Late-Week Laments

My services are required to fill out a fourball this morning....At least I'm not stiffing you as I did on Wednesday, but this will be an abbreviated post.

A Game For Gentlemen - Alternative Takes: Golf in the #metoo era, or why they don't fly commercial:

European Ryder Cup player Thorbjorn Olesen was arrested Monday in London on suspicion of sexual assault and other crimes while on an airplane that departed Memphis, according to a report in the Independent and other British websites. 

The 29-year-old Dane, who has five European Tour victories and who played in the PGA Tour’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis over the weekend, became drunk and verbally abusive on the flight, according to the Independent report. The report states he urinated in the first-class aisle of the British Airways plane, made a pass at a female passenger and is being investigated for sexually assaulting a female passenger who was sleeping. 

Olesen was arrested at the gate then released several hours later under investigation, according to police statements in the Independent.

Yowser!  But wait, there's one more unexpected twist:

Ian Poulter, who was Olesen’s European teammate at the 2018 Ryder Cup, tried to calm Olesen earlier on the flight. Poulter’s agent, Paul Dunkley, told the Independent that Poulter then fell asleep for the long flight and was unaware of Olesen’s behavior until police arrived at the landing gate to take Olesen into custody.

OK, my general rule of thumb is that any time Poults is the voice of reason....  I can only hope the woman involves was similarly able to sleep through the assault.

How lucky is Sergio?  Just when the world seems tired of his act, along comes the Mother of all Diversions.

And I did catch this social media post, though I had assumed he was referring to the golf:

Your Solheim Update - One has to embrace the fractured logic of this event, one that dramatically pairs the second and third best continents in women's golf.  Unless, of course, you'd like to make the case that South America could field a stronger team than one of the actual participants.

First, an update on the U.S. side, with two events remaining:

Four U.S. players—Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang, Nelly Korda and Jessica Korda—already have their spots assured via the Solheim Cup points standings. Only Nelly Korda's would be playing for the first time for Juli Inkster, who is looking for a third straight win as U.S. captain.

Great, I've actually heard of those four....  After the events of Sunday/Monday, they might not all be on speaking terms with each other, but that worked for the Oakland A's back in the day.

As for the rest of Team USA, four more players will qualify through the Solheim Cup

points list. Entering this week’s major at Woburn Golf Club in England, those four spots are occupied by Lizette Salas, Megan Khang, Marina Alex and Brittany Altomare. Ally McDonald is just seven points behind Altomare. Of those four, Khang, Alex and Altomare would all be rookies. McDonald, too, would be a first-timer if she were to displace one of those four.

You no doubt see the issue, as we're quickly into the shallow end of the talent pool.

But don't fret, the Euro side is equally unimpressive:

As for the European side, the first three players on Catriona Matthew’s team are taken from a Solheim Cup points list. Carlota Ciganda is currently No. 1, followed by Caroline Hedwall and Anne Van Dam. The next five spots are filled off the World Ranking—as

long as the player has played the minimum eight Ladies European Tour events over the two-year qualifying period. As of now, Charley Hull, Georgia Hall, Azahara Munoz, Caroline Masson and Anna Nordqvist fill those spots. Bronte Law would be included here, but she hasn’t met the LET minimum; she can still make the team via captain's pick. Matthew has four captain’s selections to fill out her squad. 

Interestingly, Matthew is paired with Law at the AIG Women's British Open. One other European winner on the LPGA Tour this year is Celine Boutier, whom Matthew is also likely considering. Law and Boutier would be Solheim rookies. Jodi Ewart Shadoff is the next-highest ranked European on the World Rankings list. She has played in two Solheim Cups, with a record of 3-4-0. Others ranked in the top 100 vying for a pick from Matthew are Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg and Madelene Sagstrom and England’s Mel Reid.

Which is why this could actually happen:

Making a case for Paula Creamer at the Solheim Cup once more

There are two actual reasons to watch, the format and the history.  Team match play rocks, and there is actual bad blood between these girls, predating the iconic gimmegate incident.

As long as we're talking women's golf, I'm reluctant to move on from our heroine Lexi, but this header seems at best one-sided:

 Lexi Thompson's caddie deserves a raise (and then some) based on his story of tracking down her passport

Really?  You might want to get a second opinion on that.... Come to think of it, if you get yourself to Woburn you'll get about forty of them.

But is this the bit that earned him the raise?

"I had my GPS going as well as the cab driver’s. [He] was driving fast for me to get there 

and return quickly. He was doing great until about three miles away from our destination. I told him we needed to go to the right, and he insisted we go to the left. He got aggravated with me (trying to give him directions), and in another language, he yelled at me! I figured at that time it was best to just sit back and let him do his job. I could absolutely tell we were going in the wrong direction and had to sit back and just let it happen.

And Lexi's 77-72-MC?  Did you similarly sit back and let that happen?  

And one more niggling little question.  As you were unloading and reloading these forty over-packed golf bags, when is it that you started thinking about what you might be doing to others?  Take your time, I'll wait....

Golf and Gambling, Perfect Together? -  As you know, I'm a skeptic on this subject....  Shack had this news item a week or so ago:

DraftKings named “Official Daily Fantasy Game” of the PGA TOUR 

“PGA TOUR DraftKings Fantasy Golf” becomes TOUR’s first daily fantasy sports partner

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, AND BOSTON – The PGA TOUR and DraftKings Inc. announced a new multi-year content and marketing relationship today that designates DraftKings as the first-ever “Official Daily Fantasy Game of the PGA TOUR.”

“We are excited to partner with DraftKings, an industry leader in innovation and fan engagement, in this groundbreaking step for the PGA TOUR,” said Luis Goicouria, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Media. “The partnership with DraftKings provides the TOUR with a unique opportunity to innovate in a new industry and to further engage our fans. 

DraftKings will activate the partnership by branding its daily fantasy golf contests as “PGA TOUR DraftKings Fantasy Golf.”

Jay Monahan's embracing of legalized betting on his sport has struck me as unseemly, but perhaps I'm just a delicate snowflake?  It seems I'm not the only one worried about the confluence of gambling and golf:

“That’s a good question,” Paul Casey said when asked if he thought such incidents could become more prevalent as the tour creates working relationships with public and private parties involved in the gaming and gambling industries. “It’s such a minuscule

percentage [of the fans at a tournament], but with money on the line and people feeling like they can alter the outcome to their benefit, I don’t like the sound of that.”

Neither does the tour, where officials say they have measures in place to avoid such disasters. 

“We are monitoring it and taking it seriously, and we’ll continue to get that right,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this year. “I think a lot of that behavior is going to be self-policed. I’d much rather be in [the] situation we’re in, where we’ve got a problem to solve with young people coming into our sport. It’s a small number of people, a handful of people.”

Self-policing is the plan?   What could go wrong?

Apparently the U.S. Open champ needs to get on the same page as The Commish:

“I played with [Poulter] in the [FedEx Cup] Playoffs last year, and he’s dealt with it for a long time and he’d had enough,” Gary Woodland said. “Enough is enough. From the fantasy standpoint, it’s huge. I see it on social media. I get blasted all the time from guys betting on me. 

“It’s something that probably needs to be addressed, but I don’t know how you address it,” Woodland said. “It’s only going to get bigger and bigger. Social media, you don’t have to look at it [if you’re a player]. Hopefully out here [with spectators], we can police it better.”

C'mon, Gary, this is pretty simple.  You cash the checks, ignore the problem and assume it will be self-policed?  Now, was that so hard?

I have no clue how quickly this will all roll out, and whether golf will have much appeal to golfers.  But if there's any moment on the event horizon for concern, I'm thinking it's that 2024 Ryder Cup at Bethpage.  The event itself creates issues, with limited action (only four groups on the course in the team formats) and long waits to see any of it, that unless they're willing to take the hit by limiting beer sale, I expect it to be ugly even without the added complication of gambling.

Math Remains Hard - This is so epically silly that I love it:

If you happen to be at the Mackenzie Tour event this week, and if you find yourself close to Jared du Toit and his caddie, Nolan Renwick, you might want to listen carefully when they go through their yardages. 

The 24-year-old Canadian pro and his looper are trying something different at this week’s 1932byBateman Open in Edmonton, Alberta. du Toit tweeted the plan on Wednesday night, saying “Goal this week is to not use one number when trying to get the yardage. @N6Renwick has the cheat sheet.” 

What kind of cheat sheet, you ask? Check it out below.

Here's how this works in the field:

“So we have Carl Hagelin to the pin, greens are firm so let’s try and land it Jeff Skinner”

Crazy for sure, but probably still easier than using meters.... Though I am a bit worried that this violates the new rules on font size.

Have a great weekend.