Video Views From Cordevalle

I went out to the 16th and 17th holes this morning and tweeted some video takes on what appear to be the two best holes on the course. No wonder the finish was so wild last year...

16th Hole video (Twitter downscaled it so just hit the full screen box to see it larger)

17th tee video (same deal, mysteriously uploaded in smaller format)

17th fairway view video

"What is an amateur doing in the same group as major champions?"

Doug Ferguson explains how the unusual Tiger Woods pairing for this week's Frys.com Open came about. (He's playing with amateur Patrick Cantlay and 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen.)

The PGA Tour has been tweaking a few groupings this year to help make it more appealing for TV viewers. It starts with eight groups of three players - four groups in the morning draw, four in the afternoon draw. Twenty players are taken alternately from the world ranking and the FedEx Cup standings. The other four come from the winner’s category.

However, the tour now can have one “wild card” to swap out from the four players in the winner’s category. This week, Cantlay was chosen, and then put in the same group as Woods.

Turns Out, Obama-Boehner Golf Summit Was Productive!

It seems ESPN dropped the infamous Hank Williams Jr. opening song for Monday Night Football telecasts following comments made by the singer-songwriter on Fox and Friends.

From USA Today's Michael Hiestand:

Says ESPN, in a statement: "While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize he is closely linked to our company through the opening to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."

Williams, perhaps best known for his "are you ready for some football?" lead-in to ESPN's Monday Night Football, Monday compared this summer's so-called golf summit between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner as "one of the biggest political mistakes ever."

As Williams put it on Fox News' Fox & Friends: "It would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyahu."

Faced with no longer earning royalties, Williams clarified his comments to TMZ (taking the high road!) and naturally, blamed golf.

Williams Jr. adds, "Every time the media brings up the tea party it’s painted as racist and extremists – but there’s never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons… Working class people are hurting – and it doesn’t seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change.”

"Sharp Park is the latest Flanders field between the stereotypes of rich, white, middle-aged golfers and the ponytailed, sandals-and-socks set."

A nice twist in the Sharp Park saga: two San Mateo County supervisors penned an op-ed for the SF Examiner advocating saving Alister MacKenzie's embattled public course and say the county would be happy to take on the burden of operating a potentially fantastic, profitable and environmentally important public course. Go figure!

Carole Groom and Adrienne J. Tissier write:

However, Sharp Park does not have to become the philosophical moonscape of trench warfare, where slogans and sound bites obfuscate reasoning. Sharp Park can be a place where golfers from all socioeconomic strata successfully co-exist with sensitive coastal species.

Actually, San Mateo County and Pacifica already have the framework of a plan to do exactly that. The golf course can be reconfigured to support the endangered snakes and threatened frogs, while recapturing some of MacKenzie’s original layouts. Additionally, San Mateo County has already identified private sources willing to underwrite most — if not all — of this proposed peaceful co-existence.

Deep Meaning Quiz: 2015 U.S. Open Logo Unveiled

Todd Miles reports on the unveiling of the 2015 U.S. Open logo for Chambers Bay and I can't say it has me reaching for my wallet hoping to buy some '15 swag.

In this case, the 2015 U.S. Open logo is very similar to the original Chambers Bay emblem, designed by Tacoma freelance graphic artist Scott Bailey in 2005.

The defining image of Bailey’s design is two sails.

“We ended up with the sails because the course is right next to (Puget Sound),” Bailey said. “It seemed like the most obvious symbol that represents the Northwest in feel but that did not identify something specific.”

I'm not sure sails would have been in my top ten things those two lines represented. In fact, I made a list before reading the story and came up with the following:

- It's two bent legs representing the ideal shape necessary to navigate the Chambers Bay "dunes"

- It's a Machu Picchu symbol for "Be Careful, Robert Trent Jones Jr. Wasn't Thinking Of A U.S. Open When He Built This Place"

- Logo finalist for Phillip Morris rebranding with innocuous new corporate name that I can't recall.

- An homage to the memory wellness ad appearing next to the U.S. Open logo story (see image)

Of course, I'd love to know what you see in this logo...