Thursday Threads

I've got an hour for you....  Just a couple of bits but we shan't worry about significance, we'll go straight for the comedy gold.

Wither Tiger - I had a short bit on the Striped One recently, when Shack opined that it would be nice to hear from Tiger and, hilariously, that Tiger might want to hear from us.  Yeah, well Bob Harig now has a similar fever dream at ESPN, riffing off the Justin Thomas comments.  Harig comes at it in a fun way, as you'll see:

Thomas: "I don't know. I know he's going to try. I don't see him ever playing if he can't play well. He doesn't strike me as a guy that's going to play at home shooting a bunch of 75s and 76s and he's

like, 'All right, I'm gonna go give Augusta a try this year.' That's just not gonna be him.''

Interpreting those words: Thomas believing Woods will try is a great sign; the fact that he's hedging by saying he can't see him doing it if Tiger is shooting in the mid-70s seems pretty obvious: Woods is not going to come back and settle for being mediocre. Thomas could easily be suggesting he sees the days of Tiger shooting low scores a good bit off, which only seems realistic.

It's a great concept, or at least it would be had JT said anything the least bit newsworthy or interesting....

Of course, the single meatiest sound bite went unparsed:

"[Tiger is] still his sarcastic a--hole self, so nothing's really changed there,'' Thomas laughed. "So I'm glad to see he's as chipper as always.''

We've always heard that Tiger is a ball-buster, but can only shake our heads in dismay that this trait has never been put on public display.

 This is the most opaque thing JT said:

Thomas: "It's 'Groundhog Day' -- every day is exactly the same for him."

Interpreting those words: You can take that in a lot of different ways. It sounds ominous, that perhaps his rehabilitation has hit a wall and that Woods is at a point where he cannot do any more. Or, you can take that to mean Woods is being held back, that he wants to push beyond where he is and his doctors are telling him to be patient.

Woods made a career of fighting beyond boundaries. Only in recent years has he learned to heed those warnings. He didn't overdo it with his return from spinal fusion surgery. He knows it would make no sense to do so now. At least, that is one potential way to look at it.

I don't think Harig helps us much there, as this would have demanded a follow-up question.  The comment comes from a No Laying Up podcast, to which I've not listened, but it's hard to imagine they didn't jump down his throat to find out what he meant by that.

Harig then proceeds to speculate as to whether Tiger will show at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and, well, I might have nodded off there for a bit.  Because, really, at this point, what difference does it make?

I very rarely do this, but i spent a few precious minutes finding my post from the time of the accident.  I've not reread the post in its entirety, that usually depresses me due to the wall-to-wall typos, but this was my rousing coda:

Of course, the astute reader will note that, in blogging Tiger's accident, we spoke mostly of Hogan.... Perfectly on-brand for this blog, but I'll just leave you thinking about how each of these accidents will ultimately affect how we feel about each public figure. Mostly I see this as an opportunity for the softer, gentler Tiger to share a bit more openly with his fans as he recovers, an opportunity that I'm quite certain will be squandered.

Nailed it, eh?

The Blind Leading The Blind -  This might be the funniest story in golf for some time:

In a move meant to strengthen each man’s architectural interests, Nicklaus and Player announced Wednesday that their design firms have formed a “strategic alliance.”

Under the arrangement, Player will enlist the resources of Nicklaus Design to help him launch his reborn Gary Player Design business. (Nicklaus Design is an affiliate of GOLF.com’s parent company, 8AM Golf.) That business has been largely inactive over the past two years, held up by a legal dispute between Player and a company run by one of his sons.

Player's spawn issue isn't limited to just the one son, as we found out at the Masters opening tee shot last April.  But please clear all drinks from your work space, as a sudden loss of motor skilss is to be anticipated when reading this next bit:

With that dispute now behind him, Player said he was eager to get back to designing and building

courses around the world, and that the relationship with Nicklaus Design would be key as his own design company starts afresh.

“When I get a course to do, it will be great to have Jack’s people be part of the design,” Player said. “They’ve had so much experience with top courses around the world.”

In a statement that accompanied the announcement, Nicklaus said that the arrangement meshed with his own goal of providing “the expertise and resources needed to develop and support the people who will design the courses of the future.”

I might need a minute to compose myself.  Seriously, is it the 86 year-old or the 81-year old that's going to guide our path into the future?

I took the easy route, because merely citing their advanced years doesn't begin to cover their dubious architectural legacy.  I mean, Dove Mountain, anybody?  But we are blessed with a deep bench of younger, more vibrant designers ( you know the list, C&C, Hanse, Doak, et.al.), who have taken us well beyond the dreadful, one-dimensional worlds of Trent Jones and Nicklaus.

If you think I'm dismissive, Geoff trashes them in a mere sentence:

Essentially the Nicklaus plan factory will churn out whatever stuff Player is paid slap his name to.

But, it just so happens I haver a happy ending for you.  In 2008, Employee No. 2 and I ventured to Northern Ireland, but actually began our trip at the Rosapenna resort in the northwest corner of County Donegal.  Here's one of my photos from that there:

At that point in time, Rosapenna had 36 holes of golf.  But this photo looks out at a patch of land that triggered the following conversation:

Your Humble Blogger:  What's that vast parcel of beautiful land overlooking the bay?

Hotel Employee: That's the old St. Patrick's Links.

YHB:  It would make for a spectacular links.  Any plans to build a course?

HE: Yes, we plan for 36 holes.

YHB:  That's great.  Who will build it, Pat Ruddy?

HE: No, Jack Nicklaus.

YHB: Never mind.  In fact, we'll be checking out early...

Seriously.  You have spectacular linksland and you'd give it to Jack?  

So, that happy ending I promised?  Golf Magazine is out with their updated course rankings, which we may or may not spend  time with as my mood and schedule will determine, but Ran Morrissett has this feature up:

Meet the 7 newcomers on GOLF’s latest Top 100 Courses in the World ranking

No. 55: St. Patrick’s Links

Rosapenna, Ireland

Tom Doak (2021)

What our raters like: The course looks like it has been there for a century, instead of having opened in 2021, which speaks volumes about the routing and the talented shapers that worked the land.

Sanity prevailed and they didn't give it to Jack after all....  While it's nice that they tell us what their raters like, exactly what's not to like?

They've added 27 holes since our 2008 visit.  The only downer is, having cast our lot in with Crail in Fife, it's hard to see when we'd get back to Donegal.

A Split Verdict - We had the Slugger White story earlier in the week.  The latest is this from Slugger crediting a certain Aussie:

At 72, and possibly thinking his productive years had been traded for gardening and walks around his Ormond Beach neighborhood, Slugger says it’s nice to be deemed an ongoing commodity.

“Yeah it really is. I appreciated him reaching out to me and asking if I’d consider something like this,” Slugger says. “Thought about it long and hard. Shelly and I talked about it. She felt like it was a nice opportunity and nice of Greg to think about me and reach out.

“Then I thought, you know what, this is something that I know, and it’s just a new chapter.”

Fair enough, though the irony isn't lost on us either.  Pretty much everything Norman does, from his naked torso social media posts to the pimped-out golf carts, is a cry in the darkness to establish his continued relevance.  So, fitting that he exploited that with Slugger.

 But this one might leave a mark:

Rory McIlroy delivered a withering rebuke to Greg Norman on Tuesday and took aim at the

former officials on the PGA Tour who have now signed up for the Saudi golf revolution.

When asked by Sportsmail, the Northern Irishman made it clear in no uncertain terms that his opposition to a proposed Saudi world tour remains unequivocal.

If the Saudis thought that appointing Norman as the face of their new operation would lead to a player exodus from the established tours, they might well be dismayed by McIlroy’s coruscating verdict.

Coruscating?  I'll save you the trouble:

Definition of coruscate

intransitive verb

1: to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes : SPARKLE

2: to be brilliant or showy in technique or style

Seems like someone's trying to show off their vocabulary.  We don't allow that here at Unplayable Lies, mostly because it's your humble blogger's signature move.

‘I’d say my view only hardened after the first appointments,’ he responded, referring to Norman.

‘Then, when other selected individuals also came on board, I’d say that just hardened my opinion even more.’

In Norman’s slipstream came the appointment of at least two officials who made a handsome living working for the PGA Tour, only to give up on retirement and align with the disrupters now seeking to tear the game in two.

It clearly does not sit well with McIlroy, chairman of the player advisory council in America.

That's a very personal reaction, as apparently those South Floridians are warring tribes.

The problem for Norman and the Saudis is that a series of golf tournaments that bring together the best rules officials in the world seems like a difficult business model.

I'll close with this from another No Laying Up podcast, this one featuring Premiere League majordomo Andy Gardiner.  These guys are clearly trying to stake out turf that will be cooperative with the PGA Tour, though I'm unclear as to whether that real estate actually exists.  Forget the substantive issues, as I simply don't have the time, I'll simply go for the cheap laugh line:

A conversation with a “well-known broadcaster in the U.S.” about a shotgun start resulted in the change from the original format of 12 teams of six. The benefit? The entire field is playing at the same time for a five-hour broadcast window.

“We can make stars of 48 guys,” said Gardiner. “We want to make golf as watchable as possible.”

Guys, why start now?

Gotta run.  I'll catch you down the road, just unclear as to whether that might be tomorrow or Monday.