Thursday Threads

OK, it's D-Day for Tiger, so let's have at it...

Prez Cup Central - Ernie's picks are in, and it's mostly chalk:

Presidents Cup captain Ernie Els went with a combination of youth and experience in making his four captain’s picks to the International Team. Els rounded out his squad by choosing budding stars Sungjae Im of South Korea Joaquin Niemann of Chile and veterans Adam Hadwin of Canada and Jason Day of Australia. 

“I looked at guys with long-term form and who had played well for a while,” Els said. 

South Korea’s Sungjae Im, 21, who finished 11th in the points standings, has been a picture of consistency. Im was the 2018-19 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year after racking up 16 top-25 finishes in 35 starts and finishing No. 19 in the FedEx Cup. Im, the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year one season earlier, arguably has been the steadiest performer on the international team and hasn’t slowed down, losing in a playoff at the Sanderson Farms Championship in September and finished T-11 at the WGC HSBC Champions.

Of course, there's a bit of a chalk shortage among the countries that qualify for this event, so Ernie made lemonade....  The Hadwin pick is the one that could be, you know, picked over, but he at least went with a guy that can roll his rock.  Also a guy with Prez Cup experience.  Now typically I'm not a fan of losing cup experience, but that rout at Liberty National had to leave the guys pretty pissed, no?  I mean, do Canadians get pissed off?  And how can you tell?

It does get a little comical on that subject of losing:

Els isn’t the only one excited by the team’s new blood. Hadwin said their exuberance and enthusiasm — and lack of scar tissue — will be an asset. 

“They haven’t experienced losing at all yet, so they are going to be fresh and they are going to be ready to go,” Hadwin said.

You gotta admit, "No scar tissue" is the perfect cri de coeur for this event.  Though I suspect that the word "yet" should be appended to it....  In his blogging of the picks, Shack got of one sneaky little jab you might enjoy:

The race to make Ernie Els’ International squad didn’t exactly yield any thrilling

breakout performances this fall, making Captain Els’ job of filling out the team a tough task. But thanks to some fall play from Joaquin Niemann and Adam Hadwin, the 2019 Presidents Cup team was filled out with two formful types who should fit Royal Melbourne well.

This is not to diminish Jason Day’s win in the MGM Resorts The Challenge: Japan Skins.

Heaven forfend.  There's no cae to be made that he's on form, but Ernie had to select him because he's Jason Day, and the other options aren't.  or, at least, he used to be....

Of course I'm profoundly saddened that Ernie couldn't find a slot for Jazz Janewattananond on the roster, though perhaps my criteria differ just slightly from the captain's.

So, how does Tiger respond?  With a yawn, I'd guess....  Back to the Bob Harig primer we had yesterday:

Captain: Tiger Woods 

Automatic qualifiers: Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau

For the moment we're assuming that Brooksie can play, and limiting ourselves to the four picks.  But just to confuse things further, there's been speculation about DJ as well, since he also had a knee go under the knife.  

Here are Harig's contenders:

Among the possibilities: Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Patrick Reed, Rickie Fowler, Woods, Kevin Kisner, Kevin Na, Jordan Spieth.

So, Bob, whatcha got:

The lowdown: Since the eight automatic qualifiers were determined after the BMW Championship in August, Woods and Na are the only players among the top contenders to win. 

The big question: Woods as a playing captain has been debated since he officially took the job in March 2018. It couldn't have possibly been realistic to him a few months earlier when he expressed to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan that he would like to do it. But even if there were doubts over the summer when Woods' form fell off, the idea that he would pick himself was very real -- far more so now that he is coming off a victory in Japan and is ranked seventh in the world. 

The locks: You can make a case for and against the rest, but it is difficult to see Woods not picking himself, Woodland and Reed. Woodland, the reigning U.S. Open champion, contended at both the CJ Cup and Zozo Championship to bolster his hopes. Reed, who won the Northern Trust in August, was one of America's best team players before the Ryder Cup implosion last year in France. He should be given another chance.

Post ZoZo, that big question seems the victim of shrinkage, as the only question seems to be whether he'll do so in the first or third-person voice.   

I wouldn't be surprised to see Woodland picked, as guys that win Opens end up on these teams.  But I don't see him as a lock, especially if said lock requires a difficult phone call to Rickie.

The last one: It will be controversial, but Spieth makes a lot of sense. Woods and Phil Mickelson have been a big behind-the-scenes part of the entire Ryder Cup effort to groom future captains, assistants and players. Spieth, whose form has been off for some time, has been an integral part of the past few teams and picking him would give him a big boost -- sort of in the manner that Greg Norman did for Adam Scott 10 years ago.

Yeah, people keep using that Adam Scott reference point, but the Shark's options that year didn't include a Rickie.  Spieth can still putt but, if you're gonna take Patrick, isn't it safer to leave Jordan at home.  

Adam Woodard, a new name to me, makes the case for a Kevin to be named later:

But, Woods may have to make a fifth pick if Brooks Koepka can’t play. Koepka aggravated a left knee injury last month at the CJ Cup and withdrew after two rounds in Korea, then decided not to play last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions. DiMeglio argued in favor of Fowler taking Koepka’s place if the world No. 1 doesn’t go, but what about a player named Kevin? There are two who deserve consideration.

He's not wrong, as both of their games seem to me a better fit for the formats and team.  Why?  because they can both putt, and Woodland and Finau are both weakest in that area.  

Alan Shipnuck is just home from a trip to Australia-New Zealand, but finds time in his mailbag for this amusing little Prez Cup query:

Assuming Tiger picks himself, does he keep the ear-piece in during his matches at the Presidents Cup? – @deep_fried_egg 

Gawd, I hope so. How great would it be for Tiger to slow-play opponents by talking into his sleeve, Secret Service style? Alas, the Presidents Cup features only one session per day, so it’s not like Friday and Saturday at the Ryder Cup where afternoon pairings have to be discussed while the morning session is still playing out. As playing-captain Tiger is going to have some long nights and early mornings but once he tees off he can focus (mostly) on his own game.

Heh.  An amusing visual for sure, though Alan drop-kicks the schedule bit.  The first two seesiosn are spread over two days, but Saturday is a 36-holer. 

Oh, To Be In Scotland in November - For those not embarrassed to geek out, this might be worth the quick trip over (h/t Shack):

Way cool!  This to me is the stuff of bucket lists....Excepting perhaps the dates and those mats.

Anyone wanting to really let their geek flag fly should peruse this Golf Club Atlas discussion of the reverse routing, which many knowledgeable folks consider a superior routing.  

A few seconds on Google yields this 2005 Alan Shipnuck Sports Illustrated article on the routing, which includes this backgrounder:

Both the clockwise and counterclockwise routings were used from the 1870s through World War II, usually in alternating weeks. For tournament play the counterclockwise routing was preferred because it created fewer bottlenecks due to the crisscrossing of holes. As the Open Championship grew in stature after the war and pilgrims began arriving en masse in St. Andrews, there was a clamoring to play the layout that Bobby Jones and Sam Snead had conquered. In the 1960s and '70s the reverse routing was used only in February, but even this limited schedule proved unpopular. By 1978 the reverse routing was abandoned altogether, consigned to the scrap heap of history along with the gutta-percha and the niblick.

It's really quite a good piece, as Alan played the normal routing that March 31st, and the reverse the following day, leading to scenes such as this:

One of the joys of the Old Course--or its most maddening affectation, in the eyes of some--is the sense of discovery as hazards reveal themselves while you tour the links. The back nine has a couple of doozies. On the tee of the 523-yard, par-5 14th, all you can see is St. Andrews's beautiful skyline. It is only on the second shot that the enormous Hell Bunker comes into view. More chilling is the discovery of what lurks in the 12th fairway. From the tee all that is visible is an expanse of grass. But as you march down the hole, you get a startling glimpse of the five pot bunkers that dot the fairway. Picking up on my wonderment, Scott offered another prediction. "It'll make more sense tomorrow," he said with a twinkle.

It's always hard to explain the appeal of the Old Girl, as it's almost a mystical reaction.  I'm usually too cynical to partake, but this hallowed ground touches something deep within me.  Is it possible there was something in that grape Kool-Aid?

Check, Deposited -  Remember that Lucy Li story about the Apple Watch ad?  The carefully constructed artifice of the audition playing a variety of sports, the one in which the ad agency just randomly chose the visuals of Lucy as a golfer?  The one the USGA accepted without critical reaction?  This won't shock you:

Lucy Li has turned professional. 

A family member confirmed that Li informed the USGA of her decision to turn pro and will be playing the Symetra Tour next year, but the 17-year-old has no detailed plan yet.

The family member also told Golfweek in an email that the USGA invited Li to the 2020 Curtis Cup, but she passed the opportunity on to the next person. 

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that Li informed the USGA and World Amateur Golf Ranking of her decision to join the play-for-pay ranks. Li burst onto the national stage at age 11 when she qualified for the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst.

Yanno, I had that photo in my files from the Apple ad, and completely missed the Lucy L. bit.  The only thing missing is the legal boilerplate informing that any similarity to real people is entirely coincidental....

Obviously Lucy didn't create this mess, but she seems a bit eager to take advantage of it.  You'll earn your riches, girl, but is it too much to ask that wait at least until puberty?

Golf Travel - I mentioned Shippy's trip above, and here's his ranking of the course played on his boondoggle:

1. Cape Wickham. Visually spectacular ocean holes, thought-provoking inland holes across dramatic terrain, fascinating greens, flawless turf and pure putting surfaces. Quite possibly the perfect golf course. 

2. New South Wales. This Alister MacKenzie design is the most stimulating course I’ve ever played off the tee, and then comes a series of gorgeous, well-fortified greens. For sheer drama, the walk up the hill on the fifth hole compares to the thrill of reaching Pebble’s 6th green. 

3. Royal Melbourne (West). A master class in course design and strategy, once again from MacKenzie. To get to the pin requires geometry and courage on these sloping and sometimes terrifying greens. 

4. Lost Farm. An imaginative routing over incredibly varied terrain. The second course at Barnbougle is endlessly fun and engaging. 

5. Victoria Golf Club. Is this the most underrated course on the planet? Tons of risk-reward on these lively holes, and gorgeous bunkering with edges so sharp you can get a paper cut. 

6. Barnbougle Dunes. This brawny neo-classic has one great hole after another. Bring your A-game. 

7. Tata Iti. From tee-to-green I think this is Tom Doak’s best design, which is saying something. (The third hole, with a green tucked hidden behind a towering dune but slopes to feed your ball toward the pin, was my favorite hole on the entire trip.) Like Muirfield, no two holes ever play in the same direction. But a handful of the greens are too extreme for such a windy site. 

8. Kauri Cliffs. For fun and drama, it’s tough to beat this intensely scenic course. Bonus points for maybe the prettiest driving range on the planet. 

9. Ocean Dunes. It shares King Island with Wickham and is a very worthy companion, with a ripping start along the ocean and then a whimsical back-nine up, down and around vertiginous dunes. I also loved the course’s scruffy, low-key charm 

10. Kingston Heath. I could happily play this Sand Belt classic every day for the rest of my life. Some of the most interesting green complexes in golf and bunkering by the good Dr. MacKenzie. 

11. Cape Kidnappers. The drone/helicopter photos make this look like the most epic course ever built but the finger peninsulas play flat and narrow, and the coast is a backdrop but never really a hazard. Still, Kidnappers has a bunch of terrific holes and some unforgettable views; on a trip lousy with infinity holes, the 12th here was the most majestic.

The winner is a bit of a surprise, at least based upon reputations.   But he pens this convincing ode, in which he note that, absent the water, the finishing hole is just a routine dogleg Par-4:

Sure.  Actually, that's not likely the finishing hole, given where it is on the property, but you get the point.

The course now stands as one of golf’s ultimate pilgrimages, sited on the craggy headlands of King Island, a tiny speck halfway between Melbourne and Tasmania. (Commercial and charter flights are available out of Melbroune). There are only 1,500 people on the island but in 2013 the population spiked when Mike DeVries and his family lived there for six months. In partnership with Aussie Darius Oliver, this innocent abroad conjured a modern masterpiece. A one-time acolyte of Tom Doak, DeVries incorporated into Cape Wickham the bold strategic questions that are the hallmark of his former boss while making the course more user-friendly than the typical Doak. At a place like Cape Wickham the ocean holes will always be the star — especially with an iconic 150-foot lighthouse always looming — but the inland holes are just as bold, making use of towering sand dunes, rugged ridges and limestone outcroppings. The sandy loam is the ideal base for growing grass; Augusta National wishes its fairways are as pristine as Cape Wickham’s and the greens are equally pure.

For my local readers, DeVries is the guy that created that bizarre new 16th hole at Sunningdale, which I think I heard is already being ripped up.  Obviously, this is a better piece of land....just slightly.

How about one more photo:

Dylan Dethier, by contrast, goes off the beaten track in Ireland, though not really all that far off.  They start in Portrush during or after the Open, and make their way to Dublin.  Starting, logically, next door to Portrush:

The other-worldly front nine (specifically, the second tee) at Portstewart.

They hit places such as County Louth and Ardglass, where the bride and I have played.  Also some names which we've missed, so always good to add to the list.

This, a club north of Dublin called The Island, is a hoot:

It's called the Island because the members used to get there by boat at high tide..... Duh!

Great stuff, give Dylan and Alan a read.

See you tomorrow, I hope.