Kerr On Ko: "Her game’s not in good shape"

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No one wants to kick Lydia Ko when she's down, but given the turnover of coaches and caddies she's fired in recent years, this assessment filed by Golf Channel's Randall Mell from the Bank of Hope Founders Cup is noteworthy. (The event was won by Inbee Park, who held off world No. 363 Laura Davies among others, as Ron Sirak writes in this game story from Phoenix.) 

From Mell's story on Ko:

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.”

LPGA Tour Coming To Classy Old Wilshire CC

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The Forecaddie explains the return of big time pro golf to Wilshire Country Club, one of the few courses on earth to have hosted all three tours. The historic LA-club is an underrated Norman MacBeth masterwork loaded with character and rich in tournament history.

And now Korean botox maker HUGEL will sponsor at least three years of LPGA golf there, with the middle year marking the club's centennial.

Ran Morrissett's GolfClubAtlas.com review if you aren't familiar.

Just announced! Wilshire Country Club will host the LPGA TOUR April 16-22, 2018 for the HUGEL-JTBC Open! #LPGA #wilshirecountryclub #SCPGA

91 Likes, 6 Comments - Southern California PGA (@scpga) on Instagram: "Just announced! Wilshire Country Club will host the LPGA TOUR April 16-22, 2018 for the HUGEL-JTBC..."

LPGA In 2018: 34 Events In 14 Countries...

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And back again in LA and San Francisco with $68.75 million in purses, adding big markets and better flow on the travel front, notes Golfweek's Beth Ann Nichols.

She writes:

Two events are gone from the ’17 – Lorena Ochoa’s event in Mexico City and the Manulife in Canada – but stops in Shanghai, Los Angeles and San Francisco have been added.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of our schedule is the consistency – continuing to deliver strong playing opportunities both in North America and around the world, while growing overall purse levels every year,” said LPGA commissioner Mike Whan.

Twenty-three new title sponsors have been added to the LPGA portfolio in the last six years, including South Korean skincare company L&P Cosmetic, which will sponsor the new event at Lake Merced outside San Francisco. Swinging Skirts hosted an event at Lake Merced from 2014 to ’16 but now sponsors the LPGA’s event in Taipei.

The return of San Francisco to the schedule helps build a strong West Coast Swing. Following a week off after the ANA Inspiration, the tour returns to Oahu for the LOTTE Championship April 11-14 before heading to the greater Los Angeles area for the inaugural HUGEL-JTBC Championship. The host club will be announced in 2018.

I don't know the proposed LA venue but let us all pray that the former Industry Hills, now Pacific Palms, will not be visited for a third time. No one deserves that. No one.

LPGA Commish Mike Whan explained the schedule thinking to Golf Central's Ryan Burr here.

And ratings are in for 2017, For Immediate Release:

NEARLY 22 MILLION VIEWERS TUNED IN TO NBC SPORTS’ COVERAGE OF THE LPGA TOUR IN 2017, MOST-VIEWED SEASON EVER FOR NBC SPORTS

NBC Sports’ LPGA Tour Coverage Ties 2013 for Most-Watched Year Since 2011

NBC and Golf Channel Boast Top-6 Most-Watched Women’s Golf Telecasts in 2017

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 13, 2017 – Beginning with the dramatic playoff finish at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic in January and concluding with Lexi Thompson winning the $1 million Race to the CME Globe, nearly 22 million viewers tuned in to LPGA Tour coverage across Golf Channel and NBC in 2017. This makes 2017 the most-viewed LPGA Tour season across NBC Sports since Golf Channel joined the NBC Sports Group in 2011. Additionally, 2017 tied 2013 as the LPGA Tour’s most-watched year across NBC Sports since 2011. Coverage drew an average of 221,000 viewers per telecast in 2017 (+24% vs. 2016), according to data released by The Nielsen Company.

NBC SPORTS GROUP CLAIMS TOP-6 MOST-WATCHED WOMEN’S GOLF TELECASTS IN ‘17

For the first time ever in televised women’s golf, Sunday’s final round of the RICOH Women’s British Open (Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017, 1.1 million viewers) delivered the most-watched and highest-rated women’s golf telecast of the year. NBC’s Saturday (Day 2) coverage of the Solheim Cup in August placed second with 968,000 viewers, followed by Sunday’s Solheim Cup coverage on NBC with 946,000 viewers. Golf Channel’s live coverage of Sunday’s final day of the Solheim Cup drew 795,000 viewers, the most-watched women’s golf event on cable in eight years.

 

Rank

Network

Event

Day

Avg. Viewers P2+

1

NBC

RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

Sunday

1,100,526

2

NBC

SOLHEIM CUP

Saturday

968,202

3

NBC

SOLHEIM CUP

Sunday

946,387

4

NBC

KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday

839,983

5

NBC

RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

Saturday

808,578

6

GOLF

SOLHEIM CUP

Sunday

795,000

Florida Prilosec Shortage Averted: Pro Tours Retain Tax-Exempt Status In Senate Bill

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Since this CNBC story hit last week reporting the potential Senate tax bill inclusion of a giant headache for golf's professional organizations, heartburn and acid reflux medicine has been flying off the shelves in greater Daytona Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach and West Palm Beach.

While we don't know if this shortage was tied to the possibility of losing 501(c)(6) status for the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and PGA of America, things should return to normal after some Senator struck language sometime Friday. The bill was voted on Saturday morning without language that would have done untold damage to the business operations of the tours and potentially to the PGA of America.

My Golfweek story here on the language in the bill and what this might have meant. Not included are insights into the thousands of messages between tours and lobbyists in the frantic moments leading to the final legislation shaping.

Here is a final version of the bill, minus all of the pork written into the margins.

Shark Talks Weakness Of Today's Players Inside 150, Why The Masters Can Make Players Use Anything They'd Like

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We forget that when Greg Norman is not hawking golf carts and posting shirtless Instagram images, he can be a keen observer of the game.

In an interview with an unbylined Gant News writer filing for the CNN affiliate, Norman touches on Patrick Reed knowing so little about his clubs, LPGA players being more accurate with their drivers and many other topics.

But the two getting my attention involved what he sees as a big change in the prowess of today's players with a wedge approach (inside, gulp, 150 yards).

“If you look at today’s top players, their distance control inside 150 yards with a wedge is quite amazingly poor,” he said.

“These guys are 20ft short, 30ft left, 20ft long, their distance control is not consistent. It could just be the way they play — when it works, it works and when it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

“In our era, every time you’d put a pitching wedge in your hand, if you didn’t think you’d get the ball inside 10ft every time, or seven out of 10 times, you weren’t having any control over your golf game.”

I do see this in watching many of today's players compared to Norman's era and wonder what the exact cause is that makes Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson such standouts in this distance.

On the topic of distance, Norman agrees with others that this is about sustainability and Augusta National could be the solution.

“I remember the eighth hole at Augusta was nearly impossible to reach in two and now these guys are hitting irons in there,” said Norman who finished second three times at The Masters, perhaps most notably in 1996 when he blew a six-shot lead and Nick Faldo took the green jacket.

“Augusta can’t lengthen itself anymore but the tech is going to allow these players to keep hitting it longer year after year.

“If they sent out an invitation to the players and said ‘you’re going to use a gutter percha ball and a hickory shafted golf club, go get them worked out, practice before you get there, the best player will still win that week.

“The best players have that ability to make that adjustment no matter what they’re using.”

Lexi Thompson Is A Million Dollars Richer Tonight, Mercifully

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We know golf is cruel but few have experienced a year like Lexi Thompson, who dealt with an ugly rules infraction at the ANA Inspiration and costing her a major. Then her mother battled cancer and, with the season ending CME Group Tour Championship in her sights, Thompson missed one of the shorter putts you'll ever see. And she wasn't close.

But there is great news! She won the season-long Race To the CME Globe in spite of the miss and world No. 5 Ariya Jutanagarn capitalized with a clutch last hole birdie for the tournament win. As Beth Ann Nichols notes in her Golfweek game story, the LPGA season ended as it essentially started: with Thompson heartbreak.

Bill Fields, filing for ESPN.com, sets up the scene:

Thompson went to No. 18 leading by one and was on the green of the 425-yard par 4 in regulation. From 60 feet after reading the putt with caddie Kevin McAlpine, she lagged beautifully, cozying her ball two feet left of the hole. So little was left that if Thompson hadn't been worried about stepping in the lines of fellow competitors Austin Ernst and Jessica Korda, she said she would have putted instead of marking.

When it was time, to finish off a tournament and end a trying season in style, there was no reason to call McAlpine over for his opinion. "I just mentioned to her, 'You've got it,' and my job's done," said McAlpine, who didn't watch what happened next.

And it's best.

Kevin Casey at Golfweek with the roundup of Tweets and other Thompson comments after the ghastly miss. Kids, cover your eyes, this is not a stroke to emulate:

Because the event was telecast on ABC, there do not appear to be any packaged highlights available for embed or reference. So Lexi has that going for her. And $1 million well earned after a long, but consistently good 2017 season.

ShanShan: China Gets Its First No. 1 Player

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With her third win at the LPGA's Blue Bay event on Hainan Island, Shanshan Feng becomes China's first player to top a world ranking. The bronze medalist in Rio understood the gravity of her win and also made light (at least in my reading) of the chaotic, course-closing, anti-golf madness that is hurting golf in China.

From Beth Ann Nichols' Golfweek.com report:

“I finished first in China, so I actually claimed the world No. 1 in front of all the people at home,” said Feng. “So I’m really happy about that, and I hope all the Chinese are going to be watching me, and the Chinese can play golf. Hopefully there will be more Chinese getting on the tours and more world No. 1’s coming up from China.”

Feng, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics, closed with a 70 at the Blue Bay LPGA event on Hainan Island to win by one stroke over Moriya Jutanugarn. The elder Jutanugarn sister lipped out a short birdie putt on the final hole that would’ve forced a playoff. Earlier this season, Ariya Jutanugarn became the first player from Thailand to reach No. 1.

Whan Admits Error In Moving Evian, Pledges Change

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After one of the great disasters in modern major history, the beleaguered Evian Championship will be moving back to a summer date by 2019 according to the man who switched it, LPGA Commish Mike Whan.

Speaking to Damon Hack on Morning Drive, Whan admitted this year's rain-shortened event has him rethinking things. Randall Mell reports on this and other LPGA news from the interview.

“We will get Evian back to a summer date,” Whan pledged. “It may not be in ’18, but certainly by ’19.”

Whan said he believes in Evian as an LPGA major, but he regrets his decision to move the event to September, with its rainy season and its shorter days.

“The challenges we’ve faced are man-made,” Whan said. “And I’m the man who made them.”

Kudos to Whan for finally coming around and admitting to the mistake.

Flashback, Tiger On Distance: "There's different ways you can get around it so that we're all playing under certain speed limits."

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In Sunday's Irish Independent, Dermot Gilleece took an entertaining look at the golf ball, considering its role in the game as a precious piece of equipment compared to other sports.

He was inspired by comments from Rory McIlroy during last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship at St. Andrews to revisit the idea of a tournament ball and recounted this exchange with Tiger Woods.

The comments were from the 2004 American Express Championship at Mount Juliet.

DG: "Would you be prepared to play with an official tournament ball designated for each event?"

TW: "What do you mean by 'tournament ball'? Do you mean with the same spin rate, same launch angle, hover, same speed of core?"

DG: "I mean a uniform golf ball that would be the same for everybody."

TW: "So everybody plays with the same spinning golf ball?"

DG: "Same golf ball."

TW: "I don't think that would be right because there's too many guys have different games and different types of swing. But I think you should put a limit on the speed of a golf ball, the spin-rate of a golf ball. You can increase the spin of the golf ball and make it so that we don't hit the ball as far. You can decrease the speed of the core. There's different ways you can get around it so that we're all playing under certain speed limits. Hopefully that will be the answer to a lot of the problems that we're having with golf course design around the world."

That was 2004!

As an aside to the speed limit comment, check out the shift in LPGA Tour leading driving distances from 2002 to 2017. While about a 10 yard limit, there is nothing going on like we're seeing in the men's game where optimization of launch conditions suggests gains are being made by top men that are out of proportion with gains the rest of the sport has enjoyed:

2002:

2017:

Wanted: LPGA On-Site Weather Experts, Pronto

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Another week, another strange decision by the LPGA to resume play, this time in the New Zealand Women's Open that was eventually finished on Monday. Brooke Henderson is your winner.

A roundup of the player criticism here at Golfweek, which included Belen Mozo suggesting the players "were like sheep."

The video is pretty epic if you haven't seen it.

What To Do With This Evian Championship Mess?

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I suppose the best takeaway from last week's well-documented Evian Championship fiasco is that sponsors should be careful what they wish for.

Elevated to "major" status by the LPGA Tour to sustain the sponsorship, everything has backfired. Stacy Lewis passed this year. The weather was once again awful. The play was its traditionally horrible pace (six hours Sunday!). The event was a 54-hole playing after a false start Thursday.

It all looks especially bad when coupled with the Evian's forced major status implemented after years of being a player favorite, the LPGA Tour's equivalent of The Players or BMW PGA Championship. (BTW, kudos though to winner Anna Nordqvist for surviving in awful final round conditions and playoff weather, Beth Ann Baldry writes here for Golfweek.)

The SI/Golf.com guys were not kind.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I am fine with it but then I don't consider the Evian Championship a major. Just a nice event, played at a painfully slow pace on Sunday. The women have four real majors and I will use the historic names: U.S. and British Opens, the LPGA Championship, the Dinah Shore/Mission Hills.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated (@alanshipnuck): Agree that the Evian is not even on par with the Players, and the latter tournament is miles from being a major. It was a bad call and the wrong one to wipe out so many scores but at least that was on Thursday. The ensuing three days featured lotsa good golf and the final round was tightly contested by a bunch of top players. So, in the end it was an okay result, if we're grading on a curve.

The mess is for LPGA Commish Mike Whan and Evian to sort out, but the bad press alone should remind companies that sometimes having a really swell event is a nice thing and trying too hard to force elevated status can backfire.

Evian's Move To 54-Holes Locks In Permanent Fifth Major Status

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Keeping sponsors happy is no easy proposition given the premium they are paying, but when it comes to majors we rarely have to deal with the bill payers. In elevating the Evian to major status, even when the tour already had four, the Golf Gods have worked dilligently to make that decision look bad.

After first round play of the 2017 Evian was called at 10 am due to rain and the slate wiped clean, the understandable griping began.

Beth Ann Baldry for Golfweek:

This was the best decision, Whan said, to “have the cleanest, fairest competitive round that’s still going to finish on a Sunday with somebody jumping from an airplane with a flag behind them.”

That last statement, which refers to the elaborate 18th green celebration that includes a parachutist, shows the importance to the sponsor of having a Sunday finish. No tournament on the LPGA schedule has more glitz and glamour than Evian, where there are galas and cocktail parties and fireworks that rival Disney World throughout the week. Evian rolls out the pink carpet here, and it’s lovely to see.

But, as one player put it, “it’s never been about golf here.”

Ryan Lavner at GolfChannel says this is a credibility killer for Evian as a major, if it had much to begin with.

If you want the Evian to be viewed like a major – and, to be fair, its worthiness was debated long before this week – then you have to treat it like one. Every attempt should be made to play 72 holes.

And Steve Eubanks at Global Golf Post talked or texted with many and no one was pleased with the Commissioner.

He’s was right about that last part. Whan has seldom blundered in his tenure as commissioner. If anything, he’s worked far more miracles than he’s made mistakes. But this was a whiff. Yes, the golf course was wet (although by 4 p.m. in France, the sun was shining and there was very little wind).

While this is a credibility killing moment for the Evian and LPGA Tour's bid to force unwanted major status on us since 2013, but the episode also reminds us that for all of our quibbles with the various majors, they have earned credibility by insisting on playing 72 holes and never shaping the conclusion around a parachutist.

Stacy Lewis Wins For Houston, KPMG Matches

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What a story seeing Stacy Lewis pledge her winnings to the relief effort in her hometown following hurricane Harvey.

From Beth Ann Baldry's Golfweek story on the win and match by her sponsor:

The now 12-time winner played for a cause bigger than herself, pledging early in the week to donate all her winnings to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Lewis’ first-place check at the Cambia Portland Classic meant $195,000 would go toward helping people in her hometown rebuild their lives. Her sponsor, KPMG, surprised Lewis on Sunday by announcing that the company would match that number, bringing the total to $390,000. Lewis also collected shoes from fellow players to ship back to Houston.