There may be no better place than Bay Hill and no better tournament than the Arnold Palmer Invitational for Rory McIlroy to get on a roll.
Following Tiger Woods’ lead helps, too.
McIlroy, the former world No. 1 and four-time major winner, put himself in prime position to snap his winless streak dating to the 2019 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions with a sparkling 6-under-par 66 Thursday to grab a share of the first-round lead in Arnie’s annual bash.
McIlroy made five consecutive birdies on his front nine, two more on the back and carded just one bogey and put his signature to one of his best rounds of the year.
“I’ve watched Tiger enough here over the years and the way he played this course was, he played it very conservatively, he took care of the par-5s, and that was usually good enough to get the job done,” McIlroy said. “So sort of take a little bit of a leaf out of his book.”
Fair enough, as that Tiger guy had a little success in this event. But Rory has also won here, and the circumstances behind that might offer more insight into that which Rory needs to get back to winning golf tournaments:
Brad Faxon competed in the Arnold Palmer Invitational 24 times and banked more than $600,000at the tournament, but his greatest success at Bay Hill came in a year when he didn’t play, didn’t even come to the course, and lost $1,800.
That was in 2018, when Rory McIlroy ended an 18-month winless spell at the API with the most dominant putting display of his career. Just six days earlier, McIlroy had started working with Faxon, one of the most celebrated putters in PGA Tour history.
“Look, I think I had a little bit to do with it but I didn’t have a lot to do with it. He’s so talented, just letting him be more like himself is a big part of it,” the self-effacing veteran said Wednesday at Bay Hill, where he twice finished runner-up.
The most dominating putting display of Rory's career is an awfully low bar because, yanno, Rory... There's no secret to what holds Rory back, and yet his career seems modelled on Groundhog Day. Seriously, it's be now Pavlovian, I see Rory on TV and the background track is, I Got You, Babe.
This guy had been playing horribly so, with his Augusta mulligan pending, it just adds to the frisson to have him finding his game:
Bay Hill Bomber: Bryson DeChambeau back to hitting bombs, opens with 67
He's been bombing it all along, he just hadn't been able to keep it on the planet. Yesterday he found fairways, perhaps because of an equipment adjustment we'll get to in a sec.
No doubt you've heard about his interest in attempting to drive the sixth green. Nothing to see here, I've been reliably informed, as driving Par-5 greens is just another day at the office... Wednesday Pro-am was the opportunity, though the wind failed to cooperate:
For those wanting to see Bryson DeChambeau drive the sixth green this week at Bay Hill, his two water balls Wednesday probably didn’t inspire much confidence. But the weather forecast does provide a glimmer of hope.
While there was about a 15-mph wind humming in off the right and slightly into him, DeChambeau came up well short on both attempts during his practice round for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The par-5 sixth is listed at 555 yards, but from the back tee box it requires about a 350-yard carry to safely clear the water. On Wednesday, DeChambeau teed his ball up at the very front of the back tee box, about 10 yards in front of the markers.
It's hard to imagine him doing this in competition, since any miss is an automatic re-tee. On the other hand, should he fall from contention, this could readily go Hollywood. Though more Tin Cup than Groundhog Day, methinks...
So, when he got to the 6th tee yesterday, he actually had the presence of mind to give the fans a head fake:
With the wind still blowing steadily from the southwest, DeChambeau, who has recently hinted at driving the green at the par-5 sixth, thought to himself, Man, it may be possible if the wind kind of flips a little bit. Deep down, though, he knew it wouldn’t – at least not Thursday – and two holes later when he stepped on the tee at the 555-yard hole, he was already prepared to disappoint.
“There was a high expectation level of me trying to go for the green there and it was a little pressure that I wasn't expecting,” said DeChambeau, who handled the situation with levity, first reaching for an iron and inciting a chorus of groans, and laughs. He eventually grabbed driver, hammered a 309-yard drive on a much more conservative line and converted an easy two-putt birdie.
Just for the record, that's a 309-yard lay-up...into the wind. Nothing to see here...
But not just the wind, it turns out that Bryson's equipment is a limiting factor, as well
DeChambeau also currently leads the field in strokes gained: off-the-tee, a product, he says, of a new driver he recently put in play that features a heavier head and provides better accuracy. Of course, in this case, more accuracy means less distance, which means less probability that DeChambeau drives No. 6 this week.
“If it was one of my normal drivers at 2,000 spin, I totally could have done it today,” DeChambeau said, “but if it's more downwind I'll be able to do it tomorrow, hopefully, or sometime during the weekend.”
But, assuming you know the hole, this may shock:
DeChambeau explained that he would need at least a 10-mph wind to finally pull the trigger, and that breeze would need to be coming from the northeast. He’ll get both starting Friday, though it appears he may still aim 30 yards left of the putting surface, where the carry is about 10 yards less, and give himself just a pitch shot into the hole.
We love options in architecture!
Yes, and the architectural merit of Bay Hill would be a strong contender for those old World's Thinnest Book gags...
But it so happens it's not just the chicks that dig the long ball:
With DeChambeau, who knows what he will decide to do? The only certainty is that all eyes will continue to be on the sixth hole whenever he steps to the tee.
“He said if he gets any downwind he's going to give it a go," Spieth said. "Hopefully I can just tee off first and get out of the way, get off to a good start, get off first, put one out there in the fairway and then just watch.
"You’re lying if you're not saying you're interested and going to be entertained.”
Exit question: If Bryson plays his tee shot successfully 30 yards left of the green, does he turn left or right off the tee box?
In a marginally-related item, Golf Digest posts this rogues gallery of epic fails:
The 20 highest single-hole scores in PGA Tour history
This is such a competitive category that CTRL:F - Nakajima yields zero results. You really need to golf your ball to make this list, and keep golfing it pretty much in perpetuity... The astute reader, and we tolerate no other kind, will not only know the identity of the leader in the clubhouse, but can identify the holes involved, including that one referenced above:
3. John DalyTournament: 1998 Bay Hill Invitational, Bay Hill Club.
Hole: 6.
It’s almost expected that John Daly – the pioneer of “Grip it and Rip it” – would be on this list (more than once). Daly’s adventures on the par-5 sixth hole at Bay Hill in 1998 were something you’d expect to see in a movie. His drive ended up in the water, as did the next five attempts to clear the hazard with a fairway wood. After a few more mishaps, Daly finally putted out.
Score: 18.
Two sleeves in the water is pretty much his signature move. Make sure to bring enough ammo, Bryson!
You'll want to scroll that list, though you won't know most of the players. This is your winner, a worthy entry for sure:
1. Tommy Armour
Tournament: 1927 Shawnee Open, Shawnee CC.
Hole: 17.
As the story goes, Tommy Armour knocked 10 – 10! – balls out of bounds on the par-5 17th on his way to a legendary “Archaeopteryx” (15 or more over par).
Score: 23.
There's no shortage of fun on this list, and I particularly enjoyed the Cypress Point entries, mostly because back in 1980s when I was lucky enough to play it, their scorecard had my favorite local rules, which were (paraphrased):
- No relief from animal footprints in the hazards; and:
- The Pacific Ocean is in play.
The last full measure of what we might consider “normalcy” on the PGA Tour occurred a yearago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, where England’s Tyrrell Hatton asserted himself as a world-class player just a few days before the world stopped turning.The term “business as usual” truly applied to the events that unfolded last March at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. There were smatterings of talk about the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which hadn’t yet earned its insidious reputation as a pandemic. But it was moving in that direction. There was an undercurrent of uncertainty wafting throughout the property, but it was keeping a low profile. No one really knew what to think. No one knew what to believe.When tournament week commenced exactly one year ago, on March 2, 2020, there were only 100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States and nine reported deaths from the virus—though the numbers were likely far greater but not detected because of a scarcity of adequate testing. Casualties worldwide were 3,300, predominantly in Asia. “We’re dealing with clearly an emerging infectious disease that has now reached outbreak proportions and likely pandemic proportions,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that day.
Who do we think has had the worse year, Rory or Fauci?
I have to admit that I forgot that this guy was ahead of the curve:
CT. Pan still remembers the odd looks and sideways glances he and his wife, Michelle, got from fellow passengers whenever they boarded an airplane with masks dutifully adorning their faces.This was in February. Of 2020. And at that time, the couple from Chinese Taipei was operating under the assumption that life in their adopted home country was about to become, well … complicated.The Pans already had stopped dining in restaurants and, if at all possible, avoided staying in hotels. They had purchased a small RV, and by the time the PGA Tour made its annual migration from the West Coast to Florida in March, they drove from their home in Houston to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., for the Honda Classic, the start of a four-week swing through the Sunshine State.But by March 12 they were driving back to Texas.Though it pained him to do so—truly, because the Players Championship is one of his favorite events—Pan withdrew that morning from the tour’s flagship tournament after it became obvious the strange new virus that he had heard about for months not only had gained a foothold in America but now was beginning to rage across the country. The coronavirus pandemic was taking hold.
But I need to call BS on this bit of historical revisionism:
“I was surprised that it was canceled, but not surprised,” Pan said Tuesday by phone from Orlando, where he is competing in this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I was relieved that it happened because, obviously, I don’t want anyone in our golf community, our colleagues, to get sick. It’s a terrible virus, and they made the right call.”So did Pan, who hadn’t yet arrived back home when PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was doing what had to be done to protect players, caddies, fans and officials.
If you'll recall that period, Jay Monahan did his best deer-in-the-headlights impression, robotically repeating the mantra that golf is played outdoors over hundreds of acres. That's true enough for his players, but wantonly indifferent to his paying customers, who were jammed into transport busses and grandstands. Jay never expressed the slightest concern about that, and don't get me started on the infamous Chainsmokers concert... I still believe the event could have been played if Jay only had to foresight to play without spectators.
Seems like it all happened in a prior lifetime, no?
Whoa, Nelly - She's at it again:
Nelly Korda, fresh off a win last Sunday, has put herself back on top of the leaderboard thisweek.
Korda shares the first-round lead with Jennifer Kupcho and Austin Ernst at the LPGA Drive On Championship in Ocala, Florida.
All three fired 5-under 67s on Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Jing Yan and Jaye Marie Green.
Nelly’s sister, Jessica Korda, is among a large group of golfers at 3 under, two off the lead.
I'm sure to what extent Mike Whan is still steering the boat, but there's a few things going on this week that I find ill-conceived. First, this bit:
The Korda sisters are grouped with World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, who is T-89 after an opening-round 75.
“I thought it was going to be fun,” Nelly said about the grouping with her sister. “This is the first time we’ve been paired together the first two days of an event.”
I was reliably informed that these are world-class athletes competing in an elite competition. Nothing reinforces that as much as pairing an alleged world-class athlete with her....big sister? Compare and contrast with their pairing in the final round, final group of the season-opening event, the beauty of which is that it happened because of the scores they shot.
I had a similar concern when I saw an all-countrymen pairing (can't remember if it was the Spaniards or the South Africans) in one of the men's majors. I've no gripe with interesting groupings, but they shouldn't give the appearance of an unnaturally supportive bubble for the players.
Second, there will be a new face and voice in the booth:
Two-time LPGA winner and major champion Morgan Pressel is joining Golf Channel and NBC’s broadcast team as an analyst and on-course reporter for both LPGA and PGA Tour events, the network announced in a press release on Tuesday.
Pressel, 32, has spent close to half her life as a professional golfer. She memorably won the ANA Inspiration (then the Kraft Nabisco Championship) as an 18-year-old in 2007, at the time making her the youngest major winner in the modern era.
Though her last win was the 2008 Kapalua LPGA Classic, Pressel has an impressive 65 career Top 10s and over $8 million in career earnings on the LPGA Tour — 31st on the all-time money list. She’s also a Solheim Cup stalwart, having represented Team USA six times since 2007.
She is a very nice and admirable young woman, but that voice is really shrill to my ear.... I don't know whether she has interesting takes on her game, but I don't see her as Bones or John Wood material, and especially not Phil material. I know I'll be guilty of shilling for the patriarchy, but I especially would advise against her presence on the PGA Tour broadcasts...
Lastly, about that golf course:
Augusta National, St. Andrews replica holes used throughout LPGA Tour host this weekend
And they say this as if it's a good thing... Seriously, you've played several Women's British Opens at the real Old Course, yet you think it wise to play a Mickey Mouse imitation in Florida? Again, I was under the illusion that these are world-class athletes?
The only thing missing, it seems, is a clown's face on the green on the left...
If you wanted the women's tour to be dismissed as a joke, what would you do differently?
Rickie Takes Incoming - Well, we always have to consider the source.... But note the withering wit involved:
Good news is if he misses the Masters he can shoot another six commercials that week! 😳 https://t.co/kgGcmaZUJO
— Sir Nick Faldo (@NickFaldo006) March 2, 2021
My favorite part of this is the ensuing apology... which Geoff apparently digs:
Rather impressively he took full ownership of the Tweet and even admitted that some jealousy might be involved given Rickie’s blue chip endorsement roster.
I'm really quite glad to hear that, as I'd like to think we can talk through our minor differences and find common ground. Well, I was pleased, anyway, until I listened to the apology myself:
Hello friends..... pic.twitter.com/pAgfEe6lzs
— Sir Nick Faldo (@NickFaldo006) March 4, 2021
Because nothing says abject contrition quite like an infomercial for Sqairz Golf Shoes....
Today's birds of a feather moment has Jordan Spieth commenting on Rickie's struggles:
“The most difficult thing about struggling is when you’ve had a lot of success and therefore it’salmost impossible to struggle in silence, in darkness, and get your work done in the dark,” Spieth said. “There’s just going to be so much noise around and so much emphasis on results versus the true understanding of what your end goal is — and how much time that can take in golf.”
“We saw a nonhuman in Tiger Woods be able to make massive changes quicker than what is probably realistic for just about anybody else,” Spieth said. “I think that that can sometimes hurt the quickness of jumping to conclusions to people, and so I think publicly, struggling publicly when you’re somebody like Rickie, it makes it hard, so blocking out the noise is so important and sticking to what you’re doing is so important and having a team around you that can tell you that.”
I would imagine these two have lots to discuss, not that that's a good thing. It's one of the hard part of our game, which offers no shortage of public humiliation. But:
Fowler is coming off a T20 at the Genesis Invitational, his best result since last summer. He’ll look to improve on that this week at Bay Hill. He knows Jordan Spieth won’t be the only one watching.
As Yoda famously said, there's no looking. There's only doing or not doing. Rickie's Thursday +4 puts him T96, which seems more of the latter... It's a very cruel game we play.
Reading Is Fundamental - Though, alas, logic isn't.... Alistair Tait riffs on Jon Rahm's recent rant against green-reading books, making a case with which I'm in agreement. He cites the inordinate scrutiny Collin Morikawa put on an eagle putt last week, but this is the gist of his case:
The R&A and USGA obviously didn’t factor in green-reading books when they came up with the 40 second recommendation to play a shot. Rule 5.6b to be precise. Quite how any player can play a stroke, even a 54-foot eagle putt, in 40 seconds when they consult a green-reading book is beyond me.Morikawa obviously isn’t the only one who can’t seem to putt without the obligatory library trip. Bryson DeChambeau’s US Open win was impressive, but watching him consult his Winged Foot green-reading book over every single putt was a test of fortitude. TV viewers could easily refill their wine glass, or fetch another beer from the fridge between DeChambeau reaching for the book and actually making the stroke.
Which is part of the case, but far from the most important part. Yes, it can take far too long and it's not a great look, but isn't the better argument that green-reading is supposed to be a skill? That was certainly Rahm's argument...
But the worst is this howler:
Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors without green-reading books. Tiger Woods has 15, and pretty sure he never had to consult one either.
Wow! Alistair, perhaps you should consider manual labor, because commentary doesn't seem a good fit for your skills.
I'll speak very slowly in the hope that you can follow. Green-reading books provide an advantage to players, which we should assume from their extensive use. The difficult issue is to parse whether these books merely provide factual information, which we generally allow, or whether they provide guidance, which we naturally proscribe. This obviously features shades of grey, but the argument is all about whether we're negating a skill integral to our game.
So, Jack won those 18 majors without such a book, but the astute observer will immediately understand that he did so decades before the books were invented. He also won those 18 without a Pro-V1, so by Alistair's logic we should outlaw the solid-core ball.... Let me really simplify things for Alistair, the players all use the books (and I include Jon Rahm, because his caddie uses it), because no competitor unilaterally disarms. The argument can only made to the game's governing bodies, but that where Alistair's failure to make actual arguments is counter-productive. he wants them to ban it because he doesn't like the look? Yeah, has he considered that that's not their job?
Quick Hits - Just a couple of loose ends. First, this would seem a dog-bites-man story, since these guys pretty much always pure it:
This Justin Rose shank was so pure it may have hit a parked truck
But it was a pretty good example of the genre:
The dreaded bunker shank. 😬#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/WGul700OBp
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 4, 2021
Anyone know what happened to Justin Rose? His return address these days seems to be in Fowlerville, no?
Lastly, from last weeks senior's event, it's good to know they're back on the autograph line. But, takea quick look at what he was asked to sign:
Phil Mickelson was just asked to sign a mask at the Cologuard Classic in Tucson. He declined, telling the man: "You've been breathing in it all day, dude." pic.twitter.com/v3jEE6lJCP
— Golfweek (@golfweek) February 28, 2021
Ick! Cooties, and that might be the least of it...
On this last bit, I'm sensing some selection bias at play:
Study shows golf fans are angriest sports fans on social media. Water also wet
Are you done laughing? To paraphrase Tom Lehrer, the average age of a golf fan is dead for three years, so why the anger? I think you'll agree that the methodology sounds totally legit:
But, thanks to a study conducted by onlinegamlbing.ca, it's now officially official: golf fans are the angriest on social media, bar none. The study, which used BuzzSumo to analyze social media reactions to determine which sports fans reacted in which way on the platform, found that golf fans are by far the angriest of all the sports, with 42 percent of all tweets about golf being classified as an "angry comment.According to the study, no other sport even eclipses the 30 percent mark in angry comments. The next closest is the NFL with 28 percent of all reactions being classified as "angry."
OK, but as a thought experiment, let's pretend that Patrick Reed is a football player.... I'll bet that changes the numbers quite a bit.
I'm still laughing over the concept of golf fans being on social media because...well, you know. But the hits keep on coming, as apparently our game lack any drama:
The study also analyzed which sports gets fans hearts racing the most, and, not surprisingly, golf ranked second-to-last, just behind Darts and barely ahead of cycling. Essentially, golf fans are angry and watching the sport doesn't even excite them that much. Sounds... miserable. Anyway, what time does coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational start this Sunday?
Darts? What time does that come on?
Have a great weekend and I'll catch you on Monday.
OK, but as a thought experiment, let's pretend that Patrick Reed is a football player.... I'll bet that changes the numbers quite a bit. https://nativecasinos.ca/online-casino/paypal
ReplyDeleteI'm still laughing over the concept of golf fans being on social media because...well, you know. But the hits keep on coming, as apparently our game lack any drama