The PGA Tour/USGA v. Solheim
/Has such a retro vibe to it, no? Deane Beman must be so nostalgic. Or fired up. Or not answering his phone!
Read MoreWhen you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
"It seems like a heavy burden of proof for the Tour to satisfy."
/Alex Miceli does some bang-up reporting, confirming that the Tour and PING's John Solheim have talked and that it a local rule requires the formation of a committee to push through, and even then it's a reach that the tour can work around the USGA-PING settlement.
Read MoreRemembering What The Tour Is Dealing With, John Solheim Edition
/It's been suggested by PING that they warned the USGA and PGA Tour of the potential for a groove rule debacle on several occasions. Those were private letters, but in CEO John Solheim's lengthy, rambling and at times bizarre June, 2009 statement voicing opposition to the grooves, he did not warn of any potential oddities with interpretation of the rules.
Read MoreNo Local Rule!**
/Tim Finchem cancelled his Tuesday press conference in favor of briefing the players in a "highly encouraged" 4 p.m. meeting before Wednesday's scribe gathering. The question was, would he invoke a local rule banning PING non-conforming/conforming wedges or to backpeddle out of the tour's initial position.
Read More"Since last summer Phil has been feuding with the blue coats over a groove developed by Callaway that was called the multiangle wall (MAW) design."
/Alan Shipnuck offers this background on Phil's decision to play the PING wedges and what motivated the stunt:
Since last summer Phil has been feuding with the blue coats over a groove developed by Callaway that was called the multiangle wall (MAW) design. The MAW adhered to all of the USGA specs governing the new grooves but still imparted spin comparable to the old square grooves. In profile the MAW looks a bit like a martini glass, with sharp edges where the groove wall meets the plane of the clubface. "The language in the USGA rule allowed edges to become sharper as the groove sidewall becomes less steep," Roger Cleveland, Callaway's design guru, told SI in an e-mail. "Despite the fact our MAW groove design fit within the USGA's original specifications, we clearly invented something that they didn't anticipate. It performed so well that they decided to reject it, claiming the MAW groove violated the spirit of the rule."
Contrary to reports, the face of the MAW wedge did not look like this.
Meanwhile Lawrence Donegan agreed with me that this little PR firestorm is a good thing for the game, taking issue with Tim Rosaforte's assertion that this was the last thing Tim Finchem needed to be dealing with.
Excuse me but how can 464,000 Google hits on a golf-related story be a bad thing? And what is so awful about a golf story being featured on Sportscenter (which is the nightly sports news show broadcast on ESPN)?
As for PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem having to deal with a great, big, fat controversy not long after his most famous PGA Tour member was revealed to have been leading a double life - isn't that why he gets paid the ridiculous sum of $5 million (or so)? To handle, or rather capitalise on, these things?
And because golf is a gentlemen's game where the players police themselves and therefore don't need drug testing, E. Michael Johnson reports that players are bugging their tour reps for a dealer who can supply them with some old PING wedges. They can also just go on ebay, as Ryan Ballengee explains.
But Padraig Harrington reportedly has some in his bag though he hasn't decided whether to engage in cheating (which is different than being a cheater!).
The Co-COO Parking Spots
/Thanks to the reader who recently played TPC Sawgrass and took these shots. The two signs kind of give new perspective to LPGA Commish Mike Whan's back-wrenching effort to eliminate his designated parking space:
Read More"God forbid the PGA Tour to step on the USGA's shoes"
/There was also this from Tour policy board member Joe Ogilvie. Start with the bottom Tweet:
I think it's safe to say a Commissioner Ogilvie would have invoked a local rule.
The question is, why didn't Commissioner Finchem do the same?
Sea Island's Troubles And The PGA Tour
/It's always a bit scary to post something about Sea Island since that idyllic little enclave seems to have its share of darkness within the confines (if you knew how many Holocaust denier posts I've had to delete from this 794 comment thread, my cynicism would be considered understandable).
Read More"How about we decide that if appearance fees are paid, there are no more World Ranking points?"
/Loads of interesting tidbits in John Strege's Golf World game story from the beleaguered Hope, starting with this from Paul Goydos on the issue of convicting-event releases.
Read More"Exacerbating the dilemma is that IMG, the most powerful sports marketing firm in the world, is now managing more events worldwide"
/Tim Rosaforte wonders if there will ever be a better time for the PGA Tour to institute a 1-every-4 years rule for tournament appearances after the Hope drew a weak field and longtime La Quinta resident Anthony Kim passed for a chance to play in Abu Dhabi.
Read MoreTiger's Been Spotted Clippings, Vol. 3
/Get past Matthew Futterman and Douglas Blackmon's slightly misleading lede, because it's a fascinating WSJ look back at Tiger and the PGA Tour's relationship. There were several "oh-wow-I-forgot-about-that" anecdotes. My only beef is with the opening assertion that this week at Torrey Pines is a glimpse into the post-Tiger-accident PGA Tour (weren't things a mess there before the accident?):
Read More"Finchem said to me, 'If you appeal, you would come down to court in Jacksonville and will lose.'"
/Nice work by Ryan Ballengee with his interview and latest info on Doug Barron. Obviously the tour will counter this with their side, but it's going to have to be a strong case they make if Barron's claims of ultimately relying on his doctor pan out in court:
Read More
