Nike's Golfers Are Best Prepared For On-Stage Flooding

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I know I should know who all five of these Nike golfers are, but I’ve only got Lovemark (far left), and Rodgers/Finau on the right.

Apparently this was a gathering for non-Rory tour players to discuss how cool they are. Because nothing is more cool than declaring your coolness. And, rolling up your pants to prepare for a tsunami. 

Flashback: Scalia's Dissenting Opinion In PGA Tour v. Martin

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The late Supreme Court Justice, who died in his sleep while on a Texas hunting trip, dissented along with Clarence Thomas against Casey Martin in his battle with the PGA Tour over cart usage. The rest of the court voted for Martin.

That's right millennials, the PGA Tour sued a handicapped-at-birth guy to stop him from taking a cart, even though he could barely walk. Charity is not always at the heart of Tim Finchem.

Anyway, Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent was an entertaingly crafted piece of writing, even if it was the questionable view at the time or in hindsight:

Having concluded that dispensing with the walking rule would not violate federal-Platonic "golf" (and, implicitly, that it is federal-Platonic golf, and no other, that the PGA TOUR can insist upon) the Court moves on to the second part of its test: the competitive effects of waiving this nonessential rule. In this part of its analysis, the Court first finds that the effects of the change are "mitigated" by the fact that in the game of golf weather, a "lucky bounce," and "pure chance" provide different conditions for each competitor and individual ability may not "be the sole determinant of the outcome." Ante, at 25. I guess that is why those who follow professional golfing consider Jack Nicklaus the luckiest golfer of all time, only to be challenged of late by the phenomenal luck of Tiger Woods. The Court's empiricism is unpersuasive. "Pure chance" is randomly distributed among the players, but allowing respondent to use a cart gives him a "lucky" break every time he plays. Pure chance also only matters at the margin--a stroke here or there; the cart substantially improves this respondent's competitive prospects beyond a couple of strokes. But even granting that there are significant nonhuman variables affecting competition, that fact does not justify adding another variable that always favors one player.

Putting Looks As Hard As Ever, As Pros Proved This Week

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Today's players are fitter, faster, smarter, prettier, sexier, leaner, etc., etc. But as with their predecessors, they still can look human on the greens.

To review...

Lexi Thompson is putting with her eyes closed.

Ernie Els struggled but was less yippy in Dubai, though he admitted the yips he's been dealing with the last few months amounted to "end of career" issues on the greens.

Bernhard Langer is carrying two putters in the bag according to Golf Channel's announce team. And he was seen warming up before his opening Allianz round trying two styles of putting.

Ian Poulter, one of the world's best putters over the last decade, started putting with one hand in Phoenix.

Easy game!

Any others I missed?

Poll: Where Are You With Bubba Watson?

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We've gone through the traditional Bubba Watson controversy (again) this week. As with past brouhahas, they play out with amazing consistentcy:

--He speaks honestly in shocking, out-of-the-blue fashion

--He gets ripped by the (social and mainstream) media he hates, but never reads yet knows will only take the negative angle

--He spent a day or two with the much-wiser and grounded wife bending his ear, gets booed at the 16th hole.

--He apologizes just as he has done before (video version), appreciating the accountability of it all

We will go through this many more times with him and unless he starts picking on innocent kids or other less fortunately souls, I really don't see the big deal. He's different, odd, knows he has ADD issues at the very least and maybe is a little bit of a mad genius. We don't want him to be like everyone else, do we?

I'm also sympathetic because when he's on, he's such a joy to watch play golf. The TPC Scottsdale should be a showcase for his talent, but I sense much of his meltdown this week was prompted by disdain for the place, only heightened by Tom Weiskopf's anti-long driving changes to the course. Several players last week were dreading the event for the first time because of the course, not the noise or the party scene or whatever else might be a deterrent. And you can read between the lines of player comments, like Mickelson's remarks, including that TPC Scottsdale shifted from an offensive to a defensive course. Bubba just happened to be more blunt in sharing his views.

I could go on about the aesthetic nightmare it has become, with more overseeded rye grass and blinding bunkers viewable from outer space, but it won't do any good. The old lunar landscape is gone.

But back to Bubba...where does his latest controversy leave you with one of golf's most fascinating stars?

Where do you stand with Bubba?
 
pollcode.com free polls

Video: 7 Y.O. Godiva Kim's Golf Swing

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I don't want to make you feel bad about the progress you've made with your swing, but I kind of do in posting this latest compilation spotted on her Instagram account.

It's Godiva Kim, now a year older than when Terry Wilcox profiled the next great Aussie-born golfer. But her swing remains pretty much perfect.

Storms on the way..#juniorgolf #girlsgolf #lpga #ladiesgolf #골스타글램 #주니어골프

A video posted by godiva golf (@godi_kim) on

Bubba Only Playing TPC Scottsdale (T2, T2) For His Sponsors

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There are a few ways to look at Bubba Watson's pre-tournament comments about the TPC Scottsdale and Waste Management Open.

First, the comments. From Ryan Reiterman's GolfChannel.com report:

"I don't like it. I'm not going to PC it. I don't like it at all. I just mentioned why I'm here. I've got three beautiful sponsors that love it here."

Ping, Stance Socks and Oakley are all sponsors of Watson.

Watson said he was unhappy with the changes made to toughen up the course last year by Tom Weiskopf. Several fairway bunkers were moved to challenge even the longest hitters, like Watson, and as Phil Mickelson noted, a hole like the par-4 14th went from "a driver and a wedge birdie hole to driver, 4-, 5-iron and a very difficult par."

Sure, it's kind of unusual for someone to finish T2 the last two years and lament having to be there. But it's Bubba. This is a man who hated going to Paris. France.

But I welcome the brutal honesty and scratch my head at his disdain for a course he's played well at. But chatting with a few players last week at Torrey Pines, Watson is not alone in lamenting the direction TPC Scottsdale has taken in trying to limit long driving. Watson's "goofier and tougher" line was similar to what a few players said.

The stats back up the idea that Weiskopf's hope for limiting longer driving, even though the 2015 leaderboard was full of long drivers.

From Rob Bolton's always excellent PGA Tour Power Rankings:

• Weiskopf surmised that the thinking off the tee would evolve as a result of new, strategic bunkering. Indeed, the field of 132 was a quick study as its 61.38-percent clip for fairways hit was in line with history. However, it came at a cost since the average distance of all drives of 285.4 yards was down 10-15 yards from each of the previous four years, and this despite a layout stretched 114 yards to its highest-ever measurement of 7,266 yards. Still, it mattered little in determining the final leaderboard. Koepka ranked T47 for the week in fairways hit and still played his last 47 holes in bogey-free 14-under.

All of Bubba's comments from Golf Central:

Ruffled! Phil Won't Be Teeing It Up With Ryan Anytime Soon

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Well, unless the Australian lad making his pro debut at Torrey Pines Thursday is primed for a less-than-friendly game with Phil Mickelson. The same Mickelson who tried to recruit him to his alma mater and teed up at Torrey Pines last month in a friendly game.

Ruffels, you may recall if you followed this obscure little story, claimed to have birdied six of seven holes to take $5000 off of Mickelson, who gave the 17-year-old 2-1 odds. He shared the story, then had to downplay it. But that wasn't enough to appease Phil who spoke to the media on the North Course's 9th green following his pro-am round.

From Ryan Lavner's item at GolfChannel.com: 

“He’s young,” Mickelson said, “and he’s got some things to learn.

“One of them is you don’t discuss certain things. You don’t discuss specifics of what you play for. And you certainly don’t embellish and create a false amount just for your own benefit. So those things right there are – that’s high school stuff, and he’s going to have to stop doing that now that he’s out on the PGA Tour.”

Parents, let this be a learning lesson on the perils of golf course wagering!

Pieters: PGA Tour Provides (Photoshop) Grooming Services

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Jason Crook reports on Thomas Pieters going to Facebook to show how the PGA Tour altered his stock photo. Pieters, who finshed second to Rickie Fowler in last week's HSBC in Abu Dhabi, appears to have run into Commissioner Kiehl's and his army of Photoshopping barbers.

Look out Boo Weekley!

Generation Z Video: PGA Demo Day Stars

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Nice post by Stephen Hennessey to note these two stars from Tuesday's PGA Demo Day at Orange County National outside Orlando, including one-handed golfer Tommy Morrissey.

At the Golphin junior golf-club pavilion, sampling the company's new clubs for children. Look at the clubhead speed from these young 'ems:

Tweeted by Golfinforkids:

Zac Blair: "Eat, sleep, golf, repeat"

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I'm catching up on some post-Sony reading and it was nice to see solid features from Sean Martin and Tim Rosaforte on Zac Blair, a real likeable chap who has gotten the golf architecture bug.

From Rosaforte's item, a strong endorsement from legendary looper Andy Martinez:

With no status, Blair played his way on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamérica and Canadian circuits, ultimately needing a second-place finish at the Web.com Tour Championship to lock down a tour card.

“It was a long 15 months, kind of always on the bubble, in that zone where you never know,” Jimmy said. “He just had to keep grinding through it.”

Having Andy Martinez, Miller’s former caddie, on the bag, helped Blair deal with the grind of being in the last group on Sunday with proven-winner Brandt Snedeker and FedEx Cup points leader Kevin Kisner in contention. While coming up a stroke shy of the playoff between winner Fabian Gomez and Brandt Snedeker, Blair’s best career finish on tour brought with it confidence.

“This won’t be the last time he’s in contention,” Martinez said. “I expect to be knocking on the door a lot of times with this guy.”

And from Martin, Blair's interest in golf and architecture:

Then there are the marathon days of golf. Zac is usually the one to call for an E9, or emergency nine, to extend the day's play. He hasn’t slowed much, even though his 34 starts were the second-most in the 2014-15 season. He also squeezed in recreational rounds at Pine Valley, Cypress Point, The Country Club of Brookline and Los Angeles Country Club during tournament weeks in 2015. That's a list that would make even the most privileged player envious.

Like his father, Zac wants to do more than play, though.

He's looking for land in Utah on which to build his dream course, a layout that will draw off the design principles of architecture’s golden age. He wants to build a course that's wide enough for high handicappers while challenging better players to make strategic decisions.

“I think Utah deserves a course that has those principles of the old architects,” Zac said, citing Mackenzie, MacDonald, Seth Raynor and Harry Colt as his inspirations. “You have to think your way around those courses.”

Bryson DeChambeau: "I'm a golfing scientist, so I don’t take it with any emotion."

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Bryson DeChambeau's impressive 64 to open his first European Tour start has the current U.S. Amateur champion atop the HSBC leaderboard.

His accomplishment relegated DeChambeau to footnotes in the Telegraph and Guardian game stories, and DeChambeau came off nicely in his post round comments to Golf Channel.

John Huggan says DeChambeau went a bit far though in post round comments, though it's hard to fault the lad for having some confidence after beating some of the world's best. Oh, and golfing recently with two of the world's biggest celebrities (here and here).

Which is the point where he should have stopped. But DeChambeau did not. Oh no. Before he was done there was a hole to dig -- a big hole, comparing himself to first to a genuine genius, then America’s first president.

“You look at trends in humanity and most like following the norm,” he continued. “But you’ve also got people like Einstein and George Washington; they stood out and capitalized on their differences and showed the world a little different side.”

Round one video highlights here.

Jason Gore Details His Club Switch In Old School Way

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Thanks to reader ST for sending this GolfWRX discussion group link to Jason Gore responding to Greg Moore and the club geekdom on his switch of equipment.

I point it out to (A) show non-Reddit reading millennials what a discussion group is (they're pre-Instagram, Twitter and Facebook), (B) how fun it is to read a modern tour player taking the time to detail his thought process, and (C) to demonstrate the value of a Pepperdine education.

While I don't spend much time focusing on what players are playing, there is a sense they resist detailing their club specs because they either think no one cares, or it makes them look like a golf geek, or most disconcertingly, they somehow think their trade is one requiring secrets.

So it's nice to see Gore answering those interested in such things and I wish more players would do it either at a place like GolfWRX or via their social media accounts.

Langley Gets $3 Million To Be Golf's First "Athlete Trading Stock"

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Here I thought the sign of Wall Street geekdom having too much time and money peaked when they discovered high-frequency trading. Or ruining my favorite baseball team.

But reading from Yahoo's Daniel Roberts about Fantex's athlete trading stocks suggests that there is a stranger and even deeper misunderstanding of sports than I first feared.

PGA Tour player Scott Langley is Fantex's first pro golfer, inked for an upfront fee of $3.06 million, payable if they sell shares in Langley, in exchange for the privilege of 15% of his earnings. Here's how it works, according to Roberts:

The company pays every athlete it signs a one-time, upfront lump sum in return for a percentage of the athlete's future brand income—all future income tied to the athlete's brand, whether it's from the sport or from business outside of it. (That includes, for example, money from endorsement deals, fast-food franchising, speaking engagements, TV appearances and more.) In Langley's case, Fantex is paying Langley $3.06 million in return for 15% of his future brand income. Fantex raises that fee from the IPO process; if it fails to sell enough shares of the athlete in the offering, it can't pay him. It has successly brought all six of its attempted offerings public, but it had to cancel the offering of Arian Foster, who was planned to be its first stock. Foster is a bigger star than any of the athletes Fantex has brought public, but he was sidelined by a back injury shortly after Fantex announced the deal.