"In addition to their equipment, players may also need to spend considerable time changing their course strategy and technique."

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I was poking around Stan Utley's new website and he posts a few thoughts on how he sees the groove rule change impacting the sport.

He also links to Titleist's groove report, which I had never read. Naturally I enjoyed a warm chuckle reading this alarming revelation:

The magnitude of these changes is far greater than most players anticipate. All players will be required to make time and resource consuming changes to their game to address the impact of these performance differences. Beyond wedge and iron changes, players will likely consider other equipment changes such as their golf ball, driver and set composition. In addition to their equipment, players may also need to spend considerable time changing their course strategy and technique.

Brain cells might move around, forehead wrinkles could develop and players are likely to use their arms to support their chin to ease the burden of extra brain activity. Now you see why we need universal health care in this country. It's all the USGA's fault. Always is!

"It's a golf tournament, not a swap meet."

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In an especially lively Up and Down column, Steve Elling shares this anecdote from last week's telecast which I did not see. Several have mentioned it though:

Every week, the CEO of whatever company sponsors that week's tour event gets a few moments of blather time during the broadcast to toot their corporate horn and spout clichés about what a great week it was. In Atlanta, the top dog at Coca-Cola used his TV opportunity to hoist a bottle of Coke during his live interview with NBC's Dan Hicks. Then the guy showed up for the awards ceremony with Mickelson and Woods on the 18th green drinking from yet another bottle of the company's product. Times may be tough, but this is way beyond gauche and bordering on crass. It's a golf tournament, not a swap meet.

I do wonder if this rather desperate move speaks to Coca-Cola feeling like it's been lost in the shuffle at East Lake? Most of the event is focused on the FedEx Cup and if it weren't for the Coke bottle sets as tee markers, I would not have any sense of Coca-Cola's presence as Tour Championship sponsor.

FedEx Cup Trophy Reflection Help

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I couldn't help but notice the reflection of Dan and Johnny's notes in today's FedEx Cup trophy. Our La Habra-based art director Tom Naccarato was able to pick up one of Johnny's note pads, but we couldn't make out his fifth mantra. (See third image.) If anyone can translate what they see in the trophy reflection, please post below.

 

If The FedEx Cup Used The Old ADT Format...

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...here would be the 2009 Tour Championship's Saturday 16 using the 2006 version where the field of 32 was cut to 16 on Saturday and 54-hole scores decided the final 8 for Sunday's $1 million shootout (no playoff would have been necessary):

Tiger Woods
Padraig Harrington
Sean O'Hair
Ernie Els
Kenny Perry
Jerry Kelly
Angel Cabrera
Jason Dufner
Nick Watney
Lucas Glover
Stewart Cink
David Toms
Phil Mickelson
Jim Furyk
John Senden
Steve Marino

And the non-qualifiers:

Heath Slocum
Scott Verplank
Luke Donald
Retief Goosen
Steve Stricker
Zach Johnson
Kevin Na
Dustin Johnson
Brian Gay
Mike Weir
Hunter Mahan
Marc Leishman
Y.E. Yang
Geoff Ogilvy