Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Bonus Midweek Musings

 I'm up early and we don't tee off until 9:30... So, shall we talk some golf?

About Those Pairings... - As a blogger of a certain age, you'll understandably expect me to note that nothing is as good as it used to be.  Yes, and while you're at it, get off my damn lawn!

But you'll just have to trust me here, kids, but U.S. Open pairings used to be a lot of fun.  It was an area where the pursed-lipped blue blazer set would actually allow their passive-aggressiveness and outlet... and it was great fun.  So, I mention this because you might have heard that there were a couple of positive tests necessitating withdrawals from the Open.  This seemingly innocuous news story actually brought a smile to my face:

Withdrew: From the U.S. Open, England’s Sam Horsfield, who tested positive for COVID-19 at tournament site Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., on Monday, the USGA confirmed via Twitter. He reportedly was asymptomatic and feeling well. Horsfield was the second player to withdraw from the U.S. Open in as many days because of a positive COVID-19 test, joining Scottie Scheffler in sitting out the national championship. Horsfield, 24, won twice on the European Tour last month en route to claiming top honors on the tour’s six-event U.K. Swing. He has risen to No. 81 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Horsfield competed in the 2015, 2016 and 2019 U.S. Opens, missing the cut each year. He will be replaced in the field by Rory Sabbatini as the next eligible player via the world ranking as of Aug. 23. Sabbatini, 44, a South African-born Slovakian, has won six times on the PGA Tour. Sabbatini has played in 12 U.S. Opens dating to 2000, including a T-43 finish last year. He has slipped to No. 104 in the world after missing the cut in three of his past four starts on the PGA Tour.

OK, that South-African-born Slovakian is its own howler, but you know I'm going somewhere with this.

The USGA was known to create an a*****e grouping at every Open, and the press corp and other observers would scour the pairings to identify said group.  John Feinstein covered this in this book, though my recollection is that he used the P-word or another euphemism.  

As things go, over time this became a less satisfying guilty pleasure, as the degree of difficulty approached zero.  The problem was the absence of competitive balance.  To wit, it became clear that the process of identifying the a*****e group became as simple as entering on one's keyboard, "CTR-F: Sabbatini".  I'm sorry, but Rory Sabbatini did to the USGA's a*****e pairing what Young Tom Morris did to the Championship Belt... The category was necessarily retired.

Of course the USGA still needed an outlet for their unresolved childhood traumas, giving rise to that iconic fat-shaming pairing at Pinehurst in 2014:


Good times!

So, an excessively long digression for sure, but the pairings are out and...well, they're strangely benign.  I might argue that they're aggressively benign, which I know should be an oxymoron...See what you think of this grouping:

1:27 p.m. / 8:07 a.m. – Phil Mickelson, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Paul Casey, England; Jon Rahm, Spain

OK, for those of you that don't follow the college golf game, that's an all-Sun Devil pairing.  But Jon Rahm is one of the top 2-3 picks in this event, and the USGA has gone out of its way to pair with his mentor Phil.  Pairings aren't terribly important, but isn't this the kind of thing we should avoid?

Or this one:

12:32 p.m. / 7:12 a.m. – (a) Lukas Michel, Australia; Lucas Herbert, Australia; Matt Jones, Australia

I just don't get an all-Aussie grouping... If they wanted to put the young Aussie amateur with an older Aussie I wouldn't object, but throw a Yank or a Slovakian in the group just to make them mingle with others.

Same with this one:

8:29 a.m. / 1:49 p.m. – Adam Hadwin, Canada; Mackenzie Hughes, Canada; Corey Conners, Canada

 All three from Canada, get it.

Probably the only three Canucks in the fields...  Don't get it. 

On the college thing, Shack does his Fisking thing (that's his comment above) and has a snarky comment for each.  For instance, this was his comment on that Aussie threesome:

Because they don’t see enough of each other, volume 4.

Amusingly, because folks take it so seriously, I assume Shack's inbox has exploded from this:

1:38 p.m. / 8:18 a.m. – Rickie Fowler, Murrieta, Calif.; Matthew Wolff, Agoura Hills, Calif.; Viktor Hovland, Norway

The Sooners! ;)

Geoff, you ignorant slut!  These are Cowboys, not Sooners, and it's all the more amusing in this year when all we hear is "Orange Man Bad".  But I'm assuming that several thousand of his closest friends have calmly informed him of that fact...

That said, I'n relieved to see Rickie has a tee time...  I know, cruel, but he hasn't been much of a presence since the restart.

 Are there interesting pairings?  Maybe a few...here's another case where the USGA seems to have gone out of its way to provide comfort to the players:

8:07 a.m. / 1:27 p.m. – Collin Morikawa, La Canada Flintridge, Calif.; Justin Thomas, Louisville, Ky.; Tiger Woods, Jupiter, Fla.

JT and T-Dub hang at Medalist, so they've given Tiger a home game.  And yes, La Canada Flintridge is an actual place...

These two are interesting mostly for that early tee time:

6:50 a.m. / 12:10 p.m. – Brandon Wu, Scarsdale, N.Y.; Curtis Luck, Australia; Ryan Fox, New Zealand

6:50 a.m. / 12:10 p.m. – Daniel Balin, White Plains, N.Y.; Greyson Sigg, Augusta, Ga.; J.C. Ritchie, South Africa

It's going to be tight getting 144 players around in the available daylight, so keep an eye on that.  The good news is that yesterday a chance of rain had crept into the Friday forecast, though as of now it's gone.

The other thing you'll note is that, while Tiger has to survive one early morning tee time, his early is significantly less early than that face by a club pro such as Danny Balin.

So, apparently the USGA thinks Jordan Spieth doesn't have enough on his plate these days:

7:56 a.m. / 1:16 p.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Japan; Patrick Reed, Houston, Texas; Jordan Spieth, Dallas,Texas 

A long year gets longer.

 I do hope Justine will be walking with the group... Jordan should have the full family experience.

Other groups of note:

8:07 a.m. / 1:27 p.m. – Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland; Adam Scott, Australia; Justin Rose, England

That, is a very nice grouping for those three and never underestimate good company for your prognosticating.

It's a good-guy pairing for sure, though I'm not especially high on the prospects for any of them...

1:05 p.m. / 7:45 a.m. – Gary Woodland, Topeka, Kan.; (a) Andy Ogletree, Little Rock, Miss.; Shane Lowry, Republic of Ireland

It seems like they won about 4 years ago, grouping.

1:16 p.m. / 7:56 a.m. – Bryson DeChambeau, Clovis, Calif.; Dustin Johnson, Jupiter, Fla.; Tony Finau, Salt Lake City, Utah

As if Bryson needed incentive to swing harder.

The "Chicks Dig the Long Ball" pairing I like, though isn't Tony the guy mor elikely to swing out of his shoes?  I'll also note that the Bryson-pairing may not be the sweetest deal for DJ...  Bryson is a drama queen, not to mention slow as heck.  I suspect DJ would swap groups with Rory in a heartbeat...

1:05 p.m. / 7:45 a.m. – Matt Fitzpatrick, England; Daniel Berger, Jupiter, Fla.; Branden Grace, South Africa

Sleeper pick group.

1:16 p.m. / 7:56 a.m. – Tommy Fleetwood, England; Kevin Kisner, Aiken, S.C.; Abraham Ancer, Mexico

Sleeper pick group 2.

Yeah, though we'd have to discuss whether some of those names really merit "sleeper" qualification.  

Nothing To See Here - The USGA has pushed back its Distance Insights Project, and I totally get the lack of urgency.  But, is this what peak-Bryson looks like?

Seriously?  He's blowing it over netting that was built in the last two weeks for this specific purpose?  So, the obvious conclusion is that in the real world they're hitting it much further than our governing body seems to understand.  The irony, she burns.

Eddie Lowery, Call Your Office - In the summer of '74 I had just finished my freshman year of college, and wasn't really a golfer.  While I've subsequently absorbed the stories from the Massacre, this photo puzzled me:


Doesn't that caddie look like he's about twelve years old?  OK, he doesn't look quite this young:

But close...

Peter McGarey has returned to Winged Foot, the scene of his greatest triumph.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t exactly his triumph.

In fact, Peter didn’t hit a single shot.

And since then? He has spent much of his life in the real estate business, mostly in the Cincinnati area. He’s had nothing to do with professional golf.

Except for that one magical week in 1974.

That’s when Peter, then 16 years old, got incredibly lucky, even for an Irish boy: He caddied at the U.S. Open, where the player at his side, Hale Irwin, happened to win the darn thing. With the exception of Eddie Lowery, who was 10 when he looped for Francis Ouimet in the historic 1913 Open at The Country Club in Brookline, it is likely that no winning caddie in an Open has been younger.

Peter is back working the event as a volunteer on the range, making a nice bookend to the story.  Of course, Hale isn't there, so no reunion a la this from the 1963 Open:


Can anyone remember the last U.S. Open played in September?  That would be that iconic 1913 installment in Boston, whose date was moved to allow for the appearance of Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.

Quick Notes on the Course - Just a couple of items that have hit my Twitter feed.  First, this on the rough:

Yowser.  I'd suggest hitting fairways...

You'll hear no end of talk about the Winged Foot greens, and I highly recommend this dissertation thereon from Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg:

“I wish we played a course like this every week, we’d learn how to putt.” -Jack Nicklaus

People often describe the greens at the West Course at Winged Foot Golf Club as treacherous, or scary, or beautiful. I would call them enduring.
The fifth green

Designed by A.W. Tillinghast in 1923, the greens at Winged Foot West are the definition of severe. Getting up and down from around them is very difficult, which puts a premium on precise approach shots. Also, the greens have an abundance of unpinnable surface: the false fronts, back wings, and sideboards make short-sided misses a nightmare and reward creative pitches and chips.

These features make Winged Foot a great course in spite of its geographical shortcomings (rocky slate soil and relatively bland topography) and have helped it endure the onslaught of advances in equipment technology. Nearly 100 years into its life, Winged Foot West is still one of the world’s great championship tests.

Fist thing one needs to know is these greens are significantly changed form 2006, restored back to their original size and contours:

The U.S. Open last visited Winged Foot in 2006, when Geoff Ogilvy won at 5-over. Since then, the players have picked up yet more technological aids. This will be the first time that the world’s best male players will take on the bold, sloping Tillinghast greens with the help of green-reading books that will show them every intricate contour. Winged Foot’s counter will be its restoration, finished by Hanse Golf Course Design in 2015. Gil Hanse enlarged the West Course’s greens by 23.8%, regaining tucked pins not seen since the 1920s and increasing unpinnable surface, which drives the strategy of the course.

Gil Hanse’s restoration of the greens adds a new dimension. When we last saw the West Course host the U.S. Open in ’06, the greens were shadows of their original selves. They had shrunk, and many of their pronounced corners and fronts had been covered in rough. While often unpinnable, these contours on the edges of the greens produce the theatrics that make Winged Foot truly compelling. The severe grades, often above 10%, punish not only approaches from bad positions but also marginal shots from good positions.

Hanse and his team also brought back a considerable amount of pinnable surface. In the graphic below, provided by Winged Foot Golf Club, you can see that the expansion of the 15th green boosted the average slope by 14% but also increased the amount of pinnable area by 43%.

Yes, that 15th might well be the one to watch


Here's a look at it back in the day:

Here's Andy's coda:

What does all of this mean? Simply that there are now more options for pins and more contours to bedevil shots from poor angles. Unlike at many PGA Tour stops, where any pin on a grade of more than 1% is frowned upon, there will be many putts at Winged Foot that turn hard at the hole. There will be short-sided pitches that bound forward after landing on the recaptured unpinnable sections. On the flip side, there will also be shots, played from the right positions, that use the same contours to funnel the ball closer to the pin. Basically, these greens will reward players who keep a clear head and pay attention to the ground.

All of this should add up to an important takeaway for the golf world. It’s time to embrace undulating greens rather than calling them “unfair” or “Mickey Mouse,” or making the same tired joke about how “all that’s missing is a windmill.” Winged Foot West’s greens are what made the course interesting and challenging in the 1920s, and what will continue to make it interesting and challenging in the 2020s. Yes, they’re playing a lot faster now—probably faster than they should—but their essence has endured. At many modern courses, on the other hand, the greens already seem dated because they don’t have the courage to be wild.

So next time you find yourself on a crazy green with a long putt and a slim chance of par, try not to think, “This is dumb.” Instead, maybe look back at the rest of the hole and consider how you got where you are.

OK, let me try to explain it via Billy Casper.  Everyone knows that he famously laid up on the Par-3 third hole all four days in 1959.  Most people will look at the hole and conclude that he wanted to avoid those bunkers on both sides of the green, which is true enough.  But it's not the bunkers, per se, but rather the severe back-to-front slope of the green.  What that does, and we could also cite Payne Stewart at No. 18 at Olympic, is that the worst place to be is pin high.  All Casper was doing with his lay-up was assuring that he'd be chipping or pitching the ball up the slope...  And remember, this was 1959 green speeds.

I'll need to leave you here, but we'll talk players tomorrow morning.

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