Expansion on the European front and contraction of the World Golf Championships appear to signal an oncoming shift in the PGA Tour’s schedule dynamic.The tour released its 2021-22 schedule of 48 events on Tuesday, and as expected, it includes the first of what could be several moves to integrate European Tour events into the lineup as the two tours further lean into the “strategic alliance” they announced in November 2020. The most significant development is the designation of three tournaments, including the Genesis Scottish Open, as co-sanctioned events that award points for both the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai.
Wow, co-sanctioning, these guys must really be good at this leaning in thing...
Shack actually has the better summary of all that has actually changed, and shock and awe it ain't:
- Two WGC’s are gone from the schedule. Only two remain and those are hanging by a thread, with constant rumblings about the match play’s future and an asterisk next to this fall’s HSBC event in China.
- New York and Boston no longer will have their joint PGA Tour stop after this August, to be replaced by the FedEx St Jude event as the FedExCup playoff opener.
- Genesis takes over Scottish Open sponsorship from abhrnt and becomes a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and European Tour, with similar “joint” status given to the Barbasol and Barracuda Championships.
- That’s it. Oh, and Strategic Alliance joins Global Home, Season of Championships, Regular Season and in the capitalization world.
I remain intrigued by the existential decision faced by Keith Pelley's last year, and can't help wondering how that decision is playing out from his perspective. Alistair Tait is as well, as you'll see from his header:
No Brave New Dawn For Global Golf
Brave New Dawn? Is that a thing? Apparently there's a song of that name, but isn't it more likely that it's an unintentional mashup of Brave New World and new dawn? Given that the former is a dystopian nightmare, It may be more apt than Tait intended...
Let's start with that third bullet, which appears to be the goodies bag for Mr. Pelley. I think the co-sanctioning of the Scottish, which we knew back when the event was played in East Lothian, is a helpful step, though the loss of Aberdeen Asset Management and the failure to replace it with a local sponsor, seems troubling.
Tait takes on the second half of the co-sanctionings:
The Scottish Open will now count towards the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup points race, while the Barbasol and Barracuda Championships will be included in the Race to Dubai. Never heard of the Barbasol and Barracuda tournaments? That’s not surprising, they are held the same week as the Open Championship and WGC–FedEx St Jude Classic.
“I think today is a win-win for everybody involved,” European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said.
Not sure many are buying that line Keith.The Barbasol and Barracuda are $3.5 million tournaments on a tour where the average purse is about $8 million. Only two events on the PGA Tour are worth less. As former colleague Adam Schupak pointed out on a media conference call with Pelley and Monahan, giving PGA Tour players the chance to play in a prestigious Rolex Series event on the European Tour in exchange for two of the lowest funded tournaments on the PGA Tour doesn’t sound fair.
At first blush, it seemed that Jay was sticking it to the John Deere folks, but that event has actually moved to the week before the Scottish, and it's now the Barbasol that's the off-field event that week. So, any Euro player whose status is insufficient to play in the Scottish Open, now has a place to tee it up that week. Which is great, as long as they're prepared to head to Nicholasville, KY....
But the bigger news seems to be rpofound weakness in the PGA Tour's own ecosystem, beginning with the demise of those vaunted WGC's, as per Geoff:
The best news? Without question, the demise of the WGC’s. The mastermind of Tim Finchem, with an unintentional assist from Greg Norman, undermined the health of several PGA Tour stops and have not incorporated the “World” part nearly enough. Due to the high cost of sponsorship and having to use PGA Tour Championship Management for operations, the WGC’s priced out most major corporations. It’s not long now.
The events were a dreary lot for sure, ironically designed to head off that Greg Norman initiative back in the Nurse Ratched era. Of course this latest alliance was designed to head off a similar threat, though the irony comes from the fact that the WGC's were designed to offer a reasonable facsimile of that premiere Golf League concept.
But why are they abandoning New York and Boston? Here's Geoff's take:
Most stunning news? The PGA Tour has vacated the New York and Boston markets with the demise of The Northern Trust. A five year agreement is expiring. So the Northern Trustwill be contested one last time this month. While greater New York City will be fine with more majors and Cup events on the horizon, the end to even a biennial visit is pretty astounding. Couple that with Chicago no longer annually hosting the Western-turned-BMW and three huge markets have lost annual stops.
Amusing to your humble blogger because I spent a few hours Tuesday at Westchester Country Club watching the Women's Amateur, the Tour's former home in the NYC area, because one guy didn't like the course. They've abandoned NY and Boston for Memphis in August, which seems like a pretty substantial downgrade, and leaves FedEx ponying up for two of the three FedEx Cup events. House of cards, anyone?
But was Jay supposed to say the quiet part out loud?
Most remarkable of all was hearing Monahan say it’ll all be fine because these markets have major events coming.
“When you look to the future, you see the U.S. Open played at The Country Club next year, you’ve got the Ryder Cup coming to Bethpage in New York, you’ve got a number of championships with the USGA and the PGA of America,” Monahan said. “So professional golf will continue to have a very strong presence in those two important markets.”
Tim Finchem obsessed about getting big markets for the “Playoffs”and signed a multi-event deal with Liberty National just to be near the city and it’s significant resources, even if the course required expensive fixes. He must be stunned.
But this coda seems spot on:
Take all of this in and some sponsors appear to be giving the Tours a hint: there is too much watered down pro golf in too short of a window at too high of a price. Meanwhile, the majors seem well-supported despite legitimate questions about over-accommodating two wounded properties: the FedExCup playoffs and Olympic golf.
Yes, though I've been predicting sponsor backlash for many years, yet they seem to always find that next sucker, Don't they?
Olympic Golf, Distaff Division - The girls have finished two rounds, though I do regret not previewing it properly. This preview piece had five burning questions (given the weather in Tokyo, all questions are burning), including this:
1. Will Nelly Korda remain dominant?
No player on the planet — male or female — has been as dominant in 2021 as Nelly Korda. She
has three wins already this season, including a dominant run at the KPMG Women’s PGA, and has missed just one cut in 13 starts. Her scoring average sits at a healthy 68.89, easily tops on the LPGA Tour.
Now she heads to her first Olympic Games, where she’s joined by her sister Jessica, also competing in her first Games. Jessica hasn’t been quite as successful as her younger sister this season, but she does have a win to her credit.
“It’s honestly surreal,” Nelly Korda said. “It’s so much fun. I don’t know what I would do without Jess.”
Dominant? That's a bit strong, but we have a partial answer:
Nelly Korda stood on the 18th tee at Kasumigaseki Country Club in the second round with an opportunity to elevate the Tokyo Olympics into an echelon of their own in golf. With a birdie onthe last, Korda could complete the second 59 in the history of the women's professional game. But after missing left off the tee behind a standalone tree, Korda made a double bogey.The World No. 1 instead had to accept as consolation matching the Olympic scoring mark with a nine-under-par 62 that put her four shots ahead of three players with a 13-under total.
After pars on her first four holes, Korda picked things up and shot six under over the last five holes on the front nine, including an eagle 2 at the sixth when she drove the green at the 248-yard hole. She made the turn in 30, and then after pars at 10 and 11, Korda birdied the 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th. The 59 watch was officially on, and then the 23-year-old striped her approach to six feet for birdie at the 17th and made it. History was in play.
A disappointing 62 it was, though folks are mostly consumed by other numbers:
Seeing the beads of sweat on Lexi Thompson’s shoulders, you would have thought we were in a Gatorade commercial. After a full week of heat indexes hovering around 100 degrees, the feels-like temp at Kasumigaseki Country Club pushed higher, to 108 degrees Fahrenheit mid-day … in the shade.
It was so hot that Thompson’s caddie Jack Fulghum was forced to bow out after 15 holes due to heat exhaustion. “He just asked me, ‘Do I look white to you?’” Thompson said. “And I’m like, I didn’t really notice, but, he just didn’t look good.”
Fulgham took a seat behind the 15th green after he started feeling unwell. He tried to continue, getting Thompson the yardage to the hole on the 16th tee, but was asked to sit down, where volunteers held ice packs up against his body to help cool him down. Luckily, Team USA manager Donna Wilkins was in the area, so she looped the final three holes. Fulghum received IV treatment onsite and is feeling better, but it’s unclear if he’ll continue throughout the weekend. “It’s so hot out there,” Thompson added. “I’m from Florida and I’m still not used to that bad of heat.”
But wait, it gets worse:
Approaching storms, heat could reduce women's Olympic event to 54 holes
An approaching storm has forced officials at the Olympics to consider cutting the women’s competition to a 54-hole event.
In a memo sent to players late Wednesday, officials warned that “based on our medical advisor’s input, playing more than 18 holes in one day is not advisable.” The heat index on Day 1 topped out at 111 degrees and the forecast calls for similar temperatures on Thursday and Friday.
“We went through various scenarios today. The conversation started because of the forecast we’re seeing for Saturday and Sunday, there’s a tropical system that’s been developing,” said Heather Daly-Donofrio, an Olympic technical delegate. “We don’t know how much golf we can play, if any, on the weekend.”
They've promised to make the call "after Round 2", as in before Round 3. But while their lips move and the words that are emitted are all about the importance of Olympic Golf to the future of the game, the event is run with all the protocols of a women's member-guest.
Amateur Daze - The bride and I had a pleasant time at Westchester Country Club on Tuesday, watching the girls in grind mode. We spend most of our time there following defending champion Rose Zhang, but also caught a little of U.S. Open sensation Megha Ganne (a New Jersey girl) and Duke sophomore Erica Shepherd, who hits it a mile.
But if you ever find yourself wondering why we don't have more match-play events in the game, look no further than this event:
It was a bad day to be a high seed at the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Sure, at this point in the tournament you throw out the seeds and records, because as the old
adage goes, “Anything can happen in match play,” but when seven of the top-10 seeds all lose in the Round of 64, it’s worth noting.
Nobody played the opening two rounds of stroke play better than Wake Forest junior Rachel Kuehn, who earned medalist honors on Tuesday night by two shots at 6 under. What did that earn her? A match against Marissa Wenzler, a player beaming with confidence after claiming the Women’s Western Amateur two weeks ago. The Kentucky junior earned a 1 up win against the top seed of the tournament, foreshadowing the many upsets to come.
Of the 32 matches on Wednesday at Westchester Country Club, 19 were won by the lower seed. Notable players who joined Kuehn on the wrong side of their matches include No. 2 Kennedy Pedigo, No. 4 Erica Shepherd, No. 5 Caroline Canales, No. 6 Alyaa Abdulghany, No. 7 Allysha Mae Mateo and No. 8 Morgan Baxendale.
The seedings are based on their two days of medal play, and are quite irrelevant. The bigger problem is that, after only the first round of match play, they've lost all players of whom your humble blogger has knowledge.
But this is the one that hurts:
Also included in the noteworthy losses was the world’s top-ranked amateur and defending U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Rose Zhang, who gave up a 2-up lead through 12 holes by losing three of the next five holes down the stretch to Elle Nachmann.
“Coming into this week I just didn’t have the best game,” said Zhang, an incoming freshman at Stanford who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior last month. “I had to grind through stroke play, and then in match play obviously you can’t make any mistakes. So I just did one too many and it was costly. I think overall it was a good experience and I tried to fight back. Looking forward to my next couple events in the summer.”
We saw her struggling early in her second round, at one point she was within a stroke of a playoff for the last spots. But she made a couple of birdies coming home to move her up to the 30th seed, and it seemed the girl would be OK... But, you know, match play.
I realize too late that the best time to be there might have been late Tuesday for a potential playoff for those last slots in the match play bracket. Sure enough, a 12 for 2 playoff took place on the Par-3 first hole (the nines are reversed for tournaments, though I don't actually see the need this week when no grandstands are involved). Amusingly, the two players that made birdie and advanced both play for the University of Kentucky, and they both won on Wednesday, taking down the two top seeds.
Course Notes - A mixed bag of items, with my typical focus on all things linksy. Geoff introduces us to a gent named Sam Cooper, who has a reputation for video homages to the great links of the British Isles, including this offering on Royal Cinque Port, which is better known as Deal, for the tiny village next to Sandwich:
As some of you know, the Sandwich-Deal corridor is a major omission on my travel C.V., with Royal St. Georges being the only current rota course I've not played. Here's Geoff's take on this specific club:
Sam Cooper has produced possibly his best film yet and it’s on one of my favorite links and towns: Deal.
It’s long been a mystery why Royal Cinque Ports is not afforded another Open given its quality and proximity to London. It’s closer to a town and rail line while featuring ample farmland space around the property to sell pints and hideous shirts. But I think Cooper hits on the poor luck of its last two scheduled Open Championships as a key to the problem (even with the sea wall now helping and making a great spectator walkway). I wrote about all this prior to the 2011 Open but sadly, Golf World archives have mostly vanished.
Anyway, enjoy the aerials and beauty provided by Cooper and give him a follow on Instagram. This is quite an exciting time in newfound appreciation for the great links thanks to these talented storytellers.
So many great links, so little time... which is why it's so galling to have lost two years.
Next up is another link from Shack, that I absolutely adore:
Golf World Top 100: Fun golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland
Shockingly, the answer is not "All of them." But fortunately so many are....
I know a lot of you will love playing in your club’s competitions and plenty more will relish taking on a friend in a fierce matchplay contest, but my wholly unresearched prediction is that the majority play golf to have fun. For entertainment. To put a smile on your face during and after the round.
Identifying the 100 courses in GB&I most likely to do just that must be a ranking most will agree is a worthy task. I am hopeful we have succeeded in this ambition, and that while there is variety among the type of courses – which I am pleased about, as it would’ve been tedious to be just a list of quirky, short links – the common theme is that they have ingredients that encourage entertainment.
What constitutes a fun course is a question that could take up several pages. I asked our panel to suggest what made a course fun for them, and by way of a hint as to the sort of courses you’ll see in this list, here are some of their thoughts: “A sense of intrigue and adventure, a little bit of the unknown”. “Clever use of slopes, green positioning and well-placed hazards, rather than heavy rough. Usually shorter than average”. “Short walks from green to tee, quick to play”. “A ‘good shot’ does not always end up in the perfect position”. “Do I want to return there soon?”
I occasionally mention my good buddy Bobby D., who refers to such courses as "sporty", which is probably as good an adjective as I could muster. Or, to paraphrase Potter Stewart, I may not know how to define it, but I know it when I see it...
I've scrolled through the full listings, and have enjoyed watching them struggle with this dilemma:
A key debate around ‘what is fun’ surrounds whether courses that host championships and are thus stringent enough to test the strongest players should be considered. We debated this at length, and we have included them – well, some. So you will find some courses that host Opens, because our panel still find them fun to play. I fully accept in inclement weather or off back tees, these courses can easily not be much fun. But they got plenty of votes from golfers with mid-handicaps, so it felt correct to include them.
What’s more, our No.1 hosts Open qualifying and I doubt many would suggest it is not fun, so where do you draw the line? So there are courses in that host championships, albeit in lower slots than they are usually found in recognition of their exacting aspects. There is pleasing geographical spread to the entries – not by design, just a happy coincidence. It means there will be fun courses to enjoy wherever you live in GB&I.
The surprise for your humble blogger is how many of these names are new to me, at least partially because they include a number of inland courses. I suppose there's no getting around one's natural interest in the top of the list, so let's just copy-and-paste the top 10 list that's helpfully provided:
1. North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland
2. St Andrews (Old Course), Fife, Scotland
3. Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
4. Royal West Norfolk, Norfolk, England
5. Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland
6. Royal Dornoch, Highlands, Scotland
7. Pennard, South Wales, Wales
8. Cruit Island, Donegal, Ireland
9. Perranporth, Cornwall, England
10. Shiskine, Argyll, Scotland
For those keeping a scorecard at home, your humble blogger has played six of the ten. I know little of the ninth and tenth, but No. 7 and 8 are intriguing. Cruit Island (I believe pronounced "Cricht" ), is an allegedly spectacular nine-holer in Donegal, Ireland, that I once tried to jam into an over-booked itinerary, only to have the bride veto it. Pennard, on the other hand, is known as The Links in the Sky, and was part of our 2017 trip to Wales.
I'll just excerpt a couple of names that jumped at me, including this other nine-holer that we will play the next time we can get back to the Kingdom (of Fife):
86. Anstruther
Anstruther, Fife, Scotland
Nominated 5 times Top 10 Once Other Top 100s None Also play Crail, Kingsbarns, Leven, Lundi
Fun Fife nine-holer featuring the world-famous par-3 5th hole – the ‘Rockies’ is a dog-leg to an elevated green. The story goes that Tiger Woods once flew over it in a helicopter and simply shook his head.
74. Crail (Balcomie)
Crail, Fife, Scotland
Nominated 6 times Top 10 0 times Other Top 100s Scotland, GB&I £60 & Under Also play St Andrews (Old), Himalayas, Crail
Offers something different from Fife’s out and out pure links. Set down on the edge of cliffs and asks for thrilling shots to avoid the rocks; exhilarating fun.
It's quite the quirky track, but fun is exactly the right concept...
Like the courses involved, the list is simply good fun.
We'll exit with this video on the Olympic golf course:
Of course, this is the bit that I liked:
Geoff's post also includes a comparison of old photos with how the holes look in modern times:
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