Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Midweek Musings - March Madness Edition

The brackets are set and we'll be all over it below.  More importantly, I've got two games scheduled for the next few days, as well as a trip planned with major implications.  Shall we dive in?

Austin City Limits - Joel Beall at Golf Digest does a deep dive on the groups...errr...brackets...errr... pods, including this that gest my vote for the Group of Death:

Group 2: Justin Thomas, Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Kisner, Matt Kuchar

Congrats on winning the Players Championship, JT. Your reward is the reigning Match Play winner, a former winner and a former finalist.

Thomas is known for his ability to paint a scoreboard red (first in birdie average, second in scoring) and he’s been a tour de force in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup appearances. But in four career starts those attributes haven’t quite translated to this event; Thomas has made it out of round-robin play just once. This draw won’t help turn the tide. Oosthuizen is enjoying another solid season, ranking 10th in strokes gained and third in SG/putting. Kisner is coming in a bit cold with zero top-20s in 2021; conversely, his 2019 Match Play win was not an aberration, as he finished runner-up in Austin the year before. The one to watch will be Kuchar. He’s having one of the worst campaigns of his career (179th in the FedEx Cup, 151st in strokes gained), and at 42, it’s fair to wonder how much gas is left in the tank. Kuch also has a gold, silver and bronze medal at Match Play and is 28-10-2 in his tournament.

More than anything, it's a harsh draw for our defending champion.  Although that should come with an asterisk or scare quotes, because he's defending from a full twenty-four months ago, and those two years have been rather unkind to Kiz.

Joel though has a different nominee:

Group 6: Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Jason Day, Andy Sullivan

The PGA Tour Live broadcast dubbed the JT/Louie/Kiz/Kuch quartet the “Group of Death,” but
in our opinion it’s this group that warrants the title.

After a few years of being in the wilderness, Day is finally healthy and has quietly posted four-straight finishes of T-35 or better, plus he commands respect as a two-time Match Play champ. Scheffler hasn’t returned to the heights reached in his rookie campaign last year yet is starting to turn the corner with a T-7 at the WMPO and a fifth-place finish at the WGC-Workday at The Concession, and his power and ability to go low will make him a tough out. Sullivan has not advanced out of the first round in three previous Match Play tries, but can be a pain in the behind to play against. As for Schauffele, it’s become a cliché to claim his game is without holes, but it’s a cliché because it’s true. As long as he can keep his drives in the ballpark—and Austin C.C. is not the tightest of confines on tour—Xander could go deep if he gets out of his gauntlet.

There's surely some potential in this quartet as well, though those two top dogs don't seem to win much of anything...  

The format specifically has the lowest and highest seeds within each group play on Wednesday, thereby ensuring the minimum number of marque matches.  Notwithstanding that, Adam Woodward has ten matches worth eyeing, beginning with this blue-ob-blue pairing:

Rory McIlroy vs. Ian Poulter - 10:30 a.m.

Seeing McIlroy and Poulter play against each other will be weird for most golf fans. Over three competitions, the pair are 2-1-1 when paired together at the Ryder Cup. Most recently in 2018 they defeated Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson 4&2 in the afternoon foursomes on Friday and lost to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth 4&3 the following afternoon.

McIlroy is in search of his fourth WGC title having previously won the 2014 Bridgestone Invitational, 2015 Match Play and 2019 HSBC Champions. Poulter is playing for his third WGC title following wins in 2010 at the Match Play and 2012 at the HSBC Champions.

Hard to look at these two guys and not have one's thoughts go to late Saturday afternoon at Medinah.... What?  Still too soon?

 Amusing to focus on Rory in search of another WGC, when the bigger issue would be that Rory is in search of a clue.... Hence:

For the first time since his childhood, Rory McIlroy has a new swing coach. The four-time major
champion has hired renowned British swing guru Pete Cowen to serve as his new coach, according to a report from The Telegraph, moving on from longtime swing advisor Michael Bannon in the process.

The report would mark the formal end of McIlroy and Bannon’s professional relationship after more than two decades together. Their partnership dates all the way back to Rory’s childhood club, Holywood Golf Course in County Down, Northern Ireland, where Bannon served as club professional. McIlroy was only eight years old when Bannon came into the fold, and the pair worked closely throughout the early years of Rory’s professional career. In 2012 — only months after claiming his first major at the 2011 U.S. Open — McIlroy formally hired Bannon as his full-time swing coach.

McIlroy and Cowen have been rumored to be working together in recent weeks after the pair were spotted on the range at the Players Championship. At the time, Cohen denied working for McIlroy in any formal capacity.

If you read further in the linked piece, you'll find that Cowen (nee Cohen) has checked in on Rory over the years, so not such a radical step.  It's just that the prize in their eye is two weeks hence, so not sure where Rory might be in that process at this point.  No idea how this match might go, though I do know who I like if it's close down the stretch...

The biggest issue with this match is the fact that we can't watch it.  I believe the time above is an error, as this is the first match on the course at 8:45 a.m. E.D.T., while Golf Channel doesn't come on until 2:00 p.m.  I will note that this is the one week where access to the Tour's streaming platform could be worth it, but it's still more golf than any one human could possibly watch.

The blue-on-blue thing seems to be a trend:

Tyrrell Hatton vs. Matt Wallace - 3:16 p.m.

Two of the stars of the European Tour’s “Angry Golfers” video. What more can you ask for?

Again, more B-on-B:

Lee Westwood vs. Sergio Garcia - 3:27 p.m.

Westwood, 47, logged consecutive runner-up finishes before running out of gas last week at the Honda Classic. In 61 WGC appearances, Westwood has 11 top-10 finishes. Garcia, also in 61 WGC’s, has earned 20 top 10s. The 41-year-old recently finished T-9 at the Players Championship. Garcia will pass Tiger Woods as the leader in all-time matches played at the Match Play. Woods has 48, Garcia starts Wednesday at 46 and will play at least three times this week. Of note: Ian Poulter has played 45 matches.

Shane Ryan has a similar piece at Golf Digest, though he previews all three days of pool play:

6. Matthew Wolff vs. Jordan Spieth, Thursday, 11:25 a.m.

One of the most considered, neurotic players of his (still very young) generation against one of the most wild, unpredictable, and perhaps immature players of his (even younger) generation. Matt Fitzpatrick is the top-seed in Group 15, but for me, this is the most interesting match in the pod.

I haven't been fully convinced about the Jordan comeback, though one would think he'd embrace match play because of the lesser cost to his frequent big misses.  That said, though you might be surprised to know that, Ryder Cup reputation aside, Jordan has never won a singles match in a Ryder or Prez Cup.

Speaking of the former golden child, were you aware of this?

Spieth’s downturn started with a previously undisclosed injury: He suffered a bone chip in his left hand, likely while lifting weights. He said he should have gotten the area cleaned out in 2018 but opted not to go under the knife. (He doesn’t play much basketball anymore, because it still hurts to flick his wrist.) Playing away from pain, he made compensations to his grip, getting progressively weaker.

It’s easy to see the drop-off statistically: Spieth’s driving and approach stats plunged more than 100 spots from 2018 to ’19, to outside the top 140. Having formed poor habits, he had trouble reproducing his old action through slow-motion video and strayed from his swing’s DNA.

So, why was it previously undisclosed?  It just highlights what's so maddening about the realm of Kubla Jay, though we can eagerly anticipate a hostile reaction from that all-important gambling demo.

I agree this is a great match-up"

5. Collin Morikawa vs. Max Homa, Thursday, 1:04 p.m.


Speaking of contrasting styles, I was at TPC Sawgrass before the world turned in 2020. I asked Homa to describe Morikawa, and he used the word “robot.” A good robot, mind you—Homa was complimenting his fellow Cal alum. Watching Morikawa win the WGC in Bradenton last month did nothing to debunk that description as the reigning PGA champion showed once again the firepower inherent to a game defined by Tiger-like iron play. That emerging brilliance, plus Homa’s top-notch sense of humor and their inherent connections—expect to hear a lot about them both being Berkeley Bears during the telecast—will make this an entertaining clash, even if Homa looks outmatched on paper.

A little Red-on-Red, as one of those two at a bare minimum will be at Whistling Straits....  Maybe both?

This is Shane's top-ranked match, and it could be a good one:

1. Justin Thomas vs. Kevin Kisner, Thursday, 11:36 a.m.

Maybe I’m alone in placing this match at No. 1, but I have always thought that Kisner was a phenomenally talented match-play golfer (he’s the defending champion here with the 2020

edition of the championship wiped out by COVID after reaching the final in 2018). Given that, it seems the U.S. powers-that-be are making a mistake not seeing his unique skill set and how it could translate in team competitions. On Thursday, we’ll get to see Kisner go up against Thomas, whose phenomenal stroke-play record actually obscures how ridiculously good he is at match play, too. (All you really need to know about him, if you’re not into the numbers, is that when Tiger Woods needed a security blanket as a partner in Melbourne, he picked JT every time.) This is not just a good match-play battle; it’s phenomenal, and it could be a huge moment for Kisner. I can’t wait.

The argument against is simply that Kiz hasn't been much of a player since that 2019 Match Play.  But, as we all know, match play is just a different animal entirely...

This guy loves the event, and might be worth keeping an eye on just on that basis, because many of the players are here only because they're expected to be:

Don’t think for a second that this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is simply a
Masters tune-up for World No. 3 Jon Rahm.

Sure, Augusta is looming in a few short weeks, but the Arizona State product gushed at length about the format at Austin Country Club, one he’s enjoyed success with. In his first appearance at the tournament back in 2017, Rahm reached the final before falling to Dustin Johnson.

Not only did Rahm insist he highlights this event on his calendar, but he wishes there were others like it along the way.

“I love match play. It is the one time you play one-on-one against somebody else, and it’s maybe the more relatable of the four matches to other sports, right?” Rahm said. “I guess a lot of what you do is dependent on what the person in front of you is doing, and you don’t necessarily need to be playing your best golf every single day, you just need to be better than the person in front of you, which is the beauty of it; it’s one-on-one. It’s a typically different game.

A perfect explanation for why most of the other guys dread this week.  But a little too in-your-face confrontational for our backstopping generation...  Interestingly, the Spaniard would sign on for a reinstatement of those Moscow Rules:

In fact, count Rahm as one of the players who wish the tournament reverted to its former true match play format, one that consistently saw big names knocked from the field on the opening day.

“I like the sudden death format. We played so many events in Europe like that, that if it wasn’t sudden death you had 36-hole qualifying rounds to get to 64. So I do like the sudden death,” Rahm said. “I don’t know, I understand it’s a little bit harder for the sponsors and TV because your best guys might be gone, but I think it’s more thrilling.

“You’re competing for your life every single event. Well, not your life, but it’s a little different.”

It was more thrilling, but Lord knows we can't have that...   Maybe it's me, but I found little that was more exciting than Tiger fighting for his life on a Wednesday morning against Nick O'Hern...

A Deep Dive on NFTs - Really, you can't make this stuff up, but it's all the rage among the Bitcoin generation.  We'll start with a definition:

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unit of data on a digital ledger called a blockchain, where each NFT can represent a unique digital item, and thus they are not interchangeable. NFTs can represent digital files such as art, audio, videos, items in video games and other forms of creative work. While the digital files themselves are infinitely reproducible, the NFTs representing them are tracked on their underlying blockchains and provide buyers with proof of ownership.[1][2] Blockchains such as Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Flow each have their own token standards to define their use of NFTs.

NFTs can be used to commodify digital creations, such as digital art, video game items, and music files. Access to any copy of the original file, however, is not restricted to the owner of the token. The first NFTs were Ethereum-based and appeared around 2015. Increased interest in the market for NFTs has resulted in increased speculation, as the same investors who had previously speculated on cryptocurrencies began trading NFTs at greatly increasing volumes

That clear things up for you?   

Next we had Geoff, in his Major-infused Quadrilateral, discussing the implication of NFTs on our little game:

Imagine the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lay down a non-fungible token and become the sole owner of Jack Nicklaus’ 17th hole birdie in the 1986 Masters.

You’ll pay a handsome price given the iconic nature of the putt. But think of the value. The royalties!

Wait, you say there are no royalties for the use of my $500,000 investment? It’s still on YouTube for anyone to watch? But I’m the owner.

Ok but at least for a huge amount, Nicklaus will endorse this, right?

No autographs on video. Sorry kid.

But in buying this highlight you’d be able to say you are the ONLY owner of this great moment in golf history. They’ll even throw in serial numbers that are graciously stored and maintained decentrally on a blockchain.

Take that, Franklin Mint!

Jack's signature would be nice, but don't you really want Vern Lundquist's?  But it doesn't sound like a scam at all...

Geoff's focus is on his Five Families, consistent with the raison d'etre of his new venture:

Regardless of the logic (or absurdity) of it all, there is the matter of what this means for golf’s five families, players, fans and media partners.

When players enter majors, they essentially sign away their likeness for the week. The broadcast rights and moments they create belong to the host organization. In return, a nice purse is offered for their time and the glory of victory is theirs to keep. Trophies, medals and other riches follow for years.

But the footage belongs to the major. Meaning the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA and Open Championship could conceivably turn their greatest highlights into NFT’s. Yet not that long ago PGA Tour members saw what Fox paid the USGA for 12 years of television rights. The players came away feeling underpaid at the U.S. Open and let the USGA know it. The purse was increased, but an unusually high level of player resentment remains.

Those organizations aren't typically very trendy, so all Geoff got for his questions were equivocations.  But we have in our golfing community a man not similarly constrained by propriety or custom, so the first to market is the Kraken:

So much for the no autograph thing....  You'll want to jump right on this, I'm sure.  Though the market can be a cruel mistress:

Though Geoff piles on here with the news that the auction laid a digital egg:

Bryson DeChambeau can relate to the great artists. They slave at the canvas only to be met with rejection. Again and again and again. But the great ones keep on creating non-fungible token friendly art because that’s what they were born do. And Bryson will no doubt get back on Photoshop, tweak some pixels, yell at someone, and learn from the one item that sold for a decent amount.

BD, I genuinely believe you can come back strong with his next set of NFT trading cards. Maybe only have your name once on the front of the card? I don’t know, just a thought. You’re the artist.

Anyway, his inaugural blockchain-based digital art went on sale for a mere 24 hours and failed to generate more than T24 money at this week’s WGC Dell Match Play. Three of 67 cards definitely sold, only a handful saw any meaningful bids, and there were accusations of impropriety. Or, at the very least, there was confusion about the Opensea’s rules.

The one non-fungible token that did produce a decent amount bidding into the evening hours was, not coincidentally, the “piece” of DeChambeau teeing off at Bay Hill and limited to one edition. The work included actual fungible elements with the artist’s work, aka “unlockable content”:

Anyone understand the unit of currency involved?  Just add this to the long list of things your humble blogger will never understand...

Over There - Not sure when I'll see Scotland or Ireland next, but we do have a couple of stories from that part of the world.  This is the one of greater interest to me, not that it's important in the grand scheme of things.

It is an area so tranquil that the notion of bitter dispute is hugely anomalous. The serenity of Coul
- in east Sutherland, north of Dornoch – is in fact fundamental to a backdrop of unrest.

When the Scottish government rejected a plan for a golf course at Coul early last year, it appeared those with grand plans had nowhere else to turn. This marked a victory for environmentalists who argued one of the most complex dune systems in Scotland and a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) should not be compromised. “The harmful impacts to protected habitats and species would outweigh the potential socio-economic benefits,” said Kevin Stewart, then planning minister. Anne McCall, the director of RSPB Scotland, said: “These damaging proposals threatened a site of global importance for nature and should never have made it this far.”

I can't so much as pretend to have any knowledge bearing on the environmental issues, except to acknowledge that, if environmentalists had their way, we'd be living in the Stone Age.  My jaundiced opinion of them comes from decades of watching them oppose all development, but they give the game away in the manner in which they fight:

With American investors key to the project, comparisons were not unreasonably – if unhelpfully to those pursuing a golf course – drawn with Donald Trump’s controversial development in Aberdeenshire. One glance across social media illustrates the depth of feeling attached to Coul and acrimony as attached. One golfer’s paradise is someone else’s idea of vandalism on sacred land.

Actually, it was quite unreasonable, for a very simple reason, to wit, that Donald Trump was uninvolved in the effort.  Oh, and the man that was involved, Mike Keiser, managed to get on famously with the People's Republic of Oregon, so he bears not the slightest resemblance to Trump.  Not that I don't appreciate the wisdom of their efforts, per this:

There is an old adage among lawyers that says, "If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the law on your side, pound the law; if you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table."

 Here's the latest:

Unbowed, a group of individuals want to bring Coul Links back before the planners. Edward Abel Smith, a London-based landowner, is working in conjunction with the newly formed Communities for Coul. He now wants to build an eco-friendly hotel and will, should planning be granted, hand over his territory for 18 holes at a long-term peppercorn rent. The multimillion dollar question, though, is why this scheme will succeed now when the previous one in early 2020 so publicly failed?

“I wouldn’t say we are confident but we feel strongly about the overall benefits that the development would bring,” says Communities for Coul’s Gordon Sutherland. “We want this golf course as a catalyst for economic development. The number of jobs forecast are calculated by businesses prepared to invest; there is almost £50m of private investment lined up and 180 jobs, 108 of which would be full-time.

“It would be such an important thing for this area, which had a decreasing population and ageing demographic even before Covid. It’s even more important now to create jobs in this area. We are prepared to fail but we will do everything we can to succeed.”

There's no word at this time as to whether Keiser is still involved.  The fault lines are similar to those we see in similar disputes, as the opposition tends to come from do-gooders outside the jurisdiction:

Highland councillors have previously offered heavy backing. The appetite within Sutherland for the golf course appears strong. “Of the 90,000 or so who signed the online petition against the [rejected] development, less than 0.15% live within the IV25 postcode,” say Communities for Coul. Sutherland adds: “We feel the vast majority of people who live locally support this.” Politically, the prominence or otherwise of the Scottish Greens after upcoming elections could be significant.

And this:

In nearby Royal Dornoch, Sutherland houses one of the finest golf venues in the world. Its vice-captain, the professor of economics David Bell, has sent a letter to the local MP, Jamie Stone, regarding golf and the post-pandemic scene. “The golf courses around the Dornoch Firth can play a vital role in recovery from what has been the most devastating economic collapse to affect this area, possibly since the Clearances [eviction of Highland tenants in the 18th and 19th centuries],” says Bell. “The golf industry provides vital employment, allowing younger people to stay in the area. This is particularly important in Sutherland, which faces serious demographic decline. By 2040, its population is likely to be around half of what it was at the time of the Clearances. Highland Council’s own estimates show Sutherland’s population declining by 10.7% between 2021 and 2041.”

The last time we were in Dornoch, I saw my caddie checking his phone with some frequency, and the following conversation ensued:

Scott: OK, I have to ask, is it a girl or football scores?

Caddie: Football.  In Dornoch it would never be a girl.

Scott:  No, why not?

Caddie:  There aren't any.  They've all left for the cities.

Pretty difficult to have a viable population with no females of child-rearing age.  Of course, that was years before the inevitable follow-up question as to whether there are any people in Dornoch that identify as girls....

Our second item is a mulligan for Rory:

Royal Portrush is in pole position to stage the Open Championship in 2025, with the R&A keen to build on the success of the major’s return to Northern Ireland two years ago. The 2019 Open, won by Shane Lowry, was the first time Portrush had been the host course since 1951 with many of the intervening years marked by violence in Northern Ireland.

While insiders at the R&A and the club insist no formal agreement is yet in place for 2025, Portrush is understood to be at the front of the queue as background talks proceed positively.

That's quite the quick return, a bit of dis to places like Carnoustie and Birkdale.  But the greater mystery is this:

The R&A’s chief executive, Martin Slumbers, announced in January that Turnberry, currently under the ownership of Donald Trump, will not stage an Open for “the foreseeable future”. Muirfield, which decided in 2019 to admit female members, has not presided over the Open since 2013.

That's some carefully chosen wording.  Yes, The Honourable Company decided to admit female members, though it's not clear that it has yet admitted its first.  

The Say Hay Kid - You might recall that Tiger had been hired to redo the short course at Pebble Beach.  We have some further background on how that happened and, more importantly, some pictures:

The Peter Hay short course was one of the original short courses in the United States when Pebble Beach’s long-time professional, Peter Hay, designed it in the 1950s for beginners and juniors. It has been a mainstay at the resort ever since—providing an entry point for many in the area to get into golf.

Conversations about the vision of Peter Hay were actually sparked by Tiger Woods during his preparations for the U.S. Open in 2019, Pebble Beach vice president and Director of Golf John Sawin told Golf Digest last year. Tiger noticed that some construction was ongoing at Peter Hay, which served as the grand entrance to the U.S. Open, and he expressed an interest in being involved in the future of a reimagined short course at Pebble Beach.

"From our standpoint, it was a natural fit," Sawin told Golf Digest. "Tiger and his team are very fun, creative people. And they have experience building these fun, dynamic playable short courses that are interesting and challenging for avid golfers, but still fun and playable for beginners. And maintaining that family-oriented, welcoming environment for junior golfers and beginners will be a great fit for how we see Peter Hay continuing to play a role in our community within the golf resort."

Looks like he's got a Biarritz:


Tiger has proven to be more interesting as a designer than I'd have expected, so it's fun to see an actual playful side to him.

But what do I like most about this project?  Gotta go with the logo:

Venue News -  I suppose that Portrush item could logically have gone here as well.  Our governing bodies come up with so many clunker venues, that I almost do a double-take when they get one right:

The U.S. Senior Open seemingly will be played in the City-by-the-Sea after all.

The tournament for golfers 50 and older, which was scheduled to be held at Newport Country Club in June 2020 but canceled because of the COVID pandemic, is expected to be staged at the famed club in the summer of 2024.

Barclay Douglas, longtime president of Newport Country Club, told The Daily News on Monday that nothing is official, but the “contract is almost completed.”

This is about the only kind of mulligan I can get behind.  Of course, the club has a bit of history:

The fact the USGA is returning to Newport is no real surprise. With its historic clubhouse, Newport Country Club hosted the inaugural U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in 1895. In more recent times, the course was the site of the 1995 U.S. Amateur, when a young Tiger Woods prevailed, and the 2006 Women’s Open won by Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam.

It was also one of the five founding clubs of the USGA.  That '95 Amateur was an interesting week, as Earl Woods was an awkward fit at this very blueblood club.  But, drunk as could be, this is where Earl made his famous prediction that Tiger would  win fourteen professional majors, which looked tragically prescient from June 2008 through March 2019.

I'd Prefer a Cage Match - I've gone on record with my outrage over Lee Westwood shunting Helen Storey aside to give his Masters caddie gig to just another white guy.  Apparently Mr. Westwood is getting with this social justice stuff, because apparently it's not quite a done deal:

Lee Westwood says it's "a negotiation" between his fiancée and son on who gets to caddie

It wouldn't be nice to pit the young man against his future mother-in-law, would it?  In any event, they've agreed to the split which will have son Sam on the bag at Augusta, which given its hilliness might be for the best.  But I've been thinking it would be great to have Helen on the bag at the raucous Ryder Cup, which does indeed seem to be a possibility:

Of course, given Westwood’s tear, it’s fair to wonder who gets the bag when for Westwood, which he admitted is “a negotiation process.”

“Helen is doing the PGA Championship and the Open, I think,” Westwood said. “I'm not sure about the Ryder Cup yet. We'll cross that bridge if I get in the team.”

Given his standing, Westwood is a lock for the Europeans squad this fall at Whistling Straits, so factoring in Lee’s run with Storey, Sam better step his game up. Luckily for Sam, his pops has played PGA National well in his career with four top 10s in eight starts, including a fourth-place finish last year.

He wouldn't, at age 48, be a candidate for two sessions a day, so perhaps a female in the arena will keep the goons polite.  

I shall wrap the proceedings there.  Enjoy the match play madness later, and we'll visit again later in the week.  Oh, and get out there and hit a few yourself.

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