Thursday Themes

A big weekend ahead, as the lads head to Jack's place and the ladies to Olympic.  Our weather is such that I may be able to sample a bit of both.  

Redemption Song, Waves Edition - Most golf fans find other diversions on Monday-Wednesday, eschewing the inevitable Golf Channel Academy or the re-airing of Bagger Vance.  But combine elite college golf with dead airtime, season with a team match play format, and suddenly you've cooked up the premiere event in amateur golf.  

The college golf calendar is such that, when the Wuhan Flu hit in March 2020, there was no option to salvage it.  So when the two strongest teams from 2020 survived to the finals of this year's bracket, it seemed especially fitting:

Pepperdine would have been the national-title favorites in 2020 had the season not been canceled in March because of COVID-19.

The Waves got their shot at redemption this year and never looked back.

Pepperdine won the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship on Wednesday afternoon at Grayhawk Golf Club, defeating Oklahoma in the final match. It’s the second national title in program history – the first coming in 1997 at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois – and first in the match-play era.

“When it got really down to the end it was easy to stay in the moment, but all this stuff leading up, it’s hard not to think, ‘Hey, this could win this thing,'” said head coach Michael Beard, who played four years at Pepperdine.

This was nail-biting time for sure, as the last two, matches headed towards their denouement, with the Waves one-up in each  Pepperdine had two matches in the books, therefore needing only one of the two matches.  Fifth-year senior Clay Feagler was over his ball for his second into No. 18, a 200-yeard shot over water, when suddenly he stepped away.  Was he uncertain?  Confused by the wind?

Just seconds before Clay Feagler struck the most important approach shot of his life, a spectator couldn’t resist cracking open an ice-cold beverage from just outside the rope line. The noise caused the Pepperdine senior to back off and prompted glares from the Waves faithful at the oblivious culprit.

Somehow the on-air Golf Channel folks failed to cover that angle.... 

Quickly, though, the attention turned back to Feagler, a fifth-year senior, who was clinging to a 1-up lead over Oklahoma’s Ben Lorenz in a crucial match Tuesday in the NCAA Championship final. From 195 yards out on Grayhawk’s finishing hole, Feagler hit 7-iron, catching it a tad thin but still finding the front portion of the green. With Lorenz missing his birdie try, Feagler then cozied his 35-foot putt up to the hole to earn the concession and, more importantly, the title-clinching third point.

Crack open as many open as you’d like now.

The win is also gratifying because Peperdine, while an elite, expensive private school, is far from the corporate behemoth that many of the elite college golf programs have become.  Also fun because Geoff Shackelford is an alum of the school and golf team, and enjoys the moment here.

Olympic, A Preview - All indications are that Olympic will play very difficult for the ladies this week.  On Tuesday we had some of Geoff's thoughts, and today he's back in his e-mail newsletter with some player reactions:

Famous for its stern setups, rules run-ins and an absence of of red numbers, Olympic’s Lake

Course would give elites a stern test with just a little rough.

Based on Tod Leonard’s GolfDigest.com report from Daly City, the U.S. Women’s Open could be more than most can handle thanks to some intense rye grass topped off at 2¾ inches.

Angela Stanford told the USGA setup team “that somebody lost the key to the lawnmower” and multiple players have mentioned lost balls or the rough’s extreme density. Others have bemoaned the lack of an intermediate cut between fairway and deep stuff, only adding to the difficulty of keeping drives on shortish grass.

It doesn't sound that deep, but it'll be plenty thick.  Add to that the fact that the ball is inevitably either above or below your feet, it will test them.  And given the severe sideways slope in most of the fairways, it can require quite the golf shot just to wedge out back to the short stuff.  

These two youngsters seem to like what they see:

“It's hard. I love it. Small greens, high rough. Yeah, it's going to be difficult, but I'm super excited about it,” said Jessica Korda. Her sister, Nelly, gave a similar analysis: “Tight fairways, high roughs, small greens. It's going to be a shot-making golf course, and I can't wait to get started on Thursday.”

As you might have heard, the USGA has paired the sisters in the first round, a move your humble blogger can't support.  I understand that there's an entertainment aspect to any professional sports events, but these are allegedly elite athletes, though that message is undermined when you pair Nelly with her big sister.

The USGAs John Bodenhamer defended the set-up:

“These players are good!” Bodenhamer said. “They’re going to find a way to hit those fairways, they’re going to make putts, and you’re going to see players under par. You’re just gonna! I’ll say that now. I don’t know what it will be. But they’re damn good, and we want to showcase that. And it is hard, and when they do excel and they shoot under par on a hard place, I think it just showcases that side of what they do.”

Bodenhamer chuckled when adding, “We’re going to hear some grousing—I had to pitch out three times today; boy, that green was pretty darn fast; what was that hole location about?"

His response: This is the U.S. Open.

“We don’t want to dumb it down,” he said.

You mean like you dumbed down the language of golf?  But it's funny that he's so sure sign carries will need those red numbers, because the history of men's Opens isn't that sanguine:

Until Monday night when she saw some posts on social media, Stanford said she didn’t know the history of how tough Olympic has played in the previous five U.S. Opens contested here. She didn’t know that only four players total—winners Billy Casper and Scott Simpson and runners-up Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson—have finished in red numbers for the week.

That other Simpson, the Webber, won at +1 in 2012.  

Golf.com can be a little stngy with the pixels for the ladies, but does stand up a one-question Tour Confidential panel with their picks for the week: 

The second women’s major of the year, the U.S. Women’s Open, has arrived. The world’s best tee it up at The Olympic Club in San Francisco on Thursday playing for one of the most prestigious trophies in the sport. Patty Tavatanakit won the first major of the year. Who is your pick to win this week?

Jessica Marksbury: My money is on the Queen Bee, Inbee Park. Park is just a U.S. Open machine. Not only has she won two of them, she’s finished in the top 10 in nine of her last 13 appearances since 2007. Plus, her game is trending up, with a win back in March and five straight top-15 finishes in her last five tournaments.

Dylan Dethier: It’s always smart to back Inbee Park, so I’ll endorse that vision. But I’ll add that I like the fit for Jessica Korda. She’s long off the tee (No. 7 on tour this year) in good form (top-three finishes in her last two starts) and I’m impressed with her mental game. Steady in contention. Olympic is going to be tough. Who can handle that best?

Josh Sens: My heart says Lydia Ko but my head is going with So Yeon Ryu. A steely competitor who has been in form, she’s finished in the top six in her last three starts. Plenty long. Great iron game. Love her chances on such a stout course.

Alan Bastable: All-in on a resurgent Ariya Jutanugarn. She’s clearly riding a wave of confidence after winning in Thailand last month — which carried over to a third-place finish at Shadow

Creek last week — and she just plain shows up at the majors: 11 top-10s since 2016, including a USWO title in 2018.

Josh Berhow: Danielle Kang. She won her first major in 2017 and has won at least one event in every year since, but she’s still looking for her first in 2021. She’s had a solid year — five of her eight starts have been T13 or better — and has a great short game, and I always like players who are strong and gritty around the greens when it comes to big-tournament time.

Tim Reilly: Nelly Korda. I’m not going to spit out a bunch of stats and trends as to why I think Korda will win. I’m simply picking Korda to win because I want her to ascend to the top of the LPGA mountain, and the U.S. Open is the perfect stage to do so. It’s the type of win that would give the LPGA a huge awareness boost, and I’m rooting for it.

Rachel Bleier: Patty Tavatanakit. Patty T blasted onto the LPGA scene earlier this year when she defeated a surging Lydia Ko to earn her first career victory which just so happened to be a major too. While all of the other players have talked about how difficult Olympic is playing, Tavatanakit said she hit nearly every fairway and green in her practice rounds. Confidence, talent, and a penchant for big moments — she’s hoisting the U.S. Women’s Open trophy come Sunday.

No disrespect to Inbee, but this seems a week for the youngsters.  Danielle Kang was distraught when she was eliminated from last week's  match-play event, but it leaves her better prepared for this week.  Or, yanno, a Korda to be named later...

Muirfield Mulligan - Jack chose to name his legacy venue after the place where he secured his career grand slam, though the place reminds far more of Augusta National than the Honourable Company.  But while it's always looked picture perfect on TV, Jack himself keeps ripping it up.  

Golf Magazine has actually produced a short documentary on these latest changes:

‘One Last Bite’: The inside story of Jack Nicklaus’ final Muirfield Village redesign

How do they know it's his final redesign?  Jack is 81, which is old, but not deceased.

“When my dad first mentioned that he wanted to come back to Muirfield Village, I shook my head,” Nicklaus’ son, Jack Jr., said in One Last Bite, a new documentary from GOLF.com that chronicles the redesign (see top of this article). “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me, Dad? This is one of the greatest golf courses, in my opinion, of all-time.’ But then as I started hearing his thoughts and his process on what he wanted to do, it was absolutely amazing. He’s always had the ability to step back and see things from 30,000 feet.”

The most recent edits reflect all that has changed in golf in the time since. Structural changes, including the installation of a sub-air system, were made to the entire course, and all but two holes saw architectural updates. The course now plays 163 yards longer, tipping out at just shy of 7,400 yards. In addition, each of Muirfield Village’s 18 greens was resurfaced from a bentgrass/poa annua hybrid to solely bentgrass, and every green increased its overall pinnable area.

We can put a man on the moon, but still can't keep poa from encroaching on bent greens...

One consistent gripe from players in recent years concerns the Par-3 16th, and this is more than a little curious:

One alteration, though slight, is sure to be hugely popular with the contestants. The par-3 16th

hole that Nicklaus redesigned in 2010 has been a nemesis to the field in its short life. Ranked the second most difficult hole since the 2011 Memorial, it plays up to 201 yards over water, and the shallow green always has been hard to hold. Nicklaus found out why last summer.

“The green actually pitched away in the back. I did not know that,” Nicklaus said with genuine wonder but blamed himself. “I figured it was built just as I drew it. So, I took seven inches out of the middle of the green and added seven inches to the back of the green. It changes the whole profile of the green, so it sits more towards the tee.”

 Seems like rather a big gotcha, no?

A little details on the two holes most changed:

4. Expect big changes to No. 15…

According to Cochran, the most noticeable change for fans will be on No. 15, where the back tee was lengthened by 37 yards and the first landing area was lowered by 15 feet. Also, the large mounding to the right of the green that kept the creek mostly out of play was removed, bringing the water much more in play.

“It has some dramatic changes,” Cochran said.

While the focus inevitably is on the green complexes, this might actually be the more substantial change to the hole:

Nicklaus said he had the most fun with the redesign of the 15th, and that is obvious. It is more interesting and more dangerous hole on the course. It used to be an arrow-straight par 5 that played up a steep hill, which strongly favored a handful of longer hitters who could reach the crest while most players saw their tee shots plunk into the slope and die. He dropped the fairway about 20 feet, shifted it to the left, which brings the creek into play, and added four bunkers on the right in the landing zone. Up ahead, where the creek crosses over in front of the green, he dropped the putting surface and to the right he removed a mound and added bunkers, the effect of which is bringing the water into play again.

One assumes that the members would tire of driving into that hill....

5. … and to No. 4, too

On the old green at No. 4, the pitch on the right side was far too severe to be pinnable. To fix this, Nicklaus designed a whole new contour for the putting surface. What was once the smallest green on the course is now the largest.

The back tee box was also lengthened to challenge even the longest hitters and the existing bluff short of the green was shifted to give the hole an even more dramatic look from the tee.

“No. 4, in my opinion, was the weakest looking hole on the golf course,” Cochran said. “Now, I think it’s a very good-looking hole. It has a much more dramatic look.”

I'll just leave you with this encouraging bit about designing for the appropriate audience:

For the membership, Nicklaus says his team examined each tee box to ensure the course maintained consistent strategic themes and challenges from each set of tees. As a result, the forward tee boxes are nearly 250 yards shorter.

The Nicklaus team worked to create a course that is simultaneously more playable for its everyday membership and more challenging for the game’s best players. That meant widening fairways in the landing areas most amateur golfers reach while tightening them in the spots where the longest hitters fly their drives. Pin positions will also play a key role in the process of making the course more playable (or more toothy), depending upon the audience.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to design a golf course to challenge the elite players, as long as you didn't plan to use the course the other 51 weeks of the year.

I'm sure it'll play great and the guys will dig it, for the simple reason that they always have.

In Praise of The Babe - This is entirely appropriate for a week in which we cede the stage to the ladies, but Golf Digest has devoted the latest installment of its Local Knowledge podcast to the legend of The Babe:

Tiger Woods has authored arguably both the most dominant win in golf history at the 2000 U.S. Open and the sport's most unlikely comeback victory at the 2019 Masters. Emphasis on arguably, because what if you could somehow combine those two performances?

Then you'd pretty much have what Babe Didrikson Zaharias accomplished at the 1954 U.S. Women's Open.

Zaharias, some 15 months removed from colon cancer surgery, blew the field away at Salem Country Club to win by 12 shots. And she did it while having a colostomy bag strapped to her side.

I haven't listened to the podcast myself, but what a remarkable talent.  In addition to her ten majors, she played a little basketball and baseball as well, and won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics.  She died tragically young from her recurring colon cancer, but maintained her skills until the end:

Her colon cancer recurred in 1955. Despite her limited schedule of eight golfing events that season, Zaharias won her last two tournaments in competitive golf. On September 27, 1956, Zaharias died of her illness at the age of forty-five at the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas. At the time of her death, she was still a top-ranked female golfer.

Just a great athlete.

That's it for today, kids.  See you down the line.