Back In The Saddle

I'm tanned, rested and raring to go....all we need now is some actual golf news.

I'm pleased to report that Employee No. 2 and her Smith & Nephew hip are getting on well.  And, as I learned from our first time through this protocol, once you go metal, you'll never settle.

Ryder Remonstrations - The big story during our hiatus was Davis Love's Monday presser announcing his first three captain's picks.  But perhaps the bigger story was this that broke just prior to the announcement:

CARMEL, Ind. – U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III will announce three of his four

wildcard picks Monday morning, but Phil Mickelson insinuated Sunday that the decision has already been made. 

Perhaps even weeks ago. 

Mickelson said that the difference with this team is that the Americans have a "real game plan" which suggests that Love isn't waiting until the 11th hour to make a decision. 

“We know who is going to be playing with who, when they’re going to be playing, what matches,” Mickelson said.

So the purpose of the task force was what exactly?  And because that wasn't enough nonsense, Phil gave away the goods on the brains behind the operation:

And crucial to that game plan, apparently, is assistant captain Tiger Woods.

“I am so happy to see how well he has thought this through,” Mickelson said of Woods. 

“I can’t believe our conversations just this week, how detailed he is and the pairings, the possibilities, the players. Not just what matches they’re going to play, but where on the list. He has got us really a good, solid game plan that is easy to buy into and get behind. I’m very impressed.”

Wow...where on the list!  That's so granular.....   I would have gone with playing better, but a "real game plan" is good as well.

Now we've gotten a fair way into this without naming names, so let's see who the Tour Confidential panel predicted Davis would take:

Shipnuck: Na, Moore, Berger. When you’ve won only one Ryder Cup this century it’s time for some fresh blood.

Perhaps that wasn't wide....  But since you brought it up, Alan, what about Kevin Na screams Ryder Cup to you?

But when Joe Passov is the voice of reason, perhaps it's time for some fresh blood in the media center:

Passov: I don’t think all of the clever plotting and strategizing have made one bit of difference for the U.S. team in terms of captain’s picks in recent years. So much emphasis on chemistry, recent form, rah-rah patriotism, whatever. I’d pick the next three guys in line--and then the fourth. If that’s Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar, so be it. We have a points system in place, and these guys earned their spots. Pick 'em and let 'em play.

OK, so you might have heard that Davis went way outside the bun and took J.B., Kooch and Rickie, leaving Bubba without a chair when the music stopped.  Alex Miceli explains:

Love did explain that Fowler’s record was discussed, that in some cases when paired in foursomes and four-balls was at times paired with players that didn’t play well and Fowler did and either got a halve or a loss. 

The captain chose to look at Fowler’s intangibles and his ball striking. 

Love went on to explain that if you watched the BMW Championship on Sunday you would see he’s hitting good putts they’re just lipping out. 

“His strokes gained tee to green have just been solid for a while and you saw it at Bethpage, except for that last nine, which is driving, it wasn’t putting,” Love said in support of his Fowler pick. “He’s just solid. And we’re making a team of 11 guys for this year we’re not really looking at the past.”

Well, when you look at Rickie you pretty much have to focus on the intangibles, because, well, you know.....  But as Alex notes, Bubba has the better numbers, so sighting Rickie's seems like a misdirection.

This other guy offers a theory, and he does have some credentials on the subject of marginal captain's picks:

Lee Westwood believes Bubba Watson's stark omission from America's Ryder Cup team boils down to US captain Davis Love not considering him a team player. 

The twice Masters champion is on the brink of missing out at Hazeltine after Love overlooked the world's seventh ranked player when he named three of his wildcards on Monday. The fourth and last wildcard will be named in 10 days. 

'You hear Davis talk about chemistry and how players are going to be in a team setting, so when he leaves out someone ranked so highly it does seem like it's because the captain can't see where he fits in, with regard to pairings and stuff like that,' said the Englishman.

J.B. is more than happy to play with Bubba, and since there might well be a redneck pod....Of course Lee's on the other side, so perhaps he's just, you know, playing us....

Shack posted on this feature later than most, but the comments about the jilted one seem particularly poignant:

EUROPEAN TAKES: "His head is his weakness. He talks a lot about 'energy levels.' He

has to feel energized to perform. And because of his personality, he finds that difficult to do. In a Ryder Cup, where you play multiple matches in a short period and there's a lot of pressure, you can see him getting mentally fatigued quite quickly. And so his performance level drops off." ... "His driving is long but wild. So there is always the potential for him to hand a hole to his opponent. He can go out and beat you, 5 and 4, but you could do the same to him. I wonder how much fight he has in him when he's 2 down after five. Is he coming back? Probably not. He'll more than likely fold up." ... "He's easily upset, too. The crowd can get to him. He doesn't like being touched. So he has so much vulnerability."

AMERICAN TAKE: "If he's into it, if he loves the golf course, he isn't easy to beat, but the question is, can you get him into it? Attitude is everything with Bubba, because he has all the shots. If I'm Europe, I'm pointing out all the trouble at Hazeltine and letting Bubba chew on that."

Now there's two ways to understand Davis' play, either that:

1.  He's in the doesn't want/is reluctant to take Bubba camp; or
2. Bubba has already been told that he'll be picked on the 25th.

The first would be an Olympic-level snub, given that Bubba is the 7th ranked player in the world, with two majors and a win this season.  So, I'm going with No. 2....though with a caveat.  If Ryan Moore, Kevin Na or even perhaps Kevin Chappell should win the damn thing, all bets are off.  If Daniel Berger or Justin Thomas win, well, you see the issue....

This supports that contention:

Bubba Watson will join members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team for an informal practice session this weekend at Hazeltine National, Golf Channel insider Tim Rosaforte reported Thursday.

Though this, a mere two 'graphs later, should temper the Bubbameister's confidence:

Six to eight members of the U.S. squad are expected to tee it up with three or four players who are not on the team, Love told Rosaforte. One of those players is Watson. Daniel Berger, Justin Thomas and Jim Furyk are the others expected to join the outing who are not currently on the team.

If I were Bubba, I'd plan on playing well....

This Week in Golf Architecture -  A couple of totally unrelated yet interesting stories broke during our time apart.  We'll start with this as relates to a Macdonald-Raynor classic:

A proposal to construct a top-notch golf facility in nearby Woodbridge, Connecticut and upgrade the well-known Course at Yale is currently awaiting consideration by the University and the city of New Haven. 

The proposal, spearheaded by investor and Yale Corporation Senior Fellow Roland Betts ’68, was first introduced this July to the administration of the town of Woodbridge. It suggests that Redan Reserve LLC, the company of which Betts is the chairman, transform the existing golf course at the Country Club of Woodbridge into a “championship [top-100] ranked golf course.” 

The plan would also include a partnership with the University in which Redan would restore and operate the Course at Yale as well as construct a lodging facility of approximately 80 rooms on its nearby land. According to the proposal, hotel operations would be provided by The Study in New Haven.

Betts is best know for his Chelsea Piers development that was two blocks from my long-time residence,  He was a client of Theresa's gallery for many years, and it will make all the right heads explode to note that he was George W. Bush's roomie at Yale.

Best known for its famed Bairritz green, probably the most severe of its kind, it's a gem that well deserves a refresh.  There aren't many Macdonald-Raynor designs (see Ran Morrissett's review here in which he makes clear that this is more the work of the latter) that the public can play, so we need to cherish this fine example.  Now, about that 18th hole....

This seems like strange bedfellows:

According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, Woods could be involved in a Chicago

golf course project involving Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser. NBC/Golf Channel's Mark Rolfing told the Tribune the Woods hiring is "not a done deal," but Keiser believes the 14-time major champ "is on board" and that he may waive his design fee since the course will benefit the First Tee of Greater Chicago. 

The project, which would create a championship golf course out of two existing public tracks, Jackson Park and South Shore courses, is not a done deal yet, either. Although the involvement of Keiser and Woods would help in the development that would have some holes along the lakefront and be just steps away from the Obama Library. Having the support of the golf-loving President wouldn't hurt, either.

The oddest part of this story is that Mike Keiser doesn't do "championship golf courses."  Or at least he hasn't to date.... His courses at Bandon and elsewhere are too short and too wide-open to fit that term, so I await details on the logic of this project.

Keiser is from Chicago, so that part makes perfect sense, but Ben Crenshaw has also been seen walking the site.  But there's no shortage of incoherence in the reports, such as this from booster Mark Rolfing:

"The three things that concern me about golf: It's too hard, it takes too long and it costs too much," said Rolfing, a DeKalb, Ill., native and Northern Illinois alumnus. "The goal is to work on all of these areas, and the vision is to create a model for the future of sustainable, urban golf."

So you're worried about cost and time, and your solution is a 7,600 yard course?  Got it...  And this:

The project calls for an 18-hole layout, steps from the Barack Obama Presidential Center, that would be difficult enough to challenge the world's best at an event such as the PGA Tour's BMW Championship, while playable enough for residents and tourists. Some holes would be built along the lakefront with the potential for an "island" green.

I guess they think that last bit is a positive?

This Week In Other Tiger Rumors -  It would be pretty hard to top this one:

Tiger isn't the kind of guy to go into pocket, but I could see a private equity buyer throwkng him a few points for the endorsement value.  I'm just a tad skeptical that that will move a lot of product, as he's kind of old news.

And on the subject of excessive endorsement deals, this seems unwise:

Nike has signed the best golfer in the world -- again. 

Sources tell ESPN.com that the world's largest shoe and apparel company has signed Jason Day to wear its shoes and apparel, including its hat. 

The move became possible when Nike suddenly announced last month that it was leaving the equipment business. Day, whose contract is up at the end of the year with TaylorMade-Adidas, is happy with his equipment, so he re-signed with TaylorMade. Those who have TaylorMade clubs usually get paired with Adidas shoes and apparel. But that has changed as Adidas, amidst continued consumer pressure in the golf business, is selling its golf businesses. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but one source said the No. 1 golfer in the world will get paid north of $10 million a year. Day's agent Bud Martin of Wasserman did not return a call seeking comment.

Day may well be the best player on the planet, but do we really think he can move that many schmatas?   But the real concern is with Day's fragility, as it's hard to have confidence that he'll actually be out there.

DJ, The Reviews Are In - The player formerly known as Wolverine has shown signs of living up to his potential, as winning an Open at Oakmont will do that.  But despite running away from the field at Crooked Stick, curmudgeonly James Corrigan takes DJ to the woodshed:

If and when Dustin Johnson wins the $10 million bonus at next week’s Tour Championship, perhaps the PGA Tour should announce him as the Phlegm-X champion instead of the FedEx champion. 

After Sunday’s gobsmacking and gob-emptying performance in Indiana, the world No 2’s reputation as the game’s biggest hitter is in danger of being updated to ‘biggest spitter’ as well. 

It is a shame that so many viewers’ enjoyment of the latest Johnson masterclass was marred by a feeling of disgust, as the languid American repeatedly expectorated.

Granted, golf has bigger problems with its image at the moment, from slow play to the unwelcoming nature of some of the more high-profile clubs, but still, this is an issue that needs sorting out.

Corrigan reviews a little history on this subject, but somehow omits, perhaps because he's a Euro homer, the sin qua non of the genre:

It never gets old, does it?  I'll leave you here with a warning that tomorrow's schedule is uncertain.  But we'll be seeing each other regularly from now on, assuming there's someone still out there.

Friday Forensics

Just a few items for today, and I'll let you get on with your lives....

Ryder Remorse - They all come around to my way of thinking.....eventually.  Doug Ferguson notes the schadenfreude sweeping this side of the Atlantic:

One week into the Ryder Cup auditions for the captain's picks, Davis Love III should

have no trouble identifying the hot player. 

Trouble is, Rory McIlroy plays for the other team. 

The Deutsche Bank Championship, where McIlroy rediscovered his putting stroke, was the first of two big tournaments that essentially allow Love and the Americans to buy time so they can decide how to use three captain's picks that will be announced Monday. 

Love will get a fourth pick after the FedEx Cup ends on Sept. 25, presumably before the boarding door closes on the flight to Hazeltine.

No one seems to have noticed the man that put the Horschel in the Horschel rule....  He's done exactly what since those tow wins in  2014?  The prosecution rests its case....

But how rich is this?

But is this really an audition? 

Not according to Phil Mickelson, the senior member of the U.S. team who serves on the Ryder Cup task force. 

''I think the picks are fairly obvious,'' Mickelson said before the first shot was struck at the TPC Boston. ''If they're not, or if we get a guy like Billy Horschel who just gets a hot hand and we need that hot hand to give us the best chance to win, then we have that option. For the most part, I think it's fairly obvious who the picks would be without even naming them.'' 

Maybe it's obvious to Mickelson, and perhaps to Love.

Got it.... Whatever DLIII decides, Phil has his six....  Unless it goes bad, and then Phil will have the shiv handy.  Back to Doug:

Europe filled out its team with three captain's picks last Tuesday, two days after qualifying ended. Too soon? It might look that way with Alex Noren winning in Switzerland and moving up to No. 27 in the world. At least it has a team of 12 for a month leading to the opening shot on Sept. 30. 

The Americans won't have a full team until they arrive at Hazeltine. 

They were giddy about their trip to Gillette Stadium last week, even though only two-thirds of the team was there. It led to one awkward moment when someone asked Kuchar how he liked the home of the New England Patriots and the speech from 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey captain Mike Eruzione. Kuchar wasn't there. Neither was Fowler. Or the other ''obvious'' pick.

Doug is worth reading in full, as is this Jeff Babineau piece on the top ten candidates.  Jeff notes the obvious drawback to J.B. Holmes, that the man is not very talented with the flatstick, and our Shack has some disjointed yet revealing thoughts as well:

For all of the team bonding nonsense we'll have to hear about ("a real team room guy"), this build-up that leaves team players off the team until the last minute seems contradictory.

Furthermore, in watching the banter on social media and Golf Channel, I've started to grow uneasy listening to how players are disparaged as folks are making cases against them. (Jeff Babineau posted this more level-headed-but-still-opinionated take on the possible candidates at Golfweek.com.) 

The hate for Jim Furyk has been particularly strong and strange, especially given how much time he missed and his strong play at the U.S. Open. Oh, and a 58. Yes, his record is not great in the Ryder Cup, but the United States, for a change, seems to have very solid options for its final four spots, especially if you remember way back to August when Reed, Kuchar, Watson and Fowler all showed enough signs in the Rio Olympic Games. 

Speaking of Fowler and Watson, two players cited as not up to the task. Both are top ten players in the Official World Golf Ranking. That will set one interesting precedent should they be left off the team. 

Finally, there's J.B. Holmes, who has his caddy lining him up over three footers this week at Crooked Stick (and it's not pretty). Should that negate his strong year in the major championships or impressive showing in all cup matches he has played?

 I didn't see any of yesterday's golf, but that image of J.B. is pretty horrid....

Lastly, this Coleman McDowell header had me smiling, but that's only because I mistakenly inferred a second "S" in the sixth word:

The Ryder Cup Task Force Reigns, But Can You Win By Committee?

 Coleman reminds us that this:

Two weeks later, the PGA of America created a Ryder Cup task force; the 11-person group consisted of PGA executives, players and former captains. It was nothing less than a desperate attempt to change the fortunes of Americans in the biennial battle that it used to dominate. The press release read: "The Ryder Cup is our most prized competitive asset, and the PGA of America is committed to utilizing our utmost energy and resources to support one of the biggest events in all of sport." That only begged the question: What had the PGA been doing before?

Begat this:

Four months later, task force member Davis Love III was named U.S. captain for the second time. (Love led the 2012 squad, which lost in the Miracle at Medinah after a Sunday singles collapse.) For all the talk of a new and fresh approach, Love, who will surely be a fine captain, represented a decided in-the-box strategy. It was an unimaginative choice at best, especially after witnessing at Gleneagles the effect a captain can have.

But they're all forgetting what begat this:

The horrible play of guys like Phil.... Our guys need to play better, Full Stop!

Rumors of Its Demise.... - John Strege has an alarmingly calm take on the state of our game:

The headlines for golf’s health, notwithstanding Tiger Woods’ declaration that he intends to take the game up again competitively next month, have been disturbing. 

“Golf is back in the Olympics. Too bad no one plays it anymore,” a Washington Post headline said a few weeks ago. 

“Why golf has gone the way of the three-martini lunch,” Dow Jones’ MarketWatch declared last week. 

“Is the sky falling? Is this a death knell? No,” Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association said on Wednesday. “It’s interesting how golf gets treated in mainstream media different than other industries. If the number of restaurants in a particular town go from 20 to 18 is the restaurant business dying?

I realize that such an article can't omit the "T-word" entirely, but in the lede sentence?  Otherwise it's spot on, especially this:

Yet there is no denying that the number of courses have declined substantially in recent years. Both Woolson and Karen cited the same reason, economics 101, supply exceeding demand. 

“Golf courses got overbuilt,” Woolson said. “There really wasn’t any feasibility given to would this golf course be successful if we put homes here? Will they sell? Not one thought was given to the viability of the golf course.” 

A rule of thumb, he said, is that a third of people inside a golf course community will join the club or play the course. Most, he said, “just like a nice big green backyard.”

“We can’t get around the fact that you have to look at why so many courses built in the ‘90s and into the millennium, that it’s true courses were built to sell more houses,” Karen said. “That’s not a highly sustainable market for the golf industry. We do have this strange anomaly of this golf economy, that the spike in supply was not in response to demand.

The Chicken Littles of the world should be forced to write that last sentence on a chalkboard one hundred times.

 Olympic Fatigue - Did you catch Justin Rose's meltdown last week?  Here's the skinny:

From 11 under and in contention through nine holes in Round 4 of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the Englishman crashed down the leaderboard with an emphatic thud. Forty-five strokes over the last nine holes — a double and two triples did the trick — sent Rose from T-3 to T-57 quicker than you could say Tropical Storm Hermine.

I'll add that as one of most consistent ball-strikers out there, Justin would be far down your list of likely candidates to implode so dramatically.  But since the FedEx Cup is little more than a weak opening act for you-know-what, here's the implications:

But just as there is a calm before the storm, for Rose there’s a silver lining to the collapse: A week off that he feels he sorely needs. 

“It wouldn’t be the worst thing; I hate to say that,” said Rose, when asked if not qualifying for the Tour Championship (Sept. 22-25) would be beneficial to his mental health.

When Rose crashed over the final nine holes at TPC Boston, it dropped him to 50th in the FedEx Cup standings, which means he has to do something pretty special at this week’s BMW Championship to get into the top 30 and earn a spot into the Tour Championship.

Same goes for Henrik, though in that case he's also injured.   Just way too much golf...

Oops! - The PGA Tour couldn't allow the USGA's dominance of rules fiascoes to go unchallenged:

Wednesday is an odd time for something to happen that alters the landscape of a pro golf

award. But before a single shot was hit this week, the race for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year changed drastically. 

Up until Wednesday, it was a lock that either Emiliano Grillo or Smylie Kaufman would win the honor. Then Si Woo Kim became a rookie -- and things became a bit more blurry. 

The PGA Tour decided to re-classify Kim as a first-year player with just two FedEx Cup Playoff events remaining before the 2015-16 season wraps up. Confused, Smylie?

On the one hand, huh?  On the other, who cares?

Today's Golf History Lesson -  Who's the best golfer you've never heard of?  Lots of candidates, but submitted for your approval is Chick Evans:

Three years ago, the American golf hero Francis Ouimet was celebrated for the

centennial of his landmark victory in the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club. This week, another maker of a memorable moment in U.S. golf history gets his due. Today is the eve of Charles (Chick) Evans becoming, a century ago, the first golfer to complete the “Double Crown” of winning the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in the same year. 

While Ouimet’s feat showed Americans could beat the best international players, Evans’ achievement proved a homegrown golfer could dominate America’s key events. One hundred years later, Bobby Jones is the only other golfer to have accomplished the feat, winning the U.S. Open and Amateur in his Grand Slam year of 1930.

The item is well worth your time if you enjoy golf history.  At the time, the Amateur was the more prestigious event, a fact that's hard for today's golf fans to appreciate.   

Jaime Elaborates - Sam Weinman scores an e-mail Q&A with Jaime Diaz, and I'm guessing that this will be the most copied-and-pasted bit:

In your story you delve into some deep stuff, particularly the concept that some of his physical pain might emanate from emotional anguish. If that's the case, can the opposite be true? If Tiger, having missed the game in the past year, can rediscover some joy in playing, could his body respond favorably as well? I ask this question of course acknowledging you are not a doctor, a psychiatrist or, as far as I know, a spiritual healer. 

It’s a tricky area, because when it comes to the source of Tiger’s pain, since he has never

shared any medical specifics, is all speculation. It was revealing to me that Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, said in our story that Tiger had not considered nor was considering exploring whether his pain could have psychosomatic origins. It suggests that just as Tiger has declined to comment publicly about his scandal or the toll it might have taken on him, he has not addressed the embarrassment and humiliation as a source of stress that could be responsible for part of, or even all of, his lower-back problems. The theoretical inverse of this — again, speculation — would be Tiger coming to terms with the damage his scandal and subsequent divorce did to his psyche, and acknowledging that its effect was psychosomatic pain. Extending this line of thinking, if Tiger got to that point, his body and mind could heal to the point that he could regain the mental and physical skills that in recent years have dramatically declined. The best chance for Tiger to play with joy again is to understand and resolve the sadness and regret he’s likely been carrying in recent years.

Jaime has been eloquently discussing this thought for some time now, and there's much that intrigues in it.  But there's one question I'm begging to ask him, and I'll even put the beers on my Unplayable Lies expense account.  

How does his unified theory of moral shame account for Y.E. Yang?  Which was, folks seem to forget, at least three months before the Escalade made contact with the fire hydrant.

That's all for now....I'll see you when I see you.

Catching Up

Apologies to readers for the unexpected absence due to family matters...But we're back in the saddle, so strap yourselves in...

The Cat In The Hat Is Back - No doubt you've heard the news, The Striped One is on the prowl:

Spurning The Players Tribune and speaking exclusively to TigerWoods.com, Tiger Woods says he's coming back this fall at the Tiger Woods Invitational in Monterey, followed a few days later by a PGA Tour return at the Safeway Open in Napa.

He's also planning to tee it up in the Turkish Airlines Open in early November and the Hero World Challenge in December.

That's welcome news indeed, though the SEC requires that we provide this Rule 144 disclosure:

"My rehabilitation is to the point where I'm comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do," Tiger said. "Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.

I always heard that hope is not a strategy, but we'll just hope that this hope is justified.  Shack gives him credit for the timing of the announcement:

The Big Cat has picked some strange times to break news, but this was actually quite excellent. Not on a Friday, not on a day anyone else was announcing something, and well in advance so the events he's teeing up at can promote his appearance. Progress!

You mean like the Mea Culpa Press Conference on the Wednesday of the Match Play?  But when even the FBI has taken to holiday weekend data dumps, perhaps that ploy has jumped the shark.

Now, much as I'm pleased to see Tiger supporting the lesser events on the Tour's calendar, there's some old history here.  Tiger (along with several others) chased the appearance money to Istanbul previously, and owed the Commish a visit to the competing Frys (now the Safeway) from then.  I don't think he ever honored that commitment due to injuries, so there may be less here than meets the eye.

Though I find it somewhat off-putting that he's again chasing the appearance fees instead of helping to make Sea Island great again.  I get that he no longer flies coach, but is such a long trip really a good idea?  How'd that money grab junket to Singapore work out for Jordan?

By far the most interesting item on Tiger's return was actually written prior to the news by the estimable Jaime Diaz.   You will, of course, read the entire piece.....  But see if this rings true:

How good is this illustration?

There is much research providing evidence that tension from unresolved repressed emotions—particularly anger and shame—can be an important source of chronic pain. 

According to work pioneered by Dr. John Sarno, a now-retired professor of rehabilitation medicine at NYU, the body's reaction to deep psychological wounds can be to create physical pain to prevent hidden emotions from becoming conscious.

Sarno calls this Tension Myoneural Syndrome and says that such psychosomatic pain that can't be traced to actual structural changes often occurs in the back.

Afremow, the peak-performance coordinator for the San Francisco Giants, says he often sees variations of the syndrome at work in competitive sports. "Especially with top athletes, pain can be a barometer of their stress level," he says. "Men especially tend to bottle everything up, and this is more true for the highest achievers, who are used to pushing through everything. It can result in constant pain, without any physical sign. The mind-body connection has been underestimated."

Ummm....how's that work with the Giants going?   He knows it's an even year, doesn't he?

Now the reactions are what you'd expect from players, as he still moves the needle for sure.  Other reactions are a little more curious:

First, a sober suggestion:  

Jason Day: "Even though he's Tiger Woods, don't expect too much" in return

Well, he used to be.... whether he still is, that's TBD.

This guy is way out there:

Tiger Woods has “six to eight wins” left in him, says Johnny Miller

 I didn't even click through to see the basis for such speculation, or whether that includes majors.

And in our "It's in his nature" moment, I bring you Brandel being Brandel:

Chamblee: Without new swing, Woods risks injury

So you're suggesting that he take a couple of years to groove a new swing?

Ruled By Fools - Peter Kostis takes a crack at the current state of rules enforcement and, spoiler alert, finds it wanting.  This is the nut graph:

In addition to updating the "Ball at Rest Moved By Player, Partner, Caddie or

Equipment" rule (18-2), which went into effect at the start of this year, the USGA also decreed that you may no longer post scores for handicap purposes if you play by yourself. It's another example of the governing bodies looking over our shoulders, like Big Brother. Apparently, they don't consider golfers to be trustworthy. So we have an issue: Golf is either the pristine, righteous game they proclaim it to be, or it's not—in which case the USGA and R&A look like ambulance chasers, eager to find fault with you at every turn. The latter mentality mocks everything the game is supposed to stand for.

As you'll intuit from the accompanying photo, Count One in the indictment was the U.S. Open, and far be it from me to interrupt a justifiable trip to the woodshed for the USGA.  But like everyone else that tackles this subject, Peter submits apples, oranges and a small section of a large intestine in support of his position.

First and foremost, we've been banging this drum for some time, but the revision of Rule 18-2 seems to have been conceived by folks who don't get out much.  I'll acknowledge that they may have had good intentions, but the net result has been unusable ambiguity seemingly based on the concept that a player can identify the cause of his ball moving.  Obviously those that drafted the rule were not in the field at recent USGA events, because when a ball is placed on a glass surface almost anything or nothing at all will cause it to move.

There are also tangential issues related to the USGA's ability to handle situations when they arise, to wit not having a video rules official and the patently unfair staging of announcements in the midst of competition (I do hope that Bethany Brittany Lang sent a thank-you note).  But those are secondary, or at least should be, once the rule is fixed.  We don't need a committee or a long-term process, we need a quick rewrite that makes the player blameless if the ball moves on the green unless he touched it.

On the other subjects on which Peter touches, I do not believe that the rules of golf are a meaningful impediment to participation in the game, and I find that most commentary on the subject fails to account for how we play.  For instance, while the rules governing a given drop might have some arcane twists in the Decisions, the fact is that you ask your opponent if he's OK where you want to drop and that's the end of it.  So, by all means go crazy with your simplification task force, but let's not waste the energy pretending that it matter much....

Peter's citation of the rule banning posting solo scores deserves a more nuanced answer, though I'm perfectly OK with the change.  No doubt it inconveniences some souls, and that's always unfortunate.  But the handicapping system has always been a peer review system, and how could it be otherwise?  But the premise that golf is a game of honor is not the slightest bit undermined by acknowledging that humans are flawed creatures....  The rules of golf, like the constitution, are not a suicide pact.

Rors Roars - I saw none of his Monday pyrotechnics, so let's segue to the Tour Confidential panel's take on how this alters the landscape:

Jeff Ritter: He hasn't played like one in a while, but McIlroy is one of golf's biggest stars, and this win, against a loaded field, is significant. A fully charged McIlroy is great for golf and nice for the FedEx playoffs...and (sky darkens, thunderclap explodes, cue music: DUN DUN DUNNNNNN) ominous for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Gary Van Sickle: It's impressive that he won in a howling gale--he hates playing in the wind and as a high-ball hitter, he hasn't been very good at it in the past. This win doesn't change anything unless Rory starts playing like Rory and backs it up with more good play. It does alter the Ryder Cup landscape. America's forecast just downgraded to mostly cloudy.

Those guys stuck the dismount, didn't they?  Who cares about Crooked Stick or East Lake, the only real issue is how it affects that little exhibition at the end of the month.

Is golf better with Rory playing well?  Of course....What does this portend for the FedEx Cup?  Sorry, I nodded off there....

The real news is that things only got murkier for Davis Love last weekend.  Guys on the periphery like Ryan Moore and James Hahn helped themselves marginally, but they were marginal to begin with.  But the guys that Davis wants a reason to take, J.B. Holmes (T33), Rickie (T46), Kooch (T46), Snedeker (T46) and Alas, Poor Furyk (T57) didn't distinguish themselves.

Of course they out-performed Bubba, who had the weekend off.  You might enjoy this spirited debate from Friday on Golf Central, in which our Brandel ensures that he won't be on Bubba or Rickie's Christmas card list.  I don't necessarily disagree with him on Bubba or even J.B., though he seems to have drunk Phil's Kool-Aid on pods.  But I'm certainly hoping that Mr. 58 is not a lock, though my hope could well be less realistic than Tiger's.

The man that gave us the pods opined that it's a deep dumpster dive:

“I look at it now and I think we’re probably 8-9 deep on who we could pick,” Azinger said.

Hardly, but even that can't explain a header like this:

The Case for ... Will McGirt as a U.S. Ryder Cup Captain's Pick

That would be....none, nada, nil, zip, zero...shall I go on?

Tour Stuff -  If it seems like the Euro Tour has more energy than the PGA, this is a small bit of why.  The guys just seem to be having fun with it, and the use of ProTracer is just priceless.

The Tour has finally perhaps started to address the shortage of playing opportunities, though you'd be right to remain skeptical.  Earlier in the week came word that the automatic exemptions henceforth would be based upon FedEx Cup points, not the money list.  In theory that shouldn't matter, but I'll remind that there's a reason that Shack and others call it The Reset Cup....  So players may lose pints earned in that process.  I've no idea how unfair this might prove to be...

Next came this:

This week the player advisory council debated whether the circuit should consider reducing the number of exemptions from the FedEx Cup points list - the top 125 are currently exempt heading into the following season - and from the Web.com Tour’s Finals Series. 

The move, which according to various sources was widely dismissed by the PAC, is an attempt to assure those who do get their Tour cards that they have plenty of playing opportunities. 

Although the pressure to give every member a chance to play has been mounting in recent years, taking away playing opportunities seems counterintuitive.

Rex, you ignorant slut!  The move would not eliminate playing opportunities, it would eliminate the guarantee thereof.  The background is that the Tour has royally screwed recent Web.com graduates who were promised Tour cards...  Oh, they got some kind of card, but not one that allowed them to tee it up in Tour events.  Word has been that there were non-recurring issues, such as a record number of guys playing on major medical exemptions and the like.  

I don't what the answer is, but when you remove Q-School as an avenue to the Tour and require a full year of indentured servitude, you should at least deliver that which was promised.

Putting The Malt in Maltbie - Do you know the Maltbie story?  Yanno, the one that came to define his life and career?

On July 20, 1975, Roger Maltbie won the Pleasant Valley Classic, earning a first-place

check of $40,000. He was handed the payment on the final green afterward -- not some oversized novelty check, but the real deal that looked very much like any other paycheck, only with a few more zeroes attached. 

"I had a courtesy car driver that week who kind of adopted me," recalled Maltbie, who made the cut on the number, then shot 66-67 in breezy conditions for the title. "I won the tournament, I went in, I bought a round of drinks at the bar, then I said, 'Where do we go? What do we do?' He took me to T.O. Flynn's." 

Needless to say, Maltbie and those around him enjoyed themselves at the local establishment that night. When he awoke the next morning, the champion was admittedly a bit foggy. 

"I don't know how long I sat there, but it took a little while until I realized I won the day before," he said. "I was going to get a newspaper and read about how cool I am. Then I reached into my pockets and I'm like, 'Oh, s---. Something bad's happened here.'"

Yup, he lost the check..... Hard to imagine something like that following him all these years...

Just to be clear, they replaced the check and he's had the cash all these years.  He was simply reunited with the physical check, which is a nice story all the same. 

Friday Frisson

Apologies, Dear Reader, for yesterday's unscheduled mental health day.... I could blame it on family and other obligations, but the reality is that I just needed a day away from the keyboard.

There are currently seventeen open browser tabs...  don't panic, as that includes Chase and a small number not for your reading pleasure, but we have much to cover.  Perhaps a refill on that coffee?

Sand Valley - Golf course closures are more the norm these days, making this all the more enjoyable.  Mike Keiser is about the only guy still building, and fortunately he doesn't do one-offs.  Gary Van Sickle made his way to central Wisconsin, and the rest of us won't be far behind:

LOST IN WISCONSIN—Pardon the dateline, but I’m not exactly sure where the hell I

am. 

That’s strange because I lived in Wisconsin for 18 years and even graduated from a small-town high school maybe an hour away. But I couldn’t put an I Am Here dot on a map.

Here is Sand Valley, a fabulous new course and future resort that’s about to open for public play. It is the brainchild of Mike Keiser, the man who put Bandon Dunes on your golf bucket list, and his sons, Michael Jr. and Chris. There’s only one drawback to Sand Valley: getting there. Funny, but Bandon Dunes, on Oregon’s remote coast, initially had the same problem. Now, 81 stunning holes, spectacular ocean views and an upgraded commercial airport have made location a moot point. Bandon is a smashing success.

On the You-Can't-Get-There-From-Here scale, which runs from zero to Askernish, Bandon Dunes is a seven and this is no more than a five.  Wisconsin is about to become a golf destination of major proportions, incorporating Koehler, Erin Hills and this little project.

Back to Mike:

Still, Keiser sent business associate Josh Lesnik on a reconnaissance mission, all the while expecting him to shoot down the idea. His report to Keiser is now the stuff of legend: “I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are going to love it.” Within a few months, Keiser had bought 1,500 acres, and the Sand Valley saga began. 

The first course, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, is ready for play, and it’s terrific fun, with green fees ranging from $85-$195 for resort guests and $95-$235 for daily play. Sand Valley kind of resembles Bandon Trails, another Coore-Crenshaw effort that some visitors argue is the best of the tracks at the resort. The second Sand Valley course, by Bandon Dunes architect David McLay Kidd, is under construction and is scheduled to open in 2018.

The over/under is four courses, as we've previously discussed.  That's because Kidd won an unusual bake-off for the design contract for the second course.  Keiser challenged three design teams, the other two being Tom Doak and Rod Whitman (Cabot Links), and amazingly the three groups all chose different sections of the site over which to route their courses.  Which means that Mike has Sand Valley Nos. 3 & 4 all teed up....

If they come he will build it....and my guess is that they will come.  A gallery of photos from the Coore-Crenshaw design is here.... Here's another sample:

If you like this sort of thing....

Don't Tease Me Now - You guys know the drill, we have to support the off-putting Vijay Singh in his lawsuit against the PGA Tour because....well, lesser of evils and all that.  I can't possibly recite the bill of particulars, but the Tour's disciplinary process needs a strong dose of sunlight, just so we can see what's growing in there...

So, fingers crossed, with this from a Pete Madden interview with Veej's lawyer:

GOLF.com: You've represented several professional athletes in disputes against the leagues they play for, including the NFL and the NCAA. What makes Vijay Singh's case against the PGA Tour unique? 

Ginsberg: The golf world is a unique place, and Vijay is certainly a unique person. He is the prototype of a professional, a mature man who has achieved what people dream of achieving. He is a thoughtful, decent person who was wronged by an arbitrary and irrational decision by the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour is also different than most leagues because it isn't subject to the same guidelines or restrictions that a collective bargaining agreement imposes on some of the other leagues. And the players themselves, the labor part of the sport, have not organized or acted in coordination the way that they do in some of the other leagues.

Now there's much of merit in the bottom half of his answer, but I may need a moment to absorb the concept of a mature professional using deer antler spray.....

Please do read the entire thing, as there's no shortage of comedic high points, such as Vijay's extensive due diligence on the product:

Singh and his assistant both looked into the product. He has always been very careful about that. They checked the bottle. He met with the man who was manufacturing the product. I believe they talked with some of the other golfers, but he certainly looked at some of the testimonials from other golfers. There was nothing they could find that made the product suspicious in any way. And I think the fact that other golfers were not only using the product, but publicly endorsing the product and continued to do so without the PGA Tour standing up or stopping it -- as far as Vijay could tell -- gave him no reason to feel like there was a reason not to take the product.

Clearly there's nothing to see here....well, perhaps except for this:

As Sports Illustrated's David Epstein reported in 2013, Sports with Alternatives to Steroids, the company selling the spray, was a two-man operation run out of the back of a gym near Birmingham, Alabama, and its founder, Mitch Ross, was a former male stripper and steroid dealer who did not even have a college degree in science. After he read the article, did Vijay feel deceived?

Of course my interest is the needlessly opaque Tour disciplinary policies as relates both the recreational (DJ, call your office) and performance-enhancing drugs.  

Stay tuned....

Ryder Cup Recriminations, Part XVII - First off, we'll refer you to this September Golf Digest September issue with behind the scenes comments on Ryder Cup hopefuls....  Lots of good dirt dished and keen insights to be had, though it's way to long because it covers the entire universe of possible players.

Let me restate that last bit, since the section on American players starts with Keegan Bradley... I don't care if you went to press last September, Keegs was never in the mix.... As for Webb Simpson, I'm hopeful that he doesn't actually have Davis' cellphone number....

But here's the take on an old fave:

Sergio Garcia (18-9-5)

AMERICAN TAKES: "More than any of their guys, Sergio likes to mess with you. He likes to play little b.s. games, and he's comfortable winning playing those b.s. games if he can't beat you with his clubs. It's totally chickenshit, and you have to give it right back to him or ignore him. And if you do give it back to him, it can affect him." ..."You can get in his head the easiest, but he still seems tough in the Ryder Cup. If you really wanted to try to rattle him, make him putt everything." ... "If you need to have the last point of the Ryder Cup, you'd want to see Sergio playing for their side." ... "Sergio isn't a choker, but has he ever made a putt in a major when it really counted at the end? That's why you feel like he can be beaten." ... "He can go dark, and his body language is going to tell you a lot about where his head is at. And if that happens, then you have the opening to try to put him away because he might have checked out. He can go haywire in the head, yeah." 

EUROPEAN TAKE: "Sergio is so streaky on the greens. Sometimes he actually looks OK. And his stats are better inside eight feet. But he doesn't win nearly as often as he should. And that can only be because of his putting. He stands up there just not believing they're going to go in, an attitude that soon becomes clear to an opponent. Having said that, he has holed some terrific putts in the Ryder Cup. But look what Anthony Kim did to him at Valhalla. Sergio was putting poorly, and armed with that knowledge, Kim hammered him [5 and 4]."

Sergio's a funny guy, a force of nature in the team events but quite beatable in singles.  But expect him to putt like Bobby Locke on Friday and Saturday....

There's much there of interest, but perhaps the best suggestion is to keep it open for the rainy Sunday and Monday ahead.

The case for Bubba?  This might be it...

The Tour Confidential guys took on the orange enigma with this long-winded question:

2. Rickie Fowler held a one-stroke lead over Reed after 54 holes at Bethpage Black but played his final nine in four over to finish T-7,costing him an automatic bid onto Davis Love III's U.S. Ryder Cup team. Was Fowler's mostly stellar form throughout the week evidence that he deserves one of Love's four captain's picks, or was his loose play under Sunday-afternoon pressure a sign that his game's not quite there and he should sit out this edition?

Here's a tasting menu of answers:

VAN SICKLE: Fowler is one of the guys who Love fought for to get on the team at

Wales when he was maybe a controversial choice, and Fowler came through on the last four holes of that singles match. He's got a match-play mentality and pedigree that means Love is going to pick him, pretty much no matter what. Rickie should play. He will play.

SHIPNUCK: After the slippage at Bethpage Fowler is now oh-fer four in converting 54-hole leads on Tour. A spot on the team was there for the taking on Sunday and he stumbled badly. What to do with him will be Love's biggest choice. Personally, I think Rickie has played his way off the team.

Alas, some questions can only be answered with another question, to wit, Who you got that's better?

 There was also this one:

Vegas has made the U.S. a heavy favorite to win back the Cup at Hazeltine. Do the oddsmakers have it right?

Continuing our homage to Jeopardy, I'd counter with, If they can't win this one, when will they win?

But here's one that won't trigger a question in response:

4. Fueled by big, vocal galleries, Bethpage Black was its usual electric self during the Barclays. Is there any threat of Bethpage becoming untenably rowdy when the Ryder Cup visits in 2024?

That's a feature, not a bug.... It's also the answer to my question immediately above.  Sergio could not be reached for comment, but I'd predict a 2023 retirement announcement.

 Cheap Shots -

Charles Barkley, Call Your Office - This dude shot 80 once -- yes, with this swing.  Needs to be seen to be believed.  Hard to imagine he can even put the club face on the ball...

Beware The Injured Golfer - Henrik Stenson has torn meniscus, will skip BMW to rest up for Ryder Cup

I'd Have Gone With a Shrink - Rory McIlroy hires putting coach to help stanch the bleeding

Is His Name Constantino Rocca? - Euro Tour player has putt come nearly back to his feet, and then drains the next one

No. Next Question... - Would you pay $99,000 for this clubfitting experience?  

No Thanks, I'm Good - What exactly will Tiger Woods do as a Ryder Cup assistant? Let's take a closer look.  I'm just praying that there's no squirrels involved.....

Ryder Recriminations

We're on the clock, as the Met. Golf Writers are meeting at Century Country Club.... Cobra/Puma will be there with demos for us, so there goes all the good work we did at yesterday's lesson.

Lots to talk about with the seemingly-deserving Russell Knox left at home....First, John Huggan tells us what Darren Clarke was thinking:

Perhaps the biggest influence on Clarke’s overall decision was the presence of five Ryder rookies amongst those identified by the two-pronged qualifying system that involved

European and World Ranking points lists. A keen student of statistics, the Northern Irishman knows that success rates within the biennial contest tend to drop off markedly whenever the number of debutants in a 12-man team goes above four.

Still, just as then-captain Colin Montgomerie rewarded the fast-finishing Edoardo Molinari in 2010 ahead of the much higher-ranked Paul Casey—the Italian birdied the last three holes to win the final qualifying event, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles—Clarke has similarly opted to add a sixth rookie in the big-hitting Pieters. The Belgian closed with three successive birdies to claim last week’s Made in Denmark tournament on the European Tour (where, significantly, he shot an opening 62 playing alongside his captain). Further strengthening his last-minute case, Pieters was runner-up in the Czech Masters one week earlier and, seven days before that, fourth in the Rio Olympics.

Given the field in Rio, that 4th isn't all that impressive, but there's little doubt that Pieters is a rising talent.

But a meme has developed that it's Knox's "arrogance" that kept him off the team.... Huggan had this:

On the other hand, one week before his trip to Long Island, Knox was asked to play in the Wyndham Championship by Clarke and European vice captain Ian Poulter. This could be interpreted as a strong hint as to Clarke’s intention not to select Knox (or indeed mildly insulting to someone who had just won on the world’s most competitive circuit) as a good performance in North Carolina could have seen the Scot make it to Hazeltine as an automatic qualifier. But Knox declined, citing his high standing in the FedEx Cup and the need to already play four weeks out of five immediately before the Ryder Cup. 

But why Westwood and Kaymer, both without wins on either the U.S. or European circuits since 2014, over Knox?

 More telling is this from Tom English at the Beeb:

He should have gone to Denmark last week, thereby showing his captain that he had a huge desire to make the team, but instead he opted for the cash mountain that was The Barclays. There were Ryder Cup points on offer in Denmark but not in the USA. In choosing the USA, the Scot gave out a bad signal.

First of all, is that even factually correct?  I assume that Knox would only have qualified based upon their international points list, for which I'd assume The Barclays counts.  More to the point, Knox supported the Euro Tour earlier in his season, and as a member of both Tours would naturally want to participate in its season-ending playoffs cum money grab.  

This is the bit that's causing Russell the pushback:

"As I said to someone recently, my big problem was not getting the points for winning in 

China," said Knox of his victory in Shanghai. 

"I'd be in if they counted. So there is a moral obligation to pick me, I guess. I don't want Darren to pick me because of that, though. His goal is to pick the three best players who did not make the team. And I have a hard time not thinking I am one of those right now." 

Moral obligation? This was a player dictating to a captain - and no good ever comes of that. It was a bizarre approach from Knox; it was utterly self-defeating when Pieters was already laying down a huge case for inclusion.

Does that offend any of you?  If it does, it might say more about you than him....  But this does seem like it's more on point:

Clarke hinted at Knox being an outsider when he said Tuesday the Ryder Cup is about more than just playing. ''It's about the team room and the dynamics and everything that's involved in it,'' he said. 

Knox was hard-pressed to think of another European who played primarily in America. He said he barely knows Clarke or the assistants. That includes Poulter, even though they've had the same agent for years.

''Ultimately, I had that going against me,'' Knox said. ''I don't even know Paul Lawrie. Sam Torrance seems like a legend - I don't know him. I played with Thomas Bjorn once, and we didn't speak one word. I don't have relationships with anyone. I'm not really close to anyone on the team."

We have way too much time to fill and too little to talk about, so we inevitably blow these things out of proportion.  It's apparent that, given the composition of his automatic qualifiers, Clarke was always taking Westy and Kaymer.  Given their form, that can be legitimately questioned, but that's his job.

It came down to Knox v. Pieters for the last slot, and Clarke went with Belgian.  He's younger than Knox, so there's a long-term benefit potentially, but I could also see where he projects as more valuable.  As one of the GC commentators noted last evening, Knox's principal skill set is bogey avoidance, which is not a priority in team formats.  perhaps more to the point, he's a much longer hitter than Knox, and Hazeltine will play long.

For an amusing walk down memory lane, John Strege ranks the biggest Ryder Cup snubs of all time here.  Like Shack, the Casey snub simply has to top the list.  as even John agrees in this argument against interest:

Paul Casey -- 2010

Arguably the biggest snub in the annals of the Ryder Cup, Casey was ranked inside the

world's top 10 the entire year, yet was left off the European squad in favor of Pádraig Harrington, who was struggling mightily at the time of selection. Not helping matters was captain Colin Montgomerie's refusal to discuss the matter, with sources around the team saying the pick was influenced by politics. Casey remains bitter to this day: many viewed his decision to end European Tour membership in 2015 as fallout from the 2010 overlook.

Though I also like this one, because it shows the Sir Nick that's so beloved in the game:

Nick Faldo -- 1999

Although Faldo's game was a mess in 1999 (falling to 197th in the world after being in the top 10 just two summers before), Sir Nick expected to make his record 12th Ryder Cup team that fall. Instead, Mark James picked Andrew Coltart and Jesper Parnevik. The decision caused a split between the two; James would later claim in a book that Faldo tried to undermine the European effort.

I have more of everything for you, except time.  See you tomorrow....