Tuesday Tastings

It's a big day at Unplayable Lies World HQ, as Employee No. 2 gets to play Sleepy Hollow for the first time.  As many of you know, Sleepy is a place I've had a thought or two about over the years.  A C.B. Macdonald classic that features a significant assist from A.W. Tillinghast, it's been the beneficiary of two extensive restorations by Gil Hanse.

The plan heading into this season had been to take our regular Wednesday game on the road, and Sleepy was my choice for our first stop.  Mostly, because I was anxious to play their famed 16th with the thumbprint added back to the green.  I thought one of the better bits from that overly-long treatise was the evolution of the iconic 16th hole, a hole one would naively consider too simple and great to ruin.  That hole began life looking like this:

When I first played it in 2011, shortly after the first restoration, it looked much the same:

Alas, between 1913 and 2011 they lost the plot, and two succeeding name-brand architects did their damnedest to ruin perfection:

Architectural geeks might be able to recognize Tillie's characteristically steep-faced bunkers on the left, though the resulting effect is not especially pleasing.  Of Tillie it was commonly said that his best work was done when he was drinking, so we'll assume his work here was while he was on the wagon.

But it's the version on the right that is so mortifying, one that I dubbed the "Reestrocity".  Though, to be fair, at least all of the bunkers are visible from the tee (a comment that will only be understood by Fairview members).

But this is what awaits Theresa today:

The weather forecast is a bit iffy, so spare a prayer that the girl gets her round in without incident.  Having mentioned that Wednesday game, the astute reader will understand that you'll next see me on Thursday morning.  

UPDATE:  After drafting the above, Theresa received notice that the event has been cancelled.  Interestingly (or perhaps not), she had received an earlier text indicating that an employee had tested positive, but at that point they were merely tightening restrictions.  Not sure what, if anything, might have changed, but one can begrudgingly understand their concern about hosting visitors.  

Upon Further Review - As predicted in these pages some time ago, Jack's folks have reconsidered:

Golf’s galleries will remain silent at least one week longer. 

The PGA Tour announced Monday that the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club will no longer welcome fans on the premises, citing the “rapidly changing

dynamics of the Covid-19 pandemic” as cases continue to grow throughout much of the United States. 

“We applaud the leadership, diligence and partnership it took from Jack Nicklaus, Dan Sullivan, the entire Memorial Tournament staff and State, County and City leadership to build a solid plan that would allow for limited fan attendance at next week’s event,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement to media. “But given the broader challenges communities are facing due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we need to stay focused on the No. 1 priority for our Return to Golf — the health and safety of all involved.” 

For months, the Memorial worked with PGA Tour and local and state officials to develop a series of protocols for allowing fans on-site for the event. The Tour even took the step of creating a second tournament at Muirfield, the Workday Open, to run the week before the Memorial and serve as a dry run for tournament staff preparing to welcome fans the following week.

So much for expecting the writers at major golf publications to have a basic command of facts...  As one astute observer noted weeks ago, the Memorial was the only event planning for spectators until mid-August at the earliest....  So, that one extra week in his lede?  Never mind, why do I even bother...

I expected this and agree with it.  Unlike certain folks (Shack and Shipnuck, call your offices), I'm relatively sanguine about the risks of running these events, mostly because it's a universe of folks that are young and healthy.  But there's just no upside to letting civilians onto the property at this point, especially given that the golf crowd skews older...  

But that leaves us in an awkward position, no?  We'll now play back-to-back weeks at Muirfield Village, which has been called the Dublin Double, with little to differentiate the weeks.  As detailed here, they will attempt to vary the course set-up:

Due to consecutive weeks of play, measures will be taken to limit wear and tear on the

course. 

According to a memo sent to players, Workday will feature a variety of tee boxes that are expected to make the course shorter while protecting tee areas normally used for the Memorial. 

Rough will be 3½ inches tall and the green surfaces will run about 11 on the Stimpmeter.

The Memorial will have higher rough and green speeds are planned to increase to 13-13½ on the Stimpmeter.

Seemed a much better idea when we were anticipating fans...  As an aside, it's been 44 years since the Tour went back-to-back at the same venue, but that involved separate golf courses.

Shackelford has one of his characteristically thought-provoking posts up, that highlights the missed opportunities involved:

The Workday provided an opportunity to inject something fresh onto the schedule while retaining the Memorial’s luster. Remember all the pre-pandemic talk about the need to slip in more variety on the schedule and offer alternatives to 72-holes of stroke play? I know, seems like decades ago.

Here are some options that would undoubtedly have required too many Zoom meetings and players inevitably offering their buzzkilling two cents. 

—Reverse the nines. If we’re going to watch the same course for two weeks, why not use the spectator-free situation to use the less-seen, more confined front nine as the incoming set to differentiate the two weeks. This would have also protected The Memorial’s aura. Now, after two weeks of seeing the back nine, it’s likely to grow tiresome for fans.

—54 Holes. The Premier Golf League is proposing to play 54 hole tournaments with 18-hole shotguns the first two rounds. The Workday’s field size precluded the shotgun option, but a tournament shortened by a day and maybe played with a tighter pace policy would have been a solid experiment. It might have encouraged a few more players to play both tournament weeks. 

—Stableford scoring. With several world class risk-reward holes at Muirfield Village, the scoring format used at July’s Barracuda Championship, combined with the less severe course setup planned, could have led to more contrast between the weeks. 

—10 Club Limit. Imagine the pre-tournament talk: We tweaked some lofts and lies to fill in a mid-iron gap with the help of my partners at (Ricky Bobby/Bryson-style corporate plug goes here). We’d see some shotmaking, some tougher decisions for players who have to create something out of a reduced set of options and we might see creativity rewarded. With less to carry, Tour caddies might even be less surly for a week.

—12-Hole Rounds. With just a bit of creativity, Muirfield Village could have been reconfigured into a 12-hole layout as a salute to alternative round lengths, Prestwick and Jack Nicklaus’s view that the sport would have been better at a dozen holes. One option, screen-grabbed from Google Earth and posted above: holes 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. This would have taken the finishing four holes off of television to preserve some of the Memorial’s cache and conclude the Workday on the courses four most dynamite holes. If Bryson were playing, the last two would have been drivable fours!

—Almost All Of The Above. Let’s just go off the rails for total fun: 12 hole rounds, three days (36 holes total), Stableford scoring, 10-club limit. Let the whining begin!

I just don't know, Geoff.  You run the risk of making tournament golf interesting, and then folks might expect it every week.  

Doubling Down on Stupid - What, you though we had moved on from Bryson?  I'd have thought that Bryson might have gotten a phone call from Ponte Vedra Beach, calling out a CBS cameraman and all...  Writing at Golf Digest, Christopher Powers seems to have the same reaction as your humble blogger:

By the laws of 2020, when the news cycle moves faster than a downhill, left-to-right

three-foot putt, all Bryson DeChambeau had to do was apologize for taking a cameraman to task on Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His comments, misguided at best and downright oblivious at worst, would have quickly been forgotten. Winning cures all, as we know.

DeChambeau sort of did that during his victory press conference, saying he “respects everybody.”

“I think people took it the wrong way and I’m sorry that they did so,” he added.

OK, maybe not the greatest apology, but at least he mixed in the word “sorry.” But even after that, he couldn’t quite help himself.

Sorry, not sorry...  But he'd himself some good if he'd just let it go, but no such luck:

It doesn’t move as quickly when you double and triple down, however, which is exactly what DeChambeau did during a Twitch stream on Sunday night.

I just included that bit because I have no clue what a Twitch stream might be....

“The guy was videoing me for a minute after a shot,” DeChambeau said, “like a full minute. That’s just, it’s just obsessive. It’s not the cameraman, it’s nobody’s fault, there’s just got to be a little bit of respect, that’s all.

I think we can all agree that there is clearly an obsessiveness on display.... even, dare I say it, a paranoid obsessiveness.

“I understand it’s his job, absolutely, I’m not saying he didn’t do his job. I’m saying that if he videos you for a minute after you hit a shot, trying to get you to capture something where you could potentially get mad? No, that’s ridiculous, I wasn’t going to get mad anyway. It was just like he was trying to catch me, like he was being a—I don’t know, it wasn’t respectful. And that’s one of those things that’s just not right, that’s all it is. Not a big deal. Much respect for everybody out there, no issues. People are going to make a big deal out of nothing, it was a nothing burger.”

So, he was just doing his job, but you're still mumbling incoherently about it 48 hours later? 

That Twitch stream is getting the bulk of the reaction, but to me these comments on Brad Faxon's SiriusXM radio show (amusingly titled, Just the Fax) are even more telling, and support my use of the P-word above:

I was trying to show, or explain to people that I hope we all have respect for all the players out here because, you know, the guy was videoing me for over a minute after I made my shot and I didn’t understand that. I hope people realize it’s not a knock on the

cameraman at all. I understand he’s doing his job. I love all the cameramen that do their jobs out there, but I just feel like, we need to have a mutual level of respect. That’s all. There’s nothing more to be said. I have the utmost respect for them. Hopefully he has the utmost respect for me and has the forethinking, the foreknowledge to be able to say ‘Hey, look, there’s no reason’ to video me for a minute and a half after I hit a shot. But I get that. We’re all entertainers. They’re doing their job, I’m doing my job the best I can. I just felt like he was videoing me, waiting for me to do something bad. But I didn’t. And so I was going, OK man, I’d really appreciate it if you’d, you know, just kind of went off on me, you know, instead of videoing me for a minute and a half after a shot that wasn’t the best.

Let me see if I have this right.  You think the cameraman is waiting for you to misbehave, and your reaction is ensure that he has a short wait?  For a guy known as The Professor, you're a bit of a dim bulb...

Or, you know, he could give this lad a follow:

Interestingly, he's quite worried about his brand, though seemingly unconcerned about his sponsors' brands...Just sayin'

One last bit before we mercifully moved on from the lout.  That same Shack had a good post in the aftermath of Bryson's performance, first summarizing the ungodly statistics:

• First player in the 16 years of ShotLink and “Strokes Gained” to lead a field in both driving and putting.

• Averaged 350.6 on the eight measuring holes, compared to a field average of 301.5.

• He averaged 329.8 on all drives at tree-lined Detroit Golf Club, compared to the field’s 297.6 average.

• DeChambeau reached 23-under-par to win by three strokes over Matthew Wolff, who started the day three ahead. Wolff hit five more fairways for the week, if that means anything (38/56 to Bryson’s 33/56).

• According to CBS’s Jim Nantz, DeChambeau’s drives Sunday ended up 423 yards longer than playing partner Troy Merritt’s. And 143 yards longer than Wolff’s tee shots on the non-par-3s.

That's an average of thirty yards per hole longer than Merritt, notably a short hitter.  It's only ten yards average longer than Wolff, but Wolff is a beast.

I know I've posed this previously, but why do we still have two measured driving holes in the ShotLink era?  We're accumulating the relevant data on every shot hit on Tour, yet we're still arbitrarily posting data with obvious sample size issues.

Geoff also raises another series of issues, the gist of which you'll infer from this:

• I get more questions asking if there is drug testing instead of equipment or COVID-19 testing.

You can't look at that body and not have such thoughts...  But above and beyond the possibility of PEDs, is that body good for a golfer?  Perhaps in the short-term, but color me skeptical about his long-term health.

Scenes From Yale -  The rumbles have been with us for some time. 

Back in early June, Geoff had posted this:

Though, as I read the sign, skiing would still be permitted... But perhaps I'm being overly literal.

Yale, for anyone unfamiliar with it, is an iconic Macdonald/Raynor collaboration that is widely considered the finest college golf course in the country.  certainly, at least to me, it would have to be the most interesting.  Among its many great template holes, is the best surviving Biarritz green:

Last week he had these photos of the deteriorating turf conditions:

Nothing to see here, folks... It's only our golf birthright being sold for a mess of pottage...

Today the news is better, at least better to the extent that the words mean anything.  A commitment to bring this masterpiece back to life, though it remains unclear as to why it was shuttered in the first place.  I can only confirm that the problem was not with the state of Connecticut, which only shuttered golf courses for the shortest period.

Ironically, this story arises at the same moment I had cause to link to my old writings at Larry Gavritch's site...  Ironic, because the one time I played Yale was as Larry's guest.

More troubling is the need to rename the golf course.  Yes, and that university as well...

Scenes From Crail - As I've shared previously, we've been keeping up on developments at our East Neuk club via a weekly update e-mail from Captain Jim MacArthur.  His most recent installment, however, contained some bad news:

This will be my last Captain’s Update for a few weeks. It started off as a COVID-19 update and grew a few arms and legs. I can honestly say that it has been a real pleasure for me preparing the updates whilst giving me an opportunity to look in a bit more detail at the club’s history.

Others will be filling the void, but the bride and I have come to look forward to Jim's weekly missives, which have enhanced our connection to and knowledge of this historic club to which we belong.

Here's just one example of his deft touch:

1.0 Clubhouse Areas 

Toilets 

I am now very pleased (never mind “relieved”!) to say – ‘The Clubhouse Toilets Are Now Open’. Never in the history of the Society have these few words meant so much.

 Relieved?  Well played, sir.

The prior week, Jim made a tactical error, I'm sure you'll agree, in soliciting updates from Overseas Members as to the status of golf at their home golf clubs.  As reticent as I am to offer my thoughts, I felt the Society membership might be amused by the Great Trolley Famine of 2020:

- Scott Simpson and his wife Theresa who live in Westchester County, NY the county just north of New York City joined Crail last August but have yet to play their first round as actual members. They had hoped to stay in Pittenweem this summer, but reality kicked in recently and they cancelled the trip. They hope to be over in 2021. They play at a club in Connecticut which was shut down for only a week and at this point they only have minimal restrictions and they are now allowed to touch flagsticks and bunker rakes have been returned to the course. However, one of the most interesting issues has involved trolleys. Scott anticipated that there would be restrictions on caddies and perhaps buggies and in the early stages of the outbreak bought trolleys for himself and Theresa. This turned out to be a very smart move as the available supply was depleted, the manufacturers deemed non-essential and closed down and the cost of the trolleys almost doubled. Scott said “Forget everything you have heard about the desperate shortages of ventilators and PPE – please send trolleys”

Oh, we will be there in 2021... Unless, of course, the toilets are closed again. 

This gentleman seems both a kindred spirit and a touch greedy:

- Mike Grice is a member at Southport and Ainsdale and is missing his trips to the East Neuk of Fife where he has a holiday home in Pittenweem. He and his family have not been up since mid-February, are missing their walks along the coast and of course golf at Crail. He hopes it won’t be much longer before they can return

The bride and I played S&A on our 2010 trip to Southport.  It just seems like an awful lot of linksy goodness for one family...  Of course, I'm just bitter over losing my two weeks of links golf for the year.

I'll most likely see you Thursday.

Weekend Wrap- - Beast Mode Edition

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend... I think we can all agree, that Bryson has become the Joey Chestnut of golf.

Kraken, Released - If you didn't see this coming, you must have been self-quarantining the last few weeks.  Amusingly, Bryson had taken some heat these few weeks over the absence of a win...  Yeah, they're a tough crowd:

Who cares how far his drives go? 

Who cares about his weight gain?

Who cares that he eats bacon and drinks six, seven, eight, nine, whatever protein shakes?

Bryson DeChambeau hasn’t won. He actually hasn’t won since November of 2018. Which was even before he embarked on his ambitious journey to become his own physics project – weight + force = a massive amount of wins. Starting last year, DeChambeau added upward of 40 pounds, he added near-PGA Tour-best distance to his drives, and he added to his bill at the nutrition store. All of it was essentially the equivalent of maybe a nice head cover on his driver, or maybe the sauce on his steak. He just looks better. He hasn’t won. Who cares?

Three whole weeks without a win?  That is damning indeed...

DeChambeau hadn’t won. Who cares? Now, who’s worried? The Bryson blueprint has a win. 

DeChambeau shot a 7-under 65 at Detroit Golf Club on Sunday to storm from three shots back entering the final round to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic by three shots over Matthew Wolff, the third-round leader. It’s DeChambeau’s sixth PGA Tour win and, yes, his first since the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

“This is a little emotional for me because I did do something a little different,” DeChambeau said. “I changed my body, changed my mindset in the game, and I was able to accomplish a win while playing a completely different style of golf. And it’s pretty amazing to see that, and I hope it’s an inspiration to a lot of people that if they set their mind to it, you can accomplish it.

Well, it certainly has our attention.  Inspiring?  Gawd, let's hope not...

 As always, beware the early call:

Bryson DeChambeau’s run of dominance, it seems, is just beginning

The 26-year-old’s pursuit of extreme distance paid off in victory at Detroit Golf Club,

and so well that it’s easy to imagine him neutering similar courses that we see all across the PGA Tour. Courses that test his peers at a significantly higher level than they currently test him. Detroit GC, with trees and rough being its best defense, simply laid down to Bryson’s 350-yard drives. There were 19 of them. 

That DeChambeau was below average approaching the green — an anomaly in victory on the Tour — simply didn’t matter. Distance, distance and more distance trumped all. Then the putter topped it off. DeChambeau finished the week first in strokes gained: off the tee and strokes gained: putting. This is his new template: Hit it a mile, use that distance to hit more lofted clubs, hold more greens as a result and if the putter is great, you will very likely win.

That strokes gained twofer is a first in the ShotLink era, and covers the show and dough portions of the game pretty well.  The missing link is approach shots, which for Bryson means wedge play.  Long ago I was tipped off to that weakness by Alan Shipnuck, who himself plays single-length irons.  Faldo was harping on his use of graphite shafts on his wedges, though to me the more obvious issue is that his wedges have longer shafts than is typical, and the greater dispersion seems a logical result.

Of course, Bryson being Bryson, you know he'll be obsessing over this weakness in his game and one would expect to see improvement there.  Quickly.

But what of the point made above about the courses the Tour has played to date in its restart?  I'd have said (heck, I'm pretty sure I did say) that all of these early venues (Colonial, Hilton head and Hartford) are uniquely ill-suited to the power game.  But Bryson has made me realize that we don't know Jack about these venues, because no one has ever taken these lines off of tees previously.  

Some more on this theme:

What could this remind you of? On driving statistics alone, DeChambeau’s advantage over most of the field was akin to Tiger Woods’ distance advantage at the 1997 Masters. Woods was the longest player in the field by 23 yards that week, and pretty much perfect for the final 63 holes. DeChambeau was 24 yards longer than the next longest player this week (Matthew Wolff) and putted about as well as he reasonably could. The template is hard to ignore. 

Would it succeed at the British Open? Maybe not. But all across the parkland Tour stops of America — Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Memphis, etc. — most of Bryson’s advantages will go just as far as they did this week in Detroit. DeChambeau will take a break next week and return at the Memorial Tournament, where he won two years ago. On the horizon rests the PGA Championship, just four weeks away. Though TPC Harding Park will have shrunk its fairways and bolstered its rough, if he drives it well there, he will find contention at a major for the first time in his career. In the meantime, we will hash it out, praise DeChambeau and question him at the same time. We’ll ask: is it sustainable? A favorable lineup of courses and a clean bill of health make the answer seem obvious.

Shall we see how it looked to the Tour Confidential crew?

1. In just over a year, Bryson DeChambeau added 40 pounds and added distance across his bag because of it. Now that DeChambeau’s transformation has helped him add a trophy, it must be asked: Has Bryson cracked the code?

John Wood: Bryson seems to have broken the code for Bryson. And I think he has transferred what has been done at the long driving competitions for a while now to

highly competitive golf. I couldn’t be more impressed. I was watching today and thought how economical this type of game is to practice. You practice drivers, wedges, chips and putting. He won’t often have to hit mid-irons, ever. Maybe a couple a day to par-5s. But for the most part, playing the game like he is playing it, and how courses are allowing him to play it through setup, why would you spend the time on fairway woods and hybrids and long/mid-irons when they will be used so seldom. 

Sean Zak: I like what John said. Bryson found Bryson’s template — bomb it a mile, hit easier clubs into greens and if you putt well you’ll win. The difference between his template and other players’ is that his template works better at 80 percent of courses on Tour. That’s the bottom line. It makes it hard to imagine him missing the cut at a cookie-cutter Tour course. Does it work in Scotland? It’s hard to say right now, but across parkland America, he’s going to be dominating if he putts well.

Not to rain on Sean's parade, but Bryson is driving it pretty damn straight, and long and straight works just about everywhere.  But, per Kooch's bagman, we all caught that Par-5 where Bryson missed the fairway and might have seemingly been in trouble, yet threw an 8-iron on the green.  Did I mention it was a Par-5?

Unsurprisingly, Mike Bamberger makes an interesting point:

Michael Bamberger: John’s insights are valuable. If Bryson has broken the code, it’s only on certain types of courses. The most interesting golf of the past year was played at Royal Melbourne. What Bryson is doing would not be meaningful there, at the Old Course, at Cypress Point, at Olympic. But it’s good at a soft Colonial and a soft Detroit Golf Club. If Bryson and Matt Kuchar were going to play 10 matches in 10 days and you gave Mike Davis the assignment of picking the courses and Nick Price the assignment of setting them up, Matt would win seven or eight of the matches.

As we've discussed ad nauseum, we're at a juncture where #firmandfast is the only defense remaining.  Problem is, as per Mike's hypothetical, Messrs. Davis and Price would have to be awfully lucky with the weather to produce the desired conditions.  Heck, in about half the years we don't even get such conditions for the Open Championship.  That said, don't we think Mike (Bamberger, not Davis) is over-stating Kooch's advantage by some considerable degree?  

We will circle back to Bryson below, but first a couple more bits from our TC panel, including this on the Wolffman:

2. Matthew Wolff started the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a three-shot lead, quickly lost it, then rallied late. Wolff has been on golf fans’ radars for some time, but what did you learn about his game/approach this week that you didn’t know before?

Wood: Not a lot. Knew he was really really good before, and still know he’s really really good. 

Zak: Loved that he didn’t melt down today, and even when he wasn’t playing his best on the front nine, he absolutely striped it coming in and gave himself really great birdie chances. I think if this tournament went nine more holes, he catches Bryson because he’s just a little shorter than him.

Sens: I was impressed with his composure after that shaky start. He just needed a few more of those birdie putts to drop down the stretch (not to mention that eagle bid on 17 that hung on the edge), and we might have seen a playoff. 

Dethier: He’s got some swagger to him. Bryson stole all the long-drive hype, but holy hell, Wolff can smash it and seemed to relish chasing after the big bomber in the group in front of him. He hit a few drivers 350+ down the stretch (including a 367-yard nuke on 13 that nearly rolled into DeChambeau’s group) that seemed to really get him excited.

Bamberger: I learned that the kick-start hip turn gets faster when he gets more excited.

I knew the kid could send it, but I didn't know he was quite that long...But that front nine was a spot-on Tom Brady impression, no?  So interesting to see these guys lose it and struggle to find it.   I was glad to see him find it later in the day, and I'm thinking we'll be seeing a lot of him going forward.

I'll move on and just leave you this:

Matthew Wolff’s swing is even more fascinating in slow motion

I actually though t seemed more conventional in slow-mo, but perhaps that was because the video  didn't include that shake, rattle and roll trigger move.  That said, there's lots of room between the red and green lines for sure.

Saturday, Bloody Saturday -  So, no doubt we're impressed and a little awed by the man....  But, do we like him?  I would argue we've seen just enough, most notably that driving range meltdown a while back, to answer in the negative.  He's interesting for sure, but seemingly wired a little too tightly to be endearing...  But that dominating Sunday was, for me, overwhelmed by his petulant Saturday:

DeChambeau shot a 5-under 67 in the third round, and at 16 under he’s tied for second

place, three shots behind Matthew Wolff. But his round got off to a slow start, and things didn’t especially improve after a lackluster sand shot from a greenside bunker on No. 7.

DeChambeau fired his club angrily into the sand shortly after impact, and he ultimately made bogey. While he described his reaction to the shot as “dumb,” he took issue with the cameraman subsequently following him closely as he approached the green and marked his ball.

Bryson was running very hot at that point, and the CBS crew, despite their minimalist footprint, was all over it.   But where are all the Karens when we need them, as Bryson gets in the face of a mask-wearing cameraman.....without a mask of his own.  Bad Bryson!

But kudos to Golf Channel's Will Gray for asking the tough question, which elicited some pretty entitles and bizarre nonsense from the man:

“He was literally watching me the whole entire way up after getting out of the bunker, walking up next to the green. And I just was like, ‘Sir, what is the need to watch me that long?’” DeChambeau said. “I mean, I understand it’s his job to video me, but at the same point, I think we need to start protecting our players out here compared to showing a potential vulnerability and hurting someone’s image. I just don’t think that’s necessarily the right thing to do.”

But hours later he still had issue with the incident on the seventh green, which he perceived as an effort to show him in a poor light after an angry on-course outburst that he believes showcased his passion for the game. 

“As much as we’re out here performing, I think it’s necessary that we have our times of privacy as well when things aren’t going our way. I mean, we’re in the spotlight, but if somebody else is in the spotlight they wouldn’t want that either,” DeChambeau said. “I feel like when you’re videoing someone and you catch Tiger (Woods) at a bad time, you show him accidentally doing something, or someone else, they’re just frustrated because they really care about the game. It could really hurt them if they catch you at a potentially vulnerable time.

Wow, that's a heaping plate of crazy, Bryson.

But let me first make sure we're clear.  You're playing in a professional golf tournament....  Wait, strike that.  You're playing in a TELEVISED professional golf tournament, and you arrived on Thursday with an expectation of privacy?  How's that working out for you, young man?  What part of the professional golf ecosystem confuses you?  You can play without those pesky cameramen, but you'll not be playing for seven-figure purses.

Now, here's another version of that bit, this timing using the all-important B-word:

“Look,” he said, “I feel like when you’re videoing someone and you catch Tiger [Woods] at a bad time, you show him accidentally doing something, or someone else, they’re just frustrated because they really care about the game. It could really hurt them if they catch you at a potentially vulnerable time. … For that to damage our brand like that, that’s not cool.

How much do we love players referring to themselves as a brand?   Almost as good as when they refer to themselves in the third person....

I'm not one that over-reacts to shows of frustration on the golf course.  I actually like seeing a bit of it, because it makes them seem more human...  I also like seeing how they manage to release the frustration and then regroup before playing their next shot.  

But the passive construction gives away the game, as always.  To the extent that there was damage to the brand from that show of frustration in the bunker, he quite obviously need only look in a mirror to identify the source.  Ironically, the real damage to the brand was his words after the fact...

“We don’t mean anything by it, we just care a lot about the game. For that to damage our brand like that, that’s not cool in the way we act because if you actually meet me in person, I’m not too bad of a dude, I don’t think.”

Well, we'll be the judge of that, son.  But good dudes don't get in the face of cameraman when they're embarrassed about their own behavior.   

You think the TC gang will agree with me?

3. DeChambeau got angry after a bunker shot during the third round of the Rocket Mortgage, then got angry that a cameraman would televise it. “I mean, I understand that it’s his job to video me, but at the same point, I think we need to start protecting our players out here compared to showing a potential vulnerability and hurting someone’s image. I just don’t think that’s necessarily the right thing to do. Not that I was going to do anything bad. It’s just one of those things that I hope he respects my privacy.” Should broadcasts protect players from blowups?

Wood: I know Bryson likes to play percentages, so I would say 107 percent no. Want to be protected from blowups? Don’t have them. Blowups are interesting. They’re fun to watch when they’re not happening to you. I want to know someone is human in any sport and has the same frustrations all of us have at some point. If you’d like to see golf ratings go in the tank, then field 156 really boring, very silent golfers every week.

Zak: Bryson has often displayed a thorough misunderstanding of media, so this was sadly unsurprising. Players should not be protected from blow-ups at all. In fact, the opposite needs to happen. We need MORE blow-ups and high scores shown on broadcasts. It helps us realize these guys are human after all, despite their wanting to be robots between the ropes.

Sens: Sorry, Bryson, but such are the burdens of having one of the sweetest jobs on the planet. Consider it a teachable moment for him. Not for the cameraman, who did nothing wrong. 

Dethier: To Sean’s point, this feels like a media literacy issue. The Tour has set it up to protect these players’ “brands” as best they can, and it’s clear that Bryson has taken that to heart. But I think what he misunderstands is that he doesn’t have to be “perfect.” Fans respond to authenticity, even if that means a temper or a bad word on camera. What fans don’t like is the idea that a player is over-controlling his image and showing us something less than the truth. That’s much harder to come back from than a fiery reaction.

Bamberger: No. The broadcasts should try to reveal the players as they actually are. People watch golf for a lot of reasons and one of them is to see the players reveal themselves.

Well, the risk of Bamberger disagreeing was somewhere between 0 and 0%...

But, Dylan Dethier makes an important point.  If you think about how Ponte Vedra coddles the players, mots notably in not disclosing disciplinary actions and suspensions, you readily see why Bryson might expect to be protected.  

Am I being too hard on the lad?  Perhaps, but Eamon Lynch puts me to shame:

Credit DeChambeau’s optimism in thinking that being shown acting like a jerk would hurt his image rather than merely solidify it. 

The world No. 10 — a ranking he has reached thanks in part to his Flight Scope — was sufficiently upset to keep talking after the round without bothering to note the hour on his Rolex timepiece. “For that to damage our brand like that, that’s not cool in the way we act because if you actually meet me in person, I’m not too bad of a dude, I don’t think,” he said. 

Seldom has the qualifier “too” been so freighted.

Please, Eamon, no marks above the neck.  But really, he's just warming up to the task:

Having cameras follow him is something DeChambeau appreciates. Just a few weeks ago, he posted to Instagram an intimate, 15-minute movie in which a camera caressed him as he ambled from his bedroom to breakfast, lingered over his form during workouts, and gazed adoringly at him as he cruised the neighborhood in his convertible. It was a love letter to himself, part Narcissus, part Pee-wee Herman, set in a hall of mirrors. 

DeChambeau paid for the cameras in his home, but not those at Detroit Golf Club. But he seems to believe any lens has the same function: to celebrate his brand of data-crunching and protein-shaking, to showcase his prodigious distance but never his astonishingly shallow depth. In short, to help him sling product. And you, dear viewer? Well, you’re just the mark. That’s what his comments Saturday told you.

And you guys think I can be harsh... 

He's Back -  His new day job is in remission, so be forewarned, the return of Bones is upon us:

Jim "Bones" Mackay is coming out of caddie retirement for a two-week stretch this month in Dublin, Ohio. 

Per Golf Digest, Mackay will loop for Matthew Fitzpatrick at the Workday Charity Open and then again the following week at the Memorial Tournament. Both events will be played at Muirfield Village Golf Club. 

Fitzpatrick's full-time caddie, Billy Foster, has opted to thus far remain in England during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Fitzpatrick to seek out temporary substitutes.

We all need to get out of the house...

Step Aside, Matthew Wolff - Wolff would have the weirdest swing in professional golf, were it not for Hosung Choi.  Amusingly, we have a Hosung Choi twofer for you folks...

Have you seen the log that Phil Mickelson has been rocking lately.  Yeah, it's the silhouette of the most famous 3-inch vertical leap in sports history, celebrating his 2004 Masters-winning putt.  Our hero Hosung has taken a page from Phil's book, and showed up rocking this great mask at a Korean tournament:

Here's a close-up in case you can't quite make it out:

That's pretty great, no?  But wait, there's more...

Yowser, I had to watch it a few times to understand what really happened.  The driver seems to make contact a good two feet behind the ball, though seemingly never made contact with the ball.  This guy had an explanation for us:

Choi was competing Saturday in the Korea Professional Golf Tour’s Busan Gyeongnam Open – and playing in the final grouping of the third round – when he whiffed on his tee shot on the final hole at Aramir Country Club in South Korea. The clubface of Choi’s driver hit the ground well behind the ball before whizzing just over the ball, the ball subsequently being blown off the tee.

I'll have to take your word for it...  I couldn't resist this screen grab of his finish pose:

Just straight down the target line...or not.

I've got more, but I'm thinking it's best to save it for tomorrow.... Stay cool.

Late-Week Lethargy

Thanks for allowing me a couple of days off.  A always, we'll cover everything you need to know to keep up your side of the conversation this weekend.

Motown Mishegas - Waiting for a golden age classic golf course to resist scoring?  Sorry, we don't have that on our 2020 Bingo card:

Bryson DeChambeau is hitting the ball farther than nearly every player on the PGA Tour this season. On Thursday, he scored nearly better than every player. Here are three things you should know after the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf

Doc Redman.

Club in Detroit. 

Doc Redman, Kevin Kisner, Scott Stallings tied at top 

Doc Redman, Kevin Kisner and Scott Stallings all shot 7-under 65s to take a one-shot lead over seven golfers and a two-shot lead over 14 golfers.

All three leaders played better on their second nine.

Redman bogeyed the 10th hole before making birdies on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes; Kisner had no bogeys and seven birdies, including five on his second nine; and Stallings had eight birdies, but a bogey on the 2nd cost him a chance at the outright lead.

The Beast is a shot back, but will not be in Golf Channel's coverage window today.  But if you think he might be satisfied with that 66, you'd be wrong:

And after posting a 66 in the opening round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic — placing him a shot behind leaders Doc Redman, Scott Stallings and Kevin Kisner —

DeChambeau said he’s not particularly thrilled with his game right now. The barrage of birdies, the drives of 350-plus yards, the consistent rounds in the 60s … it’s all slightly above average in his eyes.

The report card is on its way home and DeChambeau the teacher (and mad scientist) insists that DeChambeau the student is nothing special. 

Yet. 

“Playing the golf that I want to play, if I was to give myself a grade, and I know people are going to say things about this and people are going to chirp and chime in on what they think — oh, he’s playing unbelievable golf — I’d really say it’s B-game right now,” DeChambeau said, after posting seven birdies and an eagle at Detroit Golf Club. “It’s not 100 percent, but it’s not bad, either. I’m still able to get it in, I’m able to score, which is great, but I still have to refine some things.”

This might just be the sine qua non of Bryson's Beast Mode:

Earlier, he said he “ballooned” his shot on No. 13 — to the tune of 351 yards. DeChambeau was trying to reach the front of the hole, about a 370-yard poke, and was miffed that he didn’t hit it exactly the way he wanted.

Dontcha just hate when that happens?

Did you catch this from earlier in the week, in which Bryson is suitably deferential to those that came before?  But, as the old joke goes, business is business:

DeChambeau is second in driving distance this season, averaging more than 320 yards, and he expects that trend to continue on a layout that has plenty of tree-lined fairways but few penalty areas in play.

"I haven't played both sides yet, so seems like it's fairly tight, a lot of rough," DeChambeau said. "I think there's a lot of bunkers that are around like 290 (yards), so hopefully I'll be able to clear those and take those out of play. So, sorry, Mr. Ross, but, you know, it is what it is."

Hey, at least he called him Mr. Ross...And, since I assume you had the same question as I did, the answer is Cam:

This is still the old Tour nonsense of two measure drives each day, though why you'd keep toting it ip that way in the ShotLink era is hard to fathom.

Seems from watching that Bryson is nor blowing it by Champ, though you'll note that those two have separated themselves by a good bit from the chase pack.  But what we've seen is mostly on golf courses seemingly designed to frustrate the bombers... wait until we get to Muirfield Village, built by a bomber for bombers.

Brian Wacker does his best to answer this question:

Here's why scores have been so low during the PGA Tour restart and why the trend will likely continue

Brian first tells us that the reasons for the deeply red numbers vary, then attributes the same soft conditions and short layouts for the three events to date.  But patience is rewarded, as he throws this concept against the wall:

Another, perhaps unexpected, element may have played a role as well: No fans. While large galleries might save some wayward shots from finding trouble, a lack of fans also means few chances for distraction.

“In general, it’s easier to win on the PGA Tour without fans is what I’ve seen the first couple weeks,” Jordan Spieth said. “It’s easier to just be zoned in on pure golf.”

Let me see if I understand this journalism thing... You used Jordan as your expert on low scoring why?  I guess because he's friends with some of the guys that have been going low?  We kid because we love, Jordan.

But it's that first 'graph and its carefully constructed passive language that I love to distraction.  Yup, balls that they hit are kept in play by crowds... nothing to see here.  What is this grandstanding of which you speak?

Lest you think your humble blogger is imagining things, Sean Zak has this item on the ubiquitous Rocket Mortgage signage this week, speculating that guys might be taking dead aim to get those cushy, sweet drops around the greens.

I actually think Brian was on the right track before heading to Jordantown.  The key is that, except for Hartford, they went to hot-weather venues later in the summer than is typical.  Put these guys on short course in soft, windless conditions, and you'll not need too much black for your leaderboards.

The Champ Rule - You know what your humble blogger can do with a segue, so just sit back and admire artist at the top of his game.  Did someone mention Cam Champ?

Cameron Champ was a late addition to the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic field Wednesday night after the tour adjusted its stance on Champ’s negative COVID-19

results.

Champ, 25, had to withdraw from last week’s Travelers Championship after testing positive for coronavirus. However, Champ announced on Saturday that he had three negative COVID-19 tests following his positive result, and that he was asymptomatic. His plight raised the question if his initial result was a possible false positive, and if that was the case, could he return to tour competition immediately.

Initially the tour confirmed to Golf Digest that, out of an abundance of caution, Champ was not allowed to play in the next event, the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. But after discussions with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the tour has decided Champ does not pose a threat to the rest of the field and has been medically cleared to return to competition.

“It is a great example of everyone being committed to working together to adapt and evolve in this constantly changing environment,” Champ said.

He gets to play, though it's not clear how much of a favor the Tour did him:

Champ will remain subject to testing upon arrival in Detroit. He has been assigned the 2:10 p.m. tee time on Thursday off the 10th tee.

Yeah, as I understand thing, they just added this time, and he played as a single behind the entire field of three-balls.  Geoff had the same reaction:

A single going out after the full field of 156 go off split tees. That’s quite a reward.

Hopefully he brought a book, because one assumes that he'll be waiting on every shot.  He has an 8:55 time today, as does Donnie Trosper (not a name with which I'm familiar), so perhaps he'll at least have one playing partner today.

I'm old enough to remember how, back in the day, the CDC actually sent out testing kits infected with the virus.  Yeah, back in March, which feels like it was several lifetimes ago...  Obviously, the question this triggers is whether it was a false positive.  Champ himself seems inclined towards that explanation, though I'm unclear as to whether that's likely.  The alternative, a healthy young man contracting the virus, which his young, healthy immune system then overwhelms.  

As you know, I've been relatively sanguine about the positive tests we've seen thus far among the players and caddies on both this tour and the Korn Ferry, as the implications are rather limited.  Shack, on the other hand, has been a bit unhinged, quickly calling for the Tour to shot down again over a handful og positive tests from largely asymptomatic cases.  I get that the media wants us to think that anyone that catches the bug will die, but there's no need for us to believe that nonsense...

But Geoff has gone off on another strange riff, in the course of poking fun at the statements released in the name of those players caught up in positive test results.  Getting a laugh out of the MBA-speak drivel emanating from Tour headquarters is always good fun, but he takes up a curious cause in this post:

Four More Players Test COVID-19 Positive And Continue To Thank Tour Protocols But Not Sanford Health

OK, Karen...  But, given that they're being paid for this service, that seems a strange cause for the uber-woke Shack to take on.  Yanno, predatory capitalism and all.  Plus, given the possibility of a false positive, are we sure that they're doing such a bang-up job?

We've gone a few days without any more positive tests, so let's hope these will diminish to a trickle.  

Oh, The Inhumanity - Alternate Title: Sorry, Not Sorry.

Have you been wondering the whereabouts of the artist formerly known as Thunder Bear?  Well, he's back, at least for now, and apparently it's been very hard on the young man:

Former European Ryder Cupper Thorbjorn Olesen has apologized to fans regarding his 2019 charge of sexual assault.

Olsen, 30, is facing charges of sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft and assault by beating following a 2019 incident. Competing for the first time in 11 months at the Danish PGA Championship, Olesen spoke to reporters following the tournament.

“I am incredibly sad about what has happened and would like to apologize to all the Danes who have supported me for so many years,” Olesen said. “I basically haven't played golf in a year. I played for a week in November in Spain, and then I've been playing for the last couple of weeks—that’s it. “Since I started playing, I’ve never had anything like that where I haven’t played in such a long time. It’s hard."

Forgive me for my fidelity to detail but, to the extent that he's actually apologized, he's clear that he's doing so only to Danish golf fans...  Noted.

But as is so often the case, he's been deliberately vague as to that which he is actually apologetic about.  He's just so sorry that this has happened, passive construction by design, and how the lad has suffered as a result.

As for that something?  Well, it wasn't pretty:

According to the Independent and the Sun, Olesen—a five-time European Tour winner—was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman who was asleep on a flight from Memphis to London following the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Olesen then argued with other passengers on the flight, according to published reports, causing fellow European Tour pro Ian Poulter, who was also on the plane, to intervene.

But when Poulter fell asleep, Olesen's inappropriate behavior allegedly continued, according to reports, which included yelling at crew members and urinating in an aisle. Police were waiting for Olesen upon the plane's arrival at Heathrow Airport.

I've always loved the role of Poults in this matter, but it was a pretty ugly scene for sure.  But just something bad that happened to the man, no need to assume any responsibility.

I'm assuming that the Euro Tour had to allow him to play while the case remains pending.  Presumption of innocence and all that, but I'm kind of curious as to the penalties that will ensue when the case is resolved.  Poulter's testimony could be good fun, especially as one assumes he won't be especially pleased to be required to testify.  Poults will presumably have a spot in Euro team rooms looking forward (one assumes he has to be in the captaincy rota, no?), so were Thunder Bear to qualify for a future team, it could be deliciously awkward.

Cancel Culture - John Feinstein makes a good argument at quite the odd time:

Why the Ryder Cup must be postponed

Fair enough, though they've already let us know that it will be postponed.  As for the reasons, John has some fine anecdotes but the arguments were all made, and made at a time when the issue was still in doubt.  

Ch-Ch-Changes - Lots of changes in the Auld Grey Toon, the most notable being:

Ambitious plans have emerged which would transform the Royal and Ancient (R&A)

clubhouse overlooking the famous Old Course in St Andrews, yet do little to alter the landscape familiar to golfers and tourists from all over the globe.

The blueprint, which would more than treble the accommodation space in the building, is based on a basement level extension to the north and south that would see excavation below the existing car park area, new facilities connecting into the existing structure and then the parking area reinstated. 

That will not only ensure the golfing facilities can cope with increased demand and the hosting of competitive golf but will allow women members – who currently make use of a locker room around 50 yards away at Forgan House – to access facilities within the clubhouse itself. 

Security concerns have also featured strongly in the R&A’s thinking, with rising bollards to be installed around the area to provide security against terrorist attacks or the risk of runaway vehicles following the Glasgow bin lorry incident six years ago.

Security?  Seriously?  Like many, I was pretty upset when you changed all-square to even, but that seems an overreaction.

Obviously old building present issues in such circumstances, but they should be able to cover this easily from those sweet business interruption insurance proceeds.  Though this seems hard to believe:

The Courier understands relocation and new build options were considered by R&A chiefs but it was felt its location overlooking the first tee and 18th green and its iconic status in the world of golf were too important to discard.

Ya think?  It's only the most famous building in golf...

In other construction news, this sounds positively dreadful:

Owners of the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews have unveiled plans for the luxury pub with views over the 17th, known as the Road Hole.

Drinkers will be able to sit on the 77-seat bar’s terrace and watch some of the world’s greatest golfers in action in the Fife town.

It is hoped that construction will be complete when the Old Course plays host to the 150th Open Championship in 2022.

Of course, they already have a bar overlooking the Road Hole.  It's called the Jigger Inn, and it's the white structure at the left of the photo above.

Of course, that middle 'graph is amusing, because mostly the vista will included the worst players navigating the hardest Par-4 on the planet, though that can be quite amusing.

But here's the part that ensures it will be dreadful:

“The need for the development is to continue to meet the demands for function space and to provide the highest quality of facilities to guests in a five-star hotel.

“The use of glass on the north and north-east elevations is designed to maximise and enhance views across the links and towards the town’s skyline, but also sensitively arranged to avoid overpowering the existing window forms and arrangements.

“The small-scale nature of the extension and the proposal to use like for like materials and finishes to match the existing hotel building is not likely to harm the setting or the historical significance of the St Andrews Links Designed Landscape.”

Glass is the antithesis of "like-for-like materials", but whatever.... It is, to be fair, like-for-like with renaming the Tom Morris Golf Shop, I'll have to give them their due there.

Today in Slideshows - As is typical, Golf Digest over-promises by quite a bit:

The 15 greatest golf nicknames: A definitive ranking

Definitive?  Well, we'll see about that...

They're mostly pretty predictable, though this one I didn't know:

13. Sam Snead: “Nude Knob”

Yeah, “Slammin’ Sammy” is a good nickname, and yeah, this one’s kinda mean, but some of the best and funniest nicknames in sports, like those listed above, cut a little close to the bone. Here’s the explanation, from Byron Nelson: “Several guys used to call him Nude Knob,” Nelson said. “Once that name got around, you never saw Sam anywhere without that hat on.” And here’s a completely gratuitous diss from a 1954 magazine article that also makes the point that Lloyd Mangrum is underappreciated: “Nevertheless, Sammy Sneak, known as Nude Knob, has more hairs left on his head than Mangrum has newspaper rave notices.”

Pretty funny, I must admit.

Here's another I didn't know, though it's been overtaken by the news cycle:

11. Horton Smith: “The Joplin Ghost”

Those two words, put together, would make this list even if I had no idea what they meant. Which, before I looked it up, I didn’t—turns out, Smith played a lot of his golf out of Joplin, Mo., and as near as I can tell, the “ghost” part comes from his sudden appearance on the PGA Tour. Worth noting that two of Smith’s other nicknames I came across, “The Missouri Rover” and “Tall Pine of the Ozarks,” are each good enough to make this list.

Shane, didn't you get the memo?  The mob came for Horton Smith, so please adjust your style-book accordingly:

The PGA of America announced on Thursday that it is renaming its Horton Smith Award, effective immediately.

Smith, a two-time Masters winner and president of the PGA from 1952-’54, was a staunch supporter of the organization’s Caucasian-only clause, which was part of the PGA’s bylaws from 1934-’61.

The award, which honors PGA members for outstanding contributions to professional education, will now be called the PGA Professional Development Award.

“In renaming the Horton Smith Award, the PGA of America is taking ownership of a failed chapter in our history that resulted in excluding many from achieving their dreams of earning the coveted PGA Member badge and advancing the game of golf,” PGA President Suzy Whaley said in a statement. “We need to do all we can to ensure the PGA of America is defined by inclusion. Part of our mission to grow the game is about welcoming all and bringing diversity to the sport.

Suzy, they weren't great to women either, and we all remember how happy you were to stick the shiv into Ted Bishop there in order to enhance your own position.   So, perhaps there were other failed chapters we could discuss as well?

Otherwise, it's mostly Golden Bears, Black Knights and Kings...  The Walrus appears, but no love for Lumpy...

Have a great weekend, and we'll catch up on Monday.