Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Weekend Wrap - Tuesday Edition

Back from our family get together in Baltimore this past weekend and it appears some golf was actually played.  Though that too second billing to the host's range sessions...

Hero Stuff - It's not often that I regret missing December golf, but that was quite the unusually wild Sunday in Albany.  Ian Finnis, whose day job is looping for Tony Finau, had this summary:

Well, they don't call it the Silly Season for nothing... In no particular order:

Noon ET: Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson hit — from the wrong tees (and Stenson is spot-on as a comedian!)

The bizarre began when Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson, playing in the first group of the day, played from the wrong tee box, walked about 100 yards, were told of the error and took a two-stroke penalty and rehit. The 9th and 17th tee boxes were flipped on Sunday from their positions from the first three days of the event, and Spieth and Stenson played the 9th from the original spot.

Henrik is one of the more amusing guys out there and very quick to have fun with his own misplays.  I remember a monster shank of his from a few years back that he posted on social media at the very moment the Tour made everyone else take the video down.

One of the hottest players on the planet the proceeded to <checking notes> need six shots from around a green:

4. The six-chip debacle

This fall, Sam Burns has been playing like one of the hottest players in the world. How? A pretty lethal combination of doing everything well. Off the tee he’s No. 15 in strokes gained. Approaching the green he’s even better at No. 4. His strokes gained numbers around and on the green are less remarkable (62nd and 96th) but they’re still better than Tour average. And so it made sense that he would be the one to close out the fall season with a victory.

Not so fast:

For the record, he did make that twenty-footer for the triple, which shows us something. 

When last we met on Friday, Rory McIlroy was giddy after holding a share of the first round lead, declaring peace in our time  his struggles behind him and wishing it were late March.  I didn't notice a genie lurking in the background but, apparently his wish was granted, because he reeled off rounds of 71-75-70 and finished 18th, or just above those two guys above that wanted to quit after nine holes.  I mean that 75 would have reduced Rory's Thursday scoring average at Augusta, no?

His week included this gem:

I don't know, Mr. Tracker Man, but I've been watching Rory putt for these 13 years, and that's one highly competitive category...

And there was this as well:

1:45 p.m., 1:50 p.m., and 2:05 p.m.: Patrick Reed hits lefty, Brooks Koepka hits lefty, Patrick Reed hits lefty again

I'll let the Tour Confidential Panel take it from here:

5. At the Hero, Sunday’s final round took a turn for the wild, with the seemingly indestructible Collin Morikawa coughing up a five-shot lead to begin the day; Patrick Reed twice(!) hitting left-handed; Sam Burns needing five chips to reach a green; and Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson hitting from the wrong tee box. In the end, after starting the day six shots back, Viktor Hovland won by a stroke. Whew. From one of the more bizarre Tour Sundays in recent memory, what will most stick with you?


Bamberger: Viktor Hovland’s goofy smile after hitting that scoopy pitch into the 18th green, and getting away with a lousy one. It let him win the tournament. Given the rhythm of the summary above, it would have been more fitting for him to blade it right on over the green.

Bastable: And let’s not forget about P-Reed — two years from Bunkergate on this very course — weighing his drop options in the sand on the 72nd hole as Hovland and his caddie looked on with some degree of urgency. Hovland wasn’t asked about it after his round but love to know what, if any, impact that delay had on his blocked approach. Reed was, of course, well within his rights, but given the excellent lie he had, he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time ultimately deciding to accept his situation and move on.

Piastowski: Morikawa. Not so much that he coughed up the large lead. More that that will stick with him for the next month. He’s shown an ability to find problems and solve them, and I’m believing he comes out better because of what happened. Which should be scary for the rest of golf.

Dethier: Sam Burns. His game can look bulletproof at times and he could do no wrong for about 13 holes on Sunday. Then he hit it greenside at the drivable 14th. Then he chipped once, twice, thrice, and so on. He still wasn’t on the green when he played his seventh shot — and then he holed it. A drive and six chips makes a seven. (It was with a putter, but still.) Hovland took it from there.

 Quite the wacky Sunday for sure, just a bit sorry to have missed the mayhem.

Tiger Stuff - I supposed he can be excused for big-footing his own event, but shall we lead with this Dylan Dethier observation from his Monday Finish feature?

1. Tiger’s arms

There was plenty of anticipation for Tiger Woods to enter the media center on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time. How would he look? How would he walk? What would he say? But the very first impression when he walked through the door was biceps-related. Every day has clearly been arms day. I mean, check out the difference from this year’s Hero World Challenge compared to the 2020 Masters:

That’s going from strong to like, whoa. Woods has arms the size of most Tour pros’ thighs. What does it mean? Partly it’s just a curiosity. But it also speaks to the fact that Woods has clearly been interested in getting better, and stronger, and recovering however he can. It means he’s been in the gym for months, even though the work he can do on his legs is obviously restricted. It means he’s been doing a lot of crutching.

“I built a really nice house, but I didn’t realize how big it was until you start putting crutches on,” Woods said with a grin. “Yeah, there were times where I had to take breaks, but I’ll tell you what, though, there’s a point in time where my triceps got pretty jacked, so that was a lot of fun.”

The implication there is that his arms have now begun to shrink in size. I don’t know if that’s humble-bragging or just stated fact, but it’s clear there’s been more than Call of Duty and chipping contests going on in the Woods household this year.

That's a deeper dive than you might have expected, but that likely tees up his next back surgery in 3-2-1...

That Tour Confidential panel did a deep dive on Tiger... I know, it's shocking they could find the pixels for such a has-been:

1. Tiger Woods, first in an interview with Golf Digest, then in a press conference ahead of this week’s Hero World Challenge, gave his first public statements since his car crash in late February. Among the various takeaways were that Woods was not even at the “halfway point” in his recovery from various injuries; he would “never full-time play” the PGA Tour again; and he faced a “damn-near” 50-percent chance of losing his right leg. As the 15-time major champion returns to the public eye, what is your biggest takeaway from his comments?

Nick Piastowski: This quote struck me: “I’ll just have a different way of doing it and that’s OK and I’m at peace with that. I’ve made the climb enough times.” To hear a player who’s spent his
entire life — not just career — climbing and climbing come to that conclusion was jarring. No one ever thought that Woods would play forever, but to have him say the ride might be over was a bit stunning.

Alan Bastable: There were sobering elements to his remarks, to be sure, but still, let’s celebrate this moment for what is: just nine months after we saw those horrifying images of that mangled Genesis and learned of the extent of Woods’ injuries, he appears to be on the verge of strolling fairways again and hitting full-swing shots alongside his peers. Whether or not he contends on the PGA Tour again feels secondary. Tiger is back playing, period. If in February you predicted we’d be at this point in December, you had way more foresight than me.

Michael Bamberger: Well said, Alan. But given what Tiger has been through, his physical recovery — the prospect of maybe, maybe playing a handful of events each year — is really just about the least of it. His life changed, permanently, as a result of that crash. The will he has shown to carry on as he has is both astounding and not surprising.

Dylan Dethier: Well said. From a golf perspective there were his comments, which were sobering, and there were the subsequent on- and off-camera range sessions, which have golf fans frothing at the mouth. The truth is, Woods is further along than we thought at the beginning of the week but probably not as far along as public perception would suggest. He’s swinging it pretty well. He’s also having a hard time walking more than a short distance. Progress!

Given that he only appeared due to his commercial interests makes me reluctant to assign any meaning to it.  And anything he might have said was completely over-shadowed by the swing videos, as he must have known it would be.

 He does seem like he's going to hit-and-giggle it at the PNC, no?

2. As the Hero progressed, Woods was spotted at various times hitting on the range, ramping all the way up to driver at one point. While, of course, only he knows for certain, when do you think we will see Woods on the PGA Tour? And, bonus question, will he team up with son Charlie at the parent-child PNC Championship in two weeks?

Bastable: Actually, I doubt even Woods knows that for certain. There’s a lonnnng way between playing a parent-child event (presumably with the aid of a cart, and, yes, I do think he’ll play) and walking a 7,500-yard PGA Tour setup for four-plus consecutive days. If you’re trying to predict which venues might suit Woods’ near-term plans, you might want to think less about a certain Alister MacKenzie design a couple hours east of Atlanta and more about flatter, more walkable courses. Looking at you, Old Course!

Bamberger: On or at? On, Riviera. Playing? The Old Course IF the weather forecast is favorable.

Piastowski: The St. Andrews prediction makes a lot of sense. When he comes back, it’s not going to be to tie for 50th, it’s going to be to win, and he would have more than a fighter’s chance at a venue where he’s won twice before. As for the PNC, he’s playing, no doubt. Charlie wants to prank JT again, so he’s dragging his pop back.

Dethier: Yes, he’ll play the PNC. Yes, he’ll play some on the PGA Tour. I think he’ll try his damnedest to beat the odds and the doctors and play the Masters, even though he won’t admit it publicly. St. Andrews still seems more realistic, but I’ve sworn off doubting Woods in any circumstance.

I don't feel like I have much to add here, though I'm a bit shocked that he actually might play the PNC.  I assume if he does it'll be because Charley wants to, and even I'm not sufficiently cynical to throw shade on a father and son.  I know the theory is that Charley will bomb from those short tees and all, but isn't it likely that Tiger at some point will try to to something that maybe he shouldn't?

I find the whole matter curious in the extreme.  I totally get that he can't know whether he can make it back, or even get to the point where he can walk a golf course, so why say any more than that.  Why tease the Hogan schedule, which included Augusta, when those hills might be a bridge too far?

As for St. Andrews, yowzer, not so fast.  Mike makes the good point about the weather, but Dylan and others are only looking at half the puzzle.  Yes, the auld sod is flatter than Augusta, but don't underestimate the impact of that rock-hard links turf.  My legs hurt more after a day on the links (and there was that Ballyliffin shin splint) than on the hilliest inland course.

3. Among Woods’ comments, what was something that maybe flew under the radar that you found interesting?

Bastable: I was intrigued by the military tactics Woods said he used to help him through his recovery. Tiger’s late father, Earl, who was a Green Beret, told Tiger that he would get through firefights by “living meal to meal,” or in other words, by setting short-term survival goals. Tiger said he used the same principle in the hospital. “I would focus as much as I possibly could to get from breakfast to lunch,” he told Golf Digest. “That was a success. Then we’d regroup after lunch, run more batteries of tests, and I’d say I just need to make it to dinner. So I’d just shorten up the window. Instead of saying, ‘God, this is going to be nine months of hell, it’s just two to three hours.’” Earl’s teachings live on.

Bamberger: That he doesn’t eat potato chips. I can’t imagine a tuna fish sandwich, even if the toast is well-toasted, without the crunch that comes with some inserted potato chips.

I agree, Mike, and am shocked that this didn't get far more network coverage.... 

Piastowski: That he said, on the NBC telecast on Saturday, that Collin Morikawa reminds him of “an athletic Jim Furyk.” I’ve been trying to unpack that comment for a good day now.

Bamberger: Jim Furyk was a star on his very good high school basketball team!

I'm not sure who should be insulted with that comment, though it took Morikawa about an hour-and-a-half to exceed Furyk's major total.  Is it possible he's still airing grievances related to Fluff?

Dethier: I asked the question so I was particularly invested in his answer, but I found it interesting that Woods said he completely avoided coverage of the crash. “I refused to turn on the local channels and news and stuff like that, I didn’t want to go down that road. I wasn’t mentally ready for that road yet,” he said. “I didn’t want to have my mind go there yet, it wasn’t ready.” I’m always intrigued with the way famous people consume coverage of themselves. We never hear it from Woods, but this was a tiny window into his thought process.

That Tiger doesn't follow the golfing press is pretty much the definition of a dog-bites-man story.... 

The Year That Was -  A couple of examples of the year in review genre have popped up, the first being a slow tease of Golf Digest's Top 25 Newsmakers of the Year.  Always surprised to see this girl at the bottom of any ranking:

No. 25: Annika Sorenstam

There was something both impressive and maddening about Annika Sorenstam’s retirement from
professional golf in 2008. The then 38-year-old was still playing well enough to have the chance to chow down on every significant LPGA record there was, but she had the willpower to push away from the table when she knew she was full at 72 LPGA wins and 10 majors. Disappointed fans were left wondering what might have been while the Swede focused instead on what was to come—namely raising a family and growing the game through her Annika Foundation. Fast forward to 2021, and Sorenstam’s decision to return to competition after turning 50 the previous October by playing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Fans now wondered why would Sorenstam potentially spoil her competitive legacy with a comeback, particularly after seeing so-so play from her in a handful of warm-up events ahead of her start at Connecticut’s Brooklawn Country Club in August. But Sorenstam saw it differently, the outcome not quite as important as the journey itself, her husband, Mike McGee, and children Ave and Will, joining her. And once she teed it up with her peers, it was as if time had frozen. Sorenstam didn’t hit it as far, but did hit is as straight and come the final round, she quickly remembered how to close out a victory. After starting the final round with a two-shot lead, she stretched it to an eight-shot rout for her fourth career USGA title. There were tears, smiles and hugs on the 18th green, Ava and Will—seeing for the first time themselves their mom walk off with a trophy rather than watch it on YouTube. “There's no doubt I'm in a different time in my life,” Sorenstam said. “I'm very happy with my family, and that's what means the most. I have a distance now from golf. Every shot doesn't mean as much as it used to, even though I care, but I know by the end of the day I've got them, I've got the support and I'm living my life.” —R.H.

I especially didn't expect to see her ranked below....well, intellectual property?

No. 23: Name, Image and Likeness

Golf’s Rules of Amateur Status have always been fairly definitive: Only professionals can profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) with regard to their golf skill or reputation (unless that
amateur is Tony Romo promoting golf shoes, but that’s a different story). In recent years, however, officials with the USGA and R&A have come to appreciate that playing modern amateur golf is different than in previous eras. In many cases it’s a journey to an eventual career as a pro, yet the cost of that journey limits some with the talent but without the means to pursue it. And so, after much discussion, the powers that be decided a modernization of the Rules of Amateur Status was appropriate. Among the updates that go into effect Jan. 1, 2022: players are allowed to accept expenses to help with travel costs with no restrictions and, yes, even make a buck or two from advertisements and marketing promotions. That the changes come at the same time as the NCAA also suspending its rules prohibiting student-athletes from selling the NIL rights points to the evolution in mindset regarding amateurs and the ability to benefit—re: profit—from their success at any age and station in life. Short term, golf’s updates mean highly touted, nationally ranked players can be compensated for their play and celebrity (although no big-ticket contracts have been inked). On the horizon, however, the hope is that the new rules will no longer hinder fledgling golfers from development because of financial constraints. —Joel Beall

OK, it's a story for sure, though are we going to recast these rankings when we discover that the NIL of an amateur golfer is worth....well, nil?

This second compilation seems far less promising:

Can't we just give them participation ribbons and pretend those events never happened?

 I did like this, though doesn't it seem we should hold off to make sure it's real?

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE FALL

Winner: Matthew Wolff

Wolff’s star seemed very much on the rise when he finished second at the 2020 U.S. Open and followed that with a T2 at the Shriners a week later. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Wolff skipped some tournaments and looked distinctly unhappy at others, failing to contend the entire rest of the season. His next top 10 came, in fact, at the 2021 Shriners, where he finished runner-up once again.

Since his reemergence this summer, Wolff has spoken openly about his battles on and off the course, but he seems to have found a happy place on Tour of late: In four starts this season Wolff has four top-20s, two top-fives and leads the Tour in scoring average. Oh, and we can be patient. He’s still just 22 years old…

It's just more fun with that crazy swing out there...

Now I love this award but, of course, for all the wrong reasons:

Winner: Rory McIlroy

McIlroy has logged one PGA Tour start this season: A victory at the CJ Cup. That’s value! That’s
bang for your buck! He beat the season’s most stacked field to climb back inside the top 10 in the world, and he did so by embracing an essentialist mantra: Be yourself.

“I feel the last couple weeks I’ve realized that just being me is good enough,” McIlroy said after the win. “And maybe the last few months I was trying — not trying to be someone else, but maybe trying to add things to my game or take things away from my game. I know that when I do the things that I do well, this is what I’m capable of. I’m capable of winning a lot of events on the PGA Tour and being the best player in the world.”

McIlroy’s other two appearances this fall were a decidedly mixed bag, going 1-3 in an emotional showing at the Ryder Cup and yielding the 54-hole lead at the DP World Tour Championship, where he wound up T6 with a torn shirt. But on Tour he’s one for one. That’s a high winning percentage.

Is that perfectly on brand, or what?  If you wanted to insult the man, how would you do better than by pointing out that he plays best when it matters least?

Here's one we can all get behind, though it does raise an intriguing question:

BEST BABY

Winner: Nah, just kidding. We don’t rate babies in this column. They’re all winners!

Everyone’s a winner in this category, because it was wild that two of the Tour’s biggest stars, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, each became first-time fathers this fall just four days apart. Sammy Spieth is already working on his grip, while Maya Fowler is diving into the Jup Life. They’ll be well looked after.

So, what was Jordan doing at Albany?  Yeah, none of our business for sure...

Saudi Stuff -  Eamon Lynch has what is probably good advice for Messrs. Monahan and Pelley:

Eamon is always worth our time, and here he makes the case that this battle is likely already lost:

The shark-turned-pilot fish has already been polishing that saw.

“I want to share my undivided support and endorsement for the stance taken in announcing your participation in the Saudi International,” he wrote to the players who publicly committed. “You are standing up for your rights, as professional athletes, and for what is right and best for the global development of the sport of golf.”

Consider the intellectual and moral bankruptcy required to commend golfers for standing up for their rights on behalf of a repressive government that abuses rights as a matter of policy.

Yeah, it's the bizarro world, for sure....

And while this doesn't do much to advance the arguments, who doesn't love this very topical hot take on the Shirtless Shark:

It’s a stout task to keep pace with Norman’s dizzying agitprop these days as he beclowns himself for the Crown Prince. In an interview with the Financial Times, he equated racism in the U.S. with the abuses currently perpetrated by his employer, saying every country “has done horrendous things in the past.” Norman’s definition of “past” will come as news to civilians desperately trying to survive Saudi war crimes in Yemen. But who better to personify the ‘emperor has no clothes’ theory than Greg Norman?

I think this conclusion from Eamon is probably correct, though he strangely fails to note one important aspect:

While issuing releases to the Saudi International would stick in Monahan’s craw, it won’t represent a change from previous policy. So why hand the Saudis a wedge to further divide his members? Granting permission for players to flaunt their lack of a moral compass once a year is a price Monahan has to pay to win the fight that really matters.

Stick in his craw?  But the time to think this logically through just might have been before he put his credibility on the line by indicating that the waivers would not be issued.... perhaps Eamon is slightly confused by his own analogy, amusing as it may have been, because it's Jay that likely has no clothes on this issue.

Geoff has a paywalled item on this subject, so we'll have to make do with Rod Morri's thoughts.  But can we all agree to shoot anyone using this hackneyed concept to justify their actions?

Already two of the game’s highest profile players have cited ‘growing the game’ as a reason players should be granted releases to play the Saudi event and that list will only get longer.

Historically, ‘grow the game’ has been code for ‘grow my business’ and one might make the same assumptions about player appearances in the Saudi tournament.

In the interests of transparency, perhaps anyone who relies on ‘growing the game’ as a reason to tee up in the Saudi International should also have to publicly declare their appearance fee for being there?

Irrespective of where one stands on the moral question of playing in the Kingdom, high profile golfers know there is a potential PR hit to be taken for being seen to assist the Saudi regime in ‘sportswashing’.

Hence, ‘growing the game’ will become a fall-back position for many.

I think it would be far better if we'd just stop expecting moral guidance from athletes, though I have little problem with calling them out for their trite justifications, as Eamon does here:

The Saudis announced a lengthy list of committed players, including Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele, none of whom yet have permission from Ponte Vedra. Competing without a waiver could trigger disciplinary action, likely limited to a fine—a mere droplet in the bucket of blood money they could haul home while flogging themselves with backslaps for “growing the game.”

But these individual players chasing large appearance fees is a relative misdemeanor.  There's only one guy in this mess that's put his own personal credibility behind the Saudis and their alleged moral progress, not to mention trashing the country where he's made his home for decades, and I just think we should continue to reserve a separate ring in hell for him.

I shall leave you here.  the schedule is a bit uncertain, as I am currently scheduled to head to the Unplayable Lies Western HQ later in the week.  Alas, there is no snow (though, complicating matters, there's storms expected around then) so I'll make a decision today or tomorrow as to whether it's worth the trip.  I'll blog at some point, so do check back early and often.

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