Friday, May 14, 2021

Late-Week Loghorrea

 Spring seems to have suddenly arrived, and not a moment too soon...

Busted Flat In Baton Rouge - We don't often lead with a college golf story, especially not on a day with actual golf results to dissect.  But the NCAA has spared no effort to beclown themselves, so credit must be paid.

Just to share how senile your humble blogger has become, I was quite certain that I had blogged this story:

Only I hadn't.... Per Beth Ann Nichols:

“The NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee regrets that the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships regional in Baton Rouge could not be conducted as scheduled this week,” the statement read. “The University Club has taken on over 7 inches of rain in the past several days. The Division I Women’s Golf Committee, NCAA staff and the Games Committee in Baton Rouge have been in constant communication throughout the past several days about the course conditions that have led to this unprecedented and most difficult decision.”

That's a lot of rain for a region notable for the height of its water table... But the griping came right on cue, first over not using the available dry stretches:

For days now, several coaches have maintained that there were windows of time in which golf could have been played. Miami coach Patti Rizzo walked all 18 holes on Tuesday afternoon and said that maybe four or five bunkers were in bad shape. She did not see any of the maintenance crew working on the golf course during that time. She suggested to the committee that the par-4 seventh hole be shortened to a par 3 to adjust for the standing water in the fairway.

Young, who has served on NCAA committees for several years, like Rizzo, felt that the decision-makers in Baton Rouge were unprepared. Young was one of several coaches who noted that she hadn’t seen a single pump on the golf course.

“Everybody is kind of in a state of shock,” said Rizzo after walking the course on Tuesday afternoon. “Is this a conspiracy or something? Why are we not playing?”

Here are more of those damning details:

The teams had a practice round Sunday with course conditions that were dry. Rain came down Monday morning, which was scheduled to be the first day of the tournament, and play was called
for the day at 11:30 a.m. ET.

According to Kieschnick, the sun was out Monday from noon on and there was a full eight hours of sunshine that could have allowed play later in the day. That option wasn't discussed, however, and Kieschnick did not witness any maintenance crew attempting to get the golf course ready for play.

"I walked a little bit of the course; it was playable. The water had receded a little bit; there was maybe one hole that we'd have to move from a par-4 to a par-3," Kieschnick said. "A few of us coaches midafternoon went to the committee with questions and said, 'What can we do to play? We'll do whatever we have to do.'"

The coaches were told the bunkers on the course were a concern, with standing water making them unplayable. The rules officials did have the option to mark the unplayable bunkers as such, which would give the players relief if their ball entered the marked area.

That lack of any effort to pump the water out of the bunkers or otherwise make the course ready for play seems pretty consistent among the players and coaches.  But here's the bit that'll have you scratching your head:

“Look, this is one of the most gut-wrenching decisions and announcements that I’ve ever been a part of,” said NCAA Committee representative Brad Hurlbut, the Director of Athletics at Fairleigh Dickinson, outside the clubhouse at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional around 11:30 a.m. CDT.

“Even though the course is playable, it’s not playable at a championship level. Therefore, the top six teams that were seeded will advance, along with the top three individuals that were not on those six teams.”

At this point, in a video obtained by Golfweek, screams of “Are you serious?” and “You just said it’s playable,” rang out as the committee marched back up the stairs toward the clubhouse without another word.

Who knew Anthony Fauci ran the NCAA as well?

 And this just makes it worse:

"I specifically asked the head rules official why we can't play, what do we have to do," Kieschnick said. "The answer was that 'We don't think you get the right champion if we don't play the bunkers.' I said, 'Well, you're well within your rights to make those ground under repair; that's truly your opinion.' You don't know if that determines the right champion or not -- that's an opinion."

Ya got that?  You might not get the "right" champion by playing a compromised golf course, but some how you get the "right" one from just pushing the higher seeded teams through?   As a minor pile on, this in a year when the seedings are more meaningless than usual because of the differing schedules the teams were able to play.  And, it needs to be emphasized, this from the NCAA in the year after it all was cancelled for Covid.

As one player remarked:

“This is a joke,” another person shouted. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

 Added another, “Thank you for ending our careers!”

Prediction:  While they should be ashamed of themselves, they won't be.  I know, it's a gift....

One last little bit of outrage.  Among those six teams waved through was LSU, which just happened to be hosting the event.

Doing The Job Americans Won't Do - I've never sampled much from Barstool Sports, but I'm thinking I need to throw some clicks their way:

A Barstool championship for women’s golf? For Dave Portnoy and the team at Barstool Sports, the idea seemed like a no-brainer after what happened in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.

“I don’t want to see them end their careers like that,” Barstool’s Sam Riggs Bozoian told Golfweek.
Bozoian, shocked by the NCAA’s controversial cancellation of the Baton Rouge regional without a single shot being played, wanted to give the 12 teams that didn’t advance a chance to compete.
The top six seeds in Baton Rouge automatically advanced to the NCAA Championship May 21-26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, after officials deemed the course playable, but not to a “championship level” due to excessive rain.

“I couldn’t believe the way that they handled it,” said Bozoian, who delivered his invitation to teams via Twitter in a staircase video that looked strikingly similar to one in Baton Rouge that went viral.

#letthemplay!

More outrage here. 

Scenes From The Byron -  I watched none of it, though a certain recent Covid patient did have quite the day:

The Jordan Spieth Experience is often described as a roller coaster, only if that coaster hit a few banks, froze on its barrel roll and brandished an "out-of-order" sign for months. Thursday in Dallas … well, there was still the occasional bump against the railing. But Spieth’s Round 1 at
the AT&T Byron Nelson was a non-stop thrill ride that remained on the tracks and finished with fireworks, as a walk-off eagle gave Spieth a share of the first-round lead.

“I could certainly look back and say I missed a couple pretty easy putts, but I also made the one on 18,” Spieth said after signing for a nine-under 63. “So all in all, yeah, I was a little surprised by kind of picking right back up.”

Spieth was far from the only player seeing red in Round 1; over 50 players shot 67 or better at the Nelson’s new venue, TPC Craig Ranch. Still, the three-time major winner started hot (four birdies in his first six, making the turn in 31) and kept the fire going when a couple of bad swings threatened to douse the flames, highlighted by a ridiculous hybrid shot from a buried lie 245 yards out at the par-5 12th:

Funny thing is that in flipping through channels last night I caught this moment, but with the sound muted.  I figured I had missed something, but I also figured it would be available this morning for follow-up.

I've been a Spieth skeptic, a position that's not held up so awfully well in recent weeks.   I'll just lay down a marker here for next week.  If it were to really blow at Kiawah (and a quick gander at the long-range forecast does not show strong winds), you could do worse than our Jordan.  

A couple of other takeaways from Craig Ranch:

Koepka struggles in return

There are roads in life that only lead to pain. Spending money on a direct-to-streaming Nic Cage movies. Thinking a v-neck is a smart fashion choice. Ordering Taco Bell when the sun is still out … or anytime, for that matter. Betting on the Mets. In our realm, one such route is doubting Brooks Koepka at a major championship. It is a projection guaranteed to miss its mark, which undoubtedly will lead to the American star ripping your misgivings to shreds on social media. Truly, it is a fool’s errand.

However, it was clear Koepka’s knee remains a problem. He still can’t fully bend down to read putts, perhaps explaining why he lost nearly three strokes to the field on the greens. Weight distribution also remains an issue, evidenced in a so-so approach display.

In a sense, rust was to be expected, and one has to be careful of extrapolating too much from 18 holes. In that same breath, this was not an outing that inspired confidence a week out from the PGA Championship. Forget being one of the favorites; making it 72 holes at the Ocean Course seems optimistic.

I don't care what he shot or how rusty he seemed.... But it's clear the knee is still an issue, so he's certainly not on my list.  If, you know, I had a list... But the question it begs, which is the same one we asked a month, is he helping himself by coming back early?

 As for this guy...

Bryson’s “really bad” day

Mentioned above, the Nelson leader board was soaked in red. This explains why Bryson
DeChambeau was none-too-pleased with a three-under 69. The reigning U.S. Open winner did not waste words when asked for his Thursday takeaway.

“That I played really bad,” DeChambeau said.

DeChambeau, who leads the tour in strokes gained and sits atop the FedEx Cup standings, turned in a strong day with the driver, gaining two shots on the field in SG/off-the-tee. And he did rack up five birdies on the day. Yet, big stick aside, every other aspect of DeChambeau’s game was a tad off, and a double at the first took a major bite out of his score.

"Just things just didn't go my way today,” DeChambeau said. “I hit it really well, putted pretty well. Putts didn't go in and the wind turned on me a couple times and just unlucky.”

Doesn't sound like that bad a day, not that I like him all that much at Kiawah, where wild misses I think will be fatal.

DJ In Rehab -  When last we checked in on DJ, the knee was barking to such an extent that he had to withdraw from the Byron Nelson.  Upon further review:

The reader is free to insert the jet-ski joke of his or her choosing....

The League That Will Not Die - Though it's an odd concept, since it's never, yanno, lived... Rex Hoggard has this curious premise at Golf Channel's website:

Super League Golf will continue to linger as long as there's player 'interest'

Well, perhaps as long as there's layer interest and Saudi money... 

Before the pandemic halted play on the PGA Tour about a year ago and dramatically changed the narrative, it was the Premier Golf League. While those making decisions behind the scenes remain purposefully out of the public eye, the notion of a world circuit organized around a team concept continues to be discussed in hushed tones across the PGA Tour.

Where the SLG concept goes from here remains unknown, but what does seem obvious is that it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon, however, and players are starting to carefully pick sides.

Well, one side.... 

McIlroy is hardly alone on this island. Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele all offered rebukes of a new league regardless of who is proposing the idea or how much money might be available.

“Our commissioner set us straight, you have to pick which tour you want to play on and the benefits we have on the PGA Tour are pretty hard to beat,” Schauffele said. “For me, how young I am and how early it is in my career all the history is made on the PGA Tour and that’s where I want to be.”

Two player managers who have spoken with representatives from the SLG pointed out that there are currently no players who have committed to the new league and amid Monahan’s clear messaging that’s probably not going to change anytime soon. However, given that this idea has been around since at least 2014 it’s also clear the concept isn’t going away anytime soon, either.

Rex can't actually identify one guy ready to jump, the closest being Phil.  There was this from another source, to which I had alluded but not excerpted earlier in the week:

According to the source, the SGL has extended invites to an A-list roster that includes the world’s top-two ranked players in Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas; four-time major winner Brooks
Koepka; three-time major winner Jordan Spieth; and 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. (Rory McIlroy, who said in 2020 that he would not participate in the proposed PGL, did not receive an invitation, the source said.) Johnson, the source added, has already agreed in principle to captain one of the teams, though Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, dismissed that assertion.

“Absolutely no truth whatsoever,” Winkle said in a text. “Like most other top players, [Johnson] has listened to their vision, but that is all.”

I have been unable to confirm the rumor that DJ has been offered a pimped-out jet-ski and a lifetime supply of Bolivian Marching Powder...

The Tour Confidential panel had some thoughts earlier in the wekk that I never got to:

Not one but two super leagues now appear to be making a run at the world’s best players. From what little we know about this new push and which players have been approached, is there reason to believe super-league golf is any more likely to become a reality than it was, say, this time last year?

Sens: The sums being tossed around are insane. But the old line from the movie Wall Street still applies —how many yachts can you water ski behind? With Monahan laying down an ultimatum that would bring a possible lifetime ban from the Tour for anyone who jumps ship, I’m guessing the biggest names will decide that they have enough yachts where they are. At least for now.

Bamberger: Well, we’re closer to the end of a pandemic, so in that sense, yes. On the other hand, the world has been turned upside down by a pandemic. Is this really the right time to try to turn the world of big-money elite professional golf upside down? I would think not.

Dethier: There’s definitely more smoke than ever. Does that mean there’s fire? Strong reporting from Josh Sens, among others, suggests that some top players are already game to jump ship. But that’s where we hit Newton’s Law of Professional Golf Leagues: The Tour that already exists usually has the best chance of continuing to exist.

Colgan: It can simultaneously be true that a super league has never been more likely and is still incredibly unlikely to come to fruition. As has always been the case, it all comes down to the question of who? If the SGL or PGL can attract a big enough pool of stars — a colossal ‘if’ given last year’s failures — there’s no reason not to believe a new professional league/tour could exist.

Colgan had the best answer going, at least until that last bit.  One doesn't need to have a PhD in Game Theory to understand that getting a large group of layers to jump simultaneously is a near impossibility.  Everyone focuses on the dissatisfaction with current arrangements, but forgets that in considering burning their bridges each player will also be assessing what each of their competitors will be getting.

This is a point that I think got lost in the discussion of the Tour's PIP program, which might be the single best thing Kubla Jay has done for the PGL/SGL organizers.  To date, money has been made only through purses awarded in actual tournaments.  Now, the PGA Tour has decided, unwisely I believe, to start handing out big checks to their favorites, hiding behind loosely-defined social media metrics.  

Wanna know who the best target is for the PGL/SGL?  That's easy... whoever finishes 11th on the 2021 PIP rankings...

Kiawah On My Mind - As you know, the bride and I were there a month or so ago, and we'll start to gear up for the PGA Championship early next week.  But I'll make time for this one little stroll down memory lane:

Tweets and nightmares: The infamous Kiawah media shuttle of the 2012 PGA Championship

Women and children Sports writers hardest hit...

English writer Izaak Walton said, “Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” Walton died in 1683 but I suspect if he’d held on for another 329 years, he’d have found the
precise inverse of this on a shuttle of frustrated golf media members at the 2012 PGA Championship.

There are certain images and developments at a PGA Championship that distill the week and stay with us over time: the rainbow over Davis Love III at Winged Foot; Sergio Garcia scissor-kicking down the fairway at Medinah; Tiger going toe-to-toe with Bob May at Valhalla . . . and the Kiawah media shuttle of 2012.

Sure, Rory McIlroy won that PGA Championship by a record margin, but the lasting golf pop culture memento seems to be another record reference point. That’s the media experience of the interminable shuttles from Charleston down two lane roads out to the farthest tip of Kiawah Island, where The Ocean Course sits up against the Atlantic Ocean. The tweets, wails, and war stories became enough of a cult joke that the popular account No Laying Up cited the shuttle just last month as soon as the Masters concluded. It is ingrained in Golf Twitter lexicon.

It is also now a unit of time in the unofficial golf almanac. Even today, you’ll hear references made to “the Kiawah shuttle” when someone is artistically trying to convey that a task, trip, or J.B. Holmes pre-shot routine might take some time.

This is good if only for the honest self assessment:

So was the Kiawah shuttle, which now goes down in lore, actually that bad or an instance of the scribe crying wolf? Does the almost decade-long Twitter myth actually match the reality of what happened?

“It was just a total clusterf**k -- that’s the only word for it,” says Alan Shipnuck, then writing for Sports Illustrated and who has spent 25 years on the golf beat. “These shuttle rides were taking two and a half hours, each way. That’s a big chunk of your day!”

“It was the all-time logistical screw-up,” added Shipnuck, a convincing witness that it was that bad. “Whoever thought it would be a good idea to put a bunch of reporters hours from the venue, knowing that we’re the bitchiest group of humans on the planet, who are going to complain about everything and anything even under the best of circumstances, it was just a colossal misjudgement on the part of the PGA of America.”

Alan is spot-on about the mindset, but at least they get a little clever in their whining:

What made this so memorable is that it coincided with the birth of Golf Twitter, which gave the writers an outlet with immediate feedback.  And none adapted to Twitter better than the late and very much missed Dan Jenkins:

 


The very things that make Kiawah such a wonderful retreat make it an insane place to hold a major event.  You simply can't get there from here, at least not in battalion strength.  Now it will be easier this year, due both to the reports being housed closer to the island and the galleries being capped at 10,000 per day.

Enjoy the weekend and we'll start a deep dive on Kiawah on Monday.

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