Weekend Wrap

Gonna try something today so crazy that it just might work... How about we talk about some actual golf before, yanno, the inevitable bonecutter stuff.

Minj Watching - That pretty much sums up the golf viewing weekend at Casa Simpson:

Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson have long been the standard for Australian women’s golfers. With 10 major titles between them, any discussion of greatest golfers from Down Under started — and

ended — with the names Webb and Stephenson.

On Sunday afternoon at Pine Needles, that duo became a trio.

Minjee Lee, daughter of Western Australia, won the 77th U.S. Women’s Open in dominant fashion, defeating a field of the best players in the world by four strokes. In doing so, she becomes just the third Aussie woman to own multiple major titles.

“It’s such a great honor just to be amongst those two names,” Lee said. “It’s just really, really special.”

That's our first chuckle of the morning, as one wonders whether Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson have ever previously occupied the same sentence.  Not only do they play on different teams, not that there's anything wrong with that, but one is know as being a superlative golfer, the other is principally known for this:

I'm sure you have the same reaction as I did; Maxflis?  The only saving grace is that it wasn't Top Flights.  The girl could play a little and they just put her into the Hall of Fame, but still...

The second chuckle results from the realization that they've limited their comparison to women (though I do hope they have a biologist on staff) Australian golfers because, well, we'll get to that below.

Shockingly, the Tour Confidential panel actually acknowledges the existence of women's golf, so let's see what they thought of it all:

1. At the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, Minjee Lee held off Mina Harigae and a host of others to win with a record 13-under-271 total. Let’s start with Lee. The win gives her two major championships, and eight victories overall on the LPGA Tour. What impressed you most about her this week?

Nick Piastowski,: The swing, which folks will tell you is one of the most fundamentally sound in

all of golf. The putting; if there were to be any doubt late on Sunday, she rolled in putt after putt. But let’s go with the ability to close. It’s hard. Look no further than the men’s game the past two weeks before this one. But Lee did it well.

Josh Sens: Her calm. She said it herself. She doesn’t go through wild highs and lows. Combine that mentality with those mechanics, and you see a lot of rounds like she had on Saturday, which is when she won the tournament, building a lead. Then on Sunday, she didn’t lose it.

Sean Zak: The only time she made a bogey all week, and didn’t make a birdie in the next two holes, was Sunday, when she already had a five-shot lead. The bounce-back birdie isn’t often in the cards at U.S. Opens, but she somehow made it possible this week. Reminiscent of Kaymer at Pinehurst in 2014. Out front and never coming back.

James Colgan: Her mentality! She came out Sunday with a huge lead and a very hard golf course ahead of her, but it hardly looked like it. It was particularly impressive watching her tee shots on Nos. 1 and 18, the two most pressure-packed moments of her final round. She striped two shots, found two fairways and never flinched. A deserving champion if there ever were one.

I was actually surprised to realize that she only had the one Major, which to me is more of a small-m major.   As for other story lines:

2. As for the week as a whole, what’s your biggest parting takeaway? Pine Needles as host? Nelly Korda’s return? Annika Sorenstam’s return? Danielle Kang’s tumor revelation? Something else?

Piastowski: I’ll go with Kang. It’s incredible that she made the weekend with what she’s dealing with, but let’s hope things turn out OK for one of the game’s brightest stars.

Sens: Life always takes precedence over golf. So in that sense, Kang, for sure. But also Michelle Wie, bidding farewell. She was, at one point, the biggest name in golf. Watching the full arc of a career always makes a fan feel old.

Zak: My biggest takeaway is the winner! She’s the No. 3 player in the world, and she didn’t take ANY time winning major number two. That’s sometimes the trickiest one to win! But she took the first major last year and now suddenly seems like a viable threat for the throne atop women’s golf. What felt like Nelly Korda vs. Jin Young Ko might need to officially add a competitor.

Colgan: I agree with Zak’s point, but I’m partial to Nelly, who played the Open under-par in her first tournament in four months. In her first major since capturing Olympic gold, Nelly received the star treatment at Pine Needles, and deservedly so. Could she be golf’s next truly transcendent player?

The Danielle Kang story was a shocker, though I'll confess to not perhaps taking it as seriously as I should, given that she was, yanno, playing golf.   

It's no doubt an interesting time in women's golf, but items like this are a bit of a puzzle, no?

It’s time to call Nelly Korda what she is: Golf’s burgeoning superstar

She might well be, but the timing of the call is a bit odd, given the interruption of the blood clot.  This year was supposed to be a Nelly-J.Y. Ko cage match, for which neither has shown up.  But perhaps we should let her earn it...

Geoff, predictably, loved Pine Needles, which was certainly consistent with my reaction:

Overall beauty. The transformation made so many straightforward holes look visually enticing and led to more players attempting iffy recovery shots. With no rough lines, more width off the tees and tight-cut Bermuda around greens, the presentation only heightened the impact of the…

Ross greens. Unlike Pinehurst No. 2, where most greens have evolved a bit redundantly into capsized pasta bowls, Pine Needles features more variety in the Ross crowns, fall-offs and green presentations. As Kay Cockerill said Sunday, the Ross greens are just “so stimulating and fun to play”.

Super maintenance. Everything about the presentation elevated the architecture. To get dry, sandy and wire grass areas looking ancient is no easy feat. Poorly designed irrigation or simple overwatering can choke out the sand and leave native areas too thick in the areas where they get the most traffic. Huge credit goes to superintendent David Fruchte, assistant Tom Stier, the Pine Needles crew of 17 and a volunteer crew of 70 (31 are women who got profiled here and received visits during the week from Annika Sorenstam and Mike Whan.)

Natural lakes. Looser edges, meadow grasses and other touches made the lakes more beautiful and wildlife friendly.

Attention to detail. No two bunkers look the same in shape and scale. Native areas seemed to feature the right amount of wire grass to look like they were found while letting balls be located. The fit and detail found at Pine Needles this time felt like going from a Men’s Wearhouse suit to a handmade Italian.

Reportedly they ripped eleven acres of rough out of the joint, which sounds a bit on the low side.  But Geoff presents these before and after photos of the 16th tee that capture my reaction to my two visits to Pinehurst No. 2:

Which is more visually interesting?  Shack speaks of the rough lines, but mt recollection from No. 2 is that form the tess it was a sea of green, hard to differentiate the fairway from the rough.  

As great as it is, Shack informs us that a return visit shouldn't be taken for granted:

With the USGA’s desire to lock up venues, they only have available U.S. Women’s Open dates in 2032 and 2033. Now that Pinehurst No. 2 is a USGA “anchor site” just down Midland Road, a near-future return to Pine Needles seems unlikely.

That's a pity, since this venue has produced nothing but top tier champions.

Billy Ho In Full -  I may have to start taking him more seriously:

The third round of a 72-hole tournament, otherwise known as Moving Day, usually has a

significant impact on the outcome. Usually. But in the case of the 47th edition of the Memorial Tournament, the third round pretty much was everything to Billy Horschel, who won on Sunday but, in reality, wrapped up Jack Nicklaus’ prized event on Saturday.

Horschel cobbled together a final-round even-par 72 at Muirfield Village Golf Club and was hardly pressed in winning the Memorial by four strokes over Aaron Wise. But the fidgety Florida native, self-admittedly inclined to impatience, confessing to be too much of a perfectionist for his own good, knew that he didn’t need heroics to win his seventh PGA Tour title after his roundhouse knockout of the field the previous day when a punctilious 65 afforded him a five-stroke lead.

“I've watched Tiger and how he closes out events. And I wasn't born yet in Jack's heyday when he was winning, but I watched old footage, you watched how he plotted his way around the golf course,” said Horschel, 35, who moved to a career-high 11th in the Official World Golf Ranking. “You took a lead and you made sure he was never giving up shots back to the guys. I have a very good understanding of how to win golf tournaments. Have I put myself there, a lot? No, but I think my record's pretty good when I do have a chance to win and closing out events.”

I watched exactly none of it, though Billy is having something of a mid-career renaissance.  

LIV Under Par, A Continuing Series - We have a series of developments since we last spoke, most notably Kevin Na's resignation from the Tour.  It struck this observer as quite an odd move, and his statement that he wanted to avoid litigation had all the sincerity of Phil's fauxpology.  Although this from Eamon Lynch might resolve that riddle:

Other LIV players will, like Kevin Na, probably resign their PGA Tour memberships, which means they can’t be suspended but would just lose their status. That in turn removes the most likely basis on which the USGA might have prevented them playing the U.S. Open this month.

— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) June 4, 2022

Maybe, though I don't expect the USGA and R&A to honor PGA Tour suspensions, at least not in the near term.  The other issue is that the players and LIV will actually need players to be suspended to justify any antitrust litigation, no?

That said, my BS detector is deep into the red zone on this:

Na, a 19-year veteran of the PGA Tour, said he wanted the "freedom to play wherever I want and exercising my right as a free agent gives me that opportunity."

"However, to remain a PGA Tour player, I must give up my right to make these choices about my career," Na wrote. "If I exercise my right to choose where and when I play golf, then I cannot remain a PGA Tour player without facing disciplinary proceedings and legal action from the PGA Tour.

Gee, Kevin, you're aligning with the Saudis to protect your freedom of motion?  Were you not paying attention when they told you their business plan is fifteen events at which you will be required to show?   And, Kevin, I know DJ just violated his contract with RBC and is clearly unconcerned about his personal safety.  I would just suggest that you fully understand the Saudi's contract enforcement mechanisms...

The Tc panel took on this bit with only modest results:

5. In another LIV development, Kevin Na became the first player among those listed to play at Centurion to “resign” from the PGA Tour. What do you make of the move?

Piastowski: I mentioned it some above, but it’s all kinda … odd. I say this based on this quote that Joel Dahmen gave to Golf Digest on Saturday:” What if the LIV folds in a year? I mean, can he resign his resignment?” Good point.

Sens: I’m sure it was very carefully thought out and financially savvy. He’s given himself a crack at huge LIV paydays while — I would assume — keeping his Tour pension, even if the Tour will no longer be contributing to it. It also leaves the door open for him to play in majors for now.

Zak: I know he wouldn’t do it unless it was absolutely necessary, so it sounds necessary. Na has grinded for decades to live, breathe, eat and play on the PGA Tour. He wouldn’t give it up unless he felt he needed to. Which means someone told him to.

Colgan: Sounded to me like a calculated decision that came at the advice of many lawyers. I sure hope he’s OK with hanging his clubs up for good should LIV go the way of the USFL, XFL, et. al.

In response to Joel Dahmen, why does that matter as long as the check has cleared?

But isn't this a pretty strong signal that Jay is winning.  If they're having these legal skirmishes over Kevin Na, they're not having them over Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay, guys that are actually relevant.

On the broader issue of what we'll see this week:

3. You’ve seen the field. You’ve heard the reactions. You know the tournament’s details (at least some of them). Let’s cut to the chase: What are your expectations for the first event on

the LIV Invitational Series, set for this week at the Centurion Club in London?

Piastowski: Whew boy. It’ll get viewers, but maybe no higher percentage will come from the Tour ranks. If it comes across well, will more players join? If an unknown cashes a multi-million check, will more players join? If it’s a dud, will players drop out and the series crashes before season’s end? All are in play. There’s just not much recent precedent here. And who knows what the vibe will be early in the week at the U.S. Open. Strange, strange times.

So, Nick, time will tell?  The best part is that one of his colleagues plays the roll of your humble blogger and calls him out on his non-answer. 

Sens: I don’t expect a riveting competition, because fat purses alone can’t generate that. It’s what comes after that will be interesting to watch. How long will suspensions last? Will more Tour pros make the leap? When will the first court filing come? Also: How will battle lines/loyalties continue to firm up among fans? One thing I’ve noticed, at least by tracking the back-and-forth on Twitter, is that opinions about LIV appear to mirror broader political fault lines in our society. Divisive times for sure.

Zak: I wanna hear some expectations, Nick! I expect a relatively small amount of fans to show up, given how hard the committed players are trying to get fans to show up. I expect some players to stumble over their explanations for why they’re there. I expect some players to not want to say anything at all. And I expect the shotgun starts to be weird. Potentially a fun wrinkle we’ve never seen in pro golf. But weird.

Piastowski: Stop yelling at me Sean. But here’s a take. Phil doesn’t finish in the top 40. And there are 48 players. Of course, that’s if he plays.

Colgan: I’m expecting very few fans and a product very inconsistent with the hype that has preceded it.

You'd think they'd have focused more on that one open spot, because we're all expecting Phil to parachute in.  Except that it's Monday, and the taxis arrive on Thursday

But, as for fans?  Is free good for you?

England’s Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter are the top stars returning to home turf for LIV Golf’s first event in London this week. To celebrate, they gave out a coupon code offering free passes to the first 100 fans using the codes POULTER25 or WESTWOOD25.

Days later the offer still works in Westwood’s case, while 24 hours in the freebies are still there using Poulter’s name. Note in the example above, I asked for the max of 8 and

Some just tried for fun, put in JOHNSON25, and also got a free pass. Or up to 8 if they want.

One player + 25 who did not work? MICKELSON.

Ian Poulter tried to generate some interest on social media, and the responses were just a tad harsh:

 Is a bone saw considered a 15th club?

Back to the TC guys for one more bit:

4. The PGA Tour has already said it will suspend LIV event participants but not for how long or when. The organizations that run the majors also have not declared their intentions. How do you see these thorny questions playing out?

Piastowski: I guess it’s wait and see, right? For LIV vs. Tour, I fear we’re going to be bogged down with court proceedings in the coming months — and we could see some crossovers in the meantime (though I do wonder, with all of the hoopla, whether any players will actually try that). The majors are no doubt interesting. Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch raised an interesting point when he said one of the reasons Kevin Na “resigned” was to avoid Tour suspension, freeing him, theoretically, to still play in majors. But who really knows. Again, whew boy.

Sens: Right. By resigning, Na has spared the USGA and R&A the awkwardness of having a guy suspended by the Tour in the field for their events. That’s in the short run. In the long run, my guess is that the governing bodies will do much like many players have done: fence-sit and see which way the winds are blowing. The questions might be answered for them, if guys who jump to the LIV don’t qualify for their events anyway. In the case of Masters, it seems unlikely that Augusta would disinvite a past champion like DJ. But who knows for sure? If the past months have proven anything, it’s that predictions are just hazardous guesses.

Zak: It’s in the PGA Tour’s court. Jay Monahan can come out Thursday morning at the RBC Canadian Open and say: “Those 48 guys who just teed off in England? They’re banned.” That’s what he’s been promising all along, at least. But as we know, the Tour doesn’t publicize its “disciplinary action.” Once the Tour makes a stand of any sort, I expect that to be the building block for litigation — as soon as this fall! — for Player X vs. The Tour. And Player Y vs. The Tour. And LIV vs. The Tour.

Colgan: This was the problem all along with the Tour’s all-or-nothing promise: They have to back it up. Either they backslide and signal to their entire constituency that taking LIV money isn’t the end of the world — thus giving the new league oxygen — or they ban everyone for life, which is a maneuver of questionable legal and public relations backing. The Tour’s gamble all along was that nobody would jump. Now a few big-name players have, and they have a hornet’s nest to (very publicly) remove.

Boy do I miss Mike Bamberger these days, because this is quite the hot mess.  Nick has cornered the market on "Time will tell, so we've got that going for us.

Colgan has problems with the Tour's all-or-nothing strategy when LIV wanted to poach their top players for fifteen events a year?  And, given the reaction of Jay's constituency, what should have been the strategy? 

Obviously Jay has to follow through on his threats and I've argued that he's not going to be able to be lenient, even if that might be the path of least resistance in the short-term.  But the lifetime ban threat was for those that signed up for the LIV model of a full season event.  These circumstances are different, because they're violating Tour protocols but for now it's a one-off.  Logically, there needs to be a stiff penalty, but not of the lifetime ban ilk just yet.

The more I think I think about, Jay could even get by in the short-term with temporary suspensions of indeterminate length, pending further actions on the part of players.  The ambiguity might work to his advantage, keeping others from jumping given the uncertainties.  But I also think that Jay will be medieval to the organizers, here logically including Phil and DJ at a minimum.

But Sean Zak raises quite the interesting point, at least to me.  The Tour has never disclosed disciplinary actions, which to me is disgraceful.  I wonder if the Tour could be creating an issue for itself if these actions are disclosed publicly, though they'll probably just be leaked.

Is that enough for today?  Afraid it will have to be, though we'll pick up the thread as news is broken.  Have a great week.