Late Week Laments

For those that have just checked in, below this post you'll find golf-related musings related to the George Floyd death and associated demonstrations and rioting.  This post is intended to be a safe harbor, looking back to a more innocent time...  Yanno, say about ten days ago, when our most pressing concern was that little virus...  You remember, it was in all the papers.

Reboot Blues - We are a mere one week out from the restart, and it sure seems like this is going to happen.  We'll bounce around a bit, but shall we lead with the newest, proud PGA-Tour sponsorship opportunity?

PGA TOUR collaborates with Sanford Health to conduct COVID-19 testing at tournaments 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – The PGA TOUR announced today that it has engaged Sanford Health to conduct on-site COVID-19 testing of players, caddies and

essential personnel at PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions and Korn Ferry Tour tournaments in the continental United States for the remainder of the season.

Starting with next week’s resumption of the PGA TOUR schedule at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, testing will be conducted by lab technicians who will be traveling to tournaments in one of three mobile testing units that Sanford Health is deploying across the country. Each unit, which will be manned by a driver and three technicians, will arrive the Saturday prior to the tournament to begin processing RT PCR tests. The mobile unit will remain on site through Thursday before traveling to the next closest tournament site, regardless of Tour.

I guess that technically they didn't use that S-word, so they're more of a vendor or contractor than sponsor.  Shack, who seems to be the only guy with this news, sorts through some of the issues;

Look, these are not normal times but as uncomforable as it is to read a company agreeing to be the Official COVID-19 On-site Testing Provider Of The PGA Tour, I’m not sure this got enough play: the PGA Tour’s events will have on-site testing and results determined on site. This, instead of adding to local lab burdens, not only provides infinitely more consistency in the Tour’s ambitious screening protocals, but also reduces the uncertainty of what will happen with golf played in so many different cities.

It’s just a shame the screening with Sanford Health testing does not extend to a good number of others on-site at the first four Tour starts beginning next week. But, one step at a time.

It is important that the Tour not be perceived as using resources needed elsewhere, though it does seem that testing is now sufficiently available that this isn't a real problem. 

Just add this to that long list of things you'd thought you'd never see...

Here's another, though it actually makes a good bit of sense.  You'll recall that John Deere has cancelled their early-July event, the one scheduled for the week before The Memorial:

When the PGA Tour announced last week that the John Deere Classic, set to be played July 9-12, had been canceled due to complications with holding the event while

following local COVID-19 restrictions, tour officials said they intended to replace it with another tournament. That new event will be held at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, and sponsored by Workday, sources have told Golf Digest.

Muirfield Village is also home to Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament, which is scheduled to be played July 16-19, the week after the John Deere, meaning the Ohio course will host tournaments in back-to-back weeks. Playing a second tournament at the same venue during the open date will allow the Tour to take advantage of infrastructure already in place and reduce player travel to further maintain a “bubble” as the PGA Tour resumes its season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Memorial is an invitational and is tentatively slated to have spectators in attendance, the still-to-be-named tournament preceding it will be played as a full-field event with 156 players and will be played without fans, according to sources.

Do we think that guy in the photo will play both?   Just kidding....

The amusing thing is that the Euros are doing the same at Celtic Manor, and you'd be hard-pressed to guess which of those two venues receives more rain... Obviously Wales is the wetter place, you just wouldn't know that from the horrible weather Jack has dealt with over the years.

Lastly, the leadership of the Five Families has been seeding the press with an image of Kumbaya breaking out in our game, everyone getting together on Zoom to sing Image and all... One dissenter from that image is Keith Pelley, who has raised a kerfuffle about the resumption of the Official World Golf Rankings:

In a memo to European Tour members, a copy of which has been obtained by Golf Digest, Pelley outlined his own unhappiness at the result of last week’s meeting of the Official World Golf Rankings Technical Committee and the OWGR Board. While Pelley

agreed with the proposal to use the current frozen rankings as eligibility for the majors and the World Golf Championships later this year, the ability of PGA Tour players to accumulate points weeks before the vast majority of his members was a lot less acceptable. 

“We agreed with the proposal that the ranking should restart alongside the resumption of the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour next week on the understanding that dispensation was made for the European Tour and the Challenge Tour—and indeed many other tours around the world—whose players will be disadvantaged by not being able to play at this time,” Pelley wrote in the memo. “Our proposal to correct this imbalance was either freezing the current average points of all European Tour members unable to play tournament golf until we restart our season or increasing the overall OWGR points available at our tournaments when we do restart.

“Without either of those adjustments, the consequences are negative for the majority of our membership, who will lose points through no fault of their own, when they are unable to play.”

Both proposals, however, were rejected, according to Pelley. And, as a result, he voted against the ranking restart proposal. According to his memo, his was the only dissenting voice.

Of course I love when we see behind the curtain, but I'm having trouble understanding why, if we've frozen the rankings for the WGCs and majors, this matters.

The OWGR folks are also noting that there are offsetting adjustments in the formulas, so who really cares?

Officials from the OWGR attempted to address the matter in a statement released on Wednesday, which noted that elements of the averaging formula used to calculate the ranking will help mitigate the issue of some players competing while others aren’t. And in a call to Golf Digest, Peter Dawson, chairman of the ranking board, elaborated on that initial reaction.

“Both the committee and the board took the view that if so many of the world’s top players are going to be playing in America in the coming weeks, we really had to restart the rankings,” said Dawson, who was the chief executive of the R&A from 1999 to 2015. “To not do so would risk, say, Jon Rahm not being World No. 1 when, if we had started the rankings, he would have reached that peak. Then we had to look at the reality that the tours are not all starting at the same time. What do we do then? Do we wait for the European Tour? And if we do, what about the others, like, say the Asian circuit or the one in Japan?”

I figured Geoff would be excited to hear from one of his faves, Chief Inspector Dawson.... Personally, this seems like a nothingburger to your humble correspondent....

I guess I lied, one more slightly encouraging bit:

A new, albeit temporary, series is in the works from the PGA Tour.

In an email sent to members of its feeder system circuits—the Mackenzie Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour China—the PGA Tour is gauging player interest in an American-based league this summer. The letter, obtained by Golf Digest, outlines a series of six tournaments, each 54 holes with a 36-hole cut, starting in August.

“This idea is very much in the exploratory phase,” tour Tour email says, “but we are trying to assess player interest before further developing a plan, contacting potential venues and trying to secure the appropriate sponsorship monies to help run the events.” The tournaments would likely be based in Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Texas.

The Mackenzie Tour canceled its season last week, while the China and Latin America circuits remain postponed. The series’ ambition is to give players make-up opportunities for those starts lost due to the coronavirus pandemic’s upheaval.

This would seemingly be doable, as these guys are well used to playing without spectators. It would be a great thing for the Tour to do, I just wish it felt like it was a bigger priority for them.

 Ryder Cup Blues - U.S. Captain Steve Stricker goes off-script:

“We’re sure hoping we can play it,” Stricker said on “The Golf Affect,” a weekly Madison-based radio show where he is a regular participant. “So far we’re planning as

it’s a go, that we’re going to have it.” 

He just hopes it doesn’t happen without fans.

“Personally, I would hate for that to happen,” Stricker said. “I mean, this event is made by the fans. To me, if it was without the fans it almost would be a yawner of an event. The passion, I don’t know if it would be there. 

“The fans create all that unbelievable atmosphere that we play in front of. And without the fans, I don’t know. It still would be a nice event, but I think the fans make it everything. And to cheat out the fans of Wisconsin, I think would be a crime. So, I just hope that when we do have it, it can be up to its full potential.”

A yawner?  Are you sure you're allowed to say that?  Just earlier this week I had been reliably assured by Justin Rose that a spectator-free Ryder Cup might be even more intense....  Yeah, it's not like any of us believed that....

Both Strick and Keith Pelley have indicated that the decision will be made in the next couple of weeks. 

As you know, I've been a Ryder Cup skeptic since the virus hit.  I just find the 24-elite player exhibition to be a curious priority in the year without professional golf, and also the one with the easiest remedy of just pushing it back a year.  But truing to save this resulted in that early August date for the PGA Championship, so we'll see how the PGA of America's gamble works out.

USGA Blues - Mike Davis participated in the Forward Press podcast and had some thoughts on the last few months:

“As I look back to mid-March, now, I’m incredibly impressed with how well our organization has actually run and how good the communication is, both internally and externally,” Davis said during a recording of Golfweek‘s Forward Press podcast. 

“Obviously, we’re all disheartened with what has been going on with COVID and how it has affected people. People have lost their lives; people have gotten sick. It’s affected not only the national but the global economy. And then the current civil unrest going on. There’s a lot of things to be upset (about), to be worried and to be out of your element about.” 

In light of those things, golf tournaments might seem like a big priority, but it’s Davis’ job to think about our national championships and the health of the sport. 

Working remotely, he and the USGA have been forced to make some tough decisions, not the least of which was eliminating the qualifying events for this year’s “Big Four” – the U.S Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur. 

“It was agonizing,” Davis said. “Particularly, the final decision to say, ‘We are going to play four championships out of 14 this year, and oh yeah, by the way, they are not going to have qualifying.’ For us, qualifying is the cornerstone of our championships.”

I don't have any problems with their decision-making, at least not major ones.  Unlike the R&A, they've always seemed committed to holding their Open, though perhaps that's only because they bought an inferior insurance policy. 

And, a sper these comments, they seem prepared to hold whatever U.S. Open is possible:

Davis also confirmed Golfweek‘s previous reporting that the USGA considered moving the event to December and holding it at a West Coast venue. He added that the USGA also thought about holding the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open on back-to-back weeks in December at different sites, but Winged Foot is the only course that will host the event in 2020. 

Based on what local and state officials recommend and what health officials say, the USGA will hold one of three U.S. Opens. One with fans, one with a limited number of fans or one with no fans or spectators.

And whichever one it turns out to be, your humble blogger will be watching.

A Seanor Moment -  Writing at Morning Read, Dan Seanor ponder the existential dilemma of why oranges are different than apples:

Something does not compute. In 2016, the world’s top four-ranked golfers at the time – Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth – declined to participate in the Rio Olympics because of concerns about the Zika virus, which killed one person in the U.S. that year. 

All four are scheduled to compete next week at the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 106,000 Americans in six months. That’s puzzling behavior...

I get the sense that Dan is the easily puzzled type, though he gets dangerously close to the reality here:

What changed? Is the health of their families no longer a priority? Do they have that much trust that the Tour can protect them, and everyone affiliated with the tournament, from exposure to a virus that has infected more than 1.8 million Americans and has yet to plateau – indeed, has increased – in some parts of the country? Or was their expressed concern about Zika, as widely suspected, just a convenient smokescreen to hide their lack of enthusiasm for the Olympics?

Yet to plateau, Dan?  I'm guessing that Dan is one of those guys that accused the governors of Florida, Georgia and Texas of running death camps by allowing their residents to resume their lives, but the rest of us are actually watching.

Read the piece for it's endless series of misdirections.  He notes the Euro players seeming greater caution, then sweeps that away by acknowledging that those same Euro players would have to self-quarantine for four weeks if the did come to the states.  Caution, inconvenience, whatevah...

And get this:

Players who live in the United States, of course, won’t have to endure four weeks of quarantine. But that, in effect, contributes to a false sense of security and increases the risk – especially now that the widespread lifting of shelter-in-place orders, as well as large gatherings nationwide, protesting police brutality and societal race-based inequality, have raised fears that cases of coronavirus will spike with a vengeance. Demonstrations of varying sizes have occurred in metropolitan Dallas, including Fort Worth, where the Charles Schwab Challenge is slated to begin June 11; South Carolina Lowcountry communities near Hilton Head, where the RBC Heritage is to begin June 18; Hartford, Conn. (Travelers Championship, June 25 in suburban Cromwell); and Detroit (Rocket Mortgage Classic, July 2). 

The trajectory of reported cases may be flattening in some areas, but it’s on the rise elsewhere (including Texas). As of June 3, more than 1.8 million cases of coronavirus have been reported in the U.S., and more than 106,000 have died. In the Texas counties of Dallas and Tarrant (Fort Worth), more than 16,600 cases have been reported, causing at least 412 deaths.

Are they rioting in the low country?  Maybe, Dan, it's a vote of confidence that Governor Abbott won't allow the lawlessness we've seen in DeBlassioland...  But really, Zika v. Covid wasn't working, so let's throw in the rioting ass well...

These states are reopening on a controlled and successful basis, and Dan will hate them for it, as well as anyone that leaves their home and resumes their lives.  Reminds me of this header from the Babylon Bee:

Florida Ruled To Be In Violation Of Science For Not Having More People Die

It's OK to be worried and also OK to stay at home if you feel vulnerable.  What's not OK is to condemn others to your bleak fate....

Pods and Long Reads -  I myself am not much of a podcast kind of guy, as the attention span is a bit too limited for that.  But here's one that might interest you via Geoff, who remains a great resource when he stays focused on golf.

First, Shack links to the Ru Macdonals Scottish Golf podcast in which he discusses playing the Old Course in reverse.  You can listen (I haven't), or enjoy this video of it:

It's a bit long, but well worth your time.  Those course guides were quite the nice touch....

One of the odd things about the Old Course is that it's one of the few places where missing long is safe....  I think you can probably see from this why that would be.

In terms of long reads, lots from Golf Digest to amuse you.  First, from the Master himself:

How Bob Drum and I Invented Arnold Palmer

The first time any of us ever actually noticed a guy named Arnold Palmer, it was on the

veranda at Augusta around 1957, and we wondered who that vacationing longshoreman was talking to Bob Drum, the writer.

Later, Drum said, “That’s Arnold D. Palmer of Latrobe, Pa., the next great golfer.”

“Yeah, sure,” one of us said. “And I’m the next Steinbeck. But first I got to get some of those maroon pants with the cuffs turned up, and a green shirt, and an orange alpaca, like your pal over there. Arnold who?

There were only two golfers then, we liked to joke: Hogan and Snead. Well, maybe there was a Middlecoff occasionally. Writer are very strict about touring pros having familiar names. Editors make writers take laps and do pushups when Jack Fleck or Orville Moody wins a U.S. Open.

In any case, I was convinced our next hero of the era would be Ken Venturi. Others fancied Gene Littler.

“Venturi, perhaps,” Drum would say. “But there’s no such guy as Littler. He mails in his scores. Arnold D. Palmer of Latrobe, Pa., is the next great chin. He makes 4,567 birdies a day.”

Just go read, but I'll also excerpt this famous scene from Cherry Hills:

He stood up and smiled at Drum.

“You coming?” he said.

Drum said, “I’m tired of watching duck hooks. There’s a guy named Souchak leading the tournament. He’s from Pittsburgh, too.”

“If I drive the first hole, I might shoot 65,” Arnold said.

“Good,” said Drum. “You’ll finish 14th.”

“That would be 280,” Arnold said. “Doesn’t 280 always win the Open?”

I said, “Yeah. When Hogan shoots it.”

Arnold laughed and left.

Well, it so happens that he did drive that first green, diid go on to shoot 65/280 and di win that U.S. Open, but perhaps only because that guy named Hogan rinsed a ball on the 71st hole.

Interestingly, we also have this one about a man my college roommate used to call The Master:

The funniest golf writer who ever lived

Funny golf short stories are as rare as baseball movies that make sense. In the history of the English language, there have been perhaps 40. The good news is they are easy to find because P.G. Wodehouse wrote 35 of them. There have been a number of nonfiction

writers on golf who can be called great, but when it comes to fiction, there is Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, and you search the horizon in vain for his equal.

Wodehouse golf stories still make us laugh after all these years, which should come as no particular surprise, for he is the most popular writer of light fiction ever known. He is read in every language that has a discernible grammar.

Among his more than 300 short stories are a clutch of golf tales, most of which were written in the 1920s. Like a Mozart sonata, each one is a tiny miracle gone in a second, leaving behind a line that lingers sweetly in the memory.

They are really quite droll and enjoyable.

Have a great weekend.