Thursday, July 23, 2020

Thursday Threads

A very slow news day in our golf bubble, so I hope you're not the kind to blame the messenger...


Bubble, Expanding - Brian Wacker informs that the Tour has expanded the number of folks that can attend their events:

While the PGA Tour has said that it will not allow fans at its tournaments for the remainder of the current season and in its opening event of the 2020-21 campaign, Golf Digest has learned that the organization will start allowing more people on-site,
beginning with next week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis.

In an email sent to players on Wednesday evening and obtained by Golf Digest, the tour said that tournaments and title sponsors will be allowed to have up to 50 guests per day Thursday through Sunday and that spouses and significant others would also be allowed on-site during competition days.

Guests of sponsors and spouses/significant others will not be subject to testing for COVID-19 but will be required to undergo a temperature check and fill out a questionnaire each day upon arrival. There will also be limitations on where they can go once on the grounds.

“These programs will be applied on a tournament-by-tournament basis, in accordance with state and local guidelines in place and at the discretion of the tournament,” the tour’s chief of operations, Tyler Dennis, said in the email.
And just like that the unemployment rolls skyrocket as a result of hundreds of "Tour Wives" suddenly being out of work...

No doubt the guys have been digging their Wednesdays since the restart, but the good times are officially over:
There will also be honorary observers—16 two-person groups per day—and what the tour is calling virtual player engagement, which will replace traditional Wednesday pro-ams, which have been canceled for the remainder of the season. Up to 30 players would be required to participate in duties such as a 30- to 45-minute Q&A, while 10 players would be available for similar activities on Tuesday or Wednesday of tournament week.

All told, these programs would add up to roughly 500 or more bodies on site any given week in addition to the already approximately 1,100 currently at tournaments between players, caddies, volunteers, media and officials.
First, to state the obvious, any player critical of those fifty sponsor invites should be rewarded with a one-month suspension, or perhaps a remedial economics class....

As for the WAGs, seems like a missed handicapping opportunity.   In contemplating the restart, there were all sorts of pieces speculating about which players might benefit the most.  So, those who have the benefit of being inside those ropes, which players might benefit from or, more interestingly, which players might be negatively affected by having their spouse hovering nearby?

For those that have followed this story here, you'll be shocked to know that our Shack has some typically prudent thoughts on this subject:
Now, call me crazy, but the PGA Tour is back. It’s working.
Would now be a good time to remind Geoff that, intermediately upon receiving the news that Nick Watney tested positive, he was screaming that the Tour needed to shut down?  Not only does Watney continue to fog up mirrors in violation of the narrative, but so do the rest of the guys.
Even with fields too absurdly big that in weeks like this one at the 3M, where you half expect to see a Mexican Mini Tour great like Club Pro Guy turning up, the PGA Tour is functioning. (For those counting at home, it’s a 197 from a record 803 strength-of-field drop this week).

Yes, there have been the inevitable hiccups, new rules on the fly, tweaks to COVID-19 guidelines and other madness that comes with a pandemic. But CBS and Golf Channel ratings keep getting better by the week at a time of year they always go down, and in spite of having no fan energy. 
Increasingly, without locker rooms or droplet spewing contact to probably doom the return, along with Sanford providing on-site testing separate of local labs prioritizing sports leagues in other markets, PGA Tour golf is looking like one sport that can keep going pretty safely despite the ongoing pandemic. 
So let’s see if we can screw that up!
Let me see if I understand the playbook.  First, let out a primal scream and tell us that we're all gonna die.  Second, ignore your prior prediction and jump on the bandwagon, while predicting that the next initiative will kill everyone.  Third, rinse and repeat until prediction comes true...

To me this the obvious next step is to expand the bubble, and Geoff is obviously free to argue either that it's too soon or that it's being done in an unsafe manner.  Of course, he doesn't make actual arguments, he just throws things against the wall:
Understandably, sponsors want to know what they are getting for their money (though some reports say they are having to fork out less right now). And WAG’s want to travel again.

But is this addition of people who are not getting tested really worth the risk?
Geoff, you've actually not even made the case that there's a risk involved.  And you prior histrionics haven't panned out, so I'm guessing that the planet will continue to turn on its axis and the sun will continue to rise in the East....

The Euro Beat -  We've not checked in on our friends across the pond in some time, and they're gearing up to get back to work:
It is the first leg of a new six-event UK Swing, with the tour moving on to Forest of
Arden, Hanbury Manor, Celtic Manor for a double-header and The Belfry over the coming few weeks.

Considering two of those are past Ryder Cup venues, it is a cracking restart for the circuit, even though all the events are being played behind closed doors due to current restrictions

Under normal circumstances, each and every one of those tournaments would have attracted brilliant crowds, but it is perfectly understandable why fans will have to make do with TV coverage for the time being.
True that, though enthusiasm might be limited by the fact that they're two dreadful Ryder Cup venues...  This is the more important bit:
The tour has spent £2 million plus in developing a health strategy for the rest of the year, and I have every faith that it will be a proper “bubble” compared to what the PGA Tour, at the start at least, had for its return last month. 
Dr Andrew Murray, the circuit’s chief medical officer, has been one of Keith Pelley’s key advisors as he plotted these careful first steps and the Aberdonian will be ensuring that everything is carried out exactly how it needs to be at the moment. 
“Although golf is back, as Keith Pelley has said, these will not – and should not – feel like normal golf tournaments,” said Murray. “It’s good that we are all back to work in a familiar environment, but things will be completely different with all the measures that we will be putting in place as part of our health strategy.”
Good to see them getting back to it, though the timing seems unfortunate given a WGC and the PGA Championship scheduled for back-to-back weeks in their former colonies...

I've been a bit surprised by the absence of certain Euro stalwarts in the U.S., the only game in town up until now, but I'm liking the cut of this guy's jib:
Some self-quarantines are better than others. 
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood spent 14 days in the Hamptons on the East End of Long
Is it any wonder that he's smiling?
Island playing several of American golf’s crown jewels. At Shinnecock Hills, Fleetwood nearly matched the final-round 63 he shot at the 2018 U.S. Open there to finish second to Brooks Koepka, settling for a 64 this time and beating his caddie, Ian Finnis, by nine strokes. 
There were also rounds just to its north where golf’s most famous windmill marks the adjacent National Golf Links of America, one of golf’s timeless classics, as well as Friar’s Head, a modern-day gem that has added to the embarrassment of golfing riches on this spit of land known as the South Fork.
No Maidstone?  Put that on your list for the next pandemic, Tommy.

I must admit that I do like it when Tour players can revel in the joy of the game, a hard thing when it's your office.


Insert Your Own Analogy - This silly story has more than a few layers with which to amuse us.  It concerns the N.J. Open, and all sorts of associated existential dilemmas:

TENAFLY – Tyler Hall has a chance to win another New Jersey Open Championship and one of his challengers was required to withdraw Tuesday due to COVID-19. 
Amateur Mike Muehr will not return for Wednesday's final round after Gov. Phil Murphy
Mike Muehr
on Tuesday added the golfer's home state of Virginia onto a list of 31 states that require a 14-day quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. 
Golfers making the cut to Wednesday's final round will be required to withdraw if in the past two weeks they have visited states added to the list: Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia, and Washington. 
"A very difficult decision for us to make, but the decision already has been made," Kevin Purcell, executive director of the New Jersey State Golf Association, said late Tuesday afternoon. "The policy was in place, and there's already been people who have withdrawn from the event because they had played in the states that had been on the list at that time."
Ya got that sequence?  The man had played two rounds with no issues.  Just a reminder, we still have no clue whether asymptomatic people can transmit the virus... Sending active virus patients into nursing homes?  That's bold, decisive leadership....  Requiring folks from Alaska to self-quarantine?  Folks, I just don't have the words to describe what that is....

Bones existential query:  Can your state's signature golf championship be called an "Open" when your state is closed?  Discuss among yourselves....

The Ladies - They're gearing up for their return and, unlike the men, they get to play that event in the UK.  I use those odd words because there's always been been confusion as to what to call it...

For the men, it's proper name is the Open Championship, and purists bristle at hearing this event referred to as the British Open.  Yet that's exactly what they called the ladies' championship, until now.

That link is to a Beth Ann Nichols item at MSN that caused a full ten minutes of formatting issues, for reasons I'll never understand. 

The gist of my point is that this event only recently came under the jurisdiction of the R&A, yet they until now felt no need to align it's name with that of their men's championships.  Curious, no?  Where's Martha Burke when we need her?

Sadder still is that, despite this re-branding, no one is willing to write the R&A a big check to make the event go away in 2020.  Truly, the women get no respect...  Of course, your humble blogger is happy to see any links golf this year, as I would want this event to be the only links golf I'm able to watch.

A Distance Grab Bag - A few items that touch on the ungodly distances golf balls travel these days.  First, Golf.com posts this listing of the driving distance leader on the PGA Tour since 1980.  This is a public service, because we typically see such data only from the early aughts, after the gains from the introduction of the sold core ball were banked.

So, shall we start in 1980?

1980: Dan Pohl, 274.3 yards 
We begin our journey in 1980, with Dan Pohl, otherwise known as the “Pohlcat.” Pohl led the tour in driving with a respectable 274.3-yard average and accruing over 51,000 yards driven. Pohl, unfortunately, would not pick up a win on Tour in 1980 — or ’81, when he led the Tour again in driving distance with 280.1 yards. However, the Pohlcat’s place in golf’s distance history can never be questioned.
I remember Pohl, but only vaguely....

 Then came the Daly era:
1998: John Daly, 299.4 
1999: John Daly, 305.6 
2000: John Daly, 301.4
This is obviously just a snapshot, and we'd be far better served focusing on tour averages and the like.  But you go to war with the data you have...

The Pro-V1 hits around 200, and we see a quick spike:
2003: Hank Kuehne, 321.4 
2004: Hank Kuehne, 314.4 
2005: Scott Hend, 318.9 
2006: Bubba Watson, 319.6
All of the analysis from the USGA and R&A up until last year used this as the starting point, obviously channeling their inner Michael Mann.

But here the plot thickens, because take a look at the more recent numbers:
2016: J.B Holmes, 314.5 
2017: Rory McIlroy, 317.2 
2018: Rory McIlroy, 319.7 
2019: Cameron Champ, 317.9
Champ seemed to be blowing it 20 yards past everyone else, yet see driving distance numbers seem to evidence a plateau.  Is that what you think you've been watching out there?  Because I've been seeing something else entirely, and that very much predates Bryson's metamorphosis.

 There's all sorts of ancillary date that support my premise, such as the number of drives more than 300, or even 400, yards.  We know that agronomy has been employed, but my suspicion has long been that the date simply fails to account for the fact that the guys are hitting many fewer drivers.  No surprise there, as many of them can now hit a 3-wood 300 yards or more...

As Lenin first asked, what is to be done?  This guy has a suggestion:
Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Gary McCord are a few notable figures in our game to speak out with their opinions on the matter. Nicklaus has been at it for years calling for the golf ball to get rolled back, and Faldo recently suggested a ban on golf tees. McCord, on the other hand, said that bifurcation would be a legal hassle, and that distance is entertaining.  
Now, four-time major winner Ernie Els (two U.S. Opens and two Open Championships) spoke out on the matter via Twitter.
Wow, your humble blogger just successfully embedded a tweet.  perhaps some day I'll learn how to center it...

There's two obvious reactions to Ernie's comments, the first is to look for any evidence of bias, though this wouldn't be where I'd first search:
As Chamblee hinted, it’s possible that Els’ take is somewhat biased since he’s had such success on courses with long rough and firm fairways, as evidenced by his two U.S. Open victories. Surely, Els was also exaggerating about “knee high” rough length, but we understand his point.
We've debated knee-high Open rough for decades, though I really do think folks have forgotten how dreadfully boring such golf can be.  But Ernie is proposing this for the Quad Cities Open, which is about as crazy a suggestion as I've heard recently....  It seems, to put it mildly, guaranteed to harsh the mellow on Tour.  I dare you to Live Under Par™ while hacking out of knee-deep spinach, in those few instances when you actually find your ball by stepping on it.

It also needs reminding that Ernie is spot on about #firmandfast, but simply ignores the fact that there inevitably precious few opportunities for such conditions.  Heck, most of our British Opens Open Championships are on softer conditions than we'd like.

But if you're of a mind to question Ernie's motivation, this would be the reason to do so:


Lastly we have a rant from Shack, about this item.  here's the excerpt that Geoff chose:
Henrik Stenson, the 2013 FedExCup champ and six-time winner on the PGA TOUR, noted in the July-August 2020 issue of Golf magazine that “the ball speeds off of MAVRIK are really high, and I noticed that almost immediately when I first tried it. If I hit it dead center or if I miss the sweet spot, I still know that I’m going to get the speed and distance I’m looking for.” 
Having that confidence that a non-center strike can still be an effective shot is a huge advantage for any players, particularly those at the top level. And particularly on fairway woods, which can often be a pesky club to figure out – and a club that many weekend amateurs try to avoid as much as possible.
I'm sorry, but isn't a good result on an off-center hit more important for civilians than Tour players?  Asking for a friend...

Geoff also includes this tweet:

Geoff handles the lay-up appropriately, reminding us of the X-man's driver being tossed last year at Portrush for violating equipment standards.

Unlike Geoff, I always expect to find gambling in Casablanca, so I'm less disillusioned than he.  Equipment manufacturers will always sell based on improved performance, so I expect these pitches.  Geoff does as well, but his better argument is about the venue.

This appears on the PGATour.com website without a Sponsored Content warning label, and that's pretty laughable.  The Tour is effectively promoting advertising copy and disguising it as, dare I say, journalism, without informing the reader that money has changed hands.  That's pretty low rent for sure, though it's hard for me to imagine a reader sufficiently naive not to immediately grasp that fact.

My mind has turned to breaky, so I'll just leave you with this enticing image:
Clubhouse Eats: At Omni Orlando’s David’s Club, bacon has a starring role

Bacon is a star...in fact, it's the Tiger Woods of food, so I consider that type-casting...

However, that beer gives me pause....  and this is ground over which we've previously trod.  I take you back to 2012, before the creation of Unplayable Lies, to our fortnight in Ballyliffin, which was my maiden blogging effort.  

From this post:
On the subject of breakfast, we've mostly been eating in a healthy fashion, yogurt, toast, bananas, and multi-bran cereal. Prior trips have featured the ubiquitous Irish or Scottish breakfasts, an LDL-athon of eggs, bacon, sausage and toast. Though one night early in our stay we ventured ten miles north to the Rust Nail restaurant, only to find that they don't serve food during the week. We then changed course to a restaurant in Carndonough, pronounced something like Car-in-DONna, though in our early days we assumed it would be Car-don-Ach, which unable to remember morphed into Kreplach. As you can readily see, we spare no effort to endear ourselves to the local populace.

In any event, this restaurant featured an all-day breakfast, and I was able to satisfy my irish breakfast Jones. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of ordering a beer. Lest the reader harbor any doubts, beer and salty breakfast meats do NOT go together at all. I mention this so others shouldn't suffer.
You're all on notice. 
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