Thursday Threads

Good morning, dear reader, I have some regrettable news. I awoke full of enthusiasm to blog from a deep bench of open browser tabs, only to discover that Blogger has updated it's template. This is my second attempt at a post, the first frustrated by a wide range of formatting issues relating to excerpting text from other sources.

The icons have changed dramatically my blood pressure is increasing exponentially. I'm going to give it another full effort, but the first pass was pretty unmanageable. We're talking the basics here, folks, but let me see if I can get something up, regardless of its aesthetics.

Memphis in June July - Not much to get excited about this week, though there is news of further caddie experimentation. First up, this guy with another temp, after last weeks qualified success:

This week, Finau showed up in Memphis with a new man on the bag: Mark Urbanek. Before this stint, James Hahn employed Urbanek for a number of

years, including both his PGA Tour wins — the 2015 Northern Trust Open and the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship.

In addition to his established caddie credentials, Urbanek has an absolute cannon for an arm. One video captured during a Players Championship practice round put that on display when he tossed a golf ball from the 17th tee box onto the green, a hurl of some 400 feet.

This is a bit of a nightmare... the formatting, not Tony's caddie...  The logic is that when excerpting text from elsewhere we copy-and-paste in to the template, the we hit an icon the looks like an apostrophe to indent said text.  Blogger is now indenting all text, whether highlighted or not.  I was able go back and  reformat those first 3 paragraphs, but I'm expecting that I'll need to do that each time I insert text.  For now, all text that his not my own I'll put in italics, though I'm not convinced that will work for the long term.  

Back to the subject at hand, as this smells more like an audition than a fill-in.  See how they get along, as well as how Tony plays, and then decide whether it's love.  Certainly last week's fill-in, coach Boyd Summerhays, deserves a week out of the sun:

Apparently, showing up, keeping up and shutting up are not the only requirements of the gig.

But this one is getting more attention, as the guy seems anxious to get out of the house:

Finau’s open gig may have been the hottest spot for free agent caddies, but it turns out that it’s not even the highest-profile caddie change of the week. That’s because World No. 3 Justin Thomas is bringing on one of the most famous caddies of all time for fill-in loops at this week’s WGC and next week’s PGA Championship. 

Justin’s father Mike caddied for him on the weekend at the Memorial Tournament after his usual bagman Jimmy Johnson went down ill in the heat. On Wednesday in Memphis, Golf Channel reported that “retired” caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay will take over until Johnson is feeling better after experiencing dizzy spells.

The reader is encouraged to insert the Wally Pipp reference of choice....

Now, did someone make reference to love or, you know, Love?  Because Bones' crew seems to be down one man:

On Tuesday, Davis Love III announced that he would be stepping away from his job as a full-time golf analyst for CBS Sports’ golf broadcasts.

In a statement released on Twitter, Love explained that when the PGA Tour returned in June, CBS allowed him to take some time off to “focus on my family, play a few tournaments, and bring some stability back in a difficult year.”

“I have realized in this time my passion to play is still strong, and my heart yearns to be home,” Love wrote.

Let me again digress to show you how screwed up Blogger is in the present moment.  When I copied in that Davis excerpt above, this is how the phot above above and accompanying text looked to me:

But when I show a preview, this how at appears:

So maybe I write my post and worry about formatting after I'm done?  

As we all remember, CBS fired Peter Kostis and Gary McCord because the broadcast had reportedly gotten stale.  But the thought that Davis Love, a man whose next interesting comment will be his first, was the solution was always laughable...

But let's not dwell on that right now.  Let's just note that Davis is the only person in the country at this juncture that actually wants to spend more time with his family.... or something.

Open Stuff - Isn't it great that we can just throw out terms like The Open with no need to clarify which one?  The R&A was really doing the public a service in that regard...  In any event, news that will shock exactly no one:

The second major championship of the men’s golf year will be conducted just like the first

one: without fans.

The USGA announced Wednesday it will hold the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York without spectators, falling in line with how the PGA Championship will be held next week at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.

“Following months of consultation and scenario planning with local and state health officials, we have jointly decided that hosting the U.S. Open without spectators will provide the best opportunity to conduct the championship safely for all involved,” Mike Davis, USGA CEO, said.

The USGA had held out hope for months after its initial event was postponed from mid-June to Sept. 17-20. But like many of the sporting events around the country and the world, it is just more realistic to complete the event without fans on site.

This has been apparent for some time, so we'll just take comfort in having a U.S. Open.  But the bigger news is this:

Earlier this month, the New York Department of Health issued guidance that eases the travel order for all professional sports teams, allowing players, coaches and team staff to be exempt from quarantine to play games, practice or provide support.

That exemption also extends to competitors in the U.S. Open. And not just to players and caddies but to everyone on site at Winged Foot, including staff, officials and media.

“Every person on site will be considered essential personnel,” USGA CEO Mike Davis told Golf Digest. “Everyone will be tested before they come on site.”

Over to you Lee Westwood and Eddie Pepperill....

Bobby D., Please Go To The Red Courtesy Phone - If you liked the Kirkland Signature golf ball, I'm sure you'll be all-in on this product line extensions:

Back in June, Costco broke ground with its Kirkland Signature KS1 putter, the company’s first release in the golf club space. Now, it appears the company is expanding further into the sphere with wedges.

Recently, three Kirkland Signature wedges (52, 56 and 60 degrees) appeared on the USGA conforming clubs list, which means they are approved for play.

While we don’t have much information yet on the wedges by way of design, price or public release date, the entry on the USGA list does provide some helpful hints. For example, the wedges have the words “milled face technology” on the back cavity, and “steel” engraved on the hosel. If you were wondering whether the Kirkland Signature wedges had milled faces, that appears to answer your question.

I completely missed that putter, so shame on me...

Does anyone think that Costco can make money in the golf biz?  Because the entrenched manufacturers sure don't make much but, as we saw with the Costco ball, they'll sure fight to protect their turf.

Outlook Cloudy - As the '62 Mets of Fantasy Golf, I'm not exactly their core demographic...  Yet, the PGA Tour's embrace of legalize betting continues to trouble me.  

We have this latest news, the significance of which is hard to discern:

The next step in the PGA Tour’s more aggressive embracing of sports betting will be announced on Tuesday.

DraftKings has secured its position as the PGA Tour’s “official betting operator” as part

of an extension of an existing multi-year partnership. This is next evolution of a deal first inked in July 2019 when DraftKings became the tour’s official DFS partner.

The deal follows movement of other professional sports leagues like the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL that have official partnerships with sportsbook operators. Though golf may have acted slower than other sports, the PGA Tour has accelerated its embrace of golf gambling following the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 and now allowing states to legalize sports betting (as of this writing, 21 states plus Washington D.C., have joined Nevada in permitting gambling).

“Our announcement with DraftKings is a big deal for our company,” says Norb Gambuzza, the PGA Tour's senior vice president of media and gaming. “This is a real positive, forward movement of the PGA Tour into sports betting.

Are you sure that's a positive?  I mean excluding your cash flow...

Of course, such announcements are legally required to included the requisite amount of MBA-speak:

“This deal is the first manifestation of that policy change and the more aggressive entry into this space. We have a mind-set that starts at the top and works its way through our organization that fan-first engagement is our mantra. And sports betting, when done appropriately, represents a really strong opportunity to move the needle. And we’re going to do what we can, in an appropriate matter, to take advantage of these opportunities.”

And the difference between that mind-set and your mantra?  Here I'm unclear as to how to square this circle:

“We’ve been clear with our executive team and our commissioner, and beginning to talk about odds and matchup bets and odds on players per hole are the kinds of things we’re going to recommend that we do,” Gambuzza says. “And we have the support to do that.

“What we don’t want to do is push content out that fans might not be interested in and have them be turned off.”

And if your fans are turned off by odds and match-up bets?  Shack is more open to this betting initiative than your humble blogger, and he has this take on the announcement:

The most discernible difference beyond the new name and first use of “Betting” appears to be more access to video for DraftKings. For those with aspirations, the release also indicates others can become “Official Betting Operators” so bookies of the world, don’t get too discouraged by this release:

That is interesting that they no longer see the need to hide behind euphemisms....

Distaff Doings - I've been remiss in not blogging the return of the LPGA, so let's catch up with the ladies.  Jessica Marksburry has a preview of players to watch:

Can Nelly Korda claim the top spot in the world ranking?

Nelly Korda is currently ranked second in the world, behind South Korean Jin Young Ko.

While Ko has a solid lead, and has held the top position for for a year and counting, Korda has a chance to become only the third American to reach No. 1 in the world since 2006 (the other two: Cristie Kerr and Stacy Lewis). Korda, 21, has three career victories and 25 top 10s since 2017.

Americans to watch

There are currently five Americans in the World Top 20: Nelly Korda (No. 2), Danielle Kang (No. 4), Lexi Thompson (No. 9), Jessica Korda (No. 17) and Lizette Salas (No. 19). Of these names, Kang has perhaps the most recent momentum, with four top 3 finishes in her last five starts, including a win in October.

Nelly, for sure, but sign me up for more Danielle Kang as well.  As for this girl, if you've seen one train wreck, you've seen them all:

What’s in store for Lexi?

If the below hype video posted to Lexi Thompson’s Instagram account is any indication, the 25-year-old is pumped to get back on the course. Though the young American star endured a series of difficulties in 2017 and 2018, including the struggles with her body image, her mother’s cancer diagnosis and her grandmother’s death. She also took a self-imposed social media break last April. But since then, Thompson has been resurgent. She won the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June and has finished in the top 15 in her last three starts, launching her back inside the World’s Top 10 at No. 9.

Really, at this point, what difference does it make?  To me the irony is that she was allegedly toughened growing up by competing with her two brothers, yet seems the most delicate of flowers on the LPGA.  

The ladies also did something smart, as they're at the recently restored Inverness this week, giving viewers another reason to tune in.  A storied Donald Ross design, it's hosted six major championships to date, and has now been lengthened to 7,800 yards.  Shack links to an appreciation at the Fried Egg blog, who predict Major No. 7 to be in their future.

Lastly, Christina Kim has been in the news lately, mostly for this:

 Hope she's kidding here.  But she really should be in the news more for this:

In August 2019, Kim adopted the Keto diet and has since lost 60 pounds. Her swing is better for it, too; she’s picked up 7 mph of clubhead speed and 11 mph of ball speed, translating to 15 more yards on her drives.

So, she's the anti-Bryson?

Good for her.  I hope she has a great year.

Strange Daze - Got a funny one for you... Our insufferable governor has been taking a vicory lap, at least among his media abettors.  The first question that a rational human being should ask is, does this look like a win?

It seems to me that four states have come into criticism from our lamestream media, so shall we check on their deaths per 100K?

Arizona - 47

Georgia - 33

Florida - 28

Texas - 20

It's easy to see why Andy is a national hero.

Here's a recent rant from the Guv:

So, why do I bring this up?  Well, can anyone name the band playing at this Southampton show?  Any one?  Bueller?

If you've been reading this blog since March, the answer should be obvious.  It's of course Jay Monahan's favorite band, The Chainsmokers....  Really kids, you can't make this stuff up.

I'm going to leave you there and wish you an enjoyable weekend.