Back In The Saddle

A poorly-timed hiatus...  Anyone remember back in the day when His Lordship Barrack Obama was looking for a golf game in Westchester County over a Holiday weekend?  Willow Ridge turned him down, and it made national news.  Of course I was in Scotland or Ireland at the time, and unable to cover the story.

Patrick's win feels the same.  The kind of story I was put on this earth to cover, yet I was temporarily indisposed as it broke.

Men In Black - Let's start with the Tour Confidential gang's coverage:

1. After a week during which scathing remarks from both Brooks Koepka and Peter Kostis put Patrick Reed back under the white-hot spotlight, Reed fired back with his clubs, shooting a final-round 67 at the WGC-Mexico to win by one. The victory was Reed’s eighth PGA Tour title and second WGC, and on Sunday he outplayed three of the top four players in the world. The victory doesn’t quite bump Reed into the top five in the World Ranking (he’s now 8th) but if you were compiling your own ranking of the top five players in the world, would Reed make your list? 

Dylan Dethier: Sigh. Allow me to kick things off in support of Team Reed: He’s finished in the top six in four of his last six PGA Tour starts. He’s finished in the top 25

in 17 of his last 21 Tour starts (10 top 10s in that span). He’s on a heater AND he’s consistent AND he plays a lot. I’d put Reed somewhere behind Misters McIlroy, Rahm, Koepka and Thomas. Who comes fifth? It’s not necessarily Dustin Johnson. You could make a strong case that Tiger Woods belongs in there, though he’s almost a category of his own. But throw Johnson in a pool with Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Reed and I’d listen to an argument for fifth-best in the world. Reed’s probably playing the best golf of his life.

Dylan, all the cool kids (or maybe it was only Shipnuck) are using "Le Sigh" these days, but I fear that you've given this question more attention than it deserves.

Luke Kerr-Dineen: No, because he’s not in the top five in the Official World Golf Ranking. Reed is quite streaky, which gives me pause, but credit where it’s due: eight Tour wins including a Masters speaks to his immense quality. And when he’s got something to prove, he only rises to the challenge even more.

Let me see if I follow you, Luke.  He's not a top five player because he's not a top five player?   

I guess I should excerpt Mikey Bams, both because of the answer itself, as well in anticipation of further thoughts from the conscience of our game:

Michael Bamberger: Is it really a thing to be a top-five player? I don’t think so, but Reed does, going back to his win at Doral in 2014, when he said he considered himself a top-five player, even if the official lists showed otherwise. The question itself is a triumph of marketing, that we even care to debate it. It feeds into FedEx Cup points fever, I suppose. I’ll say this: if you were going to make a five-man team and play for something meaningful, like your mortgage, it would be hard to leave Reed off the squad, even though you might want to.

I have a couple of reactions.  First, I think it's pretty clear that Patrick is not literally one of the top five players in the world, though not all that far off the pace.   LKD's point about streakiness is an area where he does come up short.  Contra Mike, I wouldn't want him on my roster during those periods when he's wandering in the wilderness.  Ironic being LKD, because Patrick's driving will remind one of that other Luke....

But, while there's no paucity of reasons for dumping on the jerk, I've never understood the furor over this specific comment.  I always took it as aspirational, indistinguishable from the kinds of things a Koepka or Tiger might say....  On the other hand, beating the Christmas rush in hating this guy might be a good call.

2. Seemingly every time Reed’s character comes under fire — Koepka told SiriusXM that Reed built “sand castles” at the Hero World Challenge, while Kostis alleged on the No Laying Up podcast that he witnessed Reed improve his lie at least four times at Tour events — he seems to thrive between the ropes. Is there another golfer in modern Tour history who has more effectively turned negative energy into positive results? (Bonus points if you can also explain how Reed does it.)

Really?  I guess you missed the team portion of the Prez Cup?

Though I find the question a bit silly, in that it describes the organizing principle of Patrick's life.   He goes through life repelling family, teammates and peers, and thus has gotten pretty good at playing among the havoc of his own making.

This response is spit-out-your-coffee funny:

Kerr-Dineen: It’s not quite the same, because there was never as much negative energy his way, but I’d agree Rory tends to play his best golf when he’s in alpha dog, something-to-prove mode. It’s not a coincidence he won his last majors the year he called off his engagement and played his best golf since at the 2016 Ryder Cup, when he seemingly took on the entire crowd himself. Honorable mention to Brooks, who seems to need to have a chip on his shoulder in order to play well.

Rory?  Where have you been since 2014?  That citation of the Rory-Patrick singles match at Hazeltine is priceless given that, after the fireworks on the front nine, Rory curled up in the fetal position.  So, yeah, he was in alpha dog mode, for all of eight holes.

Bamberger: Tiger, by miles. He turned his father’s hurt — the racism his father lived with — and turned it into I’ll-show-you. That’s turning a negative into a positive. What Reed seems to do comes from a totally different place, but the basic concept is the same. That we-we-we thing is in act, one Tiger didn’t even pretend to play in his prime. They are both effective by saying, from some deep place, it’s me against the world.

I like his close, because it is me against the world for a professional golfer.  And we see the Tigers and Koepkas playing this game, sometimes amusingly.  For instance, I thought Tiger really silly in calling out Abe Ancer at the Prez Cup.  Of course Abe meant nothing but respect in his comments, but that's the least of it.  You're Tiger-friggin'-Woods, why would you care what Abe Ancer said?

But I do have a question for the writers?  Given that which we've heard from Peter Kostis and seen with our won eyes, why do you believe the scorecard Patrick submitted?  I recently listened to Carlos Correa tell us what a clean player Jose Altuve is, yet I had trouble accepting that testimonial?  Was I wrong to be so cynical?

Mike Bamberger is the go-to source on all things related to integrity, and his thoughts on Patrick are worthy of consideration:

My view (this space is reserved for columnizing) is that Reed has to earn back my trust. That stance is not based on anything that happened with his parents years ago (he is

estranged from them) or when he attended the University of Georgia, where he was thrown off the golf team for various incidents. It’s not because of his over-the-top body language while helping the U.S. win the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, and it’s not because of his inane remarks about his pairings after the U.S. loss at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France.

It’s because of what he did in that Bahamian waste bunker. That afternoon, he made a mockery of golf’s underlying principle: Play the ball as it lies. 

Reed flattened a small sloping, inconvenient hillock of sand behind his ball with two practice swings. It got him a two-shot penalty but only because a Golf Channel camera let others see what Reed could see for himself. The player knows way more in these situations, typically, than a camera does. The players are golfing savants. That’s how they got on Tour in the first place. They can see it, and they can feel it.

I think this is well-argued, though I find it helpful sometimes to accept the premise offered.  For instance, I don't know whether Mike is actually right about a professional golfer knowing that his club is moving sand...  But play along and assume he didn't know...  then watching that video would come as quite the shock wouldn't it?  The reaction is all wrong, even accepting Patrick's take on things.

Of course, here's Mike's underlying point:

Reed is an impressive talent. I have always found him approachable. I have seen him in airports, in hotels, in locker rooms, in player parking, in pro-ams. He’s engaging. He’s alive. I don’t doubt that he’s had hardships in his life about which we don’t know. There’s much to admire about him. 

But he’s a professional golfer. His scorecard has to be sacred. All those other things take a distant second seat to that. But we don’t really know to what degree he values tournament golf’s most important principle, that the returned scores are 100 percent trustworthy.

And I would argue, to the contrary, that Patrick's comments after the Albany incident answers every one of Mike's questions.  Alas, in the negative...

In his remarks to reporters after his victory on Sunday, Reed was asked if he liked the feeling of the world being against him. 

“I’m used to it,” the winner said. “At the end of the day, all I can control is me and what I do on and off the golf course.”

Well, it's what you're doing on and off the course that is the issue.  I don't know whether Patrick is a capital-C cheater, or just very loose with the interpretation of the rules, though that may well be a distinction without a difference....

There have been quite a few "Silencing the critics" articles since his win, as well as this one:

Patrick Reed attacks a week of controversy at Mexico Championship with play (and headphones)

No word on whether said headphones had active noise cancellation, though Patrick went on his own noise cancellation protocol after the event:

Apparently it's easier to shush the haters at altitude. Although, Team Reed went on a Twitter blocking rampage following the victory, targeting everyone from fans to members of the media to fellow tour pros:

Nobody blocks Eddie.... Along with Max Homa, he's the best follow out there.

Before a typically graceful segue into our next item, allow me to fire up the Waybac Machine to March 2018.  Our hero is playing Bay Hill and calls in a rules official:

Patrick Reed was playing in the group in front of Woods for the second straight Sunday, and he became embroiled in a situation after launching his approach into an area of trees behind the 11th green. As captured by a fan video, Reed got into a lengthy discussion with an on-site rules official before being told that he would not receive the free relief he was requesting. 

"I guess my name needs to be Jordan Spieth, guys," Reed said, drawing laughs from a few gallery members.

It will simply have to remain one of life's enduring mysteries why Jordan didn't want to play with him in Paris.  I may not be sure whether Patrick is a Capital-C cheater, but I am dead certain that he's a Capital-A A*****e.

PGL Follies - The more thing change, the more they stay the same....  Brooks had some mildly interesting comments, including this obvious point:

Forget the PGA Tour, nobody’s ever accused Brooks Koepka of being overly loyal to the sport of golf. So it should come as no surprise that given the opportunity to voice his

support for the PGA Tour earlier today at the Honda Classic, Koepka declined. 

“I’m just going to play where the best players play, simple as [that],” Koepka said. “It doesn’t matter. I want to play against the best, I think everyone wants to play against the best.”

Ya think?  But that only emphasizes the prisoner's dilemma aspect of this thing, and the mess that a split verdict might provide.

The better nuggets are to be found in this lengthy GQ profile of the man.  Yes, I did say GQ.... First, on his issues with our game:

“One thing I'd change is maybe the stuffiness. Golf has always had this persona of the 

No stuffiness here.

triple-pleated khaki pants, the button-up shirt, very country club atmosphere, where it doesn't always have to be that way. That's part of the problem. Everybody always says, ‘You need to grow the game.’ Well, why do you need to be so buttoned-up? ‘You have to take your hat off when you get in here.’ ‘You're not allowed in here unless you're a member—or unless the member's here.’ Really? I just never really liked the country club atmosphere. I know that drives a lot of people away from liking me. But just 'cause this golf club has such prestige and the members are all famous and have a lot of money…like, why can't I show up and just go play the golf course? Why do I have to sit in my car and wait for the member?

Brooks Koepka, man of the people....  He's not the only guy that has an issue with the stuffiness of certain clubs, but I don't think they actually lock you in your car.

But wait, he's not done:

When we pulled up to the security hut at Medalist, something happened that hadn't even occurred to me as being possible. Medalist was closed for the day, and there wasn't any way Brooks or Ricky (or Dan) would be permitted access to the driving range or golf course. I've been denied access to enough golf courses in my life that it didn't really shock me in the moment, but as we drove 30 minutes in the opposite direction to another club, I let the indignation creep in. A golf course just denied access to the No. 1 golfer in the world, as though it were a perfectly ordinary thing to do, which apparently it was. Still, I tried to imagine the security guard at Yankee Stadium denying Derek Jeter batting practice. Or the high school A.D. with the keys to the gym denying LeBron James a shootaround. Wild. And precisely what Brooks had been referring to when he was lamenting all the things that golf gets so absurdly wrong at this critical juncture for the game. What side of society do you want to be on? The one that makes sense? The one that's open and inclusive? Or the one that's rigid, pedantic, exclusionary, stuffy—all for the sake of, what, the enforcement of rules for the sake of rules? It was a buzzkill.

OK, have you considered the fact that the club was just, you know, closed?  They do that occasionally....

But, apparently Brooks is immune to irony.  He hates the stuffiness and exclusivity of these clubs, but apparently they should open their gates instinctively for the No. 1 golfer in the world....  Not so much against exclusivity, he just wants to be on the list...

He takes on more opportunity to remind us that he's Brooks Koepka, and we're not:

“A lot of good things have come from it,” he said. “The Tour has been incredible to us, the way things have developed over the years. We have to see where things go. It’s all very new and it’s all very fast.” 

But what if the PGL makes him an astronomical offer to be one of its new team owners? 

“I know you’re going to write this the wrong way, but it doesn’t matter if somebody gave me $200 million tomorrow,” Koepka said. “It’s not going to change my life. What am I going to get out of it? I already have so much that I could retire right now, but I don’t want to. I just want to play golf. It’s not going to change anything. Maybe the only thing I do is buy a plane. That would be it. I don’t see anything that would change my life.”

Well, who wouldn't want a plane?  But he'd do himself some favors if he could close that mouth at a certain point.

One of the recurring themes of this PGL story is the acknowledgement, that changes need to be made to the PGA Tour, without providing any sense of what changes exactly?  Here's a priceless Billy Ho offering on this:

But Horschel, a new member of the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council, also added a third element to the current dynamic. Even those who have no interest in jumping ship, the PGL concept has sparked a conversation about the direction of the Tour. 

“I have no desire [to play on the PGL]. What [Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] has done is great. He understands that the Tour in its current form isn’t viable in the future,” Horschel said. “Changes are going to have to be made. What changes? I don’t know. The business model is great, it’s what we do with the players and the product. We may have to make some tweaks to the product to continue to be able to garner the money that we want.”

The business model is great, with only that pesky little bit about it being nonviable.... OK, there's a reason Billy is better known for his octopus pants than the clarity of his logic....

Gary Woodland as well:

“I think competition is good,” said Gary Woodland, who is represented by the same agent as Woods, Mark Steinberg. “I think the tour will be better for it. I think it will force the tour to make some changes. 

“It’ll be interesting. There’s still a long way to go and a lot to do in a short period of time, but I think the [PGA] Tour has realized it has to make some changes. I think the top players are getting together and trying to get things done. There’s a lot of things that could be done better out here to take care of the top players but also the bottom guys. I think there’s a lot more money for everybody. Hopefully that pushes the envelope.”

Got it.  We're gonna take care of the top guys, as well as the bottom guys.  No conflict there... Just remember, when they tell you it isn't about the money....

It's for sure about the money, but let's not forget the schedule....  Shack is all over this, with the weak fields at both the Mexico City WGC and the Honda.  When Tour pros give up no-cut events and home games, questions must be asked.  Shack has the weak ratings from Mexico City, now a result of Nascar and NBA, as well as that juggernaut XFL.  More troubling is this on the impact of the proposed change to the NFL schedule:

Major changes to the NFL regular season and playoff structure were presumably anticipated in the pending PGA Tour media rights deal, Which, presumably, is an $8 billion over ten years deal that will presumably be announced at The Players. 

Full NFL membership voting is around the corner and ratification would mean a 17-game schedule, a possible Labor Day weekend start (and perhaps why the Tour Championship vacated that weekend). The Super Bowl could eventually move closer to President’s Day (if not the Sunday prior), impacting a key stretch of West Coast games and undoubtedly influencing whether NFL players will be able to tee it up in the Crosby. Now this is getting serious! 

(Though that is not why some players, including Russell Wilson, are opposed.) 

While a 17 game schedule won’t happen until 2021 at the earliest, the NFL seems prepared to expand the playoffs for the 2020-21 season. Jeremy Schilling has been following this and explained today how early season tournaments, already drawing small audiences when going up against NFL games, will suffer continuing to insist on weekend finishes. In the immediate future, the Sentry Tournament of Champions appears to be most in line for increased competition with the expanded playoffs.

Inevitable NY Times headline:

NFL expands Schedule: Women, Minorities and PGA Tour hardest hit

The PGL's Andy Gardiner has come out from behind the curtain and made himself available to discuss his initiative.  I don't find the proposal as compelling as Geoff but, before a brief discussion thereof, I want to highlight this comment:

He said that because whether it was Gardiner, his agent or just Woods’ overall vision telling him what is becoming increasingly clear: the professional golf model is broken. And when Woods retires, it may recede into a very small corner of the sports universe.

Ummm...even with Tiger, golf is a small corner of the sports world.  I think our game gets itself into trouble when it forgets that salient detail...

That Q&A with Geoff can be found here, though as I reread it I'm finding it less interesting.  I'll let you sort through it it, the standout is this bit:

GS: How would you describe conversations you’ve had with the various tours? 

AG: So if you forgive me, Geoff, I won't talk about those conversations. I will say that, and in fact, I think the first paragraph of the letter of the PGA Tour put out to its members in relation to us, they said that we hadn't sought to engage with them directly. And that is true, but it's a timing thing. And there have been several guys who have sought to make an introduction over the last 12 months. The conversation hasn't happened because there was a time and a place, and I believe that we're very close to that time, and we should be able to find a place. I would travel anywhere in the world to have that conversation at any time. What I do want to do is make sure that if it ever comes to pass, then we have a good understanding of how other elements of the game would like that to happen so that we're best placed to make it a successful conversation. But yes, it is our strong desire, and I think that it's achievable.

So, you're expecting Jay to allow you to drink his milkshake?  I see nothing that would prevent that from being a successful conversation...

And one last bit, really just because he keeps asking for it:

‘This one cuts deep’: Greg Norman miffed by Rory McIlroy’s Premier Golf League opposition

Greg might want to see someone over these anger issues, but it all goes back to the 1990's:

That “Greg Norman thing” was the World Golf Tour, a globetrotting golf series, somewhat similar in structure to the PGL, that Norman proposed in 1994. With a TV

deal in place and the support, Norman believed, of many players, the concept seemed to have legs. But it foundered in the face of savvy PGA Tour maneuvering and vocal opposition from the King. Shortly after Norman announced his plan for the global series, Palmer came out publicly against it. Norman, who had what he describes as a close relationship with Palmer, was devastated. 

“I was blindsided, I felt backstabbed,” Norman said. “I’m listening to Arnold, with [then-PGA Tour commissioner] Tim Finchem standing beside him, chest puffed out for a 5-foot-4 guy, and I’m thinking, ‘Are you kidding? Why are you saying this?’” 

Actually, Norman had a pretty good idea why. 

The Aussie superstar was convinced that Palmer had been swayed by his management company, IMG, which owned and operated multiple PGA Tour events and had little interest in seeing a rival to the Tour succeed. 

“The Tour got to IMG and then IMG got to Arnold is my belief,” Norman said. “Nobody has spoken to me about it, but it is my understanding and my observation of the sequence of things.” (Palmer’s former spokesman, Doc Giffin, told GOLF.com that he recalls Palmer discussing Norman’s proposal with Palmer’s contacts at IMG and with the Tour after talking to Norman about it, “but I don’t think his opposition to it was influenced by either entity.”)

I absolutely love the gratuitous pokes at Nurse Ratched's puffed out chest, though it should come with a mandatory irony alert.  Because, needless to say, when it comes to puffed out chests, the Aussie is due a lifetime achievement award.... there's also the little vanity issue that has him constantly showing us his bared chest.

But Greg, you were taken by surprise that Nurse Ratched wanted this for his own?  As Kathleen Turner famously said, "You're not very bright, are you"?  I think it's great that he insists on revisiting this history, blissfully unaware of the unflattering portrait it paints....

Journalism 101 - My standards for sports journalism are pretty low, but not THIS low.  If you take a gander at the Golf.com homepage, you'll see a bunch of equipment-relate stories.  There's this:

How we completely reimagined ClubTest 2020 with the help of a robot and human testers

And this:

ClubTest 2020: 28 new game-changing drivers tested and reviewed

Before forking out $600 on that new driver they're so high on,. you want to know about this:

 Golf Magazine Names True Spec Its Best Fitter, Neglects To Mention Key Fact

 Hmmm, and what might that be?

…that the operation is owned by…the owner of Golf Magazine.

Nothing to see here....

It's good to be back with you, but I'll leave you good folks there.  Hope to see you all tyomorrow...