Friday Fun

Sorry for the late posting, but life occasionally intervenes.  

Ryder Reax - The reviews are in and folks are....well, let's go with perplexed.  First there was fellow Nike stablemate Rory:

Told of the news after his opening round in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai,

a visibly surprised McIlroy said: " I don't know what to think about that, I really don't. 

"It's great that he wants to help the US team in any way that he can, and if that's not in a playing capacity, then as a vice-captain. Just sort of makes me think what really his health is like and how he feels like he's going to come back from that.

" I'd rather see him on the course at Hazeltine but if not, at least he'll be there and it will be a good addition for them."

Well sure, the way he's played the last two years he'd want to see him play in all five sessions...  Then 2014 Euro captain Paul McGinley:

“But I’m surprised that they’ve done it so early. Normally, in Europe, we might announce one or two vice captains well in advance, but we don’t really until the 11th hour. We give everyone the best chance they have of making the team.” 

McGinley pointed to Jim Furyk, who turns 46 in May but is still one of the Americans’ best players. Furyk won his first tournament since 2010 at the RBC Heritage, was one of the top contenders for the FedEx Cup before a wrist injury, and currently sits 10th in the Ryder Cup points standings. He has a 10-20-4 record in nine appearances in the biennial event.

“Is his mind going to be swayed by the fact that he was announced early as a vice captain?” McGinley said. “We’re going to have to wait and see. But it is a bit strange.”

Yes, it occurred to me later yesterday that Furyk might be an even stranger case, as he would still legitimately think he can qualify for the team.  So McGinley might not understand the move, but Davis Love has things well under control:

Love said Wednesday that the reason he wanted to name the assistants so early was because “we’ve got to get to work.”

Ummm...doing what, exactly?  And Joel Beall confirms what most expect:

In the Ryder Cup guidelines, the teams have the latitude to name five assistants to their respective clubs. Aside from Woods, Love has picked Tom Lehman, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker to be by his side. Reading the tea leaves, the open spot could be in line for Mickelson, who's been instrumental in the 11-man committee to help with the Ryder Cup process following the American debacle at Gleneagles in 2014.

And by instrumental you mean?  Oh, never mind!  And those boys at Extra Spin put their minds together and came up with nine further steps to improve our chances.  This last one is sure to be a crowd-pleaser:

9) No texting the captain 24 hours before he decides his captain's picks

 Webb, it seemed like such a good idea at the time... though I suggest we suspend this rule when Phil is named captain, and make sure that the top 125 on the points list have the number.  Think how many pods he could create!

Upon Further Review - It was just a short while ago that I was defending Commissioner Ratched in

the matter of PGA Tour v. John Peterson, as relates to his famous Happy Gilmore swing in Malaysia.  As you'll no doubt recall, my logic was that a PGA Tour event is a meaningful competition, and therefore the players need to be treating it as such.

You've no doubt heard that Davis Love's son Dru is in the firled this week at Sea Island.  Dru got in through qualifying, so this will not be your typical malfeasance with sponsor's exemptions posts.  But imagine my surprise when I turned on the TV last night and saw that Dru was paired with....Daddy!

So. a member of the Love family was keeping the card for another with the same surname...  can you say "Appearance of a conflict of interest"?  I thought you could...

So, Commish, if you're going to allow your own events to be beclowned, who are you to criticize a Happy Gilmore swing?  Or, for that matter, John Daly Tin-Cupping it until he runs out of golf calls.

Now On the Tee... - And truly for the last time, none other than the irreplaceable Ivor Robson., before he's, you know, replaced.  But this was a nice Instagram from the Euro Tour celebrating the man with the iron bladder:

This was Shack's take:

Oh sure, he'll probably be enlisted to record voice mail messages for charity and whatever else someone lures him into, but the legendary first tee announcer Ivor Robson is calling it a career after this week's European Tour event. 

While Dubai isn't quite St. Andrews (where Robson called his final Open Championship last summer), this will be your final chance to hear a grown man sounding like he's been goosed everytime he announces a golfer on the first tee.

Wouldn't that be a great way to raise money for charity?  For a $100 contribution, Ivor Robson or Jim Nantz (Hello friends, Scott can't take your call...) will record your outgoing voicemail message.  And it wouldn't be right if we didn't share this one more time:

And I shall not rest until I find video of Y.E. Yang's impression of Ivor Robson introducing Y.E. Yang.

Ladies Days - The gals are on a bit of a roll, and it's certainly been a long time coming.  Ron Sirak had this earlier today:

In 2011, during the depths of the Great Recession, the LPGA bottomed with 23 official

events and $40.5 million in prize money. It was the fewest number of tournaments for the tour founded in 1950 since 1972. My how times have changed. 

Commissioner Mike Whan unveiled a 2016 schedule on Friday at the CME Group Tour Championship that includes 34 tournaments and $63.1 million in total purses. Just call him Magic Whan.

With Inbee and Lydia, et.al, he's got a good product and they've stopped with the circular firing squads, and that's typically sufficient.   

So the gals whose names we know are set for life, but of greater interest is this from tour rabbit (rabbitette?) Alejandra Llaneza on the grind that awaits lesser players:

When you get to the next tournament, the math is not exactly in your favor. You’re paying $500 a week for the tournament entry fee. But you also have to pay between $500 to $800 per week for a caddy. There’s 144 players. The top 70 make the cut to the weekend. Even if you get into the money, the payout for 70th place can be as little as $300. 

So $300 minus $500, minus $500, minus gas, minus tolls.

The old joke on the tour is, 'My caddie made more than me this week. They’re buying dinner.

It's the far more typical experience as many more wash out than make it.  It's well worth a minute of your time to see a side of our game that's mostly hidden.  Kudos also to Derek Jeter's The Players' Tribune, which has proven to be far more interesting than most of us expected. 

Cabot Links, The Video - Josh Sens pulled the long straw and got the plum assignment to file a video post from Cabot Links.  It's well worth 7:20 of your day, but you'll have to click here to see it.

Who wants in on a trip there next summer?

Thursday Thoughts

If your day is half as busy as mine, we'd better get to it and get you on your way...

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Cart - Or at least more of them, as the lesson Davis Love took from Medinah seems to be along the lines of not going down alone....  See, that task force Task Force is already paying dividends:

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III announced

Wednesday that Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker would join him as vice captains on the 2016 U.S. squad that will take on Europe at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National in September. 

Those three will join first vice captain Tom Lehman, who’d been named previously, and a fifth vice captain to be named. This is the first time the U.S. and Europe have agreed to officially add a fifth assistant captain.

First, you'll have to agree that the Jaws reference is the perfect background music for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.   

Now, you might think that this speaks to Tiger's lack of confidence in, you know, making the team, but you would be wrong.  Tiger has a master plan, which likely involves this after winning the calendar slam:

Love referenced a “pod” system successfully used by Paul Azinger in the last US win in 2008 in which four players are matched together during the week. He said if Woods were to make the team, he wanted to be remain a vice captain and be in charge of his pod. 

”Tiger wants to be a leader of that group, but he wants to do it from on the golf course,” Love said. ”He doesn’t want to be the general sitting in the room. He wants to be in the battle. I talked at length with Jim, Tom and Steve about it. They agree. Tiger is very capable of doing that.”

Davis, there's a C-note in it if you put Phil in Tiger's pod. Actually, it's interesting that Phil indicated he didn't want to be a vice captain as he's entirely focused on making the team, whereas Tiger thinks he can walk and chew gum simultaneously.... not that there's any walking involved in being a vice captain, cause they get the keys to a brand new EZ-Go.

Though I'll confess to being confused by these pods you speak of.  From Phil's Gleneagles presser I took that these had to be organic, free-range holistic organizations, and didn't understand there to be any adult supervision involved.  I do so try to keep up on these things...

Bob Harig posits that this is proof positive that Tiger really, really cares:

The initial shock having subsided, the thought of Tiger Woods driving a golf cart around Hazeltine National next September as a vice captain now in focus, one thing quickly became clear: so much for the notion that Woods is not invested in the Ryder Cup. 

For a myriad of reasons, that narrative took shape in some circles, perhaps because Woods has played on just one winning U.S. Ryder Cup team, he has a losing overall record and there was a time early in his career when he, possibly, did not completely buy into team golf. 

But Wednesday's surprising announcement from captain Davis Love III that Woods would serve under him at the Ryder Cup along with Tom Lehman, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk should answer any and all such questions about his commitment.

Well, I agree that it's possible, but there are a few other possibilities as well... and Harig's summary of those myriad reasons conveniently elides some contrary evidence.  Yanno, his dispirited play in Ryder Cups, his famously telling comment in 2006 as to the "Million reasons" that the WGC event the week before was more important than the Ryder Cup, not to mention the bizarre finish at Medinah when he coughed up the tie that he had in his hands.  Just sayin'...

I don't necessarily think that it's a bad thing that Tiger in hibernation has come to value his relationship with his fellow players and team competition.  But I have trouble accepting the premise from Harig and others that his previous lukewarm association with the event was some kind of false narrative.  He was focused on his individual accomplishments and found the team events to be a burden, not a welcome opportunity, and perhaps that's a cautionary tale for the Jordan Spieths of the world.

I'll leave this subject with this rather amusing note from Doug Ferguson:

The five vice captains would allow one of them to be with each match during the team sessions, with another that Love described as a ”floater.” Last year at Gleneagles, European captain Paul McGinley had one of his assistants with the players who sat out some of the team sessions.

OK, so let's review this in granular detail... in the team sessions there are four matches resulting in four players on the bench.  But those four players aren't back at the hotel watching the telly, they're walking with the matches.  So, we need an vice captain to walk with the idle players following matches that each have a vice captain along for the ride.  OK, my mistake, I thought these were matches between teams of adults...

Distaff Duo - Two of the best, Ron Sirak and Jaime Diaz, turn their analytical skills upon the two appealing ladies that currently rule the world of women's golf.  Sirak focuses on the stakes this week:

So how cool is this: The season-ending CME Group Tour Championship is going to be exactly that -- a battle for all the marbles on the LPGA.

All that's at stake starting Thursday at Tiburon Golf Club is Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, the money title, the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings and, oh by the way, the $1 million CME Race to the Globe bonus.

Right now, 18-year-old Lydia Ko leads in all those categories except the Vare Trophy, where she is second behind Inbee Park, 27, who is second to Ko in all the other categories. But all of those titles are in play this week.

I agree that this could be fun, especially as they're paired together (with Stacey Lewis) in the first two rounds.  But it's one tourney with the usual caveats in our game, so unless they're going head-to-head on Sunday it may well be a non-event.  What's far more interesting is that we can watch these girls battle it out for the next few years...

Diaz goes the more existential route, with this mission statement:

What is most vital to being a complete golfer? 

Although it’s strictly speaking an unreachable ideal, there are many contributing elements. A few would include power, touch, repeatability, the ability to pull off emergency shots, the knack for being clutch. 

Yet all are subordinate to the factor that either contains or even causes the others: Control. Control of the ball, and control of the self.

OK, so if I follow you, Jaime, the single most important attribute in a great golfer, is actually two completely different things...  Setting that head-scratcher aside,  Jaime takes an interesting stroll through the history of our game:

Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods during their extended primes each maximized the crucial quality in both dimensions. Anecdotal history suggests that Harry Vardon should make it a foursome.

Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson had both, but the fact that the game wore them out early (retirements as full-time competitors coming at 28 and 34 respectively) indicates their control of self was more tenuous. Conversely, Sam Snead played forever, had more command of more shots than anyone, but lacked the mental mastery that otherwise would have made him the greatest player of all. Arnold Palmer probably cared too much about pleasing his army, which helped people love him, but didn’t help his self-control. Two exemplars of the inner game -- Walter Hagen and Gary Player -- didn’t quite have a commensurate control of the ball.

But he's mixing some apples and tangerines here, isn't he?   In the first comparison, Jack and Ben showed little emotion, whereas Tiger would let it all out, no doubt having regained self-control before reaching his golf ball.  In that second 'graph, competitive golf took a huge toll on Bobby Jones, but Nelson's whole objective was to play until he earned enough money to purchase his dream ranch.  I've never heard talk that he was the slightest bit burned out....

You'll want to read his entire piece, as his comparison of the gals' games is spot on.  Though here I'll pick a nit:

What do Ko and Park lack? Relatively speaking – clubhead speed. Both swing their drivers at less than 100 miles an hour – 96 mph in Ko’s case, according to her teacher, David Leadbetter, which produces a driving distance average of 250.2 yards, 64th on the tour. Park’s 248.15 ranks 76th. 

Hank Haney says that the biggest separator of players, in terms of their potential, is clubhead speed. By that measure, Laura Davies probably actualized less of her talent than any modern woman player. Today, Ko and Park are theoretically at a disadvantage against much faster swingers like Lexi Thompson, Brittany Lincicome and Michelle Wie. But the ball control and self-control that Ko and Park focus on, and which Thompson, Lincicome and Wie comparatively lack, negates driving distance alone as a defining factor.

But isn't there a rather significant difference between the two?  Inbee is 27 and her clubhead speed and distance has likely peaked.  Lydia's body is still maturing, and while she'll never be as long as Lexi, she will pick up distance over the next decade which, combined with her other skill set, makes her upside incalculable.

This Week in Equipment News -   Sales are still weak at sporting goods retailer Dick's, we're just celebrating that they're not blaming it all on golf any more.

Dick’s Sporting Goods appears to have stopped the bleeding in its golf business, but

unseasonably warm weather has now opened new wounds in cold-weather product sales—notably in its hunting business. 

The sporting goods retailer’s stock DKS, +0.51% plunged 12% in active afternoon trade Tuesday, putting it on track to close at the lowest level since January 2012, after the company’s disappointing results and outlook. The stock has tumbled nearly 40% since the April 4, 2015 record close of $58.98. 

Same-store sales at its Golf Galaxy stores declined for an 11th-straight quarter, but the company said that overall, sales of golf equipment and apparel increased and golf margins improved.

Hat tip to Shack for picking this up, but perhaps golf sales are flat because the driver pictured with  the story is in current inventory.  

This has little to do with the above, but take a gander at the marvels of counter-weighted drivers;

Not sure I'd try that with a senior flex.

That will have to keep you amused for the day.

Midweek Musings

Spanning the globe to bring you all of the golf news that fits...

Sticks and Stones - New Euro Tour majordomo Keigh Pelley has been readily available to the press recently.  As to whether that's a good thing, opinions will necessarily vary.  First, in an ESPN item, he talked up his Tour's relative strength:

"We need to provide a viable alternative to the PGA Tour for our elite, medium and low-

ranked players. End of story," Pelley said ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. 

"We need to be too important to be dismissed from our sponsors, from our stakeholders, from our players. And that means we are going to have to increase our prize purses. 

"That won't happen overnight. That's not going to happen necessarily in 2016. You'll start to see it happen in 2017. You'll start to see it come to fruition in 2018. We definitely in three to five years will have a viable alternative, so that players don't necessarily need to go to America to be able to make as much money as they possibly can."

OK, he's the new guy and we can't begrudge him his delusions of grandeur, but can you help us understand how you get from here to there?  Because the Euro Tour is not currently remotely competitive, as evidenced by its struggles to keep Euro-born players in the fold.  In regards to that, Pelley had this to announce:

Love the blue eyeglass frames...

Pelley announced some changes to the membership criteria to be a tour member. Players will now need to compete in five events during the year but the four majors and four WGCs will no longer count towards that total. Previously it was 13 but including those tournaments. 

The change will help players like Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell, who are currently outside the top 50 and don't automatically get into all the majors and WGCs. Both have said in recent weeks they would be struggling to maintain their membership unless the rules changed. It also might be enough to persuade Paul Casey to change his mind.

That serves to level the playinf field between the haves and have-nots, but doesn't address how a player manages to play enough events to maintain membership in both Tours.  As noted previously, I was expecting a one-off for 2016 as the Euro players are much more likely to qualify for the Olympics.  But he has sponsors to protect, and this unforced error might antagonize an important one:

New European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley risked antagonising one of the tour's leading sponsors in a bravura first press conference here in Dubai. 

On the eve of the DP World Tour Championship, the Canadian was asked how he felt about the flagship event on the European Tour – the BMW Championship at Wentworth – being staged on a course that was about to embark on an uber-exclusive membership policy. 

'First of all, I'd take issue with you describing it as our flagship event,' he said, to gasps of astonishment in the room, and a comment that must have gone down like a lead balloon at the car company's headquarters in Munich, given the event is described as such all over the tour's own website.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain... And let's remember that it's not just the change in membership policy, the Euro Tour has its headquarters at Wentworth, now to be the future playground of Russian oligarchs ans the like.  But apparently Pelley is a golf architecture geek as well, as he added this:

"The important thing for me at Wentworth is what they do to the West Course. From everything that I have heard, there is significant investment. We are continuing at Wentworth until at least 2018 and if the West Course becomes exactly what they believe it will, and we can increase the prize purse, then perhaps it can be a flagship event going forward.

Ahhh..holding the carrot in front of the horses eyes are we?   But what exactly is it that they think the West Course will be?  Because once upon a time it was a genuine Harry S. Colt classic before serial desecrations by Ernie Els.  Ernie has torched the place twice to critical disdain, so naturally he's been hired to torch it yet again....must be the same methodology that Tiger uses to choose back surgeons.  

A hat tip to Shack for exhuming this old Pathe kinescope of a 1960 event there that reminds us of the smaller ball that used to be in play at the Open Championship:

Silly Hats - I never realized how much fun this short Mexican swing can be, but we've already featured Inbee Park in a sombrero to great comedic effect.  Today we up our game with Monday-winner Graeme McDowell donning the unfortunate headware:

Graeme, did nobody suggest that you remove your baseball cap before donning the sombrero?  Really, Srixon won't drop you for that....But you know who did pull off that look?

Better than most, to coin a phrase.

GMTA - Adam Scott will not be getting Christmas cards from the powers that be in our game after this Olympic outburst:

He said he would have liked organisers to have been more "creative" and considered a

mixed team event. 

"I'm not really sure how just having another golf tournament is really going to enhance the game or grow the game any more than any other tournament just because it's the Olympics. 

"With the field criteria it doesn't necessarily get the strongest field in the game either."

Ya think?   A man after my own heart, and I didn't even have to pay him to say that.  But, when all is said and done, do we think he'll be able to hold out on this?

"I've been pretty open and outspoken that it's not really a priority of my scheduling next year which is based around the majors, and if the Olympics fits in then it does," Scott said. 

"The gap in the schedule there - some time off looks quite good actually."

My guess is he'll be forced to cave, but that doesn't diminish his point.

Who's Going To Break It To Him? -  I don't hold our POTUS in high regard, and he's having a pretty bad week even by his own low standards, but nobody should have to endure this kind of profound disappointment.  From an interview with GQ (I know, keepin' it classy as always)

Sounds fun. But what about his golf watching habits? When asked for his "guiltiest-pleasure TV show," Obama gave the following response: 

"Probably the guiltiest pleasure -- and this is kind of lame -- is 'Big Break.' You know, on the Golf Channel? Which is kind of a silly show. [laughs] But I find it really relaxing."

"So you watch it on the treadmill or something?" 

"Yeah, when I’m working out sometimes late at night. I never see all the episodes, but if they’ve got some chipping contest or something . . . [laughs] It’s pretty lame."

Kind of lame?  That's like calling ISIS the jayvee....

But who's going to deliver him the news that Big Break is on, you know, a permanent break?  This smells like a job for Valerie Jarrett....

Backroads Scotland - David Owen brings us another installment in his Backroads series of local gems in Scotland, and this one is special.  See if you can guess where he's headed:

It's sort of on the route to Brora and and Royal Dornoch. If you're headed that way on a golf trip and feel like playing an unusual course that none of your friends will have heard of, you should stop at the Strathpeffer Spa Golf Club. The course is barely 5,000 yards long, but it isn't a pushover, and the scenery is spectacular, and Willie Park, Jr., and Old Tom Morris contributed to the design:

Strathpeffer is indeed a rather unusual golf course, featuring some twenty-three Par-3's in its imaginative routing ( I might be exaggerating, but there's many).  The timing is of course perfect, because just yesterday we had an item featuring John Coupland, and Elsie and he live in the Strath.  Though I had no clue that Willie and Old Tom were involved....

Here's David on the routing:

The first hole, a 330-yard par 4, plays down a vertiginous hill, and if you make a smooth swing, as you almost can’t help doing at that altitude, you can drive the green. According to the club, the tee shot has the longest drop of any hole on any course in Scotland:

The second hole, a 250-yard par 4, plays straight up a different hill, and it’s followed by four consecutive par 3s.

And this: 

The club, which was founded in 1888, has many active, involved members, and because of the topography most of them are as fit as Sherpas. Fifteen years ago, they renovated their clubhouse themselves:

I'm pretty sure that John did much of this work.

David goes over some history of the town, a tourist destination as a result of its sulfur springs, and includes this great old photo of the spa's pump house:

But what to make of this?

I didn't spend the night in the village, but I now wish I had -- another reason to go back.

David, go directly to Nutwood House and use my name.  And please remember to leave room for desert, just in case Banoffee Pie is available. 

Tuesday Trifles

Utah is getting pounded with snow.... a bit early but I can barely keep my mind on this golf thing.

GMAC, Exhumed - In a great tribute to that iconic tree falling in the forest, the PGA did actually complete their event yesterday morning:

Graeme McDowell ended one of his worst years with one of his best shots.

Fortunate to even get into a playoff, McDowell ended it quickly with a 5-iron that grazed the edge of the cup on the 18th hole and settled 3 feet away for a birdie to win the OHL Classic at Mayakobaon Monday. 

''I hit as good of a 5-iron as I could hit,'' McDowell said. 

McDowell closed with a 5-under 66 to finish at 18-under 266, and he had to make an 8-foot par putt on the final hole for that. It still looked as if it would only be good enough for second place when Russell Knox had a one-shot lead going to the 18th hole at El Camaleon Golf Club.

Alas, this will also serve this weeks schadenfreude installment, as I had no sooner received this e-mail from friend-of-the-blog and Askernish travel buddy John Coupland:

Scott why no mention of our local boy Russell in the blog? Ross and Mark used to play with him on the Junior Open circuit in the highlands.

Then this happens:

Knox pulled his tee shot into a bunker, came up just short of the green and his chip-and-run came up 12 feet short. He missed the par putt and had a 66, to join McDowell and Jason Bohn in a playoff. 

I'm assuming, as per our usual logic, that we'll blame that mishap on Russell's American mother?  I'm good with that as my people have a longstanding tradition of blaming pretty much everything on their mothers...

But for the record, I did pay sufficient homage to Knox's scramble to get a visa and resulting win here, and John's homie was also featured in my post on Brora back in the formative days of this blog here.  But both of John and Elsie's sons are good players and it's always cool when someone you played with as a junior goes on to fame and fortune... 

Of course our ties to McDowell, b/k/a Rainsuit Man, go back to Ballyliffin in 2008, so we can't help but enjoy Graeme regaining his form.  Though he credits a surprising source:

“Funny anecdote for you,” McDowell said. “I got a text message lesson from Greg Norman on Saturday night and he said he watched some of the coverage and he thought I looked a little short and a little quick. He said complete my backswing and be a bit more relaxed at address.” 

The two went back-and-forth with text messages, McDowell gave his backswing extra attention Sunday and Monday, and voila.

As Shack notes, any time that Norman spends on swing tips and therefore not on posting bare-chested photos on Instagram is win-win, baby.

Veej on the Couch - Jaime Diaz has an obvious soft spot for our Vijay, and takes a shot at explaining the logic behind his lawsuit against the Tour.  Here's the gist of his premise:

Veej at the 1996 PGA in which he finished 5th.

But despite a powerful game marked by a still majestically rhythmic swing, the 6-foot-2 Singh has never been a charismatic star. Though he can be gregarious with fellow pros, he has been diffident with the media. Clearly he resented inquiries about being suspended from the Asian Tour for two years after allegedly changing his scorecard at the 1985 Indonesia Open. Singh has disputed the charge, but never in any depth, and it hovers over him, unresolved. 

In his recent book, veteran caddie Steve Williams, who worked for Terry Gale in the Indonesia event in question, wrote: “I think you have to man up and admit your mistakes. Vijay has vehemently denied he did anything wrong, and I’m still angry to this day he hasn’t admitted his error.” Williams added that he believes Singh “should have been banned from golf completely.”

Our Stevie can be a tad excitable, but John Garrity is not, and I highly recommend his 1996 feature on our Veej.  It's a great story of Singh overcoming a rocky start to his career and you'll be remiss if you don't read it in its entirety, but his take on the Indonesian incident will not please our hero:

But his progress was halted in the
 second round of the 1985 Indonesian Open in Jakarta,

where he 
was in a threesome with Canadian pro Jim Rutledge and Ruswin
 Ali, an Indonesian amateur who was keeping Singh's score. The
tournament director of the Indonesian Golf Association, Rudy 
Lisapaly, ruled that Singh improved his score by one stroke
 before signing his card and was therefore disqualified. Edmund 
Yong, the secretary general of what was then called the
 Southeast Asia Golf Federation, notified Singh that he was
 indefinitely suspended from the Asian tour. 

In recent years Singh has described the incident as a
"misunderstanding" and blamed Indonesian golf officials for
punishing him unfairly. Ardena, who is far more outgoing and
 spontaneous than her husband, takes the same line, saying that
 Vijay repeatedly wrote letters to Yong pleading his innocence
 but got no indication when the suspension might be lifted. "Now
 that Vijay's somebody," Ardena says with a hint of a smile, "Mr. 
Yong comes up and says, 'Hello, how are you?'" She adds, "We are
 extremely courteous but very cold." 

Yong suffered a serious illness and cannot comment, but an 
American pro who played the Asian tour at the time contradicts
 Singh's account. "I was there," says the player, who asked not 
to be identified. "It was not a misunderstanding. Vijay was
 accused and suspended for altering his own card. All of us who
 were around are very upset that Vijay denies this."

Veej is far from the first youngster to make a mistake during his struggles to succeed in our game, and it seems there's more than a passing resemblance to Patrick Reed's own issues.  Unlike Stevie I don't think that these should entail lifetime bans, especially in light of the cultural environment in which it occurred.   But it is difficult for us to accept and move on when the individual can't or won't acknowledge their error in judgment.

I can't help but believe that Vijay has unnecessarily complicated his life in so doing... And while I'm a fan of his lawsuit as a means of forcing transparency into the PGA's disciplinary processes, he'll not come out of it having done anything but further tarnishing his reputation.  I mean, Deer Antler Spray?  What were you thinking, Veej?

The Tour Confidentilistas batted around the Tour's behavior in this matter, and I learned a few things, such as this:

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: The revelation that Mark Calcavecchia was given only a warning for the same thing was eye-opening, as was the fact that the punishment required a test that indicated the presence of the drug, and there isn't one. If I'm betting, my money is on Vijay.

I didn't know that Calc was similarly foolish.  Nor did I know this from Mike Bamberger:

Doug Barron got some sort of settlement from the Tour, likely because the Tour did not want to go down the deposition road too far on his suit. What he got I don't know, but it had to be something.

And Jeff Ritter added this:

That Singh lost a presumably lucrative deal with Cleveland explains why he appears bent on pushing this lawsuit as far as he can.

Now that speaks to damages which for me had always been the missing piece of the puzzle.

Stay tuned, there should be more interesting details to come.

A Happy Ending - Color me surprised by this:

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Turns out there are times when the PGA Tour has a sense of humor. 

John Peterson’s “Happy Gilmore” tee shot to begin his final round earlier this month at the CIMB Classic did not result in a fine from the Tour, Peterson confirmed Monday at the RSM Classic. 

“I spoke with [Andy Pazder, the Tour’s executive vice president and chief of operations] twice and explained I was just trying to get 20 more yards [out of the tee shot],” Peterson said.

That's certainly a first for the Tour, but he did shoot 66 that day.

Justice, Delayed -  When Employee No. 2 played Pelham Country Club a couple of months ago, there was no reason to think much of it....at least until this:

Michael Cousins, 48, is expected to be in a suburban New York courtroom on Monday,

the report says. Cousins had been pursued for nearly two decades following the murder of Jason Campbell in 1996. 

According to authorities, Cousins was working at Pelham (N.Y.) Country Club when he got into a fight with Campbell outside the pro shop that ended with Cousins stabbing Campbell. He fled the scene and the murder weapon was later found in some nearby bushes across the street from the course. Cousins, originally from Jamaica, has been a fugitive ever since, using numerous aliases.

Those caddie yards can be a tad rough, as we had a knife fight in ours only 3-4 years ago.

And perhaps there's something in the Pelham water supply, as when house hunting we found a seemingly below market opportunity there, only to have the seller for reasons that remain unclear disclose that there had been a grisly murder in the house.   We passed.

Keep Your Day Jobs - In his Forward Press feature this week, Shack tackles the debut of two well known loopers as on-course analysts:

Golf announcing will introduce a fresh perspective this week when two of the PGA Tour’s most introspective and savvy caddies work parts of the RSM Classic broadcast. While former players are generally the go-to for networks looking to introduce viewers to new voices, the addition of veteran loopers as on-course reporters should give us fun insights into player-caddie thinking and a better sense of those delicate on-course moments. 

Jim (Bones) Mackay, the longtime caddie for Phil Mickelson, and John Woods, soon to be picking up Matt Kuchar’s bag, have been hired by Golf Channel to work Friday's and Saturday’s RSM Classic telecasts from St. Simons Island. (Why not all four days, who knows.)

Why not, since no one will be watching in any event?  But the best part is that after an exhaustive search he found video of an actual Rossie.  Don't know what that is...check out the 3:00 mark of this from the 1994 Senior U.S. Open:

Wasn't that a time?   Shack also previews the finishes for the ladies (could be a great duel between Lydia and Inbee), the Euros coda (yawn) as well as the Australian major season (worthwhile, but difficult to watch here on the East coast).

Weekend Wrap

The days are shorter and the golf less significant, but stick with me as we've got an excuse to revisit Sergio's proudest moment.

Bein' Inbee - With one minor exception, it doesn't suck to be Inbee Park.  Now this in what feels to most of us like an off-year:

Look out Lydia Ko: Inbee Park heads to the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship with a familiar taste of victory and tremendous momentum. A closing 8-under 64 at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational gave Park a three-shot victory over Carlota Ciganda and moved her within three points of Lydia Ko in the Rolex Player of the Year race. Park overtook Ko, who withdrew from the event after Japan, in the Vare Trophy race. Park’s 69.433 scoring average is 0.016 strokes ahead of the 18-year-old Kiwi. 

“It made it a lot more exciting, me winning this tournament,” Park said.

I'd urge caution in using the "E" word, as this is still the ladies tour in mid-November...I'm guessing they only got eyeballs yesterday during commercial breaks in the Patriots-Giants game.  At least that was the case in our dome, and your humble blogger is more favorably disposed towards the ladies than the average bear...  There's also this larger context:

She’s now within one point of the 27 required for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Putting her name on the Vare Trophy once more or winning another Player of the Year title would do it. Park wouldn’t be eligible for the honor, however, until she’s active for a 10th season on tour in 2016. 

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get that one point,” she said.

Ummm...I'm gonna go with a week.  In bee is the best player in the ladies game, and I say that having given my heart to Lydia...  As for that exception referenced above, that would be this:

Inbee Park with the sombrero in the library....errr, never mind.

So, one more win or award and she'll be in the Hall, joining golf's immortals such as this torney's hostess.  Errr...not so fast as per Randall Mell in a piece appropriately titled What the Hall?:

Five-and-a-half years after announcing her retirement, nobody seems certain what her

Hall of Fame status is or whether she will actually be inducted.

Ochoa isn’t sure, either. 

“I have no idea,” Ochoa said when GolfChannel.com asked her in a telephone interview what she knew about induction plans. “I’ve heard no news. I did my best as a player, and it’s not in my hands. I have no idea how the rules work or about any new changes or the possibility for me to be inducted.” 

The LPGA Hall of Fame is separate from the World Golf Hall of Fame, and the LPGA’s may be the most difficult to get into in mainstream sports. In the 65-year history of the LPGA, only 24 players have been inducted into its Hall of Fame. Nobody has made it in eight years, since Se Ri Pak was inducted in 2007.

She blew past the points requirement, yet didn't play the mandated ten years on the LPGA.  Obviously that makes their criteria look silly...  then again it's only the LPGA's Hall, entirely different from the World Golf Hall of Fame, which has it's own membership issues... But lest you think it can't get any sillier, get a load of this:

Though Ochoa is three years short of the active membership requirement, she can still become eligible for induction via the LPGA Hall of Fame veterans category. A player must be retired or inactive five years to be eligible for nomination by the veterans committee. Ochoa met that requirement this year. If the veterans committee nominates Ochoa, her name will then be forwarded to the LPGA player membership for a vote. If 75 percent of the membership that responds to the ballot approves, Ochoa will win induction. 

There’s a big problem with that, though. 

The LPGA Hall of Fame veterans committee isn’t actively assembled and hasn’t been for a number of years. That’s why Ochoa’s in Hall of Fame limbo.

Sheesh!  Lorena is expecting her third child and hopefully laughing at it all...

Wild and Wacky - Can't imagine too many were watching, but the BMW Masters, the penultimate stop in the Race to Dubai had quite the finish:

SHANGHAI (AP) Kristoffer Broberg wasn't happy with his putting last week when he was practicing at home in Sweden, so he made an abrupt change. He looked in his coach's wife's bag and decided to give her putter a try. 

On Sunday, Broberg made the biggest putt of his career to beat Patrick Reed in a playoff to win the BMW Masters for his first European Tour title.

Broberg and Reed both finished regulation play at 17-under 271 after an afternoon of fine shot-making and dramatic momentum shifts that saw five players briefly share the lead on the back nine. In the playoff, the Swede hit his tee shot straight down the fairway for an easy approach to the pin and a 15-foot birdie putt for victory.

Mister Top Five careened from holing a bunker shot for eagle on No. 15, made bordie at No. 16 to missing a short par putt on No. 17...  It was that kind of day.

Sergio broke from the gate to a Thursday lead and had a share of the lead as late as the 13th hole yesterday, but, continuing with the horse racing analogies, spit the bit on the way home.  Earlier in the week he sat for a thumb-sucker interview with David DeNunzio to reflect on his career featuring soft-focus questions such as this:

You're embarking on your 16th season on the PGA Tour. How would you rate the

first 15?

I think of my career as being at its midpoint, and I feel really happy about it. I've won enough to be happy. Sure, I could've won more, but I could've lost more, too. I take a lot of pride in my consistency -- I think I've been ranked in the top 20 in the world 13 or 14 out of 15 years, and that's not easy to do. I know some people are always going to say, "Oh, Sergio? He underachieved," but those people don't realize how difficult it is to be out here, how tough the competition is, and how many players try to pass you by every year. I'm not disappointed, but that doesn't mean that I'm satisfied -- or that I'm done.

Fair enough, but can we agree that we won't have a repeat of this in Act II? 

And while the Euro Tour under its new boss Keith Pelley has been on a roll lately, this has got to hurt:

The European Tour’s Race to Dubai will conclude for a second time in three years without Sergio García after the Spaniard opted not to enter next week’s DP World Tour Championship.

In what represents an obvious blow to tournament organisers, García’s management has confirmed the player will not take his berth in the 60-man field in Dubai despite a current standing of 30th on the European Tour’s order of merit. That position will inevitably improve with García lying tied second at the BMW Masters in Shanghai with 18 holes to play.

García cited scheduling and tiredness issues when he was among a trio of players in 2013 who refused to meet the playing criteria required for the flagship Dubai tournament, in what was the inaugural year of the European Tour’s Final Series. The format for that has since been tweaked and will be again during an announcement by Keith Pelley, the European Tour’s chief executive, in Dubai on Tuesday. Pelley will also unveil new criteria for Tour membership, the template for which was revealed by the Observer last week.

In response, Shack had this micro-rant:

This latest in a never-ending list of player defections, WD's and overall mail-in jobs during playoff season got me thinking: have any of these golf "playoffs" on the major tours ever generated an onslaught of positive press? Or just mostly negative stories about player apathy, fatigue, boredom or nonchalance?

I'm gonna go with no on this one....

Excitement, Contained -  Speaking of player viewer apathy:

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) -- Russell Knox and Graeme McDowell each had 

six birdies and were tied for the lead before the final round was stopped Sunday in the rain-delayed OHL Classic at Mayakoba, setting up a sprint to the finish Monday in Mexico. 

The fourth round was delayed 3 1/2 hours by thunderstorms that left pools of water across El Camaleon Golf Club.

And in a bit of choreography reminiscent of Busby Berkley, Morning Drive just cut away to coverage of resumption of play in Mexico just in time to catch the horn blowing ti suspend play once again....Do we think the Commish will realize that this is God's way of telling him the season shouldn't start in November?  I know, foolish thought...

And Those Lessons Were? - I guess whoever the stenographer was, he or she wasn't allowed a follow-up question:

Tiger woods and decorated pro skier Lindsey Vonn ended their three-year relationship earlier this year, and on Friday, Vonn spoke with the New York Times about the trials and tribulations she has gone through recently. 

On her relationship with the 14-time major champion, Vonn told the Times: "I don't regret anything. I loved Tiger, and I had an amazing three years with him. But it was a learning experience as well. With every relationship, you learn what you need and what you want in a partner."

It was a learning experience for Elin as well...

Celebrating  -  Golf.com channeled their inner triskaidekaphobia with an enjoyable slideshow on the 13 Unluckiest Breaks in Golf History.  I recommend a quick scroll through the usual suspects to some of the older ones with which you might not be familiar.  For instance, Harry Bradshaw isn't exactly a household name, but this was, shall we say, unfortunate:

8. Harry Bradshaw, 1949 British Open

The Irishman led the Open with a first-round 68 at England’s Royal St. George’s and led off round 2 with four 4s. At the par-4 5th, he sliced his drive into the rough and his ball wound up lodged in a broken beer bottle. Unsure of how to proceed and unwilling to wait for an official, Bradshaw hacked away, shutting his eyes at impact. The ball advanced 25 yards. Clearly unnerved, he made double-bogey, on his way to a 77. He wound up tying Bobby Locke for the title, but lost in the playoff, thanks to a broken beer bottle.

Do scroll far enough through the slideshow to catch the Bobby Cruickshank item.  Not only is that one of my favorite names in golf, but it's the golf equivalent of that iconic Y.A. Tittle photo.  Unless, of course, Richard Boxall is...

Friday Fun

Just a few quick items before we start our weekend....

You Don't Know Boo - We covered philosopher-king Boo Weekly's comments last week reagrding the Tour's wraparound schedule, to wit, that it sucks.  And that's not a paraphrase, he actually used the "S" word, though I think this was the more substantive bit:

BOO WEEKLEY: It's just, it's stupid. I still ain't figured out this FedEx -- what does this

FedExCup stuff do? It ain't doing nothing, but it is what it is. It's supposed to be the players tour. It's Tim Finchem and them's tour is what it is. 

It's aggravating having to play this much, but yet it's important to come out and try to get a good start. I mean, it's good for the rookies, I think. It gives them something they can up can out and get their feet wet before they actually get into the bigger tournament. I think that's a good thing.

There's a lot of Yogi-like wisdom packed into those two 'graphs, but I take his comments to mean that he preferred the old Fall Finish schedule, where the Tour ran these events and players could improve their Tour status, but they didn't count towards the following year's FedEx Cup or perhaps Ryder Cup points.  

Jim McCabe picks a fight with Boo, with coherence hardest hit...  He has three basic points

When Weekley bombed out as a PGA Tour rookie in 2002 (he missed the cut in 19 of 24 events, was 200th on the money list), he had the luxury of playing a Web.com Tour that provided the opportunity to play golf for a decent living and eventually earn his way back to the PGA Tour. Seems fair to say that the Web.com Tour is a nice safety net provided by the same PGA Tour people Weekley rips for these long golf seasons.

I've read Weekly's comments several times now, and  Boo doesn't say boo about the Web.com Tour.  McCabes point seems to be that because Boo benefited from the one that he shouldn't criticize the other... and that's his lead argument.  But maybe he's saved his killer ap:

In 2007 Weekley returned to the PGA Tour and struck gold — a win, four other top 10s, and $2.6 million. He played in the Tour Championship and no one would have blamed him had he shut it down in late September and gone hunting and fishing. Only he teed it up in Mississippi, then at the Disney event when there was no reason to do so. Oh, and he then played in the World Cup of Golf. In China. Starting on Thanksgiving. Refresh my memory: Is it good fishing or good hunting that gets you to Shenzhen in late November?

OK, this is only marginally better...  Yes, Boo made a voluntary decision to play some late-season golf eight years ago.  But his point wasn't that there shouldn't be any golf played, it was that one shouldn't need to play golf to keep up with the Jones...And lastly:

During lean years, 2011 and 2012, Weekley was struggling and very much needed good play late in the year. The PGA Tour was there for him, offering fall events; Weekley played four of them in ’11 and four more in ’12.

 Boo spoke of it being a good thing to have events for the kids, and it's not such a leap to add struggling vets to that logic...Shack has a good summary of the dismal ratings here, so I'm not even sure with those kind of numbers how one keeps the gravy train going.

CONCLUSION: Advantage Boo.

Scenes From the Class Struggle - I might pull something patting myself on my back for this world-class segue, but the point that Boo and I are trying to make is that it's far more interesting to watch the young kids fighting for their careers than to have the Boo Weekly's playing because they're supposed to play.

Thus this dispatch from Web.com Q-school from Gary Van Sickle is a worthy example of the genre, focussing on the struggles of former U.S. Amateur champ Bubba Dickerson (and we can't have too many Bubbas in the game):

Shooting 65 in the first round of Web.com Tour second stage qualifying isn’t necessarily the best thing that can happen to you. At least, not if you’re Bubba Dickerson, former U.S. Amateur champion and part-time Tour player. 

"I showed up with no expectations because I hadn’t played much lately," Dickerson said after Thursday’s third round. "I shoot 65 and all of a sudden I have expectations. I always play better without them."

There was nothing more gut-wrenching that Q-School, but we simply couldn't have that much drama on TV.   Nope, wouldn't be prudent...

Adding fun to this is that Dickerson was paired with Cameron Wilson and Mike Van Sickle, the latter being Gary's spawn.  Mike and I share a recurring problem:

Mike, 28, and a Pittsburgh resident, is a big hitter and said his drivers typically last less than a year before the face caves in. 

"Who makes Thor’s hammer, I don’t remember that ever cracking," Mike joked. "I check my driver pretty closely during the year because of that and I try not to hit too many range balls with it. Because of that, I had a backup driver ready to come in from the bullpen, or the back of my car. The one that broke today made it well past the ‘best by’ date so I’ve been checking it pretty carefully." 

He’ll be trolling online to see if there are any more 9° Classic 290 drivers on the market. Other than that, he had a quiet day. The pins at Southern Hills Plantation were in the toughest spots in three days and a stiffening breeze made the closing holes a little more challenging.

I just hate when that happens...

No Discovery? -  Maggot was so looking forward to coverage of this lawsuit on Court TV:

A Playboy model who sued when she was left with a crimson keister after a bum rap

with a golf club in an ill-advised stunt settled out of court, the Associated Press reported.

It is not known whether she got a buttload of money; terms of the settlement were not announced. 

The incident in question, reported here by Golf Digest’s Alex Myers, occurred at a Playboy function at Industry Hills Golf Club in the City of Industry, Calif. We’ll let the actual lawsuit pick it up from there: 

“Early on at the event Plaintiff [Elizabeth Dickson] was requested to lie down and pose for a photograph with defendant Kevin Klein. The photograph was supposed to depict the Plaintiff lying flat on her stomach with her buttocks partially exposed. A golf tee was then placed between the cheeks of her buttocks and a golf ball was balanced on top of the tee.” 

The suit claimed that Klein was only supposed to pose. Instead, “unbeknownst to the plaintiff and without her permission or consent…swung the golf club and struck the Plaintiff on the buttocks, causing her injuries and damages.”

Yep. He hit the tee shot fat.

Now there's a grow the game initiative we can all get....errr....behind.

Perfect for Each Other -  It's deja vu all over again:

John Daly's ex-wife, Sherrie Daly, has been arrested. If you feel like you've heard that before, that's because you probably have. 

Among several run-ins with the law, Daly served five months in federal prison in 2006 for money laundering, and in September, she was arrested for harassing a woman who had a relationship with a man she was seeing. And it appears that feud hasn't gone away.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Daly was arrested on Tuesday night in Memphis, Tenn., for breaking into a man's house and attacking him with a golf club. There was also a female witness in the room with whom Daly has a restraining order from and against. Daly was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated burglary and violating an order of protection, according to the report.

I'm so confused as I thought all his exes live in Texas...