Back In The Saddle

Your humble blogger is back in New York, though it's quite the delayed arrival at the keyboard.  It so happens a certain French Emperor commandeered my lap for the early morning, not that his loyal subject objected in the slightest.

Strange times, for sure.  Not only is that Arctic mass headed to the East Coast, but the next snowfall in the Utah forecast is currently scheduled to conflict with Charlie Woods' first attempt at Q-School.  So, a few quick items for today, then we'll get back to normal.... or not.

The Insider, R.I.P. - Actual human emotion might come as a surprise to my readership, but I couldn't actually bring myself to blog Tim Rosaforte's death earlier in the week.  A profoundly sad story, but one I had little to add to.  

Geoff Shackelford files remembrances that are worth time at both his blog and at the Quadrilateral, the latter of which I'll excerpt here:

Before that, I posted remembrances and images capturing the late Tim Rosaforte at my blog where you’ll also find Golf Channel’s tribute video. He was one of the last in sports to combine reporting

and television work without financial conflicts of interest—that’s an Adam Schefter reference in case you were wondering—and I don’t think most pro golfers realize how much he will be missed. In recent years his brand of storytelling was seen as “TMZ” to some of today’s players who knicknamed him that and really need to get out more. And some of his peers scoffed at some of the lighter fare Tim mined for Golf World, Golf Digest and Golf Channel. I was one of those until I got to know Tim and sat next to him during several majors—the stories, anecdotes and supposedly minor details he worked to share became the fodder of golf fans waiting on the tee or sharing a post-round cold one. He also did a lot to highlight the work of those around the players, a.k.a. their “teams”. His reporting humanized and enriched our understanding of the players who gave Rosie the time. He loved telling an unknown’s story as much as he enjoyed mingling with stars. So it’s especially nice to see the outpouring from so many legendary golfers and peers. I just wish Tim could see what is being said of his life’s work.

Geoff's blog post includes tributes from many of golf's A-list, so it's well worth your time, as is the Golf Channel video tribute.

I've recounted this on a number of occasions, but in 2010 Employee No. 2 and I spent time exploring England's Golf Coast, the Lancashire coast from Liverpool to Lytham.  We flew home out of Manchester, and I walked into the Hertz kiosk there and immediately saw that familiar shaved head and glasses that Keith Pelley would die for.

This was September of 2010, so it didn't take a rocket scientist to intuit that Tim was headed to Wales for the Ryder Cup.  The initial part of our conversation concerned that event, and Tim displayed an alarmingly upbeat perspective on Captain Pavin and the Yanks' prospects.  Of course, how could either of us anticipate the incompetence to come, including my favorite factoid of all about that Ryder Cup, to wit, that the Team U.S.A. rainsuits weren't even waterproof.  But, hey, they looked dashing....

But my favorite bit was that Tim was like any other golfer, after hearing that I had been in the Southport area for a while.  He just smiled and asked, "Wheredja play?"  And was actually interested in where we had played and what we thought of the links, especially since one of our faves was Hillside, where he was an Overseas Member.  

One of the genuinely nice guys in our game, who is very much missed.  R.I.P.

The Imitation Game - Maybe this will work, but the cynic in me assumes it will suck.  I've been wrong a time or two, but there's little doubt that the hype is strange at this juncture.

In 2019, discussions began in earnest about the possibility of a Tour-centric docuseries. Rickie

Fowler was the first pro to raise his hand, vouching for the merits of the idea and volunteering as participant; a small group quickly followed including Justin Thomas, Tony Finau and Cameron Champ.

A PGA Tour spokesperson said that the organization had been intrigued by “all-access” documentaries for several years, including Formula 1’s Drive to Survive, the NFL’s Hard Knocks and ESPN’s Last Dance but “had not found the right combination of production partners, players, and a distribution partner until now.”

The Tour and Vox Media Studios began shopping the project around in 2019, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2021 that Netflix officially greenlit production. Since then, producers have been eagerly courting show subjects and plotting how to best showcase untold stories of professional golf.

Is there anything untold?  But, hey, they have Rickie, and it's not like he's overexposed or anything...

They have a pretty good list of players involved:

Abraham Ancer

Daniel Berger

Cameron Champ

Joel Dahmen

Tony Finau

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Tommy Fleetwood

Rickie Fowler

Sergio Garcia

Harry Higgs

Max Homa

Viktor Hovland

Dustin Johnson

Brooks Koepka

Collin Morikawa

Kevin Na

Mito Pereira

Ian Poulter

Xander Schauffele

Jordan Spieth

Justin Thomas

Bubba Watson

I mean that genuinely, because in addition to the obvious A-listers, they have a smattering of actual personalities, guys like Max Homa, Joel Dahmen and Harry Higgs.   

There's one more that was excluded form that list, and it's an interesting one, per Geoff at that Quad link above:

Besides the impressive list of stars on board, the inclusion of world No. 1 amateur Keita Nakajima could mean he’s taking advantage of new amateur status rules. Hopefully he’s taking a few bucks from Netflix’s estimated $17 billion in 2022 development spending. Coupled with Augusta National allowing access to the show and the tradition of amateurs playing in the tournament showing up early, Nakajima’s Masters prep seems like potential show fodder.

The other pleasant surprise is the buy-in from those other families:

The buy-in from the non-Tour organizations based in Augusta, Frisco, Far Hills and St Andrews. Anyway, the biggest surprise of all given how much players understandably protect their down-time during majors. Plus, access and footage issues undoubtedly had to be navigated. No small task.

Ummm, buddy, what is this Far Hills of which you speak.  That's Liberty Corner, bud, and you'll do well to remember that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia....

Other interesting aspects include that the control freaks at The Global Home are, allegedly, not in control:

“We do not have editorial control,” a Tour spokesperson said. “We will be involved to the extent that Netflix and the producers have the access they need to film at our events. We want them to make a great show, and we all agree the documentary needs to be as authentic as possible.”

The enthusiasm of Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been crucial in getting to this point. People familiar with the process were impressed with his open-mindedness and that he became a crucial voice in bringing the project to market.

“Everything that I’ve experienced so far is that the Tour is fully invested in making the realest possible reality,” said one source close to negotiations.

Interesting, but no doubt you see the issues....  The same folks that brought us DJ's jet-ski accident want to make the "realest" show possible?   Fair enough, though my BS detector is deep into the red zone...

That mention of timing above is because this is a long way off, at best:

While both Netflix and the Tour declined to comment on an official release date, filming will continue through the end of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, wrapping with the Tour Championship at the end of August. Following the model of Drive to Survive, the show’s first episodes will likely be released as hype builds for the following Tour season in early 2023. In other words, golf fans may not see any of this footage for another year. They’ll hope the show is worth waiting for.

Shouldn't hype build for the next Tour season around Labor Day?   It all depends upon your definition of the word is season.... 

Left unsaid is that there is actually no guarantee that this will ever air.... these guys have to be sufficiently interesting for Netflix to finish production and air the show.  What are the odds that they'll choose to start be interesting on cue?

But did you notice a name missing?  Let me give a clue... When I saw Brooksie on the alphabetical list, I immediately scanned upwards for the "D's":

Netflix, as our Dylan Dethier reported on Wednesday, is to begin work on a much-anticipated, behind-the-scenes series featuring 22 Tour pros. But among those not included is DeChambeau, and he was asked why.

“No. I think it could potentially grow the game of golf in that regard,” DeChambeau said. “I feel like people in the United States — there’s a lot of factors going on in that. One, there wasn’t a deal that was struck that was very well for my side of it. I love Netflix. I watch it. I have a great time with it. But just for me it wasn’t right at the present moment.

“I feel like people are seeing me on YouTube, Instagram, and they’re getting a pretty dang good look inside my life. And to have more people come in and go even farther, which is almost impossible for what I’m giving out is just overall too invasive for me. I didn’t really want any more than that because I do have to have a life outside of it.

“I do feel like I’m presenting this YouTube audience and continuing to grow and continuing to grow with Regecy, my new content creation channel. Martin [Borgmeier] and Hogan [Molthan], Hudson [Molthan], these guys are all coming together to help grow the game of golf in that regard.

“There’s a lot of great people on there. If I was to go on there, yeah, it would be cool to see, but I feel like there’s a lot more interesting stories. You’ve got Harry Higgs. You’ve got numerous others. I don’t want to take the light away from them for their potential to grow themselves in a manner that’s unique to them, where they’re already pretty far behind. They have the opportunity to grow a lot more than I do in that regard.

Hmmm....  It could have happened that way, I suppose.  Of course, this is a guy that's spoken to the media maybe twice in 2021, with the consent of Jay Monahan, so who really cares?

But I had a different reaction.  I mentioned the Last Dance because I remember the part where MJ is approached about playing on the 1992 Dream Team, and he wanted to know who was in.  It turned out that the price of having Jordan in Barcelona was the exclusion of a certain former Detroit Piston, and I can't help but wonder if that was the deal to lock down Brooksie.

I know that's not much, but I do need to get a delayed start to my day, especially with the weather headed towards us.  I promise I'll catch you up on the other stories of interest, perhaps even with some bonus weekend content.  Check back early and often.