Saturday, January 6, 2024

Bonus Saturday Blogging

Since I left Utah on December 21st, Park City has had all of 9" of snow, 4" of that in the last two days.  Must have been a miserable week of skiing between the holidays, as they did better at getting lifts turning than in  opening actual terrain.  

Now, typically I like to see the white stuff on the ground before committing, but desperate times and all.  But here's the current 10-day rolling snow forecast for PC:

Accordingly,. I'll be in a skinny metal tube headed out there on Monday morning, thoroughly disrupting our blogging schedule for the nascent season.  I know, though I think I've been clear about my priorities in the ten years we've been live.

Speaking of which, I just checked my archives and my first musings of this blog were posted January 5, 2014, making yesterday my tenth blogiversary.  And to think you didn't get me anything....

Nothing too taxing for today, but we'll lede with the news from Maui...

The Sentry Snoozefest - I have watched some of the early coverage and there's no sugar-coating the absence of electricity, my principal thought yesterday being how desperately they needed a cut to offer any drama whatsoever, notwithstanding the 10-out-of-10 eye candy and the equally eye-popping scoring:

Kapalua’s Plantation Course can play like a beast when the wind blows. But when it doesn’t, it can be a pussycat. These guys are good, especially in calm conditions. But on Friday, the field of
59 recorded the lowest scoring average in 101 rounds since Kapalua became an annual stop in 1999.

The scoring average of 67.4 in the second round on the par 73 layout broke the previous record of 67.7 in the third round last year.

The forecast had called for breezier conditions on Friday but the weatherman was wrong yet again. On a windless day, every player in the field broke par. Unless the wind picks up, the birdie barrage should continue, said Todd.

“I was telling my son, he said, ‘If I shoot 6-under four times that’s 24-under.’ I said, ‘That’s not going to be enough to win.’ He said, ‘Really?’ I said, ‘Well, 34 under won two years ago.’ I think we’re looking like something like that. Something in the low 30s,” said Todd. “There’s just so many great players and the golf course is in perfect shape and without the wind you’re able to hit wedges close and reach the par-5s.”

There's something else going on for the last few years, which is that the course is far softer than it used to be.  Oh, the ball still runs out more than at most Tour venues, but nothing like it used to in those old Tiger-Ernie videos from the early aughts.  Mark Rolfing has occasionally tried to explain this phenomenon, blaming it on changing trade winds and the like, but I for one b lame it on LIV.

While we're still in the land of small sample sizes, this guy rolling his rock well is of note:

Just two days after being named PGA Tour Player of the Year for the second straight year, Scottie
Scheffler is staking an early claim to a three-peat of the Jack Nicklaus Award.

The 27-year-old World No. 1 shot 9-under 64 at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course on Friday in Kapalua, Hawaii, to take a one-stroke lead over Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im and Brendon Todd at the midway point of the Sentry. He improved to a 36-hole total of 16-under 130, which marked the first time that Scheffler has posted 16-under par or better through two rounds.

Scheffler, who won the Hero World Challenge in December, continues to show improvements in his putting since he started working with Phil Kenyon before the Ryder Cup in late September. Scheffler gained more than two strokes to the 59-man field on the greens on Friday. When he does that, he’s tough to beat. But leading after 36 holes hasn’t always been to Scheffler’s benefit. This marks the 10th time he’s held or been the co-leader after 36 holes on Tour and he’s converted just 2 of 9 to date, winning the 2022 Masters and 2023 WM Phoenix Open.

He only needs to be a tour average putter to win, and it's inconceivable that he can't accomplish that.  With Rahmbo in limbo, it's hard to imagine that Scottie won't make some serious bank this year.

Another of those effortless segues for which I am justifiably renown, but this to me is the weirdest part of the week:

Jon Rahm is here.

No, he’s not at the tournament. But he’s not far away, either! Jon Rahm’s plans to defend his Sentry title took a sideways turn when he joined LIV Golf in December. But his plans to spend this time on Maui apparently did not, as Rahm and his family have spent the week vacationing nearby, playing golf and running into his former Tour peers, as confirmed by several people at the Sentry on Tuesday.

The vacation plans of pro golfers are rarely newsworthy, but the fact that the PGA Tour is about to kick off its season and the tournament’s defending champion, who’s now on LIV, is also in town but isn’t playing in the tournament? That’s a strange sign of the times. He’s the only pro from the 2023 Sentry field who has since joined LIV.

Rahm’s presence calls to mind Cameron Smith’s showing at this year’s Players Championship. Smith was the defending Players champ (and the 2022 Sentry Champ, for that matter) but had been suspended after leaving for LIV; on tournament Thursday he teed it up at the Yards just a mile away from TPC Sawgrass.

The obvious difference, of course, is that Smith is a Jacksonville Beach resident and only traveled a few miles to play golf, while Rahm’s trip was significantly longer. It’s just not clear whether he’s sending a message, he found a hotel he really likes or the cancelation fees were just that intimidating…

How can we miss you if you won't go away?   Just bizarre....

Feel Good Story of the Day - I'm not suggesting any cosmic significance, but this is very much the story that impels me to the keyboard:

Patrick Reed must pay attorney fees and costs to defendants in his dismissed lawsuit, judge orders

Be still my foolish heart....

Patrick Reed, whose $750 million lawsuit against Gannett and other media outlets was dismissed twice, has been ordered to pay attorney fees and costs to the defendants.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan also denied motions by Reed for Corrigan to recuse himself and to reconsider his earlier dismissal, with prejudice.

Corrigan dismissed the suit for a second time on Sept. 27, 2023.

Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, he did not sue Jordan Spieth for refusing to play with him at the Ryder Cup.

This lawsuit might well be the high water mark in ass-foolery, as suing public figures for defamation of a public figure works, checking notes, approximately never.  The reason it's so stupid is that it exposes the plaintiff, either in deposition (PReed's suit was meritorious enough even to reach discovery) or on the subject of court costs.

The judge seems quite favorably disposed to Team Reed's arguments:

“Many of the statements are not about Reed. Some statements are about LIV Golf, of which Reed is a member, but not specifically about Reed,” Corrigan wrote in his dismissal in September. “Others are matters of opinion or permissible rhetorical hyperbole. Still others are statements of fact, the truth of which are not challenged.”

Corrigan responded: “Reed does not meet the required pleading of actual malice to hold the press liable for defamation. While Reed may be frustrated at the negative media coverage he receives [some of which seems over the top], under Florida law and the First Amendment, Reed fails to bring actionable defamation claims and his cases therefore must be dismissed.”

Corrigan reiterated in his latest ruling that the defendants “exercised the constitutional right of free speech” in their publications about Reed as a public figure.

Unsurprisingly, Reed found a lawyer with as much baggage as he himself carries, but their pleadings always sounded like a plot synopsis from Mean Girls:

Larry Klayman, Reed’s attorney, stated, “The PGA Tour’s and its ‘partner’ the NBC’s Golf Channel’s mission is to destroy a top LIV Golf Tour player, his family, as well as all of the LIV Golf players, to further their agenda and alleged collaborative efforts to destroy the new LIV Golf Tour.”

“As alleged in the Complaint, these calculated malicious attacks have created hate, aided and abetted a hostile workplace environment, and have caused substantial financial and emotional damage and harm to Mr. Reed and his family.”

Did Klayman just bveak news?  Did the Tour and NBC got after Talor Gooch?  Because when you speak of a "top LIV golfer", your client doesn't seem to qualify.

The best part is the list of those now lined up at the Reed trough:

In addition to Gannett, the other defendants are Golfweek, Associated Press national golf writer Doug Ferguson, Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch, Golf Channel commentators Brandel Chamblee and Damon Hack and golf reporter Shane Ryan.

Funny, Brooks isn't calling for a wellness check on Chamblee now....

The Kiz Moment -  They trotted him out yesterday unofficially, but today his fifteen minutes of fame commences, though this isn't keeping me up nights:

Kevin Kisner’s NBC broadcasting debut prompts 1 major question

Well actually, two:

“The first question I get from everyone is, Are you retiring?” Kisner told me, deadpan, Wednesday afternoon. “Then, once they find out what I’m doing, the second question I get is, How long is the delay?”

By “delay,” Kisner doesn’t mean “from his professional playing career.” Instead, he is referring to the FCC-mandated practice of airing certain sports broadcasts on a seven-second tape delay, a procedure enacted by the major broadcast networks to avoid receiving considerable fines for airing profane language or indecent images. Kisner, and his notorious potty mouth, will be putting such measures to the test this weekend.

Not sure retirement is quite the concept, he just suddenly found himself without many tee times.... His skills are quite obvious, he's just one of those short hitters that finds himself increasingly unable to compete.

So, he did the logical thing and asked Producer Tommy Roy that second question:

"I asked [NBC Golf producer Tommy Roy] that question and he said, 'Oh, no, there’s no delay.' I said, 'Well what happens if I mess up?' And he said, 'Well, you get canceled. I don’t.'"

Not much of a safety net! Although Kisner has been reminded of a few things not to say.

"Yeah, they've told me a few words not to mention on air," Kisner added with a laugh.

Yeah, words like Mickelson, Koepka, etc.

I would expect Kiz to be good fun, though word on the street is that NBC is Jonesing for Geoff Ogilvie.

Today In Golf Memes - Wither Nike?  Still awaiting official word from Tiger, but guys like Scottie Scheffler are still beswooshed, though Jason Day has officially moved on, now repping previously unknown-to-me golf apparel company Malbon.  

Let's just say, sartorially speaking, that he bogeyed the entire front nine:

Just a lucky break that those forecast high winds didn't materialize, as he might have parachuted into the Pacific.

Of course, fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, so memesters gotta meme:

They're not all great, but they are suitably mean-spirited, so we've got that going for us.

Enjoy the weekend at Kapalua and I'll pick things up next week from the Unplayable Lies Western HQ on either Tuesday or Wednesday.   

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