Ians and Tigers and....

You know the drill....I scour the universe for interesting golf items, give you an excerpt, then add my distinctively pithy and insightful analysis.  You?  What exactly is it that you're adding to this process?

El Cardonal - A First Look - Yes, I know they lost in the NLCS, but this is a different Cardinal.  Golf.com is up with a gallery of photos of Tiger's first to the finish line design project.  I'll defer comment to Shackelford, who writes books on this subject:

As a connoisseur of architecture I was thrilled to pore through golf.com's gallery and I see saw all sorts of neat stuff in the design details, including a few really exciting surprises (the wacky 17th green embedded at right for starters).

Here's that 17th of which he speaks:

Hard to discern the line of the fairway from this, but it looks like a great angle of attack, Shack also offers this Surgeon General's warning:

However, like a bandaged patient pushed out of the hospital in a wheelchair after plastic surgery--or the radically altered Renee Zellwager--a golf course during grow-in should absolutely not be photographed and then shared with the world. (I realize typing this is a bit like when the local news warns you that graphic images are coming. Most make sure not to miss the carnage.) 

Unfortunately, these first legitimate images of El Cardonal are not going to leave a great impression unless you can look past the typical construction scars, rough maintenance and overall raw nature of the decidely midday images, I suggest you wait until mid-December when Tiger's first 18-hole design opens and the course can be captured in proper circumstances and light.

I think it looks awfully good and that folks will understand the need for it to grow in.  Trump will of course hate it, but that's a feature as opposed to a bug.  The 2nd hole might be my personal favorite, utilizing the Macdonald punchbowl template for a long Par-3:

Your mileage may vary, as I'm a registered Macdonald groupie.  It seems to have that minimalist, Bill Coore or Tom Doak look, and it's always been known to be a great piece of land.  Though I did get a chuckle out of the third hole, a driveable Par-4 where he's trying to incorporate the shot values of Riviera's 10th.  Amusing, no, since he won't actually play Riviera these days...

The Poultergeist Is Upon Us - It was just last week when Ian Poulter took to Twitter to announce he was leaving Cobra/Puma, and promised a quick announcement of his new equipment sponsor (he of

course has his own clothing line, IJP Designs).  I thought that a shame, because he was an unusually good fit, along with Rickie Fowler, for the brash upstarts of the industry.

But as he promised, he has now announced that he's a Titleist player, though as E. Michael Johnson notes we'll see if that extends to switching to a Scotty putter.  Titleist, perhaps the most corporate of the golf companies, seems an odd fit for IJP, but any port in a storm.  It's always a bit strange when you see the logos change, like seeing Ernie back at Oakmont in TaylorMade swag.

In other Ian-related news, Derek Lawrenson is the first to get his hands on the autobiography that I noted a few days ago, and did the strangest thing possible, he actually read it.   He gives it good press, with one important caveat:

Even though I know the story backwards by now, I still enjoyed reading Ian Poulter’s autobiography No Limits (Quercus, £20), published this week.

Yes, there’s a certain irony in the fact that a man who has only read one book in his life should have the cheek to come out with one of his own, but Poulter’s story is so inspirational it certainly deserves to be preserved in hardcover.

Here's that qualification:

My main quibble is I wish he’d waited until the end of his career. Yes, there’s all the detail about his extraordinary rise from selling Mars bars to owning Ferraris, from helping out on a market stall at 15 to becoming one of the world’s top golfers. 

But I’ve had plenty of enjoyable off-the-record chats with Poulter over the years and know how strongly he feels on all sorts of issues and how eloquently he expresses them.

However, precious few of them are in these pages, presumably because he can’t afford to fall out with people when he’s in the prime of his career, and a stint as Ryder Cup captain lies on the distant horizon.

That makes perfect sense, though based upon his recent play, especially in the Ryder Cup, I'm guessing that the end of his career is quite a bit closer than the author or reviewer recognize.  In fact, except for the Ryder Cup it really hasn't been a terribly noteworthy career, perhaps excepting his embrace of social media.

Whither Rory - When last we checked in with the freckled one, he was unable to participate in the earl events in the Autumn money grab Race to Dubai due to being in the witness protection program.  Brian Keough updates us at The Irish Golf Desk:

On Monday he was making headlines again, issuing a statement to say he's skipping his next two scheduled events in China — the BMW Masters, which starts at Lake Malaren on Thursday week and the following week's WGC-HSBC Champions — to prepare himself for his March court date after mediation in his legal dispute with Horizon Sports Management failed to resolve that thorny problem.

So he's skipping events in October to prepare for a March court date?  Nothing to see here, folks, kindly move along... So might this cost him the Dubai thingee?

McIlroy has such a massive lead — he's €3.1m clear of second placed Sergio Garcia — that if it weren't for the small print,. he could probably afford to miss Dubai too and win his second European money title. 

Even if he has to take that week off to better prepare himself for the trial, O'Grady has the power to grant him a waiiver for a "Mitigating Circumstance” (injury, serious disability or acceptable personal emergency). 

Whether a March court battle could be considered an acceptable personal emergency is a matter of opinion. But it's certainly not good news.

So it sounds like the Race to Dubai is as effed-up as the FedEx Cup, but it's late enough on the calendar that, unlike Commissioner Ratched's brainchild, it doesn't screw up the rest of the schedule.

 Ewan Murray seems terribly worried about the lad:

Nobody at Horizon will be upset by Mcllroy’s shock withdrawal from the BMW Masters and WGC HSBC Champions events. In fact, those at the 25-year-old’s former management firm will probably take some satisfaction from the Northern Irishman’s core business being affected by a case which has now been rumbling on for a year. The very fact that McIlroy will take an enforced break from golf illustrates the seriousness of this scenario.

Does skipping two inconsequential events constitute an "Enforced Absence?"  I hadn't picked up on the court date being in March, and that I'll agree could be an issue leading to you-know-what:

Now there is uncertainty over what the upcoming months will entail. McIlroy would routinely play in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to start the new year before crossing the Atlantic

to appear at the Honda Classic. With a trial looming in February, or at the latest early March, his schedule cannot be mapped out with any great certainty. This would not be welcome in any year but with the opportunity to secure a grand slam of major titles at Augusta National in April at the summit of his priority list, there is added cause for anxiety.

Kevin Garside is also crying crocodile tears for the lad, assuring us that this couldn't possibly be a cynical ploy to avoid two meaningless events on the other side of the planet:

Cynics might argue that McIlroy is grateful for an excuse not to cross 10 time zones to Shanghai to contest the BMW Masters and the WGC-HSBC Championship, but in this increasingly commercial era golfers do not readily snub the attentions of blue-chip sponsors.

Aren't you grateful that I maintain a cynicism-free zone here at Unplayable Lies?  Because if we give in to cynicism, then the terrorists have won....or something like that.  Then this:

It is hard to imagine how anyone is well served by this, least of all a man who could, in abstract terms, settle the commissions owed without batting an eyelid. McIlroy obviously has his reasons, the validity of which will be decided by a judge who has already warned of the toxic nature of the revelations he knows are coming.

Toxic revelations?  I'm all ears...Meanwhile, James Corrigan has taken time out to offer his services as a character witness for the Ulsterman:

What a sad sight it will be to see the world's best player being questioned by lawyers and judges in a trial which could end up costing him millions. And what will make the scene all the more deplorable is the character of McIlroy.

He is a decent bloke who, as far as I can tell, does not have a bad bone in his body. The setting will not only be alien to the man, but alien to his reputation. McIlroy should be bouncing down a fairway, not humbly mounting the steps to swear his testimony.

We can only pray that a late deal is struck and McIlroy, and, indeed, golf, does not have to go through this humiliating experience. Details will emerge, his riches will be raked over and the full scale of what many will consider to be the obscene economy of professional golf will become apparent.

Just a thought for you, James.  I think most of us believe that Rory is a decent lad, and I've opined to that effect in these pages.  But there is evidence to the contrary, including his treatment of one Wozniacki, Caroline, as well as the fact that he reportedly timed the filing of the lawsuit to spoil BFF Graeme's wedding.  So perhaps we should await said toxic revelations before digging the hole any deeper?

Piling On - If it seems like everyone was for the Ryder Cup Task Force before they were against it, your humble blogger is a notable exception.  The latest to jump on the "Overkill" bandwagon is Mike Bamberger:

Task force. It's another military phrase redeployed for civilian service. Some of your

fellow task forcers have admirable ties to the military, including Phil Mickelson, with his Birdies for the Brave charity, and Tiger Woods, with his special interest in special ops. 

But the fundamental problem with the Ryder Cup is that on our side of the ocean, we are not treating it like golf. We are treating it like an expertly marketed war. And the Ryder Cup is not war. It just pretends to be one on TV. Your task force is bringing in more troops and at the wrong time. That's why the word Nicklaus used is so telling.

Mike's got lots of good sound bites in his piece, such as this:

In 20 years of not knowing Tiger Woods he has asked me one question: "Do you know Jack Nicklaus' Ryder Cup record?" I had no idea. Woods had made his point. The Ryder Cup is just not as important as the PGA of America thinks it is.

How good is that "20 years of not knowing" phraseology?  And this:

Here's what Mickelson was really saying at Gleneagles: Give us a captain we want to hang with. Will that make a difference between winning and losing? Probably not. The problem this year is that the Europeans had Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell and Henrik Stenson, and the U.S. did not have Tiger, Dustin Johnson, Jason Dufner and Billy Horschel.

Yeah, the Duf woulda put us over the top.  But I'm glad to have him remind people that at least this was a Ryder Cup we were supposed to lose.  Do read the piece, because there's lots of great bits but also some actual suggestions, not all of which I buy but are worth hearing.

Tour Confidential - Back To The Future

I've moved on from my weekly feature of adding my thoughts to those of the Sports Illustrated/Golf.com roundtable, as I struggled to find a format that I liked.  I'd be interested in knowing whether the regulars enjoyed and would like me to resurrect it in some to-be-determined format, but this week's had some items that amused and surprised me enough to use in a post.

Here's their first question:

1. Tiger Woods recently toured Bluejack National outside Houston, which will likely be his first U.S. course design when it opens next year. Many great champions have gone into the design business. Which former player’s courses do you like the best, and what do you expect from Tiger as a course designer?

Alas, that's two very different questions.  Not many of the scribes bit at the latter, though Travellin' Joe had this tidbit:

Tiger has told me on several occasions that he favors family-friendly, walk-able courses

But did Tillie and Ross wear Mom jeans?

with an emphasis on options, visibility and variety and a minimum of forced carries and lost balls. He's really fond of St. Andrews and Pinehurst No. 2 and the ground-game features.

That's actually quite a bit more thoughtful than I would have expected from Tiger, so let's hope that he wasn't just mouthing platitudes (at least he didn't sue the old chestnut, "I like it to be all in front of the player") and that he's able to get such concepts into play.

Here's Mike Bamberger's take, which is along my lines of thinking:

Tillinghast, Ross and MacDonald were all good players who played in national championships, but I'm going with C.B. McD., for National Golf Links. Among the kids, Crenshaw. As for Tiger Woods, I am ready to be pleasantly surprised. A good architect can put himself in the shoes of other people. I have never known Woods to have that ability, but I don't pretend to know him.

Sticking with the current gheneration, those that have been the most thoughtful about design and the game while playing, and I'd suggest Crenshaw, Weiskopf and Ogilvy here, have been the most interesting as course designers.  But it's equally true that they've been smart enough to partner with truly talented people, Bill Coore, Jay Morish and Mike Clayton, respectively,

Tiger is using somebody to do the heavy lifting, we just don't know who that is.

2. The World Golf Hall of Fame announced its class of 2015: players David Graham, Mark O'Meara, and Laura Davies, and course designer A.W. Tillinghast. What did you think of the class and were any worthies snubbed?

Josh Sens makes the most, wait for it, Sens of this with this answer:

No glaring snubs come to mind, in part because the Hall had such lax criteria for so many years. By the current standards, these inductees all make sense, but I don't think anyone is going to walk by Mark O'Meara's plaque and feel as if they're stepping in the shadow of history. And that's the World Golf Hall of Fame’s problem in a nutshell.

But it's this from my old foil Travelin' Joe that had me shaking my head:

Also, with all due to respect to Mr. Tillinghast, if we're talking about the impact they had on golf through their designs, Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Pete Dye are equally deserving candidates -- maybe even more so.

Oh Joe, Joe, Joe....what are we going to do with you?  Pete Dye should absolutely be in the Hall at some point, though we should perhaps let him, you know, wrap up his career before we elect him as an historical figure (which is the only basis to elect a course designer).  But Trent Jones?  Sheesh... I'd love to ask Joe what it is that RTJ contributed to the game and which of his creations are Hall-worthy, because I think we're still digging out from that uninspired era (and, as an aside, I believe it's Dye with creations such as Harbor Town that showed us the path).

3. Tiger Woods turns 40 in December 2016, so he’ll be eligible for the HOF’s next class in 2017. Which PGA Tour players younger than Tiger Woods but older than Rory McIlroy will be eventual Hall of Famers?

Scott, Rose, Z. and D. Johnson, Bubba, Kaymer, Padraig and Sergio come in fro mentions, though all but Padraig perhaps are still creating their claims on a bust.  But as I noted in a post a while back, it's jarring to recognize that based upon the standards set in allowing Freddie, Monty and Mark O'Meara, that Zach Johnson may have already amassed an Hall-of-Fame career.

Oh, and there was one more name that made me sit up in my chair in horror, that would be two-time major winner John Daly.  Please, I don't want to live in such a world...

4. Billy Horschel added his voice to post-Ryder Cup criticism of the PGA of America, saying this week that while the PGA of America does “a heck of a job with the PGA professionals around the country,” when it comes to the PGA Tour “they don’t get it because they’re not out here on a regular basis.” Is the PGA of America too out of touch with the pro game for the Ryder Cup? Should the PGA Tour take a more active role in the process?

They're all over the place with this, but the question begs to be ignored.  It's a huge cash cow for the PGA of America, and they ain't letting Commissioner Ratched anywhere near it.  Strangely enough, the word "Pods" does not appear.

5. TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas had spectator swimming pools at the finishing holes for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Good idea? What else should the Tour's fall events do to boost attendance?

Mike Bamberger with the layup:

I am not a good person to ask. I like an off-season.

Though I also liked Josh Sens' suggestion of using those babes with the cards indicating the round in prize fights as scoreboard carriers.

6. Speaking of Vegas, Golf.com has picked the 13 Unluckiest Breaks in Golf History. What's the unluckiest break you ever saw on the golf course?

Don't you love the synergy, as I linked to that in last night's post.  The ink-stained wretches mostly mentioned personal bad breaks, though two mentioned the famous Joe Daley putt that was included in the slideshow.  I've previously discussed this and posted the video, as Daley needed a rather short putt on his final hole of Q-School to earn his Tour card:

Quite heartbreaking considering how it affected his future in the game.  And also that he made the putt, as it's absolutely center-cut.

But this explanation of the cup liner I hadn't previously seen and had intended to include in the yesterday's post:

Journeyman Joe (“I’m not John”) Daley hoped to survive the grueling six-round Q-School and advance to the PGA Tour in 2001. He missed by one stroke, thanks to a four-foot putt on the 18th hole of round 4 that hit the back of the cup—but not the bottom. Due to a cup liner that had dislodged, the ball hit the top edge of the liner and bounced straight back to him. He never did qualify for the tour after that.

Just leaves me shaking my head, though the delayed reaction is somewhat amusing. 

When In Rome

Many, many years ago during my time at Touche Ross one of the partners walked into my cubicle and told me that he was ending me on an assignment to Paris.  Knowing the partner in question, I immediately responded that I assumed my destination to be Paris, Texas.  I was dead wrong, it was Paris, Tennessee, but in the larger sense I was spot on.

The astute reader, and you'd need to qualify to have found this blog, will immediately grasp that we're headed to Rome, but not THAT Rome.  We are headed instead to Rome, Wisconsin, which is counter-intuitively the location of the most interesting golf development in the country, if not the world.  And it's quite the contrast with last week's visit to Ferry Point, which while enjoyable is of far less interest to me.

I'm going to quote extensively from Gary D'Amato's Journal-Sentinel piece, and here's his lede:

Town of Rome — The bald eagle circled lazily over the handful of people standing atop a sand dune, seemingly checking out the strange interlopers, then banked and disappeared over a stand of jack pine.

It was a fitting end to a spectacular day of "wilderness golf."

There are bald eagles in Wisconsin?  Anyone care to fact check that?

Last week, about a dozen founding members of Sand Valley got their first look at what

could be the most ambitious golf project ever undertaken in Wisconsin.

If all goes according to Chicago developer Mike Keiser's plan, someday there will be five courses and lodging on 1,500 acres a few miles south of Wisconsin Rapids — a resort that would provide hundreds of jobs in depressed Adams County and further enhance Wisconsin's reputation as a world-class golf destination.

Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, course architects who are widely praised for their minimalist, imaginative designs, have routed the first course at Sand Valley on topography that words can't adequately describe.

Please give it a try....

Hundreds of thousands of red pine have been harvested, revealing a wondrous sand barren — a prairie-like habitat that once formed the bed of a massive prehistoric lake. The sand is 100 to 200 feet deep here, and over eons the wind has created towering dunes and ridges.

The land tumbles and heaves to the horizon in all directions, leaving visitors awestruck by its rugged beauty. Who knew such a place existed in Wisconsin?

See, that wasn't so terribly difficult, was it?

"It's a stunning visual landscape," said Michael Keiser Jr., the project manager and the son of the man who built the renowned Bandon Dunes resort on the Oregon coast. "It's as calming and as inspiring as an ocean. It's endless."

When you look up Lucky Sperm Club in the Urban Dictionary, I assume there's a picture of Mike, Jr.

The loyal reader knows of my respect for Mike Keiser, and how about this as a financing vehicle:

The small group of founding members — some 165 people have paid $50,000 each for lifetime playing privileges — played "wilderness golf" on seven holes of the Coore-Crenshaw routing and toured the other 11 holes by foot.

That's $8.25 million that he raised in this manner, quite the imaginative way to finance the project.  I wonder how many of these folks are local, but there's no guarantee that the project will survive and no way of knowing how many courses will be built, but the guy in charge is about the only guy that could do this based upon his reputation.  Keiser doesn't build on boring sites, and he doesn't build dreck, so how exactly does one get on his Rolodex?

Sounds like they had quite the adventure:

The golfers hit shots off mats they carried around with them, because the course has just been roughed out by heavy machinery and is a jumble of sand and brush. Wooden sticks marked tee boxes, "fairways" were all but indistinguishable and flags flew on "greens."

The site is still so hard to get to that the golfers had to park their cars at the property entrance and be driven in by four-wheel drive vehicles that fishtailed on a rutted path and through huge swaths of sand.

While they played, carrying their clubs and mats and picking their way slowly across the rugged terrain, ATVs and dirt bikes zipped past, leaving clouds of dust in their wake. A few riders slowed to stare at the golfers, no doubt wondering what on earth was going on.

Now this location of course took everyone by surprise:

Initially, Keiser was hesitant about the site because it lacked an ocean or large body of water.

"For us the three ingredients a golf course needs are a brilliant architect, a sand site and an ocean," Keiser Jr. said. "We asked the Field Museum in Chicago to come out and assess the site and tell us what they thought.

"When they got back they called us and said, 'You do have an ocean.' We thought, 'What are they talking about?' They said, 'You have an ocean of sand and prairie and wildflowers. Its name is a jack pine sand barren.'

"Once we realized how unique this look is, we realized that an ocean of sand and prairie could compete with an ocean of water. That's when we were hooked and knew we could do this project."

We know Keiser's MO pretty well by now.  He'll not dawdle to start the second course, since he knows he'll need more than the one to draw folks to this remote location:

Plans already are in place for a second course, likely to be designed by Tom Doak, a name that resonates with architecture geeks. There is room for three more courses after that, but expansion will be dependent on the success of the first course.

What, did someone call my name?  Doak was disappointed to lose the first commission, but we've all assumed that he'd get the second course.  I just hope Keiser requires that he collaborate with master-shaper Jim Urbina on it, as he did with the Punchbowl putting green that they did at Bandon.

"We're very deliberate and we're just focusing on making the first course as good as we canmake it, because we know if the first one doesn't exceed your expectations, there

won't be a second," Keiser Jr. said.

Fully realized, Sand Valley would join a redesigned SentryWorld in Stevens Point, two fine courses at nearby Lake Arrowhead in Nekoosa and Northern Bay in Arkdale to make north-central Wisconsin one of the best golf destinations in the Midwest, if not the nation.

Tiny Rome, population 2,720, would be at the epicenter.

"Wisconsin, we're finding, is very welcoming," Keiser Jr. said. "The Town of Rome has been so supportive. Day 1, they got it. They knew what this could mean for the poorest county (Adams) in Wisconsin."

This is just the beginning, so patience is required.

Rome, after all, wasn't built in a day.

A couple of reactions.... first, I'm surprised that they're using the more local courses as the bait, whereas I would think that the Koeller Kollection and Erin Hills would be the far more appropriate peer group, especially for those traveling meaningful distances.  And that will be quite the cluster, won't it?

Secondly, I might be over-interpreting his praise of Wisconsin, but I've long maintained that the single most amazing fact about Bandon Dunes is that it exists at all, because the People's Republic of Oregon is in the business of making sure that nothing can be built.  For anyone rolling their eyes at that statement, please read this and then let's talk.  If a crazy Irishman hadn't brought some genuine Irish gorse, maybe the nastiest plant form known to mankind, to the town of Bandon in the 19th century, Mike Keiser might be sitting on the prettiest stretch of useless coastal land one has ever seen.

But glad to know that the powers that be in Wisconsin understand the value of such a project to their state and its citizens.

There's a few more photos of the site that they won't let me copy for you to be found here.  I particularly like that someone went to the effort to print up a seven-hole scorecard, though how can you have a match if they don't give you stroke indexes for each hole?

Put this one on the calendar, though perhaps not until 2018.

Weekend Wrap

Work continues to impinge on my blogging, much to my regret... but let's catch up, shall we?

Vegas Victory - Little known Ben Martin came storming back to win the Shriner's Shootout yesterday:

Ben Martin made a 45-foot eagle putt to regain the lead and finished with a 20-foot

birdie putt for a 3-under 68 and his first PGA Tour victory Sunday in the Shriners Hospital for Children Open. 

Martin played his final four holes at the TPC Summerlin in 4-under par, though no shot was more important than the eagle. 

Kevin Streelman ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch to overtake Martin for the lead, and Streelman hit a wedge into 5 feet on the 18th hole. Martin, who led by as many as four shots on the back nine, hit a 6-iron over the water to the back of the green on the par-5 16th.

My interest in Tour golf at this point on the calendar is at low ebb, but it is fun to watch a young gun try to close out his first win.

Match Play in Eclipse - The World Match Play used to be quite the serious event, drawing a star-studded field to Wentworth (back when it as a Harry S. Colt design) that included names like Nicklaus, Palmer and Player.  Now it's an after-thought, and with sponsor issues (Volvo has discontinued it's support of the event), this week's event probably didn't help.  But at least they had a big-name winner, right?

Mikko Ilonen defeated top-seeded Henrik Stenson 3 and 1 in the final Sunday to win the World Match Play Championship. 

Ilonen fought back from being 1 down after four holes against the fifth-ranked Swede on the London Club course at Ash in Kent. It was the 34-year-old Finn's fifth European Tour victory and his second this season after winning the Irish Open.

Ilonen is the most famous Finnish golfer since...err....can I get back to you on that one?  Though this is his fifth Euro Tour win, so while not someone that will help with the TV ratings, he's a legitimate Tour rabbit.

That Euro Template - One of the recurring themes of our flood-the-zone Ryder Cup coverage is that there's less to the so-called Euro template than it seems.  So more fault lines were exposed in this preview of Ian Poulters forthcoming autobiography:

"It makes me laugh. Faldo is talking about someone being useless at the 2008 Ryder

Cup. That's the Ryder Cup where he was captain. That's the Ryder Cup where the Europe team suffered a heavy defeat. 

"And he was captain. So who's useless? Faldo might need to have a little look in the mirror. I have always got on great with Faldo in the past and I have a great deal of respect for everything he has achieved but this feels like sour grapes. It feels like a guy who is still bitter that he lost in 2008. 

"Faldo has lost a lot of respect from players because of what he said. There were plenty of things a lot of the players were unhappy with at Valhalla but none of us criticised him. He may find that begins to change now."

I've got no problem giving Paul Azinger another go as captain, but I would suggest that all involved remember the good fortune Zinger had in his opposing captain.

Rub of the Green -  The slideshows are a somewhat tired format, but Golf.com has a cracker for us today, the 13 Unluckiest Breaks in Golf History.  

I'm glad to see jean Van de Velde included, because, while everyone remembers the meltdown, they quite frankly remember it wrong.  He made  ahuge mistake hitting driver off the tee, but got away with that one.  The 2-iron into the grandstand was a perfectly logical decision, but who would have forseen him hitting a railing.

Here's one I don't think I'd ever heard:

Byron Nelson, 1946 U.S. Open 

In his final season of tournament golf before his retirement, Lord Byron, pictured at the

1946 Masters, was close to the lead in the 3rd round amid huge crowds at Cleveland’s Canterbury Golf Club. After Nelson hit his lay-up second at the par-5 13th, the gallery swarmed. Nelson’s caddie tried to duck under the ropes, tripped and accidentally stepped on Nelson’s ball. Nelson was slapped with a one-stroke penalty. 

He eventually earned a playoff -- and lost. If not for the misstep by his caddie, Nelson would have exited the game on top.

The slideshow has the usual suspects (Roberto, Tiger, Phil) but also some that will no doubt be new to you.

Jarrod Lyle -  The two-time cancer survivor is the feel-good story of the fledgling season:

Through two events, Jarrod Lyle is chipping away at the grand total he needs to reach if he's going stay on the PGA Tour.

Lyle, who left the Tour in 2012 to battle and for the second time in his life defeat leukemia, is playing on a medical exemption in the hopes of earning enough money to retain his Tour card. 

Lyle has 20 total starts, including the two he's already made this season, to earn the $283,825 that will allow him to retain his card. After making the Frys.com (T-31) via a Monday qualifier and playing the Shriners (T-42) thanks to a sponsor exemption, he has racked up $53,795.

Litigation Interruptus -  We've had good fun with Rory's lawsuit with his management company that involves former BFF Graeme McDowell, but this is a shame:

The world’s best golfer is suing Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management Ltd and two other companies, Gurteen Ltd, with a registered address in Malta, and Dublin-based Canovan Management Services.

Today it was announced that no agreement had been reached between McIlroy and Horizon despite mediation talks and the case will proceed to a full hearing next February.

"I'm going to need time away from tournament golf to prepare for the trial over my legal dispute with Horizon Sports Management," Rory said today.

At least better now than, say, next April.

 Quite the Hot Streak - Get a load of the roll this 81-year old Villages resident went on:

Like a lot of golfers who are fortunate to have more than one hole in one, Dom DeBonis had to wait a long time between his first and second ace. Like, 45 years.

But once he recorded the second one, the aces started running wild. 

It is rare enough that in a span of 33 days, Mr. DeBonis, 81, had four holes in one on four courses in three states. 

Even more remarkable is that this Sharpsburg native had a hole in one on three consecutive days while playing golf on a buddy trip in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area — a feat so improbable the National Hole-in-One Association had never attempted to calculate the odds of that happening.

So let's do some math... I had my first and only ace in 2013... does that mean I have to wait until 2058 for the second?

Saturday Thoughts

A few thoughts to share with you on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

No Surprises Here - Will Gray catches up with Webb Simpson and you'll be shocked to discover that he had a touch few days in Auchterarder:

"The golf side was a terrible experience because I only played in two matches," Simpson

said.. "I showed up in Scotland really ready to play and excited to play, and when you sit through three matches in a row, it's tough. 

"So the golf part for me stunk, I'm not going to lie. I mean, if I said the golf was great, you could call me a liar, and we didn't win. If I sit three matches and we win, I'll have a different answer."

No doubt, as if he was good enough for a valuable Captain's Pick, you'd think you'd want to play the guy.  Of course he was taken either a.) Because he's the Bubba-whisperer; or b.) Because of his impassioned telephone plea to Watson, neither of which speaks well of those parties.

Meanwhile the local paper caught up with Jack Nicklaus in the midst of his umpteenth revamping of PGA National, and Jack sprung to his old adversary's defense:

“(The Europeans) just played better,” Nicklaus said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official reopening of the Champion course at PGA National Resort. “It doesn’t make any difference how much planning you do, if the other team plays better, they’re going to win.”

“When I had teams and guys had problems, we went back to the team room and talked about it. That’s where the conversation should be. (And) I feel the same about the task force thing. That’s sort of overkill. We’ve had 70 years of the Ryder Cup and it’s gotten along just fine. The pendulum will swing back without making a monumental thing about it.”

But Jack, don't you think the Euro's would play poorly if we had pods?  Now that last bit I like, though Jack is old enough to remember when the Ryder Cup was just an exhibition, and maybe that attitude would be more helpful at this point.  Or, you know, pods...

Apple Golf -  Amongst the other virtues of Quaker Ridge was a very well stocked pro shop.  One of recurring gags is to ask our pro shop staff where the section with my size is, because the only accurate answer is either Golfsmith or perhaps Westchester Country Club.

I was surprised to see that the QR Pro Shop carried Game Golf, a system for tracking your play using sensors placed on the butt end of each club.  I'm quite intrigued by the system, but haven't taken the plunge.  The woman at Quaker told me they had just reduced the price, she thought because of a competitive system about to hit the market.

So I'm wondering if this is that competitor:

Arccos has developed sensors that attach to the butt end of golf clubs and automatically deliver real-time statistical data to an iPhone app. Apple stores began carrying Arccos sensors on Wednesday. 

“It has to make sense for Apple to have your products,” Syed said. “Our product is directly integrated to the iPhone and basically brings the iPhone to life on the golf course. That is something that hasn’t been achieved before. For golfers, it gives them a compelling reason to take their iPhone on the golf course and derive value for it. 

“A huge reason is the product itself. This is the first time in golf that there are going to be automatic sensors that detect shots and transmit data information without having to do anything. The immediacy of the information via the iPhone platform is a game changer.”

With Game Golf, you need to tap the club against a device on your belt.  Here it seems that the shots are sensed through movement of the sensors on the clubs, and there's no possibility of missing anything.  Though that immediacy could be an issue...

But it's October and almost ski season, so no need to do anything for six months.

Stepping In It Again - The politics of Northern Ireland are quite convoluted, as the world's No. 1 player found out when pressed on his plans for the 2016 Olympics.  He ultimately declared for the Irish team, but he got himself in a spot of bother recently over the local soccer team.  Here was the offending tweet:

Rory Mcilroy        ✔ @McIlroyRory

Follow

What a result for @OfficialIrishFA in Greece!! #GAWA #norniron

5:03 PM - 14 Oct 2014

That was in response to the Northern Ireland team's win in Greece, but those in the Republic took offense that he ignore their win that same day.

There's almost no way one can win in these things, so perhaps better to keep it to yourself.  Though that makes things quite dreary and what can be wrong with Standing for the Ulstermen (Lowell, if you're reading, I still can't get that tune out of my mind).

And, if you're like me, there's a certain depraved schadenfreude in watching a PGA Tour pro play a shot from a water hazard knowing that'll soil their perfectly white pants.  And since you undoubtedly missed the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, do click through and watch Rory make a complete mess of both the hole and his slacks, only to chip in for a sick par.

Now That's an Anchored Putter - Henrik Stenson has been seen breaking in a new putter.  Want a look?

I'm pretty sure that's illegal after 1/1/16.

World Yawn - Are you, like your humble yet ecstatic blogger, excited about the move of the Chevron Hero World Challenge to Isleworth, Tiger's former lair?  I know, thank God we don't have to wait for The Tavistock Cup to see this great track, and the event is scheduled for December 4-7.

In any event, Brentley Romine has the field for Tiger's silly season event, and it's a pretty good one,

including the Bubbameister, Horschel, Spith, Kuchar and other name brands.

I've never had a problem with the Silly Season, though I'm unclear why we need one with the 2015 season underway.  But I do think it's quite crazy that they are now awarding world ranking points for this event, with an 18-man field.  Quite crazy!.

Heeere's Johnny - Love him or hate him, sometimes in the same moment, but it remains Miller Time through at least 2017:

"I was thinking I'm 67. I'm getting up there," Miller said over the weekend at Silverado, where he was the unofficial host at the Frys.com Open. "I didn't know how my marbles were going to be at that time. So far, I haven't lost too many. I'll be the first guy to quit this if I start losing it." 

Instead, he extended his deal with NBC Sport through at least 2017, with an option for another year.

No lack of self-confidence, but many will be demanding a second opinion.  Of course with the loss of the U.S. Open and no Ryder Cup, his biggest event in 2015 will be....The Honda?  Just kidding Commish, it will of course be the Tour Championship, the culmination of the season-long race for the FedEx Cup.  Now will you take my call?

Eric Who? - Golf, Inc. Magazine is out with it's list of the most powerful people in golf, and the headline is that Donald Trump isn't at the top of the list.  Gonna ruin his day no doubt, but of course

that's why it's the headline.

No. 1 is Eric Affeldt of Club Corp., which is now the largest owner of golf courses and one of the largest management companies (yawn).  But the list mixes course operators such as you-know-who at No.2 with Jack Nicklaus (No. 4) and Commissioner Ratched (No. 5), and seems a hopeless muddle to your correspondent.  Sam Weinman has a piece on why that makes sense, if you're so inclined or need something to help you sleep. 

'Dis and 'Dat

Work kept me from you yesterday, so there's much on which we need to play catch-up.

Honcho Happenings - The deck chairs on the Titanic at the major governing bodies have been rearranged.  First up, we've been aware for a while that Peter Dawson is stepping down next year as CEO of the R&A.  Now comes word of his successor, one with a delightfully soporific name:

The R&A has announced the appointment of Martin Slumbers as chief executive and

also as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, with effect from October 1, 2015. 

Slumbers will succeed Peter Dawson, who is retiring in September 2015 after 16 years leading the body which organises the Open Championship and governs golf worldwide, jointly administering the sport with the USGA.

Slumbers' background from the R&A press release:

Born in Brighton and educated at Lancing College, Mr Slumbers (54) gained a BSc in Production Engineering and Economics from the University of Birmingham. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London before embarking on a career in investment banking. He spent 12 years working for Salomon Brothers International in London and Hong Kong, becoming Chief Financial Officer in Asia and then Europe.

It's a bit of a surprise, since Slumbers is a complete unknown in golf and not even a member of the R&A.  But Dawson was equally unknown, so that seems to be the model.

Dawson seems to be retiring at a good time.  he'll oversee one last Open Championship, then having succeeded at admitting women members to the R&A will have moved on before the furor over Royal Troon's membership policies kicks off in anticipation of their hosting of the 2016 Open.

And for those who really revel in their inside baseball, Shack has the dope on the USGA reshuffle of their 624 Vice Presidents.  

Course Restorations - Tom Weiskopf has apparently revamped his TPC Scottsdale:

TPC Scottsdale announces the re-opening of the Stadium Course, host of the PGA TOUR’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, on Friday, Nov. 14, 2014. The City of Scottsdale began the extensive renovation on April 1, 2014 with a goal of modernizing both the clubhouse and golf course, ensuring its future as host of a PGA TOUR event and as a world-class golf resort. 

Original course architect, Tom Weiskopf, and his design team partnered with Landscapes Unlimited to manage the golf course project. “The time had come to update the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale to provide a more modern and state-of-art tournament course for today’s TOUR players. These changes will also position the Club to continue as the leader in the competitive Scottsdale resort and daily fee market,” said Weiskopf. “The golf course and clubhouse improvements will provide a long-term asset to the City of Scottsdale, while enhancing the venue for the world’s largest attended golf event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open.”

A lot of corporate-speak there for my taste, but it's actually a reasonably good match of venue and event.  Shack took potential umbrage at this:

The renovated bunkers will feature white sand, which will add a dramatic new look to the course. More than 250 trees have been planted for both strategic and aesthetic value.

I like Weskopf and think his work is quite interesting, but I'll also agree that white seems a strange, visually-jarring, choice given the desert locale.   

Also, the Phil Mickelson restoration of the North Course at Torrey Pines is set to begin right after February's Farmers' Insurance event:

Mickelson, the San Diego professional golfer, and his team, led by architect Mike

Angus, did the design work that was well received in public meetings. The plan calls for a renovation of all bunkers and the greens, while also reducing turf to conserve water and give the North a more natural aesthetic.

This course deperately needs to go under the knife, though I wish they were considering rerouting it.   But the course plays a good 3-4 shots easier than the South, and the first round leaderrboard tends to be all "N's".

When Is the Rent Party - The party's over according to James Corrigan:

Is Tiger Woods losing his appeal, is the lure of the greatest player of his generation not as valuable as it used to to be? Certainly that appears the case in Middle East, where for the first time in a decade will not be paying an active Woods his enormous appearance fee in 2015.

The organisers of both the Abu Dhabi Championship and Desert Classic will not be shelling out the estimated $2m-$3m which Woods requires to make the trip.

We'll always have Paris Abu Dhabi. 

Ryder Cup Task Force - Shack scored the minutes of the first meeting of this kick-the-can-down-the-road task force.  You'll want to read the whole thing, as the kids say, but here's a tease:

Co-chairman Pete Bevacqua introduced the Task Force’s goals of improving all elements of the Ryder Cup. Before opening the floor to general brainstorming, he announced that the Task Force will be broken up into pods, with members Sprague, Bevacqua and Levy leading each of the pods.

Pods?  What a concept....

Wrap-Around Blues -  You know my thoughts on the silly schedule, but as I watched Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar sleep-walk through the tourney, I was asking myself why are they there.  Turns out there's an actual reason, though the reader can decide if it's a worthy one:

Woods and McIlroy are part of the “Turkey Eight,” players who skipped the Frys in 2012 for a cash-grab exhibition event in Turkey. PGA Tour officials granted those eight players a release, on the condition they play in the Frys once by 2015. 

Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Lee Westwood showed up this year. Woods, McIlroy, Justin Rose, Webb Simpson and Charl Schwartzel are obligated to make an appearance next year.

Oy.  Johnny Miller is quoted as salivating over the field they'll have next year, and as a part-owner of Silverado you can't blame him.  But is it all that helpful if they're burned out, and while next year doesn't have a Ryder Cup the President's Cup is in Korea.  My guess is that at l;east Woods and Schwartzel will be trading the trip to Korea for a get-out-of-Frys-free card...

Do You Read the L.A. Times? - my respect and appreciation for Geoff Shackelford is not a well-kept secret, though from our long-ago disagreement on the Dr. V. story and a few other telltale signs I've long assumed that he's a conventional card-carrying California liberal.  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

But I'm greatly amused by his long-for-him post on the Rio AP Bureau's coverage of the construction of the Rio golf course.  Here's an excerpt:

This is not to say the project has been smooth sailing or that Rio's preparation, politics and vision for the 2016 Olympics has been even remotely solid. It's a mess and a shame. However...

The land dispute coverage from writer Tales Azzoni often emphasized the side of the (eventual) losing party disputing the ownership. And every dispute over environmental issues since, usually authored by Azzoni and/or Stephen Wade, has produced stories suggesting the course’s demise is potentially imminent

He's no doubt 100% correct, it's just the note of surprise that I find naively amusing.  This is the current state of journalism, and is little different than the coverage in the New York Times on any day ending in a "Y."

But I'll throw one little quibble into Geoff's stew:

Some have questioned the need to build a new course for the Olympics. At least one other venue in the Rio area, the Itanhanga Golf Club, could have been suitable. It has hosted the European Tour, and a U.S. LPGA Tour event and club officials were optimistic a few years ago they would land the Olympics.

Itanhanga is 6,178 6,439 yards from the tips, about 1400 yards shy of where it’d need to be for the modern game. If they'd picked up the phone to any golf expert they would have known this, but that might have gotten in the way of a good story.

The sad thing is that for about half the men's field, 6,400 yards is about right.  

Favorite Item of the Day -  See if you find this as funny as I do:

A couple that built a 5,000-square-foot dream house worth an estimated $680,000 is in shock after learning it was built on the wrong lot in Florida's prestigious Ocean Hammock golf community, home of a Jack Nicklaus-designed course that is one of the Top 100 You Can Play. 

Mark and Brenda Voss, who own 18 other residential lots in Ocean Hammock, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that they are “just amazed this could happen.” 

Six months after the five bedroom, five and a half bathroom home was built -- which includes a game room, home theater and screened-in pool –- the Vosses learned it was built on the wrong lot. A North Carolina couple own that lot, adjacent to the one the Vosses bought in 2012.

I think we're all pretty much amazed, as well as amused.  I assume that if they own 18 lots that they can absorb whatever hit is involved, though I'll also guess that the North Carolina couple haven't made any site visits.  Hopefully they like the Voss' taste in counter-tops, cabinets and plumbing fixtures, because they might be the lucky recipients of a free retirement home.

Hall Passes

Those of you that follow such stuff (and you really do need to get out more) might recall that the election of Fred Couples and especially His Montyness to the World Golf Hall of Fame engendered such criticism that the Hall's selection process has been dramatically changed.  No longer would the ink-stained wretches of the world control the process, but rather a self-selected committee of golf's nattering nabobs would guide us towards the light.

Additionally and perhaps more significantly the process has been downsized to every-other year,

hopefully avoiding the need to let somebody in in order the schedule an induction ceremony in St. Augustine for all the players to skip.  And because golf doesn't have enough committees these days, you'll no doubt be gladdened to know that the process actually involves two, one to develop a list of finalists and the second to make the actual selections.  It's a relief to know that all those Ponte Vedra and Far Hills toadies have access to first class travel and generous per diems.

So, here's the list of finalists generated by Committee No. One:

Candidate                     Category

Laura Davies                 Female Competitor

Johnny Farrell               Male Competitor

Max Faulkner                Veterans

David Graham               Male Competitor

Beverly Hanson             Female Competitor

Catherine Lacoste          Veterans

Henry Longhurst            Lifetime Achievement

Davis Love III                Male Competitor

Meg Mallon                   Female Competitor

Graham Marsh               Male Competitor

Mark O’Meara                Male Competitor

Sandra Palmer              Female Competitor

Calvin Peete                  Veterans

Samuel Ryder               Lifetime Achievement

Jan Stephenson            Female Competitor

A.W. Tillinghast             Lifetime Achievement

Jan Stephenson?  Is Maggot somehow on the committee?  Stephenson was a better player than she's given credit for, but when the lasting memory of your career is recreating the iconic Marilyn Monroe subway vent photo you probably don't belong in the HOF.

By now you've no doubt heard that from this list Laura Davies, Mark O'Meara, David Graham and Tillie were chose.  Much more on that last guy, but first some thoughts on the players.  

Laura Davies:  Here's the case for her in a nutshell:

Even with more than 70 wins worldwide and four major championships, Laura Davies of England never had a week like this. 

Davies was chosen as one of four inductees to the World Golf Hall of Fame. The announcement Wednesday came one day after she was at Buckingham Palace to receive her insignia as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. 

"I can match the two awards up on a level playing field," Davies said. "They're both great honors, something I never thought about 30 years ago when I turned pro."

I haven't done her any favors with the choice of photo, but I find her idiosyncratic golf swing endlessly fascinating.  But she was a great player, she was very significant and she should have been in the Hall already.

Mark O'Meara - The case for Marky Mark is a little thinner:

O'Meara had been overlooked in previous voting even though he had a stronger record.

Along with a U.S. Amateur title, he became the oldest player (41) to win two majors in one season in 1998 and won tournaments on five continents. He also played on five Ryder Cup teams. 

"I was hoping this time was going to come, and fortunately it did," O'Meara said. "I think all of us realize this is the pinnacle of golf. ... As a young person, you have dreams of someday being in the Hall of Fame."

Meh.  The totals are 16 Tour wins and the two majors in '98.  There's obviously a case to be made based upon Freddie's selection that O'Meara is worthy.  But Freddie was at one time, admittedly little more than a weekend, the best player in the world.  Was O'Meara ever a top ten player?  

How you come out is all about 1998, when he took advantage of a soft year, talent-wise.  The Norman-Faldo-Seve-Langer generation was fading, and he was competing with the Montys and Tom Lehmans of the world, and those guys weren't all that good.

No doubt a nice guy and an over-achiever, and he really benefited from his friendship with Tiger.  

David Graham - This is a really tough one to assess.  Cameron Morfit finds him worthy, as per this:

Graham racked up 35 professional victories, including two majors, eight PGA Tour titles, and five on the Champions Tour. His closing 67 at the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion is a benchmark for tournament golf. Graham hit every fairway but the first, and essentially every green in regulation (his ball twice rolled onto the fringe). In phoning the winner, Ben Hogan praised Graham for, “one of the best rounds of golf I've ever seen.”

 That last sentence is the very definition of "praise from Caesar", no?

Adam Schupak is also on board, as apparently were some influential types:

“There’s a lot of guys that are in there that deserve to be in there but not before David,” said his good friend Hall of Famer Lee Trevino. “He won two majors, and they’ve got guys that haven’t even won one sitting up there on the stage with Jack Nicklaus. Are you kidding me?”

Graham is a proud man and a gentleman, so he didn’t campaign on his own behalf. But you know who did? Nicklaus, Player and Arnold Palmer. They recalled a self-made man who rose from humble beginnings in Australia. Graham’s first golf clubs were left-handed, and despite being a natural right-hander, he taught himself to become a 2-handicap. When he finally converted to the right side, it took him two more years to return his game to the previous level. Still, he saw a future in golf and quit school at age 13, against the strong opposition of his father.

If Trevino, Nicklaus and Palmer think he belongs, and of course they played against the man, who am I to quibble?  And for the record, I wa sat Merion all four days of that '81 Open, though I was following that Nicklaus guy for as long as I could,  

Albert Warren Tillinghast - So you have this Hall of Fame thingy, you let architects into it such as Macdonald, Ross and Mackenzie, and you can't find a slot for Tillie?  Euro tour hack Ken Schofield warrants a slot, but not Albert Warren?

And we're supposed to take you seriously?  I actually think there should be a separate wing for architects, and Old Tom should be selected for his contributions here, and Harry Colt, Perry Maxwell, William Flynn and Seth rRynor (and this list could be way longer) should have their day in the sun.

For Tillie, let me simply direct you that which you'll want to read.  First, Golfweek's Bradley Klein pens an appreciation:

Albert Warren Tillinghast (1874-1941) embodied the strengths and weaknesses of a

textbook Roaring Twenties artist. He was born into a wealthy Philadelphia-area family, untamable as a youth, indulgent in his private life and reckless with money in his business. And more so than any other Golden Age architect, Tillinghast parlayed his excesses into a vision about golf. He was confident to a fault, well lubricated in his intake, boastful to the point of showmanship in his work life and died virtually penniless in pursuit of his love of golf. A fine player, he also was a brilliant writer, editor and satirist.

And that Shackelford guy has an item at The Loop on Tillie as a quasi-renaissance man 

Master Photographer. He took one of the most striking images of Old Tom Morrisand documented his travels, publishing some of the best early images of golf courses and players. He knew how to best capture courses and published many of those images with his articles in publications like Golf Illustrated, which he helmed as editor.

I'm assuming that's the photo in question, though apparently Tillie also took this one of father and son:

Do read both pieces on Tillie, as you'll learn quite a bit.