Monty: Faldo Blew It, Therefore We Need Sandy!

From an unbylined report in The Guardian:

Asked if he thought Faldo got the best out of the team beaten by five points in Kentucky Montgomerie, who missed out on the action for the first time since 1989, replied: "Possibly not." And the eight-time European No1, who could have surpassed Faldo's cup points record had he been invited along, gave the broadest hint that the decision to put double Open and PGA champion Padraig Harrington out last in the singles was the gravest error.

"It occurred to me [when he saw the order] that unfortunately [Ian] Poulter, [Lee] Westwood, Harrington are possibly our three strongest players and they might not be - might be, but might not be - involved in the final shake-up. Play them earlier and they would have been involved 100%. Only once in the whole history of the Ryder Cup has the No12 decided the match; Bernhard Langer in 1991."

Somehow I'm not so sure this is going to help, though Sandy Lyle found this "inspiring":

Montgomerie also believes that Sandy Lyle should succeed Faldo for the next tournament at Celtic Manor in 2010, despite growing calls for Welshman Ian Woosnam to return to guide the side to victory as he did at The K Club two years ago. Of Europe's "Big Five" of the 1980s - Seve Ballesteros, Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Lyle and Woosnam - only Lyle has not yet been given the captaincy. "I think it would be nice to see him," said Montgomerie. "I feel it would be a shame if it wasn't Sandy."

Tiger Walking Around Dubai?

Thanks to Tuco for this CNN video of Tiger Woods' Dubai project with the usual stuff from Tiger about how it'll be playable for the average man yet still challenging for him.

More interesting than that, if you can believe it, is the footage of Tiger walking. It probably was shot a good while ago, but if it's post surgery as the reporter seems to indicate, he looks to be getting around pretty well.

Tour Championship: "The catering equivalent of a turd in the punchbowl."

Steve Elling writes:

The Tour Championship's importance has been wrecked by a sad confluence of events that left a tournament designed to be a grand finale into the catering equivalent of a turd in the punchbowl.

Yes, it starts today.

Would this be a bad time to bring up this proposal again? Promise I won't mention it again.

“We didn’t want the green to look like it had been dropped from outer space in the backyard of Golf House"

Someone named Dave Fanucchi of the USGA, who apparently is part of the "new media" gang brought into restore Far Hills media relations order (but they are waiting to tell the golf media this!), sent this press release regarding Far Hills' new Gil Hanse-constructed putting course.

USGA Museum’s The Pynes Putting Course Now Open to the Public

Far Hills, N.J. (Sept. 23, 2008) – The USGA Museum today opened The Pynes Putting Course, a 16,000-square-foot putting green that will allow visitors to test their skills using replicas of antique putters and balls from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Pynes Putting Course will be open to visitors during regular Museum hours from early spring to late fall, weather permitting. The green fee is $5 with paid admission to the Museum and includes a souvenir square-mesh golf ball. Visitors will be able to use replicas of four classic putters ‑‑ such as Bob Jones’ famous Calamity Jane II ‑- to play the nine-hole course, which will be re-routed on a weekly basis.

Named for Evelyn and Percy Pyne, who lived on the grounds of the country estate that is now home to the United States Golf Association, The Pynes Putting Course was inspired by the world-renowned Himalayas putting green in St. Andrews, Scotland. That green, which has served as home to the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews since 1867, has long welcomed visitors from all over the globe.

“We hope that the experience of playing the putting course will increase visitors’ appreciation for golfers of the past and their skills,” said Rand Jerris, Director of the USGA Museum. “We hope there are some golfers who come and get hooked on the history of the game. It’s a place where families are welcome, and it may be the first time some visitors ever get to putt on a grass green.”

The green was designed by Philadelphia-based architect Gil Hanse, who also spent more than two days on a shaper to fashion the putting surface’s dramatic mounds and swales. USGA Green Section staffers Jim Moore and Dave Oatis oversaw the agronomic details of the green, which utilizes “Declaration,” a creeping bentgrass strain developed at Rutgers University with the assistance of USGA Green Section funding.

Now, I don't like to pick on the USGA, but it would be nice if someone had proofread this so that it didn't have Gil Hanse spending two days on a shaper when he was actually on a bulldozer.

Gil also donated his services. Now, I would have advised against this since the USGA has $300 million in reserve (well...before the last few weeks they did). Still, it would have been nice for them to note that. It was also left out of David Shefter's otherwise excellent story on the new green, which also explains the fascinating process of making period putters and balls. There are also photo links there as well with images by John Mummert, including plenty of the construction process.

"We've got to have a climactic finish"

I've been a little busy and the Ryder Cup was just too good to let go of, so I haven't read Tim Finchem's press conference very closely but it looks like he was in one of his more long-winded modes, and we know how well that usually turns out.

I did see this from Doug Ferguson regarding the FedEx Cup.

Finchem said he expects a good week and big crowd, and it helps that Saturday's round will be played early, so as not to conflict with the NBC broadcast of Notre Dame football. Thankfully, Georgia plays Alabama on Saturday night.

In the meantime, he said changes to the FedEx Cup appear imminent.

``We've got to have a climactic finish,'' Finchem said. ``It's going to build to a finish.''

That's why he makes $5 million a year. It only took two years for him to figure that out.

"The thing that makes Sharp Park unique is it's a (public course) and it has a low green fee, so Joe Six-Pack can play."

Marisa Lagos reports on the escalating feud over the San Francisco city courses and in particular Alister MacKenzie's Sharp Park on the eve of a city golf meeting to determine the fate of the city courses. There just has to be a way to make this work...

An environmental group is accusing the city of San Francisco of illegally killing two federally protected animals that live at a publicly owned golf course, and is threatening to sue if city officials refuse to close the golf course and restore the coastal wetlands.

The potential legal challenge over Sharp Park Golf Course - a city-owned, beachside course built around a lagoon in Pacifica - is the latest salvo in a continuing battle over the future of the city's five public courses. The announcement was made just days before a public meeting on the issue.

The Center for Biological Diversity plans to file a claim today in an attempt to protect the endangered San Francisco garter snake and the threatened red-legged frog, which are native to the area. The claim accuses the Recreation and Park Department, which owns the 77-year-old golf course, of killing both animals through regular maintenance activities, including lawn mowing, the use of chemicals, the draining of water from the area and alteration of the habitat in other ways.

"The next generation of Korean golfers understands the importance of learning English at an early age."

Add instructor Mike Bender to the list of people Carolyn Bivens did not consult before pushing her learn-English policy. In this week's SI Golf Plus:

The next generation of Korean golfers understands the importance of learning English at an early age. The players and their parents realize that the best golf instruction is in the U.S., and the players will learn faster and better if they can converse with their teachers. They also recognize that their role models — Se Ri Pak, Seon Hwa Lee and K.J. Choi — all speak English, and they see how doing so enriches their lives in the U.S. and facilitates their ability to secure sponsors and garner attention.

Final Ryder Cup Question: Would Rough Have Helped...

...of course not. But because we need to shift focus to the totally meaningless and devoid-of-drama Tour Championship, there is one more Ryder Cup question worth considering.

It was clear that the Azinger cut was enormous and from the scalping I saw, maybe a little tighter cut than originally planned. Based on the shots hit from it, the lies were almost comparable to fairway heights. So Valhalla's landing areas played 40-50 yards wide in most cases.

Yes, there were some ankle deep areas we'll call "native" but in terms of 3-4 inch fertilized and pampered stuff lining separating fairways from gallery ropes, there just wasn't much rough. Nor was there much around the greens. I recall one Hunter Mahan chip from behind a green (17?) sitting in some thick stuff, otherwise there is not another shot of significance that we saw played from the pitch-out junk that lines all too many fairways and engulfs putting surfaces.

Now, if this were a stroke play event and the boys faced this setup, people would be calling Valhalla names and downplaying the course's quality. If it were an individual stroke play event, the press would be calling it un-major like and not a true "test." Scores might have been, gasp, low and we'd be deprived of the flukish fascination of seeing drives just barely missing fairways getting a raw deal as wild miss-hits find a nice matted down lie.

So why isn't this rough-free Ryder Cup's integrity being questioned? Don't tell me it's little old "match play" giving it the free pass here.

Could it be that we're seeing a realization by the media that rough is a cancerous growth on any golf course and that it's been depriving us of excitement? Could the combination of the Masters losing its appeal, the U.S. Open climbing quickly thanks to tiered roughs and the PGA at Oakland Hills contrasting so starkly with Southern Hills, actually awakening the media to the vagaries of rough and absurd setup ploys?

I give to you example A of why I think this may be the case, but of course welcome your thoughts. Tim Rosaforte at GolfDigest.com writes:

Everybody talked about the way Azinger tweaked Valhalla, but it didn't really favor either side. What it did was create the most exciting shootout of the year, with holes being halved with birdies and flagsticks peppered with shots. It's too bad major golf associations such as the USGA don't take more of a page from this, letting the guys play with an open collar instead of a straightjacket. With the ball bounding on those Kentucky fairways and balls releasing off those contours toward the hole, it was similar to Augusta National when it was exciting, not the year's first U.S. Open.

Update on 2008-09-25 04:08 by Geoff

On this subject, Michael Bamberger in SI:

The golf course helped make the event. Captain Paul Azinger, working with PGA of America officials and Valhalla's course superintendent, Mark Wilson, had it just right. Fairways wide enough to encourage the players to hit driver. Rough that was penal but playable. Greens that were probably slightly slower than regular Tour speed, which meant the players could get putts to the hole. Just enough water on the greens to make them receptive. They weren't U.S. Open conditions, and you wouldn't want U.S. Open conditions in this event. They were ideal match-play conditions. I had never been a big fan of Valhalla — its scale is too huge — but this time I felt differently. I hope Billy Payne and Fred Ridley and the boys at Augusta were watching closely. They could get some tips on course setup from Azinger and Co. I'm not saying make it Mickey Mouse. I'm saying let them play and put on a show. All these things today are TV events anyhow, right?

"Basically, if your commercials air during golf tournaments, you're done."

I admire Jim Gorant's optimism about the financial meltdown's impact on pro golf, but it seems a little early to say how this will play out.

Amy Poehler finished up a routine about the Wall Street meltdown on last week's Saturday Night Live by saying, "Basically, if your commercials air during golf tournaments, you're done." Funny, and seemingly true, since 26 banks, brokerage houses and insurance companies have their names attached to PGA, Champions and Nationwide tour events, and even more advertise during tournaments. The list includes AIG, Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America (also a sponsor), and the troubled banks Northern Trust and Wachovia, the latter of which considered a merger with the Memorial's presenting sponsor, Morgan Stanley.

But not all is necessarily as it appears. "Competitors of those troubled giants like AIG and Merrill Lynch have every reason to pump up ad spending to steal away customers," Media Life magazine reported last week. "And of course the new owners of these institutions will want to up spending to repair what damage they can." To that point, Golf Channel president Page Thompson says, "At this time we have not seen any negative impact on either this year's sales or on future advertising plans."

Zinger's Pods

The raves are rolling in for Captain Paul Azinger. Douglas Lowe reviews the "pods" Azinger split his team into:

Azinger grouped what he called his four aggressive personalities, Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan, Justin Leonard and Phil Mickelson in one set. None of this testosterone-laden quartet played with anyone else for the entire week and they were also the four that led the singles.

Then there were Azinger's steady-Eddies "that are just rock solid, unflappable personalities" of Stewart Cink, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell. They, too, were a completely bonded four and in the singles, as you might expect, they anchored the team in spots nine to 12.

It was the other four that were probably key, the charismatic quartet of Kentuckians JB Holmes and Kenny Perry, Boo Weekley, the good ol' southern boy who was adopted as one of their own by the home fans, and the Florida-based Jim Furyk, who said: "I was trying to be as southern as I could this week."

Look at their results in the singles, and while the gung-ho, crowd-whipping opening four managed just a point and a half on the last day, the charismatic boys weighed in with an irrestible four out of four and put the blockers on Nick Faldo's plans to bring it down to the wire to his strong four at the tail end.

Tim Rosaforte also writes about the pods, says there's no doubt this team bonds and wins with Tiger, then asks...

What foursome would Tiger been a part of? Past history shows it wouldn't have worked to slot Woods with Mickelson, so it would have been T-Dub and the country bumpkins. "Tiger would have been with Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley," Azinger said. "It would have been unbelievable. Tiger and Holmes? Tiger and Boo?"

T-Dub?

Jeff Lancaster reported yesterday that Lee Westwood was not happy with Azinger's attempts to make the crowd his "13th man" by telling them they could cheer Europe's missed putts, were to blame for the less savoury moments of crowd behaviour.

After the United States won by 16 to 11, to reclaim the trophy for the first time since 1999, Westwood revealed he had been abused "from start to finish". The 34-year-old did not want to repeat what was shouted at him but did reveal one was a "particularly nasty reference to my mother" and that his parents had also been woken by a phone call at 4.30am on Sunday.

"They were trying to ring me but called the wrong hotel and got the wrong Westwood," he added. "It really upset my dad's preparations for walking around the course. I also got a phone call at 12:30am wishing me good luck.

"I must be taking on the Monty role. Let's pick on the old guy with a few grey hairs."

His agent decided this could be a PR problem and issued this statement today regretting the comments.

John Hopkins sees irony in the way things played out:

How ironic it was that the United States won the Ryder Cup in part because Nick Faldo, the Europe captain for whom no detail was too small, was outmanoeuvred by Paul Azinger, the US captain who would always try to wing it but for this match spared nothing in his quest for a first US victory for nine years. In Kentucky, the biter was well and truly bitten. 

Rosaforte lists the possible successors while Steve Elling explains Davis Love's mixed feelings about being a candidate.

Oliver Wilson Exhausted By His Two-Match Appearance; WDs

Let's see, 28, flew back to Europe in a chartered jet after playing two matches in three days and too tired to play the British Masters? And he's not American?

"Yes it was only two matches I played, but they were 14-hour days," he said.

"The week was everything I thought it would be and more. I'm worn out, it's been hard to switch off and so I don't think it's right to play.

"I can't afford to go and not play well. This way I can rest and prepare for the Dunhill Links in Scotland next week.

"My main goal now is to qualify for The Masters next April and one big week can get me there through the world's top 50 at the end of the year."

So is this a product of the world rankings, uh, incentivizing him to sit out if he senses it'll probably be a lousy week?

If that's the case, nice system.

Ryder Cup Ratings Up!

Pretty impressive considering the competition from the NFL and MLB.

From Tod Leonard's golf column:

The Ryder Cup is one event that got a bump in television ratings despite not having Woods. The national overnight Nielsen rating for NBC's six-hour Sunday telecast was 3.7, up 22 percent from the final day in '06, when the U.S. got blown out early in the morning (U.S. time) in Ireland.

Woosie: I'm Available!

From an unbylined report on Ian Woosnam wanting the 2010 gig:

He told The Sun: 'If the players want me back I would be delighted to do it. It is one of the greatest honours a golfer can get.'

He added: 'I’ve already had my turn and don’t want to put anyone else’s nose out. But as I’ve always said you have got to put your name forward if you want it.'

Second Ryder Cup Question: Did Tiger's Absence Help?

Brian Murphy makes a compelling point:

But Tiger and the Ryder Cup, no matter what he says publicly, and no matter how supportive he is in the Team Room, are a weird mix. I always flash back to the moment in ‘04 at Oakland Hills when we were pressing Tiger on whether or not he cared about the Ryder Cup, and Tiger finally had enough and asked us: “How many majors has Jack Nicklaus won?” Dutifully, we all answered “18.” Tiger then asked, “And what’s his Ryder Cup record?” When we all sat there like dumbstruck sheep, unable to produce the answer, Tiger sat back, satisfied.

Team USA has now won as many Ryder Cups without Tiger (one) as it has with Tiger in five other Cups. Tiger was part of a losing team in 1997, 2002, ‘04 and ‘06, and while there are tons of reasons other than Tiger why they lost those Cups, I had a feeling that his absence would be important two ways.

One, it would allow Team USA to operate in a Tiger-free zone, not worrying about what he thinks or says, or having to answer any questions about him. His absence allowed rookies like Hunter Mahan, Anthony Kim and J.B. Holmes to play and act more naturally.

Azinger has said that a key moment in the week was the Thursday night pep rally in front of 4,000 that was supposed to only be attended by the Captain. Then the team decided to crash it and apparently bonded. I couldn't help but think that Tiger would not have wanted to attend because of the security issues and the desire to get his rest prior to a long day one.

But there's also this key point from Mike Adamson in The Guardian:

Likewise it is hard, albeit not impossible, to imagine the debutants Anthony Kim and Boo Weekley playing with such uninhibited personality were they in Woods's shadow. Although Azinger lost the world's best player, it is not too much of a stretch to suggest that his uplifting captaincy has also benefited from the absence of such an intimidating figure in the team room.

Think Tiger's absence helped?

Update on 2008-09-23 15:29 by Geoff

Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union Tribune:

Look at how much fun the Americans had. Look at the camaraderie they shared. Compare that with the dour grinding they'd done over most of the past decade of Ryder Cup play, when Woods couldn't overpower Europe alone in three straight terrible losses.

It's not that he tries to make it hard, but Woods' presence changes everything. There's more security, more hoopla, more pressure. With Woods' aura dominating the room, the influence and power of any captain has to be shrunk.

Four-time American Ryder Cupper Stewart Cink put it most succinctly last week: “Even though everybody likes Tiger and we get along with him, we all feel like we're more similar to each other. When 12 players walk out of a clubhouse, there's one cart to take one person and the other 11 have to find their way.”