Back In The Saddle

My heart isn't completely in this, but let's see if we can get back to this blogging thing....

A Last Look Back... - At least I hope these things are winding down.  Shack gets a little misty-eyed with this ode to the year just ended:

When the wild antics of the fall season finally wore off after those zany PGA Tour Playoffs(C)--okay, that's all a gigantic leap--2017 turned out to be a very special golf

season. So good, that I think you'll agree Ryan Herrington's list of things we've already forgotten endorses the strength of 2017 (hint: a 62 in a major, Steph Curry played respectably in a Web.com Tour event, etc...).

Oh sure, we had another embarrassing rules-related brouhaha, more expansion of the golf course footprint, longer rounds, faster greens and more awareness that we have serious overall product oversaturation. But given these issues and two potentially so-so major venues in Erin Hills andQuail Hollow, the year might not have turned out as well as it did. Instead, it will go down as a very special year in the game, especially when coupled with stellar stuff from the women's and amateur game, along with continued momentum for Golden Age design values. 

The defining moment they'll show 20 years from now remains Jordan Spieth's eagle putt at Birkdale's 15th and on the heels of his 13th hole mess. Doug Ferguson included a bit more on that eagle and other notes that help put a bow on 2017, as does Michael Bamberger'sGolf.com top 10 list.

When golf historians exhume the 2017 time capsule, I think we can agree that how an NBA baller did in missing the cut at a Web.com event will be at the top of their list.... I'm also pretty sure that there was more than a single rules fiasco, though they all do seem to blur together at this point.

That Ryan Herrington contribution includes mostly oddities, and they come much odder than this:

The PGA Tour handed out its first slow-play penalty in 22 years.

At the revamped Zurich Classic of New Orleans, teammates Brian Campbell and Miguel Angel Carballo were assessed a one-stroke penalty during the first round. Their group was put on the clock on the back nine, then Carballo received a bad time on the 11th hole at TPC Louisiana. When Campbell then got a bad time on the 14th, the pair became the first golfers since Glen Day at the 1995 Honda Classic to be docked a stroke by PGA Tour officials. (More recently, 14-year-old Tianlang Guan was penalized for taking too long at the 2013 Masters, but that event is run by Augusta National Golf Club and not the PGA Tour.)

That tinge of sadness in my voice comes from having to let go of one of the great nicknames, great in the sense of appropriate and obvious, because that last guy to be penalized was forever known as Glen All-Day.

Mike Bamberger gives his personal Top-Ten list, including the inevitable revisiting of the rules changes.... You can read that by your lonesome, as I'll excerpt this one:

4. The Masters

There's no scientific way to quantify this, but over the course of the last 20 years, since

Tiger Woods won at Augusta for the first time in 1997 at age 20, by 12 shots, the Masters has been in a period of ascendency. It has become the most watched major and the most coveted major. But for the Masters to retain its status, it needs drama and compelling leading men on Sunday. It needs to produce talking points and memories. Bubba Watson won by three in 2014, Jordan Spieth by four in 2015, Danny Willett (?) by three in 2016. What comes to mind? Then came this year's event, two Ryder Cup stalwarts and close friends, doing old-fashioned mano-a-mano battle. They were tied for first through 54 holes, they played together on Sunday, they both did miraculous and zany things in the finale. Sergio made an eagle on the par-5 15th, and that tied the game up. Naturally, it went to a playoff, Garcia making a birdie to Rose's bogey on 18, the first hole of the playoff. Good for Sergio. (He's headed to the Hall of Fame now, for sure.) It was the Masters the Masters needed.

His case for the ascendancy of The Masters is fine, though there are more clunkers than he admits to....  Trevor Immelman, anyone?  But the question to me is which will look the more significant in twenty years, Sergio's Masters or Jordan's Open Championship?

Doug Ferguson has a an even more personal take on 2017 in anecdotes.  You'll want to read them all, though it's hard to beat this one:

Padraig Harrington was holding court in the clubhouse at Riviera, talking about his ailing shoulder and options for surgery. He stopped in the middle of a sentence, pointed to a

reporter and then motioned to the wall.

There was a framed photograph of Katherine Hepburn, wearing a skirt past her knees and a smile that made her one of Hollywood's most revered stars.

"This is the difference," Harrington said. "He's looked at that and said, 'Lovely, isn't she?' And I've looked at that and said, 'She can play golf.'"

The photo showed Hepburn with her wrists cocked as she began to rehearse the swing. That's what got Harrington's attention.

"If you can waggle like that, you can play golf," Harrington said. "She's able to hit the golf ball. That's how you tell. That's old-school. That's what Hogan used to do."

Does every PGA Tour player see the same thing?

Apparently not.

Sergio Garcia came through an hour later. He was asked to study the picture and share the first thing that came to mind.

"Her skirt is too long," Garcia said with a smile.

Have those two every agreed on anything?

The Road Ahead -  The Tour Confidentialistas put down their champagne flutes to brazenly predict the course of 2018, first with this:

1. Which major-less player will nab his or her first major title in the coming year, and at which tournament? (Congrats to Mr. Shipnuck, who correctly predicted Brooks Koepka to win a major in '17.) 

Alan Shipnuck: Brandt Snedeker will win the Masters.

Hmmm....despite his 2017 Koepka call, this one seems odd.  Last Sneds appeared on this page, he was jetting across the globe to try to sneak into the OWGR in order to qualify for...wait for it... The Masters.  Since he withdrew with an injury, Alan has picked a man to win an event for which he is not qualified....   Seems curious, but of course he could still qualify, most likely though he'd need to win.

The other picks are all pretty conventional:

Josh Sens: Xander Schauffele wins the PGA. 

Michael Bamberger: Patrick Reed, British Open. 

Sean Zak: Hideki Matsuyama's putter is just-good-enough for him to win the PGA. 

Jeff Ritter: I’ll take a shot on Kuchar at Augusta. 

Dylan Dethier: Dethier: Okay fine, you left him to me? I'll take the bait: Fowler wins the British.

Probably the biggest surprise is that they all left Rickie for the new guy, though I'm guessing they were looking for degree of difficulty points.

They take the inevitable swipe at Tiger's year:

Shipnuck: "...continue to be the most interesting and enigmatic athlete on the planet." 

Sens: "...play without injuring himself but also without winning." 

Bamberger: "...announce that he is taking over the Arnold hosting role at the Arnold Palmer Invitational." 

Zak: "…walk off the 18th hole at Bellerive having made the cut in three of the four majors." 

Dethier: “...show enough life to be selected as a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.” 

Ritter: “play a dozen events, win none, but stay healthy enough to set himself up for multiple titles in ‘19.”

Mike, how many events do you see him hosting?   That will make three, though I guess you're assuming that D.C. goes bye-bye.

They're also asked about the event to which they look forward the most, and for Shipnuck it's personal:

Shipnuck: Shinnecock and Carnoustie have always been considered among the toughest tests in championship golf but both are now way too short for the modern game. It will be fascinating to see how they are set up and how the players attack them. But for me personally, it has to be the Ryder Cup. Europe's old guard will be making a last stand against the young powerhouse American team at a really cool venue. I'm already on record predicting a U.S. victory and a continent of trolls will be up in my business all week. It’s gonna be a blast.

This one is also the most interesting to me:

Bamberger: Agree with all of the above, but this U.S. Open is so important for the USGA. This is one the organization needs and should get right. I mean, it's Shinnecock Hills. Let them play the course and shoot what they shoot and the world will be fine.

No sooner had Coore & Cren shaw widened the place, than Brroks Koepka went low at Erin Hills and the USGA started planting fescue....  I can still here my caddie from The National screming in my ear about how they're ruining the place.  

I think they have to ignore the lessons of 2004 and 2017, and just set the place up with the expectation of wind.  If it doesn't blow, they'll go very low, but the world will be more forgiving because it's Shinny.

 Here's Geoff on the coming year:

I'm pretty sure that in 2018 two historic and lively venues--straight fire, as the kids today would say--suggests we are in for another above average, maybe even historic season. Throw in a possible Tiger return, the solid state of most player's games and some potential big off-course changes to the PGA Tour schedule, and we have a lot to follow. If everything comes together, we could have a generational crossroads clash for the ages.

Straight fire?  He must be alluding to the weather at Bellerive....

Joel Beall and Christopher Powers offer thirteen brazen predictions for the coming year, including this oddity (I know, but it's that kind of day):

Phil Mickelson finishes in the top 10 in all four majors

This will be a tall task for a guy turning 48 this June, but given the way he performed in the majors a season ago (T-22 at the Masters, DNP at U.S. Open, MCs at the Open Championship and the PGA), one would think he’s going to be as motivated as ever. I’d love to say he’s going to win at Shinnecock, but none of us are ready for that eventual heartbreak. —Chris Powers

People are strange, no?  Phil has never been a consistent golfer, and I guess him being so in the late stages of his career is, in a sense, a brazen prediction.  But the only thing we care about is whether he has any wins left in him, majors especially and a certain one in June most notably.  Do we even care about top tens?  Does he?

Bob Harig previews the four major venues, and this is the one whose name Shack can't bring himself to say out loud:

PGA Championship, Bellerive, St. Louis, Aug. 12-15

This will be the last PGA Championship played in August, and the PGA of America picked another steamy climate to conduct its championship. That will likely change when the event moves to May starting in 2019, but it might preclude the tournament returning to a place like Bellerive, which is still evolving in the spring.

On the contrary, Bellerive stopped evolving long ago....  But if Bellerive isn't out of the rota with the move to May, that seems a small price to pay.

For something a little more off the beaten track, Kevin Casey nominates five players to watch for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.   

Thursday is a travel day, so I'll try to check in with you tomorrow.

Last Post of 2017

Not for sure, but the title seems a safe bet....

Shack is Back - From his Christmas break, if only to poke fun at Ernie's misdirection and the golf press being forced to their keyboards....  Inside baseball for sure, but the only baseball to be had:

Scrooge! Ernie Els (Unwittingly) Puts Golf Writers To Work On Christmas!

As you've probably noticed by the lack of posting here, some golf writers simply refuse to work around the Christmas holidays. For a few unsuspecting writers and even

MastersChairman Fred Ridley, a simple, not particularly shrewd Tweet by Ernie Els put many to work on Christmas.

Combine this with Tiger dumping some coaching newson Friday, an apparent Jordan Spieth engagement still not confirmed, and the golf writer Cranky Meter is bursting with...holiday joy! 

As Kevin Casey (Merry Christmas Kevin!) explains for Golfweek, Els' brief Tweet about a Christmas Eve gift from The Masters suggested a tournament invite, which Els' management firm confirmed to Golfweek. 

Various media outlets picked up the story, which would have been a significant and unusual Masters invitation for the 48-year-old Els, who is ranked outside the world top 500. 

But the various outlets soon printed updates after AP's Doug Ferguson (Merry Christmas Doug!) penned a piece clarifying that Els actually just received an Honorary Invitee invitation from Chairman Fred Ridley. Who, incidentally had to weigh in with a quote (Merry Christmas Fred!), no doubt crafted with assistance from Masters media man Steve Ethun(Merry Christmas Steve!).

I'm unsure of what the Honorary Invite buys a fellow, but a Thursday tee time isn't part of the package.  Ernie had this, indicating that the chase is on:

Given where he stands in the OWGR, I'd have to think that his only way in is to win an event, and it's hard to see that happening.  But we'll see him in the Par-3 for sure, and at least there's no risk of him 6-putting the first green.

Asked & Answered - Alan Shipnuck has a year-end edition of his mailbag feature, and dives right in on the biggest issue in the game:

"What's the over/under on number of 'What are you crazy?' texts Spieth got from his fellow golf buddies? #askalan" -@NoRealSports 

Far fewer than you or I would if we were 24, famous, fabulously wealthy and yet, rather than chase swimsuit models, decided to marry our high school sweetheart. But with Spieth, we could all see this one coming. At last year's Masters I was watching him play and wound up in conversation with a 14-year old high school golfer who is from Dallas and shares Spieth's trainer, Damon Goddard. Because it was just a casual chat I don't want to use this prodigy's name, but I asked if his idol has imparted any advice when it comes to dating. The kid said, "Jordan told me, 'Find a good one and hold on to her.'" Sounds like Spieth followed his own gameplan.

A nice story and consistent with what we think we know about the young man, but has the engagement been confirmed?  And does that mean that he'll stop rearranging the hair when he takes of his hat?

"Your take on Tiger going without a swing coach for now? #AskAlan" -@CountDownDave

Oh, it's the best present I received this holiday season, besides socks featuring the likenesses of Eazy-E and Biggie. It certainly gives me more optimism that this comeback will be more than a tantalizing tease. Woods was an artist who became a scientist. When he described the chip-yips as being caught between "release patterns" it was a tipoff to how much clutter was in his brain. No one can tell Tiger F'ing Woods how to play golf. He already understands the game on a granular level, like maybe no one ever has. The only way this Mozart in spikes can refind some of the old magic is by freeing himself up to simply play the game and no longer worry about competing swing theories. This is a solitary pursuit and I, for one, am thrilled nobody will be whispering in his ear.

I agree to a point, as I had the same take as Alan on the "release point" nonsense with his short game.  But on the larger issue, let's see whether Como is replaced before we declare victory....

Want more?  There was this:

"If you could go for a beer with Rory, Jordan, Justin (Thomas, not Rose) or Dustin (Johnson, not Gee) who would it be and why?" -@MarkTownsend 

If I could go for eight beers with any of them Dustin would certainly be the choice but I fear those days are over. It really comes down to Rory and Jordan here — they are the two most thoughtful voices among the younger generation of players. Spieth has more of an edge than he lets on: in practice round games and more private settings he is a spectacular trash-talker. But the choice here has to be Rory. He is blessedly uncensored, willing to address controversial topics and even call b.s. on himself, as with his after-the-fact acknowledgement that citing Zika to skip the Olympics was bunk. So, Guinness all around.

That was a pretty cheap shot at DJ, though I'd have suggested perhaps a day on his Jet Ski?  I know, that's really inside baseball....

As for Rory, he's a great kid but stubborn as all hell.  His pre-Masters schedule makes it appear that he's focused on golf, though the boyhood friend on the bag argues otherwise.

This one is off-topic for sure, but hard to disagree:

"Family update letters [with Christmas cards]....overrated or overrated? #askalan" -Jeff (@JBredbeck) 

More than that, they are a crime against humanity. Put it this way: I'm a professional writer and have never typed one. Nor shall I ever!

But this is worth the price of admission:

"I've been to both Bandon and Ireland for a trip. Which do I do for a repeat and why?" -Todd (@tddlw)

Nobody loves Bandon more than I but Ireland has to be the choice. Have you done the entire island, from Waterville in the southwest to Ballyliffin in the northeast? There are dozens of courses waiting to be discovered along the way. Even if you've already played Royal Portrush it's worth seeing again for the Open-inspired changes. Bandon is the ultimate domestic destination but the courses in Ireland are wilder and woolier, the pubs more atmospheric, the locals more colorful, the weather more unpredictable. Just typing this I’m realizing how much I miss that place. Need a fourth?

OMG, he knows Beloved Ballyliffin, though Northeast is a bit of an unforced error.  Though, isn't Scotland the dog that didn't bark?

Alas, this one might just ruin my year:

"Do you think the Vijay vs PGA Tour case will go to court, or be settled, in 2018? #ASKALAN" -Ron (@MintzGolf) 

If Finchem were still commish no chance in hell it gets settled at any point. Both sides have dug in and it's a very personal fight at this point. But Vijay doesn't have the same bad blood with Jay Monahan so perhaps he can find a way forward that mitigates the damage that will be done to both sides if this goes to court.

 Say it ain't so, Jay!  

OK, one more, just because it's actually quite interesting:

"Why is Jordan both the best long putter in the world and shaky/mediocre from 5 feet and in?" #AskAlan -Brian (@brianros1) 

I've asked Spieth's coach Cameron McCormick about this a coupla times and it always comes back to a theory of "compaction," in that on short putts the stats are highly bunched up and the difference between the best and worst putters is a relatively small number of missed putts. To this point, in 2017 Spieth ranked 113th on 5-footers, attempting 102 and making 82. The guy who ranked 9th on Tour, Jim Herman, attempted 101 5-footers and made 90. So across the entire season the difference between Spieth and Herman was less than one 5-footer per month. But as you get farther from the hole Spieth makes putts at a historically high rate, and he seems to make them when they really, really matter.

It's a good point, though kinda unresponsive to the question...  My question is slightly different, I want to know how the best putter on the planet misses those short ones so badly.... He's usually walking even before the putter head has made contact with the ball.

 Year in Gear - Golf Digest gearhead Michael Johnson has an item on the year's biggest stories in gear, but strangely leads with this:

Tiger signs with TaylorMade

Fresh off a solid showing at the 2016 Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods and TaylorMade announced at the PGA Merchandise Show in late January that the 14-time major champion had signed a multi-year endorsement deal with the company. The deal called for Woods to play the company's driver, fairway woods, irons and wedges and also for Woods to work with TaylorMade's club engineers in the design and development of a "new, personalized iron model" that the former World No. 1 would eventually put in play. The signing bolstered a TaylorMade tour staff already rich in big names, with Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia among its players. Unfortunately for both TaylorMade and Woods, the euphoria of the signing wore off quickly as Woods missed the cut in his only PGA Tour start of 2017 at the Farmers Insurance Open before re-injuring his back. A lengthy testing session with TaylorMade in December, however, gave all hope this investment could still pay off.

Really?  By my count, he used the clubs for exactly seven rounds of golf the entire year...  I'm not even sure that's Tiger's most interesting endorsement contract, as Bridgestone seems the more significant move.

Of course my votes go the the two cage matches in progress, though we'll have to see how those play out:

Acushnet/Costco duke it out

Costco’s four-piece, urethane-covered Kirkland Signature golf ball earned cult-like status in early 2017. Then it learned what life is like in the uber-competitive golf ball market as it engaged in a game of courthouse chicken with market leader Acushnet. Costco fired the first shot, Filing for a declaratory judgment against Acushnet (parent of Titleist)—essentially a preemptive strike, a lawsuit aiming to prevent a lawsuit. In its complaint filed in March, Costco asked the court to rule that the Kirkland Signature not only did not violate 11 Acushnet patents but that the 11 patents themselves are invalid. In August Acushnet fired back with a 284-page countersuit, alleging that Costco violated 10 of its ball patents relating to dimple and core technology. Acushnet asked for "adequate damages," including treble the profits made on the Kirkland Signature ball. Additionally, Acushnet accused Costco of false advertising with its "Kirkland Signature Guarantee" that claims to "meet or exceed the quality standards of leading national brands." Courthouse chicken, indeed.

TaylorMade/PXG tussle over patents

Following the legal tussle between PXG and TaylorMade has been a little bit like following a volleyball match—the lawsuit bounces back and forth while both sides try to nail the winning spike. The dispute started with PXG founder Bob Parsons tweeting on Sept. 12 in Trump-ian fashion, “Taylormade Golf's new P790 irons infringe upon many PXG patents. Sued them in Federal court today!” Two weeks later, TaylorMade fired back with a 603-page response denying any infringement and asking for PXG’s patents to be invalidated. The filing included some harsh words, including this gem: “PXG describes the claimed hollow-bodied design filled with an elastic polymer, and perimeter weighting, as a ‘eureka moment’ in golf-iron design. That could have been a ‘eureka moment’ only for a golf-club designer who had been living in a cave for the past 25 years.” Come December, PXG—which in the interim changed law firms—amended its claim, adding three more patents it was accusing TaylorMade of violating, bringing the total to 11. So what’s next? Not much, as legal experts anticipate it being well into 2018 before any movement unless the parties agree to settle. Given that both sides appear to have dug their spikes in, this tussle might just go the distance.

Parsons as The Return of the Primitive....  Talk about Eureka moments, that's our first Ayn Rand reference ever on the blog.

 Envelope Please - Golfweek tells us who will win the four majors in 2018.....  Drum roll, please:

The Masters, Augusta (Ga.) National GC

Winner: Dustin Johnson 

We all remember Dustin Johnson’s misfortune last April, when he had to withdraw from the Masters last-minute due to a freak back injury. 

But let us also not forget … Johnson was easily the favorite at the year’s first major prior to that unexpected slip. Of course, much of that had to do with winning three straight events coming in, but his record of late at Augusta (T-6 and T-4 in his last two starts) also played a role there.

I assume that the Gretzky clan will remove every pair of socks he owns, though its unlikely he'll come into the event as unbeatable as he seemed in 2017.

U.S. Open, Shinnecock Hills GC, Southampton, N.Y.

Winner: Rory McIlroy 

We were tempted to go with Rory McIlroy at Augusta, but that pick seems to fall flat every year. (We do feel he will win there eventually, though.) 

Instead, we’ll peg McIlroy for the U.S. Open. It may not seem like a great marriage with course fit considering what Shinnecock showed in 2004. That year, the track was shorter, tighter and burnt out. In other words, 2004 Shinnecock played to the more accurate driver rather than a power hitter, and McIlroy has always seemed to enjoy soft tracks far more than firm ones.

But don’t be fooled. The firmness in 2004 was certainly extreme, so the course likely will play at least a bit softer in 2018. And the layout will be a lot longer (almost 450 yards) than 14 years previous. A restoration widened the fairways, and although the USGA has called for a narrowing since, the short grass should still be easier to find than in previous Shinnecock U.S. Opens. (Here’s a full synopsis on Shinnecock’s look heading into 2018.)

Perhaps the author hasn't heard that after the restoration that widened Shinnecock, the USGA is frantically tightening it up again.  There's nothing about Shinny that whispers Rory's name, at least to me.  He's such a poor player in the ind that Ulster should revoke his passport.

The Open Championship, Carnoustie (Scotland) Golf Links

Winner: Rickie Fowler 

Once again, there’s a really tempting pick … for Carnoustie, it’s Sergio Garcia. How cool would it be if the Spaniard could capture the Open Championship at the same venue where 11 years ago he posted possibly his most agonizing major championship defeat? It would be incredible redemption!

But we won’t pull the trigger just because there’s a feel-good element. There’s certainly a feel-good nature toward Rickie Fowler finally getting that first major, but the pick here is based on golf factors.

You'd think the Open Championship is as likely as any for Rickie, though I'd keep him in mind for Shinny as well.

PGA Championship, Bellerive CC, St. Louis, Mo.

 Uh-uh!  This one is craven clickbait, so let's not give them the satisfaction....

If you need to waste more time, here's a 2017 golf quiz.  Your humble correspondent got 9/11.....

Happy New Year to all.

Small Portions

Just a tease today... and tomorrow is a travel day, so no window for blogging.

I'm Available - Josh Sens has some fun with handicapping who will get the gig as Tiger's next swing coach.  These will have you somewhere on the smiling-to-guffawing spectrum:

Notah Begay: 75-to-1

Not only a close friend but a former college teammate, Begay is an insightful student of the swing who brings three of the qualities Tiger values most: loyalty, loyalty and

loyalty. And since he's already following the action as an on-course commentator, he could offer playing lessons as well.

Mac O'Grady: 100,000-to-1

When it comes to the golf swing, few people are wonkier than Tiger, who is famously fond of diving deep into the weeds. One of those people is O'Grady, the eccentric, ambidextrous golf savant who reportedly once tried helping Seve Ballesteros by burying Seve's swing flaws in a box in a desert. Wait. That's not wonky. That's just weird.

Brandel Chamblee: 5,000,000-to-1

Chamblee has made a side career of scrutinizing Tiger, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to turn that gig into a full-time job. Question is: how would Woods respond if his coach told him he was getting "a little cavalier" with his swing?

Where is Mac O'Grady these days....  One of the wackier guys our game has produced.

As for this, I think he's been sharing the eggnog with Bamberger:

Butch Harmon: 100-to-1

Harmon has said that he would never work with Woods again, and besides, that Woods would never ask him. But in retrospect, the end of their wildly successful partnership has often seemed like a high school breakup: an immature decision that neither party could fully explain.

Not.  Gonna.  Happen.  Evah.

A Verret Lucky Girl -  Or, perhaps he's the lucky one....  But this photo has caused a stir:

For those not up on rockology, it appears the golden child might, possibly be engaged.  That would be to Annie Verret, his high school sweetheart.... We can all agree that massive stone aside, it's not the best photo of the young lady.  Here's a better one:

It's a tough life out on Tour, though his meteoric rise will make it easier than for most.

But Why, Santy Clause? - I like him as much as anyone, but still don't understand this:

Looks like 2017 won’t be Ernie Els’ final Masters after all. 

The 48-year-old South African tweeted Sunday that he had received a Christmas gift from the Masters. Of course, while Els didn’t specify, he likely was referring to a special exemption for the 2018 tournament at Augusta National.

Els is a four-time major winner, though he has yet to win the Masters. He has six top-10s, including two runner-up finishes, in 23 career starts at Augusta National. He finished 53rd last year.

 Yet?  Got it....

I didn't even know they gave special exemptions, but the field is so small that I can't abide them giving away slots to those unlikely to be competitive.

Bonus points for those that got the Cindy Lou Who reference....

Pro Golfers Do Christmas - And they just have to share.....  Here's the Donald family in a photo one assumes they'll live to regret:

And the Poulters at the hyper-exclusive Yellowstone Club in Montana:

Looks like they've got more snow than we do....Bastards!

See y'all later in the week.

Weekend Wrap - Yule Log Edition

Just a few quick items to remind folks to check back here every now and again...

Como Estas? - One piece of actual news broke over the weekend:

Tiger Woods announced Friday he is parting ways with swing coach Chris Como. The two have been working together since 2014, most recently re-tooling his swing after a

fourth back surgery prior to the Hero World Challenge. 

“Since my fusion surgery I have been working hard to relearn my own body and golf swing,” Woods said on Twitter. “I’ve done this by primarily relying on my feel and previous years of hard work with Chris. For now, I think it’s best for me to continue to do this on my own. I’m grateful to Chris Como for his past work, and I have nothing but respect for him.

No valuable parting gifts?   Tiger has always seemed a bit over-reliant on swing coaches, so I'd expect there to be a replacement announced in the near term.  And am I wrong to remember him using the "Go it alone" line in one of his previous divorces?  

They convened a slimmed-down Tour Confidential panel on Christmas Eve, and they pondered the greater significance (on a 1-10 scale) of it all:

Jeff Ritter: A little surprised, but Woods tends to cycle through instructors every 3-4 years. I'd say for now the significance rates a solid 1 out of 10. Woods has had as many lessons as anyone and should have a good idea of how to manage his swing. I think eventually he'll start up with another teacher, and the right match can potentially help him considerably. (A potential 10 out of 10!) But for now, it's all about health and range time.

Josh Sens: Agreed on the significance ranking, Jeff. It's hard to get too worked up about

this. Tiger has shown the impulse to go it alone before. Nothing surprising here. If it says anything noteworthy, it's that Tiger is feeling physically healthy enough that he doesn't feel he needs help working around his injury, which is a part of what Como was doing with him. He'll start working with someone else before long, though. He has now gone through as many instructors in his Tour career as he has back surgeries. 

Joe Passov: Yes, I was surprised by the split. Certainly the partnership of Tiger Woods and Chris Como was star-crossed early and often, hamstrung by Woods's never-ending injury battles. Yet, it also made sense (to me, anyway), that a newly pain-free Woods might now be able to practice what Como has been preaching. By the same token, now that Woods is feeling good, perhaps the operative word is "feel." Let Tiger regain that long-lost feel, and dump the over-reliance on process and mechanics and I'm betting we'll see the old Tiger again. Significance is a 5, impact more like a 2.

Michael Bamberger: Is zero an option? Zero. Chris Como is by all accounts a fine teacher and person, but I cannot see Tiger really trusting any teacher after Butch Harmon. He had an intense and successful relationship with Hank Haney, but if you read Haney closely and look at the swings closely the whole of it looks like one big, effective band-aid to produce winning scores from a body that was in the process of falling apart. I could actually see Tiger going back to Harmon now. Time to let bygones go.

Sheesh, Mike, hasn't that fantasy long since reached its sell-by date?  Tiger doesn't do bygones....

Predictions Are Hard -  No doubt you're onto my trick of lengthy excerpts to allow others to do the heavy lifting.  The TC gang was asked for 2018 predictions:

Ritter: As loyal GOLF.com readers undoubtedly know, some of us went deep on this topic in our most recent podcast. My pick: Jordan Spieth wins the PGA at Bellerive to polish off the career grand slam. This prediction's boldness was debated, but closing a slam is no bargain — just ask Phil and Rory. I think Spieth gets it done sooner rather than later. 

Sens: Tiger gets through the entire season without significant injury but doesn't sniff the winner's circle. There are heebie-jeebies in that short game. You don't win with those, and those don't just go away. Oh, and Xander Schauffele wins the Masters. 

Passov: Josh, you just like spelling out (and probably pronouncing) "Xander Schauffele." Not a bad pick though! I think Tiger wins twice, and I see Arnold Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, fresh off a T2 at the Web.com Tour Championship, scoring a hugely popular victory at Bay Hill in March. Jon Rahm, after a breakthrough 2017, becomes the Justin Thomas of 2018 — five wins and a major. 

Bamberger: Davis Love III, with a new hip and at age 54, wins a Tour event.

Mike, exactly how much eggnog have you had?

Jeff has me depressed merely by reminding me that the PGA is at Bellerive....  maybe another August trip this year?

But Josh will have the Tiger fans gnashing teeth and rending garments...  

They were next asked for breakout stars:

Ritter: After losing the better part of three years to a back injury, last year Patrick Cantlay finally got healthy and ripped off four top 10s in 13 starts, made it to East Lake and then won the Shriners in November. He had an elite amateur career that included winning the Haskins award as the nation's top collegian in 2011, so the pedigree is there. Look out. 

Sens: Peter Uihlein didn't bolt onto Tour like so many of us expected after he won the 2010 U.S. Amateur. He's taken a longer route, but he's got his card for 2018 and some vital experience on the European Tour under his belt. I like him to make a lot of waves this year. 

Passov: I've been on the Cantlay bandwagon for a good while, just because his feel-good story makes him so easy to root for. However, I'm returning to my pick from last year in this category, veteran Englishman Paul Casey. He managed to finish fifth in 2017 PGA Tour average over 90 rounds — ahead of DJ, Jon Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama, among others — but never did win, due in part to some mediocre final rounds. He's already started the new season with a T7, T11 and T19. Look for Casey to soar this year. 

Bamberger: I'm going with Patrick Reed, by which I mean he wins a major, another event, and contends in some others.

Can't argue with Cantlay, especially with the feel-good aspect in spades.... 

However, as with Joe's mention of Sam Saunders above, I'm guessing that Peter Uihlein has been toiling long enough that we can conclude that's he's just not that good.

But Mikey Bams is disqualified for choosing a player that clearly wouldn't qualify after numerous Ryder and Prez Cup appearances.  Though, to be fair, it really is an important year for the jowly one....

Click through if you want to read about guys wishing Tiger a healthy year, though this to me is the more interesting:

5. Of course, Santa has a naughty list, too. Which figure from the golf world is most deserving of a lump of coal in his or her stocking?

Ritter: What became of those Massachusetts high school officials who denied Emily Nash a trophy and a spot in the state championship after she beat a field of boys by four shots? I know Nash received a different kind of award but those behind the original decision will receive no sympathy trophy from me. 

Sens: An easy answer is Grayson Murray for all the embarrassing tweets, but that feels like piling on, because I'm sure there's already plenty of coal in that stocking already. 

Passov: I'm hoping I won't jeopardize future visa opportunities here, but one lump from me for Xi Jinping, the leader of China. His ardent anti-golf sentiments have helped derail the growth of the game in his country during a time (of Olympics fervor) when it should be booming. His edicts have stopped new courses from being built, closed down existing layouts and impeded coaching and junior training. We were all hoping, perhaps naively, that China would lead the next wave of development in the 21st century. Instead, they've gone the other direction.

Bamberger: In the spirit of the season, I extend coal lumps to no one and good tidings to with the fervent wish that in the new year we will all hit our sweet spots with more regularity.

Joe, what part of "in the golf world" don't you get? 

His Year in Golf - Golfweek has a fun spin on their year-in-review pieces, with their writers each penning a "My year in golf" item of personal reflections on the iconic moments of the year for them.  Gearhead Dave Dusek's is worth a few moments:

Scotty Cameron can’t walk down the wide aisles at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla. If he did, he would attract crowds of Cameron Crazies demanding

autographs, selfies and “just one minute” of the putter maker’s time. 

To accommodate people, Cameron sets aside blocks of time every year at Titleist’s booth to talk with people, sign things and take pictures. The lines get long fast and never seem to shorten, but when Cameron needed a 10-minute break, he winked at me, tipped his head toward a backdoor in the booth and we discreetly escaped the crowd. 

We wound up talking about American muscle cars, his retail gallery in Encinitas, Calif., and the growing trend of pros switching to mallet putters for about 20 minutes. 

As we talked, Cameron pulled out the silver Sharpie he had been using to sign head covers and notecards and began sketching a Studio Newport putter on top of a black table. He explained to me that he took that shape, extended the back and rounded it to make the Newport Mallet 1. Then he applied the same principle again, pulled the back even further away from the face and basically created the Futura 5W. 

I bet he could have sold that table for a few hundred dollars to someone waiting in that line.

Interesting stuff.

The Key Word is Long -  Golf Digest has a wonderful collection of their favorite Golf World longform pieces from the year, including this Jaime Diaz feature that I missed:

Why is it so hard to make a good golf movie?

The movie “Tommy’s Honour,” based on the relationship between Old and Young Tom

Morris that premiered last week, has been mostly well received. Splitting the difference between a dismissive take in the New York Times (in which the opening words are “redolent of damp wool and dour personalities”) with a couple of glowing ones, the emerging consensus is of an earnest and beautiful cinematic effort that might be a tad slow.

A tad?  Jaime makes a number of interesting points, though ultimately I think he's grasping at air:

Golf movies have it especially tough. They raise a red flag commercially, which is why there have been so few of them and why getting them made can be such an ordeal. The conventional wisdom is that even the best backstory will be hampered by the weight of a game that to the general audience is arcane and lacks much action. As the director of “Tommy’s Honour,” Jason Connery (son of Sean), told Golf Digest’s Max Adler in February, “The big mistake is to make a film about the game, when it’s so much more interesting to make it about the people who play the game.”

Perhaps, but the people are only interesting because of their role in the development of our game.

And I think he's way over-invested in the qualities of the film golf swings:

Because a good golf swing is such a sublime thing—and a bad one is painful to watch on 

the big screen—golf movies walk a tight rope when it comes to authenticity. A flowing, battle-tested action is impossible to fake. Matt Damon couldn’t do it in “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” and Jim Caviezel failed in “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.” Kevin Costner worked very hard with instructors in preparation for “Tin Cup,” but ultimately all the skills he brought to giving Roy McAvoy the external swag of the gifted was undone by a swing that was studied and stiff. 

Not that a good swing alone is enough to make a golf movie work. Jeremy Sumpter, the lead in “The Squeeze,” has the repetitive, well-timed move of the plus handicap he is, but that authenticity couldn’t overcome a story that was too thin. In “Seven Days In Utopia,” Lucas Black truly looked like a player, but the movie, even with Robert Duvall in a key role, got too weighed down in homilies.

After a digression into the use of humor in the best sports movies (Slapstick, Major League, etc.) he then offers up his take on the best golf movie ever:

But so far, capturing the correct blend of authentic action and soul in a golf movie has proved elusive. The closest all-around try at a great golf movie is “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” Shia LaBeouf as Francis Ouimet did a good job with the swing, and the family dynamic was even more compelling than in “Tommy’s Honour.” The director, the late Bill Paxton, didn’t play, but he grew up in a family of golfers and hung around Shady Oaks when Ben Hogan practiced there and understood Hogan’s legend. 

Paxton got the best depiction ever of a professional golfer on film from actor Stephen Dillane, who played a Harry Vardon, bringing out the supreme outer control and inner desperation that the English icon displayed in late career. “You’re going to be Alan Ladd in ‘Shane,’ ” Paxton said he told Dillane in recruiting him for the role, evoking one of the screen’s most multi-layered heroes.

I don't disagree with his nominee, though I do think he's off the mark a bit.

There's an old adage about sports, that the smaller the ball, the better the writing.  Think golf and baseball, versus basketball and football....  The challenges of our game are terribly subtle, often contained in the five inches between our ears. (with apologies to Bobby Jones).  It makes complete sense to me that the written page is better suited for an examination of our game, than the large screen.

Further, it obvious to me why the Ouimet story makes a better movie than Tommy's Honor.  In fact, I think Jason Connery and his backers were quite misguided in producing their film.  I say with love, but the book was about the grand arc of Old Tom Morris' life, a horribly tragic life in which he buried his entire family.  That tragic arc coincided with significant developments in our game, for many of which Old Tom was the guiding force.  The book has a small but dedicated target market.... who was the movie for?  Golfers would be bored by the slow-moving love story, whereas the general public has no reason to invest in this tweedy story.

And it's easy to see why the Greatest Game would make a better movie...  At its core its about one amazingly unexpected event, still the greatest upset in golf history.  It's also got nationalistic overtones in the nascent American embrace of golf, us vs. them is always easy to convey.  In fact, isn't that the basis of pretty much every great sports movie, think Hoosiers and Breaking Away.

That said, each and every one of you should read the book if you haven't done so already.

Chicago On My Mind - The USGA has created a senior women's open and they're taking it to historic Chicago Golf Club.  The USGA has posted this interesting backgrounder on the joint, including much that this writer didn't know:

To escape the chaotic aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire in 1872, Macdonald’s parents sent him to Scotland at age 17 to live with his grandfather and attend the University of 

The 8th hole in 1910.

St. Andrews. The day after his arrival, Macdonald’s grandfather took him to meet Old Tom Morris, who provided the teenager with a few clubs and a locker in his shop. Over the next two years, Macdonald spent numerous hours on the St. Andrews links and developed his golf skills to a level where he could compete with the best golfers of St. Andrews, including Young Tom Morris. 

His two-year education in St. Andrews would not only prepare him for a highly successful business career, but also instill in Macdonald a passion to transport the game he called “Scotland’s Gift” from the sandy dunes of St. Andrews to the fertile prairies of Chicago.

Who knew that Mrs. O'Leary's cow resulted in The National Golf Links and the rest of Macdonald's contribution to the game.

 This was also new to me, though very much consistent with the man's abrasive character:

Macdonald moved to New York in 1900 and following the formal opening of his renowned National Golf Links of America on Long Island in 1911, it became clear the 

A spitting image of the 16th at Sleepy Hollow.

course in Wheaton would soon need to be updated and modernized along modern, scientific design principles. 

In a characteristically blunt letter to the club in 1917, Macdonald wrote, “I have long wondered when the intelligence of the Chicago Golf Club would realize that theirs is one of the worst courses in the country as compared with its former position. Nearly every change that has been made at the Chicago Golf Club has been for the worse and not for the better… You have got to scrap your golf course… I have today in mind the suggestions Jim Whigham and I made some years ago, and I have in mind now how I would alter the course if I were a committee of one to do it.” 

Macdonald convinced the club to engage his longtime associate, the brilliant engineer Seth Raynor, to finalize a plan based on his and Whigham’s ideas. Raynor, a studious Princeton grad, didn’t know “a golf ball from a tennis ball,” but was soon Macdonald’s indispensable right-hand man. Remarkably, Raynor would soon go on to design world class courses on his own despite never having played golf himself.

No word on whether there will be television coverage.... 

Merry Christmas to all.

Friday Fragments

At the risk of repeating myself, just a couple of quick items...  But today I mean it.

Year-End Push - Props to Shack for covering the unseemly year-end scramble for position inside the top fifty in the OWGR.  It really makes no sense at all, though neither does this Shack analogy:

There are many clubs in golf worth fighting to join, but none as lucrative as Official World Golf Ranking End Of Season Top 50 National CC.

If it were a piece of architecture I'm fairly certainly it'd be a Tom Fazio course heralded as Golf Digest's Best New Private and, six years later, Golf Digest's Best New Remodel. 

Here we are again watching players and their agents crunching the OWGR numbers to determine if how they get finish in the world top 50 and its $350k or so of guaranteed money and opportunities for easy ranking points. Oh, and there's a Masters berth on the line, too.

I enjoy a good Fazio slam more than most, but while the analogy is lacking, the underlying point has merit.

As Geoff notes, Brandt Snedeker took his sorry self to Indonesia to attempt to crack the top 50, though that effort ended in tears.  Kevin Casey has the even more troubling tale of  Kiradech Alphabet Aphibarnrat:

Kiradech Aphibarnrat seemed to secure his 2018 Masters ticket last week by closing in eagle for a solo-fifth showing at the Indonesian Masters. But apparently he needed to do one more thing, and it involved not hitting a golf shot at all. 

The Thai player has withdrawn from the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship, an Asian Development Tour event, with a back injury, but there’s likely a tactical reason to this as well.

Aphibarnrat is currently No. 51 in the Official World Golf Ranking and would finish No. 49 by year’s end by not playing in anymore 2017 events – with the top 50 in the world at the end of 2017 earning Masters invites for the following April. 

What would happen, though, if Aphibarnrat did play this week, in the final tournament offering OWGR points in 2017? 

Well, he would need a top-12 finish … or else he would fall out of the top 50 and lose his guaranteed Masters spot!

The incentives are a tad perverse for sure....  It's an awkward spot on the calendar for a cut-off, but the cut-off itself is troubling.  The limited field money grabs perpetuate the closed shop nature of Tour life.....

It's A Young Man's Game - The estimable Jaime Diaz finds the larger significance in Justin Thomas' breakout year:

The lesson of 2017 is that golfers are gaining vital knowledge sooner and maturing

faster. And perhaps the game they are playing is built more on physical prowess than nuanced skill. Bottom line, the latest group of Young Guns/Young Lions/Roaring 20s is simply more ready. 

“It’s such a young man’s game right now,” says Justin Thomas, 24, who by virtue of winning of five tournaments including the PGA Championship, the FedEx Cup, and PGA Tour Player of the Year honors, happens to be Golf World’s Newsmaker of the Year. 

The big data is convincing. Consider that since 1980, there have only been two PGA Tour seasons in which there were six or more different winners younger than age 25: the 2015-’16 wraparound, when there were seven, and the just completed 2016-’17 season, in which there were nine. All told last season, there were 18 victories by players who hadn’t yet turned 25. The previous record was 10. The average age of the PGA Tour winner was 28.9, the youngest ever recorded.

Maybe.  I try to be a little cautious about jumping on the bandwagon, as these things tend to be cyclical.  Jaime's case is that it's not about any individual, but rather the depth of the talent pool:

But more convincing than the top names is the collective. There have been previous groups of 20-somethings that changed the guard. The wave in the mid-1970s comes to

mind, led by Johnny Miller, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson, Jerry Pate and Ben Crenshaw. But the current group is younger, and there are more of them.

The roster includes Brooks Koepka, 27, winner of the U.S. Open. Hideki Matsuyama (now 25) won three times at age 24. The youngest winner of the year, 22-year-old Si Woo Kim, was also the youngest Players champion. Xander Schauffele, 24, won at Greenbrier and the Tour Championship and was Rookie of the Year. On the European Tour, the winner of the Race to Dubai was Tommy Fleetwood, 26. Jon Rahm won three times around the world, and at 22, the big Spaniard has the most runway to grow. And three other 24-year-old winners are intriguing for their individuality: Daniel Berger, Bryson DeChambeau and Grayson Murray.

Grayson Murray?  This is where he's really over-reaching....  Even Jon Rahm, who is no doubt extremely talented, has done nothing yet in the cosmic scheme of things.  

Jaime does dive in to the reasons that some of these kids are so good so young, but let me leave you with two issues not addressed.  First, has the technology made the modern game less interesting, the Mike Bamberger premise, and therefore it's easier for the kids to figure it out at a younger age?  

Secondly, for a long time I was warning folks that Tiger was old in golf years, because of the intensity of his junior and amateur career....  One thing to watch for with these kids is whether they burn out earlier....  It may just be that a soul can only succeed in the cauldron for so long.  

All Brandel, All the Time -   Kevin Casey promised us a column on the dark side of golfers and social media, and he delivers the goods.  Brandel gets into it with just about everyone in the game, inclduing but not limited to Rory, Poults, Billy Ho and The Duf....  Good times for sure, and there's an appearance by Grayson Murray as well.  Dive in as your time and level of interest permit.

My personal fave is the back and forth over JT's club throw.... Perfect lines, indeed.

But Kevin's deadline made him miss this latest Brandel bombshell from his year-end column:

There have already been more than a few players talk about rolling the ball back, which

when one looks a little deeper smacks of the same type of player-sponsor tandem that sought to have square grooves – i.e. Ping’s irons, which were threatening a huge market share at the time – deemed illegal on the PGA Tour a few decades ago. And, of course, there are more than a few “ancient idolaters” who’d like to see wood and balata come back for no other reason than they think the courses of Tillinghast, Thomas, MacKenzie, Raynor, Ross, Crump, and Wilson should be restored to all their majesty.

Ya got that?  A player advocating to roll back the ball can only be a Manchurian Golfer under the spell of his sponsor.... or a Luddite that wants to return to the glory of hickories, or perhaps both?

But wait, there's more:

When I hear people scream, “Roll the ball back!” I first think, Why the ball and not the rebounding and forgiving metal woods? Why the ball and not the longer lighter shafts? And then I think, At what cost? Who is going to pay retribution to the manufactures[SP] whose products will be rescinded? Who will pay for the lawsuits? Who is going to tell all of those amateurs who have been having a blast hitting the ball farther than they ever have, no more smash?

Now the first point is of interest, because the distance explosion has many contributing causes, and he doesn't even mention those, such as Trackman, that are beyond the ability of the governing authorities to control.

But that last bit gave me a case of whiplash.... I'm sorry, who's a puppet of the ball manufacturers?  

Brandel has more in this line of thinking, and Geoff has his 2012 comments advocating for bifurcation to throw back in his face.  All very curious....

Silly Stuff - Just a couple of non-golf items to amuse you... First, I can't unfortunately embed the video, but if you're bored with golf, click here to learn of the new sport of Eisfussball.  Here's a photo of an especially dramatic moment:

Take a close look at the footwear....it's pure genius.

And my favorite header of the day:

Amazon pulls DIY circumcision ‘training’ kit

Hmmm, I wonder why.  It's hard to see where anything could go wrong....

I'll pop in as there's any content to discuss, but I suspect it'll be a quiet holiday weekend.