Thanks for being so understanding about yesterday's early departure. The weather being what it's been, one needs to take advantage of any nice days the weather gods mistakenly allow. For those keeping a scorecard at home, Bobby D. evened up our season-long series of exhibition matches at one apiece. Surprisingly, he felt it important that I mention that in the blog today, almost as if he instinctively sensed a high-water mark....
Zurich Time - A soft spot on the schedule for sure, but we get to see the lads play two days of alternate shot. Golfweek handicaps teams to watch this week, including Team Patrick:
Patrick Reed/Patrick Cantlay
Pat Squared returns for a third consecutive year and you will not find a steelier duo in golf. Doesn’t exist. These guys aren’t buddy-buddy with many fellow players on Tourand seem to like it that way. And they might soon share a U.S. team room, with Cantlay quietly climbing up the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup points lists. He’s also playing some really good golf and should soon become a much bigger name on the heels of his Sunday Masters charge. Rather than best friends teaming up, this partnership feels more like a one-week business agreement amongst mercenaries. That’s kind of fun and different on today’s PGA Tour. And, again, do not be surprised if these two end up playing together for their country in the coming years.
No word from Justine as to which players refused to play with Patrick, so I'll revert to my default answer of, "All of them".
And Team Koepka:
Brooks Koepka/Chase Koepka
The three-time major champion Brooks annually teaming up with brother Chase at this event is one of his most endearing qualities. Chase is still grinding away in Europe and a win this week would give him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. Brooks is coming off another serious major charge, which shouldn’t surprise anyone by now. The Brothers Koepka finished T-5 in 2017 and missed the cut a year ago, and seeing them in contention with that exemption on the line for Chase would make for some high drama.
Alas, one of these is not like the other....
It's admittedly a tough week to get excited about golf, but this is easily my favorite header from the week, and a clear piece of guidance for those running the WGC Match-Play event:
Got that? No silly round-robin pool play for these intense competitors... Go big or go.....well, to the gator's stomach.
The Sunday night Tour Confidential panel took on this event's seemingly diminishing appeal:
5. The Zurich Classic two-man team event begins on Thursday in New Orleans. It’s four-balls in Rounds 1 and 3 and foursomes in Rounds 2 and 4. What’s a change you would suggest to make it even better?Bamberger: I like it as is, but I’d expand it. Two more team events. I’d love to see a mixed-team event return, and an event where a Tour player picks a partner who must be 60 or over. Also, these events could be played anywhere. Myopia Hunt, Cypress Point, the West Palm Beach muni (when it is renovated and reopened), Bandon, on it goes, would all be good venues.
Sens: Mixed teams, for sure. And yes, give us a glimpse of more courses we so rarely see. Chicago Golf Club. Pine Valley. Seminole. And on. Or go the opposite route and stick purely with the best munis coast to coast.
Zak: Make it match play.Dethier: It should all be foursomes, aka alternate shot. (Did the USGA not address this naming horror?) The highs and lows of alternate shot make for better drama, period.
Shhh, Dylan, don't be giving them ideas.... A mixed event would be fun, but it obviously belongs in the shoulder season.....
And for those that encourage such nonsense, an allegedly definitive ranking of all 38 walk-up songs... It's actually pretty funny, how badly the choices play to an older demographic. Yanno, like your humble blogger.
An Edifice Complex - The PGA of America is committed to growing the game.... I'm of course happy that they remind us of this continually, because it would be impossible to deduce from their actions.
For instance, it seems that building a massive new headquarters and two excessively long golf courses in Frisco, TX will magically result in the game expanding... See how easy this is? As for those 29,000 members and their reaction to their heavy dues bankrolling such a complex...well, look, a squirrel.
Here's the skinny on the Gil Hanse design:
The East Course, measuring 7,603 yards from the back tees with a par of 72, has alreadybeen tapped to host two PGA Championships, the first in 2027 and another in ’34, along with a tentative Ryder Cup in 2040.
Hanse, who designed the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has recently redone Pinehurst No. 4 and is currently working on a complete renovation at Oakland Hills GC, outside Detroit. But it was his recent redo of the Maxwell classic at Southern Hills CC in Tulsa, Okla., that motivated him for the PGA Frisco project.
“I think you saw a true restoration of the (original) Maxwell course at Southern Hills and you’ll see a lot of stylistic imports from Maxwell at the PGA course here,” Hanse said Monday a press event for the new PGA of America HQ. “I haven’t been to all the Maxwell courses, but you will see the deep bunkers around the greens and the smaller greens. That’s part of what I hope to see [here].”
Are you perhaps thinking that it's borderline crazy to award major championships to a golf course that doesn't you know, exist? Hold my beer, because those two PGA's are the least of it:
But wait, there's more according to Shack:
Anyway, the new development will have a monster Omni Hotel, offices to process those pricey PGA member dues and will serve as the 2027 PGA Championship host site. Also, a possible 2040 Ryder Cup is headed there, with the task force inevitably penciling in Captain Jordan Spieth in Frisco to play the 7,603 yard Gil Hanse course as the primary venue. The project breaks ground this winter and debuts three years later with the 2023 PGA Senior Championship.Beau Welling will be doing the second course. (Awkwardly, Hanse recently renovated one of Welling’s biggest projects from the Fazio years, Pinehurst No. 4.)
I think a Texas Ryder Cup demands a Captain Patrick Reed, no? I'm not sure I'd be penciling Jordan in for anything right now, except perhaps the 2022 Web.com Q-School? Too soon?
At the risk of repeating myself, what exactly does this do for those 29,000 dues-paying members?
A Greek Tragedy - Alan Shipnuck write the definitive history of Peter Kessler, aptly formatting it as a Greek Tragedy.... Of course I was struck by this inconsequential bit:
JANET: Do you think just this once you could not play golf on Saturday and Sunday? Last weekend you missed Chris’s game and he cried afterward. And the weekend before that Jennifer was upset when you skipped her recital.
KESSLER: Baby, I’ve already got 54 holes lined up at Fairview. On the train ride home I was reading this old Sam Snead book, and he wrote that to perfect your rhythm…
Yup, that's our Fairview, where Peter is not especially welcome these days....
If you're unfamiliar with the story of how it went bad for Kessler, you'll want to read Alan's piece. Riffing on our Greek Tragedy theme, let's just note that like Icarus the ending was inevitable:
SCENE VIII: The Golf Talk Live set. Kessler is in his chair, getting dusted with makeup. Palmer lingers on the edge of the scene. With a greedy gulp he finishes the drink in his hand and walks unsteadily to his chair. Disbelief flashes in Kessler’s eyes. The cameraman does the familiar countdown on his fingers. Kessler opens the show by repeating his breakfast monologue word for word.
KESSLER: …easier for people who find it extremely difficult. Am I right?
PALMER, unsmiling: I’ve had so many letters saying things to hurt me. Some of mygood friends have crushed me with some of their comments. They’ve used words like “cheating” in their comments. The last thing in the world I would ever tolerate is cheating. That word, if you said it to me sitting here, I’d probably punch you in the nose right now, and I mean it.
KESSLER, to the theater audience: I should’ve just smiled and said, “I’d take you in a heartbeat,” and just let it go. But I didn’t. We wound up having a debate that neither one of us wanted. I was trying to do what is right for the sanctity of the game, so maybe I was a little too tough. But I kept trying to give Arnold an out, and he wouldn’t take it. And because he was drunk, and emotional, he kept saying the wrong things and digging the hole even deeper. I’m sitting there thinking, this is really fantastic TV, but the great Arnold Palmer, the chairman and co-founder of the Golf Channel, is humiliating himself on my show. Now I’m really f—ed.
An extremely bright man, a great knowledge and understanding of golf and oh that voice.... But it couldn't last.... just because of who he is.
A Purist's Lament - Shack, of course, and he's not amused with what they're doing to the old girl. Today it's Shell Bunker, which now looks like this:
The perfect kidney-shaped swimming pool... Who knew the sheep were so precise?
Here's Geoff's rant:
I don’t meant to be cruel, but the fascination in Scotland these days with constant rebuilding of Old Course bunkers with an eye toward mechanical precision is increasingly tough to watch, particularly when we know a sense of naturalness is essential to reminding the golfer that most of these pits were accidental in origin. The more man-made they look, the more the golfer is likely to reject them.
He helpfully provides this look back in time for a postcard:
I'm not sure that all of Scotland should be held accountable for this, but the R&A and Links Trust have some 'splainin' to do....
This trend spans two R&A administrations, beginning with Chief Inspector Dawson adding thos etwo whirlpool-looking bunkers short of the second green as part of his "treatment" before the 2015 Open Championship.
I'll hopefully be able to give you a first-hand assessment of the new Shell bunker... The bride and I are renting a house in Fife in August, and will surely do the daily ballot thing to try to play the Old Course again.
In Aid of the Cause - We are very long on Alan Shipnuck today, and we've not even gotten to his mailbag yet. But this should be of interest, as he spent a day as a ShotLink volunteer. Of course he's a borderline millennial, so forget learning how the data is captured and used, it's all about how it made Alan feel:
The Tour doesn’t advertise this, but the ShotLink data can also be used to calculate each player’s pace of play. Once I learned that, I became swollen with self-importance. I sidled up to Kelly, whom I’ve interviewed many times, and informed him that if hewasn’t nice to me, I’d manipulate the data to earn him a slow-play penalty. He offered a signed ball as a bribe, which I greedily accepted. This was a flagrant violation of the rules Elsesser had laid down for me: “Don’t bother the players — let them initiate any conversation. Don’t go on the green or fringe. Try to look professional, because you might wind up on TV. Basically, you’re doing a good job if nobody knows you’re there.”
And yet it was impossible not to feel kind of special marching down the middle of the fairway, loaded with as much gear as a Navy SEAL. No wonder being a ShotLink volunteer can be addictive. Behind Pebble’s second green I chatted with Dick and Patti Marriott. They were working one of the lasers. For the last decade, the couple has traveled to Pebble from their home in St. Louis, and the par-5 second hole has become their favorite spot because “there’s always a lot of action with the playersgoing for the green,” said Dick. They take turns on the laser. “We’re both over 70 now, and our bladders are small,” he said by way of explanation. What keeps them coming back? “It’s a nice way to watch golf,” said Patti. “The players are kind to us because, I think, they recognize we’re helping them do their job better. And it’s funto be a little part of the show.”
You are special, Alan, and you've got that participation ribbon to prove it.... he does, despite himslef, reveal some of the complexity of capturing this data, without which Mark Broadie would be just another boring statistics professor.
Tiger Scat - He's always been a team player, so you'll not be surprised at the news that he's support the Tour's expansion of its schedule:
Japan’s first official PGA Tour event, the ZOZO Championship, will feature Tiger Woods for its debut.
The ZOZO Championship will be held at Accordia Golf Chiba Narashino Country Club on Oct. 24-27 outside Tokyo.
The event features a $9.75 million purse and will replace the CIMB Classic that was held in Malaysia. It is part of a three-tournament Asia swing in the fall that also features the CJ Cup in South Korea and the HSBC Champions World Golf Championship in China. The events all boast larger-than-normal Tour purses.
“I’m excited to play in the inaugural ZOZO Championship in October, and return to Japan, one of my favorite countries. It’s going to be a fun fall,” Woods posted on Twitter.
So selfless.... Obviously nothing in it for him.... What?
The ZOZO Championship will have a $9.75 million purse, with a field of 78 players and no 36-hole cut. Woods last appeared in an official event in Japan at the 2006 Dunlop Phoenix, in which he lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington.
Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent, told ESPN.com during the Masters two weeks ago that a likely destination for exhibition matches as part of the GolfTV deal was Japan, where Woods would possibly take on another player or invite a series of players for a one-day competition, format to be determined. That would not have any impact on future matches that involve Phil Mickelson.
Well, as long as he's in the 'hood..... What, did you still believe in Santa Claus and free lunches?
There is further scheduling news as well:
The logic of a December Prez Cup at Royal Melbourne was that the guys would play in some of the Aussie events as long as they were Down Under. Now we have the Captain ensuring the lack of preparation:
“There are so many things that are up in the air,” Woods said at last year's Hero. “One of the logistical things I'm trying to figure out is try to get where there's like eight to 10 guys plus four or five more, and you're getting close to 50 people from the Bahamas to Australia in time for a practice round, opening ceremonies and the event. We have our work ahead of us trying to logistically try to make this all happen.”Keeping this itinerary in mind, Hero officials announced on Tuesday morning that this year's schedule has been moved to a Wednesday-Saturday slate, hoping the extra day provides enough breathing room for players competing in both. The tournament will be held Dec. 4-7.
Hey, as long as you're there for the opening ceremonies..... Since you'll ask:
The flight time for the roughly 9,817-mile trip from Nassau to Melbourne, Australia, is about 20 hours, not including stops.
Because those tight travel schedules worked out so well last September in Paris....
Alan had an interesting Tiger question in his mailbag this week:
Alternate universe in a post-Freddie Couples Hall of Famer world: Tiger retires tomorrow. His post-scandal career, on its own, is it good enough for the Hall? 10 wins, 1 Masters, 1 PGA runner up, 9 top 10s in majors (out of 25 played). -@ShawnFury
And additional bonus points for a player of the year award and spending more than a calendar year at number one. It’s certainly a better resume than Couples’ and arguably superior to recent inductees like Colin Montgomerie and Retief Goosen, so I guess we have to say yes. Which is absolutely wild.
Silly, but it is wild... I think they bury the lede, though, because when you adjust for all the time missed by injury it's a crazy high winning percentage, especially for a guy past his prime.
If they made a movie about TW right now, who would you pick to play him? -@RichWojo
Michael B. Jordan. With Tim O’Neal serving as the on-course body double.
Can anyone tell me who these people are?
I got Woods winning at Bethpage. You too? -@JoeGunter
Too soon.
I've been wrong about this before, but the most likely major total for Tiger when he retires is....you might not like this, fifteen.
With Tiger now off the board here, who in your view is the most likely player to win another major that hasn’t won one in at least 10 years? -@Cstiles24
Lucas Glover.
The only other guy I can think of is Stewart Cink.... Who else won their last major more than ten years ago and is still active and competitive?
Funny story, at least to me.... Golf Channel had a rerun of the 1999 PGA Championship last night, the one with Sergio's scissor kick. In the hunt was Mr. Cink, with an unbelievably full head of hair. I mean the guy was wearing a visor, and was well within his rights to do so. I almost didn't recognize him....
Among those praising Tiger's Masters win was this unlikely guy.... Bygones, I guess.
Lastly, an amusing slideshow from Golf Digest of Tiger's regrettable fashion choices... Among the highlights:
Amusing, but it pales in comparison to what he did to poor Kelli Keuhne:
Coincidence? - We don't believe much in them here at Unplayable Lies, but the reader can make his own call.
First comes this news:
New York state tax revenues plummet by $3.7 billion
Then comes this:
New York Lawmakers Tee Up Tax Bill That Takes a Swing at Golf Courses
Industry advocates have sounded the alarm about proposed legislation that could raise property taxes
It's behind their paywall, but the gist of it is that they want to vale real estate in its highest and best use, irrespective of its actual use.
Business owners and industry representatives fear the measure would usher in tax hikes for many facilities, prompt closures of courses and hurt local tourism and hospitality markets at a time when the sport faces stiff competition to gain more fans.
Home builders are watering at the mouth at a lot of golf course land and would pay 10 times what it’s worth as a golf course,” said Jay Karen, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association. “If all of the sudden we saw tax bills at golf courses increasing by a factor of 10, you are going to see an acceleration of golf course closures.”
The bill’s Democratic sponsors, Sen. David Carlucci and Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, and proponents say it is about golf courses, especially country clubs with high-end amenities, paying their fair share of taxes.
Yes, and their fair share of taxes is pretty much all of them.... How about churches? Or better yet, who wants to hand deliver that new market-rate assessment to the local mosque?
I'm going to sign off here and we'll meet back here tomorrow at the same time....
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