Friday, January 21, 2022

Late-Week Logorrhea

At long last our national nightmare is over.  The Tour is back on Mainland, and Hope is restored.... or something.

Desert Doings - I had opened this tab on Wednesday, but it got left on the cutting room floor:

American Express 2022 picks: Why Patrick Cantlay will dominate

Well, it was gonna be Rahm or Cantlay, as they're quite obviously the class of the field.... 

Give Patrick Cantlay this: The man knows his brand. Because nothing is more on point to Cantlay’s personality—a reserved soul that eschews self-promotion and cheap publicity—than chasing history in the shadows.

Cantlay gave a run at 59 on Thursday in his opening—and untelevised—round at The American Express, ultimately “settling” for a 62 to own a share of the lead.

“Yeah, I got off to a roll at the start and kind of made a bunch of putts and then I kind of lagged on the way coming in,” Cantlay said. “But I was happy with everything, I thought I did everything well and it's a golf course I really like. It's in perfect shape and so if you get the ball rolling on line it should go in.”

I had the coverage on in the background and at one point saw Patrick at -7 after seven holes, so he was on a 54-watch.  That other guy did just OK:

Rahm keeps rolling

Can a 66 be disappointing? That feels like an absurd question. But Jon Rahm has made a habit of making the absurd routine.

Rahm, fresh off a runner-up finish in Maui, began The American Express with a bogey-free 66 at La Quinta, doing so despite a swing that didn’t feel “100 percent.”

“But I kind of adjusted a little bit and I played some good golf,” Rahm said. “Hopefully I can tidy up a couple putts. My first few holes, I didn't hit the best putts, but then starting on I think it was on 8 or 9 I started rolling the ball better and it showed. Made a couple clutch putts on the back nine.”

Are you a fan of crooked numbers?  Yeah, I mean who isn't, at least for these guys.  There were a few of those, most notably this guy's:

However, Blixt might not want to make it to Sunday, because that will mean he'll have to play the treacherous par-3 17th at PGA West's Stadium Course again.

In his opening round, which began at the par-4 10th on the Stadium Course, the 37-year-old from Sweden was the first victim of Pete Dye's second-most famous island green. Blixt arrived at the tee box at one over for his round and left the green at five over after making a catastrophic quadruple-bogey 7, which was partially caught on tape on PGA Tour Live.

Back-to-back backwards shots, possibly the only relatable thing we'll see all week at what appears to be the tour's latest birdiefest. Who among us hasn't tried something this dumb and ended up hanging their head in shame? The difference here is, Blixt has to finish the hole by any means necessary, while the rest of us can scoop up the ball, shove it in our pocket and say "put me down for a 6."

Reminds me of one of the first time I broke 80, an impressive feat I thought given that two of the 78 swings were left-handed. 

Then there's this guy with yet another installment of his signature move:

Mickelson’s game was never in rhythm Thursday, starting with a double-bogey 6 on the second
hole where he had to hit a second tee shot after going out of bounds. But that was just the start for the reigning PGA Championship winner. On the par-4 eighth hole, Mickelson pumped two drives out of bounds, finally finding the fairway with his third tee shot. The result was a quintuple-bogey 9, pushing him to 6-over for the round.


I'd lie to see the ShotLink graphic on that baby....

If you like big numbers, how do you feel about big boys?  Yanno, the kind that send it a mile.... Well, I'll see your Wilco Nienaber and raise you one James Hart du Preez:

There’s a loud buzz around James Hart du Preez, the 26-year-old golfer from South Africa who is making his PGA Tour debut this week at The American Express.

More accurately, there is a thwack followed by oohs and aahs. That’s because du Preez is one of the longest drivers, not just in pro golf but on the planet.

Du Preez, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound wall of muscle, can hit a tee shot 400 yards. In fact, not only can he hit it that far, he dropped jaws by averaging 373.1 yards per drive last year on The Sunshine Tour, a South African pro tour.

His combination of clubhead speed and raw power — his fastest clubhead speed is 144 miles per hour and his fastest ball speed is 212 miles per hour — has become the stuff of legend. His exploits are popular on YouTube as videos of him hitting tee shots have hundreds of thousands of views.

OK, so what exactly is in the water these days in South Africa?  Of course, this is the bit that might be a surprise:

“When people see me, obviously they don’t see 6-9 golfers come around very often so the first thing they gravitate towards is the long-hitting,” du Preez said. “But funny enough putting is the best part of my game and has been since I was a little kid. I didn’t grow until late in my life until about 16 or 17 so before then I never hit the ball far so I had to learn how to score chipping and putting.”

Normally I'd be quite skeptical given his advanced age, but there have apparently been some injuries that slowed his progress.  But, whether he's the guy or it'll be one that comes later, there will be a guy that hits it this far (373!) and can putt and chip...

 Shack helpfully lists his stock yardages through the bag:

Driver: 345

3-wood: 305

3-iron: 275

4-iron: 253

5-iron: 240

6-iron: 227

7-iron: 206

8-iron: 190

9-iron: 180

Full wedge: 160

50-degree wedge: 145

54-degree wedge: 127

58-degree wedge: 105

Nothing to see here, just the effects of all those ab crunches.

Bob Goalby, R.I.P. -  Sad news from our little golf fishbowl:

Shortly after he won the 1968 Masters, Bob Goalby received a letter from Bobby Jones, the
legendary patriarch of the championship. In his correspondence, Jones wrote:

“I ask you to always remember that you won the tournament under the rules of golf and by superlative play.”

Goalby, a Belleville native, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. He remains the only man born in the St. Louis area to capture one of golf’s major championships, a distinction that tops his thick profile of accomplishments and contributions to people and the game of golf.

The green jacket Goalby won in 1968, so elegantly corroborated by Jones, carried a stunning sidebar many people could never put aside.

That Sunday at Augusta National in April 1968, Roberto De Vicenzo signed a scorecard that incorrectly marked him for a par at No. 17. He had, in fact, made birdie. What many people fail to realize is De Vicenzo was not disqualified for the oversight, nor did it cost him the win. It cost him the chance to win.

It's hard to gloss over that fact that his signature accomplishment comes with an over-sized asterisk, but he handled it with grace.  I've always felt that the tragedy was that he didn't have the chance to win it "fairly", which I'm sure he regretted his entire life.  But, while there's no sweeping the DeVincenzo bit under the rug, Goalby played like a champion that Sunday:

But it was the 1968 Masters that was his signature triumph. Goalby’s heroics down the stretch often have been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the tournament. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Goalby birdied Nos. 13 and 14, then made eagle at No. 15, drilling a 3-iron from 200 yards to 6 feet. He shot 66 and posted 11-under 277 at Augusta National.

 This most certainly caught my eye:

Praise from Caesar and all that, but the best Bobby ever saw at No. 15?  If so, pretty amazing given that Jones witnessed Sarazen's double-eagle in 1925....

Goalby is also Jay Haas' Uncle, so it's a very golfy family.  R.I.P.

A Rose By Any Other Name -  Stop we if you've heard this one before.... A highly-touted amateur player turns professional at a young age, foregoing college, and struggles out of the gate:

A few years ago, most people, including Bhatia himself, expected to be here – albeit sooner. Though he took an unconventional route to the pros, bypassing what many believe as a key stage
of development, there was no denying the kid’s talent. Bhatia won seemingly everything he looked at as a junior – the Junior PGA, the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, AJGA invitationals, nearly a U.S. Junior before buddy Michael Thorbjornsen clipped him in that 2018 final – and few could’ve predicted more than but a few growing pains. Yet, when he made the big leap, Bhatia fell hard.

Bhatia’s struggles have been well documented in recent seasons. Upon joining the play-for-pay ranks, Bhatia missed his first seven cuts, six on the PGA Tour and another at the Saudi International, and failed to find his footing on anything other than the mini-tours. He tied for ninth at the 2020 Safeway Open, which he parlayed into enough non-member points (108) for a ticket to Korn Ferry Tour Finals (and by extension his KFT card), but by the time he qualified for last summer’s U.S. Open, he was mentally drained.

Get the header now?  The kid seems able to rise to the moment:

Leading by one and staring down a wedge shot on the final hole, Akshay Bhatia did what any
prodigy would do: He called his shot, and then delivered.

The 19-year-old Bhatia, who once dominated the junior ranks but has mostly struggled since eschewing college for the pros at age 17, faced 156 yards into the par-5 finishing hole on Wednesday at Sandals Emerald Bay. Moments earlier, Bhatia had turned to his caddie, girlfriend Presleigh Schultz, and declared, with the same confidence he used when he asked Schultz out through Instagram last year, “This is my time.”

So, he grabbed his pitching wedge, stepped up and flagged one off the stick.

The babe girlfriend on the bag is just the icing on the cake.  Looking forward to seeing how good this kid really is.

Hello Friends - I've been reliably informed that it will be lit, though I'll keep the mute button close at hand:

7 noticeable changes coming to CBS golf broadcasts in 2022

Is there any chance that Sir Nick wants to spend more time with his family?  Maybe, but I'm guessing that family gets a vote as well...

 Some of it will be for the better:

2. Drones!

One of Shy’s biggest changes in 2021 was the expanded addition of drones to CBS’s broadcast arsenal. Those cameras helped to produce some of the best shots of the season (including a laugh-
out-loud moment with Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship), and serve a vital role in expanding the viewer’s perception of each week’s venue. According to Shy, drone coverage will be expanded even further in 2022 as part of an overall increase in the number of cameras at each event.

3. Toptracer enhancements

As for the rest of the technology offerings, Shy and co. have worked to improve Toptracer in 2022 by expanding the number of holes with tracer capabilities at each event.

The good news?  All they have to do is show some actual golf shots and they'll exceed expectations....  The bad news?  Sorry, I'd need a bigger blog. 

Fun Stuff - The amusingly-named Tony Dear has a fun two-part series up at Links Magazine, the most famous holes in golf by hole number.  It's not a bad concept, though he loses the plot pretty quickly:

2nd—Gamble Sands (Brewster, Wash.)

By contrast, there weren’t too many options for the 2nd. The carry over Lake Kadijah on Course Three at Medinah Country Club was mentioned, as was Gil Hanse’s incredible renovation of Perry Maxwell’s 500-yard par four at Southern Hills. But, given the number of photographs we’ve seen of it posted by people singing its praises, the final choice was David McLay Kidd’s spectacular short par four at Gamble Sands which starts with an amazing view over the Columbia River, calls for a smart decision about where to place your tee ball, and finishes on a glassy, beautifully positioned green. “The promontory the green sits out on was a wonderful opportunity to use the downhill tee shot with a natural left kick to create a drivable par four,” Kidd says.

Runners-up: Medinah C.C., No. 3 (Ill.); Southern Hills (Okla.)

Since nobody has heard of Gamble Sands, you see the issue.  It's a spectacular course by reputation, but it's in the middle of nowhere and has never been on TV, so I'm simply unfamiliar with that definition of "famous."  

As you can see from his honorable mentions, there aren't many famous second holes.  I would add Dornoch to his list, if only for the fact that it's the answer to the amusing inquiry about the hardest shot at Dornoch, the second shot at the second (the joke being that it's a Par-3).  But, it's a great Par-3 and, should you miss the green, your second shot will be terrifying, as will your third (probably).

The early holes tested his concept, though he quickly settles into a pattern of the usual suspects.  I do love this unconventional choice from his back nine:

13th—North Berwick (North Berwick, Scotland)

The temptation to choose Augusta’s next hole—MacKenzie’s superlative right-to-left-swinging par five—for No. 13 was very real, and there will be plenty of readers who’ll say it was the right move. But in an effort to mix it up a bit and recognize one of the game’s truly iconic holes, we’re giving it to North Berwick’s extraordinary 400-yard par four, named “Pit.” The stone wall crossing in front of the green determines your thinking on the tee—skirt the bunkers on the left for an easier approach up the length of the putting surface or hang right and leave a very delicate pitch over the wall. However, many times you play the hole you’ll never grow weary of making that decision.

Runners-up: Augusta National (Ga.); Austin C.C. (Texas); Glen Course (Scotland); Lost City (South Africa); Tobacco Road (N.C.); Pine Valley (N.J.); Tralee (Ireland); Valhalla (Ky.)

Not only is this not the 13 hole you expected, but it's also not the hole from North Berwick you expected.  It is a wonderful, quirky golf hole that I need to go play again.

The lists are good fun and you should explore them as time permits.

Reads - I'm in lazy blogger mode, so I'll just link you to some worthy reads.

The most famous Marion in golf is Marion Hollins, of Cypress Point fame.  The second most famous is Marion Miley, and here's the tease:

Beverly Bell didn’t always know the story about the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Marion Miley and her mother Elsie in a botched robbery attempt in the fall of 1941, just a few weeks shy of the Pearl Harbor bombing. The news of the beloved golf star’s death shook Lexington to its core and her ghastly demise shocked the nation as word of the tragedy traveled from coast to coast. Even Bing Crosby was rattled by the reports, as were all of Miley’s notable acquaintances.

Born in 1914 to Fred and Elsie Miley, Marion spent her formative years in Florida learning golf from her father, a traveling teaching professional who was quick to foster his daughter’s talent. After Fred relocated his family to Kentucky in 1930 to work at Lexington Country Club, Marion began to solidify her place in history, winning 22 of the 41 amateur tournaments she played. Eighteen of those victories came in a single decade and included wins over would-be LPGA Tour founders Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, and Babe Didrikson-Zaharias. She was a member of three Curtis Cup teams and was considered one of the nation’s top golfers at the time.

Is this the most famous murder in golf?  Probably, or at least since Baltus got rolled....

That life on the mini-tours is tough will come as no surprise, but sometimes winning isn't sufficient:

The name kind of gives it away, but preying on the weak is never a good look.

Lastly, a wonderful Billy Casper story from reader Mark W. (for whom that Baltus gag was included).  It's a long one, but well worth it for sure and has a bonus Jay Haas sighting:

AUGUSTA, Ga. – We interrupt the pimento-cheese sandwiches, ball-skipping at the 16th and solemn walks around Amen Corner to pose a philosophical question: When finally after 46 years you meet the man to whom you owe all the happiness and joy you feel blessed to have enjoyed for most of your life, how long of a hug is long enough?

Clebe McClary wasn’t sure, so as the embrace intensified, Billy Casper leaned in and whispered, “Don’t let go till you want to let go.”

So right there in front of dozens of patrons, in the shadow of the iconic oak tree behind the Augusta National clubhouse, McClary and Casper hugged . . . and hugged . . . and hugged.

“We hugged for five minutes,” said Casper , who choked back tears. But McClary? He didn’t even try to hold 'em back. He cried like a baby, which was not so conspicuous because as the scene played out, so, too, did the emotions of so many others let loose.

“We all just cried our eyes out,” said Julia Cervantes, one of Casper ’s 11 children.

On any day, Casper is a wonderful story, a righteous man with a keen sense of human kindness. But on this cool, breezy Masters day, his story was even more wonderful thanks to a reunion with McClary, who told everyone how Casper had saved his life. It was 1968, the height of the Vietnam War, and Casper , in the prime of his golf career, was off to Japan to play some offseason tournaments.

While he was there, did he want to visit some wounded American troops, who had been convalescing from Vietnam ? Casper said yes, because, well, that’s his warm-hearted nature. “I was recently asked by a man what I want to be remembered for,” Casper said. “I told him, ‘I want to be remembered for how I loved my fellow man.’ "

That day at a hospital in Japan may have shown Casper at his warmest because when he looked over at a bed and saw a young man who had been wounded to a point where he could barely be recognized, the golfer moved closer. A doctor told him not to bother, that Marine 1st Lt. Patrick Cleburne "Clebe" McClary “was ready to die,” said Casper , but
something made him approach the man.

“I will never forget that day,” said McClary, who on March 3, 1968 had been wounded during his 19th reconnaissance mission in Vietnam . McClary lost his left arm and his left eye and laid in that bed that day thinking one thing. “I’d given up," he said. "I wanted to die, and I’d have died right there if not for him.”

Casper , by 1968 a two-time U.S. Open champion and one of the most prolific winners on the PGA Tour, sensed McClary’s hopelessness as he approached the man.

“He put his arm around me, leaned in and said, ‘God could use you today. Don’t give up,’
" McClary said. “Then he thanked me for what I had done for our country and said, ‘God bless you.’"

Somehow, McClary found the resolve to fight. Somehow, he survived, left that hospital in Japan , and settled in his native South Carolina , near Myrtle Beach . Years went by and he often wondered about this gentle golfer who had brought out the fight in him, but there was nothing more than that. “I mean, I didn’t know golf from polo,” McClary said.

But one day more than a year ago, McClary was down at his beach house talking with a neighbor, a guy named Jay Haas , telling him his life story. The left arm and left eye had been lost in ' Nam , and his life should have been ended in a hospital in Japan , if not for a golfer. With that, Haas’ ear perked up. “I said, ‘Who was the golfer?’ " Haas said. “He said, ' Billy Casper . Do you know him?’"

Haas smiled, then made it his mission to reunite McClary and Casper . The Masters would offer the perfect opportunity. Casper , the 1970 champion, would never miss the pilgrimage Neither would Haas, who competed 22 times at the Masters and whose son Bill is a regular participant these years and whose uncle, the irrepressible Bob Goalby, won in 1968.

The first chance fell apart Monday when rain washed out the day’s action at Augusta National, but on Tuesday the story unfolded to perfection. Haas met McClary up behind the clubhouse, found Goalby, who tracked down Casper and then well, it is said that Augusta National is a magical place, and here was proof positive that it is.

“You never know what effect you’re going to have on another human being,” said Cervantes, who watched the emotions unfold alongside her mother, Shirley, other family members, Haas and Goalby.

When finally the long, emotional hug was over and the pictures were taken, Casper and McClary had so much to say to each other. Forty-six years is a long, long time, but the Marine told the golfer that he had thought of him often. The golfer nodded, because he felt similarly.

McClary told Casper that he was proud of his life. Not because of the Silver Star or Bronze Star or the three Purple Hearts that he had been presented. It wasn’t for the book he had written, “Living Proof,” either. No, he was proud because he had heeded Casper ’s advice to stay strong and find faith in God.

But make no mistake about it: “You’re the reason he’s living. He was ready to die,” one of McClary’s friends said to Casper .

McClary, a motivational speaker who has given talks in all 50 states, smiled, wiped away tears, and nodded his head. “My guardian angel,” he said, pointing to Casper .

As they stood side by side, Casper and McClary threw long, satisifed looks out over the greenest landscape known to man. “A special, special place, but you need to see more of it,” Casper said, and McClary nodded. He was going to walk Augusta National, but McClary had to have one more hug and a promise from Casper that if the Hall of Famer were ever in Pawleys Island, S.C., he had to stop in.

Casper agreed, then McClary started on his walk. But before he did, the former Marine reached into his pocket and handed his business card to someone standing nearby. It read: “I’m just a nobody, that wants to tell everybody, about Somebody, that can save anybody.”

Our game seems to draw or create such people, one of its profound pleasures.

Have a great weekend and we'll pick things up on Monday.   

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