Erin Hills Set For Saturday Grand Re-Re-Re-Opening
/Gary D'Amato on high hopes that the third time around will have Erin Hills looking like a U.S. Open course.
Read MoreWhen you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
"The governing body did not adequately prepare the world of golf for the changeover from old grooves to new grooves."
/Jim Achenbach isn't exonerating the Duramed rules officials, but he says blame for the Sarah Brown DQ should start with the USGA.
Read More"The buzz is in their court right now."
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Jaime Diaz on the "guru war" that has broken out within the stable of short game specialists, led by Dave Stockton and sons:
None of the great putters of the last 50 years -- Bob Charles, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, et al. -- had a regular coach to help them on the greens. The same goes for today's acknowledged best: Woods, Steve Stricker, Brad Faxon and Brian Gay. For that matter, Stockton and Utley had no putting coach besides their boyhood teachers. The resistance is evident in the fact that the most recent partnerships were not initiated by the player. Stockton was suggested to Mickelson by his caddie, Jim Mackay, as Utley was to Garcia by Billy Foster. Stockton, at the behest of Mickelson, offered his services to Scott.
But when Stockton seemed to be the pivotal figure in Mickelson's immediate improvement, and when Scott and Justin Rose won soon after receiving a lesson from Dave Jr., it became a powerful narrative. "I highly respect what the Stocktons are doing," Utley says. "The buzz is in their court right now."
Long Before Dick Cheney Had A Secret Undisclosed Location...
/...The Greenbrier was home to a top secret bunker, not of the golfing kind. Helen Ross writes about it for PGATour.com:
Read More“I went through a lot that day."
/Sean Martin with the update on Sarah Brown rejecting the Duramed compensation offer for her poorly handled DQ. Why do I see Gloria Allred in someone's future? Not that I blame her.
Read More57!
/Dan Mirocha has the details on Bobby Wyatt's incredible stupefying 57 in the Alabama Junior.
Read More"I hope they make a beaucoup of hole in ones"
/First, there was the news of experimenting with a common-sense cell phone policy and now this great Greenbrier Classic idea, which surely couldn't have originated in Ponte Vedra. I just wonder how it got past all of the VP's and legal minds. It makes way too much sense!
Read More"It was like giving someone the death penalty on hearsay.”
/Jim Achenbach digs up more on the dreadful Duramed DQ of Sarah Brown and it paints an ugly picture considering that there was an on-site testing device (not used) and some silly on-course behavior from the rules official, who is identified in the story as Jim Linyard. I'd like to give Linyard the benefit of the doubt since this isn't exactly the big leagues of officiating work and there were inevitably issues with determining conforming clubs on a tour that only this month adopted the groove condition of competition, but it's hard to look past the events reported by Achenbach.
Read More“Thank you for saving the Greenbrier.”
/You know the CBS gang will be in relentless suck-up mode this weekend for the inaugural Greenbrier Classic, so before they have you hating Greenbrier savior Jim Justice, check out Hunki Yun's Links Magazine profile. It's a good read.
Read MoreNow That's A T-Shirt!
/Captured by reader Jay in a U.S. airport (click on it to enlarge):
"I'm confident we'll be fine with this."
/Ron Green Jr. doesn't sound too wild about the decision to make next month's Wyndham Championship the guinea pig for possibly allowing fans to bring cell phones to all tour events, but as horrible as the attendance has been I don't see how the tour can afford not to try it.
Read More"I'm sure she has many Women's British Opens in front of her."
/What am I missing about all of the columns and complaints regarding Alexis Thompson not getting a chance to qualify for the Women's Open Championship? She had a way in, as an amateur, and at 15 she decided to turn profressional. Now her agents--key distinction there--are making it sound as if she was unjustly blocked.
Read More"It was the arrogance to say, ‘I’m pulling her off the course.’"
/Sean Martin fleshes out the story of Sarah Brown's terribly unfair DQ in a Duramed Futures Tour event. While the confusion of determining conforming vs. non-conforming wedges could be chalked up to a USGA rule implementation issue, you really have to wonder about the official who pulled her off the course. I'm guessing a retired school principal type missing the days of major power displays.
Read MoreWhat These Wild And Crazy (Ad Agency Guys) Will Do For Adidas Golf!
/Thanks to reader Stuart for Rich Thomaselli's AdAge look at the new, authentic outreach by adidas Golf to circumvent the lack of organic social connections found in your every day television ads: send two finalists chosen from an applicant pool of thousands who are will to do anything for a job working at adidas, and film the entire thing in a Survivor meets Big Break in the vein of Amazing Race social media campaign aimed at...golfers!?
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