Your Friday Frisson

A secret disbelief in the enemy’s play is very useful for match play. WALTER SIMPSON

Are we having fun yet?  Not you, DJ.....

Planets Aligned -  That match we've all been waiting for, with Group 4 at stake, is upon us:

Spieth initially seemed unsure why their “common pairing” at the team events would make for a great match-play duel. But then he explained the odd tension between the two compatriots. 

“Normally you’re working together, but we want to beat each other every time,” Spieth said after defeating Haotong Li, 4 and 2, Thursday at Austin Country Club. “So even when we’ve been on the same team, it’s been a match against each other. In alternate shot, if we don’t win a hole, I want it to be his fault and he wants it to be my fault. So we’ve almost played every single match we’ve been involved in together against each other.” 

Some good old-fashioned passive-aggressive Type A tension. Now we’re getting somewhere. 

For Reed, who birdied the 18th hole to hold off Charl Schwartzel, 1 up, it’s all about giving the fans a show. 

“Hopefully both of us go out and play really good golf and give all these fans something really fun to watch,” Reed said.

OK, here's my dream scenario.... They're tied on No. 18 and Jordan has to call a rules official over to adjudicate a drop, which is denied....  Jordan says:

1. Thank you for performing your duties with discretion;
2.  I have a right to a third opinion, from an unbiased official, or;
3. I guess your name needs to be.....

This guy should be reading my blog:

One interested observer will be Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman faces Brian Harman at 10:52 a.m. Friday.

“Hopefully I get done early, I can watch it.” McIlroy said. “Penalty drops everywhere.”

 This jab gives Patrick the lead in the trash talk:

When asked to identify Spieth's greatest match-play strength, Reed was quick to throw a jab. "I don't know, my back still hurts from the last Ryder Cup," he said.

he doesn't seem to have considered that the back pain could be the result of carrying that beer belly around....

Jordan, on the other hand, wins for his general approach to the game:

Spieth made clear he both loves wind and chooses to play where it will blow. 

“I have and will continue to schedule tournaments away from a dome because it’s just

unusual for me,” Spieth said. “I like having the feel aspect. Places with no wind, where it’s just driving range shots, it’s just never been something I’ve been used to. So I don’t really know what to do on them.” 

Spieth said that “feel-based” golf of holding shots in the wind and letting the ball move is “advantageous” to both his game and Reed’s. 

“Tomorrow with heavy winds forecast in the afternoon, that plays to both of our strengths,” Spieth said. “And we’re not going to score, it’s to beat each other. So we’re probably going to have to shoot under par, which will be well done tomorrow.” 

As for “domes” he has played in so far, Spieth rattled off Phoenix, Mexico City and Palm Springs as tough destinations for his game.

And Quad Cities?  Because there was that time you went there instead of to Scotland to prepare for The Open....  OK, bygones.

Shane Ryan goes down a dangerous path, focused on whether certain Friday matches are truly "meaningless"?  Heck, I'd argue that certain Wednesday matches are as well, but let's start with two comments from the ever-voluble Jason Dufner:

In the 2017 event, Jason Dufner was out of contention after two days—he halved with Patrick Reed and lost to Brooks Koepka—but he immediately disagreed with the word "meaningless" to describe his Friday match. 

"There's definitely something at stake," he said. "More money."

Thud!  Jase, Mr. Monahan is on Line 2 for you....

And this:

"It always means something," Dufner said. "I made the FedEx by one point last year, the top 30, so it meant something." 

The other point Dufner made is that a Friday match with no chance to advance at the Match Play is no different than being out of contention on the final round of a stroke-play event.

OK, those are better arguments for sure....

Rory comes across far better, and rebuts the best of The Duf's arguments:

"I definitely agree," he said. "Knowing that you are playing a match that you might get two more FedEx points and $20,000 or whatever it is. It's tough. It's hard. You try to go out with the mindset that … it's a good round to take advantage of trying different things, bits and pieces. That's the tough part about it. There's going to be guys going out there tomorrow that would really just want to be on a plane tonight going home."

I brought up Dufner's point, and asked how if it was any different from being way out of contention on Sunday in a stroke play event. 

"Yeah, because at least in a stroke-play event you can go out and shoot 62, 63. And you move up 50 spots and all of a sudden it's a top-20 and you feel good about yourself. Here it's not quite the same."

Yup.  But wait, it gets better....

"At least on a Sunday you go out there and blitz," he said. "I've had Sundays where I have been first out. I remember one year in Switzerland, I went out first twosome, one guy in front of us, I shot 64. The wind picked up, I finished top ten. I won a watch for low round of the week and I got a kiss from Cindy Crawford because she presented it. It was a great Sunday." 

A moment later, he clarified that because the tournament was in Switzerland, he actually got three kisses from Crawford.

In that case, three is most certainly better than one....

My only disappointment is that he didn't pose the question to Keegan Bradley, likely because he failed to pack his kevlar.

You wouldn't know it from the coverage, but Spieth - Reed is not the only battle of the unbeatens:

Group 7

11:20 a.m. -- Sergio Garcia (2-0) vs. Xander Schauffele (2-0)

Group 2

12:04 p.m. -- Justin Thomas (2-0) vs. Francesco Molinari (2-0)

Group 13

1:10 p.m. -- Alex Noren (2-0) vs. Tony Finau (2-0)

Those are local times, CDT specifically.  The big one goes at 1:32, so plan your day accordingly.

Rory v. Commissioner Monahan - The Commish seems a good guy, and a meaningful step up from his predecessor.  But his response to Rory's concern about fan behavior seemed tone-deaf:

PGA Tour commissioner says fan behavior discussion a good problem

His detailed comments don't improve matters:

“We are monitoring it and taking it seriously and we’ll continue to get that right,”

Monahan said. “I think a lot of that behavior is going to be self policed. I’d much rather be in a situation we’re in where we’ve got a problem to solve with young people coming into our sport. It’s a small number of people, a handful of people.”

Do we have a demographic breakdown of the buffoons?  Or are you just winging it?

“When you have people who aren’t behaving properly and they’ve had too much alcohol, then I agree [with McIlroy],” Monahan said. “In those incidences, those people who are making it uncomfortable for a player, alcohol sales should be cut off.”

Can someone translate that into English for me?  After a fan proves he's been overserved, you're going to cut off alcohol sales to him?  How proactive, sir.

Rory had this in rebuttal:

I think what happened to Justin Thomas at the Honda, that went over the line. I think that was too much. Because that's not -- it's golf at the end of the day. It's not football. There's decorum, there's etiquette, there's a lot of that that goes on in golf. Not that it doesn't go on in football, when you are on the field you can't hear all that stuff. We're a little thin rope that divides the fans from us, you can still hear what they are saying.

It's a tough problem, otherwise they would have resolved it already.  But the comparison to away football games isn't a good look for our Commish.

Making Florida Great Again - The Forecaddie breaks the news that the Florida Swing has been made intact again:

By The Man Out Front’s math, a planned move of The Players Championship to March combined with the WGC-Mexico Championship moving up a week means the Florida Swing will become a swing again. 

The expected schedule change goes like this: Honda Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players and Valspar Championship played in succession. Also expect the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play to stay in its current slot two weeks before the Masters. That leaves one question unresolved: what happens to the Houston Open, currently in the last spot prior to Augusta?

I'm not in love with this slot for the Match Play, but otherwise happy to have Florida intact.  here's his take on that last slot:

TMOF hears the Valero Texas Open and its long-term sponsorship deal has the event penciled in for that prime date. While The Forecaddie is having a hard time seeing players enjoying TPC San Antonio as a Masters tune-up test, the inability of Houston to land a sponsor has bequeathed TBD status on one of the Tour’s oldest tournaments.

That's the week we all watch the Dinah Shore, so who cares?  Well, Phil for one....

Regression To The Mean -  For a while, he look like he wanted me to eat my words...  But like water, he ultimately found his proper level:

But then the wheels fell off. Romo bogeyed the par-4 13th before making double bogey

at the par-5 14th. He followed with two more bogeys, at Nos. 15 and 16. He also didn’t hit a green on the back side until the par-3 17th hole, where he missed a 7-footer for birdie. 

“I hit two poor tee balls, I just didn’t commit to them,” Romo said. “… But we hit the ball good today. I hit a lot of good shots and they ended up a couple of times in some poor spots. But you learn the golf course as you play it throughout the week, and then you just gotta putt. Three-putts add up. … I think that’s something I’ll go back and work on a little bit and I think that’ll be better tomorrow.

My point stands regardless of what he shoots.  I completely get what a tough sell this event is, though the Tour doesn't want to hear to inevitable conclusion form that line of thought.  But turning it into a clown show is never helpful.

Alan, Round 2 -  Some loose ends from Alan's mailbag.  Not sure how I skipped this one:

Do rules officials treat players differently as Reed suggested last week? — @spencer_wideman 

Well, they're human, and as such they have emotions, prejudices and bad days, just like the rest of us. Imagine you're a rules a official and you are summoned to a sticky situation by Patrick Reed and, say, Zach Johnson. You might feel a little more anxiety having to deal with P. Reed, and that could color your language and general vibe. But above all else the officials are sticklers for the letter of the law; the rules are a religion to them, and I believe they interpret them the same regardless of the player involved. (I mean, look how many times Tiger was dinged in 2013.) Now, the good ol' boys that run the Masters, that's a different story…

Funny you should mention that Ridley guy...  What's he up to these days?

And, as long as we're in a green-hued mood:

If the Masters goes to a playoff and Day, Spieth and Dechambeau are involved, will they have to cancel the Tuesday pro am at the Heritage? — Vaidya (@vs2k2) 

You jest, but every Masters playoff is a stress-fest because the green coats only leave enough daylight for a few holes before the sun sets. If Adam Scott misses that putt in '13 we were definitely coming back the next morning, which would have been a massive anticlimax. The Angel Cabrera-Kenny Perry playoff also got very dark. Masters officials like to go as deep into the night as possible to boost TV ratings but one of these years they're going to get burned.

So true and so....inconsistent?  They leave boatloads of money on the table, yet in this regard they seem to care about those TV ratings.... Makes no sense.

What holes will Tiger be required to hit driver on at Augusta National? I say 1, 2, 8, 11, 15, 18....and maybe 7 or 9. #AskAlan — Benjamin (@Ben_Buj) 

It's a good list, but you forgot a few. Depending on where the flag is, 3 can call for a driver. Most guys wield the big dog on 17 — that hole has some bite. And the tee shot on 13 is the ultimate risk/reward shot and younger, more fearless players will certainly use driver and Tiger should, too. With its very playable, ahem, rough, Augusta National is more forgiving off the tee than any other major championship venue, but it also demands more drivers, and some of Tiger's misses this year have been so wild they will spell doom, even at ANGC. So that's why I think it's folly to make him the Masters favorite, when almost every other top player has an advantage over him off the tee.

I agree in general, though I don't think we'll see too many drivers on No. 13.  Except from Phil, Brian Harman and Bubba.... If you're looking for an early proxy, watch for how far Tiger misses the fairway on No. 1 on Thursday.  I don't think he's actually ever hit the fairway, but if he misses by less than five yards he might be in for a good week.

And We'll always have Paris:

I hope Tiger makes the Ryder Cup team, but hate the idea of any playing captain or vice captain. What do you think? — @JeffWeber11 

Because Tiger is Tiger — the most dominant golfer of all time, hero to the current groups of young stars, vice captain at the last few Cups — he was always destined to have an outsized role in Paris, especially given how mild-mannered Capt. Furyk is. Clearly Woods is going to be playing for the U.S. They can call him a vice captain or not, but either way I think his role is about the same.

Well, he's certainly in the mix as of now, though the questioner seems to think that there's something for the assistant captains to do.

How many Ryder Cups have you attended? And will you be going to France in September? — @MrRyderCup2012

Apparently we now have to revisit my infamous Ryder Cup column every week. It's my cross to bear. I typed it up for Golf Magazine back in the early summer. A lot has changed: Koepka got hurt, Casey reclaimed Euro tour membership and was reborn, Tiger and Phil began playing like it's the turn of the century, Hatton and Fleetwood became consistent winners, Rose went crazy in the fall, etc. Both teams look exceptionally strong and Europe has closed the gap…but not enough. The U.S. is still the pick. Bring the hate. 

I was going to link to the Koepka injury, though we've got lots more where he came from.  Brooks is out of The Masters, and wrist injuries are always troubling for golfers.... Yes, Europe has closed the gap, though I think said gap didn't mean much to begin with.  

Tomorrow is a travel day, so I'll see you when I see you....

Thursday Threads

Match play, you see, is much more of a joust. It calls for a doughty, resourceful competitor, the sort of fellow who is not ruffled by his opponent’s fireworks and is able to set off a few of his own when it counts.

HERBERT WARREN WIND

H/T again to Shack for the timely quotes.  And at least this time I know well the source....

Wild Wednesday -  The carnage included DJ, Phil and Rory, and might have grabbed JT as well if not for a bent putter shaft....

Rory McIlroy put together another flawless back nine, running off five straight birdies.

This time, it wasn’t enough. 

Former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein built a 5-up lead against McIlroy and held off his late charge with enough key shots of his own in a 2-and-1 victory, one of several surprises Wednesday in the opening session of the Dell Technologies Match Play. 

Defending champion Dustin Johnson hit two shots out-of-bounds on the same hole, another tee shot in the hazard and couldn’t make the putts that he couldn’t afford to miss on the back nine. He wound up losing on the 17th hole to Bernd Wiesberger. 

Justin Thomas also got a scare, mainly because his opponent had to putt with a sand wedge over the last 12 holes.

No one will worry much about the Ulsterman, who displayed that recent good form on the back nine.  But DJ and Phil looked curiously disengaged...

Thanks to the format change, they're still among the living, though the odds aren't great:

McIlroy, along with Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Tommy Fleetwood, now have to do

some serious clawing to win their groups. All of them lost the opening match in their four-man groups and will need some help to advance to the weekend. 

In the two years this round-robin format has been used, only four players have lost on Wednesday and won their group. 

One of them was Johnson two years ago.

And there were some really close calls for big names... We noted JT eking it out against a guy with no putter, helped by this rather unlikely up-and-in.  Paul Casey won only because Russell Henley's drive on the finishing hole made a ninety-degree turn into a hazard.  

Everyone's favorite storyline remains intact as both Spieth and Reed won their matches, but the former had a strange conclusion to his match:

The match ended with a peculiar twist. Schwartzel missed his birdie putt on No. 17, meaning Spieth had two putts from 5 feet to win the match. Schwartzel made him hit both putts, the second one from just over 2 feet. 

“I missed some shorties to start the round. I don’t hold that against Charl,” Spieth said. “I didn’t enjoy hitting that second putt, and that’s the point.”

Obviously Charl has seen Jordan's recent putting form....

I dodged a bullet for sure, as it appeared that Keegan was determined to make me eat my harsh words.  Then Keegan did what Keegan does:

Keegan Bradley was 2 up with three to play against 2017 finalist Jon Rahm when he bogeyed two of the last three holes in a match that ended in a tie.

When the going gets tough, you'll find Keegs curled up in the fetal position....

Geoff had this interesting quote from the guy that took down Rory:

Q. Why do you like match play? What is it about it that you enjoy? 

PETER UIHLEIN: I just think you make double, you're not dropping about 40 spots, it helps. I think it kind of frees you up a little bit in a weird way. It's different because you're -- obviously in match play you're playing the golf course. But you're really not. You're trying to play your opponent. You're just trying to put pressure on them as much as you can. 

And a guy like Rory who is obviously going to be a lot longer than me, I can kind of come in the greens first. I felt like if I executed and put some pressure on him that would eventually kind of maybe go more towards my favor. But I think I'm playing Harmon tomorrow, it will be the total opposite. He'll be coming in first on every hole. 

Yeah, I think you kind of mix and match your game plan based on your opponent or the situation, really. If I was in Rory's shoes on 13, I would probably dry to hit driver on the green. You definitely change based on where you're at in the match, for sure.

I was trying to explain to a friend over coffee yesterday why most of the guys hate this week, and it's hard to capture.   

Alan Shipnuck had a couple of queries about the event in his weekly mailbag:

Do you prefer groups or immediate knock-out for the Match Play? — @JJ_Slice 

I still flip-flop on this. I'm old enough to remember a 36-hole final between Jeff Maggert and Andrew Magee that was tedious even for the most strident of purists. For sure, in single-elimination it's problematic to have so many stars eliminated right off the bat, and you can get to the weekend with some unappealing draws. I've grudgingly come to appreciate the glut of matches early in the week. But in my heart of hearts I still prefer the brutal win-or-go-home ethos of the old days.

I don't think it's as close a call has he, but he elides one important detail, which is that there was no sponsor and therefore no match-play event under the old format.  I used to call it the upside down tourney, because Wednesday was the best day of the week and Sunday was an anticlimax.

But to the Tour's credit, they found something that works for Dell and most of the players, and it's a reasonable compromise.

I know the schedule changes quite a bit for the 2018-19 season but where would you like to see the Match Play positioned? Two weeks before the Masters doesn't seem ideal. — @BobEstesPGA 

Yeah, the top players are trying to peak for Augusta and this is a different kind of golf that takes them out of their normal tournament-week rituals and routines. The rejiggered schedule that is coming next year puts the PGA Championship in May and the Players back in March. It will also move the WGC-Mexico up a week in February, so it follows right after Riviera and thus doesn't disrupt the Florida swing. So, every month from February to July is anchored by a major, a WGC or the Players, and then the FedEx Cup kicks in. So why not move the Match Play to January, to kick off the season with a bang? The Hope has lost its identity and relevance, but a match play event at PGA West could be a blast. Or can you imagine the bedlam if it was conducted at Phoenix? Moving the Match Play into January would also be great for the Australian Open, South African Open and other cool international events conducted in November and December because more top players would turn up to solidify their World Ranking.

Bob Estes doesn't have your cell?  There could also be a gap after the Open Championship, but it's a hard event to slot in, especially before we know for sure which events will go bye-bye.

 Lastly, before moving on, do give Tweeter Alliss a moment of your time, revisiting the best match evah.  Handbags at ten paces, well played, Sir! 

Say It Ain't So, Romo - There ain't enough lipstick for this pig, but I for one am relieved that I won't have to wait to hear how he does:

Tony time: Live updates on Romo's PGA Tour debut in the Dominican Republic

For those of you thinking that this is similar to Steph Curry, let me remind you that this an actual PGA Tour event.  We have players who graduated from the Web.com Tour with cards that can't get tee times, but by all means let's use a precious spot on a football announcer.

Brain Costa in the WSJ does a good job of sorting through the issues, but to me the key bit is Tony's self-absorption:

At a news conference in February, Romo said he hoped that PGA Tour pros would withhold any skepticism until they see him play.

 

“It’s not rocket science,” Romo said. “If you can hit a golf ball and you can hit it—if you hit a 5-iron, you hit it 205 yards and you can put it to a back-right pin and fade it in there, they’re going to respect you. And if you can’t, then you’ll probably get some blowback.”

Gee, Tony, could it be because they have seen you play, and then not play:

Romo is listed as a 0.3 handicap, which requires only a bit of rounding to make him eligible. On the other hand, handicaps are based only on the scores players choose to post. Romo hasn’t posted any scores since last September. He withdrew from a mini-tour event in Texas last month after shooting an opening-round 81.

And I actually think the WD is more disgraceful than the 81.  You take a kids place, and then can't even see it through.

MTGA -  Remember those Make Tiger Great Again tees?  

The recipient, Dr. Richard Guyer, is the guy that fused Tiger's back....  I know, but it's the thought that counts.

Tiger, Unplugged - A bizarre excerpt from that new Tiger bio, one that has me actually sympathetic to Bill Clinton.  read the piece for the back story, there was history between the two, but there's no excuse for this:

On the day before the official opening of the learning center, Woods met Clinton, Doug Band, sports agent Arn Tellum and Wasserman for the promised round of golf at Shady

Canyon Country Club in Irvine. Tiger was having breakfast with McLaughlin in the clubhouse when Tellum and Wasserman approached. At that point, Woods had never met either man. Dispensing with introductions, Tiger wanted to know if the president had arrived. When told Clinton was on his way, Woods replied with a straight face, “I can’t wait to talk about p----.” 

The situation got even more awkward after Clinton arrived. Tiger’s behavior did nothing to bridge the gap between him and Clinton. At the outset, Clinton started carrying on, monopolizing the conversation, as he was known to do, before Woods interrupted and said, “How do you remember all that shit?” Once they got onto the course, Tiger acted completely indifferent to the entire group, mostly riding alone in his cart and spending an inordinate amount of time on his phone. After finishing a hole, he would routinely exit the green while others were still putting, a major breach of golf etiquette. When the president hit a wayward drive, Woods snickered. He also told a series of off-color jokes. 

“He was really obnoxious,” said one observer. “It was so clear to me that day who Tiger really was. I’ve never seen the president more put off by a person than that experience.”

To make matters worse, about a week later, Clinton’s office sent a picture of Clinton and Woods on the course together and asked Tiger to personalize it and send it back to the president for framing. Whether Tiger forgot or simply ignored the request remains unclear. Many months later, a staffer for Clinton called Tiger’s office in exasperation and asked, essentially, what the f--- was going on. At that point, Tiger scribbled his name on the photograph and sent it back. Years later, a longtime Clinton staffer had unpleasant memories of the entire situation. “Clinton hauled his ass out West, and you can’t sign a picture? The whole experience was a lot of ‘I’m Tiger Woods, king of the world, go f---yourself.’ ”

He's always had that side to his personality, but that's an awfully public display of it, especially when the underlying transaction was supporting his Foundation's initiative. 

No Dog Was Harmed - The only surprise here is that it wasn't United Airlines:

We've shared tales of airlines damaging professional golfers' clubs or misplacing their bags right before critical tournaments. But the story of In-Kyung Kim's sticks is quite the saga. 

Kim, the seventh-ranked women's player in the world, was on an American Airlines flight in January when her equipment was lost. The company suggested renting clubs in the meantime, easier said than done given it was the same set Kim used during her Women's Open Championship victory last summer. Also unfortunate, as Kim's bag featured a few clubs that were no longer in production. 

A few weeks following the incident, Kim shot a "What's in my bag?" segment with Alison Whitaker, where she relayed her plight. A video that serendipitously caught the eye of three San Diego golfers, who discovered Kim's clubs at a Play It Again Sports store in California.

In this case it was American.

They're Different -  Geoff at Golfweek with a very interesting item:

A year ago at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, many players were concerned about golf’s governing bodies taking away their green-reading books. Nothing much has materialized since regarding the legality of those supplemental books. The players

increasingly rely on the pages full of arrows. 

Except at Augusta National. 

In discussing upcoming preparations for the Masters, both Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth noted that they won’t be able refer to the detailed readouts. 

“Augusta doesn’t provide you with a green-contour book, like the other tournaments do,” McIlroy said. “So you’ve got to sort of figure it out yourself.” 

Spieth noted the absence of green-reading books at Augusta as well, forcing him to rely on notes.

Big deal, those greens are so flat that this doesn't matter much....  Yeah, just playin' ya.

But this still seems a big ask to me: 

The discussion provided a fresh reminder that Augusta National sets its own standards and players willingly comply for one special week a year. That could be noteworthy when folks say the Lords of Augusta would never make players comply with different rules, like, you know, asking them to use a different golf ball during Masters week.

Could and should are two very different things..... 

Midweek Musings

A golf course exists primarily for match play, which is a sport, as distinguished from stroke play, which more resembles rifle shooting than sport in that it lacks the joy of personal contact with the opponent.

FREDDIE TAIT

I don't actually know who Freddie was, but he nailed it.  That's Shack's daily quote, always topical and to the point.  

Match-Play Madness -  It's the one week on the calendar when the guys go mano-a-mano, which means about two-thirds of them absolutely hate it but feel they need to be there.  Then there's Patrick Reed, to whom we'll revert in a bit.

One tradition of the week is the search for the Group of Death....  Here's Golfweek's statistical take on the brackets:

1. Group 9: (Fleetwood) 68.83

2. Group 3: (Rahm) 68.88

3. Group 10: (Casey) 68.96

4. Group 5: (Matsuyama) 68.97

5. Group 8: (Day) 68.99

6. Group 13: (Noren) 69.08

7. Group 12: (Hatton) 69.13

8. Group 14: (Mickelson) 69.14

9. Group 1: (Johnson) 69.15

10. Group 15: (Perez) 69.16

11. Group 11: (Leishman) 69.22

12. Group 2: (Thomas) 69.24

13. Group 4: (Spieth) 69.30

14. Group 16: (Kuchar) 69.42

15. Group 6: (McIlroy) 69.49

16. Group 7: (Garcia) 69.57

Here's the Tour's own breakdown of that top-ranked group:

9. Tommy Fleetwood, England (4-4-0)

26. Daniel Berger, USA (1-5-0)

33. Kevin Chappell, USA (1-2-0)

58. Ian Poulter, England (23-14-0) 

ANALYSIS

Poulter is the lowest seeded player in the group but he has the most skins on the wall, having won the Match Play in 2010 and reached the consolation final in 2013. This will be his first appearance in Austin, though. This group could be the most intriguing of all, given Fleetwood's form and President Cuppers Berger and Chappell. "It's a brilliant group," said Paul Casey.

First and foremost, those referenced skins might as well have been in the Paleozoic era, as he's simply not the same guy.  Tommy's a nice player, but does anyone wake up in a cold sweat over playing him?

As for that 13th ranked group:

Group 4 

4. Jordan Spieth, USA (9-4-1)

19. Patrick Reed, USA (6-5-1)

34. Haotong Li, China (First appearance)

49. Charl Schwartzel, South Africa (13-9-0) 

ANALYSIS 

Will the showdown between Team USA teammates Spieth and Reed on Friday - perhaps the most anticipated group match after Monday's random draw - actually mean something? Both will need to avoid stumbles in their first two matches. Schwartzel, however, has never made much noise in his nine Match Play appearances, and Li is making his debut in this event.

Of course, the revised format could make Friday's match no more meaningful than the Keegan Bradley - Miguel Angel Jimenez cage match a few year's back.  But this will surprise nobody:

PREDICTIONS

5 votes for Reed (Bolton, Glasscott, McAllister, Morfit, Wall)

2 votes for Spieth (Everill, Martin)

Reed will no doubt benefit from the chip on his shoulder, and if you've seen Jordan putt from 5-feet in recent weeks.....  Unless, you know, he spent some time with Brad Faxon.

More video of dropgate has emerged, though I think our initial assessment remains unchanged.  It does add an S-bomb to the vernacular, so good to know that Patrick's vocabulary continues to expand.

I had never previously realized that Jordan was such a conspiracy theorist:

AUSTIN, Texas – Monday’s blind draw to determine the 16 pods for this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play didn’t exactly feel “blind” for Jordan Spieth, whose group includes Patrick Reed. 

Spieth and Reed have become a staple of U.S. teams in recent years, with a 7-2-2 record in the Ryder and Presidents Cup combined. So when the ping-pong ball revealed Reed’s number on Monday night Spieth wasn’t surprised. 

“It seems to me there's a bit more to this drawing than randomness,” laughed Spieth, whose pod also includes Haotong Li and Charl Schwartzel.

Excuse me, Jordan, but golf is a game of honor played by gentlemen, so that can't possibly be true.  Though he goes on to make a compelling case:

“It's not just me and him. It's actually a lot of groups, to have Luke List and Justin [Thomas] in the same group seems too good to be true. It might be some sort of rigging that's going on, I'm not sure.”

I must be really out of touch, because I didn't realize that Luke had accused JT of getting preferential treatment from rules officials....  Oh, and any chance you'd care to respond to the substance of Patrick's comments?

Back to the Tour review of Groups to see what y'all think of this dis'?

Group 14

14. Phil Mickelson, USA (22-13-0)

17. Rafa Cabrera Bello, Spain (8-4-1)

40. Satoshi Kodaira, Japan (First appearance)

59. Charles Howell III, USA (7-10-0) 

ANALYSIS 

Mickelson won the most recent World Golf Championships event in Mexico to end his five-year drought, and he reached the quarterfinals last year after four dominant wins. Howell won his group last year, beating Cabrera Bello 1 up along the way, so the Spaniard gets a chance to avenge that loss on Thursday. Cabrera Bello reached the semifinals in 2016 before losing to Louis Oosthuizen. 

PREDICTIONS

6 votes for Cabrera Bello (Bolton, Everill, Glasscott, Martin, McAllister, Wall)

1 vote for Mickelson (Morfit)

Did I mention that it's a Ryder Cup year?  

Next up is on ode to gamesmanship, though the definition seems far too expansive for my taste.  As a fer instance:

Jason Day, for example, is a two-time winner of this event and although he was reluctant to go into details about all of his “tricks,” he did explain his mindset if he finds himself trailing in a match. 

“Always walk forward in front of the person that you're playing against, just so you're letting them know that you're pushing forward and you're also letting them know that you're still hanging around,” Day explained. “People feed off body language. If I'm looking across and the guy's got his shoulders slumped and his head is down, you can tell he's getting frustrated, that's when you push a little bit harder.”

OK, how is that gamesmanship?  As a contrast, Tiger invading Y.E. Yang's personal space on tee boxes back in the '09 PGA, that qualifies....

The Forecaddie is all over this as well, including a new take on my favorite natch of all time:

The Forecaddie senses there won’t be any pockets full of noisy coins this week, nor will there be extra close scrutiny of a free drop. Then again it wasn’t that long ago when Miguel Angel Jimenez and Keegan Bradley were barking at each other when this event was played at TPC Harding Park, with Bradley seeking refuge in his courtesy car where he was seen petting his girlfriend’s dog.

As they say on Tour, if you want a friend get a dog.  But what all accounts of this incident fail to remind of, is that this was a Friday match with both players having gone 0-2....  so it meant exactly nothing.

And here's Jordan's take on it all:

“There should be some gamesmanship,” he said. “That’s the way it is in every other sport, we just never play one-on-one or team versus team like other sports do. That’s why at times it might seem way out of the ordinary. If every tournament were match play, I don’t think that would be an unusual question.”

See, I think we're talking past each other here.  These guys have gotten so comfortable with the non-confrontational nature of stroke play, heck they're even leaving their balls on the green when it can help their playing partner.

But in match play it's you or him.....that's a shock to their systems, and they don't always handle it well.  Right, Keegs?  Lots of golf to watch, as the revised format gives us 32 matches each of the next three days.  The problem is, if a player makes it to Sunday afternoon, that's seven matches in five days....  A lot of golf, especially if the matches are intense.

I caught this late, but it's a fun read.  Golf Digest interview six top players and asked what makes a good match-play player:

Plenty of players have succeeded in both formats (of recent vintage, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy), some seem much better in stroke play (Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker), but still others seem to rise to new levels of greatness in match play (Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed). What accounts for the special success of this last group? Is there an identifiable personality trait, a playing style, or some ethereal quality that explains why they excel at one-on-one play? 

In the search for answers, I asked six of the world’s best players heading into this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship. What they offered was almost universally uncertain and halting, but inside the clouds of doubt were nuggets of wisdom that may help us approach the truth.

The fun for us is that it takes the players out of their comfort zone.  Most of them, in any event....  And even though they presumably played a ton of MP growing up, they still seem ill-at-ease.

Paul Casey: “It’s a good question, but I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen the guys who are sort of

… the quiet assassins who show nothing, the poker face. I think of Luke Donald, doesn’t matter if he’s hit it in the trees or holed it out, he’s got the same expression every time he plays. And that’s very difficult to play against. And I’ve seen the guys who ride the wave of emotion, like a Poulter. I think again that’s the beauty of it. Maybe the guy who has the poker face is able to … I was just thinking … I don’t know if it matters. 

“Ultimately, it’s about eliminating mistakes and making the crucial putts and pulling it out when you need to. I think that the only thing you need to do as long as you figure out what works for you because I would never...I’m somewhere between those two extremes, anyway. 

“I don’t know. Good question. And if I had a secret I wouldn’t really tell you.”

And yet, like pornography, we know it when we see it.  For instance, I remember Bubba and Luke on the first tee that Sunday at Medinah.  Bubba was whipping the crowd into a frenzy, and yet there was an absolute certainty in my mind who would win that match.

Good stuff.  As is this, in which they seem to go out of their way to make enemies:

Ranking the watchability of all 96 matches from the WGC-Dell Match Play group stage

The Extreme Torture Tier: To be used only on captured enemy combatants

96.Charley Hoffmann—Brendan Steele (W) — If you happen upon this match, destroy 

The moral equivalent of waterboarding?

your TV.

95. Kyle Stanley—Russell Henley (F) — Only avoided last because their names are kinda similar.

94. Kevin Kisner—Adam Hadwin (W)

93. Chez Reavie—Keegan Bradley (F)

92. Sotashi Kodaira—Charles Howell III (F)

91. Johnattan Vegas—Peter Uihlein (F)

OK, Employee No. 2 will be pissed, as she loves her Charley....  But careful with Keegs, you never know when he'll end up in a car petting a dog....

 Nice job with the categories:

He's not playing the 2012 Poults.

The Beer After Mowing Your Lawn Tier: The most satisfying of all beers

10.Matt Kuchar—Zach Johnson (W) — This one’s for you, dads.

9. Sergio Garcia—Xander Schauffele (F)

8. Jason Day—Jason Dufner (Th)

7. Rory McIlroy—Brian Harman (F)

6. Tony Finau—Thomas Pieters (W)

5. Jason Day—Louis Oosthuizen (F)

4. Jon Rahm—Kiradech Aphibarnrat (F) — Spain and Thailand: The ancient rivalry.

3. Phil Mickelson—Rafa Cabrera-Bello (F)

2. Tommy Fleetwood—Ian Poulter (W) — Winner gets a date with the queen.

Kooch and Zach is a good one, for sure....  remember the Michael Phelps story?  

And this inevitability:

The “Stop Everything and Watch It Burn” Tier 

1 Jordan Spieth—Patrick Reed (F) — Well, yeah.

Of course.  If you're looking for proof of a divine deity, let them both come in 2-0.

Nothing To See Here - Early last week we had Rory pointedly taking on the drunkenness of golf spectators.  We have a clarification of the Tour's policy, and you'll immediately see the resemblance to it's drug testing protocol:

The PGA TOUR has a detailed policy as it relates to alcohol sales and responsible drinking at our events. Of note, our policy requires tournaments to end sales of alcohol to the general public one hour before the scheduled completion of play, each day, which is consistent with other major sports leagues.

You'd almost wish they'd just come out and say they don't see a problem and folks can drink all day if they want.  Geoff points out the 45-yard wide holes, saving me the trouble:

A few things to note: the general public refers to non-corporate tent folks. Alcohol is served differently to those paying more money, and sadly, also known to make their share of noise when a chalet is placed too close to play. 

As for the idea of stopping sales one hour before the scheduled completion of play as a policy? That's too late to have an impact on the behavior we've been seeing at tournaments and will continue to see. In an arena or stadium sport, the time windows are generally much tighter than an all-day golf tournament. Also, as we know golf is a different sport than those events where rival teams are playing each other.

Finally, the real damage is done when sales start first thing in the morning and drunken idiots are out soaking up the sun, reduced to half-melting morons by lunchtime. What could go wrong?

It's a policy seemingly designed for the sole purpose of ensuring that the cash registers keep kachinging, while allowing them to state with a straight face that they have a policy consistent with other sports.  Which is fine, as long as drunken spectators don't become a problem....

Nothing To See Here, Really - Well, Olympic Ratings can't get any worse, can they?

AUSTIN, Texas – Potential Olympic golfers for the 2020 Games in Tokyo were informed on Monday that the qualification process for both the men’s and women’s

competitions will remain unchanged. 

According to a memo sent to PGA Tour players, the qualification process begins on July 1, 2018, and will end on June 22, 2020, for the men, with the top 59 players from the Olympic Golf Rankings, which is drawn from the Official World Golf Ranking, earning a spot in Tokyo (the host country is assured a spot in the 60-player field). The women’s qualification process begins on July 8, 2018, and ends on June 29, 2020. 

The format, 72-holes of individual stroke play, for the ’20 Games will also remain unchanged.

Yawn. The most exciting part might be the fight over the host club's membership policies....

Tiger, Uncovered - Via Shack, an interesting Pravda review of the new Armen Keteyan -Jeff Benedict bio of Tiger:

It’s a confident and substantial book that’s nearly as sleek as a Christopher Nolan movie.

It makes a sweet sound, like a well-struck golf ball. 

I found it exhilarating, depressing, tawdry and moving in almost equal measure. It’s a big American story that rolls across barbered lawns and then leaves you stranded in some all-night Sam’s Club of the soul. It reminded me of a line from Martin Amis’s new book of essays: “How drunk was Scott Fitzgerald when he said there were no second acts in American lives?”

Unfortunately, I can't copy-and-paste from the Times these days, not a frequent problem for me.  But if I could, you'd probably read more about Earl than you'd care to know.

Of perhaps greater interest might be their take on Tiger's misrepresentations, specifically they discredit the Stanford mugging story.  They also devote their investigative skills to the subject of PED's, which the media never had much interest in pursuing, though the review doesn't hint at their conclusions.  Interesting, though not sufficient enough for me to actually pick the book up.

Tuesday Tidbits

Just a few trifles for you this morning, as I'm off on a daytrip in a bit.  

Tour Players Behaving Badly - It's out raison d'être, for sure....  It's funny how images stay with one.  I remember the 18th hole at Olympic, as Webb Simpson was trying to close out that U.S. Open.  He had a funky lie next to a bunker, and called a rules official over to see if there was any basis for relief.  The official turned him down, and before preparing to play his shot Webb looked him in the eye and said, "Thank you."  

SHOT:  So, it turns out that I missed the best part of Sunday's telecast:

Now it's hard to really follow te discussion, so fortunately we have this:

But recorded footage of his final double bogey of the tournament is causing a bit of controversy. 

On the 11th hole, Reed hit his approach shot on the far right side of the green, and found his ball among the brush where TV cables were also present. A rules official was called over, and Reed requested relief because he claimed he would have been standing on a cable (power lines, cables and telephone lines are generally considered temporary

moveable obstructions during tournament play, and players are entitled to a club-length of relief under Rule 24-2b). 

But the official refused to grant Reed the relief, arguing that he would be taking an abnormal stance. 

"Not if I take a 7-iron," Reed replies in the video. He then calls for his 7-iron from his caddie as an off-camera voice says, "Anyone else would get a drop out of there any day of the week." 

"I guess my name needs to be Jordan Spieth, guys," Reed responds dryly.

The rules official is unmoved. He tells Patrick to play away. "That's fine," Reed replies. "I want a third opinion. I'm allowed that." 

It's unclear whether he's joking, because he then addresses his ball. From off camera, the rules official asks, "You want a third opinion?" Reed backs off and responds, "Yeah I do. I do want a third opinion. From an unbiased source."

Now everyone is of course focused on the invocation of Jordan's name, curiously personal given their rather successful partnership in Ryder and Prez Cups.  To me, it's the allegation of bias that achieves Peak Patrick....

CHASER:  Were you glued to the match-play bracket show?  I know, Roger Clemens, what a get!  But even The Rocket knew this was interesting:

Naturally, a day after citing Jordan Spieth in a whiny effort to get a free drop, Patrick Reed has been drawn into the same match play pod as the man whose name he invoked in rather pathetic fashion, as Brendan Porath notes.

Popcorn ready.  I can't seem to find which day they'll play, but I'm sure I'll have that for you tomorrow.

I do hope the schedule date is changed with the schedule revisions next year, as the fallout from being right before the Masters is a tad heavy:

ORLANDO, Fla. – Five of the top 64 players in the world will skip next week’s WGC-Dell Match Play. 

Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka and Adam Scott all will miss the second WGC event of the year, held next week at Austin Country Club. 

As a result, the last man into the field is world No. 69 Luke List. Kevin Na, Charles Howell III, Joost Luiten and Keegan Bradley also got into the field.

At least we have Keegs.... His cage match with Jiminez a few years ago was the best thing that ever happened at Dove Mountain.

Needle, Moved - All those folks that didn't show up to watch the Olympics have tuned in to Bay Hill and Innisbrook:

ORLANDO, Fla., March 19, 2018 – Record viewership of the PGA TOUR continued this weekend for NBC Sports Group at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Sunday’s final-round coverage on NBC (2-6:45 p.m. ET) delivered a 3.6 overnight rating, +136% vs. 2017 and the highest-rated final round at this event in six years. Combined with last week’s final round viewership at the Valspar Championship (5.1 overnight rating) these rank as the two highest-rated final-round PGA TOUR telecasts (non-majors) on any broadcast network since the 2015 Wyndham Championship. Golf Channel’s Sunday final-round lead-in coverage earned a .97 overnight rating, the highest at this event in five years. Across NBC and Golf Channel’s coverage, more than 12 million minutes were streamed, +683% vs. 2017.

Those are some wacky numbers for golf.   CBS must be drooling over their expectations for Augusta.

Rory Unplugged - Like much of what comes from John Feinstein these days, this post mortem on Bay Hill fails to deliver the promised good:

Rory McIlroy strikes the right balance between confidence and comfort at Bay Hill

Note to John: They all look confident in the week they win....  The hard part is discerning whether it's sustainable.  probably the best of it his tale of putter woes:

He hit a low at the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. The problems there, he said,

were technical and mental. “I had a two-way miss going with the putter,” he said. “It had everything to do with my grip, but a lot to do with what was inside my head. None of it was good. If anyone else had hit the ball the way I did the first two days at Baltusrol, they’d have been leading the tournament. I missed the cut.” 

So, McIlroy went back to square one. He changed putters and he changed putting coaches, going from Dave Stockton to Phil Kenyon. It worked—for a while. Two weeks after starting over, McIlroy won in Boston. Then he won in Atlanta and played very well a week later at the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National. 

Since then, for all intents and purposes—nothing. Last June at TPC River Highlands, he used three different putters in four days. By the end of the summer he knew he needed a break, physically and mentally. His rib still wasn’t 100 percent and neither was anything about his game.

 There's a few good quotes from the man, including this confirming that which his play makes clear:

“Some of it was adjusting to the greens over here,” he said last week. “I always play well in the desert. There’s rarely any wind, and I’m comfortable on the greens there. There were some windy days here where I didn’t feel comfortable and something was off with my swing; not way off, but off enough. The margin for error for all of us is so narrow. That’s why we all say, ‘We’re close,’ when we’re struggling. It feels like a small gap, but finding your way across that gap can be difficult.”

How a man grows up in County Down without playing well in the wind remains one of life's enduring mysteries....  

Back To The Physio -  Josh Sens has an interesting feature on the prevalence of back injuries in out little game:

"Just in general, the swing has gotten shorter, faster and tighter," says Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, who fleshes out that thesis in his book The Anatomy of

Greatness: Lessons from the Best Golf Swings in History. "When you do that, you're basically turning the body into a time bomb, and sooner or later the spokes are going to start busting off the hub." 

Although Chamblee cites many names in support of his argument, Exhibits A and B for him are Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie, the two most soaring talents of their time. Woods has been under the knife more times than the guy in the Operation board game, while Wie's litany of injuries might lead you to believe that she's a running back. 

That one is fond of twerking and the other has a penchant for jumping out of airplanes may provide a partial explanation. But it doesn't change the fact that both superstars fell prey, to differing degrees, to what Chamblee describes as a detrimental drift in golf instruction. That vogue, which first gained traction in the "80s, called for players to maintain a flexed right knee during the backswing, the better to build a stable base for the shoulders and torso to turn against, loading the body like a spring. "Not only is that a bad way to hit a golf ball, it's also a very good way to get hurt," Chamblee says. "Look at Michelle's swing when she first came out, before she started making changes. It was long and fluid, with a full release of the lower body. It was a thing of beauty, and she could have played until she was 65."

Interesting examples, for sure.  Thing is, Tiger came out with the perfect golf body, but the swing was always violent.  I always thought that his left knee would end his career, but the back should have been my second choice.

Read it if only for the tale of Phillip Francis, the best player you've never heard of. 

Weekend Wrap

Your humble blogger is angry....really quite pissed.  Cursory familiarity with time zones will make clear that I can only watch golf with the benefit of a reliable DVR.  Unfortunately, Xfinity is not in that market segment.  Their DVR does not recognize golf as part of a series, nor do they allow me to add more than 30 minutes to the end of a broadcast.  They tell you that for sporting events the recording will extend automatically, but just like my nephew Ryan, they apparently don't consider golf a sport.

So, did I miss anything yesterday....

Rors Hears the Roars - I thought he looked different earlier in the week, as noted in Friday's post.  But I didn't imagine this:

With eight birdies in his final 13 holes and five in his last six, McIlroy fired a tournament-low eight-under 64 for a three-stroke victory over Bryson DeChambeau at

the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

“He always makes it look easy when he is playing well,” said England’s Justin Rose, who joined McIlroy in Sunday’s penultimate group and watched his European Ryder Cup teammate pour nearly everything into the cup to outgun a star-studded leader board that featured Rose, Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler and the surging Tiger Woods. 

With an 18-under 270 total, McIlroy, 28, won his 14th PGA Tour title after his previous four starts in the States this year were largely a bust with two missed cuts and two rounds under par. In the modern era, only Woods and Phil Mickelson had as many wins before the age of 30.

Well put, JR..... When he's on, and it's been quite the while, no one makes the game look easier.  

Here's the skinny on that now-famous putting lesson:

He was with Brad Faxon, the PGA Tour veteran renowned as a Picasso with the putter.

Their planned one-hour session went three hours and ended with a putting contest. First to five. The green was stimping 13. The wind was blowing 30. Faxon led 4-2. 

“When you win Bay Hill this week, you have to tell everyone I beat you in a putting contest,” Faxon goaded him. 

McIlroy drained three of his next four from 35 feet. The student gave the master a hug and said, “Now I’m going to say I beat Brad Faxon in a putting contest after I win Bay Hill this week.” 

“I didn’t know whether he let me win just to give me a confidence boost, but we’ve joked about that all week,” McIlroy said in a quiet moment Sunday night after his win. “Maybe I can tell everyone now.”

Shall we duck into the deliberations of the sequestered Tour Confidential panel?

2. Improved putting no doubt powered McIlroy's play at Bay Hill, but he also noted Friday that he has "rediscovered my love for the game so much so I am even enjoying playing casual rounds of golf as well." What part of McIlroy's performance should his fans be most jazzed about?

Bamberger: Well, that's a huge statement, and Rory is often candid about these things. As a starting point, you can't do something at a world-class level without loving it. He and his father have been logging some rounds in South Florida and I think Gerry's unadulterated pure love for the game must have something to do with what Rory is describing. 

Shipnuck: That was intriguing, because the last few years Rory seemed low-energy between the ropes. I ‘spose injuries and putting problems will do that. Per Mike's point, it was a blast watching Rory and Gerry together at the Crosby Clambake. Throw in the fact that he's happily married and finally a resident of the U.S. and it's clear that all is right in Rory's world. If he has a smile on his face at the Masters, look out.

The putting improvement was off the charts, as per Geoff:

Rory McIlroy entered the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard 124th in Strokes Gained Putting. He left Bay Hill 23rd in the category and also takes home a new red cardigan, a pile of cash and loads of confidence just two weeks from the Masters.

New normal, or does it regress to the mean?  That's why, contra Xfinity and Ryan, it is very much a sport.....

If you're curious as to how Rory read that putt so well, Shack has video at the link that will remind you that he's seen that putt a time or two.

But if we view it all through the prism of April 5th-8th, could it be teed up any better?

Tiger Scat -  I guess let's lede with those TC guys:

3. Tiger Woods mounted a Sunday charge at Bay Hill before coming undone with an O.B. tee shot on 16. As good as Woods's game has looked during this comeback, his driver has been a weakness (he ranks 148th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee). Woods has already proven he can contend, but if he doesn't straighten out his driver, can he win? 

Bamberger: Well, if Carnoustie is dry, yes, because he can driving-iron it to death. The other three majors will be more trying, but Augusta is wide open — in places — and you don't have to be so perfect with the driver there. Ordinary Tour stops, I don't know. All depends on where he plays.

Shipnuck: You don't have to be perfect but you do have to hit a lot of them. That drive on 16 today was shocking — talk about The Big Miss. The strength of Tiger's game used to be his head, but he admitted that bad swing was the product of a mental error. Throw in the fear he displayed on the 72nd hole at Valspar and I think the driver will be too much of a liability for him to overcome at the Masters. 

Wood: Yes. The way the ball goes now, there are honestly only a handful of holes (if you hit it as far as Tiger does) where you HAVE to hit driver. If he finds a shape he can depend on, he can absolutely win.

OK, he's finished T2 and T5 in consecutive weeks, so of course he CAN win.  I liked Bambi's answer, because I also think it won't likely happen at Augusta.  I like him at Shinny as well, both because of the course as well as the additional two months of play and practice.

The misses remain alarmingly big, especially since not all are with driver.  He's also having trouble getting to the clubhouse, not surprising given the time away.  

This Golfweek item breaks down the numbers:

1. Tiger is relying heavily on his putter

Every golfer experiences year-to-year performance fluctuations in his game, but as can be seen in the chart below Woods’ year-end strokes gained averages in the ShotLink era, along with his averages so far this season, show his driving and iron game are well below his former levels.

The graph above didn't quite fit, but you'll get the point....  There will inevitably be bad and average weeks of putting in Tiger's future, and he'll need to compensate somewhere else.  There's more analysis that's worthy of your time....

But the strong putting has been mostly achieved on the Bermuda greens of Florida.  This, however, may surprise many:

“I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t really thought that much about it, especially this week. I’ve been grinding and focusing on this week, trying to win this thing and now the tournament’s over, I’ll start to make some changes for Augusta, what kind of equipment setup I’m going to go with, some things I want to do with my swing. As crazy as this may sound I haven’t putted on bent grass in two years.”

Other interesting comments from the man as well, including his explanation of the OB tee shot on No. 16.  He was clear that that was "on him", though I'm of the belief that all 69 yesterday were "on him".

The Professor Professes - A strong week for Bryson DeChambeau, whose upright swing takes some getting used to.  But see if you can parse this explanation of his back issue?

Well it was the QL and that really got inflamed for me. It was because my quadratus lumborum wasn’t working, my iliacus, longissimus thoracis, they were all kind of over working, if you want to get technical on that. But they weren’t working very well and I overworked them. Pretty much my lower right back was hurting and I rested it. How about that?"

If there's a cure for Tiger talking about his glutes not activating, this is it.... But rest was a brilliant prescription, I'd have never come up with that.

When an Irishman Tells You You're Over-served.... - Rory expressed this concern early in the week:

"There was one guy out there who kept yelling my wife's name," said McIlroy, who shot 67 on Saturday to pull within two shots of leader Henrik Stenson. "I was going to go over and have a chat with him. I don't know, I think it's gotten a little much, to be honest. I think that they need to limit alcohol sales on the course, or they need to do something because every week, it seems like guys are complaining about it more and more."

Well, as long as he was yelling Erica, and not Caroline.  The TC panel took on the limiting of booze sales as well:

Bamberger: I like the idea of fans acting like grownups and golfers. Fans should police other fans. The proper response to an idiotic comment is, "Not here, sir." (It's never a ma'am.) Some of the comments yelled in Tiger's direction today were embarrassing. 

Shipnuck: I don't share Michael's faith in humanity so, by all means, limit the alcohol. Beyond that the PGA Tour needs to invest in a significant number of trained, full-time marshals *outside* the ropes, to deal with/eject the yahoos. It's not the players' job.

This seems to be an increasingly common feature of life on tour....  Though I think we can all agree that Mike's program is charmingly naive....

Back From The Dead, Again -  With Bay Hill unavailable, I watched the conclusion of this:

A tournament that built its foundation on nostalgia was gamely represented on Sunday by Laura Davies, who has contributed to the game’s history. 

Davies, 54, threatened to turn back the clock in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup, which pays homage to the LPGA's past of which she is a part, but ultimately she was bettered by Inbee Park, who has simply reset the clock. 

When Davies had pulled within a shot of the lead, Park birdied four straight holes on the back nine at the Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix to win by five, her 19th LPGA victory. Davies, Ariya Jutanugarn and Marina Alex tied for second.

Interestingly, Golf.com didn't have room for that story on their home page.  Shame on you, lads, leaving a five-day old Roy Williams story up instead.   

The Davies story was interesting, for sure, but how about Inbee finding the magic yet again after a long layoff.

But of even greater import to my readers is this sad note:

Lydia Ko loves the Bank of Hope Founders Cup and its celebration of the game’s pioneers, and that made missing the cut Friday sting a little more. 

With a 1-over-par 73 following Thursday’s 74, Ko missed the cut by four shots. 

After tying for 10th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in her last start, Ko looked to be turning a corner in her quest to find her best form again, but she heads to next week’s Kia Classic with more work to do. 

“I just have to stay patient,” Ko said. “I just have to keep my head high.” 

It was just the fifth missed cut in Ko’s 120 career LPGA starts, but her fourth in her last 26 starts.

You want data?  Viewer discretion advised, it's not pretty:

Ko came to Phoenix ranked 112th in driving distance, 121st in driving accuracy and 83rd in greens in regulation. She was sixth in putting average. 

Cristie Kerr saw the struggle playing two rounds with Ko. 

“Her game’s not in good shape,” Kerr said. “She seemed a little lost.”

She's contracted Luke Donald disease, and from those numbers a serious strain thereof....  I don't want to say it's the glasses.... but it's the glasses.

Pictures of the Day -  Just some photos that I liked....  Red is definitely not this guy's color, except when it is:

The cardigan is a lovely touch, though I'm wondering why the old B&W umbrella....

Good on the USGA for posting this photo to celebrate Bobby Jones' birthday:

But is it really too much trouble to tell us where it's from?

Time To Be Wasted - Any of you have too much time on your hands?  Gotcha covered:

Alright, Masters fans, got the itch yet? 

The first major of the year is just a few weeks away, and if you've got the itch, the good people running the event are here to help you scratch it by making every final broadcast from 1968 onward available on YouTube. 

Yes, you can get all the "Yes Sir" action you want from the 1986 broadcast, you can scroll back to watch Gary Player win at 42 years old in 1978, or you can watch a young kid named Tiger Woods polish off his first victory in record-setting style. All you have to do is check out the Masters YouTube page. It's all right there.

Those TC's guys have seen a few Masters, let's see where they'd start:

6. No DVR necessary for this one: the final round of the last 50 Masters is now available on YouTube. Which three Sundays are you re-watching first?

Bamberger: I only wish Art Wall in ‘59 was among them. Goalby in ‘68. Watson in ‘77. Nicklaus in ‘86. 

Shipnuck: ‘97 was amazing in the moment but is kinda dull on rewind. Phil in ‘04. 2011 because it was batshizz crazy with eight guys having a share of the lead. Tiger in ‘05. Nicklaus in ‘86.

Art Wall?  Good one, Bambi!  2004 was about as crazed as it gets, but most that tune in to '05 will be shocked to be reminded that after that chip-in on No. 16 he made two ugly bogeys to sqander it.

Anyone else?

Wood: Nicklaus in ‘86, Woods in ‘97, Hogan in ‘53 (I cheated, but I want to watch Hogan play). 

Dethier: Gimme ‘86, and gimme ‘87 too (sorry, Greg Norman). And then I'll take ‘05, just to watch Tiger's chip-heard-round-the-world in real time. 

Zak: Here are some contrarian responses: 2017 — yes, last year — was phenomenal and I re-watched a lot of it Saturday. 2010 for Anthony Kim getting a little freaky naughty on the back nine. Then I'll settle down with a little 2003 playoff between Mike Weir and Len Mattiace, just to remind myself that sometimes this game does funny things. 

Sens: Nicklaus in ‘86. Faldo in ‘96 (partly for Norman's darkly fascinating collapse and partly for Faldo's pitiless pursuit). And I have a soft spot for Crenshaw's emotional win in ‘95.

You guys are all fired.  I do love Sean's mention of '03, because that was the first year after the lengthening (ruining?) of the golf course, and the two shortest guys on the planet ended up in that ugly playoff.

But I'm shocked that there's no love for 1975...  Jack vs. Tom and Johnny, with the bear tracks on 16 green?   No one?