These Guys Are (Slightly) Faster!
/Five hours and 17 minutes for the Northern Trust Open final round, breaking Saturday's five hour and 20 minute marathon. The people were heard.
In golf construction art and utility meet; both are absolutely vital; one is utterly ruined without the other. GEORGE THOMAS
It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
2011 Northern Trust Open Final Round Open Comment Thread
/This one has possible train wreck/last man standing written all over it. Either way, I'm leaving it up to you to report what you see and, in small doses, what you hear.
Read MoreThe Shark Is Fighting For Every Penny!
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Nick Tabakoff reports that Greg Norman has lost in court trying to get out of paying a massive sum ($6730.71) in termination/vacation pay to Joanne Dwyer, the office administrator of his shuttered Sydney course design firm. This sounds like a most noble cause the Shark and his legal team took up:2011 Northern Trust Open: These Guys Are Getting Slower!
/Five hours and twenty minutes for the leading threesomes to play their NoTrust Open rounds in cool, sometimes showery conditions?
Read More"It's been happening forever. Did Tiger play in Buick events because he had a deal to do so? Of course."
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John Huggan talks to Chubby Chandler about the need (in his view) for the PGA and European Tours to coordinate events better and essentially expand the WGC concept, which has done little for lesser events on the two tours.2011 Northern Trust Open Photo Caption Fun, Yours Truly Edition
/Reader Tom saw Doug Ferguson's Tweet of my very, very brief media room siesta--John Strege thinks I was only out one minute--and suggested this one needs a caption. To help jumpstart your creative juices, this occurred around 2:00 when Saturday's third round was laboring, the skies were opening up, the heater was working particularly well, the sweet potato side dish was taking over and I was dreaming of what fascinating things CBS guys might have been saying about Riviera.
Read More"This is about the next group of really good players, and whether they care enough to be great."
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Cameron Morfit feeds off of the lastest Dustin Johnson mistake, puts it into a blender with other boondoggery from today's next great things, and asks the legitimate question: what would Tiger do?2011 Northern Trust Open Third Round, Open Comment And Wagering Thread
/I checked with the Mirage, Wynn and the Bellagio and here are over/unders for today's noon Pacific, 3 ET telecast from Riviera:
Read More"He never uses it as an excuse, but I'll tell you flat-out it's worse than people know."
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The scribes enjoyed Freddie's post-round press conference so much, they wrote about it, starting with Bill Dwyre.
"Dude, you can't come up like that in the middle of the round."
/Doug Ferguson offers more details on the Jim Gray incident. I think they're pretty solid, since he was standing there when Johnson's caddy and Gray opted to pass on the chit-chat and get right to the fun stuff.
Read More"I even got a text from Tiger. He says hi, so I texted him back when I was coming down here. I said, I do love this place, but if you played here you'd win ten times, and he didn't send me too polite a text after that."
/Great bit from Fred Couples' post round press conference after his second round 66 in the Northern Trust Open:
Read MoreJim Gray To Spend More Time Watching The NBA All-Star Festivities**
/Steve Elling with the scoop that was the talk of the press center yesterday.
Read More2011 Northern Trust Open: The Intimacy Of Classic Course Spectating
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Fans could listen in on Geoff Ogilvy and Squirrel discussing options (click to enlarge)A glorious day at Riviera and while the gallery was meager compared to the glory days of the 90's, an improvement over last year. Though the surroundings are special and the opportunity to walk a course of Riviera's stature are a treat, I was struck several times at just what a different spectating experience older courses provide compared to a TPC.
Sure, the sight lines are not as great when the gallery swells and amphitheater or grandstand seating is not available, but the ability to get close to players and eavesdrop on conversations when they hit wayward drives is unlike anything else in sport. The PGA Tour noted this in its clever Sunday newspaper wrap, and it's something they need to continue to drive home when possible.
Even with no wind and pristine conditions, Riviera held its own thanks to sneaky fast greens, the vagaries of kikuyu and some thought provoking hole locations. Doug Ferguson reports on the wacky 9-way tie for first, while John Strege filed blog posts on Bubba Watson's WD and Bob Harig reports on Dustin Johnson's 2-stroke lateness penalty. And as noted previously, there was Anthony Kim's truly terrible luck.
A few other images from our last day of sun until Sunday.
The question everyone was asking today was answered by the stunningly cluttered but still pretty to look at ShotLink videoboards. (Click to enlarge)
Lucas Glover kindly asked Lunde, Vegas and Bradley to pause while he played through. They were on No. 7, he was playing the 15th. (click to enlarge)
Phil Mickelson drives at No. 9 (click to enlarge)
Late light at No. 16 as players approach (click to enlarge)
No Pun Intended: Trump Bedminster Considered As U.S. Open Armageddon Option
/Ron Sirak reports that the USGA has looked at Trump Bedminster as an emergency option in case of issues with a host site.
"The subject of 'what if Armageddon happens' has been discussed," USGA director of competitions Mike Davis told GolfDigest.com. "What if all 18 greens are dead; what if there is vandalism beyond repair; what if the weather is so bad the week of the US Open -- flooding -- you can't play; what if 9/11 happened the week of the U.S. Open? We have had this conversation the entire 21 years I have been here."
And certainly when I think of last ditch, desperation, Hail Mary options for the U.S. Open, I think The Donald!
Big (Bad) Break, Anthony Kim At Riviera Edition**
/There was a holdup today when Anthony Kim had to return to the second fairway while Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Luke Donald waited for him to hit his second approach following a freak occurrence. Stephanie Wei has all of the details and crime scene photos and I have posted a video detailing what could be one of the goofiest breaks I've ever seen. Not to mention another reason to deplore concrete paths.
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