When 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
Due to technical issues I wasn't able to join Rod Morri and Lorne for this Canadian Open week episode that covers Moe Norman, the state of the game and Lorne's retirement from the Globe and Mail.
Give it a listen here or via iTunes where you can also listen to all previous episodes.
I had the task of tracking Tiger for Golf World and I was fascinated by his conservative approach, something detailed in my story. Reading it again after filing Monday morning I probably reported a little too much blow-by-blow of his final round, but he still had a chance to win after his unlucky triple bogey.
However, the inability to fight the wind with a draw at 11 and the stubbornness to play safe at 13 and 14 when he need to shake the reins and press the pedal, took him out of the tournament as much the triple did.
Anyway...here it is.
David Ruiz reports on vice principal Robert Rappleye who lost it over slow play.
A husband and wife in the group ahead approached Rappleye to talk about the problem. Witnesses say the husband became angry when Rappleye used foul language directed to the husband's wife, according to the release.
The argument turned violent when Rappleye swung one of his golf clubs at the husband, the press release said. The husband tried to block the swing with his left arm, injuring him. Rappleye swung a second time with the husband turning his back to defend himself. Rappleye struck the husband's left shoulder blade, the press release said.
I know it's totally hypothetical and not answerable, but I wonder if he would have won last week at Lytham if not for the belly putterers in front of him?
There is no harm in speculating!
Martin Dempster had a super write-up of the Monday R&A press conference and included this from Peter Dawson, which would be an answer to my first Open question.
Dawson was adamant that the controversy surrounding long putters hadn’t detracted from Els winning a dramatic event – he came from six shots back with nine holes to play as Scott dropped shots at each of the last four holes – to claim the Claret Jug for a second time.“No, absolutely not,” he said. “The championship is conducted under the rules of play at the time, and it doesn’t detract in any way from the winner as long as he obeys the rules of play at the time.
“Bobby Jones used concave-faced clubs for some of his major championships. They were outlawed later. Bobby Jones’ victories are in no way demeaned as a result of that and I see this in exactly the same way.”
At Lytham, in a field of 156, Els was among 16 players wielding a belly putter while Scott was one of 27 using a long one.
“At one tournament last year, the R&A reported 21 per cent of players had long putters in their bag.”
I don't want to rain on Ernie's parade, but this was a question brought up by my colleague John Huggan when we thought Adam Scott would win and make it three of the last four majors claimed by a player anchoring a putter against their torso.
A major is a major, and I would contend Barry Bonds was facing fellow steroid users when there was no drug testing, so no asterisk. And Ernie has won the Open along with two U.S. Opens with a traditional stroke, so his credentials are hardly suspect.
Still, with all the talk of a rule change, a career resurrected admittedly by an act of "cheating" in Ernie's view and the increasing likelihood that we may see something happen by 2016, will this and other recent wins be viewed differently by history because the winners used a non-stroke stroke?
See, out of the tragedy of Adam Scott's crushing loss comes a story of hope and punters dreams come true.
For Immediate Release...dateline Costa Rica!
Adam Scott’s Meltdown No Big Loss for Bettors: Sportsbook Refunds Those Who Picked Aussie to Win British Open
Major upset after blowing a lead won’t affect sports bettors who bet on Adam Scott to win at online sportsbook
San Jose, Costa Rica– July 23, 2012 – For Australian pro golfer Adam Scott, losing the Open Championship after leading by four strokes with just four holes to play will forever sting. But for those who put their money on him at this online sportsbook, the financial loss won’t be as painful.
SportsBettingOnline today announced that management is refunding all players who lost money betting on Adam Scott.
"With so many of the favorites including Woods not cashing, it was a good day for sportsbooks. But that wasn’t the case for those who dropped money on Scott,” stated Dave Johnson, head oddsmaker for SportsBettingOnline.ag. “We feel it’s our duty to refund the players for taking such a bad beat. His collapse was historic and we know the bettors who had him must feel as awful as he does.”
Adam Scott virtually imploded on the green, bogeying the last four holes. He ultimately lost by one shot to Ernie Els. Odds on Scott taking the Open were listed at 45/1 at the sportsbook. That means every $100 bet would have paid $4500 had the Australian taken the title.
This is the second time in just over two months that this company has refunded sports bettors. Last month, the online sportsbook refunded everyone who lost money on the Pacquaio-Bradley boxing match after the controversial results handed Bradley the win.
Paying members cash for losing bets is fairly commonplace at SportsBettingOnline.ag. Members receive 10% cash back, every week, win or lose.
From a Daily Mirror item not posted online but told to me by my taxi driver today:
Peter Alliss has rebuked the R&A over the cost of food and drink on course--branding £7.80 for fish and chips "disgraceful." The BBC expert said: "The R&A should not be risking their reputation over a bag of chips."
For BBC viewers or even ESPN watchers, The Guardian's Martin Kelner reviews the weekend telecast and focuses on Alliss.
I love his low growl, and his unselfconscious use of expressions like "cor lummy, chum" to punctuate a missed putt, the kind of expletive found in pre-war children's books, invariably followed by the words "he ejaculated" and a sketch of some chap with his monocle falling out. But I love Alliss most of all because he is not Dan Walker.
Doug Ferguson reports on Peter Dawson, R&A Chief Executive, speaking at today's post-Open press conference.
Dawson's comments in their entirety:
The situation is that the R&A and the USGA are ‑‑ do have this subject firmly back on the radar. We appreciate that there is much speculation about this and that we need to clarify the position as soon as possible. And I think you're going to see us saying something about it one way or the other in a few months rather than years.
There are still further meetings to be had, so we're just going to have to be patient I'm afraid and wait and see the outcome. But as you know, it is under active discussion.
Q. Could you share at least who's involved in these meetings?
PETER DAWSON: Well, the initial determination has been that we are examining the subject from a method of stroke standpoint rather than length of putter standpoint, and that takes it into the area of the rules of play, the rules of golf, rather than the rules of equipment. And therefore it's the rules of golf committees of the R&A and the USGA who are looking at this in detail, and then they have to make their recommendations to the boards of each organisation.
And later on...
Q. Some would say if Adam Scott won, it would have been the lesser of the two evils, using that broom handle putter. Is it fair to say it is anchoring more than anything, and if action is going to be taken it would be more against belly than broom handle?
PETER DAWSON: No, anchoring is what we're looking at, method of stroke, and it's all about putting around a fixed pivot point, whether that fixed pivot point is in your belly or under your chin or on your chest. I don't distinguish between the two. It's a matter of stroke issue.
My Golf World Monday item reviewing the week at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
No matter how you felt about the course (very good) or the setup (dismal), there is no question the greenkeeping staff worked miracles to make the course as playable and good as it was considering the lovely England summer.
Just a note about the setup. This is a wonderful course which needs more width to be interesting. Moving a few tees around to compensate for the lack of wind would have helped too, and maybe not tucking every hole location or sticking them on strange spots would have been nice too. I just hope they start widening it out and turning some sheep loose on the roughs, because I can't imagine an average golfer 10 handicapper breaking 100 at Lytham as it was setup this year.
**I see Alan Shipnuck agreed with me in his SI Confidential assessment.
Shipnuck: It was boring, defensive golf, but that's not Lytham's fault, it's the R&A's. Equipment has rendered these old links, with their fast fairways, totally obsolete. Just like the USGA's failures turned Olympic into a boring slog. Augusta National and Bethpage and Oakmont are probably the only major venues where driver must be hit, and it's the club that demands the most skill and helps identify the best player. To have guys hitting 6-irons off the tee is an incomplete examination.
And...
Shipnuck: To protect Lytham, the R&A resorted to a bunch of hokey pin placements, and that ridiculous, unplayable rough, which negates shotmaking. Links courses are supposed to be wide-open canvases that encourage shotmaking and different angles of attack, not tight, penal, claustrophobic courses that force every competitor to play from the same spot.
And...
Shipnuck: Just to hammer the point home, the speed of the fairways made Lytham play about 6,400 yards, maybe less. To actually force the modern golfer to have a few proper three-shot par-5s and hit mid- to long-irons into a handful of par-4s, a course needs to be 8,500 yards, maybe longer. I'm completely serious. The USGA and R&A have failed the game, and it is becoming increasingly obvious as one major championship venue after another forces a bastardized kind of pitch-and-putt golf.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
