Thursday Themes

It's Opening Day on Tour, which we'll do our best to ignore in these parts.  The off-season just seems to fly by...

I Blame The Electoral College - Didn't see this one coming:

In a shocking development, Rory McIlroy was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year on Wednesday. McIlroy, 30, captured the honor over Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Matt Kuchar. 

The award, which is voted on by PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 FedEx Cup events during the 2018-'19 season, apparently favored McIlroy's consistency over Koepka's performance on the premier stages. 

"I'm very humbled and very honored," McIlroy said. "It validates some of the decisions I made to start the year, and I couldn't be more proud." 

McIlroy racked up a tour-best 14 top-10s in 19 events, highlighted by wins at the RBC Canadian Open, Tour Championship and the tour's flagship event, the Players 

Championship. McIlroy also won the Byron Nelson Award for adjusted scoring average (69.057) for the third time in his career, and his 2.551 strokes gained were the best non-Tiger Woods figure in the statistic's history. This is McIlroy's third Player of the Year award, and his first since 2014.

I think Koepka's failure to campaign in Wisconsin will be cited as the cause of his demise, though Joel Beall captures the zeitgeist in this header:

Rory McIlroy's Player of the Year win raises as many questions as answers

So, who are these geniuses, and do they know anything about golf?

As a refresher, the PGA of America's honor is determined based on a points system. The

PGA Tour, though, relies on player voting, with members who played in at least 15 FedEx Cup events during the 2018-'19 season casting the ballots. That process is handled internally; the tour does not publicly release the results. 

Or, apparently, privately release them either. Given the election's concealment, the Associated Press' Doug Ferguson asked McIlroy during Wednesday's media conference call if he knew how close the race had finished. "I inquired," McIlroy said, "and they are keeping tight-lipped on that." The call, just seven questions deep, was ended.

It would perhaps be helpful at this point to consult a noted expert in electoral democracy, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin:

“Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.”

Hmmm...he seems to be suggesting that the Tour might have a vested interest in a split verdict.  

At Golfweek, Shack takes on the "T-word":

Transparency strikes again. 

Cue the Russian bot jokes. 

Throw in a few conspiracy theories. Some outlandish, some not. What you get will be the unfortunate response to what is otherwise a very minor controversy: Rory McIlroy was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year by his peers. 

While McIlroy’s season was almost as spectacular as Brooks Koepka’s, McIlroy took the secret player vote announced Wednesday from somewhere in greater Palm Beach. That’s likely where Commissioner Jay Monahan and the award’s namesake, Jack Nicklaus, presented McIlroy the trophy. 

The PGA Tour Player of the Year voting totals are not published, and even McIlroy said in a conference call with writers that the Tour did not tell him how the voting played out. He also said he was “somewhat surprised” to win and the normally eloquent 30-year-old stumbled through an answer attempting to explain why he was caught off-guard by the news.

Did anyone ask Rory for whom he voted?

Back to Joel who had this little jibe:

For all the things the PGA Tour does well, transparency isn't one of them.

Perhaps you could share with the rest of the class all the things they do well?  

As usual, the last word in these things goes to Twitter:

Pretty lame for sure.  But Rory won the Tour's flagship events, so who wants to file the FOIA request?

Still Crazy After All These Years - They're crazy in California, have you noticed?  I guess they've finished their work in making the state Heaven on Earth.... Pay no attention to the human waste on the streets of San Francisco, we can now turn our attention to...college sports.

In one of the most significant strikes against the National Collegiate Athletic Association's system of amateur athletics, California lawmakers have approved a bill that would allow players in the state to profit off their name, image and likeness. 

The adoption of the bill is likely to set up a battle between California lawmakers and the NCAA as the legislation heads to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom for his anticipated signature. 

The association fiercely opposed the measure. NCAA President Mark Emmert went so far this summer as to insinuate that California institutions would be excluded from championship games if the bill was approved.

This is an issue for the state, how?  Shockingly, the mini-despots in the State Legislature are acting like children:

Emmert asked California officials in a letter in June to table the bill until an NCAA working group studying athlete compensation delivered its findings to the association

next month. Association officials fear that allowing only athletes in California to be compensated would give colleges in the state a recruitment advantage, as players would be lured there by the prospect of marketing and endorsement deals, Emmert wrote in the letter. He also used the letter to suggest that the state’s colleges and universities could be prohibited from taking part in championship games because of these unfair recruitment benefits.

Officials took offense to the warning. 

“I just want to say, 'NCAA, don't threaten California. Don't threaten us'," Democratic Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, said before a vote on the Assembly floor, according to USA Today. “Because we have formidable schools. We have formidable alumni. And we have formidable viewership. And we can leverage those things until 2023, when this bill takes effect. I'm sick of being leveraged by the NCAA on the backs of athletes who have the right to their own name and image."

This is obviously a huge issue, and to some extent the NCAA has brought it upon itself.  Here's Geoff's take on it all:

While players now get free clubs, are on a first name basis with tour reps, wear corporate logos in the US Amateur and are committed to agents long before announcing the intent to turn pro, amateur status would seem to be a out the window once a player starts profiting off their likeness. The rules are pretty clear on this front.

However, exceptions for Tony Romo and Lucy Li would seem to open a player profiting off their likeness to point to those cases as amateur status-retaining precedent and therefore maintain access to USGA events or the Masters (should they be so fortunate).

The NCAA’s rebuttal is not expected until next month but given the number of athletes and schools in California, they’ll have a hard time containing this given the bill’s easy victory and support from top athletes. 

It’s a huge mess, but one brought on by the NCAA’s refusal to find a solution as it rakes in millions and pays its head man $4 million a year on the backs of unpaid athletes.

This isn't Geoff's finest hour.  The CEO compensation is a tired bit and, more importantly, the Tony Romo and Lucy Li exceptions are USGA issues.

The CA bill and the underlying arguments all seem to ignore one relevant fact.  The NCAA is structured around the premise that two revenue-producing sports, football and basketball, will support the remainder of NCAA athletic programs.  But the California legislature seems to be deliberately sowing chaos, in their desire to bend the country to their will.  Would be nice to see someone call their bluff, though the NCAA seems an unlikely candidate.

Solheim Stuff - Good news from Auchterarder:

Watch: U.S. Solheim Cupper Angel Yin finally (and hilariously) reunited with her lost clubs

And, presumably, her socks....  Really, let that be a lesson, never fly a European airline to a Ryder or Solheim Cup.   

I though Cap'n. Juli handled the rookie issue well, but the weather?

"The weather will be a huge factor. We're American, so we're fair-weather golfers, we don't like rain and wet. I have a young team and they might have played a British Open once in a while in bad weather, but 36 holes in it? That's a new ballgame. It's going to probably be the toughest weeks of these girls' careers."

I do hope she consulted with Captain Pavin on the rain gear...

Danielle Kang is all-in on the mayhem:

Danielle Kang pumped up the crowd on the first tee two years ago as a rookie in Iowa, encouraging the rowdy U-S-A faithful to shout through her swing. She wanted it loud. She wanted it crazy. 

So how will she handle her first Solheim Cup on foreign soil? 

“I hear that I’m going to be booed at one point,” said, “so bring it on. I’d rather hear loud booing at that point. So I’ll still have them cheer as loud as they can, whoever they want to cheer for, but I still want to hear them.”

Take those souls, Danielle. 

Dame Laura Davies had a few odd comments, first this one in which she shoots the messenger:

British bookmakers haven’t racked up huge profits over the years by getting the odds wrong on sporting events, but Laura Davies thinks the bookies are out of line with this

week’s Solheim Cup. 

Davies feels the home team is outright favorites, not underdogs. Bronte Law agrees.

Bookmakers William Hill and Betfair list the United States as 4/7 favorites, with Europe at 7/4. Ladbrokes quotes odds of 8/15 on the away team winning at Gleneagles, with Europe quoted at 9/5. All three firms offer 12/1 on a draw.

Davies has been known to have the odd bet or six during her career. She’s puzzled by the numbers. She feels European fans should jump on the odds the home team has been quoted at. 

“We’re two-to-one outsiders, which I think is a good bet because I think our squad is really strong,” said Davies, who’s acting as one of Catriona Matthew’s vice-captains this week. “The American team is incredibly good, but I think home soil, it’s possibly a bit chillier, that evens it out a bit.”

Set aside the fact that bookies reflect, as opposed to creating, the placement of wagers on the combatants.  But Dame Laura need a tutorial on how this here game is played.  Everyone wants to be the dog, not the fave...

 And this, in which she seems to support the patriarchy:

European vice captain Laura Davies wants the sun to shine in Scotland. 

“Everyone says we want a bit of rain for the Americans,” said Davies. “No, we want it beautiful weather so the galleries can get out there and enjoy themselves and just cheer us on and be the 13th man out there, because that’s what the home-soil advantage gives you.”

13th man?  Who are the first 12?

It should be good fun, and hopefully the bad blood between the squads will come out at some point...

I'll leave you there..... but just for now.