For What It's Worth...

...During the Golf Channel's 30 minute show between Sunday's TNT and CBS coverage, Rich Lerner of The Golf Channel asked the PGA's Roger Warren about moving PGA Championship tee times up an hour to ensure the round was finished.

Warren claimed that the forecast was too sketchy to make such a concrete move. But it's hard not to imagine that had they teed off earlier, the round might have finished before the weather arrived. CBS would have come on the air with the last group teeing off, and at the worst, finished a little early.

So just remember, there are several hundred very bitter writers sitting in a New Jersey tent, armed with laptops, ready to pounce. A Monday finish fiasco has been long overdue at golf's majors, because giving the networks a strong prime time lead in has taken a priority to finishing rounds at a reasonable hour.

And as I type, Phil Mickelson is being asked by a scribbler and he's choosing his words very carefully, pointing out that they finished in the dark yesterday and that alone should have been reason to move the times up a bit.

Sunday PGA Reads

Sure looked like a lovely day at Baltusrol! It was stuffy here in the Home of the Homeless. I actually had to turn on the ceiling fan this afternoon. Still didn't help me ward off the nap. So what exactly did Phil do on 15?

Anyway, GolfDigest.com's Brian Wacker leads with weather talk and has other notes in his "postcard" from the PGA.   Gary Van Sickle at SI handicaps the finish and says Baltusrol is the big winner this week.

Golfonline's Tom Mackin catches up with Billy Farrell, son of longtime Baltusrol head pro who was making a rare visit to the club. He also writes about the Wolffe brothers, Rick and Stuart, who produced the Tillinghast books along with Bob Trebus.

AP has several notes on the event, including the story behind John Daly's move to a wedge and the cell phone ban. Damon Hack writes about Tiger's missed opportunity 66.

And here's a weather by the hour forecast site, one of many that the assembled inkslingers will be watching anxiously tomorrow. Nice forecast. If you were playing here in LA or in the Pacific Northwest...ah, I won't go there.

Tiger on Saturday

Thankfully, someone asked the question a lot of us were probably wondering about: for the second day in a row Tiger tried (unsuccessfully) to hit an easy 3-wood into 17, with dreadful results.

Q. What was your yardage on 17? What's the difference between 3 wood or 2 iron?

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's 274 and I can't carry 2 iron 274 downwind uphill. If it was flat, I'd probably hit 2 iron but since it's uphill, I can't. So I have to hit some kind of choke up cut 3 wood to the front. It was 274 to the front, or 290 to the hole, stays downwind, as hot as it is, the ball is flying forever. I tried to start the ball to the left trees, cut them, hit some kind of banana ball and I actually pulled it.

Q. Given that set of conditions, any thought to laying up and giving yourself...

TIGER WOODS: Why? No. (Laughter).

Q. You're a good wedge player.

TIGER WOODS: No. I needed 3.

Hmmm...4 would've worked too.

He also confirms hitting 17 iron into 18 for the second day in a row.

Speaking of the finishing hole, I think it played about as easy as a par-5 ever has in a major:

18     4.4177     Eagles: 11     Birdies: 124     Pars: 94     Bogies: 8     Others: 0

Crane On the Clock

The Atlanta Journal-Constitutions Glenn Sheeley looks at the slow play issue. Ben Crane says the rumors that he reads the Bible scriptures stuffed into his yardage book are are "absurd." But Friday at Baltusrol, Crane put on this absurd display:

• Time to hit tee shot.. 52 seconds
• Time to hit approach........ 1:34
• Time to hit first putt...... 1:18

And John Daly, same hole, same day:

• John Daly Tee shot.............. 19 seconds
• Approach shot..........12 seconds
• First putt............ 16 seconds
  
  

Saturday PGA Notes

I was about to point out what a great job TNT was doing until the quadruple commercial break stretch as Tiger was playing 18 in round 2.  At least the announcing was sharp, restrained and insightful...though there was Bobby Clampett's 62 prediction for Tiger's Saturday round.  It was a long, hot day.

Speaking of the heat, it was 74 today here in the Home of the Homeless. FYI, my hometown borders two-time PGA site Riviera. Not as nice as 95 and humid New Jersey or Tulsa, the PGA site in 2007.

GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker files a postcard with some fun anecdotes. Cameron Morfit files a notes column for Golfonline.   Tom Mackin writes about Joe Damiano, Jersey guy and Stuart Appleby’s caddie.

Tiger is asked about the bad break on 17 and the 7-iron into 18. He ends it with a funny one-liner.

An Irish Examiner story story on Darren Clarke not playing in the Seve Cup, with denials that he is avoiding Captain Monty. John Huggan writes about Sean O'Hair for The Guardian.  And SI's Chris Lewis makes his case for the PGA as the best.

The course played much easier during round 2 (70.53). Here’s the PGA's only course stats page but by the time you look at this they’ll probably have round 3 in place (the PGA web site doesn't break down stats by round. Other stats seem to be unavailable.

Finally, Mike Penner writes in the LA Times that Comcast’s Outdoor Life Network is making a strong bid for the NHL. What does this have to do with golf? The up-and-coming network is apparently looking to raise its profile. Perhaps golf will be next on its list?

Jenkins: How much longer and tighter can courses get?

Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post (reg req.) looks at Baltusrol and wonders what's becoming of major championship setups.

Woods's struggle at Baltusrol begs a question, and it's a question that governing bodies of golf have avoided thus far, but which they are going to have to face head on at some point soon. How long can they continue to protect golf courses against burgeoning technology? It's an issue that Woods has helped to force, with his length and ability to make a world-class course look like miniature golf. More and more, courses are gimmicked-up in an attempt to preserve par and control scoring. Even Augusta National is adding 155 yards to its length.

Some courses, according to Woods, have become so tricked up that they resemble "elephant burial grounds." But at a certain point, we are going to run out of ways to manipulate the acreage. What then? How much longer and tighter can courses become without completely distorting them, and the basic values of golf? The most sensible solution is to impose limits on technology, or to use a softer covered, standardized ball that won't travel as far. So far, the ruling bodies have declined to look at such solutions, because it would mean two different standards.

The equipment companies say they don't want pros playing one game, and amateurs playing another. But the reality is that we're already doing that now. How many amateurs can play a 650-yard par 5? When we gin up a tournament venue so dramatically, make it as brutal as it can be for one week, we create another standard. Isn't it easier to control the balls and clubs, than to stretch courses or distort them beyond recognition, until virtually half the field is eliminated on the first tee? Baltusrol is playing fairly -- barely.

Woods's opening round was the fault of his own errant swings. But we're seeing a suggestion here of what happens when the landscape is continually manipulated. Make a course too long, and you eliminate shorter ball strikers. Make it too narrow, and it becomes leveling and the ability of a Woods is totally negated. Either way, it neutralizes skill level -- which is exactly the opposite of what tournament golf should do.

Jenkins raises a question I hope to someday a governing body will contemplate: at what point is a fairway too narrow? Is it 20 yards? 15? 10? The width of a ball?

Friday PGA Reads

Well I stayed awake until 3 est time. But the ING ads are back, the fog rolled in, and I just had to lie down. Maybe tomorrows appearance by Charles Barkley will liven things up. Anyway, the post round coverage was thankfully more interesting than the telecast.

Golfonline's Cameron Morfit has some observations and notes. AP's Jim Litke looks at the long hitters in round 1, with some interesting anecdotes. Bill Pennington in the NY Times looks at the 17th and how players long and short handled it during round 1. Here's Tiger's post round1 press conference. I liked him a lot better when rounds like this meant blowing off press.

Golfweek's Jeff Rude looks at the how life and golf have changed since the last time a major was held at Baltusrol.  Jim McCabe in the Boston Globe offers an in depth and fascinating look at The Country Club (where they were supposed to be playing this week), the PGA and big time golf venues. He notes that "Baltusrol members won't see the Upper Course for the rest of the year; Winged Foot members are already braced to lose one of their courses for more than a year, just to host the 2006 US Open."

McCabe's column also writes about 2005 PGA Distinguished Service Award winner Wally Uihlein, and the normally evenhanded Globe writer fawns:

A historian, a visionary, and a voice of reason, Uihlein is a point man for manufacturers who are so often attacked on topics involving equipment. To say that Uihlein is a leader in the golf industry is akin to saying Tiger Woods is a pretty good player. A historian, a visionary, and a voice of reason, Uihlein is a point man for manufacturers who are so often attacked on topics involving equipment. The products under the Acushnet umbrella -- Titleist, FootJoy, Cobra, Pinnacle -- are of the highest quality, but it's Uihlein's relentless devotion to the company that sets a shining example. In the world of golf, there are more high-profile names, but no one has a better feel for the game than Uihlein.

Tim Cronin previews the Walker Cup. The GCSAA offers its "Divot Mix" that includes a leadstory on a new $350 lost ball finder. It comes with a dozen balls, additional balls are $40 a dozen. It also links to this Baltusrol maintenance blog.

Here's the GCSAA fact sheet on Chicago Golf Club, host of the Walker Cup.  And finally, The New York Times enters the Sean O'Hair story arena. Writer Diane Lacey Allen manages to make Marc O'Hair sound like a victim, which I didn't think was possible.

Thursday PGA Reads

Had trouble sleeping lately? I have just the cure for you: Wednesday’s State of the PGA press conference transcript.

Q. What is the status of the search for Jim's successor and when might we expect an announcement on that?

ROGER WARREN: I anticipated that question. [Wow, bet Roger’s one heck of a poker player!] We are still in the search process for a CEO. As we have talked about from the beginning, we always intended to try to have a target of our annual meeting this year in November to have that person selected. The search process is ongoing. We would still use that as a target time, and as we get to the point that we are ready to announce our CEO, we will make that announcement.

If you don't want to read the player transcripts, here's a decent summary of some player comments leading into the PGA. But if you do read a transcript, Jack Nicklaus's is the most entertaining. The same rally killer from yesterday gets a big break when Jack brings up Bobby Jones. But he also has some interesting things to say about a big swing change in his career and the notion of smaller players not having an opportunity in the future because of changes in the game.

Colin Montgomerie reveals that he'll never become a flogger, which is why he probably won't win a major.

Q. Is that somewhat by design? Could you get another 20 yards if you wanted to through some combination, or you don't do it because you don't want to sacrifice accuracy?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Well, this is the next thing. You know, do I, do I want to hit the ball 20 yards further in the rough, or do I want to be 20 yards back in the fairway? Well, I'll take 20 yards back in the fairway every day. Every day.

And add Colin to the list of liberal technophobes.

Q. Enough with the feathers, let's go to something smaller. Jack Nicklaus was in here awhile ago talking about the technology, and he said the main problem might be in the golf ball, that it might have to be scaled back. Do you agree with that? Would you be in favor of that?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Totally. I've said that for years; our technology is 20 percent the club and 80 percent the ball. Totally.

Here’s an Indy Star article on Donald Trump's ambitions to get a USGA event at Trump National Bedminster. It includes a comment from Marty Parkes but no mention that Trump has reportedly hired a USGA staffer as a consultant.

Tom Sposta in the USA Today offers an extensive look at the course lengthening trend along with its impact on shorter hitters.

"There's a lack of imagination when they're updating courses," says Lee Janzen. "You could come in and just move the bunkers in 5 or 6 yards on every hole, turn the holes a little bit here and there, so guys have to be more accurate off the tee," Janzen says. "Dig out the bunkers a little deeper. Add a little penalty. If there's a penalty out there that guys can see, then they'll play a safer shot, which leaves them harder approach shots and longer putts. That will bring scores up."

Ugh.  Also in the USA Today, Jerry Potterwrites about Jack Nicklaus's design career. Nicklaus says he's far more willing to take on projects with other designers now because he wants to learn from others a Signature Design, for $2.5 million, or the expertise of others for $500,000. The Golf Channel details their Walker Cup coverage plans.

And finally, the great news we’ve all been waiting for, Rees Jones is going to visit Cog Hill. Ed Sherman has the details under "He's Coming."

"He" was on The Golf Channel and noted that Baltusrol was a Trent Jones-Rees bunker and tee design with Tillinghast greens. No argument here!