Rose Has HOF In Mind, Is He The Last Of A Generation?

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I'm a baseball fan and when they talk of certain players being "Hall worthy" it adds to your sense of satisfaction in watching a competitor who fans will talk about fifty years from now.

And while golf's Hall of Fame is largely a strong representation of the game's greats--with maybe a need to round out wings recognizing pioneers, architects and media the way baseball has--it's generally a solid representation of the very best to have played the game.

Which is why the inability of recent generations to throw on a jacket and tie to show their respect is so disheartening, especially as they might learn the game was played well (or better) before them. But count Justin Rose in among those using the Hall of Fame barrier as incentive to round out his career, which is still very much in his prime after two wins on top of a near-Masters win in April. But is he the last of a generation?

Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com talked with Rose about a goal of achieving HOF status.

In the short term, Rose is within four rounds of winning the European Tour’s Race to Dubai following his back-to-back victories; and another major championship is always the goal, particularly a Masters’ jacket following April’s near-miss.

But there’s an even loftier finish line for Rose, the ultimate benchmark when grading careers that transcend money lists and the kind of week-in and week-out hyperbole that can often blur the bigger picture.

“I've always said I'd like to be a Hall of Fame player, and I guess who makes that determination, I don't know, but that's kind of what I'm working towards,” Rose said. “So is that two major championships and 20 wins? I don't know what it is. Olympic gold will probably be kind of a nice bargaining chip when it comes to that.

Freak Injury Files: Stenson's Rib Injury From HSBC Promo Event?

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This makes Rory's kickabout injury look practically heroic. Except, perhaps to European Tour Chief Keith Pelley who has now lost Henrik Stenson for the 2017 Race to Dubai over a rib injury.

According to Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com, the injury appears to have been caused by that absurd WGC-HSBC pre-tournament "presentation" in Shanghai.

As to how he injured himself Stenson was also cryptic, suggesting that the injury occurred during a pre-tournament publicity presentation that included the Swede being hoisted into the air by a harness like a “superhero.”

“I’m not superman even though certain people thought I was superman,” he said in Turkey.

Maybe this is why Stenson was in no hurry to mark his ball on the greens!

Allenby Contemplated Retirement But Now He's "Refreshed"

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Evin Priest catches up with a rejuvenated Robert Allenby as he tees it up in the Sanderson Farms, this week's PGA Tour event where they are doing deep into the eligibility list to fill a field.

Depending on how you look at things, Allenby says he's refreshed after a break and the former Alien-abductee--or whatever happened in Honolulu--is ready to get back to what he does best: firing caddies.

"I was thinking I'd take a couple years off (and) get ready for the Champions Tour at (age) 50.

And what a boon for that tour.

"But when golf has been your whole life, it's hard to stop."

Lucky us!

Video: Thomas Shows How Today's Pros Can Handle Stymies

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Every time we talk stymies in a pro match play so many of you are concerned about the agronomic impact, but as Justin Thomas demonstrated at the inaugural CJ Cup in Korea, a dreadful skeech mark was no obstacle!

@justinthomas34 can do it all.

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BFF As Caddies More Than A Trend Now

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After seeing Tyrell Hatton win two European Tour events in a row with best friend forever Jonathan Bell, Tim Rosaforte says the BFF on the bag movement is "more of a trend." Hatton follows Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day as a top player moving to a BFF.

The players also have a consistent reply for questions about the move.

It’s more of a trend than a coincidence that three top-20 players, all in their 20s, parted ways with their caddies this year and put one of their BFFs on the bag. Rory McIlroy was the first, trading out J.P. Fitzgerald for childhood mate Harry Diamond at the WGC-Bridgestone in August, saying “sometimes to preserve a personal relationship you have to sacrifice a professional one.”

Remember, it's about being able to talk music...

That’s an understatement. As Hatton noted after winning the Dunhill, “It’s good fun having Jonathan on the bag.” Sometimes that’s all it takes, having somebody the same age who you can relate to, somebody that listens to the same music and somebody who simply represents a change."

Change Of Policy? Grayson Murray Tantrum Shared On PGA Tour Social

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Unlike other sports leagues the PGA Tour has resisted sharing absurd athlete behavior for obvious reasons: theirs is a business built on players behaving like gentleman.

So whether this is a change in policy or just a share because it involves the troublesome Grayson Murray or was simply the posting of a bored overnight shift stuck trying to find the CIMB Classic, is yet to be determined.

But the post was a nice tie-in to the baseball playoffs...not so nice for the green where Grayson dug in his shoe soles:

If the @yankees, @astrosbaseball, @cubs or @dodgers need another arm in the bullpen...

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"Michael Phelps: A Golden Shoulder to Lean On"

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The headline-grabbing comments from Michael Phelps broke last week, but it wasn't until Sunday's hard copy edition of the New York Times did I get to read the entire (excellent) Karen Crouse story.

It's a fascinating look at the work Phelps is doing to talk about depression and substance abuse. Crouse detailed in this separate Times Insider item how she got the greatest Olympian to talk and about the location (Scottsdale National Golf Club).

Here is one of the excepts related to Woods:

Phelps contacted Woods through a mutual friend, the Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III, who was Woods’s teammate at Stanford. A recovering alcoholic, Begay had reached out to Phelps around the time he sought help at the Meadows. Their first phone conversation lasted two hours.

Begay said Phelps was almost uniquely qualified to support Woods.

“Michael can provide honest and direct feedback, and that’s what athletes of their caliber need the most,” Begay said. “Athletes at their level of accomplishment, they have 100 people lined up around the corner trying to sell something to them or do something for them, and it’s hard to filter out, to decide, who is looking out for their best interests.”

PGA Tour's Peter Malnati Takes A Knee

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Fourth year PGA Tour player and blogger Peter Malnati took to Twitter with more than 140 characters to express his support for fellow professional athletes "taking a knee" during the national anthem.

"Absent Friend Casts a Shadow Over a Rookie’s Tour Milestone"

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The New York Times' Karen Crouse revisits the story of Patrick Cantlay and the friend/caddy he lost in Chris Roth, but there's an added dimension to Cantlay reaching the Tour Championship Sunday.

Crouse writes of Roth's parents trailing along in the gallery.

Roth’s parents hung back as Cantlay played the 7,208-yard layout Sunday. During his third round, they had peeled away for the exit with one hole left because, as Michelle Roth explained, “Patrick’s not here to entertain us. We don’t want to bother him.”

She added, “I’m not sure it helps him having us here, and I worry that it hinders him because it makes him remember Chris.”

Cantlay dismissed those concerns. “I’m just happy to have them here,” he said, adding, “They really just remind me of someone who was a great guy.”

Wow: Jason Day Drops Longtime Looper For Buddy

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George Savaricus reports that Jason Day will have a new bagman this week, dropping longtime supporter and mentor Colin Swatton for "high school roomate" Luke Reardon.

We officially are witnessing a bizarro trend: top players wanting a "mate" or "buddy" or fellow lad guiding them around because the older, wiser caddie was...too old? Not hip? Prone to not engaging in full smooching-up mode 24/7? Or, just merely to blame for the overcompensated, over-pampered boss stinking it up?

In this case, the move is especially perplexing give Swatton's guiding hand, as detailed by Day, in helping the Australian rise to No. 1. The sheer amount of melodrama Swatton has had to endure makes him sainthood worthy.

Anyway, as Kevin Casey points out, it'll probably be a short-lived playoff run for Reardon unless his man shows some of the old form.

 

 

Hunter Mahan Starts Effort To Kickstart Career With 68

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On the list of questions I get from readers, Hunter Mahan has recently pushed aside Nick Watney and Anthony Kim atop the list of "where has he gone?"

Thankfully Tim Rosaforte at Golf World answers what has happened to Mahan's game, what he's doing to repair his confidence and what the prospects are for the one-time 4th ranked player in the world and 2014 Ryder Cupper.

Most prominently, Mahan's switched to instructor Chris O'Connell.

Mahan and O’Connell were connected through Tom Dundon, a mutual friend and developer whose golf interests include Trinity Forest in Dallas and Topgolf. O’Connell had been following Mahan’s career since he finished second in the 2002 U.S. Amateur and won the Haskins and Hogan Awards before wrapping up his college career at Oklahoma State in 2003. Seeing Mahan struggle, Dundon was persistent that O’Connell was the correct fit.

“I don’t expect Hunter and Kuch to look alike, but they both do specific things critical in the area of delivering the club into the ball,” O’Connell said. “I told [Mahan] at first, 'I don’t want to teach you anything you didn’t know or do. I simply want to put back what you were doing when you were highly regarded as one of best hitters out there.' I would not want to do anything else but just restore him.”

The restoration process involves rebuilding confidence. Mahan missed seven straight cuts in the early stages of the transition, but he's coming off a T-16 at the Wyndham Championship that included back-to-back 65s. He jumped from 791st to 731st in the world at the Wyndham, and goes into the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship ranked 748th.

Mahan opened with a 68 in round one of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Classic.

Jarrod Lyle: "I am in remission"

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The golf news has paled a bit this weekend as Texas faces catastrophic hurricane-induced flooding but there is at least this piece of news about one of the best people in the game, Jarrod Lyle.

Playoff Fever! Stars Looking Forward To The Off-Season

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Maybe golf's Playoffs(C) are so rigorous and stressful that they invoke longing for a vacation. Or, not.

Nothing screams playoffs like athletes telling us how they are looking forward to a break. But this is the FedExCup, where stars are coddled by points resets that help get them through all of the stages. Something tells me if these were actual playoffs with traditional eliminations for poor play, that Rory McIlroy's and Bubba Watson's wouldn't be telegraphing their much needed breaks.

Rory on Tuesday, courtesy of Kyle Porter at CBSSports.com:

"I'm not at 100 percent, but I'm at a percent where I feel like I can still compete," McIlroy told reporters. "I want to get a win before I shut it down for the season, so I'm excited for the next few weeks, but I'm excited for the next three months after that. Because more than likely I'll take some time off and regroup.

"When's the last time I've been able to take that much time off and focus on myself and my game. We don't get an off-season anymore, so to be able to get that time to afford myself, I'm really excited about that as well."

After an opening 73 on top of many okay finishes by his high standards, might these playoffs be more interesting if they were sending McIlroy home early? And given that he's not getting any help from his caddie, as David Dusek at Golfweek points out following a day watching Rory play, might the urgency be there with a format that endangers his ability to advance in the playoffs.

Then there is Bubba Watson, who has worked twelve weekends in 2017 even after getting a major wake-up call a year ago when passed over for the Ryder Cup team. Still, he's ready for a break as soon as the playoffs are over.

From Rex Hoggard's Golfweek story:

“You know, truthfully, when I'm done with the playoffs, no matter where that is, I'm taking at least four and a half months off. I won't play until next year,” said Watson, who opened with a 3-under 67 and was tied for fifth at Glen Oaks. “I don't know about you, but traveling every week, my kids started kindergarten. ... If I had to choose golf or family, I'm going family every day of the week.”

Algorithm writers: let's figure out a points reset that helps these stars begin their hard-earned vacations early!

"Feeding off each other can have positive, negative effects for pros"

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Jason Sobel takes on the tricky subject of pairings that go well or not so well.

The ESPN.com writer talks to a nice cross section of players and it's fascinating just how influential the momentum of a group plays in pro golf. Rory's comments on the impact of pairings was of most interest, but this was also fun (and not surprising):

Ask most touring professionals and they'll usually insist that there are extremely beneficial playing partners and ... other guys. Which is to say, when players receive their early-week text messages revealing first- and second-round groupings, most will celebrate the positive discoveries, but won't grouse about potentially negative ones.

"I usually play well when I have a fun group, guys who I like," Pat Perez said before the opening round of The Northern Trust. "This week is going to be fun as s---. I've been playing against [Charley] Hoffman since I was 7. [Brian] Harman is cool as s---. We're going to have a great group."