Tuesday Trifles

In which we start to move on from the PGA Championship.... but slowly.

Brooks v. Brandel - It's being suggested as the second installment of The Match™... It's hardly a matter of great national import, but funny works at this establishment.

Here is Brooks from his Sunday evening presser:

Just moments after his fourth major championship win at Bethpage Black, the 2019 champion was asked about his use of career slights and what the “most disrespected or slighted” he’s felt as an athlete. 

“Telling me I wasn’t tough,” Koepka said during a news conference. “That pissed me off. That really pissed me off.” 

After an awkward pause, he was asked who said he was not tough. 

“I think we all know.”

I'm not entirely certain, but by an chance was it this analyst?

It's all so delightfully silly, and yet it brings a smile to my face...  Brandel gave a long interview to Alex Miceli in which he had many reasonable and insightful things to say.  Here's his explanation for the Brooks dis:

AM: After Thursday's round, when Koepka shot 63, you made a comment that every time he was walking down the fairway hitting shots, he was giving you a big middle finger about not picking him. Is that accurate? 

BC: I've been flipped off before – probably not as often as you would think – but I've felt like he was giving me the finger for 4½ hours. I said it tongue-in-cheek. I did it to sort of break the ice when we went on the air. … I don't know anybody that was lauding Brooks

before the Ryder Cup in 2016 more fervently than I was. I have predicted greatness out of him very early on, and everything pointed toward greatness. But I basically said I needed to see more evidence. They rise and fall very quickly, and they rise for a variety of different reasons. … So, I looked at what Brooks has done, and I thought, Well he's won on three very similar golf courses [2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and 2018 PGA at Bellerive] where you could drive with absolute recklessness and be fine. … This game has become far too much about power, and because it's the least variable asset, it has become easier. ... It's not a huge group of players that have the requisite skills to contend in events like those. ... Brooks played great; don't get me wrong. I'm not diminishing that. But the question came up to me, Does he have the best mind in the game? That was how this whole thing got started. Is he the best player in the game, and does he have the best mind in the game? And I said I need more evidence. He's great, but I'm not willing to say he's got the best mind in the game and has the best game in golf until I see more evidence. And then I guess people got riled up because I thought it was a bit reckless of him. Well, I said it was very reckless of him to be paying attention to a body shoot as opposed to great preparations for the Masters. … I'm in the business of making relative judgments, and I use abstractions to get to those judgments. And are those abstractions 100 percent accurate? No, they're not. But you have to use some criteria to get to your relative judgments. I thought he would struggle with his pace at the Masters; he did. He three-putted five times. Tiger three-putted twice. That was the difference. So, in my view, I got that right. My job is to tell people things they can't readily or easily see, and they don't have the time to look up like I do. I told people he's going to struggle with his touch; he did. People were, like, “Well, he finished second; he proved you wrong.” Maybe he did. If he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. I'm just telling you my opinion. Every two minutes I'm asked to make a relative judgment. And I try to make judgments that are based in fact and my knowledge of the game in a predictive way. I felt like I did my job at the Masters. People assumed from that that I've got a bone to pick with Brooks. I don't at all. No bone. I promise you nobody's enjoying his golf more than me. … We haven't seen the Secretariat since Secretariat. And maybe we have another Secretariat here. But yes, I'm meant to be predictive, so I'm meant to say that this type of golf was possible for Brooks.

You can see that he's got some nascent thought there that might be worth making, though this is what he actually said:

At the time, Chamblee’s comments put a stir through Koepka’s camp.“His talent is undeniable,” he said of Koepka. “But I’ve heard people say this. You extrapolate from accomplishment, you infer qualities from a human being like, ‘He’s really tough.’ Maybe he is, I don’t know. I got to say, I still need to be convinced.”

People say?  It's kind of the ultimate straw man, as which people will never been made clear.  

Brandel also gives an impassioned defense of his profession, reminding us of how many opinions his job requires him to render, which I totally get.  He's an entertainer, although of the two of us I'd argue that he's the one more likely to forget that salient point.

But there's two points to be made here, the lesser of which is to call him out for not owning his criticism.  You questioned his toughness, and did so in the voice of others....  Kind of silly to be denying it now.  I tune in to CNN and MSNBC for that kind of nonsense....  Well, actually I don't, but if I were in the market for it....

The second point is to marvel at the sheer idiocy of the comment, very much of the ilk of his declaring DJ's drive at Kapalua a couple of years back the best ever in a significant event....  To defend himself then he gave his top ten or twenty shows going all the way back to Sarazen, not realizing that he was beclowning himself in considering Kapalua in any way important.

A cursory review of Koepka's c.v. shows a guy that was never considered a top-tier talent that fought his way to the highest levels of the game starting on the European Challenge Tour.  At the point that Brandel made his comments, Brooks had won three of his previous six majors, including holding onto a lead at Shinnecock over those final nine holes and withstanding a Tiger charge and associated crowd reaction at Bellerive....  Sure, smells like a wuss to me.

But it's even richer than that.... because while questioning Koepka's internal fortitude, the guys he thought could run with Tiger were Rory and DJ....  Has he been watching the same sport as I for the last few years?  

How High? - His ceiling, that is.....  Who knows is the honest answer, but let's see how folks are reacting.

John Feinstein goes for his version of truth:

Brooks Koepka got lucky on Sunday. The luck wasn’t in the fact that he hung on for dear life to win his second-straight PGA Championship. It wasn’t in any of the 74 shots he

needed to get around brutally difficult Bethpage Black three days after shooting 63 on the same course—albeit under strikingly different conditions. It wasn’t even in his ability to use the always rowdy (to put it politely) New York crowd to fuel him at the exact moment when he most needed a boost. 

No, the luck was in this: He learned an important lesson on a long, grueling day and, ultimately, didn’t have to pay a price for that lesson. 

Athletes choke. Even the greats, in every sport, have moments they’d like to have back. You might have to go all the way back to college to find Michael Jordan’s choke moment—he was held to 13 points in his final college game by Indiana immortal Dan Dakich—but you’ll find it. That same year—1984— John McEnroe was up two sets and a service break against Ivan Lendl in the French Open final and collapsed. He never won a French title. Even Tiger Woods let a two-shot lead melt away in the 2009 PGA against Y.E. Yang. There’s also his Ryder Cup record.

 Egads, that's what you come up with as examples of choking?  

I agree with his basic point that this experience will be helpful for Koepka, though I suspect he's over-interpreting as we all tend to do.  It's hardly as if Koepka wasn't a beast before Bethpage....  

I'm also not a fan of the over-use of the concept of choking....  We all understand that this is a brutally difficult game that plays with our minds, and even the best in the world succumb to it at times.  I'd also remind that conditions became very difficult out there, at a venue known for punishing the players.  It only takes a couple of slightly off-line shots....  And the guy that was a choking dog on Nos. 11-14 showed steely resolve on the Power Hour...

Amusingly, here's a guy that predicted greatness for Koepka way back when:

"ONCE IN A GREAT WHILE, a player comes along who hits a golf ball the way it was meant to be hit. Powerful, piercing, the perfect trajectory. Of the young players out there, one I've seen has that special ball flight: Brooks Koepka. Adam and I were paired with him at the Open Championship last year, and from his first tee shot on, I thought, This kid is special. Obviously he's searching to find the other parts of the puzzle, but I haven't seen a ball flight like that since Tiger, and before that, Johnny Miller." 

Tiger. Johnny. Brooks. That's some high praise right there.

That "Adam and I" should give the game away, as it's none other than famed camera-confiscator Stevie Williamsfrom 2015.... See, Brandel, this is how it's done.

 JT wants us to go easy on the comparisons:

Justin Thomas hopes we can appreciate Brooks Koepka’s victory at the 101st PGA Championship on Sunday for what it is, and not compare it to Tiger Woods or what any

other legend has done in the game. 

“You can’t compare any of us to Tiger because the stuff that Tiger did – nobody has come close to. Now if Brooks continues this run and does this for 15 years, yeah you can compare the two somewhat. The guy’s won four majors; Tiger’s won 15,” Thomas said Monday morning at a media event at Ralph Lauren’s headquarters in Manhattan to launch his new PoloGolfxJT collection for the brand. 

“They’re just so different. It’s not fair to Brooks either; everyone should be bowing down to him and giving him the utmost respect because what he’s done is nothing short of miraculous and unbelievable. I know I’m jealous of him. I’m just hoping somehow to do some of the same.”

I don't see that at all...  What he's accomplished demands an historical accounting, in which I see no disservice to the man.  How else does one give him his due?  Now I think some folks have missed the point that Tiger did this for more than a decade, but four out of eight demands the adjective "Tigeresque."

I Saw It On TV - What shall we do with our friends at CBS?  Comically bad at times, it's like a parody of bad TV.  Anyone know what Leonard Pinth-Garnell is doing these days?

We'll lead with their new technology, aerial shot tracing:

Justin Rose was among the first few groups to tee off in CBS coverage window, wearing a pretty whacky shirt that golf fans watching made plenty of jokes about on Twitter. But somehow, what they saw as he ripped his opening tee shot was much worse: Aerial Shot Tracing, CBS' latest and greatest technological advancement, though that's not how the viewers described it.

CBS tweeted out the first video of the Aerial Tracing, and the first thing you notice is that the camera view of Rose shrinks to a point where you almost can't see him on your TV screen, kind of like "picture in picture," which was huge back in like ... 2002. On the big screen was a view of the line of Rose's ball flight and where it was going to land.

I found this extremely unhelpful, as did many.  In fact, it didn't seem that they used it at all on Sunday, so it appears the got the memo.  You'll find the Twitter mob's reaction at that link, of which this evergreen I found the most amusing:

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” - Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park

Although this might be a slight overreaction:

Every day we stray further from God’s light

Shack suggests that we chill:

People, people! Breathe! 

Sure, the latest attempt at breakthrough technology was not perfect in its Saturday debut. GolfDigest.com’s Christopher Powers rounds up the rants in reaction to the first hole tee shot of Justin Rose, the technology’s debut on CBS. 

The issue appears to be one of scale and visibility. The holes were presented horizontally, forcing a reduction in hole scale that made it hard to tell if a ball was heading for fairway or rough. The shot from the blimp kept the entire hole in view, which took us even farther away from being able to see details. There was also some uncertainty in when to cut away from the trace to the ball landing.

I still see a level of authenticity in seeing the actual hole instead of a graphic (since the graphics often do not reflect reality).

If the architectural features of the landing can be better delineated by the view, and the hole presented vertically to improve size and perspective, this could have great value.

 I don't know, Geoff, God's light and all....

I do take a slight bit of encouragement that they're at least trying new things, now can we discuss Sir Nick?

But the Peacock's defining moment came on Sunday, when their penchant for storytelling got in the way of the.....story:

The PGA Championship's final round turned out to be more dramatic than imagined,

Brooks Koepka's back nine stumbles bringing Dustin Johnson back into the picture. Nevertheless, despite an exciting hour sequence, Johnson bogeyed the 16th and 17th and failed to birdie the 18th, Koepka, even with a bogey at the 17th, maintained a two-shot lead on the final hole. 

But the issue briefly came into doubt again after Koepka's drive soared left, coming to rest in an awkward position among the bunkers. Koepka needed to just punch out and put his approach on from 60 yards or so on and the victory would be sealed. Conversely, Koepka had been leaking oil for the past 90 minutes, and final holes at majors having seen crazier chain of events. 

Yet, as Koepka set to take his second at the 18th, the cameras briefly cut to an interview with Johnson, going with a split-screen view of Koepka. A move that did not sit well with those at home.

Best of all, Joel Beall uses their similar cock-up with Molinari at Augusta to frame this one.... That sound you're hearing is Frank Chirkinian spinning in his grave.

That prior item includes this simple statement of viewers' needs, which should be mandatory reading for CBS producer Lance Barrow:

Unfortunately, for CBS' poor social media manager, there are plenty more where that came from. Normally, you could chalk this up to folks on social media just finding something to complain about, a daily occurrence, but I think they have a point here. If you spend enough time on Golf Twitter, you know fans really only ask for a few things: show a ton of golf shots from a ton of players (actual shots, not tap-in putts), and use pro tracer as much as possible. It's a very simple formula.

Pretty much, though I would add a demand for them to shut-up as the action unfolds.  

But we're forced to hope they can up their game because, as Shack explains, they're not going away any time soon:

A new contract kicks in next year for the PGA of America with CBS and ESPN. Details are sketchy, and given the PGA’s tendency to prioritize profit over what’s best for their fans or the game, I’m not optimistic that we will see a cutback in promos and ads.

What is also not clear: will there be higher standards demanded by the PGA of America of their broadcast partners beginning next year? It’s always a tricky thing to be telling

television professionals how to do their job, but for starters the odd tradition of CBS witholding major production elements from their weekday PGA Championship partner needs to go. We can only hope the PGA would have stipulated this in writing to protect their product when it airs on ESPN. 

One thing you can’t legislate: production mistakes. As Andy Nesbit writes at For The Win, fans are livid with the certified disaster that was CBS going to an interview with Dustin Johnson instead of staying with the incredible drama at the 18th hole. That’s where Brooks Koepka was faced with a brutal lie on a bunker edge. A double bogey sends the tournament to a playoff.

An unusually chatty Johnson was gabbing away as Koepka hacked his ball quite impressively back into the fairway. The ball was easily chunkable from such an awkward position.

Nesbitt writes before rounding up the Twitter outrage: “It was just terrible timing and angered fans watching the drama unfold on TV.” 

While it’s not comparable to the infamous Heidi debacle, had Koepka flubbed the shot and collapsed, the decision to conduct an interview would been one of the great blunders in television history. Still, the moment will be remembered and analyzed given the need to set up the scenarios facing Koepka, who is notoriously fast. Fans were deprived of watching a huge moment and undoubtedly CBS’s Lance Barrow feels awful about it.

Let’s hope with a new contract and a clean slate at Harding Park, all of the parties get together and beef up the PGA Championship broadcast in the interest of their credibility, the health of the championship and most of all, the desires of fans watching at home.

TNT will for sure not be missed, though I see little other cause for optimism.  

By The Numbers -  At Golfweek, Shack aggregates some data about how the course played this week, including this major improvement:

Scoring average: 72.625 (+2.6 over par)

2002 U.S. Open scoring average at Bethpage Black: 74.901

2009 U.S. Open scoring average at Bethpage Black: 74.983

That's a pretty significant improvement, in light of the carnage on the weekend.  I'd love to see scoring broken down between Thursday-Friday and Satiurday-Sunday, the latter of which I assume would rival those two Opens.

And this:

Toughest hole: Par-4 15th hole, 4.360 scoring avg. (39 birdies, 246 pars, 171 bogeys, 18 double bogeys)

15th hole 2002 U.S. Open Rank: 1 (4.600)

15th hole: 2009 U.S. Open Rank: 1 (4.470)

The weather was far worse for the Opens, so who knows what this means.  With all the carnage I saw at No. 10, I'm somehwat surprised that didn't nose out No. 15.

Here's one about which I was wrong:

Water balls at the par-3 8th: 4

I went with zero....

Want some data on the winner?

What's with the commas, guys?  That face angle and swing path produces that butter cut....  I could do that if I wanted, but since chicks dig the draw....

Girl Talk - The women's NCAA championship is available for your viewing pleasure, an event I recommend highly.  Individual play mostly wrapped yesterday:

Maria Fassi raised her hands in the air as she walked toward the 18th green. Calling the

hogs never sounded so sweet. She was a national champion. The mayor of Fassi-ville. A Razorback legend in the making. 

“I’ve told (head coach) Shauna (Estes-Taylor) I don’t know how many times that we were going to be walking down the 18th fairway holding hands, knowing that I was going to be a national champion,” said Fassi. “I had seen it in my head I don’t know how many times. I dreamed it, and it was so much better.” 

After a close call in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last month, this victory seemed poetic for the Arkanas senior. Local knowledge, coupled with her extraordinary power and a love of the stage, brought us this made-for-Fassi moment.

It's nice to see both Jennifer Kupcho and her rewarded for staying in school the full four years.  Specifically, let's give props to the LPGA for allowing them to defer turning professional after making it through Q-school.

They didn't quite finish yesterday, though the eight qualifiers for team match play were pretty much set.  Let's hope they can get this train back on schedule, because team match play rocks.

Of course, in this summer of our discontent, the event couldn't come off without a controversy of the self-inflicted kind:

From the are-you-kidding-me file, the official yardage books that were given to teams for this week’s NCAA Division I Women’s Championships are actually non-conforming. 

The grids for 10 of the 18 greens were deemed too big. Coaches were informed of the problem during a meeting after Wednesday’s practice round. 

“We’re just going to go to Office Depot and get some sticker labels and cover up all 18 of them,” said Purdue coach Devon Brouse. 

Officials didn’t specify which of the 10 holes were in violation.

Do you love that last bit as much as I?   We find you guilty of murder, but we're not going to tell you which murder....

I mean, who could have seen this coming:

The new interpretation for Rule 4.3a, which went into effect Jan. 1, stipulates that players may use a putting-green map during play, but it must be “limited to a scale of 3/8 inch to 5 yards (1:480).” 

“It’s 1/16th off,” said Arkansas coach Shauna Estes-Taylor. “It’s less than a freckle.”

Nobody got penalized, fortunately.  But, as some of us predicted, we're legislating things like font size, which pretty obviously will end in tears for somebody.  

In the enlightened view of our governing bodies, we can't expect people to correctly use complicated terminology such as hazard and halve.... But you'd best be an expert in typography and slope angles, otherwise there'll be hell to pay....   I'm sure those millennials will be totally on board with this.

See you tomorrow?