Tuesday Tidbits

March is renown for coming in like a lion, and departing like a.... well, obviously this year it's no lamb.   It so happens that per the Chinese calendar it's the Year of the Rat.  We'll go with that for now...

Schedule Madness - Shack has a long post up on the jigsaw puzzle that is our golf calendar.  I'm not sure there's anything above and beyond what we had yesterday, but he does cite this reasonable source:

McDowell said it’s a question of prioritizing the schedule whenever the PGA Tour restarts its season and finding ways to play the game’s biggest events in a sensible way. 

“I can’t imagine the jigsaw puzzle the European Tour and the PGA Tour have on their hands,” he said. “If we could be back to playing golf around June you could argue four solid months for the [Ryder Cup] qualifying process. Could you pick two teams of 12 that could reinject some adrenaline back into golf, then I’d be fully supportive of it.” 

However, McDowell said finding the proper way to fit those puzzle pieces together shouldn’t necessarily be contingent on playing the Ryder Cup as scheduled, with the Masters and PGA Championship already postponed by the pandemic. 

“To me the major championships take priority over the Ryder Cup,” McDowell said. “It’s only going to be a viable opportunity if we feel good about the qualifying process and we feel the teams are legitimate. It’s such a difficult question.”

Jay Monahan hardest hit.  I'm not sure that Graeme has all that much juice, but it seems a rather obvious priority, no?  Of course The Ulsterman elides the fact that several of the majors have their own qualification process....

Obviously Mr. Monahan will not shed a tear at March giving way to April, as he pretty much squandered his reputation for a mess of pottage during the former.  He'll be arguing against the other five families (plus a certain Mr. Pelley) to maintain a spot for his events, but also will have a rearguard action (presumably) of picking certain events (cough**FedEx Cup** cough) over other events and their sponsors.  Should be entertaining....

Current Conventional Wisdom has the PGA Championship actually benefiting from their move to May:

First up is the PGA of America. Because its PGA Championship has already been

postponed, it has a jump-start on finding a new date. Though the heads of golf's governing bodies are in coordination with one another, there remains a degree of competition and self-interest. In short, although TPC Harding Park is a venue where a tournament can be played well into the fall, the PGA of America is targeting the late July, early August date vacated by the Olympics.

The byline on that Golf Digest item is amusingly "ByJoel BeallBrian Wacker".  My kingdom for an ampersand....

The astute reader will note that the PGA was hardly the first major to be postponed...  But also, San Fran in late July seems awfully optimistic.  Goeff links to this Global Golf Post item that seems to have been bypassed by facts on the ground, but can't we all agree that this is about as unimportant as it gets:

Television factors into the equation as well, with the behemoth that is the NFL seemingly still ready to re-emerge in September. CBS, which televises the Masters, and Fox Spots, which airs the U.S. Open, would have serious scheduling issues.

It would actually be interesting to see how a Fall Masters would fare against the NFL.  Those that remember the history of that Fox-USGA contract know that the USGA has long coveted the Masters' ratings.  This could be the year in which they achieve them....

But doesn't it seem like this is way overly-optimistic:

The intention to return in mid-May at Colonial was echoed in this Daniel Rappaport story about the PGA Tour’s loan program for players based on their FedExCup status.

Rushing back fr a dead spot on the schedule seems.... ill-advised.  I don't mean to be harsh, but nobody will mourn missing Colonial for a year.  

Random Acts of Kindness - Setting aside the aforementioned tone-deaf PGA Tour Commish, the golf world seems to have its priorities in order.  First this:

Add Augusta National to the growing list of golf clubs giving back during the coronavirus crisis. The club is donating $2 million toward coronavirus relief efforts, Augusta chairman Fred Ridley announced Monday. 

“It is our hope these gifts will help address the many challenges brought about by the coronavirus throughout the City of Augusta and the greater region,” Ridley said in a statement. “We believe Augusta National has an important responsibility to support and protect the community who has so generously and consistently supported us for many years.” 

A pair of local organizations working to stop the spread of the virus will split the gift equally. Augusta University will receive $1 million to expand testing capabilities in the area, while another million will be donated to the Central Savannah River Area’s COVID-19 relief fund.

And this:

Millions of Americans are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic, and among

those are thousands of caddies who work at courses that are now closed. It appears loopers at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., are about to get a boost, thanks to one of the club's most high-profile members. 

Larry David, creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and friend Lloyd Braun have started a GoFundMe to raise money for caddies at the storied club. As of Friday afternoon, the fundraiser has generated more than $100,000 in six days. NFL quarterback Tom Brady is among the list of donations (TB12 gave $2,000, according to the list of donations), as is social-media star Bob Menery, and David himself, who appears to have given $5,000. Michael Yamaki, Riviera's corporate officer, confirmed that the GoFundMe appeared to be legitimate. Riviera, No. 23 on Golf Digest's most recent ranking of America's 100 Greatest courses, has hosted the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational for years. The club is closed as a state-wide shelter-at-home order has been issued, with courses in California closed as they are seen as non-essential, though in states like Connecticut, they are allowed to operate.

And via Geoff, the previously unknown to me Summit Golf Brands:

Q: So a part of you is busy with that and part is surely paying attention to what’s

happening in the world. At what point did you realize you might be able to help? 

A: A week ago Thursday, we got an email through our customer-service department from one of our customers who had suggested that we could make masks for emergency-care workers. I spent the weekend developing a first prototype. We got on a conference call on Monday to discuss, then looped in our Wisconsin warehouse team who would be responsible for executing. I sent my first prototype out to them. Then through our in-house embroidery and heat-sealing machinery developed two prototypes that we then took to the Wisconsin Emergency Management Agency.

They own Fairway & Green and Zero Restriction...  Keep those names in mind for later, and buy something from them if you can.

The folks at Pinehurst put on their thinking caps and auctioned off some unique experiences:

• The Dornoch Cottage Ultimate Trip—Three rounds of golf plus two nights for your foursome in Donald Ross’ home off the third green at Pinehurst No. 2. 

• Play all 10 Pinehurst Courses—Two players get a six-night stay in the Carolina Hotel, mirroring a real-life escape trip by Barstool Golf’s Sam Riggs Bozoian.

• Play No. 4 with Gil Hanse—The man who redesigned the course will join your foursome.

• Reserve The Cradle for half a day—Play your own music, play in 10-somes, play holes backward. “It’s all your call because the course is yours.” 

• Create your own beer—You’ll collaborate with the head brewer from Pinehurst Brewing Company to develop your own brew, from planning the recipe, brewing, naming and drinking.

• Pick the range at Maniac Hill—Hop in the range picker and dodge balls from menacing sharpshooters at Pinehurst’s practice facility.

Is Maniac Hill still used?  I believe I have a print of this iconic photo of Bobby Jones on Maniac Hill:

Not sure of the year, but that's Horton Smith watching on the right.  This update just in:

UPDATED, March 29: In a little more than 24 hours, More than $126,000 had been raised and six additional items were put online, including a round of golf at Pinehurst No. 2 with Bill Coore, who along with Ben Crenshaw helped restore the course ahead of the 2014 U.S. Open, and a visit to the future site of Pinehurst No. 10.

After 9/11, Pine Valley auctioned of a couple of Mondays of tee times.  We were in Scotland, but if anyone notices such a thing this time, kindly drop me a note.

Today In Lists - Did someone mention Bobby Jones?  We've had a run on the Jones boy recently, and this one comes courtesy of Jim Nantz.  Here's Jim's intro:

In the summer of 2018, after a round of golf at The Country Club in the Pepper Pike suburb of Cleveland, I spent some time perusing the numerous artifacts on the walls of the cavernous locker room. Not far from the original match-play bracket of the 1935 U.S. Amateur played at “Country” was a reproduction of what appeared to be an 18-hole scorecard. But looking more closely, I saw it wasn’t a scorecard at all, but a list titled, “Bobby Jones’ ‘ideal’ course.”

So, without further ado, here is the great man's routing:

Wow, that's not at all what I'd have expected....His reverence for the Old Course is widely known, so the prevalence of holes therefrom is no surprise.  In fact, Geoff had this quite as his blog header yesterday:

“If I had ever been set down in any one place and told I was to play there, and nowhere else, for the rest of my life, I should have chosen the Old Course at St. Andrews.”

-- Bobby Jones

But it's the holes he chose that surprise.  No. ten and thirteen notably.  But the Old Course only has two Par-3's, and our Bobby seems to have picked, dare I say it, the wrong one?  No. 11, the iconic Eden Hole, is the far more famous and revered, serving as a Macdonald template.

And the choices on his home turf are equally odd.  The sixth?  The fourteenth?

At first I thought perhaps he had issues with Macdonald's work, but once we make the turn we quickly play holes from both The National and from the Lido, perhaps the greatest golf course no one ever had a chance to see.   At some point I'll do a post on the Lido, and bore you all to tears...

Jim has a brief precis of each of the holes chosen, and shares some of my quibbles.  It's delightfully eccentric, so of course I love it.

Another curious list, this time of his ten favorite golf courses, comes from Greg Norman:

My curiosity here was weather he would penalize those places associated with personal hearbreak, and the answer seems to be a resounding No.  Shinny, The Old and Augusta National all broke the man's heart, but he seems to not take it personally.

But do we think he's showing off in citing Machrihanish?  It's a personal fave, so perhaps I should be more charitable?  Yeah, I know, why start now?

In Which I Get Mine - In sharing longtime friend Al Z.'s reading suggestions yesterday, I tweaked him about using his newfound free time to proof my silly musings.  The indignities I'm willing to absorb just to keep you folks entertained....  Here is Al's response verbatim:

Scott,

I took a quick read of your latest blog. A few things jumped out at me. But fear not, I wasn't harmed, my reflexes are every bit as sharp as when I was 70 and I was able to duck. Speaking of which, Happy Birthday.

I no longer subscribe to your RSS feed, so I don't have a handy text version of your post to mark up. I trust you can search.

Search for "Whats App". The correct name is WhatsApp, with no space,

Search for "assumg". Change to assuming.

Search for "perhaps its been over". Change its to it's.

Search for "finally got b****". Somehow you managed to insert a link into the middle of "slapped".

Search for "stand still". Standstill is one word.

Search for "loan fro now". Fix it.

Search for "its members needs". Change members to members'

Search for "toruney". Change it to tourney.

Search for "perhaps they don't". Capitalize the P.

Search for "Some day, when". Someday is one word.

Search for "Waybac Machine". Change Waybac to Wayback.

Search for "Nick O'hern". Does he really spell his name with a lower case H?

Search for "occured". Change to occurred.

Search for "girlfriends lapdog". Change girlfriends to girlfriend's.

Search for "hit an upon a". Change it to something coherent.

Search for for "wait til spring". Change til to 'til.

Search for "schadnefreudalicious". Change to "schadenfreudalicious".

Search for "poobahs". Change to poohbahs.

Le Sigh!

I think I could get off on a technicality on his penultimate correction, given that it's not even an actual word.  Of course, you'll quickly note that my error was in that portion that is an actual word....

Secondly, I'll cop only to a nolo contendere on the Waybac Machine.  My recollection was that Rocky and Bullwinkle spelled it without a "k" at the end.  Alas, per the authoritative Wikipedia, my vindication is at best partial.

But I'm a bit miffed that he unsubscribed from my RSS feed, as I only had the one subscriber...

In search of amusement?  How about the best Unplayable Lies typo EVAH? 

On that note of public flogging, I'll let you get on with your day.  Check back later for more typos....