Thursday Threads

We promise, we deliver....

Castles In The Sand - Here's the funny part.... I teased you yesterday with some PReed catnip.... well, that's not entirely the case.  It was actually a copy-and-paste tease, Shack being the coquette in question.  But Geoff has nothing on this part of the Peter Kostis-No Laying Up podcast....  Is he protecting Patrick?

Peter Kostis has been walking fairways for CBS for years, and has seen a few things.  Some of what he's seen might be of interest:

“I’ve seen Patrick Reed improve his lie, up close and personal, four times now,” Kostis said, before explaining one of the situations, which happened in 2016 when Reed won

The Barclays at Bethpage Black. “That’s the only time I ever shut [Gary] McCord up. He didn’t know what to say, when I said, ‘Well, the lie that I saw originally wouldn’t have allowed for this shot.’ Cause he put four or five clubs behind the ball, kinda faking whether or not he was going to hit this shot or that shot. By the time he was done, he hit a freaking 3-wood out of there. It was a sand wedge lay-up originally.”

Now, my immediate reaction is to ask why this is the first we've heard of this?  But...it's been there all along:

Yowser!  I must say, notwithstanding that absence of the C-word, Peter makes pretty clear what he saw there.  Question No. 1:  Did Patrick receive a phone call from Ponte Vedra Beach on that?  How about from his fellow players?

Here's a quote you might find relevant.  It's PReed at the Prez Cup explaining that bit of excavating at the Hero:

But I wasn’t intentionally trying to improve the lie or anything like that. If I was, it would have been a pretty good lie and I would have hit it really close.”

Like at the Barclays?  Got it.

The next thing we should do, I suppose, is see what else Peter has:

“I was in the tower on 16 at [the Farmers Insurance Open in] San Diego, and [Reed] hit it over the green and did the same thing,” Kostis said. “He put three or four clubs behind it, and it was really a treacherous shot and nobody had gotten it close all day long from over there. By the time he was done, I could read ‘Callaway’ on the golf ball from my tower.” 

Kostis pointed to two more incidents — another in San Diego and one at the Travelers Championship in Hartford — where he claims to have seen Reed improve his lie. As for the question of whether Reed’s actions were intentional, Kostis stopped short of providing an answer. 

“I’m not going to assign intent, all I’m going to tell you is what I saw,” he said.

Witness testimony is notoriously unreliable, but this seems to meet all the markers of specificity, confirmability and lack of an ulterior motive.  Yeah, Peter is pissed, as we saw yesterday, but there's no reason to think he's pissed at Patrick....  And, obviously, unsupported allegations of this type would undermine his criticisms of CBS, the Tour and just about everyone else in the golf world.  But it's quite damning because of its obvious similarity to that which we all saw at Albany...  

Firing up the Waybac machine to early December 2019, we discussed in those days whether or not Patrick's actions were appropriately considered cheating.  As Peter himself notes, intent is a difficult thing to judge from the outside, but I thought that a hard rap to make stick.  It just seemed inconceivable to me that a player on Tour as long as Reed wouldn't have internalized the concept that you're always on camera....  And, per Occam's Razor, my tendency is towards the simplest explanation.

But I also made a couple of other points.  First, I saw no point in forcing the C-word label on him, when his actual sins were sufficient.  His reaction was so off-putting, his own words confirming his lack of fidelity to the rules of the game.  And I do believe that that's what folks were instinctively reacting to.  But the other thing I noted is that if the man is that kind of cheater, then surely there are other witnesses that we'll hear from.  

Contra Koepka, and I dare you to say that five times quickly, Peter actually thinks this is a rarity (out there, not for our hero):

But with multiple alleged incidents now involving Reed, does rule-breaking run rampant on Tour? 

“No. It’s rare, it’s really, really rare on the PGA Tour; 99.9 percent of the guys play by the rule book,” Kostis said. “It’s been my experience that people who are trying to get away with something think they’re invisible. That nobody’s watching, that they’re so cool doing it that nobody will get it.”

Patrick cool?  That's quite the stretch....

Now, about those Ryder Cup captains' picks...  I've long been puzzled by what Tiger sees in this man, especially when the man himself disrespects Tiger.  From the Paris Ryder Cup most folks focused on his manspat with Jordan, whereas I thought it was his treatment of Tiger that would cause him long-term issues.  His public questioning of the Jordan divorce implied an unhappiness at being paired with Tiger, allegedly his hero.  But the worst of it, I assumed, was when he told Karen Crouse that Tiger had apologized to him for his play.  Given the rigidly-enforced Omerta in Tigerland, I thought that would get him voted off the island....

The first obvious question is what have others seen?  I certainly don't see that anyone has rushed to a microphone to defend that man, though I'm also unclear as to when that NLU podcast was actually available.  Patrick is in the field in Mexico City, so I would imagine someone will broach this topic.... 

The second obvious point is that I'm especially interested in the reactions of those U.S. Presidents Cup teammates.  They were in quite the compromised position for sure, and none more so than Webb Simpson....  I'm awfully happy that Webb won recently, but about that interjection of "Unfairly" Webb?  Any second thoughts?

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But the other question I'll leave you with is what were Peter's obligations here?  He couldn't have been clearer on that Barclays broadcast, but should he have gone public?  I have no ax to grind with Peter, and no interest in criticizing him on this.  But I also know that the Tour would bury this in a heartbeat...  Let me pose the question this way:  As golf fans, what would we have the Peters of the world do if they see a guy cheating?  Discuss among yourselves....

That's A Wrap - So, Rory?  It so happens, it's not just Caroline's heart that he's broken:

MEXICO CITY -- Rory McIlroy dealt a serious blow to the prospects of the proposed

Premier Golf League, saying Wednesday that he is not in favor of a plan that would see the top players splitting from the PGA Tour for a guaranteed financial windfall on a rival circuit.

"The more I've thought about it, the more I don't like it,'' McIlroy said at Chapultepec Golf Club, site of this week's WGC-Mexico Championship. 

"The one thing as a professional golfer in my position that I value is the fact that I have autonomy and freedom over everything I do," he said. "I pick and choose -- this is a perfect example.

Got it.  This would be the money quote:

So for me, I’m out.

Now, my experience is that when people say they're out, sometimes they're actually, you know, out.  Other times, it's more of a negotiating ploy, as one could learn from this authoritative precis on the topic.  And Rory recently let us know that he's an avid reader....

I do take him at his word, though there are a couple of curious aspects to his comments.  The first fills out Rory's thought process from the except above:

"Some guys this week made the choice not to come to Mexico. If you go and play this other golf league, you're not going to have that choice. I read a thing the other day where it said if you take the money they can tell you what to do. And I think that's my thing, I've never been one for being told what to do, and I like to have that autonomy and freedom over my career, and I feel like I would give that up by going to play this other league.

I don't know what he read, but it certainly wasn't a logic primer...  The WGCs were designed to ensure that we'd see the top global players head-to-head, and noting their failure to do so is that which an attorney would call an admission against interest.  

This is the other mildly curious point he makes:

My position is I'm against it until there may come a day that I can't be against it. If everyone else goes, I might not have a choice, but at this point, I don't like what they're proposing.''

I certainly get that that's a remote possibility, I just don't know why he felt compelled to say it.

Shack asks this in his post on the subject:

Will Rory's Stance Torpedo The Premier Golf League?

Here's his take:

Given the strength of the professional game in so many ways, it’s fairly stunning that there is even a split in the first place. And that split seems bound to force significant changes, regardless of the PGL’s fate. 

In looking at McIlroy’s comments more closely, it’s no coincidence his stance comes after a wonderful week at a historic tournament and venue, with the revitalized Florida swing looming. So it’s nice to see a sentimental player still exists. 

However, that McIlroy also opened the door to joining a mass exodus, hardly makes his stance fatal.

Now, if Tiger reiterated what McIlroy said about the Premier Golf League? That’s a different story.

I'm going to shimmy way out on a limb and predict with absolute certainty that time will tell...Hey, I always say, be bold or go home.

I think it's a stretch to call it fatal, but it's also hard to see another player that's more important to their undertaking.  Ultimately the PGL has to stage golf tournaments, and Good Luck, Sir! if you think that it's Tiger and Phil that will bring the eyeballs for a tour commencing in 2022 at the earliest.  Can I interest you in anew set of mortality tables?

Yesterday I spoke of the Prisoners' Dilemma game theory, though without that link, so just ponder how much harder their job became.  Even if Rory wasn't actually on board, the mere fact that he might sign on would be part of the hard sell.  It's simply inconceivable that this could go forward with the Ulsterman...

Geoff I think also overstates this comment from Tiger:

“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.’’

Sure, Saudi princes have a lot of money to piss away....And when this guy is the voice of reason...

“It’s interesting but for me it’s not that interesting,” said Bryson DeChambeau. “If you can’t get the top guys, then what’s the point?”

The more interesting point to me, because I never saw this achieving lift-off, is whether some good can come of this.  In fact, Rory's initial reaction was speculation as to what could be improved on the PG Tour, though I haven't seen a reporter ask the obvious follow-up question.  We have hints of it in Rory's comments, but have to make assumptions and the like.

Matt Kuchar is in Mexico and relieved to be talking about anything but caddie compensation:

“It’s intriguing,” Kuchar said of the PGL. “If you could design a better version of the PGA Tour, it wouldn’t look like the current version. What we have is awesome, [but] I think there’s a lot of hope that the Tour moves in a direction that is slightly different moving forward, and guys like Rory have an influence on that direction.” 

Those directions, according to a source, could include more prize money, potentially fewer events and therefore a shorter season, and the possibility of incentivizing stars for playing in certain events (or, again, for money).

Of course one can't tear it all down in the real world, but the guy that would most like to do so might just be Jay Monahan.  Because in that perfect world the PGA Tour would control at least one major and the Ryder Cup.  This running the world thing is never as easy as it looks on TV....

One more related item, although interestingly this is related to a number of our recent themes.  We've had Geoff waxing poetic about the epic week at Riviera, the historic venue, the perfectly firmandfast conditions, and that great final round grouping.  So, how did everybody like it?  Let me rephrase, how did both of you enjoy it?

Comparing the 2019 Genesis Open with the 2020 Genesis Invitational’s numbers, it appears the golf audience tuned in like normal on Golf Channel and for Saturday’s CBS broadcast. 

But Sunday’s final round featuring a strong leaderboard and compelling finish drew a 2.03 overnight according to ShowBuzzDaily.com, down significantly over 2019’s 3.0.

The loss of essentially 1.3 million 18-49 year olds is most likely attributable to a new entry on the sports TV landscape this year: XFL football. The Genesis ran up against a Dallas-LA game on ABC that drew a 1.52 overnight rating and just under a million 18-49 year olds.

The 2019 Genesis drew a 1.0 Saturday when a rain delay eliminated live golf, so 2020’s 1.47 featuring live action understandably saw a huge uptick. Golf Channel’s coverage also remained largely steady, signaling that Sunday’s Genesis killer was XFL football and an absence of Tiger Woods contending.

Speaking of football, the NFL has unveiled a planned playoff expansion starting in 2021, with a 17-game season in 2022. Both would have significant impacts on early season PGA Tour golf.

Your worried about Saudi princes, and the XFL is drinking your milkshake....  CBS has become the Deet of the broadcast world, it's active ingredient repels viewers, but we remain a niche sport at best with a tiny, apparently insufficiently loyal audience.  So yeah, I'm thinking alarm bells should be sounding in PVB...

Mexican Re-runs - At liberty last evening, my channel-flipping led me to the replay of the final round from last year's event in Mexico City, in which they replayed this still unbelievable shot:

When Tiger Woods hit that incredible, helicopter-finish bunker shot around a tree at the par-4 ninth at the 2019 WGC-Mexico, it felt like a real turning point in the event. It happened to be his final hole of the day, and a birdie would have given him a six-under 65. It was surely going to be a vintage Tiger finish to a vintage Tiger

Sheesh!  You two want to get a room?  

But Woods missed the putt, settling for a 66 and a momentum-killing par. On Saturday three bogeys and a double kept him out of serious contention, and he wound up finishing 13 shots back of winner Dustin Johnson, rendering the Friday bunker magic somewhat irrelevant.

That doesn't make the shot any less memorable

That's pretty bad framing work.  Memorable golf shots are, well, memorable, for reasons that fall into two broad categories.  The first is the context of the shot, think Sarazan at Augusta, and the second the the shear brilliance, difficulty or elan of the shot.  This one was none of the former, but oh so good as to the latter...

They've placed a plaque there, hopefully not in the bunker, not that any of us care.  There's also video of the shot, and give it a look if you're struggling to place the memory.  It's really good, because you see him practicing the exaggerated, as well as the trees he needs to circumvent, but that's just the appetizer...  What makes this memorable, is that crazy first bounce on the turf....  I've always said that there is nothing more exciting in our game than the action of the ball on the ground, but this one is just sick.

But I was also reminded of another incident, one that I was quite unhappy about.  Rory played with DJ in that final round, and early in the day DJ was granted relief from a cartpath under what I'll characterize as a most charitable of rulings.  

A hole or two later, Rors found himself in somewhat similar circumstances, though here it was clear to the TV viewer that no such relief should be granted.  The cameras caught Rory making a case that he would play the shot a certain way, and it was perfectly clear that he would do no such thing.  The rules official, bless his soul, denied relief and can you guess what Rory did next?

He played the shot left-handed.....  which means that his discussion with said rules official was a lie.  Which is, pardon the candor, cheating.  

Now, I like Rory, as I hope was clear from the discussion above.  I'd like him to do certain things differently to improve his game, but there aren't too many guys on Tour that I'd prefer to join for an adult beverage.  Rory tries to be more open with us, and I really appreciate that from him and I'm not remotely suggesting that he be banished from polite society.

But this was wrong, and I'm not sure that anyone has ever told him how wrong it was....  We all slip up and at times we all push the rules to their breaking point, I would be happy to share a couple of my own such incidents if that's of interest.  The question to me is, do these guys get such feedback?  Because I'm thinking they should, but probably don't.