Midweek Musings

Just a few droppings for you this morning, though check back because I may surprise you with a second item....

It's Official - This will come as no surprise to the astute reader:

It's official: Tiger Woods has withdrawn from next week's PGA Championship and will

not play in all four majors for the first time since 1994.

Woods has been rehabbing from multiple back surgeries all season and has not played an event in 2016. His last tournament was the Wyndham Championship in August 2015, where he finished tied for 10th. Replacing Woods at Baltusrol next week will be Harold Varner III.

I for one am relieved that the PGA will still manage to meet its diversity goals.... 

Steiny gives us an extensive update on Tiger's progress and future schedule:

In an email to GolfChannel.com, Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said: "Continuing to make progress, but simply not ready for PGA. Will not play in the '15/'16 season and will continue to rehab and work hard to then assess when he starts play for the '16/'17 season."

Or not.  It is what it is, he just needs more reps so he can get back his golf feels and.... eh, at this point what difference does it make?

The hope of course is that he's taking enough time to let himself heal fully, and that when he returns his body will be up to the rigors of tournament play.... that is, if he returns.

But, like a tenacious bulldog, I can't help myself from piling on....  Despite Commissioner Colossus bestriding the calendar and leaving no weekend bereft of an event, there's not a single tourney between July and April for Tiger to give a second thought to....

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda... - How did I miss this obvious parlay?

Henrik Stenson had never won a major championship before Sunday. Aaron Baddeley hadn't won a PGA Tour event in more than five years. And yet one brilliant (crazy?) golf fan decided to bet on both of them last week. Before their tournaments started. As part of the same wager. 

Of course, Stenson won the Open Championship in Scotland on Sunday and Baddeley was victorious at the Barbasol Championship in Alabama. And on Tuesday, Australian golf broadcaster Luke Elvy shared this copy of the most incredible winning betting slip you'll ever see:

Here's an explanation for those of you that don't punt on golf:

In this case, the mysterious gambler paired Stenson (at 34-to-1 odds) with Baddeley (at 51-to-1 odds). Both golfers had to win their respective tournaments or it would be a lost wager. The result was a "price" of $1,734, meaning for every dollar bet, the bettor would win that much. Since the bettor wagered $50, his overall return was $86,700. Not too shabby. 

According to Elvy, the ticket didn't belong to him, but rather "a renowned golf punter in Australia." If anyone knows his identity -- or more importantly, who he's betting on at the PGA Championship -- please let us know. Thanks.

Fair enough, though the payout doesn't strike me as that favorable for the improbability of the outcome....  I mean Aaron Baddeley?

Be Careful Out There -  We had one of these last summer from a golf course near the Slat Lake City airport.  But you know that lightning stuff that they tell us to avoid on the golf course?  Turns out, and I didn't see this coming, that it's really dangerous, as per this photo from a Des Moines golf course:

Apparently that cup at ground zero melted.... Be careful out there.

The State of the Rota - Shack takes a look at the SOTR, and finds it uncertain... the threshhold issue, is Turnberry still in the rota:

Still, Turnberry faces an uphill battle to host the Open because of the R&A’s aversion to the New York real-estate magnate’s inflammatory campaign-trail rhetoric and his potential for upstaging an event. Few in Scotland have forgotten the then-new candidate’s helicopter entrance and appearance at the Women’s British Open at Turnberry last July, or his premature mention of Trump International Links in Aberdeen landing a three-year deal to host the Scottish Open. (That deal is dead after Aberdeen Asset Management’s head man, Martin Gilbert, signaled his company was looking at other venues for the event.) 

Last December, the Independent on Sunday reported that Trump Turnberry was out of the Open rota over various incendiary comments by the candidate. However, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers denied that during the 145th Open at Royal Troon.

Is that Ivanka in the high heels?

Geoff's basic premise is that the Ailsa course is much improved, as it was notoriously overrated due to the spectacular vistas and epic Open Championships held there.  he has a full review in the works, but it would be a shame if we lose it because of you-know-who....

I thought Peter Dawson played this well last summer, asking the seemingly relevant question of why he would base his venue decisions on comments of the owner....But it's criminal naivete to suggest that the blue bloods of the R&A want any part of The Donald.

The Muirfield issue is to me a McGuffin, as there's little doubt that thier membership policy will be changed sufficiently soon to have no impact on the R&A's awarding of venues.  Royal Portrush always seemed to me a wise insurance policy, and the fact that it's such a great links is a bonus..... you'll see in 2019.

Back at his blog, Geoff had this about another venue:

Troon? Very fine venue and every dozen years, is just right for The Open. Shoot, 12 years from now the R&A media hotel suggestion, the Adams Family House, may even have internet and fire extinguishers attached to the walls! 

More disconcerting is a likely return to Royal St. George's in 2020 without some restoration and softening of bad modern era tweaks (when the superior Deal/Royal Cinque Ports is available). Throw in possible pouting over The Donald's comments, eliminating Turnberry from the rota, and the R&A will suddenly have a much weaker rota if they avoid Turnberry (and have Muirfield on the outside looking in).

Internet?  What a diva...

Royal St. George's is the one current rota course that I've never played, but it's also clearly the most reviled.  I'm surprised that he thinks Deal and Royal Cinque Ports are capable of holding Opens, as it's been many decades since either held the big show.

Bubba, Ready for Rio - Why is Bubba about the only guy excited about the Olympics?  Because he's got a solution for the ground transportation issues.... 

Making it quite curious, as per Alex Myers, as to why he looked like any other schlub at Newark Airport:

Please tell me that he didn't check his clubs, especially that precious pink driver?

Tuesday Tidbits

Just a few short items for you today, as I'm on the clock.  Employee No. 2 and I will be heading West for a few days, so I'll check in when possible or breaking news requires...

NBSeeYa - The NBC team is receiving mixed reviews of their Open coverage.  There was a rant in yesterday's NY Post about the commentators talking over player-caddie consultations, specifically citing Phil and Bones on the 8th tee on Sunday.  While I don't specifically remember that moment, I don't doubt that it's true....

The writer also had what seemed to me an odd complaint, that the hole and course commentators always seem to address their comments to Johnny, as opposed to the viewer.  That's not in my top ten complaints, but did he expect Roger to address him by name?

John Strege gives them mostly praise, though I could have done without this image:

Although much can be rationalized when you realize that they had more than two hours to kill before the last group teed off, and that ignores the entire three hours on Golf Channel.  His one gripe is that he'd have liked more Protracer, and who wouldn't?  No question it's hard to follow white golf balls against a typically grey Scottish sky, but it's also about the variability of ball flights used by the players....

The previously unknown to me Ken Fang (is that a great name, or what?) is more ene-handed in dling out pros and cons, and my takeaway is that he likes the pot bunker cams....  they were awfully good, especially on No. 8.

One of the letdowns was obviously the LinksTrax, a great idea unveiled the wrong week, when the course was incredibly soft.... Let's hope for a dry 2017 summer in Southport:

LinksTrax was a fun new innovation showing where balls landed and how far away they were from the hole, but it was not used enough. Again, hopefully this will be rectified at Royal Birkdale.

Could you imagine this at Hoylake in '06?  Yuuuge, I say.....

Mr. Fang is also not a fan of the Yanni, on which we agree.

Martin Kauffman agrees on NBC's call that I noted yesterday:

NBC smartly kept the focus on the course and, specifically, the final group. It made the rare decision to assign two reporters to the final group – Roger Maltbie following Mickelson and David Feherty tracking Stenson. The network has done this earlier in the season and I’ve criticized it because it struck me as a waste of assets to assign two on-course reporters to the same group. But it was absolutely the correct decision Sunday. There was only one group that mattered. It had the added benefit of getting more airtime for Feherty, who sometimes seems like an afterthought in NBC’s coverage.

That has been a rather odd aspect of NBC broadcasts, the reason for which is obvious.  But on Saturday they moved Feherty to the final group during the round, and would have been prepared to reverse that if anyone in the chase pack had made a move.   

Martin's primary criticism is this, echoing that Post item referenced above:

What could NBC have done been better? The network still does a poor job of capturing on-course audio. Mickelson and caddie Jim Mackay are as chatty as any pair on Tour, and yet I’m hard pressed to remember any of their on-course comments during the tournament. Sometimes that just reflects a lack of discipline from the announcers. On the par-3 14th Sunday, we could hear Mickelson and Mackay discussing the tee shot, but Miller insisted on talking over their conversation. We didn’t learn anything from Miller, but we might have learned something from Mickelson and Mackay.

Yeah, Johnny is a whole 'nother can of worms.  I think he's generally been good for the game and NBC, and far more insightful and bearable than Sir Nick's blabbering nonsense, though your mileage may vary...  But he might well have reached his Sell-By date.... discuss among yourselves.

You Know Jack - Nicklaus on Henrik v. Phil:

I was fortunate to watch every second of today’s final round of the Open Championship, and I thought it was fantastic. Phil Mickelson played one of the best rounds I have ever seen played in the Open and Henrik Stenson just played better—he played one of the greatest rounds I have ever seen. Phil certainly has nothing to be ashamed of because he played wonderfully. Henrik played well from beginning to end. He drove the ball well; his iron game was great; his short game was wonderful; and his putting was great. Henrik was simply terrific. To win your first major championship is something special in and of itself, but to do it in the fashion Henrik did it in, makes for something very special and incredibly memorable. I'm proud of and happy for Henrik. Some in the media have already tried to compare today’s final round to 1977 at Turnberry, with Tom Watson and me in what they called the “duel in the sun.” I thought we played great and had a wonderful match. On that day, Tom got me, 65-66. Our final round was really good, but theirs was even better. What a great match today.

I don't necessarily believe that to be true, but it's what a gracious man says....and Jack is a gracious man.

Well, He's Got That Going For Him.... -  Not the Dalai Lama, in this case, but how's this for faint praise?

Rory McIlroy, fourth in the World Ranking, outplayed the top three in the British open, which “proved here at the very least that he is no Ringo in golf’s Fab Four.

Yeah, I'm sure that this won't bother him at all:

But it is equally relevant that McIlroy was 16 strokes off the winner and 13 off the

runner up. McIlroy at his best is the player surging over the horizon; at Troon, he was a 27-year-old who gave his own sport a kick in the teeth with his comments about Olympic golf and then broke a three-wood in the third round when his game did not meet expectations. 

For all of his claims that he is very happy with his game, and for all of the encouraging signs, perhaps those snapshots tell a fuller truth about the stress of grinding back to the top.

Left unsaid was how soft Troon was, conditions under which he was able to win at Hoylake.  Not a good week, either on the course or in front of a microphone.

Strange Way Of Showing It - Old buddy Tim Rosaforte is a nice guy, though I'm not sure what he sought to accomplish with this thumbsucker on Spieth's Olympic decision:

Why was it so hard? Because he is a huge believer in Olympic golf and in his country, and because he has played sports all his life and loves the Olympics and had been talking up how much he wanted to go. Before his career is over, he hopes to compete in four or five Olympic games.

So he could understand the skepticism about his decision. Spieth pushed back on suggestions that it was about the Zika virus, saying it was more “health concerns.” He implied there were more serious considerations -- probably involving security issues -- that he couldn’t talk about. 

Spieth also considered the importance of golf being in the Olympics for the first time since 1904. And what athletes from other sports said about the Olympic experience. “I certainly was not trying to wait until the last minute,” Spieth said. “I couldn’t make a decision and then I had to by the last deadline.” In the end, he went with his gut.

I don't criticize him for going or not going, but since he's not going, is it too much to ask that he shuts up about what a gut-wrenching decision it was.... Sophie's Choice it wasn't.

One last quickie on the Olympics, actually a question from this weeks Tour Confidential panel to which we linked yesterday:

5.) The chief of the Rio Games, Carlos Nuzman, came right out and said it: Golfers have withdrawn from the Games in droves not because of Zika but “because there is no prize money.” Is Nuzman right?

Do we think Carlos has any familiarity with Yiddish?  Probably not, so let's help him out:

The International Olympic Committee is a crime syndicate masquerading as a sports organization, so I'm terribly interested in their view of golfers' monetary ethics.....  

Mind you, I do acknowledge that golfers have brought this on themselves... For instance, earlier this year we had the above-referenced Jordan Spieth jetting to a third-rate event in Singapore for a rather sizable appearance fee,and that is absolutely fair game.  But not from anyone associated with the Olympics....perhaps from FIFA.

Weekend Wrap - Hammerin' Hank Edition

Did you see any of it?  If not, more's the pity....

I had a match yesterday at the oddball time of 2:00, and was thus able to see most of the heavyweight title bout....  I ran over to the club as they were playing up No. 16, but caught Phil's near miss and Henrik's clincher.  Or at least I thought it was the clincher... The obligatory game story:

Who saw that coming? Who saw Phil Mickelson, at 46, the winner of nothing more

meaningful than a Tuesday practice-round bragging-rights match since his 2013 British Open victory, coming to the stern links of Royal Troon, playing four days of nearly perfect golf, shooting 17 under par, and losing by three? 

But that's what happened here on Sunday. 

In one of the greatest displays of golf this championship has ever seen, Henrik Stenson, at 40, became the first Swede to claim a men's major title with his victory at the 145th British Open. The final round was a stunning display of mano a mano golf, as Stenson and Mickelson, going off in the last twosome of the day, completely distanced themselves from the rest of the field and matched each other almost shot for shot in what amounted to golf theater as its most exhilarating.

To their credit, NBC did....They had both Maltbie and Feherty walking with the final group on Sunday, not even pretending that any of the first 35 games might matter.  Oh, they milked Beef for entertainment value, but that was mere filler while the two gladiators walked to their balls.

 Peter Bukowski runs through some of the numbers:

• Stenson's 20 under ties Jason Day's record for score relative to par at a major. Day set the record in last year's PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. Like Day, this was also Stenson's first major win. Likewise, that gives Stenson the Open record for score relative to par, besting Tiger Woods's 2000 tournament at St. Andrews (19 under). That had also been the major championship record until Day broke it in 2015.

• While Stenson merely tied the major record for score relative to par, he posted the lowest aggregate score ever in a major at 262. Royal Troon is a par-71 course, whereas Whistling Straits is a par-72.

And there were stats for the loser, maybe runner-up is more appropriate, as well:

In fact, for a tournament that's been around since 1860, Mickelson's 17-under score would have been good enough to win every other British Open except for four. 

Only Rory McIlroy (17 under, 2014), Tiger Woods (19 under, 2000; 18 under, 2006) and Nick Faldo (18 under, 1990) won with scores of 17 under or better.

OK, so Phil's score was more under par than Willie Park's in 1860, when they played a twelve-hole course.... I'm sure that will console him, though I'm also pretty sure there wasn't even a par for that Prestwick course....

Though had I seen this, I might have tried to get a quick wager down on the Swede:

Phil with the full Yani.... You never want to go full Yani!

The Tour Confidential panel assesses the historical context:

Alan Shipnuck: Instant classic. Nicklaus and Watson were proven commodities by Turnberry, Tiger was Tiger by Valhalla, but for this to be Henrik’s first major win is legendary stuff. 

Cameron Morfit: I agree, Alan. This one was impressive. Given all the reasons to doubt these guys, especially with the way Phil was starting to spray it Saturday, I wondered if they would go the other way, like Jason Gore and Retief Goosen at the 2005 U.S. Open. Boy did that not happen. What a terrific show.

I think what made it so compelling is that they both needed it so badly, and were able to summon such extraordinary golf under that pressure.  The couple of mistakes that were made only heightened the drama,   See what you think of this:

Jessica Marksbury: Is it crazy to say that Henrik’s final round wasthe best performance ever? I mean, how long have we waited for someone to tie Johnny’s mark of 63 in a final round at a major? Especially when his nearest competitor—a Hall of Famer with five majors to his zero—nearly matched him! I was worried that this Open might be remembered as a bit boring after Saturday’s round. No one really stepped up to the plate to challenge Henrik and Phil with a super-low score, and a man-to-man duel on Sunday can easily become a war of attrition. But to have two players separate themselves from the field—by more than 10 shots!—with such epic final-round performances was just unreal. This could be an open-the-floodgates win for Henrik.

First, just like the best 59 was Geiberger's, because it hadn't been done before, Johnny deserves pride of place.  And a lush, green Troon is hardly Oakmont, but I'll just note that shooting 63 after sleeping on the lead, especially when you've a well-earned rep for getting a little hinky, is quite a thing....  As noted in Phil's presser, he would have taken his 65 and assumed he'd be the one winning by three.

As for Jessica's last premise, we always say that, but.... did anyone see DJ this week?

The other aspect that made this fun, very much in the mold of the Duel in the Sun, was that these two guys obviously know and like each other.  Henrik is apparently quite the card, despite his Teutonic demeanor and stern demeanor on the course.  This is from the Swede's presser:

OK, so Henrik had a little help. In a post-round press conference filled with laughs, the newly minted Champion Golfer of the Year was asked to rank Sunday's win among his life achievements -- with the reporter mentioning milestones such as his first kiss and passing his driver's test. 

"Yeah, given that I failed my driver's test probably as many times I was second or third at major championships, that one has to be higher than this, of course," Stenson deadpanned.

Phil was predictably gracious in his presser, though he cut right to the core of why he needed this one:

Pressed a few times, Mickelson did his best to not sound like someone who has experienced more surreal second-place finishes than any golfer in modern history. 

“I don't look back on anything and say, I should have done this differently or that. I played what I feel was well enough to win this championship by a number of strokes and yet I got beat by three strokes. You know, it's not like I have decades left of opportunities to win majors, so each one means a lot to me. And I put in my best performance today. Played close to flawless golf and was beat.”

 This answer from Phil wasn't his most articular, but gets at an important distinction:

The normally glib and opinionated Mickelson warmed up by the end of the session to compliment the R&A’s approach to course setup. 

“I think that R&A sets the golf course up to be as fair as possible and to try to kind of identify who the best player is regardless of what the score is given the conditions and so forth. Sometimes it's 20-under. Sometimes people don't want that many under par. But the fact is if somebody plays some incredible golf, that's what it should do. You shouldn't have to mess with the course too much to try to control the score. 

“The USGA has it in their mind that the score needs to be par, so no matter what lines they have to cross to get there, that's got to be the standard, and it kind of disregards and doesn't take into account the difference in talent level and abilities that the players of today now have.”

It's the nature of a links, and the reason why many of us love their game.  Depending upon the nature of the growing season and the weather during the event, the courses change dramatically.  The R&A simply can't set their courses up to be too penal, because high winds will render them unplayable.

But at the same time, let's remember that third place was six under....  But kudos also to the R&A for not cutting the greens when necessary to avoid the risk of wind-related stoppages as we had last year at St. Andrews.  

Before we move on, what is it with Henrik Stenson disrobing on the golf course?  Remember this from Doral in 2009:

And that was with Fannie on the bag....Sir Nick never created that kind of hostile work environment...

Shack got caught in the middle of yesterday's exhibitionism, so let's let him tell the tale:

No moment was more bizarre than the 17th when Stenson arrived at the tee, fresh off a key birdie from the native rough left of the green to maintain his two stroke lead. As fast as he'd walked up to the tee, Stenson immediately walked back down the tight-mow walkway toward the New York Post's Mark Cannizzaro and myself who were standing against the large scoreboard pondering the drama that had unfolded. 

"Shield me," Stenson said to us as he had just finished taking off the shirt, revealing his abs to the crowd, and leaving him with just his under armor.

Stenson asked if he could moved behind us with the scoreboard as his backside shield, with only us and a day-glo clad policeman as his fronting shield, and then bared chest as he took off his undershirt while we awkwardly looked forward. 

"I'm a little hot," he joked, a nice duel reference to the temperature and his ninth birdie of the day.

Here's what it looked like: 

That's Shack on the far right, not even trying to not stare at Henrik's manboobs....

Just a great show from Phil's opening 63 to Henrik's topper....

Some random notes and udder stuff:

Did anyone but me sense the irony when Phil was asked about the comparison the Nicklaus-Watson in '77?  Phil noted that he wanted to play the role of Tom in that revival....  You know Tom Watson, the guy in whose back Phil planted the shiv in that Gleneagles presser....  Just sayin'.

In our recurring Golfers Behaving Badly series, we have Thomas Pieters realigning the shaft of his club:

In all fairness, when your seventh shot on a hole is bad, whatcha gonna do....And cementing his lifetime achievement award in the category is Rory, though Shack has some constructive criticism that I do hope the young man takes to heart.  

Not just a nickname?  No, it's a way of life.... What would you stamp on your wedges?

Beefsanity: Catch It!

Does the 5-second rule apply in golf?  Mark this date on your calendars, because I actually agree with Sir Nick on something...  And while later reports indicate that it was a sticker off his hat, I don't think we should let the facts get in the way of a good story.

The Open - Phriday With Phil

The Open Championship is the most difficult to blog, as they insist on playing it during daylight hours in the U.K.  Wassup with that?

So, I gather that this Phil guy had a day:

History was on the line in the opening round of the 145th Open Championship at Royal

Troon. 

And then it lipped out. 

Phil Mickelson came thisclose to draining a birdie putt on the 18th green for a 62, which would have been the lowest round ever recorded in major championship history. He settled instead for a 63, becoming the 26th player to go that low on so grand a stage.

After luckily skirting the pot bunkers left of the fairway with his drive on 18, Mickelson knocked his approach onto the center of the putting surface, 18 feet right of the hole. While walking up the fairway on a flawless day on the rumpled linksland, Ernie Els, one of Mickelson’s playing partners, offered encouragement.

“Come on buddy, you gotta make this putt for a 62. A lot of guys have tried,” Els said.

“Absolutely,” Mickelson said.

OK, a couple of notes here.  First, I didn't actually see any of Phil's round.  Despite a rigorous attention to the programming of my DVR, Cablevision wagged its finger at me and said, at the 7:30 minute mark, "I think you've watched enough golf for today."  But, I stammered to no avail, I want to see DJ and Phil....

Second, and I've no interest in raining on his parade, but it wasn't really THAT close:

The putt Phil Mickelson had to shoot a history-making 62 at Royal Troon’s 18th hole on Thursday -- about 18 feet -- couldn’t have been closer to going in. 

The speed was on, the read was quite good. It just stayed out on the right side. You need to see it to believe it because Phil and everybody around the 18th green thought they were seeing history.

This tweeter captured the moment, in that charming juvenile delinquent kind of way:

It definitely caught a little lip, but that's all....Though Phil's looper took it kind of hard:

As I watch the live broadcast (Whatcha gonna do about THAT, Cablevision?), Phil just made his first bogey of the week on No. 12, after, going out in 33 I believe.  If you haven't seen it, do catch his tee ball on No. 8 (video here), which had me saying to the TV, "Well now you're just showing off".

The weather has thus far been manageable, wet but calm for the early Friday groups... But the flags are beginning to flap, though they now seem to think the afternoon will dry out.  It reamins unclear at this point which side of the draw, if any, will have the advantage....

Have you caught any of the play from the 11th, the Railway Hole?  By the way, there's a rich tradition of railway holes in links golf, at neighboring Prestwick it's the opener...  not quite as ubiquitous as trailer parks, but close....

In playing Troon in 2009 I made our caddie take us to the Open tee box, from whence this is the view:

That dark green where one would normally find the landing area is gorse, an evil, prickly bush that's the rabbit of the plant world.  The guys are barely carrying the gorse as I watch the live broadcast, and it's playing downwind today....

Shack does the math on how hard it's playing:

There should be little surprise Royal Troon’s 11th is causing trouble during the opening round of the Open Championship. But as much scoring difficulty as any hole since 1995 in a major? On a day with just a light northwest breeze and brilliant sunshine? Without Royal Troon playing fast and firm? 

Granted, this is the hole where Jack Nicklaus famously made 10 in his initial Open appearance and that Arnold Palmer branded as “the most dangerous he’d ever seen.”

Certainly, “The Railway” perennially plays the toughest at Troon. Still, the 482-yard par 4 hugging the train line boundary was tracking a full stroke over par well into Thursday’s play until a midday run of pars, bringing the average just under a full stroke over par. The 11th’s 4.91 scoring average would put it in the company of the all time highest (5.030, Shinnecock Hills’ 10th hole, 2004 U.S. Open, final round; 4.929, Royal St. George’s third, 2011 British Open, third round).

Got that?  For mush of yesterday it was a full shot over par in the best scoring conditions we'll see....and when Jack made that ten in '62, it was a Par-5.

 Yesterday's best "That's so links golf" moment had to be Bubba on the Postage Stamp.... He had simply pummeled the place for seven holes, driving it past the pin on one of the alleged two-shotters, then....well, welcome to Scotland:

After a red-hot start placed the two-time Masters atop the early leader boardat the 145th Open Championship, he came crashing down at Royal Troon's famed "Postage Stamp" -- more specifically, the hole's "coffin bunker." Standing on the tee at five under through six holes, Watson pushed his tee shot on the 123-yard hole into the sand and wound up with this terrible lie.

That sound you hear is Harvey "Take dead aim" Penick spinning in his grave.

The texture of the sand in Scotland is always difficult to explain to those that haven't been.  It's almost the texture of talcum powder, so balls that come in steeply will plug.... but lest you think that it should therefore be easy to get your club through it, think again....

The Tour Confidential panel was asked to cite the second most surprising thing from Thursday after Phil's 63, and perhaps it's time for this guy to move on:

Gary Van Sickle: The biggest surprise was that the USGA wasn't somehow able to figure out a way to slap Phil with a two-shot penalty and ruin a great opening round of the Open.

Never let a good segue be wasted, a wise man once said, so did you catch the Martin "Golden" Slumbers presser earlier in the week?  Do you take this as I do, a passive-aggressive slam at his Far Hills brethren?

MARTIN SLUMBERS: Yeah, this is just throughout the process, the team here have been thinking about how to respond and monitor any sort of chain of command around rules for over ten years now. And about ten years ago a fundamental change was made by the team here, which I think makes a big difference in the way we would deal with any situation that arises in the next four days, which is that the chief referee doesn't leave this compound here. He has access to video replays in his office, and in addition to that, either Peter or I are also always here. 

So we are very focused on -- rules are complex. This is a big, big animal out there being played on. All sorts of things can happen, we know that, and generally do happen in this game. It is the speed and the clarity with which we respond, which is something that we're very focused on, have been for a number of years. And I think it's that function of us sitting here, just about 50 yards away, being able to respond and provide instructions back to the referees, is the difference in how we would deal with it.

I thought Slumbers presented well, in his first Open appearance.  But then again, he hadn't hit the swing juice like his U.S. counterpart....

But it's kind of naive how unprepared the USGA was for video review....  Every other sport has dedicated rules officials sitting in front of video screens, whereas our guys have to come in from the far corners of the golf course.  And it being a USGA event, I assume it's walking only....

Rory kept himself on the fringe of contention with his 69, though it should have been 2-3 strokes better... He's still missing short putts badly, and when they're for bogey that stings.  Nick Faldo had some thoughts on his puzzling inconsistency:

Six-time major champion Nick Faldo fears Rory McIlroy has gone weak at the knees ahead of The Open at Royal Troon

Knees?  Head?  Whatever...... In his post-round presser, Rory did himself a little good in walking back his prior comments:

Yeah, I think I would have elaborated a little bit on the grow-the-game comment. Obviously I feel like I do my bit to grow the game. It’s not as if I’m uninterested. I feel like golf is a great vehicle to -- I don’t want to force golf on anyone. But I feel like golf is a great vehicle to instill values in kids. I’m an ambassador for the PGA Junior League, I do some stuff for the First Tee in the States, and I feel like I’ve used my success in golf in a very positive way in the community. 

Look, again, the next generation can play golf if they want or they don’t. It won’t make me any less happy. But if I can somehow make a positive change in the world by what I do on the golf course, so whether that means raise money for charity or give kids more of a chance in life growing up, I’ve been very fortunate to do what I’ve done in golf, and I feel like I’ve used that success in a positive way.

That's better< Rory.... Now, was that so hard?  Anything else you want to add?

Yeah, I still don’t think I’m the only one. Look, it’s my opinion. I think my opinion’s shared by a few people, but some people may think it’s wrong and that’s fine. But I’ve spent seven years trying to please everyone, and I figured out that I can’t really do that, so I may as well be true to myself.

 Thud!  Passive-aggressive much, Rors?  I never realized how much it sucks to be you....

The life of a professional golfer isn't all glamour, and I'm the first to acknowledge that Rory's unique national identity added a layer of complexity to the whole Olympic mess....  But doesn't he have any sense of how people will react to his pity party?

There were some bizarre fashion notes from yesterday's play...  First the obligatory John Daly citation, wearing a fruit indigenous to the Ayrshire coast:

Then there was our hero Phil, with a paper clip on his hat:

There have been any number of times when a constricted flow of oxygen to his brain (Winged-cough-Foot) is the only possible explanation, but yesterday didn't seem to be the case.

And does anyone know why Hidecki Matsuyama was wearing a black brassiere mansiere  over his yellow sweater?

Admittedly, that's not the best photo, but if you saw it from the front you'd see my point....

Enjoy the golf, as I don't know when we'll speak next....

Troon Tribulations

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

It's Open week, so of course sales of SPF50 sunscreen are through the roof.  What?  

There's no such thing as bad weather in Scotland," said entertainer Billy Connolly, a native of the country. "Only inappropriate clothing." Judging by the forecasts for Royal Troon, hopefully the 2016 Open Championship field packed proper attire. 

The early outlook isn't promising for Troon this week. According to Accuweather, it could rain every day during the British Open, with Friday envisioned to be particularly wet. Moreover, storms are expected to bring heavy winds, with gusts reaching as high as 30 mph.

It's not an Open Championship until one sees the first ski cap, if not a brolly....

Shack uses his Forward Press feature to note the significance of The Golf Channel televising their first major:

After 21 years and commencing at the same course where their founder won his second

Open, Golf Channel joins the exclusive world of men’s major championship television coverage. 

A cable channel covering a major is nothing new to American audiences given that ESPN was the first to take one of golf’s four biggest championships exclusively to pay TV. Here in the UK, this year’s move to Sky Sports continues to be frowned upon even as the combination of resources between Golf Channel, NBC and Sky figures to upgrade the The Open’s world feed, which will account for a decent portion of coverage on both sides of the Atlantic. (Sky is even offering Thursday’s coverage free to entice new subscribers.) 

Arnold Palmer and Joe Gibbs’ channel devoted to golf moves to another level in hosting one of the big four. Given that Golf Channel doesn’t have to cut away to a NASCAR show, the huge commitment to their first Open at Royal Troon may be taken for granted. But not at their Orlando headquarters.

The broadcast windows are long, and Geoff shares the Yin and Yang of what to expect, including this that I'd guess will cause projectile to be hurled at my Samsung:

While we know the voices, much of NBC and Golf Channel’s success will depend on how they are able to make links golf resonate with American audiences that have been quietly dwindling for this championship. That means teaming composer Yanni with bagpiper Eric Rigler (Braveheart, Titanic) to brush up the famous “In Celebration of Man” theme that become the iconic U.S. Open theme during NBC’s tenure. Stephen Dillane of Game of Thrones voices several pre-produced pieces playing up the annual return to links golf.

After the two U.S. Opens, haven't we suffered enough?  But this sounds intriguing:

Producer Roy is most excited about a new feature that will come in handy on firm, fast links (Troon is not at the moment). Called NBC Links Trax, the technology utilizes the Hawk-Eye technology that detects where balls land on tennis course lines. 

Links Trax graphically highlights where a ball lands and tracking its path and proximity to the hole. Throw in NBC’s new graphic package playing off of iconic Open Championship elements, wind gauges galore and no shortage of voices, with the hope we see golf’s oldest championship in a new light.

Troon is very, very green, which you should read as "soft".  But you'd have thought that Geoff might have worked in the most obvious of benefits for golf fans, the absence of Joe Buck.  On a sadder note, we'll also have to get through the awards ceremony without Diana "Bethany" Murphy, whose slurred rendition of Champion Golfer of the Year might make me forget Yanni....

For those of a Karmic bent, do enjoy this video of Rory making a nine on the Postage Stamp, though I'd temper the glee since it was, you know, a practice round....

And aren't we glad that Veej got into the field at the last minute?

At 52, Marco Dawson's first British Open appearance was bound to be memorable no matter what happened. But after Tuesday, it's unclear how much his caddie will even remember of the trip to Royal Troon thus far. 

Dawson's looper, William Ciplinski, had Tuesday's practice round cut short after being struck in the head by an errant tee shot. The accident occurred with Dawson and Padraig Harrington on the famed "Postage Stamp" green. As the players in his group were finishing up the eighth hole, Ciplinski was hit by Vijay Singh's drive on No. 7.

We can kid our old friend Vijay because Ciplinski is fine.

Jaime Diaz displays his narrative skills, making an event won by Mark Calcavecchia seem riveting:

Some tournaments stay in the mind longer and more vividly than others. Though all golf

courses are beautiful, sometimes there’s something particular about the physical stage where the key moments play out that imprints indelible images and accompanying sensations.

Such events don’t have to be major championships. But because its stark and elemental links atmosphere enhances all the senses, the Open Championship is best for creating such scenes. 

Troon in 1989 was such a place. It’s far from the most picturesque of Open venues. Even though the town and course lie hard on the coastline of the Firth of Clyde, the setting is spare and dour, accented by unlovely things like a trailer park, the institutional Marine Hotel and a suitably ancient but not particularly charming clubhouse.

That's certainly my sense of the place, though your mileage may vary.... 

Norman made it exciting, with his epic final round in which he finished ninety minutes before the final group....  But then he imploded in the most Normanesque of fashions....

My biggest takeaway?  Apparently Calc knew the bunker was in play, but Norman didn't?  Curious that, but one assumes Norman capable of finding other ways to drop kick it away.... He was just that good.

Is the Open Championship the best of the majors?  Gary Van Sickle makes the case, and "birdies the opening hole" with this:

1. The Open Championship is golf’s greatest event because it’s the oldest and has the game’s greatest pedigree. Hell, it’s the granddaddy of all modern sporting events. It began more than a century before the first Super Bowl.

The Open was first contested by eight hardy Scots playing three 12-hole rounds in a single grueling day in 1860. How old is this event? Some perspective: the U.S. flag had only 33 stars. The Civil War hadn’t happened and World War I was more than 50 years away. The Pony Express started the same year as the Open but the tournament pre-dates automobiles, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison’s electric light bulb, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Harry Potter and Nike. 

That’s old.

To connect Gary's dots, it's a mere 35 years older than The U.S. Open but an impressive 84 years older than The Masters.  But you know the rest, the Championship Belt, the Claret Jug and Bobby Jones..... though this might be the strongest of his ten reasons:

7. Links golf is why the Open Championship is the best major.  Scotland and England (and Ireland, of course) have cornered the world’s market on great links golf. The Old Course. Royal Troon. Turnberry. (Or is it Trumpberry now that Donald Trump owns it?) Royal Birkdale. Royal St. George’s. And the rest of the Open rota. 

You turn on the TV to watch the Open coverage and here’s what you see: Sodded face bunkers. Swales. Brown fairways. Burnt-out fescue. High winds. Sideways rain. Grim, worried faces. It’s obviously the Open Championship… or a “Sharknado” sequel.

Green this week, but we take your point, Gary, and enthusiastically agree.  Mike Bamberger, by contrast, is casting the CBS reality show, Survivor-Troon:

"You don't need a lot of flash to be successful there," says Todd Hamilton, who won the last Open at Troon. "You just need—" 

Uh, internal fortitude. 

This will be the ninth Open played at Troon, and the last six have been won by Americans, each of them an expert in workingman's golf. "You go to that 1st tee with your lunch pail," Hamilton says. Arnold Palmer won at Troon in 1962, Tom Weiskopf in '73, Tom Watson in '82, Mark Calcavecchia in '89, Justin Leonard in '97 and Hamilton in 2004.

O.K., Weiskopf could be viewed as the outlier in that group. He was a perfectionist and suffered for it. But that week in '73 he accepted the haphazard nature of seaside golf. The winner at Troon will be somebody who knows how to roll with the punches.

It's always hard to draw too many conclusions from that prior groups of winners, because Palmer and Watson weren't exactly mudders..... it really depends on the how much you believe that weather forecast above.

 Bams has a couple of other forecasts, the first from that Weiskopf fellow:

For that reason, among others, Weiskopf is bullish on Dustin Johnson. "I think he'll run the tables," he says. Weiskopf envisions four rounds in which Johnson drives it past Troon's menacing fairway bunkers and thereby plays a course far different from many of his competitors, who will be inclined to use irons off the tee to stay short of the traps.

I don't know the course well enough to know if that's true, but it's how The Old Course played from the Nicklaus through Tiger eras.  They flew the trouble that got in other players' way, but now everyone in the field can carry it...

But this, after Oakmont and with that Accuweather forecast in mind, is all-too believable:

Weiskopf says you could see a similar problem this week but with a different result. "As exposed as some of those greens are at Troon, on that front nine especially, you could have that same situation, easily," he says. A ball moves while a player is standing over it. "But over there, that R&A runs the event with so much authority, so much knowledge, you'll never have a situation like that mess in Oakmont. They'll say, 'O.K., tell me what happened.' It will be a shot or not, and they'll play on." 

Weiskopf's point is this: The Scots invented the rules and the language of the game. You'll never hear a self-respecting British golf snob speak of a "signature hole." But play on is a war cry over there. That and, on you go. The Open is not an entertainment to them. It is a championship, the oldest and broadest in all of golfdom. You may not remember the 12th hole at Troon. But you'll remember who won there and how he did it.

As we've seen at St. Andrews, the effects of the distance race has come where least expected, on the exposed links of Scotland.....  they had to suspend play last year because balls were oscillating wildly (an oxymoron, I think, but bear with me) on their greens, which are more tightly mowed than ever conceived to offer some kind of defense to the ancient fields of play.  

Stimpmeter readings are less gaudy than at an Oakmont, but still unsustainable given the expected winds in those locales.... players can't play when balls are moving, though no doubt the R&A is more likely to accept the answer that the wind did it than their cousins in Far Hills....  But still we find ourselves at a bit of a crossroads, where fast greens are required to test the players, but they can't play on those greens in normalish winds.

The only saving grace at Troon is that the greens are pretty flat, so perhaps that and the lushness will save us this week.

Have you see Lee Wybranski's poster for this week's event.... He's very good and I like it very much, evocative as it is of the wonderful old British Rail posters:

Obviously an hommage to  the 8th hole and its nickname, though couldn't he get a railway line into it somehow?

If you're not familiar with Troon's famed Railway Hole, here's some video that will acquaint you.  It's the most difficult hole on the golf course and the drive is especially brutal:

Enjoy the week and I'm sure I'll have more for you as the week progresses.

Olympic Golf - The Night Of Long Knives

Is Jordan Spieth the luckiest man on the planet, or what?

Let's dive in to what Shack, in his header, calls Jordan and Rory "fumbling the torch"....  Shall we go go in the order of their world rankings?

Jordan held his Open Championship presser on Monday, and gave a heartfelt performance, though one that I felt was strangely odd and exposed his curious manner of coming to decisions.  

Spieth made very clear his decision not to compete in the 2016 Olympics was made

personally, without much influence from peers, and was based strictly on his loosely defined "health concerns," which he referenced six times throughout the press conference. 

"I just felt this was the right move for me. Not everybody's going to understand," Spieth said. "Nobody's going to understand what it's like in my shoes…I believe I'm making the right decision for myself for my future and for those around me."

Let's set aside the substance, and question why he left his withdrawal announcement for Open week.  That seems to this observer to be an unforced error, the significance of which can only be determined after we see whether there's any hangover in his play.  But it's a downer at the start of what should be a joyous week in our game, and Jordan's inability to make a decision seems troubling...

Now the headline of Spieth's presser was that it was the hardest decision of his life, the tone deafness of which Shack deftly exposes:

Spieth, who had called this a fifth major, signed with Olympic presenting sponsor Coca Cola to be part of its campaign, and who genuinely seems determined to become a sporting legend, could never quite disclose the reason he waffled right up to the inopportune moment of announcing his decision at a major championship (Alex Myers with Spieth's comments here.) 

More disconcerting was the assertion that this was the hardest decision of his life, paramount to a college choice. While many around the world would envy someone who has never faced a decision more difficult than deciding to play in the first Olympic golf competition in 104 years or whether to go to UT or USC, the gravity suggests Spieth isn't quite prepared for the modern limelight that is so harsh. Trying to crack a joke about carrying the torch didn't help.

I'd be pleased to sell the young man a clue for a rather modest sum....  Not a hanging offense, for sure, but oddly off-key for a young man typically credited for his openness and  instincts.  And this just came across oddly:

Spieth was most adamant that "health concerns" for him is a general concept. The Zika virus that many other top players have cited as reason for not playing in Rio is just one of many for Spieth, who refused to clarify other reasons or share any medical advice he received.

There were some strange back-and-forths there, where he accused reporters of putting the "Z-word" in his mouth, but equally adamantly refusing to explicate his sense of the health concerns posed.  I get that he didn't want to trash the event and credit his attempts to remain supportive of Olympic golf, but after his early enthusiasm one expected a more transparent explanation....

While we're dissecting Jordan's decision-making skills, his presser was notable for the nature of the questions:

During his British Open press conference, he was asked 13 times about the Olympics. Only four other questions were asked. Just as the microphone was being pulled away from him Tuesday afternoon, Spieth offered an audible wiping of his hands. 

"Is there a tournament this week?"

You know what would have been a great question?  When did you arrive this year as compared to last year?  Because my understanding is that he was in Scotland last weekend, though did not play at Castle Stuart.  So, he arrived many days earlier this year as compared to last year, when there was that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the calendar year slam.... Isn't that more interesting than the Olympics?

But Jordan's Olympic decision is already down the rabbit hole, because Rory McIlroy seemingly made a decision to become the poster child for pampered, self-important modern golfers.  Here's the money quotes from curmudgeonly James Corrigan:

“Honestly, I don't think it was as difficult a decision for me as it was for him [Spieth],” Mcilroy said. “I don't feel like I've let the game down at all. I didn't get into golf to try and grow the game. I got into golf to win championships and win major championships, and all of a sudden you get to this point and there is a responsibility on you to grow the game, and I get that. But at the same time that's not the reason that I got into golf. I got into golf to win. I didn't get into golf to get other people into the game. 

“But, look, I get where different people come from and different people have different opinions. But I'm very happy with the decision that I've made and I have no regrets about it.

Now, before we get to reactions, let's focus on context, as Corrigan explains:

In the sometimes cossetted world of golf, McIlroy’s candour was extraordinary; he is

nothing but honest. But then, it was tempting to see McIlroy’s extraordinary comments as anything other a response to Peter Dawson, the president of the International Golf Federation, which is overseeing the sport’s comeback after a 112-year absence, opining here on Monday that the game’s elite had “overreacted” to Zika by withdrawing. 

As well as shining a light on golf’s credibility as an Olympic sport, McIlroy also criticised the drug policy on the professional Tours for not blood-testing and, hence, not being stringest enough if it wants to become a long-term Olympic sport.

As for Dawson, perhaps overly cautious would have been better phraseology, but of course he feels that way....

But any light cast on drug testing in golf is helpful, as this adder to Corrigan's article explains:

The Tour’s failure to comply fully with the World Anti-Doping Code is in stark contrast to the attitude of its European counterpart, forcing players to deal with two different systems depending on which event they are playing in. The most recent Wada testing figures, from 2014, show that 507 tests were carried out on golfers in 2014, the lowest of all summer Olympic sports. Most of those were undertaken by national anti-doping agencies, with the International Golf Federation conducting only 21, just five of them out of competition.

Reaction was swift and almost uniformly negative, including this from Brandel Chamblee:

"I think it's likely that, at the end of his career, he'll regret that moment more than any other moment in the history of his career," Chamblee said. "It is an insult to everyone who goes and plays in the Olympics." 

Chamblee was far from finished, lambasting McIlroy for his perceived insensitive, careless comments. 

"Initially, when he choose not to do that (play in the Olympics) he cited the Zika virus, but in effect today, he said I'm not going, I'm not playing, I'm not watching because it doesn't matter," Chamblee said. "That is an insult to everybody that has spent time to further this game for its inclusion in the Olympics."

I'm mostly on Brandel's side here, though those folks deserve the insults....  We'll circle back, though first a lone dissenter, Shane Ryan.  As is often the case with Supreme Court decisions, there's far more of interest in the dissent, which also has the benefit of some joyous snark:

Rory doesn't seem to understand that the phrase "grow the game" has become a cult-like mantra in golf, evoking the unfulfilled historical promise of "people's champions" like Arnold Palmer, and future visions of poor people flooding municipal golf courses, leaving behind empty ghettos, barrios, and slums. Never mind that actually growing the game in any significant way is an implausible fantasy in 2016. Never mind that golf just witnessed an era dominated by an insanely popular and iconic champion who won at a rate that will probably never be duplicated and also happened to be black—aka the "perfect storm" of broad appeal—and still the game did not grow. Never mind that golf's two defining traits are that it costs lots of time and money in an age when young Americans have less of both, and depleted attention spans. Never mind that Olympic golf has become an embarrassing farce and is going to be euthanized by the IOC in 2017 and would have succumbed to that same fate even if Rory went to Rio, shot four straight 59s, cured Zika and revealed himself as the living embodiment of the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city. 

Never mind all that—Rory committed the cardinal sin of being flippant in the face of scripture.

I like the cut of that man's jib, so you'll want to read the whole thing.  He also makes an important point, thereby saving me the effort, that for Rory the Olympics were a uniquely proposition from the get-go:

2. The very concept of the Olympics has been an anxiety nightmare to Rory for years. His country has treated his decision on whether to suit up for Ireland or the U.K. as the final word on the centuries-old conflict between Catholics and Protestants, putting undue political pressure on a man who plays professional golf for a living and has done his damnedest to maintain a facade of religious and political neutrality in a place where the failure to do so could have dangerous consequences—as his Catholic great uncle learned, years ago, when he was gunned down in front of his family for the crime of living in a Protestant neighborhood. This man has no great love for the institution of the Olympic Games.

Let's just agree that no one can understand Rory's relationship to both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom....  

But Dear Reader, I've played a bit of a trick on you, as I've not yet shared the worst of Rory's gratuitous nonsense:

“But, look, I get where different people come from and different people have different opinions. But I'm very happy with the decision that I've made and I have no regrets about it. I'll probably watch the Olympics, but I'm not sure golf will be one of the events I watch.”

When pressed which events these would be, he replied: “Probably the events like track and field, swimming, diving, the stuff that matters.”

The stuff that matters?  I can't do better than Jason Sobel on that one:

Unlike Spieth's delicate attempt to convey golf's relevance in the Olympics without his participation, McIlroy stuck a knife in the back of the event and twisted it. Hard.

Here's my take on the matter, in which incredibly insightful and nuanced words will come out of both sides of my mouth.  

• Does Rory Have an Obligation to "Grow the Game"?  How can one argue otherwise?  Now, I'm completely OK with the concept that it's not his primary focus or that his contribution will be his play and comportment, but he derives a healthy living from the game and should be prepared to give back to it....  

• Would The Olympics Grow Golf?   I loved the Shane Ryan excerpt above that so amusingly skewered the Grow the Game mantra....  The fact is that Olympic Golf was ill-conceived and ill-executed, so while Peter Dawson might believe it to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the science is hardly settled.  And while Dawson is often presented as motivated by the purest of concerns, that fact si that he needed a sinecure as he exited the R&A.....  

• Can I Speak Candidly?  That would be a resounding No!  While it may seem far-fetched that Rory could have been any harsher, he did actually hold back his criticism of the format and location.  For instance, the building of a golf course in a country that can't treat raw sewage might be considered as tone-deaf as anything that came out of Rory's mouth.... On second thought, strike that "might"...

• I'll Believe It's a Crisis.... The great and all-powerful Oz is holding an event that conflicts with the exact dates of the men's Olympic competition.  All the major golfing organizations have been unwilling to make the slightest sacrifice to the cause, but Rory should?  Can you see why he might be just a wee bit pissed?

• But Why Go There?  But while I completely get Rory's frustration, there's a responsibility that comes with the opportunities he's exploiting.  There are parties reminding us that Rory's candor is a redeeming quality, but I see it more as a hissy fit than brutal honesty.  The latter would call out the Peter Dawson and Tim Finchems of the world for their failure of foresight in rushing to get a deal done with the IOC on their schedules, and not understand that golf needed to put on a good show for it to prove helpful.  

My take, a pox on them all....