That and This

Seems like the world moves too fast these days, and it's difficult to keep up with just the golf portion thereof...

So let's recap our news and notes from the last few days, I mean if you've nothing more pressing at the moment:

These Guys Are Honest - Here's one for the golfers are different files:

Cameron Tringale has been disqualified from last week's PGA Championship after telling the rules committee that he might have whiffed on a tap-in putt in the final round and thus signed for an incorrect score. 

Even though the competition is over, Tringale was disqualified under Rule 34-1-iii.

I like this about our game as much as anybody, I just wonder whether there should be a statute of limitations when the competition is over.  I respect his honesty and all, but he's not even actually sure whether he whiffed on the putt.   Talk it over amongst yourselves...

Just Rewards - Gunn Yang is our hero of the moment, and it's hard not to like him all the more as further details come out.  First, he's obviously not on TaylorMade's Christmas card list, as this Adam Schupak piece on his bag makes clear:

DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (9 degrees), with Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana Kai’li 70 Flex X shaft

3-WOOD: Titleist 910F (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana ’ahina 72 low-mid flex X shaft

IRONS: TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC (2-iron); Titleist 714 AP2 Forged (3-PW), with KBS Tour C-Taper 130 X shafts

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey SM4 (54 and 60 degrees), with KBS Hi-Rev shafts

PUTTER: TaylorMade Daddy Long Legs putter

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Isn't the R11 like 7-8 years old?

Then there was this nugget from Steve Hummer's AJC game story, in which we find out that Gunn was as surprised by anyone by his deep run in the Amateur:

Yang was the guy who packed only three pairs of shorts and four shirts for this trip, which would seem to indicate even he didn’t think he’d be make it very far past two practice rounds and two days of stroke play. Either that or he really likes to do laundry. 

“I didn’t want to make my luggage too heavy. Yeah, that was it,” Yang said.

And a local boy makes good angle from the Farmer's Insurance Open:

“When you look at the field assembled at the U.S. Amateur Championship including the top collegiate players and now the world’s top amateurs through the USGA’s format, to win is an incredible accomplishment. To have a Torrey Pines High School alum and now a San Diego State Aztec makes it even more special to our community. The Century Club’s goal is to identify the world’s top players to compete in the Farmers Insurance Open. U.S. Amateur champion fits that criteria, as does Gunn Yang in his victory. We are pleased to host Gunn next February for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines,” added Peter Ripa, Farmers Insurance Open/Century Club Chief Executive Officer.

All well deserved.  It will be fun to see if he's the real deal or more of a one-off.

The Soft Side of Commissioner Ratched -  Admit it, those are words you never though you'd see me type...  But the Commish showed actual humanity, and we here at Unplayable Lies are happy to give credit

when due.

Now I must have been in a coma for a few days, but somewhere/somehow the Ice Bucket Challenge morphed from an annoying LPGA bit to an attempt to benefit ALS research.  Since I'm difinitively not in the pro-ALS camp, here's the Commish doing his thing:

Shackelford awards bonus points for both the background and putting the sports jacket back on.  

And in an Update Shack notes that he was challenged (though he doesn't tell us by whom, though John Feinstein might be a good guess), but declined and instead contributed $100 to ALS research.

Lastly, do go here and see Tom Watson accept the challenge in his own inimical style.  Of course Watson is closer than most to this terrible disease, having lostl Caddie for Life Bruce Edwards to ALS.

Muscle Bound - John Paul Newport devotes his weekly Wall Street Journal column to, as it's header puts it, Are Pro Golfers Too Bulked up?  That's always been my concern, but JPN packs a lot of discussion into a relatively short column:

Tom Watson, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, characterized the golf swing as a "violent" move. "They're falling like flies," he lamented, after watching Matt Kuchar and Jason Dufner, two potential members of his squad, drop out of the PGA Championship last week. Four other players also withdrew because of injuries. "The question you have to ask," he told me Monday, "is whether the workout ethic of players today is causing these injuries."

He of course gets to Exhibit A, one Eldrick Woods, later in the piece.  he also touches on the wraparound schedule, which might limit the rest period for pros, and the increasingly violent modern swing:

Then there's the issue of the so-called modern golf swing, characterized by keeping the lower body planted and comparatively stable while generating power for the swing through the torque created against that platform by the rotating upper body. It can be murder on the vulnerable lower back. 

Rose at TPI has worked extensively with professional long drivers like Jason Zuback. Their swings, designed for maximum distance, more closely resemble old-fashioned swings. They lift their left heels off the ground, rotate their hips more, and "jump" at the ball, relying far less on the lower back for power. 

"The modern swing, with fewer moving parts, is designed primarily for accuracy," Rose said. "When you take that technique, and add power to it, as the modern pros have to do, you put extremely high stress on the body."

That concern is new to me, though of course there's nothing particularly natural about a golf swing.  But swings like Phil's and Rory's seem much smoother than Tiger's, yet seem to sacrifice nothing in distance.

No Openings At The Inn -  Brad Fritsch shot a disappointing final round 70 on Sunday at the Wyndham, which dropped him from second to eighth place.  I'll understand if you're having trouble working up sympathy for a player you've never heard of, but here's why I think it matters:

Despite graduating from Web.com Tour Finals last fall, the Canadian’s card for next year hangs

in the balance after he failed to gain entry into several events this season. 

“Felt like I played one on, off three, played one, off four,” Fritsch said. “I think if the field sizes were the same as they were last year I would have gotten in four, five more events. That’s just frustrating.”

Fritsch was 14th out of 50 in priority status, yet only managed to tee it up 18 times this year.  This was his biggest disappointment:

The lowlight for Fritsch came back in February, when a T-10 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open failed to gain him entry into the following week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. A top-10 finish typically earns a player an automatic spot in the subsequent PGA Tour event, but a limited field and an influx of players using major medical extensions meant Fritsch never got to tee it up at TPC Scottsdale.

His second top-10 finish of the year came at the RBC Canadian Open, where he tied for ninth, but that got him into the Barracuda Championship – an event for which he was already qualified and one that only offered a fraction of the FedEx Cup points of a typical Tour stop.

So, let's review the videotape.  We've eliminated Tour Q-School, so the only path to the Tour is through the Web.com Tour.  But those that survive that gauntlet find that they don't get enough opportunities to make the FedEx playoffs or, more importantly, retain playing privilegesBut don't worry, His Highness is on it:

The one shortcoming Finchem identified is one that has been brought up by players throughout the year: a lack of playing opportunities for players coming out of the Web.com Tour Finals.

“The only weakness, if you could call it that, is that with all the fall events strengthening, it’s put a little pressure on access for the Web.com Tour graduates,” Finchem said. “That’s kind of a good problem to have, actually, but we’ll watch that because we want to make sure we’re providing enough access to players coming off the Web.com Tour.”.

At the risk of sounding like the proverbial broken record, Commish Ratched has created an increasingly closed shop, making players serve a minimum of a year of indentured servitude.  To then not deliver actual playing opportunities to those who qualify, is more than a shortcoming, it's actually a bit of an outrage.

But I'm sure a blue-ribbon panel will be appointed any week now.

Golfers in Plaid - Did you catch that Ian Poulter has quit Twitter?  Good, because whoever had one week for their over-under bet is our winner, and the details of that snit aren't terribly important.  But now that he's back on Twitter, he's calling out the World No. 1:

Ian Poulter        ✔ @IanJamesPoulter

Follow

Hey you can keep your Claret Jug but can I have my suit back please Mr @McIlroyRory I thought something was missing.

10:00 AM - 16 Aug 2014

 
For those unfamiliar with the circumstances, that's Rory with the Claret Jug at a Manchester United game.  he later tweeted this pic indicating that he was wearing ManU colors:

Rory Mcilroy        ✔ @McIlroyRory

Follow

@IanJamesPoulter what? These red socks?

11:12 AM - 16 Aug 2014

DVR Alert - Rory and Tiger will make a joint appearance on the Tonight show tonight, and someone named Matt Fitzgerald thought the world needed a preview piece. Not much new in it, but it can be found here if you're so inclined. I'm guessing that the word "Nike" will be used.

Weekend Wrap

I didn't watch a whole lot of golf this weekend, unfortunately even when I wanted to... thanks to weather and NBC's final did to their good friends at the USGA.  Where to start?

Arrivederci Rochester - As noted previously, the LPGA has bid Rochester, NY a fond farewell with the completion of the final Wegman's LPGA Championship.  Next year this event will morph into the KPMG PGA Championship in conjunction with the PGA of America and move next door to Unplayable Lies World Headquarters at tony Westchester Country Club.

So, how did the last event go?  Quite well it seems, as long-hitting Brittany Lincicome fought her nerves and recorded her first major win since 2009.... Not so fast, Cowboy:  

A playoff was only fitting. After 38 years in Rochester, no one wanted to say goodbye. Inbee Park broke the heart of Brittany Lincicome with a string of clutch putts down the stretch to etch

her name on the last bit of silver left on the LPGA Championship trophy. 

“I think I’ve been in too many playoffs lately,” said Park, who lost in a playoff last week in Michigan. It’s the second consecutive year Park has won the Wegmans LPGA Championship in a playoff. Only two other players have successfully defended their titles in Rochester: Patty Sheehan and Nancy Lopez.

No way to sugar coat this one, Bam-Bam gagged.  She needed only to two-putt from the fringe on No. 18 to win it outright, and then couldn't get up and down from nearly the same spot on the playoff hole.  With the benefit of hindsight, Park drained a long par-saver on the 18th in regulation that put her in position to benefit if Lincicome failed to par the difficult finisher.  And Brittany absorbed one additional bad break when playing partner Suzann Pettersen, in the midst of a day from hell, hit it long and required a ruling for her drop.  Lincicome is known to fight her nerves, and the additional time to ponder her putt could not have been helpful.

But, It's Different Out Here™ as they say, so let's give Brittany all due credit for this fitting final tribute to Rochester for their long-term (38 years) support of the ladies:

“Lots of tears,” said Lincicome, who shared an emotional embrace with good friend Brittany Lang immediately after the playoff along with several others. 

“Obviously I’m disappointed with myself for not winning, but I’m planning on going to sign all the autographs I can because they’ve embraced us.”

  And let's hope that Commissioner Mike Whan can work out a speedy return to Rochester for the gals.

AmScray YangWay - I'm sure my Pig Latin won't be up to par, but NBC managed to put lipstick on the pig that is the new Fox Sports USGA television contract.  Here's Shackelford's take on the event:

On an abhorrent Rees Jones redesigned course with massive mounds, utterly artificial nonsense around everywhere you look and a fake lake thrown in too often to appease the EA video game crowd, the absurdly difficult Atlanta Athletic Club should have been a nightmare for Gunn Yang and Corey Conners. Yet they kept hitting bold and clutch shots, so all five of the people watching NBC's final USGA telecast were having a grand old time. Count me in, I was glued!

C'mon Geoff, don't keep your architectural criticisms to yourself.... the reason there were only five viewers and those five excluded your humble blogger, as core as the core audience gets, is that a rain delay resulted in NBC shuttling the telecast to something called NBC Sports Network, a channel I couldn't find with a gun (or Gunn) at my head.

I'm in agreement with Shack on the architectural merits of Atlanta Athletic Club, a place that's hosted far too many PGA's for my taste especially as that event, like the Amateur, is held in August.  The only caveat I'll add is that the design-on-steroids is modestly less repellent for a match-play event, for obvious reasons.

So, who is Gunn Yang?  A delightfully improbable winner as per Ryan Lavner:

Consider the odds: 6,803 entrants were whittled down to 312 qualifiers who advanced to the 64-man match-play bracket that was trimmed to two finalists, and the player who emerged victorious was Yang, a little-known 20-year-old from South Korea. This is a player who has played only four college events and lost his golf scholarship at San Diego State because of poor performance; who is only 15 months removed from back surgery; who withdrew from an event only three weeks ago because of shoddy play; and who, incredibly, is ranked No. 776 in the world, the lowest ever to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy.

The Amateur is a storied event, and deserves more committed television coverage.  I've assumed from the get-go that one benefit of the Fox contract will be more expansive early week coverage, as Fox's fledgling sports network will have fewer conflicts than NBC/Golf Channel.  Of course that assumes that Cablevision carries that network, something I've had no cause to investigate previously.  And hopefully they'll leave the final on the flagship channel, even if it runs a bit long... Of course, the promos will have those crashing robots no doubt...

And since we at Unplayable Lies seek above all to amuse, there was this delightfully awkward moment at the trophy presentation, when USGA Prez Tom O'Tooles' handshake was left hanging:

 As Shack noted, when you're as unlikely a winner as Gunn you keep both hands firmly on the trophy.  And that gave our Shack license to take a trip down memory lane, revisiting the Bubbameister doing the same to ANGC's Billy Payne:

That last one I can watch for hours.....as Billy shows his choreographic chops, effortlessly turning a spurned handshake into a nose scratch.

Turn On The Dark - Spider-Man is back, or so I hear:

When Camilo Villegas finished his final round in the Wyndham Championship, he was hoping to

get into a playoff. 

Instead, every other contender stumbled, and the Colombian didn't have to hit another shot to win his first PGA Tour title since 2010. 

Villegas shot a 7-under 63 and finished at 17-under 263. He earned $954,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points in the final regular-season event.

For those unfamiliar with Villegas, his career peaked with this:

I saw exactly none of this event, so can someone tell me if he still does the Spider-Man bit?

Haven't We Seen This Movie Before? - This has a déjà vu feel to it, no?

Bernhard Langer rallied to win the Dick's Sporting Goods Open on Sunday for his fifth

Champions Tour victory of the year, while Kevin Sutherland followed his tour-record 59 with a 74 to drop into a tie for seventh. 

The 56-year-old Langer played all 54 holes without a bogey, closing with a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over Woody Austin and Mark O'Meara. Langer finished at 16-under 200 at En-Joie for his 23rd career victory on the 50-and-over tour.

I don't care how easy the set-up was. to go 54 holes without a single bogey is pretty amazing.  Sutherland's abrupt fall to Earth was entirely predictable, but he'll have many years to kick himself for his final hole bogey that denied him the first professional 58.  

News And Notes

It's a rare Saturday at the keyboard for your humble blogger, as this afternoon is the Willow Ridge Mixed Member-Guest, a/k/a Glory's Last Shot.  So, shall we see who we can piss off?

You Ko, Girl - Beth Ann Nichols gets it, as you'll see from here lede in her Friday game story from the Wegman's LPGA Championship:

Young Tom Morris won the 1868 Open Championship at 17 years, 5 months and 8 days.

Lydia Ko’s window to beat that record and become the youngest winner in major championship history is quickly closing. 

Ko, who at 17 years 3 months and 22 days already owns four LPGA titles, inched closer to her first major title at the Wegmans LPGA Championship when she carded a 3-under 69 Friday to move into a tie for fourth and trail big-hitting Brittany Lincicome by four strokes.

Lincicome might feel a tad dissed, as will Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson, who are tied for second.  And Lincicome does have those Pure Silk smooth legs, but all eyes should be on our Lydia.

And speaking of Thompson, Randall Mell had a nice profile of the young lady here, including this rather edgy Puma Commercial:

Kind of interesting that they considered her significant enough to throw into the mix with Rickie and Usain, no?

And our Shack had some fun with her driving stats in this post:

For a little FYI on where Lexi's 271.2 would put here in a PGA Tour historical context...

4th in 1980

13th in 1985

19th in 1990

31st in 1995

T126th in 2000

197th in 2005

191st in 2010

T185th in 2014 (ahead of Mike Weir, Justin Leonard, Tim Clark and Paul Goydos!)

As Shack is quick to note, that jump from 1995 to 2000 was fully the result of Tour players committing to their gym work, and in no way reflects the governing bodies' failure to control the equipment manufacturers.  Nothing to see here, please move along...

Amateur Hour - We accepted an impromptu dinner invite last evening and as a result I saw none of the tape-delayed U.S. Amateur coverage, perhaps a blessing in disguise as our good friend Nathan Smith was soundly beaten by Pepperdine Junior Frederick Wedel.  Nathan had a great run, but it's truly a young man's game these days, as per Ryan Lavner:

Well, it doesn't get much bigger than what will unfold here Saturday at Atlanta Athletic Club, after Wedel defeated Nathan Smith, 4 and 3, to reach the semifinals of the 114th U.S. Amateur Championship. 

The 619th-ranked player in the world, Wedel’s last tournament win was the district title his senior year of high school. Now, the Pepperdine junior is two matches away from a national championship, and just one from a berth in the Masters. 

In a field littered with silver-spooners and prodigies, Wedel’s story resonates most.

Here's what he means by Wedel's story:

He was 10 when his dad (also named Fred) kept scratching what he thought was a mosquito bite on his neck. It turned out to be a staph infection in his spinal cord, and a few weeks later he was paralyzed from the neck down. 

A normal childhood was no longer possible. For three years, Fred spent most of his days in a car, driving an hour to and from the hospital, where sometimes all his dad could do was listen.

“I really didn’t handle it well,” he said. “I just kept having hopes that maybe one day he’d walk again, that we’d figure it out. Eventually I realized he wasn’t going to walk again. It threw me into a dark place for a while.” 

An eighth-grader without a father figure, Wedel rebelled. His family split apart. He got kicked out of private school. His golf game suffered without the man who taught him how to play with a cut-down 7-iron at age 3.

 Do give Lavner's piece a hit, as it's quite a good story.  I'll be rooting for the young man to continue his strong play, as one more win punches his ticket to the Masters.  And a last note on the ever-gracious Nathan Smith.  Loyal Unplayable Lies reader and good friend Mark W. writes with this anecdote:

Scott, Nathan played in the Baltusrol Invitational last month and came in 3rd with his partner Frank Fairman. You’re right, he is a very nice, pleasant fellow who was so delighted to be at BGC. This from a guy who seems to have a spot at the Masters all the time and having played on several Walker Cups must have played in some pretty nice venues. At the cocktail party after the first day, he made a point to introduce himself to the committee members and thank them for inviting him. Hmmm, just like Tiger.

Mark, we appreciate the story but need to remind you of our rules.  I handle the snark around here, and your disparaging comments about Mr. Woods leave me no choice but to put you on probationary status.

Mini-Tour Update -  Pravda had a recent piece on the new superstar on the Mini-Tour, though perhaps not the mini-tour you're thinking of:

She looked like nothing out of the ordinary, just another platinum blonde in baggy shorts

hanging out at the miniature golf course. But in the rarefied, close-knit, hypercompetitive world of professional miniature golf, Olivia Prokopova is nothing short of legendary. 

“Olivia? There’s no fear in her,” said Rick Alessi, 57, a municipal heavy-equipment operator from Erie, Pa., who is to compete against her in the2014 United States Open Miniature Golf Tournament that begins here on Friday. “She just loves the game.”

But where's Martha Burke when you need her, as apparently the mini-golf world is still dominated by the patriarchy:

In a sport dominated by middle-aged American men, she is foreign, 19 years old, “and she’s a gal,” said John Forbes, the manager of the Bluegrass Miniature Golf Course, the elegantly landscaped spot, free of plastic clowns and windmills, where the tournament is to take place.

No windmills?  Really, what's the point?

Aimless And Confused -  The increasingly frequent appearances of Mark Broadie, Columbia University professor and golf stats guru, is a welcome development, though this current installment on putting may require further thought.  He takes up the AimPoint green-reading system, all the rage these days:

Adam Scott has climbed to the World No. 1 spot largely by improving his putting. During the

Adam Scott giving the Vulcan salute.

2013 season, Scott gained only 0.05 strokes per round on the greens, 102nd on the PGA Tour. But since March -- when he started using a new green-reading method called AimPoint Express -- he's gained more than 0.5 strokes and vaulted into the top 15. Although data can't tell us how much of Scott's improvement is due to better reads, the Aussie has an opinion: "It's huge," he said.

I'll admit that I haven't the slightest clue what they're doing in reading greens, but perhaps I shouldn't be so set in my ways.  Here's a little quiz for those of you that think you read greens well:

Here's a test of your green-reading savvy: Imagine a clock face on a typical back-to-front-sloping green, with the hole at the center, and the 12 o'clock position representing a straight downhill putt. Which putt will break the most: A sidehiller from the three o'clock position? A downhill, sidehill putt from two o'clock? Or an uphill sidehill putt from four o'clock? (Assume that each putt is hit with excellent speed, so that it would roll 1.5 feet beyond the hole if it missed.) If you said that the sidehill putt (three o'clock) would break the most, you're in the majority—but you're wrong. The downhill putt from two o'clock will break the most and the uphill putt from four o'clock the least.

You'll have to click through to read his explanation, and he also includes some drills at the end of the piece.  I'll not tarry here, but this browser window will stay open.

A Star is Boron -  We don't do a ton of equipment blogging her at Unplayable Lies, but these new Mizuno JPX 850 forged irons have been garnering some buzz.  Mike Stachura gives us the skinny:

The new JPX850 Forged irons ($1,000) feature a boron-infused 1025 carbon steel for a

thinner face with a higher springlike effect than any other Mizuno one-piece forged iron. The metal's strength also allows designers to mill a pocket cavity that comes within 1.7 millimeters of the face and 1.5 millimeters of the sole to increase face flexibility. 

The combination of the unique material and design saves 26 grams that is redistributed around the perimeter for enhanced stability.

They look great, but of course Mizunos always do.  I'm playing the JPX 800's with which I remain extremely happy.  Boron is incredibly strong and lightweight, and Mike details how it's created some complications for first responders to  auto accidents.

While I'm happy with my irons and fairway woods/hybrids, this new driver has piqued my curiosity.

I Saw It On TV - Last week one of my golf buddies made a funny about there being no need to tune into the CBS golf coverage until at least 30 minutes after it's start time, as it would be that long before they stooped to showing an actual golf shot.  Well, not so fast Mr. Fox:

-- CBS crushed the competition when it came to showing action. The network aired 1.18 shots per minute during the Masters (Yes, having limited commercials helps) and 1.16 shots per minute during the wild final round at the PGA. In comparison, NBC showed 1.12 shots per minute at the U.S. Open and ESPN came in a distant fourth place with just 1.02 shots per minute at the British Open.

Gotta admit, I wouldn't have guessed that either.

DVR Alert -  Rory will be making an appearance on the Tonight Show, and apparently Nike has made him bring a chaperon:

It appears that being made fun of on late night television didn’t scare Tiger Woods or Rory McIlory, as both golf stars are set to appear on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in New York City on Monday. 

Woods and McIlroy are also set to appear at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, NJ, on behalf of their mutual sponsor, Nike.

I'm going to shimmy way out onto a limb and guess that NBC will have this video teed up for Fallon:

State Of The Game

Shackelford points us to this extremely good Matt Brennan piece on the state of our game post-Tiger.  It's a long and thoughtful piece, and I encourage you to no be put off by the fact that it's on Deadspin, better known for Michael Jordan gambling rumors and Rachel Uchitel photos.

The piece is titled, What Happens To Golf After Tiger?", but it seems to me that its real value is in exploring what the Tiger Woods era, Tigermania as it was called at the time, did and did not do for the game of golf.  Loyal readers will grasp that there's probably far more of the latter than the former...

But first, here's Shack's excerpt, no doubt valuable:

Economics are important, and upswings or downturns in three key sectors— employment, home values, and investment portfolios—are an indicator of golf's success, Mona told me. In

this, he echoed the USGA's Jerris, who emphasized that the sport's fortunes have fluctuated with the broader economy since the Roaring Twenties gave way to the Great Depression. 

"Here's what we know from 100 years of data about golf," he said. "The only real metric that matters in determining participation in the game is household income." 

While Jerris, Mona, and Ted Bishop, president of the PGA of America, all described golf's exclusivity as a "misperception"—80% of golf courses in the United States are accessible to the public, and the median green fee is an affordable $26—income, and therefore class status, is a workable proxy if you're trying to determine whether golf appeals to someone. This may explain why the sport's rarefied image remains so tenacious, even among regular players.

Kudos to the folks at Deadspin for the cool gif stolen above.

Here's Brennan's lede for what I find the most interesting part:

But in the years since, years that correspond closely with my own life as a fan, "Tigermania" has

come to encompass a set of assumptions about Woods, sports, and stardom that goes beyond the size of his galleries or the quality of his play. The received wisdom has it that Woods is not only a transcendent figure but also a transformative one, an athlete whose otherworldly talents opened golf to the masses, and thus brought about a seismic shift in the sport. 

Transcendent and transformative are not synonyms, however. Indeed, conversations with golfing insiders and a closer look at data related to television ratings, tournament purses, participation, and equipment sales reveal a more complicated picture of Tigermania's causes and consequences. Woods's singular brilliance was not the sole factor in professional golf's lucrative boom of the past two decades, nor has his iconic presence benefited all sectors of the sport equally. The modest reality of Woods's influence hardly lives up to the mythos that surrounds him, and as golf stands on the cusp of a future after Tiger, the time has come to reckon with the difference.

And there's lots of data to back it up.  This is a subject that we've had cause to pick over quite a bit here,  and it's equal parts good and bad news.  The bad news being that the guy we've credited for everything good in our game the last few years is on the back nine of his career.  But the good news is that we've given him far too much credit in that regard.

In the few months I've been blogging, think about how many doom-and-gloom prognoses have we dissected, you know the ones where television ratings are down 10% year-over-year, so naturally we'll see 10% fewer round splayed and 10% fewer SLDR drivers sold.  You don't need my astute powers of analysis to understand that those who aren't interested in a Masters final round sand Tiger probably aren't your core audience and weren't playing too many of those rounds.

Golf gets in trouble when it loses sight of the fact that it's a niche sport, building too many golf courses or releasing new $500 drivers every hour-and-a-half.  Otherwise it's just fine, inhabiting a small but valuable space.  That which can be done to expose more people to the game, and I do think Tiger provided a cool factor that was helpful, is great, but the appeal has to be in the game itself.

A couple of further stories tangentially related to this subject.  First, noted philosophers Charlie Rymer and Matt Ginella have proposed a set of revised rules for our game:

1. MAXIMUM SCORE Double par (i.e., 6 on par-3s, 8 on par-4s, 10 on par-5s).

2. PENALTIES All are 1 stroke, including out-of-bounds, water and lateral hazards, lost balls and unplayable lies. Drop a ball near where the original was lost and play on.

3. SEARCH TIME Two minutes to look for your ball. If lost, proceed under Rule 2.

4. UNFORTUNATE LIES With your playing partners’ consent, balls may be dropped out of divots or footprints, away from tree roots and any other dangerous lies.

5. CONCEDED PUTTS Putts may be conceded with your playing partners’ consent.

6. EQUIPMENT No restrictions, including number of clubs.

7. COMMON SENSE When in doubt, use common sense and fairness.

I've no doubt that capping players at a ten on a Par-5 will rock the world, but is there anyone that believe allowing players twenty clubs from which to choose will a,) Speed up play; b.) Make the game more affordable or, c.) increase the player's enjoyment thereof?

And judging from my experience at Willow Ridge, inflexible adherence to the rules of golf doesn't make my list of top fifty problems.  So much drivel gets bandied about, it's hard to know what people really believe.  But I think most folks understand that they can play golf without keeping a scorecard, and therefore do whatever they want on the course to make it fun, with no requirement for a hall pass from Charlie and Matt.

Lastly, a debt of gratitude to Shackelford for posting this 1925 Max Behr letter to his fellow members at Lakeside Golf Club:

The problems of golf are not caused by the rules of the game.  In fact it's those rules, requiring us to play the ball as it lies, that create some of the most profound joys in the game, as the appreciation of a well-conceived and executed recovery shot would be severely lessened if every shot were played from a perfectly-crafted lie.

Good Old Reliable Nathan....

Has anybody tuned in to the U.S. Amateur?  I thought not, but it's really your loss....

I finally had a chance to tune in last evening, and I'm quite glad I did.  Front and center was our old friend Nathan Smith.  Smith is a bit of a Mid-Am legend, having won four of them and played the last three Walker Cup teams.  Theresa and I had the pleasure of meeting him when he was paired with our friend, evening golf partner and A-No. 1 Caddie client Kent St. Charles in U.S. Open Sectional qualifying.  

I'll let Alex Miceli bring you up to date:

Nathan Smith needed 21 holes to dispatch reigning U.S. Amateur Public Links champion

Nathan Smith makes a return visit to Unplayable Lies.

Byron Meth and advance into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at Atlanta Athletic Club on Thursday afternoon. 

Smith, 36, had to summon all the energy he could muster on a day when the rounds of 32 and 16 were played. 

In the morning, Smith had a relatively easy time with long-hitting Brandon McIver in a 4-and-3 victory. 

It was the shortest match Smith has had in match play at the U.S. Amateur, allowing him to conserve energy before his tussle with Meth, a senior at Pacific.

Smith barely made it to match-play, surviving a multi-player playoff to grab the No. 64 seed.  But how much fun is this, as he's giving up 50 yards off the tee to some of these youngsters?  Kind of like my evening matches against Kent, well except for the five strokes I get on our back nine...

There's simply nothing like match-play for drama, and this was quite good.  Smith should have won it in regulation, but missed a 4-footer badly on the 18th green.  Despite all his Mid-Am success, he's never gotten this deep into the U.S. Am, and you could see him fighting his nerves, mostly successfully except for that one putt.  In fact, he was so nervous he actually took a practice swing at one point, something Kunta Kente probably never saw in 36 holes in June.

If you were with us in June or click through the link above, you'll know that Smith is just a genuinely nice guy, and he and Meth got on famously:

Interestingly the talk on the front nine was about golf, Smith said, but not so much about the

Byron Meth.

amateur. Rather, they discussed a venue some two hours down Interstate 20.

Next year, Meth will be making his first trip to the Masters, a major that Smith has played four times as U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. 

“We were talking about the Crow's Nest, the course and what to look forward to, just the week itself,” Smith said. “He's going to have a blast. You can see the glow in his eyes. He's really excited to get down there and be a part of that.”

Byron, make the most of your week at Augusta National.  And should you get married and have a daughter, please don't name her Crystal. Just trust me on that...

Our man will play Frederick Wedel in the quarterfinals.  Shackelford has the links to a heartwarming story about Wedel's father, a quadriplegic who saw his son play for the first time in years at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational.   

The USGA has a good "Meet the Quarterfinalists" page here.  

The one downer is the television coverage, as in there's little.  After teasing me with live coverage yesterday, the only coverage today will of the tape-delayed variety starting at 8:30 p.m., dangerously close to your humble blogger's bedtime.  Unforced error, Golf Channel, which prefers instead to show us a Web.com event

Social Graces, Or Not

Tiger Woods may be the best golfer of his generation (or all time), but he's always come up a little short in the social graces.  Whether it's his on-course demeanor, the drama of his break-ups with swing coaches and caddies, or even the juvenile flatulence jokes in the fairway with Feherty, there's often a noticeable lack of graciousness in his behavior.

A couple of nights ago the bride asked me, in my capacity as Muser-in-Chief, whether Tom Watson would really put Tiger on the Ryder Cup team.  My response was negatory, but I noted that I was waiting for Tiger to take Watson off the hook by taking himself out of consideration.  But, as you no doubt know, Tiger and Old Tom have issues, as Tom called him out over his on-course antics.

Per John Strege, The Striped One has finally gotten the memo:

An ailing Tiger Woods has spared U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson the difficult choice of

whether to select him, by announcing Wednesday that he is withdrawing from consideration, the PGA of America announced.

“While I greatly appreciate Tom thinking about me for a possible captain’s pick, I must take myself out of consideration,” Woods said in a news release. “I’ve been told by my doctors and trainer that my back muscles need to be rehabilitated and healed. They’ve advised me not to play or practice now.

“I’m extremely disappointed that I won’t be ready for the competition. The U.S. Team and the Ryder Cup mean too much to me not to be able to give it my best. I’ll be cheering for the U.S. team. I think we have an outstanding squad going into the matches.”

Errr OK, it might have been a difficult choice, but that difficulty was of a PR nature, not so much on the merits.  And without him there, do we think Tiger a big enough man to hope the U.S. wins?  I'm guessing he's still rankled by the 2008 win.

The reviews are in, and it's a bit of a split verdict.  Bob Harig at ESPN carries this from Tiger's mouthpiece Mark Steinberg:

"It was a big decision for him to place a call to Tom and take himself out of consideration," Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said. "Often times people have questioned Tiger's commitment to the Ryder Cup, to team events. Nobody should question his integrity when it comes to play for his country. I think this says a lot about his feelings toward the event and team competition."

Remember folks, he gets paid handsomely for this drivel.  And Mark, why would people question his "integrity" in playing for his country?  Could say this comment from the Google Way-Back Machine be a factor:

He compared the Ryder Cup to the final round in a major — even though he joked last week there were "a million reasons why" he would rather win the American Express Championship than the team competition.

Alex Miceli is also a fan of Tiger's selfless act:

In what can only be described as a magnanimous gesture, Tiger Woods pulled his name from consideration for the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup team. 

It clearly had to be a difficult decision for Woods because he has said on more than one occasion, including after missing the cut at the PGA Championship last week, that he wanted to be on Tom Watson’s team that will make the trip to Gleneagles in September. 

By making the early decision, Woods has stepped up for the best of a U.S. team that already has its issues with Dustin Johnson out, Jason Dufner possibly unavailable with an injury and Matt Kuchar facing a back issue that might or might not be a problem.

Early?  What would be late for you Alex, November?  Jason Sobel is thinking more along my lines, characterizing the back-and-forth between Tiger and Watson as a game of chicken.  But finally Tiger was in a corner, per this:

As part of this year’s Ryder Cup team, Woods would have shouldered a burden like never

before. With 11 teammates – not to mention his entire country – counting on him, if he was neither healthy nor playing well (or both, a likely scenario based on his last few performances), the blame would fall less on Watson for picking him and more on Woods himself for not declining the pick. Against a heavily favored European side, he would have been an easy scapegoat for the masses. 

Woods’ announcement also saves him the embarrassment of not being selected. Injury and performance undoubtedly had a lot to do with his withdrawal from consideration, but let’s not understate the impact of his pride.

Nobody watching the Bridgestone or PGA could possibly believe he should be on the team.  But the announcement should have come on Friday or Saturday, to allow Watson to avoid all of the Tiger questions at the Monday presser.  

But better late than never, I suppose.

Flotsam and Jetsam™ - Late Summer Wrap-Up

Lots happening, some even related to golf, out there.  Shall we catch up on things we might have missed due to the PGA?

RIP Robin Williams - As is everyone, I'm shocked and saddened by the death of a very funny man.  Time and again we see that despite great success and adulation that people still struggle with their inner demons.  Williams did a marvelous bit on our silly game that most have no doubt had the pleasure of watching, but I'll embed it for anyone that might have missed it:

Warning: It's definitely not safe for work or with small ones around, and anyone watching it for the first time should make sure there are no liquids nearby.

The Fallon Gong Show - More fun golf-related video, this time from the Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon:

So, yesterday afternoon I had written a couple of snarky comments about Jimmy's pronunciation of a certain French surname, put the post in the incubator for the evening and woke up to an Earth-shattering kaboom, specifically this comeback from the Ponte Vedra suits:

PGA TOUR        ✔ @PGATOUR

Follow

Most likely to be turned down by the cart girl: @jimmyfallon. Fallon's #PGATOUR superlatives: http://pgat.us/6010mvwu 

6:12 PM - 12 Aug 2014

Wow, just when you think surgical removal of a sense of humor is a non-negotiable requirement to be hired by the Tour, comes this bolt from the blue.  If humor can be found in Ponte Vedra Beach, there may be hope for mankind after all.

How Much for a Sleeve? - We previously discussed that the ball Rory threw into the gallery after the Open Championship was up for auction at Green Jacket Auctions.  Well, it went for a pretty penny:

After tapping in for his third major victory last month at Hoylake, McIlroy turned and chucked the ball into the stands in celebration. 

Lee Horner of Leeds, England was the lucky fan to catch the ball and offered it up for auction on Internet site greenjacketauctions.com. 

Nike confirmed the custom Nike RZN Black golf ball with “RORS” embossed was authentic and Horner just waited until early Sunday morning before learning that he made just over $38,000 with the items final price of $52,038.65. According to the auction agency, the winning big came from an American.

 I'll Handle The Funny Stuff Here, Bud - It's a constant source of annoyance that others are allowed to be funny, but this little throwaway quip from Alex Myers' weekly The Grind feature had me smiling:

How much Jagermeister can fit in the Wanamaker Trophy?

That's a reference to this post-Open Championship celebration and Claret Jug abuse:

Mother knows best!

 See, the Wannamaker is kinda big:

RIP, Publinxs - Last year the USGA announced that it was discontinuing the U. S. Amateur Public Links championship, an important link to public golf in the U.S.  It was replaced by a four-ball event, and a USGA press release indicates it's something of a hit:

FAR HILLS, N.J. (Aug. 12, 2014) – The United States Golf Association today announced that it has accepted entries for 2,234 teams (or two-player sides) for the 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, scheduled for May 2-6 at The Olympic Club, in San Francisco, Calif. 

To be eligible for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 5.4, with no age restrictions. Team partners are not required to be from the same club, state or country, and substitution of partners was permitted until the close of entries.

“We are pleased that nearly 4,500 players will compete in qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship,” said Daniel B. Burton, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “The four-ball format is exciting for amateur golf and we are confident that this championship will continue to grow in popularity for both players and fans.”

Apparently there were only some 2,800 entries to this year's final edition of the Publinx, so they do seem to have increased participation.  But couldn't they have just added the four-ball event?

Stardate 1996 - In October 2013 I played in the Atlantic City Pro-Am with Big Break Anthony and two fellow members at Willow Ridge.  I was sitting at a blackjack table at the Borgata when Anthony introduced me to Steve Scott, a fellow professional playing in our event.

Scott, those of us who don't get out enough, remember as the player that should have almost beat Tiger Woods in his last U.S. Amateur.  Scott is the subject of a profile by Tim Rosaforte on the Jimmy Roberts Golf Channel sahow In Play, and a four-minute preview can be found here.

The story is eerily similar to that of Bob May, who took Tiger to the limit as well in 2000 at Valhalla.  I was in Scotland that year and never saw the match until Golf Channel replayed it some years ago.  It was truly epic, and I've long thought that the most incredible feat of Tiger Woods was his three straight Junior Amateurs followed by the three consecutive U.S. Amateurs.  Six years of matches and you never have an off day or run into a Steve Scott?  Well, in this case he prevailed, but he was five down after 18 holes.

Steve Stricker, Call Your Office - Not a fan of links golf?  Are you a successful PGA Tour professional that hates the feel of a rainsuit and prefer not to allow wind to affect your oh-so-precise trajectory?  Hate big breakfasts, long flights and adjusting to new time zones?  Well, good news, you no longer have to choose between the indignity of the Open Championship and forgoing a paycheck in July:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (August 11, 2014) – A new PGA TOUR tournament sponsored by Barbasol, the No. 1 shaving cream brand in the U.S., will debut in 2015 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National near Opelika, Ala. A four-year agreement establishing the Barbasol Championship was announced today at the Alabama State Capitol by Governor Robert Bentley and representatives from the PGA TOUR and the Robert Trent Jones Trail Foundation, which will serve as the tournament host organization. 

The Barbasol Championship will be held at the Grand National - Lake Course July 13-19, 2015, the same week as the British Open.

OK, I've no real objection to the guys that haven't qualified having a place to play, but I'll think less of anyone who is qualified playing there.  My greater objection is to the discontinuance of open Open qualifying, as per a prior post.  I'd prefer that the amateurs and other players have a chnce to play their way in.  As per the recent changes, it's a closed shop unless you have a PGA Tour card.

Good News/Bad News - Randall Mell files a piece from Rochester, NY, site of the final Wegman's LPGA Championship:

For 38 years, the Rochester area has been home to an LPGA event, with Locust Hill Country Club host to every tournament played here until this year’s. In news that hit this golf community hard, the LPGA announced 10 weeks ago that it wasn’t just leaving Locust Hill, it was reconfiguring the LPGA Championship as the new KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And it was taking it on the road, beginning in 2015. It’s partnering with the PGA of America and ending its long association with Rochester.

This is superficially similar to some of the egregious mistakes of the Carolyn Bevis era, but this is unquestionably the right move for the ladies.  Mell cover that part of it well in these nonsequential 'graphs:

The emotion is understandable from a local perspective, from folks who have poured so much into hosting an event since 1977. Looking at the bigger picture, though, this was a terrific move

for the LPGA. Wegmans commitment was uncertain. It’s a regional company, and it’s been operating with a year-to-year agreement with the LPGA. The new PGA deal was a chance to lock in this major’s long-term future. 

Knowing the strong emotion that would follow the LPGA’s decision to leave Rochester, Whan flew here three days after the announcement. He stepped in for a player scheduled to be the center piece of the Wegmans LPGA Championship’s Media Day. He took all the hard questions. 

“There were myths vs. reality flying around,” Whan said. “I was glad I went. I’m not saying it was easy, but I loved the fact that people at Rochester were struggling with the decision because they loved the event. I know we struggled with the decision, but that’s why I believe we’ll be back. I think there’s just a lot of love between Rochester and the LPGA.”

It seems that Mike Whan gets it.  When Bivens pulled the Toledo event, her implied message to that town was that her tour was too precious for a gritty town like Toledo.  But the reality is that Rochester and Toledo are exactly the kinds of communities in which the LPGA can succeed.  In the present case, with Wegman's unable to make a long-term commitment and the allure of the PGA of America, KPMG and Westchester Country Club, the decision was easy.  But they need to go back to Rochester, and hopefully soon.

Doom and Gloom, Redux - Tony Covey, writing at something called mygolfspy.com, updates us on the latest from TaylorMade/Adams:

Earlier this evening we received confirmation that The adidas Group (parent company for TaylorMade-adidas, Ashworth, and Adams Golf) has decided to close Adams Golf headquarters in Plano, Texas and to consolidate business operations at TaylorMade Headquarters in Carlsdbad, California. Additionally,15% of the golf division’s global workforce, including what I’m told is a majority of Adams Golf employees, has been laid off. 

A company spokesperson declined to comment on specifics, but confidential sources are telling us that the cuts include a high-ranking member of TaylorMade’s golf ball R&D Team.

It's a long piece with lots of details, and the picture is not pretty.  TaylorMade appears to have been extremely slow to respond to the  buildup of inventory at Dick's, hard to explain in this day of instantaneous availability of POS data.  

Apparently TaylorMade is going to forgo any new or refreshed products for the balance of 2014, an eternity for them, in the hopes of working down the inventory.  They also seem to have been slow in consolidating the Adams operations, though most people would consider Plano, TX to be a far better manufacturing environment than Carlsbad, CA.  

It's common knowledge that TM was forced to acquire Adams to make a thorny intellectual property issue go away.  Nonetheless, I thought it was actually a good fit in that Adams, with its strong position on the Champions and Ladies tours, would become their game improvement vehicle.  Nonetheless, they've kept churning out their TaylorMade game improvement products, completely oblivious to the ability of their distribution channels and consumers to absorb it all.