Weekend Wrap - Tryptophan Edition

 I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and that the leftovers are long gone....

A few items of note, though we'll be pushing the boundaries of the Fair Use Doctrine pretty aggressively....  And, looking forward, not sure when we'll meet next, as one week from today is my first trip to Western HQ.

Da' Skins Game - If the skins game was so great, why did it, yanno, go on hiatus?  They gave us a clue....  In the midst of the event they tried to make a big deal of something that broke a "Skins Game Record", the key bit being it was a record held my....wait for it, Stephen Ames.  You see why the event died?  Of course, the obvious follow up question would be to assess whether this year's group of players exceeded that high bar?

Geoff leads with this rather over-played insight:

Bradley’s Skins Win Another Reminder Of What Might Have Been

Taking eleven skins and $2.1 million in the first Skins Game since 2008? It’s hard not to see a successful Black Friday piling onto Keegan Bradley’s post-Ryder Cup regrets. While it’s generally ridiculous to read much into a Skins win given how often the format rewarded someone for mediocre play until one right moment, the dominant performance will haunt whatever regrets he might have had for not attempting play in the matches as either a captain or by resigning the post. Bradley’s team lost by two points at Bethpage Black, a course the world No. 14 loves and knows well.

Yeah, no doubt Keegs enjoyed having a day in front of those guys, but did the original pairing make sense?  Tp me, the only frisson in evidence was the after-effects of the Ryder Cup, which worked with the 2-2 American-Euro split.  The original concept was for co-designer (more on that in a sec) Justin Thomas to play, and without a certain rotund Irishman, I'm simply unsure what they'd have spoken of.

Geoff reminds us that the c1983 Skins Game was a different animal:

Overall, the new Skins Game was much more watchable than any of the recent silly season garbage at Shadow Creek. Thank the proven format. But the live, 18-hole affair also provided a few reminders of what made the original Skins game work:

• It was tape-delayed and aired over two days with nine holes at a time airing on Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. By going live to plug Amazon’s lineup of Black Friday sports, the all-in-one approach put a lot of pressure on players and announcers to yap a lot without saying much (including way too many reminders that these guys are Lenny Bruce, Carlin and Pryor all wrapped in one sweet-swinging package. 

• Back in the dreaded day when Skins was new and produced by Don Ohlmeyer, announcers like Vin Scully didn’t have to remind us how amazing the guys were because they weren’t tacky jocksniffers. Plus, the golf was good, the key moments edited to fit the time slot, and the contestants were legends who needed no ego massaging. In a few cases, they were naturally gifted golf comedians (Trevino, Zoeller, etc.).

• The original Skins went to dramatic places that looked unlike anything people had seen in televised golf (Desert Highlands, PGA West). Nothing against Panther National, but between the litany of fairway catch basins installed to make the converted swamp drain, and its open, windy, and soulless setting, the course did not seem like a place anyone would desperately need to play. It was also a tad awkward finding out from guest announcer Justin Thomas just how little he had to do with the co-design bearing his name. But you gotta love the honesty!

• Sponcon stuff was certainly part of the original, but as with most stuff done to appease sponsors during a live broadcast we’ve gone from having a nice a hole-in-one car—that Lee Trevino famously won—to stuff like nails-on-chalkboard chats with Tommy Fleetwood about what driving a BMW means to him.

Much as we instinctively prize live broadcasts, the prevalence of silly season events has made us recognize the timing issues involved in televising one walking group of players.  The carts proved to be a necessary evil....

And, like Geoff, JT's booth appearance had me laughing out loud.  I guess JT did the coffee runs?  But, geez JT, you decide to apprentice as an architect and you pick Jack?  I guess Ben Crenshaw doesn't return your calls?

This week's Tour Confidential panel had this on the event:

The Skins Game returned to TV on Friday, as Keegan Bradley, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele battled it out on Panther National in Florida. What did you like? What didn’t you like? And was it enough to prove it has staying power?

Sens: My feelings about the event were like partially reheated turkey: lukewarm. The players were all likable and some of the banter, Xander’s in particular, was entertaining. But the sums they were playing for were obnoxious (unless I missed it, was there even a passing mention of any proceeds going to charity), and the disingenuousness of a broadcast that pretended we should be excited about how much each guy was banking – as opposed to being put off by it – gave me post-Thanksgiving agita.

Hirsh: Meh, I found myself having it on in the background while I was doing some Black Friday Amazon-ing. I enjoyed Keegan boatracing everyone and showing what could have been at the Ryder Cup (holds back angry tears). Panther National looked cool as well. But I’m with Josh. It fills a sports void on Black Friday morning, which I guess is worth something.

Schrock: Like most of golf’s one-off attempts to grab eyeballs, it was meh. It had some good moments. The personalities were entertaining enough, but I once again think golf should steer into the do less, not more lane that Brian Rolapp seems to be heading toward. These singular events are OK every once in a while, but I don’t think they need to return as a Black Friday tradition ahead of the NFL or a loaded college football slate. As Tiger, Rory and others have previously pointed out, golf isn’t going to contend with football.

I mostly agree that it met the low bar of standards for Black Friday morning programming, but only because of Shane Lowry.   And this:

Wither Tiger - A post tile in active use since 2014, but today we'll have some fun with the Tour Confidential crew and their inability to move on.  Asking the question that's most on the lips of everyday Americans:

Tiger Woods will host (but not play in) his Hero World Challenge this week in the Bahamas, as he’s still recovering from his latest back surgery. Although with Woods’ 50th birthday

looming on Dec. 30, it has led to more speculation on whether or not we’ll see Woods play on the 50-and-over Champions Tour in the future. Woods has been mostly mum on the topic over the years, but has dropped some subtle teases. Is Woods playing the Champions Tour in any capacity actually realistic? And could he be successful?

Josh Sens: If he’s healthy enough to stand upright and swing, we will see him, sparingly, owing either to his competitive drive or a partnership deal or some combination of the two. I don’t see how he stays away from it entirely any more than Nicklaus did. And a healthy-enough-to-swing Woods would for sure have a chance to win.

Jack Hirsh: If he can get a cart (and others in the field as well), he will play. We know how competitive he is and if the biggest issue truly is walking (which all evidence supports) then we will see him on the PGA Tour Champions. He’s keeping us in suspense because he just doesn’t want opponents on either tour to know what his game plan is. As for his success … would you bet against him against the same guys he used to whip left, right and upside down? He used to win even with one hand tied behind his back. Now he will show he could do it with only one leg!

Josh Schrock: I think we could see him here and there on the Champions Tour, but I think if he able to swing and thinks he can play competitively, he will gear everything around playing the majors. Does playing the Boeing Classic help that? We might reach a point where Tiger just plays on the senior tour, but I don’t think he thinks he is there yet. But if he tees it up, of course, he can go out and be successful over 54 holes against guys he beat in his prime.

Word on the street is that he desperately wants to play on the Senior Tour, but is devastated that the intensive effort involved in the negotiations with the Saudis will not allow sufficient time for him to participate.  Yeah, I'll give you a moment to finish laughing....

But am I the only one to see the connection between the first two items.  Keegan didn't play at Bethpage because Tiger was deep into Call of Duty mode.... I can't imagine Tiger playing, though the Jack comparison is apt, at least up to a point.  I'm less interested in what Tiger will do than in why he'll do or not do it.  I don't expect him to play much, but he'll do as he pleases based upon his own estimate of self-interest.  The one thing I'm pretty clear on is that appeals based upon the needs of the tour or his fellow players won't yield results.

Just in case you thought that first question was inane:

Despite his struggles to stay healthy and his game dropping off over the years, Woods is still golf’s biggest draw. What do you think a Woods start on the Champs Tour would do for that circuit? Would it be bigger than that week’s PGA Tour stop?

Sens: There’d be plenty of excitement around it the first time and a ratings bump, but mostly as a kind of curiosity and a nostalgia tour. Kinda like a Bob Dylan concert now. You want to see it. You have to see it at least once. But whether you really need to see it often is another story. Personally, I’d rather remember Woods as the transcendent athlete he was than watch him go through the reps of a nostalgia tour. So yeah. I’m sure it would give the senior circuit a nice little jolt, but wouldn’t it be healthier for everyone – Tiger, fans, tournaments – if we eased up on any on-course hopes and expectations?

Hirsh: Depends on what that week’s PGA Tour stop is. I see him playing in Senior Majors with an occasional appearance at some of the more notable stops like the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach. That tournament doesn’t have any PGA Tour competition. I see him being hesitant to play in something like the Chubb Classic, the Tour’s first mainland stop, because it conflicts with the PGA Tour’s Signature event at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He’s going to be strategic about when he plays.

Schrock: I’m sure it would inject some energy and cash into the circuit when he does tee it up. It would probably make those events more popular than some lesser PGA Tour events because, as Lydia Ko said, even those who don’t know golf know Tiger Woods. But it would be more of a nostalgia, feel-good viewing experience than anything and that only goes so far.

Obviously I wish the writers were better at this game, or at least less encumbered in their opinions.  Because quite obviously missing from their answers are three important letters that highlight why the Nicklaus comparison might be short-sighted.  Those letters being TGL....  Just another example in which the Tour competes with its own events and their sponsors....

Wither LIV - I know, who cares, but a certain Ulsterman has opened his pie hole once more:

Speaking at the CNBC CEO Council Forum, Rory McIlroy made news by suggesting he sees little way out of the pro tour wars and expects LIV to have to keep spending if the sportwashing enterprise wants to survive.

“I think for golf in general it would be better if there was unification,” he said while speaking to reporter Scott Wapner and alongside TPG President and B-speak jargon master Todd Sisitsky. “But I just think with what’s happened over the last few years, it’s just going to be very difficult to be able to do that.”

LIV Golf has totaled billions in costs since beginning in 2022.

“As someone who supports the traditional structure of men’s professional golf, we have to realize we were trying to deal with people that were acting, in some ways, irrationally, just in terms of the capital they were allocating and the money they were spending,” McIlroy said. “It’s been four or five years and there hasn’t been a return yet, but they’re going to have to keep spending that money to even just maintain what they have right now.

“A lot of these guys’ contracts are up. They’re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV have spent five or six billion U.S. dollars, and they’re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.”

Anyone know where we are?  It seems that Jay Monahan pulled a fast one on HE.  Whereas those original discussions pre-D-Day announcement appeared to give the Saudis a glide path to control of the Tour, that $1.5 billion large from SSG left Yasir as just a moneylender (though ironic, that playing the role of Shylock at today's performance would be, well, Yasir).

But the question it leaves us mulling is, where does Yasir go with this now?  I'm sure that if hew just refers back to that Kinsey report....  Yeah, that and another $50 billion might wrap things up.

Fuzzy Logic -  Sad news, but also news that forces us to confront a little passive-aggressive ugliness.  Actually, let me reframe, as two incidents from the departed leave us mulling quite the Jekyll-Hyde dilemma.

From Geoff, with a nice take on a lovely moment:

Frank Urban “Fuzzy” Zoeller Jr. died on Thanksgiving Day, according to an announcement from

the USGA.

The two-time major champion, winner of ten PGA Tour events, and beloved figure, who whistled his way around the course before making disastrous comments as Tiger Woods was en route to winning the 1997 Masters, died at age 74.

The Indiana native continues to be most famous for winning the 1979 Masters in his first try, and perhaps equally as much for the 1984 U.S. Open when he waved a golf towel in mock surrender after Greg Norman’s long par putt at Winged Foot’s 18th. Zoeller initially thought Norman made birdie to take the lead at four-under-par. And after a moment of processing back in the fairway, the outwardly easy-going humorist waved the towel while smiling at Norman’s apparent victory 

putt.

The moment remains one of the great acts of good-natured sportsmanship in the game’s history. A year later, the USGA gave Zoeller the Bob Jones Award.

It was a great gesture that seemed spontaneous, and it all certainly worked out there for Fuz (and, I assume from his full name above that you'll see where the nickname was sourced).

ESPN took the other approach, although their header seems to cleaned up from when I first viewed it.  They lede with bad Fuzzy:

Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beat him, only to defeat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.

But it was the 1997 Masters that changed his popularity.

Woods was on his way to a watershed moment in golf with the most dominant victory in Augusta National history. Zoeller had finished his round and had a drink in hand under the oak tree by the clubhouse when he was stopped by CNN and asked for his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods on his way to the most dominant win ever at Augusta National.

"That little boy is driving well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it?," Zoeller said.

He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, "Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

That moment haunted him the rest of his career.

Zoeller apologized. Woods was traveling and it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy festered. Zoeller later said he received death threats for years after that moment.

 "Or whatever the hell they serve."

I don't know how you reacted, but mine was amusingly bifurcated.  On the one hand I thought ESPN over-interpreted that last incident, even including it in their original header.  No one, I thought, deserves at the moment of their passing to be remembered for their worst moment, right?

On the other hand, what the hell, Fuzzy!   You know I feel about Tiger and his treatment of folks like Stephen Ames and Abe Ancer over the years, he can be a complete dick in my humble opinion.  Here he famously refused to let Fuzzy off the hook, and I'm hard-pressed to blame Tiger....

Tiger was 21-years old that day, and must have seemed like a child to Fuzzy, who would have been 44 or 45 back in 1997.  But calling a black man "little boy" on national TV?  You simply can't pretend to not understand the meaning of those words, especially standing in Augusta, Georgia.  But the killer is the last bit, his pathological need to get fried chicken and collard greens into the fray, but I'd argue the killer was that "whatever the hell they serve."  My eyes usually glaze over when the Social Justice Warriors speak about "othering" folks, but isn't this just what they mean?

Mark this date in your calendar, it's the first you've ever seen me take Tiger's side in such a dispute.  I don't know if they ever kissed and made up, all I'm saying is that those comments were so beyond the pale that a typical non-apology apology wouldn't and shouldn't be sufficient.

That's it for today, and perhaps for the week, unless something impels me to the keyboard.  As noted above, next Monday is a travel day, so perhaps we'll catch up on the other side.  Have a great week.