Memphis Blues

It's a dead zone on the schedule, so we'll fill in what we can.....

Partnership, Redefined - Links Magazine is on the long list of golf sites that I should visit more often, but don't.  But this worthy effort might cause me to reexamine my traffic patterns, the subject being the USGA's relationship with hosting clubs for its lesser events.  And by lesser, we really mean all but one:

Hosting one of the USGA’s lower profile events at a loss can be a stepping stone to more prestigious—and profitable—championships. Consider that Chambers Bay, site of the 

Can anyone identify the clubhouse above?

2015 U.S. Open, and Erin Hills, venue for this year’s U.S. Open, both conducted a dress rehearsal of sorts as U.S. Amateur sites. 

The cost of running even one of the USGA’s 10 amateur championships has grown exponentially. The starting price can be as modest as roughly $150,000 for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, balloons to $750,000 for the Walker Cup, and gets close to $1 million for the U.S. Amateur when a larger footprint for worldwide media and television compounds is factored in. To raise the money, host facilities often are forced to get creative, ranging from throwing golf outings to finding local sponsors. It took approximately 50 well-heeled members at Country Club of Birmingham in Alabama—a century-old, 36-hole private facility that had slipped out of golf’s Top 100 lists—to bankroll the $300,000 budget for the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.

That first graph is a bit misleading, because those two public venues received their Amateurs and Opens as a package deal.  Left unsaid is the extent to which the USGA use the lure of an Open, no doubt in case with no intention to deliver, to motivate clubs to take on the lesser events.

Some of the numbers are mind-boggling, though there's quite the self-inflicted aspect to the arms race:

But it cost a pretty penny. According to Mulvoy, the budget for the 2015 Mid-Am topped 

$650,000, which included $100,000 for a reunion of Mid-Amateur champions held prior to the competition, and hiring a full-time championship coordinator. The USGA’s financial contribution to the operating budget? A net total of $59,000, or less than 10 percent of the championship’s operating costs. Thanks to Mulvoy’s creativity in hosting a dinner and golf outing, and some deep-pocketed members, 230 of whom contributed—some as much as $5,000—the club broke even, but otherwise it would have cost them a bundle. John’s Island Club managed to donate $7,500 to the Indian River Golf Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit that teaches golf and life skills to youngsters in the Vero Beach community, far less than Mulvoy had budgeted due to escalating costs. 

Frankly, a club’s burden would be more palatable if USGA coffers weren’t overflowing. In 2013, the association’s fortunes improved when it crowned Fox Sports the winner of its television contract to the tune of approximately $100 million annually, more than double the existing deal. As Mulvoy so elegantly puts it, “Why does a non-profit have over $300 million in the bank? Our members help fund educational programs and build museums and wings of hospitals.”

Now, assuming this is accuarate, they have upped their financial support of these events:

In the last few years, the USGA has improved its contribution to the operational budget, lessening some of a club’s financial burden. Bodenhamer estimates the 2017 budget for the USGA’s 10 amateur championships is $12 million this year, an increase of $2.5 million from three years ago. Gorrie agrees that the USGA has stepped up its financial commitment from 2013 to 2016, when Country Club of Birmingham hosted the Men’s State Team Championship, but terms the increase “baby steps, rather than a transformation of the way they do it financially.” Mulvoy recommends the USGA should form a true 50–50 partnership and split the cost of hosting its championships.

But as long as clubs are willing to do it, why change?  It lets them retain their $300 million nest egg for more important things like their travel budget....

 Shack, in his post on this item, tells of an arrangement from local SoCal circles:

This did not stop a well-known situation in southern California circles involving Riviera Country Club, host of the 2017 U.S. Amateur. Multiple prospective members applying to join the club where initiation is currently $250,000, revealed that they could move their way up the club's now-four year wait list with a donation to the U.S. Amateur's operating fund managed by the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. 

In return for a six figure donation of as much as $100,000 to LASEC's U.S. Amateur fund, a prospective member could move from a four year wait to a matter of months. A five-figure check would shorten wait times too, according to both prospective (and current) Riviera members who paid the additional surcharge to join the club.

If they leap-frogged me on that list I'd be plenty pissed.... Amusingly, he dis the jornalism thing and asked the USGA to comment on the arrangement, and here was their response:

In short, the business arrangement between the USGA and a club that agrees to be the site of a championship is unrelated to club membership, provided the club complies with USGA non-discrimination requirements. Riviera has assured us that they are compliant with those policies and procedures.

Nothing to see here....  Kindly exit through the gift shop....

To Links Magazine and other golf journalists, more of this type of reporting....  Please!

Open and Closed -  A few items on that little tourney to be held next week...

First up, did you know that Sports Illustrated has a True Crimes feature?  Josh Sens contributes a piece on Steve Trattner, the man responsible for Erin Hills:

At 55, slightly built and balding, eyes peering out from behind round wire-framed glasses, Steve Trattner cuts the profile of a guy you'd ring for help with your computer—

which is precisely the type of work he did before setting off on his improbable path to incarceration. 

In the mid-90s, married, with a home in the Milwaukee suburbs and two children on the way, Trattner, a middling golfer who nonetheless fantasized about carving out a life in the game, abandoned a steady job as a software programmer and embarked on a quixotic quest to build a golf course. He possessed nowhere near the wealth for such a project, much less the land to accommodate it. But he had in mind a site, in the small town of Erin. He also had the gumption to cold-call would-be investors until he found his man in a mercurial entrepreneur with no previous interest or experience in the business side of the sport. 

In August 2006, Erin Hills opened to the public. GOLF Magazine named it the Best New Course of the Year. But on June 15, when the national championship gets underway, Trattner will watch on TV in the prison where he has resided for the past 11 years, having served less than one third of his sentence.

I love that investor profile, requiring a complete absence of knowledge of golf economics....  Good call, no?

This bit is mostly irrelevant, yet curious:

An unknown in golf circles who, in turn, knew little about the sport, Lang had made a fortune on calendars and greeting cards, and he bolstered that wealth in real estate development, building painstakingly faithful Colonial-style homes in a bedroom community of Milwaukee.

Greeting cards?  Passing strange how much greeting card wealth has been recycled into the golf world, no?

 Read the whole thing, though not in the expectation of a happy ending.....

Coleman McDowell asks this relevant question:

The big cheese: Is Wisconsin the new public-golf capital of America?

Perhaps, though I'd quibble with the tense of the verb:

Okay, it doesn’t have Pebble Beach. Or any beach at all, really. So what does Wisconsin

have? Major-championship chops, enough sand dunes to give Shivas Irons the shivers and, most importantly, a sweet spot smack in the middle of the country. 

The American golf meccas we celebrate most tend to be coastal, but for a golfer in the Carolinas, getting to Bandon Dunes is a bear. Play most of your loops at Chambers Bay? Really, when will you get to Harbour Town? For golfers in pursuit of opposite-coast adventures, these cross-country routes are a trek.

It's in driving distance from at least three major population centers, making it a manageable proposition.  But not just yet, as we need to let that other greeting card magnate make further progress north of Erin Hills:

SAND VALLEY

Nekoosa, Wisconsin

Year established: 2017

Architects: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw 

Backstory: After masterminding successful remote ventures at Bandon Dunes and Cabot Links, it’s likely that building a destination course in the middle of rural Wisconsin wasn't so daunting to Mike Keiser. Billed as bringing "the joy of heathland golf to America’s heartland,” Sand Valley takes cues from famed no-frills U.K. designs like Sunningdale and Walton Heath. The Coore-Crenshaw course will be joined next year by a second 18, Mammoth Dunes, conjured up by Gamble Sands and Bandon Dunes design whiz David McLay Kidd. 

Why you should play it: Think Bandon magnificence without the gale-force winds and buckets of rain. Besides, when was the last time Keiser—or Coore and Crenshaw, for that matter—led any golfer astray? This is the It course of 2017.

And there could be two more 18's after that....  

It's Good to be the King Alternate, at least this year....  Doug Ferguson with the details:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Alternates from U.S. Open sectional qualifiers were never more important as they were this year. 

The USGA held back six spots from the 10 sectional qualifiers to make sure it could accommodate anyone who got into the top 60 in the world ranking after this week. It was a safe move because the U.S. Open field is capped at 156 players. 

But there won't be a lot of movement this year.

You can read the reasoning, but this is his bottom line:

So at least four spots will be going to alternates, and that doesn't even include Phil Mickelson, who plans to withdraw because of his daughter's high school graduation. 

It's difficult to miss U.S. Open qualifying by one spot, but the playoffs to determine first alternates were critical this year. 

Among the first alternates was Davis Love IV, who goes primarily by Dru and is the son of the two-time Ryder Cup captain. He played in the Georgia sectional, which awarded the fewest spots (2) of any U.S. qualifier and could be high on the alternate list.

And Michael Putnam as well....  I know, it doesn't rock your world, but it's a dead zone in the news cycle, so pretend to be interested.

The mystery is which alternate gets chosen first. 

The USGA does not disclose the priority list, though it keeps in touch with players to allow them time to get to Wisconsin. The U.S. Open starts June 15 at Erin Hills. The priority is based on a formula that includes how many spots each section was allocated, and the strength of field determined by the world ranking (pro and amateur).

I hear whispers of Russian hacking, which I assume Former Director Comey will address today.

In terms of Phil's spot, this seems unlikely to affect the outcome:

Phil Mickelson's decision to skip the U.S. Open at Erin Hills surprised many, and has caused plenty of stir among golf fan's who desperately want to watch Lefty chase the career Grand Slam. One fan even created an online petition begging Mickelson's

daughter's school to change its commencement date. 

Derek Deminsky, a PGA professional from Tuscon, Ariz., is imploring Pacific Ridge School to move its commencement up at least one day. The school's graduation is scheduled for 10 a.m. June 15th, the day the Open begins, which would be noon local time at Erin Hills. 

Deminsky writes "On behalf of golf fans everywhere, I am requesting to see if there is ANY WAY possible to reschedule your graduation ceremony to Wed June 14th (or before) to allow Phil Mickelson to play in this year's U.S. Open and continue his quest for the career Grand Slam. For Phil not to play to see Amanda speak is absolutely beautiful and shows the kind of caring father and family man he is, but if there is ANY WAY POSSIBLE to move it to the day before, I and MILLIONS of golf fans everywhere would GREATLY appreciate it!"

Those of us familiar with how the world works assume that Phil has already offered to write the school a sizable check to move graduation, which has been either been declined or is under negotiation.  But I'm sure the petition will tip in the desired direction....

Clubicide - Our journey starts with Daniel Summerhays, who I've been reliably informed has a cute nam efor his putter with a funny back-story:

Daniel Summerhays is still in search of his first PGA Tour win, but we've learned there's a lot to like about the 33-year-old in the past few weeks. For one, the 5-foot-8 BYU product can dunk! Well, when he gets an assist from the wall. And secondly, his putter is nicknamed "Sweet Love." That's not a joke, and the story behind it is even funnier.

"You know, I think you ask any of the people I played junior golf with in Salt Lake and that's the one thing they'll always tell you. That kid makes everything. 

"But, no, there were definitely some times when -- funny story, just a naive kind of sophomore in college at BYU, and I went off one day with the putter. I was making everything. And not just short, I was making 20, 25-footers. And I leaned over to Coach Brockbank and I said, 'Coach, the putter is making sweet love to me. And so they named my putter Sweet Love. And even I'll get texts from some of my college teammates, 'let Sweet Love loose today,' or something like that."

OK, presumably in Mormon country the putter was the only one doing so, but Alex Myers clearly has lower standards than I for funny.

But Golf Digest uses the item to drive some clicks to an older piece, and this seems way more promising:

RELATED: How tour pros punish bad golf clubs

Do tell:

Justin Rose could only laugh. Several years earlier he'd done the same thing at Doral, on

the same hole. "But I flung it so far that it nearly reached the other side. It was sort of half-submerged in the bank," Rose recalls. "So we come to the [par-5] 10th hole, and I've got a perfect 3-wood distance to the green. I send Fulchy [caddie Mark Fulcher] 50 yards across the fairway, and he wades in and gets it back. I hit the middle of the green. Obviously, it had learned its lesson." While playing with friends at Whisper Rock in Scottsdale, two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North was testing a new driver. But after a series of poor tee shots, including a snap-hook at 18, North marched off the front of the teeing ground, laid his driver on the stone facing, picked up a large rock, and pulverized the clubhead. 

He had calmed down by the time he sat down for lunch, but his friends helped him relive the moment. "I ordered a chef salad," North recalls. "When the waiter took the top off the plate, there were shards of the driver head sprinkled over the top of the salad."

Fun stuff, no?

And there was this legend of the game that ultimately got control of his temper, but the early years remain relevant:

As Jones said, "Some emotions cannot be endured with a golf club in your hands." He routinely threw clubs, including a famous display at Brae Burn Country Club in 1917 when, after shanking a shot, he began throwing clubs and balls in all directions as the crowd gasped. Sports writer Grantland Rice once said the young Jones had "the face of an angel and the temper of a timberwolf." 

Jones' most famous outburst occurred at the Old Course at St. Andrews during the 1921 Open Championship, when he stomped off the par-3 11th hole and tore up his scorecard upon failing after four tries to extricate his ball from the Hill bunker. That year he was guilty of another lapse when he threw a club at the U.S. Open that struck a female spectator in the leg. USGA president Howard F. Whitney reportedly delivered a severe rebuke to the 19-year-old Jones.

A couple more for you?

Long before Elin Woods underclubbed going for an SUV with a 9-iron, there was Rocky Thompson. After a Monday qualifier for the New Orleans Open, Thompson climbed atop the hood of his Cadillac, still wearing his metal spikes, and proceeded to remodel it with a 7-iron. "We're all sitting there on the trunks of our cars waiting for the results," says Gary McCord, who witnessed the carnage. "Next thing you know you hear this God-awful sound, and there's Rocky flailing away. It was great entertainment." 

David Feherty admits to running over his clubs with his car after triple-bogeying the final hole to lose the 1981 Irish National PGA Championship. "I drove over them lengthwise so that I got all of them from grip to clubhead," he says. "Unfortunately, I left my watch in there."

There's even a special section devoted to putters, clearly deserving of enhanced techniques. 

Probably the most surprising thing is the appearance (and euthanistic enthusiasm) of certain of the more level-headed members of our community.  This game gets to us all.....

I know I don't need to tell you to read the entire thing... You're all over it.

I'll just tell you my favorite such story...  I'm in Myrtle Beach with three buddies a million years ago,  One of the guys, we'll call him Jim Randle, was have a God-awful day.  He had long since deserted his driver, and after dribbling a 5-wood into the water, he prepares to whirly-bird it into the same.  He's halfway through his hammer-toss pivot when you see the light bulb go on above his head, asking "Do I really want to lose this golf club?"

In the moment he answers No, makes an additional half rotation and tosses it aggressively towards a grove of trees.  Good course correction, you'll agree, except he tossed it so deep and the trees were so prickly, that none of us, Jim included, could venture far enough in to effect the retrieval.  Ultimately his worst swing of the bad day, and not even the satisfaction of a splash.

A heads up that I have an early morning match tomorrow, so I'll see you when I see you.

Midweek Musings

There's shockingly little in the golf news department, so a perfect opportunity to begin our U.S. Open flood-the-zone coverage....  But first, a message from our sponsor Cialis.

Fifty Shades of Old - Sports Business Daily with this provocative header:

Going gray: Sports TV viewers skew older

Who you calling old, bud?  Care to settle this outside? 

The study, conducted exclusively for SportsBusiness Journal by Magna Global, looked at live, regular-season game coverage of major sports across both broadcast and cable

television in 2000, 2006 and 2016. It showed that while the median age of viewers of most sports, except the WTA, NBA and MLS, is aging faster than the overall U.S. population, it is doing so at a slower pace than prime-time TV. 

The trends show the challenges facing leagues as they try to attract a younger audience and ensure long-term viability, and they reflect the changes in consumption patterns as young people shift their attention to digital platforms. 

“There is an increased interest in short-term things, like stats and quick highlights,” said Brian Hughes, senior vice president of audience intelligence and strategy at Magna Global USA. “That availability ofinformation has naturally funneled some younger viewers away from TV.”

In the last ten years I've gotten more than five years older, so the rest of you are looking good....  But you'll also note that virtually every other sport has seen a similar trend.  In fact, the entire country is ageing, though at a lesser rate....

Designated Fixer Ty Votaw offers the mandatory rebuttal:

Ty Votaw, executive vice president of global business affairs of the PGA Tour, summed up the tour’s demographics: “While we may be older, our demographics have been of considerable higher quality than other sports and we have aged considerably slower.” 

Votaw also noted that audience trends today can’t be solely focused on the linear TV viewer and pointed to a younger audience on tour-run digital properties. 

“When you go to PGATour.com, the median age is 55 and for our PGATour Live (over-the-top network), the median age is 20 years younger than on broadcast,” he said.

Though perhaps Sir Nick is driving them away from the flagship linear broadcast. 

Interesting stuff, though pity the poor professional wrestling fans.... Maybe we could draw in some of them when their sport dies?

Golf is always going to skew older, but there's one fairly significant aspect that you'd think would be notable when comparing television viewership.  Let's take last Sunday for instance...  The final round of the Memorial came on the air at 2:30 p.m.and finished before Sixty Minutes at 7:00 p.m.  The second game of the NBA Finals started at 8:00 p.m. (all others had tip-off at 9:00 p.m.), and finished at zero dark thirty.  As the only sport requiring daylight, isn't that a rather major difference in the audience to be had?

Don't Try This At Home, Folks - Clearly he should have screened the participants for Sergio fans:

(AP) — Two weeks after Padraig Harrington returned from neck surgery, he was struck

in the left elbow by the club of an amateur he was teaching at a clinic. 

Harrington required six deep stitches because he said the club hit him so flush that it cut into the bursa sac around the joint. He had to withdraw from the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., and hopes to be out only two weeks.

"Barring me fainting from the shock of pain, once I numbed it up, I couldn't feel anything," Harrington said. 

Harrington, who tied for 31st at the Memorial last week, said he was trying to teach the amateur how to fix his hook. He was standing to the side, shoulder to shoulder to show the amateur what the swing should look like. Harrington stepped away and the man kept swinging. 

"Caught me on the left elbow -- middle of the clubface, middle of the elbow," Harrington said. "I was pretty sure it was broken."

Unfortunate, for sure, but glad to see that he hasn't lost his cheeky sense of humor:

"There's no truth to the rumor it was the amateur's best strike of the day," Harrington said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

But did he replace his divot?

Glide Path to the Open - Repeat after me:  Erin Hills is not Chambers Bay.  Yes, there are some superficial similarities, but the course itself and the conditions we'll see will bear little resemblance to the 2015 disaster.

Will the players like it?  Who cares, it's the national championship and we'll get to see how adaptable they are....  which is, in most cases, a "No".

Jeff Ritter played the course on Media Day and files this useful primer.  Not only does he helpfully guide our expectations, but he amusingly describes his own hackfest in 35 mph winds.....  

"If there's no wind for four days, that would be highly unusual, but they'll definitely shoot lower scores. These greens are so good. They're going to make putts, and then you've got

a par 72. But listen, at the end of it, contrary to what so many think, we're not after a certain winning score. What we really are after is to see if we can set the golf course up in such a way that tests every aspect of the game." – USGA executive director Mike Davis, speaking on Wednesday to the assembled media at Erin Hills 

As a first-time major-championship venue, Erin Hills, in rural Erin, Wis., (population 4,525) presents a rumpled landscape of unknowns. No one is certain what scores the world's best players will shoot when the U.S. Open arrives next month. It will be the first par-72 U.S. Open site since 1992 (Pebble Beach), and with four par-5s, Erin Hills could serve up birdies galore (assuming Mother Nature behaves). That Davis downplayed the importance of an even-par winner is telling – the 117th U.S. Open could turn out to be a rare shootout.

So, after hearing from the guy that chose the venue and will direct its set-up, how about the guys the designed it:

Erin Hills was designed by a triumvirate of architects: Mike Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Whitten. It opened in 2004, played host to the 2008 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and 2011 U.S. Amateur. The day before I played the course, I took a spin around the track with Hurdzan and Whitten. Hurdzan delivered a line that captures the type of players who will (or won't) thrive here. 

"Guys who won't like this golf course are guys who don't like to think," he said. 

"We tried to make golfers think of every shot," Whitten added. "It's one of the most fun aspects of being an architect."

That eliminates about three-quarters of the field..... 

Read the whole thing, as I'll only excerpt a couple of notes:

2. Goodbye, flat lies 

Maybe wind isn't Erin's only defense. Because the architects tried to maintain the natural terrain, there aren't many level stances out there. It's another way the course keeps players on edge. And when they finally pull the trigger, the terrain will kick the ball in unpredictable ways. 

"The fairways themselves are bouncy," Davis said. "They're predominantly fescue. There's some ryegrass and some other grasses in there, but the soil or the subsoil here is a gritty, well-draining soil, so the combination of the grasses and the subsoil really do make this a bouncy course, so you're going to see balls hit and move."

But this may be what cause heads to explode:

5. Bunkers are true hazards

In addition to the wind and the blind shots, the bunkers at Erin Hills are uniquely diabolical. The architects created more than 130 irregularly shaped hazards they dubbed "erosion bunkers," which have wide spots and areas that are as narrow as a mere foot across. When players find the sand, they could have a clean look, or just as easily have no other option but a sideways pitch-out. Said Davis: "When you look at these things, there's a lot of nooks and crannies where a ball could get where you're uncomfortable, and I'm not sure I've seen a golf course where the bunkers have so many lies where you have a downhill high, an uphill high, a side-hill lie, and that in and of itself, when you're in a bunker, even for a good player, makes it challenging."

Here's an example from the 15th hole:

The last point Jeff makes is one I've heard from several folks that have been there, that it's a very hard walk....  Is that a factor for today's touring pros?  It shouldn't be, but you might want to avoid the geezers for your fantasy roster....

For those still spewing venom and saliva from Chambers Bay, rest assured that by all accounts the greens are perfect.  In fact, with rain in the forecast before the event begins there's a chance, should the winds be modest, of a shootout....  

Shack has been embedding the club's hole flyovers, but there's no commentary included.  The USGA videos at least come with written thoughts, and they can be found here.

Wither The Loop - I know that golf is dying and that leaves Golf Digest in an awkward predicament.  But shouldn't a Golf Digest blog be about, you know, golf?

They recently rolled out a redesign of The Loop, and the linkage to the game of golf seems increasingly tenuous....  Shall we look at a sample of stories?

Submitted for your approval, this history lesson:

Jon Lester picks off a runner, and other famous cases of athletes battling the yips

Yowser, Lester even throwing to first base is a stop-the-presses moment.  Lots of fun memories, such as this one:

Chuck Knoblauch: Like Lester, the Yankees’ second baseman and four-time All-Star sprouted an inability to get a baseball to first base; management adjusted by moving him to left field, where he had to throw farther. 

Yippiest Moment: One errant throw hit Keith Olbermann’s mom in the stands.

If you know Keith, she had it coming just for the act of breeding.... 

Relevance Grade:  A.  This is exactly the kind of whimsical item you'd expect and welcome at The Loop.  It covers golf, but demonstrates a wider knowledge of the human drama of athletic competition....

Next Up:

Jason Day will sit front row for Game 3 of the NBA Finals; his wife will NOT (Thanks, LeBron)

OK, we don't usually keep tabs on the wife's schedule, is she not a Cavs fan? Oh yeah, now that she's OK, it's pretty funny:

Golf Relevance: B+.  Captures the zeitgeist of the Dubs-Cavs threepeat, with a very relevant golf connection.  The grade might seem a tad low, but that's merely a reflection of the low degree of difficulty.

But you'll see my issue as we move on:

Watch this vertigo-inducing video of Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan without ropes

 OK, I saw this last night on the national news, where it belongs.....

Golf Relevance: F.

And this.....

Man determined to mow lawn as huge tornado swirls behind him

A great picture for sure:

Golf relevance:  Incomplete.   Let's see, they play golf in Canada and Bubba Watson once played Twister as a 6-year old, but otherwise I'm coming up empty....  You get my drift, it's a golf blog at a golf magazine's website....  Just sayin'!

Tuesday Trifles

I have to be on the road in an hour, so just a tasting menu today...

Sectional Stuff - Shack plays Aggregator in Chief covering all of the sites here.  I'll just steal his headlines and links:

My roundup from the Newport Beach qualifier hosted by the SCGA, where five of the six were amateurs and all are going to be first-time U.S. Open contestants. J.D. Cuban’s images from the qualifier. 

Brentley Romine’s notes from the Tequesta, Florida qualifier where Jack Maguire medaled. Lisa Mickey filed this story from on site as well. Scott Miller’s photos from there. 

Kevin Casey’s Memphis wrap, where Steve Stricker qualified for his 20th U.S. Open and the first in his home state. John Gress's images from Memphis. 

Jeff Babineau on the Columbus qualifier where Stewart Cink was the qualifying headliner. Also making it were J.T. Poston, Jason Kokrak; Bud Cauley; Martin Laird; Keegan Bradley; Jamie Lovemark; Bryson DeChambeau; C.T. Pan; David Lingmerth; and Ted Potter Jr. The delay added some fun to Fred Vuich’s image gallery from Columbus. 

Tuesday morning at Lakes Golf & Country Club, four players will face off for three available spots: The group consists of Peter Uihlein, Talor Gooch, Michael Putnam, and amateur Scottie Scheffler. 

Mark Button’s roundup from Dallas, where Roman Robledo, Nick Flanagan and Walker Lee qualified. Here’s a link to Darren Carroll’s image gallery from Dallas. 

Kevin Casey with the Springfield roundup where Corey Connors was medalist, with Brian Stuard, Brice Garnett and Ryan Brehm made it to Erin Hills. And here is a gallery of Matt Sullivan’s images. 

Tom Cade reports from Lakewood, Washington where Derek Barron medaled and was joined by Jordan Niebrugge, Max Greyserman and Daniel Miernicki. Here are Steve Diapola’s images from Tacoma Country Club. 

David Dusek says Canoe Brook qualifier Daniel Chopra is no longer playing as a blonde but he is headed to Erin Hills. Michael Cohen’s images from Canoe Brook. 

Garrett Johnston reports from Woodmont in Maryland where Sam Ryder was medalist. Joel Kowsky's images from there. 

Stephan Jaeger and Alex Smalley were the qualifiers in Georgia, but no stories have been posted as of post time.

Lots of familiar names, and good to see them putting in the effort.  And Mr. Stricker no doubt has emerged with an enhanced sense of self-esteem, not requiring the special exemption for which he threatened to hold his breath until he turned blue.  Hey, I've been to Wisconsin at least twice, aren't I equally deserving?  Now Hillary, not so much, because she's never been to Wisconsin..... 

Now this story has me scratching my head:

U.S. Open hopeful Michael Buttacavoli saw his chances of qualifying on Monday dashed – but it had nothing to do with his play. 

Buttacavoli was headed to play at the Jupiter Hills Golf Club in Tequesta, Fla. early Monday. He arrived at the airport just fine, however his bags did not, thanks to American Airlines.

There's some back and forth in Twitterverse, though the airline's tweets seem undoubtedly to be auto-generated.

But a question for you all....  You show up for U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying and your golf bag doesn't make it....  Do you withdraw, or do you find the club's professional staff and borrow whatever you can and give it a go?  What am I missing?

Math Is Hard - Does it amuse you when folks with one job manage to screw it up?  Yanno, like the Ian Poulter/Brain Gay  mess....

Well, then this will be right up your alley:

Last week, the Women's World Golf Rankings projected that either Ariya Jutanugarn or

So Yeon Ryu would soon dethrone Lydia Ko as the No. 1 golfer in the world. Turns out they made a mistake--and Ko gets to keep her crown a little bit longer. Despite headlines around the world trumpeting Ko's inevitable topple, it emerged on Monday that Ko wouldn't be relinquishing her perch after all. The LPGA published a statement from the provider that WWGR Inc., uses to manage the calculations behind the rankings, saying that there was an error in their projections, and Ko remained ahead of Jutanugarn by .01 points. 

Ko has been No. 1 for 84 consecutive weeks and 103 weeks overall. In 2015, Ko became the youngest ever world No. 1 in golf. She was just 17 years old at the time.

I deeply regret selling my foam finger on E-Bay....

Asked and Answered -  Alan Shipnuck is back to salvage a Tuesday post going nowhere fast:

"Who is the one player playing full-time minus Phil who is universally respected and liked?" -JeremyBenson75 

Well, there is certainly a cult of Phil, but I wouldn't say he's universally liked. The easy answer in the past to this question was Steve Stricker but he's not playing full-time anymore, so I'm going with Fowler. The young guys on Tour love his swag and respect his hustle, the old guys appreciate that he always does the right thing, the WAGs adore his aw-shucks charm and tournament directors and Tour bureaucrats are deeply grateful that he always gives extra time to sponsors and fans.

Sheesh, I thought Vijay was a mortal lock....

Two queries about The Duf:

"Jason Dufner at Erin Hills -- will he be able to carry the success or it won't fit his eye? #askalan" -Paul (@prutkowki)

The Duf is such a fairways-and-greens maestro the Open is perfect for him, so it's no surprise he's been top-eight in three of the last six. But Erin Hills is a different kettle of fish because it's the rare Open venue to have four par-5s. Dufner is relatively short off the tee, so this isn't the ideal setup for him. I expect a strong finish but it'll be tough to win giving up so much on the 3-shotters to the DJs of the world. 

"Who is Duf's new gal? Is she as hot as his ex? #ImportantStuff" –Daniel (@68shooter)

Yes, golf fans all over the globe still pine for the lovely former Mrs. Dufner, but I had a long chat at Augusta with his new girlfriend and she's quite funny and saucy and much more down-to-earth than her predecessor. No doubt she's played an important part in his renaissance.

OK, technically that second question wasn't actually about The Duf...

And translating into the original English, fairways-and-greens maestro = horrible putter. 

These two answer themselves:

"Can you compare nine senior majors (Langer) to eighteen regular majors (Jack)?" -@linksplayers

No. 

"If heat index is forecasted over 100, should pros be allowed to wear shorts?" -Kevin (@CaddieKev)

No. Why? Three words: Colt Knost's legs.

Oh, I do so hope that the USGA goes back to having some fun with their pairings, the fat-boy grouping of a few years ago was such good fun.

These get a bit more interesting:

"We are in the midst of a changing of the guard. Project to 2020: Who are your Big Four?" -David (@DStan58)

Spieth, Rahm, Pieters, Dustin. 

"How does Rahm hit it so far with driver when he only takes it back as far as I take my 60-degree?" -@IronForty

Never, ever underestimate the power of paella. Not to mention thighs that are thick as redwood trunks and perfect technique at impact. 

"Who wins a major first, Rickie or Rahm?"-Ryan (@therealsnee)

Rickie. You gotta lose a few before you can win one. (Don't @ me.)

To me, Spieth is the most questionable of that first four, no?  And Rory would seem to be the missing name, given that he'll only be in his early thirties by then.

As for Rickie, the pressure is building for a guy that still hasn't won all that much....  Just sayin'....

Isn't She Lovely -  Apologies folks, as in yesterday's wrappage I forgot to do the deep dive expected of me....  Yes, I.K. Kim won the LPGA event in Atlantic City, but here's the bottom of the leaderboard:

I draw your attention to Sharmila Nicoliet, for whom they can't even spare an Indian flag...  when you click on he rname, this is the expanded window:

Is she that unattractive?  Hardly, here's this week's beefcake:

She won the Twitter poll for the  last sponsor's exemption, beating out three other babes.  But if you want your tour to be taken seriously, you need to act like it's a serious athletic competition.

Now, I still don't see how she takes the club back..... 

Weekend Wrap

Have you missed me as much as I've missed you?

The Duf Abides - Rooting for the Duf at Unplayable Lies HQ has been the provenance of Employee No. 2, but even I have to admit to some begrudging admiration after yesterday's gritty performance:

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Jack Nicklaus probably deserves better, his long-running PGA Tour event just outside the town where he grew up once again plagued by bad weather and 

C'mon Duf, a little self-control please.

delays. 

But there was the Golden Bear, sitting beside his wife, Barbara, on a deck chair behind the 18th green in the Sunday gloaming, waiting to -- hopefully -- welcome another champion amid the raindrops following two lengthy stoppages that threatened to push the tournament to Monday. 

And there was Jason Dufner to save the day, as he holed a 32-foot par putt just a few yards from Nicklaus, one that clinched a Memorial Tournament victory that didn't seem possible after the 2013 PGA Championship winner shot 77 on Saturday.

First player since Faldo at Augusta in '89 to win with a round of 77 or higher:

"I've always been a fighter," said Dufner, who shot a final-round 68. "Especially since I turned professional. Doing this hasn't come easy for me. There's been a lot of struggles and a lot of setbacks. I didn't come straight out of college and play the PGA Tour. It took me almost 10 years to get out here. Took me another two after that to win and actually get to where I felt comfortable.

"So I always take pride in kind of being a fighter, trying to come back. I played really good a couple of weeks ago in Dallas and have a great history at Colonial, and I missed the cut. I was pissed. I was upset. I was disappointed. You have all these thoughts in the moment."

Well, you pretty much have to be a fighter when you putt that poorly, but still...  Without the use of Google, I'll go way out on a limb and guess that in the '89 Masters Faldo didn't open 65-65.

Shack had this take:

Not only did Jason Dufner win the Memorial for a long-awaited return to the winner's

circle, he did it in entertainingly bizarre fashion. The weather, the wind, the rain, the delays, the quality leaderboard, the 16th hole and the 18th all tried to trip up the third-round 77-shooter. But Dufner somehow overcame it all to win at Jack's place for his fifth PGA Tour victory. 

He heads to Erin Hills and the U.S. Open a legitimate threat given his play, ball striking and newfound confidence.

OK, Geoff, but sometimes a banana is just a banana....So, now that I've stuck a little shiv in Shack, let me give him props for this item that you won't see elsewhere:

The weather was feisty but the quality of the leaderboard made it a bit eye-opening that only nine players hit Muirfield Village's 16 green Sunday. To have only nine players in the final round of the Memorial keep their tee shots on the putting surface was one thing, but to have so many miss so badly will be of even greater concern when the tour staff reviews the ShotLink numbers.

The 2017 leaderboard was stacked with some pretty big names, and while we'd love to chalk this up to just the wind, the hole's odd angle, yardage and green complex, the combination of issues remains problematic, at best. New green firmness can no longer be blamed. 

The greens in regulation Thursday to Sunday looked like this: 44, 40, 47 and 9. One birdie Sunday.

Yeah, it's not a great hole.  Difficult, for sure, but on a track where Jack lets the guys play and make good numbers, it's a bit of an eyesore.

Geoff also supplies the scatter diagrams:

And the green view:

Anyone know who made the lone birdie?  Jack was bragging about the hole on the CBS broadcast, and it may well be necessary to keep the guys from breaking 60, but that doesn't mean we have to enjoy it.

Before we leave Dublin, OH, the Tour Confidential gang chimed in with this exchange:

3. Weather delays aside, the Memorial produced quite the finish. Jason Dufner prevailed, but Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Justin Thomas and Matt Kuchar were in or around the lead on Sunday. Who among the also-rans will take the most away from the week? 

Bamberger: Dustin Johnson. He missed the cut, went to Erin Hills and got himself acclimated on a bombers course the likes of which the U.S. Open has never been played on before.

That's a good one, Bams.  especially as the list of also-rans didn't finish well.  But DJ's loss of form since returning from injury has to be worrying...

OK, I lied... One more:

4. During the Memorial telecast, we were treated to footage from Golf Channel's documentary on Jack Nicklaus, in which today's stars were shown the Golden Bear's list of accomplishments and asked what impressed them most. The list is long and impressive: the 18 major titles, the 19 runner-up finishes in majors, never finishing worse than sixth at the British Open from 1966 to '80, among a slew of feats. What is Jack's greatest accomplishment?

Bamberger: Some of his accomplishments cannot be contained on a list: his 55-year marriage to Barbara Nicklaus, his ability to keep a sense of balance in his life, his commitment to his children and grandchildren. The longevity, as Joe notes, is astounding. His UTTER DOMINATION of the ‘70s, with all the extraordinary players he faced then, to me takes the (German Chocolate) cake. Forty majors, eight wins and only five events where HE WAS NOT IN THE TOP 10. With a busy home life and a busy business life, he came to play every single time.

It's a staggering body of work for sure.  But it also poses an interesting hypothetical....  Jack played very conservatively in the big events, waiting for the other guy to falter.  Had he played more aggressively, could he have won more than 18 majors at the expense of some of those seconds and top-fives?  Food for thought....

What Happens in Atlantic City...  There's a part of me that's always happy when this girl wins:

In-Kyung Kim didn’t expect victory to come this soon. Playing in only her sixth event of 2017, the 28-year-old closed with a 2-under 69 to hold off Anna Nordqvist, who was

seeking her third consecutive title at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. 

“I really prepared for this summer,” said Kim, who didn’t start her season until mid-March due to an injury she suffered from falling down a flight of stairs at the end of 2016. 

“I really didn’t expect it right away, but I knew my game was better than last year.”

While Kim took home the trophy, Ariya Jutanugarn claimed the No. 1 ranking without hitting a shot. Jutanugarn skipped the ShopRite event but will ascend to the top after So Yeon Ryu missed the cut for the first time in 64 events.

Why am I happy for her?  Because of this.  Especially since on Saturday I missed about four of those, but only the ones that were straight downhill leaving me ten feet coming back....  Not that I'm bitter...

Erin Ho Huh? - We'll have no shortage of U.S. Open coverage in the days ahead, but just a few stories to cover for now.

First up, of course, is Phil being Phil:

Mickelson said he has not officially withdrawn from the tournament, which begins June

15 at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, and will wait closer to the event to do so, barring some change that would allow him to play. 

"I wanted to make sure they had enough notice to accommodate it,'' said Mickelson, who said he called United States Golf Association executive director Mike Davis to inform him of his plans. "So that's why I'm saying something today, but it doesn't look good for me playing. But I'm really excited about this moment in our family's life.'' 

Amanda, who turns 18 this month, is Mickelson and wife Amy's oldest child. She will be giving the commencement speech June 15, which is the first day of the U.S. Open.

My only gripe is how this connecting of the dots from Pinehurts 1999 makes me feel so very old:

Mickelson's caddie, Jim Mackay, carried a beeper in his golf bag, and he pledged he would take off regardless of his situation in the tournament. 

Mickelson finished second to Payne Stewart when the late golfer holed a 12-foot par putt on the final hole to edge him by a stroke; had Stewart missed, he and Mickelson would have had an 18-hole playoff to decide the tournament -- on the day Amanda ended up being born. That was the first of his record six runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open.

"Yeah, I go back and, every year at the U.S. Open, I think back about that '99 Open,'' Mickelson said. "The birth of your child, any child, but especially your first child is the most emotional event you can ever experience and share together with your wife."

It also makes me miss Payne.... Just to complete that circle of life, that was the first of Phil's six runner-up finishes in the event he needs to complete the career slam....  

The TC panel guys seem to be betting on a stay of execution:

Josh Sens: Very, given the hole in his career grand slam resume. I've already received a number of emails from friends saying, "There's got to be more to this story." Such are the times we live in. But I'm going to take a break from the cynicism of our age and take this as the word of a guy who just really wants to be there with his daughter. Good for him. He's already older than Hale Irwin was when he became the oldest winner of an Open. And winning hasn't gotten any easier. I suspect we're down to a count-on-one-hand number of legit chances. 

Michael Bamberger: Oh, gentle Josh, do no fret: I believe between now and the Thursday bell of U.S. Open week, all will be resolved. If not, I would urge FOX to bring in Sir Bones as a guest commentator. As for Phil's remaining chances, this one is the first best one of the rest of his life. Actually, with its wide fairways and LONG holes, and greens that require the fellas to play the ball in the air, this course should be ideal for him. Although it is a trudge.

A Thursday graduation seems odd, though the politics of moving it to another day could be surprisingly fierce.

I'll also note that it puts the USGA in a weird place as far as their pairings....  Do they intentionally give Phil a late-early slot to maximize the chances of a weather delay actually helping him?

Stay tuned, but he gets double Father-of-the-Year points....  Next up, Adam Scott plays bad cop:

Scott subscribes to the premise that the USGA pushes too hard to get courses right to the edge with a target winning score of even par, and believes it behooves the organization to 

take a bigger view of its role in trying to govern and even grow the game. 

“Maybe it’s time to do away with the even-par target, just thinking about the bigger picture of the game of golf,” Scott said after finishing up at Memorial on Sunday, where he shot 74 to finish at 1-under 287. 

“If their major pinnacle event for them requires courses to be the way they are, it doesn’t set a good example for every other bit of golf that they try to promote. Maybe we should get the numbers out of our heads and try a new strategy.”

Egads, when you've lost Adam Scott, you've lost the country....  I'm not sure which country, but that's not important now.

My problem with the comments is that this connective tissue is awfully thin:

On the heels of controversial greens conditions at Chambers Bay, a first-time venue, in 2015, and a rules controversy hovering over its eventual winner (Dustin Johnson) for six holes at Oakmont last June (he was penalized after play for his ball moving on the fifth green), the USGA realizes its reputation and mission has been questioned. In heading to another first-time venue at Erin Hills, there is an inherent pressure that the championship not be overshadowed by the golf course or by the rules.

Two God-awful situations of the USGA's creation for sure, but without a common thread as I see it.  Do we have a problem with the set-up of Oakmont in 2016?  I don't see one, once we changed the rule regarding balls moving on frictionless greens.... Heap all the opprobrium you want on the USGA for not recgnizing the need to change the rule (or, more accurately, screwing up their first attempt) and for their handling of the DJ issue, Lord knows they deserve it....  

Chambers Bay is the far more convoluted situation, as they lost the greens do to an historically hot spell in the two months leading up to the Open.  The venue wasn't to everyone's liking and they're no doubt on the hook for some of the causes of a need to go outside the box in choosing venues, so have at them...

But this isn't the Tom Meeks era in which six-inch rough is used to protect Par, so it's a tough issue....  They want the Open to be the sternest test in golf, and I've no particular issue with that...  It's just having lost the equipment and golf ball arms race, how does one accomplish that?  

Here's how Adam delicately phrases it:

Asked if criticism pointed at the USGA has been fair, Scott said he thought it was. 

“I think they’ve really dropped the ball with where the game is at, over the last 20 years especially,” Scott said. “I know their intent is not to do that. I don’t question their intent at all. … I guess their primary role of administering and looking after the game, they’ve kind of dropped the ball in that sense and gotten worried about other things.”

That's why I think the bit above is a red herring....  That link is about their most recent initiative related to green-reading material.  I think we can all see the issues in doing nothing about the equipment and ball, but taking the guys' yardage books away....  Can you say bifurcation?

But this last one is a head-scratcher:

“Whether it’s rules changes or any other decisions they make, I think their process is out,” Scott said. “I just don’t see how they get to some of these decisions. . . . They’re hanging onto the Rules of Golf by a thread, really. That’s why they’re panicky and they’re trying to see what’s going on out here on Tour.”

Does anyone have a clue as to what that last bit means?

On our way out the door, I'll link you to Shack's comprehensive post on U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying.  Lots of good stories and I always love the old guys that continue to try to make it back to their national Open.  Good for them...

I do worry about the guys at Canoe Brook, though, as it's going to be a dreadful day to go 36, even if you're wearing Skechers golf shoes.

Tiger Droppings -  Occasionally the best part of a Tour Confidential discussion is the question, notably here:

2. In his 2000 Sportsman of the Year feature about Tiger Woods, the late, great Frank Deford proved to be eerily prescient when he wrote: "Tiger is such an extraordinary champion and so widely admired that we have granted him a sort of spiritual amnesty. His persona is still insulated by his deeds, his misjudgments immunized by his youth. Sometime soon, though, we will weary of the tedium of his persistent success and start peering more deeply into that heavenly smile and beyond those steely eyes. Won't we? Because that's the nature of the beast—us. This, right now, may be the best Tiger will ever have it. Until, that is, he becomes a Grand Old Man, and we fall in love with him again." Look 10 to 15 years down the road. Where will Tiger be in his life?

Nailed it, he did.  

Most curious item of the week goes to the previously unknown to me Mercer Baggs (how's that for a name?) who has this ever-so-curious post up at the Golf Channel blog.  Here's a sample:

Not that image. The mussed hair. The lifeless stare. Shame and sobriety slowly overcoming whatever had overwhelmed him. 

And not that image. The one of him nearly falling while trying to tie his shoe on the hood of a police car. Or the one of him wavering like a barely tethered and tattered flag. Or the one of him unable to comprehend basic instructions, staggering like a punch-drunk former champion, barefoot because he never could get those shoes tied. 

We have to get that video up ASAP. 

That’s understood. Not everyone will agree, but clicking on a link or pressing play is done by choice. It’s not a forced action. Protesting and apathy can sometimes be one in the same. It’s OK not to look. 

This, however, is news. And we are a news outlet. 

So why, then, did posting this feel like putting down Lennie?

Like putting down Lennie?  He goes on in this manner for quite a bit....Baggsie ( as Tiger would no doubt call him), Mr. Woods will be fine, it's you I'm worried about.  If you're going to take a DUI story this hard, you might have stumbled into the wrong line of work.... 

Your Friday Frisson

Employee No. 2 is still miffed about her stinging 4&3 defeat on Wednesday, demanding a rematch this morning...  So, let's get to it without further ado.

R.I.P., Roberto DeVincenzo - Sad news broke yesterday afternoon about the passing of the great Argentine:

De Vicenzo enjoyed a decorated playing career, one that included more than 230 worldwide victories across five decades. The pinnacle came in 1967, when he won The Open by two shots over Jack Nicklaus at Royal Liverpool. He also represented Argentina 17 times at the World Cup of Golf and captured the inaugural U.S. Senior Open in 1980 at age 57.

But of course that's not what first comes to mind upon mention of his name:

But De Vicenzo is most well-known for perhaps the biggest gaffe in major championship history. Facing the prospect of an 18-hole playoff with Bob Goalby at the 1968 Masters, De Vicenzo signed for a par on the 17th hole when he, in fact, had made a birdie. The scoring error stood, and Goalby won the tournament by a shot.

From his N.Y. Times obit:

De Vicenzo told Sports Illustrated in 2008 that he had earned lucrative appearance fees as a result of the mistake. “I’ve gotten more out of signing the card wrong than if I had signed it correctly,” he said.

“Every now and then,” he added, “I will drop a tear, but I’ve moved on. I got to see the world through golf. No one should feel sorry for me.”

As I noted back in April after reading David Owen's book, much of that was the result of the efforts of Clifford Roberts.

That link above includes the highlights from his Open Championship...  It's way too long to be considered a highlight package, but it's there for when the biblical rains come next week.

He was a well-liked man, who absorbed one of the games epic injustices without bitterness....  He'll be missed.

Playahs Gonna Play -  Skack blogs this WaPo item via a charming anecdote from the late Frank Hannigan:

Our late, great friend Frank Hannigan always pointed out to me that the New York Times 

seemed spectacular until they covered a topic near and dear to your heart by exposing their weaknesses or all-out knowledge blind spots. 

So while I’d respect the Times and Washington Post’s efforts to scrutinize the goings-on in Washington, the WaPo’s story on sagging business at Trump Ferry Point seemed like a headline reach (“Business sags at Trump’s New York golf course as players stay away"), which didn’t reflect a mostly-balanced piece of reporting from a small sample-size.

Weakness?  Bias?  Whatevah.... Geoff, you weren't paying attention, he was warning you not to trust them on anything.... Oh, and it goes way beyond the header.

Business sags at Trump’s New York golf course as players stay away

OK, that sounds fairly dramatic, so how bad is it?

President Trump’s newest U.S. golf club — a luxury-priced course in New York that opened in 2015 — reported a 12 percent decrease in revenue over the past 12 months, as its banquet business sagged and golfers played fewer rounds.

Is 12% a sag or modest decline?  Depends whether there's a "D" or "R" after the name....  But the piece is a fine example of the genre...  This 'graph, for example, is just priceless:

From the records alone, it is impossible to tell whether politics played a role in the business decline at the Trump course. In the 2016 election, Trump lost the neighborhood around the course by 53 points, and New York City as a whole by 60.

We don't know whether politics played a role, but since it supports the narrative.... And just to keep your head spinning, we'll throw in an irrelevant data point to confirm that we don't know anything about golf or New York City.... But wait, they're not done displaying their ignorance:

One expert on the golf industry said that a revenue decline of 12 percent should be “nothing alarming” for a course such as this one. Tom Stine, whose ­Florida-based Golf Datatech does market research on the golf business, said that something as simple as rainy weather could cause a drop in demand.

“Public courses are more affected by fluctuations in weather than private courses are,” Stine said, because private courses have members who still pay their dues, even if it’s too wet to play golf.

So, did it rain more?  It must have, because despite their layers and layers of fact checkers, that's one fact that goes unchecked.  And that last bit is oh so helpful to the reader....

I'm too lazy to Google this guy, but wanna bet he's not exactly an impartial observer? 

But Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates, said he thinks the Trump course’s troubles go beyond weather. 

“It’d be hard to imagine, with all the controversy associated with the Trump name, that it’s not impacting the fortunes of this course,” Croft said.

Vive la résistance!

Despite two bylines and the entire WaPo infrastructure, they missed that little elephant sitting in the corner (as did Geoff, as well).  For more than a decade, New Yorkers have watched this course take shape as they transited the Whitestone Bridge between The Bronx and Queens.  But the essence of this type of high-end daily-fee golf course is that you play it once out of curiosity, but it's too pricey for regular play.  The challenge is to draw them back again, but given the cost and the rather awkward location, that's a really big challenge.....

Dunluce, Revealed -  The new and improved Dunluce will soon be played for the first time.  What's a Dunluce?  Sigh, you really should be taking notes...

The Open Championship might be two years away but the new look Dunluce Links will be in play for the first time in a championship when Royal Portrush hosts the Cathedral

Eye sponsored North of Ireland Amateur Open from July 10-14. 

Golf’s oldest major visits the Causeway coast in 2019 and Ireland’s top amateurs have first look at what awaits the world’s best, providing they enter by June 12. 

Two new holes have been added to the famous links and play will now finish at what was originally the 16th. After playing the 189-yard (sixth) Harry Colt’s, a stunning par-three perched above White Rocks beach, players turn right into a valley where they will encounter a new challenge. 

Holes seven and eight run parallel to the coast, high dunes concealing the shoreline as play sweeps through previously uncharted territory.

That's one of my own photos of the 13th green, the background of which is the land into which the two new holes were cut.  The dunes are so dramatic, there was little chance that these new holes would be anything less than spectacular, and the video at the link confirms.

Don't miss the recreation of the famed Big Nellie bunker on the right side of the landing area of the new 7th....  It's a great links, and should be a great addition to the Open rota.

Values for Life - No word if this young lady is a First Tee graduate, but I'm a sucker for these stories:

A young golfer in Minnesota turned herself in for accidentally signing an incorrect scorecard, costing herself and her team the opportunity to play at the high school state tournament on June 13, according to PGA.com.

Kaylee Gossen, a junior on Marshall High School's varsity golf team, realized after her round was over that she'd unwittingly signed an incorrect scorecard. When comparing her score on the 16th with the scorecard her parents had kept for her, she realized that she had been mistaken. Gossen brought up the issue with her coach and then with tournament officials. She was ultimately disqualified. "I realized I needed to do the right thing, losing my shot at going to state," Gossen said. "I knew walking in there...I started tearing up. I knew I was going to be disqualified, but it was the right thing to do." 

"I don't have words to express how proud I am of her," said Gretchen Flynn, Gossen's coach. "She could have left there and nobody would have known the difference but her."

 Young lady, can I buy you a drink?  OK, perhaps not, but you rock...

Martin Kaymer, Unplugged - See how you react to these comments:

Speaking in serious tones and filming himself in a dimly-lit room, Martin Kaymer posted 

a video defending Tiger Woods and issuing a plea to his critics Thursday afternoon following Woods’ Memorial Day arrest on suspicion of DUI. 

“Hey, guys. I have something to say that bothers me already the past couple days, to be honest,” Kaymer says to start the Twitter video. “Obviously a lot of people know what happened to Tiger Woods the last few days, few weeks. There’s so many comments, so many opinions. They are so unfair and so disrespectful, in my opinion.” 

“He inspired kids, teenagers. He inspired all of us,” Kaymer said. “I find it so nasty that people just kick him while he’s already on the floor, and at the end of the day it’s just using someone else for your own sadness. Yes, he’s in the public eye, he’s in the spotlight a lot, so of course people will talk about him. But why be so nasty? Why don’t you try to do the opposite and help him now in the way he inspired us? … My wish would be, stop being so nasty. Try to help. We all want to see him happier and hopefully one day see him play golf again. That’s my only wish.”

Who ya calling nasty?  Care to step outside and settle this?

Give the video a look-see, as the combination of amateur noirish lighting and Martin's German accent might not produce the effect he was after...

I think it's great that the players are trying to be supportive of Tiger, and I do hope that's of comfort to him.  But a cynic, and I try never to give in to that vice, would note that today's pampered superstars aren't exactly impartial observers  of the scene, as they're the major beneficiaries of the boom in purses and endorsements resulting from Tiger's meteoric career.  So, when you say that he inspired you.... OK, point made.

But Martin, can you not see where Tiger's fans might be a little put off by the man at this point?  I mean he had us convinced of what a great family man he was, and that didn't exactly pan out...  In recent years he's not exactly been forthcoming about his physical condition and game...  The folks at Silverado expected him to show up and the mark that wrote him a seven-figure check to come play in Dubai might be a tad miffed... No word on whether Bridgestone and TaylorMade think they got played, but we can make an educated guess...

I certainly hope he comes to terms with this latest problem, especially since there are two youngsters in need of a father.  But as I've noted recently, he's not distinguished himself as a particularly worthy human being....  As I said above, I'm happy to see the players rally around him, I'm just not especially swayed by their arguments.

Have a great weekend.

Thursday Threads

Just a couple of items today, as I've a game in a little while...

Tiger Droppings - For those of you with no life, here's the Tiger dashcam video in all it's glory:

Not pretty, and far too long for my attention span, but I'm sure that Brandel Chamblee will be going frame-by-frame later today on Golf Channel.

Also, we now have pictures of the car:

Remember the good old days of '09 when the guy at least bought American?  If you're gonna pick one car in which to take out a fire hydrant, go with the Escalade....

But this header is perhaps the best proxy for how low he's fallen:

In wake of Tiger's DUI, John Daly offers Woods some advice

Sooner Nation - Beth Ann Nichols with the Oklahoma win game story:

From tragedy to triumph, Oklahoma coach Ryan Hybl's gritty team wins NCAA title

Hybl took over an Oklahoma program in 2009 that finished 10th in the Big 12

Championship. The Sooners won their first tournament with Hybl at the helm, and in eight short years led OU to the school’s second NCAA Championship title. 

“He was a gritty kid who would just fight you tooth and nail,” said Georgia coach Chris Haack, who recruited the top-ranked Hybl to Athens, Ga., and then hired him on as an assistant after an elbow injury ended Hybl’s playing career. 

Both Brad Dalke and Max McGreevy used the word “gritty” in their post-round interviews. It’s one trait Hybl demands of his players, and the emphasis was on full display at Rich Harvest Farms, where the close-knit Sooner squad defeated Oregon in the championship match.

 Shack had this short take:

While the greens appeared to confound even the last two teams standing, the 2017 NCAA Men's Division I final and its match play format proved compelling again. Oklahoma edged Oregon in a final that, not surprisingly, came down to the final match between last year's U.S. Amateur runner-up and the same player who carried Oregon to the 2016 title.

The format overcame the dreadful venue, and it's quickly become one of my favorite golf events of the year.  I love the refreshing innocence of it all, with the kid slugging their bags and tending the flag for each other.... 

Anchors Not Away -  Hank Haney has verged deep into the annoying, always with the free videos to help me add distance....  But, he asks a very pertinent question regarding Mr. Langer:

Watch the video and draw your own conclusion....

Shack adds this legalese:

Hank Haney thinks so and based on the definition of Rule 14-1b (PDF link) that says an “anchor point” "exists when the player intentionally holds a forearm in contact with any part of his body to establish a gripping hand as a stable point around which the other hand may swing the club."

 Because, you know, our game hasn't had any recent rules fiascoes....

I have more of everything except time.  We'll catch up on it all, including beginning our Erin Hills previews, tomorrow.