Tomorrow is a travel day, so you'll have to prepare yourselves emotionally for my absence....
The Tiger Beat - This week's host had much to say in his presser, but let's start with the actual golf. A writer with the unlikely name of JuliaKate E. Culpepper, and isn't that a mouthful, stakes out controversial ground:
Tiger Woods: Getting win No. 83 at Riviera would be meaningful
She's courting controversy with that one, no?
In 1992, Woods made his PGA Tour debut at Riviera in the Los Angeles Open as a 16-year-old. Woods has returned to the course several times over his career but alwaysleaves the same way — winless. His best finish on the course was T-2 at the then Nissan Open in 1999, a season in which he led the Tour with eight wins, including back-to-back wins at the National Car Rental Golf Classic Disney and Tour Championship.
Woods’ attraction to Riviera is not only because it’s 40 miles from where he grew up in Cypress, California, or because he now hosts the Genesis Invitational which benefits his TGR Foundation. It’s not even the fact that a win on the course has eluded the 15-time major champion over nearly three decades. The course is meaningful because Woods remembers standing in awe of golf icons from his childhood play on the same course he now plays.
And who were those heroes? Surprisingly, names like Corey Pavin and Lanny Wadkins come up. As does this guy, with whom his subsequent history wasn't nearly so warm:
Woods then seemed to lose himself in a memory he said he didn’t think he’d previously shared from one of his first visits to Riviera. He recalled being near the 11th tee as ayoung spectator and hearing that Tom Watson was coming up the eighth hole.
“Tom hit his ball to the back left pin to the left of the green and I’m basically one of the only ones over there and Bruce (Edwards) was on the bag and I’m standing and looking at the golf ball and he comes over and says, ‘Move out of the way, kid,’ and pushes me out of the way,” Woods said. “And so when I was getting out on Tour and telling him this story he says, ‘Well, you were in the way.’
“So for me to have experiences like that here at Riv (Riviera) and to have now this being my event and hopefully on Sunday, we’ll be having this discussion a little bit more.”
I think we can all agree that Tiger was in the way....
ESPN's Bob Harig is a pro's pro, and also has the good sense to limit his byline to two names.... But he puts his finger on two more relevant aspects of the the week, first the long game:
Tiger's return
After two weeks off, host Tiger Woods is playing his first event since a tie for ninth atthe Farmers Insurance Open, giving him two top-10s this season, along with his victory in October at the Zozo Championship.
This is the start of what promises to be a busy stretch for Woods leading to his Masters defense. Although he has yet to announce any tournament plans beyond the Genesis, Woods is expected to play next week's WGC-Mexico Championship. He then could be expected to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, meaning four tournaments in five weeks.
If he follows last year's run-up, he would then add the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play as his final event prior to the Masters.
Thanks for the reminder, Bob.... No doubt he wouldn't mind winning this week, but this is all about being ready in April. And, come to think of it, that wouldn't be a bad 83rd win....
But there's also a reminder from Bob that buried deep within the walls of Riviera's clubhouse must be some Kryptonite:
But of course there is that pesky bit of history: Woods has 13 appearances in the various forms of the L.A. Open without a victory -- the most of any tournament that he has not won, surpassing the 10 visits to the Northern Trust (played at various courses). He does have four top-10s and two runner-ups (one came at Valencia Country Club) and tied for 15th last year.
The 2019 tournament was played in cold, rainy conditions with several delays -- not a good formula for Woods' bad back. The fact he managed a top-15 finish was a positive, and he should be helped by a better -- although still chilly -- forecast this week.
He's played surprisingly badly at The Riv, making him...., err, what's that word...human? Well, perhaps quasi-human....
That Presser - OK, not one of those effortless segues on which my reputation is staked, but it gets us where we need to go. This will no doubt go a little long, but first about that upstart golf league:
Q. Tiger, have you personally been approached about the Premier Golf League concept and what do you think of the whole idea?
TIGER WOODS: Have I been personally approached? Yes, and my team's been aware of it and we've delved into the details of it and trying to figure it out just like everyone else. We've been down this road before with World Golf Championships and other events being started, or other tours want to evolve and started. There's a lot of information that we're still looking at and whether it's reality or not, but just like everybody else, we're looking into it.
I most liked that repeating back of the question, a longstanding tactic to buy time.... Buy time for what? Not sure, you'd think that he'd have anticipated the question...
Q. Why do you think something like that would even have a possibility? Is there something not right out here that you would like to see better?
TIGER WOODS: I think that just like all events, you're trying to get the top players to play more collectively. It's one of the reasons why we instituted the World Golf Championships, because we were only getting together five times a year, the four majors and THE PLAYERS, and we wanted to showcase the top players on more than just those occasions. We came up with the World Golf Championships and we're meeting more often. And so this is a natural evolution, whether or not things like this are going to happen, but ideas like this are going to happen going forward, whether it's now or any other time in the future.
I've been thinking about this issue a bit. Tiger's answer is both on topic and quite disingenuous, as the world looks quite different than it did in the 90's. Not only do we have those WGCs, but the Invitationals on the PGA Tour, as well as PGA Tour events in far flung corners of the world.
It seems to me that the PGL is attempting to exploit pent-up demand for head-to-head match-ups between and among the small number of marquee players. But, and it's a big BUT, that's actually not a feature of our game. Oh, it happens, think Tom v. Jack in the sun at Turnberry... But, while the appeal of such a shoot-out is obvious, less obvious is that if you structure your tour to accomplish that, you probably don't get Tiger v. Bob May. And that was pretty exciting, no?
More to the point, the way to get there is to limit field sizes... And with a tiny field, the distinction between the Premier Golf League and the Hero World Challenge gets blurred. One cannot have it both ways, methinks.
Tiger was also asked to address the Distance Insight Project:
Q. Tiger, how do you see the discussion around the distance insights study evolving and how would you like to see that discussion resolved?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I've always said that the game of golf, it's fluid, it's moving. The golf ball is certainly going a lot further than the balata days. We've changed it from using a tree to using high-tech metal. We've come a long way in this game. What's been crazy, I've been a part of all that. My career when I first started, I beat Davis Love in a playoff and he was using a persimmon driver. To see the technology advance as fast as it has, the average distance was, from when I first came out on here, if you carry it 270, it took a lot of trouble out of play. Now guys are hitting their hybrids and 5-woods 270 in the air. So the game has evolved and it's changed. We're running out of property to try and design golf courses that are from the back 7,800 to 8,000 yards, it's difficult.But on top of that, we want to keep the game so enjoyable and we've trying to get more participation, and having the larger heads, more forgiving clubs, it adds to the enjoyment of the game. So there's a very delicate balancing act where we're trying to keep the game at, but also as we've all recognized, the players have changed over the years, too. When I first came out it was just Vijay and myself in the gyms and now seems like everyone has their own trainer and physios and guys got bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic like all sports.
A pretty good history lesson... But I especially like that bit about the boys carrying 5-woods 270, because it exposes the perfidy of the USGA/R&A. In their recent reports, since the onset of the sold core golf ball, they've been slicing and dicing driving distance data mercilessly, thinking we might not notice that the guys were hitting it so much further that they no longer even needed to pull driver....
Q. Just to follow up on that, can we put you down for bifurcation or do you still want to read the report and kind of think that through?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think that is certainly on discussion, it's on the table whether we bifurcate or not. It's only one percent of the guys or women that are going to be using that type of equipment, but we want to keep the game enjoyable, we want to keep having more kids want to come play it. It's so difficult now, I mean, with everyone walking around with their head down because they can't get away from their mobile device to come out here and play a game that's hopefully more on the slow side, we want to have that type of enjoyment. Part of the discussion going forward is do we bifurcate or not. That's, you know, it's going to be probably even well after my career and my playing days that we will figure that out.
I'm sorry, the question is about the B-word, and he's goes off on the Millennials because they don't take their noses out of their phones. I've long copped to being in the "Get off my lawn" stage of life, it's nice to have Tiger join me... Next thing we know, he'll show up in Mexico playing Union Green golf balls...
Lastly, its effect on timeless, Golden Age architecture:
Q. Tiger, one more thing on the distance. Riviera seems maybe as well as any other course to have withstood the test of time and the changes, I mean, without having to add five, six, seven hundred yards. What is it about this place that's allowed it do that?
TIGER WOODS: You know, it has and it hasn't. We've lengthened 12, redone 8, they've moved a few tees back. Yes, the alleyways are still the same, but when they moved No.12 back, what, 70yards, it used to be just a 1-iron and a wedge and now you're hitting driver and 4-iron. Yeah, there have been some holes that they're able to extend, but for the most part the confines are what they are here. So where they've tried to add distance, they have, but there's really nowhere to go.
I don't know how to square "It has and it hasn't" with "It is what it is"....Never mind.
Our Long National Nightmare Has Ended - Please tell me the guys in the locker room are now calling him "Three Gloves":
Former PGA Tour winner Tommy Gainey, who was arrested in Polk County, Fla., inDecember for soliciting a prostitute and facing a first-degree misdemeanor charge, will avoid jail after agreeing to serve 11 months probation, according to court records.
Gainey, who was one of 124 people nabbed in a large-scale six-day undercover sting dubbed “Operation Santa’s Naughty List,” was also ordered take a human trafficking class, serve up to 100 hours of community service and will pay fines and fees totaling $6,218.60.
There are classes to teach us how to traffic in humans? Who knew?
I'm a libertarian, so I don't care one way or the other what he might have done. My only interest is that he be safe out there... Glad he's got this behind him, and he actually got his season off to a strong start. Of course, I can't resist the siren song of cheap humor....
Mandatory Reading Of The Day - As often happens, today's mandatory piece was penned by Mike Bamberger, typecast to represent the better angels of our nature. Mike sees a way forward amid our distance debate, though one of these guys seems ill-cast to represent the mystic chords of my memory (you'll have to Google it if the references are unknown):
How Tiger and Phil (yes, Phil!) could help the rulesmakers shape the distance debate
Egads, has it gotten that bad?
As often happens in such things, Mike is hearkening back to a more innocent time:
To reach us, they need Arnold. And since Arnold Palmer is not available, they need his closest heir: Tiger-‘n-Phil.
Arnie, huh? And you think our Phil is qualified to carry the King's jockstrap?
Arnold, a son of the working class, wanted the status blazered patricians could confer. Those well-mannered men wanted to reach Arnold’s everyday people. (Us.) We wanted to hang with Arnold in whatever way we might. Everybody hits.
In 1975, Palmer was given an actual USGA title, honorary chairman of the USGA Members Program, and his name and title was on hundreds of thousands of bag tags. It helped in every possible way.
Perhaps, but there was a later spot of bother between the King and his Court, as Mike to his credit relates. It wasn't Arnie's best moment, but to me it just makes him, what's that word again, yeah, human.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Mike's piece is his interpretation of recent history:
This is little-known and less understood: If Woods, along with Palmer, had been against the USGA/R&A anchored putting ban, first announced in 2013, it never would have happened. Their support of the ban gave Tim Finchem, then the PGA Tour commissioner, all the firepower he needed. The dispute turned into the PGA of America versus the USGA and once the PGA Tour was on the USGA’s side, that ban was going through, whether it was good for the game or not. Finchem, the craftiest of politicians, played the PGA of America like Isaac Stern played his fiddle. It wasn’t even a fair fight.
Color me a little skeptical here, though perhaps interesting for gaming out the next battle among The Five Families.
But Phil? You're serious, Mike?
It won’t be easy, at all, to get Tiger on board with this current USGA effort, but it can be done. Nicklaus could surely help. But getting Phil on board will be more challenging yet. For one thing, he is an iconoclastic thinker. He draws much of his strength from thinking for himself. Nobody, really, talks him into anything.
I'd rather folks would have talked him out of a few actions.... I've got a list right here.
Mickelson’s golf career has been defined by his play in USGA events and his relationship with the USGA. He won the U.S. Amateur in 1990. He’s finished second six times in U.S. Opens. You almost wouldn’t think that is possible. His antipathy toward the USGA is part of his legend.
OK, I'll concede his U.S. Open frustration is a meaningful part of his legacy, but so are those three Masters and his bushelful of other wins.
About five years ago, the USGA offered Mickelson its most prestigious award, the Bob Jones Award. He turned it down. Last week, Mickelson said he would not accept an exemption for the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot were he offered one. He has often complained publicly about how the USGA sets up courses for U.S. Opens, before, after and during play. (See: 2013 U.S. Open, Merion, fourth round, par-3 third hole. “That’s terrible, 274 yards,” Mickelson said to Mike Davis of the USGA. “We can’t even reach it.”) Then there was his hockey moment on the 13th green in the third round of the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
I had forgotten that Bobby Jones award thing... Awkward.
If somebody could somehow convince Mickelson that golf, at every level, would be better on shorter courses with balls and clubs that pack less heat than what is being sold today, that could be the start of a true revolution.
I've got whiplash, because I had been reliably informed that "Nobody, really, talks him into anything."
But what, really, is the evidence that Phil remotely cares about the future of our game? He's a man with an acute sense of what matters to Phil, but above and beyond that? Mike does note the irony that the distance issue drops just as Phil has been gloating about his newfound speed.... But it goes so much deeper than that, methinks. Mike is projecting a Phil that doesn't exist n the real world, to what I think is amusing effect.
Is There a Mirror Involved? - Headlines I never expected to see:
Why Greg Norman is trying to find Greg Norman’s biggest fan
Easy pickings for sure.... But, to the best of my knowledge, there's only one person that actually commissioned a bust of the topless one:
We have a winner!
Geeks Only Need Apply - I try to give you nice folks a warning when I veer into architectural geekdom, because it's not for everyone. Golf.com has published two items exploring the Macdonald template holes, actually more appropriate for those without pocket protectors:
What is a ‘Short’ hole, plus how identifying one can help your game
Do I really need this one explained to me? It’s just a hole that’s … short, right?
For the most part, yes, you’re right. A Short is a template hole and almost always the shortest hole on the course, putting a wedge or shorter iron in your hand. But there’s more to it than that. Architects aren’t just giving you a reprieve when they put a Short in front of you, they are specifically testing different parts of your game.
But doesn’t short mean easy?
If you’re precise with your short irons, maybe. But Short template holes have their own challenges. Traditionally these holes have large greens with significant undulations. An inaccurate shot may still put you on the green, but will leave you with a long and difficult putt. Even short putts can be difficult if left in a problematic position or above the hole.
In this case, the original is off the beaten path:
OK, so where’s the original Short hole?
The original Short hole is the current 4th at Royal West Norfolk Golf Club in Brancaster, England, designed by Holcombe Ingleby. Like the rest of the template designs, C.B Macdonald brought the strategy to America with him and designed many of the best in the world along with Seth Raynor. Though, like many of the templates, the best architects learned from the masters and found their own spins on these classics.
This seems more complicated an explanation than necessary, and this seems quite wrong:
A Short hole can be thrilling for a lot of reasons, but what makes it great is that you can see all of it. The green is right there for the taking — the hole feels so close. (You’d kill for an approach this short on any other hole.) The added pressure surely leads to many bad misses, and the heavy bunkering around the green makes for a difficult up and down. What appears to be a good chance at birdie from the tee can quickly turn into disaster. That’s the brilliance of the design. Sometimes giving players exactly what they’ve been yearning for is the perfect strategy to make them choke.
While Shorts are not without strategy (placing your ball in the right portion of the green is important), they also fall under the heroic school of golf course architecture. There is less strategy here. You see the green and hole, and now you have to hit the shot to a dramatic green.
That last bit is quite strange... a short hole seems to me the antithesis of heroic architecture. The point is simply to test the players distance control.... Hitting the green is easy, placing the ball in the correct spot on the green is less so.
But some of the famous shorts are discussed, including this one quite accessible for many of my readers:
The thumbprint that Gil Hanse returned to the 16th at Sleepy Hollow is it's own interesting bit. Notably, it was not there when I played the course, hence the decision that this will be an early stop for our traveling E=Wednesday game.
Also, color me skeptical about knowing the nature of the template will help your game. It can't hurt, but as the guys like to say, it's all in front of you.
The next in the series deals with an Eden Hole:
Where did the Eden hole originate?
The original Eden is the 11th at the Old Course at St Andrews called, “High-Hole-In.” The hole is the furthest from the clubhouse and is bordered along the back by the Eden river, where the template derives its name. Like the other templates, C.B. Macdonald brought the idea from the hole back to the United States and implemented it in many of his designs. Many consider the Eden the second-best par-3 design in the world, right behind the Redan.
The par-3 11th at St. Andrews has a severe green that slopes from back to front, The so steep that downhill putts often roll right off the green. There are four distinct hazards on the 11th that have been adapted for an Eden template hole. Not every Eden has all of these features, but they usually have most of these. There is the hill bunker on the left front side of the green, the Strath’s bunker on the front, a cockleshell shaped bunker short of the green, and the Eden river (often reimagined as a bunker) running behind the green.
It's usually called the Eden Estuary, but whatevah....
He's focused on the green and the penal bunkering, all integral to the hole's difficulty (and make no mistake, the original is a brute of a Par-3). I do think he misses one important element, which is that the Eden behind the green denies the player any depth perception.
It's fun stuff, and one can gloriously waste hours discussing the relative merits of the various versions of the template.
I will likely see you next on Friday.
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