatch.  Egads, can't anybody here play this game.
3. Bubba, what were you thinking?
4. The talking heads were desperately trying to convince us that Group 12 is the Group of Death.  I completely agree, as longs as it's like the GOAT, and features 2004 Jim Furyk, 2015 Jason Day, 2006 Phil and 2013 Henrik.  If it's the 2019 versions of those guys, then Alas Poor Furyk might be a lucky man indeed.

I think this sums up the Tiger win quite well:

The only score that mattered was the final score.

That was the exclamation point Tiger Woods made in describing his opening-round meeting with Aaron Wise on Wednesday in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

While Woods was playing the event for the first time since 2013, he hadn’t forgotten that the essence of match play is to beat your opponent by any means necessary, be it with excellent play or otherwise. 

“I broke 80,” Woods said with a big smile after defeating Wise, 3 and 1, in and up-and-down affair over the elevation-fueled Austin Country Club. Both players admitted they’ve had better days on the golf course, but each hole remained a tournament on its own and tension accompanied the two through 17 holes.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that Aaron didn't, even over only seventeen holes... I have no clue what we'll see from him today, but this will need to stop:

“The way we were playing today, we’re very thankful it’s not stroke play,” Woods said. “I was just trying to beat the guy in front of me. It was tough out there. It was tricky, and the wind was blowing all over the place. 

“I drove it well and I felt like I putted well. I was hitting my irons flush and hitting through the wind, and Joey (LaCava, his caddie) says it’s a nice problem to have. But I said this is not the time to be encouraging me like this right now, I just hit it over the back of three greens in a row. 

“I probably have to dial that down a little bit and figure that out.”

I'm not even sure that he actually drove it that well, though everything is relative.

Did you see the crazy finish to the Bubba-Kevin Na match?  They were all square tied heading to the finishing hole, when comedy and farce broke out:

Watson, one of the longest hitters on Tour, nearly drove the par-4 18th green and ended up in the bunker short of it. Na, meanwhile, laid up. From 109 yards behind Watson, Na

knocked his second shot to 10 feet away, putting the pressure on Watson in the green-side bunker. That’s where the trouble started. 

Watson’s first shot from the sand got caught in the rough and rolled back in. His third shot was on the same path, but before his ball had a chance to fall back into the bunker he picked it up to concede the 1-up win to Na.

“He’s gonna pick it up, what?!” said Nick Faldo on the Golf Channel telecast, perplexed. “You are down there with the advantage [off the tee] and you are in your pocket.” 

While it’s unlikely Watson would have holed his third bunker shot to save a 4 and make par — he still would have needed Na to miss his birdie putt to halve the match — there still was a chance, one he didn’t take. (Jordan Spieth holed out from the sand earlier in the day.)

Bubba had a perfectly ordinary bunker shot for a touring professional, which he merely needed to get up and down for the win.  And he simply chunked it....and watched it roll back into his footprint.

These guys are good, they used to tell us, except when we see them out of their comfort zone.  

But I want to step back from this event and make a point that occurred to me only yesterday.  Since January I've been listening to golf commentators refer to penalty areas. and I thought this was quite unnecessary and stupid.  But yesterday I realized the extent of the USGA and R&A's malfeasance, and it seems Josh Berhow had the same epiphany:

The changes to the Rules of Golf have been the biggest story of 2019 thus far, but did you know that golf terms were included in the recent rules revisions as well?

Actually, I didn't.  Last year during the comment period on the proposed rules changes, we heard all about the new drop rules (back then it was from as little as one inch), leaving the pin in and the like, but nowhere do I remember the governing organizations telling us they were going to change the language of golf.  WTF?

Josh has this quick tutorial to get everyone up to speed for this week:

Here’s a quick rundown of the new preferred terms, so you know exactly what to say the next time you are deep into your Saturday match:

– “Tying” on a hole has replaced “halving” a hole

– “Score” of a match has replaced “status” of a match

– “Asking/requesting a ruling” has replaced “making a claim”

– “Telling an opponent about penalty” and “telling an opponent about number of strokes taken” has replaced “wrong information”

– “Dormie,” the match play term long used to represent leading or trailing a match by the same number of holes remaining, has been removed from the Rules of Golf.

I can't express how angry I am about this, and how misguided these folks are.  And the more they explain, the angrier I get:

These changes were made to align the rules with more commonly used language.

The language of our game has evolved since at least 1744 (have you noticed how frequently I've been citing that date), and was uniquely perfect for its use.  I don'y mean literally perfect, but it just worked for us all....  This is likely a misguided attempt to appeal to millennials and their micro attention spans, but once again the powers that be express no confidence in our game and its ability to appeal to generation after generation of people.

What is wrong with the concept of halving a hole?  Why would you even think about changing that?  Have you solved every problem in our game and now moved on to things that aren't actually problems?  I know this pure apples and oranges, but here's a problem, as articulated by the best player of our generation, that they can't be bothered addressing:

Q. How would you describe the level of competition now in 2019? 

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that equipment has made it smaller. The margin is much smaller than it used to be. Now look at these heads, 460 cc's, you hit the ball anywhere on the face and have it go 300 yards. Before it put a premium on good ball-strikers to hit the ball in the middle of the face each and every time. And there was a distinction between the guys who could do that and the guys who couldn't. And that's no longer the case.

It promotes people swinging harder. Teeing the ball higher, swinging harder and hitting the ball further. And the old shot of hitting just a squeezier, low, heelie cut in play, that's no longer the case. Guys are trying to maximize distance off the tee, to try and carry that number 300, 320, 330 in the air. And it's become a game that's played more up in the air than it ever used to be.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as these are the people that changed Far Hills into Liberty Corner....  They can't deal with sand-filled divots, but they don't want us to use "dormie" any longer....

Interestingly, I haven't seen any golf writer object to the chutzpah of legislating language.... Are they on board, or like me did they need the match-play to understand the magnitude of this arrogance.

I'm going to move on, but perhaps we'll circle back when I'm better able to control my emotions....

Milking The Gig - Dylan Dethier is back with 33 insights from his two days of toting luggage at the Valspar, though he gets to that gaudy total by recycling all of his Bones material.  But there are some gems, or at least reasonably interesting looks behind the curtain:

The highest-pressure moment of the week…was my first bunker raking. I’d dodged the sand all Thursday until Trainer fired one over the back pin on 18, where I suddenly realized I’d make my debut in front of the day’s largest crowd. Afterward, Luke Donald’s coach Patrick Goss described the job as “well done, albeit world-record slow.” Golf Channel writer Will Gray was looking on, too: “It truly was a thing of beauty. You could feel each grain being re-positioned with great purpose,” he wrote later on Twitter. That’s good enough for me.

You knew his fellow writers would be the toughest crowd....

We all like to hear about the swag, no?

Free gear: When I was finally credentialed and deemed official, I was given five things. 

1. A choice of Valspar hats, either electric blue, deep purple or pale yellow. I went yellow.

2. A yardage book

3. A page with last year’s pin positions (where they were likely to be again)

4. A voucher for a free can of paint — tint of my choosing!

5. Two tickets for each day of the week to give away (sadly, I somehow lost these almost immediately).

I love that fourth item, though I gather that Dylan was unable to sell his hat logo for the week two days as per our Duf.

Dylan also has some random quotes from the caddie shed, though you're gonna ask for names:

Overheard in the caddie lounge: I overheard a lot of things in the caddie room, a sampling included here for your entertainment. 

Rumors: “I heard he’s intentionally gonna stay on the Web tour so he can smoke weed during the rounds, ’cause they don’t test as much there.” 

Complaints: “I officially hate my guy. Hate him. Cannot wait to get another bag.” 

Opportunism: “Just a heads up — I heard Trainer does have a caddie, even though he hasn’t checked in. Some buddy of his. The f—– buddy system.”

Good stuff.

More Alan is Better than Less -  Grate news from the maestro of the mailbag:

What’s better than one #AskAlan per week? According to my editors, two. So starting here we’re going to try a new concept: for the midweek edition I shall answer queries about the recently completed tournaments and related concerns. For a second column every Friday, we can entertain more miscellania, venturing into the dark, shadowy recesses of your collective conscious. It’s worth a try. Let’s give it a couple of weeks and then we can decide if this Alanpalooza is working or not. One thing I know I can count on from all of you: brutal honesty.

Hope they're paying him more....  But this first query is delightfully predictable: 

How come the Europeans have been so prominent on the PGA tour so far this season? They’re either winning or in contention every week now. Does this suggest that the Ryder Cup is over as a contest for the next 10 yrs (sorry, I couldn’t resist). -Colin (@cjgillbanks) 

You and many others. (Eyeroll emoji.) A lot of it has to do with where we are in the

schedule: Florida has turned into Murderer’s Row, with Honda, Bay Hill and Valspar offering three of the toughest setups we see all season long. As we witnessed with the oppressive setup in Paris, the Europeans are simply better at navigating the skinny fairways where there is a high penalty for wildness. (The Players was a benign setup which suited Rory just fine.) Conversely, why do Americans dominate the Kapalua-Hope-Phoenix trifecta? Because these courses favor a bombs-away style. Expect the 2020 Ryder Cup setup at Whistling Straits to have wide fairways and minimal rough, helping the Americans to reestablish supremacy.

Heh.  Alan's 2018 prediction of an era of U.S. Ryder Cup dominance was the golf equivalent of wearing a short skirt and asking for it....  Fortunately Alan is entirely content to lie back and enjoy it.

A couple of Casey items:

Does Paul Casey have a new level of “toughness” unseen before now that will bode well for Augusta or do I need to sit down? -Brad (@JustShake) 

I think in golf, toughness is often mistaken for confidence. No doubt there are some guys who do have the mythical grittiness, and it’s already baked into them by the time they arrive in the big-time: Tiger, Seve, Azinger, Ray Floyd, Zach Johnson, etc. But they’re

rare and justifiably celebrated. More often it’s a matter of belief. Casey’s long winless drought had left his confidence in tatters. Then he broke through at Valspar last year and that confidence has infused his entire game. I don’t think this latest win is because he has suddenly gotten tougher; he just found a way to win, and that made it easier to do again.

Casey. A good guy. -@DonDoncarey4 

Yo, Don, this is called Ask Alan, not Tell Alan, but I’ll allow it. Yes, I’ve always enjoyed Casey. He is a good-natured guy and one of the best quotes on Tour. It’s a pity that for years he had to live under the cloud of his off-the-cuff comment about American Ryder Cuppers. The blowback was ridiculous – he merely meant it in the way a UCLA fan hates a USC fan on game day. Thankfully, this late-career renaissance has allowed golf fans to focus on the real Casey.

Casey has always been a cheeky one....  I remember him telling an interviewer that if he misses long or short, it's his caddies fault, and if he misses left or right, it's his swing coaches (Peter Kostis) fault.  Said of course with an impish smile....

But the only thing that looked tough on Sunday was the golf course.

Not sure I agree with him here, though maybe the issue was the set-up:

Exactly how strong a track is Copperhead? It’s hard to tell on TV, but apparently it’s not for the faint of heart. -@PopGarypopovich 

The other day on Twitter, Graham DeLaet posited that it’s the best course on Tour. Those are big words. Of course, when healthy, DeLaet is one of the game’s most precise ballstrikers, so of course he loves the Copperhead. It’s that kind of course: tight, hard, claustrophobic, relentless. It’s certainly a great test, if not exactly an artistic triumph. Do I enjoy watching one tournament a year on the Copperhead? Absolutely. Would I want to play there regularly? Hell to the no.

I can attest that it plays well for the resort guests.  It's tree-lined and on the tight side, but not unfairly so.  I would say it's the best on Tour, but it is the best in Florida.

 here are a couple on another topical issue:

Why is marijuana banned? Far from performance enhancing.

– Pat (@155Marathons) 

This can be debated about ten different ways, but the Tour’s stance is pretty simple: weed is still illegal in many states, and it is a banned substance under the Olympic drug-testing policy, to which the golf tours must conform. But I think the Tour needs to build into its policy some common-sense discretion. Robert Garrigus is not a threat to qualify for the Olympics. He wasn’t arrested for possession. Is depriving him of his livelihood really the best solution because he ingested a natural substance? 

Hi Alan, why is the PGA Tour so afraid of backlash from a conservative society about the weed ban? The Tour embraces betting and in particular alcohol (the Wasted Management Open is an advert for alcoholism that is actively promoted/encouraged by the Tour). Is it simply a question of legality? -Paolo (@pth1974) 

Yeah, the shifting legality of marijuana provides an expedient excuse, but the hypocrisy is ridiculous. The Tour loves drinking, gambling and, judging by all the Viagra and Cialas ads… well, you know. Poor Garrigus just picked the wrong vice.

After a decade of the Tour's drug testing regimen ensnaring no one more successful than Doug Barron, Alan wants to let Garrigus off because he sucks?  The point is that credible drug testing program needs to dispense punishment without regard for who the player is.  I do agree that testing for recreational drugs isn't necessary, except for the Olympics....and you know how strongly I feel about Olympic golf.

Given that we had two of the ugliest trophies back-to-back weeks, what are the most aesthetically pleasing golf trophies to win? (After the Claret Jug, of course.)- @David_Troyan 

The Wanamaker is cartoonishly oversized, but that’s why it’s great. I love Augusta’s clubhouse, Kenya Open rhino, the Torrey pine tree, Quicken Loan Capital Building, Tour Championship’s Calamity Jane, Silverado wine barrel, Sanderson Farms rooster and sundry others.

 Oh ullleaze, hold my beer..  We've got the Nelson Mandela Championship:

We've got the Lancome Trophy:

We've got the Longs Drug Challenge, though the issue here isn't so much with the actual trophy....

We've got the Andalucia Open:

Alan thinks the Wanamaker Trophy is comically oversized, what about this from the Dubai Desert Classic?

Or the Ginn Open:

But the Spaniards might nose out the Chinese in this category, first this from the Mallorca Open:

And this equally weird offering from the Castello Masters:

Catch you tomorrow.

Midweek Musings

I'm back blogging from the mothership, and we've got all your March Madness needs covered.

Here's your bracket:

I'm guessing you can read that, but will prudently not subject your eyes to the strain.... Good call, so here are today's matches:

Tee times

9:20 a.m.: Tommy Fleetwood vs. Byeong Hun An (Group 11)

9:31 a.m: Louis Oosthuizen vs. Kyle Stanley (Group 11)

9:42 a.m.: Bryson DeChambeau vs. Russell Knox (Group 6)

9:53 a.m: Marc Leishman vs. Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Group 6)

10:04 a.m.: Tony Finau vs. Keith Mitchell (Group 14)

10:15 a.m.: Ian Poulter vs. Kevin Kisner (Group 14)

10:26 a.m.: Brooks Koepka vs. Tom Lewis (Group 3)

10:37 a.m.: Alex Noren vs. HaoTong Li (Group 3)

10:48 a.m.: Paul Casey vs. Abraham Ancer (Group 10)

10:59 a.m.: Cameron Smith vs. Charles Howell III (Group 10)

11:10 a.m: Francesco Molinari vs. Satoshi Kodaira (Group 7)

11:21 a.m.: Webb Simpson vs. Thorbjørn Olesen (Group 7)

11:32 a.m.: Bubba Watson vs. Kevin Na (Group 15)

11:43 a.m.: Jordan Spieth vs. Billy Horschel (Group 15)

11:54 a.m.: Justin Rose vs. Emiliano Grillo (Group 2)

12:05 p.m.: Gary Woodland vs. Eddie Pepperell (Group 2)

12:16 p.m.: Jason Day vs. Jim Furyk (Group 12)

12:27 p.m.: Phil Mickelson vs. Henrik Stenson (Group 12)

12:38 p.m.: Justin Thomas vs. Lucas Bjerregaard (Group 5)

12:49 p.m.: Keegan Bradley vs. Matt Wallace (Group 5)

1:00 p.m.: Tiger Woods vs. Aaron Wise (Group 13)

1:11 p.m.: Patrick Cantlay vs. Brandt Snedeker (Group 13)

1:22 p.m.: Rory McIlroy vs. Luke List (Group 4)

1:33 p.m.: Matthew Fitzpatrick vs. Justin Harding (Group 4)

1:44 p.m.: Xander Schauffele vs. Lee Westwood (Group 9)

1:55 p.m.: Rafa Cabrera Bello vs. Tyrrell Hatton (Group 9)

2:06 p.m.: Jon Rahm vs. Si Woo Kim (Group 8)

2:17 p.m.: Matt Kuchar vs. J.B. Holmes (Group 8)

2:28 p.m.: Patrick Reed vs. Andrew Putnam (Group 16)

2:39 p.m.: Sergio Garcia vs. Shane Lowry (Group 16)

2:50 p.m.: Dustin Johnson vs. Chez Reavie (Group 1)

3:01 p.m.: Hideki Matsuyama vs. Branden Grace (Group 1)

First bit to note that it's a loaded field, with only two no-shows of note.  Those are Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott, so the female population of Austin is hardest hit.

For World Cup fans seeking out that Group of Death™, Joel Beall breaks down all sixteen groups.

Format Stuff -  That very same Joel Beall is living in the past with this cri de coeur:

Bring back the chaos 

One of the worst things you can say about the golf calendar is that tournament weeks have a tendency to blend together, but the old WGC Match Play was at least a deviation from the norm. On Wednesday of that week, it was 32 matches between the 64 best

players in the world, half of whom would shake hands with their opponent and check out of their hotels before they even could make a dent in the mini-bar. 

It was chaotic, unpredictable, and utterly impractical. It was also one of the best days of the year. 

The argument against the single-elimination format, which the tour abandoned in favor of pool play in 2015, was that the Match Play risked becoming progressively less interesting as the weeks went on. Which is true if you believed the tournament’s fortunes hinged solely on having name brands in contention. But in hedging against upsets that would jettison marquee stars early in the week, the tour also sacrificed the event’s distinguishing feature. It made Wednesday, now just the first of three days of play pool, decidedly less compelling. And it only nominally increased the chances of your favorite player getting to stick around for the weekend.

Joel, you had me at hello, but.....  He's shading the truth.  Fact is the single elimination format got less interesting day-by-day for everybody....  As I said many times, it was an upside down tournament that peaked on Wednesday.  And those Wednesdays delivered the goods, but sometimes that meant Tiger losing to Nick O'Hern.  Twice.

But we're never going back there, Joel, not least because of the date change.  With the event now two weeks before The Masters, the guys need to know that they'll get some golf in, and the round-robin format is likely the least bad solution to that problem.  You want an example of how it could be worse?

Players were informed last week that a proposal had been presented to the player advisory council to dramatically change the format of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. 

The new format, which was requested by Dell Technologies, would double the number of players who advance out of match play group play to 32 for 36 holes of stroke-play competition on the weekend at Austin Country Club. According to the memo sent to players, the PAC “was not supportive of the proposed format change.” 

“What would you call it?” laughed Paul Casey, a member of the 16-player PAC.

I didn't realize that Dell had saved this event only to try to destroy it.  Guys, the purpose of taking one week of the year for match play is, and I'll speak slowly hear so you can follow, is to see the guys in match play.  I would have thought that we'd all agree that we see enough stroke play the other 51 weeks of the year....

Golfweek Geoff (as distinct from blog Shack) wants Dell and all others to get their grubby paws off the format:

What should be one of the premier titles in golf and played at the game’s oldest format has been undermined intermittently by sponsor concerns about match play’s legitimacy as entertainment, even as the dynamics of head-to-head play have raised match play’s

stock. Before Dell saved this event, Accenture nobly put up lavish money to support the match play and Commissioner Tim Finchem fought to keep the format on the schedule. The game has been better for it, even if the current schedule spot and round-robin setup are far from perfect.

And now Dell Technologies wants a fresh look taken at the format, leading to the sponsor making an asinine proposal to contest match play early in the week with the goal of getting to a weekend of stroke play. 

Players, mercifully, voted down that stinker of an idea, though it’s a mystery how such a lousy idea even made it to the Player Advisory Council’s agenda. Rex Hoggard reported for GolfChannel.com that the PAC rejected a proposal requested by Dell Technologies to double the number of players advancing out of the match play to 32, setting up a weekend 36-hole stroke play finish. 

Lamer format ideas have been floated in the history of golf, though I’m at a loss right now to name one. 

While everyone involved has different views on the best way to crown a match play winner, there is universal agreement on one thing: the WGC Dell Match Play should be decided at … match play. Reportedly, a question from Paul Casey about what the event would be called under the new format helped players say no to Dell, an otherwise fantastic sponsor that has poured millions into this event.

Match play is hell for televised golf, but you'd think Dell knew what they were getting when they wrote the check.  While the players will likely never stop whining, at least this idea seems to be stillborn.

Rules Stuff -  This will likely be the first we see of match play under the shiny new rules of golf, but fortunately Geoff is there with all the new vocabulary:

The highlights 

• The word “halve” is out, “tying” a hole is in. This was driven by the rules attempting to employ more commonly used language.
• Match “score” is now the correct terminology instead of “status” of the match. Score one for the blue collar linguists.
• In the old rules what we know to be asking or requesting a ruling was called “making a claim.” But since this isn’t the insurance business, the rule-makers have adopted “request a ruling.”
• The penalty has been eliminated for accidentally moving an opponent’s ball or ball-marker on the putting green. (Used to be a one-stroke penalty.)
• There is no penalty when a ball in motion accidentally hits the opponent, their caddie or the opponent’s equipment. But the ball must be played where it lies, except on the putting green where the stroke does not count and must be replayed. Previously, a match play opponent could ask for the shot to be replayed.
• No longer is there a penalty for stopping an opponent’s ball in motion as long as there is no reasonable chance the moving ball could go in the hole. This is the Jordan Spieth-in-the-Presidents Cup rule, when he scooped up Louis Oosthuizen’s ball after an eagle attempt moved by the hole. Previously this was a loss of hole.

They're gonna have to prior those halves from my cold dead hands..... Yanno, I've been calling it a "halve" and a "hazard" since 1744, so why are you making me learn a new vocabulary?

Something strange just has to happen this week as regards the new rules, no?

"Who You Got?" Stuff - We'll first circle back to Sunday's Tour Confidential panel, which led with this query:

1. Tiger Woods is in the field at this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which will likely be his final tune-up before the Masters. But Woods has never played this new match-play format, which is three guaranteed matches and could be as many as seven if he gets to the final day. Like his chances? And is this format potentially too much golf for a creaky Woods with Augusta just two weeks later?

I'm going to tentatively go with "maybe", at least until I see what the professionals have to say.

Josh Sens: I’m not sure there’s a format that isn’t suited for the greatest player of all time. But match play seems especially good for him given the way he’s played of late — some rough patches, but he can still reel off birdies with the best of them. As for the

creakiness, Woods seems to have a better handle now on what his body can and can’t handle. I trust he knows what rest his body does and doesn’t need in the run up to Augusta. 

Alan Shipnuck: I think Tiger would have more adrenaline for the old win-or-go-home format. For him this is all about getting reps ahead of the Masters — actually winning matches will be a bonus.

I think Alan hits on the dichotomy, though doesn't perhaps know it.  Assuming his priority is Masters prep, then the new format has to be to his liking.  Ironically, though, the worst thing that might happen to him is to win his group and be forced to play seven matches, which is likely too much golf for an old man.

I do like this follow-up question though....

2. What’s up with these former Masters champs? Patrick Reed went through a couple ofemergency range sessions with David Leadbetter at the Valspar, where he was 10 over and missed the cut by a mile. Reed’s scoring average over his last three events is 72.6 and his last three rounds have been 75-77-78. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth hasn’t finished better than T35 all season. Whose struggles are more alarming as the Masters looms? And who’s more likely to snap out of his funk first?

Translating into English, who's more screwed up?  It's like a Miller Lite commercial, I feel strongly both ways....

Sens: Spieth’s because they’ve been stubborn, and because his drop off has been more severe. 

Shipnuck: Agree. Both have always been streaky players, but these funks seem more severe than usual. Spieth especially is a concern, given he’s now going on two years since his last win. But I talked with him after his missed cut at the Players and he seemed surprisingly upbeat, given that he thinks his putting is back. If that’s the case, the confidence will filter into the rest of his game. It will be fascinating to see if Augusta can once again cure what ails him. 

Dethier: What’s fascinating is that if you look at the top 12 players in the world, none have won a Masters (they have a collective two British Opens, five U.S. Opens and five PGAs, by my count). Certain guys play well at Augusta; Spieth’s one of them. It’s alarming that he has zero top-eight finishes since last year’s Masters, but I’d be really surprised if he doesn’t find something at this year’s event. As for Reed, he’s been mostly fine, if unspectacular. Being a Masters champ ratchets up the attention we pay to you, which I think is mostly what’s going on here. 

Bamberger: Spieth’s funky. If he played 54 or 63 holes of superior golf at Augusta it wouldn’t surprise me at all. His excellence was never rooted in perfect mechanics anyhow. Reed has a timing, trap-draw swing, and if he has lost touch with it who knows when it will come back? If we’re talking about one event, the 2019 Masters, I like Spieth’s prospects more. But that’s not saying much.

No question that Jordan's high was higher (three majors to the one), though Patrick's was more recent.  Steve DeMeglio with this shocking news:

Ahead of Match Play, Jordan Spieth 'very close' to finding game despite slump

You can read it yourself if you have the stomach for it, but I need something a little more tangible.  There's a body of thought that all Jordan needs is a trip down Magnolia Lane, but what if that doesn't cure him?  Puts him under a bit of pressure there, no?

As for Captain America, Shack has this news for us:

Ticket On The Teaching Titanic? David Leadbetter Officially Signs On To Join Team Patrick Reed

 I adore that header, mostly because I'm unclear as to which is the Titanic....  Does anyone besides Michelle Wie still use Leadbetter?  Or is Team Reed the Titanic?  Because if you've seen his recent play....

Here's Geoff's take:

How long before Ricky Bobby grows bored with David Leadbetter’s ideas remains to be

seen, but the legendary instructor has officially signed up for Team Patrick Reed just two weeks shy of the 2018 Masters champion’s title defense. 

Tim Rosaforte Tweeted the news and received word from Reed spokesman, CEO and spouse, Justine Reed: “We are very proud to announce that Mr. David Leadbetter will be joining our team and we all look forward to working with him.” 

This may be a Leadbetter first: reporting to the wife of the player he’s coaching.

But wait, it gets more amusing, because the incumbent isn't going anywhere:

Awkward.  I'm sure they'll all get along famously....

In other handicapping analyses, Tiger seems to like the venue:

Woods saw the home of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play for the first time Monday when he played the front nine. Tuesday, he took in the back nine with Bryson DeChambeau, intently studying the course each day.

“Well, it’s not flat, I’ll tell you that,” Woods laughed. “It’s got quite a bit of movement to it. And it’s a great match-play course. I can see why the guys like it. 

“You’ll see some high numbers here, and you’ll see a lot of birdies. That’s exactly what a good match play course does. It’s an interesting golf course. 

“There’s going to be a lot of interesting lies and shapes. It’s a good walk.”

 DeMeglio brings up his CV in the format:

How Woods has missed it so. He showed his dominance in the format when he won the event in 2003, 2004 and 2008. He also won three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles and three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. So as he tended to numerous injuries that curtailed his play starting in 2014, most notably with his back, Woods missed the strategy and mano-a-mano style of match play.

Not only were those Juniors back in the Mesozoic Era, but he's not been especially good in Ryder Cup singles in recent years.

These folks suggest spending your money elsewhere:

One of our biggest takeaways? Avoid Tiger Woods this week. Tiger has never teed it up at the Austin Country Club in the WGC-Match Play, which is a disadvantage he doesn't share with most of the field (there are only 10 others who haven't teed it up here in the past). We know Tiger's focus is always on the four majors—so to us, playing in the WGC-Match Play is likely more born out of not wanting to miss out on world-ranking points up for grabs in the third WGC event of the season. We don't think his motivation for advancing through the match-play bracket will be too high, thus, your money is likely better spent in other places. Read on to see where you should put that money this week.

His group includes Patrick Cantlay, Sneds and Aaron Wise, whom he plays this afternoon, so I'm thinking it will all hinge on his putter.  But 18 holes of match play is basically a coin flip, so my word of advice is to enjoy but not over-interpret what happens out there.

The guys warning us off Tiger had these picks:

Gary Woodland?  I don't see that at all, but I'm the guy that got Hagen v. Mickelson wrong....

Josh Sens has your sleepers here, and they're a curious bunch:

Jim Furyk: Ok, so maybe not a classic sleeper; at least not after his sparkling showing at the Players. But Furyk is fuego right now. He’s made every cut since 2019 began, and four of those are top 20 finishes. Sure, his length and age will make him an underdog in just about every match he plays in, but he’s a worthy one to back at the moment.

Please no, because I can't see Fluff as able to walk this hilly course seven times.

Hasn't this boat sailed...like a decade ago?

Lee Westwood: Remember Westy? The once Best Player to Never Win a Major still hasn’t won a major. But he’s still a ball-striker extraordinaire. That’s why he never seems to have a full drop-off of form, even at 45-going-on-46. A few hot days for him with the flat-stick and you never know. He’s also playing for a chance at the Masters. If he reaches the final four, he’ll get another drive down Magnolia Lane.

If you're in the markets for a dog, as in underdog, they don't get any doggier than this match:

Anyway, Westgate Las Vegas Superbook golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman shared betting lines for all 32 of Wednesday's group-play matches. And nothing jumped off the page more than the odds for the match between Dustin Johnson and Chez Reavie.

Sure, it's a meeting of the World No. 1 vs. a guy even avid golf fans probably couldn't pick out of a lineup, but that's pretty lopsided. At -310, you'd have to risk $310 to win $100 if you bet on DJ, or you could potentially get a $250 payout off a $100 wager on Reavie (+250).

On the one hand, it's David v. Goliath....  But on the other, it's a pretty rich payout for a coin flip.

Moodsetting Stuff - Shack sets the table for us in this post of walks down memory lane.  First up is Tiger v. Stephen Ames, which made 10&8 into an integral part of Tiger's legacy.

But Shack also shares the Best. Match. Ever., Keegan v. Miggy in a Friday consolation match that meant absolutely nothing to anybody.  Keegan blows a fuse and is taken to school by the Spaniard, and ends up in the passenger seat of his courtesy car petting his girlfriends lapdog.  Really, you can't make this stuff up:

Good times.  Enjoy the week, and I'll see you tomorrow.