IM'ing With The Commissioners

Now that the NSA has figured out that my calls to Pakistan were all Dell support related, they've been feeding me all sorts of goodies. The latest is this Sunday night instant message exchange between the PGA Tour's Tim Finchem and the LPGA's Carolyn Bivens after the thrilling LPGA Championship finish.

twfPGATOUR©: You there Carolyn?

DaBrandLady: yes tim, just back from the trophy ceremony!

DaBrandLady: does these girls rock or what!?

DaBrandLady: and didn’t I look good next to Ronald McDonald!?!?!?! :)

twfPGATOUR©: Yes, great product today. What a shot by Se Ri.

twfPGATOUR©: Say, did you see any of the telecast?

DaBrandLady:  just a bit when I was doing some brand positioning work in the McDonald’s chalet.

DaBrandLady:  but we’ll be doing a full contextual and brand consistency white paper on the telecast this week to ensure that the brand promise was obtained. why do you ask?

twfPGATOUR©: I was wondering if there was a strike of the graphics personnel or other elements of the production staff?

twfPGATOUR©: Don’t get me wrong, the product was strong, but it just seemed to lack things like a leaderboard more than every 15 minutes or so.

DaBrandLady: that’s just Golf Channel’s effort to not interfere with our product.

DaBrandLady:  the minimalist production values make each player on the screen the real focus of the viewer, adding value for our players and player sponsors.

twfPGATOUR©: I see.

DaBrandLady: well I think they accomplished what was called for within their business model in terms of graphics and production budget, but I’ll check with Deb, wait, no with…well I’m sure someone is left in the office to help out.

twfPGATOUR©: About that, I don’t know how you do it? I have 81 Vice Presidents and I can’t imagine what I’d do if I had mass resignations like you have had.

twfPGATOUR©: Not that there’s anything wrong with spending more time with your family and pursuing other opportunities.

DaBrandLady: no, nothing wrong at all.

DaBrandLady: look, given the LPGA's incredible mix of talent, diversity and personalities, now is the time to take this organization to new heights. While we change the business model in order to better monatize our success, fans can continue to expect the very best in women's professional golf. We're committed to collaborating with all of our key constituents to create a stronger LPGA.

twfPGATOUR©: Did you just copy and paste that from your press release?

DaBrandLady: oh tim, that’s why you are going to make $28.5 million over the next four years. nothing gets by you!

twfPGATOUR©: Well, thanks. Say, anything you can pass along about TGC’s production concepts would really help as we begin a 15-year journey with them.

twfPGATOUR©: Not that I’m concerned or anything, it’s just that well…I’m always looking out for my product.

DaBrandLady: as am i! that’s why you and me are so good at what we do!!!!!

twfPGATOUR©: Congrats again on the strong positioning today.

DaBrandLady: thanks you too…great job with vijay’s win today. he's a little out of the prime demo but a solid brand.

DaBrandLady: that reminds me, do you have a contact at the villages?

twfPGATOUR©: You're not planning to retire?

DaBrandLady: oh no, i'll be in this job for decades. i just wanted to talk to them about buying some time.

twfPGATOUR©: they’ve been good partners for us in this transition year.

DaBrandLady: i know, that’s why i want their number.

twfPGATOUR©: I’ll have someone look into that for you.

DaBrandLady: thanks! gotta run, tgc's replay of the trophy ceremony starts soon and there's a bar down the street that actually carries it!

twfPGATOUR©: Give my best to...

DaBrandLady: he says hi back! bye!

Pak's Win

Doug Ferguson sums up Se Ri Pak's thrilling LPGA win, one of the most exciting tournaments in a long time despite The Golf Channel's minimalist production values. As tired as CBS's productions are these days, they are professionals and bring a level of production quality to their telecasts that this epic major deserved (and lacked).

It's a real shame for the LPGA "brand" that more people didn't get to see this and David Steele in the Baltimore Sun agreed in this column before Sunday's finale. As he points out, the LPGA could have been the prime network sporting event today (well, besides that soccer stuff).  

Wexler On Winged Foot

New Yorker turned Angeleno Daniel Wexler remembers what he loves about Winged Foot in an L.A. Times "appreciation."

Sandomir on Streaming

Richard Sandomir writes about the trend of online streaming and the USGA's plan to carry action from the 6th at 10th holes at USOpen.com. He also writes:

This will be the sixth year that the United States Golf Association will post streaming video from the Open. It did one hole the first year, and has done two holes ever since. This year, the group decided that Winged Foot's par-4 sixth hole, "the Pulpit," one of the course architect A. W. Tillinghast's masterpieces, was must-see viewing, as was the par-3 10th hole.

Of course No. 10 is definitely the "Pulpit" while No. 6 is actually "El" (as named by Tilly himself).

Furyk On USGA Spin

Jim Furyk, talking to Sam Weinman in The Journal News about why the USGA takes so much criticism for their various course setup debacles:

"I think the issue really isn't their theories or their ideas," said 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk. "It's how they handled it afterward. It's a real hard line. It's 'That's the way we wanted it to be. That's the way it should be.' When even the guys with 20-handicaps are scratching their heads. ... Only later on did they do damage control, but at that point, it was a little late."

They break toward the city...

That's one of Butch Harmon's tips for Winged Foot in a Bill Pennington New York Times story. And this is an interesting observation about the tiered rough, and one some of us have been trying to explain is yet another reason that pitch out rough is absurd:

"Guys who hit into the long stuff will wedge it out and take their bogey," Butch Harmon said. "The actual danger is the second cut of rough, the stuff that's three inches deep and three yards from the fairway. Some guys will be tempted to go for the green from that stuff, and that's where the double bogeys will come from."

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Week 23

After soggy Westchester, the PGA Tour driving distance average dropped to 288.2 yards, down from 288.9 following last week's event at Muirfield Village.

There was 5 350-or-longer drive, with the season total now at 950.

Winged Foot With Tilly: No. 15, Vol. 2

Only subtle differences in No. 15 from 1929 and 2005. The front bunker has grown up and the green doesn't quite stretch out to some of the old high points in the rear left and right.

 

 

Winged Foot With Tilly: No. 15 Vol. 1

(click image to enlarge)The 15th at Winged Foot features arguably the worst fairway contouring job, leftover from the Meeks 2004 U.S. Amateur setup. Not wide enough to bring the creek into play down the left side or to let a player actually choose an angle to come in from, at least the narrowness doesn't take away from another stellar green complex.

Open up the image to read Tilly's proud take on the hole. 

Is The Villages...

...keeping the PGA Tour in business!?

How much money have they spent on PGA Tour advertising this year?

Update on 2006-06-12 04:06 by Geoff

For those of you who don't read the comments, Steven T. posted this must read story on The Villages.

Sorrenstam's Latest Brush With The Rules

Doug Ferguson offers a fair amount on Annika's latest rules of golf snafu, which The Golf Channel handled strangely (except for Dottie Pepper who noted her recent troubles with the rules and her rules workshop studies.)

U.S. Open Week Coverage

The La Habra chapter of our art department has crafted a special U.S. Open week logo, using the USGA's best, but adding the all important ode-to-the-rough.

And as you'll notice, starting today in the upper left window I have posted a few special U.S. Open links, with more to come.

Huggan Previews Open

After reviewing previous U.S. Open's held at Winged Foot, John Huggan writes in Scotland on Sunday:

There is little doubt that WFW is one of America's finest - and at times when the USGA does not have a say in the speed of the greens, the width of the fairways and the length of the rough - one of the fairest tests. It is a proper golf course, with a closing stretch of demanding par-4s that we hope will be allowed to provide a fitting climax to the championship.

"As the various holes came to life, they were of a sturdy breed," wrote Tillinghast of the design process. "The contouring of the greens places great premium on the placement of the drives, but never is there the necessity of facing a prodigious carry of the sink-or-swim sort. It is only when the next shot must be played with rifle accuracy that brings the realisation that the drive must be placed."

Forgive my cynicism, but that is one aspect of this great course that will likely be lost during this coming week. As usual, the blue bloods in the blue blazers won't want red numbers on 'their' golf course and in 'their' precious championship. So, just as they were at Pinehurst last year, many of the premium spots for drives will be covered in golf's most boring hazard, long grass.

If the USGA can be trusted to do anything, it is that they will endeavour to eliminate any semblance of strategy or thought or flair from the US Open equation. What else? Oh yes, there will be little or no fun to be had, either.

An extremely knowledgeable spy of my close acquaintance has already been to Winged Foot, and had this to say about the course: "It's the hardest thing you've ever seen. I don't see how a short-hitter could break 78. Because of the severity of the slopes on the greens, it's much harder than Baltusrol was for last year's PGA Championship.

"If you hit a shot even one-yard past pin-high, you have virtually no chance to get the ball up and in. I don't think there will be more than two people under par by the end. In fact, it would not shock me if four 71s was enough to win."

NY Times: Hartough "Rembrandt of the back nine"

Project a golf photo onto a canvas, paint over it and you're a Rembrandt according to the paper of record. Yikes.

This is beautiful:

"There is a sense in Linda's work that God is in the landscape," said Jay Williams, curator of the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Ga. "If you look at a lot of the paintings, she often uses raking light — she places the light source at an angle. The play of the shadows on the landscape tells the eye a lot about the complexity of the surface. She accentuates the kinesthetic aspect of the terrain, which allows you to read her paintings in a very physical way."

"I haven't seen anybody at headquarters with Kleenex boxes"

Courtesy of AP:

 The LPGA accepted resignations from Deb Richard, senior vice president of golf; Julie Tyson, vice president of partnerships; and Liz Ausman, chief strategic officer.

Asked why she resigned, Richard paused and said, "I've lost faith in the leadership.''

Rae Evans, chair of the LPGA board, said she was not the least bit alarmed by three resignations in one day, and seven resignations over the last eight months. Others who have left the LPGA were Kathy Milthorpe, chief financial officer; Barb Trammell, senior vice president of tournament operations; Rob Neal, vice president of tournament business affairs; and Karen Durkin, chief marketing officer.

"Business is business. People come, people go,'' Evans said. "I haven't seen anybody at headquarters with Kleenex boxes.''

Such warmth and compassion. Go Duke lacrosse!

It also lost network coverage of a major when the LPGA Championship, angry about being asked to move up starting times in the final round starting in 2007, left CBS Sports for The Golf Channel.

"The knee-jerk reaction is we left a network for The Golf Channel,'' Evans said. "It's too early to tell. I probably view networks, because of the audience delivery, as the place to be. But a lot of smart people have invested in The Golf Channel. We'll see where it leads.''

Oh I think we know.