Weekend Wrap

I must admit that I entertained thoughts of blogging the Farmers yesterday morning but, you know, Luke List just didn't have the juice to get me out of my easy chair.  

Another Saturday Night - And I ain't got nobody.... Sorry, wrong blog.

So, List v. Zalatoris in the gloaming:

It was early in the evening on the California coast, the sun having already dipped in a spectacular canvas of burnt orange and blue. Luke List peered into the near-darkness and up in front of him,

about a football field away, he could barely make out the stick with a yellow flag atop it.

The 37-year-old would have been excused for pondering how difficult this would be to play a precise shot in light better meant for moon gazing. He could have had the ready excuse of a nearly two-hour wait after finishing his final round at the Farmers Insurance Open to be in this position, in a playoff against Will Zalatoris. He could have let the mental scar tissue of 205 winless pro starts on the PGA Tour overcome him.

Instead, in that moment, List drew on the mantra he repeated to himself before he arrived on the extra hole: “I told myself if I was going to be in a playoff, I was going to birdie the hole,” he said.

Not that it means anything, but the rabbit had grazed here previously:

A year ago, List rallied with a Sunday six-under-par 66 on Torrey South to finish tied for 10th. This time, he shot 66 to get to a 15-under total in a cauldron with some of the game’s most accomplished players. Major champions and past Farmers Open winners Jon Rahm, Jason Day and Justin Rose all were within striking distance over the final holes. Rahm, who shot 72-71 on the weekend, and Day, with bogeys on two of the last three holes for 72, missed the playoff by one, as did Cameron Tringale (70). Rose (68) finished earlier and was in position to tie List’s clubhouse lead, but found the pond at 18 with his 5-wood approach and bogeyed.

Yeah, that's the first point to make, that the day seemed to be teed up for a bold-faced name to seize the event, including Justin Thomas in addition to the names above.  My general rule in such circumstances is to root for the guy that needs it most, and that 205 number pretty much seals that case.   Plus, Employee No.2 has taken an intense dislike to Will Zalatoris, so in the interest of marital comity...

Ironically, the guy he lost to provides the template for Will Z.:

Luke List changed ‘everything’ about his putting, then won

This being the money graph:

Okay sure, it sounds daunting, but for Luke List, changing everything stopped being much of an option late last year. It was then that List, 37, realized he’d been a full-time PGA Tour member for seven years, and during that time, he’d likely been the worst putter in professional golf.

Well, men's golf perhaps, because Lexi has retired the Championship Belt of bad putting....

Before diving behind his paywall, Geoff has an amusing note about the privilege's of success, which in this case means that Luke gets a home game:

Luke List. After a two-hour wait, a first hole playoff win allowed the 37-year-old to capture an inaugural PGA Tour victory in his 207th start. List now makes his home in Augusta, something noted by Jim Nantz who risked life and limb to point out a Masters invitation was coming before offering a FedExCup update. The audacity to put a fantastic storyline over FEC impressions! List has made one Masters appearance, a T33 in 2005 as an amateur. (Ryan Moore was low amateur that year en route to the best score by an amateur since 1978 and a T13 finish.)

Good for him, though slightly surprised that he's been there the once. 

While I have a quibble or two, let me first congratulate the Tour Confidential panel for their second consecutive week with no Tiger questions.  I know, but baby steps, kids.  No interest in the winner might seem curious, though that runner-up is an interesting case for sure:

1. It was close but no cigar for Will Zalatoris at the Farmers Insurance Open, at Torrey

Pines, where the 25-year-old lost in a playoff to Luke List. After a memorable run in 2020 and most of last year while still a member of the Korn Ferry Tour, Zalatoris added 15 pounds in the offseason and tweaked his gear, adding a 46-inch driver. Zalatoris has already proven he can contend in majors, finishing runner-up at last year’s Masters. What does this performance, at another major venue, tell you about his potential?

Michael Bamberger: I’m surprised to see a player that young and that talented with such an unnatural-looking putting stroke. I guess the player that comes to mind for me is young Charlie Howell, or young Jodie Mudd. They were saying on TV how hard he works on his putting. Maybe he’s working too hard on it. I wonder how he putts as a lefty.

Wow, Jodie Mudd!  That's a name I haven't heard since I was a far younger man... 

Josh Sens: This weekend reinforced what we already knew about him. Epic talent who rises to the moment. But battles serious putting woes. That’s one of those, Yes, but otherwise, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln situations. Tough to overcome. But it can be done. Maybe he’ll be the next Bernhard Langer.

James Colgan: I was reminded watching Saturday that Zalatoris told me he’d played most of 2021 with a caved-in putter face. At the time, he was hopeful the shift would pay major dividends of his struggling play around the green. That doesn’t quite seem to be the case. I have no doubt he’ll breakthrough with a win soon, but to do so at the majors, he’s going to need a similar breakthrough with the flatstick.

There's a story I haven't heard previously....  Was he using that putter on Saturday? 

Sean Zak: There are a handful of players who strike it so well that they can still win despite their putter. Adam Scott is one, and he’s had a fabulous career. But you can’t ever help but assess his career with “woulda, coulda, shoulda.” It’s WAY too early to assign these comps to Zalatoris, but the evidence is building.

Alan Bastable: I love his confidence. He has a little Koepka in him. Earlier in the week Will Z talked about how his game is suited for the majors; on Saturday evening, he said he feels supremely comfortable in big moments. Before Saturday, he said he could not remember losing in a playoff. Now, he just needs to take the next step and win.

He's already blonde, so let's hope that's all the Koepka in him...

As the guys note, we've always had superior ball-strikers that struggled on the greens.  Justin Rose, one of those guys noted above, is very much in that class.  They're very dangerous when they have average putting weeks.  But Will Z. seems to be this stereotype on steroids...

For instance, I took thirty seconds to see if I comes up with stats for the third round, wherein Will shot 65 while missing 37 short putts.   OK, perhaps I'm exaggerating slightly, but I suspect that that round threatens the record for disaprity between Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and SG: Putting.  Of course, he didn't just miss those putts, but missed them looking like a man that's never made a putt in his life.

That said, he did look much better on Saturday in the final round, though he never looks especially comfortable on the greens.  I just don't know what to expect from him given the weakness with the flat blade.  But if you wanted to compile a list of players to short if and when arm-lock putting is banned, you might need to start with the Zeds.

The other interesting aspect of the event was the Saturday finish, about which a few notes.  For once, this problem was not the result of the Tour screwing its sponsors, but rather the extension of the NFL schedule.  The folks at Farmers apparently weren't initially sold on the Saturday finish:

“Do you really want to know?” Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey told the Union-Tribune on Friday at Torrey Pines, when asked about his initial feelings. “It was presented as a choice at first. Do you go with Wednesday through Saturday? Or do you go to NBC and keep the Thursday-Sunday format?

“My initial, ‘upset’ reaction was, let’s go to NBC. Then cooler heads prevailed.”

 Wednesday is typically the most important day of the week for the sponsors, as per this:

The shortened runway made a costly casualty of the pro-am, a “net $1 million hit” for the Century Club of San Diego, according to tournament director and CEO Marty Gorsich. It scrambled TV coverage. It sliced and diced everything from travel and lodging dates to hospitality and attendance rhythms.

The TC panel had some muddled thoughts on the schedule:

4. In an unorthodox scheduling move, the Farmers began on Wednesday and ended Saturday so it wouldn’t have to compete with the NFL’s conference championship games. Would you like to see more alternative tournament scheduling like this? Are there even better ways to schedule Tour events?

Bamberger: The Sunday finish, at this point, is tried-and-true. I don’t see the value in changing it, although a Saturday finish did work well for Ken Venturi–in 1964.

Sens: This past weekend made good sense, given the Sunday competition. But reworking the schedule any further strikes me as a solution looking for a problem. Other possible tweaks? Make them play a 36-hole final, toughing it out throwback-style.

Colgan: I’ve never understood the PGA Tour’s obsession with allowing the NFL to cannibalize its ratings in the fall and winter months. I’ll be interested to see where the ratings land from Saturday’s final round, but for now, it sure seems like a smart experiment.

Zak: If the Tour sees value in this move, then do it throughout the entirety of football season. What you cannot have is half the fall series events ending on Sunday and the other half ending on Saturday. Golf fans in particular enjoy the predictability of flipping to NBC or CBS on Sunday afternoons knowing they’ll see important golf. They don’t want to hear that they may have missed it because the schedule is all over the place. If I had my hands on the puppet strings, The first 15 legit events of the season would end on a Saturday. Then after the Super Bowl, golf takes back Sundays, with apologies to college basketball of course.

Bastable: Love the Saturday finish against the NFL machine. Makes too much sense. First-round action on Wednesday was also a treat, though a bit of mind-bender. My internal clock was a mess this week. One suggestion, though: start the fourth round earlier! The Farmers was lucky to avoid a Monday finish, and having List and Will Z. play for such high stakes in near-darkness was nutty. List couldn’t see the result of his heroic wedge shot in the playoff, and Zalatoris said he couldn’t read his putt to tie. That’s no way to decide a Tour event.

See what I mean about muddled?

Mikey Bams cites the tried and true nature of the Sunday finish, then cites an event from 1964 when Saturday was the tried-and-true finish day.

Sean Zak on the other hand makes an impassioned case for golf fans knowing that their faves will be on CBS and NBC, when in fact those Fall events are all on Golf Channel.

Take a deep breath guys and remember a couple of things.  First, there's NFL football but then there's NFL Playoff football, two very different environments.  Second, this is a time of year when the PGA Tour has always played and should always play, as opposed to the Fall, where the issue is as much the marginal nature of the events as it is the NFL's dominance.

But also take a moment to enjoy the PGA Tour's profound incompetence.  Looking for an early season weekend without the NFL in your way?  You've got one coming this week, and look at how the PGA Tour will celebrate... by sending all their best players to Saudi Arabia....  Well played, Jay!

I'm also shocked that no one has mentioned the little event that can.... the Wasted.  They traditionally go up against the mother-of-all NFL games, and they seem to get a fair amount of coverage, attendance and viewers.  

I think this makes all the sense in the world, though of course it's up to the sponsor to juggle their priorities of Pro-Am vs. TV ratings.  I don't actually think it makes sense to abandon all Sundays, as Sean has already forgotten last week's schedule wherein the NFL dominated Saturday as well as Sunday.  This is a selective option for an individual event, though it probably only works on those weeks when the venues are in close proximity.

Yes, as Alan Bastable notes, they cut it way too close and barely got one extra hole in, though the untold story there is that they pretty much do that all the time early in the year.  Should they have started 30 minutes earlier?  Yes.  Will they?  No.

Scenes From the Desert - When last we saw Rory McIlroy, he was rending garments out of frustration.  Remember?

Then last week I saw this header and was going to use it for some C-level snark:

The approach Will Zalatoris and Rory McIlroy use to ‘neutralize’ their swing

I was going to make the terribly clever point that Rory seems to have "neutralized" his entire game, not just his swing.   

So, what's new with Rors?  Yeah, same-old, same-old:

It would be an exaggeration to say this sort of thing is becoming something of a habit. And unfair to castigate too strongly a man who has four major titles to his name, as well as 28 other victoriesaround the world. Yes, he is held to a higher standard than almost any other golfer because of the almost peerless natural talent that has entertained fans over the last decade and more. But really, come on. Rory McIlroy should be winning even more often than he does.

He certainly should have won this Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic for a third time to tie the record of Ernie Els. Or, at least, he should have been part of the playoff in which Viktor Hovland would defeat Richard Bland at the first extra hole. Needing a birdie to win the whole thing and 267 yards from the flag on the 564-yard par 5 at Emirates G.C., McIlroy hit what can only be described as an awful shot. When long and left was the “miss” that would almost certainly have bequeathed at worst a putt to win, the Northern Irishman’s 3-wood came up short and right—and wet.

In truth, it wasn’t even close. At least 15 yards separated the ball’s entry point into the pond short of the putting surface and the safety of dry land. But McIlroy already suspected as much. Long before the inevitable splash-landing, he was bending the shaft of his club behind his head and gazing skyward.

That last bit is the issue, as shockingly bad golf shots followed by hang-dog looks have become his signature move.   And while it remains technically true that he's won four majors, Valhalla was pretty much in the Mesozoic Era.  But the good news is that no garments were harmed during this latest meltdown....

This guy did finish strong:

Viktor Hovland and Richard Bland went low late on Sunday to set up a thrilling finish to the DP

World Tour’s 2022 Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.

The 24-year-old Norwegian took the clubhouse lead at Emirates Golf Club with a birdie-eagle-birdie finish to post the number to beat at 12 under. Bland, who earned his first win on tour last year at the Betfred British Masters, finished his round with consecutive birdies to tie Hovland and force a playoff. Two-time champion Rory McIlroy missed out on the playoff after finding the water on the final hole.

Replaying the 18th hole, Hovland made birdie to claim his second DP World Tour title in addition to the 2021 BMW International Open. The former star at Oklahoma State also has three wins on the PGA Tour: the 2020 Puerto Rico Open, 2020 Mayakoba Golf Classic and 2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Hovland also won December’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Well, we were talking about good ball strikers who struggle with their short games...

Hovland is a good player and he's won six times in roughly two years, but he will now move up to rank No. 3 in the world, which is just silly.  There's not a top tier event in that list of wins, but this is the result of awarding world ranking points for twenty-player fields.  

While We're in the Neighborhood -  Never too early to tee up this week's major:

2. As the Tour heads to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a host of American stars will tee it up at the Saudi International on the Asian Tour, which recently received a $200 million investment from Saudi-backed LIV Golf Investments, a group that also has visions of a forming a tour of its own. What’s your read on the A-list players competing in Saudi Arabia? Much ado about nothing? Or is the beginning of a bigger shakeup?

Bamberger: I don’t think the Saudi investors are looking to order off the kiddie menu here. This will get bigger and bigger and messier and messier. Maybe golf will be better for it. Right now, I can’t see it.

Sens: That’s well said, Michael. Any rival league has always needed a reach tipping point where enough big names sign on to create irreversible momentum. Seems like it’s getting there.

Colgan: It’s certainly much ado about something, but I wouldn’t rush to connect those dots just yet. It’s hard to know how much overlap the event and the rumored tour have, largely because we know nothing about the rumored tour.

Zak: It is of course the beginning of a bigger shakeup. This will be the strongest field in the history of the Saudi International and the weakest field at Pebble in more than a decade. And the PGA Tour, despite not wanting to, had to play ball a bit. The list of players was too great. All of that is some sort of momentum.

Bastable: If you’re looking for potential defectors, yes, the Saudi field would be a good place to start. Greg Norman’s league hasn’t formed as quickly as once expected, or promised, but make no mistake, it is taking shape, and Norman and Co. are lining up players. Second half of this year should be very interesting indeed.

It's just a run-of-the-mill Asian Tour event, right?

But the interest is because we really don't if they're "lining up players", do we?  But they've certainly caused a bunch of unforced errors out of Jay Monahan and his manservant Keith Pelley, and they've certainly put the hurt on a mainstay PGA Tour event.   

I'm a guy that actually listens to what these guys say, and Rory has been quite clear in his reaction to the various Premier/Super/Appearance Fee Leagues.  He's basically made two strong but separate points, the first extolling the freedom of the PGA Tour model.  His second point is equally clear but limited, to wit, he doesn't like the source of the money in the latest proposal.  Fair enough, but now he's made a really curious point, so see what you think:

3. Rory McIlroy, in discussing the Saudi International, the appearance payments that come with it, and the potential new tour, told reporters at the Dubai Desert Classic that while he couldn’t fault a player for taking guaranteed money, he said: “It’s the competitive integrity to me that’s one of the biggest issues here, right. It’s like how hard are guys going to compete when they know that they are guaranteed whatever the money is? Even when I started to get appearance fees back in 2009 or whatever, I struggled with that, going to tournaments in Korea and Japan feeling like I had already won before I teed it up and had to get over that mental battle of that as well.” What impact do you think appearance fees have on players’ drives?

Say what?  This is a really strange argument to be making, no?

Bamberger: I think it’s a real thing. You think of yourself differently, when you get your money for nothin’.

Sens: McIlroy is one the most thoughtful, forthright and admirable pros out there, but it seems like he’s thinking/talking himself into knots here. Is the guaranteed money really his biggest concern with the Saudi-backed tour? Hasn’t seemed that way up to now. Is he right that some guys will be more likely to ease up mentally? I’m sure he is. But that won’t be a deciding factor in who shows up, or whether the tour succeeds or flops.

Colgan: I always appreciate Rory’s candor, but I can’t get over how strange this take is. Do the remaining professional athletes on earth not play for some modicum of guaranteed money? Does he not make tens (if not HUNDREDS) of millions in guaranteed sponsorships each year? To borrow a line from football: You play to win the game. Nothing else matters, especially not when the money winds up in your bank account.

Zak: Appearance fees have to impact the drive to succeed. It’s human nature. Does it make them any less hungry to win once they stick a peg into the ground on Thursday? Doubt it. Does it make it far more okay when they start 76-76 than in a normal event? Undoubtedly.

Bastable: Of course Rory’s right! If a team of widget-sellers were each handed $2 million to go out and sell widgets, they might perform to the best of their best abilities, but they also might not. A more effective comp structure would be to give them a modest salary and pay them commissions on their sales. Same principle holds true for world-class golfers who are paid to make birdies.

I think it's both true and profoundly silly...  Are there guys that get fat, dumb and happy after making bank?  Probably, but it's always been thus.  The Euro Tour has always allowed for appearance fees, is Rory now questioning the competitive integrity of his home circuit?   

I take it for granted that world class athletes will maintain their competitive drive, just watch The Last Dance if you need confirmation.  Which isn't to say that certain individuals might lose their edge, just think of Anthony Kim.

The bigger issue is that, in responding to this issue, the PGA Tour is changing its relationship with the players and now allocating cash to favorites (can you say PIP?).  For every player that stays loyal to Jay because of the PIp cash, five will be pissed that they didn't get paid....  You're creating the very class of player that will jump ship.

As if Rory wasn't sufficiently silly, we have further silly comments from an old reliable source, a titan of this genre:

“Why try to fix something that isn’t broken?” is Colin Montgomerie’s message in its simplest form amid the ongoing threat of the Saudi-backed Super Golf League.

The Scotsman is back in DP World Tour action this week as he tees it up at the Dubai Desert Classic, an event he won back in 1996. They were simpler times for golf. Now, more than 25 years on, ‘Monty’ admits the game as he knew it in his heyday has been corrupted.

"It's a shame it's come to this,” Montgomerie told BBC Sport. “We used to work well with the Asian Tour and now we are at loggerheads because of money. It's a problematic issue. It's that horrible, evil word, money. The mighty dollar ruling people's hearts and minds.

“We never played the game for money on the European Tour when I first started out. I was trying to see how much better I could get as a golfer. Now it's all about that evil word, money. Let's hope the European Tour is closer to the PGA Tour than we've ever been before and we can fight it off."

Fair play, Monty.  Though that Euro Tour that you cite might not have been broken, but it certainly was broke.  That's might be why it's now called the DP World Tour....

But what do we think of Monty's contention that they never played for money back in the day?  It's best to remember two simple rules.  First, when they tell you it's about the money, it's about the money.  Second, when they tell you it's not about the money, then it's most certainly all about the money.

But here's my thought.  If Henrik Stenson and Phil are the most likely to jump at the Super League's riches, why not Monty?  

Let's finish with a man who you knew would be all over this week's festivities, the acerbic Eamon Lynch:

Lynch: The Saudis aren't paying players for silence. We must listen for the lies.

“Obvious lies serve a purpose for an administration,” wrote Garry Kasparov, the chess great and courageous critic of Vladimir Putin. “They watch who challenges them and who loyally repeats

them. The people must watch, too.”

We are entering a week in which golf fans will be inundated with obvious lies from the Saudi International, peddled by players exhibiting all the sincerity of $20 hustlers trying to say it like they mean it.

“I’m trying to grow the game.”

“They are trying to change here.”

“I’m just here to play golf.”

“I want to compete against the best.”

“I’m not a politician.”

I can play this game as well as Eamon:

I'll respect you in the morning.

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

 I'll bet you have your own as well...

I don't actually completely agree with him, but he is good at the ranting:

Most PGA Tour members who sought permission to compete in Saudi Arabia will earn a number by making up the numbers. Jason Dufner, Harold Varner III and Jhonny Vegas will be sent home with a check and a cursory nod of thanks, whereas stars like Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau will be aggressively courted as potential assets in a breakaway Super League. Regardless of the level of interest each man holds for the Saudis, being present is an opportunity to be accounted for. Lewis Hamilton spoke out against regime abuses during the penultimate race of the Formula One season in Jeddah last December. Who will be Hamilton this week?

Bueller? …. Bueller? …

This week begs for moral clarity, not obfuscation and obsequiousness. Greg Norman will supply plenty of the latter as a propagandist for the Crown Prince’s regime. Slender are the chances of a principled protest from any golfer who has chosen to show up for the money. A gloomy few days lie ahead for golf.

Say it ain't so, Duff!

I don't love this game at all.  Eamon makes a strong case that the Saudis are noxious, but that's about as useful as telling me that the sun will rise in the East.  But the problem is, was Eamon making the same case when this was an event-in-good-standing on the aforementioned Euro Tour?   

I'm just not a fan of making our athletes fight our geopolitical battles.  Are the Saudis any more noxious than the Chinese (needless to say, I'm talking governments, not people)?  Yet it's OK to hold the Genocide Games™ in China beginning later this week?  How does Eamon feel about those guys?

So, let's review the rules according to Eamon.  It's Ok for Keith Pelley to be business partners with the bonecutters, but it's not OK for Duf to collect an appearance fee.  Got it.

Glad to have that out of my system, and now I'll need to get on with my day.  See you later in the week, although my schedule is completely up in the air due to the absence of snow.

Late-Week Lethargy

It's later in the week than a typical Friday morning, as trunks have already been slammed in LaJolla....  Though, based upon all the moaning and groaning from that one guy, I hope he let his looper handle the trunk lid.

Horses For Course and What's In a Name - I spent way too much time worried about the order in which Rahm and Thomas would hole out, the first logically poised to go in the final group with the guy with the funny name..... only to find out they're going in threesomes today.  

But I guess the joint suits his eye?

Rahm’s love affair with Torrey continues

Predicting what’s going to happen in a golf tournament is, with all due respect to the Golf Digest’s own “Be Right” boys, the ultimate fool’s errand. Just last week, Hudson Swafford was somewhere around 200-1 and proceeded to win The American Express. The Farmers, then, is a ripe opportunity for bookies to take a victory lap, for the top two pre-tournament favorites share the lead after 36 holes.

If predicating it is a "fools errand," what does that making betting on it?  That sound your hear is a hit team mobilizing in Ponte Vedra Beach.... 

For Rahm, this week sure looks like the next chapter in a long love affair with Torrey Pines. It’s where the 27-year-old Spaniard won his first PGA Tour event, with that winding 60-foot eagle putt on the final hole in 2017. It’s where he proposed to his wife, Kelley. And it’s where he won his first major championship just seven months ago, holing birdie putts on 17 and 18 for a one-shot victory in the U.S. Open. It doesn’t get much better than that. Rahm’s more than comfortable in San Diego and he’s been the No. 1 ranked player in the world for the better part of the year. JT—and the rest of the field—have their work cut out for them.

He's also the best player on the planet, and this is fortunately more than a putting contest, although scores aren't all that much higher than last week.

Of course there's that guy with the funny name in the mix.  The funny thing about that funny name is that, apparently, it's not just a name:

Adam Schenk celebrated his 30th birthday on Wednesday.

The party continued on Thursday.

In search of his first PGA Tour title, Schenk made eight consecutive birdies – falling just one shy of the record – and added two more to fire a career-low, 10-under 62 on the North Course at Torrey Pines in the second round to grab a share of the lead in the Farmers Insurance Open.

“I lost track of how many I made in a row, but there was a lot of low scores on the North Course yesterday and I knew there was a lot of gettable holes and I needed to keep going if I wanted to get up on top of the leaderboard and hopefully stay there throughout the weekend,” he said. “So I know I had to try to keep the pedal down and not get satisfied with how many birdies I made.

And suffered an evil lip-out on his putt for 61....  But the start of his day was amusing:

Back then, he started to hear the jokes about his last name. It sounds like shank – the most dreaded shot in golf. It’s when a player hits the ball on the hosel of the club and the ball shoots way right.

Funny thing, Schenk hit a shank on Thursday.

“It was my first one in a while, but I cold shanked a sand wedge, it was like my third shot of the day,” he said about his range session. “But I usually hit it off the toe in tournaments, so that’s fortunate.

Was it like the driving range scene from Tin Cup?   perhaps of greater significance is that he hit all of three fairways...  Sir Nick and the crew kept telling us how tough the rough is on both courses, though we kept seeing guys stiff it all day from the spinach.  

Anybody have a clue what was up with this guy?  Even when he's happy and playful he's a bit weird, but yesterday didn't do his brand any favors:

On a day where DeChambeau continually grabbed for his lower back, and continually massaged his left wrist, and yelled an obscenity after a shot, and had Golf Channel analysts questioning the

severity of what they were watching, Thursday was not without a lighter moment from golf’s longest hitter.

In the end, DeChambeau signed for an even-par 72 during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open, which followed a first-round 70, and he missed the cut by a stroke. But it was an eerie moment on his first shot of the back nine, after pulling out of an event two weeks ago due to a minor injury, that put in at least some doubt his immediate future, if not beyond that.

This seems to be what passed for the author's "lighter moment":

Few thoughts:

I'd pump the breaks on 'told you so' analysis based on a few swings. Been swinging like this for 2+ years

Wrist wasn't 100% coming into this week, still isn't

Injury from overworking isn't the same as an injury caused by 'swinging too hard', whatever that means https://t.co/AjO0BMnkwZ

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) January 28, 2022

At least he can give the back a little rest, no?

Next week, he is expected to play in the Saudi International — and take the lengthy flight for it.

Forget the flight, I hope he doesn't tweak his wrist endorsing that appearance fee check...

Do we think he spent any time this week with BFF Brooksie?  More importantly, did he recognize him?

Then vs. now, Brooks Koepka edition. pic.twitter.com/KcKEHJyGwt

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) January 26, 2022

Obviously I'm not an optimal tour guide for the zeitgeist, but the frat boy persona seems an awkward fit with the metrosexual look... Though the bigger issue is that neither is a good fit with the early departure that has become his signature move.

That's bad enough, though Claire Rogers wants me to hold her beer:

Brooks Koepka went blonde, so we made other pros blonde as well

You sure about this?

Only one of those three made it to the weekend and, blonde or otherwise, I'd pleased to not see him in the next two days of coverage.  Included in the notables who will not be with us are a couple of guys that played together yesterday:

Rickie Fowler (66-76)

The struggles continued for Fowler, who has not won since the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open and has just four top-10s in his last 44 starts on the PGA Tour. Things looked bright after Fowler opened with a 66 on the North Course, and he moved to 7 under with a birdie on the second hole on the South Course in the second round. But he made two double bogeys and three bogeys the rest of the way en route to a 76 in Thursday’s second round.

The excitement that ensure when Rickie plays a few good holes is becoming quite tedious.  Rickie hopefully has a happy marriage and a new child to cushion the blow, but he's just not a very good player any longer.

Jordan Spieth (70-78)

The three-time major winner made five bogeys and a double bogey in his round of 78 on the South Course Thursday. Coupled with his 70 on the North in the opening round, he finished 4 over. Now Spieth heads to one of his favorite places in the golf world – Pebble Beach – for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

I think we tend to over estimate the effect playing partners have on each other, though their group (which also included Bryson) had some serious dark mojo going down.

So, is Jordan headed to Pebble because he loves the place, or because he's the only guy not offered a huge appearance fee by the Saudis?

One last bit about the venue.  Like me, do you OD on the constant references to bumpy poa?  It does so happen that, just because Nick Faldo says it, it doesn't mean that it's wrong:

A little hard to read for sure, but you can see it in the original format here. 

Initial reaction:  Is this why they're not returning to Mexico City?

Here was Geoff's take from the Quad:

Data Golf posted the list of toughest greens to putt and Winged Foot continues to influence plenty of statistical categories. Hardly a shocker. But this week’s Farmers Insurance Open host and 2021 U.S. Open site Torrey Pines made the list twice. Much of this is the inevitable influence of “poa”. But some of it also highlights how a set of thoroughly unimaginative greens can wreak as much havoc as those with strong slopes (Augusta National).

There really is nothing notable about these greens, except for the mouse ears that Rees added in preparation for the 2008 Open.   It remains a world class piece of land with quite the boring golf course, but it does offer no shortage of eye candy for this time of year.

Augusta On Our Mind - CBS has been running Masters promos on their NFL broadcasts, and will presumably do the same on its golf broadcasts beginning today.  There have been a series of aerial photos indicating changes 

We've been anticipating a lengthening of Nos. 11 and 15, and Geoff had this on the latter:

Expect new 2022 Masters yardages after a busy summer of construction. The par-5 15th is definitely in for a scorecard boost, as is the 11th based on earth work captured by Eureka Earth.

Putt View Books spotted new aerials and made the comparison to 2021. The 15th has around 530 yards since the last extension and could jump to as much as 550 based on images and Augusta 

National’s preference for round numbers.

i can't tell from my preview function whether this video will  function properly to show the new tees:

But the shocker is this one:

And the 18th? Already the 7th toughest over time, it has played as the one of the top three most difficult in some recent Masters, but fell to the 9th most difficult in the 2021 Masters. It seems likely to go from 465 to as much as 480 based on 14 yards of added length.

Note to those on the television side, the extension creates less room for the iconic tower camera view behind the tee. Only when it comes to the Masters would any of us even care about such things!

Normally you'd shrug at a mere fourteen yards, but that's quite the narrow chute they play through.  That guy that comes to No. 18 needing a birdie to win is now facing a steeper climb on a hole that already featured one of the steepest climbs in championship golf.  Your humble blogger is old enough to remember when we wanted birdie roars on the back nine on Sunday.

Central Planning - At the risk of assigning far too much importance to Tyrell Hatton's impotent rage, Geoff has an amusing post on the history of centerline hazards.  Yup, everything old is new again, but you'll never guess where there used to be one, as well as the Daddy issues that saw it removed.

First, Geoff frames the issue:

It’s a question most golfers have grappled with since architects started building them. Some odd emotion is evoked by course designers having the audacity to place a bunker in the direct path to the hole and then, gasp, surrounding this feature with short cut grass. Tyrrell Hatton is only the latest to take total offense at such bunker placement by ranting last week about Yas Links’ 18th even as the offending sand was well guarded by fairway—on all sides!— and all because the architect trying to reward those who took risk.

Whether the options work or not is for another day or the Abu Dhabi Light and Shopper’s Senior Architecture Editor to figure out. This is a newsletter about majors. And the good news for the centerline bunker haters: only the Old Course this year will present such offensive obstacles at the Quadrilateral.

Fair enough, although in the absence of a proper wind, those centerline hazards on the Old Course can be carried by the entire field, even Hell Bunker.

But, here's where it gets and reminds us why we keep Geoff around:

Augusta National had two holes with them when it opened. The par-5 8th’s landing area was broken up by an ample bunker that has gradually shifted right in recent decades. Bob Jones and Alister MacKenzie worked to place it just so, as evidenced by the famous construction photograph where we see Jones testing things out.

Said bunker was still there in the Hogan era:

That's a cover image from Sports Illustrated.

Augusta National’s 11th originally featured multiple small bunkers in what appeared to be an homage to the Principal’s Nose at St Andrews. A 1938 aerial shows the bunkers still there but soon they were gone and the tee moved to the left of the 10th green.

So, why did they disappear?  For the usual reason, that the wrong guy ended up in it:

In The Making of The Masters, David Owen shared the story of Jones’s father, Colonel Bob Jones, driving into the bunker. Children of The Quad please cover your eyes:

“When the Colonel found his ball in the sand, he shouted, ‘What goddamned fool put a goddamned bunker right in the goddamned center of the fairway?’ or words to that effect. His son, who was playing with him (along with Clifford Roberts), had to answer, ‘I did.’ The bunker was eventually filled in, though not till many years later.”

The Colonel always got his way.

Geoff has a little more, including a centerline tree at Southern Hills to keep in mind, though let's not tell Tyrell for now.  Better to see his head explode when he gets there in May.

This is Geoff's logical conclusion on the subject:

The Old Course still features pot bunkers where players want to go, though many are bordered by rough where there was once fairway. The 12th, 15th and 16th still retain the most obvious centerline intrusions, while the Hell bunker breaks up the mid-point on the Long fourteenth. Yet those random Old Course pots of sand started as natural creations later formalized by man and bother people less than more blatant bunkers built by bulldozers.

As with most things in golf architecture it comes down to this: if something is natural or seems like it was always there, golfers embrace the quirk. But if someone dared to place a bunker on the direct path to the hole then bring out the dynamite and declare it a disaster! Tyrrell Hatton is hardly alone in thinking this way. He’s just the latest in a long line who fell prey to a gloriously simple annoyance. Wish we had more of the little pits.

Pretty much.

Read Of The Day -  I'm an old school kind of guy, so you'll quickly understand why I love this item:

Paging Mr. Write: An appreciation of scoreboard calligraphy, which brought flair and old-school class to tournament golf

Calligraphy in golf scorekeeping is believed to date back to at least the 1950s. PGA professionals were even schooled in the art in order to bring upscale flourish to scoreboards for local events. Typically, there’d be a board positioned on the course and another in the press area, with a calligrapher and, usually, a couple of assistants for each.

Most scoreboard calligraphers use four or five pens (red, black, blue and green are the go-tos), but there’s no one way to ply the trade. Refillable-ink markers are an option. So are Sharpies, in bulk — six of each color might be used in a single event. Whatever the writing tool, ink-stained hands were and still are inescapable battle scars of the work.

“I’ve always said I’m just an adult who never gave up my crayons,” jokes Stansberry.

False modesty:

 These guys are artists...

Great art for sure, but these boards also provided a natural gathering spot:

The effort was worth it. Calligraphy boards are not only tours de force of a fading art, they have also long been a natural gathering place, the nucleus of a golf tournament, a place buzzing with camaraderie. And, of course, a key source of information.

“Whether they appreciated the artistry of it or not, they appreciated knowing the scores,” Stansberry says. “Golf is a sport of tradition, and it’s a shame that tradition of [players and fans] gathering in one spot went by the wayside.”

And when we lose our traditions, what exactly are we left with?

Read the whole thing.  There's even an accompanying piece on tips to become the calligrapher of choice at your home club.  This to your humble blogger is way more important than folding sweaters...

That's it for now, kids.  Not sure when I'll wrap Torrey, given the Saturday finish.

Midweek Musings - Wednesday Start Edition

It's game day, kids.  Boy did the week go quickly....

The Science Is Settled - Are you perhaps puzzled by the Wednesday-Saturday schedule at Torrey Pines this week?  Sure, I hear you say, it's tough competing with the NFL, but is that sufficient enough to disrupt your routine?

Your mileage may have varied, but Geoff has the ratings (the plural noun seems, well, optimistic) from the AMEX:

Here's Geoff's snark on said ratings: 

The former PGA Tour Commissioner once predicted golf would compete with the NFL in the popularity department. Maybe he meant NFL Network Gameday Final? Eh, the PGA Tour was thumped by that cable post game show, too. And by Sunday’s LPGA coverage on both NBC and Golf Channel.

But as long as AmEx is willing to sponsor, more power to them through 2028.

Yes, like Geoff, I can't imagine why American Express picked this among all the gin joints in the world, making their decision to extend through 2028 that much more perplexing...  Can you say shareholder class action lawsuit?  I thought you could...

But perhaps the more curious bit is that LPGA entry buried in the detritus.  Because the NFL has actually left a window for golf, having pushed their games deeper and deeper into the day.   Your humble blogger is old enough to remember when conference championship games started punctually at 1:00 p.m., but now they're moved back to late afternoon.  However, with the big-boy Tour in California, that late morning-early afternoon window was left to the ladies, and they put respectable numbers on the table.  Leaving us with the amusing thought that as many people tuned in to watch Mardy Fish as did to watch Patrick Cantlay.

Torrey, Torrey, Torrey - Just a few quick notes as some actual PIP-worthy names arrive in SoCal, but have you wondered about the schedule?

It makes for a quick turnaround for the 56 players who finished off last week by playing in Sunday’s final round of the American Express. The Wednesday start will come quickly, and prep time and recovery time will be reduced.

“It’s interesting for all of us,” Day said of the early start.

Day, who finished in a tie for 49th on Sunday, won the Farmers in 2015 and 2018. He had little experience playing the three courses used last week but has plenty of experience playing Torrey Pines and the three tracks in Pebble Beach.

“The veteran guys definitely have an advantage,” Day said. “But it’s not easy. Last week, there were 5½-, 6-hour rounds. It’s a mental grind, stopping and starting. It will be like that next week. And eight courses in three weeks? That’s tricky.”

And the rounds next week will be six hours as well, so why are you playing there?  

But I'm actually shocked that there are 56 guys making the drive from La Quinta to La Jolla, because there didn't seem that many in last week's field that had actual status.

Of course the one factoid not included is whether there was a Tuesday Pro-Am.  Because these guys aren't spending enough time with double-digit handicappers, are they?

You don't need your humble blogger to confirm that Jon Rahm is in this week's field.  Yeah, Tiger's the leader in the clubhouse in aggregate wins at Torrey Pines, but Rahmbo is chipping away at that lead.  Interestingly, the Spaniard has doubled-down on last week's hot mic:

“My reaction? I mean, the video’s pretty self-explanatory,” Rahm said on Tuesday, addressing

reporters ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open.

“I mean, we’re the PGA Tour, we’re the best golfers on the planet and we’re playing a golf course where missing the fairway means absolutely nothing. There was times where missing the fairway by an inch was worse than missing the fairway by 20 yards, that to me is a mistake. I don’t know what else to say.”

Asked if he’d like to take back the colorful language, Rahm seemed reluctant to take any sort of mulligan.

“I mean, if I knew somebody was recording, I wouldn’t say it the way I did, but I was just thinking out loud and letting some frustration out because that’s what I felt, right? No matter where you hit it, you’re going to be able to hit it on the green and it becomes a putting contest, who can make the putts. That’s about it; there’s no premium for anything else.”

Ummm, Jon, I have a follow-up.  Given that your accurate description of the event has been the case since the days of Bob Hope, what the f**k were you doing there?  He makes all the right arguments, but seems to ignore some fairly significant aspects of reality.  To wit, he's arguing for a tougher set-up for one of the weeks the Tour can't actually comply, due to the presence of amateurs and those 5 1/2-6 hour rounds noted above.  But Mr. Rahm's presence at this event is voluntary....  he could have been playing that delightful 18th at Yas Links with Tyrell Hatton.

Alas, this guy is back as well, necessarily reminding us that we have 155 other guys for whom to root:

“It should be remembered as a victory,” Reed said Tuesday ahead of his title defense beginning Wednesday. “At the end of the day the rules officials said we did nothing wrong. When you have
rules officials that come out and say that, as well, as you sit there and they’re able to go by the book and go by the rules and you don’t do anything wrong with that and there’s no real discussion about it, you go out there and play the best I can and do everything I’m supposed to and win the golf tournament.”

And I've been reliably informed that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia...

This kind of jumped out at me, though:

So, back to the South Course in the third round last year. Reed had taken his golf ball out of the embedded lie in the rough left of the fairway on the 10th hole before calling for an official to get relief. Video of the incident was not kind, and social media lit up and afterward, Xander Schauffele said of the matter, “The talk amongst the boys isn’t great, I guess.”

We have exactly one witness who testifies that the ball was embedded, a witness with no shortage of baggage... Of course, who could blame the man for taking matters into his own hands, since by not bearing the name of Jordan Spieth he clearly can't expect fair rulings... 

Your Saudi Frisson - We might have to go to flood the zone coverage next week, as the best players in the world head for the Monterrey Arabian Peninsula.  The good folks at AT&T have issued a press release highlighting the field of world class players in next week's Clambake.  What?  Yeah, they mentioned both of them...

MONTEREY, Calif., Jan. 25, 2022 – The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is poised to welcome

back its unique vibe at this year’s tournament as spectators return to line the courses to watch the world’s top players join with celebrities, several making their debuts, in the popular pro-am format. The four-day tournament tees off Thursday, Feb. 3 with play on Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore course.

United States Ryder Cup teammates Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger, set to defend his AT&T title from a year ago, headline the professional field. Cantlay and Spieth finished tied for third place behind Berger who dramatically eagled the 72nd hole on Sunday to punctuate his victory. Other top professionals appearing are Matt Fitzpatrick, Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose and Maverick McNealy, the Stanford graduate who was runner-up to Berger in 2021.

Wow, Maverick McNealy!  Quite the get, guys...Are he and Danielle Kang still a thing?

The list of new talent is also spit-take worthy.  Oh, nothing wrong with the first two names, but after that it seems mostly a gathering of the lucky sperm club:

Mia Hamm – two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion;

Mookie Betts – Dodgers’ outfielder and first player in MLB history to win MVP Awards and World Series titles with different teams before age 30;

Lukas Nelson – country rock musician and son of Willie Nelson;

Canelo Álvarez – professional boxer who has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight;

ScHool Boy Q – American rapper and songwriter from South Central Los Angeles; and

Scott Eastwood – actor and producer.

Though ScHool Boy Q seems a good fit for a golf audience....

Before moving on, let's just note what a horrible missed opportunity this is for Jay and the boys.  We saw above the effect of the NFL playoffs on ratings and this week they're "forced" to finish on a Saturday.  But next week the NFL is basically dark, so the PGA Tour will obviously make sure to have a blue-chip field to seize the opportunity, right?  

So, score that week as a win for the bonecutters....

So, what's up with the Shark, I hear you asking....  Well, you might have noticed the absence of a single player signing to date.  But who needs top-line talent when that C-Suite is full:

David Hill sounds like a hurricane, and perhaps that’s because he is one.

The legendary television producer and former founding chairman of Fox Sports is a whirlwind of creative energy. When he speaks, he crashes from point to point, his volume oscillating between shout and whisper. He’s impossible to follow and even harder to predict; his methodically chaotic approach to conversation demands your attention.

In the eye of this hurricane, you’ll find Hill’s new day job. As of last week, Hill, 75, is the newest broadcast consultant for LIV Golf Investments, his friend Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed golf startup. Norman is not-so-quietly forming a rival league to the PGA Tour, and while details remain scant, his company is stocking the cupboard with C-suite bonafides, from ex-ESPN execs to former PGA Tour rules official Slugger White.

 But, I found this caption on the accompanying photo curious:

David Hill in 2001

 Hmmm, that's rather an old photo, no?

The mandate is big for sure:

One way to go about doing that, in Hill and Norman’s estimation, is to create an entertainment product so captivating that fans can’t not watch.

“We’ve talked about golf over the years, obviously, and the way it’s covered,” Hill said. “What Greg wants to do is to create what we see as the most exciting golf television ever.”

“What Greg has done is taken all that energy that he’s renowned for and pushed it into making golf for today,” Hill said. “His main hope is to take the excitement of golf to areas where it’s not represented, especially in the Asia area and China.

“The reason he’s so adamant about this is because the average age of people who watch a golf telecast is 65. That’s the average age. And that tells you that the golf audience is on a downward ski slope. What Greg wants to do — because he’s so passionate about the sport — he wants to reverse that trend and hopefully produce golf that appeals, for the first time many decades, to a much younger demographic than watches now.”

Since this story broke I've amused myself with the thought that Greg Norman, a man who recently thought the future of golf was tied to a pimped-out buggy, was the salvation of our game.  Now we find that golf telecasts (as dreadful as they can be) will be reconstructed to appeal to a younger audience by a 77-year old producer.  hey, what could go wrong?

The piece includes much history and discussion of potential broadcast partners, and Hill does have some accomplishments in television sports, though it seems that his primary qualification for the current gig is an unusually high tolerance for Shark guano.  But while they speak promiscuously about excitement, conspicuously absent is any actual concrete plans to provide said excitement.  This is about as close as they get:

“I think there’s a couple of things that do that,” he said. “The three-day event, the 54 holes — anything you can compress makes things better, because right now the audience has got more alternatives than any time in the history of man. With the shotgun start, everything happens between 2-6 p.m. It’s there — it doesn’t start at 6 in the morning and go on and on and on. So you have this concentrated drama in front of you with storylines left, right and center. So it’s not a slow, linear progression — ‘and here we are in the Waikiki and it’s late Saturday’ — it’s what’s happening now! Boom!”

Boom! just has to be exciting, right?  I can just feel it...

Today In NIL - Joel Beal does a deep dive on college golfers monetizing their NILs, which almost sounds a little dirty.  It's as if Joel wrote two separate pieces, there's the upbeat, isn't this great part:

Deals were struck as of midnight on July 1. Football players have been the biggest beneficiaries; according to Opendorse, a digital platform for connecting athletes and brands, football has accounted for 45.7 percent of NIL compensation and 33.8 percent of NIL activity. University of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is believed to have racked up millions this past fall in a Heisman Trophy winning season while highly touted QB Quinn Ewers signed a $1.4 million deal with GT Sports Marketing when enrolling at Ohio State … and didn’t play a down for the Buckeyes in 2021 (Ewers has since transferred to the University of Texas). Last week a booster for the University of Miami announced $10 million was being set aside for the football team’s NIL payment.

Excuse me, but I thought this was a golf website....  We all know there's money in college football.

In spite of those limitations there are collegiate golfers profiting off their name, image and

likeness. The two biggest deals thus far—at least in the traditional sense—belong to Rachel Heck and Cole Hammer. Heck, who won the 2021 NCAA individual championship as a freshman at Stanford, signed with Excel Sports to help handle her NIL representation, with Hammer, a two-time Walker Cupper in his senior year at the University of Texas, choosing WME Sports.

“My NIL experience so far has been really smooth,” Heck told Golf Digest. “Once the legislation was approved, my parents and I took some time to learn about the NIL landscape and see if this was an area that made sense for me to explore.”

Heck has already locked commitments with Ping, Stifel Financial, Six Star Pro Nutrition and Whistle Sports. Hammer’s first NIL deal, with Optimum Nutrition, was announced last week. (Financials for the deals have not been released.)

Sorry to be the voice of negativity but, as you might have noticed, there isn't a lot of interest in golf:

There are just shy of 300 NCAA Division I men’s golf programs across the country; only basketball and cross country boast more men’s D-I teams. Opportunities for women aren’t too far behind at 250 programs. However, according to Opendorse data, both men and women’s golf account for 0.1 percent of NIL compensation through the end of 2021. The percentage of activity is only slightly better at 1.8 percent. The percentages seem low, and they are. They are also relatively easy to explain.

While golf has enjoyed a rejuvenation in participation and interest during the pandemic, it remains a tier below football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer in terms of popularity for general sports fans in the U.S. This sentiment is especially amplified at the amateur level. The Golf Channel shows a handful of regular-season college events, but the game lacks a cadence on the weekly schedule, and Golf Channel’s viewership is small compared to the reach of commercial networks and cable networks like ESPN and FOX Sports 1, which air college sporting events daily. Without a sustained television presence, the degree of influence is limited.

Also limited is real estate. Specifically, on the golfers themselves. When it comes to endorsement deals and dollars, the hat is one of the biggest revenue generators for professional golfers. Same goes for the shirt and golf bag. Yet when college golfers are playing for their universities, these potential billboards don’t exist, the spaces instead serving as their team uniform.

Did you see those ratings above?  That's the golf economy....  There's a reason financial terms haven't been announced, as in many cases there aren't any:

Of course, we said “traditional sense,” and there’s little about NIL policy that is traditional. Many collegiate golfers have eschewed formal representation and have taken it upon themselves to garner sponsorships, most of which are negotiated and signed solely through email or social-media messaging. As Rascher previously noted, not all deals are for thousands of dollars; multiple athletes said they’ve been paid as little as $10 for an endorsement. Some of these deals don’t necessarily involve up-front payment. Instead, student-athletes are paid through commission, if money is involved at all.

Sometimes a sponsorship means an athlete gets free product in exchange for promoting a company in a social-media post or in their social bio.

To me, this story very much belongs beside the Saudi initiative, because in both cases there's a rather large disconnect between expectations and the underlying economics of the game.  It's certainly fair game to discuss how the spoils get shared, but it seems unsustainable when the expectations for the amount to be shared exceed the aggregate spoils.   As with all such things, we'll stay tuned.

Enjoy the Wednesday golf from Torrey and we'll convene down the road.