Thursday Themes

A bit of a hectic stretch for your humble blogger, but I promised to find time for those random musings you crave, so let's have at it...

Thirty Pieces of Silver - Cue your George Santayana quotes, because we have one of those stories.  You know the kind, whereby the leaders of our major golf organizations demonstrate their willful indifference to the history of our game.

Now, it's somewhat generous to consider the LPGA a major golf organization, but that generosity will be scarcer after this:

LPGA Tour making major changes to year's first major, with new name, purse, course and sponsor

Major changes?  I guess that's technically true, as murder can be viewed as, you know, a major change.

he LPGA Tour’s first major of the year is changing in just about every aspect it can. New name, new location, new date and a big new purse, thanks to a new partnership with Chevron, which signed a

six-year contract that the tour announced on Tuesday.

Starting in 2023, the former ANA Inspiration will be the Chevron Championship and will be played in the Houston area, where roughly 8,000 of the company’s employees live and work. Though the date and course have not been finalized, the event will still be the first major of the year. The tour said it will be played later than the usual date of the last week of March, with the goal being to have the event aired on network television (NBC).

Oh, so they have a goal?  Isn't that special....

Of course, they've managed this mess to have one last uber-awkward event at Mission Hills:

The 2022 tournament will be played next March for the final time at the tournament’s home since its inception in 1972—Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The new name will be in place with the overall purse jumping from $3.1 million to $5 million.

So, buried deep is that telling detail, to wit, that the 2022 iteration of the event will be it's 50th anniversary.  Have a great celebration, LPGAers, as you contemplate the birthright that has been squandered for a mess of pottage.

Here's a brief precis of that which they're squandering:

Originally called the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle, named in honor of the Hollywood

celebrity who helped create the event along with then Colgate-Palmolive chairman David Foster to help promote women’s golf, the tournament celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. Previously it’s been one of two LPGA majors played at the same course annually. With that history at one venue comes plenty of traditions; among the most memorable is the tournament winner jumping into Poppie’s Pond beside the 18th hole, begun in 1988 by Amy Alcott.

The winners of the event include a large number of LPGA or World Golf Hall of Fame members: Kathy Whitworth, Annika Sorenstam, Mickey Wright, Juli Inkster, Nancy Lopez, Sandra Palmer, Judy Rankin, Donna Caponi, Karrie Webb, Patty Sheehan, Betsy King, Inbee Park, and Lorena Ochoa.

That's a somewhat air-brushed history for sure, though I have no problem with them letting their freak flag fly... 

But did you catch that bit about it being one of two LPGA majors played at the same venue?  Proof positive that a statement can be technically correct yet utterly disingenuous simultaneously.  Because the comparison to that second single-venue major, the faux-major Evian, should be a cautionary tales for these mental midgets.  Just as they're doing now with Chevron, they made the Evian a major, yet they couldn't make us consider it a major.  Sound familiar?

But the voice I wanted to find on this is Beth Ann Nichols, as there's no more reliable advocate for the women's game.  Beth is supposed to be a journalist, so there's long been a friction between two seemingly contradictory roles.  Here's her take on the move, leading with the obligatory sadness:

That’s the question many are grappling with after news broke that the old “Dinah Shore” event will be getting an extreme makeover. With Chevron in as the new title sponsor, the event will be

moving away from Mission Hills and Poppie’s Pond and the traditional pre-Masters date beginning in 2023.

The new Chevron Championship purse will increase by 60 percent in 2022 to $5 million, putting it in line with the rest of the LPGA’s majors. The ANA Inspiration’s 2021 purse of $3.1 million is only $100,000 more than this week’s Cognizant Founders Cup.

Do you sense a rather sizeable BUT is coming?

Is the money worth it?

In short: Yes.

Because it’s not just about the money. The move to a later date in the spring guarantees network television coverage, which should be at the top of the priority list for all big events on the LPGA’s calendar. Does tradition really matter if not enough people see it?

Wow, it's actually rare that people admit that it's all about the money....  But did you get that subtle move from a goal to a guarantee of network coverage?  Of course Beth ignore the sad reality that no one will be watching  in any event, that's just the nature of LPGA golf.  But the bigger logical failure is the inability to understand that this new event offers no reason to tune in, so they won't.

But there's another actor deserving of our scorn.  The LPGA is making foolish, short-sighted decisions, but their hand was forced by one of those five families:

There were a number of hurdles in moving the event’s dates away from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and keeping it at Mission Hills, including the club’s flexibility, Coachella, desert heat, a dwindling volunteer base and the need for a week with an available 28 hours of live television.

Well played, Messrs. Payne and Ridley.  In seeking to support women's golf or, more likely, to give the appearance of doing so, you destroyed the most important professional women's event, one that some of those amateurs were invited to play in.  

But Beth Ann is in full rationalization mode, not least with this:

Which is why it’s so important that everyone gets one last hurrah in the desert. One final leap into Poppie’s Pond. Wouldn’t it be special if past champions like Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, Juli Inkster and Annika Sorenstam came back to play? Like the Masters, former champions have a place in the field. At the very least an exhibition seems in order.

Sure, everyone's going to rally around an event that's a respirator... You expect those fans, volunteers and past champs to rally around an event that you've deemed too insignificant to preserve.  I guess you don't get out much...

What traditions carry on beyond Mission Hills depends in part on which course they go to. Is there already a pond on the 18th and room for a small pool? (Serious question!) Perhaps that statue of Dinah should be replicated.

It’s important to remember that the LPGA is only as good as its majors.

Does she hear these words as they're typed in?  Good to know the LPGA is only as good as it's majors, as you're willfully walking away from the one that actually worked.  

I guess we won't be hearing much more from Larry Bohannan in the future, the golf beat writer for the local Desert Sun.  But he at least seems to know where to lay the blame:

The conflict with the Augusta National Women’s Amateur was a bigger problem than the LPGA or tournament officials first believed. Augusta National, home of the Masters, is the 800-pouind gorilla of golf, and the minute the Georgia club announced the ANWA for dates that conflicted with the LPGA major, smart people in golf knew a date change for the LPGA would be necessary. Augusta National could hold a cornhole tournament and people would watch.

But, yeah, go ahead and replicate the statue of Dinah.   Because you want a constant reminder of the legacy that was eagerly squandered....  Better yet, build a pond by the 18th green at Evian.

Brooks v. Bryson - You've heard the news:

It’s the showdown the entire golf world has been begging for.

Now it’s happening.

After months of back-and-forth, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are set to face off in golf’s equivalent of a prize fight: a 12-hole match in Las Vegas. Their showdown will be the fifth edition of The Match, each one presented by Turner Sports, and will take place the day after Thanksgiving at The Wynn Golf Club, just steps from the Strip.

The Nov. 26 meeting will be the first one-on-one matchup since the original edition, which pitted Tiger Woods against Phil Mickelson the day after Thanksgiving in 2018.

So remind me, how did that Tiger v. Phil match come off?  

Obviously this has a certain superficial frisson, and there's nothing wrong with a little bad blood.  But does anyone think either of these guys is sufficiently interesting to carry a broadcast?  I do give Bryson the edge there, mostly because he actually knows a few things.  The next interesting thing that Brooks says will also be the first...

I would also argue that the prior iterations of The Match have led to one inescapable conclusion, that the amateurs are necessary to keep it interesting.  

But the most interesting bit might be the 12-hole format, designed to fit a three-hour TV window.   reverence for history isn't a big thing in our game (see the item above), but twelve holes isn't just some random number, as the original Prestwick course on which the early Opens were played was twelve holes.  Not that I think anyone considered that implication...

But we can find common ground here.  If it's Brooks and Bryson, less is most certainly more...

Scenes From The Class War - I don't have time to do his one justice, but Geoff has a long post up at The Quadrilateral on the USGA public filings, the big reveal being this:

The United States Golf Association has posted a consolidated financial report from the “independent certified public accountants” at Grant Thornton. Based on the required-by-law 501(c)(3) filings, it reveals how the organization weathered 2020 following the cancellation of several championships and a U.S. Open postponement. According to the report, “approximately 75%” of the non-profit’s revenues come from the U.S. Open.

While the organization has yet to post the actual Form 990, other non-profit monitoring sites have: you can find Guidestar’s version here (free registration required).

The biggest reveal? A whopping $323,440,000 was placed in a special reserve fund created after News Corp’s FOX Sports exited a 12-year media deal prematurely. The check from Rupert and friends raised the USGA’s net assets by year’s end to $734 million.

The “termination payment” divides out to $54 million a year for FOX to get out of fulfilling the remaining seven years of deal that stunk the moment news landed at the 2013 PGA Championship. NBC picks up the remainder to get the USGA it’s $1.2 billion.

The numbers also suggest FOX paid the 2020 rights for events ultimately carried by NBC and delivering the lowest rating in championship history.

Leaving them, shall we say, cash rich:

All told, as of December 31, 2020, this brings the USGA’s net assets to $734,234,365. Thanks to a totally unexpected bailout payment from FOX, that’s up from $385,230,116 at the start of the year:

As with the PGA Tour, the treatment of staff seems just a tad inconsistent with that gaudy bank balance:

It’s worth noting at this point that just two years ago, at least 63 employees were offered voluntary early retirement costing the organization $11.8 million to rid the USGA of institutional knowledge and experience. And last week, new CEO Mike Whan relieved another executive-level staff member as part of a reorganization, the third such prominent senior level employee to get pushed out. This follows Chief Brand Officer Craig Annis and Chief Commercial Officer Navin Singh, who both did awful work and should get out of the golf business.

The latest to go was Senior Managing Director Rand Jerris. He was overseeing a a range of important research, including the Distance Insights Study, the USGA’s sustainability efforts and other studies to provide the sport greater wisdom. He also has enormous passion for the museum and a deep knowledge of the game’s history. Losing Jerris amounts to yet more institutional knowledge sent packing all while the reserves swell. Reserves shrewdly designed to prepare the USGA for a lost year or to guard against frivolous legal attacks.

I won't shed any tears for that Chief Brand Officer, as the organization's focus on its "brand" can explain much of its disfunction.  But the guy overseeing the Distance Insights report got canned?   that seems non-coincidental, no?  I'm guessing there's a strong Non-disclosure Agreement involved here as well...

I'll leave Geoff's post open and perhaps mine some further interesting nuggets in future posts.  I'm sure we'll be amused by how they spend their money, no?

It's Not You, It's Me - We've had a run of caddie break-ups recently, so this is timely, if a bit disappointing:

The 13 most prominent player-caddie breakups in golf

This one requires quite the loose definition of "prominent", but it does have the virtue of revisiting one of my favorite moments in golf:

Keegan Bradley and Steve 'Pepsi' Hale

While not nearly as successful as McIlroy and Fitzgerald, Bradley and Hale had a very strong run

together, one that included Bradley's out-of-nowhere 2011 PGA Championship win and two appearances on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. The duo's most famous moment, though, came at the 2015 WGC-Match Play at TPC Harding Park, where Bradley and Miguel Angel Jimenez got into a verbal altercation over a ruling during a meaningless group-stage match. Hale interjected during the conversation, causing Angel Jimenez to tell him to “shut up.” Bradley quickly intervened, telling the Spaniard “you don't tell my caddie to shut up.” The whole ordeal remains one of the more heated discussions ever seen between two players during an event. Almost exactly one year after the argument, Bradley and Hale split up while Bradley was going through one of his leanest seasons as a pro.

The best part by far was that Keegan sought refuge in his courtesy car, and was last seen taking comfort from his girlfriends lapdog in his courtesy car.  Nothings says nutcase quite like losing it in a meaningless group stage match over an insignificant drop.  

The bigger problem with the piece is the reluctance to delve into the cause of the break-up, not least here:

Phil Mickelson and Jim 'Bones' Mackay

While it's true that all good things do come to an end, there was certainly reason to believe that the Phil and Bones dynamic never would. Up until their split in 2017, Bones had been on Lefty's

bag for all but one PGA Tour win, including all five of his majors prior to the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Their on-course chemistry was arguably the greatest ever between player and caddie, often making for some of the best televised pre-shot conversations fans had the pleasure to listen in on. Their relationship extended far beyond the course, too, with both Phil and Bones featuring as prominent figures in each other’s lives. But the day we all feared would come came in June 2017, when they each announced it was time to move on. In the post-Bones era, Mickelson has won three times, while Bones will make his official caddieing return with Justin Thomas in the 2021-22 season.

It's seemed to this observer that Bones went to considerable effort to not drop Phil's name, and that close relationship seems a thing of the past.  But the same could be said for the Jimmy Johnson-JT split, which opened up Bones' new gig.

That's it for today.  No blogging will be possible tomorrow, so let's plan on catching up on Monday.  have a great weekend.