Flotsam and Jetsam

Nothing too taxing on offer, just a few odds and ends to wind down our week.  I'll probably skip tomorrow, golf news permitting, and next see you on Monday.

Masters Leftovers - Is the hangover better or worse after a so-so Masters?  How about a so-so Masters in November?  I know, it's quite the small sample size...

We'll do a deep dive on this intriguing item:

How is Augusta National different on TV vs. in person? It’s always been complicated

Hey, we've got time... This was penned by young punk Dylan Dethier, so the broad sweep of televised golf history isn't something he has, you know, personal experience of...  But if you weren't aware of this bit of history, it's worth your time:

In 1953, George S. May did something radical: He put his golf tournament on national television.

May was the owner of Tam O’Shanter Country Club, just outside Chicago, and he’d been lavishly spending to put on “The World Championship of Golf” for several years. The tournament’s purse dwarfed the rest of the Tour schedule, so May attracted plenty of big names — Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Julius Boros are among the event’s winners — and plenty of attention, too.

May decided the time was right to take the event’s exposure to the next level. In 1952, when most Tour stops were paying the winner $3,500, May upped the Tam O’Shanter winner’s share to $25,000. He made an even bigger move the following year, when he elected to pay ABC to show an hour of coverage per day. That’s right: The host of a top golf tournament actually paid someone to put it on the air. This would be the equivalent of Jack Nicklaus paying CBS to air the Memorial Tournament. In 2020, that arrangement works the other way around.

Golf had appeared on television before, first at the 1947 U.S. Open, which was broadcast to local St. Louis audiences. But the 1953 World Championship of Golf became the United States’ first nationally-televised golf tournament.

With a national broadcast, I certainly hope something dramatic happened to reward that investment.  What?  OK, but how did they manage to arrange this?

The first-ever nationally-televised U.S. golf tournament was the World Championship of Golf at Tam O'Shanter in 1953.

It may have also been the best finish ever: Lew Worsham came to the 18th trailing by one shot and holed out from 104 yards for eagle and a walk-off win. pic.twitter.com/ET5Kejlakj

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) November 17, 2020

 This might be the last instance in which televised golf got strong ratings:

May couldn’t have picked a better year to launch. Two million viewers tuned into the final-round broadcast, and the event ended with unimaginable excitement: Lew Worsham came to the 18th trailing by one shot and holed out from 104 yards for eagle and a walk-off win.

2 million?  In 1953?  Here was a note from Geoff on Masters viewership Thursday:

The 2.2 million average nearly caught 2019’s 2.5 million played in the traditional April slot.

OK, it's cable vs. broadcast, but it's also 67 years later...

Dylan then segues into Masters coverage in those early years:

Golf’s television broadcasts grew in the years that followed. More cameras. More golf shots. More sophisticated, more comprehensive, more expensive, more expansive. But the fundamental goal remained the same: Cover the drama of this live sporting event as it happens.

The first Masters TV broadcast came a few years later after that first event at Tam O’Shanter. The powers-that-be at Augusta decided to sell the tournament’s rights, which were worth a pretty penny. But they didn’t want a big check. They wanted control. They wanted the ability to showcase the best possible version of Augusta National and its invitational tournament. In 1956, six cameras captured the action from the final four holes as Jackie Burke, Jr. took home the green jacket.

Dylan has the video of that first broadcast:

No one had more Masters heartache than Ken Venturi, who went to his grave convinced that Arnold Palmer had stolen a Masters from him... Maybe Greg Norman, upon further review, though so much of that was self-inflicted...

Dylan takes a crack at defining what has changed:

Even though the Masters was a one-of-a-kind broadcast, the fundamental goal remained the same: To cover the live sporting event as it happened. The tournament, like most sporting events in the 20th century, was being staged for the in-person audience. The cameras and microphones were there to capture the roars. The commentators were there to relay the atmosphere. The whole premise of the broadcast being exciting for viewers at home was that it was exciting for viewers on site.

Until this year.

It would be overly simplistic to suggest that 2020 was the year that live sports flipped from in-person events to television products. TV is king — that’s nothing new. Early-round March Madness games often play in front of empty gyms and massive TV audiences. On weeknights in the fall, sparsely-attended MAC football games take over ESPN. Plenty of golf events don’t sell out, either, but the hard-to-get-to Hero World Challenge still rates well on television and the Tiger-Phil Match had a tiny in-person audience, and heck, rights to live PGA Tour golf just sold for $680 million. If making TV the priority means the tail is wagging the dog, well, that tail has been wagging a while.

This might be where Dylan's youth is a fatal flaw, because the staging of golf tournaments has change rather dramatically over the decades to accommodate that TV audience.  For instance, it used to be the practice to sprinkle the leaders throughout the day, so that the spectators would have a meaningful group to watch every hour or so.  Because of that, as just an example, Ben Hogan was sitting in the Olympic clubhouse listening to the crowd reactions as Jack Fleck made two birdies to tie him and force a playoff the next day.  Why do the leaders now go out last?  It's all for television...

One last bit, just because:

But this summer, as each major sport figured out creative ways to restart its season, an essential question hung over the entire process: Can you even have sports without fans there to watch them? When golfers teed off at the fan-free Charles Schwab Challenge in June, the immediate answer was yes. Golf was less affected than many sports; there are no courtside seats, there’s very little booing and, with the exception of the 2018 Tour Championship, nobody ever rushes the field. The early events back were a godsend. Ratings were way up year over year, reflecting Americans’ collective desire for live sports.

I guess Dylan has never watched an Open Championship... He's desperately in search of deeper meaning, though to me it's mostly an unsuccessful outing.  I mean Jordan, really?

It’s just that the atmosphere was rather less than status quo. Think about a scene from the tournament any other year: If Jordan Spieth makes a putt, he acknowledges the crowd. He doesn’t wave to the cameras or the people at home, even though he’s fully aware that he’s on camera. At this year’s Masters, Spieth generally didn’t wave at all.

Of all the gin joints... Dylan seems not to have considered the fact that Jordan hasn't done much requiring a wave since about 2017...

I'm not seeing any threshold changes here, just a holding pattern until things get back to normal.  If there's a buried lede, this would be it:

All the while, the Masters was busy providing an unprecedented level of access to its viewers at home. Every single shot was captured on video and posted to the leaderboard. Every single shot! ESPN and Golf Channel had full on-site presence, and Masters.com offered five live channels plus the ability to customize groups you wanted to watch — in all, a dizzying array of viewing options. Even better, the course was far more visible and understandable; the way the holes connect from one to the next translated better from life to screen.

Perhaps of greater import, though I'm an old guy and a streaming sceptic, they seemed to have relaxed substantially some of the silly restrictions on the broadcast. There seemed to be far more shot-tracer employed, they used a drone for aerial footage and, shockingly, Dottie Pepper was allowed to function as an actual on-course reporter.  Will miracles never cease?

The strangest item, though, comes from Zephyr Melton, under this rather curious header:

This new Masters addition drove monster TV ratings

Egads, what has be been smoking?

It might have occupied a different slot on the schedule than golf fans are used to and been competing with the mighty National Football League, but the result was the same: the Masters was the most-watched golf tournament of the year, if only narrowly.

 According to a report from Front Office Sports, the Masters was the highest-rated and most-watched golf event of the year as CBS’ Sunday final-round broadcast averaged a 3.4 TV rating and 5.59 million viewers. The tournament barely edged out Collin Morikawa’s PGA Championship win in August, which averaged a 3.3 rating and 5.15 million viewers.

Gee, I do so hate to harsh your mellow, but we had this bit yesterday:

The Masters drew a 3.4 rating and 5.59 million viewers for Sunday’s telecast. It is the lowest-

rated Masters since 1957 and the least-watched tournament on record (counting goes back to 1995). That 3.4 mark is a 51 percent drop in ratings from last year’s triumphant victory by Tiger Woods at the Masters.

 I don't know your own personal experience, but I've found that most victories are triumphant...

But apparently shedding over half your viewership now constitutes "monster" ratings... But wait, it gets worse:

The Masters moved up its starting times for the final round in hopes of gaining more audience on NFL Sunday, but even that was not enough to lessen the impact of competing with Tom Brady and Co. When the U.S. Open competed with the NFL in September, NBC saw a similar decline in ratings.

Oh, is that why they were on the air earlier?  or was it because that was the only time of day that CBS would broadcast it.... Sheesh.

Lastly, what Masters addition?  I'm assuming that was intended to be "edition", but pretty much nothing in this piece is worth your time, except to enjoy my snark.

RIP, Leonard  Kamsler - A name unknown to most, but a significant contributor to our game has passed:

Leonard Kamsler, a ground-breaking golf photographer who for decades shot for GOLF Magazine and earlier this year received the inaugural PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award in Photojournalism, died Tuesday. He was 85.

Kamsler’s library of images exceeded 200,000. He covered 40 consecutive Masters, 22 U.S. Opens and 17 PGA Championships; at Augusta National, he was the first photographer to position remote-controlled cameras behind the 12th and 15th holes.

Kamsler’s innovate style also extended to how he shot players’ swings. Pushing the limits of a Hulcher camera in the 1970s, he devised a way to shoot more than 200 images per second, capturing swings as they’d never been seen before. His archive of more than 400 swing sequences includes virtually every player of note, including Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Mickey Wright and Tiger Woods.

Golf Digest's tribute includes a selection of his most notable images, including this one that I suspect we'll see more of in April:

 And a couple of others that caught my eye:

You might have noticed the absence of Hogan's name above.  But, as this anecdote relates, he tried:

Kamsler shot all the greats, even the famously camera-shy Ben Hogan — well, sort of. According to one story Kamsler liked to tell, he was assigned to snap a swing sequence of Hogan in Texas. “Hogan would never, ever permit anyone to photograph him,” Dave Allen, a former GOLF Magazine instruction editor, wrote in a text message on Tuesday. “So Hogan was out on this one hole with a shag bag to hit balls. Leonard tried to camouflage himself as a bush and sneak up on Hogan. He went through some great pains to do this, hauling his heavy camera out there and then covering himself with some green plant life he gathered along the way. Well, there’s a reason they called Hogan The Hawk — he spotted Leonard nearly right away, picked up his bag of balls and moved on.

So, he covered himself with what Dottie Pepper calls organic matter...   Kind of reminds me of a scene from my own life, where I hung in the woods watching Employee No. 2 close out her Willow Ridge Club Championship.  She's a hawk as well, because she saw me, but still got it done despite my presence increasing her anxiety....

RIP.

The Ladies Have The Stage - There's still one major left before we kick 2020 to the curb, the U.S. Women's Open in early December:

The USGA announced the official 156-player field for the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open, and it’s the

strongest contingent that any major has seen in 2020.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, players have faced the difficult decision as to whether or not they want to travel to compete in tournaments. Several top-ranked LPGA Tour players who live in South Korea have not traveled much of the 2020 season, instead staying in South Korea and playing in KLPGA events.

But the U.S. Women’s Open field features four of the top 15 players in the world who haven’t yet played on tour since the restart. That also means they haven’t played a major in 2020. World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, No. 9 Sung Hyun Park, No. 10 Hyo-Joo Kim and No. 12 Jeongeun Lee6, who is defending the championship, will all compete at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Dec. 10-13. Park and Ryu have both won the U.S. Women’s Open, in 2017 and 2011, respectively.

No question that's been a bummer for the LPGA.  Here's more on JY Ko:

The World No. 1 in the women’s game is returning to the tour of her greatest success. Jin Young

Ko decided to not travel when the LPGA Tour restarted competition following the coronavirus shutdown, choosing instead to stay home in South Korea and compete on the KLPGA Tour. Nearly a year to the day after appearing in her last LPGA event, the CME Group Tour Championship, Ko is playing this week in the Pelican Women’s Championship in Florida.

After spending a year away from the tour, which included missing her major title defense at the ANA Inspiration, the biggest question around Ko's return is, why now? Take a look at the schedule and you'll see the reason: Ko’s return comes four weeks before the the U.S. Women’s Open. The week after the last major of the season is the CME Group Tour Championship. Ko’s world ranking gets her into the U.S. Women’s Open, but having not played in LPGA tournaments in 2020, she doesn’t have any points to get her into the CME, despite being the LPGA's 2019 leading money winner (with four victories) and player of the year.

Of course, also in the field is Sophia Popov is in the filed for that Open, which only serves to remind us of the silliness of her exclusion from the ANA....  While folks are mourning the absence of these two Yanks, neither is actually relevant competitively:

There was some speculation that two star American past champions would make their 2020 debuts at the U.S. Women’s Open, but both Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie West are not participating in the championship. Creamer won the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open, making this year the last of her 10-year exemption. Wie West, who gave birth to her daughter, Kenna, in June, was reported to be considering playing in the championship.

Golfweek reported at the end of October that Wie West, the 2014 champion, had been sending swing videos to coach David Leadbetter and hoped it would be safe to travel with her daughter by December, but as the date approached, she’s become less sure. Creamer, who has battled numerous injuries, has not competed on the LPGA since October 2019.

 Former stars would seem, you know, more accurate.  

One last bit on the girls, as they announced a change as relates to the Solheim Cup, the motivation for which is quite clear:

The LPGA and LET today announced that the Solheim Cup, the world’s leading match-play

competition for female professional golfers, will move to even years starting in 2024. The 2021 and 2023 competitions will be held in their previously announced dates and locations in Ohio and Spain, respectively, with back-to-back playings in 2023 and 2024.

The Solheim Cup Committee approved the change to even years following the announcement that the Ryder Cup will move to an odd-year schedule, after the 2020 competition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific dates and location for the 2024 Solheim Cup, which will be held in the United States, will be announced in the future.

That's probably for the best, as I'm not optimistic about this side-by-side comparison:

The 2023 Solheim Cup will be held Sept. 22-24 at Finca Cortesin in Andalucia, Spain. One week later, the Ryder Cup will be held in Italy, giving European sports fans a rare two-week spectacle of competition and patriotic fervor.

Through no fault of their own, the Solheim Cup is just the silliest thing imaginable, as squads of American and European women golfers battle for primacy.... OK, not so much primacy, because either team would be crushed unmercifully against a squad from the single country of South Korea.  Awkward, no? 

Scenes From The Big Tour - Just a couple of quick notes, and then I'll be on my way.  First, the McGladry/Sea Island Lovefest (as in Davis III) has been rocked by positive Covid tests:

Two more players have tested positive for COVID-19 at this week’s RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga.

The PGA Tour announced on Wednesday that Henrik Norlander and Kramer Hickok both received a positive test result for the coronavirus during pre-tournament screening and have withdrawn from the tournament.

They are the second and third players who were slated to compete at Sea Island to test positive after Bill Haas also did earlier in the week. Norlander and Hickok will now self-isolate for 10 days.

 Perhaps "rocked" is a bity hyperbolic, especially for an event with a notably down-home vibe:

In that sense, Georgia’s barrier islands might be an even more relaxing locale for post-Masters decompression, since they feel less like a resort hub and more like entering a secluded haven. As

usual, Davis Love III hosts the event, though he’s now even more thoroughly a host since neck and back pain will keep him from playing. Of course, these are strange times for hosting, since a dinner at the new Love home or even a gathering at a restaurant are out of the question. Even that role is more limited, and constrained to tasks like sending Graeme McDowell to a restaurant called Crabdaddy’s and—this is not a joke—making snack mix with his wife because the volunteer who usually took on that duty can’t get across the Canadian border.

“I’ve already gotten guys dinner reservations and just got some guys some barbecue sauce from Southern Soul that were desperate because it’s closed today,” Love said. “So I’m doing the big things to get this tournament moving.”

Hey, I've cornered the Tour snack mix issues since 2014... Are you still awake?  

This is, in fact, a very nice little event, and a great way to finish the season, both in normal years and in 2020.  I just wish we could enjoy for what it is, an irrelevant home game, and not pretend it's a serious competition.   It's the Hero World Challenge with a larger field.

Lastly, this bit from the event formerly known as the Bob Hope:

Like most of the PGA Tour as well as other sports over the last six months, the American Express

golf tournament in La Quinta in January will be played without spectators.

The desert’s PGA Tour event confirmed Tuesday that the 63rd edition of the tournament will be played without ticketed spectators in 2021 because of state and Riverside County restrictions over health and safety regulations from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the tournament did announce the event’s pro-am format featuring 156 pros and 156 amateurs will be played.

“The health and safety of the La Quinta and Coachella Valley communities, as well as our players, volunteers and all other partners, has remained of utmost importance throughout the pandemic,” Jeff Sanders, executive director of the tournament and president of Sportfive Golf Events, the tournament’s management company, said in a statement.

This is not news, but see if you find this off-putting:

Under the county’s current purple tier for reopening, the most restrictive of four state color-coded tiers, live sports can be played but without spectators. The LPGA’s ANA Inspiration was played in September in Rancho Mirage under the purple tier. That women's tournament did allow fans who live in homes around the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club to watch the event from their backyards, something that will also be true at the American Express.

Let me see if I have this right, our compassionate overlords actually allowed people to be in their own backyards?   I guess that bit about inalienable rights granted by our creator has been superseded?

Anyway, a couple of other bits, including an invitation for the reader to insert his or her own Chainsmokers joke:

While the tournament statement made no mention of the two nights of concerts that are part of the event, no ticketed spectators means no onsite concerts, too.The two concerts in 2020 featured rock legends Stevie Nicks on Friday and country star Luke Bryan on Saturday.Crowd estimate were from 18,000 to 20,000 a night for the concerts, with tickets on those days selling for $50 each.

The tournament is still planning for the pro-am portion of the event to continue. That format features two pros playing with two amateurs in each foursome, with play the first three days rotating around the three tournament courses. Sunday is a pros-only day, with the exception of six top amateurs, playing at the Stadium Course at PGA West.

This event has fallen on hard times, and its Pro-Am feature is about all it has left.  We also all understand that the Pro-Am is what the sponsors fork over the big money for, so we can't go on too long without blowing up the ecosystem.

But, notwithstanding the presence of spectators at the Houston stop, it seems pretty evident that there will be no galleries until the Florida swing, at the earliest.  With the Masters a mere handful of weeks after the Florida events. how likely are we to see the return of fans patrons at Augusta?  Or, you know, ever...

On that depressing note, I'll bid adieu and see all you nice people down the road.