Sawgrass And Other Stuff

If you give today's players perfect conditions and not a hint of wind, they're gonna make almost any track look like a putt-putt course:

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Jason Day created a far better memory Thursday

than his last round at the TPC Sawgrass. Not only was he 18 shots better, the world's No. 1 player tied the course record with a 9-under 63 that gave him a two-shot lead in The Players Championship. 

In a game that can defy logic, and on a course that can be perplexing, Day had a simple explanation for bouncing back from last year's 81. 

"I'm playing a lot better than I was last year," he said. 

The 28-year-old Australian was in such control that he putted for birdie on every hole. He made half of them, and his longest par putt was 30 inches. 

"Tee to green was pretty decent - was actually really good - and then once I got on the green, I felt like I could hole everything," he said. 

It helped that there was hardly any wind on a steaming morning that made Sawgrass more vulnerable than usual.

He looked dialed in, though in all fairness guys tend to look sharp when they're posting 63's...

Joel Beall had this in his Five Takeaways column:

2. Driving accuracy is overrated

At least compared to driving distance. Day found just eight fairways on Thursday, well below the field's average in the round. Day was able to negate erraticism thanks to routine bombs off the tee. This isn't a new concept -- Columbia professor Mark Broadie has long been a champion of the "power over precision" theory -- but, historically, Sawgrass has put an emphasis on accuracy. Day's feats provided a counter Thursday.

And yet, all day long Sir Nick prattled on about the need to hit fairways...  I get that HE needed to hit fairways, but he's supposed to be an expert on the modern game.  Now if the course firms up as expected, hitting fairways will increase in importance....

Day's 63 is probably less surprising than Steven Bowditch's 80 playing in the same soft morning conditions...  Other notable happenings include this:

Shane Lowry became the first player to shoot 29 on the back nine. He was in the group at 65 that included Justin Rose and Bill Haas. Ernie Els, who just last month started the Masters with a six-putt quintuple bogey, ran off six birdies and an eagle to lead the group at 66. 

Not everyone took advantage of the morning, including Jordan Spieth. 

Spieth, in his first tournament since he lost a five-shot lead on the back nine at Augusta National, played alongside Day and labored his way to a 72. Spieth says he has put the Masters behind him. Now he has to get rid of the poor finishes.

Spieth notably told us that he had nothing to prove, and then proceeded to prove that he had nothing.... He closed with one of those ugly doubles on the Par-5 ninth after being in the bunker just over the green with his second.  These guys are good, except when they're not....

Not much good came from the high-octane Rory-Bubba-DJ pairing, as they all predictably hate this golf course.  Though there was this 372-yard drive by DJ on the ninth.... This just in, DJ remains DJ and walked off the green with a par...

Brian Wacker fills in some detail on why McIlroy seems to be struggling:

Many have pointed to McIlroy’s putting as a problem. His wedge play, though, has been a far bigger culprit. He ranks 170th on the PGA Tour from 100-125 yards and is 165th from 125-150 yards. 

Thursday's results weren't any different. Of McIlroy's 10 approach shots from 150 yards or closer, only two landed inside of 15 feet and most settled a lot farther from the flag. He made birdie on one of the two, rolling in a six-footer on the par-3 17th. 

“Distance control's been off,” McIlroy said. “I've been hitting some short, hitting some long. I feel like there's quite a bit of disparity between a three-quarter shot and a full shot and, yeah, probably something I need to work on a little bit.”

He's not exactly vouching for Rory's putting, but per the above-mentioned Mark Broadie, nothing correlates closer with scoring than proximity.

When Nike forked over the big bucks, they no doubt expected Rory to be around fro most weekends.  Not only will he need to play some actual golf to accomplish that, but he's distracting folks from his new Nike shoes with this:

Rory McIlroy used Round 1 of the Players to sport “joggers” similar to those Rickie

Fowler has brought to prominence. McIlroy coupled the athletic pants with slick new Nike Air Max 90s, which Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura explained are the third shoe style he’s unveiled this year. 

The social-media reaction to McIlroy’s joggers could be gently characterized as love/hate, with the hate outweighing the affinity expressed. The negative reaction to the narrow-bottomed pants overshadowed McIlroy’s willingness to sport Nike’s re-imagining of the golf shirt, this time with a collar blade featuring a vertical button that eschews a bold 21st-century vibe.

Sorry, I'm not digging that bold 21st-century vibe, though at least I'll be spared seeing it on the weekend.

Also not garnering the love?  That would be the absence of carnage at No. 17...  Here's the data:

• Actual yardage: 123 yards
• Scoring average: 2.861 (14th hardest hole on the course)
• 37 birdies, 96 pars, 5 bogeys and 6 doubles
• Green in regulation: 129/144
• Average distance to the pin: 18 ft, 4 in
• Closest to the pin: 2 ft, 4 in by Byeong-Hun An
• Water balls: 6
• Longest putt: 28 ft, 4 in by Retief Goosen
• One putts: 46
• Three putts: 4

  Without a lick of wind and an easy front hole location, playahs gonna play.

Top This - The PGA Tour-LPGA alliance yielded its first tangible results, though I'm being a bit loose with the use of that "T" word.  The alliance was announced, it was just a tad loosey-goosey on what might be involved...

Shack is there though with five suggestions of how it might work, doing the job that American Tour Commissioners won't do.  I should note that Geoff is more of a fan of TopGolf than I am...  It's not that I have a problem with them, it's just that I keep hearing their CEO reminding us that they're not, you know, in the golf business.  They run saloons, and there's nothing wrong with that...

Geoff has some good thoughts for sure:

Instead of only pro-ams at the course, have one at Topgolf.

Let's cut down on those awkward first-tee shots or pro golfers pretending to be excited about five hours of golf with hacks! Instead of the secondary Monday pro-am populated by third-tier tour players, play Tuesday night pro-ams at Topgolf. The players will have more fun, the high-paying types will get to see world-class golfers let their guards down and, did I mention pro-ams take forever?

They sure do, but the ability to provide that experience for customers is about the only possible rationalization of the excessive cost of tournament sponsorship.

Late To The Party - Dave Dusek is the equipment guy at Golfweek and scored a short interview with TaylorMade CEO David Abeles.  See if you have the same reaction that I did to his opening query:

People remember where they were when major events happen. Where were you when you learned that Adidas was going to seek a buyer for TaylorMade, Adams and Ashworth?

He's the CEO, so I'm gonna go way out on a limb and guess that he already knew....  But I can see where this is just like the Kennedy assassination or the first moonwalk.  Sheesh!

Dusek does finally get to the heart of the matter (though his asking out social media reactions first is equally strange) with this:

TaylorMade has been called out by some consumers for releasing too many products too quickly, leading to complaints that clubs become obsolete too fast or

discounted shortly after purchase. How do you address that? 

Fair point, and I think that if you look at our company’s product management over the last two years, you will see less and less of that. In 2015, R15 was in-market for 12 months; AeroBurner was in-market for 12 months. More importantly, when we shifted gears and launched under the new technical platform with M technology, we launched the M1 driver in October, and there have been no major changes to that product. The M2 launched at the PGA Show, and there have been no major changes.

We have a credo here: We will not bring a new product to market unless it is measurably better than what is already in-market. . . . We are going to be more thoughtful in ensuring we retain the value in our products throughout a longer life cycle than we have in the past.

Ah, the righteous zeal of the freshly converted.   To be fair, it didn't happen on his watch, but they've made quite the mess of this market.

Self-Centered Much? - My feelings about the Olympics are well-known to you by now, but this item jumped out at me as a great moment in self-absorption.  

But at least one Olympic golf hopeful -- Alena Sharp, who is safely penciled in as one of Canada's representatives -- will not be deterred from making the trip to Brazil because of the Zika virus.

“I don’t plan on having any kids,” Sharp told Yahoo! Canada. “That’s not part of my life plan. I’m not too concerned about it. If I did get bit by a mosquito that had it, I would think, we will have the medicine to treat it.”

I've not heard of Sharp previously, but I think we can safely conclude that the surname is a misnomer.

First, might there be other women golfers for whom kids are in the life plan?  And, I don't know, might there be spectators?  I'm on a roll here... And, any thoughts on how this is transmitted?  Might you be a vehicle for the disease reaching your homeland?

Now, as for your confidence in their being medicine for it:

Although Zika's implications to pregnant women and their babies has received the most coverage, Zika has also been linked to adult health conditions like brain damage, Guillain-Barré syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which are debilitating and sometimes fatal. 

Worse, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika virus. The CDC only offers the recommendation to drink fluids to prevent dehydration, and to take medicine such as acetaminophen or paracetamol to reduce fever and pain.

Nothing to worry your pretty little head over, Alena, and I'm sure the Canadian health care system will be there when you need them.  But I for one applaud your decision to not extend your gene pool.

Thanks, Maggot -  This would have been more appropriately paired with yesterday's Sawgrass ProTracer item, but you'll get a nice chuckle from this "If Average Golfers Had ProTracer" item.  

But Mags, don't you have a wedding to prepare for?

Thursday Threads

While I have never met Pete Dye, I know him well. He is 500 years old and has absorbed the wisdom of the ages. He has a pointed hat and a flowing robe embroidered with occult symbols. When he speaks, he becomes extremely animated, and gesticulates a lot with flashes of blue static crackling from his long fingernails. PETER DOBEREINER

Balls are in the air at Ponte Vedra Beach, so let's dive in...

Players Gonna Play - Sean Martin has a fun read on the widely variable fortunes of players on this track:

The year was 2006, and Love was tied for the first-round lead after a bogey-free 65. He

It's a golf course that makes one assume the position...

shot 18 strokes higher the next day, punctuating the round with a quadruple-bogey 9 at No. 9 to miss the cut by four shots. 

“It doesn’t take much here,” Love said. “A couple double (bogeys) and it adds up real quick. … A couple bad shots and a couple bad breaks and you didn’t really play that bad and shot a big score.” 

Love, for all his success at TPC Sawgrass, has more missed cuts (8) than top-10s (7) in his 28 PLAYERS appearances. He’s hardly the only one with such a resume.

It's built for thrills and spills, with water in play on twenty of the eighteen holes, so there's gonna be some tears.  But when you add a stroke a hole to your first day score, you're likely to have the weekend off.

And here's some aggregate data...admittedly it's difficult to know what the frame of reference should be, but you'd think that many balls would raise the water table:

The island green at No. 17 gets a lot of the attention, but there are plenty of treacherous shots at TPC Sawgrass. The 249 shots into the water last season were fourth-most on TOUR, while the 225 scores of double-bogey or worse were fifth-most. 

There have been 3,104 shots hit into the water here since 2003, the second-most on TOUR in that span (TPC Southwind leads the way with 4,671).

My only questions is where is TPC Southwind?  I watch more golf than the average bear, and I have no clue what event that is....

But while they say it all the time, this really does seem to be a golf course that favors no specific type of player....  Heck, Tim Clark and K.J. Choi have won here, and they're shorter than I am.  Also, they don't hit the ball very far...

Don't miss this Skratch Golf post on ProTracer greatest hits at Sawgrass.... My personal favorite is Graeme McDowell almost nailing the tree on No. 6, though the marshall in the last one gives a very compelling performance.  And this is pretty cool:

No word on which unfortunate soul hit that outlier on the viewer's right.

Cam Morfitt takes off his rose-colored glasses to speculate on issues that Commissioner Monahan will have to address, this being the elephant in the corner:

That's the good news. But Monahan, 46, is also inheriting a large and sometimes unwieldy house that will require constant upkeep. Where will the Tour take Miami's WGC, what with Cadillac declining to re-up and the host course, Trump Doral, owned by the radioactive Donald? What happens when the FedEx sponsorship expires at the end of 2017?

The last bit, that is... But while others spoke of Commissioner Ratched having widened the moat, I'd suggest that he's built a house that might exceed the load-bearing capacity of its foundation...

Ernie Els has some interesting things to say as well...  Now please don't let Ernie turn over the dirt on any more Harry S. Colt masterpieces, but the man is one of the nicest guys on the planet and observant to boot:

"As long as guys on the Tour keep their noses clean and give them a nice, clean product," Els says, "it's going to be hard to screw this up no matter who the commissioner is." 

Be that as it may, Els feels changes are needed. Golf on TV, he says, still doesn't look right, and the pacing feels off. Viewers should be able to click a button to see their favorite players. "Slow play is a concern," Els says. "The product needs to stay fresh and fast, like other sports. It's got to work on television. The technology is there."

Cam, why wouldn't you do a follow-up with Ernie and let him describe in detail how that broadcast should look....   But speaking of TV, this is getting the headlines:

Ogilvie, who was on the policy board when the Tour's 15-year deal with Golf Channel was announced in 2006, says Monahan will have to shore up the main TV deal, which he says is costing players money. Ogilvie's assessment is based on recent sports-television deals, specifically the 12-year Fox-USGA pact, which was said to be worth around $100 million a year when it was announced in '13. 

"The Tour left $700 million to $1 billion on the table when it did the deal with Golf Channel," Ogilvie says. "There's been astronomical growth since then, and with 20/20 hindsight Comcast got a sweetheart deal. Tim went for what was safe, and you can't fault him for that."

Wow, it's turning into the Night of Long Knives, accusing Commissioner Ratched of leaving a billion large on the table....  You know we've ventured into the Bizarro World when I'm forced to defend the man, but that's just nonsense on stilts.

The objective back then was to lock in coverage of every round and put a long-term deal in place, and that was accomplished at a good price for the times.  Comparing it to Fox, which overpaid greatly for a second-rate package of properties (excepting, of course, the big one) is just silly...

Today in Zika News - In an earlier Cam Morfitt piece, he dealt with the Commish's presser and discussion of the "z" word....  To his credit, the Commish didn't completely bury the issue, but he might have downplayed it just a tad.... Cam felt compellled to include this:

"Brazil's Zika problem is inconveniently not ending," wrote Amir Attaran, a professor at the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Ottawa, in TIME. "The outbreak that began in the country's northeast has reached Rio de Janeiro, where it is flourishing. Clinical studies are also mounting that Zika infection is associated not just with pediatric microcephaly and brain damage, but also adult conditions such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which are debilitating and sometimes fatal. Simply put, Zika infection is more dangerous, and Brazil's outbreak more extensive, than scientists reckoned a short time ago." 

The article questions the wisdom of enabling a mass migration of some 500,000 foreign tourists into the heart of an epidemic in Rio. And some would-be travelers are taking pains to avoid even outlying areas. Citing Zika concerns, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins voted last week not to play two games on May 30, 31 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, relocating them to Miami.

The real issue, of course, is that those 500,000 souls then return home....  But this is what happens when you take the Olympics to dysfunctional third-world countries.  They don't have institutions capable of providing the basics to their people, and now we add a massive infrastructure project and strain those limited resources further.

On a similar subject, Golf.com has gone into the video business, and this is their first production, which is quite beautiful and touching, as well as a bit troubling.... It's 17 minutes long and well worth your time, if you have that kind of time, or you can read this Jeff Ritter companion piece.

As moving as as it is at the micro level (it follows a local player named Breno Domingos), I'm just profoundly uncomfortable with all that is involved at the macro level.  I don't think that the Olympic Golf Course destroyed the loyal environment, that was accomplished long before Gil Hanse set foot in Rio.

But when you lie with dogs you get up with fleas...and in this case you can't build such a golf course and hold such an event without abetting corruption and malfeasance.

Things That Make Us Laugh - Just click here and enjoy.  You can thank me later...

Alan Shipnuck is Now My Hero - Alan has been everywhere lately, mostly to good effect.  Oh, I quibbled with his Olympic item the other day, but cheerleader is part of their job description.

So, why has he been granted access to the pantheon?  For the outrageously unwise act of publishing this:

The Shipnuck 100: The Best Golf Courses I Have Played Worldwide

This is obviously a "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" undertaking, as his inbox will be filled with endless "How Could You Leave Del Boca Vista No. 3" off the list" e-mails.  Not to mention the "How could you put that cow pasture" on the list?' variants on the theme...

Alan knows how to write a lede, so we'll give him the space in which to set his hook:

A couple of weeks ago my laptop computer was stolen. I've never been very good about

backing up stuff, so gone with my Mac was a good chunk of my iTunes library, many treasured photos of my kids and, saddest of all, a Word file on my desktop entitled Top 100. Don't let the simple name fool you—this was a monumental document, a distillation of my life's work. Yes, it was the ever-changing, always-evolving, highly idiosyncratic list of my 100 favorite golf courses on the planet. After a deep period of mourning it's now time to recreate the list, not least because last week I played two courses that demand a rethinking: the recently redone Dunes at Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Chambers Bay. (This was actually my second time pegging it at Chambers but on the first go-around last year, for a GOLF.com video, I was forced to play from the U.S. Open tees, in the rain, while being followed by a camera crew, and thus unable to fully appreciate the course before me.)

Since this is as personal as letting someone read my diary—or, at the very least, my Netflix queue—I feel compelled to explain my crude methodology. There are no fancy statistical categories or complicated metrics. No, I simply ask myself, would I rather play this course or that one? Each track moves up or down the list accordingly. Note that these are only courses I've played, not merely strolled in my guise as a reporter. (Ergo, missing is Oakmont—the only course in the first 17 of Golf Magazine's Top 100 in the World I haven't played.) Ranking anything is highly personal. When it comes to golf courses, I value above all else fun, memorability, beauty, quirkiness and heroic shot values. Courses at which the primary virtue is difficulty don't do much for me. Since I grew up in Monterey County and have returned to live there, I'm deeply biased toward playing by the sea, and all the better if it's ancient linksland. History is a bonus but not mandatory. I love public courses and loathe American golf's obsession with exclusivity, but I try not to let this unduly affect my rankings. Still, when you go to a place and everyone is uptight and you feel like you're supposed to whisper and every dude in the grill room is a cigar-smoking Master of the Universe, that does have some effect on the experience. So, here's my top 100…

Ancient linksland, eh?  I think I like the cut of his jib...  And with names like Cruden Bay (pictured above), Machrihanish and Lahinch in the Top Ten, he doesn't disappoint.  He's more charitable to newer links such as Castle Stuart and Kingsbarns than some, but it is, after all, his list.

 I was surprised to see Old Head make the list, which calls into doubt his qualifications as an insufferable purist, but we all have moments of weakness, so I'll not dwell.  But tucked away at No. 92, and I wouldn't have ti higher, is one that's near and dear to my heart, The Old Course at Ballyliffin.

That he appreciated those marvelously rumpled fairways, which I always compare to an unmade bed, is just so great.  As is the fact the he prefers it to the sterner Glashedy, which is perfectly fine for what it's meant to be.  But the Old is just a wonderful walk with spectacular vistas and uncomplicated yet beguiling shot values.  

It's our home away from home in Ireland, but it's so great that a guy that's played everywhere sees the appeal in it.  Well done, Alan.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, what the &*%$#@ is Valhalla doing on this list?

Midweek Musings

Just a couple of trifles to amuse you this morning, then I'll let you get on with your day...

The Sate of the Finchem - Commissioner Ratched gave his annual State of The Tour presser yesterday at Sawgrass, and it was riveting....  I jest, our Commish doesn't do emotion or enthusiasm.  With LPGA majordomo Mike Whan providing air cover, it was mostly happy talk about the Olympics.  Though this was new:

Asked after his news conference whether a team format, and not just an individual, 72-

hole stroke-play event, might have sparked greater interest among players who have withdrawn, Finchem defended the choice of format. Critics say it is the same competition that golf fans see now on a weekly basis, and will almost be a fifth World Golf Championships event. Match play was eliminated early and stroke play chosen with hopes that more countries will have the opportunity to medal on the final day. 

Finchem also said Wednesday that the IOC would not allow golf to compete in a mixed-team format with males and females composing teams. Golf wanted more than 60 male and 60 female competitors, too, but agreed to that number under the condition that it can be revisited after 2020.

Remember, the IOC wanted the players to show up without caddies, because....well, hotel rooms.  And you'll notice that the men and women won't overlap for the very same reason....  but the assumption of folks like Finchie is that it was worth accepting the substantive constraints to participate in the Olympics, but good luck "revisiting" these issues when you first need to wake folks up.

But our hero also took the opportunity to show off his big, brass-plated cujones:

“If you asked me, ‘Let’s get together next week and put together another big tournament,’ I don’t think that’s what golf needs right now, necessarily,” Finchem said. “But the Olympics is unique. You’re talking about 3 billion people watching the sport on television; that’s one thing. When you think about the way it affects the culture of sport in certain countries, and opens that country up to look at golf as a mainstream sport, athletic sport, then that can really be a game-changer.”

The irony, she burns!  That from very same guy that has shoved numerous pointless money grabs down out throats and refused to give up a single one to promote the Olympics... Yes, Tim, it'll be just like a fifth WGC, when we're still trying to discern the point of the first four.

Augusta Envy - They all have it... The USGA apparently gave their TV contract to Fox in search of Augusta-like TV ratings, and the PGA goes to Atlanta Athletic Club because it's in Georgia.... OK, I made that last bit up, but why else would you go there?  

If you have $5,000 burning a hole in your pocket, here's an opportunity to hobnob with the Ponte Vedra family:

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – At noon on a practice-round Tuesday, The Players Club inside the palatial clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass was the new place to be and be seen at The Players Championship. Some of golf’s biggest powerbrokers, including PGA Tour chief operating officer Jay Monahan, entertained guests and dined at a raw bar, sushi and crepe stations and so much more. Champagne wishes and caviar dreams? They can be yours for $5,000. 

To some, it strikes as another example of the Players trying to imitate the Masters, which built the ultimate VIP venue, Berckmans Place, in 2013. When told that some have called the TPC’s version Berckmans Lite, Matt Rapp, the Tour’s vice president of business development, replied, “We’re Berkmans, only better. You can actually see golf from our venues.”

Having been a couple of times, I can't imagine what golf is visible form the clubhouse, but it's hard to see where our game got it's elitist reputation.... 

Quail Hollow, The New Medinah - I've long noted my fascination with Medinah No. 3....  It's routinely rated highly on all the appropriate rankings, but every time they take an event there you notice that the course has been substantially changed.  Obvious question being, if it's so great why does it need to be dug up repeatedly...

Quail Hollow, site of last weeks Wells Fargo, is beloved by the players and commentators alike, and certainly seems like a stern test.  So, naturally this will not surprise:

On the front nine, Quail Hollow will receive a facelist, not just some minor aesthetic retouchings. The first hole will be lengthened, as is often the case for major tournament setups, but that will necessitate the removal of the par-3 second hole for space. As a result, the par-5 fifth will be cut into two holes, a par-4 and a par-3, to facilitate the elimination of the short second hole.

There will also be added length to the 426-yard par-4 11th hole, as well as reseeded greens, causing Phil Mickelson to wonder if an over-par score could win the final major of 2017. 

"Can you imagine this golf course with severe rough where you have to play very defensive?" Mickelson said after the round. "I think over par would end up winning it. It's a very difficult test ... The guys that play well are able to take advantage of it, make birdies, and the guys that aren't are getting penalized. I think that’s the sign of a really great golf course."

I thought they were only redoing the greens, but not so...  I've never understood the need to take majors to regular Tour stops.  I can rationalize it for Pebble, since the course plays so differently in June.... plus, it's Pebble (and they only play it twice at most during the Clambake).

Also, the PGA's affection for Southern locales (think ACC and Kiawah) continues, no doubt Shane Lowry, Kevin Stadler and Brendon de Jonge in wet golf shirts will help us grow the game.

Singhing in the Rain - Game on, Baby!

Vijay Singh vs. the PGA Tour is finally heating up. 

In a pre-trial conference at the New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, Justice Eileen Bransten sided with Singh's lawyer Peter Ginsberg on the issue of confidentiality, a signal that sanctions issued under the PGA Tour's Anti-Doping Program could soon enter the public record.

While Bransten indicated that she was comfortable continuing to withhold the names of offending golfers, she said that identifying other instances of the program's application, including the names of the drugs that triggered them, was central to Singh's claim that he was treated differently than other golfers who ran afoul of the program when he was suspended for his admitted use of deer antler spray in 2013.

I'm not going to go through the history at this point, but it has nothing to do with the plaintiff, a uniquely unsympathetic character.  But sunlight is badly needed in the Tour's disciplinary processes, and this could be a vehicle to achieve that.

Humor as Treatment - Kudos to Stewart Cink for his attitude towards fighting wife Lisa's cancer diagnosis.  A sense of humor can help folks deal with most anything, so it was great to see this tweet from him:

Like you, I never realized that Will Ferrell and he were separated at birth.  But do we think it would help to let Lisa know that regardless of the toll that the chemo might take, she'll never look this ridiculous:

'Dis And 'Dat

It's very disorienting having this bright round object in the sky... Anyone know what they call it?

Better Than Most - I'm so old that I can remember when we only celebrated the anniversaries of actual sporting accomplishments.  Because, as you no doubt have circled on your calendars, 2016 is the 15th anniversary of Gary Koch's famous call of.... well, we've sort of lost site of what triggered the call, haven't we?

Spoiler Alert:  It was this:

Not surprisingly, Shack uses the anniversary in his header, and also dispenses with the obligatory fifth of four reference:

A year removed from Rickie Fowler’s playoff win, even veterans Johnny Miller and Mark Rolfing have declared it their favorite Players Championship. Ever! And why not? 

For all of the talk about how democratic the TPC Sawgrass is -- and who is to argue with the range of champion playing styles -- the fifth of four majors has had its share of not-particularly memorable finishes and disappointing identity crises. 

So don’t begrudge NBC/Golf Channel for devoting a decent amount of their 80 hours to reminding us how epic the week was. Throw in the the 15th anniversary of Gary Koch’s “Better than most” call and the replay truck will be earning their keep.

Geoff also has some details on technological developments, but of greater imprt is that he takes a new moniker out for a test drive:

there are several interesting endeavors we'll learn more about in Commissioner Czervik's final Players before handing the keys to the Taj Tim to Jay Monahan.

It feels wrong, don't you think?  Tim is the anti-Czervik in my humble opinion...  But of greater import, the only option that Blogger's spellcheck can identify for Czervik is, no shock, cervix.  We cover the important issues here...

Back to Shack, though we're all going to need a teenager to translate them into English:

Microsoft and golf sabermetrics

The week is also expected to feature an announcement of a new Microsoft partnership that should quiet the sabermetrics crowd longing for more advanced use of stats. An additional project with Microsoft, a demo of the 17th hole built into a new “HoloLens” product.

Ummmmm, any guesses on what a HoloLens might be?  Get back to me on that, wouldja?

But this made me think they might be a tad jealous of a certain Scottsdale tourney:

Speaking of the infamous island green, the Qkr! app will allow grandstand-seated fans there to order food and drinks for delivery to their seat thanks to the good folks at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Is the ten shot drink rule in effect this week? 

Sean Martin catches up with Gary Koch and it tunes out that it has legs:

PGATOUR.COM: How often do you hear about that call? 

GARY KOCH: “I hear about it, surprisingly, quite a bit. Even yesterday, I’m down getting coffee in the hotel lobby at 6:45 in the morning. I’m wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. A guy comes up to me and says, ‘Better than most! Better than most!’ And I said, ‘Yes sir, thank you.’ He goes, ‘I use it as the motto for my pee-wee baseball team that I coach every year.’ You know, that’s kind of cool. That’s kind of nice that people remember it and appreciate it.”

Just last week I got a "Better than most" from Kunta Kente for a difficult chip from the back of the twelfth green to a front pin.  Sweet of him to notice...

One last plaintive note from Shack:

Now, if Monahan could be convinced in the coming years to recapture some of Pete Dye’s artisanal, small batch, gloriously inorganic swampy course design vibe, the Players could become the coolest tournament on the planet.

Maybe Jay Monahan will bring in Coore/Crenshaw to restore Pete Dye's original vision....  If you've ever seen photos of TPC Sawgrass in it's original iteration, it had that unkempt, sand hill vibe to which Pinehurst No. 2 was restored.  Now it's far too manicured for the purists, but Trump will no doubt love it...

Peace In Our Time - Our long national nightmare is over:

Kiz is back … on good terms with his home club, at the very least. 

A stir was created last week when Kevin Kisner made it known that he had beensuspended from Palmetto Golf Club, his home course and one that he’s played since he was a child. (He also has lived in a house right off the Aiken, S.C., layout’s 17th fairway.) 

What was the source of his temporary ban? Apparently Palmetto wasn’t too happy about a Vice Sports video Kisner filmed with himself and friends cart racing, drinking beer and gambling on the golf course.

But, worry no more! Kisner is back on good terms with Palmetto.

A stir?  Only in our little fishbowl for sure...

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia - That peace in our time thing never seems to work out, does it?  

The residents of Wentworth are getting their revenge.

Just two months after Wentworth Club’s Chinese owners climbed down over plans to cull the membership and charge a £100,000 re-joining fee, hostilities have resumed.

This time, the private estate’s residents - many of them members of the prestigious club - have gone into battle over the staging at Wentworth of the BMW PGA Championship, one of the biggest tournaments in the golfing calendar.

The row puts the future of the tournament at Wentworth in jeopardy - although organisers rushed on Saturday to insist there was "zero chance" of this year's event being cancelled. They also accused the residents of making "extortionate and unreasonable" demands.

If only folks were this concerned about the serial desecration of their Harry S. Colt classic.... Perhaps the funniest thing is how laughably small the numbers are:

Currently, the European Tour, which organises the tournament, pays just £14,000 a year

for the right to use the land for the golf tournament.

But the Wentworth Estate Roads Committee (WERC), which runs the private estate on behalf of residents through an act of parliament, wants in the region of £300,000 a year. 

It made clear that the Wentworth Club membership dispute had soured relations and prompted the new wrangle.

Thank God for that last clarifying bit.... I never saw it coming.

If You Lie Down With Fleas... -  We've seen the Ponte Vedra Family's view of partnerships, most recently in the scheduling of the Brdigestone snoozefest opposite the Euro's French Open.  Tim wants a collaborative environment, provided that at the end of the free exchange of views you do what he says....

So, when the LPGA gets in bed with the PGA Tour.... well, perhaps that's not the best way to put it, but Shack had this as well in the above-linked item:

More on the PGA Tour-LPGA partnership?

There are rumblings that the next phase of this partnership, seen largely as a bundling play for future TV negotations, will be announced this week. Or at least, better understood after all the tournament week networking has been activated.

Point of order:  Doesn't there have to have been a first phase for us to discuss the next? 

I also caught a glimpse of Tim Rosaforte discussing this on Golf Central... He assured us that it was a good thing that these parties are in discussions, without helping us understand why that might be.

A mixed team event would be good fun, but Commissioner Ratched would schedule it opposite the Women's U.S. Open....  

A Future Of Scarcity - This is quite the head-scratcher, though we know how the state has mismanaged its water resources:

The future of Pasatiempo Golf Club-- one of the game's treasured Alister MacKenzie courses -- has been secured, at least for the next three decades. 

The club, located in Santa Cruz, Calif., recently signed a 30-year agreement with the neighboring community of Scotts Valley for the rights to use recycled city water previously pumped into the ocean. Pasatiempo General Manager Scott Hoyt says the club has been working on the proposal for 30 years. 

"It is an absolute historic event for Pasatiempo," Hoyt says. "It is a huge celebration for us. We don't know of any other courses that have three water sources like us. This started out as water security. It turned out to be beneficial cost-wise.

As an aside, Pasatiempo is the only one of his gems that MacKenzie lived long enough to see the finished product.  He saw quite a a bit of it, as he lived there, but he never saw Augusta National, Cypress Point or Royal Melbourne completed.

Hoyt says the financial implications of the deal will be difficult on the club in the short term. He says Pasatiempo will pay for the entire cost of the water up front -- $1.6 million spread over the next five years -- leaving no payments the final 25 years of the agreement. The club has also taken out a loan to pay for an $8-million project to build a 500,000-gallon storage tank and its own pumping and filtration station. Ground will be broken May 17 with scheduled completion in May 2017.

First, that's quite a price tab for water they were pumping into the ocean, no?  But secondly, what happens if there's a municipal bankruptcy?

You're Dead To Me - Alan Shipnuck has gone from mildly annoying to odious with his continued string of plum gig, the latest being a piece on the best basketball team on this rock:

"Golf is a big part of the team culture," Iguodala told me at the team's practice facility in Oakland. He's only been playing for about two years, but is a self-described "junkie." He can rattle off the top five players in the world—female players. He hits the range every non-game day, and routinely shows up at practice in his golf togs. A fast learner, he shot a nifty 86 at Augusta, but he's quick to add, "I've got a long ways to go to catch up to that guy." 

"That guy" is Curry. On this day, he was engaged in a putting contest on the hardwood with Lydia Ko, who had dropped by a Warriors shoot-around as part of an LPGA publicity tour. "I haven't seen Steph that excited in a while," said a Golden State front-office official. "And if he's excited, then all of us get excited." 

Curry grilled Ko on everything from the degrees of loft on her wedges to the tenets of the "A Swing," the method promulgated by her teacher, David Leadbetter. Little wonder the NBA's reigning MVP calls himself "a golf nerd."

All these great athletes from other sports love our game, yet we're the ones in an existential crisis.... What's wrong with this picture?

How Do We Count The Ways? -  That same Shipnuck guy had this epci whine:

Why Aren't More Players Excited About Golf's Olympics Return?

Really, Alan?  OK, let's let the man make his arguments....  I think this is the crux of it:

A popular canard trotted out by detractors is that the Games are supposed to represent the pinnacle of the sport and that will never be the case, given the long history of the major championships. But the Olympics is not the pinnacle for soccer, tennis or basketball, and these sports have all been enriched and elevated by being a part of the Games. As another individual sport, tennis offers the most useful comparison. Andy Murray's gold medal at the 2012 London Games was as big a deal as any Wimbledon final. Roger Federer's carrying the Swiss flag in the opening ceremonies in '04 and '08 was a more indelible moment than anything he's done at the Australian Open. It will be a career-altering moment for whoever wins gold in Rio, no matter what else he or she accomplishes going forward.

I agree that tennis is the best example, but with nothing beyond that.  How has tennis been enriched?  Yes, there was a brief buzz over Andy Murray because he specifically and Brits in general finally won something, but Roger Federer carrying Summer-Olympics powerhouse Switzerland's flag at the opening ceremonies?  I know, it changed my life...

Then there was this:

Lately it has become trendy to kvetch about golf's Olympic format, which is funny given that the 72-hole stroke play competition was announced in 2009. Ty Votaw is the PGA Tour official who spearheaded golf's reentry into the Games, and he is happy to reiterate the reasons why the Olympics will look the way they do: "Golf is blessed to have many formats, but stroke play is always the standard of excellence at the biggest events. With match play many nations would have been eliminated early in the competition, which we didn't want. And a team format reduces the competitiveness of many countries."

So what, we did it for Finland?  remember, it's not just that it's another dreary stroke play tourney, it's also a ridiculously weak field.  Here's your pro-am field as of today:

You're going to grow the game by making us watch Roope Kakko?  But no room at the inn for Matt Kuchar....

They're not serious, but they expect the players to be...

Weekend Wrap

The good news is that I finally saw my shadow Sunday afternoon.  However, as I understand things, that ensures that we'll have six more weeks of winter.

Quail-Safe - I hope you got your fill of The Green Mile, because you'll have to do without for a full fifteen months.  But about that tourney:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Sometimes, it’s just a crazy game. James Hahn, who hadn’t made

a cut in eight events on the PGA Tour dating to early February, emerged from a pack of superstars Sunday to win the Wells Fargo Championship in a playoff over Roberto Castro.

Hahn, whose last made cut – and last round in the 60s, for that matter – came three months ago at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, parred the notorious 18th at Quail Hollow Club on the first extra hole after shooting 70 to tie Castro at 9-under 279.

“Just didn’t have the confidence, didn’t believe in my myself,” said Hahn, now a two-time Tour winner. “I felt like I was putting in the work but wasn’t getting any reward for it.”

A pep talk with caddie Mark Urbanek after last week’s Zurich Classic, however, helped give Hahn the spark he needed. “We just kind of had a talk that, “Hey, look, you just have to keep believing in yourself, keep grinding because it’s not always going to be like this,’ ” Hahn said.

Sometimes?   OK, how annoying were Kostis and McCord with their constant "This guy's swing is too good for him not to be a top player" bit?  It's fine the first few times, at least under standards that acknowledge how much air time they have to fill.  But while there's a few idiosynchratic swings out there, most of the guys look pretty damn good on the KonicaMinolta Swing Hub.  Because, you know, they have their names on their bags...

Many no doubt were surprised by the poor day of Rickie Fowler, including this guy:

Something is holding Fowler back, and it's not his talent or technique or course management. It's not because he's having too much fun off the course. It's not the hightops. What he lacks is Raymond Floyd's stare, Nick Faldo's self-absorption, Vijay Singh's nasty streak. Watch Fowler with fans and sponsors and other players, in his TV interviews and his acting gigs. You can tell: He likes being liked, and he needs to be liked. Nothing wrong with that. But what Tiger needed was for you to get the hell out of his way now. 

Can a killer instinct be developed? Only rarely. Ernie Els didn't have it, then he did. (Let's not talk about now.) Megatalents who are social creatures at heart tend to have long careers but sometimes walk away from the table with good meat still on the bone. Fred Couples and Davis Love III had some of that.

And here's that same guy answering the same question as part of the Tour Confidential panel:

Michael Bamberger: I feel differently, Gary--I think you show the killer instinct by being a successful front-runner, with the attitude that no matter what the lead is, you want more. Tiger felt he should have won the 2000 U.S. Open by 16, and is likely still upset about a ruling he wanted and did not get.

They're both useful skills, but I've always found playing with the lead to be harder...  But I don't know what's going on in this crazy, mixed up world if this is the voice of reason:

Joe Passov: I'm kind of with Jeff here ... sort of. I too was surprised to see the stat that said this was only the third time Rickie had held or co-held a third-round lead, and first since 2011. Is it possible that maybe he's just not as good a player as we want him to be? I say that because I know how good he is for the game, and I've seen him spend tons of extra time with kids, fans, signing autographs, posing for pics. So yes, I root for him for that reason. Yet, what's real is that outside of the four-for-four Top 5s in majors in 2014 and his scintillating Players win in 2015, he hasn't accomplished all that much.

OK, who are you and what have you done with Travelin' Joe?

No shortage of love for this video of Jason Kokrak escaping from the second floor of a hospitality facility earlier in the week (thanks, Mags).  Phil got there first at The Barclays at Plainfield, though I think he stayed on the ground floor.

And speaking of our Phil, a simple yes will suffice here:

3. Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson had classic Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson weeks at Quail Hollow. McIlroy closed with a 66 but shot 73 on both Thursday and Saturday; Mickelson, after making a quadruple-bogey 8 on 18 Saturday and shooting 76, bounced back with his own 66 Sunday. With the U.S. Open just weeks away, what should we read into their performances?

That quad on Saturday was a classic of the Phil genre.... You can click through on that TC link above if you care about the answers, but unless Oakmont plays really soft I'm not liking either of those guys.

When Is That Sell-By Date? -  Had your fill of Rickie yet?  I know, he seems to be a nice enough kid, but the hype and results have never been in balance.  If you're burned out on orange, you might want to take this week off, as folks reminisce about last year's Players win.  This lengthy, interactive piece is really very good, not least when it fills in some personal background:

Rickie started to practice and play tournaments regularly, but on Wednesdays, he’d hit balls with his grandfather and hear stories about Taka's childhood, during which he was forced into a World War II internment camp for people of Japanese heritage.

Those moments with the man who introduced him to golf are the reason Rickie (whose middle name is Yutaka) cried after losing the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff in February. It wasn’t because he missed out on a PGA TOUR victory; golfers lose far more tournaments than they win. It was because his grandfather, one of the 618,000 fans at TPC Scottsdale, had never seen him win in person.

Those moments led to Rickie getting his grandfather’s name tattooed in Japanese on the inside of his left bicep last year. They led to school projects and reports about Yutaka’s experience in the internment camp.

“I’ve never heard my dad talk about it and I’ve never heard Rickie talk about it,” Lynn says. “I think it’s possible Rickie could be the first person my dad gave those stories to.”

And this on Rickie's amazing finish, especially his three Sunday passes at the island green, is also worth a read.

It really was quite the amazing finish, well worth the victory lap.  Rickie probably didn't do himself any favors by coughing up a 54-hole lead the week before, but as a wise man once said, it is what it is...

Both items come via Shack, who sees it as a comeback of sorts for long-form journalism....  No doubt attention spans are shorter these days, but all one need do is write something that's worthy of the length.

It's Good To Be The King - Lots of men have ruined individual companies, but it's the rare breed that poison the well of entire industries.... But Mark King is that man.  After having worked his magic on TaylorMade's golf business, he was kicked upstairs and has this to add to the story of its sale:

"I think the decision was made to sell it," King says, "because the company has realized that we should be focusing on the biggest growth opportunities. And the biggest growth opportunities are in running, training, basketball. And we have a lot of runway in those. As opposed to being in something that is harder to focus on."

Harder to focus on? In other words, golf equipment is a bad business these days (despite Hainer's insistence to the contrary)? "It is," King says. "And that was the realization."

Shack has a little spittle running down the side of his mouth at the chutzpah of it all, reminding us first of this:

Add him to the list of business minds blaming the sport for not embracing a grand vision of consumers replacing $500 drivers and $1200 sets of irons on a bi-annual basis. Or, in the case of Taylor Made circa 2013, tri-annual.

Well, but that was carefully timed to catch our fifth "Recovery Summer"....  I know, they're still clogging up the remainders bin at Dick's.

But Geoff seems capable of holding a grudge for as long as your humble blogger, so let's be grateful for this stroll down memory lane:

As the former TaylorMade chief, King has had a hand in the many efforts to attract new fans to the sport of golf and change the downward trend. Two years ago, along with the National Golf Foundation, King helped launch Hack Golf, an open invitation to innovations that might grow the game. The most notable of those was a larger, 15-inch hole (about the size of a pizza box) that some hoped would lure young kids to try an easier version of the game. It was met with ridicule in some parts of the sport.

Remember kids, the very same folks who are now telling us that Olympic Golf will save our game were previously telling us that Hack Golf was the future.

So what does the way forward look like? "I just think any category runs its play until the play doesn’t work anymore," King says. "And then it’s forced to ask, Do we need to do things differently? Tennis did that. Bowling did that. Skiing did that. And I think that's where the game of golf is today. It needs to change some of the entry points to the game to attract new consumers. And I think golf will find a way to do that, whether that takes five years or 10 years." 

Adidas can't wait that long to see if the industry will improve. It will remain on golfers' shirts and shoes, but it's looking to get out your bag of clubs, pronto.

 An actual teachable moment...  King has happened upon an actual truth, but of course completely mangles it beyond recognition.  Sports do need to adapt, and let's take skiing, a subject with which I am familiar, as an example...

Skiing has evolved to include snowboarding and freeskiing as a result of the the foresight of the leaders of the sport decreeing that henceforth you shall go forward and ski on a single board instead of on two skis....

Yeah, not so much....  what happened of course is that millions of market participants tried billions of crazy things at a micro level...  and out of that evolved all sorts of innovations.  It also helped that engineering and materials technology trickled down and made the sport a little easier...  But these things happen organically and golf has benefited from them for centuries, they just don't occur as a result of the formation of committees.

I know, pass that on to your favorite Bernie Sanders voter...

Oh, and is our game dying?

Earlier this year the National Golf Foundation reported, for the first time since 2012, the number of golf rounds played in the United States were up. This week, the foundation revealed the uptick was not a digression, as participation in 2016 continues to trend upwards. 

Through three months, golf rounds played are up 5.5 percent, according to Golf Datatech. This number is incited by a strong March, as the month experienced a 13.2 percent boom.

That last bit was no doubt influenced by unusually-tepid weather, but the fact that people use warm weather to go play golf is worth keeping in mind.

Did Someone Mention the Olympics? - I've often criticized Pravda's Karen Crouse for a lack of knowledge of her subject matter, but she knows enough to get this right:

Golf’s ruling bodies had seven years to smooth over the ruffled feathers of sponsors or tournament officials whose events could have been sacrificed this year for the greater good of the game. They also could have fought for a mixed-gender event, which Scott said “would have been a great platform,” or a team format at the Olympics. Instead they took the path of least resistance, a stroke-play event that guaranteed a maximum star presence and a minimum overall impact. 

The powers-that-be whiffed. And because they would not make the tough calls, the players are left to wrestle with the difficult decision on whether to opt out of the Olympics.

I couldn't have resisted using shanked in lieu of whiffed, but she gets to the essence of it.   But it's her first sentence that's the real tell, as the powers-that-be so often pretend that this all happened so quickly that they made the best of it they could.

Swimmer Micheal Phelps captures this thought in pitch-perfect manner:

“You see some of these golfers who are so excited to have a chance to be back in the Olympics,” Phelps said. “You could probably argue that some of these guys probably think the Masters, the rest of the majors, are bigger than what the Olympics is. In reality, the Olympics is the largest level in athletics in the world. There’s no higher level of competition.”

Yes, of course..... in swimming.  And even Rory, who can't be faulted for going along, gets it:

But in their courtship of the I.O.C., the top golf officials were like the ardent suitor who gives little consideration to the future beyond the presentation of the attention-grabbing engagement ring.

Rory McIlroy, who will defend his title this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, will represent Ireland in Rio. McIlroy, the third-ranked golfer in the world, said, “I feel like the officials were patting themselves on the back for getting golf in,” instead of treating the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics as the first step in a marathon of planning.

OK, do we think Karen realizes how funny that segue is?  Our Rory knows full well how things can go awry after sending out the invitations...

And Marika Washchyshyn is shocked, shocked to find out that human nature still rules:

The apathy or reluctance among some of the male players is understandable. The PGA

Tour will play two of its four majors in the weeks leading up to Rio, and the FedEx Cup playoffs –- with a $10 million bonus payout -– in the weeks immediately following it. The women, on the other hand, have a three-week respite around the Olympics, which the LPGA tour requested. 

“It seemed right to take a break for those players,” Whan said. “If they are playing [the Olympics], they’re not falling back in the world rankings or the official money list.”

Not only does the LPGA have too many holes in their schedule to begin with, but they desperately need the exposure.  So, Zika be damned....

Actually, perhaps the most surprising thing is that Tiger's name doesn't come up in the discussion of the format.  It seemed important those seven years ago to have an event that Tiger would embrace, and he didn't like match play or team events.  It's been a long time since Tiger mattered, but it was never helpful when his preferences ruled.

The Lightning Round -

As Serious as a Heart Attack - “It’s really in (the club’s) DNA,” Davis said. “It’s been said that, and maybe somewhat in jest, when the USGA comes to town Oakmont must cut the rough, slow down the greens and utilize easier hole locations. I hope it’s in jest. But you get the drift.”

And as Smooth as His Putting Stroke:  My other favorite was Ernie Els as the runaway winner for "Player you'd want defending you in a bar fight." Wonder if his right hook is as effortless as his golf swing.

 Too soon?

Gotcha Covered, Danny Boy - Masters Champion: “No, I've not heard from the President of America yet - nor old Queenie."

Stop by any time:

I'll leave the reader to imagine how that picture came to be.....

More Inked Than Spotted - SPOTTED: Anthony Kim. At a Dallas pet store.

No, really....check the photo.  Employee No. 2 has long believed that he's in Tiger's basement.  You'll have to ask her yourself, because I don't want to know....

I'll Take Rafael Cruz on the Grassy Knoll for $100, Alex - Donald Trump says he has too much integrity to cheat at golf

Not THAT Golfer - Is calling a golfer a "cheater" the worst thing you can say about him?