The King, R.I.P.

Sad news from overnight, the story we've all been dreading having to blog....

Mike Bamberger starts our reflection:

Arnold Palmer, who died Sunday in Pittsburgh at age 87, led an American life that will

A classic Walter Ioss, Jr. image from the '64 U.S. Open.

never be duplicated, so rooted was it in a lost time and a place and the sui generis chemistry of the man. 

The golf legend won his last major championship in 1964 and his last PGA Tour event in 1973, but in the 43 years since then his status as an international icon has only grown. He had a knack for making people feel better about themselves, and about their prospects. As a player, he allowed his fans to join him in his unbridled assertiveness. He created a vicarious thrill as no player before him and none since. When his golf skills faded and his hair turned silver and then white, he exuded grandfatherly warmth that was also unmatched, possibly in any sport. For these and other reasons he was not only the most beloved figure ever to play golf but the rare golfer who was able to transcend a niche sport and become a genuine celebrity.

Arnie's star shone brightest a little before I came of age, but there was little doubt as to who his fellow players revered the most.  Perhaps a couple of quotes to frame the man:

The sports columnist Dave Anderson once wrote that nobody could enjoy being who he or she is more than Arnold Palmer enjoys being Arnold Palmer. That observation got to the heart of the man and the matter. Palmer lived a full life and got millions of other people to believe they could do the same.

True that, as well as this from Sam Snead:

‘PALMER WENT TO BED AT NIGHT WITH CHARISMA, AND HE WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING WITH MORE.’

This Tom Callahan tribute might be the best of the early items (h/t Maggot), capturing the roots of Arnie:

He was a Pittsburgher, like Billy Conn, Mike Ditka, Honus Wagner and Johnny Unitas. The Mellons and the Carnegies and the Rooneys and Gene Kelly and David McCullough and Sean Thornton. 

He was loamy meadows and smoky skies, river valleys and steel mills, like the plant where his father, Milfred, worked ("Steel, Michaeleen, steel in pig-iron furnaces so hot a man forgets his fear of hell") until just in front of the Depression, Milfred took a job as greenkeeper and pro (mostly greenkeeper) at Latrobe Country Club. Nobody addressed him as Milfred, except Doris when she was of a fanciful mind. To most, he was Deacon. A few said Deke. Arnold called him Pap.

It's all there, including the tragedy during his Wake Forest days....  I especially liked this little anecdote:

He started to play at the age of 3 and turned pro at 7 when Latrobe member Helen Fritz offered him a nickel to hit her drive over a ditch. After adjusting the cap pistol strapped to his hip, he took a whirling cut that brought to mind a finish-line flagman or a revolving lawn sprinkler. Mrs. Fritz's ball floated down like a paratrooper onto the fairway. Every Ladies' Day thereafter, he was available to bash dowagers' drives for five cents. "Some of them," he said, "were slow pay."

Slow pay?  You mean like Colin King?  OK, that's for a precious few to enjoy...

But since Jack was my golf God, I'm guilty of framing Arnie in relationship to Jack, and this from the Callahan piece captures the complexity of their relationship:

Still, even as partners, Palmer and Nicklaus clashed. It was as if God said to Nicklaus, “You will have skills like no other,” then whispered to Palmer, “but they will love you more.” 

"I can remember ginger-ale battles in our hotel rooms," Palmer said. "One night," Nicklaus said, "we got to kicking each other's shins under the table. I don't know why. I kicked him. He kicked me. Neither would give. We ended up with the biggest damned bruises. We used to do the stupidest stuff."

 And this:

This is how I'd like us to remember them both.

Nicklaus and Palmer finished 1-2 at the Baltusrol Open in 1967 and 1-3 at Pebble Beach in 1972. Either man might have won the 1975 Open at Medinah if they hadn't been paired together in the fourth round and become so fixated on each other that they lost track of the field. 

Afterward, Jack was bemoaning three closing bogeys so pitifully that Arnold finally jumped in and said, "Why don't you just sashay your ass back out there and play them over?" 

The vinegar evaporated in time. Palmer made the first move. At a senior event, The Tradition, he knocked Nicklaus over by asking him to look at his swing. "Can you imagine?" Jack said. "Me? We've played 30 years, and that's the first time he ever asked me." "We still have the needle out," Arnold said, "but we know now that we love each other, and we always did." 

Even during the hatchet-burying ceremony, when Palmer was the honoree at Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament, the needle was still glistening. Asked by a Canadian writer if he would be returning to the Canadian Open (Arnold's first pro success, the only blue ribbon to elude Jack), Nicklaus replied, "Barbara says she's going to keep sending me back there until I get it right." To which Palmer inquired innocently, "Are you sure she's talking about golf?"

Or maybe this is how we should remember them:

That's the conclusion of the playoff at the 1962 U.S. Open, which I've always assumed was Arnie's most stinging defeat, coming as it did in his back yard.

I always felt that Arnie's legacy was those heartbreaking losses, and you can recite the list as easily as I.  Oakmont, Olympic, Baltusrol and St. Andrews head the list, but Augusta National as well.  His collapse on the final hole of the 1959 Masters was no less tragic than the others....

But the highs were incredibly high as well, and you'll no doubt grow tired of seeing that tee shot from Cherry Hills in 1960 in the coming days.  His record doesn't quite capture the man.....  Oh the total wins is sufficiently gaudy, it's the seven majors that seems deficient.  Bu, Arnie being Arnie, I'll encourage you to remember that in the span of five years (1962-66) he lost no fewer than three U.S. Open playoffs, and those were to guys named Nicklaus, Casper and Boros.

Strangely, the only guy that never warmed up to him was Ben Hogan, one assumes because of their differing styles:

Though he won the Masters in 1958 and 1960, Palmer didn't formally become Palmer until the 1960 U.S. Open near Denver. There were other applicants, including Mike Souchak, a muscleman himself, and Ken Venturi, the betting favorite to succeed Ben Hogan atop golf. Hogan's favorite, too. "Hogan never called me by my first name," Palmer said coldly. "Never."

Hogan famously competed at that Open while paired with a rosy-cheeked amateur named Nicklaus, though that's unlikely to be the source of The Hawk's enmity.  While Palmer's roots weren't of the dirt-poor variety like Hogan's, they were most certainly of the working-class, Western Pennsylvania salt-of-the-Earth variety.

He was The King, and his kind shall not pass this way again.

Late Week Lamentations

I may have to go easy on the java today. as the excitement of the FedEx Cup denouement has me on edge....

In his Forward Press feature, that Shack guy tees up the drama:

The intrigue, in order of importance: 

—Will Bubba Watson, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger or some other masked man play his 

way onto the Ryder Cup team 

—Will switching the nines at East Lake finally deliver the sense something epically wild and crazy might happen in the Tour Championship? 

—Will Dustin Johnson cap off a breakthrough player-of-the-year season that included a major and two more wins? 

—Will Emiliano Grillo, Smylie Kaufman or Si Woo Kim emerge as Rookie Of The Year in one of the better freshman seasons in recent memory? 

—Will all 18 greens be mown each day? 

—The outcome of the FedExCup.

Please, Geoff, our Commish doesn't do epically wild and crazy.... wouldn't be prudent.

Brian Wacker holds out hope that Nurse Ratched's successor might spare us this hot mess:

When Horschel's pants provide the only excitement....

Among the distinct possibilities is moving the end of the season up to Labor Day, which would help the tour achieve one of its goals when it created the FedEx Cup Playoffs a decade ago of avoiding conflicts with college and pro football. Another possibility still at the conceptual stage is moving the Players Championship back to March and the PGA Championship to May. 

On moving the end of the season, Saturday’s third round of the Tour Championship has traditionally teed off early in recent years, and will again this week, because Notre Dame, which also plays on NBC, has a game Saturday afternoon. This year, the nearby University of Georgia also has a game at Ole Miss that is scheduled to kick off at Noon ET -- something that will likely affect attendance at East Lake.

 Moving the PGA will require the cooperation of at least two of the Five Families, and will create quite a vacuum after mid-July.... 

I don't know much about William McGirt, but these comments leave me wanting to know more:

“How many viewers do you think will be watching us this weekend?” William McGirt said. “We’re never going to compete with college football. Ending the season on Labor Day is perfect. It’s the start of football and the unofficial end of summer." 

To that point, a 1.2 rating for the final round of the BMW Championship two weeks ago tied for second-lowest for final round coverage of the tournament since the FedEx Cup began. 

“What do you think the ratings are going to be this fall?" McGirt continued. "Nobody is watching these events. Eventually you water down your product.”

Wow...I mean I know it's the soft bigotry of low expectations, but can you say things like that and not be looking over your shoulder?

But before we get allow our hopes to rise to unsustainable levels, here's your dose of cold water:

“If something's really working well, we really kick the tires pretty hard for a while before we mess around with it, and it's working pretty well,” Finchem said. “But on the other hand, we're also always asking, how can we do this better? 

“I think we're focused increasingly on our television rights discussions laid out over the next few years. We'll probably get further into that before we'll start tinkering much with the schedule. But I wouldn't rule out changes, but at this point in time, I wouldn't assume changes either.”

Nothing to see here...please exit through the gift shop.

 As for those Ryder Cup ramifications, Joel Beall details the mixed bag, first the guy who should already be on the team:

Thursday gave Watson a chance to quiet the storm. Instead, a two-over round -- marked

by a poor short game performance, ranking second-last in strokes gained: putting -- will amplify the situation, as the 72 puts Bubba in the middle of the 30-player field. 

"I thought I played great," Watson said after the round. "The ball striking was where I want it. The driver was coming off hot. Around this golf course, it takes one good round, shoot a five under. It's a long marathon around this place."

Because how he putts on Bermuda greens tells us what about his putting on bent?  And the young Turks had a split verdict:

However, Berger's Tour Championship began with a stumble out of the gate to the tune of a four-over 74. Only Kevin Na and William McGirt turned in higher scores. 

It wasn't all gloom for prospective Ryder Cup members. Though he was wild off the tee, hitting just four fairways on the day, Thomas managed to shoot a two-under 68 and sits just two shots back of the leaders. 

"I really didn't think I was playing very well to start the day," Thomas said. "I wasn't driving it as well as I would have liked through 13 holes or so...I kind of figured something out, something clicked, and I made a couple of easy birdies."

I'm not overly impressed by either of these guys, especially since their highlight reels are from early in the season.  But I'd pick Thomas for the sole purpose of pairing him with Rickie, because what says teamwork better than matching porn 'staches?

Peter Kostis is up with a piece carrying this provocative title:

Why the Ryder Cup Task Force Is the Best Thing for Team USA

Hmmm...do you sense a dissent coming?  But I'm nothing if not fair, so let's let the man explain his thoughts:

It’s been two years since the Press Conference Heard Round the Golf World. In 2014,

after enduring another stinging loss to Europe, at Gleneagles, Phil Mickelson questioned Team USA's Ryder Cup strategy. Phil claimed that no players were involved in any decision making that week, a statement that put Captain Tom Watson on the defensive. Many people lambasted Mickelson for publicly airing grievances, but I applauded his candor. The timing ensured that everyone was aware of the frustration affecting the team. And the result of Phil's brutal honesty is the Ryder Cup task force, a group comprised of 11 past captains, players and PGA of America leadership figures.

The bolding is my doing, because while it was certainly the former, it doesn't qualify as the latter....  We're going to cover some familiar ground, so I'll understand if regular readers choose to skip ahead.  Phil's comments at the Gleneagles presser were way off-base, for the following reasons:

1. It was the wrong venue;
2. It was the wrong messenger;
3. It was the wrong message;
4. It was untrue.

Other than that he's a great American.....Let's quickly dispense with items Nos. 1-3:

1. A losing presser is the time to congratulate the winners and get the hell out of there.  Disgaree?  Watch the video and look at the "What fresh hell is this?" look on Hunter Mahan's face.
2. Phil's career Ryder Cup record is a Furykian 11-17-6.  Didn't like the throwback pick of Watson as captain, well perhaps if you'd won a match or two along the way...
3. Phil, you can't play well unless you're coddled and stroked in a pod?  Noted.

So, Phil wants us to believe that he wasn't involved in any decisions....  Curious, that... First, he played with the now-retired Keegan Bradley.... was that done over his objections?

More importantly, why the vitriol towards Watson?  I know, that was bound to happen, and was why I was pretty sure that Cap'n. Tom would have issues with our modern day prima donnas....  But more specifically, they played fourballs in the morning that year, and Phil and Keegan eked out a win despite playing poorly.  Watson's plan was to bench them in foursomes, and given the reliability of Phil's driver and Keegs' putter, you can readily see the logic....

But then Phil and his partner begged Tom to play the afternoon session, and Tom unfortunately relented....  They stunk up the joint as you'd expect, and started a chain reaction where Tom benched them in the Saturday fourball and, if you're not gonna play them in fourball, you've no business playing them in foursomes....  So, Tom gave them what they wanted, they didn't deliver the goods, and Phil stuck a shiv in Tom when handed the opportunity....  Pace Animal House, Tom effed up by trusting them.

Udder Stuff - First up, a couple of our ubiquitous "woe is golf stories:

Golfsmith - I've avoiding diving in on this story mostly because the reporting has been so superficial, basically attributing the bankruptcy to the obvious death of golf.  Since golf isn't, actually dying, I find those not especially helpful.

Mike Stachura, the resident gearhead at Golf Digest, provides a better look:

To the first point, it’s clear from a read of the Golfsmith bankruptcy filing and those familiar with the company both internally and externally that Golfsmith expanded to its current 109 stores in the U.S. too aggressively, in the wrong way (as far as store formats go) and most likely without proper capital to support such expansion.

Said a source close to the situation speaking on background, “Golfsmith has markets where there are simply far too many stores where the coverage is too great, and in other markets there might be the right number of stores but perhaps the size of the stores was larger than they needed to be. That over-investment in bricks and mortar costs quite a bit of capital.

“Golfsmith has a cost structure with its store base that is far too great and also a debt load as a result of some of those investments that is too high.”

Retail is all about the leases, it almost doesn't matter what's on the shelves.  The bankruptcy petition indicates the intention to close twenty stores, as well as this:

The bankruptcy filing does allow for the possibility of the closing of additional stores. But what it sets in place is the potential for Golfsmith in its new form to be more attractive to potential buyers, thanks to a streamlined business model and a focus not on larger stores, but on relatively smaller stores, in the 11,000 to 14,000 square-foot range. About 10 percent of Golfsmith’s current stores fit this model.

The first store listed for closure is Minnetonka, MN (when you've lost Minnetonka....), which I can't help but note this coincidence from an earlier item by the same author:

Meanwhile, golf megastore PGA Tour Superstore just opened its 26th store. The new 41,000-square foot operation in Minnetonka, Minn., has five hitting bays, seven practice bays and a 1,500 square foot putting green. And the company is looking to expand, with CEO Dick Sullivan telling the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, “We are already securing locations that we think are viable for us across the United States."

 It's a jungle out there....  but those small stores better be located an hour or more drive from their competitor's 50,000 sq. foot stores, or I'm not liking their chances.

Nike - Pravda took time out from dragging Hillary across the finish line to looking at Nike's exit from the golf equipment business, and had this pearl that our Shack characterized as a "shrewd observation":

“The secret sauce in the equipment business that Nike didn’t have is that each of these

companies that’s thriving comes from a core competency that they grew out of,” said Casey Alexander, a senior vice president at Compass Point Research & Trading, which has long tracked the golf industry. “Callaway still uses the Big Bertha name — that’s what people know them for. TaylorMade invented the metal-headed driver, and that’s still a huge part of what they do. Titleist has a core competency in golf balls. Ping has a history in cast-iron clubs. Nike just never broke through with something like that.”

What a load of horse hockey....  a name like Big Bertha is a valuable asset, but its hardly a "core competency."  And if TaylorMade is so successful, why is Adidas dumping it?   Adams is a company that was innovative, or at least they were, but isn't valuable enough to be sold separately.  

What the alleged paper of record never gets around to sharing is that the equipment market is a low margin business, and therefore it's no surprise that those at the, ahem, margin, should struggle.  But it's more than just the marginal players, as TaylorMade demonstrates.  That would make an interesting article, but it requires that actual journalism be performed, and the Times has been out of that business far longer than Nike.

Duf, in Batter - Nothing but the important stories here:

This week's Tour Championship features a field of 30 elite PGA Tour players battling it out for the sport's biggest monetary prize. But it seems there was also a world-class pancake artist on hand at East Lake. That's right, a pancake artist. 

This virtuoso of batter created pancake portraits of every PGA Tour pro in the field and they were beautiful. Behold this griddled masterpiece:

It's rare when I agree with DJ, but he makes a compelling point:

“I don’t eat pancakes – especially not ones that look like me.”

-- Dustin Johnson

Brooke Pancake was not available for comment.

Tweeter Uber Alliss -  Peter Alliss is a treasure, not least because of the extent to which Twitter seems to have been developed specifically for him.  Maybe he's got a grandson showing him the ropes, but it's a marriage made in heaven.

This is noted because the Sports Editor at The Sun used Twitter to solicit a piece by the man:

That's a clever approach, I do hope that Sam received a prompt and courteous response:

I'm going to take that as a no... No word from the old chap as to whether offense was taken.

Thursday Thoughts

It's Tour Championship week, so I'm sure you've been poring over the algorithms and points reset....

If You Held The Tour Championship In The Woods....  - From Alan Shipnuck's weekly Heroes and Zeros feature:

1. The Tour Championship. Other than the pseudo-drama over the final Ryder Cup captain’s pick is there any reason to tune in? Flipping the nines at East Lake is a concession that the most boring finish on Tour wasn’t working, but the new routing can’t save an otherwise somnolent event.

 I'll let the reader decide whether that's an "H" or a "zed", but I beg to differ on that use of "pseudo".  That in fact is the only reason to tune in, as it's provided the only drama throughout these pseudo-playoffs.

You say somnolent, I say soporific, please let's call the whole thing off.  But yes, when the pre-tournament buzz is limited to the flipping of the nines, a period of introspection is called for.  From the local paper:

Heresy. It's a strong word. 

However, when you are about to intrude on the legend of Bobby Jones, you had better tread carefully. 

The East Lake Golf Club, the home course of Jones since the Atlanta layout opened in 1908, will again host the Tour Championship this week. The finale of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs will be competed on the famed course with a dramatic alteration from the days when Jones roamed the grounds. The front and back nine holes will be reversed. The tournament will no longer end on a 207-yard par-3, but on a 551-yard par-5.

Here's Shack's take on the "H" word:

Why, I'm not entirely sure, given that Jones did not route the course or declare its design sacred in any writings. And as Viviamore points out, Jones and MacKenzie flipped the nines at Augusta National early on because sometimes it just makes sense.

In the case of East Lake, the switch means the island green 6th becomes the 15th and the reachable par-5 9th is the finishing hole. So while the previous configuration did produce it share of moments, it's hard to say that the old sequencing was particularly sacred.

I'm sorry, what are these "moments of which you speak?  Is Geoff still pining for the Horschel era?

But let me park my cynicism for a moment and applaud the Tour for reevaluating its flagship product and adjusting to maximize the competitive elements of the event.  What?  Errr.....not so much:

"It came down to two things," Johnston said. "One, we wanted more hospitality venues and more friendly patron viewing experiences. We think it does this by reversing the nines.

Yeah, there is actually a second thing, but it's relevance is highly debatable.

Ryder Cup Run-Up -  Has Lee Westwood been named The Euro's Captain's Pick as designated provocateur. or is he running a rogue psyops?  A few days back we had him speculating about Bubba's role in the team room, and he's now back with more bulletin board material.  First, about Captain DLIII:

With son Sam...

The 43-year-old is generally one of the more affable, soft-spoken and respectedvoices in golf, which is what makes the following comments especially incendiary. Speaking with ESPN UK, Westwood -- who will be making his 10th appearance in the team event thanks to a captain's pick -- wondered if Davis Love III was the best choice to lead the U.S. team. 

"His captaincy at Chicago was great for a couple of days," said Westwood, alluding to the Americans' meltdown at Medinah in 2012. "I don't know if something went wrong on Sunday, or the team didn't play very well for some reason, but that will be in the back of their minds."

More likely in the front of their minds, but we take his point.  So, who else might he pick on?  Oh no, not our chief strategist.....

"I don't know what impact there will be from having Tiger around," Westwood said. "They have always struggled to find a partner for Tiger that's been successful.

"He could have an adverse effect in the team room. People have always seemed to try to do too much when they have partnered him. It might be different if he's one of the vice-captains -- you don't know."

I guess he didn't hear about Tiger's list.... You know, not just who will play with whom, but where on the list!  Take that, Westy!  This time, we have a real strategy.

Stay tuned to see who he calls out next, perhaps Tom Lehman?  Today in Ryder Cup Overkill brings us this story that demonstrates that these guys aren't just cart-drivers:

Lehman, one of the U.S. assistants to captain Davis Love III at Hazeltine National Golf

Club, has been integral to the team's preparations. The 57-year-old is a Minnesota native, and he and his wife are using their local knowledge to make lodging, dining and other logistical reservations for the American club. But Lehman's services are more than just itinerary coordination. The 1996 Open champ has been doing reconnaissance work at Hazeltine, trying to took for any morsel that could give the U.S. an advantage. That includes a dive into meteorology. 

“I looked up the Farmer’s Almanac, the history of that week,” Lehman told the Star Tribune. "Historically, it will be cool in the mornings, decent in the afternoons. The wind was all over the map. The years I looked up — over 30 years, it was — it’s going to have some breeze. You may get lucky and have one of those beautiful 80-degree, five-mile-per-hour weeks, but those are pretty rare. Blowing 10 to 15, 16, 17 [mph] was pretty normal, about 65 to 70 degrees was pretty normal. It will be cold in the morning, though."

Geez, he does a deep dive and discovers that it might be cold in the morning in Minnesota in October, and then he shares it with the enemy.  Did Ike tell Hitler to keep an eye on Normandy?

 Remember how Jordan Spieth jumped at the chance to partner with DJ at the Presidents Cup?  Yeah, it seems that it's not just the chicks that dig the long ball....  That didn't pan out so well, and by Saturday Jordan was back in the loving embrace of Patrick Reed.  But DJ tells his Captain to pair him with anybody.... well, almost anybody:

“I think I can partner well with pretty much anyone,” Johnson said. “Except for Phil.”

Huh?  DJ explains:

“I love Phil and we’re great friends, but we have a lot more fun when we’re playing against each other, not as partners,” Johnson said Wednesday on the eve of the $8.5 million Tour Championship.

Yet there was a time when Johnson lobbied for the chance to play alongside Mickelson. “We wanted it (at the 2010 Ryder Cup). We thought it would be great,” Johnson said. But after getting trounced, 3 and 2, by Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer in four-ball, then losing, 3 and 2, to Padraig Harrington and Ross Fisher in foursomes, the experiment was over. 

“Didn’t play worth a damn,” Johnson said. “Played like crap.”

 No word on whether they can be in the same pod.

When you hear the words "Trust me", do you instinctively clutch your wallet?  OK, maybe it's just me with the trust issues so let's try to work through what this could mean:

How NBC is following NASCAR's lead for its Ryder Cup TV coverage (Trust us, it's good news for golf fans)

Color me skeptical, but let's see what they have in mind:

Good news, golf fans. You're going to be able to see more Ryder Cup TV coverage than ever. Just think NASCAR. 

Confused? Let's explain. 

NBC Sports announced its coverage of next week's biennial matches between the U.S. and Europe will feature an advertising campaign called "Playing Through." The gist of it is that when it's time to cut away to commercials, fans will see a split-screen instead with the right side playing an ad (with sound) and the left side allowing you to see continuous live action from Hazeltine. Here's what it will look like:

As a serial time-shifter, I take this quite personally....  but doesn't this mean that important moments could be relegated to half the screen with no audio?  I should be excited by that why?

There's more but I'm, alas, out of time.  Can we agree to meet here same time tomorrow?

Midweek Musings

Sorry about the scheduling misdirection, Dear Readers, it was all an honest mistake.  Our Westchester outing was postponed due to soggy conditions, but an invite for a return visit to Fairview this morning miraculously rendered your humble blogger all square.

More on Fairview to come when appropriate, but let's dive into a couple of items I've been meaning to discuss with you all.

Nurse Ratched, We Hardly Knew Ye - Shakespeare famously wrote of the traitorous Thane of Cawdor that, "Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it."  As hard as it is for me to admit, as he prepares to exit stage left our Commissioner Ratched displayed those very traits for which I've prayed.  Go figure...

In his final Tour Championship presser he displayed more humanity than in the entirely of his reign, first with this:

Jimmy Kimmel's running "Mean Tweets" segment is one of the funnier bits on late-night

television. For those unfamiliar with the concept, the comedian has various celebrities read spiteful, malicious comments about themselves that the show's producers find on social media. For such a simple premise, it never fails to deliver. 

Tim Finchem, in perhaps his final appearance as PGA Tour commissioner at the Tour Championship, decided to get in on the act on Tuesday. While his time atop golf is viewed as a successful and impactful tenure, you likely won't hear about his comical demeanor (at least towards the public) when his career tributes start pouring in. Yet, his performance at East Lake was full of knee-slappers. 

It's not original, the height bit was way overplayed and the delivery lacked a certain spontaneity, but these are mere quibbles in the midst of a breakthrough.  In fact, it reminds of another of my favorite quotes, this one by Samuel Johnson on an unlikely subject.  "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."  I'm just surprised that he recognizes the existence of humor in the world around him.

I also found this quote, making the case for Eldrick as GOAT, modestly redeeming:

“Well, he's the only living player to win 79 times, and only one player has ever won more. He's the only active player to have won 14 majors, and only one player has won more. I love Jack Nicklaus beyond belief, but I have to put Tiger down as probably the greatest player to ever play, and the way he did it and his domination at a time when you're bringing more and more good players along, is incredible. It lifted all boats,” Finchem said.

I know, the use of living and active is passing strange, and the loosest possible useage of the latter as well.  But it's the first I can remember of the Commish expressing an opinion on or appreciation of our game and the men that play it.  I'd prefer a commissioner that evidences a deep abiding love of the game, but you take what's on offer....

Hillview, A Eulogy - Joel Beall pens an emotional eulogy to two golf courses (and a third on a preemptive basis) that led him into our game:

My first such experience came at the demise of Hillview Golf Course. We called it

"Hillview National" as a nod to "Augusta National," although it was in the same manner as bald men are called "Curly." To hit the 11th fairway, you had to clear a net guarding No. 2's green. To the naked eye, it was hard to distinguish the short grass from the rough. Multiple par 4s were drivable. There was a par 3 where, thanks to a severe slope, you could only reach the putting surface by accident. Yes, Hillview was an eccentric joint. It also tapped into your creativity and fortitude, vital lessons to a fledgling golfer.

Hillview was an eclectic place, a panorama of the game. Guys in jean shorts and cut-off shirts would tee it up with businessmen. It boasted hordes of junior and elderly golfers, and men's leagues made it impossible to get a round in from 3 to 6 p.m. Outsiders would classify Hillview as a beginner's course, but its best players could wipe the floor against the top members from any neighboring country club. You could correlate this diversity to the surrounding community; the regulars swear it was the welcoming atmosphere that spoke to so many different walks of life.

That's pretty good stuff, but this is the money quote:

Hillview was everything the USGA's "Grow the Game" mission aspires to be.

What he said.  There's nothing wrong with the First Tee or the Drive, Chip & Putt, but the Hillview Nationals are far more important to the growth of our game than any top-down initiative.  The Hillviews of the world create actual golfers, the other we can argue about....

How do we save a Hillview?  Hey, I just ask the rhetorical questions around here...

TV Talk -  One issue that Finchem seems to have left for successor Jay Monahan is the status of its TV rights, as discussed by Pete Madden:

Is the PGA Tour changing channels? 

According to the Sports Business Journal, PGA Tour officials have met with executives from each of the four major networks over the last few weeks as the Tour considers whether to opt out of its current broadcast deals.

The Tour's contracts with NBC and CBS run through 2021, but they could exercise an opt-out clause that would put their rights on the market following the conclusion of the 2017-18 Tour season.

The short answer is no.... and the longer answer is still no.  The market for sports rights packages seems to be softening at the wrong tome for the Ponte Vedra Family.  Not only does it seem unliekly that it could boost the value of these contracts, but it's hard to envision who could take it from CBS and NBC.

And then there's this from a knowledgeable source:

Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports, said it is "extremely unlikely" that the PGA Tour would leave NBC and CBS because of the unique way the Tour's sponsors subsidize coverage of its events to minimize risk to the networks. 

"The PGA Tour is the only major sports league that requires event sponsors to buy time on the covering network," Pilson said. "So the real question is whether the PGA Tour is going to ask its sponsors to pay more for a step down in the quality of the coverage. I don't think there are a lot of companies out there willing to get into golf for more money than is currently being paid."

Which might well explain why Tim left the issue in Jay's inbox.

The Necessary Reading List -  With the help of friend of the blog Mark W., I once put together a golf reading list for a young man that worked summers at Willow Ridge and attended my alma mater Tufts.  I don't have access to that list, but I was interested to see Josh Sens take a shot at such a list, though Josh demonstrates some strange sensibilities.

I'll credit Josh for including the two Mark Frost titles (The Greatest Game Ever Played and The Match), as it's hard to find more accessible works that convey the development of the game and its class divides.  Gratified that he included Mike Bamberger's To The Linksland, the second half of which is the book that Golf in the Kingdom should have been.  And, at least, in including the latter he acknowledged those of us that find it pretentious and impenetrable.

There are a number of titles that I've not read, but concede that they might well be worthy inclusions. But Leslie Nielson and especially John Daly should entail his banishment from polite society.

But the glaring omission is anything related to golf in the Kingdom of Fife.  Given then extent to which the spread of the game to America was guided by Scottish professionals and those steeped in the auld grey toon (think C.B. Macdonald), that's quite curious.  I'd proffer Alister MacKenzie's The Spirit of St. Andrews  and Kevin Cook's Tommy's Honor as suggestions, though others might differ.  But Long John over Old Tom....sheesh!

His Shot - Shack performs a vital public service in exhuming Guy Yocum's My Shot feature from a few years ago with broadcasting legend Vin Scully, who called a little golf in his life.  The whole thing is worth your time, but this about his first Masters seems as if from a  galaxy far, far away:

AH, THAT 1975 Masters. When Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller had putts on the last hole to tie Jack Nicklaus, I said at the time, "So it comes down to this..." and briefly outlined the scene as clearly as I could. At that point, I swiveled the microphone on my headset over my head, away from my mouth. I did that so I could resist the announcer's temptation to say something else. There really is nothing to say at that point. The silence as Tom and Johnny prepared to putt was profound. Thousands of people encircled 18, yet I could hear birds chirping in the trees. Not a sound from the patrons, and it was that silence that was the star. It conveyed all the tension, expectance and suspense. To me, there is nothing more magical in golf than the nothing sound of silence.

Paging Mr. Faldo to the red courtesy phone.... 

I liked this bit as well:

I MISS my friend Jim Murray. Jim was a great sportswriter and an avid golfer. He thought of Riviera as his cathedral, and golf as his religion. One day we were playing at Bel-Air. There's a bridge that spans a canyon on the 10th hole there. I look back, and Jim is fussing with his bag. He retrieves a ball and drops it into the canyon. I asked him what he's doing. "I'm appeasing the golf gods," he says.

Read it all, and you can thank me later. 

Ryder Remains

Just a couple of quick hits before I head over to Westchester Country Club...

Shack has it down to a three-man race:

T.J. Auclair reports on the Team USA practice session at Hazeltine National and

concludes from the appearances that all of the Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, Kevin Kisner andTiger Woods as captain's pick talk, may rest in peace. 

(Yes, Rymer's making the Tiger case, here is our debate on Morning Drive. I will admit he made a better case than I thought.)

Trust me, Charlie wasn't that convincing, but perhaps you'll see it differently.... the linked Auclair piece is on the same page:

So with the Hazeltine invitation extended to Berger, Thomas and Watson, is that a sign that those are the three U.S. Captain Davis Love III is contemplating for that final pick during halftime of Sunday Night Football in six days?

You guys do know that Furyk was there as well?  Though I do agree that if he was going to make that Alas, Poor Pick, it would have been in the prior group.

The Tour Confidential panel took on that poignant question as well:

Alan Shipnuck: Task force member Jim Furyk will be the pick, at the urging of fellow Task Forcer Phil Mickelson, made official by Davis Love, a member of the Task Force that made him captain. I will be happy if he takes literally any other player than Furyk, the biggest loser in Ryder Cup history.

 Alan, have you had a bad childhood experience with task forces?

But the winner is.....cynicism, and we all know that means that the terrorists have won:

Gary Van Sickle: I still think it will be Bubba Watson if only because of his world ranking. I don't see Furyk on a long, potentially soft Hazeltine track as a pick. Who should Love take? He should take an American player who showed up when it counted in August and September and got hot. Oops, there isn't one.

And this cheap shot is defamatory and needlessly hurtful, so do share it with your friends:

Mark Godich: It's going to be whoever fits in best in the team room, because we all know that's where matches are won. I'm guessing that eliminates Kevin Na.

Golf.com has been running features on the event, some more worthy than others....this Cam Morfit piece on three RC moments that shook the golf world is pretty far off base in my mind.  Including Medinah but not The Country Club seems like an unforced error, but to me the truly shocking installment was the 1987 version at Muirfield Village under Jack's watchful eye.

There's a slideshow of the worst unis ever that I can't share due to a broken link, but Golf Digest had it's own version in 2012 that included this gem:

Two years after notoriously chilly matches in Surrey, England, Team USA welcomed warmer temperatures at the 1955 matches in Palm Springs by designing a hybrid sport coat/swim thong.

Upon further review, this might be a parody:

Corey Pavin's wife, Lisa, chose Team USA's raingear for the 2010 matches held at Celtic Manor in Wales. The garments struggled to repel moisture.

Ah yes, remember the Captainess.... 

Hopefully Golf.com will continue down this path with slideshows of the worst captain's picks and worst captains.  For those looking to wager, I'd go with Curtis Strange and Hal Sutton, respectively....

Just remember, pairing Tiger and Phil was merely the second stupidest thing he did that week.  I'll explain at a later time....

We'll close with some thoughts from Jack, whose perspective on this event is rather unique.  First up, he had this comment on our process:

“I don’t really see the necessity to put the pressure on the young guys to win the Ryder Cup,” Nicklaus said. “They’ve got enough pressure on them week after week. When I was playing we had four major championships. Now we have four major championships, four world championships, the Players Championship, we’ve got the Olympics. We’ve got other significant events, they play all around the world.”

I don't get why the task force places undue pressure on the young players, as if there's anyone that should be squirming it's Phil and the other task force members.  But perhaps more importantly, what young players is he talking about?  We don't have any, unless you're thinking of Brooks Koepka....

 Then there was this:

"To me, the competition is incidental," Nicklaus said at the Creighton Farms Invitational on Thursday, according to USA Today. "Who wins bragging rights -- and I know everyone wants to win -- but that's not the important thing. The important thing is the game of golf and people having good relations and goodwill."

"The Ryder Cup to me, we make a little bigger deal out of it than I think should be," Nicklaus said. "I think it's a goodwill event. It's a great event to have bragging rights for Europe or bragging rights for America. It's a great format. It's a great competition. There's a lot of nice things about it, but I wish we wouldn’t make such a war out of it."

let's remember that Jack came of age in a different era, in fact that famous concession to Tony Jacklin in 1969 was his first Ryder Cup, notwithstanding that he had been winning majors since 1962.  Jack was also the guy that spurred the expansion of the format to include Continental Europe to keep the event competitive.  

But good luck putting that genie back in the bottle, and it perhaps should be asked whether we'd even want to.  For instance, here's a couple of comments in reaction from the TC panel:

GODICH: It's only become overkill because Europe has won eight of the last 10 matches. I'm confident that the task force has determined that the Americans need to play better golf, and more specifically, hole more putts. 

RITTER: It means the world to the players, and the rest of us are just following their lead. Agree with Sens that it's refreshing to watch them play for something other than a paycheck and personal glory.

In the immortal words of the U.S. chief strategist, it is what it is....

 I'll see you all tomorrow.

Back In The Saddle

I'm tanned, rested and raring to go....all we need now is some actual golf news.

I'm pleased to report that Employee No. 2 and her Smith & Nephew hip are getting on well.  And, as I learned from our first time through this protocol, once you go metal, you'll never settle.

Ryder Remonstrations - The big story during our hiatus was Davis Love's Monday presser announcing his first three captain's picks.  But perhaps the bigger story was this that broke just prior to the announcement:

CARMEL, Ind. – U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III will announce three of his four

wildcard picks Monday morning, but Phil Mickelson insinuated Sunday that the decision has already been made. 

Perhaps even weeks ago. 

Mickelson said that the difference with this team is that the Americans have a "real game plan" which suggests that Love isn't waiting until the 11th hour to make a decision. 

“We know who is going to be playing with who, when they’re going to be playing, what matches,” Mickelson said.

So the purpose of the task force was what exactly?  And because that wasn't enough nonsense, Phil gave away the goods on the brains behind the operation:

And crucial to that game plan, apparently, is assistant captain Tiger Woods.

“I am so happy to see how well he has thought this through,” Mickelson said of Woods. 

“I can’t believe our conversations just this week, how detailed he is and the pairings, the possibilities, the players. Not just what matches they’re going to play, but where on the list. He has got us really a good, solid game plan that is easy to buy into and get behind. I’m very impressed.”

Wow...where on the list!  That's so granular.....   I would have gone with playing better, but a "real game plan" is good as well.

Now we've gotten a fair way into this without naming names, so let's see who the Tour Confidential panel predicted Davis would take:

Shipnuck: Na, Moore, Berger. When you’ve won only one Ryder Cup this century it’s time for some fresh blood.

Perhaps that wasn't wide....  But since you brought it up, Alan, what about Kevin Na screams Ryder Cup to you?

But when Joe Passov is the voice of reason, perhaps it's time for some fresh blood in the media center:

Passov: I don’t think all of the clever plotting and strategizing have made one bit of difference for the U.S. team in terms of captain’s picks in recent years. So much emphasis on chemistry, recent form, rah-rah patriotism, whatever. I’d pick the next three guys in line--and then the fourth. If that’s Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar, so be it. We have a points system in place, and these guys earned their spots. Pick 'em and let 'em play.

OK, so you might have heard that Davis went way outside the bun and took J.B., Kooch and Rickie, leaving Bubba without a chair when the music stopped.  Alex Miceli explains:

Love did explain that Fowler’s record was discussed, that in some cases when paired in foursomes and four-balls was at times paired with players that didn’t play well and Fowler did and either got a halve or a loss. 

The captain chose to look at Fowler’s intangibles and his ball striking. 

Love went on to explain that if you watched the BMW Championship on Sunday you would see he’s hitting good putts they’re just lipping out. 

“His strokes gained tee to green have just been solid for a while and you saw it at Bethpage, except for that last nine, which is driving, it wasn’t putting,” Love said in support of his Fowler pick. “He’s just solid. And we’re making a team of 11 guys for this year we’re not really looking at the past.”

Well, when you look at Rickie you pretty much have to focus on the intangibles, because, well, you know.....  But as Alex notes, Bubba has the better numbers, so sighting Rickie's seems like a misdirection.

This other guy offers a theory, and he does have some credentials on the subject of marginal captain's picks:

Lee Westwood believes Bubba Watson's stark omission from America's Ryder Cup team boils down to US captain Davis Love not considering him a team player. 

The twice Masters champion is on the brink of missing out at Hazeltine after Love overlooked the world's seventh ranked player when he named three of his wildcards on Monday. The fourth and last wildcard will be named in 10 days. 

'You hear Davis talk about chemistry and how players are going to be in a team setting, so when he leaves out someone ranked so highly it does seem like it's because the captain can't see where he fits in, with regard to pairings and stuff like that,' said the Englishman.

J.B. is more than happy to play with Bubba, and since there might well be a redneck pod....Of course Lee's on the other side, so perhaps he's just, you know, playing us....

Shack posted on this feature later than most, but the comments about the jilted one seem particularly poignant:

EUROPEAN TAKES: "His head is his weakness. He talks a lot about 'energy levels.' He

has to feel energized to perform. And because of his personality, he finds that difficult to do. In a Ryder Cup, where you play multiple matches in a short period and there's a lot of pressure, you can see him getting mentally fatigued quite quickly. And so his performance level drops off." ... "His driving is long but wild. So there is always the potential for him to hand a hole to his opponent. He can go out and beat you, 5 and 4, but you could do the same to him. I wonder how much fight he has in him when he's 2 down after five. Is he coming back? Probably not. He'll more than likely fold up." ... "He's easily upset, too. The crowd can get to him. He doesn't like being touched. So he has so much vulnerability."

AMERICAN TAKE: "If he's into it, if he loves the golf course, he isn't easy to beat, but the question is, can you get him into it? Attitude is everything with Bubba, because he has all the shots. If I'm Europe, I'm pointing out all the trouble at Hazeltine and letting Bubba chew on that."

Now there's two ways to understand Davis' play, either that:

1.  He's in the doesn't want/is reluctant to take Bubba camp; or
2. Bubba has already been told that he'll be picked on the 25th.

The first would be an Olympic-level snub, given that Bubba is the 7th ranked player in the world, with two majors and a win this season.  So, I'm going with No. 2....though with a caveat.  If Ryan Moore, Kevin Na or even perhaps Kevin Chappell should win the damn thing, all bets are off.  If Daniel Berger or Justin Thomas win, well, you see the issue....

This supports that contention:

Bubba Watson will join members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team for an informal practice session this weekend at Hazeltine National, Golf Channel insider Tim Rosaforte reported Thursday.

Though this, a mere two 'graphs later, should temper the Bubbameister's confidence:

Six to eight members of the U.S. squad are expected to tee it up with three or four players who are not on the team, Love told Rosaforte. One of those players is Watson. Daniel Berger, Justin Thomas and Jim Furyk are the others expected to join the outing who are not currently on the team.

If I were Bubba, I'd plan on playing well....

This Week in Golf Architecture -  A couple of totally unrelated yet interesting stories broke during our time apart.  We'll start with this as relates to a Macdonald-Raynor classic:

A proposal to construct a top-notch golf facility in nearby Woodbridge, Connecticut and upgrade the well-known Course at Yale is currently awaiting consideration by the University and the city of New Haven. 

The proposal, spearheaded by investor and Yale Corporation Senior Fellow Roland Betts ’68, was first introduced this July to the administration of the town of Woodbridge. It suggests that Redan Reserve LLC, the company of which Betts is the chairman, transform the existing golf course at the Country Club of Woodbridge into a “championship [top-100] ranked golf course.” 

The plan would also include a partnership with the University in which Redan would restore and operate the Course at Yale as well as construct a lodging facility of approximately 80 rooms on its nearby land. According to the proposal, hotel operations would be provided by The Study in New Haven.

Betts is best know for his Chelsea Piers development that was two blocks from my long-time residence,  He was a client of Theresa's gallery for many years, and it will make all the right heads explode to note that he was George W. Bush's roomie at Yale.

Best known for its famed Bairritz green, probably the most severe of its kind, it's a gem that well deserves a refresh.  There aren't many Macdonald-Raynor designs (see Ran Morrissett's review here in which he makes clear that this is more the work of the latter) that the public can play, so we need to cherish this fine example.  Now, about that 18th hole....

This seems like strange bedfellows:

According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, Woods could be involved in a Chicago

golf course project involving Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser. NBC/Golf Channel's Mark Rolfing told the Tribune the Woods hiring is "not a done deal," but Keiser believes the 14-time major champ "is on board" and that he may waive his design fee since the course will benefit the First Tee of Greater Chicago. 

The project, which would create a championship golf course out of two existing public tracks, Jackson Park and South Shore courses, is not a done deal yet, either. Although the involvement of Keiser and Woods would help in the development that would have some holes along the lakefront and be just steps away from the Obama Library. Having the support of the golf-loving President wouldn't hurt, either.

The oddest part of this story is that Mike Keiser doesn't do "championship golf courses."  Or at least he hasn't to date.... His courses at Bandon and elsewhere are too short and too wide-open to fit that term, so I await details on the logic of this project.

Keiser is from Chicago, so that part makes perfect sense, but Ben Crenshaw has also been seen walking the site.  But there's no shortage of incoherence in the reports, such as this from booster Mark Rolfing:

"The three things that concern me about golf: It's too hard, it takes too long and it costs too much," said Rolfing, a DeKalb, Ill., native and Northern Illinois alumnus. "The goal is to work on all of these areas, and the vision is to create a model for the future of sustainable, urban golf."

So you're worried about cost and time, and your solution is a 7,600 yard course?  Got it...  And this:

The project calls for an 18-hole layout, steps from the Barack Obama Presidential Center, that would be difficult enough to challenge the world's best at an event such as the PGA Tour's BMW Championship, while playable enough for residents and tourists. Some holes would be built along the lakefront with the potential for an "island" green.

I guess they think that last bit is a positive?

This Week In Other Tiger Rumors -  It would be pretty hard to top this one:

Tiger isn't the kind of guy to go into pocket, but I could see a private equity buyer throwkng him a few points for the endorsement value.  I'm just a tad skeptical that that will move a lot of product, as he's kind of old news.

And on the subject of excessive endorsement deals, this seems unwise:

Nike has signed the best golfer in the world -- again. 

Sources tell ESPN.com that the world's largest shoe and apparel company has signed Jason Day to wear its shoes and apparel, including its hat. 

The move became possible when Nike suddenly announced last month that it was leaving the equipment business. Day, whose contract is up at the end of the year with TaylorMade-Adidas, is happy with his equipment, so he re-signed with TaylorMade. Those who have TaylorMade clubs usually get paired with Adidas shoes and apparel. But that has changed as Adidas, amidst continued consumer pressure in the golf business, is selling its golf businesses. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but one source said the No. 1 golfer in the world will get paid north of $10 million a year. Day's agent Bud Martin of Wasserman did not return a call seeking comment.

Day may well be the best player on the planet, but do we really think he can move that many schmatas?   But the real concern is with Day's fragility, as it's hard to have confidence that he'll actually be out there.

DJ, The Reviews Are In - The player formerly known as Wolverine has shown signs of living up to his potential, as winning an Open at Oakmont will do that.  But despite running away from the field at Crooked Stick, curmudgeonly James Corrigan takes DJ to the woodshed:

If and when Dustin Johnson wins the $10 million bonus at next week’s Tour Championship, perhaps the PGA Tour should announce him as the Phlegm-X champion instead of the FedEx champion. 

After Sunday’s gobsmacking and gob-emptying performance in Indiana, the world No 2’s reputation as the game’s biggest hitter is in danger of being updated to ‘biggest spitter’ as well. 

It is a shame that so many viewers’ enjoyment of the latest Johnson masterclass was marred by a feeling of disgust, as the languid American repeatedly expectorated.

Granted, golf has bigger problems with its image at the moment, from slow play to the unwelcoming nature of some of the more high-profile clubs, but still, this is an issue that needs sorting out.

Corrigan reviews a little history on this subject, but somehow omits, perhaps because he's a Euro homer, the sin qua non of the genre:

It never gets old, does it?  I'll leave you here with a warning that tomorrow's schedule is uncertain.  But we'll be seeing each other regularly from now on, assuming there's someone still out there.