Showdown at Shadow Creek

Late Friday is typically reserved for news that someone wants buried but, thanks to Alan Shipnuck, this was Topic A all weekend:

The greatest match that never was almost took place on July 3 in Las Vegas, a prime-time TV special that was to have pitted Tiger Woods against Phil Mickelson in a $10 million winner-take-all, 18-hole death match. The negotiations, involving a major

television network and various corporate entities, couldn't quite be consummated in time but Woods and Mickelson and their people remain committed to making it happen as soon as it's feasible. "We're working on a different date," Mickelson said on Thursday. "I thought it was done for the 3rd but obviously it wasn't." Woods's representatives declined to comment. 

The seeds were planted back in April, at the Masters, when Tiger and Phil played a much-ballyhooed practice round together. Mickelson has a history of using press conferences to further his business interests, such as at the 2010 Players when he repeatedly raved about Five Guys hamburgers only to have it revealed the following week that he had purchased Southern California franchise rights to the burger chain. 

At this year's Players, a month after the Masters, Wood and Mickelson were paired together and Phil said, "The excitement that's been going on around here, it gets me thinking: Why don't we just bypass all the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go head-to-head and just have kind of a high-stakes, winner-take-all match. Now, I don't know if he wants a piece of me, but I just think it would be something that would be really fun for us to do, and I think there would be a lot of interest in it if we just went straight to the final round."

Props to Alan for remembering the Five Guys bit, which had been lost down my memory hole.  At the time, Phil's comments did sound calculating, but then nothing more was heard on the subject.

And here's today's thank God for analysts moment:

'Potential to be huge': Analysts say viewers would eat up Tiger vs. Phil, suggest adding charity angle

Ya think?  The weekly Tour Confidential e-mail confab gets right to this one:

1. Our Alan Shipnuck broke the blockbuster news that a $10 million match play event between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson is in the works (and nearly happened earlier this month). Would a Phil-Tiger showdown immediately become one of the biggest/most-anticipated events of the year? Where would it rank among the others? 

Alan Shipnuck: The intensity of the news coverage and on social media that followed our story tells me how much interest there is for this. It doesn't make sense to rank it in the context of meaningful tournaments — this a lark, just a bit of fun. But it would certainly be anticipated.

Fair enough, though Alan Shipnuck commenting on Alan Shipnuck's scoop might be a little too postmodern for me.

Dylan Dethier: Shipnuck's right; you can't really compare this to a Tour event and it ultimately means nothing in terms of legacy for either of the two. But it's such a simple, digestible concept with exciting characters that I think it would grab the attention of plenty of casual golf fans in a way that only the majors and Ryder Cup currently do.

A topic this weighty can't be limited to a mere single query, can it?

2. Made-for-TV golf showdowns have long been a part of the game's history but faded years ago. Backed by A-list names like Mickelson and Woods, could you see this potential revival having staying power?

Again with that Shipnuck guy:

Shipnuck: One of the keys to Shell's Wonderful World of Golf is that it took viewers to amazing courses around the world they didn't otherwise get to see. That remains integral, I think. Chicago Golf Club, Fishers, Pine Valley, CPC, Tara Iti, Shanqin Bay, Cabot, Barnbougle, Diamante...we can go on and on. The game is so global now so it shouldn't be hard to find places where the course is a star, too. Throw in a bunch of appealing young players with old lions Tiger and Phil and it could be great fun to see a revival of this kind of showdown.

Important point, that one, and I'll note that Shadow Creek fits the bill (and also that we'll have an opportunity to see Chicago Golf Club later this week).

Dethier: For golf fans, this has unbelievable appeal. No weekend golfers play 72-hole stroke play events; how fun would it be to see the game's top stars getting into it in some high-stakes fourball matches on dream courses? Add in the betting possibilities in a simple head-to-head (boxing-style, in some ways) and I think there's plenty of potential to expand.

Would this be a good time for your weekly dose of cold water?  As a segue, there was this from Alan's item on Friday:

This dynamic carried over to the PGA Tour. As Woods was reshaping the sport in his image he had little use for Mickelson. This played out in press conference jabs, a famously frosty pairing at the Ryder Cup and other slights large and small. When Tiger began headlining made-for-TV exhibitions around the turn of the century he tapped not his most talented and popular peer but lesser-lights David Duval, Sergio Garcia…and Karrie Webb? It wasn't until year five that Mickelson became a part of the show, but his chemistry with Woods was so awkward it helped kill the entire "Battle At…" franchise.

A word of caution to all involved....  What killed Tiger's "made-for" series was ultimately the actual golf....  a series of clunkers drove ratings asymptotically towards zero, because it was simply unwatchable.   Tiger and Phil will draw a huge audience, but they'll only stay if the golf is compelling.

Have you ever actually watched any of those old Shell matches?  Nicklaus v. Snead at Pebble was about the best of the bunch, but they were interesting mostly for the venues.

Of course Twitter erupted at the news, and interesting commentary was spawned.  Josh Sens takes a trip down memory lane with his favorite Tiger-Phil moments, including this obvious selection given the current focus on a potential Ryder Cup pairing:

6. A PHIL-AND-TIGER FLOP 

At the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, U.S. captain Hal Sutton paired Woods and Mickelson for the first time, insisting that the two would be "as strong as new rope." Frayed not. Looking sullen in each other's company, the un-dynamic duo lost 2 and 1 to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington in Friday morning's four-ball session, then fell in afternoon foursomes to Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, who bested Phil and Tiger 1 up.

Better yet, that was only the second stupidest thing that Hal Sutton did that day....  They were so miserable.

Best of the bunch is Dylan Dethier's suggested undercard matches, which includes the expected topical and obvious choices such as these:

25. Joel Dahmen (+120) vs. Sung Kang
After all the "cheating" talk from earlier this week, this frosty face-off will be conducted under the watchful eye of a rules official and several overhead slow-mo cameras.

21. Steph Curry (-250) vs. Tony Romo
The sponsor's exemption showdown, playing for second-sport dominance. 

20. Steve Williams (+2000) vs. Bones Mackay
While we're feeling sentimental about Tiger-Phil, let's throw their legendary ex-loopers in the mix — though Bones may need to give shots. 

19. Harold Varner III (+120) vs. Charles Howell III The young challenger poses an outside threat to CH3's position atop the "best III" throne (winner awarded the Davis Love Trophy).

Good work, Dylan, but readers won't be surprised that this was my fave:

23. Miguel Angel Jimenez (+180) vs. Keegan Bradley
With any luck, this match could mean a very literal brawl.

Best.  Match.  Evah!

For those unfamiliar with the reference, that refers back to a meaningless third-day match the last year at Dove Mountain.  A dispute over a drop ended with Keegs in the fetal position in his girlfriends car petting her dog....  Good times.

Late Week Lamentations

With Round 2 of the Irish Open as our background music, shall we see what we missed yesterday?

Ballyliffin's Moment:  Wow, I thought the old place looked magical.  Golf Channel's coverage began with some aerial shots of the club, panning wide over Pollan Bay and out to Glashedy Rock.  

The course seems to be running firm and fast, despite some overnight rain, and the guys are not going especially low.  It does appear that the rough is not as deep as during our 2012 visit, as I vividly recall anything just missing the fairway plunging deep into the folded-over Maram grass.  Not that I was emotionally scarred by it or anything...

Interestingly, the one hole I saw none of was the controversial seventh...  Many shots that captured the body of water, but none of the actual play of the hole.  But Rory is currently on the fourth hole, so I'd suspect they'll stay with him through the rest of his day (he started on the back nine today).  One unusual feature of Ballyliffin is that all four nines finish at the clubhouse....

Shall we revisit some of our photos?  We ate dinner in their clubhouse more often than one might expect, because the early evening light was so dramatic.   

Perhaps a couple of the bride?

If you've watched any of it, course architect Pat Ruddy has been mentioned frequently.  Ruddy is the dean of Irish architects, at least with the untimely passing of Eddie Hackett, and is quite the character....  We spent a few minutes with him when we played his European Club outside Dublin, and he stage-managed this photo:

Apparently he likes Irish girls as much as I do....

This photo is from that 2014 trip to Ireland, during which we spent a couple of days in Ballyliffin:

There's one in every crowd, eh?  But the real reason I dug this one out is that in an overhead shot yesterday, I saw the lineup of trolleys in it's usual spot outside the pro shop.  I'd have though tthey'd stash them somewhere else this week, but perhaps there's no place to stow them away.

One last shot for you from our stay...  As you might have heard, the weather isn't always great, though there are occasional rewards for persevering:

This concludes our Ballyliffin blogging....

We Have A Verdict - I'm still in the dark as to how this helps him, though it will do so no longer:

It's been less than two weeks since Bryson DeChambeau revealed he was being investigated by the PGA tour for his use of a compass during competitive rounds, but

unfortunately for DeChambeau, the USGA has already decided that his use of a protractor to dial in hole locations is not allowable under the Rules of Golf. 

According to Golf Channel, a statement was sent to players informing them of the decision.

“The USGA has ruled that the use of a protractor (also known as a drawing compass) during a stipulated round is a violation of Rule 14-3a of the Rules of Golf,” the statement said. “It is considered ‘unusual equipment that might assist him in making a stroke or in his play.’”

This is as much explanation as we've gotten:

DeChambeau told reporters in Connecticut that he used the tool to double-check hole locations. 

“I’m figuring out the true pin locations,” DeChambeau said. “The pin locations are just a little bit off every once in a while, and so I’m making sure they’re in the exact right spot. And that’s it.”

What he's really saying is that the pin sheets aren't accurate, but beyond that I'm simply not clear on why stepping it off isn't sufficient.

Other USGA News -  This is a little inside baseball, but welcome news indeed:

On Thursday, the governing body announced revisions to its selection process for not

only the Walker Cup, but also the Curtis Cup and World Amateur Team Championships. 

The changes, which will go into effect beginning with this fall’s World Amateur Team Championships, include adding official automatic exemptions for U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur champions, as well as McCormack Medal winners and highest-ranked amateurs in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. 

The automatic selections add transparency to a process that has been criticized for its mostly-secretive nature, especially in the case of the Walker Cup. 

Last summer, Burns wasn’t included on the 10-man U.S. squad that went on to win in a rout at Los Angeles Country Club, despite Burns winning the Nicklaus Award as college golf’s top player that year. Other notable snubs in recent years include John Peterson, who won the 2011 NCAA individual title but was not included on that year’s Walker Cup team.

The issue is that we want the kids to wait around and play in the amateur events, and then the USGA inexplicably leaves Sam Burns off a Walker Cup team.  This is a partial fix, but they really need a points list so the kids know where they stand and can make rational decisions.

Didn't He Get The Memo? -  Bob Carney uses the holiday to cite nine distinctly American contributions to golf, a cringe-worthy list indeed.  Amusing to read it with Old World golf on the telly, because it's the kind of thing a Scot would chide us for over a pint.  The only thing missing is the guy that screams "Mashed Potatoes" into the open microphone....

But this is just an epic misfire:

9. John Daly. Let Daly here represent the American public golfer and all the fun he's had learning this country club game. Let him represent league guys. Let him represent hackers who hate dress codes. Let him represent the hat-backward, t-shirt wearing, flip-flop dragging ex- jock who just can't get enough. Let him represent the crude and the sweet, the embarrassing and the maddening, the foolishly devoted lover of the game, his marriages to it and his break-ups with it. In America golf is everyman's. And most of our game is played where rules officials and green chairmen have never tread. Let John Daly represent every golfer who's tossed a club, given up, fought back, and birdied the last hole. Let him represent our worst and most colorful moments. Let him represent our faults, our penchant for giving what we haven't got to charity, our innocence and our guilt. Let John Daly represent what happens when you really share your game, when golf is accessible, when we all have to live, let live, and, in the end, learn. About the game, about ourselves, about one another. How American is that?

Excuse me, Bob, but when has John Daly ever "fought back"?  Was it during the forty-something withdrawals or the twenty-one times he was fined for failing to give effort?  

The Tiger Effect -  I'm always amused by the folks that wonder why Tiger gets so much coverage.... I'm agnostic as to whether he's created many golfers, but there's little doubt that he gets eyeballs in front of TV's:

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch has a nice breakdown and chart following a strong 2.3 final round rating for the Quicken Loans National. That's up 92% over last year and 28% from 2016. The third round was up 143% and lead-in coverage on Golf Channel was up 147% Sunday, 129% Saturday.

Admittedly, those growth numbers are off a small base, but still...

Alan, Slighted - We had one item from Alan Shipnuck's mailbag earlier in the week, but shall we see who else he's trolling?  First the inevitable Ryder Cup queries:

Probably late to the party, but with Molinari's romp over a stellar, er, subpar field it's the obligatory Euro Ryder Cup mention, yada yada... #AskAlan -@Andrew_Long

Yes, the European Tour stans are up in my Twitter mentions, as always. Their stridence is misguided — I've been a Euro fan for two-plus decades. In fact, in 1997, when various U.S. golf publications were calling the American Ryder Cup team unbeatable, I wrote a snarky column for SI predicting a European victory. Guys like Tom Lehman and Mark O'Meara still give me a hard time about that one. I've long been fascinated by the Molinari brothers and how differently they play the game — Frankie being a preeminent ball-striker, as we saw at the National, and Eddie possessing a dazzling short-game. I enjoyed Molinari's performance, and was equally impressed by Alex Noren's gritty win in France. It's easy to get wrapped up in short-term bursts of form but things change dramatically in just a few months: In April, Brooks Koepka was a question mark at best, now he figures to be a stalwart. You can go down the list for both teams but the Ryder Cup is still three months away and we have two majors, a WGC and the FedEx Cup to play – a lot of fortunes will change, so it's too soon to render a judgement about which team is in better form. Molinari and Noren are both now virtually locks to be in Paris and they will be assets but they (both 35) are not the future of Europe. This gets back to my central argument: the core of the U.S. team is in their 20s while the European stalwarts (save Rory) are pushing 40. Even if the Americans don't win this year – I still expect them to – I'm quite confident my column predicting long-term U.S. dominance will still look good a decade from now. Which means, gulp, we have another 10 years to debate this daily on Twitter.

Is Alan off his Ritalin?  That went sideways and some places I didn't expect, most notably the pining for Edoardo Molinari....  He's got a strong point, though he might get a little blowback from Jon Rahm.  

How far down the standings must Tiger be for Furyk to leave him off the Ryder Cup team? -Gordon (@fofop05 

As long as Tiger doesn't blow out his back he's on the team no matter where he stands on the points list.

There's little doubt that Tiger's T4 in D.C. helped his cause, but I still don't see him as a mortal lock.  If the Ardmore 3 continues to perform it certainly helps, but it could be an awkward moment for Cap'n. Jim....

But wait, he's got more on Tiger:

Love the ShotLink phrase "to native area" as shorthand for a mile left or right. Amazing TWoods finished T4 with as many tee shots as he hit "to native area." Maybe we need to embrace the mallet putter? -Ron (@PressingPause) 

The flip side to this is that Tiger's iron game was terrific and he made a bunch of mid-range putts, both of which will be crucial factors at Carnoustie. The importance of the mallet transcends how he putts with it for a few tournaments. It is indicative of a larger shift in Tiger's thinking/being. In the old days he could never admit weakness; thus, even at his nadir, he couldn't deviate from his Terminator-like programming, and would still mouth platitudes that victory was the only thing that mattered even when he was struggling to break 80. Going to the mallet was Woods admitting to himself that he's having a problem with his putting and he needed a change. That alone is a victory and makes me confident he will figure it out sooner rather than later, now that he's more open-minded and honest with his self-assessments.

Fair enough, but I'd like to see him finish off a round or two....

One great thing about Alan's feature is that sometimes it's the questions that shine, and he's man enough to roll with it:

On a scale of #LiveUnderPar to These Guys Are Good, how gimmicky is the name change for the Greenbrier this week? -@nocartsplease 

This might be the greatest bad/good continuum I've ever come across. Anyway, like all Americans I'm thankful for the service and sacrifices of our military, but I'm not sure what the heck that has to do with a golf tournament. "A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier" is way too narrow of a focus. A Tribute to Freedom at the Greenbrier would have been more inclusive and dovetailed perfectly with the Fourth of July festivities. If they really want to wave the Stars and Stripes, how about A Tribute to American Golf at the Greenbrier? Given Sam Snead's long affiliation with the place, that could have been really cool and it's about, you know, golf.

I like the cute of his jib, including that Twitter handle.

Lastly, one more Ryder Cup thought:

Wouldn't Phil and Bryson be a logical fit for the Ryder Cup? They can nerd out and Phil has always loved taking younger/newer guys under his wing (AK, Bradley, Rickie, etc...) -Chris (@fancyfeet4) 

One time at the Crosby Clambake, Phil was on Pebble Beach's practice putting green, just down the hill from the 1st tee. I was standing right there, and he wound up in such an animated conversation with Ian Baker-Finch about space exploration Bones had to run down the hill and whisk Phil to the tee so he wouldn't be penalized for being tardy. I recently replayed this anecdote to Mickelson and he went on a long riff about black holes and time travel. After a few minutes my eyes began to glaze over. All of this is to say that, yes, I think he and Bryson are perfect for each other.

I have been reliably informed that our Phil is a genius, and it must require that kind of intellect to pull of all that stupid s**t.   But I really doubt Bryson will be in Paris, especially now that they've taken away his compass and protractor....

Have a great weekend.

Midweek Musings - Independence Day Edition

I just read a piece in which it was noted that the country's birthday could just as easily been celebrated on July 2nd....  The framers were remarkably prescient, but didn't they realize it would have made for a more logical three-day weekend?

Dahmen v. Kang - Dylan Dethier goes into the deep grass, yanno, just like Sung Kang's golf ball.  In fact, here's a delightfully vivid description of the final resting place of said ball:

After a short search, a spotter located Kang's ball some 5-8 yards into what another onlooker described as "halfway-up-your-thigh type s---." There was no way Kang could play the ball. Instead, he began pointing to the spot at which he thought it had entered the hazard — nearly pin-high.

Dylan finds additional eyewitnesses that serve to buffer the contention that Kang's drop was....well, let's go with erroneous:

Kang's playing partner Joel Dahmen had just hit his approach from the right side of the fairway, 260 yards from the flag. He hit the green and waited with caddie Geno Bonnalie

as they studied the flight of Kang's ball as it flew near the green. Onlooker Bob Yosai, a friend of Dahmen's who was following the group, stood a short ways behind them with what he described as a view directly down the hazard line. Behind the green, 26-year-old Michael Klock was working in the ShotLink tower. 

Yosai turned to his wife as Kang's ball came down. "That guy's dead," he remarked. "He's going to have to drop all the way back here." But a dejected Kang began to walk down the fairway toward his ball. "I figured he was going to see if he could play it from the hazard," Yosai said. "That was the only thing I could think of."

To me, Kang himself is the least interesting part of this story, though there's a couple of reveals that will not help him in the court of public opinion.  I'll summarize as opposed to excerpting:

1.  Kang apparently described his shot shape as straight, and;
2. He initially wanted to take his drop almost pin-high, though ultimately took relief some 37 yards short of the hole.

Here's another graphic that shows why those two data points are damning:

That guy quoted above has some good advice for us all:

The C-Word

"It was a typical dispute about where or if it crossed the hazzard," Dahmen wrote afterwards on Twitter, allowing that these sorts of disputes happen often during the normal course of play. Where this was different was in Dahmen's deployment of a particularly choice two-word phrase: "Kang cheated," he wrote, setting off the firestorm. Some fans praised Dahmen for doing his part to protect the field, while others criticized him for levying such a charge when the call fell in a sort of gray area. 

Yosai initially came out strong against Kang, but backed off from calling him a cheater a day later. "I'm hesitant to use the 'C' Word, because I don't know exactly what he was thinking," he said. "But in my mind he 100 percent took the wrong drop."

I'm much more interested in the actions of the rules official, since we don't know what was in Kang's mind.  Obviously some wishful thinking at best, and whatever you want to call it at worst....

Alan Shipnuck also falls into this trap, IMHO, in his weekly mailbag feature:

In a gentleman's game, how badly is Sung Kang going to get blackballed by his peers after a playing competitor went as far as calling him a cheater & even let Ben Crane play through the group to continue to argue what he knew was right for the integrity of the game/field? #AskAlan -Chris (@ctimmerman)

Put it this way: Vijay Singh's own episode involving the c-word happened three decades ago and it still haunts him. And that was without social media and Zapruder-esque ShotLink illustrations to amplify the misdeed. Kang is going to get a lot of side-eye from his fellow competitors and a lot of media heat. His initial no comment stance probably can't last. How Kang explains himself, and if he shows any contrition, will influence if any of his colleagues forgive. But they certainly won't forget.

For anyone unfamiliar with the allegations that dog our Veej to this day, John Garrity has the definitive history.   But Vijay's actions can only be described using that C-word, Kang's are obviously more subjective.

But back to that rules official, who was presented, it seems, with a magical tale of a ninety-degree turn in a golf ball, and yet referred to the player's judgement (in the face of strong objections from other parties that witnessed the shot).  If this is how disputes will be adjudicated, word will go forth and players will react accordingly.  That which gets rewarded gets repeated....

G-Mac, Airline Victim - It's always refreshing to hear about these guys flying commercial:

This is a pro golfer's worst nightmare: losing your clubs the day before an important

event, with no idea when you might see them again or where they are. Graeme McDowell tweeted Monday that Air France had lost his bag somewhere between Paris and Manchester on Sunday night. 

On Tuesday he was scheduled to play in a 36-hole qualifier in hopes of earning a spot in the 2018 British Open at Carnoustie. He added a hashtag to his tweet: "#help." But McDowell had yet to get his clubs back as of Monday evening, and wrote that he had withdrawn from the tournament in order to concentrate on trying to qualify this weekend at the Irish Open instead. 

"I cannot give 100% without my own equipment which has been mishandled by Air France," he said. McDowell also responded to critics who said he should have rented clubs: "Lots of you wanting to know why I don’t grab a set off the rack and give it my best shot to get in @TheOpen. Of course I could do this, but wouldn’t be firing on all cylinders."

Typically, I agree with the Twitter mob that these guys should just grab whatever clubs they can and give it a go.  In this case, he's got a chance to qualify via The Irish Open and decided to head to Ballyliffin and take his best shot there.  I can see his point, especially since I happen to know that he's familiar with the place.

Coore & Crenshaw² - Matt Ginella breaks some interesting news:

This will be the fifth full course at Bandon, and is quite the get for C&C, as Gil Hanse had previously seemed to have the pole position.  As Matt notes, in a time with few new course being built, this is quite the twofer.  Mike Keiser has previously spread the opportunities more widely.

It's a spectacular piece of land, featuring a more jagged cliff line that should provide for an interesting routing.  If you're unfamiliar with the property, do read this backgrounder.  As for gorse removal, you'll need to read this to understand why that's such an issue.

An Epic Bogey - You might think that you know all you need to about a certain bogey at Birkdale last year but, trust me, this detailed accounting from John Huggan and Dave Shedloski is well worth your time.  No one excerpt can do justice to the mayhem involved, but it's well worth it to see how Spieth and Greller held it together.  I'm especially a fan of Greller's little white lies.  Also a fan of this:

David Feherty: I told Matt and John a joke. I can't repeat it. It just starts out, "Flanagan goes to a proctologist." It's a beauty. It might have cost Matt Kuchar the Open.

Nah, Jordan won the thing, Kooch didn't lose it....  Fun read.

In other Open Championship news:

It isn’t quite Golf’s Longest Day, where upwards of 70 people play their way into the U.S. Open via a dozen Sectional Qualifying sites. Still, 12 spots at this month’s Open Championship were on the line on Tuesday at four different sites in the U.K. in what’s dubbed by the R&A as Final Qualifying. 

The most notable golfer to grab a tee time at Carnoustie: two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen. The 49-year-old South African shot rounds of 71-72 in windy conditions at Prince’s in Kent, England. With a bogey on his last hole, after birdies on his 34th and 35th, Goosen was nervous he might have cost himself the chance to play in his first Open since 2015 and the 19th of his career. But it turned out he was safely in.

Ballyliffin's Moment - You are going to check into the Irish Open later this week, no?  Really, it's quite a place...

I've started scrolling through my Ballyliffin blog and am already enjoying the memories.  It's a beautiful spot that was just made for the purpose of links golf, with views of Glashedy Rock, after which their new links is named.  From an authoritative source, here's how that second links came about:

Named for a small island approximately a mile off the coast reminiscent of Turnberry’s Ailsa Craig, the Glashedy was designed by Pat Ruddy, the noted Irish golf course architect best known for his European Club outside Dublin, and the late Tom Craddock. Originally contacted to potentially update the club’s Old Course, Ruddy notified the club that its 400 acres of undeveloped dunesland had been designated area of scientific interest by the European Community. The club had a short window to develop the property without a lengthy and arduous environmental review process, which it fortunately utilized despite the obvious financial strain of such a substantial investment on a small club.

When a club has two courses, most often they occupy separate portions of the property.  Not so here, where Ruddy weaved the routing of the new course within the corridors of the Old Links, providing for any number of charming signs such as this:

Amusingly, we got ourselves lost once early in our stay, and I wasted a couple of mighty pokes.

Glashedy Rock is in sight from much of the property, including the ladies 3rd tee on the ladies' 3rd tee on the Old Links:

I took this photo every time we played the Old.

This, from that first visit in 2008, is your humble scribe on the 14th tee of the Glashedy:

Here's Theresa's opening tee shot from our fortnight in 2012:



Can you see why we love it so?  Have a great holiday and I'll see you Friday.

Tuesday Tastings

It's too hot for a long, involved preamble, let's get to the fun stuff.

Dahmen, v. Kang, Oral Arguments - Where's Abraham Zapruder when we need him?  In the hottest controversy of the week, additional witnesses have come forward:

Michael Klock was working ShotLink at the Quicken Loans National Sunday on the 10th green when Sung Kang’s second shot crossed the hazard line and triggered an accusation of “cheating” from playing partner Joel Dahmen. 

Klock says he is certain Kang’s shot crossed the hazard line only once. 

“Kang’s second shot was very far left and at no point ever came close to being inbounds from the initial point of entry 225 yards or so back,” Klock told Golfweek Monday. 

Klock added that the ball landed “about 6-8 feet into the hazard in a batch of taller, bamboo-like weeds.” This was Klock’s second year working ShotLink at the QL National. He was at the fairway on No. 4 Friday afternoon and the 15th green on Saturday.

And while a home movie would be a quaint touch, we'll have to make do with this ShotLink graphic:

The graphic only makes sense when you realize that the landing spot is the "bamboo-like weeds" referenced above, well within the hazard.  For his ball to have crossed remotely close to where he dropped, it would have had to have hooked some 20-30 yards....

As I noted yesterday, this is eerily reminiscent of the bogus drop granted to Tiger on the 14th hole at Sawgrass in 2013, whereby a simple hole map makes clear the implausibility of the relief granted.  In that case, Tiger was playing with Casey Wittenberg, a Tour rabbit unlikely to object to anything Tiger wanted to do.

See if this makes you just a little uncomfortable with how things are adjudicated among those Living Under Par™:

Klock said the discussion between Kang and Dahmen also became quite heated as the officials considered their ruling and another group was allowed to play through. 

“Kang was insistent (’95 percent sure’ in his own words) his ball came back and entered the hazard at about 35 yards out. I caught bits and pieces of the exchange, but the rules official did quote ’95 percent sure is not 100 percent sure’ before driving Kang back to look at the line again. Kang then returned and argued some more with Dahmen, to which (Dahmen) replied, ‘If you can sleep at night, then take your drop,'” Klock said in an email to Golfweek detailing the encounter.

This is part and parcel of some recent rulings where it was essentially determined that the player didn't cheat because said player stated that it wasn't his intention to cheat.  We all understand that it can be difficult to assess where the ball, in fact, crossed the hazard line, and folks often get it wrong.  But word will go out that a player can pretty much drop where he wants, as long as he's prepared to take the heat....   and, Dahmen seems an outlier, so there might not even be much heat involved.

Next we have a statement from the PGA Tour, in which they inform us that this is none of our damn business:

“A PGA Tour Rules Official handled the ruling, interviewing both players, caddies and marshals in the vicinity. The official then took Kang back to where he hit his second shot, and Kang confirmed his original belief that his shot had indeed crossed the margin of the hazard. With no clear evidence to prove otherwise, it was determined by the official that Kang could proceed with his fourth shot as intended, following a penalty stroke and subsequent drop. The PGA Tour will have no additional comment on this matter.”

That last sentence doesn't sound at all defensive... Who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

Shack goes through the above in his post on the subject, then throws everything he can muster at the kitchen sink (there's a chance I might have mixed a metaphor or six there):

--The PGA Tour has never issued a statement about the backstopping practice even after Jimmy Walker wrote on Twitter that he leaves a ball down for those he likes or feels sorry for. Any player who might mark their ball in a desire to protect the field, is now seen as not "one of the boys." 

--The PGA Tour openly defied the USGA and R&A's views on distance and seems poised to fight any effort to protect the role of skill in golf in order to market the athleticism of today's players.

--Phil Mickelson stopped his ball from rolling down a slope at the U.S. Open and has not been --condemned or fined (to our knowledge) for conduct unbecoming. Two young superstars found his behavior funny.

--For years players have regularly "fixed a ball mark" without asking their playing partner for approval. It's apparent they really just want to smooth out a blemish in the green. The practice is so pervasive that we now have the dreadful new 2019 rule of golf allowing for players to pamper their line to the hole. 

--The PGA Tour has resisted empowering officials to hand out slow play penalties for years, with former Commish Tim Finchem even declaring that he didn't see such rules enforcement as necessary. 

--Under Finchem's watch, the PGA Tour steadfastly refused to support drug testing until golf wanted to join the Olympic movement.

I'm in agreement with Geoff on all the major issues, but I don't think he advances the cause of truth and justice by his blender approach.  Let me try to briefly identify where he goes awry:

1. Distance?  I just don't see this as on point.  The Tour has a right to protect its interests, and if it believes that a roll-back will hurt its product, it has a right to make that known.  It also has a right to not abide by any rules with which it disagrees, and shouldn't be faulted for making the USGA aware of such fact.  They need to be persuaded, like any other constituency.
2. Phil?  The problem here is that it's a different organization, the USGA, that failed to make Phil accountable.  I get that the Tour has coddled Phil for years, but this is just too obtuse an argument.
3. Slow Play?  Again, I see this as way wide of the mark....  An important issue, just not this issue.
4. Drug Screening?  Yeah, it was a scam, for sure....  And yes, there's an accumulation of evidence of lax standards and a coarsening of society all around, but still, it struggles to assert relevance.

So, what's at play here?

1. A Rules Environment Increasingly Dependent on Judgment and/or Intentions:  The rules-making bodies have made quite the hash of things over the last few years, failing to proactively react to technology that made violations apparent to home viewers but not to tournament rules officials.  The resulting rules changes make rules violations subject to the players "intentions", meaning that as long as they know the magic word, no penalties will be assessed.
2. Millennial Attitudes - We all love this new generation of elite players...  OK, perhaps not Grayson Murray, but they seem hyper competitive but also highly supportive of each other.  But as the backstopping debate shows, they're missing the gene that governs their responsibility to protect the field.  They just don't get why it's wrong and while I'm doing my best to persuade them, I'm only one man.  As an aside, let me also note that Geoff missed the strongest point on the backstopping issue, Jimmy Walkers quote that he'll ask a fellow player :Do you want me to leave that there?"  
3. The Tour's Abdication: Here's where Geoff is spot on, as they've chosen to ignore the backstopping issue, where a strongly-worded directive could resolve this issue quickly.  In the present case we see an inconsequential player take on the guild in the Dahmen v. Kang contretemps, and the Tour leaves him holding the bag.  Do we think, after seeing this, that other players will be more or less likely to assertively protect the field?  The question answers itself....

But Shack also makes a highly interesting point that I'd missed completely.  I've long assumed that the backstopping issue would go mainstream when an incident decided an important tourney.  Shack notes that we have a new constituency to consider:

The problem now? Legalized gambling is coming. Golf is seen as a potentially lucrative opportunity, one that will dry up the minute bettors think the bro culture that bred backstopping and this peculiar culture of devaluing the importance of rules for unclear reasons.

Stay tuned.

The Daly Variations - Given his time zone advantage, Shack typically beats me to most stories in the golf world.  Though it turns out that I beat him to both Joel Dahmen above and John Daly as called out by Eamonn Lynch.  

But in his post he adds an interesting factoid that calls into question his need for a cart:

Daly is listed as part of the field for this week's Greenbrier Classic. Presumably able to play without the aid of a cart.

Just perfect!  I'm glad everyone has woken up to the walking disgrace that is John Daly, but none of this is new data....

Ballyliffin's Week -  It's time for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, which starts Thursday at Beloved Ballyliffin™.  beloved by Employee No. 2 and I, that is, as we are well acquainted with the club and its wonderful membership.  For anyone not with me in 2012, I recommend that you read this backgrounder on our first visit to Ballyliffin, also your humble correspondent's introduction to this blogging thing.  Feel free to scroll through the posts from our trip, including the final post on Royal Portrush, one I'll be referring you all back to a year from now.

The bride and I maintain our interest in spending a season in Ballyliffin, it's quite the special place.  As to how such a small village can handle this large event, I profess ignorance.  But a snoted in that linked piece, it's home to all of 461 souls as per the 2011 census.

Sky Sports has this preview:

Weather forecasters are predicting a bright and breezy week at Ballyliffin this week, conditions which should be ideal for an entertaining tournament on what McGinley

described as a "strong golf course" 

"The Glashedy is a great course, and it's a big golf course," said McGinley, who made his debut in the tournament as a 22-year-old amateur in 1989. "But like all links courses, whether it's in Ireland or Scotland, we are looking for moderate weather. Bright and breezy is ideal. 

"Ballyliffin is certainly a strong golf course, and one of the strongest links courses you can play anywhere in the world. It's a big expanse of land that is well equipped for big crowds, and I'm sure we'll see another hugely successful event this year."

I don't know how big it is for THEM, my Par Saver indicates that it plays 7,200 yards, though they might have found a way to add to that if they so desired.  It's a very stern test for the club player, with many of my golf balls to be found deep in the folded-over Maram grass deep rough.  They'll no doubt incorrectly call it fescue, but one can actually get a club through fescue....  My recollection is that the deep stuff was just off the fairway, resulting in lost balls on reasonably accurate shots, though that's not an issue when you have marshals and spectators.

Sky also had this image:

Interesting, as that's the controversial 7th hole....There's a hill in the middle of the property, and Pat Ruddy used it for the tee boxes for the one-shot 7th and 14th holes.  It's unusual to have such a hill, and even more so to have the pictured pond....  The result is a difficult hole playing back into the prevailing wind, a thoroughly unlinks-like hole....  It's an interesting hole and offers great vistas, but no one knows what to think of it because it just seems so out of place.

Tom Doak trashed the course in his reissued Confidential Guide, seemingly because of this one "turn-off" hole, undermining his credibility by referring to the water on the left.  I don't object to his (Doak may not himself have written that entry) not liking the hole, it's indeed awkward, but there were seventeen others...  Although I very much agree that the Glasheedy doesn't feature the marvelously rumpled fairways of the Old Links, which I've likened to an unmade bed.  Maybe we'll revisit some of my old photos during the week.

The Euro Tour website has this as well:

Donegal debut

The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open makes its debut at Ballyliffin Golf Club this year, one of the most northern golf courses on the island of Ireland. 

Some of the world’s best players will tee it up on the Glashedy Links, which, alongside The Old Links, is one of two courses at the club. 

Fashioned around the incredible dunes, the Glashedy Links offers a real test of a player’s entire game, as well as breath-taking coastal views. 

According to Rory McIlroy, Ballyliffin is “one of the toughest links courses in the world. It’s really well designed, it’s a beautiful course and Donegal is just a beautiful area.”

One of?  No, it is the northernmost golf club in Ireland, full stop.  Want one last image?

It's a spectacular site for golf.

I'm going to get on with my day...  I expect to blog tomorrow, as we have an afternoon event.  But Thursday you'll be on your own.

Weekend Wrap

Lots to cover, so without further ado...

We'll Always Have Avenel - Is this a crazy game, or what?  A guy struggles for years without a win, and when he does finally break through it's by a touchdown and two-point conversion:

Francesco Molinari delivered a record performance to win the final edition of the Quicken Loans National. 

Molinari holed a 50-foot eagle putt to start the back nine, and he never stopped until he turned the final round into a runaway Sunday at the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. The Italian closed with an 8-under 62 for an eight-shot victory, matching the largest margin this year on the PGA Tour.

Combined with Alex Noren's comeback win in Paris, a good week for the Euros....  Anyone thinking the Ryder Cup will be a walkover, is hereby put on notice.

Tiger Scat - That guy that finished T4 reminded me of someone who used to play on Tour....  What was his name again?

John Feinstein takes a shot at untangling the implications for the event, which is DOA, and its host:

In all, Molinari’s sparkling round was the highlight of an otherwise overheated, dreary week. Tiger Woods Foundation officials kept insisting that the tournament wasn’t dead in

Washington, that they were still searching for a sponsor to replace Quicken Loans, which is taking its $8 million annual sponsorship to Detroit next year. 

Rumors have flown that the tour might give the Woods people a fall slot next year, but the chances that Woods would want to be involved with a second-tier tour event that isn’t on network TV and goes up against the NFL are between slim and none, and slim was seen headed out of town soon after Molinari accepted the tournament’s 12th and final winner’s trophy. 

Another rumor that might be more believable is that Woods is planning to put on some kind of exhibition event. That would cost a sponsor far less money and could be played early in a week over one or two days. Woods could undoubtedly round up a small group of players, hand them an appearance fee and Voila! save some face. Whether he and his agent Mark Steinberg want to make that sort of effort given that the Woods Foundation now runs the Los Angeles tournament at Riviera in February and the lucrative exhibition in the Bahamas in December, remains to be seen.

Guys, Tiger already has an exhibition, as well as being the host in LA.  Seems like enough, no?

Left unsaid is whether Tiger's performance as sponsor has others clamoring to jump in bed with him.  From my vantage point, he's never seemed overly concerned about his sponsors after the check has cleared.

The Tour Confidential panel leads yet again with The Striped One:

1. It was a little bit of good and a little bit of not so good for Tiger Woods at the Quicken Loans National. Woods shot a four-under 66 on Sunday, which wasn't near enough to catch Francesco Molinari but still resulted in a T4 finish in his final start

before the British Open. Woods's downfall his last few events has been his putter, and he made a well-publicized switch to a TaylorMade Ardmore 3 mallet for the week. He finished seventh in Strokes Gained: Putting, yet dead last among those who made the cut in putting inside 10 feet. What stat is more meaningful to you? And are you taking the optimist or pessimist point of view regarding Woods's form, and future, on the greens?

Michael Bamberger: Open golf is not about putting. It's about iron control, through the green. He's in good shape to contend. Winning is another question. 

Josh Sens: It's easy to go down the rabbit hole parsing stats. More importantly, I think, is that it's been a good long time since Tiger has managed to put together four solid rounds at the events that matter most. That's the sort of thing that, like putting, will get in your head, and it does not bode well for Carnoustie.

Yeah, but....  In many ways an Open Championship should suit his game, but he hasn't been able to finish off a single round this year.  On this one, though, I think Mr. Shipnuck has struck the right balance:

Alan Shipnuck: By any objective measure, Tiger's season has been a rousing success. He's stayed healthy, played some intermittently stellar golf and even contended a coupla times. That's all we could have asked for given where he's been. But the hype is overwhelming every time he tees it up and we still all remember how special peak Tiger was — these two factors warp every perspective. I'm not optimistic or pessimistic — I'm content to sit back and see what happens.

He was the greatest closer ever in our game, until Y.E. Yang.....

Ladies Daze -  A bit of a strange week in Chicago for the gals:

KILDEER, Ill. (AP) — Sung Hyun Park beat So Yeon Ryu on the second hole of a playoff Sunday in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for her second major championship. 

After a brief rain delay on the par-4 16th hole at Kemper Lakes, Ryu’s birdie try rolled past, and Park finished off her South Korean compatriot with a 10-footer. Park raised her arms and placed her hands on her head before hugging her caddie and wiping away tears.

Park is the next big thing in women's golf, unfortunate due to the inevitable name confusion.  The fact of the matter is the Ryu had the event under lock and key, until dousing her tee ball on No. 17. 

The LPGA put a lot of money into making us aware that It's Different Out Here™, but is that really the case?

On Friday at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, anger over a bad shot began a series of events that led to veteran Lee-Anne Pace’s disqualification from the

tournament. 

It all started eight holes into her round Friday at Kemper Lakes Golf Club. Pace shanked a wedge shot, and the disappointment got the best of her, causing her to slam the offending club into a hazard stake. 

Pace didn't realize at the time that the stake had damaged the hosel of her club. It was only after using the wedge again a few holes later in the round that Pace discovered the problem. She quickly called in a Rules official, and tournament officials encouraged her to continue playing while they reviewed the situation.

Then on Sunday....

WATCH: Brooke Henderson shatters wedge after poor pitch shot

We'll Always Have Paris - Alistair Tait with an noteworthy take on the Ryder Cup venue:

The HNA French Open allowed a sneak preview of how Le Golf National will play when the match gets under way Sept. 28. Narrow fairways and deep rough took driver out of the hands of the bigger hitters and out a premium on accuracy, which favors Europe. 

“The old theory is tight and scruffy,” said Graeme McDowell, one of Bjorn’s five vice captains and a two-time French Open winner. “I paced off the width of the seventh fairway at 270 yards off the tee, and it was only 18 yards wide. 

“They (the U.S.) set their courses up wide with semi-rough and middle-of-the-green pins for a birdie fest. We always like to set it up a little tighter and a little tougher and maybe not having the greens quite as fast. Does it (Le Golf National) favor our guys more than theirs? We think it does.”

Of course you do, it's your job.  Except for the slow greens, it sounds like a Tom Meeks set-up at Oak Hill....  Alas, where's Andy North when we need him most.

Notice how this guy always works Medinah into the conversation:

Ian Poulter is a five-time Ryder Cupper who should play in this year’s match. He’s played in 13 French Opens and says the golf course is as tight as it’s ever been.

“The fairways are slightly narrower,” he said. “I think the setup needs to be tight in our favor. 

“If you look at how they’ve set their courses up, Medinah was no rough. Hazeltine was no rough. They prefer to play the birdie percentage game. They would have done the math equation that they probably make more birdies than we do from a power perspective. 

“I’m not hitting driver on a lot of these holes, and I would be average in the field in terms of length. They (the longer American players) will be nudging irons around the golf course.”

I'm old enough to remember when our guys were stumped by Seve's set-up at Valderama, which we'll have to hope isn't repeated.  Encouragingly, this guy had a decent week, and also got up-and-in from a bridge, though how his ball got there remains a mystery.

Anybody thinking this will be easy should stay home.

Ground Control to.... - You may not love Fox, but at least they don't employ Chris Berman....  I actually saw quite a bit of this, at least until the Yankees started taking BP against David Price:

With déjà vu washing over him on a windy and dry afternoon, David Toms won the 39th

U.S. Senior Open Sunday at The Broadmoor with a combination of punctilious ball-striking, patience and putting – the very things he did so well in a solid PGA Tour career accented by his 2001 PGA Championship victory. 

“My emotions are all over the place,” said the Louisiana native, who won for the first time since the 2011 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the last of his 13 tour titles. “It was just so hard. When you haven’t done it in a while, it’s pretty brutal. And I’m just glad I got it done.” 

Toms, 51, emerged from a day-long scuffle with the intransigent East Course and a handful of determined adversaries – midway through the back nine he was part of a five-man logjam at the top – to become the eighth player to make the Senior Open his first victory on the Champions Tour. And he did it with a series of clutch shots down the stretch, none more important than the 16-footer for birdie at the par-3 16th that gave him the lead and the 20-foot par putt at the intimidating par-4 17th that helped preserve it.

 Though even Toms, owner of a silky smooth putting stroke, has resorted to a version of the claw.

Most interesting, as relates to the round bellies, is Eamon Lynch's recent epiphany:

The number that best defines John Daly’s career depends largely upon whom you ask. His many fans might offer “302” – Daly’s average driving distance in 1997, when he

became the first man on the PGA Tour to break that now quaint 300-yard barrier. Or “5,” for his Tour wins, a meager tally given his enormous talent. Perhaps even “2,” for the major victories that place him in rarified company. 

For me, the telling number is “48.” That’s how many times Daly has withdrawn from PGA Tour-sanctioned events during his uneven career. 

Check that. 

It’s now “49” after his sulky exit from last week’s U.S. Senior Open. That figure omits the eight DQ’s he’s racked up, or his consistently dominating performance in the strokes gained half-hearted effort category.

I'd have gone with 21, the number of times that Daly has been fined for the failure to give maximum effort....  But this is a subject upon which reasonable men can disagree.

The more pressing issue is, where ya been, Eamon?  He's been dogging it for decades.  There's comedy gold to be found, including this back story on the source of the knee issues:

Daly bolted from the Senior Open when the U.S. Golf Association denied his request to use a cart during play. He’d asked for wheels owing to a knee injury he suffered while dodging a car that struck his RV in the parking lot of an Augusta Hooters, where he was hawking merchandise during the Masters, a tournament he hasn’t actually played in a dozen years.

That qualifies as too good to fact check....  And while he doesn't appear to be Jewish, he's all over the chutzpah thing:

“It’s my career they’re screwing around with here,” Daly continued, flaunting a commendable capacity for selective amnesia. 

Daly subsequently announced he’ll never play in another USGA tournament, a declaration that stunned the blazer brigade, who thought he had long ago stopped competing in their events. After all, Daly also WD’d from last year’s Senior Open with a shoulder injury. He did play in 2016, his 70-81 being the first rounds he’s played in a USGA tournament since 2005. He’s signed for just 11 rounds in USGA competition this century. 

Why the odd number? U.S. Open, Pebble Beach, 2000, 83, WD.

Please don't slam the door on your way out....

What's His View on Backstopping? -  I like the cut of this guy's jib:

In the final round of the Quicken Loans National, Dahmen was paired with Sung Kang. On the 10th hole at TPC Potomac, Kang's second shot found the hazard. What followed

was a bizarre, rarely-seen sequence on tour. 

Kang believed his ball crossed the hazard, giving him a drop on the side of the hazard closer to the hole. Dahmen disputed the account, asserting Kang's ball failed to cross. The argument continued for so long that the group behind the duo, Ben Crane and Ryan Palmer, played through. 

A rules official eventually sided with Kang, as the South Korean player was allowed to take a drop on the side of the hazard closer to the hole. He would save par on the 10th and turned in a six-under 64, a score that translated to a T-3 finish that earned him an invite to the 2018 Open Championship. 

Dahmen, however, continued to feel Kang's drop was unjust, airing his grievances on Twitter Sunday night. 

When asked why Palmer and Crane played through, Dahmen was blunt: "Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost."

I think he has squandered what little chance he had of an invite to #SB2K2019, but at least he understands his obligation to protect the field.

And yeah, I'd have given up the fight after the rules official sided with Kang...  Also noted is the memories this  brings of Tiger's drive on No. 14 at Sawgrass in 2013.... Good times!

Venue News - A couple of notes from over the weekend.  First, send your requests for tickets and clubhouse passes to friend of the blog Mark W.:

Historic Baltusrol Golf Club has already hosted a huge amount of prestigious golf events, and now it's getting two more to add to its resume.

The PGA of America announced on Saturday that the 2023 KPMG Women's PGA Championship will be held at Baltusrol, as well as the 2029 PGA Championship on the men's side. 

Baltusrol, located in Springfield, N.J., previously hosted one other women's major, the 1961 U.S. Women's Open won by World Golf Hall of Fame member Mickey Wright. 

A total of seven U.S. Opens have been played at the club, and two recent PGA Championships in 2005 and 2016. Phil Mickelson captured his only PGA title there in the 2005 event. The club has also played host to four U.S. Amateurs, the most recent in 2000.

I wonder if anyone gave any thought to having the Women's Open on their Upper Course.  It's built on the more interesting portion of their property, and features the more interesting greens.

Shack notes that the PGA's grasp of PR 101 seems lacking:

I'm fairly certainly a Saturday in the summertime is the only opportunity more likely to get something less notice than a Friday evening in summertime.

I assume it was dropped then to coincide with the ladies' event in Chicago, but still odd.

The Forecaddie continues to break news, with this undereported item:

With Rolex Series backing and a prime date, the event should be fine for years to come.

But The Man Out Front grew a wee bit concerned when hearing about the upcoming announcement of a two-year deal to take the tournament to East Lothian’s The Renaissance Club. 

While TMOF has nothing against the ultra-private Tom Doak design, it’s fairly light on the kind of links characteristics players will see this year at Gullane or other venues played since the tournament moved from Loch Lomond. 

The news is also a bit deflating given the European Tour’s consideration of Cruden Bay as the 2019 venue, which might have been one of the boldest venue selections in professional golf history.

Yeah, that Cruden Bay tease was intriguing....  Such a quirky course, which includes an actual blind Par-3....  I was dying to see how the modern pampered pro would respond to that.

I'm happy for the chance to see this venue, and the fact that it's Links Lite might not be as the negative that TMOF sees it as.  I love the linksapalooza that's been created, but I can see where the players might be concerned.  If you get a tough week of weather, it can easily rob you of your will to live....  That's why venues such as Castle Stuart have worked just fine.

That's more than enough for you ungrateful wretches.  Perhaps more tomorrow....