Your Friday Frisson - Finca Cortesin Edition

I know, I'm trying to make up fr the light week of blogging, though I'm distracted by the Solheim Cup playing in the background.  And, since I'm watching the taped foursomes coverage, it means that every few minutes I have to rotate 160 degrees and FF through commercials....

Solheim Stuff - It's a fun event, not least because of the bad blood that's built up over the years.  And the player that's generated the largest share of said blood just happens to be the Euro's captain... Putting it the week before the Ryder Cup, however, isn't doing the girls many favors, although the East Coast weather forecast could be quite the ratings boost.

They obviously try to mimic the Ryder Cup, though making the first hole a drivable Par-4 feels a bit gimmicky.  And while the first two U.S. teams broke well from the gate (Lexi being out first makes that matter), Nelly Korda's smother-hook into the water wasn't the start she needed.

U.S. Captain Stacey Lewis is feeling dissed:

On Wednesday, Lewis expressed disappointment when asked if the organizers of the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup, team match-play competitions being held in back-to-back weeks in Europe for the first and likely only time, could have done more to jointly promote the events.

“I thought this could have been marketed together as two weeks in Europe, two cups for play. I think it was a missed opportunity for the sport of golf,” Lewis said on Wednesday from Finca Cortesin, site of this week’s Solheim Cup. “I wish people could get the sponsorship things out of their head and figure out how we can work together. This may not ever happen again, the two Cups being played in the same year. So I thought it was a massive missed opportunity.”

Lewis went on to say she “tried to do a little bit with the guys and just weren't really able to move things along the way I would have liked. … I just would like to see it for the good of the game. It's not to further women's golf. Let's further the game of golf in general.”

No, nothing to do with promoting women's golf at all..... And we believe that, perhaps she's got some swampland to sell us.... Obviously Stacey needs a tutorial about golf organizations and their responsibility:

The LPGA and Ladies European Tour oversee the Solheim Cup while the PGA of America and DP World Tour are responsible for the Ryder Cup. Ordinarily, the biennial events are played in opposite years, but when the Ryder Cup was delayed from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID, it created a one-time overlap for 2023. (The LPGA is moving the Solheim Cup to even years in 2024).

You know who is responsible for marketing your event, Stacey?  Unfortunately Google is failing me, but Stacey has a bit of a history on this subject, as I've previously called her our for whining about the women's treatment as compared to the men.  Apparently, because a Pro-Am partner asked her once if she ever misses  fairway, she took that to mean that the girls are just as good or interesting as the men.

Meanwhile, the PGA of America responded thusly:

"We are enthusiastic supporters of the U.S. Solheim Cup Team and are promoting the Solheim Cup in a number of ways. For starters, we are creating digital assets and collaborating with our friends at the LPGA on our social media channels. For the first time, we produced a U.S. Ryder Cup Team video in which the players and our Captain expressed their support for the Solheim Cup Team.”

Additionally, the PGA of America’s statement noted: “We are also supporting the Solheim Cup with editorial content on PGA.com and by engaging with Solheim Cup content across PGA of America channels. Finally, our CEO Seth Waugh will be onsite in Spain to cheer on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team for all of us.

“While scheduling and logistics challenges precluded some other joint activations, the PGA of America will help to raise awareness in a meaningful way through our digital and social media efforts.”

I'd have gone with "Bite Me", but this is probably the better strategy....

As you can tell, I'm a supporter of the event, but the girls occasionally lapse into this "The world owes us respect" logic, and I'm inclined to call them out on it.  They need to earn their audience, it's not an entitlement.....

It's early in the broadcast so any conclusions should be received with skepticism, but the combination of understandable nerves,  cold early morning weather and the disjointed nature of alternate shot has the golf looking quite scratchy.... I mean, except for watching Rory, not sure where you'll see more short ptts not threatening the hole.  But that's the fun in it, no?

That Other Cup - One of my golf buddies suggested that he's the perfect guy for the job, to which I could only shrug my shoulders:

In Zach Johnson, the U.S. might have the leader (and fighter) made for an embattled Ryder Cup

Maybe.  I like Zach, because who doesn't like an over-achiever.

Zach Johnson doesn’t think we’ll be friends. He didn’t take the U.S. Ryder Cup captaincy at the

height of the most divisive time in golf under the illusion that he’d catch an easy ride — from reporters, golf fans or anyone else. And to date, the captaincy has not been that. There were months of LIV/PGA Tour feuding, legal dramas threatening to impact tournament eligibility. And did we mention that bit about the PGA/PIF merger?

Why would Johnson (or, for that matter, his Team Europe counterpart, captain Luke Donald) choose to enter this scrum? Because the 47-year-old, 12-time PGA Tour winner believes he has the DNA to deliver the first U.S. Ryder Cup win on European soil since the Clinton administration — DNA that has no shortage of testiness. But Johnson’s fighting spirit may be precisely what Team U.S.A. needs. A saying will be stitched into their uniforms: Dodici forti. It’s Italian for the old American Ryder Cup axiom “Twelve strong.” In Johnson, who spent plenty of the past year competing alongside most of the dozen players who’ll ultimately make up his team, it’s certain the Americans will have a 13th man in the foxhole.

Twelve strong, eh?  I remember a guy who got excommunicated for suggesting that it takes twelve players, and I'm wondering where Zach was then....

If you were looking for a clone of Zach in a prior generation of players, I'd suggest that you might not come closer than Corey Pavin.  Anyone remember how his captaincy played out?   I mean, talk about similarities:

GWK: You said a gnat. I was going to ask you, do you like being described as a bulldog?

ZJ: Yes. That’s probably another good description. I love match play and given the golf course, I think I think I can have success. I always feel like mentally I go into a manner in which I feel like the player I’m competing against is going to play really, really good so I have to play well. When we get up around the green, whether it’s a putt or chip or whatever, he’s going to make it.

That was actually Pavin's nickname, though by the time he got to Celtic Manor letting his wife design the unis seemed to be the higher priority.... 

My other concern with Zach is that he owes his job to that cabal of cool kids initially led by Phil.  For instance, we all know that Tiger was going to advocate for JT getting that pick, and I'm not even arguing that he shouldn't have been selected.  My question is, do we think Zach was prepared to say "no" to Tiger?  

Speaking of the Striped One, where exactly is he?   I'd submit this for lamest (read: bullshit) trope:

GWK: How will Tiger Woods be involved?

ZJ: Well, he’s been involved throughout. Just communication, whether it’s a text here or text there. We can bounce things off him if we desire. At the same time, what’s happened as of late, he’s even voiced it: he’s like, ‘hey, once tournament week comes, I don’t need much.’ He’s like ‘if you need me to look at something, so be it.’ But at the same time, we really haven’t done that, because there’s so much of our work we get done before the week. But he’ll be in communication, whether it’s FaceTime or text.

In the header Tiger is referred to as the 13th man..... Of course, Keegan Bradley thought he was the 13th man, but Tiger will be just as critical as Keegan....

Seriously, you got a text or two out of the man?  Wow, what a commitment!  He wants to be perceived as the éminence grise of professional golf, but only from his couch in Jupiter.  He's a dick, guys, and can't be bothered if there's no payday in it for him.  All this 13th man nonsense just makes Zach and the players sound needy, but he doesn't want to be near you in case it goes badly.

This has some interesting data:

An unprecedented statistical deep dive into Ryder Cup performance

We always here that the U.S. sucks in foursomes, though it's far more nuanced than that:

1. It should come as no surprise that the home team enjoys an advantage in each of the three formats, but it is surprising that while Fourball and Singles hover around 52% for the home team, Foursomes (aka "alternate shot") is higher to a statistically significant degree, with more than 56% of all matches going to the home team. The last two Ryder Cups showed a great example of this phenomenon; in Paris, the Europeans went 6-2 in Foursomes, while at Whistling Straits, the Americans returned the favor with the exact same record.

The story of Ryder Cups recently has been one of home team dominance.....

2. If you wanted evidence that the Europeans have been strategically sharper than the Americans since '83, look no further than the records by format. In the pairs sessions, the Europeans have thrived, winning 55% of all Fourball matches and 52.6% of all Foursomes matches. In singles, though, it's the Americans who came out on top with a narrow edge of 51.1%. The obvious conclusion here is that America's talent surplus comes to the fore in singles, but in the formats where tactical maneuvering yield the most benefit, Europe has excelled.

I don't know about that strategically sharper bit.  Seems to me that the bigger issue is that the team formats only include eight players, meaning that the Euros are predictably able to leverage their top-heavy rosters.  But singles go twelve deep...

This doesn't tell us much:

3. Captain's picks have only been moderately successful. Combined, both the U.S. and European captain's picks have won at about a 50% clip, with Europe just slightly more successful. We all know stories of great successes and failures, like how the American Ryder Cup captain's picks dominated at Whistling Straits while Jim Furyk's picks in Paris were steamrolled, but over time, this all appears to balance out. This is especially interesting in the context of both teams adding more and more captain's picks each year.

Jim Furyk isn't the sharpest knife in the draw, but the issue might be more how he used his picks.  Thing is, expanding the number of picks doesn't really change the rosters much at all, and certainly not favor the Americans.

This should be expected, no?

5. As far as rookies go, this might be the most surprising statistic of all. The American rookies have compiled a very respectable record of 113-104-40, almost a full ten matches above .500, while the Europeans are an abysmal 78-101-37. That's a shocking total from the team that has been overall much better than the Americans since '83.

Silly.  The captains picks are the bottom of the roster and the U.S. always has a deeper roster.  Of course their rookies will out-play the Euros....

This might make you laugh, assuming you forget who we put in charge:

7. And how about the winning percentage by the Ryder Cup standings? Here, we see how mightily the U.S. has struggled at the top of the table. The player who finished first in the standings since '83 has a winning rate of just 45.9%, while number two is even worse at 37.7%. Nowhere was this difficulty more evident than 2004, when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson came in 1-2 and proceeded to combine for a 3-6 record as Europe ran up an historic victory. This also gives evidence for something Europe has prided themselves on for decades: They're giant killers at the Ryder Cup.

Phil hated Tom Watson, which is ironic because he did more than anyone else except perhaps Tiger to cause Watson to get the gig.

PIF/Tour Stuff - The beatings will continue until morale improves:

Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with Fox News that aired Wednesday that he doesn't care about allegations of sportswashing made against his country.

"If sportswashing [is] going to increase my GDP [gross domestic product] by way of 1 percent, then I will continue doing sportwashing," he said, according to Foxnews.com. "I don't care."

Through its Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia has been increasingly aggressive in its involvement in global sports in recent years, highlighted in the United States by the creation of LIV Golf, which recruited high-profile players from the PGA Tour, eventually leading to a union between the two.

But I had been reliably informed that it was all about growing the game.... Yeah, I agree, that was a good one.

I may be a skeptic as to the efficacy of sportswashing, but the guy footing the bill seems all in.  So, no problem handing him the keys to professional golf.

This tab has been open for months, but it's just pitch perfect for cluster-eff in which we find ourselves:

Could the Saudi-backed PIF become the primary sponsor of a Florida PGA Tour event? Hear us out

What we learned this week is the PIF will be “a premier corporate sponsor” of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and other international tours (now we know what $2 billion buys), and a title sponsor of at least one event. Those tours will work together to identify a high-profile event for the PIF to make that financial investment as title sponsor.

And it just so happens the tournament formerly known as the Honda Classic is looking for a new title sponsor after American Honda ended its 42-year partnership following this year’s tournament. Talks have been slow when it comes to a new title sponsor, which was expected with the Tour more involved in reworking the schedule and negotiations with the PIF that would reshape the game on a global level.

Although officials from the Tour and locally are confident a quality title sponsor will be identified before the 2024 tournament … an opening still remains for the PIF to expand its golf enterprise.

What could go wrong?

This is pretty amusing, especially given that it was written by a South Florida reporter:

And although logic says the PIF will pump money into an event on the DP World Tour, if it does happen in the U.S. — and that remains a big ‘if’ — Florida is as good a place as any to further the objective of distracting from Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights violations.

LIV Golf has become a favorite of the MAGA crowd, thanks to the vocal support of Donald Trump, whose properties are hosting three LIV events this season — events, by the way, whose futures are unknown. Per the agreement, LIV Golf now will fall under control of the PGA Tour, which, presumably, has the power to disband the league.

What better spot than a state turning more red by the day?

I thought the left's style book called it Extreme MAGA" these days?  There's multiple layers of irony here. including how the Tour's treatment of its sponsors created this opening, but also created the environment in which these strange bedfellows found each other.

But, riddle me this, Batman, how does this turn Florida blue?

And, just for the record, CTRL:F - Jewish yields exactly zero results.  You're pimping for a Saudi event in a location with perhaps the largest concentration of Jews in the country?  And it doesn't even warrant a mention?  

At least we closed that browser tab.....  And, given how the Tour abuses its sponsors, fun to think of PIF on the receiving end, although they will, of course, be treated differently because, well, bonesaws.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.