Your Friday Frisson

A fun day at Snowbasin, but certainly not a great ski day....Limited visibility and snow that can charitably be called variable ruled that out.  Though perhaps the bigger issue was the fashion faux pas discovered when we assembled for departure:

Didn't see that one coming.....

Honda Stuff - Watched a bit of it after dinner, but I'll allow ditzy Jessica Marksbury to tell us what we missed:

Jhonattan Vegas leads 

Vegas turned in a pure scorecard that featured six birdies and no bogeys for a score of six-under-par 64 to lead the tournament by two shots over Lucas Glover, Zach Johnson, Ernie Els and Ben Silverman. 

The 34-year-old Vegas hasn’t won since the 2017 RBC Canadian Open, and his best finish on Tour this far this season is T10 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. 

Tour veterans made a statement 

Hey, let’s hear a cheer for the old(er) guys! All five of the top players on the leaderboard are 31 years old or older. Ben Silverman is the youngest at 31, followed by first-round leader Jhonnatan Vegas at 34, then Lucas Glover at 39 (-4), Zach Johnson at 43 (-4), and Ernie Els, who shot a four-under-par 66 at 49 years old. Further proof that good golf is ageless.

Brooks Kopeka — and other A-Listers — are lurking 

After finishing T27 in Mexico, Brooks Koepka is back on the prowl in Florida. The fourth-ranked player in the world opened with a three-under-par 67, which could have been a lot better, were it not for an unfortunate double bogey on the par-3 15th.

Theresa astutely noted, upon seeing the leaderboard, that Jhonny Vegas is the only Venezuelan eating these days.... But to me 18 holes isn't much of a "statement", so let's see how Ernie holds up today.

David Pastore's 75 won't get him a weekend tee time, though one is still surprised to see the familiar names below him on the leaderboard.  One of whom must have forgotten his readers:

Alex Cejka was disqualified from the Honda Classic on Thursday for using “greens-

reading materials that did not fit the new scale allowed” according to a PGA Tour media official. 

Cejka finished the 14th hole and was on his way to the 15th when he was approached by rules official Robby Ware. 

“It was brought to the committee’s attention that Alex might possibly be using some old greens reading materials, and so we were obligated to check that out,” Ware said. “Alex was basically using an old yardage book and old greens reading materials that did not fit the size to scale limit.”

OK, we all know that golf is a game played by gentlemen, though we should perhaps consider the use of an IQ test.  Like me, you might be wondering how such a penalty is noticed:

The matter was brought to officials’ attention when playing partner Cameron Tringale noticed that Cejka was using an old book as he walked past him as Cejka lined up a putt on the 10th green and was studying the material in the book. 

“I saw it and told my caddie,” Tringale said. “I mentioned it to [Cejka] but was unfamiliar how exactly to proceed. I told the first official I saw what I had seen.” 

Shelton approached Cejka on the 13th hole, studied the material and made the ruling.

Good for Cam, as in such circumstances the player has an obligation to protect the field, the very issue we've been discussing ad nauseum in another context.  

A couple of things, first this irony:

Ironically, PGA National’s greens had been re-done from a year ago.

If you're gonna cheat (and I'm sure this was inadvertent), at least cheat in a manner that might help you.... 

But that reminds of this story from last week, which I had forgotten by the time I got the my keyboard Monday morning:

MEXICO CITY – Paul Casey roared out to a dream start on Saturday at the WGC-Mexico Championship, 3 under through three holes after an eagle at the par-5 11th followed by a birdie at the drivable par-4 12th hole.

That’s when things became interesting. 

Casey explained that on his first three holes of Round 2 at Club de Golf Chapultepec, he and his caddie Johnny “Long Socks” McLaren had played to “spots” on the green, not necessarily to hole locations. 

It wasn’t until the duo stepped to the par-3 13th tee that they realized something was wrong. After studying his yardage book and pin sheet, McLaren told Casey he needed to land his tee shot 13 paces onto the green but Casey explained that would be “pin high” according to his pin sheet. 

After a few moments of comparing pin sheets the duo realized McLaren had copied the day’s pin locations, which can be found for players and caddies on a special web site, for the Puerto Rico Open, this week’s opposite-field event.

You can readily see why these guys only use their professional-grade Tour caddies.....#youhadonejob.

About Those New Rules -  In recent days, the heads of both major governing bodies have publicly discussed the recent revision to the rules of golf.  While nuzzling a small kitten, Mike Davis iformed us that all is proceeding as he had foreseen.  Martin Slumbers did, at the least, admit to an implementation hiccup or two....

This guy, one who might have caused the quick Holy Shit, Batman on one rules change, doesn't seem to be a fan:

Thomas told GOLF.com in a followup that it wasn’t any particular rule that had drawn his ire — it was the lot of ’em. 

“Pretty much all of them seemed like they didn’t better the game, to me,” Thomas said.

“I mean, the ball-dropping thing is weird, it doesn’t make sense. The tapping spike marks thing down — I understand that, but I think it’s a great amateur rule. I just think as a whole they just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.” 

Thomas has been outspoken in the past with regards to rules changes. Early in the year, he said he “couldn’t take himself seriously” putting with the pin in. And when Denny McCarthy was penalized for his caddy standing behind him, Thomas called the rule “ridiculous” and “mind-blowing” in a tweet.

Well, all-righty then.  I'll mark JT down as undecided....

Also not a fan is Rickie Fowler, who hams it up with playing partner Billy Horchel here.   There's a drop called The Billy, though this is the one that might prove the demise of this rule:

No name has been offered for that one, though a couple popped into your humble blogger's mind....

Yes, Mike, it's working like a charm.

Ranking Stuff - Golf course rankings induce eye-rolling at best these days, but credit golf.com for at least a moderately interesting premise.  They ask a serious of interesting question of their rankers, hopefully inducing interesting comments.

First, they were asked this last week:

1. This past week, the PGA Tour stopped at Riviera, which is ranked number 32 on GOLF’s World Top 100. Which course on GOLF’s World Top 100 list would you most want to play every day and why?

OK, whatcha got?

Panelist 1: My favorite course to play every day would be Sunningdale GC in Surrey England. (Old or New they are equal in my eyes; I might even prefer the New.) Cypress Point would be my other choice but it’s so spectacular it would be like having dessert every day. Sunningdale is an old club that has kept improving over the years. To start with, it is always a lovely walk. The heathland courses seem to provide a surface that puts a spring in your step. When the course is wet, it adds lots of yardage and when it’s dry the ball can run for miles (usually into the heather). Standing on the 1st tee on an early spring morning, I can hear the P.G. Wodehouse quote: “It was a morning when all of nature seemed to shout ‘Fore!'”

That's a good one, it being one of the great clubs of the world, above and beyond the quality of the courses.  Though I don't know how you cite it without mentioning their dog-friendly policy.

I'll skip the inevitable Cypress Point references, but here are others of note:

Panelist 4: Firstly playing golf everyday sounds pretty cool. I’d take that and play a course I liked, never mind loved! But if you press me to pick just one and I can play every day then I want one that changes every day, and that has to be a true links course. Choices, choices… Dornoch, County Down, Pacific Dunes, Tara iti, Royal Melbourne, shoot me I can’t decide.

Panelist 6: The courses that I have historically wanted to play every day for the rest of my life would be the ultra challenging courses of Carnoustie, Royal Melbourne,

Oakmont, and Muirfield. But now that I am losing my edge, I want to play North Berwick because it is the most fun golf course in the world! So many of the classic green structures originated here, and the meandering stone walls that need to be navigated make this a truly special and memorable Scottish golf experience. The iconic 16th green and finally finishing right back into town next to the clubhouse, etc., make it so interesting. A big plus is the short course next to the Marine Hotel in which I could eventually teach my grandchildren how to play! This place has it all!

Panelist No. 6, please collect your things and leave the premises.  I love North Berwick, for sure, but nobody wants to play Carnoustie every day of their life....

In this more recent installment, they're asked to note over and under-rated courses.  First, the former:

Panelist 1: Augusta National…because of Bobby Jones and The Masters. There are no

long views or mountain backdrops, no ocean, no rivers. Just a very green and, for a couple of weeks in the spring, colorful course. It is still one of the best golfing experiences, as it’s hard to lose a ball ( except in the water) and the ambiance of the place can’t be beaten. More courses should follow the Augusta rule: “If it stands still, paint it green!”

I completely get that, though of course would still kill to play it.  This one might surprise, though:

Panelist 2: Seminole. Deserves a spot, perhaps, but not in the upper crust at No. 23. I found it architecturally mundane and repetitive, and not unlike many standard, flat public courses in the middle, lower holes (which were a swamp when I played them). It’s on oceanfront property, but the course has no relationship to the ocean other than battling the wind. I was underwhelmed.

This is intriguing to me, because it's quite high on my bucket lists for the purpose of seeing how a golden age architect can make South Florida golf interesting.

 Care for a few nominations for their top 100?

Panelist 1: The Old Head Golf Links. I have to admit to having been an honorary

member since it’s early days. That said, I have seen tremendous improvements over the years. It has always rated highly as a spectacular course and is as scenic as Pebble Beach, but the original design and construction quality were not to a high enough standard to warrant inclusion in the Top 100. I am sure that it would make it if enough panelists saw it again. Not just for its spectacular beauty, but for the new holes and improved quality of the others.

Color me skeptical, as Old Head has never had the rep of being a particularly good golf course, just more of a spectacular site.  Call it the Torrey Pines of Ireland, if you will.

I like this suggestion almost enough to dig out some of my own photos:

Panelist 3: St. Enodoc (Church). With Prestwick and North Berwick in the Top 100, its similarly quirky Cornwall cousin deserves a spot as well. Blind shots, a 70-foot high weathered dune/bunker to navigate over to reach a benched green, the fairway landing area of a long par-4 only 10 yards wide, playing around a 12th century church, and over, among and (hopefully) short of ancient stonewalls amid tumbling ground, St. Enodoc combines hilly inland holes with classic linksland overlooking the Camel Estuary and the charming village of Padstow. And the view from the clubhouse bar is down the length of the strong-finishing 18th. Some 250 miles west of London, down one lane roads (with two way traffic) bordered with six-foot hedges, St. Enodoc is not a course you will stumble upon. But it is one you will relish and never forget.

A great, quirky links....One I'm quite glad to have made a point of seeing when ehaded to Wales a couple of years ago.

And this one as well:

Panelist 4: Royal County Louth is a gem. It has a great layout hard against the Irish Sea that is fun to play. It’s even more fun to hang in the clubhouse with the members before stumbling upstairs to a bed and doing it all again in the morning! (Note to self: resist temptation to name own courses.)

Often known as Baltray, it's indeed a first class links, conveniently situated on the road from Dublin to the North.

A fun series of columns, and perhaps they have more coming.

Do You Want Me To Leave That There? - Shane Ryan with a cry in the dark:

It's time golf gets rid of the gray in 'backstopping' and makes it a black-and-white issue

Shall we let Shane display his existential angst?  I know, silly question...

A casual golf fan could be forgiven for thinking that Olson’s ball hitting Jutanugarn’s and coming to a dead halt—leading to a birdie for Olson—was anything more than a piece of 

happy luck. For those naive souls, a group which apparently included the person running the LPGA’s social-media account, the reaction from certain fans and pundits quickly set them right. This was far more than simple fortune, according to the indignant set. This was a phenomenon known as “backstopping,” in which the first player to hit from around the green leaves her ball unmarked as a potential aid to the second. In theory, this provides an unfair benefit, and Olson’s shot was the theory made manifest, since clearly, without a backboard, her ball would have run well past the hole and significantly decreased her odds of making birdie. 

But was it backstopping, really? To answer that question, you have to answer another, and I’ll warn you now that it will drag us into some very annoying but also very necessary semantics: Does backstopping as a concept involve intentionality?

I believe Shane is coming at this from the wrong direction, one that leads to a box canyon of logic.  Of course one can never prove collusion, so it's far better to focus on the player's obligation to protect the field.

Shane goes on in this manner:

That said, this kind of outright agreement between players is rare, and most instances of backstopping involve tacit cooperation, or circumstances in which one or both parties are unaware or unconscious of the potential impropriety. What Jutanugarn and Olson did, for example, is not illegal, because even if we think there was “agreement” about leaving the ball in place based on their respective gestures, there’s no way to know whether this agreement was meant to “help another player,” since no words to that effect were exchanged.

And Shane actually presents that Jimmy Walker quote paraphrased in the header, seemingly without understanding its significance.   

I'm also not certain that Shane is heading the right direction here:

It’s long past time to kill the question of intent. Let’s boil the debate down to its simplest form and ask two very basic question: 

1. Does backstopping confer a potential advantage? 

Yes, clearly. Which leads to: 

2. Should the USGA therefore make a much clearer rule to prevent it?

My thoughts on this are still evolving, but I'm not sure this is a USGA issue.  There's a reason this issue doesn't affect your weekend fourball, because backstopping is only an issue in medal play...

I actually think that this is better handled by the tours, especially give the fact the each instance of USGA-R&A rules interventions have caused comedy to ensue.   This younger generation has many admirable traits, but they seem to have grown into professional golfers without understanding their obligations to protect the field ( Cameron Tringale, take a bow).

I do believe that the Tours could give strong guidance as to the responsibilities of the players to mark their balls, with the threat of severe sanctions, penalty strokes, should an unmarked ball assist another player.

Will they?  Magic 8-Ball says the outlook is cloudy....  Of course, a tour that allows Walker's comments, the tacit admission of collusion to violate the rules of the game, to go unpunished obviously does not see the import here.  And so we'll await the inevitabilty of a tournament outcome being affected by such an incident, and can only hope that Jimmy is on the short end of it.

Monday is a travel day, so we'll wrap the weekend on Tuesday.