Guan Lands Memorial Exemption

Well at least the 14-year-old Masters cut-maker Tianlang Guan won't be missing any school for this one. Right?

For Immediate Release...

Chinese Amateur teen sensation Tianlang Guan to compete in the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance  
 
Dublin, Ohio – Officials of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance announced today that 14-year-old Chinese amateur sensation Tianlang Guan has accepted an exemption to compete in the 38th edition of the Memorial, May 27 – Jun 2 at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
 
Tianlang last month became the youngest player to make a cut in a major championship in PGA TOUR history when he finished 58th at The Masters Tournament with a 12-over-par 300 aggregate total. His invitation to the first major of the season came by way of his victory at the 2012 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. A native of Guangzhou, China, Tianlang followed up his performance at Augusta National Golf Club by making the cut two weeks later at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he finished 71st at 4-over 292. Last week he missed the cut at the HP Byron Nelson Championship after rounds of 70 and 77.
 
“I am very excited to accept the invitation to play at the Memorial Tournament,” Tianlang said. “It is Jack Nicklaus’ event, and the same as all the golf fans out there I have very high respect to Mr. Nicklaus, not just as a golf legend, but also as a great person. He has been actively involved in the development of golf in China, and junior golf development worldwide, and as a junior golfer myself I appreciate what he has done to help us grow. My parents and I got the chance to meet him in person at the Masters, and that was one of the highlights of my week at Augusta National. I appreciate a lot the Memorial Tournament for having me there, and it is going to be a great week.”
 
Tianlang is ranked No. 78 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

“The Memorial Tournament has been a strong supporter of amateur golf since its inception, and each year the winners of both the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur are always invited to participate,” said Memorial Tournament Founder and Host Jack Nicklaus. “With the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship becoming such an important event in the game of golf, and with the winner earning an invitation to The Masters Tournament and a spot in International Final Qualifying for the British Open, the Captains Club thought it was only appropriate to offer an invitation to the Memorial Tournament. We hope that in the future, we can make this a standard policy with our exemptions.

CSI: Tigerdrop Sawgrass '13 Winners!

Cork Gaines wins for the best forensic of Tiger's tee shot, noting the angle of splash and how it doesn't match the hard hook angle that would be necessary for the drop spot to have worked.

And there should be some sort of award for use of Photoshop.


And this "angle of view" importance breakdown is also quite impressive:

'13 Players Final Round Ratings Up 68% On A 5.7

Ed Sherman with the details via SBD.

Another Tiger Drop Debate; Grassy Knoll In Play

Jay Busbee breaks down the latest Tiger Woods ball drop controversy, the third this year (as Bob Harig noted in his story about the situation at 14 tee Sunday at The Players). The Big Lead has about two minutes of the telecast posted.

After watching the recording multiple times, reading the description of the shot and hearing NBC's Mark Rolfing describe it, that at best, playing partner Casey Wittenberg's assertion appears to be a stretch when suggesting where the ball crossed the hazard. As quoted in an unbylined AP notes story:

"He asked me exactly where it crossed," Wittenberg said. "I told him I thought it crossed on the corner of the bunker, right where he took his drop. And it's all good."

I'm guessing Sergio Garcia wouldn't have seen it this way based on the commenters here who could smell trouble right from the get go and also had some wise follow-up observations.

At least based on the blimp shots and the obvious skepticism from Peter Jacobsen and Johnny Miller, the ball would have had to have flown very straight, then hooked hard at the end. It does not take a genius to see by Tiger's reaction and the video, that the hook was immediate, not late as Wittenburg's drop point would require.

As noted in Harig's story, the PGA Tour's position was clear: this was the call of Woods and his playing partner Casey Wittenberg with help from Mark Rolfing of NBC. Since Woods took his eye off the ball by the time it made the purpoted late hook, he could not speak with certainty about where the ball crossed the hazard. The call is Wittenerg's then.

The PGA Tour's Mark Russell, as quoted by Harig:

"They both saw it," Russell said of Woods and Wittenberg. "They're back there with a television commentator [NBC's Mark Rolfing], who basically agreed with them. He said he hit a high hook. The problem is on television, that area looked the same, and they thought he dropped up there where it splashed. He dropped it 60 yards back of that. The players had the view of it."

What caused the doubt for me was this statement by Rolfing speaking of hazard stakes by tees on the fairway side of the lake, no where near where the ball crossed:

"It looked like it was over water at this point, if not before."

"Before" seems to be what the video and screen captures suggest.

Here is the overview photo of the hole as taken from the blimp, which did not appear to move much and had what seems like a very good angle to capture the tee shot's general flight.

Below is the "at this point" Rolfing refers to, which appears to be well right (from the player perspective on the tee) of the entry point detailed in the third photo.

Thanks to all the readers who sent in this YouTube analysis by filmmaker John Ziegler dissecting Tiger's 14th hole tee shot, questionable drop and NBC coverage of the situation.  Now, it should be prefaced by saying this video was put together by a  filmmaker who is devoted to clearing Joe Paterno's name in the Sandusky affair, not exactly a cause for the ages. Still, Ziegler makes some strong points and calls out Rolfing's shift from his original call to supporting the drop location even as Johnny and Peter Jacobsen are so clearly not buying the assertion.

Update on 2013-05-13 19:39 by Geoff

**Joseph LeClair Tweeted a telling photo showing the ball flight that would be necessary to make the drop work.

Video Tiger Will Never Tire Of: Sergio's 17th Hole Water Balls

Oddly, the editors of this package deprive us of one of Sergio Garcia's balls going into the TPC Sawgrass's 17th hole lake, but nemesis Tiger Woods will no doubt savor seeing Garcia's Players Championship hopes unravel.

From PGA Tour Entertainment.

Sergio-on-17 highlights from the NBC gang:

Johnny Miller, on Sergio Garcia’s first tee shot into the water – “It was almost too much for him.  The minute he hit that, he knew it was right.”
 
Gary Koch, on David Lingmerth’s tee shot on 17 – “That is the first tee shot I have seen end up right of the flag.”
 
Gary Koch, on Sergio Garcia’s second tee shot on 17 that hit the water – “Absolutely amazing he would come up short.”
 
Johnny Miller, on Sergio Garcia’s struggles on 17 – “Tough to watch.”
 
Dan Hicks, on Sergio Garcia’s struggles on 17 – “You just never want to be one of those guys at 17.  One of those guys in contention who feels all alone when things just start going the other way.”

And while we're piling on, golf.com's Ryan Reiterman posts a nice compilation of Sergio's greatest meltdowns.

Big Break Ponte Vedra: Tiger & Sergio In Raucous Row!

Ron Sirak breaks down in entertaining fashion what he claims could have been a "Big Break" episode between Tiger and Sergio (I, in year six of my strict doctor-ordered Big Break diet, cannot say for sure if this is an appropriate metaphor).

The Showdown At Sawgrass went something like this: Sergio is going for the par-5 second green, Tiger pulls his club on a par-5 as Sergio is hitting but he can't see Sergio hitting. Sergio, as he's known to do, heard the crowd reaction to Tiger pulling driver and well, we have ourselves an episode!

"It was my shot to hit," Garcia said on NBC during the weather delay that halted play with the two on the seventh hole. "He moved all the crowd that he needed to move, and I waited for that. I want to say that he didn't see that I was ready. But you do have a feel when the other guy is going to hit. Right as I was on top of the backswing . . . everybody started screaming, so that didn't help very much. It was unfortunate."

And Tiger showed that if the golf thing doesn't work out, he can always star in a reality show.

"Well, the marshals, they told me he already hit, so I pulled a club and was getting ready to play my shot, and then I hear his comments afterwards and [it's] not real surprising that he's complaining about something," Woods said. Asked if they discussed the matter, Woods said: "We didn't do a lot of talking."

On Twitter, former Tiger instructor Butch Harmon just found the whole thing so unfortunate. Right Butch, right.

Sorry to hear that Woods & Garcia are trading words thru the media. If they have a problem they should talk it out in private .

— Butch Harmon (@43BH) May 12, 2013

The eleven minutes of Golf Channel's Live At roundup include a split screen that backs up Sergio's version of events along with some strong reactions from Lerner, Nobilo and Chamblee apparently broadcasting from an executive VP's office at tour headquarters.

Frank Nobilo – “The word respect.  Tiger Woods respects Sergio Garcia and his ability to play this game.  Sergio Garcia respects and admires Tiger Woods’ ability to play this game and his resume.  Like?  No. Respect? Yes.
 
Brandel Chamblee – “It certainly makes for the next three holes these guys play in what is the third round, far more interesting.  And should they get paired together?  Well, we might have those fireworks.”
 
Rich Lerner (@RichLernerGC) – “Where is Vince McMahon when you need him.”

Golf Channel will pick up the conclusion of round 3 live Sunday at 7 am ET.

Update on 2013-05-12 14:59 by Geoff

**More from Sergio, courtesy of Bob Harig's account:

"I'm not going to lie,'' Garcia said after completing the third round in a three-way tie for the lead with Woods and David Lingmerth. "He's not my favorite guy to play with. He's not the nicest guy on tour.''

Later, Garcia told the Golf Channel: "It's good for both of us. We don't enjoy each other's company. You don't have to be a rocket engineer to figure that out.''