Ernie's Site Time

From Friday's sit down with the assembled inkslingers at Riviera:

Q.  Most people have a 100-mile drive to La Costa, your’s is going to be like 5,000?

ERNIE ELS:  Yes, I'm doing (designing) a golf course in Hawaii, in Honolulu.  Fly out Sunday night and I will be back Monday night in San Diego.

Q.  A little spot inspection thing?

ERNIE ELS:  Just an in-and-out thing. You get there Sunday night – sleep. Probably get up at 6 in the morning, I want to be in the plane 3 o'clock coming back.  That will get me back about 11 o'clock or so.

You know, how do I say this nicely. Wasn't he going to be taking it a little easier this year on the travel front? 

Greetings From LA, Vol. 5

Well the forensic people found signs of a Christian Lacoix shoe on my lowly Rockport, so it's a match. Elin got me. Ebay here we come!

Wasn't it a cold but lovely day? That is, until the rain decided to make a mess of things. Even though the heavy stuff was in the forecast, several players were caught off guard and did not have umbrellas or Gore-tex. Including Tiger.

Uh, isn't this the point of having a tour bag?

I spent the morning walking with Jason Gore. He's struggling a bit with the putter, but otherwise playing fine. He hits the ball, uh, quite long. Particularly when he's pissed.

At various times I made stops by the short par-4 10th to watch just how poorly players manage the hole. With a back (Sunday!) hole location, it was remarkable to see how many people tried to drive the green even though that play brings 5 into the equation.

Els on 10 (click on image)Early in the day, Ernie Els drove the 10th, the very same play that began his demise in the 1995 PGA final round. But hey, that was then, this is now, when he's battling to...make the cut.

Naturally, he made birdie from the 11th tee, so I'm sure he'll continue to swing away at No. 10.

And that's the very beauty of it: the 10th remains as tempting as ever, even the face of all this athleticism.

I'm not sure if Hank Kuehne is tempted easily or just not a very smart player, but a day after driving it in the bunker backing the 10th hole alternate green (40 yards offline), he took another crack at it and made a mess of things. These pictures give you a nice idea how he was lucky to make 5.

Kuehne Hits Into 10 (click on image)
Kuehne from the bunkerI decided to follow Kuehne to see how he recovered, and to also watch Joe Ogilvie, Tour policy board and good natured sport about the columns I write using him as the lead character. Kuehne nearly blew it O.B. on #11, attempting to scale the 80 foot tall range fence. Somehow he stayed in bounds and made par. Then on No. 12 he nearly visited the 11th fairway.
Kuehne approaches 12

The 13th got even uglier with a visit to the left trees, followed by a lay up in the barranca, a swipe from there and finally one more for a miracle bogey. I couldn't take it anymore, nor could I stand staring at the outfit (which would go over wonderfully in certain parts of this town). 
Kuehne on 13

Since it was getting dark and cold (Junior Chamber of Commerce weather!), I ventured toward the press center. Even though the tent is located 350 yards off the 2nd tee, it's now in play baby!

At least 10 players made visits to the press room without actually entering. But the scene was welcomed by the scribblers who don't like to leave the premises for fear of missing first lunch menu crack, even though the fare has been uninspired even by the Junior Chamber's normally low standards.

View from the media centerBefore arriving back, I took in the Holmes-Faxon pairing along with the Ogilvy-Browne-Johnson group. Thankfully, Saturday will feature a Tiger-J.B.-Geoff Ogilvy pairing. Yes, the three players I want to watch most will all be together. Unfortunately, about 5,000 other people are thinking the same thing. 
Ogilvy on 9

Finally, a few more fun photos from the day, including Geoff Ogilvy on No. 9, J.B. Holmes on No. 11 and a distinguished spectator on No. 12.

J.B. Holmes Saturday (click to enlarge)
A fan... (click to enlarge) 

Simers v. Faxon

Apparently no one told Brad Faxon about T.J. Simers, the L.A. Times columnist who needles pro athletes.  

Sounding Off

Peter Yoon and Thomas Bonk have a note on the airhorn sound that kept interrupting Thursday play at the Nissan. And this money quote that probably explains why the neighbor isn't too pleased:

Michael Yamaki, the general manager at Riviera, said the situation should be corrected.

"Eventually we'll have to deal with her," he said. "She can't intentionally do stuff like that. It's too bad. You don't want to have bad relationships with neighbors."

Then maybe you should deal with her.

Greetings From LA, Vol. 4

A chilly but lovely day at the Nissan. Elin stepped on me. She tried to give me a "flat." (At least that's what we used to call it when someone stepped on your heel with the intent of displacing your shoe. I'm sure that's just what she had in mind...)

Anyway, the shoe will be on ebay at the end of the tournament. I'm working on the certificate of authenticity.

Meanwhile, out on the golf course...

The setup was very solid, with a nice mix of tough and medium hole locations. I didn't see any that could be called "easy." The greens were very firm and sneaky fast. A bit crusty too. Combine that with the varying wind directions and morning/afternoon cool temps and...you have 68 players under par!?

J.B. on 17 (click to enlarge)I spent the morning alternating between the Holmes-Taylor-Faxon group and the Ogilvy-Johnson-Browne pairing. Holmes was struggling a bit and seems to have a significant distance gap between his 3-wood and driver. Several holes at Riviera force him to lay up, and his 3 wood was leaving him a bit too far back.That said, he hit a 310-yarder on No. 2 that actually landed in the fairway upslope and bounced backwards. No. 3 he popped one 346, and on No. 5 he hit a 343 yarder. Yes that's right, he just blew it over the ledge that most players lay-up short of...with their drivers.

The Holmes tee shot on 17 wasn't as bad as his ax-murderer reaction makes it look.
(click on image to enlarge)

Long drive of the day doesn't go to Holmes, but to Stuart Appleby for a 385-yarder on No. 3.

For some reason the third tee has become a launching pad the last few years, with only 5 drives hit under 280 yards in round 1. Note the ShotLink shot distribution pattern below. I remember when the fairway bunker was sort of in play on a windy day. Even today with the wind in the player's faces for the afternoon rounds, the bunker isn't even a consideration.

A few years ago, most of the writers in the press tent would have shrugged and said, "so, you move the bunker." But it's fascinating how much that has changed. Most realize now the ramifications and the dilemmas facing courses, architects and course owners.
ShotLink of No. 3, Thursday

Wilson Speaks

Dean Wilson (click to enlarge)Some great questions and comments from the likeable Dean Wilson after his first round 64.

Q.  It seems like they've had a pretty healthy mix of guys who have won this thing from little guys like Corey Pavin, it doesn't seemingly exclude anybody?

DEAN WILSON:  Yes, I think that's one of the great things of a style course like this.  I like to see where guys can mix it up, where you might have a guy that's not so long going against a guy that hits it a long way versus some courses, like said, it's so long, it's tougher for the short hitter to compete because these guys are just getting up there and blasting it so far and the penalty for being a little off-line doesn't really matter.  

Q.  A couple of years ago, somebody could have made the exact same comments, saying it's tough to compete against a guy that's out there blasting 300.  When did 340 become part of the equation?

DEAN WILSON:  I guess when Bubba Watson joined the TOUR.  I played in the second last group in Phoenix and watching where John Holmes hitting it.  It's incredible just watching those guys hit the ball and how farther it's getting out there.  It's a different ball game.

And here's Dean Wilson telling a story about Steve Elkington and the use of the back No. 6 tee.

Q.  Dean, you talked about these guys hitting it far, but it seems also to be hitting it straight more often than not too, which is a little bit scary, isn't it?

DEAN WILSON:  Yes, exactly.  Bubba hit 11 of 14 fairways in the final round of Sony.  That's why he had a great round.  When you hit it that far  some of these courses, what they're doing to me, it seems like every time they make a change to a course, they're just adding new tees, making it longer and longer and longer and it's taking some guys out of the game.

And I kind of find it funny, saying they're Tiger proofing it.  They are just putting it right into his hands where it's tougher for a guy like me to compete against them.

I haven't played this course a lot, but coming out and playing practice rounds and seeing where some of the tees are, and hearing what  I played a practice round with Steve Elkington in that par3, on the front, (No.) 6.  The first thing he said, we went on the practice rounds, we always go to the back tees, we got to the back tees, and he said well this tee ruins the hole.  He said it used to be a great hole before.

Now we are sitting back there hitting 3 and 4irons just trying to get it in the safe part of the green rather than trying to take a chance at something.

So just stretching those courses out, just makes it  I don't think it makes it any better is what I'm saying.

Latest Riviera Changes: No. 3

Saving the worse for last, here are a few photos of the new hole location added to Riviera's wonderful third green.

3rd at Riviera (click to enlarge)Feeling Nicklaus-esque with its sunken-quadrant, circa 1991 Sherwood feel when Jack would throw a tier in just about any old place no matter how badly it fit, the apparent thought process behind the "restoration" of this hole location was George Thomas's original sketch. 

It showed a hole location in exactly the spot where one has been restored. Unfortunately, we also know that Thomas's sketches did not bear much resemblance to what was actually built. He tinkered in the field, or Bill Bell did. The result was a better course. Unfortunately, architects who rely on plans and who do restorations, seem to not be aware of the in-the-field methodology and it has led to a disappointing addition to Riviera's third.

Aerials do not show such a pronounced hole location, nor do photos indicate the funky tiering that is now in the once wickely subtle third.
Rear view 3 (click to enlarge)

Besides enlarging a green that was nice because of its fairly small square footage (and yet, number of versatile hole locations), the addition is fasinating because it seems to eliminate some of the deceptive qualities that have long made No. 3 unique.

Whether that deception crept into the design intentionally or through the evolution of the fronting bunker is debatable, but either way the real charm of this approach was the slight angle that the fronting bunker sat at, making goes at right side hole locations a bit daring (in the way that #12 at Augusta works, only with sand in this case).

And like the added hole locations on 8, 9, 12 and 13, the new work looks exactly that: like new, modern design ideas added to really nice old architecture.

Harding For President's Cup?

Harding Park sounds like an ideal site for the 2009 President's Cup.

Greetings From LA, Vol. 3

Pro-Am day, that means plenty of chances to duck for cover. (The media center is situated between the first and second fairways).

Ernie Els came to the interview room right when Tiger Woods talked to the press above No. 18. I picked Tiger, and it was your basic debacle, with a bunch of TV folks asking banal questions about how Tiger is feeling, when did you open the learning center, etc... Oh and a bunch of questions asking why he's never won at Riviera.

Els apparently didn't have much to say in his chat, though I was hoping to ask him about changes he's making at Wentworth. The driving range buzz is not positive.

Elsewhere...

Speaking of range buzz, a few players have said that they are pretty sure the USGA is going to regulate driver head size, taking the driver back to a 290 cc's limit for competition.

Oddball Thursday pairing: Brad Faxon and J.B. Holmes. The Tour's shortest driver statistically and the second longest.

The greens are the firmest they've been in years. With it dry and breezy tonight look for firm and fast surfaces in round one, unless the hoses come out. Hopefully they'll leave the watering work to the bunker crew.

John Daly and Pro Am Partner (click to enlarge)If you ever think PGA Tour pros make too much money, don't forget just how dreadful pro-ams can be. I was speaking to one player on the putting green and a pro-am guy interrupted to tell his life story, all because he and the player went to the same college.

Driving Distance All Holes v. Measuring Holes

Poking around ShotLink today, I wanted to see what the players were averaging on all drives versus the two measuring holes. Here are a few players, with their average and their rank. (The NA's don't have enough drives to earn a rank).

Player                                Driving Distance Avg.               Driving Distance
                                          (2 measuring holes)                 (All Holes)

Bubba Watson                   320.5 (1)                                    310.5 (2)

Tiger Woods                      306.3 (NA)                                 305.6 (NA)

Phil Mickelson                   298.9 (17)                                  301.8 (4)

Davis Love III                     292.8 (50)                                  291.5 (44)

Charles Howell                  287.7 (81)                                   287.2 (80) 

Jeff Gove                         293.5 (47)                                    287.2 (80)

Jason Gore                       292.8 (50)                                    294.6 (26) 

Sergio Garcia                    282.4 (125)                                  293.7 (30)

Jim Furyk                         267.5 (180)                                  275.8 (168)

Brad Faxon                       257.3 (187)                                  263.1 (188) 

John Daly                         302.2 (NA)                                    298.5 (NA)

Olin Browne                     272.6 (174)                                   273.5 (174)

J.B. Holmes                     313.5 (2)                                       314.6 (1)

All Feel, No Thoughts

Lorne Rubenstein looks at the emergence of the "thoughtless" player.

Riviera's 7th Then and Now

The old barranca/hazard on Riviera's 7th then and now. Note the subtle but significant change to the fairway edge caused by the late 30s flood. Oh, and the cool bridge.

 

"It's not even a tough par-4!"

Reader Josh noted that the 517 yard-par 5 18th at The Vines, site of last weekend's European Tour event won by Kevin Stadler, played to an average of 4.14.

That prompted this remark from Mike Clayton: “It’s not even a tough par 4!”

I'm suspecting the first at Riviera will look the same way this week. Last year it was hovering in the low 4.3 area, and that was in two wet, cold rounds playing as long as possible.   

Going West?

Doug Ferguson reports that the PGA Tour is about to create two fall "Quest for the Card" events in California, starting with a tournament in Fresno on a still under construction course, followed by an event in San Jose.

Also in the works is a tournament near San Jose, Calif., that would be sponsored by Fry's Electronics on a private course called The Institute, which is owned by Silicon Valley mogul John Fry. During the American Express Championship at Harding Park last October, a few players took part in an outing at The Institute. Fred Funk was said to have shot the lowest score (75) on a course that measured about 7,900 yards.

Wow, fun.

Meanwhile, Golf World reports that the Honda Classic may become a Jack and Barbara Nicklaus hosted event.

Greetings From L.A., Vol. 2

I spent an enjoyable few hours walking the back nine with Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald and Sean O'Hair. All three are impressive ball strikers. Donald's swing is particularly graceful and he is still aided by his Northwestern coach, Pat Goss, who was in town to check up on his pupil.

Ogilvy has plenty of interesting things to say about the state of the Tour. I finally found someone who agrees that the Tour's course setup philosophy leaves a lot to be desired. I know you all were worried. Elsewhere...

• The greens actually are not nearly as good as they were last year. Tee to fringe, Riviera has never been better, but apparently the lack of rain and a late fall aerification set the greens back a bit. They are certainly fine, especially compared to 10 years ago. 

• I sat in on J.B. Holmes' press conference, which included some great questions from the scribblers (well, Steve Elling did most of the dirty work):
  

Q.  Are you a weights and/or conditioning guy?

J.B. HOLMES:  Not really.

Q.  I'm guessing not really.

J.B. HOLMES:  No, not really.  I ride the bike a little bit or whatever.  I'm not really big on the weights and stuff.  I probably need to do a little more running or biking or something like that.  I'm strong enough, I really don't need to hit the weights.

But don't forget, it's the athleticism and working out!

Q.  John, with the way that you have been piping it out there the last few years, now that you are out here with the big boys, and blowing it passed all of them, there has been sort of a negative side to it to, people are saying he hits it too far, they need to rein that in. What's your response to all of that?  You can become the poster boy for the USGA making rules changes.

J.B. HOLMES:  I mean if they knock it back 20 yards, I'm still 50 yards ahead of the guy.  So I don't see any point of changing. Everybody says that golf is changing.  It's a new sport, the distance, everything like that.  I really don't believe that truly.  Look at all of the great players; Palmer, Woods, because he was hitting it past everybody.  Nicklaus hit it a long ways. So technology made the distances further, but it seems like all of the great players that you see back in history, they hit it passed everybody.  Even Tiger, Tiger hits it past everybody. So technology is making the distances further.  But I mean the courses are getting longer too, so I really don't think that it's changed the game that much.

Get this young man some talking points!

Q.  You don't think there has been a lessening of the skill factor because you only have to hit your 3iron, 4iron, 5iron a couple of times per tournament?  It's mostly a wedge, 9iron.  These are some of the points that have been raised.  You are just overwhelming golf courses?

J.B. HOLMES:  You know, they are starting to make them longer.  I can see the distances, some of the advantages on some of the courses.  Like they said, say they do dial the ball back 20 yards back, instead of hitting a wedge, I'm hitting a 9iron or 8iron.  The people that are hitting 6iron or 7iron, now they're hitting 4iron and 3iron.

 I'll take anybody with my 8iron or 9iron when they're hitting 3iron and 4iron.  I almost think that will be a bigger advantage because you can hit a 7iron and 6iron close.  It's hard to dial in a 4iron and a 3iron.

Q.  J.B., you said that you're not much of a weights guy, but I'm curious if that's the case, do you think there is even more distance out there for you if you really got on a program, could you add 10 or 15 yards to what you already have?

J.B. HOLMES:  I don't know, maybe.  There is not really any sense of it.  I think I hit it far enough.  If you get into the weights it can change your swing, if you got too big something like that.  All in all I got real strong legs, quick hips, pretty strong upper body and big forearms.  So I don't think there is really any need of me getting stronger.

I can see riding a bike, something like that, doing a little more conditioning, maybe strengthen my core a little more.  But as of weightlifting just to get stronger, I could.  I don't think it will do anything.  It might, it might not.  I might get stronger with the weight and tighten up a little bit and hit it shorter, you know.

Latest Riviera Changes: No. 12

Riviera's lengthy and character-rich par-4 12th was the recipient of a green enlargement prior to this year's Nissan Open. Like with the 9th hole work detailed here, the results leave a lot to be desired.

Notice the historic photo with No. 12 to the left. In the distance is the Riviera par-3 course (today's range) and clubhouse.

The spectators below are encircling the old green floor.

The photo below that shows the newly enlarged green, which has lost the "long, thin" character of the old green and actually appears to be larger than the original. There were also changes to the fronting bunker (now less deep and less intimidating than it was before...).

It's debatable whether this green really needed expansion.

The enlargement work shares the same problem as the expansion on No. 9: the new green falls away from the primary surface, making it debatable whether a hole location can be cut on the new area because of its slope.

Looking at it today with Geoff Ogilvy, he felt it was dicey if the greens were fast. 

Since the idea was to restore a purportedly lost hole location (if it every existed, which appears iffy), the goal of this work doesn't make sense. Nor does it bode well for this summer's expanstion of other greens).

And once again, the expansion of the 12th green makes shots missing this surface so much different and easier than in the old configuration. Once arguably the most difficult up and down on the back side, the larger green should make recoveries simpler. Because in effect, they are no longer recoveries, but instead, birdie putts.

Note this photo of PGA Tour pro John Riegger putting on the 12th during the practice round. Last year he would have faced a devilish lob recovery shot from this spot. Today it's a relatively easy two putt. 

That would be fine if the new hole location added some strategic enhancement. But both of those questions are up for serious debate, especially with a 25-yard wide fairway that makes it impossible for someone to flirt with the O.B. by driving down the left side to open up the best angle of attack.

Instead, the new green seems to be an addition designed to offer an inaccessible "Sunday" hole location.

But with the bunker made more shallow, it actually becomes relatively harmless since and up-and-down isn't too difficult (whereas before it was deadly.)

None of this adds up to reflecting Captain Thomas's style.  

Fay: Who Are We Governing For?

Gary Baines in the Daily Camera (!?) covered a recent address by David Fay and offered these sound bites from the USGA Executive Director.

"I understand people like Nicklaus, (Arnold) Palmer and (Greg) Norman want to do something about the ball, and I respect that," Fay said. "But who are we governing for — the elite players or the people like the ones at the Golf Expo? I'd say for the latter. ...

So this begs the question, why does the USGA regulate equipment at all? Equipment rules are by and large for "elite players."

If someone established the "American Association of Elite Players" and it was created to handle equipment regulation, amateur status and run the USGA championships, what would be the role of the USGA that governs the game for the folks at Golf Expo?

They'd do some handicapping. Green section would still be around. The museum and library would be important. Anything else?

It would seen that the USGA, divorced of the elite player, probably wouldn't need a $600,000 a year Executive Director.

On the state of golf in general: "As a participatory sport things are pretty good for golf," Fay said. There are courses that "fit all sorts of income levels. All participatory sports are relatively flat right now. There are so many more things people can participate in these days.

"We're concerned (about the game's growth). But should golf have 50 million players in the country (rather than the current 25 million)? It we did we'd have a lot more slow play. A lot of the growth in golf is as a spectator sport. It's a hard game, it can be costly and it takes time to play. Those factors can eliminate some people (from participating)."

There would be a lot more slow play if the game grows.

Orwellian I tell you.

No. 16 Then and Now

The short par-3 16th at Riviera in the late 1920s and today...

 

Accuracy Stats

Dave Shedloski on PGATour.com:

If it seems like TOUR members aren’t concerned with a little thing like hitting fairways, you’re right. Since 2000 the number of players who have hit at least 70 percent of their fairways has been on the decline. There were 75 guys hitting 7 of 10, on average, in 2000, but the number fell to 67 in ’01, then 61, 40, 24, 19, and, so far in this young season, there are only 16 players finding 70 percent (up from seven the previous week – thank goodness for generous fairways on the Monterrey Peninsula).

The last three years the driving accuracy leader has been below 78 percent. Since stats were first monitored in 1980, only five other times has the leader in that category been below 80 percent – and only one other time has the leader been below 78 percent (Calvin Peete, 77.5 percent, in 1984).

Want more? On the other end of the scale, there are 105 players hitting fewer than 60 percent of their fairways thus far in ’06. That’s up more than 100 percent from the 52 such wayward whackers last year. As recently as 2001 only five players failed to hit at least 6 of 10 fairways for the entire season. It doesn’t mean players aren’t as good today; in many ways they’re better. But no doubt they play with different priorities.

It’s likely the winner will not get away with such untidy play on the narrow avenues of Riviera (but because the fairways are narrow, hitting them is always chore).

The question is, how much is this decline a result of flogging, and how much of it has to do with the excessive narrowing of fairways?

Greetings From L.A., Vol. 1

A quiet but absolutely beautiful day at Riviera today in the low 80s. Sorry.

Hey, if it's any consolation, we're supposed to have below-normal temps Thursday through Sunday. Anyway, a few observations

• Besides inspecting the new green expansions (No. 9 is detailed below), I watched a few players and walked the course. The fairways have never been better and the greens looked were firm and smooth (especially considering they had just hosted the Monday morning pro-am). There is little rough, which combined with the quality conditions and mind-boggling trajectory of shots, the scores should be pretty low (barring winds, which are predicted for the afternoons).

• J.B. Holmes stopped everyone with a long drive display on the range. If you know the range at all, you know that drives sailing over the far end land in the barranca bisecting No. 11. Holmes was carrying the barranca and you could actually see some of his drives bouncing in the 11th fairway, headed for the 12th. That was a first.  

• As I walked the course, several caddies were out double checking their yardage books. I only saw 2 out of about 20 using rangefinders. 

• Questionable fairway widths: No. 5, 434 yard par-4 into the prevailing wind with a hard right to left slope...25 yards. And No. 12, 460 yard par-4 into the prevailing wind with slope: 25 yards.

• And finally...what would a Tour event be without a light bunker watering...