NBC Editors May Seek Raise Before Clipping Latest Golf Digest Challenge

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Okay that's not true, but maybe they should since it sounds like a positively excruciating day was had by all.

AP noted...wait, there's an AP game story? Anyway, AP incorrectly reported Wayne Gretzky's score. He posted 100, bested by only Mark Walhberg. Drew Brees fired 102 and readers' choice Peggy Ference took the over, recording 119 from the 7040-yard, par-78 tees.

Alex Myers offered this live blog of the day and clarifies the Gretzky oversight.  Roberto de Vicenzo he is not.

Hindsight Open Underway, Justin Rose Pleas Leading At The Turn

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Now that Memorial winner Justin Rose isn't in the U.S. Open field (but Vijay Singh is!), it's fascinating that people are chiming in to demand change to the system so that such egregious oversights never happen again. Even though Rose had the last year to figure out a way to get in the event, that's not stopping some!
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"Had I really been invited to play in the Swallows?"

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Alan Shipnuck managed to crash the elite gathering where grown men gather to discuss their vegetarian diets, the best Birkenstocks and in general, their desire to foster world peace. Though I'm getting a better idea why SI, the leaflet that it has become, wanted $100 to renew my subscription (and didn't get it!):

Had I really been invited to play in the Swallows? Still, deep down I knew I was unworthy, and I figured Perocchi would either come to his senses or get talked out of inviting me. Months went by without any contact, and slowly my hopes dimmed. Then one day in March, I opened my mailbox to find a beautifully designed invitation. I couldn’t have been more excited had I found one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets. I read and reread the schedule of events: rounds at Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill; cookouts by day, ­jacket-and-tie dinners by night. According to the invitation, all events were mandatory to foster “the Swallows spirit.

Well how else are you going to foster Middle East peace?

There was only one problem: The entry fee was $5,500. I have four young kids and a bloated mortgage. Devoting that much of the family budget to three days of golf was out of the question. I called my editor in New York City, who I knew has always had his own fascination with the Swallows. I gingerly explained that I was in need of a corporate sponsorship.
“We’ll pay,” he said, in the tone of a fairy-tale bad guy offering a magic potion, “but you have to write a story about it. ”

Damn editors...

Shipnuck goes on to detail how the Silver Oak set gets Pebble Beach closed for the day so they can brainstorm how to grow the game. I tell you, I was touched. Especially after reading this item from Steve Elling about Open qualifiers having to dodge various outtings the week before the U.S. Open.

"I didn't think I had it in me."

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Tim Rosaforte follows up with Erik Compton about his play Monday and about next week. What a contrast to the boneheads who no-showed for the qualifiers.

"Two years ago June 7, I was at my parents house with (wife) Barbara," Compton said. "We had no baby; we didn't know she was pregnant. I was all stapled up, trying to find a comfortable position to lay down in and get up and go to the bathroom. There were staples all down my leg, all down my chest. I was all beat up, man, but I was envisioning what was going on now. It was wild. I was watching the Open at Torrey thinking [about the Open at Pebble]."

What helped were the low expectations based on Compton's 82 on Sunday in the Memorial, and how worn out he felt waking up at 4 a.m. that Monday morning. Disconsolate, he walked off the course with a double bogey and hit balls on the Muirfield Village range until 9 p.m. Sunday night. Quietly he made his fourth cut of the year at the Memorial, but in every case physical fatigue was an issue on the weekend.

After opening with a 69, Compton's tour caddie, Ron "Bambi" Levin had to leave for a commitment with Todd Hamilton at the Memphis St. Jude Classic. Scott Wilke, a massage therapist who had been working on Compton at Muirfield Village, offered to take the bag. Wilke is a member at Springfield CC, and gave Compton a good read on a 50-footer he made for eagle on the 15th hole.

"I think this is a very functional partnership. I hope we can work a deal."

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Don Corleone? Gordon Gekko? Uh, more like Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam pitching themselves to design the Olympic golf course, should the folks in Rio actually even decide to build a new course.

Doug Ferguson reports on the hard sell from Jack and Annika to the IGF:

Nicklaus said one potential site already has been identified. If selected, he said he and Sorenstam would collaborate on the strategy of each hole -- Nicklaus from championship tees for the men, Sorenstam with women in mind.

Boy, I'm giddy already at the possibilities. And just think, they could do it all on the computer screen in Florida!

"I'll be surprised if they don't select us," Nicklaus said. "But I'm sure other people are interested."

Oh the Don issues a strong hint!

If a golf course is to be built, the IGF would pick the architect, but the host committee in Rio would pick up the cost, much like building a stadium or arena for other sports.

Fay confirmed that IGF members -- representing all the major golf organizations -- received the Nicklaus-Sorenstam letter.

"It was a very nice letter," he said. "When you get a letter from two Hall of Famers, that will get a lot of attention. But there definitely will be a process to go through. Sometimes there's a feeling that you don't want to Americanize the process. We've been very respectful of the fact, as we should be, that it is an international game."

As I've said, the smuckering up, politicking and backdoor dealing to design the course will be far more entertaining than the Olympic competition itself. Then again, at 72-holes stroke play, that's not saying much.

Why People Hate Golf Files: Jim Nantz Reciting Sappy Lyrics Editon

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When I saw the tweet about Stephanie Wei's item on Jim Nantz's Memorial call of Justin Rose's win, I figure she was just having a good ole time with Jim. Then I see the video on Deadspin today and all I can say is...I knew I hit mute for a reason. Thank you higher power.

 
I just pity the poor assistant who got the directive from Jim: Google the lyrics for The Rose and do it now!

Prepping For Pebble: Bring Your Amex Card

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Regular readers know I wasn't a fan at the time of the USGA's corporate partnership deals but I have been swooning since 2008 about American Express and the various U.S. Open activities they've added to the fan experience. So naturally, I'm thrilled to see their Course Cast TV's and radios are going to be available again, the best free deal anywhere.