Monday, November 21, 2022

Weekend Wrap

Are you ready for some football corruption?  Your humble blogger remains undecided as to whether to sample the U.S. - Wales foosball game this afternoon.  Most likely scenario is that I tune in and depart thoroughly bored within minutes... If, yanno, I last that long.

The Qatar thing is not unrelated to the current moment in golf, Given the theory that success of the Emirates in the high art of sportswashing is the Saudi's motivation, so we should see how this week goes.  I would argue that they're not off to the best start:

Fifa has confirmed alcohol will be banned for World Cup fans at grounds in a major and unprecedented volte-face just two days before the tournament will kick off in Qatar. The news that it
will not be sold inside or around the perimeter of stadiums was confirmed by Fifa in a terse statement on Friday afternoon.

It said: “Following discussions between host country authorities and Fifa, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the Fifa Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.


“There is no impact to the sale of Bud Zero, which will remain available at all Qatar’s World Cup stadiums.”

Don't these folks want to Live Under Par™.

At least the folks in St. Louis seem to have a sense of humor:

However football’s governing body will now be looking nervously over its shoulders at the prospect of legal action from Budweiser, which has a $75m (£63m) sponsorship agreement with Fifa, and is likely to regard this as a major breach of contract.

In a tweet – since deleted – moments just before the news became official the US beer brand said: “Well, this is awkward…” 

The head of FIFA, whose orange jumpsuit is being tailored, has had quite the good week, with this on Budgate:

FIFA president Gianni Infantino downplayed Qatar's last minute ban on the sale of beer at World Cup stadiums as nothing more than a brief inconvenience to spectators.

“If this is the biggest problem we have, I’ll sign that (agreement),” Infantino said Saturday, a day after the conservative Muslim emirate did an about-face on the deal it had made to secure the soccer tournament.

Infantino blamed “crowd flows” in Doha for the decision, though it appeared to be a ruling by Qatar’s autocratic government to placate its conservative Wahhabi citizens who already have been angered by some events around the tournament they view as Western excesses.

Crowd flows?  Give them credit, that's a new one....  But isn't the issue that it's FIFA's event, yet the Qatari's feel emboldened to violate contractual terms.  Hmmm, perhaps that's how people feel when their checks are cashed, they turn into....what's was the term Phil used, scary mofos?

Infantini is reported to be Swiss-Italian, interesting in that he appears all too willing to trash his own, but see if you suss out any similarities to our little game:

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has accused critics of Qatar’s human rights record of
staggering hypocrisy and racism in a bizarre and incendiary attack on the eve of the 2022 World Cup finals.

In an 57-minute diatribe which frequently drew gasps of astonishment, Infantino claimed that western nations were in no position to give morality lessons to Qatar given their past and current behaviour.

“We have been told many, many lessons from some Europeans, from the western world,” he said. “I think for what we Europeans have been doing the last 3,000 years we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”

I think you'll agree that the logic is impeccable.  Because an unnamed European did something 3,000 years ago that Gianni Infantino disapproves of, that immediately invalidates any criticism of human rights violations in the here and now.   Notice the convenient absence of any limiting principals

But our Gianni isn't done beclowing himself:

Infantino also played down concerns over whether LGBTQ+ fans faced danger in a country where gay people risk torture and imprisonment, and insisted that Qatar – with Fifa’s help – had reformed workers’ rights beyond all recognition.

The speech began, though, with Infantino appearing to suggest that his own experiences as a son of Italian immigrants in Switzerland gave him a deep understanding of migrant workers and other minorities in Qatar.

“Today I feel Qatari,” he said. “Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't... But pretty much always the a******e.

But remove all liquids from the immediate area, we want to avoid a cleanup on Aisle 3:

He added: “Of course I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine.”

Later it was pointed out that in his opening monologue, he had missed out half the world’s population. “I feel like a woman too!” Infantino added.

Yeah, a ginger being picked on is just like mass beheadings of gays...

But behold the progress:

Even more controversially, Infantino insisted that LGBTQ+ rights would be protected in Qatar during the World Cup. “They have confirmed and I can confirm that everyone is welcome. If you have a person here and there who says the opposite, it’s not the opinion of the country, it’s certainly not the opinion of Fifa,’ he said.

So, no queers hung up on lampposts while you're in country?  Wow, you guys really did effect sustainable change....  

Just remember, they've taken the World Cup to Qatar to....wait for it, grow the game.

Some golf?

Kiwi Konquest - So, maybe it wasn't the glasses after all, but my girlfriend* rocks yet again:

Tears welled up in Lydia Ko’s eyes on the 18th green Sunday as she wrapped up a monumental comeback season. Soon after, she wrapped her arms around a tall, slender man wearing black and
khaki, who wiped tears of his own. This marked the first time Jun Chung had seen his soon-to-be-bride win in person. Most of their golf together is casual, with dinner on the line or a fun dare.

Chung, son of Ted Chung, vice chairman and CEO, Hyundai Card, Hyundai Commercial, works in finance for Hyundai and has a home in San Francisco. Because of the pandemic, they were pen pals for six months before meeting for the first time. Shortly after, Ko broke a three-year victory drought in Hawaii. Friends started calling him her good-luck charm. His presence in her life, however, brought a lot more than luck.

Ko’s older sister and manager, Sura, said that she could tell a significant difference in Lydia after Jun came into her life.

“Since she met him,” said Sura, “she finds her own peace.”

That peace translated to bona fide comeback season, with Ko winning for a third time on the LPGA in 2022 at the CME Group Tour Championship, collecting her second Rolex LPGA Player of the Year Award and second Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average in the process.

And, after a record $2 million payday at the CME Group Tour Championship, she also clinches the LPGA money title with $4,364,404. That’s $591 shy of Lorena Ochoa’s all-time record in a single season.

* So named by Employee No. 2.

The Tour Confidential panel devoted a question to the ladies, although not much comes of it methinks:

2. On the LPGA Tour, Lydia Ko held off Leona Maguire to win, for the second time, both the CME Group World Tour Championship and the Rolex Player of the Year honor. With the women’s season now behind us, what will be your enduring memory?

Hirsh: I’m sure I’ll be echoed below (or maybe saying this will force everyone to pick something
else), but this was Lydia Ko’s year. She talked about her mom joking she was better when she was a teenager, but now she’s put together her first multi-win season in her 20s and looks to head into her late 20s with a bit of a spring in her step. We really have yet to see much of a Ko-Nelly Korda rivalry, but that could be really fun if they end up trading No. 1 over the course of the next couple of years.

Dethier: Jack’s right; at the end, this became Lydia Ko’s year. I also really enjoyed Minjee Lee’s alpha play at the U.S. Women’s Open. But even if I’m swayed by recency bias or my love for a comeback story, Nelly Korda’s victory last week to reclaim her World No. 1 ranking after months of uncertainty had me all fired up.

Sens: Ko has long been the most likable player in professional golf, so watching her not only regain her form but regain it with the grace and humor she has always shown, even when her game was in the tank, was the highlight. But the bigger news might be the LPGA’s just-unveiled 2023 schedule, with a record-breaking total prize fund of more than $100 million. Talk of money in golf these days is generally obnoxious and fueled by artificial markets (see: pretty much anything related to LIV and the PGA Tour newly added player perks), but this prize boost reflects something welcome about the growth and popularity of the women’s game.

Injuries and health issues created a void, and our girl took advantage of that.  Amusingly, Jack Hirsch pines for a Ko-Nelly rivalry, but that's one we already have, just with that other Ko.

I don't think Lydia has quite the firepower of those other ladies, but it tees up 2023 quite well, the only down note being that we made exactly that observation about 2022.

Two other bits, first Lydia tweaking your humble blogger about those specs:

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that....

This from Ron Sirak as well:

Ron, you were her first?  Color me jealous....

The last bit is a bit more candor than we're used to, but it's not like the LPGA has anyone else willing to write that $2 million check Lydia just cashed:

NAPLES, Fla. – The seeds of the CME Group Tour Championship began with a pro-am 15 years ago. In those early years, CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy received note after note
from clients who so enjoyed their rounds of golf with LPGA players that they instantly became fans of the tour.

Beginning in 2011, CME began title-sponsoring the LPGA’s year-ending event, eventually integrating the firm’s Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida, with the LPGA’s season-ending event at the Ritz-Carlton’s Tiburon Golf Club. This week, Duffy will hand over the biggest check in the history of the women’s game – $2 million. The overall purse of $7 million is the largest on the LPGA outside of the majors (and is bigger than the purses at two of the five majors). The last player in the field of 60 will make $40,000, close to what 10th place made last week.

Former U.S. presidents, secretaries of state and business tycoons have presented at CME’s conference, and for Tuesday night’s dinner, the firm typically invites a select number of players to attend. Earlier this week, when Duffy asked for the houselights to be turned on so that he could applaud the players in the room, the only people standing were those serving the tables.

Not a single player showed up.

Sounds like quite the embarrassing eff-up, but I'm sure it was made right quietly behind the scenes.  Because that's how these things are handled....What?  Why would he do that?

“It’s an embarrassment to a company of my size and an embarrassment to me personally,” said Duffy, two days after the event.

Duffy’s beef isn’t with the players, though — it’s with who’s at the helm.

“I am exceptionally disappointed with the leadership of the LPGA,” he continued. “They better get their act together because they’re going to lose people like me over stuff like this.”

The surprise is to see Duffy reacting so emotionally in public, when he's talking down his own investment in the LPGA.  Not very smart, but he's only signed up through 2023, so watch this space.

The Euro Beat -  I've ordered the weekend events by importance, although you'll note from the TC question numbers their systemic misogyny.  But how important was this one really?

Jon Rahm won the DP World Tour’s season finale on Sunday, fending off several of the world’s
top European pros with a final-round 67 to win by two shots at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.

Rory McIlroy finished four shots back with a Sunday 68 but earned quite the consolation prize in the Harry Vardon Trophy, the title of top DP World Tour player for the season.

The split served was a symbolic and fitting end to the season. McIlroy and Rahm are just the heart and soul of modern European men’s golf and have also established themselves as leaders throughout a turbulent year for the pro game.

For Rahm, the victory came as the continuation of a recent run of strong play: he logged two top-10 finishes in the FedEx Cup playoffs, finished T2 at the BMW PGA, won the Spanish Open and finished T4 at the CJ Cup before his arrival in Dubai. It was also a fitting return for Rahm at Jumeirah’s Earth Course, where he now has three wins (plus another top five) in four appearances.

The PGA went away from having two winners because it was too confusing, but at least the cream rose.

Rory had a notable boast that's captured in this TC panel Q&A:

1. The DP World Tour Championship was not without star power, with Jon Rahm winning the tournament and Rory McIlroy clinching the season-long points title. Afterward, McIlroy talked of his play being as complete as it’s ever been, and Rahm noted that his effort on and around the greens, a perceived weakness this year, saved him this week. All good stuff. With both stars hitting their strides, who will have a bigger 2023?

Jack Hirsh: It’s interesting because Rahm probably needs to win at a steadier clip on the PGA Tour while McIlroy, who has been doing that, needs to win a major. But it won’t matter the rest of the season if McIlroy ends his major drought, and that’s something I think he will do in 2023. McIlroy has finished in the top-8 in 12 of his past 15 worldwide events, and while that hot streak is no fluke, thinking it’s sustainable is probably foolish. I could see Rahm winning two or three times next year, but if McIlroy just wins one major, we’ll call his year “bigger.”

Dylan Dethier: By any measure, Rory McIlroy is playing the best golf of anybody in the world. I’d expect him to continue — but I’d also expect Rahm to finish next year higher than No. 5 in the world, where he currently stands. Both had big-time seasons. Both will also be hungry for major championships next year, though …

Josh Sens: Anyone who thinks they can forecast a game this fickle is fooling themselves. That said, Rory is not only going to have the bigger season, he’s going to capture the career grand slam when he wins the Masters. Book it.

Josh has correctly predicted all three of Rory's Masters wins....What?  Don't ask me, ask Josh.

I just find it all too appropriate that Rory is bragging about the state of his game in....checking notes, mid-November.   Has he improved his distance control with his wedges?  There's anecdotal evidence that supports that, but the true test starts in April.  So, let's hold thos thoughts until then, shall we?

They dealt with the biggest issue of the week, a Spanish whine about field of strength measurement:

4. Also earlier in the week, in response to the DP World Tour Championship receiving fewer world ranking points than the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic, Jon Rahm said: “The fact that the RSM doesn’t have any of the top 20 in the world has more points than this event [DP World Tour Championship] where we have seven of the top 20 is laughable. The fact that Wentworth [BMW PGA Championship] had less points than Napa [Fortinet Championship], having players in the top 10 in the world is laughable.” Whew! But does he have a point?

Hirsh: Adam Svensson got more points for winning this week than Rahm got for winning the finale on the world’s second-biggest tour? Yeah … that makes sense.

Dethier: Yeah, it seems like Rahm does have a point. While the changes seem generally sensible and like an improvement, they’re not perfect. And based on the viewpoints of some people smarter than me, it seems like the OWGR erred in their handling of smaller fields. While we’ve seen that the OWGR doesn’t like to rush to make changes (cc: Greg Norman), I’m hoping they can re-evaluate some of these; my understanding is that Rahm should be getting more points for winning a small-field event than he actually received.

Sens: The rankings may be imperfect (that’s what happens when you try to quantify what can’t ultimately be quantified without some margin of error), but with the recent improvements, they’re not “laughable.” This isn’t just about the top players in the field. It’s about the entirety of the field. I’ll defer to the stat master Mark Broadie on this one. As he pointed out in the press this week, the winner of the DP championship had to beat 49 players, 34 of whom ranked in the top 200. The winner of the RSM had to beat 155 players, 68 of whom ranked in the top 200. By Broadie’s math, the second challenge is tougher. That’s enough for me.

As long as the Tour Championship is treated similarly, what's Rahm's problem?  Broadie uses actual data to make the same point I made Friday, the unremarkable assertion that size matters.

But maybe w eshould wait and se ehow the nes system ranks the Masters' field, which is way shallower than it should be?

Eamon Lynch has his own unique take on this issue, including yet another unexpected framing device

“The world is unfair, Calvin,” the precocious child in Bill Watterson’s celebrated comic strip Calvin and Hobbes was once told by his father.

“I know,” Calvin replied. “But why isn’t it ever unfair in my favor?”

That Tao of Calvin has been embraced as a governing sentiment by European tour loyalists, who appear more alert than ever to any perceived dilution of their circuit’s long-established grace and favor status. And in August’s radical overhaul of the Official World Golf Ranking, the perpetually aggrieved found fresh wood with which to fashion a cross that they might nail themselves to.

The Tao of Calvin?  hate it when he uses better bits than I do...

But these have long been compromised, as Eamon chronicles:

Rahm is a thoughtful guy and, to be fair, his comments erred only in their timeliness. The rankings were laughable. Now they are like most rating systems: merely imperfect.

Golf’s world ranking was compromised at birth and corrupted regularly thereafter, hostage to politicking and used as a statistical strut to prop up weak tournaments and tours. Member tours designated ‘flagship’ events, often ensuring more ranking points were awarded than would otherwise be justified by the strength of field. Every tour was also assigned a minimum number of points that would be given to winners of tournaments with weak lineups. The PGA and European tours both had a 24-point minimum. The PGA Tour relied upon that in roughly 12% of its events and the Europeans in about 50%, while other tours used it every time.

Any time an event was artificially inflated in value with the use of minimum points, the ranking was degraded, which served also to diminish the worth of accomplishments against elite fields. The 2019 Magical Kenya Open was elevated that year from the Challenge Tour to the main European circuit, but the field quality remained challenged. Justin Harding was the only player ranked higher than 117th in the world. He finished second and earned more ranking points (10.4) for that result against mediocre competition than he did for a T-12 at the Masters (10.3) a month later.

Eamon's assessment of the new system sounds just about right.  Obviously, we should look for anomalies, but field size is a critical element to measuring performance.

That has to be it for this morning.  I'll be back as the week unfold.

 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)