"He thought he made a mistake once, but he was mistaken."

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faldo_zinger.jpgFrom Monday's Ryder Cup press conference. Yet another reminder how much golf misses the Faldo-Azinger antics.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Thank you, Julius, everybody. And thank you everyone.
Richard, don't count yourself out yet. The way Nick's assistants are dropping like flies, you may be in there as a Captain's Assistant. (Laughter).

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: I'm ready for you. That's what we used to do on ABC.
Sounds like the changes at Valhalla are just splendid... 
Q. Paul, just talk about the course today that you saw and how different it is, and then maybe Nick, also, just how different it is than what it was in 2000.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: It's quite a bit longer than it was in 2000. I really had forgotten how much undulation there was here. But it's, you know, I think it's going to be a bit hard, the redo of the four greens that they did, the greens don't look anything like the greens that have been here and been in place. They have been made very, very difficult. It's going to be even a challenge on a couple of them to find four pins I think maybe.

But I think it's going to be probably a little more difficult at 7,500 yards. Of course we may not play it at that length. I'm not sure yet. I think I'm going to have a little influence or say-so in the course setup as the home team captain.

So it's going to really depend on the makeup of our team I think as to how long we'll play the golf course. I think Europe's worked a pretty good advantage in their home course setup the last few Ryder Cups, and if we can get any kind of an edge at all, I'll be looking for that; I don't know what it will be.

If that was too subliminal, this should spell it out...

Q. A lot of times we'll hear a hole described as "a great match-play hole." Can each of you talk about what makes a hole a great match-play hole, and specifically, out here, which of these holes do you think are going to be a great match-play hole?

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: I think a great match-play hole, I think when someone says that, I think it's a hole that gives you a lot of options, maybe an aggressive option versus a conservative option where the guy maybe who is leading the match makes a conservative decision and presses a guy's hands who may be behind and have to make an aggressive decision.

I think there's a couple holes like that out here. I think namely the 13th hole, the tee looks like it may be moved up and guys may actually take a crack at that green. That could be an example of what you're talking about.

JULIUS MASON: Nick, thoughts on a good match-play hole?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Well, I agree, it's risk and reward. 13 is one option. But as we discovered today, not too much bail-out area (chuckling). Trees or water, there's your choice.

I can't see a true match-play hole. It's a very good golf course and they are all very good holes, but for me personally I can't see a true match-play hole at the moment.

That's not good. Even Firestone has a few match play holes!

Q. Secondly, there was a lot of talk at Wentworth about how much you had made from Monty about the Seve Trophy. Have you talked to previous captains and do you regret anything you said?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: What comments are they?

Q. Just that Monty missed a few meetings --

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Sorry, missed that.

Q. Well, the quote was that Monty was a tough one and he was the only one whose emotions you had to deal with.

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: I can't hear.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: That you called Monty a really bad word or something, (laughter), horse's something -- I don't know. (Laughter).

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Are you the same as me? I can't hear the question.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Doug, you're a little waffly there.

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Yeah, i can't get the question.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Ask it again, Doug. I want to hear the answer. (Laughter).

JULIUS MASON: We'll bring Richard back up at this point.

Q. You were quoted in the Times of London as just saying Monty was a difficult one at the Seve Trophy and didn't come to all of the meetings and was the only one whose emotions you had to deal with. Curious if there was any fallout or if you spoke to any previous captains who were critical of you being so open.

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: No fallout.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: That was a horrible answer. (Laughter).

Oh and we have a year to go! Here's more...

Q. Have you spoken to anybody yet about replacing Paul McGinley as an assistant captain?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: No.

Q. Whoever it might be, do you view their role the same as Paul expressed earlier, that it's not just baby sitting, it's to stop you making mistakes?

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: To what?

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: Keep you from making a mistake, not like baby-sitting.

Q. That's the way Paul expressed it.

CAPTAIN PAUL AZINGER: He thought he made a mistake once, but he was mistaken. (Laughter).

CAPTAIN NICK FALDO: Yeah (dryly) (Laughter) You have to live, you do the best you can. You make your best decisions all the time.

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Two Weeks To Go Edition

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pgatour.jpgLast time we checked during week 20, the boys were clearly working out less because the PGA Tour driving distance average dropped to a pathetic 284.7 average, nearly 5 yards off last year's final average.

It had nothing to do with the wet and cold encountered early in the year. Nope. No way. 

But I'm glad to report that the cardio work and the flax cream massages helped bump the PGA Tour driving distance average to exactly 290 with two weeks to go. 

Though I must say the boys have lost their strength when it comes to 400-yard+ drives. Only 26 this year, compared to 30 400-yarders or more in 2006. Still time to act though!

As for players averaging over 300 yards, 2006 saw 21 do that while in 2007, a measly 23 are over the 300 average barrier, with four others just on the verge of breaking the 300 barrier.

In a few weeks we'll have the final word on drives over 350 yards, but right now it looks like they are on track to beat last year's total of 2,183. 

See, the numbers are once again down like USGA President Walter Driver says!

What does all of this mean?

Why, the USGA/R&A inaction has worked. By continuing to study the ball for another year while having machines test grooves using wet newspaper clippings to determine that grooves are in fact the real problem, our governing bodies have fixed the problem that they said did not exist.

With driving distances not leveling off and an 11-yard pick up since 2002 when they said there must not be any "further significant increases", golf courses can keep bearing the brunt of the costs associated with increases that are not happening while the gov bods can keep giving the impression they are acting on behalf of the game.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour gets to spend a lot of money and annoying time testing for performance enhancing drug use instead. Oh the rest of us will have to go shopping for conforming v-grooved irons and wedges.

Angry Fans Mob LPGA Event Gates...

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...really!

From the wire, and thanks reader LPGAFan:

Norway's Suzann Pettersen captured the US LPGA Tour's Hana Bank Kolon Championship at three-under par in Gyeongju in South Korea on Sunday.

And it might have been the easiest of the four victories she has had this year. The final round of the 54-hole tournament was cancelled due to strong winds, which the tournament officials said made some greens "unplayable" on the 6,270-yard course at Mauna Ocean & Golf Resort.

Balls would roll off the greens in the gusts, and the final round play was suspended at 9:15 a.m. local time (2345 GMT).

Libba Galloway, deputy commissioner of the US LPGA, told reporters that the tour tried to resume the play at 12:45 p.m. (0245 GMT), but after discussions with officials, players and sponsors, it was best not to continue playing.

An estimated 5,000 fans had gathered at the course, and some had to be restrained from entering the tournament headquarters in protest.

Perhaps they heard about the trophy ceremony, where the winner would don one of Natalie Portman's costumes from the Stars Wars saga.

213276.jpgPadme_ep1.jpg 

"It also sends the wrong message: that the PGA Tour will kowtow to demands from its star players when they are unhappy."

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Gerard Gallagher of the Sports Network pens an interesting commentary on the rumored FedEx Cup tweaks and says the Tour should not back down again to the two stars who wanted a shorter season.

The PGA Tour's top players already do what they want, when they want. To campaign for a break from the five-week schedule -- which Mickelson and others have done openly -- is to say they can't handle playing five straight weeks, even for millions of dollars in a new playoff system fans have embraced. And that's hard to swallow.

It also sends the wrong message: that the PGA Tour will kowtow to demands from its star players when they are unhappy.

Many of the players who make the 30-man field for the Tour Championship will already have a break during the Ryder Cup. And if a player like Mickelson feels he needs a week off, he always has the option of just not playing.

We've already seen him and Woods do that.

By most accounts, the first year of the FedEx Cup playoffs was a success. The PGA Tour even got what it probably wanted most in the end: the best-recognized athlete in the world answering questions about his financial windfall.

Votaw pointed out that 98 percent of the uninjured players who qualified for the playoffs participated in it. The PGA Tour was "very pleased with...the support we received from the players, the competitions themselves and the results we were able to achieve in terms of television ratings, attendance, sponsor activation around the playoffs and media coverage," Votaw wrote.

So if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

A fair point, but I'm going to guess that the week off rumored for 2008 is a one-year exception to deal with the Ryder Cup.  

Reilly Departs SI

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I'm not really sure what to make of Rick Reilly darting from SI to ESPN since I wasn't the type to open up the magazine from the back just to read him. And since it had been some time since he'd contributed much to the golf coverage other than columns, I doubt his departure will mean that much to the golf coverage there.

Thanks to reader John for Richard Sandomir's NY Times story on this.

"We want to give them a solid option, where they have a choice and don't have to go to America if they don't want to."

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John Huggan turns on his tape recorder and lets George "I'm prone to pissing people off" O'Grady share the European Tour's scheduling philosophy. And there are a few other jabs, including one at the President's Cup.

"We are looking at where we have really good courses, really good climates and a lot of money available," he continues. "Those are the areas we will be focusing on. We will shortly be announcing some of the things we are doing in 2009, at which time it will be obvious where we are headed. We will be looking to create clusters of tournaments that are attractive to the global players. We want to give them a solid option, where they have a choice and don't have to go to America if they don't want to."

While that is as much as O'Grady is prepared to say on the subject at this stage, the smart money is on the Middle East tournaments - those in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai - moving from their current early-season slots to somewhere near the end. China, too, is sure to figure large in the newly reconfigured European line-up.

"By the end of 2009 the new framework will be well established," reveals O'Grady. "It will be very clear what we are trying to do, although we will still have some work to do. I don't think we will ever have the schedule exactly the way we want it, so it is hard to put a time on how long it will take us to get there. We have to be aware of the whole world."
And on the Cups... 

"The American players are all very committed to the Ryder Cup," contends O'Grady, whose lack of cynicism on this subject is hardly shared by all informed observers. "There is such passion for the event. And the tension on the first tee is comparable to Sunday afternoon at a major championship. When Tiger Woods arrived on the first tee at the K Club last year, he was really tight. That tee-shot he hit into the lake was indicative of that.

"The Presidents Cup is very different. I sat on the first tee there this year and it was all very nice. There was plenty of banter and everyone was friendly. In contrast, you daren't speak on the first tee at the Ryder Cup.

"So I think the players would let the PGA Tour know if they needed a bigger gap between the Fed-Ex Cup and the Ryder Cup. But the Ryder Cup is far more important to me than it is to Tim Finchem. I'm not sure how aggravating he finds it that we are involved in the Ryder Cup and the PGA Tour is not, other than sharing a bit in the television revenue.

"If you take the view that whatever the PGA Tour does regarding the Ryder Cup is for the benefit of its membership, then it is a benevolent dictatorship. I don't think what has been done with the Fed-Ex Cup was done to hurt the Ryder Cup; it is merely a by-product."

Has The USGA Got It's Groove Study Results Back?

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...on the news that the PGA Tour is honing in on a drug testing program and penalties for violators.

Who would have ever thought, based on Commissioner Finchem's reluctance, that the PGA Tour would adopt a comprehensive policy and appear close to putting it in place before the USGA officially deemed U-grooves non-conforming or finished its golf ball study?

Things sure have been quiet on the groove front considering the USGA first announced this in February.

Might the R&A be getting cold feet? Has a manufacturer (other than the Ping dudes) threaten to sue after reading the USGA's documentation? Or did all of the manufacturers actually use their brains and realize that what seemed like a fun idea (new irons and wedges for everyone!) was actually setting a disastrous precedent by rolling back equipment and opening the door for the end-of-the-world scenario: a ball rollback?

Thoughts? 

Leaks On First FedEx Cup Tweaks

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Golfweek's Rex Hoggard has the scoop on the changes under consideration, one of which sounds excellent, the other I'm not so wild about.

During an Oct. 16 meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., commissioner Tim Finchem told the 16-member PAC that the FedEx Cup, which he proclaimed a “success” in its first year, needed only “minor tweaks” in 2008. Sources told Golfweek.com one of those possible adjustments would be reducing playoff fields; the other would be altering the schedule so that the FedEx playoffs and the Ryder Cup Matches (Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.) would not be staged in five consecutive weeks.

Instead, under one proposal, top competitors would play the first two playoff events (The Barclays, Aug. 21-24, and Deutsche Bank Championship, Aug. 29-Sept. 1) as scheduled, have a week off, play the third playoff event (BMW Championship) and then the Ryder Cup. The Tour Championship, now scheduled for Sept. 11-14, would be moved to Sept. 25-28, on the heels of the Ryder Cup.
Okay, that's a winner. That off week should make it tough for guys to skip an event. Should. 
Among the changes for ’08, the Tour is considering reducing the number of players that qualify for the circuit’s four-event “playoff” series. The proposal presented to PAC members was to trim playoff field sizes to 120 players for The Barclays (144 were eligible this year); 90 for the Deutsche Bank Championship (from120); 60 for the BMW Championship (from 70); and the traditional 30 for the Tour Championship. That’s a reduction of 64 total spots from this year’s playoffs.

The trim from 144 to 120 is a no-brainer, but I don't know about you, but I'm growing bored with all of these limited field events, their typically lackluster finishes and reduced playing opportunities. Granted, Tiger's partially to blame for being so much better than everyone and blowing away those limited fields, but I'd vote for leaving the other field sizes as they were while ramping up the point system volatility.

Hoggard also details the first rumored drug policy penalties:

The Tour’s anti-doping policy is expected to have plenty of teeth. According to one PAC member who wished not to be identified, potential punishments for positive tests would be a $5,000 fine for the first offense; a one-year suspension for a second positive test; and a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour, and presumably all members of the Federation of PGA Tours, for a third strike.

The proposed anti-doping legislation announced late last month has  universal support among i the game’s  governing bodies. A positive test and resultant punishment would apply to all of the game’s major championships, as well as on all of the world’s primary tours.

Included among the Tour’s “model prohibited substances and methods list,” are anabolic agents, such as testosterone, as well as beta-blockers, which diminish the effects of adrenaline and narcotics. 

More On Tiger's First U.S. Design

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asset_upload_file452_3651.jpgLinks editor Hunki Yun pens the most extensive feature I've read to date on Tiger Woods's first U.S. course design at The Cliffs. The spread also features easily the best lit staged architect-developer photo of all time (left). Nice use of reflectors boys! Though way too much Dockers ad for my taste.

Anyway...

Anthony contacted Woods in February, and a major factor in Woods’ decision was the Cliffs’—and Anthony’s—emphasis on health and wellness, which mirrors Woods’ values. In the spirit of fitness, Anthony and Woods originally announced that High Carolina would be walking only. But in the only misstep of the day, they later clarified that walking will be encouraged but not required.

Oh well.

There remains the considerable task of building a course worthy of the hype, not to mention Woods’ fee, estimated to be more than $20 million including real estate sales incentives—nearly 10 times the highest previous going rate. The Cliffs is still working on the permitting for the site, which sits at about 4,000 feet and features 50-mile views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Meanwhile Woods’ design team, led by Beau Welling, formerly Fazio’s top man, has yet to finalize a routing—construction is not likely to begin until mid-2008 and the course won’t open for at least two years after that.

I'm sure we won't hear a thing about it between now and then.