"Consider the worst-kept secret at the annual meeting"

/

Jim Gorant on news that Cherry Hills would be awarded a U.S. Amateur, once thought to be a stepping stone to the U.S. Open but in this case, a compromise:

These days most Open courses play at about 7,500 yards, but that's at or close to sea level. At Denver's mile-high elevation, Cherry Hills would have to be stretched to at least 8,000 yards to play like 7,500. At 7,500 it plays more like 6,900. That's roughly the same length as Merion, which hosted the '07 Amateur and will welcome the Open in '13, but Merion is the exception. If you don't think so, consider the worst-kept secret at the annual meeting: The USGA will most likely award the '17 U.S. Open to Erin Hills, outside Milwaukee, a sea-level course that can be stretched to more than 8,000 yards.

LPGA Downplaying Wie's Debut As Card Carrying Rookie

/

I know her English isn't, you know, like perfect, but come on, she's the biggest thing to happen to women's golf since Annika.

Jon Show tries to figure out what the LPGA Tour could be thinking by handling her like every other rookie, minus the blog posts and other news that might actually draw in more fans.

Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, in an e-mail, wrote that Wie and other rookies will be promoted through “varied media outreach,” primarily consisting of stories in local print media.

Wie, by choice, is not taking part in the rookie editorial features at LPGA.com. Other players are participating in Q&As and writing blogs on the Web site.

2009 USGA Annual Meeting

/

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who phoned and wrote to check on my well-being after attending my first USGA Annual Meeting Saturday at the price-gouging Fairmont, Newport Beach (really Fairmont, $18 to move my car 150 feet so it could rained on for 6 hours?). The greetings I received were all incredibly warm, or at least, brilliant impersonations of warm greetings while the bluecoat in question was thinking, has anyone seen me talking to this lowly subversive?

Of course there was that one past president who, when I went to introduce myself to him after having phone-interviewed him a few times, greeted me as a Tate family member would Charles Manson. Maybe it's those Midwest winters.

The very first bluecoat I encountered was none other than the world's most famous Blackberry expert before Barack Obama's election, Walter Driver, who was exiting the men's room after giving president Jim Vernon one final pep talk that perhaps included a suggestion to step down from the podium in order to communicate with the little people gathered to celebrate all things USGA. Needless to say, Jim was probably relieved that he didn't have to introduce Walter and I just moments before his big night!

It was a great honor to finally meet Sandy Tatum in person as well as several other current and former Executive Committee members. Things got a bit dicey when former president tournament committee chair Will Nicholson told Jerry Tarde that he would like to talk to me. When Jerry brought Mr. Nicholson over, the former Augusta National tournament committee chair revealed that he "had a bone to pick with me." As the word "pick" left Mr. Nicholson's mouth, Jerry and Golf World co-hort Ryan Herrington were speedwalking to the nearest wet bar. Thanks guys.

Blessedly, Mr. Nicholson only had a minor issue with the phrasing of Prairie Dunes' construction from my recent Golf World story, and was not pulling out my various rantings about rough at Augusta (which he said we'd discuss another time because he had them all memorized by date and a vitriolic linguistic scale score invented by Glenn Greenspan before he moved on to less stressful jobs).

As for the actual meeting festivities, I had been warned yet was not truly prepared for the sheer volume of navy blue fabric assembled under one hotel meeting room ceiling. (If you don't believe me, check out the John Mummert image from USGA.org, left). 

Nor did I realize that the meeting attracted so many powerbrokers, friends of the game and devoted volunteers along with a disturbing number of folks I recognized to be golf architects, rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull...err I better stop there before Mel Brooks sues me. Anyway, there were just many grown men there who would never need Cialis again if George Will would just start writing about golf instead of baseball.

After having to give an ovation to every outgoing and incoming Women's Committee member, and we cleared up the ballot error that left off a new XC member, elected the new officers and XC, then heard from Joe Dey Award winner Dick Rundle (pictured right, courtesy of USGA.org), who delivered a wonderfully heartfelt speech. Vernon delivered his excellent address which, other than mentioning the 14 points of course setup light three times too many to keep 14-point visionairy Walter Driver from having a total tantrum, went over well.

Dinner, for the staffers living vicariously through me at this point (how sad for you!), consisted of a nice ravioli starter, salad, chicken and chocolate cake to prepare us for O. Gordon Brewer's speech to accept the Bob Jones Award. Oddly, I was seated with, among others, Pete Bevacqua and XC member Irv Fish. There were also four others dressed as empty seats. I wonder why! Surely it couldn't been little ole me that sent another table 14 assignee and editor of a very popular golf magazine to a table far from what I thought was the prime podium view.

I was quite excited to hear Mr. Brewer actually utter words since the lone conversation I had with him at Riviera during the 1998 U.S. Senior Open consisted mostly of grunts and other mumbled phrases (lesson learned: never ask someone what they think of a course the day after they miss the cut and are stuck hanging around wearing a USGA logo on their shirt). He delivered an eloquent speech off the top of his head, with one room-squirming mention of a "downside" to the recent distance explosion. That was followed by a couple of great caddy stories, prompting Brewer to declare, "let's work together to keep the caddy as part of the game."

There were too many other fascinating conversations to mention (well, and to protect the innocent). My deepest gratitude goes out to the USGA for allowing me the privilege of attending the event, and in advance, my sympathies to those who suffer repercussions for any intentional (or otherwise) encounters with yours truly.

Phil Laying Ground For Next Dave Pelz Tome: Reissue Of "How To Line Up Your Fourth Putt"

/

Bob Harig on Phil Mickelson's early season struggles despite supposedly correcting a putting flaw:

Difficulty on the greens is what Mickelson pointed to last year, and he said he discovered a flaw along with coach Dave Pelz around the time of the Ryder Cup. Mickelson, seemingly cured, then missed a playoff by a shot at the Tour Championship and proclaimed that the offseason would be used to fine-tune a few areas with an eye on 2009.

But putting remains an issue. During Friday's round on the North Course, Mickelson missed eight putts inside of 6 feet and had 32 total in a round of 72. And just as Golf Channel analyst Nick Faldo was commenting on the shaky state of Mickelson's game during Sunday's final round, Lefty butchered the sixth green by 4-putting.

Andrew Magee's On-Air Slip Even Leaves Gary McCord Speechless

/

Steve Elling reports that Andrew Magee has been "disciplined" by The Golf Channel for a dicey remark that led Gary McCord to hit his cough button and utter to his stat-man, "and I got cut from the Masters for saying bikini wax?"

Magee, serving as a roving reporter during the second-round broadcast, told the network he believed he was off the air when he mentioned to fellow analyst Gary McCord that he had just seen a fan wearing a T-shirt that read, "I got kicked out of the Boy Scouts for eating a brownie."

McCord, who works primarily for CBS Sports, didn't react verbally and there were several moments of dead air following the comment.

Golf Channel spokesman Dan Higgins said the network received several e-mail complaints from viewers about the remark. The Golf Channel's online message boards have been filled with fan feedback on the matter.

"He was disciplined for that," Higgins said, from Orlando. "It was a mistake. He's fairly new in the role of on-course reporter, which is no excuse, but he has been disciplined, yes.

My sources tell me that Magee was forced to watch all previous seasons of The Big Break, then pen a paper on its pop culture impact, before having to listen to Inga Hammond read the paper back to him.

"What courage! What insight!"

/

John Huggan on Rory McIlroy's impact, with this jab at what's left of the American golf media:

Interestingly – and tellingly – the flurry of banner and admittedly over-the-top headlines that duly followed O'Meara's remarks set off something of a backlash across the Atlantic. Perhaps feeling a little touchy over the almost complete and continuing lack of excitement created by homegrown players on their own tour, a few American journalists felt able to pooh-pooh any comparison with the incomparable Woods. What courage! What insight! If only some of them had actually seen the young Irishman play even once.

Lancaster, Cherry Hills Land USGA Events

/

More on the USGA annual meeting when my hands have recovered from all of the clapping (even for Walter Driver!), but in the meantime a couple of William Flynn gems landed events: Lancaster for the 2015 U.S. Women's Open and Cherry Hills for the 2012 U.S. Amateur (not mentioned in the linked AP story, but announced at the meeting.)

 

Anna Rawson Does Her Part To Build LPGA Brand **

/

What was that I said about loving Anna Rawson's brutal honesty? Apparently she took it to heart and touted the progressive heterosexuality of the LPGA Tour and used the "d" word. Oh dear...

She came under fire for her poorly chosen comments aired by NOVA 5AA in Adelaide on Wednesday.

"The tour has got so much better with so many young stars and great players," Rawson told the radio station in an interview arranged by her father Jim.

"But the mentality unfortunately amongst the media and the industry hasn't changed.

"They still think we're at 25 years ago when the tour was full of, you know, a lot of dykes and unattractive females nobody wanted to watch."

The rest of the article reviews her previous remarks on "penis envy." She has that in common with Woody Allen.

"OK, let me throw out another idea for you to reject."

/

Ron Whitten sort of buries the lede (in a copy and paste kind of way) when he repeats this story about the Jack Nicklaus-Tom Doak dream design pairing (why can't we have this on tape?).

Out in the dirt at Sebonack:

Jack: "Why leave that knob? The only criticism it'll get will be from good players who can't see the fairway."

Tom: "My thing is visual. All you see is green grass. The knob makes it visual. It pulls the green toward us. It plants the idea of going for it."

Jack: "In the mind of a scratch player or an 11-handicapper? You've said a bunch of stuff that a scratch player would never think."

Tom: "Well, a low-handicapper. If the green looks close to him, he'll overswing and get into trouble."

Jack: "All this stuff over one little pile of dirt. Look, it's my tee back here and if I want to get rid of it, I'll get rid of it."

They move down the fairway, where a plastic-lined, environmentally dictated retention pond was installed at the base of a hill below the proposed green. Both agree the pond looks too artificial.

Jack: "What if you built a waste bunker along the edge of the lake, break up that linear look?"

Tom: "I don't want to put a waste bunker against water. That looks like a hundred other modern golf courses. That's what I really don't want to do."

Jack: "You really don't like it?"

Tom: "I like to let human nature work against golfers sometimes. Why bunker right up to the water and dictate their shot? If they're silly enough to hug the lake on their second shot, then it's their fault if they go in."

Jack: "But we have to take up the elevation somehow. There had been a cliff between the pond and the fairway. Another option is to put that cliff back."

Tom thinks about it for a minute, then shakes his head.

Jack: "OK, let me throw out another idea for you to reject."

What a shame with this economic crisis, it's going to be so hard to get these two modest, humble men together for another collaboration.

Boo: "I'm looking at the WCWs, the WGWs"

/

The Golf Watch's Richard Simon has posted a two-part Q&A with Jeff Babineau on the state of Golfweek, but even more fun than that is his his link to Boo Weekley's recent 19th Hole interview with Vince Cellini and John Hawkins where the PGA Tour's finest tries twice to refer to the WGC events, and fails.

"I'm looking at the WCWs, the WGWs...

I don't think it's online, but that episode of the show also featured a priceless Hawkins rant about the 2018 Ryder Cup-to-Dubai talk.

"Tradition or otherwise, the R&A has developed a habit of ignoring history, even its own, when it wants to."

/

Finally, someone is scrutinizing the R&A...wait, oh, it's not for redesigning courses in lieu of distance regulation or rendering the Road hole unrecognizeable?

Lawrence Donegan reports on Scotland's senior most politician calling for an end to "chauvinistic" attitudes after not offering a membership to Dr. Louise Richardson, new St. Andrews University principal. Her predecessors were given R&A memberships.

"The Royal and Ancient Golf Club should follow their long-standing practice of offering membership to the Principal of St Andrews University and I am sure that after due consideration they will continue with that honourable tradition," the first Minister said today.

It is highly unusual for a politician of Salmond's seniority to become embroiled in the affairs of a sporting club but the politician is also a keen golfer who has long taken an interest in the health of the sport. He was joined in his criticism by Claire Baker, a Labour member of the Scottish parliament, who said Dr Richardson should be accorded the same courtesy and privileges as her male predecessors.

"It's more than 500 years since Mary Queen of Scots became the first woman to tee off at the home of golf but it seems that the Royal and Ancient is still stuck in the middle ages. It is high time the fuddy-duddies who run the club put their chauvinist attitudes to one side and joined the 21st century," she said tonight.

"But who would have thought when they picked up the 2009 media guide that they'd see Weir, Steve Marino and Lucas Glover with full beards?"

/

Garry Smits posts an item about the possible PGA Tour appearance crack down, with this study of the media guide:

There are 312 players photographed in the fully-exempt section and the conditionally exempt section combined. Of that number, 53 players have hair clearly below the collar, mustaches, full beards, goatees or simply varying growths of beards appearing to be anywhere from a few days to a week's worth of non-application of the razor.

In the 1999 media guide, 10 years in the past, there are 288 players pictured in the two sections. Only 22 of them had facial hair or long hair, nine among the fully exempt section.

Some players have always had some growth of hair. In addition to the aforementioned Bryant and Villegas, Marco Dawson, Jerry Kelly, Ian Poulter and Frank Lickliter are at least consistent.

But who would have thought when they picked up the 2009 media guide that they'd see Weir, Steve Marino and Lucas Glover with full beards? Or the usually immaculate Trevor Immelman and the fashionable Brett Quigley having their photos taken without having shaved for a few days?