Tuesday Tidbits

 There will be blogging today, just with an eye on the clock...

R.I.P. Ben Wright - Another legend heads to that broadcast booth in the sky, though look at who shows up in John Feinstein's lede:

On the last day of the 1983 Kemper Open, the final threesome of Fred Couples, T.C. Chen and Scott Simpson slogged their way through a miserable finish at Congressional Country Club, reaching the 17th hole long after everyone else had finished.

With little else to do while the players dawdled, CBS producer Frank Chirkinian cut to a group of ducks hanging out around the pond that fronted the green. Without missing a beat, Ben Wright, sitting in the tower above, said: “When this round began, those were eggs.”

Point taken.

Ben Wright died on Friday at the age of 88. He suffered a fall on Thursday, broke two vertebrae and never made it through surgery the next day. While those who enjoyed his work on CBS’s golf coverage for 24 years will remember him for pithy lines like his one at Congressional, his legacy will always be darkened by the way his career at CBS crashed—and the way CBS mishandled the crash.

Yeah, while your humble blogger was distracted by the mention of his namesake (not to mention the author of the most famous double-hit in golf history), it's that last bit that folks will remember him by:

Long before the cool kids taught us about cancel culture:

In the spring of 1995, Wright was at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del., to be part of

CBS’s coverage of what was then the McDonald’s LPGA Championship. On Thursday May 11, he did what would normally have been a routine interview with Valerie Helmbreck of Wilmington’s local paper, the News Journal. Twenty-four hours later, when Helmbreck’s story was published, Wright was smack in the middle of a national controversy.

According to Helmbreck, Wright said the following: “Let’s face facts here. Lesbians in the sport hurt women’s golf.” There was more: “They’ve gone to a butch game and that furthers the bad image of the game . . . It’s not reticent, it’s paraded.”

And then, just in case there were still some women out there he hadn’t yet offended, Wright added: “Women are handicapped by having boobs. It’s not easy for them to keep their left arm straight and that’s one of the tenets of the game. Their boobs get in the way.”

Feinstein seems to be critical of what he calls the "cover-up", and no doubt part of it were dreadful, such as this:

And then, when Sports Illustrated’s Michael Bamberger looked into what happened, Wright, after saying CBS didn’t want him to talk, claimed that Helmbreck was divorced, involved in a custody battle and possibly a lesbian who he had the misfortune to run into just prior to Mother’s Day.

It turned out, according to Bamberger’s story, that Helmbreck was happily married with three children.

Whoops.

How's that for an early Mike Bamberger sighting?  But while Wright's comments are worthy of contempt, that wasn't the sum and substance of the man:

He was a superb, often self-deprecating storyteller, and the truth is I showed up at lunchtime because the food was good and I loved listening to Chirkinian, Will, McCord and Wright tell stories. Sitting among “the boys” at CBS, Ben talked that way at times about women. It was borderline lewd, and in that sense, his remarks to Helmbreck were not out of character. Still, the question I never got to ask was this: Why in the world would you make comments like that to a stranger on or off the record? It made no sense at all.

The other thing to know about Wright is that, Verne Lundquist notwithstanding, the "Yes, Sir!" call is legally Wright's intellectual property, as you'll see in this compilation:

Hate the sin, love the sinner.... R.I.P.

The Curtis Cup - I saw just a little bit of it from Conwy Golf Club in Wales, but was grateful for one last links fix.  But they apparently kept to the script:

It’s a theme followers of trans-Atlantic team contests have seen many times. It goes like this: More familiar with the intricacies of foursomes and four-ball strategies and rhythm, the Old

World underdogs battle their way to parity—or close to it—before the final-day singles. It is then, however, that the (on-paper) greater depth of the American side really begins to tell. By close of play, the trophy either stays in the States, or heads west across the Atlantic.

Welcome to the 41st Curtis Cup at the Conwy Golf Club in northern Wales.

Tied 6-6 with eight points to play in head-to-head, the U.S. team cruised to an eventually comfortable victory on Saturday. With the Americans taking the singles 6½-1½, the final score was 12½-7½. Which is not to say that it was all easy sailing for the visitors to this picturesque part of the Principality. Of the eight matches, six went as far as the penultimate green, a sure indication of an overall competitiveness that was a far cry from the previous Curtis Cup at Quaker Ridge, where the home side won by the embarrassing score of 17-3.

 But this is a nice circle-of-life bit:

Best story of the final day, however, was provided by Rachel Kuehn. Back in 1998, Rachel’s

mom, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, holed the winning putt in the 1998 Curtis Cup at Minikahda, and 23 years on her daughter did the same at Conwy. The younger Kuehn’s last-green victory over Louise Duncan was enough to take the U.S. points total to 10½, guaranteeing victory.

“This is unbelievable, especially as we only scored a point-and-a-half on day one,” said Kuehn, when ended with a 3-0-1 record. “To make the comeback we did yesterday was pretty amazing. It was anybody’s game this morning. So this is really cool, really special for me to do what my mom did all those years ago. I’ve heard about it since I was 8 years old.”

Speaking of whom, mom was on hand to witness history being repeated.

I love the Walker and Curtis Cups, but I do think we're approaching the point where continental Europe will need to become involved to keep things competitive.  The only downside there is that I hate to lose that old-timey GB&I designation.

About That Other Cup - Shocked by that effortless segue?  Hey, its what I do...

Via Shack's Quadrilateral post, here's a quickie update on the two-tier Euro qualification process:

Sergio All But Locks Up A Spot

Captain Harrington said earlier this year that Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter held a huge experience advantage. He noted how Garcia would have to lose a limb to be passed up for a pick.

After a solid T6 at the BMW and with all limbs visibly intact, Sergio Garcia will be at Whistling Straits.

With the Tour Championship and BMW PGA still to go, here is the team, starting with the four who get in off the European Points list:

Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy

The World List:

Viktor Hovland, Paul Casey, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood, Shane Lowry

This leaves three picks but really only one left which—depending on how the week goes at Wentworth and other political nonsense we don’t know about—ought to go to a fresh face like Victor Perez, Robert Macintyre, Guido Migliozzi or, perhaps an older fresh face in, dare I say it, Richard Bland?

Strong at the top but questionable depth, just like pretty much any Ryder Cup.  Also typical is that their fate will likely be driven by how well the old guys hold up.  But, spoiler alert, guys like Westwood and Sergio, who have struggled on the greens their entire careers, will show up and putt like Bobby Locke.

I would assume that Victor Perez will get that last slot.

A couple of the Golf Digest writers take their stabs and picking Captain Stricker's....err...picks.  First, Joel Beall:

JB Captain’s Picks

Tony Finau

Xander Schauffele

Jordan Spieth

Harris English

Daniel Berger

Webb Simpson

The top three are generally considered to be cast in stone at this point, though Harris English might be as well, however much it pains me to peck out those words.

Daniel Rappaport's list is less conventional:

DR Captain’s Picks

Tony Finau

Xander Schauffele

Jordan Spieth

Harris English

Scottie Scheffler

Kevin Na

Daniel concedes that his colleague's list is chalk, and takes pride in going off the reservation.  Normally I'm a fan of that, and he's certainly correct to pose this question:

I’m not arguing for complete anarchy here; I’m with you on those first four picks. I simply do not see the value in adding a semi in-form Simpson. Yes, he’s experienced, but every Ryder Cup team he’s been a part of has lost.

I would give the Webber that last slot, but he for sure hasn't really seized it.  I like the Kevin Na baloon to a certain extent:

Then there’s Na, who I truly believe has big-time potential to emerge as a U.S. answer to Ian Poulter. The guy’s in terrific form, going T-2, T-23, T-2, T-8, T-17 since the John Deere. He’s also done it on all different types of courses. His early walk-ins and willingness to call out anybody—remember, he got in DJ’s face at the match play without hesitation—could get under the Europeans’ skin in a way no one else on this team can, especially if Reed isn’t there. At last week’s Northern Trust, I asked him what his response is to people who say Whistling Straits is too big a golf course for him. “The way, I’m putting,” he said, “it doesn’t matter.” How can you not want to go into battle with this guy?

OK, but shouldn't all those high finishes have him higher than 19th on the points list? 

I would take either Berger or Na (and Webb, as well) over Scottie Scheffler, for the simple reason that they're far better putters.  If we see Stricker take Scheffler, the only logic I could see for that would be if he needs another guy to throw out in foursomes, where superior ball-strikers rule.

I find this list of future Ryder Cup sites to be among the more depressing things I've seen lately.  Considering that the next two Walker Cups will be at Cypress Point and the Old Course, how tired do Hazeltine and Olympic feel.  And, on the heels of yesterdays Live Under Par item, Bethpage scares the heck out of me.... My faves from this list are clearly 2031 and 2035, because I can at least lie to myself and think they'll go somewhere interesting.  My truly unrealistic hope is that the Walker Cup will demonstrate see that Old Course is an epic match-play venue and commit to a Ryder Cup there.  But they're not bloody likely to cash a big check from the Links Trust, so I assume that in 2031 we'll be playing in, say, Slovakia.

More Linksy Goodness - Of all the obscure links in GB&I, this just might top the list due to it's location in Northwest Donegal.  Theresa and I began our 2008 trip here, and it's only gotten better since we were there.

The Rosapenna Resort features a first class Pat Ruddy links, as well as nine delightful Old Tom Morris holes, that are now paired with a new nine from Mr. Ruddy.  In my phot archives I have a picture of a vast track of land called the St. Patrick's Links, that back in the day were supposed to have been built out by jack Nicklaus.  In a thunderbolt of rational thought, Nicklaus was separated from the project and the new links was built instead by Tom Doak, and we have some tasty photos:

It's a spectacular property, just don't know when we would get back there.

Our Cups Runneth Over - Guess what, kids, we've got another Cup for ya this weekend, when the ladies play their Solheim Cup.  Not much to be found, so we'll just go with this from the Tour Confidential panel:

5. This week, the Solheim Cup kicks off at Inverness in Ohio. The U.S. side will feature eight of the top 30 players in the world, headlined by No. 1 Nelly Korda, and are the betting favorites (-200, according to BetMGM). But if we’ve learned anything from Solheim and Ryder Cups past, the odds don’t mean much. Two questions: Who ya got, and who is primed to be the breakout star of the event?

Dethier: Team USA is going to roll. On paper, they’re a top-heavy squad, but I like young stars like Yealimi Noh to introduce herself to the team golf world. And watch out for Leona Maguire

on Team Europe — she’s coming in with a hot hand.

Sens: Maguire is a great call for a break-out star. But yeah — on paper, the U.S. is rightly the big favorite.

Zak: Team USA is NOT going to roll. Don’t be silly, Dylan. Team Europe has shown better form of late, so they’ll keep it close. I think Madelene Sagstrom is the breakout star. She’s been really, really good of late. Ultimately, the Americans win from one of the final three singles matches.

Bamberger: Completely agree, Sean. Don’t see either team winning by much over a point. As for Sagstrom, she looks to be a star on the rise. She looks strong and athletic and confident through the bag.

Team match-play rocks, and there's just that frisson of bad blood between the squads to pique our interest.  Of course, absent the Asian powerhouse, it has the feel of a consolation match.  

I shall leave you here with an uncertain schedule.  Blogging tomorrow will be contingent on the Wednesday Game being rained out (which seems quite likely), and Thursday is a no-go zone.