Tadd's Back!

Fujikawa Monday qualifies to spice things up at the Sony Open. I just wonder where he'll be staying. Oh wait, he lives there. 

“A union of uncompromised originals”

...uncompromised? The R&A? Aren't they the ones who change courses instead of the equipment rules? Anyway, score one for the USGA...

The R&A and SABMiller plc today announced that they have enteredinto a long term agreement under which Pilsner Urquell, the iconic beer brand from SABMiller, will become the Official Beer of The Open Championship.

The arrangement is effective from the upcoming 2009 Championshipat Turnberry and will last for five years, taking in confirmed future Championships at St Andrews, Royal St George’s and Royal Lytham and St Annes.

Vinod Giri, International Brand Director of SABMiller plc said, “The heritage, authenticity and premium nature of The Open Championship offer fantastic synergies for Pilsner Urquell. Both brands are the original, uncompromised leaders in their fields and set the gold standard. We are excited by this partnership, and look forward to building a long and successful association with The R&A.”

David Hill, R&A Director of Championships, said, “The R&A is delighted to welcome Pilsner Urquell as the Official Beer of The Open Championship. I’m sure spectators at this year’s Open at Turnberry will be delighted that such an iconic beer is available throughout the Open Championship site.”

Yes, especially since getting to the property will induce migraines.

"I like watching golf as much as the next sentient being, but four hours of it from the third round of a 32-man event? It's too much, and it leads to bad TV." **

Every member of the SI Golf Plus team--except for Steve the night janitor (who forgot his login name)-- piled onto golf.com's new weekly email roundtable to kick around Geoff Ogilvy's win at Kapalua. Weighing in at a hefty three pages - a novel by online standards - Gary Van Sickle opened up the conversation with concerns about, ironically, the length of Golf Channel's telecast.

While I love the chance to watch live golf in the evening, that doesn't mean I want to watch it the entire evening. What is this, the U.S. Open? I like watching golf as much as the next sentient being, but four hours of it from the third round of a 32-man event? It's too much, and it leads to bad TV.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Is a four-hour telecast too much? Obviously, yes ... every other week of the year. But I love watching the Mercedes because the course makes for thrilling golf, the surfers and spouting whales are a fun diversion, and I'm usually ready to plug back in after months without a meaningful golf tournament. But the mood quickly passes, and then I prefer a shorter telecast to assist my DVR'ing.

I agree that the oversaturation was too much even with those stunning views and much improved production values thanks to Brandt Packer and Jack Graham.

But a greater concern for the PGA Tour should be the burden these excessive telecasts have on the announce teams and the potential created for idiotic commentary. I contended last year that the Kelly Tilghman's back alley lynch remark was largely a product of the announce conditions (too many hours to fill, too many executives wanting ESPN-cutesy humor that is not Tilghman's strongsuit).

This year Rich Lerner was charged with killing time via lengthy interviews and as was pointed out here, Boo Weekley came dangerously close to saying something embarrassing. Readers also noted that Lerner, innocently killing time, may have crossed a line in questioning Davis Love about his return to Hawaii.

As readers pointed out, Golf Channel's sycophantic coverage of Anthony Kim signing autographs and driving off in his courtesy car bordered on the ridiculous. Throw in way too much time for Mark Rolfing to fulfill his obligations to whoever in Hawaii is paying for raves, and the Mercedes Championship was a reminder that more telecast hours do not necessarily translate to a better "product." At four hours with announcers who can only say so much, the pacing is setting the stage for a product liability disaster.

Update on 2009-01-14 03:28 by Geoff

**Dave Seanor at examiner.com takes issue with another Rolfing comment, this one about drug testing.

It came shortly after Love declined to be interviewed by Rich Lerner because he had been summoned for a post-round drug test. To add context, Lerner noted that two trainers with whom he had spoken last year said tests were unlikely to reveal any use of performance enhancing drugs on Tour. Then the commentary shifted to Nick Faldo, Kelly Tilghman and Rolfing.

“What I don’t like about it is the fact that at the end of a round, you sign a scorecard that says ‘I shot 72 today,’ which means you played by the rules,” Rolfing said. “That was the score you shot. All you have to do is sign the card and that’s your score.

“Why do you have to submit to a drug test?” he continued. “Why can’t you just sign a piece of paper and say I didn’t take drugs that are banned and are in this book (PGA Tour Anti-Doping Program Manual). It’s against the grain of our game.”

Not only was Rolfing‘s remark incredibly naïve, but it also betrayed his woefully shallow understanding of the issue.

Yes, golf prides itself on the collective integrity of its players, but it is ludicrous to think golfers are somehow exempt from human frailty.

What next? Is Rolfing going to tell us golfers don’t cheat on their wives or girlfriends? They never roll through stop signs?

Euro Ryder Cup Committee Hopes A Few More Months Of Missed Cuts Will Convince Ollie to Reconsider

John Hopkins reports that the committee selecting Europe's 2010 Ryder Cup captain has postponed their decision, giving the British press until May to dig up every conceivable anonymous quote against Sandy Lyle.

Chief of these is that some of the 15-man committee want José María Olazábal, Nick Faldo’s vice-captain at Valhalla in Louisville last September, to be captain. However, Olazábal, 42, is reluctant to accept the challenge, preferring first to recover from the rheumatism and fatigue that disrupted his season in 2008 and then to assess whether he has a chance of making what would be his eighth appearance in the biennial event.

Meanwhile Lawrence Donegan considers the political situation influencing who might be selected, with this on Olazábal and Lyle.

However, if he plays well enough to be in contention for a place on the team, then the focus will shift back to Lyle, who remains the only member of European golf's "big five" from the 1990s (Seve Ballesteros, Faldo, Woosnam and Bernhard Langer being the others) who has not had the honour and the commercial windfall of the Ryder Cup captaincy. "I think it would be a terrible shame if he wasn't given the job," one well-placed member of the European Tour hierarchy said today. "With the right people around to support him he would be fine as a captain."

Boy, there's a ringing endorsement.

"If you're trying to get one or two players, you're going to have to move it to San Diego or Orlando"

I should have known last week that there was more to the probing back-and-forth between Tim Finchem and writers over the future of Kapalua as a PGA Tour venue. Doug Ferguson reports that the tour is looking at other venues for the Mercedes, even though most players love it and it looks absolutely stunning on television. (Though it sure would be nice to see the course play faster in the approaches like it did in the early part of this century).

Lots of interesting stuff in the piece, but a few items jumped out:

Ogilvy is among those who took up joint membership on the European Tour this year, and one reason was a variety of courses that he believes the U.S. tour lacks. He finds it odd that a move from Kapalua is being discussed.

"After Florida, you probably play the same golf course 20 times in a row," Ogilvy said. "But to play such an extremely different setup, it's a cool place to start."

After Florida? How about starting with Florida!

Actually, it was wise of Geoff to put it that way. I think any knock on Florida golf architecture is a fineable offense.

The tour is said to be looking at Wailea, about an hour to the east on Maui, where the weather is more predictable. It might have more options for Mercedes' clients to play golf, but it doesn't have the caliber of course that Kapalua offers. Players often criticize the tour for not playing on the best courses available; this could be one of those example.

"I love coming here," said Stewart Cink, one of four players on the tour's policy board. "I like playing here. I think this is a fun course to play. It's different and a challenge in its own way. I would not want to move it. But it's a business decision, I'm sure."

Those tournament week golfing options for the Mercedes customers should take priority after all. Oy. I'm actually feeling sorry for the tour if they were in fact told by the sponsor that this was a concern at the current venue (and I guess it say the Mercedes people don't really like the Bay Course at Kapalua...but it was designed by Arnold Palmer!).

Here's your early evidence of Justin Leonard winning a future Jim Murray Award for giving scribes user friendly, succinct and wonderfully not-so-subtle quotes:

Some players believe the tour is looking at a move to the mainland to make it easier to travel.

"If you're trying to get one or two players, you're going to have to move it to San Diego or Orlando," said Justin Leonard, referring to Mickelson and Woods. "And even then, I don't think those guys would play. It's nice to start here."

"I've had a lot of deflated looks up at 18. That's the way it goes."

Enjoyable post round conversation between the scribblers and Geoff Ogilvy after his third round 65 gave him a six-stroke lead at sunny Kapalua, which looks oh so good on Golf Channel HD.

Q. Justin said he got to 18 and looked at the scoreboard and said it was deflating.

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, well, I guess it would be. I've never actually been this far in front before, but I've been this far behind a lot of times (laughter). I've had a lot of deflated looks up at 18. That's the way it goes.

And yeah, my pitching has been pretty good. It's probably the only part of my game that I really work on all the time. My golf swing and putting and all that comes and goes, but pitching is something I work on all the time. I think it's one of the most important parts of golf, especially the type of golf we play on TOUR. All the best players in the world are the best pitchers of the ball, so that's a part of my game I work on a lot. I guess this week, it's been pretty good.

"Are you doing that old business of forgetting to grip with the third and fourth fingers?"

John Paul Newport's Saturday column covers an underserved topic in golf: the art of gamesmanship. Nice plug for our friend Jon Winokur's misunderstood classic on the subject, too:

The core gamesmanship concepts, in my reading and experience, fall into four categories, all of which prey on a golfer's lonely vulnerability. Implanting irrelevant or otherwise distracting thoughts deep in a player's mind is the most time-honored tactic. "Are those butterflies bothering you? I can try to shoo them away," one may offer. Unwanted instruction is also a perennial: "Are you doing that old business of forgetting to grip with the third and fourth fingers?"

The next category involves deliberately becoming an irritant. Matching your foe's brisk pace of play with a snail's pace of your own is hard to defend against, especially for Type As. Voicing political opinions known to be anathema often produces splendid results. Boldly repeating shopworn expressions -- such as "Never up, never in" when someone leaves a putt short -- is guaranteed to get under anyone's skin.

Next, and less sporting, comes active physical distraction, such as standing just a tad too close, or absent-mindedly jangling change. Mr. Winokur describes The Mangrum, named after former Tour pro Lloyd Mangrum, who was fond of wearing bright white shoes and, while standing just inside his opponent's peripheral vision, crossing his legs at just the right, or wrong, moment.

Old Golf Auctions Wrapping Up

Some stellar prices on architecture classics like The Links, and some absurd prices too for things like Tom Doak's Confidential Guide pushing $1200!?). 

It's also sad to see that Tony Jacklin is auctioning off all but his soiled Ryder Cup underwear.

Lyle Selects His Running Mate!

An unbylined Guardian story reports that Sandy Lyle is signaling his desire to be named 2010 Ryder Cup captain next week by signing up Bernhard Langer as an assistant. And in a depature from the 2008 debacle hierarchical structure, Lyle insists he will have a stable of assistants to help him correctly pronounce all team member names and to talk him out of backloading his singles lineup.

"We had four assistants in 2006 at the K Club, I was part of the four so I know that system works," he said. "You need to be in contact with the team at all times. Having a good back-up team is so important, not just when the tournament starts but in the breakfast room, the locker-room before players tee off. It's vital to have someone who's been there, done that, in the Ryder Cup." 

A Man For All Websites

Several readers spotted something I've been wondering about as well: the ubiquitous Frank Thomas. He's currently answering reader mail about equipment on GolfDigest.com, golf.com and GolfChannel.com.

If he can bring those three under his umbrella, I smell a Commissionership or maybe Middle East peace envoy gig in his future.

Sergio, IMG, Golf Channel Follow-Up

Earlier this week I cited reader Dan's observation that the 2008 PGA Championship highlight video, as aired on Golf Channel, was missing Sergio Garcia's tournament-changing shot into the 16th hole pond. Well I heard from some folks at IMG who understandably didn't like being accused of trying to put a Band-Aid on a client's boo-boo.

So I contacted Golf Channel spokesman Dan Higgins, who kindly launched an investigation and fessed up that Golf Channel, not IMG, had edited out the dreaded shot due to time constraints. Higgins conceded the omission wasn't the greatest choice but because the structure of the show script mentioned the bogey on 16, it made for an easy cut that would not confuse viewers.

The moral of this story? Well, IMG's still, IMG. But I say nice job by reader Dan for spotting it, good work by IMG leaving in the shot and marks even to Golf Channel for not trying to spin this. And considering the positive direction Golf Channel is headed with some truly exciting breakthrough coverage technology debuting this week, we'll let it slide. Not that we have a choice!

"Lopez had many fans among the players, including Weir"

Thomas Bonk, writing about the state of the West Coast Swing, notes the moribund state of the Bob Hope Classic and this about the bizarre removal of George Lopez as celebrity host:

Arnold Palmer, who won the first Hope 50 years ago, is coming back this month to serve as honorary host, and that's a nice touch. Palmer replaces, at least in title, comedian George Lopez, who was unceremoniously dumped after tournament officials were somehow shocked to learn that Lopez tends to track toward, well, edgy humor, even though that's been his act his entire career. Lopez had many fans among the players, including Weir, who isn't going to play in the celebrity field to make his feelings known.

Jenkins In The February Digest

Great to see Dan Jenkins in fine form in this February Golf Digest column. Though I'm sure how Camilo Villegas is going to feel about his Ellen Lupton sketched depiction that looks more Michael Jackson.

11. When 38-year-old Phil Mickelson said that he had somehow grown an inch through stretching exercises, was it in:
(a) Height?
(b) Width?
(c) Between the ears?