Weekend Wrap

We'll get to the golf in a sec, but yesterday was a surprise powder day for your humble correspondent and the FOGs Core Four.  It was so unexpected that I ended up out there on my narrow skis, but what an end to the ski season.  Still, I have a nagging sense that this was the skiing gods throwing me a bone to set me up for the golf gods in the coming months....

And while we're on this subject, it's shutdown time at Western HQ, with tomorrow as travel day.  See you on the other side....

Florida In The Rearview Mirror - Paul Casey, a fellow whose career is largely defined by an inability to win, defends his title at the Valspar:

Who won: Paul Casey (one-over 72, eight under overall) 

How it happened: Casey made the turn in one over on his round and was tied at eight

under with Louis Oosthuizen. The 41-year-old grabbed the solo lead two more times on the back nine only to surrender it with bogeys, and after a three-putt bogey from 42 feet on the 17th, Casey teed off on 18 tied with Jason Kokrak at eight under as Oosthuizen (69) held the clubhouse lead at seven under. Playing in the group ahead of Casey, Korak (71) bogeyed the 18th to give the solo lead back to Casey, who drove it in a fairway bunker. But Casey knocked it to 22 1/2 feet and two-putted for a one-shot win.

Why it matters: Casey is the first back-to-back winner in the Valspar Championship’s history. He’s now won three times on the PGA Tour to go with his 13 European tour wins.

Like last week, this Sunday was defined by players going in the wrong direction, most notably Casey's horrible three-jack at No. 17.  Jason Kokrak let him off the hook by making bogey at the finishing hole minutes later.

Best thing, per the winner's post-round interview, is that they can use the same caddie bib next year.  If you missed it, they copied baseball and allowed the players to put their Twitter handles or anything on the caddie bibs, and Paul's read "The Champ".  

Other things that amused your humble blogger was the Saturday pairing of Luke Donald and Dustin Johnson.  Pairing the Englishman, always one of the shortest hitters out there, with the beastly DJ is simply cruel.... so, of course I loved it.

Also of note was a certain unexpected lesson.  With his Masters defense soon upon us, the range at Innisbrook saw Patrick grasping at straws:

Coming off a pair of disappointing rounds and with his Masters title defense around the

corner, Patrick Reed reached out to a new source for some instructional inspiration: David Leadbetter. 

Leadbetter has never worked with Reed before, and he didn’t meet him in person until Friday morning on the Innisbrook range. But shortly before Reed teed off in the second round of the Valspar Championship, the two spent more than an hour together dissecting Reed’s motion. 

“Just trying to get a fresh perspective on the swing,” Reed said. “I feel like the club’s in a way better position now than it’s been, ever. I’m just hitting a couple loose shots that are kind of costing me some finishes I feel like I should be having.” 

The range session didn’t offer much in the way of immediate payoff, as Reed struggled to a 4-over 75 and missed the cut by nine shots. It’s his first missed cut since the PGA Championship in August and comes on the heels of a final-round 78 at The Players Championship.

 Even curiouser was how the session was scheduled:

“I just got a call from his wife, from Justine, who said, ‘Hey, listen, would you be prepared to just have a little look at Patrick. He’s struggling at the moment, he’s sort of lost a little bit. Could you do that for us?’” Leadbetter said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I’m here, sure I’ll do it. Absolutely.’” 

Reed hit only four fairways and four greens in regulation during the opening round, totals that he improved to eight and 11, respectively, during the second round. He shared that the decision to contact Leadbetter had everything to do with geographical proximity and doesn’t affect his longstanding relationship with swing coach Kevin Kirk.

Why doesn't he just subscribe to Revolution Golf?  But just when you think it can't get any creepier....

Asked about the decision to have his wife reach out to Leadbetter on his behalf, Reed explained that he has “full confidence” in any decision made by Justine, who caddied for her husband before getting pregnant with the first of the couple’s two children. 

“The great thing is we’re basically on the same wavelength, her and I,” Reed said. “Because of that, before I even finished my [opening] round I didn’t even have to tell her that, hey, is there any way we can get someone in to just take a peek.”

Apparently that wavelength has a capacity of two, for which the remainder of the population is extremely grateful.

Caddie Chronicles -  Did you catch any of Dylan Dethier's 15 minutes of fame on Friday?  He looped for Martin Trainer, and it was a tough couple of days for both of them.  When I saw them on Friday, Trainer was +7 and looking for anything to go right.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – The week is over, and I am sad. I am not sad to be leaving Florida, where I have more or less taken up residence since arriving on Feb. 26, Tuesday morning of the Honda Classic. Nor am I sad about the way things went down this week 

Dylan's Former Employer.

at Innisbrook, where my player tried his best and I did too and our combined efforts weren’t particularly close to making the weekend. I’m excited to get back to my regular life, which I very much enjoy. But I’m sad the way anyone is sad at the end of an adventure they’d been looking forward to, one they may never experience again. 

After Thursday’s round got away from us late and Martin’s score slipped to six over, the prospects of making Friday’s cut were immediately slim. Professional golf moves slowly, but bad things can happen quickly, particularly at the Valspar, where any single poor shot makes bogey the heavy favorite. Still, the cut was likely to slip to two over par — we still had a hope and a dream to play for, at least.

This bit was amusing:

Bones Mackay, legendary longtime caddie to Phil Mickelson, met us in the fairway at No. 12 as we waited for the green to clear. “Congratulations on the win in Puerto Rico,” he told Martin, before turning to me. “Heard what you’re up to this week,” he said. “How’s it going?” Great, I told him, though I was worried I hadn’t brought Martin much luck. “Well, that’s all right. It’s not like he’d be better off with Shipnuck,” he said with a smile.

As was this:

Craving more Bones?  Dylan's got you covered:

As we made our way up the fairway, I asked Bones if he had any memorable rookie

caddie tales, and his eyes lit up. One year at a particularly soggy edition of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Mickelson’s partner and his caddie introduced themselves to Bones. The caddie asked – did he have any advice? “Honestly, if you can make it the entire week without slipping and falling on your butt, that’s a big win,” Bones recalled. The caddie shook his head; he’d been hoping for something more substantive. “I’m serious,” Bones said. The groups teed off and started off the first tee box – where the caddie hit a wet spot, slipped and took a full tumble down the slope, sending clubs askew. Bones could only laugh.

We'll dive into the weekly Tour Confidential at this juncture for a related Q&A:

6. Our Dylan Dethier spent the week caddying for Martin Trainer at the Valspar Championship, while chronicling his ups and downs on GOLF.com. No one said being a PGA Tour caddie was easy, but what part of the gig do fans most underappreciate?

I'm gonna go with not losing the 8-iron....

Sens: I would think the mental energy and focus required over those long hours on the course. Keeping yourself dialed in, all the while making sure you’re helping your player do the same. 

Shipnuck: How delicate the average Tour player is. It’s almost impossible to always say the right thing, especially in crunch time, because the players’ emotions are so volatile.

Bamberger: Keeping the grips and everything else dry in a driving rain.

Did you catch DJ and his one-handed caddie?  Brother Austin had a staircase accident, which obviously runs in the family, and was out there with a cast on one hand.  You might consider leaving DJ off your fantasy roster in Austin or Augusta if there's rain int he forecast.... Just sayin'...

Here's the man's own summary:

Dethier: I mean, in some ways it is a relatively easy job, if you know your basic golf etiquette (and how to rake a bunker). But there’s some X-factor that goes beyond pulling the right yardages and keeping grooves clean. How do you get your guy in the right mindset to play his best? And how do you keep him there after a bogey or a bad break? I don’t think I did that particularly effectively this week, but not for lack of trying! Some of these things take time, or luck, or chemistry.

Dylan, if you enjoyed the work, Robert Allenby is in the market for a new caddie at least 3-4 times per season.  Just don't give up the day job....

Testing My Patience -  Another marquee player has been caught violating the PGA Tour's rigid drug-testing protocol:

Pro golfer Robert Garrigus posted a message on Twitter on Friday, admitting that he failed a drug test for marijuana and that he has been suspended by the PGA Tour. 

The Tour on Friday said that Garrigus “violated the PGA Tour Anti-Doping Program by testing positive for a substance identified as a drug of abuse. In accordance with the PGA Tour Conduct Policy, he has been suspended for a period of three months.” 

Garrigus, 41, becomes the first PGA Tour player suspended for using a ‘drug of abuse’. 

That would presumably make Garrigus eligible to return at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, June 27-30, in Detroit.

He's only the first to the extent that we continue to believe in the tooth fairy and the fiction of DJ's voluntary hiatuses....  Is that the correct plural of hiatus?  Spell check isn't squawking, so maybe I nailed it....

For years the PGA Tour refused to test blood, which would be necessary to catch any use of actual performance enhancing substances, so we've been treated to drug testing theater, in which a couple of no-names were caught to create the appearance of standards.  Allegedly the testing regimen has been brought into at least into the 20th century as a result of golf's participation in the Olympics, but color me skeptical until an actual name brand player is involved.

Personally, the performance-enhancing capabilities of pot don't trouble me, so why do they test for it?

Why is marijuana banned?

The Tour notes that marijuana is illegal under federal law and in most other countries. “Involvement with illegal substances goes against the spirit of our sport,” the policy states. 

How can marijuana be considered as performance enhancing in golf?

The Tour says it’s unlikely golfers would use cannabinoids to improve their performance. But some athletes have used marijuana “to decrease anxiety before a competition,” the policy says.

Amusingly, I am reliably informed that pot use on the Web.com tour is rampant....  which I just don't get.  I understand that any time one uses a Porta-Potty there, the liklihood is that it will reek of pot fumes.... As I recall my college days, not only do I see no appeal to playing golf stoned, but especially not in front of other human beings.  

That TC panel took on this important issue:

3. The PGA Tour suspended Robert Garrigus for three months for violating its anti-doping program. According to Garrigus, who tweeted about the suspension, the drug he tested positive for was marijuana, which, he noted, is legal in many states but not permitted by the Tour. Given the loosening of marijuana laws in the U.S., should the Tour reconsider how its policy addresses marijuana?

Shipnuck: Of course! The Tour loves making money off our vices: it’s embracing gambling and the reigning player of the year is sponsored by Michelob. It’s absurd to hold weed to a different standard. The sticking point is that the Tour is now a part of the Olympics drug-testing protocols, under which marijuana is a banned substance. But the Tour needs to build some discretion into its policy: Garrigus is hardly in danger of qualifying for Tokyo. 

Sens: Wait, weed is a vice? I thought it was medicinal. As for what Alan says about the Olympics, all relevant and true.

Bamberger: Reading between the lines here, Garrigus failed a drug test for marijuana, but the implication was that his life of sobriety has been compromised. The challenges must be immense, and we don’t know if he even considers weed as falling off the wagon or not. If the Tour wants to go down the Olympic-testing path, as Alan notes, I guess it must be all in.

As Mike notes, if Garrigus had a substance abuse problem and this represents a setback for him, then our best wishes go out to him.  But, are we helping him by not allowing him to work?  

Dylan confirms my statement above:

Dethier: What’s been particularly juicy about this story is the conspiracy theories it has spawned querying why no big-name players ever seem to fail drug tests. But the testing concern is a very real thing: in the caddie room this week, one guy said his player prefers the Web.com tour because he can smoke to his heart’s content.

By any chance was that caddie named Austin?

The New Guy -  The USGA picked a good guy for its new tour liason, though this header was a bit much:

USGA hires former U.S. Open legend for new senior director role of PGA Tour player relations

Legend?  Jack took that job?  Not exactly....

To combat communication issues, the USGA has hired Jason Gore for its new senior director of player relations. According to the USGA, the "appointment launches a comprehensive program aimed at sharing information and strengthening engagement

with players in areas of importance to the USGA. These include initiatives to grow and advance the game, research critical to the game’s health and continuing to incorporate the players' perspective in its work to advance the sport."

The 44-year-old Gore has made 291 starts on the PGA Tour and another 233 on the Web.com Tour in his career. A former U.S. Walker Cup member, Gore is best known for playing in the final group on Sunday of the 2005 U.S. Open as a Cinderella, beginning the week outside the top 800 in the world rankings. Though Gore would shoot a final-round 84, he would go on to win the 84 Lumber Classic later that fall.

He's actually most famous for betting $5 on the final hole with Retief Goosen, after they had both played themselves out of contention in that Pinehurst Open won by Michael Campbell.  He has to be a good choice because he's so well-liked, though we of course can't know ow he'll be utilized.  The TC gang had these thoughts on this hiring:

Shipnuck: Everyone loves Gore, and he has played in a bunch of USGA events at all levels, so it’s a perfect match. First thing Gore needs to do is make sure the USGA doesn’t screw up the Pebble setup! 

Sens: I’m sure Gore can handle the gig. The whole thing is slightly heartbreaking, though. The USGA is such a popular punching bag these days — it’s like they’ve become the nerds in the schoolyard, desperate to do anything to get in with the cool kids.

Of course Mikey Bams thinks they need someone with more gravitas, though the guy he suggests isn't available:

Bamberger: He seems like a great guy, and a smart hire. I wonder if the liaison position would work better were it funded by both the PGA Tour and the USGA — it would acknowledge that both sides see the need for the relationship to improve. I don’t think Jason will be out there setting pins, or advising on anything like that. But maybe he can help the players understand that the USGA is not the enemy — the USGA in theory stands ONLY for the betterment of the game. It just needs to do that better, and spread that message more effectively. What the USGA needs is what it once had, Arnold Palmer. For starters, it now has Jason Gore.

Ad the kids like to say, developing....

Meanwhile, Back at The GOAT -  Boy did I get this one wrong:

Phil Mickelson vs. Walter Hagen

Muirfield, Scotland

The fact that both players had won an Open Championship at Muirfield was only the first of their commonalities. Both were free-swinging geniuses, wildly creative, aggressive, prone to erratic driving and masterful on and around the greens. Off the course, they were somewhat the same as well. Both had dabbled in pro baseball and shared a zest for wagering. 

Hagen arrived for the match 10 minutes late in an Austro-Daimler limousine, hoping it would unsettle his opponent. But Mickelson one-upped Hagen by buzzing the course in his Gulfstream G650 and out-Haiged him further by showing up 15 minutes late. Officials on loan from the R&A grumbled indignantly—as did local aviation administrators—but the match proceeded close to schedule.

On the 17th tee, Hagen, in a mild display of gamesmanship, asked Phil for his thoughts on advances in deep-space exploration, but Mickelson responded with silence and blistered a 320-yard drive with his “fade” driver. With the par-5 hole easily within Mickelson’s reach, Hagen gambled with his second and hit his ball against the lip of a greenside bunker. The wonders of the 64-degree sand wedge unknown to Hagen—he later gasped when Phil showed him his—Sir Walter took two shots to escape, handing the match to Phil, 2 and 1.

Well, I always warn you guys that I'm the '62 Mets of Fantasy Golf, and this event is pure fantasy, so what did you expect?

You can read about Shark v. Tiger, Jack v. Rory at Scioto, of all places and Palmer v. Wright here, in which there are no surprises.  Updated bracket:

For some reason that doesn't include Jack's thumping of Rory, but anyone for Jones v. Player?

I'll leave the match play stuff for later, hope to see you all on Wednesday.