Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Midweek Musings - Masters Hangover Edition

With Spring having finally, well, sprung, your humble blogger's existential dilemma returns.  I've settled into a comfortable Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine, but the Wednesday Game resumes this week.  A long-term solution remains pending, but for this week I'll begin blogging late Tuesday morning and finish the post whenever.... 

Update: Two stories updated Wednesday morning with late-breaking news.

The Reviews Are In - OK, even I'll concede that this isn't the most important insight from the week, but Golf Twitter seems to have come to an inescapable conclusion, to wit, that Nick Faldo sucks.  The next keen insight you hear from the artist known as Sir Mumbles will double as the first, and I just happen to have an example from Sunday.  I mean, what were the odds?

Anyway, a carefully-curated sample of Twitter's reaction to cotton-mouth:

I can't remember anything quite like it, but I still don't know about that "all-time" bit, only because it was irrelevant to the outcome.  

Oh, you thought the moment was about Rory's shot.  You must feel silly...

Actually, I'd  prefer he be fired for being a dreadful analyst....  I simply have no recall of him ever telling me anything I didn't already know, or ever actually setting up a shot.

The current instant provides a perfect example.  Rory's bunker-to-bunker shot flew deeper into that front-right bunker than the prior shot we had seen, and deeper than Morikawa's as well (not they had any reason to show Collin's shot).  My reaction, and perhaps your own, was to immediately understand that he would have to play his bunker shot along the ridgeline and feed it down the slope at the perfect spot.  That would have been adding to our understanding of what was coming, as opposed to ensuring that we saw the shot with all the drama that a replay of it ten years from now will convey.

No worries, he's got a strategic reserve of further ways to spoil big moments.

Literally.

Not sure about this one, though:

I find the assumption that he could solve the daily Wordle unsupported by the facts.

Update: Faldo responds on Dan Patrick's radio show:

“That was a rookie mistake,” Faldo, the lead golf analyst for CBS since 2006, admitted. He then went on to explain how between the gallery roars and the Jim Nantz nagging and the sweet, syrupy visions of Rory donning the green jacket, that he just couldn’t keep it bottled up. He had to share it with the world, and share it he did, like a Mentos in a Coke bottle.

So, Phil couldn't get through the second sentence of his fauxpology without blaming Alan Shipnuck, you can't help by sell out Jim Nantz?

Second reaction:  The explanation seems to be that it was exciting.  So you're not required to do your friggin' job if the play is exiting?  Noted.

Does he not know that the Internet is forever?

“I’ve been up there for 18-odd years,” he concluded. “That was my first c***-up.”

We’re not sure we’d go so far as to call it Faldo’s first “c***-up” (his term, not ours'), but at this point you gotta feel for the guy ... right? Hello? Anyone?

So, a single mistake, Nick?  Ironically, that might be as bad a spoiler alert as Nick's....  OK, admittedly on a smaller scale, but you'll smile when you get to it below.

This golf.com piece tries to let him off the hook with this:

While Faldo admits he’s in the wrong, he does raise an interesting point. If CBS had stuck with Rory’s shot live on 18 (where Faldo and Nantz were both seated in the broadcast tower), he wouldn’t have been compelled to spoil the scene. Of course, it’s his responsibility to know better, but perhaps those factors are worth considering for the CBS production team when it comes to handling future outcomes in front of the 18th tower.

It's true enough, but given that Rory was then four behind and had seemingly taken birdie off the table, it's fatuous to criticize Sellers Shy for carrying the play of the last group instead.  I've lost interest in such criticisms, valid as they may be, because it's so hard to recreate the factors that go into the split-second decision.  

He has one job, and he's really quite bad at it.  I challenge the reader to listen carefully to Faldo's commentary in the future, and especially to wait for him to add something, anything, to your understanding of the visual.  You might be there for a while, so pack a lunch. 

Not Sure You're Helping Him, Gary - The Black Knight went out of his way to show support for the disenfranchised and downtrodden of golf....er, something.  First, an amusing lead-in from Nick Piastowski's notebook dump:

I asked Player, Nicklaus and Watson what advice they would give Phil Mickelson should he reach out for some. Watson made a “zipper his lips” gesture. Nicklaus said he couldn’t hear the question. Player did.

Yeah, who coulda seen that one coming....

“I have a special thought on Phil Mickelson. I think we live in a time now when we are such a judgmental society, a litigious society, a critical society, where people get crucified. The greatest
PR man on the golf Tour in the last five or X amount of years has been Phil Mickelson. He has been the ideal man for a sponsor, for professional golf, for the public, the way he’s handled the public, with dignity and with love. And he makes a mistake, which every one of you in this room have made a damn mistake. We all have. And he said he’s sorry. But even the Lord God will forgive you of your inequities if you ask for forgiveness. And he made a mistake, and for everybody to be — I’ve heard him. I said, hold your head up high. You’ve made a mistake. Everybody makes a mistake.”

OK, so I have thoughts....Even ignoring that's there's little advice to be found, what jumped out at me was "a mistake", as in singular...Let me recount a weekend conversation with one of my golf buddies when Phil's name came up:

 Anonymous Golf Buddy:  Well, you know when I wrote Phil off?

Me: When he stuck a shiv in Tom Watson's back after the 2014 Ryder Cup?

AGB: No.

Me:  When he placed bets with the Detroit mob?

AGB: No.

Me: When he trashed Hal Sutton at the 2004 Ryder Cup after showing up with equipment he'd never played in competition because Callaway paid off his gambling debts?

AGB: No...

Me: When it took an insider stock tip from Billy Walters to induce him to pay his gambling debt?

AGB: No....

Me: We could be here for a while, so why don't you just tell me.

AGB: When he swiped the moving ball ay Shinnecock.

Me: Yeah, that's a good one as well, including that bit when he stuck Amy in front of the microphones to take the heat.

So, Gary, "a mistake"?  Singular? Admittedly, the conversation has been amended slightly to make me sound smarter for dramatic effect, but still... 

Now Gary finally gets around to offering some actual advice:

“And he should go on with his life. I think it’s pitiful — I actually made a statement on television. I said, if there’s nobody that hasn’t made a mistake, I’d like to invite anybody in the world to have lunch with me at Augusta, and if you haven’t made a mistake, I’ll have lunch with you, but I’ll have lunch on my own. It’s amazing. From the epitome of perfection, he’s down there being crucified. It’s not right. That’s my opinion. He said terrible things, but we all make mistakes.”

Ummm, Gary, it wasn't just what he said....  But brave of Gary to take on those that have bene arguing against Phil getting on with his life.

So, Gary, why the profound concern and sob story about Phil?  I mean "epitome of perfection"?  Even you must see that as a bit over the top.  The very same Nick Piastowski has a fuller treatment here, from which that photo above comes.  One can certainly understand choosing a photo of the two of them, which also has the added bonus of the Men in Black thing, but any thoughts on why Gary feels so strongly about defending Phil?  Nick did mention this in his piece, but wouldn't this have been the more appropriate photo to use:

Nothing to see here....  Just golf's global ambassador shilling for the bonecutters...

And as long as we're on this topic.... the article referenced is behind a paywall, leaving us to traffic in innuendo and hearsay:

Hmmmm, looks like we're down two captains for that 2025 Ryder Cup.

Update: Just before presstime, this from the NY Post (Gee, hope their Twitter account survives):

According to a report in The Telegraph, two-time Masters champ Bubba Watson, along with European Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter as well as five-time tour winner Kevin Na are among those expected to join the $225 million rival. The final details are still being confirmed, according to LIV Golf, per the report, but the plan is to announce some of the players who are planning to join in the weeks ahead.

Interesting names, especially Na's which came from left field.  But $225 million for these guys? 

Rory In Full -  in the non-paywalled tease to his latest Quad, Geoff has this in his "Winners" category:

Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa. Such an impressive Sunday performance to move both into the top 5 and for McIlroy, a best Masters finish ever with a record 64 to close the week out. The highlight reel shots sent some roars through the property and the back-to-back bunker dunks will be shown for years.

I'm fine with that as long as they include the Faldo spoiler.... because future generation should know how we suffered.  But, Geoff, isn't the reality just a wee bit more, well, Freudian? 

Shane Ryan certainly seems to agree:

The impossible question: How should we feel about Rory McIlroy's 64?

Amusingly and presciently, Shane wrote this on Saturday afternoon:

Story 1: In a Slack with some friends, at 5:43 p.m. ET on Saturday evening after Rory's 73-73-71 put him safely out of contention at this year's Masters, I wrote, "Does Rory shoot 63 or 64 tomorrow?"

As a public service, don't be ashamed if you didn't know what that term meant, because your humble blogger most certainly did not:

Slack is a messaging app for business that connects people to the information they need. By bringing people together to work as one unified team, Slack transforms the way organizations communicate.

Shane's Story 2 is this tweet during Rory's front nine:

Isn't the real question how you can still be a Rory fan?  Just to be clear, Rors is a delightful young man, it's just the golf isn't what it could be.

So what is a Rory fan to think? Was this inspiring? Was it a sign of things to come, the very beginning of Rory's resurgence, culminating with a 2014-like triumph at Southern Hills/St. Andrews/Brookline?

Doesn't that kind of miss the point, Shane.  Those three are not like the other, at least to Rory.

And then reality strikes:

Or—and I hate to be this way, I promise—is it exactly what you'd expect from post-2014 Rory? Does it follow the script so closely that even a dummy like me could predict it a day earlier? Does it speak to someone who can be utterly spectacular in a major tournament, right at the exact moment when he can't really win anymore?


It has the benefit of being exactly what I expected, although an exaggerated version of his patented back-door top ten.  So, yanno, progress!

There's plenty more existential angst to be found at the link, even though largely limited to Augusta.  can you imagine his reaction if I snuck up behind him and whispered "Portrush" in his ear?

Udder Stuff - In which I'll sample from the commentariat without benefit of a plotline or adult supervision.

Geoff surprisingly (at least to your humble blogger) has this in his winners:

16th Hole - The green modifications made the two upper level pins work. Typically a boring pair
where little of interest happens, putts did not seem impossible and well-struck shots stayed on the upper shelf. This was a long overdue and successful modification to a famous green that seemed down a parig of interesting days during tournament week. The 16 also staged a nice agronomic comeback after struggling during the last two Masters.

Really?  I've been ragging on this green since forever.  It's allegedly one of the great one-shotters in the game, though it has exactly one pin position that works, and even that comes with a huge asterisk.

So, Geoff, if the green is better, why did they need to use the Sunday hole location on Friday as well?

They used the back pin on Thursday, and my sense was that it only worked because they had those unusually soft conditions.  When the green is characteristically firm, you simply can't go anywhere near that pin or else the ball hops off the back, and you'll have to hit a golf shot just to make bogey.  Typically everyone comes up short and the ball feeds down to that Sunday pin location and we watch the entire field hit the same 40-foot uphill putt.  A tradition unlike and other for sure.

from Geoff as well:

Fred Ridley. In arguably the week’s most under-reported story, the Chairman artfully acknowledged regret about the club’s early 2000’s stance against integrating women into the membership. “Our culture is better,” he said. “We are a better club, we are a better organization and we’re very proud to have women among our membership.” Ridley would go on to say he wished the club had moved sooner on initiatives like the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and vowed to invite more women to join. No one doubts his sincerity.

Why, Fred, you wanted to put the Dinah Shore out of business earlier?   

I thought Ridley's comments on the changes to the course and, most importantly, his thoughts on lengthening No. 13 were themselves under-reported and under-analyzed, but much better to focus on the virtue signaling.

Meltdown in 3,2,1....Oh, almost forgot this one.... did you hear Tyrell Hatton's take on the ballpark?

"You can hit good shots here and not get any reward for it. It's unfair at times. I don't agree with that."

"If you hit a good shot, you should end up near the hole. Not then short-sided into a bunker because of the slopes that they've created and stuff. I don't think it's a fair test at times, and when you hit good shots and you're not rewarded for it, it shows."

"You don't really have to miss a shot, and your next one you'll have -- you're really struggling to make par. With how it runs off the greens here and the slopes that you are then chipping into and how obviously it's cut, it just makes it really hard to even get chip shots close. I think everything is exaggerated here."

"I haven't enjoyed it. . . .

"I feel like I've hit good shots out there, I've not been rewarded for them, so it's a case of just lose a bit of interest. … I'm just trying to ideally get off the golf course as fast as possible."

"I'm glad it's over. I think that's a pretty good way to sum it up,”Hatton added. “I feel like if I come back in the future, it's just a case of trying to get through the best that I can."

If you come back?  

This is an Alistair Tait piece, and even he notes that Hatton's game is such that an invitation is far from a certainty.  And this is obviously a fair criticism:

TV commentators David Feherty and Gary McCord were for all intents and purposes banned from covering the Masters for having the temerity to talk about the course in remotely pejorative terms. After four days of listening to TV coverage this year, it’s hard to recall even one minor criticism of the golf course. In fact, given the ebullient manner in which announcers gush about all things Masters and Augusta National, you’d think a mandatory dose of Prozac is prescribed for every commentator before they go on air.

The ANGC folks are more than a bit over-bearing, and I certainly wish the broadcast could be a little less soporific.  But was Feherty banned?  I don't actually remember that, and Google seems not to as well.  And McCord seemed to want to be banned, using obviously pre-scripted lines with terms like body bags and bikini wax that he had to know would cause a reaction.   

But Tait leaves us hanging, as this is his rousing coda:

Is Hatton committing blasphemy or should we praise him for having the courage to venture where so few have dared go and be brutally honest?

Alistair, I'm pretty sure that it's in your job description to tell us what you think....

And, if you're leave us hanging with an unanswered question, could you at least make it the right question?  Forget whether it's blasphemy, is the criticism justified, or is the whining of a guy that played poorly?  I'm going to go with all of the above.  It's an incredibly unfair course but, and Mr. Hatton might want to take notes, so are all of the links of GB&I.  Whether or not a given hole or shot is fair or un- is an opinion, which there is no problem with him expressing.

But Tait does perform a great service in reminding us that our opinions might change:

Mind you, Hatton may change his mind as Lee Westwood did after saying the Old Course…

“…wouldn’t be in my top 200 – in Fife!”

Bobby Jones came to love the Old Course after hating it on his first visit, while no end of players have lambasted the sacred links of St Andrews.

Jones did more than just hate it, he walked off the course (it's said that he ripped up his scorecard, though Jones denied that bit).

While we're with Alistair, we might as well deal with this misfire:

It might have been, just not for the reason Tate seems to think....

Woods had taken a drop on the par-5 15th hole the previous day after his ball struck the flack stick and bounced back into the pond that fronts the green.

The then 14-time major winner took a drop on the fairway and played his fourth shot. When asked about the situation afterwards, Woods said:

"I went back to where I played it from, but I went two yards further back and I took, tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit," Woods said. "And that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back,” to which Woods added that the move “worked out perfectly.”

 Tait hints at what happened, but really glosses over the import:

It turned out later that Masters officials had been alerted to the rules infraction while Woods was still on the golf course the previous day yet, for reasons which still seem unfathomable, chose not to question him about the matter.

The guy running the tournament committee at that time was none other than Fred Ridley.  And what Tait further elides is that the call that alerted them to the bad drop came not from an anonymous source, but from David Eger:

Eger is currently a Champions Tour golfer, and as CBS Sports' Gregg Doyel points out, he was the "USGA's senior director of rules and competition from 1992-95."

And Fred Ridley did not like David Eger, considering him a bit of a yenta.  So, the tip is relayed to Ridley, who watches one replay of the drop and dismisses it out of hand.  End of story, except that then Ridley hears those words from Tiger, and no doubt goes, "Oops, I f-ed up."

In case you don't understand why the drop was illegal, the key bit is that the ball hit the pin and caromed back into the water, meaning that the point of entry into the hazard (Eff you, I will never say penalty area) was from the green side of the water.  Tiger took his relief from line of his original shot, but that was not the actual point of entry.

Tait's use of "unfathomable" is because the first rule of officiating is to speak to the player and let him tell you the process he went through.  In this case, Tiger did that, just into a microphone.  So, Ridley screwed up because of how he felt about a guy not even in Augusta, and it should have been headed off before Tiger signed his card.

Lastly, the reason Eger dropped that dime?

Also, this is important to note for anyone still thinking Eger was being petty, he was not calling in to punish Tiger, but to save him, and ultimately he did.

Eger did not want Tiger to sign an incorrect card, and he wanted this information to be known before that happened.

It obviously did not affect Fred Ridley's career path, but should it have?

Back to Nick's notebook, including scenes from the merchandise tent:

12. The gift shop, which is maybe a long par-5 away from the first tee, is both out of control and organized. The line to get in is well structured. And then it’s a free for all. The lines for the shirts are the longest. The gnomes are the most popular, I’m told, and they were gone when I went on Saturday.

13. A worker told me that the most someone spent as of Saturday afternoon was $8,000. A man next to me overheard the figure and said, “I’m just imagining them having an army of gnomes.” I laughed.

The gnomes are epic, but good luck getting your hands on one...

And covering the truly critical issues:

28. OK, let’s talk about what you came here for. Sandwich ratings! I tried ’em all. No. 1 is the barbecue. The sauce puts it at the top. But it’s small.

29. No. 2 is chicken salad.

30. No. 3 is the sausage biscuit. It could move up if it were a touch less greasy.

31. No. 4 is … the pimento cheese. It’s the first sandwich I tried this week. Had to. It’s the king. But it’s a little mayonnaise-y.

32. No. 5 is the chicken biscuit.

33. No. 6 is the chicken sandwich. This is a lot of folks’ favorite, but the chicken was too chewy for me.

34. No. 7 is the club.

35. No. 8 is the ham on rye.

36. No. 9 is the hot dog. Yeah, yeah, it’s not a sandwich.

37. No. 10 is the egg salad. It just kinda tasted like nothing.

38. The chocolate chip cookie is actually the best.

I'm pretty sure that Nos. 30, 31 and 33 are far worse than anything Gary McCord said.  Hope you enjoyed your only Masters, nick.

And if that doesn't get you banned, then this one certainly will:

81. To cover up mud spots and provide traction, Augusta National groundskeepers applied a green dirt substance to the course. By Sunday, it kind of smelled.

I had always heard that they spray-painted the divots...

 Funny thing about this one:

88. I felt cringy watching Scheffler four-putt 18 on Sunday. But how many putts would you take in that moment?

I called the missed par putt, under the theory that the adrenalin had gone out of him and he'd be at sea.... the missed bogey putt shocked me as well as everyone watching, including Scheffler.

 I'm thinking this is exactly the problem:

92. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rory more excited than when he holed the bunker shot on 18. He wants this tournament maybe more than any other player wants any other tournament.

Though, did someone mention Portrush?

Forbes has breaking news form, checks notes, 1934:

 Yeah, we know.... It's been ever thus:

Augusta has just six sponsors—AT&T, Delta, IBM, Mercedes Benz, Rolex and UPS—which split a minimalistic four minutes of commercial time per hour of event coverage. Most of the sponsorship money goes directly to Augusta’s media partners, CBS and ESPN, to cover the cost of production, with the rest going to pay to host hospitality events for VIP patrons. Given that the U.S. Open generates at least $15 million per year in sponsorship revenue, it is safe to assume that the Masters could pull in at least $20 million, thanks to its much higher TV viewership. The Masters generates no domestic TV revenue because its agreements with CBS and ESPN allow Augusta complete control of the broadcast in exchange for no compensation.

Slightly more complicated than that, but the limited commercials in the broadcast might have been your first clue.

The second clue would have been when you went to the website to order Masters swag.  Yeah, Augusta National doesn't do e-commerce.  Think that limits their cash flow?

I've long recommended this David Owen history of the club and event, and the relationship between the club (OK, more accurately Clifford Roberts) and CBS  could make a fine book on its own.

Have we done enough damage to Gary Players reputation?  I knew you'd agree...  Eamon Lynch has some fun with the lout, including a story I'm guessing you've never heard (I'm guessing that because I hadn't).  But first, some cheap shots:

That Player is well-traveled is hardly in dispute, and he is admirably quick with compliments for the nations he has visited. Today, it was the turn of India. “I love India, the intelligence, the technology, the manners, the so humble—the women dress so nicely. I’m so used to seeing women with damn dresses up their bum, and you don’t see anything like that in India,” he said, admitting an aversion to immodest dress among the fairer sex that may help explain the Golf Saudi logo adorning his collar.

OK, I get the Saudi bit, but my reaction was to wonder why he would call out Paulina.... Yeah, that dress at Oakmont stays with a fellow.

 But here's that priceless bit:

Also on hand was Gary Player, a three-time winner here and an honorary starter since 2012. Player is a man of boundless optimism and considerable achievement. In addition to his three Masters victories, he has a pair of PGA Championships, a U.S. Open and three British Opens. The most enduring of those wins was 1959 at Muirfield, but for reasons that did not become clear until the 1960 Open at St. Andrews.

Back then, the Champion Golfer of the Year was responsible for having his name added to the Claret Jug. The R&A assumed that responsibility when Roberto De Vicenzo returned the trophy in ’68 without having had his name engraved, but Player brought it back in ’60 with his name chiseled in lettering considerably larger than any winner before (or since).

Here's what it looks like: 

I had never heard that, but it's certainly on brand.

Daniel Rappaport has some parting thoughts, including this on the changes at those two holes:

—A note on the two biggest changes to the golf course from last year. The 11th hole has been improved considerably; the forest down the right side of the fairway was a vestige of a Tiger-proofing era when courses worldwide responded to distance with a whole bunch of trees. There never needed to be so many—three well-placed trees serve the same purpose as 30—and there’s something fun about potentially having a window to play a miracle shot if you miss right. The increased mounding right of the green also punished that common bailout more sternly. If you played it well right of the water, you were faced with a touchy chip onto a green that’s hip high and slopes away from you, with water long. Good luck.

Yeah, completely agree about the trees.  Love leaving the possibility for the miracle recovery shot, which is very much in keeping with the original design philosophy.  Whether they needed to both add yardage and raise the green to make recoveries harder is my open question.

The 15th hole, however—dare I say it was made a bit more boring? Having two par 5s that are both reachable for the entire field and guarded by water has consistently provided high drama. The old 15th put players in an uncomfortable spot, especially if they drove it down the left side and would’ve had to hook one around the trees to get home. According to Rory McIlroy, our source for the true Augusta National changes—there’s always more than the ones the club officially announces—it’s not just that the hole has been lengthened, but the fairway now slopes more severely from right to left, so more balls ended up behind those trees. It all resulted in far more layups than we’d seen in prior years. Here’s what Cameron Smith said on Saturday evening:

“I think with that green firming up, it's hard—you almost have to hit a perfect shot to hold that green. And the chip shot from over the back, as I'm sure you guys saw today, is pretty brutal.

“Yeah, I don't think I'll be going for it.”

I understand what they were trying to do—turn it into a proper decision hole and keep up with ever-increasing distance—but the two gettable par 5s on the back nine have been woven into the fabric of the Masters. That wasn’t the case so much this year, especially considering there wasn't a single eagle on the new par 5 all week.

I had this very discussion with our head professional at Fairview, and it needs to be said that we had an unusually cold and windy week, and lots more went for the gren on Sunday when it warmed up and the wind died down.

Secondly, one player (sorry, just don't remember who) noted that the issue was largely the direction of the wind, crossing I think from left-to-right.  His suggestion was that they add fifteen yards to the front of the tee box, to provide the Committee flexibility to move the tees up when the wind comes from that direction.  Don't know if it's common knowledge, but among the many peculiarities of this club is that they will only allow two tee boxes per hole, which is quite the limiting factor when one is the Masters Tees.  

Here's one take on Wednesday:

—The Par-3 Contest has turned into a three-hour montage of family fun. It’s delightful. What other opportunities in life do you get to sit back and watch fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, celebrate being around one another? The golf is secondary, just as it is when you play with your dad or your kid. It’s an excuse to spend a few hours outside together, with no screens in sight, and revel in the warmth of familial connection. A celebration of life and the role golf plays in it.

Yeah, but other adjectives that pop into mind are treacly and unwatchable....  Eye of the beholder stuff.

Gonna wrap here.  We'll catch up later in the week.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)